ceoln @ceoln@qoto.org

@xwex @GottaLaff @atrupar if Mid Romney wasn't 200 pounds of bullshit in an expensive suit, he'd name names, dates and places he had those conversations and force the issue. But he is, so here we are.

I'm scrolling through @atrupar's and Acyn's video clips of #Trump's vile spew at CPAC, now in its 2nd hour..

Sorry to be redundant, but if Biden said even ONE thing in any of those clips, it would be over for him.

Yet Trump has duped The News & all too many voters into accepting him "as is."

I don't. At all. And I am not laughing at him. He's lethal. He's toxic. He's malignant.

And the GOP Fascist Party is right there with him.

We MUST do everything we can to end this nightmare.

Study links fermented foods with brain growth

Study puts fermentation, not fire, as pivot point behind our ancestors’ increasing cranial capacity.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/02/did-fermented-foods-fuel-brain-growth/

Racing, Striving, Accelerating, Winning. And Reading. - Bribery to read teaches that reading is unpleasant, Science of reading is not settled science and kids are not all alike. https://teacherinastrangeland.blog/2024/02/24/racing-striving-accelerating-winning-and-reading/ via @nancyflanagan #Reading

@mekkaokereke Reading the transcripts about the officer in OJ's hearing makes it TRANSPARENTLY clear to what extent the LAPD is just a street gang with government funding. They're not even trying to hide it. They're proud of it.

air horn levels are 61% and rising

(61%) ■■■■■■□□□□

The increase of "Du" vs "Sie" in Germany after I moved away in 2005 remains puzzling to me (even if welcome). I just don't get the current norms at all. A bank employee used "Du" with me, so I assume Du is fine almost everywhere now? Or maybe it's regional - this was Southern Germany, would people really do this in say Hamburg, too?

Oh we’re doing “your admins can see your DMs” again?

You’ll never guess what’s true about literally every website that has a DM feature

We've seen so many interviews with trump fans, but so far heard very little directly from Americans trying to deal with the wreckage left behind by Dobbs v Jackson. Biggest story in our lifetimes, and journalism is paralyzed, unable to find the beat.

http://scripting.com/2024/02/21.html#a141513

Heritage’s recommendations for a 2nd Trump term:

(1) cripple the American immigration system
(2) force states and localities into compliance with federal administrative schemes
(3) intimidate immigrants legally living in the U.S.
https://www.niskanencenter.org/project-2025-unveiling-the-far-rights-plan-to-demolish-immigration-in-a-second-trump-term/

Of Moscow, New York and partisan perception

What was most startling about Tucker Carlson’s recent trip to Russia was his gushing over how wonderful Moscow is

While parts of Moscow offer a small elite an opulent lifestyle, Russia as a whole is more than a bit ramshackle. Around a fifth of homes don’t even have indoor toilets. For many Russians, life is poor, nasty, brutish and short: Life expectancy is substantially lower than in the U.S.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/opinion/economy-putin-tucker-carlson.html

current thirst levels are 66%

(66%) ■■■■■■□□□□

A convicted Ponzi schemer who had his 24-year sentence commuted by Trump has been indicted in what authorities say is his third investment scam.

https://www.nj.com/ocean/2024/02/convicted-ponzi-schemer-whose-sentence-was-commuted-by-trump-indicted-again.html

"We find that, since their invention, cars and automobility have killed 60–80 million people and injured at least 2 billion. Currently, 1 in 34 deaths are caused by automobility."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692324000267

@flexghost a friend told me that she was still mad that Joe Biden hasn’t canceled any debt. In her mind, because he hadn’t canceled all debt (but especially her debt) he hadn’t done anything. When I pointed to his effort that was predictably struck down by the Supreme Court, her answer is that the President should just ignore rulings he doesn’t like.

Back in reality, Biden has canceled $138 billion for almost 4 million people and the SAVE program will cancel more.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/02/21/fact-sheet-president-biden-cancels-student-debt-for-more-than-150000-student-loan-borrowers-ahead-of-schedule/

People seem to assume because I live in CA now and against the odds got an education, I need to be lectured about "getting out of red states" like I didn't grow up with a single mom in one of the worst places in the COUNTRY for it, go to college in hard right Texas, spend every summer tutoring kids in Missouri to pass standardized testing after they experienced severe brutality in their schools...I can't even list it all. GFY if you're on mastodon to lecture people like me about politics.

Tech press giving Bluesky the same treatment they gave Mastodon/fediverse after covering it in a positive light for ten minutes back in 2022. So fucking predictable. I'm not pleased with Bluesky sucking up all the decentralized social media oxygen these past several months. I mean AP fediverse didn't even get a mention in this article at all. But the "oh well I guess we just have to keep kissing Musk's ass and use Twitter" coverage is bullshit too. Ironically one of their complaints was a same one they had about Mastodon: not enough virality of shitposting content and doomscrolling. Yes, that's what the world needs :eyeroll:. Ironically they also complained that Bluesky is too much like the UX people are used to on Twitter so too boring. Meanwhile that's the opposite of their complaint about Mastodon which was just way too confusing to figure out...or something. I guess their Goldilocks zone for social media is Twitter, Tik-Tok, and Facebook/Instagram. How original Wired magazine. How very fucking original. #rant #fediverse #BigTechShouldNotExist
Bluesky’s Future Is Social Media’s Past

I've been a single issue voter since 2004 on the courts. The undoing of a GOP gerrymander so bad they even had supermajority in one house of the legislature even though the Democrats won the majority of the votes shows the power of that. If more people voted like that for POTUS in recent years we would still have Roe. We would still be able to enact gun control laws like we had until the early-2000s. We would not have resurgence of systemic disenfranchisement of minority voters throughout the country. We would not have had the Wisconsin gerrymander or comparable ones in states like North Carolina long ago. My entire life SCOTUS has been right of center and trending further right with each year. It took a sharp turn right in 2017 thanks to Trump winning the presidency. Until SCOTUS and the federal judiciary are balanced and that balanced state exists long enough for the results to percolate down into real effects I will never be able to vote for the Republican candidate for POTUS or Senate even if there was some magic wand resurgence of moderate Republicanism of mid-20th century. Voting does matter. Elections have consequences for you whether you vote in it or not. Get out and vote. Vote Democratic Party to get these courts fixed and to help us continue moving in the right direction again. #uspoli #scotus #Election2024
Wisconsin governor signs new state legislative maps into law, ending a GOP gerrymander