Notices by Scott Miller 🇺🇦 🇺🇸 (scottmiller42@mstdn.social)

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/115942736741048531

Take a look at Paul’s thread on the #IceProtests in #Minneapolis today! Stay warm and safe everyone!

#Minnesota #IceProtest #GeneralStrike

@inthehands Do you mind if I quote toot you with some protest related tags?

@irelephant @benroyce If one instance can block a user or type of content, and that block eliminates it from view of over 99% of users, then Bluesky is, practically speaking, decentralized in name only.

Mastodon / Fediverse has its own flaws, but practically speaking, it is more decentralized. I’m on one of the bigger instances, but if I didn’t like a policy, I could start a new username on a new instance, port my followers, and more or less continue on as-is.

@TonyStark Oof.

'“If the vaccine were no longer available or covered by insurance, it will take the choice away from families who wish to protect their children from COVID-19, especially among families already facing barriers to care,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics.'

@benroyce Then there's this editorial Booker authored published by The Advocate.

'These individual acts of hatred are not only singular acts of unspeakable violence -- they reveal our collective failure. Because the crisis facing trans Americans is not limited to acts of terror, it is institutional.'

'We must start by undoing the damage the Trump administration has done, starting with reversing the immoral ban on transgender Americans serving in the military...'

2/2

https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2019/7/01/we-are-crisis-silence-and-its-killing-trans-women-color

@benroyce I would have been genuinely surprised if Booker was actually transphobic based on what I know of him. I just did a quick search and found this Newsweek piece from 2019 where he was pretty openly supportive of transgender people.

'...Booker complained, "We do not not talk enough about trans Americans, especially African-American trans Americans, and the incredibly high rates of murder right now."'

https://www.newsweek.com/cory-booker-transgender-nephew-1455384

1/2

@TonyStark They demand, "Do Something!", when the Republicans control the House, Senate, Whitehouse, and SCOTUS.

Don't get me wrong, Democratic Party folks should still do things like initiate court challenges and speak publicly against the most unpopular things happening, but it's ridiculous to think that somehow, they can stop POTUS47 from screwing everything up if they just try hard enough.

@Tristan In case I wasn't 100% clear, definitely gum up the works as much you can, sow division, mistrust, and infighting amongst your enemy as much as you can, shine a huge spotlight every time they do something that hurts most people.

And I'm sure they will and are doing that.

Just don't expect miracles, which is what the "Do Something!" crowd demands.

Can I commit felonies and get the judge to just give me no jail time, no fines, and no community service? There's lots of crimes I want to commit free of any repercussions.

#ScottSearches #ScottHumor

@stux FYI, it looks like this stupid bill got exactly the attention it deserved:

"Introduced 07/31/2024

Latest Action: Senate - 07/31/2024 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs."

No co-sponsor, no action was taken aside from it being introduced in committee. It was dead on arrival. Hopefully that will be the last we hear of this bad idea.

@trebach @stux Agree. Essentially zero chance this gets resurrected before the next assembly.

It's hard to predict what might happen next year with a GOP trifecta and with the reckless fool that runs birdsite having Turnip's attention. If I was forced to guess though, I'd say a bill like this won't pass the House or Senate in 2025-26. My guess is we'll see chaos and gridlock similar to 2017-18 with little of substance being passed.

That's a guess though — bad stuff could still happen.

@selzero Reminds me when my Senator got all anxious about hearing about 9th month surgical procedure to remove a fetus. Yeah they’re called C sections ya twit.

Alright, I have created my new home on Mastodon. My Twitter ID is also https://twitter.com/scottmiller42

One of the lessons of conversation that I'm still working to get better at is how to let the person know I'm interested in what they are saying and invite them to add more instead of responding to the gap with a related story of my own.

I think part of it is my natural Midwestern tendency to think of asking direct questions as nosey. My instinct is to let them know I'm engaged in this topic which gives them space to share more if they want and stop where they are comfortable.

#ScottThoughts

Want to see the value of the Internet Archive? Check out this 10-year-old article on Buzzfeed. All the image links are broken, even though Buzzfeed itself hosted the images.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/magritte-meets-mario

Thankfully, Internet Archive has the site with the images intact.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160227103626/http://www.buzzfeed.com:80/lukelewis/magritte-meets-mario

@internetarchive

Responding to a request or suggestion for X with "we already do X" shuts down the conversation & forces the requester's hand. Requestor must then choose between abandoning the request or start an argument that X is not being done. Either way leads to hard feelings.

At minimum, VERIFY that you are doing X before responding. Ask "does this example meet your needs?" Handle it like a step in the conversation, not a conversation ender.

#OfficeWorkerGripes #UserFeedback

It’s frustrating to see progressives who think #Biden should just “do more” without taking any consideration of the makeup of #Congress. They talk as if Biden should pull legislation out of a magic hat.

Have you seen how obstinate the current House is? Biden could propose a Bill declaring the Eastern sky as the place to look for a sunrise, and they’d pass it as the Western sky just so they could stamp out the woke.

#PresidentBiden #MikeJohnson

@hrefna *nod* My statement on that topic from about 5 months ago: "People at the AI leading edge self-selected towards individuals who move fast with a mind unburdened of ethical concerns."

The concerns I ordinarily would have about AI are doubled by this bias.

Great work, Elmo! You've finally reached the pinnacle of performance with your bird site.

#TwitterDown