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This is worth knowing about. (H/t to @winterfergerart for the heads up.)

HB 458, which became effective in April 2023, made it a felony for anyone who is not an election official or mail carrier to possess or return the absentee ballot of a voter with a disability, unless the person assisting that voter falls within a list of statutorily enumerated relatives. Many voters with disabilities who are unable to travel to their polling place are also unable to access their mailbox or a drop box. Not all of these voters have an “approved” relative to mail or drop off their ballot for them, let alone one who is willing and able to assist the voter. Yet HB 458 prohibited such voters with disabilities from turning to other trusted people in their lives to assist them, including their professional caregivers, their neighbors, and even their own grandchildren. The court ruled late yesterday that Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act allows voters with disabilities to “select a person of their choice to assist them with voting,” including the return of the voter’s absentee ballot.

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On July 18th, the FCC voted to "end exorbitant phone and video call rates that have burdened incarcerated people and their families for decades. Under the new rules, the cost of a 15-minute phone call will drop to $0.90 from as much as $11.35 in large jails and, in small jails, to $1.35 from $12.10."

The new rules are estimated to impact 1.4 million incarcerated people and save affected families at least $500 million annually.

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In France [July 7, 2024], a crowd reacts to election results showing a defeat for the hard-right political party that was expected to win big until the French people voted in greater numbers for leftists and centrists instead. This follows the complete rout suffered by the right-wing Conservative party in Great Britain just three days prior, on July 4th.

🇫🇷

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I haven't seen this circulating here on Tumblr, so I decided to make my own post.

last saturday, in Porto, there was a pride parade going down the street and this old man was standing there, by his front door, waving the portuguese flag. most people on the parade probably thought the same: old person waving the national flag? he's probably protesting against the parade, he's a nationalist of some sort.

then the old man called for that person to come near him. the whole parade stopped. everyone just.. stopped moving. they didn't know what to expect, and most expected the worst. and that person decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and approached the old man. and then... they traded flags, he hugged the person and then he waved the pride flag happily. everyone cheered him.

such a wholesome moment. 🥹❤️🌈

(edited to add the link to the video, in case the twitter post gets deleted or smth)

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In Sweden, grandparents can now get 'parental' leave to take care of grandkids

50 years ago, Sweden was the first country in the world to introduce paternity leave for fathers. This week, Sweden has now introduced a law in which parents can transfer some of their generous paternity leave to a child's grandparents.

In Sweden, parents are entitled to about 16 months of paid parental leave after a child is born. Under the new law, parents can transfer up to 45 days to a child's grandparents (90 days for single parents).

This law recognizes that families extend beyond the nuclear family and paves the way toward better creating strong support networks for working parents and their children.

Read more at AP News!

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Study shows that acts of kindness may be more effective than cognitive reappraisal alone in improving depression/anxiety, social connection, and life satisfaction

A study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology randomized 122 individuals with elevated anxiety and depression to one of three groups: acts of kindness, social activities, or cognitive reappraisal. Acts of kindness was associated with significantly greater improvements than cognitive reappraisal for social connection, depression/anxiety, and life satisfaction.

While the study is only early evidence, and recruitment was limited by lockdowns of the COVID pandemic, this study may hold implications for new approaches to clinical treatment.

Read the article here!

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False Knees Print Store

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My last post on this didn’t get a ton of traction so I’m trying again. The latest budget proposal for NYC includes a $58.3 million cut to public libraries.

Previous cuts forced NYC public libraries to close on Sundays, and this further round of cuts would likely force libraries to end weekend service entirely. Additionally, it would mean further cuts to programming and the indefinite delay of reopening libraries that have been closed for renovation, which would leave entire neighborhoods without a library.

There is a preliminary budget hearing on May 21, and until then libraries are asking people to sign a letter here to urge the mayor’s office and city council to reverse the cuts.

I know things are terrible in a lot of ways right now and people probably feel overwhelmed and burnt out, but signing this letter (or reblogging this post) is a small, quick, concrete way to make a difference.

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Fossil evidence of Neanderthal child with Down Syndrome demonstrates evidence of compassion in early hominids

A study recently published in Science Advances documents evidence that a Neanderthal child with Down Syndrome survived until at least six years of age. These findings are significant, as children with Down Syndrome require significant care, and survival to this age implies support from a larger group.

Although researchers have known of evidence of disabled Neanderthals receiving care for decades, previous cases were with injured adult Neanderthals. Thus, some researchers have argued that these instances of care may have only been based on reciprocity. This is the first case demonstrating care for an individual who might not be able to return help in the future, which provides evidence that altruism has a long history with human ancestors.

Read more at The Independent!

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Biden pardons service members convinced under former gay sex ban

President Joe Biden issued a pardon for all service members convicted under Article 125, which prohibited sodomy from 1951 to 2013.

Those pardoned by this move (potentially thousands) will be able to petition to have their discharge upgraded and recover lost pay and benefits.

This is the third categorial pardon by Biden; in 2022 and 2023, he pardoned those with federal convictions for possessing marijuana.

Read more at AP News!

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Humanity is making progress on reproductive rights

"As the US Supreme Court prepares to hand down its latest batch of rulings, here is your periodic reminder that the United States is an outlier. Some 60 countries around the world have made their abortion laws more liberal in the past 30 years; only a small handful, which includes the United States, have made their abortion laws more restrictive. Source: Think Global Health"

Access to Abortion Has Increased Globally

-via Fix The News, Newsletter #53, June 13, 2024

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Government working for the people

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"An international research team has found almost a million potential sources of antibiotics in the natural world.

Research published in the journal Cell by a team including Queensland University of Technology (QUT) computational biologist Associate Professor Luis Pedro Coelho has used machine learning to identify 863,498 promising antimicrobial peptides -- small molecules that can kill or inhibit the growth of infectious microbes.

The findings of the study come with a renewed global focus on combatting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as humanity contends with the growing number of superbugs resistant to current drugs.

"There is an urgent need for new methods for antibiotic discovery," Professor Coelho, a researcher at the QUT Centre for Microbiome Research, said. The centre studies the structure and function of microbial communities from around the globe.

"It is one of the top public health threats, killing 1.27 million people each year." ...

"Using artificial intelligence to understand and harness the power of the global microbiome will hopefully drive innovative research for better public health outcomes," he said.

The team verified the machine predictions by testing 100 laboratory-made peptides against clinically significant pathogens. They found 79 disrupted bacterial membranes and 63 specifically targeted antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.

"Moreover, some peptides helped to eliminate infections in mice; two in particular reduced bacteria by up to four orders of magnitude," Professor Coelho said.

In a preclinical model, tested on infected mice, treatment with these peptides produced results similar to the effects of polymyxin B -- a commercially available antibiotic which is used to treat meningitis, pneumonia, sepsis and urinary tract infections.

More than 60,000 metagenomes (a collection of genomes within a specific environment), which together contained the genetic makeup of over one million organisms, were analysed to get these results. They came from sources across the globe including marine and soil environments, and human and animal guts.

The resulting AMPSphere -- a comprehensive database comprising these novel peptides -- has been published as a publicly available, open-access resource for new antibiotic discovery.

[Note: !!! Love it. Open access research databases my beloved.]"

-via Science Daily, June 5, 2024

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Toronto's oldest queer bookshop was on the brink of closing its doors last month after facing eviction but it is now back on its feet after an outpouring of community support — and just in time for Pride Month. On Monday, Glad Day Bookshop, located in the heart of Toronto's Gay Village, launched an online fundraiser to appeal to the community to save its business. The store said it needed $100,000 to avoid eviction in July. Just a few days later, the business was able to collect more than $112,000 after community members rallied together to support the long-running shop. Michael Erickson, co-owner of Glad Day Bookshop, said it feels like a "Pride miracle.  "The fact that 2,000 people supported us within three [to] four days is pretty incredible," Erickson told CBC Toronto.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

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“We conclude a local school board possesses statutory authority to maintain and control its local school library, and one aspect of this control includes discretionary selection for providing supplemental educational books and instructional material deemed appropriate by the local school board in compliance with state statutes,” the unanimous decision reads. “No statute gives the State Board of Education, State Department of Education, and Superintendent of Public Instruction the authority to overrule a local school board's exercise of discretion in applying its local community standards for books in a local school library.”