Notices by Madeleine Morris (remittancegirl@mstdn.social)

I haven’t ranted in a while, so here goes:

The Project 2025 Junta bears an uncanny resemblance to a fundamentalist Islamic tradition.

With the only difference being that most fundamentalist Islamic organisations are more liberal, in that they do not exclude by race.

Well, there’s the integrity death of a venerable old newspaper https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/20/chicago-sun-times-ai-summer-reading-list

@skinnylatte This strange phenomenon is underscored by the fact that, for 30 years of my life, I spoke, understood, read and wrote French fairly well, but when I learned Vietnamese, totally lost the ability to speak French. I could still understand it when I heard it, could still read it, but could not produce any spoken or written response. I thought I’d had a stroke.

@skinnylatte That’s incredibly interesting.

It’s like… the language is all there, stored securely, but something is getting in the way of accessing completely.

@skinnylatte I have a theory that there are definitely things going on in the brain with languages other than our mother tongue we don’t really understand. Some days - on rare days - I wake up and go through my day speaking Spanish with such astonishing fluency, that people don’t notice it’s a second language to me. But most days, I sound like a foreigner with a moderately good grasp of the language.

The most self-harming aspect of #cynicism is that, in an effort to protect oneself from disappointment, we give our leaders and those in positions of responsibility carte blanche to underperform.

It kind of blows my mind when younger people say that civil disobedience was not inherently as dangerous in the past.

It was always dangerous. From Soweto to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, from Kent State to Tiananmen Square. Getting rid of power hungry assholes has always been dangerous.

There was a time in my life when only the young had the passion for civil disobedience.

Now it seems it’s only us ladies of uncertain age.

"A constituent was forcibly removed from Mike Lawler’s town hall.

He has inadvertently created an instantly iconic image of the resistance.” via @keithedwards.bsky.social

My US scientist friends, you have an invitation.

So, here’s the thing:

Not being a Catholic, I’m not personally offended that Trump is posting AI pics of himself as Pope.

What bothers me is that the US president has ultimate authority over a nuclear arsenal capable of ending pretty much all life on earth and, at the moment, that office is occupied by someone with such fucking poor judgement.

And it’s very disturbing that the press isn’t pointing this out. Because it’s the most germane aspect of it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrg8zkz8d0o

Thank you, Greyhound!

I’m finding Associated Press one of the best sources of news since Trump took office.

Perhaps getting kicked out of the White House Press Pool is actually good for journalism?
https://apnews.com
#AssociatedPress #Journalism

@sonjdol Sadly, I have said goodbye to MSNBC. It might be irrational, but I will never forgive Joe and Mika’s trip to Mar-a-Lago to bend the knee.

You know what pisses me off the most? Where is the story about the fact that, after a peninsula-wide blackout, many people had power back on within 8 hours and pretty much all of the country had it back within 13 hours.

Spain and Portugal recovered very well. And many, many people deserve praise for that. #SpanishBlackout #Apagon

"First: go beyond digital activism. A wave of anti-Trump street demonstrations recently swept across the US. In the age of social media, that might seem like an outdated or secondary tactic. But it’s not. In a time of effortless communication and online petitions, physical work matters twice as much. It sends a nonverbal message of urgency and sacrifice, and – more importantly – signals an invitation to fellow citizens to join. These protests should be regular and designed for the long haul."

"Second: no ageism, please. As our own history shows, opposing populism in power is possible only if intergenerational solidarity takes place. We heard a reporter sneer that the New York, anti-Trump protest crowd skewed old. So did ours in Poland! Yet over time, younger people joined in as the burdens of populism became more personal. Again – diversity matters most. Not just in communication tools, but in the social makeup of the protest movement."

I sometimes get the sense that many Americans feel the battle was lost the moment Trump got re-elected. That’s what they want you to think.

If you believe this slide into authoritarianism is intolerable, and you read one thing today, it should be this article.

Because one country - Poland - recently dragged itself, kicking and screaming, out of the well of #authoritarianism, and they figured out how to do it. They’re offering you a model:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/28/right-defeated-same-antibodies-poles-developed-beat-communism?CMP=GTUK_email #USpol

Pearl Harbor was December 7, 1941

It really fucking pisses me off that when I read the word feminism I no longer have an immediate positive response to it.

Because rich, privileged white bitches have dealt such a serious wound to the concept by trying to co-opt it while they punch down on Trans people.

Because when people from developing countries use the word feminism, they’re talking about the empowerment of all repressed people.

#transrightsarehumanrights

And just like in Brazil, the press in America is still acting like the judiciary has some power to force the administration to do the right thing. It doesn’t.

That’s the thing about an authoritarian regime, you can only fight it at the beginning, having understood that its logic is alien to democracy and the rule of law.