Gaythia Weis @Gaythia@social.cleverlibre.org

We dove deep into the situation in Florida in today’s “Is This Democracy” episode and dissected the authoritarian takeover of education, the escalating reactionary campaign to stifle, censor, and ban any dissent from the white nationalist woldview. This is a proper emergency. It needs to be treated as such. /end https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-the-murder-of-tyre-nichols-the/id1652741954?i=1000597862704

A dry couple of weeks has allowed the snow-water equivalent value of the Columbia River watershed to fall to 85% of average for this time of year. The Snake River watershed is the best area, with 95% of normal. We still have quite a bit of winter to go, with average SWE peaking in early April.

#weather #wawx #orwx #idwx #bcstorm

A major drought continues in the Upper Mackenzie watershed of Canada (generally between Edmonton and Great Slave Lake). The Peace River watershed is near 62% of normal, which is improved from a few weeks ago but not by much.

Peace River conditions can impact how much water BC Hydro runs through Columbia River (and other) dams in the spring as they have large hydroelectric operations on the Peace River. Less water there means they need to make up generation elsewhere.

#BCstorm #ABstorm #weather

And now NBC News has an excellent article out on the homophobic smear campaign targeting #gigisohn

Still crickets from the White House and Senate Democrats...

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/fcc-gigi-sohn-nomination-turns-ugly-rcna68224

Some US history books will talk about the "Great migration" when about 6 million Black folk fled the South and headed to the North and West of the US.

It's often framed as "Black folk headed North and West looking for jobs." But if you talk to Black folk with relatives that left the South during this time, they'll tell you that their families were fleeing economic persecution in the South: having their money and stuff stolen through lynching, false imprisonment, straight up theft, etc.

This isn't a cost of living crisis. This is an excess profit crisis.

Our climate, energy and economic crisis is caused by the extreme greed of the richest 1%.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-makes-record-40-billion-annual-profit-2023-02-02/

I wish I had more great #worldwetlandsday content for you #today, but I’m sick and struggling to make it through the work day. I did get to #teach a virtual classroom of 4th year students about how we do conservation science and I spent the afternoon in a grad student’s proposal defence helping her make her #wetlands research as impactful as possible. But I’m pretty burnt out and sick folks 😢. We have so much work to do to #SaveOntarioWetlands

Today is the #WorldWetlandsDay. I can only hope that this place, which I pass many times on my way to work, will still be so wet in the coming years.

#Polesia #wetlands

Nice blurb on my forthcoming book from UC Merced. https://cogsci.ucmerced.edu/news/2023/want-use-math-and-computers-understand-society-read-prof-smaldinos-new-book

Damning story by @ProPublica reveals UnitedHealthcare's pursuit of a top goal for private medical insurance companies in the U.S.—spend as little on actual health care as possible.

Records uncovered by a family that sued UHC over claim denials "offer an extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at how one of America's leading health care insurers relentlessly fought to reduce spending on care, even as its profits rose to record levels." https://www.propublica.org/article/unitedhealth-healthcare-insurance-denial-ulcerative-colitis #health #healthcare

Documents and recordings offer an extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at how one of America's leading health care insurers, ⁦‪@UHC‬⁩, relentlessly fought to reduce spending on care, even as its profits rose to record levels. ⁦‪@ProPublica‬⁩

https://www.propublica.org/article/unitedhealth-healthcare-insurance-denial-ulcerative-colitis

We don't talk enough about how morally bankrupt the insurance industry is. Like bottom of the barrel bare-faced profit-over-people practises.

At best they nickel and dime people who have been through trauma. Too often they are much worse.

Hiding behind the loopholes and inaccessible language of policies to wriggle out of holding up their end of bargains. Burying people in crisis in bureaucracy hoping they'll give up.

Read this from @ProPublica https://www.propublica.org/article/unitedhealth-healthcare-insurance-denial-ulcerative-colitis

Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !

I'm still not ready to talk about Black history. I want to talk about white US history.

Q: "Why don't Black people build any generational wealth? Newer immigrant groups seem to be doing just fine? Must be a lazy and shiftless people!"

A: Because for most of US history, white folk have *intentionally* destroyed the wealthiest Black neighborhoods in the US and stolen all the wealth.

Greenwood. Allentown. Seneca Village. Rosewood. Freedmen's town.

#BlackMastodon

Shameful to see the College Board cave to the demands of DeSantis and white supremacists, especially as we kick off Black History Month. Just shameful.

Good morning, the empty bookshelves in Florida schools keep my head busy, since I'm a teacher with a library in my classroom in Berlin myself. That's a history lesson in front of our very eyes and exactly how fascism started in Germany. Books were banned and then burnt and everyone said, well, I can't do anything, I don't want to loose my job, I don't like it, but... Many little steps were made by many little people who didn't stand up against a new little rule. You know how this ends.

This is important — closing Central #Madrid to cars over holidays resulted in a 9.5% boost in retail spending on its main shopping street: STUDY.

There was also a 71% drop in air pollution.

Via @carltonreid in Forbes. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople #cities #cars #streets #urbanism #Spain

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/03/08/closing-central-madrid-to-cars-resulted-in-9-5-boost-to-retail-spending-finds-bank-analysis/

@StillIRise1963 Not an answer, but extremely important context:

“Between 2010 and 2016, the number of disenfranchised Floridians grew by nearly 150,000 to an estimated total of 1,686,000. In 2016, more than one in five of Florida’s Black voting-age population was disenfranchised.”

It’s not just about changing mind. It’s about Jim Crow.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-rights-restoration-efforts-florida

The Brooklyn Public Library Gives Every Teenager in the U.S. Free Access to Censored Books

https://www.openculture.com/2023/01/the-brooklyn-public-library-gives-every-teenager-in-the-u-s-free-access-to-censored-books.html

If you want to read one thing on DeSantis' attempt to mandate state history and censor black history, read this astute comment by @Jelaniya histodons: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/02/06/ron-desantis-battles-the-african-american-ap-course-and-history?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Magazine_Daily_013023&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5c192664f730431b75254506&cndid=55695599&hasha=1ce6fe0fb4ec2af92ddf4642e6c3756e&hashb=099b60d52365ea4c2d25b84e86a605aff0739cf4&hashc=0a8efecca4b62757268ae564559f0c94fa2b776d8b36c0f9fd495a55556f97ef&esrc=&utm_term=TNY_Daily

I don’t know if my mastodon follower reach is enough to get traction but can anyone direct me to resources in the UK for trans and non gender conforming people who get illegally terminated from work as a teacher? Like are there legal groups addressing that there?