#i might also delete all my anti tim posts

[fahbev]

Hi! Saw you jumped on the tim hate train, welcome to the club! Aplarently you're Damian fan, which is good bc hes also one of the characters who's hit by tim's..woobification? Victimization(???) while simultaneously being the bestest, most competent batfam member. You Damian fans honestly have my respect for the pure amount of shit Damian gets because of tim.

hi lmao. Thanks xD. I usually try to keep all my negativity off of the internet, but last night I was going the anti Tim drake tag bc my frustration was flaring up. At first i was collecting posts by liking them instead of rb, then I was replying, and then at some point... “Fuck it. I want this on my blog.”

(This is gonna be a ramble btw, I don’t care abt making a good post rn.)

I used to be fine with Tim! I think the whole thing was a lot less prominent in the dpxdc fandom bc DANNY was the fan favorite/community elected woobie, but then I kinda moved out and... well. It still took awhile for this issue to seep in bc those Tim fans (you know the ones) are certainly a minority, but I just don’t think you can be a Damian fan for longer than a few months without getting frustrated.

Nowadays I refuse to read anything tagged with any variation of “Tim Drake angst” that features the batfam. Timkon fics are usually just fine though.

Actually— recently? Shit’s been bothering me so bad that I don’t wanna risk reading fics that have Tim in the first relationship tag at all. He’s gotta at most be in the second one. Ship fics are again an exception, but I don’t tend to seek out ship fics much anyway.

But, like I said, I usually keep it to myself. Every time i catch myself venting in the tags I either screenshot the tags and delete, or I delete and retype them. I put them into a private notes document. I also journal in there a lot instead of posting it.

That document is pretty long.

I do wanna say that there’s nothing wrong with what tim fans are doing. It is fun to woobify your fave. It’s fun to prop them up and tear others down and make everything about your blorbo and it is harmless. I do it too (usually in my daydreams). It’s a fantasy, and that’s what fanfiction is for. People who act like it’s “problematic” are wrong. That doesn’t mean it’s not annoying. Because it is. It’s annoying as all fuck.

Also wanna mention that I once read a damian fic that like... started off with some delicious whump, but then it turned into a whole Damian pity party and it guilt tripped all his friends and family. Damian IS my blorbo and I couldn’t read that. I didn’t even know who Maps was at the time but it seemed so bizarre to throw her under the bus. Anyway I feel like that’s what a quite large portion of Tim fic is like except a bit less extreme.

I used to tell myself that “ohhh it’s just a rivalry. I’m sure Tim fans get the same shit in reverse all the time” but I literally NEVER see it in the other direction and spend the most of my time in Damian circles. The only time I see tim hate from damian fans is frustration at those particular fans in response to it or in response to favoritism of authors.

I mean i saw a good chunk of it last night, but what else can I expect from the anti tim drake tag?

It’s actually funny how most of the stuff in anti tags is polarized hate shitting on the character with a lot of bad takes, but in tims anti tag it was almost exclusively frustration from Damian and Jason fans, and usually pretty mild takes. Also people calling Tim boring.

Ngl, Idk much about Jason. I’m familiar with his fanon, but the only comic i’ve read that featured him in a major way was Gotham War. I don’t know him well, and I don’t have too much interest in him. However, I hate “Jason falls over in guilt and kisses Tim’s fingers begging for forgiveness” type posts in solidarity. It’s yucky.

Anyway, I didn’t even mean to get on this anti tim train you speak of, It just sorta leaked out of my vent doc. Don’t expect me to keep posting about it.

but also... don’t not expect it. It might happen.

Even so, my dms are absolutely open for Timothy Drake related frustration! I’m pretty tired of being nice to him.

[ingek73]

The Curious Case of William’s Care for Harry

By Irene May 15, 2020 24 Comments

The Curious Case of William's Care for Harry

The Curious Case of William’s Care for Harry. There is not a day that passes without the British and Royal press blasting some headline about Prince Harry or Duchess Meghan, which news supposedly came to them via a well-placed source or a “friend”. Never mind that Harry and Meghan categorically stated that no one in the palace, or any royal source, well-place or whatever speaks for them. You see, since Harry and Meghan formally stepped back from their roles, there has been this insidious strategy to strip Harry of his agency and autonomy as a fully formed and accomplished human. Why would this be necessary? I think it’s a two-pronged aim.

First, it is obvious that despite the abundance of documentary evidence about Harry’s own feelings about remaining within the institution of the monarchy- ones that pre-date his meeting his wife- and since then, just the wretched way in which the media, some in the country and his royal family have treated him and his wife, the media and its puppet masters are trying. Trying to get us to take our thinking caps off and believe that Meghan alone informed their decision to step back. In the face of all logic and reasoned consideration, the powers that be are desperate to persuade us that Meghan is the big bad wolf. It would appear she’s the thing they fear or are threatened by the most, judging by how hard they try. Her power!

Harry dreamed of leaving Royal Family

Harry always wanted to leave Royal Family

Secondly, If indeed Harry didn’t know better and has been supposedly led astray by Meghan, then that leave a helpless Harry in your mind right? Does that sound familiar? “Harry is lonely in Canada”, now “ Harry is lonely in LA”, “ Harry feels out of sorts in LA”, “ Harry misses the UK”, “Harry misses his friends back home” and all that jazz. Poor Harry, you’re being led to think. What would they ever do about poor Harry? I have an idea.

Apparently there is a person who by birth is the second in line to the British throne. For whatever reason, he has been incapable of taking that birthright and his own God-given talents to create a profile for himself, outside of some tangent to his younger brother who is sixth in line to the throne. It’s been the unending refrain since their childhood. Look how responsible William is compared to Harry, or he’s smarter, he’s more traditional, he’s more dutiful, he has more hair… oh wait that wasn’t one of them, but you get the point.

Operation reclaim the spotlight is being resuscitated after an attenuated response to all previous iterations. It seems the role of future king and the business of preparing for kingship( if I hear this one more time…) is not enough to capture the spotlight, so the hunt for the shiniest new medal is on. I give you the embryonic stages of “benevolent future king”. The one who reached out and extended a hand to poor lonely Harry. Take note of the very recent headlines: “William is in touch with Harry” and the latest “Prince William writes letter to Princess Diana Charity from ‘my brother and I’” or “ Prince William Shouts out Prince Harry in Letter to Princess Diana Organization”. What the h-e-double hockey stick? I’m sure Prince Harry was dying for a shout-out like the air he breathes.

This is where I get off my detour back onto the main road. William cares about only William. And that’s what this not so cleverly disguised propaganda is about. Don’t forget that, it is this same William “who dropped Harry like a ton of hot bricks”, and who was reportedly “tired of holding his brother’s hand” during the feverish coverage of Harry and Meghan’s announcing they were to step back.

The timing is also curious because, Prince Harry has been receiving A LOT of great global coverage about his work with Well Child, the Netflix-Thomas The Tank project, Invictus, and recently his support of vets through the Guinea Pig club and CASEVAC club. And may I add, it’s coverage that has not been filtered through the refractive lens of the royal press. So like clockwork, here comes tag-along K to do what he does best, trying to get up the coconut tree. Don’t be deceived, all these weird stories about Harry missing his family, the UK, and XYZ have been laying the ground work for William to not only be inserted into this positive news cycle, but also for him to emerge as a magnanimous figure.

Nice try. This latest round of PR is dead on arrival, because no one is buying what they’re selling. We haven’t forgotten that it is this same brother, who sent his media attack dogs after Harry’s wife in particular, as a way of diminishing their popularity. If you don’t believe me, take it up with Tim Shipman. And while the media went after Meghan and stoked the most negative sentiment against her, this same brother, the principal at Kensington Palace, who is reported to be an anti-bullying advocate and even presided over a failed anti-cyberbullying initiative yet did not avail his digital media resources to sanitize their Instagram feed of the most vile, vitriolic, threatening and at times outright racist commentary about his pregnant sister-in-law. It’s because this team was working overtime deleting comments and blocking posters whose comments were deemed as infringing on his “human rights”. Okay!

It wasn’t even a year ago that, when Harry and Meghan were called every name in the book for traveling on a private jet( something all royals do and are defended for it), his brother tagged along that media cycle to pour salt onto Harry’s wounds. The night before their trip, last minute flight arrangements were made with the now bankrupt budget airline, FLYBE on behalf of William and family to travel to Scotland. He was cast as the responsible and eco-conscious future king for supposedly flying budget. Naturally, the royal rota were swift to his defense, when questions about the convenience of said budget flight were raised.

Naturally, like everything hatched in the dark, that publicity stunt unraveled when a report from the Scotsman uncovered, the last minute arrangements and the lengths the airline went, to position an aircraft for the auspicious royal flying act.

Fast forward to the next media storm around Harry and Meghan- The Southern African Tour documentary. As is customary with the British press’ dealings with Harry and Meghan, they always find the most negative slant and this time, the consensus was to portray Harry as “ mentally unstable” or “vulnerable”. Of course brother, the mental health advocate, did not miss the opportunity to enter the news cycle with his own label, Fragile. Why not ? Mental health advocacy and stigmatization go hand in hand right? The Curious Case of William’s Care for Harry!

William insults Harry and Meghan

William calls Harry fragile

My point is that, every time William has had occasion to be linked to Harry in a news item, it’s usually designed for his benefit. Whether it is a negative story or a positive one, Harry always gets the short end of the stick, so that William can smell like roses. This time is no different. Everything Williams’s actions have shown us does not track with this new narrative, except the part where there is a potential for good press. It is always selfish. They are brothers, and if they decide to smooth their differences, great. I however doubt that any genuine and well intentioned effort will be cataloged in the news. If for nothing, to protect that precious relationship you’re trying to rebuild.

So to the propaganda hacks, I say try another. Harry misses his UK friends? Are these the same ones the media hacks told us that Harry no longer hung out with because, you guessed it- Meghan had chased them away? And now he’s missed his family, the same ones who said they did not support him and his wife, and had moved to distance themselves?

The royal rift - The royal family not speaking to the Sussexes

William distances himself from the Sussexes

The same family which the media told us Harry and Meghan are no longer part of its inner circle? And this was all while they still lived in the UK. The very ones who couldn’t manage polite pleasantries at the last Commonwealth day service. Give me a freaking break! I think Harry is just fine in LA. And his brother could care less. He just wants you to think otherwise.

Nothing new under the sun. Just the tired old alliance whose enterprise is money-making on one hand and profile building on the other.

Silvester McMonkey McBean might think “you can’t teach a sneetch”.

I say, not so fast. “When people show you who they are, believe them”.

Dr. Seuss and Dr. Maya Angelou. Over and out.

-

(I could not post all pictures becaus of the photo limit but they are inthe article linked below)

[isitandwonder]

Have been a charmie and at some point you stopped shipping them? I’m curious, why did it happen? If that’s the story actually... 😘

Hey nonnie, I’ve never called myself a charmie, I find this monicer rather ridiculous - but I did ship A/T and I still read a few authors who write for that ship... but I’m not super passionate about it or invested in it anymore, that’s true.

Why?

Because it stopped being fun and became a toxic cult.

You know, in the beginning (for me that was late summer 2017) T and A seemed rather cute together. They were goofy, had chemistry, they were kinda opposites (Tim lanky and dark and the newby, Armie tall, muscled, more experienced in the business), they were in this movie together that looked beautiful so... why not ship them?

Shipping, to me, means imagining two people being together and writing stories about it, chatting with friends, making stuff up, joking around and fantasize a little. It’s not real but something I imagine. And it’s being taken with a wink, with humor. Everyone involved knows it’s made up shit. And as long as it stays in fan spaces, I don’t see any harm done.

Well, that is not the case anymore.

So called fans or ‘shippers’ (they don’t ship, they KNOW, therefore the air quotes) harrass the real life partners and friends and associates and business partners of A and T. That is one thing I really don’t like. Keep stuff in fan spaces fgs!

But these people also harrass fellow fans who don’t agree with them. Like, wish them or their kids death, call them homophobes, call them all kinds of names, try to dox and mob them. Why should I be in a fandom that’s so full of hate and toxicity? I don’t have time for shit like that.

I still follow a few people on here who get it (you know who you are) but it becomes increasingly hard to find them.

That abyssmal state of the fandom shows esp in a field that’s really important to me and that I usually enjoy most: fan fic. I only still read about 5 authors. About half the people writing for the fandom are part of this toxic swamp I try to avoid like the plague (can we still say that?) on here and I wouldn’t touch their stories with a ten foot pole if you paid me money. Most of the other stories circle around things that simply don’t interest me or explore issues for the umpteenth time. I’m not saying that’s bad - write what the hell you like, create the 100th high school AU, whatever - but it just bores me (that is my problem. I also remeber a time when we had so much variety and creativity... go take a look at the older stories from 2017/2018, there are some true gems to be found!). It’s also a small fandom and maybe that’s the reason it becomes rather apparent that 80% of all WIPs get abandoned? Which is disappointing for a reader (I might be guilty of that as well, I don’t blame the writes, I blame the general atmosphere of this fandom that’s becoming less and less inspiring). I guess that only reflects the state of the fandom in general.

When ‘fans’ or ‘shippers’ are more into the private lives of the folks they stan (which might seem ‘natural’ for a real person ship but crosses a line when it’s carried into these peoples’ real lives), up to the point where it becomes harrassment, delusional, crazy, dangerous, rude, insulting, embarrassing and destructive, instead of supporting their faves - then it’s no wonder that this negativity creeps into other parts of fandom, driving writers and creators away.

(I recently came about a post re Tim where I had to read in the tags that he’s a great actor and that it’s sad that he has such a terrible fan base; that hurt.)

It has come to the point where I’m embarrassed to be associated with this ship - due to the very vocal delusional bunch of so-called ‘fans’ who are only interested in how much dick T gets from A. Like, for real REAL. In this fandom, a big chunk of people truly belief to KNOW that A and T are fucking like rabbits, that A will get a divorce soon (apparently since 2017; what are these people even hoping for???) and that T will only live for his daddy’s dick after that. And they go to ANY length to state and proof this and shout everyone down who might disagree. (Maybe they should masturbate a bit more to get these highly sexualized fantasies out of their systems? It also shows a lot about them, the way they view gender and sexuality, how they assign roles in this ship and what kind of behaviour/personality traits they depict over and over again. I could go on about the blatant, toxic heteronormativity that shows in this gay ‘ship’ that pretends to support LGB sexualities but this is already way too long lol).

I mean, if you want to rearrange your life around something like this - knock yourself out. It’s just not for me. There was a point I was really disappointed about these developments. Then I was angry for a few ‘bad apples’ destroying a place I loved. Now I only laugh about these people, though with some I really have pity because you can see in their posts how hard these mostly young, heterosexual women project  and that they truly have issues in their lives they should rather tackle instead of harrassing some other women on the internet who have the privilege to share the beds of the people they pretend to stan for real.

Oh, but it’s absolutely no use to talk to these so-called hardcore charmie ‘shippers’ - they are so deep down the rabbit whole they can’t and won’t come out of it or even listen. If you only say you don’t care who A or T are into for real you are a traitor, an anti, a homophobe, dumb as shit, dense, blind... That’s not a fun place in this fandom.

I mean, I was tempted to believe, too, for about 4 weeks late 2017. I was drawn intot hat dynamic of being privy to some insider info, feeling important, being in the know... But I’m so glad I was told that Liz was in Crema almost all the time during the filming - so the little stories A and T told were promo and nothing more. That was my moment of waking up. It took me like three days to come to terms with the fact that all I imagined was truly only a fantasy - but I’m so grateful I accepted that early on and was spared a lot of disappontment by that. I know a lot of people who weren’t so lucky and are now spending their days spinning more and more delusional theories to keep the world they built together...

Rn I see huge parts of the fandom trying to ‘disprove’ things they won’t belief or accept because it goes against their ‘knowledge’ of ‘what’s really going on’. So much energy goes into arguing that posts are fake and people lie etc etc. I can’t keep up with all this nonsense. And why should I? This is not fun. This is madness. This is negativity. This is destructive. Besides, most proofs are tarot readings and the analysis of pics and vids taken out of context (or are even manips). But I suppose these people find some kind of validation in their behavior? It just eludes me. I’ve deleted most of my fics, blocked and unfollowd almost everyone, and be warned, if you have charmie in your header that’s a sign for me to keep my distance...

But all of this is only my opinion, you are welcome to disagree, carve your own happy place out here, do as you please. I would never go on anyone’s blog to lecture them or police them but you asked so here’s what I have to say.

[rj-anderson]

7 Steps to Writing Better with (and Without) Social Media

Here’s a curious thing.

At the start of this January, I decided that if I really wanted to get serious about writing my latest novel and actually have a chance at getting at least 500 if not 1000 words down on a daily basis, I was going to have to radically change my approach to social media. So I deleted the Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook apps from my phone, and then I set up a Freedom session on my laptop that would block Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit and Slack -- every site I was visiting on a regular basis at the time -- from 8 am to 4 pm every day.

I thought it would be difficult, I really did. I thought I’d find it hard to keep up with my dash, or stay in touch with friends, if I could only browse social media in the evenings. After all, I’d been spending hours every day keeping up with the people and communities I was following, and that was even after I’d pruned my lists to the minimum. So surely I’d find myself falling behind very quickly, and it would be tough to keep up my resolve...?

Well, as it turns out, nope.

Maybe it helped that I started the new schedule when I was on a writing retreat, so the atmosphere was more favourable to such a radical change than it might have been at home. But even so, not only have I not felt any sense of deprivation from being locked out of social media all day, I’ve also found myself easily caught up by 7:30 or 8 pm, and then spending the rest of the evening looking about vaguely for something else to do. I’ve re-read my own books (and read new ones by other people), marked up a 30K novella for revision, watched several episodes of BLUE PLANET II with my sons, and a couple of times this week I’ve gone to bed early because I felt like it and there was nothing I needed to stay up for.

So now I can only wonder -- before I quit using social media during work hours, what on earth was I doing with all that time? Why did I feel so pressured and harried to keep up with sites that really didn’t demand more than a few minutes of my attention in the first place?  After all, even if I take my leisurely time about it, I can scroll through my entire Tumblr dash to the place I left off yesterday in twenty minutes or so. And the other sites take even less time than that. 

The only explanation I can think of is that in the past, I was checking Tumblr every hour or so and looking at one or two posts at a time, and then going to Twitter and reading four or five tweets, and jumping over to Facebook for six or seven posts, and so on and so on, round and round throughout the day. Which made me feel like I was working hard on staying on top of everything, but was actually a completely unnecessary and time-wasting thing to do.

* * *

Anyway, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your social media but don’t want to give it up entirely, and are wondering how you can possibly get any writing done, I would recommend giving the following approach a try:

1. Prune your social media lists down to include only the people and communities that you really care about and want to stay updated on. Unfollow Tumblrs you’ve never or hardly ever interacted with, and use the Mute button on Twitter with wild abandon.

2. Decide which hours (or even just minutes) of the day you want to dedicate exclusively to writing. Keep your block of writing time as consistent as possible, with a start time you can easily commit to and an end time that allows you at least half an hour to relax and do other things before bedtime. 

*** NOTE: I recommend not checking social media before you write, as it has a scattering effect on your concentration and imagination; save it as a treat for afterward, when you don’t need to focus anymore.

3. Delete all the social media apps from your phone. Otherwise you’re going to end up checking them every time you go to the washroom or make coffee, and that will eat up your precious writing time.

4. Get Freedom, or Anti-Social, or some similar program that allows you to block specific sites at certain times of the day, and set up a regular session to automatically lock you out of social media (and/or any other sites you find tempting and distracting) during your writing time.

5. Sit down and write. You literally can’t do anything else now, so you might as well commit. If you get stuck staring at a blank screen, try doing one of Tim Clare’s Weekly Writing Workouts, or scribble some notes in longhand about what you want to write and how you feel about it. Nothing you do during your writing time that’s even remotely writing-related is a waste.

6. Make a note on your calendar that you wrote today. It may be as simple as a little “W” in one corner because you got ten minutes in and wrote 100 words, or you might give yourself a shiny sticker for writing 500 or 1000 -- or 250 or 2000, for that matter. 

*** NOTE: Try to set a worthy yet attainable word goal, something that pushes you a little bit but which you can also feel confident about meeting on a regular basis. If you’re writing regularly but still not meeting that goal most of the time, you’re setting your sights too high and discouraging yourself for no good reason. So quit that and pick a target that’s more attainable.

7. You did it! You’re a working writer! Now relax and enjoy your social media!

[bookcisely]

INTERSAFE: A Guide on Safe Browsing and Internet Usage

By: Elyanna Louisse Pabalan

Date Published: 3/4/2022

Have you ever experienced having your computers infected with virus? Or your social medias being hacked? Well this blog is for you!

Internet is invented by Tim-Berners Lee. Ever since people have depended on it because of it’s convenience when it comes to connecting with other people. After it was invented,  It is already booming and spreading globally.  In early 2000s social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube were discovered and became popular. 

In year 2000, ILOVEYOU Virus was created by Onel De Guzman, a Filipino college student. This virus caused billions of dollar damages worldwide. Including the British Parliament and Ford.  Just because of LOVE! (Grrifith,2020)

How are we going to protect ourselves while browsing the internet? It was not as safe as before because billions are already using it and hackers have became popular that it is easy to steal data and track someone’s private information.

Here are some of my tips you can check! I also do the following to keep myself safe when using internet!

1. When using public computers or gadgets make sure to log-out all your email accounts, social media accounts etc. and clear your history 

Next users of the devices you have used might steal your information, change your passwords and access all your accounts affiliated. Make sure to also delete your full browsing history.

2. Install Anti-Virus programs on your gadgets. 

       2.1 McAfee Anti-Virus

       2.2 CC Cleaner

       2.3 Avast

       2.4 Norton

This is the best way to prevent virus from infecting your computers

3. Use Virtual Private Internet (VPN) to keep yourself anonymous while browsing internet. 

Your IP Address will be invisible if you use this. Most VPN’s such as TOR has to be paid via credit or debit card. But if you are saving money, some browsers such as google chrome, duckduck go, and opera have free VPN’s. (I prefer Opera Browser’s VPN since it’s free and easy to navigate)

4. Use incognito browser to easily clear your history and saved accounts upon exit.

This is the lighter version of VPN. Because this can only erase your data but some expert hackers can still track you since IP Addresses won’t be hidden when you use this.

5. Do not click links on your spam messages.

6. Do not fill-out your information such as your full name, mobile number, and house address on unsecured sites.

7. Avoid watching movies on pirated sites.

 Ads from those are trojan and viruses. It can cause your device to be infected. Just download free movie watching apps on Google Playstore or Apple Store.

8. Do not post where your location is on social media. 

9. Do legit checks when making transactions online. 

To avoid being scammed by online frauds and scams.

10. Use applications more than internet sites.

Applications are more secured than online sites.

References:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/the-i-love-you-virus-caused-billions-in-damage-and-exposed-vulnerabilities-that-remain-20-years-later-1.4922720

[warninggraphiccontent]

28 June 2019

Have I got newsletters for you

Glyn Mottershead, senior lecturer in journalism at City University, asked his followers for data and data visualisation newsletter recommendations this week. I couldn't resist a shameless plug, but also listed some of the ones I subscribe to:

Giuseppe's in other news

Sophie's Fair Warning

The ODI's The Week in Data

Azeem's Exponential View

Elliot's AI.Westminster

Not to mention newsletters from Doteveryone, the ONS, Data & Society, andThe Alan Turing Institute.

For keeping track of government data and digital news, try David's @ukgovtech Twitter account, a feed of various UK government blogs. For jobs, you have to subscribe to Matt Jukes' newsletter. Not forgetting The Week in Public Services from the IfG's Performance Tracker team, and our weeknote on our future technology in government project.

I'm sure I've forgotten plenty. What else should I be subscribing to?

And if you're enjoying Warning: Graphic Content, please forward it on to your friends and encourage them to subscribe (or follow on Twitter or Tumblr).

A few other things quickly:

Our next Data Bites event, kindly supported by the Office for Statistics Regulation, is happening next Wednesday 3 July. Join us!

I'm hoping to write something about lists in next week's newsletter. In the meantime, here's a list of what government departments think they're doing -the latest Single Departmental Plans. Some reaction from my colleague Martin and me in Civil Service World, here

And here's a list of what chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Meg Hillier MP, is concerned about across government. A lack of transparency, information and data is a running theme.

Finally, on a different note, as it were (and I'm sure I've done that joke before)...

Have a good weekend

Gavin

Today's links:

Graphic content

Environment and climate

The chart that defines our warming world (BBC News, via Lee)

Meine Stadt hat Fieber – wie der Sommer in Schweizer Städten immer heisser geworden ist (Neue Zurcher Zeitung, via Lee)

WO DEUTSCHLAND GRÜN TICKT (Berliner Morgenpost)

They're running

Speaking time per candidate #BBCOurNextPM (David Vella)

Conservative Party leadership contests – how do they work? (IfG)

All the interruptions, alignments and attacks of the first debate night*(Washington Post)

Who Else Are The Major Candidates' Supporters Considering? (Data for Progress)

How Google searches might be able to predict the 2020 Democratic race(CNN)

Politics

How has #Brexit impacted on what Written Questions MPs ask the Government? (House of Commons Library)

Conservatives should fear the Lib Dems as much as Nigel Farage* (FT, viaLee)

The current state of the Commons (Lee for IfG)

Kleine Parteien machen den Osten sichtbar (WAZ)

Population

How would you support our ageing population? (ONS)

These Are the World’s Most Expensive Cities for Expats in 2019*(Bloomberg)

The world’s population will change drastically over the next 80 years*(Tortoise)

AN INTERGENERATIONAL AUDIT FOR THE UK: 2019 (Resolution Foundation)

#dataviz

2019 Winners (Data Journalism Awards)

Gunshots And Lockdowns: When Nearby Gun Violence Interrupts The School Day (Guns & America)

Sources, methodology, and limitations in visualization (Alberto Cairo)

Spreadsheet of #dataviz style guides (Amy Cesal)

RE-VIZ-ITING THE RECEIPT (Susie Lu)

Everything else

UK Civil Society Almanac 2019 (NCVO)

What is the most dangerous drug?* (The Economist)

Going Critical (Kevin Simler)

A Chronicle of the Anti-vaccination Movement (The Pudding)

Global house-price index* (The Economist)

Meta data

Events and opportunities

Data Bites #4 (IfG - previous events here)

Scoping a Data Strategy for the transport ecosystem (DfT)

JOB: Data Support Officer vacancy (360Giving)

JOB: Advocacy Manager (Publish What You Fund)

Ada Lovelace Day: Supporting women & girls in STEM (GoFundMe)

London Datastore Discovery (Greater London Authority)

Adtech

Update report into adtech and real time bidding (ICO)

Behavioural advertising is out of control, warns UK watchdog (TechCrunch)

Adtech industry operating illegally, rules UK regulator* (FT)

FoI, ICO

Openness by Design: ICO’s new access to information strategy calls for better compliance by public authorities backed up with enforcement action (ICO)

How to make a Freedom of Information request (The Overtake, viaMarcus)

Prepare for delays, but don’t be put off: Inside the world of FOI requests(Behind Local News)

AI and algorithms

Debate: Visa Processing Algorithms (House of Commons)

Artificial intelligence reinforces power and privilege (Al Jazeera)

Could an algorithm help prevent murders? (BBC News)

Can intelligent machines save our planet?* (The Times)

Humans Can’t Watch All the Surveillance Cameras Out There, so Computers Are (Slate)

Video

What do we do about deepfake video? (The Observer)

Facial recognition technology may be coming to porn – and these men can’t wait* (New Statesman)

Seeing Isn’t Believing: The Fact Checker’s guide to manipulated video*(Washington Post)

UK government

Why we deleted one of our most popular pages (Inside GOV.UK)

The government must boost data sharing if it is to keep up with industry(Hetan Shah for City AM)

NAO Report on Data use in Government (techUK)

Home Office cuts immigration data sharing (UKAuthority)

What I learnt from modernising how we publish statistics (DWP Digital)

NHSX: giving patients and staff the technology they need (Technology in the NHS)

Our Vision (Office for Statistics Regulation)

Democracy

Bringing select committees into the digital age (Nesta)

Digital tools for Citizens’ Assemblies (mySociety)

On Sidewalk Toronto (Bianca Wylie)

BEYOND FLATLAND: MACHINE LEARNING AND THE END OF THE TWO-PARTY BINARY (Civicist)

FANS ARE BETTER THAN TECH AT ORGANIZING INFORMATION ONLINE*(Wired)

Everything else

Transforming Government for the 21st Century (Institute for Global Change)

The great ‘unnewsed’ struggle to participate fully in democracy* (FT)

The Tyranny of Innovation? (Colin Talbot)

Data Driven Regulation (UKCIVILSERVANT)

Making what you do explicitly political (Alex)

Online you're being weighed and measured and your data spread around(Sky News)

Data Science: A Guide for Society (Sense About Science)

From spaghetti junction to open, transparent grantmaking data (Rachel Rank)

Women and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Chatham House)

One thing to change: Anecdotes aren’t data (The Harvard Gazette, viaDavid)

And finally...

Andy Burnham has apparently announced for a Greater Manchester Combined Authority Death Star (via Jack Tindale)

At our meeting of the EU Employment Committee this morning, an official from Norway showed this slide about their Brexit preparations and it is awesome. (via John Rowan, via Elliott)

Glastonbury Map Overlay (via Tim)

Email compiled by @GavinFreeguard.

Links followed by an asterisk may be subject to a paywall or require registration.

[thisdaynews]

Republicans slow to condemn Trump's attacks on congresswomen

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/republicans-slow-to-condemn-trumps-attacks-on-congresswomen/

Republicans slow to condemn Trump's attacks on congresswomen

poster=”http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201907/1105/1155968404_6059437514001_6059438002001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404″

true

Congress

After a day of silence, many GOP lawmakers harshly criticized the president.

Sen. Lindsey Graham spent hours golfing with President Donald Trump on Saturday. But Trump gave him no indication he was about to ignite an all-consuming controversy the next day with his racist tweets attacking four Democratic congresswomen.

“It didn’t come up,” Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday afternoon. “He was in a good mood when I met him.”

Story Continued Below

The ambush plunged Trump back into a political crisis with his own party, with no coherent GOP response and little apparent coordination between the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill over how to grapple with Trump’s comments that the liberal lawmakers, all women of color, “go back” to where they came from.

Senate GOP leaders briefly discussed the matter on Monday afternoon in a private meeting as they compared their responses to the tweets, according to two attendees. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave no indication of how he plans to respond at his weekly news conference on Tuesday.

That largely left it up to GOP senators and House members to devise their own responses to Trump’s latest firestorm. And so after a day of silence, congressional Republicans began to harshly criticize the president — with some GOP lawmakers decrying his comments as “racist” and calling on him to apologize and delete his tweets.

Monday’s pushback marked some of the strongest condemnations Trump’s received from his party, which began with a trickle and then widened as Trump escalated his attacks in remarks to reporters.

“Yeah, I do,” Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a member of GOP leadership, said when asked whether Trump’s tweets attacking the House Democrats were racist. “They are American citizens.”

Several additional GOP lawmakers, such as Rep. Mike Turner of -Ohio, called Trump’s comments “racist,” a description rarely used against the president by members of the GOP.

Others wouldn’t go that far, but Republicans were downcast Monday as they moved to respond to the president’s remarks, which Trump refused to back away from. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called Trump’s comments “a mistake, an unforced error” but said he does not “think the president’s a racist,” declining to elaborate.

And Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said he would vote to condemn Trump’s tweets if such a measure came before the Senate, adding that straying from the unifying principles of the United States “for political purpose is, in my opinion, a very grave mistake.”

“A lot of people have been using the word [racist]. My own view is, that what was said and what was tweeted was destructive, was demeaning, was disunifying and, frankly, was very wrong,” Romney said. “It’s clearly destructive and it has the potential to being dangerous as well.”

Still, much of the congressional GOP is still navigating the episode gingerly — trying to break with Trump’s rhetoric while avoiding blowback from the president. It’s a familiar quandary made more difficult than most of the daily controversies of the Trump presidency given the inflammatory nature of his latest statements.

“It just really, really grates on him that they are beating on the people at the border trying to do the best they can,” said Graham, who largely defended Trump on Monday. “The rhetoric is over the top. But the underlying problem is real.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a close Trump ally who spoke to the president on several times Monday, tried to claim Trump’s comments were motivated by political ideology rather than racial animosity. “The president is not a racist,” McCarthy insisted at an impromptu press conference. “I think the [point] the president was trying to make is that he was frustrated at certain things that happened over the weekend, an American flag being torn down, an attack upon [an Immigration and Custom Enforcement detention facility] as well.”

McCarthy, though, defended the Democrats’ right to speak out as members of Congress.

“They’re Americans. Nobody believes anybody should leave the country,” McCarthy added. “They have a right to give their opinion. It’s a debate about ideology. This is a place to have this debate.”

Many Republicans made sure that any criticism of Trump also dinged his targets: Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota; Omar is the only one of the four born outside the United States.

“Instead of sharing how the Democratic Party’s far-left, pro-socialist policies… are wrong for the future of our nation, the president interjected with unacceptable personal attacks and racially offensive language,” Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican senator, said.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said Trump “was wrong to say any American citizen, whether in Congress or not, has any ‘home’ besides the U.S.,” advocating for the defeat of Democrats in next year’s elections. And Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate up for reelection, said she disagrees “strongly” with House progressives on policy as well as their “anti-Semitic rhetoric” but urged Trump to take down his “way over the line” tweet.

“President Trump was wrong to suggest that four left-wing congresswomen should go back to where they came from. Three of the four were born in America and the citizenship of all four is as valid as mine,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said, emphasizing that he disagrees with the Democrats on “virtually every policy issue.” But he said those arguments should be defeated “on the merits, not on the basis of their ancestry.”

Trump defended himself to reporters Monday, saying his statements were “not at all” racist and that the congresswomen “hate our country.” On Twitter, Trump also endorsed Graham’s attack on the progressive congresswomen while not addressing Graham’s suggestion that Trump “aim higher.” Trump also reiterated that the four women should leave the country if they don’t like it here.

At first, Republicans in Washington largely kept mum on the controversy, and party leaders said little about Trump’s remarks. McConnell said he would wait until his Tuesday news conference to provide comment.

Most lawmakers were returning to Washington on Monday for House and Senate votes in the late afternoon and evening. But a torrent of criticism emerged after the president spoke to reporters and doubled down on his attacks.

“There is no excuse for the president’s spiteful comments — they were absolutely unacceptable and this needs to stop,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska.).

The episode disrupted what had been a fruitful few days for the GOP: A feuding Democratic Party still smarting over passage of a border spending bill and increased sniping among Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the four liberal Democrats under attack from Trump.

After enjoying the intraparty battles among Democrats, Republicans saw their fortunes flip when the president tweeted that the congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done.”

Will Hurd of Texas, the only black GOP House member, was one of the first to offer forceful criticism, as he has often done against the president. Hurd called Trump’s tweets “racist and xenophobic” and said it made it “harder” for him to win over nontraditional GOP voters.

“It’s behavior that’s unbecoming of a president of the United States,” Hurd said on CNN, adding: “Politically it’s hurtful. You are having a civil war going on within the Democratic Party, and now they have all circled the wagons.”

Others saw an opportunity to get Trump’s back.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said,“I stand with” Trump, and Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-La.), who is running for governor, said of the four Democrats: “I’ll pay for their tickets out of this country if they just tell me where they’d rather be.”

Some Republicans said Trump’s biggest problem is that he has distracted from a good economy and given liberals ammunition to stir controversy, not that he’d said anything racist.

“The default to whenever the president says something: I’s racist. I don’t think he’s got a racist bone in his body,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said “He’s got an approach that might let the other side talk about it. That’s what I don’t like.”

Caitlin Opyrsko contributed to this report.

Read More

[bestmovies0]

The Fight for LGBT Equality in 2018 Will Be Fierce

Jay Michaelson : So, here we are at the end of a strange time for LGBTQ Americans. On the one hand, mainstream acceptance of lesbian people continues to spread; homosexuals are now officially boring. On the other hand, trans people are being singled out for government mistreatment on the one hand and continued street violence on the other.

Meanwhile, as all three of us have written, the Trump-Pence administration is imposing the “death of a thousand blows” against LGBTQ civil right, severely restriction employment rights, marital rights, access to healthcare, access to safe facilities in schools, and so on-while literally deleting LGBTQ people from government forms, proclamations, and observances.

For that reason, it &# x27; s even harder than usual to look toward 2018 with any sense of certainty. What are we most hoping for in the year to come? And what do we fear?

Samantha Allen : I have written the word “bathroom” hundreds of periods over the past two years of covering the various state-level attempts to restrict transgender people’s restroom use. I wish I never had to type it again; I didn’t sign up to be a reporter to write about the human excretory system each week.

But in 2018, I am hoping to talk about bathrooms a lot less frequently–and I have reason to believe that will be the case.

One of the most important success for transgender people this year came in the form of something we avoided: a” bathroom bill” in Texas that would have effectively built birth certificates into tickets of entry for restrooms in public schools and government buildings. But that was scampered at the last second by the business community, local law enforcement, and a sympathetic talker of the House who said he “[ didn’t] crave the suicide of a single Texan on[ his] hands .”

” I’m confident that we’ll visualize some–but fewer–red-state legislatures really push for “bathroom” bills. They’re political losers and fund drainers–and everyone in elected office knows that by now “ div > div>

I was in the government the summer months when this thing almost get passed and I witnessed firsthand the gloriously outsized Texas rage against a bill that could have cost them billions( Tim wrote about the Texas bathroom battle at the time for the Daily Beast ).

Between that and North Carolina being was necessary to repeal the more controversial aspects of HB 2 under pressure from the NCAA, I’m confident that we’ll understand some–but fewer–red-state parliaments truly push for “bathroom” bills. They’re political losers and money drainers–and everyone in elected agency known to be by now.

Tim Teeman : I’d like to share your optimism, but Roy Moore supplies a harsh corrective–for me anyway. In the celebrations that followed his defeat at the hands of Doug Jones in the Alabama Senate race, some difficult questions were left dangling.

Moore was a candidate whose rampant homophobia-his actual desire to see discrimination enacted against millions of LGBT Americans, his desire to see prejudice and discrimination are set forth in law-went largely unchallenged and unquestioned. Simply on the last day of the race did Jake Tapper of CNN ask his spokesman whether Moore believed homosexuality should be illegal( the answer: “Probably” ).

This was a shameful and telling omission by the media. The depressing footnote to Moore’s loss is that extreme homophobia itself is not a disqualification for a political nominee in 2017. Active homophobia was seen as a valid mandate to comprised by the modern Republican Party.

Moore was only too happy to hold it close even in overcome, as he proven by posting( on Facebook ) Carson Jones, Doug Jones’ lesbian son’s, post-election interview with The Advocate . It was a sly attempt to stir up anti-gay poison. Legislators like Moore are thankfully fewer and fewer in number, but homophobia and transphobia are still a major currency in this White House–and that Trump and other of Moore’s high-profile Republican supporters don’t see it as a disqualifying characteristic tells us something very sad and alarming indeed.

” Since ordinary gays are now not so novel, Hollywood &# x27; s search for novelty is causing them to explore tales of people of color, rural folks, genderqueer folks, and other people who aren &# x27; t Will or Grace “ div > div > div>

Jay Michaelson : I am putting most of my hopes outside the machinery of the state. Hollywood told some beautiful faggot tales in 2017; I hope this expands and continues in 2018. A decade ago, when I was a professional activist, we had it drilled into us that the number one taken into account in someone “evolving” on any particular LGBTQ issue was knowing someone who was L, G, B, T, or Q. And if they didn &# x27; t have firsthand knowledge, media figures counted too.

So, while the Republican party caters to its Christian Right base, I hope that continued media visibility stimulates them pay for doing so. There &# x27; s a nice irony too: since ordinary lesbians are now not so novel, Hollywood &# x27; s search for novelty is causing them to explore tales of people of color, rural folks, genderqueer folks, and other people who aren &# x27; t Will or Grace. That might not be for the best motive, but the consequences could be profound.

Tim Teeman : Then we have the &# x27; wedding cake &# x27; case at SCOTUS, which you have written about Jay. That seems currently going in favor of the baker refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. This isn &# x27; t just about a wedding cake, of course, but furnishing a signal that discrimination based on “beliefs” is OK, which can be used against LGBT people in so many contexts.

Samantha Allen : I’m afraid the Trump administration’s attempts on the LGBT community will continue to be so persistent and so piecemeal that they will continue to get shuffled to the side. This past month, we were stunned when the Washington Post reported that the CDC had been deterred from employing the term “transgender” in preparing their annual budget, but if people had been paying closer attention to Trump’s appointments in the Department of Health and Human Service and other federal agencies, this wouldn’t have been a surprise.

We can’t afford to pretend anymore like these are stunningly cruel onslaughts that come out of nowhere: leaders of anti-LGBT groups regularly walk the White House dormitories, they wield tremendous influence right now, and the concerned authorities is softly giving them what they want.

” I’m worried that, with so many other scandals dominating the headlines, the systematic eroding of LGBT rights will continue to fly under the radar “ div > div>

Trump’s tweets on transgender military service made a media shockwave, but that moment aside, the administration’s assaults on LGBT people in 2017 have been considerably less flashy: amicus summaries filed to the Supreme Court, tinkering with executive orders, adapting the Department of Justice’s approach to transgender students. All of these perniciously subtle assaults have taken place against a cultural backdrop of continuing bigotry and violence: In the last year, for example, at least 28 trans people have been killed, most of them transgender women of color.

Tim Teeman : I reckon one of the things the U.S. would do well to figure out( he said vainly) is the separation of Church and State. The Religious Right has such a clutch on the levers of power here, in certain states and in certain administrations like President Trump’s which is greatly relying on the bedrock of its support. LGBT people, activists and groups are facing a traumatic 2018, as the extreme right of the Republican support seeks to shore up support around Trump, and trans people specially are particularly susceptible in such an atmosphere.

Jay makes a good point: at a time when the Right seeks a ratcheting up of the LGBT culture war, LGBT people and their straight friends working in the culture at large should work to threw a wide diversity of LGBT lives and characters into that culture, whether it be Tv, movie, literature, art, or whatever. Actual LGBT existence will be vital in 2018.

” If this world backlash isn &# x27; t stopped, gay people will be murdered, arrested, targeted, stigmatized, and forced to leave their countries( and then denied refugee status) in numbers we have never seen before “ div > div>

Samantha Allen: The” death of a thousand blows” of LGBT rights under Trump is simply going to continue in 2018, and I’m worried that, with so many other scandals dominating the headlines, the systematic corrosion of LGBT rights–a phenomenon that’s immediately affecting at the least 4 percent of the U.S. population and 7 percent of millennials–will continue to fly under the radar.

That’d be like the Trump administration deciding one day that everyone in the country of Pennsylvania didn’t deserve human rights–and it somehow not being front-page news every single period until it get fixed.

Jay Michaelson : My greatest anxiety for 2018 is on a somewhat macro-scale. The rise of nationalism, nativism, and right-wing populism around the world is terrifying. On one level, it &# x27; s an understandable backlash against globalization, multiculturalism, and technology: people unable or unwilling to change are clinging to old identities and myths. But it &# x27; s also profoundly dangerous, and queers are just one population endangered by it. It &# x27; s not to be taken lightly.

Already we &# x27; ve appreciated the United States retreat from the whole concept of human rights, devoting carte blanche to murderous anti-LGBTQ factors in Russia, Egypt, Chechnya, Indonesia, and elsewhere.

In 2018, the US will practically zero out its aid to vulnerable LGBT populations around the world. At the UN as elsewhere, America is now allied with Putin &# x27; s Russia, in this case withdrawing protection from LGBT people and instead protecting the oppression of us.

But this is just the beginning. If this world backlash isn &# x27; t stopped, homosexual people will be slaughtered, apprehended, targeted, stigmatized, and forced to leave their countries( and then denied refugee status) in numbers we have never seen before.

” Figure out some behavior to aid those who don’t have as much, or who are especially politically and culturally vulnerable, and which is able do with subsistence. Make money, volunteer, whatever–do what you can “ div > div>

Tim Teeman : On that basis, LGBT people and their allies with any time, fund, commitment and energy might think about involving themselves with activism and campaigning for organizations like The Trevor Project, HRC, Anti-Violence Project, National Center For Transgender Equality, GLSEN, PFLAG, OutRight Action International, and groups in their local region. If they don &# x27; t wishes to do something overtly political, then maybe figure out a style to assist the individuals who don’t have as much, or who are especially vulnerable, and who could do with support-whether that be fiscal and pastoral.

If you need inspiration, look to Nathan Mathis who wasn &# x27; t is letting Roy Moore win-or lose at it turned out-in Alabama without dishonor him over his homophobia; and without remembering, in the most moving lane possible, his dead lesbian daughter, Patti Sue.

Listen to, and be inspired by, the conjuring tales of those from periods when things were not just bleak but political progress and cultural evolution seemed alien and utterly remote. Eric Marcus has distilled, and continues to distill, astonishing interviews with the likes of Sylvia Rivera and Frank Kameny, conducted for his landmark book Making Gay History: The Half-Century Fight For Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights, into a must-listen podcast.

Read more: https :// www.thedailybeast.com/ the-fight-for-lgbt-equality-in-2 018 -will-be-fierce

from https://bestmovies.fun/2017/12/30/the-fight-for-lgbt-equality-in-2018-will-be-fierce/