Notices by Janis (janisf@mstdn.social), page 2

@FlashMobOfOne @geekysteven Post-Carter?

I'm not talking about lesser evil. It's all evil. It's the pursuit of power. What ends up beneficial is whether or not that power is distributed in a way that allows people to empower each other.

We have three means to power: communication (including education), our vote, and our dollars. Yes, our vote has too little power. That power has been eroding since the 1970's, not in small part because people with money have figured how to leverage speech platforms.

Vote for democracy.

I'm not offering hopey-changey. I'm asking you to recognize how bad it is, how deftly conservatives have drummed out nearly all power Leftists have, and that we simply can't afford direct pursuit of a multi-party system while the two-party system has lost so much ground to the almighty dollar.

Empower women. Join a union, or unionize. Support more voting. Distribute the power just like you want those up at the top to do.

@aral @IanDSmith Social services watch your every single bank transaction if you're getting any state benefits.

Justices are voted in by Senators. The Senate is weighted much more heavily to less-populated (conservative) states than even the Electoral College.

If you can't put it together how conservatives have retained power by making their own votes heavier, and that their fight is against representative democracy, I'm not sure I can help you.

Yes, the math works. SCOTUS is heavily conservative.

If Dems & Leftists want the wins, the numbers on the ground need to be overwhelming.... consistently.

MH diseases are physical diseases, often times with very identifiable causes, with physical ramifications and complications.

The resistance is insurer push-back so they can pad the pockets of shareholders.

Some please call Sam Altman. UBI won't happen until beneficiaries' medical needs are effectively met--Republicans won't let it happen.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-happens-in-the-brain-to-cause-depression-20240523/

@jeffowski It's interesting, though, to hear that some people feel like they can't make it on two $100K salaries in the house, while others don't complain about one $65K income. I'm not making any judgments, but without digging into how, exactly, their personal finances work, it's hard to say what's going on.

but yes, wages are still near all-time lows compared to investment incomes. We simply don't live in the labor-based, labor-supportive economy most people think it is.

@CatDragon @jeffowski I just heard a set of mini-interviews of locals. So, the people I'm talking about live in the same city. yes, there are lots of factors. When you bought your house or signed your lease can be a substantial one.

Person A says the car accident was not their fault.

State Trooper agrees with Person B that it was.

Insurance goes with whatever the court decides, which depends on the judge, and the state trooper.

Insurance algorithmically decides who costs more, and charges accordingly based on residential neighborhood & past costs.

This is how redlining, capitalism, courts, and cops STILL all work
together to support racism and keep poor people poor.

Shall we talk credit scores?

@inthehands @gutenberg_org She's written underperformed choral music, too. It would trigger the angry feminist in me when the director tried to be smug by pulling out one of the two women composers they had on the shelf at Schmitt.

So, in response, let's get more of that propular and printed! https://libbylarsen.com/

@inthehands

Ren Fest.

Michael's.

The makers are gonna win this one.

@inthehands My fear is that if she's putting this question out there and doesn't get an answer, it could make the Harris campaign appear insensitive or worse. If she sits with no answer, it could make Omar appear complacent. I'm convinced neither is the case, but I'm not sure everyone is.

The problem, IMHO, is that the delays are *necessarily* coming from the situation on the ground in the posh embassies and such, where all the press gives us is Gaza footage.

@inthehands The message we send when we elect a peace broker vs. an autocrat-wannabe salesman surpasses policy specifics... that will likely have to change to accommodate a volatile situation.

We as a public have a chance with Democrats to speak to what it means to model democracy, allyship, collaboration, clear & proven methods to peace. There comes a point where demanding methodology details is counterproductive to the decision process at hand.

@inthehands "Tonight, after his acceptance speech, Walz walked off stage to a favorite song of his: Neil Young’s “Rockin‘ in the Free World.” Neil Young personally allowed the campaign to use the song. When the Trump campaign used it, Young sued to make them stop."

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-21-2024?publication_id=20533&post_id=147995793&isFreemail=true&r=1fismz&triedRedirect=true

@Lana And how unions *can* go bad. It's also telling that just one key union can make the idea of unionization turn sour in the public's mind.

No for real, it's white dudes and their attachment to their automatic weapons, and that they want, so, so bad, to think they're smart.

@jeffowski We don't just have Biden. We had an Obama who issued a huge business bail-out. We had philandering Bill Clinton, and his wife who could find no way to any ticket unless she married into it.

You're right, the reason Democrats are centrist is because the people who've been politically involved in influential circles are sons of well-moneyed, churchgoing mothers, including the press.

The US leans hard to the Right, by design of a market-savvy Right.

@jeffowski I'll give it to you, though, that Democrats are at this moment a centrist party in pursuit of stability. Whether that's good or bad depends on what news you read this morning.

@jeffowski If that were the case, then academia wouldn't be leaning left, then, would it.

I have to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure academia knows what it's doing. It follows that business doesn't really know what it's doing, either.

Welcome to the great experiment?

What I find dismaying is that so many brilliant, achieving students are turning to MBA's entirely so they can pay off student loans. There's no latitude to build a dream. Making ends meet is IT.

@jeffowski Uh, no. Money is speech, now, and that's academia's articulation of its right-leaning. It's just the actual words and ideas that appear left-leaning.

I'd argue too much of academia still leans way too far right, that it's more about proving monetary value and balancing budgets than it is about maximizing more people's talents.

@inthehands @Joshsharp Oooh, but if businesses all over the world learn the lesson 3M learned about cleanup, that's *definitely* going to have a slowing, but positive impact. One might argue we're on the cusp of a major trust cleanup right now.