Eric J. Korpela @SETIEric@social.cleverlibre.org

I continue to be mystified by the sentiment that being a First Amendment advocate means *socially* tolerating people I find obnoxious or contemptible. I keep getting “what kind of free speech advocate blocks people?” The kind who doesn’t deal with assholes when not professionally compelled to do so. The First Amendment isn’t a hair shirt.

No increase in death in young people following mRNA vaccines compared to increased cardiac and all cause mortality following positive Covid test.
#COVID #vaccines https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36494-0

You can’t “politicize” US gun violence. It’s already political. Every other rich democracy in the world has sane gun laws. That’s the default. To do otherwise was a political choice.

Tolerating the routine mass slaughter of civilians *is* an inherently political choice.

Good morning, Fediverse! We'll be getting fresh content up on our website this afternoon! Thank you so much to everyone—so many folks are sharing about our fundraiser and giving so generously, we are all incredibly moved. 🤠

Please keep sharing our fundraiser, which will either cover magazine expenses or go directly to severence for laid off TXO staff. https://www.gofundme.com/f/laid-off-texas-observer-journalists-and-staff

A lot of people are asking about long term plans for the publication. ... (🧵 1/?)

#SaveTXO #journalism #nonprofit

Angry Staffer:

Reminder, David Pecker reportedly had a *safe full* of damaging Donald #Trump stories as part of their “catch and kill” (payoff) scheme.

Sounds like they’re looking at more than just Stormy.

MuellerSheWrote:

BREAKING: From Garrett Haake : An individual has just LEFT the DA's office that looks a lot like DAVID PECKER. He had already testified before the Grand Jury. The #GrandJury has another hour left. There's still time for more developments. #legal

America leads the world in gun deaths for two reasons.

1) We have too many guns.
2) We have too many Republicans.

Germany is brought to a standstill over the largest strike in decades

In France, massive protests over pension “reform”

In Israel, a general strike sweeps the nation in opposition to Netanyahu's right-wing judicial takeover

Employers vow to pay protesters their full wage.

In America...😬

If we had a general strike we would have our reproductive rights, sensible gun control, living wages...

Taft Hartley killed the power of unions in America and citizens United wrote the eulogy

Lol that's so obviously fake and satire. It shows Trump running ffs.

Elon Musk has admitted that he’s already lost $20 billion in value from what he paid for Twitter. So, why do so many see him as an infallible business visionary? In case you missed it, I explained here, the “Myth of the Secret Genius”: https://brianklaas.substack.com/p/the-myth-of-the-secret-genius

Publishers Get One Step Closer To Killing Libraries - https://www.techdirt.com/2023/03/27/publishers-get-one-step-closer-to-killing-libraries/ excellent, detailed analysis by @mmasnick of terrible ruling in @internetarchive case, and why it is wrong, wrong, wrong #copyright

Tennessee MAGA GOP have successfully banned drag shows, banned teaching about America's history racism in schools, and just last week advanced a bill to expand concealed carry from handguns to ALL firearms—calling it a "civil right."

Covenant School is a private Christian school.

I don't want to hear a word from MAGA extremists who claim mass shootings happen b/c "we've taken God out of school."

It's not God out of schools that's the problem—it's NRA & gun lobby money in your coffers that is.

The Internet Archive's digital book lending feature infringes the copyrights of four major US book publishers, a District Court judge ruled last week. https://www.pcmag.com/news/judge-internet-archives-ebook-lending-program-violates-publisher-copyrights

The ‘Shameful’ End of Texas Observer, a Crucial Muckraker, via The Daily Beast and a former stagger, one of so many our publication cultivated over decades.

We are still hopeful the board will accept our counter proposal, step aside and allow us to try to save the Obswrver:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-shameful-end-of-texas-observer-a-crucial-muckraker

Baseless conspiracy theories have driven several states to leave a group that helps officials improve the accuracy of voter rolls. It’s a win for disinformation and a loss for good election administration.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/states-cave-conspiracy-theories-and-leave-voter-data-cooperative-eric

The #SupremeCourt declined a request from voters in #Kansas to review a state court decision they say allows for racial #gerrymandering of congressional districts there. https://t.co/TYFV6GgHA8

We understand some staff may be setting up a GoFundMe to support us. Stay tuned for info as we are able to share it.

Texas Observer, legendary crusading liberal magazine, is closing and laying off its staff https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/26/texas-observer-shutting-down/?utm_campaign=trib-social-buttons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social via @texastribune

Well, I just found out the Texas Observer is shutting down at the end of the week and I'm, quite abruptly and with no warning, out of work.

Pass your leads on to me.

Pains me to say this, but I don't think institutional journalists will be flocking to the Fediverse any time soon.

And as much as individual journalists might be all right, their work is largely compromised by the Rupert Murdochs of the world.

If we want great journalism on the Fediverse, we’re going to have to build this ourselves.

A near-term solution is with Friendica Groups, which can be moderated.

But long-term, we’ll need co-ops and non-profits to make this happen.