#censorship in usa

[recreating-reality]

People buy nude statues to put in their front garden and it’s considered typical Mediterranean landscaping. My grandma’s neighbour, and old man worried about his statue falling during grigale storms, tied his down with black ropes around its neck recently. Looked like a proper bdsm artpiece after getting knocked around in the storm one night, and we just look at it and think “cool.”

fountain in italy

[kropotkindersurprise]

May 4, 2024 - CNN writes about how the mean anti-genocide protesters silenced a lone counter-protester at the University of Pennsylvania:

How did they silence him, you ask? They drew a circle around him in chalk, and labeled it "Designated Dingus Area":

[bunnyhugs22]

[relaxedstyles]

[flurriethefox]

Hey, so, uh…

KOSA literally violates the First Amendment freedoms. If this is passed, then that means the Constitution and Bill of Rights are basically void, because Congress are ignoring them. THATS A PROBLEM

As a teen myself, it pisses me off. I wish for anarchy, with everything the US government has been doing, from supporting Israhell to this bullshit.

Please, do what you can to prevent this from getting passed. It violates everyone’s rights in the US, and if it gets passed, then we’re back to where we started; a monarchy. Just with far too many people.

[pintadorartist]

ADVOCATES IN CONGRESS HAVE THREATENED TO NOT VOTE FOR ANY SPENDING BILLS UNLESS KOSA IS INCLUDED

While the Continuing Resolutions does not include KOSA, advocates for the bill are still pushing VERY HARD to add it to the package of bills, even going as far as to not vote for disaster relief bills if KOSA is not added to the package of bills.

WE HAVE TO CALL AND MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD. Below are the posts for contact info and call tools to call, email, and fax both representatives and senators to tell them to say NO to KOSA, it's important to keep up the pressure.

STOP KOSA (SENATE VERSION)

STOP KOSA (HOUSE VERSION)

[captainxtra]

HEADS UP! HR 9495 HAS BEEN RECEIVED IN SENATE!

Reminder on how to find your Senators!

If you have a GOP/MAGA Senator, use this advice from Reddit in trying to convince them to oppose it:

Do not stop fighting!

[mywitchcultblr]

If you are an American artist/fan, change your pixiv account region! Because there's new censorship

Number 5. If your drawing has no 'educational/scientific/artistic value' it won't be allowed to exist. These new censorship are absolute nonsense pushed by credit card company and conservative politicians. Fucking bonkers

It's the same thing when Tumblr banned NSFW and they promised that 'artistic nudity' will still be 'allowed'. I hope every purist on the internet realized that when they whine over anime fan art they are repeating what conservative billionaires and politician are pushing:

The death of art...

[wackypomko]

it does not matter if you are from USA, im chilean and I will still gonna help them!

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Hey if you're are reading this and you're in the us, please call your reps and tell them not to support KOSA because that bill will not do what it advertises and instead will make life on the internet much more dire.

[little-desi-historian]

A Day to Listen & Every Child Matters

I'll share more on this on September 30th, but I just thought I'd share this here. This is for Canada but the issues the speakers bring up are relevant to the United States as well, perhaps more so because Canada at least pretends to be 'nice' about it (which is fallacy but even so...).

Tagging: @decolonize-the-everything and @nickysfacts in the hope this reaches more people and cause I think they'd appreciate the observations the speakers make, I am not Indigenous and I do not presume to speak for them, please kindly don't take this post out of context, dear people of the internet.

[b33viemm]

STOP KOSA "KIDS ONLINE SAFETY ACT", THE MASSIVE ONLINE CENSORSHIP BILL

"there will be no room to call for a free palestine, congo, sudan, or yemen when imperialists control what stays on the internet. there will be no room for sharing queer joy, safe binding and tucking guides, or tutorials on how to safely navigate kink when queerphobes and puritans decide what kinda of relationships and identities are "acceptable". there will be no room for anticapitalism, protest organizing, pirating, or sharing anti-establishment resources when the establishment can erase whatever ideas are too threatening to them to stay. there will be no room for those who do not or can not conform.

the government will now have access to protest organizer's information (and your information), including their full name and home address.

the bill will largely target: TRANS AND QUEER CONTENT LGBTQ+ adults and minors seeking help and community, people looking for abortions, people organizing protests, anyone using their free speech to voice concerns about injustices, fan artists people reading fan fiction people sharing and enjoying their k1nks and smut (in art or writing), wanting to post things with safety and privacy

By the time you read this, the Senate might have already passed the bill into the House (feb 26th), but we still have time. MAKE NOISE.

all the letters and petitions ive been able to find, plus 2 articles. please sign, call your reps, email them, fax them.

A MASTERLIST WITH MORE RESOURCES (ARTICLES, CALL/EMAIL SCRIPTS, PETITIONS, MORE INFO, EARN IT ACT, COOPER DAVIS ACT, CONGRESSMEN CONTACT, ORGS)

1. ARTICLES:

POST WITH CONTACTING REPRESENTATIVES; LETTERS

POST WITH PETITIONS

@anti-kosa-bill-links

[strawberryraviegutz]

Remember to spread awareness and contact your reps about going against KOSA. PLEASE. WE CANNOT LET THIS GO THROUGH. Plus if you’re pro Palestine then this bill will basically ban ppl from speaking up about that too. CONTACT YOUR REPS AND MAKE LOTS OF NOISE GUYS.

[imqueerandadeer]

THEY'RE VOTING ON KOSA THIS THURSDAY JULY 25TH

I already said this under a reblog but I wanna make my own post.

Kosa is the Kids online saftey act and would allow the government to monitor what kids would see online, to qoute "prevent and mitigate mental health disorders"

This bill would raise the legal age your allowed to be on any social site from 13 to 17 and would remove and hide content that exacerbates "self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, and substance use disorders." this would hide social media post educating teens and adults about these things, it would also make it almost impossible for adults and kids alike to acess health info on the internet.

The bill would also put in place a age verification system that would take peoples data to verify they're age and be stored in a huge database.Kosa allows congress to decide on whats appropriate for teens to see, meaning this will lead to mass censorship of any topic not deemed appropriate by our lovely senators!! /s

Lets be real here the first topic they'd want to ban is any and all LGBTQIA+ topics.

This is not about the kids and this has never been about the kids, this is just another thinly veiled excuse for the government to try and have complete control over the youth, and to silence LGBTQIA+ voices.

Although I belive the duty of care part of the bill has been amended so that the state attorney general can enforce the other parts of the bill but not the duty of care bit. (correct me If I'm wrong)

I like many other people would be run off this platform and every other platform for that matter for 4 years.

What we need to do right now is to lobby and we need to make our voices heard.

If any info here is wrong, please, please correct me, I will not take offense, I don't want to spread misinformation

IMPORTANT THING I FORGOT TO MENTION: Even if Kosa passes through the senate it still has to go through the house and I think it has more opposition there

Sources:

Source one

Source two

Read the Kosa Bill Here

Helpful links:

Linktree

Bad internet bills

[pintadorartist]

The Senate Must Block Trump’s Cabinet Nominees

Here is an image of the President-Elect, Donald Trump's cabinet picks for his administration:

These picks are not only bad since most of these picks lack experience in these fields, but some actually have written parts of the Project 2025 guidebook, like Russel T. Vought for example.

And although the Republicans took the Senate, they still need Democrat cooperation to confirm these nominations.

Another factor to consider is that not all of the Republicans are on board with these nominations, an example being Matt Gaetz, who ended up withdrawing his bid for Attorney General after facing backlash from fellow Repubs amid allegations of sexual misconduct

So, I ask that you all Call, Email, and Fax your senators to tell them to reject these nominations.

For more info on the appointees, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4985802-trump-cabinet-nominees-second-term/

Here's where you'll find your Senator:

You can also call (202) 224-3121, where a switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

If you're nervous about talking with someone call after your senator's office is closed or test RESIST at 50409 to turn your text into an email or fax

Fax tool here:

Scripts;

If your Senator is a Democrat, use this script for calls, email, and fax:

"Hello [Senator name], my name is [Your name], and I urge you to reject Trump's cabinet picks. Instead of competent experts, Trump has picked his most loyal allies as Cabinet members to enforce his authoritarian agenda and disrupt the most essential services for everyday Americans. He's appointed self-serving people like anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services and former Fox News host and white nationalist Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

The Senate must reject these Cabinet nominees to protect working Americans from the dysfunction our federal agencies will face under the direction of these appointees. We're worth fighting for, and we deserve better. I urge you and the Senate to reject RFK Jr., Hegseth, and any other extremist Trump nominees who will seek to enact Trump's radical Project 2025 agenda."

If your Senator is a Republican, use this script instead:

"Hello [Senator name], my name is [Your name], and I urge you to reject Trump's cabinet picks. Instead of competent experts with experience, Trump has picked unqualified Cabinet members who will disrupt the most essential services for everyday Americans. He's appointed people who lack qualifications, like anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services and former Fox News host and white nationalist Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.

The Senate must reject these Cabinet nominees to protect working Americans from the dysfunction our federal agencies will face under the direction of these appointees. We're worth fighting for, and we deserve better. I urge you and the Senate to reject RFK Jr., Hegseth, and any other unqualified Trump nominees who lack the expertise and qualifications for these roles"

Here are also some petitions to sign as well:

[quotesfrommyreading]

The graduate degree for librarians is not, typically, a master of arts, but a master of science—in library and information sciences. Librarians may adore books, but they are trained in the technical and data-driven work of running libraries. Unlike a privately owned bookstore, where the stock might reflect the tastes and preferences of the proprietor, at the library, books are acquired based on information about what its particular community wants and needs.

“Librarians love data,” Dudenhoffer, who now coordinates the information-science program at the University of Missouri, told me. “Knowing how to analyze your community, knowing how to look at data, knowing how to look at circulation numbers, knowing how to look at population movement, those things are becoming increasingly important in what we do, and that drives all of this.”

Public librarians, she said, are looking at such things as regional household income, age, education level, and racial and ethnic backgrounds while making their selections. They also consider patron requests. In a school library, this analysis might include information shared by students or teachers about the needs and interests of the current student body.

Librarians who showcase books about underrepresented groups, including LGBTQ people, surely believe that these stories are valuable. But the librarians I spoke with insisted that they’re making these choices because an assessment determined that there was a patron need for these books, not to push some personal social agenda. Those controversial book displays? Many, Dudenhoffer said, are a means of letting patrons know that material they might be too shy or embarrassed to ask for is in stock.

“It’s really unfair to characterize displays or programs as ‘woke,’” Dudenhoffer lamented. “That’s just such a terrible word to use right now. But it’s not about that. It’s about serving our community, and everyone in the community, to the best of our abilities.”

What seemed most painful to the librarians I spoke with—even more than the personal attacks and fear of litigation—was the way in which book bans hinder their ability to connect their patrons to information that might help them.

  —  The Librarians Are Not Okay