Notices by S Bodzin, Real American 🇺🇸 (stevenbodzin@thepit.social)

Listening to @pluralistic using Microsoft's amusingly janky text to voice, I hear that "Bluesky" rhymes with "Brewski" and that "fediverse" is pronounced "feh-DEE-verse"

A lot of people have talked about the weird and frightening rise of non-Black South Africans in US politics. But I didn't realize there was such a good South African article about it. This is powerful, unblinking stuff.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-11-20-how-south-african-men-are-changing-the-course-of-american-democracy/

@Infoseepage this chart is exactly what you are looking for. All boroughs of New York City except for the Bronx are islands. They have identical public policies but different demographics and politics. Staten Island is far more conservative and has far lower vaccination rates. It is now suffering dramatically higher covid infection rates then the other four boroughs. I don't know if this is something that can validate any conclusion, but as a non scientist I take it as pro-vaccination.

I am increasingly convinced that vaccination is paying off in NYC. The least vaccinated borough is the one going through a COVID resurgence, while the others are just hanging out

The top line there is Staten Island

https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page#transmission

never occurred to me before that the prefix "sino-" which means "Chinese," can also mean "Socialist In Name Only"

It's that wonderful time of the year when those of us with English keyboards get to wish all our Spanish-speaking friends a happy new asshole

@peter Pacer, the US federal court system database, no longer works between about 10:00 a.m. and noon because it is being hit so hard by data mining robots.

https://abovethelaw.com/2024/12/pacer-sucks-more-than-usual-and-we-know-exactly-who-to-blame/

@tleekeene @peter "We really didn't know how much you did" Is a common issue, and is a testimonial to the failure of "scientific" management. I think it was @mekkaokereke who suggested using Moneyball type statistics to see the over-under from an employee. How does the team perform when that person is around versus when they are not present? That tells you so much more than checking their keystroke rate or sales numbers

You know who blames the IDF and Netanyahu for the Oct 7 attacks? A lot of Israelis

If anyone in the US, UK or Germany made these same observations, they would be branded as anti-Semitic. If a university produced this report in the US, its president would be taken to task in Congress and its funding would be at stake.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/26/world/middleeast/israel-oct-7-inquiry.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dE4.HM7q.-8KBkL91igDy&smid=url-share

@mekkaokereke @craignicol the US & Canada have long outsourced their birthing, especially to Latin America. Europe could do the same with Africa but they're too racist

One of the many awful results of the Balkan wars and genocide of the 1990s was the spread of a racist term: "ethnic cleansing."

No one should use it.

It implies that the victims are not just dirty, but dirt. It forces a listener to figure that out in order for the term to make sense. That forces the listener's own brain to make a racist connection, making it harder to fight back against the insult.

It was used ironically, but now people just say it. Don't

The term is genocide.

over the next few months, the US is going to speed run the first 5 years of the Chavez administration in Venezuela. We are going to go straight from "hey cool. It's the will of the people" to " I didn't realize that you could fire everyone who disagrees with you" and "oh look, these complicated systems don't actually run themselves"

The privileged opposition has so far been playing its part perfectly. Talking about the "next election" as if everything is normal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002%E2%80%932003_Venezuelan_general_strike?wprov=sfla1

I think i figured out why Trump is so keen on eliminating taxes on "tips"

The US Supreme Court ruled it was legal to give politicians gifts for policy decisions, even if you benefit from the decision,, as long as you do so after the fact. A tip, if you will.

But politicians who accept "tips" still have to declare them on tax forms. For example, tax crimes are the most likely path to impeaching Clarence Thomas.

No joke, I think that's what's going on here

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/26/us/politics/supreme-court-corruption-bribery.html

Rep. AOC, and Sen. Tina Smith, introduced a bill to boost housing construction by nonprofits and governments.

It would repeal the Faircloth Amendment, the 1998 law that bars the US government from building housing.

This is a good thing

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/opinion/aoc-tina-smith-housing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Lk4.ky_u.z2soWtF6CsfV&smid=url-share

@GNUmatic @blogdiva when 92% of the opposition votes for a single candidate, I'm not sure that's a right-wing power grab. Venezuelans are very much center left.

@HeavenlyPossum the first study I saw on this, in the early 90s, excited me no end, for its demolition of the racist myth of "untouched wilderness." Now it excites me for a new reason. If the forest could be managed once, maybe we can do it again. It offers hope for the areas now converted to relatively bereft savannah, and even to places like the Sahara, which with enough management maybe could be another Amazon.

A lot of people are reluctantly supporting Biden but don't have any specific reasons to like him. There is a constant wail of how Dems barely hold the line while Reps actively destroy things. I think this narrative was correct for Clinton & Obama but is totally wrong for Biden. People don't see how different this government has been. Here is a thread of some of the things Biden's govt has done.

1/

Via Reddit, law prof arguing that NY governor is required to let congestion pricing go forward.

https://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2024/06/can-governor-hochul-use-federal-law-to-stall-new-yorks-congestion-pricing-program.html

I would just add that there are a lot of rules & laws in the world, and this one could possibly get enforced because of all the protests.

Protest at Hochul's office
633 3rd Ave Manhattan 5:30pm Wednesday 12 June!
Lots of groups & people will be there!!!

I really can't explain the amount of pain and upset I feel about NYC congestion pricing being canceled just 3 weeks before it was to take effect. 25 years of effort, culminating in the biggest environmental review process possible (examining impacts as far away as Philadelphia). We all know this is going to be a popular program once it takes effect. But out of fear of GOP bullying, Gov. Hochul is stopping it. I don't even know what to say about it. So bad.

@thomasfuchs i'm not even going to click but that's amusing and awful

reminds me of the book Geek Love