Gaythia Weis @Gaythia@qoto.org

#NorthDakota’s 2021 legislative redistricting plan violates the rights of two Native American tribes because it dilutes their voting strength, a federal judge ruled Friday. #legal #VotingRights
https://apnews.com/article/0faa6dc38763267d42af1b6c2ab301c0

The year I was born, there were 57,628 cases of polio in the United States. My childhood best friend was a polio victim who wore metal braces on his legs.

We lined up in the school gym to get polio vaccines -- first the Salk killed-virus version, then the Sabin weakened-virus dose.

Widespread vaccination works. The disease is now regarded as "eliminated" in the United States and indeed most of the world.

But it is not gone. It waits for us to be stupid.

Let's all support the REI union, which is suing the "coop" owners for violations of labor law.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/rei-accused-widespread-labor-law-violations-unionized-us-stores-2023-11-15/

The union wants publicity about this for now.

#union #retail #uspol #labor #lawfedi #lawsuit #nyc #stores

"Last year, the number of e-books the #BostonPublicLibrary [@bplboston] lent out…exceeded the number of physical books it circulated by more than five to one."
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2023/11/12/public-libraries-boston/

#Books #CDL #Libraries

“The wreckage goes on for block after devastated block. The smell is sickening. Every day, hundreds of people claw through tons of rubble with shovels and iron bars and their bare hands.

“They are looking for the bodies of their children. Their parents. Their neighbors. All of them killed in Israeli missile strikes. The corpses are there, somewhere in the endless acres of destruction.” https://rb.gy/gso1x4 #palestine #gaza

@Teri_Kanefield
Someone made the point which I will paraphrase with "the jerks are the noisy ones." Wednesday I took M, a recently-arrived refugee from the war in Syria to take the drivers test. He passed; the tester was friendly, chatted w/me, told me what M needed to practice more. Then he thanked me for helping M.
I told M that, said the jerks are loud and the news talks about them a lot, but there are a lot more people like him not in the news.
Keep up the good work. We applaud quietly.

Incredible that such a statement needs to be said, and even more incredible that journalists saying risk the repercussions to their careers.
https://www.protect-journalists.com/

Jenna Ellis confirmed to prosecutors what many have said privately to reporters: That Trump never intended to leave office, no matter what the circumstances. Those are the words and actions of an authoritarian despot like Putin or Xi. No American president should ever be allowed to act that way.

According to The Daily Beast, not only did Speaker Mike Johnson fail to disclose any bank or investment account covering his many years in Congress, he also appears to have failed to disclose an all-expenses paid junket to speak at a conservative rally, or he used government funds to cover the expenses. Both are big no-nos. We need transparency. We need accountability.

Trump is telling his followers that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the country. This is straight out of the Hitler playbook. It’s an open nod to white supremacy, and it has no place in our society. And he has threatened to round up 11 million undocumented immigrants. That means attacks upon whole communities. Raids in the night. No due process. We can’t let it happen again.

NEW: Over the last three years an interconnected network of PACs, largely funded by billionaires who support school privatization, has begun to transform the nature of local school board elections across Texas. I mapped it all out for @TexasObserver

https://www.texasobserver.org/school-board-pacs-consultants-right-wing/

@froomkin And I think this utter spew of dangerous vileness warrants more coverage than it got… “Trump spokesman Steven Cheung only added fuel to the fire when he told The Post that those who argue that Trump’s rhetoric echoes that of dictators will find ‘their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.’”

Trump knows what he’s doing when he calls his enemies “vermin” in his speeches and online. He’s dehumanizing them. This has happened to my community twice in my lifetime: once during World War II, and again during the pandemic. It is so dangerous, and Trump knows it. He’s preparing his base to do things that you can’t do to other humans, only to subhumans. Be warned. Be vigilant.

Ohio Republicans are claiming a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, which was approved by voters in Tuesday’s election, doesn’t actually do that — and they’re promising to take steps to prevent the legal protection of reproductive freedom in the state. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ohio-republicans-stop-issue-1-abortion-rights-1234875333/

On Veterans Day, I want to share my gratitude with America’s veterans and their families. Thank you for your inspiring service, your humbling sacrifice, and your unwavering dedication to our country.

Let’s celebrate those who answered our nation’s call and redouble our efforts to repay their service. Not just today, but every day of the year.

@Acronymesis They do.

We now have state entities breathing down doctors' and patients’ necks when patients have an incomplete miscarriage. Before Dobbs, if you needed a medical procedure, most people had one. No one told you to go home until you were nearly dead from sepsis.

Republicans right now are trying to stop women from traveling out of state. Anti-abortion zealots are on a feeding frenzy and Republican are enabling it.

A small town mayor in Alabama killed himself after a conservative web site published pictures of him in women’s clothing and make-up. The closet is a hard place to be, and outing anyone can be very harmful. We need a society where it’s okay to be who you want to be so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. Is that so hard to imagine?

The GOP has introduced a bill to EXPEL Palestinians from the United States. I cannot read such things without remembering what happened to my own family after Pearl Harbor. After we and 120,000 other Japanese Americans were incarcerated in prison camps for years, without charge or trial, my own mother was very nearly expelled to Japan because of racial prejudice and hatred. Only the brave actions of a civil rights attorney saved her from being sent away. #NeverAgain

I want to send the state of Texas a bill for all the chlamydia, trich, and UTIs I write prescriptions to their residents for. So many people who come to #NewMexico and Colorado for #abortion care end up getting very basic health screenings while here their home handmaid’s tale-esque state is neglecting. Want to “save lives”? Decrease chlamydia in your state - it leads to increased rates of ectopic pregnancies.