#huffpo

[ahb-writes]

You know what that is? That’s an act of defiance. My life, every damn day, is an act of defiance. Fuck your "model minority." I will obliterate every stereotype that you have about me walking in the room as an Asian woman — whatever you think that is.

Sophia Chang (in "Meet The Korean-Canadian Woman Who Helped Bring You The Wu Tang Clan" by Ja'han Jones)

[whatisthedeal]

When I say I cackled

[siryouarebeingmocked]

>Huffpo

Not even shocked.

>The parental rights crowd won out, and the Central Bucks school board became a 6-3 conservative majority. 

>With that came a tangled web of proposals designed to silence anyone who isn’t white, straight, cisgender and conservative, including rules to dictate what teachers can wear and how students can express their gender identity and sexuality.

Last time I checked, anyone could wear non-gender confirming clothes, regardless of sexuality, gender identity, or political tribe.

Also, I like the implication that teachers didn't really have a dress code before.

It's also hilarious that this article implies rightie parents are hysterical about inappropriate books for kids, while the article itself plays on the left's own hysteria about "banning" books.

Such as saying "removing books from public school curriculums and school libraries is banning them". It doesn't even have to be at the public's request, apparently.

Look at the nontroversy over "Maus".

And it's extra hilarious when the mainstream left and progressives have little problem with censoring things, if it's for the "correct" reasons. What's the difference between claiming something is bad for kids and claiming that it's "misinformation", exactly?

Residents would come to public meetings and read excerpts from books they wanted to ban, cherry-picking explicit passages so they could accuse the libraries of having pornographic material.

“They take ‘Genderqueer’ and they open it up to the page where there is a dildo blow job, but they don’t talk about the rest of the book or what the book is even about,” Smith said, referring to Maia Kobabe’s bestselling book that describes their journey to figuring out they’re nonbinary.

How dare they throw accusations of child grooming over pornographic content in the book.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

[evermorre]

say what u will about that article, but I think this is true and something white women (like me) can apply in our actual, daily lives: "Women of color, particularly Black women, have been pointing this out for years: White women actively uphold white supremacy by staying silent when they could be vocal."

[asteracaea]

why on earth was this published today 😂

[baddywronglegs]

THANKS HUFFPO I'LL STOP SWALLOWING WHOLE POTATOES THAT'LL FIX ME

[sayruq]

[sexhaver]

"actually if you don't vote for the guy who lied about beheaded babies and is currently funding the genocide that enabled to the tune of $14 billion, YOU are the one who wants a genocide, because it could get even worse for [insert random minority group here later - Editor] in America! if you carry this train of thought through to its only logical conclusion and get mad at me for explicitly saying that hypothetical future American deaths are worse than real current Palestinian deaths, i will start monologuing at you like a YA novel protagonist before linking a barrage of HuffPo and Buzzfeed articles about the five things Biden managed to accomplish in between not saving Roe v Wade and not stopping student loan payments and mishandling covid. i am the mature one here"

[drdemonprince]

i was on NPR talking about Autism shit two weeks ago, and i have the book sales figures from that week and that national media appearance had.... absolutely zero relationship to sales. on the typical week these days, 1,400 to 1,500 copies of Unmasking Autism will sell. The week that I was on NPR there was a slight dip; only about 1,300 books were sold.

i have done a lot of press for my books. For Laziness Does Not Exist I did easily a 100 damn podcasts and radio shows and newspapers and excerpts in magazines. none of it corresponded to a noticeable bump in sales. the biggest "get" my publicist found for my latest book was the Glennon Doyle show, a booking she and her team celebrated and then spent months clamboring excitedly for... it, too, had no obvious relationship to sales.

Unmasking Autism became a bestseller because some other guy made a tiktok about it, and then a bunch of tiktokkers made videos about it too. all on their own. without any prodding from me, or any relationship to me. it was completely organic, passionate, and sincere, and rooted in the book's true merits and usefulness to other people, and that's why it inspired lots of sales. and continues to more than a year and a half later. all the press I did for Unmasking Autism prior to the release of that tiktok did relatively far less. NPR, Goop, the LA Times, Lit Hub, Jacobin, Huffpo, the New York Times, the Financial Times, MSNBC, Business Insider. Didn't matter. at least not much. so why do i bother?

publishers really ride your ass trying to make you give lots of interviews and show up for lots of events but it's all based on the worship of traditional media and magical thinking that it will somehow convert listeners into buyers. and that's just not how it works. the truth is 95% of books never sell more than 5,000 copies, and most people don't buy books or read them. i love reading but i dont think this is itself some terrible loss, as most books are padded-out commodities made for sale more than a work of true artistic passion or scholarly merit, and sometimes listening to a 90 minute interview with an author tells you the bulk of what you need to know.

it's freeing to know that the effort i put into getting my books out into the world have almost zero relationship to the books' success. marketing just does not work. it's a relief. unmasking autism did fabulously because it's actually both good and useful. laziness has had a long life span because it speaks to real problems in people's lives and gives them a message they are desperate to hear. but no amount of thirsty ass online shilling will make somebody realize that and it's maddening to try. you just gotta focus on doing good work, work that you enjoy making or need to make and that you feel good about, let things flop if theyre gonna flop, and keep on living your life.

which is all good news because i really do hate a lot of these fucking interviews. how can i stomach being on npr or in the atlantic or whatever these days given how complicit nearly all major media outlets are in justifying this genocide. like who fuckin cares about them, who wants their approval. who needs it. it's of no value

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Los Angeles Firestorm - II

January 10, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

My family and I remain safe in Los Angeles, although the apocalyptic feel is growing. New fires continue to erupt in the foothills with alarming regularity. Air quality is unhealthy everywhere. Billowing plumes blot the sun. Though the winds have slowed, the scale and number of the existing fires have stretched emergency services to the breaking point. Schools are closed, so traffic is eerily light. New evacuation orders are issued hourly. Power outages have stretched into their third day.

Although the winds are abating, the storm of disinformation is growing—fanned by the President-elect and his billionaire handler. For those dealing with the loss of homes, injuries, dislocation, and fear, disinformation adds insult to injury. Sadly, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Soon-Shiong, and a recent candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, billionaire developer Rick Caruso, have contributed to the wave of disinformation.

Firefighters are having success in knocking down new fires, but three established fires (Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst) remain largely uncontained. Although the winds have moderated, even moderate winds can spread existing fires with surprising speed. Embers can land a mile ahead of an existing fire, creating new emergencies every minute.

President Biden held a cabinet-level meeting on live television to discuss the federal response to the fire. Biden refuted the silly and ignorant claim by the Trump-Musk axis of disinformation that Los Angeles has “run out of water.” False. Although firefighters are experiencing low or no pressure in some hydrants, that situation is caused by power outages that have disabled pumps that help create pressure in pipes (by filling elevated water storage tanks).

It is also false that Los Angeles cut the budget for its fire department last year. That falsehood was given flight by Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer, who recently ran for mayor of Los Angeles. During a Fox News interview, Caruso apparently referred to a preliminary budget that did not include all funds that were anticipated to be allocated to the fire department. That misinformation was repeated by the owner of the Los Angeles Times.

Caruso, who runs pristine and wildly successful shopping developments in the City of Angels, likened his hometown to a “third-world country.” It is fortunate that Los Angelenos did not elect Rick Caruso as their mayor, given his willingness to trash the city at the first opportunity.

The truth is that the final budget increased the LA Fire Department budget by $50 million (to approximately $870 million). See MSN, Widespread Online Claims Proven False as Report Shows LA Fire Department Budget Actually Increased by $50 Million Last Year. Online sources that claim otherwise are ignoring the increase in firefighter salaries granted in a separate union contract—funds that were not included in the proposed “budget” but are included in the actual allocation of funds to the fire department.

Trump, Musk, and their followers continue to claim that efforts to diversify LA’s almost exclusively male fire department are to blame for the catastrophic losses. LAFD met its racial diversity goals two decades ago; the current diversity efforts relate to increasing the number of women on the force.

In 2022, women accounted for only 4% of LAFD’s workforce, and former Mayor Eric Garcetti started an initiative to increase that percentage. So, when Trump and Musk complain about “diversity,” they are describing efforts to include more women in a workforce that is 96% male. See HuffPo, Trump Calls On Newsom To Resign; Republicans Blame DEI For Inability To Contain Wildfires.

Personal anecdotes are rarely helpful in settling disputes over policy, history, or contested facts. But as a native Angeleno, I can say that after 68 years in Los Angeles, the windstorm on January 7 and 8 was the first time in my life that I was worried by the force of the winds. It felt like a hurricane and sounded like an earthquake as the winds thrummed our rooftop. Imagine trying to control a brushfire in the face of such winds. The notion that attempting to expand the number of women employed by the LAFD is responsible for the losses is insulting to women, to firefighters, and to all Angelenos.

For a brief period on Thursday, the historic observatory atop Mount Wilson was threatened by the flames—which advanced to the boundaries of the facility. But the 100-inch Hooker Telescope was spared. That is the telescope used by Edwin Hubble to determine that the universe extends beyond our own Milky Way Galaxy and that the universe is expanding. See photo below of the 100” Hooker Telescope.

Los Angeles has many tough and heartbreaking days ahead. I continue to hear from readers and friends who have lost their homes or have family members who have lost their homes. Many readers have asked for advice about contributing to recovery efforts. I suggest waiting a few days. Los Angeles is still trying to control the fires, and relief efforts have not begun in earnest. Please exercise caution to ensure that any organization you recommend to others is legitimate and will deliver the donations to those who need them.

Stay safe and take care of friends, family, and complete strangers!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

Below is a picture of the Hooker 100-inch Telescope, used by Edwin Hubble to determine that the universe expands beyond the Milky Way and that the universe is expanding. The Hooker Telescope sits atop Mount Wilson and was briefly threatened by the Eaton Fire on Thursday.

[booasaur]

Regarding a possible ground invasion of Lebanon (this is a HuffPo journalist who has great contacts in DC):

Reminder that this is what he posted in June, and has thus been borne out:

Dem voters have mostly adopted the tactic of closing their eyes to the carnage in the Middle East, except to support it or criticize those who want to stop it, with the hope that if they just got to the election and won, things would... change? Not matter? The Biden-Harris administration would no longer have to worry about the threat from Zionist donors and voters and actually use US leverage to push for a ceasefire?

Things are escalating fast now, before the election, as everyone actually knowledgeable about the area predicted. Netanyahu will see this as an opportunity to help Trump and even if it doesn't end up affecting the result, get in as much violence as he can before Harris takes over with what he fears will be a more standard Dem position of favoring Israel but not to the point of risking America's reputation and safety, as Biden has allowed. Or possibly he views Biden-Harris as exactly what they've been so far, a Democrat administration with no red lines that has normalized the killing of Arabs and Muslims in a way that a Republican presidency would not have.

So what's the plan? Even in Dems' best case scenario going forward, thousands would still die in Palestine, much of the West Bank would still continue to be annexed, but what's some more after a year or 75?

But now, with Lebanon being attacked, and Iran knowing Israel will strike them next with full impunity and US support, what are Dems going to do? How many more deaths and how much more suffering will they allow?

More importantly to them, a regional war comes with the risk of making the administration look weak and ineffective, a framing Dems always have to fight uphill against, especially compared to Trump, and especially a WOC. If this risks tilting a few key tens of thousands of votes, then what?

[ms-demeanor]

"hey this blogger who is famous for uncovering hard-to-find documents and sharing them has a criticism of a website I like. I wonder if the links in the links it provided might have more information about this subject or if actually this person who is famously good at in-depth research misread and is misrepresenting a ten year old huffpo article. Probably that second one. And while I'm at it I should take academia's version of the RIAA at face value when they're discussing piracy, I'm sure they've got no incentive to distort facts to present themselves in a positive light after the death of someone who was being prosecuted for for violating their terms of service."

[progressivepower]

Why are you getting your news from a profiteer “influencer”;idiot hiding behind a keyboard? We send politico, guardian, huffpo, nyt, mother jones, and msnbc daily. Read #journalism https://www.facebook.com/807470321537143/posts/873294268288081?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[macwantspeace]

article by David Moye on HuffPo August 19 > During his visit to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, local reporter Andy Mehalshick noted that “many veterans [were] upset” about the remarks and gave the former president a chance to “clarify” his medal remarks.

Although Trump was given a softball that would have allowed him to do  damage control AND praise the soldiers who’ve died for the country, he decided instead to double down.

And it was awkward.

“People who get the Congressional Medal of Honor — which I’ve given to many — are often horribly worried or dead,” Trump said. “They’re often dead. They get it posthumously. When you get a Congressional Medal of Honor, that to me is the ultimate, but it’s a painful thing to get.”

“When you get the Presidential Medal of Freedom, it’s usually for other things you achieve… Great success in sports or someplace else,” he added. Campaigning to be Commander In Chief. [? worried - did he mean to say wounded? ]

[yuri-alexseygaybitch]

Way too many "journalists" interested in interviewing and clapping back at N*zis and so they can get their HuffPo bylines in and not enough people interested in beating them to a fucking pulp at the earliest possible opportunity