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   Flipboard (flipboard@flipboard.social)'s status on Saturday, 03-May-2025 02:13:34 JST Flipboard

   It’s Friday, and that means only one thing: The chance to sleep later than 6.40am for a couple of days unless you’ve got kids, in which case, sooooorrrry. Oh, and also, it’s #NewstodonFriday, where we share fantastic journalism from indie newsrooms and journalists! We’re kicking off this thread with stories on elections to watch in May in the U.S., Australia and Singapore. We’ve also got stories on the Roganification of the male mystique, library censorship, therapy chatbots, plus an absolute banger from Lyz Lenz, in which she coins the phrase “a conclave of chads,” and we admire and envy her absolute mastery of the English language. Check out the thread, comment, like, follow the accounts we’ve tagged, and subscribe/donate to them. ⤵️

   #Media #Journalism #News #Newstodon #MastodonMigration #FollowFriday

   • Embed this notice
     Flipboard (flipboard@flipboard.social)'s status on Saturday, 03-May-2025 02:13:33 JST Flipboard

     in reply to

     • ProPublica

     The Trump administration talks about its desire to protect children, but many of its actions are harming them. @ProPublica looks at how: Cuts to programs that keep kids warm, fed, educated and safe. “Everyone’s been talking about what the Trump administration and DOGE have been doing, but no one seems to be talking about how, in a lot of ways, it’s been an assault on kids,” says Bruce Lesley, president of advocacy group First Focus on Children.

     https://www.propublica.org/article/how-trump-budget-cuts-harm-kids-child-care-education-abuse

     #Children #ChildSafety #USGovernment #TrumpAdministration #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

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     Flipboard (flipboard@flipboard.social)'s status on Saturday, 03-May-2025 02:13:33 JST Flipboard

     in reply to

     • The New York Review of Books

     The Chinese writer Fang Fang’s first novel was published in 1982 and for the best part of 40 years, she made her living as a writer, including winning national awards for her work. Then came COVID-19. Her public lockdown diary, “fengcheng riji,” published on her Weibo (microblog) account, became a phenomenon, and made her a target for criticism. She’s been called a liar and a traitor, reprints of her backlist of nearly 100 books have been halted, and her new work is effectively banned from publication in China. @nybooks reviews “Soft Burial,” her latest novel (translated by Michael Berry), and finds a story about trauma and survival. “I’ve chosen to forget, while you have chosen to leave a record. But once you record what happened, how will I ever be able to forget?” one character says to another. “Meanwhile the novel itself acts as a site, however small, however incomplete, for remembrance,” writes reviewer Madeleine Thien. [Story may be paywalled]

     https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/05/15/killing-memories-soft-burial-fang-fang/

     #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #Literature #BookReview #Wuhan #COVID19 #China #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

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     Flipboard (flipboard@flipboard.social)'s status on Saturday, 03-May-2025 02:13:33 JST Flipboard

     in reply to

     • SFPublicPress

     What’s the best way to make something more efficient? If you’re DOGE, it’s to cancel a project that’s almost complete, and that would itself reduce government waste and make people safer. @SFPublicPress spoke to Jayson McCauliff, who was laid off from the U.S. Digital Service. His team was seven months from completing a project with the CDC to modernize its disease surveillance system. “The recent dismantling of our team has left me feeling a complex mix of grief for the lost potential and determination to ensure these stories are heard,” McCauliff says.

     https://www.sfpublicpress.org/opposite-of-efficiency/

     #DOGE #ElonMusk #CDC #DiseasePrevention #Health #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

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     Flipboard (flipboard@flipboard.social)'s status on Saturday, 03-May-2025 02:13:34 JST Flipboard

     in reply to

     • Daniel Nichanian
     • BoltsMag.org

     There might not be anything on the ballot that captures headlines in the way “Wisconsin vs. Musk” did in April, but there are still consequential elections taking place in the U.S. @taniel and Alex Burness of @bolts break down who can vote for what this month. It’s almost all local — mayoral races, school boards and ballot measures — and local elections matter.

     https://boltsmag.org/whats-on-the-ballot/guide-to-elections-in-may-2025/

     #UnitedStates #Elections #LocalNews #LocalPolitics #Texas #Nebraska #Massachusetts #Oklahoma #Pennsylvania #NewYork #Oregon #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

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     Flipboard (flipboard@flipboard.social)'s status on Saturday, 03-May-2025 02:13:34 JST Flipboard

     in reply to

     • Flipboard News Desk
     • Flipboard Culture Desk

     Fresh off the heels of the Canadian election, two more countries are heading to the polls this weekend. Our @NewsDesk shared a guide to the Australian election, while our @CultureDesk looked at how the Singaporean government is attempting to reach young voters. Both countries vote on May 3.

     https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626e935llwo
     https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yldprrdg3o

     #Australia #AustralianElection #AustralianElection2025 #AustralianPolitics #Singapore #SingaporeElection #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

     Steve's Place repeated this.
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     Flipboard (flipboard@flipboard.social)'s status on Saturday, 03-May-2025 02:13:34 JST Flipboard

     in reply to

     • Texas Observer

     Texas’s House Bill 3225 is aimed at municipal libraries, and bans anyone aged under 18 from accessing “sexually explicit materials,” without defining what that is, restricts their access to the library’s general collection, even for school assignments, and more. Author Chris Barton testified against this at the Texas legislature, and writes for @TexasObserver about the many problems with this bill. “If a few Texas parents don’t want their kids to have free and full access to our libraries, let those parents hold their own children’s hands, never allow them out of their sight, and never allow them to think for themselves. That’s on them,” he writes. “But Texas libraries are treasures paid for by our tax dollars. Leave our libraries alone and let the rest of us — of all ages — make good use of them.”

     https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-legislature-censorship-libraries/

     #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #Texas #Libraries #Censorship #BookBans #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday