Kenneth Gourlay @kenneth@qthry.net

"Help make this event as accessible as possible. We’re incredibly excited to see mass convergences and bookfairs returning in numbers, but for a variety of reasons not everyone who’d like to attend those events are able. Travel is expensive and often prohibitive, large gatherings (especially indoors/when people aren’t masking) still pose considerable risk for many disabled and immunocompromised comrades, and sometimes you just don’t have the energy. By its nature, this event can take whatever form each participant decides works best for them. Even if you aren’t interested in tabling yourself, reach out to others and see if they could use some help."

https://itsgoingdown.org/2nd-biannual-weekend-of-distroing/

New column out today!

https://itsgoingdown.org/canadian-tire-fire-53-bail-reform-for-the-worse-drug-decriminalization-and-prison-construction-updates/

Language strengthens relationships in Vietnamese families. Parents and children are agents in the cevelopment of social capital. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00380237.2022.2154295

While I understand the concept of sharing similar information to fit in, we thought most people engaging in this genuinely believed their social media post content. In hindsight, I can easily see the social human tendencies that would support the concept of basically going along with the crowd and engaging in these tribalistic behaviors. Still, I’m sad to have been wrong on this one. I’ll keep hoping humans get better. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2023/03/fake-news-social-circles

@omarsakrpoet did you read Cory Doctorow's 's writings on enshittification of social platforms and services?

I’m told by someone in court here today that the person facing the last remaining riot charges from the New Years Eve 2020 mass arrest here in Minneapolis has been ACQUITTED when the judge agreed with the defenses motion to acquit at the end of the states case.

This form of acquittal is extremely uncommon - it’s essentially the judge saying to the prosecution, “I’ve heard enough - no need to have the defense show their side, you weren’t able to prove shit, even with the most generous interpretation of your so called evidence.”

After the 2020 NYE demo, prosecutors hyped up the 5 resulting felony charges in the media. Number of felony convictions at the conclusion: ZERO.

🎉🎊🎉🎊

Background on the charges:

https://unicornriot.ninja/2023/nye-misdemeanor-riot-charges-taken-to-trial/

I just wanna dance tonight.
#music #Noname https://music.apple.com/us/album/rainforest/1639154619

BREAKING
85+ people began a hunger strike today at NWDC. Demands: real food, regular meal times, clean clothes and clean facilities. In retaliation, calls were cut off, pods were locked down and windows were covered. Shortly after that phones were shut off and virtual visits were ended. Then, GEO guards in riot gear stormed the pods with so much pepper spray that the mirrors in the pods turned yellow.

Join us outside NWDC tonight at 7PM for an emergency rally!
#ShutdownNWDC #FreeThemAll

Killed by Russians this morning in Kherson region by Russian ballistic missle strike.

Leaves a husband and 6 year old child.

My daughter's middle school has approximately 100 teachers. This morning we received an email saying 23 teachers are out with #covid, and we should expect the building to close and learning to go remote. What the email didn't say was that wearing a #mask helps prevent covid or even suggest wearing one. Sigh. #CovidIsNotOver

Anybody here watching #AmericanAuto (a comedy on #Peacock)?
Given one of the “jokes” I do want to remind everyone that asexuality is valid and cool. Plenty of people are ace.
I’m curious to know if folx here would get my references to the show?
#TV

I've been so used to having a for-profit algorithm putting random social media posts in front of my face that it's an adjustment here w/ Mastodon. In any case I want to share this screenshot of a #news /info list I've been working on for years. It is a bit apples-and-oranges but I hope it will inspire some of you to have a more intentional media plan if that helps. Should I upload back to #Airtable or Google Sheets for community editing? Who wants to collab?

And yet here you are, controlling what women can do with a bun in the oven.

NYT: Binding Arbitration For Thee, But Not For Me

The Grey Lady Is Deeply Conflicted About Your Right to Sue It.

https://doctorow.medium.com/nyt-binding-arbitration-for-thee-but-not-for-me-654cdcd6646c

Alex Stokes is an antifascist in NY recently and absurdly convicted of assaulted after intervening in an attack by armed Proud Boys. In a clear miscarriage of justice, he's been sentenced to 20 years in prison! The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund has intervened to help fund the appeal of his sentence. Full story:

https://intlantifadefence.wordpress.com/2023/01/02/free-alex/

Make a contribution to Alex's legal defense fund: https://fnd.us/freealexstokes

Help keep the Defence Fund providing emergency aid to antifascists worldwide:
bit.ly/DefendAntifa

Me: Let's listen to some music!

Neurotypical person: Ah yes I love that activity, where music plays softly in the background while we talk about unrelated matters

Me: No. I mean let's play music rather loudly, occasionally dancing, then pausing it to discuss the music and the musicians

NTP: 😠

Remember fellow U.S. of Americans, if you didn't get a 7.1% or better raise this year, you got a pay cut.

Raise hell.

Happy #PublicDomain day to my American friends!

Like Thanksgiving, we celebrate later in Canada. Unlike Thanksgiving, we celebrate 20 years later, since #Trudeau brought in #copyright extensions that mean no new works will enter public domain until 2042.

https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2022/04/the-canadian-government-makes-its-choice-implementation-of-copyright-term-extension-without-mitigating-against-the-harms/

@pluralistic

'It is precisely in these “in-between years” that we fail – fail to organize, to attend political and town hall meetings; to register new voters, to lay the groundwork for new legislation – that we have such a tenuous hold on the reins of democracy in this country.'

2023 - The Work We Must Do

https://open.substack.com/pub/sherrilyn/p/2023-the-work-we-must-do by @ifilljustice

@mekkaokereke
The white person view of crime is definitely skewed by journalists acting as transcribers for lying cops.

But their framing also sucks. Can you imagine if newspapers covered wage theft, pollution, building code violations, etc. as *crime* rather than contract breach or just "oops sorry, our bad, here's our indulgences, won't happen again."?

I don't know if it would change minds. Racism feels as entrenched as being a Packers fan in Wisconsin. But I'd love to see them try.