andrewrgross

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Well, there is a cycle:

  • Media doesn't cover climate change
  • Groups like Xtinction Rebellion hold a disruptive demonstration
  • Media complains that it's irrational and actually pushes people away from the climate movement
  • A small backlash of commentators point out that they're drawing needed attention to the issue
  • Public discusses climate change until media loses interest

... and the cycle repeats.

I hope that some climate protesters do something flashy and disruptive as soon as possible.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

My kids school has done some of this. Next to his kindergarten class is a little patio where they eat snacks and spend a lot of the day. It used to be concrete, but now it's all wood chips and little logs for stools. The shade is lacking, but it has trees, they're just a bit young. When they fill out, it'll be amazing.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

I find a big problem we have is that the media and Democrats never seem to educate people on any distinctions between undocumented crossings, Visa overstays, asylum cases, Green cards, naturalization, etc.

It's outrageous that Trump will threaten to depart people who have followed every role as though they're all criminals and no one ever seems to push back on any of it!

He's flirted with deporting natural born Americans, and it's the obvious destination when people passively accept his racialized view of Americanism!

 

Springfield, Ohio became suddenly famous nationally when Trump claimed that an influx of Haitian migrants were devouring residents' pets. I went looking to see what the town is experiencing from the perspective of local news, and it looks surprising nuanced.

It appears that the town saw a rapid influx of migrants fleeing violence in Haiti. The town has since experienced a strain in its ability to function in notable ways because of the population shock. The issues include a sudden reduction in the housing supply and an increase in traffic and inexperienced drivers. One particularly bad traffic accident killed a child during a school bus crash.

The city government has seemed to largely avoid blaming new arrivals themselves. However they've expressed a sense of betrayal towards Biden and the federal government for granting thousands of people entry into the country without appearing to recognize any responsibility for helping them resettle or aiding their destination cities in accommodating them. Additionally, they've begun investigating local businesses which they suspect used the expansion of visas for Haitians seeking asylum as an opportunity to seek out low-cost workers while concealing their role in creating a population shock for which the city was unprepared.

I must say that I think the city government makes a reasonable point: those of use who want to offer foreign visitors safety and dignity in American must also demand that our government takes responsibility for helping them relocate to a town in which is expecting their arrival and has been aided in making that arrival successful.

 
 

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/13236888

Not givin' up

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago

I feel like this is a pretty crass joke to make.

A good friend of mine found a body a few months ago. It's a pretty shitty experience. And it's actually a lot like what OP describes. A sense of foreboding and suspicion combined with a conviction that these thoughts are foolish. And an uncertainty whether to check or to alert someone or to just try to forget it.

Op, I'd report it and ask them to please follow up with you and let you know. It's probably nothing, and you'll feel better once you know it was nothing, and that you did the responsible thing in having it dealt with.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I would suggest calling the city or county and reporting suspicious dumping. It could be a body. It could be a rotting animal carcass. It could have toxic chemicals in it.

You don't need to suspect that it's a body to call the city and report what looks like dangerous dumping.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Vaguely relevant

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Great show, and a great use of this character.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I came to add this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (11 children)

This is modestly interesting. My brother worked here before they had layoffs about two years ago, and had a generally favorable opinion of the company and leadership.

Fundamentally, while I think RJ seems like a sound businessman and technologist, and I like the company's taste a bit, I will never be able to reconcile his views with mine. He very openly views cars as computers and software and services that happen to move you around, and I would like it to be a machine over which I have as minimal a relationship as possible with the manufacturer after I acquire the product.

Still, I wish them luck.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

If I can be frank, I'm reading from your tone that you're not here for polite, factual persuasion. But if I'm wrong, or someone else sees this, I gotta drop a fact check on the 'Lina can't win cases' myth:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/out-with-a-bang-as-ftc-beats-the

More practically, this loss discredits the main argument from Wall Street. Dealmakers, and thinkers like Larry Summers, have often said that while Biden antitrust enforcers are aggressive, if corporations are willing to go to court, the government is likely to lose because judges won’t let them rewrite the law. This narrative was so strong that Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter were questioned in Congress as to whether they were even trying to win. It’s always been a narrow and bad faith critique, but this victory, plus, the win in the Fifth Circuit over Illumina, should put that narrative to rest. Antitrust lawyers will tell their clients to go to court at their peril.

It's kind of a deep dive, but it's worth it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

While I don't traffic in such forceful language, I can answer what @criitz means:

Bernie Sanders raised millions of dollars on the promise to lead a political revolution. For many supporters, that proposition was taken literally. They thought that his campaign was not simply a vehicle to give him the power of the presidency, but was the organizing structure for a persistent movement of activists reengaging with democracy each and every week BETWEEN elections. And when he dropped out, a lot of those people lost their connections to social and organizing structures that were giving them hope and an outlet for meeting like-minded people to find ways to make their communities better. So when he ended his campaign and all that money and infrastructure got instantly packed up and taken away, they felt like they'd been misled.

Some found their way into activism through the DSA or climate groups, but for many, the way in which he disbanded his campaign without following through on the implied promise to transform it into something durable was a very unexpected and painful surprise.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Pete needs to go mayor some more. He had a few good ideas during the primary, but as Transportation Secretary I'm astounded at his lack of ambition.

There are a handful of administration officials -- Lina Khan first among them -- who've learned to use their power assertively to make changes to broken systems. And Pete... he seems like he just pops up when another piece of infrastructure breaks to let us know that he's on it. Maybe he's doing something more, but if so he's doing it very, very quietly.

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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
 
 

A lone figure at a party reflects that the rest of the revelers don't know that "xylophones" with metal bars are actually glockenspiels.

 

This article describes the little-reported on success that Brown University had in disbanding student protest... by conceding to let activists present a case for divestment at an upcoming hearing before the university's investment board.

There's a lot of interesting considerations. The university did not agree to drop charges against forty students for rule violations, but the charged students themselves voted to accept the agreement under the belief that the overall offer was worth their own sacrifices.

Overall, I personally think this shows the irresponsibly unreported fact that negotiation with a protest IS an option that can serve the interests of both sides far better than state violence.

 
 
 
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