#Program Implementation Guideline

[sagunpaudel]

Guideline for Medical Treatment of Deprived Citizens (Bipanna Nagarik Ausadi Upachar) Program

The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has endorsed program implementation guidelines for the Medical Treatment of Deprived Citizens. This program provides benefits to poorer citizens for the treatment of heart diseases, kidney diseases, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, spinal injury, head injury, and sickle cell anemia. Download PDF file List of Hospitals for Medical…

[reasonsforhope]

"Seven federal agencies are partnering to implement President Biden’s American Climate Corps, announcing this week they would work together to recruit 20,000 young Americans and fulfill the administration's vision for the new program. 

The goals spelled out in the memorandum of understanding include comprehensively tackling climate change, creating partnerships throughout various levels of government and the private sector, building a diverse corps and serving all American communities.

The agencies—which included the departments of Commerce, Interior, Agriculture, Labor and Energy, as well the Environmental Protection Agency and AmeriCorps—also vowed to ensure a “range of compensation and benefits” that open the positions up to a wider array of individuals and to create pathways to “high-quality employment.”  

Leaders from each of the seven agencies will form an executive committee for the Climate Corps, which Biden established in September, that will coordinate efforts with an accompanying working group. They will create the standards for ACC programs, set compensation guidelines and minimum terms of service, develop recruitment strategies, launch a centralized website and establish performance goals and objectives. The ACC groups will, beginning in January, hold listening sessions with potential applicants, labor unions, state and local governments, educational institutions and other stakeholders. 

The working group will also review all federal statutes and hiring authorities to remove any barriers to onboarding for the corps and standardize the practices across all participating agencies. Benefits for corps members will include housing, transportation, health care, child care, educational credit, scholarships and student loan forgiveness, stipends and non-financial services.

As part of the goal of the ACC, agencies will develop the corps so they can transition to “high-quality, family-sustaining careers with mobility potential” in the federal or other sectors. AmeriCorps CEO Michael Smith said the initiative would prepare young people for “good-paying union jobs.” 

Within three weeks of rolling out the ACC, EPA said more than 40,000 people—mostly in the 18-35 age range—expressed interest in joining the corps. The administration set an ambitious goal for getting the program underway, aiming to establish the corps’ first cohort in the summer of 2024. 

The corps members will work in roles related to ecosystem restoration and conservation, reforestation, waterway protection, recycling, energy conservation, clean energy deployment, disaster preparedness and recovery, fire resilience, resilient recreation infrastructure, research and outreach. The administration will look to ensure 40% of the climate-related investments flow to disadvantaged communities as part of its Justice40 initiative.  

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the MOU would allow the ACC to “work across the federal family” to push public projects focused on environmental justice and clean energy. 

“The Climate Corps represents a significant step forward in engaging and nurturing young leaders who are passionate about climate action, furthering our journey towards a sustainable and equitable future,” Regan said. 

The ACC’s executive committee will hold its first meeting within the next 30 days. It will draw support from a new climate hub within AmeriCorps, as well as any staffing the agency heads designate."

-via Government Executive, December 20, 2023

-

This news comes with your regularly scheduled reminder that WE GOT THE AMERICAN CLIMATE CORPS ESTABLISHED LAST YEAR and basically no one know about/remembers it!!! Also if you want more info about the Climate Corps, inc. how to join, you can sign up to get updates here.

[lotus-tower]

For those who don't know, there's going to be a demonstration for Long Covid on March 15, which is Long Covid Awareness Day since 2023. You can find the LCDC website here.

Their stated goals:

1. Declare Long Covid a National Emergency. 2.  Implement Emergency Use Authorization for drug repurposing and trials. 3.  Establish annual funding for Long Covid programs and research to find a cure. 4.  Ensure racial and gender health equity in research, access to clinical trials, antiviral drug repurposing, preventative measures, educational campaigns, and social services.  5. Enact Clean Indoor Air Laws to prevent SARS-CoV-2 forward transmission in public spaces and forced-congregant settings. 6. Implement respirator use and clean air protections in healthcare facilities. Additionally, devise strategies to ensure immunocompromised patients or those with Long Covid are given reasonable accommodations and are not penalized. Enforce protected class status for people with Long Covid as disabled. 7.  Fast-track compassionate allowance and sufficient social support for people with Long Covid in addition to increased funding for Home and Community Based Services.  8.  Develop guidelines for physicians on Long Covid and continuing education on breaking research. 9.  Acknowledge that Long Covid affects children and implement specialized care immediately. 10. Public tracking of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater at Publicly Owned Treatment Works and provide affordable PCR testing nationwide.  11. Establish regular White House press communication regarding progress toward stated goals and real time data for Covid transmission awareness.

There's a gofundme here to raise funds for a stage, sound equipment, respirators, and multimedia equipment in order to stream the event to those who can't physically attend. If you can spare a few bucks I encourage you to donate. Any leftover funds will go to Long Covid research.

If you have Long Covid or know someone who does, LCDC is also looking for stories/personal accounts for their media projects.

[tomorrowusa]

If you want to know what the US would be like during a second Trump-Pence-Vance administration, just visit some red states.

Utah has just unleashed a wave of book bans and almost all the banned authors are female.

Books by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur and Sarah J Maas are among 13 titles that the state of Utah has ordered to be removed from all public school classrooms and libraries. This marks the first time a state has outlawed a list of books statewide, according to PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman, who oversees the organisation’s free expression programs. The books on the list were prohibited under a new law requiring all of Utah’s public school districts to remove books if they are banned in either three districts, or two school districts and five charter schools. Utah has 41 public school districts in total. The 13 books could be banned under House bill 29, which became effective from 1 July, because they were considered to contain “pornographic or indecent” material. The list “will likely be updated as more books begin to meet the law’s criteria”, according to PEN America. Twelve of the 13 titles were written by women. Six books by Maas, a fantasy author, appear on the list, along with Oryx and Crake by Atwood, Milk and Honey by Kaur and Forever by Blume. Two books by Ellen Hopkins appear, as well as Elana K Arnold’s What Girls Are Made Of and Craig Thompson’s Blankets.

Utah is looking for a way of "legally" disposing of the books because burning them would invite obvious comparisons with Nazis.

Implementation guidelines say that banned materials must be “legally disposed of” and “may not be sold or distributed”. PEN America Freedom to Read programme director Kasey Meehan said that such “vague” guidelines will “undoubtedly result in dumpsters full of books that could otherwise be enjoyed by readers” and that while they stop short of “calling for book burning, the effect is the same: a signal that some books are too dangerous”. Let Utah Read, a coalition of organisations, librarians, teachers and parents among others, has started a petition to “fix the ‘sensitive materials’ law”. “It is a dark day for the freedom to read in Utah,” said Meehan. The list of banned books “will impose a dystopian censorship regime across public schools and, in many cases, will directly contravene local preferences. Allowing just a handful of districts to make decisions for the whole state is anti-democratic.”

I hope that Utah school library users and librarians manage to hide the books so that the MAGA book-banning fascists can't destroy them.

The Republican Party which gave us Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Ron DeSantis, and Marjorie Taylor Greene runs Utah with an iron fist. Republicans have given up on even the pretense of freedom. They have unapologetically gone full blown authoritarian. As such, they should not be entrusted with any elected office at any level in the United States.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Dear MagISoWo,

Hello! I really appreciate all of the good work you do for our community! My three-year-old daughter just started this year at our town's public preschool program and is the only faun in her school. She does qualify for the free school breakfast and lunch program and it's been a godsend for me as a single dad on a delivery driver's wage, you know? Anyway, you might or might not know that fauns need significantly more of certain minerals such as sodium as compared to humans. Most of us, if we're eating human-style food, add a supplemental mineral mix -- salt mixed with granular forms of the other minerals we need. Given my daughter's young age, I arranged with her teachers to have her minerals added to her food when they give it her, and as of the time she enrolled none of them indicated that this might be a problem. However, the other day she came home from school with a stomachache and mentioned that her substitute teacher had told her that she wasn't allowed to have her minerals. I went to the principal hoping to get this cleared up, and apparently this was the first he'd heard of our arrangement, and he stated that the substitute had acted correctly in his view, and that her regular classroom teachers would also no longer be allowed to serve her the food with the mineral mix now that he'd been made aware. Apparently their nutritional guidelines forbid serving food with added sodium because of the health risks for human children, and they would be at risk of losing their federal food program funding. They told me that if I want to have more control over what my daughter eats at school I'm always welcome to send packed lunches from home, but grocery money is tight as it is and it would be a financial challenge to pull her out of the free meals program. Do I have any recourse here? Are there protections for magical children in situations like this?

Thank you

Hello,

We're very sorry to hear that you ran into trouble at your child's school. The School Meals program is meant to make life easier, not more stressful and it is definitely not meant to exclude non-human students. Providing this kind of service on a national schale is relatively new, however, and a lot of schools still have some trouble with the practical implementation. We hope your principal has simply misunderstood the regulations of the program, because there is definitely room to adapt meals according to a child's personal dietary needs.

Sadly there is not one clear statement in the program's terms we can point to for an immediate solution, because different solutions are suggested for different situations. Some children require very different food than their fellow students. (Such as uncooked meat, blood, coal, raw honey, etc.) And schools cannot be expected to provide meals suitable for every single diet.

Some children, like your daughter, only need small changes to a meal. Like eliminating a certain ingredient or adding a supplement. The School Meals program encourages schools to accomodate these students by having the parent or guardian of the child to provide an explicit instruction on how their child's meal is to be changed, and to sign this document to give the school permission to do so. We will enclose the link to the government page on the School Meals program where this suggestion is explained. If you provide such a document, plus the supplements your child needs, we expect the school will comply.

However, schools do have the option to refuse adding supplements or medications to children's meals, if they deem it too difficult a procedure to carry responsiblity for. It does not sound like this applies in your case, but if they choose to go this route you can always apply for Grocery Cards instead. These are also provided by the School Meals program, and function as coupons that can be used in most super markets, bakeries and farmers markets. They are mean especially for everyone who wants to ensure their children eat well, but cannot easily make use of the meals provided at their school. We will enclose a flyer on how to apply for them, should you want to look into that option. Considering your current situation, you should already qualify.

Best of luck and please don't hesitate to come to one of our local after school activities if you could use a hand with anything else!

~ the MagiSoWo Team

[critical-skeptic]

Under QMAGA's Eye

Project 2025 is an audacious attempt by the conservative extreme right to solidify and expand their grip on American governance, driven by an alarming obsession with reshaping the country into a dystopian vision reminiscent of Gilead from "The Handmaid's Tale." This initiative is not just a policy blueprint; it is a manifesto that reveals the radical ambitions of a movement hell-bent on dismantling the progress made over decades in favor of a regressive, authoritarian future.

At its core, Project 2025 aims to entrench a conservative agenda through a comprehensive policy guide, a personnel database, training programs, and a detailed 180-day playbook designed to enact swift and sweeping changes. This project, spearheaded by The Heritage Foundation, underscores a chilling strategy to fill key government positions with ideologically aligned individuals who will faithfully execute its regressive policies from day one of a new conservative administration.

The Parallels to Gilead

The policy prescriptions outlined in Project 2025 are disturbingly similar to the totalitarian regime depicted in Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." The proposed measures to eliminate terms like "abortion" and "reproductive rights" from federal policies and the reinstatement of the Comstock Act to restrict mail-order abortions reveal a deep-seated desire to control women's bodies and reproductive choices. This is not just about policy; it's about rolling back fundamental rights and reducing women to state-controlled vessels, much like the Handmaids in Gilead.

Moreover, the call to defund Planned Parenthood and penalize providers of reproductive health services through Medicaid restructuring highlights a deliberate effort to dismantle the healthcare safety net that many rely on. The emphasis on "fertility awareness-based" contraception methods and the removal of condoms from preventative health guidelines further underscore an agenda that is more about ideological purity than public health.

The Authoritarian Blueprint

Project 2025's vision extends beyond social issues to a broader authoritarian restructuring of the government. The playbook for the first 180 days includes plans to dismantle the so-called "deep state" by purging perceived enemies within federal agencies and replacing them with loyalists. This is eerily reminiscent of purges seen in authoritarian regimes, where dissent is crushed, and only the faithful are allowed to wield power.

This project is not just about winning elections; it's about creating an environment where the conservative agenda can be implemented unchallenged. The training programs and personnel database aim to build a cadre of ideologically pure administrators who will implement these policies without question. This is a clear attempt to bypass the checks and balances that are fundamental to American democracy.

The Trump Factor

A second term for Donald Trump, especially under the guidance of Project 2025, would be catastrophic. In his first term, Trump was often seen as an unpredictable and chaotic leader, but this time, he would have a meticulously crafted blueprint and a network of loyalists ready to execute his vision. The country's current polarized state, combined with the advanced propaganda tools already in place, would make it much easier for Trump to push through his agenda with minimal resistance.

The international stage is also more destabilized now, and Trump's return would likely exacerbate global tensions. His administration's disregard for diplomatic norms and alliances would further isolate the United States, making it a rogue actor in an increasingly interconnected world.

The Call to Action

The stakes could not be higher. Project 2025 represents a clear and present danger to the principles of democracy, equality, and human rights. It is a call to arms for those who believe in a progressive, inclusive future to recognize the seriousness of this threat and mobilize against it. The potential for a second Trump term, empowered by this blueprint, would not just be a repeat of the past; it would be an acceleration towards a dystopian future where the most regressive elements of society hold sway.

In conclusion, Project 2025 is more than a conservative playbook; it is a radical manifesto with the potential to reshape America into a nightmarish vision of authoritarian control and social regression. The time to act is now, before this dark vision becomes a reality.

[frank-olivier]

The Future of Justice: Navigating the Intersection of AI, Judges, and Human Oversight

One of the main benefits of AI in the justice system is its ability to analyze vast amounts of data and identify patterns that human judges may not notice. For example, the use of AI in the U.S. justice system has led to a significant reduction in the number of misjudgments, as AI-powered tools were able to identify potential biases in the data and make more accurate recommendations.

However, the use of AI in the justice system also raises significant concerns about the role of human judges and the need for oversight. As AI takes on an increasingly important role in decision-making, judges must find the balance between trusting AI and exercising their own judgement. This requires a deep understanding of the technology and its limitations, as well as the ability to critically evaluate the recommendations provided by AI.

The European Union's approach to AI in justice provides a valuable framework for other countries to follow. The EU's framework emphasizes the need for human oversight and accountability and recognizes that AI is a tool that should support judges, not replace them. This approach is reflected in the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires AI systems to be transparent, explainable and accountable.

The use of AI in the justice system also comes with its pitfalls. One of the biggest concerns is the possibility of bias in AI-generated recommendations. When AI is trained with skewed data, it can perpetuate and even reinforce existing biases, leading to unfair outcomes. For example, a study by the American Civil Liberties Union found that AI-powered facial recognition systems are more likely to misidentify people of color than white people.

To address these concerns, it is essential to develop and implement robust oversight mechanisms to ensure that AI systems are transparent, explainable and accountable. This includes conducting regular audits and testing of AI systems and providing clear guidelines and regulations for the use of AI in the justice system.

In addition to oversight mechanisms, it is also important to develop and implement education and training programs for judges and other justice professionals. This will enable them to understand the capabilities and limitations of AI, as well as the potential risks and challenges associated with its use. By providing judges with the necessary skills and knowledge, we can ensure that AI is used in a way that supports judges and enhances the fairness and accountability of the justice system.

Human Centric AI - Ethics, Regulation. and Safety (Vilnius University Faculty of Law, October 2024)

Friday, November 1, 2024

[marveltrumpshate]

Equity & Access

We have many organizations that are fighting for equity of marginalized groups through legal advocacy and services or urgent crisis/medical relief, but we also wanted to highlight the ones that are working towards equity and access from a non-legal/relief perspective. 

For more information on donation methods and accepted currencies, please refer to our list of organizations page.

Amputee Coalition

The Amputee Coalition supports, educates, and advocates for people impacted by limb loss and limb difference as well as their families and caretakers. They developed the National Limb Loss Resource Center, have a large focus on peer support programs, advocate on the federal and state level, and offer educational programming. They also fund local chapters that serve amputees across the globe.  

Assistance Dogs International

Assistance dogs are essential to millions around the world but are cost-prohibitive for many. Supporting this organization will mean that this essential service is less of an economic burden for those who need it. In addition to training and placement, ADI advocates for the legal rights of people with disabilities partnered with assistance dogs and sets standards, guidelines, and ethics for training the dogs.

Clean Air Task Force

As we've seen for a long time now but especially this year with constant natural disasters and alarming news from all over the world, climate change is real and we need to do something about it. Over the past 25 years, CATF, a group of climate and energy experts who think outside the box to solve the climate crisis, has pushed for technology innovations, legal advocacy, research, and policy changes. Their goal is to achieve a zero-emissions, high-energy planet at an affordable cost. Everyone deserves clean air and CATF ensures access to the planet for all of us, which science tells us hangs in the balance. 

Global Fund for Women

Global Fund for Women is the largest global organization for gender justice. They support grassroots feminist movements and organizations around the world for maximum local impact and have provided over $184 million in grants to 5,000+ women’s funds in 176 countries over the past three decades. Their recent focus has been providing mobilization and networking resources for women and girls in their own communities and amplifying those voices so they’re heard in the global community.

The Pad Project

Period stigma and lack of access to affordable, safe, and effective menstrual products are a global problem. The Pad Project partners with local communities internationally to serve people of all genders who menstruate through funding the placement of pad machines and implementing washable pad programs. They also pair menstrual product access with education—workshops on menstrual hygiene management and sexual and reproductive health and their award-winning documentary, Period. End of Sentence.

Waterkeeper Alliance

In 1966, this movement was started by a band of blue-collar fishermen pushing back against industrial polluters, and their tough spirit remains intact through the 300+ local community groups that make up the global Waterkeeper Alliance today. The Alliance works to ensure, preserve, and protect clean and abundant water for all people and creatures. Their programs are diverse, spanning from patrolling waterways against polluters to advocating for environmental laws in courtrooms and town halls and educating in classrooms.

World Literacy Foundation

Reading opens doors, both to other worlds and in real life. When someone acquires literacy skills, they’re able to access better opportunities and societal integration; they can gain better healthcare access, fill out job applications, and more. The World Literacy Foundation provides disadvantaged children with books, educational resources, and literacy support, and they use innovative tech, e-books, and digital activities to advance the learning of children in remote areas. On a community level, the WLF equips parents to support their children in their learning through mentorship programs and empowers people to advocate for literacy in their communities.

[sagunpaudel]

Program Implementation Guideline (Local Level) 2080/81

The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) Nepal has released new program implementation guidelines for local levels for the fiscal year 2080/81. This guideline aims to provide technical and financial norms for local levels. This guideline consists of program introduction, objectives, expected outputs, process of implementation, recording reporting, reference documents and budget information…

[tamelee]

Hii tamelee! If I remember correctly, you’re studying storytelling, is that right? I wondered if you could explain in details what kind of school you’re going, or just what exactly you are doing in your studies? If it’s okay with you of course 😊

Have a good day :)

Hi~! Yeah, sure! 

I did marketing, (communication and entertainment), but then finished audiovisual and graphic design because I liked that much better than learning about how manipulative the industries are tbh. Unfortunately, I found out quickly, that pretty much every job in that industry has been taken over by AI and that even me learning how to draw wasn’t going to help me with that anymore either 🥲. Then, I continued doing Storytelling in the communication sector (where, yet again I learned about all the ways people are being manipulated -.-) because it’s quite a new official study. And then, I was accepted to apply for the program that focusses more on fiction— and got in. Which I’m doing right now (though I’m almost done).  

In short, what I learned about Storytelling in business is that organizations use the elements of fictional storytelling combined with science (both internally and externally) in order to influence and convince the attitude, knowledge and behavioral patterns for the right audiences that are targeted by a certain communication goal. That goes so far that even the science about our brains are dissected to figure out the best ways in which the organization can redirect your neurotransmitters and hormones to benefit the storyteller. Even if you know you’re being manipulated, (for example, through a commercial that’s shamelessly stomping on your morals through a guilt-trip, or a product in the store that’s obnoxiously being shoved in front of you), often it’s still about targeting your subconscious and trust me when I say that if you enjoy spending time on the internet, it happens to you all the time and you don’t even know it :D 

And yes, companies like shueisha/VIZ are masters in this as well— hence me disappointingly complimenting that skill at times.  

So, imagine my joy when I crossed the bridge toward fiction. 

Fictional storytelling is where I dissect not the science of a human brain exactly, but the story that’s being told. I have to figure out all the elements and literary devices that are being used and what they mean in the story. Not what it means to me, but finding meaning through the Theme the author/creator has used, and why. It’s about how a story is structured and what impacts people on an emotional level for their benefit (mostly). Why a story works and keeps you up all night, why others are usually almost always forgotten quickly. It’s not as subjective as people may think. Interpretation doesn’t mean much unless there’s intentionally room for it. (And when something is intentional or when it’s not.) There’s also science in its logic, but that’s not something most authors/creators focus on. And they really shouldn’t have to imo. It’s also knowing about character arcs and how to implement symbolism and motifs effectively. I have to write essays on movies and books or even TED talks. It’s using knowledge to figure out the why, what and how. 

I think it’s awesome as a study, but other than some creative writing lessons, it won’t help me with great prose. It’s hard for me to connect with my own emotions and body which is something a lot of great authors can do really well. Either naturally or having to have practiced the connection with their personal emotional intelligence in order to write their Truth in their own authentic way through their characters. I read many books outside of my study from scriptwriters as well which were helpful. None of it is any reassurance I’ll be able to write my own story effectively though. It’s more a guideline of sorts with knowledge and structure which a neurodivergent like me (yes, I’m diagnosed officially) really needs xD. I still have to practice a lot! ^^  Hope you have a good day as well 🌷!

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

World Food Day: Brazil launches programs to achieve zero hunger

National Agroecology and Organic Production Plan and National Food Supply Plan were launched on Wednesday (16)

Brazil's federal government launched two programs on World Food Day, Wednesday (16): the National Agroecology and Organic Production Plan (PLANAPO, in Portuguese) and the National Food Supply Plan. The ceremony took place at the Planalto Palace in Brasília.

The Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party) demanded commitment from the ministries to make the plans launched a reality. “Ministers and civil society organizations that helped build this program know that, from now on, we must work hard to implement it. Because once it's announced, it can't be a dead word, it has to happen,” he said. “I'll be there for you,” he warned.

The PLANAPO program is in its third edition and was created by a specific commission made up of 21 government bodies, including 14 ministries and 21 civil society organizations. It contains the guidelines for an agroecological transition in Brazilian agriculture.

The Food Supply program is a new initiative that seeks to design a series of actions to ensure that the population has access to adequate food.

Continue reading.

[captainx-camino]

Someone commented on an old video recently asking me (genuinely) if one of my speed paints was AI because 1) it was broken up into highlights for TikTok, and 2) I have a very unorthodox sketching process. So, I have decided to show the entire ass backwards way I sketch out the nearly incomprehensible nonsense that my mush brain spits out at me.

To preface, I use Ibis paint x on a cell phone.

I do not have a fancy program like procreate or clip studio, or even a tablet and a lot of how I work has evolved from what I have found works the best for drawing on my tiny, little, shitty phone screen.

That being said....

A speed paint video

To begin, I rarely map faces more than just very basic shapes. (Though, I will admit the structures can get more complex the less comfortable I am with drawing the face.) I usually start with a very basic framework that I implement half from just years of practice in drawing faces and becoming more comfortable with those base shapes, as well as the fact that I'm already aware I will inevitably be over using the liquify pen. Now, I would like to say this is a crutch and I just do it because it's easy, but unfortunately it's actually just because I have fat fingers and a tiny screen (sometimes I can place lines better with my pen but it's still a really small surface to work with) and it's just less of a headache to address the lines with liquify than redoing them a million times or zooming in so close that I lose the rest of the picture.

I will often start with faces because they tend to have the most small details. From there, I will then usually shrink the drawing down and place it about where I think it'll need to be to draw the next part, all while less than strategically erasing the piss poor guidelines I had originally given myself.

SOMETIMES I will save my guides of a second layer in case I might need them later, but that's about as far as I ever plan ahead to be honest...

And we can see that in the next part where after scribbling in a few vague marks for their hair I then IMMEDIATELY regret erasing my head guides and hastily sketch them back in so I can proceed to poorly map out their bodies (most of which I will inevitably be covering up anyway, which I KNEW was going to happen with this one and I cursed myself the entire time). I then fill in where I want all the glorious hair, which fills up the rest of the blank space in the art with fun and interesting shapes and conveys the lore of the AU.

After this, and to take this from a sketch to actual lineart, I will clean up some of the lines on a second layer and keep some of the original sketch features where I like them. This helps me keep the life of the original sketch while also allowing me to clean up the more scratchy lines, which usually produces a pretty nice, clean looking line work.

Should I do a lore drop for my AU next??

Kinda want to...

[gatekeeper-watchman]

Here are some best practices and ideas for your agency to help implement and craft a successful social media program.

1. Don’t be afraid to be “different”: Agencies such as Sarasota Florida, Pasco Washington, and St Anthony Minnesota all have hugely successful social media programs. They take smart but calculated risks and post content that is not the “typical” police type information, i.e. “this suspect is wanted” and “traffic alert at Main Street” postings. Successful social media programs humanize officers, show the community in a good light as well as have a sense of humor because sometimes a photo of cops eating a donut is just funny, so go ahead and post it.

2. Not everyone will “like” you, understand, and accept criticism online. Sometimes people just want a voice and to be heard. By showing transparency your agency will be practicing procedural justice and helping to build trust in your community.

3. Have a good disclaimer on your page telling users that they need to adhere to the civil guidelines outlined in the disclaimer. You can see a good example at https://hawthornepolice.com/disclaimer

4. Start small; don’t expect social media success overnight, your social media presence will always be a work in progress. Consider starting on a single platform such as Facebook or Instagram.

5. Make sure your social media team understands the vision of what your agency wants to project for each social media platform understand the differences between Snapchat, Nextdoor Facebook, etc., and understand that they are not the same, so the message should be tailored accordingly.

6. Be responsive but don’t create an expectation that citizens can post a message on social media and expect an immediate response. A general rule is never to respond more than twice to a posting and don’t get into “arguments” give the appropriate information and move on.

7. Photos work wonders, take the extra time to craft good photos and videos. Don’t post out-of-focus photos or lots of “posed” shots. Selfies are great, people smile and laugh when they take selfies so don’t be afraid of them. Don’t post too many photos, save some good ones for a rainy day.

8. Empower and trust your social media team, let them do what they do best, and do not micro-manage the social media accounts.

9. “Stalk” other police social media accounts around the world, there are some very good ones and you will get some great ideas just from following them. So if your agency does not have a social media program, they need to seriously consider starting one because they are missing out on a great tool for community policing and the ability to disseminate information and reduce crime. The COPS Office is here to help your agency and can put you in touch with experts to guide you through the process. Good luck and “see you” soon on social media.

[mariacallous]

Higher education governing boards are responsible for developing and overseeing the implementation of policies related to the mission and goals of the institutions under their charge. These responsibilities typically include approval of new programs, selecting and evaluating campus leaders, overseeing budget requests, ensuring financial stability, and setting tuition and fee structures. Higher education governance structures vary substantially across states.

In Nevada, a single Board of Regents was initially established in the state’s 1864 constitution in order to access federal resources to establish land grant colleges. Since then, all of Nevada’s higher education institutions have been placed under this governance structure. These include the seven public, degree-granting universities and colleges, as well as a research institute. Currently, the board includes 13 elected members serving six-year terms.

In 2005, the Nevada regents voted to further centralize authority by placing the state system chancellor (appointed by the Board of Regents) atop the presidents and giving the chancellor a larger role in the hiring and firing of presidents. This change ushered in a period of frequent turnover among university and college presidents.

Nevada’s elected, unitary structure is unique. While states such as Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah have single boards that govern their higher education systems, their board members are appointed. Colorado, Nebraska, and Michigan have elected boards, but those boards govern single institutions. Most states have separate governing structures for each of their colleges and universities, and many utilize coordinating boards to oversee program alignment and student articulation.

Nevada voters confront a question on higher education governance

Question 1 is a legislatively initiated amendment to the Nevada Constitution proposing to remove the constitutional provisions establishing the election and duties of the Board of Regents. In addition to requiring the Nevada legislature to provide by law the governance of the state’s land-grant institutions, Question 1 requires regular legislative audits of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE). If the measure passes, the board would become a popularly elected statutory body that would be subject to the full oversight powers of the Nevada legislature. If the measure fails, the legislature will remain constrained in its ability to oversee NSHE and the Board of Regents.

This is not the first time that the Nevada legislature has sought to exert control over higher education. In the 1940s, the legislature created an advisory board to serve alongside the Board of Regents. This action was struck down by the Nevada Supreme Court on the grounds that the intent of the framers of the Nevada Constitution was “to vest exclusive executive and administrative control of the university in a Board of Regents to be elected by the people.” Accordingly, some regents and higher education administrators have operated as if the board and NSHE are a “fourth branch” of government that is impervious to legislative oversight. Recent scandals involving the regents include dustups with the legislature because of plagiarized research and falsified documents submitted to legislative study committees, intentional stifling of legislative proposals, and violations of Nevada’s open meeting law and ethics guidelines.

In response, the legislature qualified for the 2020 ballot a measure similar to 2024’s Question 1. The measure failed by less than 3,000 votes out of 1.25 million cast, with support and opposition breaking largely along regional lines. In a subsequent legislative session, the legislature qualified Question 1 for the 2024 ballot and used its available powers to initiate audits of higher education budgets, reduce the size of the board from 13 to nine members, and shorten terms from six to four years. The legislature also exercised its bluntest power by disproportionately cutting the higher education budget during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding was not restored to pre-pandemic levels until 2023.

Despite heightened legislative scrutiny, chaos continues to reign. After the former chancellor filed a hostile workplace environment complaint in 2021, the board bought out her contract after 19 months on the job. Additional buyouts of senior staff soon followed. An acting chancellor lasted a year. In an exit interview, he said he supports removing the board from the constitution, noting the system’s dysfunction and infighting. The search to hire a permanent chancellor failed. An interim chancellor has been on the job since August 2023. Meanwhile, regents continue to make headlines in the wake of impolitic comments related to race, trans people, and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The implications of Question 1

If Nevada’s Question 1 is voted down, the legislature can continue to use discretionary audits and its appropriations authority to keep an eye on higher education operational and capital funding. The legislature could establish separate governance for the five colleges and universities that are not the state-designated land-grant institutions (though several bills proposing to do so have failed to advance in recent years).

Passage of Question 1 would put the Board of Regents and NSHE on the same footing as other executive agencies and ensure that higher education is governed by the laws enacted by the legislature. In addition to being required to regularly audit higher education budgets, the legislature could review and reform existing programs. Their potential new powers could also allow the legislature to statutorily differentiate the missions of the universities and colleges and more effectively integrate higher education with the state offices overseeing workforce and economic development. Other possibilities include the specification of qualifications for regents, mandated professional development training, and a process for removing regents for misconduct or dereliction of duties.

Approval also would allow the legislature to alter the board’s structure and composition. For instance, it could add student and faculty representatives. It also could create a hybrid board of elected and appointed members. This is not without precedent. In 2006, the legislature qualified a constitutional amendment to change the board to a mix of elected and gubernatorially appointed members. The measure failed by less than a percentage point. In 2011, the legislature changed the state board of education that oversees K-12 education from an elected board to a hybrid board. In theory, the legislature could make all board members appointed, but this would be difficult to pass. In 2010, a ballot measure that proposed to amend the Nevada Constitution to change the process for selecting state supreme court justices and district court judges lost by more than 15 percentage points. In 2015, Republican Governor Brian Sandoval proposed appointing school board members. The idea went nowhere.

Alternatively, passage may usher in an era of detente between the Board of Regents and the Nevada legislature. Absent a constitutional claim of exclusivity over higher education, the regents would be required to partner with legislators on higher education issues with the understanding that if they are unable to work together, then the legislature could alter the board’s composition and scope of authority to its liking.

Questions about how to govern institutions of higher education in the U.S. probably have not received their fair share of attention from education researchers and policymakers despite the amount of resources that higher education governing boards oversee and the importance of higher education to states’ economic and social well-being. On November 5, however, Nevada’s voters will confront those questions at the ballot box.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Grist:

As delegates arrived at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee earlier this week to officially nominate former president Donald Trump as their 2024 candidate, a right-wing policy think tank held an all-day event nearby. The Heritage Foundation, a key sponsor of the convention and a group that has been influencing Republican presidential policy since the 1980s, gathered its supporters to tout Project 2025, a 900-plus-page policy blueprint that seeks to fundamentally restructure the federal government. 

Broadly speaking, Project 2025 proposals aim to scale down the federal government and empower states. The document calls for “unleashing all of America’s energy resources” by eliminating federal restrictions on fossil fuel drilling on public lands, curtailing federal investments in renewable energy technologies, and easing environmental permitting restrictions and procedures for new fossil fuel projects such as power plants. “What’s been designed here is a project that ensures a fossil fuel agenda, both in the literal and figurative sense,” said Craig Segall, the vice president of the climate-oriented political advocacy group Evergreen Action. 

Within the Department of Energy, offices dedicated to clean energy research and implementation would be eliminated, and energy efficiency guidelines and requirements for household appliances would be scrapped. The environmental oversight capacities of the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency would be curbed significantly or eliminated altogether, preventing these agencies from tracking methane emissions, managing environmental pollutants and chemicals, and conducting climate change research. 

In addition to these major overhauls, Project 2025 advocates for getting rid of smaller and lesser-known federal programs and statutes that safeguard public health and environmental justice. It recommends eliminating the Endangerment Finding — the legal mechanism that requires the EPA to curb emissions and air pollutants from vehicles and power plants, among other industries, under the Clean Air Act. It also recommends axing government efforts to assess the social cost of carbon, or the damage each additional ton of carbon emitted causes. And it seeks to prevent agencies from assessing the “co-benefits,” or the knock-on positive health impacts, of their policies, such as better air quality. 

“When you think about who is going to be hit the hardest by pollution, whether it’s conventional air water and soil pollution or climate change, it is very often low-income communities and communities of color,” said Rachel Cleetus, the policy director with the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy organization. “The undercutting of these kinds of protections is going to have a disproportionate impact on these very same communities.” 

[tieflingkisser]

Writers puzzled after State Library Victoria cancels workshops for teens citing ‘child and cultural safety’

Omar Sakr, Jinghua Qian and Alison Evans have been left to speculate on whether cancellations relate to their pro-Palestinian stances

State Library Victoria has cancelled a series of writing events out of concerns over “child and cultural safety”, leaving some of the participants demanding an explanation. The free annual writing bootcamps for teenagers, covering fiction, nonfiction, playwriting and poetry, were pulled suddenly from the library’s program last week, and in one writer’s case, just 24 hours before he was due to hold one of his teaching sessions. Award-winning poet Omar Sakr received an email from the library on 28 February informing him his writing workshops, the first of which was to have taken place on 1 March, would not go ahead. “We have a duty of care to ensure the highest levels of child and cultural safety are in place for all participants, artists and facilitators in our programs, and we take this very seriously,” the email said. “At a time of heightened sensitivities, we believe it is important to conduct this review carefully and thoroughly and take the time needed to make sure that the design and implementation guidelines for programs remain appropriate.” When Sakr asked the library for more details about what child and cultural safety issues had arisen that had not been extant in previous years, and whether his workshops had been postponed or cancelled, he was told “the new contract would make it clear”. On 1 March he received a document from the library’s finance department titled “agreement to terminate”.