#current events

[sayruq]

[palesweetscherryblossom]

Love you Bob

[politijohn]

Source

[agendercryptidlev]

TERFs and various transphobes are scapegoating trans men and testosterone, even though the shooter was not trans. In fact she seems to have been one of their own someone who self ID'd as a radical feminist and wanted to kill all men. Absolutely disgusting behavior.

[artsyongallifrey]

Gotta occasionally post about antisemitism like rent-lowering gunshots so here's a periodic reminder that:

1. No one is saying you shouldn't advocate for Palestine. I'm also upset about the treatment of Palestinians and I really hate war. But harassing random Jews is not going to help.

2. If you could accept the fact that random civilizations do not represent their nation's government for every other country except Israel, you're being antisemitic.

3. Even if every single Israeli was completely, 100% on board with Netanyahu's bullshit (which they're not), that does not justify antisemitism. That does not justify October 7th. That does not justify pogroms. That does not justify the intentional destruction of synagogues. That does not justify the mistreatment of Jews anywhere.

4. Too many leftists are preoccupied with finding someone acceptable to hate instead of standing up for marginalized communities. Work on this, please.

I'm tired. I want peace. And I want antisemites to not fucking follow me.

[phoenixyfriend]

Starbucks hasn't been on a BDS list since 2014 (when it was removed because it complied with the demands of the movement) and holding it up as a symbol has only served to make people feel like they're doing something by not shopping there, so they CAN continue to use other brands that ARE on the list, either because they think Starbucks is the important one, or because Starbucks is so talked about that they haven't even heard about the actually relevant companies.

You can still choose to boycott it if the unions ask, or if you think that even the indirect support of the founder through his personal investments are enough of a connection to justify avoidance in the name of Palestine...

But holding up Starbucks as the face of a pro-Palestine boycott is so fucking damaging. I hear more about boycotting Starbucks than I do about boycotting the actual BDS companies.

(If I hear one more person talk about how Luigi broke the boycott I'm going to scream. There isn't one. There isn't an organized boycott. BDS has more important things for you to avoid, like the entire fucking web of Coca-Cola.)

[strawlessandbraless]

What an unsurprising & completely expected turn of events that literally everyone saw coming 😮

Source 🔗

Free 🔗

[shamebats]

I think we owe an apology to the Americans, looks like at least some of the issues with their healthcare system can be addressed with guns

[bastionofbibliophiles]

America is very much world-famous for killing people in cold blood, American or not.

[prokopetz]

While the Onion buying InfoWars is indeed extremely funny, very few of the posts I've seen commenting on the sale have mentioned that the families of the Sandy Hook victims apparently agreed to voluntarily reduce their lawsuit payout as part of a deal to ensure that the Onion would acquire InfoWars wholesale, rather than having the company broken up and auctioned off piecemeal, as the latter course could potentially have allowed some of those pieces to end up back in the hands of Alex Jones' cronies.

Like, yes, it is in fact very funny that InfoWars is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Onion, but the real props go out to the Sandy Hook families who saw the opportunity and willingly gave up the additional millions of dollars that could have been realised by stripping InfoWars for parts in order to make that happen.

(EDIT: Fixed a sentence incorrectly suggesting that Clickhole is still affiliated with the Onion – it totally slipped my mind that they'd sold it back in 2020.)

[johnny-depp-is-loved]

Please, spread this for those who might need it right now

U.S. suicide hotline: call or text 988 (available 24 hours)

U.S. trans lifeline: (877) 565-8860 (when you call, you’ll speak to a trans/nonbinary peer operator. full anonymity and confidentiality)

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) – provides 24/7 confidential support and referrals for individuals and families facing mental health and substance use disorders, including panic attacks and anxiety.

LGBT National Help Center: (888) 843-4564

Trevor Project: Call (866) 488-7386, text START to 678-678, or chat online.

Take care of yourself and each other. Please stay safe ♡

[itz-rainz-world]

OG: https://earthliberationstudio.com/shop/reclaim-revolutionary-queerness/ !!!!!

[silver-rosetta]

Including the link to her family's gofundme! If you donated to the first one and have since been refunded, you can still support her legal defense here.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office deliberately misled people into believing that Briana Boston had been released without charges. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.

[illmissyoutiktok]

Musician: Jesse Welles

Posted 11Dec2024

[sturionic]

Activism is not cold-calling.

Activism is not cold-calling, and this is critically important to understand.

I'm seeing a lot of posts on here about 'building bridges' and 'finding community,' and then (extremely valid) response posts saying "BUT HOW??" And I'm going to explain something that can be very counter-intuitive: there is strategy involved in community.

As a longtime volunteer labour organizer, I’ve taken and taught many trainings on the strategy of talking. Something that surprises a lot of people is the very first thing you do in a union campaign. You sit down with your organizing committee, take out pen and paper, and literally map it out. You draw a physical map of the workplace: where are the entrances, exits, break rooms, supervisor offices. Essentially, ‘where is it safe to have a union conversation.’ Then you draw another physical chart of your coworkers. You sort out who is union-friendly, openly hostile to unions, or somewhere in the middle, and then you plan out very deliberately and carefully who talks to whom and in what order.

Consider: If Vocally Leftist Jane walks up to Conservative David and says "hey what do you think about unions," David is going to shut down immediately. He's not inclined to listen to Jane. But if Jane talks to Moderate Jason and brings him into the fold, then Jason is a far more effective strategic choice to talk to David, and David may actually hear him out without an instant reaction.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT: If Conservative David turns out to be Alt-Right David, and could be dangerous to follow organizers, we write him off. We are not trying to reach Alt-Right David. We are trying to reach Conservative David, who may actually be persuaded to find solidarity with other employees as fellow workers. Jason is a safe scout to find out which one he is. It does no one any good if Leftist Jane (or even Moderate Jane who is a visible minority) talks to Alt-Right David and puts herself on his radar. Not only has she done nothing to convince Alt-Right David to join a union - she's probably actively turned him against the idea - but now she's also in danger and the entire campaign is at risk. NOBODY WANTS THIS. Jane was NOT a hero for doing this. The organizing committee was foolish and enacted a terrible strategy to everyone's detriment.

Where you can make a difference is with people who will listen to you. You having a conversation with your well-meaning but clueless Centrist Democrat Auntie, and maybe gently helping her understand some things the media has been glossing over, is way more strategically useful than you marching up to MAGA Neighbour You've Met Once and trying to "build community" or "understand" them. They don't care. They're impervious, dangerous, and cruel. But maybe your beloved auntie will think about what you said, and then talk to her friend Anna who IDs as "fiscally conservative" but didn't vote because she can't bring herself to get on board with Trump. Then perhaps Anna talks to her brother Nic who has MAGA leanings but isn't all the way there yet. Proto-MAGA Nic would not have listened to you, nor would he have listened to Centrist Democrat Auntie, but he might absorb some of what his sister is saying.

This is not a cop-out or an echo chamber. This is you spending your time and energy strategically and safely. You are not a useful activist to anyone if you’re dead. Anyone who is telling you to hurl yourself directly at MAGA assholes like cannon fodder has no understanding of the strategy behind community building, and you should feel comfortable writing them off.

Last point: If you are tired, emotionally devastated, and/or in danger: take a break. This post is for people who would feel better jumping into action, not for people who are too overwhelmed to even think about it right now. You are worth so much even if you’re not actively Doing Activism, and your rest is worth more than “a break period so you can recharge and Do More Activism.” We all deserve the individual dignity of being worthy of comfort, rest & safety just on the basis of being human, outside of whatever we're doing for others' benefit. To deny ourselves that dignity is to devalue ourselves, and that’s the absolute last thing any of us should be doing right now.