#local news media

[tomorrowusa]

FFS, quit normalizing Donald Trump's comments and behavior.

And if you see local media doing this, call them out. That means phoning them or even paying them a visit. Recruit five like-minded friends to picket the news organizations dismissing Trump's dictator and anti-democracy comments as just "Trump being Trump".

Trump is not how sane American politicians are supposed to act. No matter how long he's been making dangerous and unhinged comments, it just plain isn't normal.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby at Popular Information:

This November, Florida residents will decide whether to amend their state constitution to protect reproductive rights, overturning the state's near-total abortion ban after six weeks of pregnancy. If Amendment 4 passes, the following text would be added to the Florida Constitution: "No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider."  The primary group supporting Amendment 4, Floridians Protecting Freedom, is running television ads supporting its passage. One such ad is a first-personal narrative of a woman named Caroline who was diagnosed with brain cancer while pregnant with her second child. "The doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom," Caroline says in the ad. "Florida has now banned abortion, even in cases like mine." Caroline urges voters to support Amendment 4 to "protect women like me." 

On October 3, the Florida Department of Health sent a letter to Mark Higgins, the General Manager of WFLA, Tampa's NBC affiliate. The letter, sent by Florida Department of Health General Counsel John Wilson, claimed that airing the ad violates Florida law. Wilson cites Florida's law against "sanitary nuisance," which prohibits "the commission of any act… by which… the health and lives of individuals… may be endangered." Wilson argues that WFLA's decision to air the ad could "threaten or impair the health and lives of women." Wilson advised Higgins that, now that he has been notified that the ad is creating a "sanitary nuisance," WFLA must stop airing it within 24 hours. Failure to do so, Wilson writes, would be a crime punishable by up to 60 days in prison under Florida law. The letter was first reported by investigative reporter Jason Garcia. 

Aaron Terr, Director of Public Advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a non-profit dedicated to preserving free speech, told Popular Information that the Florida Department of Health letter stretches "the meaning of sanitary nuisance beyond recognition." The statute deals with issues like "untreated or improperly treated human waste," "[t]he keeping of diseased animals," and the "causing of any condition capable of breeding flies, mosquitoes, or other arthropods capable of transmitting diseases." While the statute includes a catch-all for "any other condition determined to be a sanitary nuisance," there is no mention of political ads.

Floridians Protecting Freedom, in an October 4 letter to WFLA, rejects the Florida Department of Health's contention that the ad is false. In the letter, Floridians Protecting Freedom notes that Caroline "was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer at 20 weeks pregnant" and "the diagnosis was terminal." Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) has advised that abortion is permitted after six weeks of pregnancy only if there is "an immediate threat to the pregnant person's life." The AHCA has said that premature rupture of membranes, ectopic pregnancy, and molar pregnancy meet that standard. None of those exceptions applied to Caroline. 

Fascist bully Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his regime are threatening arrests of TV executives that dare to air the “Caroline” ad from pro-Amendment 4 group Floridians Protecting Freedom. This is all part of DeSantis’s war on freedom of speech and abortion rights.

[arishiastv]

What is the problem with fandoms and never doing magical girl! reader??? DUDE YOU HAVE A WHOLE UNIVERSE WITH POWERS, MAGIC, SUPERNATURAL SKILLS, HOW THE FUCK IS THERE NO MAGICAL GIRL!READER/OC FANFICS ????

[thoughtportal]

Ohio train derailment and corporate media

[solradguy]

The absolute most difficult thing about translating anything Guilty Gear is that I'm so in it for Sol Badguy and Sol Badguy alone that once I get past the Sol parts I have to trick and deceive the willful beast in my mind into doing the non-Sol parts or otherwise the document will just sit there unfinished rofl

[l3mon-boy]

I have no clue if I'm onto something or the late hours are getting to me but . I was thinking about the og genloss, the voting crucifing whatever. Something about the biblical parallels. The son of God sacrificed for humanity. The "Hero" dying. The wires almost looking like brambles, wrapped around one another.

I have. No clue what I'm saying but here are some thoughts!!!!

[13eyond13]

the funniest thing about having to report fraud on my credit card today was the girl on the phone listing all my transactions to me to see if i recognized them and literally 100% of them were all media purchases liiiiike wow I really have 1 hobby and 1 hobby only don't I

[regicidal-defenestration]

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying there's some big conspiracy or anything but I think news outlets reporting on the violence across England yesterday without ever mentioning why it happened are being disingenuous at best

[joyful-patient-faithful]

Local libraries getting rid of physical medias such as newspapers, magazines, cds, dvds, and audiobooks is turning experiencing art into a privilege instead of a right but I don't think you guys are ready for that conversation

[threadbareturnbacks]

I know we are slinging mud like it's a nude mud wrestling match right now but I've got three very very stupid quotes that clarified everything for me:

1. "Her policies are fine but I just don't think I could stand 4 years of hearing that voice." - a father of a young man in a swing state as seen in a reddit thread. (Misogyny)

2. "I'm really struggling with my rent right now and I know Harris wants to help me buy a house, but I need help now and Trump gave us actual money. I could use that kind of president right now." - a woman in a swing state as reported on by CNN (economic)

3. "Did Joe Biden drop out?" Top trending search term on Nov 4th - reported by many news outlets (ignorance)

It's cathartic to sling mud at each other but the really basic fact is that 90% of the electorate thinks like the above. They are not keyed in Tumblr posters with an intimate knowledge of AOB dynamics and leftist terminology. They are checked out, feeling a little crunched, and don't like women all that much. That's it. A lot of T's insane ravings never even broke through, why would they? If millions didn't know who was even running on the D ticket, how would they know about the crazy shit said at rallies that occupied a few hours of the news cycle?

The ultimate conclusion: there was no Dem candidate that could have run in this environment. We did really, really, really well considering the on-the-ground realities. The real issue as I see it is how the polls/media could be so wrong and predict a 50/50 race instead of the actual, on the ground 70/30 race that it was. It wasn't that hope was misplaced, but that the hope and work was made to seem more effective than it was. Hope is important, but so is pragmatism.

Give yourself a break. Stop blaming everyone. Work on making your life and the people in your circle safe and whole. Get offline for real and if you absolutely need to be involved, do it locally.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Rhian Lubin at The Independent:

Ron DeSantis’s administration has appeared to threaten a local TV station with legal action for airing an abortion rights campaign ad. The ad in question is the same one that aired in Florida during the vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance. It features a woman named Caroline who needed to have an abortion and cancer treatments after a brain tumor diagnosis in 2022. Such a difficult situation would have been complicated by Florida’s six-week abortion ban today. “The doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom,” the woman says. “Florida has now banned abortion … even in cases like mine. Amendment 4 is gonna protect women like me.” The letter — dated October 3 and sent by the Florida Department of Health to WFLA TV’s vice president Mark Higgins — was shared on social media by journalist Jason Garcia, who accused the administration of “trying to intimidate” the TV station. The DeSantis administration had previously been accused of using his election police dragnet to target citizens who signed a petition that successfully put Amendment 4 on November’s ballots.

Florida is one of several states with reproductive rights on the ballot this November. If passed, Amendment 4 would enshrine the right to abortion care in the state’s constitution, effectively overturning the six-week ban. The department claims the ad is illegal under section 386.01 of Florida law that allows the state to remove any "nuisance" that "threatens or impairs" people’s health.

[...] Amendment 4 would codify the right to an abortion at any point before fetal viability, and prevent laws in the state from restricting access before that point. It would also prevent laws from interfering with abortions after that point in the pregnancy if necessary to “protect the patient’s health”. Florida’s ban on abortion at roughly six weeks of pregnancny — before many women know they are pregnant — is among the most severe anti-abortion laws in the country.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) continues his police state regime by threatening to silence stations that air pro-Amendment 4 ads. Amendment 4 would codify the right to an abortion at any point before fetal viability.

See Also:

MeidasTouch News: Desantis Threatens to Prosecute Stations Running Ads for Abortion Amendment

[arconinternet]

G Street Live (Videos, ~1989-199?)

An early 90's New York public access call-in show. All calls were unscreened. You can watch various episodes of it here.

Uploaded by the Duke Mitchell Film Club (website, Instagram, Facebook).

[thoughtportal]

The Baltimore Sun acquisition

Source

[rhythmandstealth]

i have close to like 200 posts in my queue lmao

[eisthenameofme]

i wonder if there's the potential for a solution to the doxxing fucking over marginalized people specifically thing and/or the some people only being able/knowing where to engage with community online thing if we we were able to like. weaponize the relative lack of actual anonymity in the opposite direction.

like for one thing, instead of doxxing just resulting in problems from others in person, using that information to actively support the person instead, and for another for the other potentially more targeted use of the internet to find people to engage with in person (although that one you'd have to be even more careful about in case it worked in the opposite direction. I'm just thinking it would be nice to have something more structured/widespread than happening to find out your internet friends are in your local area, that could potentially be used to circumvent people not meeting in third spaces/other issues people have initially finding local community in person.)

It would be nice if instead of exclusively finding offline solutions/telling people how to be more careful we could also use what's often part of the problem to our advantage when it does happen. Like, having a way to address it that isn't only preventative.