Barbara 🇺🇦 @babs_at_masto@qoto.org

Huge protests in Tbilisi tonight against a law that would copy a Russian law against "foreign agents." But they are happening for a more serious reason: Georgians don't want to become part of the Russian world

New: OpenAI—a company that has indiscriminately scraped vast amounts of human knowledge to build a company valued at roughly $80 billion—has made a copyright complaint against the ChatGPT subreddit because it used OpenAI’s logo.

https://www.404media.co/openai-files-copyright-claim-against-chatgpt-subreddit/

Jess Piper reports – from the ground in rural Missouri and Arkansas – about how, since it knows it cannot win fair and square, the Republican party is resorting to tricks, subterfuge, and outright lies to try to impose its minority position on abortion on the majority who believe that abortion should not be made illegal.

She recently went to a Democratic rally in Arkansas, and encountered a woman handing out cards with QR code.

#abortion #Republicans
/1

https://jesspiper.substack.com/p/if-the-gop-cant-keep-voters-from

Finally found it. The cartoon I saw that summarizes my feeling about the Hamas-Netanyahu disaster:

If you consider yourself prolabor you should be doing what you can to drastically limit your purchases from Amazon. Ditto for Starbucks.

https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2024/05/02/legal-challenge-to-amazon-uks-new-one-click-to-quit-the-union-tool/

Guess what? The classified documents at Mar-a-Lago weren’t sent there by GSA to set Trump up, contrary to what his apologists are trying to suggest. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/30/trump-documents-case-rumor-false/

Previously: As #drought rages across #Texas, a high-tech chemical company has purchased the last available #water in the Nueces River to make hydrogen and ammonia for export. https://www.texasobserver.org/water-energy-environment-corpus/

#ClimateChange #environment #news #politics #SouthTexas #USpol #pollution

Wisdom is the queen of all seabirds, the oldest wild bird known to science at 72. When her longtime mate disappeared a few years ago, the people who monitor her colony on Midway Atoll thought she might be done breeding. And that would be fair enough. She's laid at least 50 eggs and mothered 30 chicks in her life.

But big news - she's dating again! She has been spotted dancing with new males this year.

#wisdom #birds #seabirds #albatross

(USFWS Instagram link:)
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5rJMsqLDRb/?igsh=MTlmb2trMmJpYmxweg==

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Trump’s USD 175 million bond payment is a fraud too.

In New York, a company which offers a bond cannot offer a bond worth more than 10 percent of the company’s own value, and Knight Specialty Insurance does not live up to that requirement — in fact, if the company ends up having to pay the bond, the bond is worth more than the company, meaning they would not be able to pay.

Trump now has 10 days to come up with a new solution.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-york-ag-questions-if-dollar175-million-bond-insurer-can-save-trump

PRRI has new research on the decline in American religiosity. One finding? Half of those who gave up a religious tradition say that LGBTQ intolerance was a reason why. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/27/religion-polling-lgbtq-views/

You won't be surprised that one of the Trump era's most ardent and prolific liars, and key election denier, has been hired by NBC "News" -- because that's how Big Journalism rolls these days. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/22/media/ronna-mcdaniel-nbc/index.html

This is correct, and the press keeps getting it wrong. The money Trump owes isn’t a “fine” or a “penalty.” Its DISGORGEMENT of ILL-GOTTEN GAINS. https://mstdn.social/@tristansnell/112125265736146734

Our 2023 annual report is now out. Read all about the real-world change spurred by our journalism here:
https://www.propublica.org/atpropublica/propublicas-2023-annual-report-accountability-from-the-statehouse-to-the-highest-court

Ukraine’s PM is confident US aid could arrive as soon as this month, or at the latest next month.

But, the aid to Ukraine stuck in Congress faces resistance from Republicans as well as a new issue: a potential government shutdown, which would likely create further delays.

https://kyivindependent.com/us-congress-working-to-prevent-government-shutdown-further-delays-in-ukraine-aid-likely/

The difference between the two people running for president right now could not be more stark. Forget about any policy squabbles for a second and just look at how the two candidates describe their vision of the future.

The current president consistently seeks to strike a positive, proud tone and outlook for the country, however distasteful his policies may be to 50% of the electorate. This is good and normal and very much what we have come to expect over the years from those who hold the highest office in the land, and who command the most powerful armed forces in the world.

Meanwhile, Trump has very plainly said that there will be dark days ahead for this country -- whether he wins or loses. He's not proud of this country and says so constantly, and his disdain for everything the American flag stands for is exceeded only by his incessant need to drape himself in them.

And somehow this is an appealing choice for a good chunk of the electorate? Dark days ahead, indeed.

Primatologist Frans de Waal has passed away and the world is much poorer from it #FransDeWaal. You may have seen that video of a capuchin monkey upset about not being rewarded at the same level as his neighbor for the same task, that was part of his Ted talk : https://www.ted.com/talks/frans_de_waal_moral_behavior_in_animals

Iranian authorities have executed political dissenters at what the UN chief described as ‘an alarming rate.’

But don’t expect the U.N. to act decisively.

“For the long-suffering, stateless Kurdish nation, the U.N. has so far failed to rescue them from their hell on earth,” writes Haidar Khezri of University of Central Florida.
https://theconversation.com/despite-un-warnings-irans-execution-of-kurds-and-political-dissidents-continues-unchecked-223138

You should call your House member's office and demand an answer to this question:

"Why are you trying to ban TikTok or force its sale on privacy grounds while you do absolutely nothing about rampant privacy abuses by U.S. companies -- which are free to sell private information to anyone with a checkbook?"