Notices by Matthew Sheffield (mattsheffield@mastodon.social), page 4

@Infoseepage It was a policy a opposed as well, but polling has shown that Gaza never was a big priority for most Americans. Generally, foreign policy is not considered top of mind except when American troops are dying, as they did in Iraq.

@Infoseepage Clearly trying to give money to people who desperately needed it falls under the platform of being "not evil," one would assume.

I'm curious what you're referring to here though.

@Infoseepage What's even more frustrating is that she and Biden both supported keeping these programs, but neither ever bothered to explain why they were taken away, or that they could be restored if the people gave Democrats the votes.

Economic hardship increased after Joe Biden let Republicans and Manchinema bully him into removing federal income supports.

Kamala Harris could have run on restoring them. She didn't.

This was likely a huge factor that demotivated many Democratic voters https://www.stephensemler.com/p/how-the-most-unpopular-us-president

@Infoseepage They need both. The left positions are popular but not when they are labeled as such. Reactionaries have achieved total branding dominance through their media strategy.

The most ignorant people supported Donald Trump last election.

That's extremely concerning, but it also is a cause for hope since these people were misled about Trump's extremism. A properly marketed left can defeat Trump's unpopular and extremist beliefs. https://www.dataforprogress.org/insights/2024/11/14/what-political-news-engagement-tells-us-about-donald-trumps-victory

@CanadianCrone Monty Python warned us of this abortion holocaust!

Bradford Blackmon, a Mississippi Democratic state senator, just filed a hilarious but actually important troll bill to ban male masturbation to highlight absurd and tyrannical Republican desires to ban birth control and in vitro fertilization https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/mississippi-lawmaker-introduces-contraception-begins-erection-act-rcna188938

#abortionrights #lgbtq

Conspiracism is the tribute that stupidity pays to intelligence. It's the belief that mediocrity is actually aristocratic.

Have you ever noticed that science is the child of pseudoscience? Think about it:

🔹Astrology -> Astronomy
🔹Numerology -> Mathematics
🔹Alchemy -> Chemistry
🔹Dietary rites -> Nutrition
🔹Prejudice -> Sociology
🔹Spiritualism -> Psychology

Today's crises began because people who believe in the real things didn't bother to inform those who did not.

NCAA president Charlie Baker says there are "less than 10" #trans athletes out of 510,000 college athletes

Republicans have totally lied to people about this issue. Please share so everyone can know the truth: https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/5046662-ncaa-president-transgender-athletes-college-sports/

#lgbtq

The details of ancient Egyptian philosophy have been known for nearly a century but they unfortunately too often are overshadowed by their amazing artistic achievements.

The nonviolent ethical tradition of Ma'at is incredible, especially given the very violent other regional religions.

And like most pagan traditions, it's very gender fluid and more equal for men and women than monotheism https://dailydish.co.uk/the-42-laws-of-maat/

Microsoft is refusing to lower Windows 11's hardware requirements, even as more than 400 million PCs are at risk of losing security update support next year https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/tpm-2-0-%E2%80%93-a-necessity-for-a-secure-and-future-proof-windows-11/4339066

American university professors by and large have no idea what Trump has in store for all of them.

This video in which Heritage Foundation president and Project 2025 co-creator Kevin Roberts advocates seizing university endowments and "destroying" them is a short preview https://www.mediamatters.org/kevin-roberts/heritages-kevin-roberts-calls-federal-government-seize-university-endowments-unless

Republican Americans have been so completely gaslit by right wing media that their delusions affect people outside their bubble based on word of mouth recitation.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/11/are-americans-perceptions-of-the-economy-and-crime-broken/

Non-Americans: This state of affairs will be coming to your country as well, if it's not already present.

A fascinating attempt to figure out what ancient Egyptians were drinking in their religious rituals. There's so much you can learn about ancient people and yet our knowledge is such a tiny slice of what things were really like. https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/26/science/egyptian-bes-mug-hallucinogens/index.html

Donald Trump is appointing the crazed religious extremist Russ Vought, co-creator of #Project2025, to head the federal budget.

It's a total refutation of his lies that he had no connection to the group https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-russ-vought-office-of-management-budget/

After tricking millions of union members into voting Republican, Trump's puppet master Elon Musk is now suing to get the entire National Labor Relations Board declared unconstitutional.

There is not such thing as right-wing populism. It's all just vulgar rhetoric in the service of oligarchs https://apnews.com/article/amazon-nlrb-unconstitutional-spacex-elon-musk-ab42977117d883e97110a7bf8e8b257f

As #Bluesky sees an influx of users, its centralized structure is failing to scale.

Republican dominance of new media is the number-one reason Kamala Harris lost in 2024. Her message was drowned out by propaganda and she failed to understand how gaslit Americans were.

Here are a few graphics to keep handy next time you want to explain this to someone.