Notices by William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)

Rather than add anxiety to a long-expected visit with an old friend for a week, I decided not to do anything in response to this unexpected act on the part of this instance.

Then I returned home and have sat on this issue for a week, because, to be quite honest, I haven't known what to do.

In the years I've posted at Toad Social, I have had I think two previous postings removed. My memory about one of those is clear.

#Mastodon #censorship
/2

To my followers here, a note of both sincere gratitude and apology for my protracted silence. As I posted on May 3 (see the link below), out of the blue and with no notice or explanation from this Mastodon instance, on May 3, I received a spate of notifications that multiple postings of mine had been removed.

This happened on the eve of a trip I was making to see a friend I hadn't seen in eight years.

#Mastodon #censorship
/1

https://toad.social/@wdlindsy/116511134915128358

A posting in which I shared commentary from a Jewish thinker whom I much admire about the Israel-Palestine situation was removed with no explanation. I contacted the Toad Social administrator and asked for an explanation.

I did not receive one.

That fact leaves me dubious about the effectiveness of contacting the administrator again now. I notice that one of the postings removed recently was an excerpt about the same topics.

#Mastodon #censorship
/3

I'm afraid I have to conclude — I see no other conclusion — that I've been given a strong signal that what I have done here on this instance for some years now is not welcome. By those who have the authority to censor, that is….

And I see no reason to carry on posting when I've been given what seems to me a strong signal of unwelcome. When the postings that have been removed aren't even my own but are excerpts of other people's commentary….

#Mastodon #censorship
/4

Along with my spouse, I am also coping with his recent diagnosis for a serious disease that will, if it follows its expected course, end his life — not soon, we hope, but this is one of the possibilities the disease offers.

A lot to cope with — age, the usual infirmities and challenges of age, and, honestly, I am simply very tired. I'm tired of the issues and topics we all have to confront right now in the political-cultural-economic-ecological sphere.

#Mastodon #censorship
/6

Hence my use of the term "censorship"….

And when no explanations are offered for the censorship and no really transparent vehicle for accountability seems to exist to challenge the censorship….

If I may, at the risk of sharing too much, add some personal pieces of information: I turned 76 in March, and am definitely feeling my age.

In several aspects of my life, I'm being challenged to cut down activity.

#Mastodon #censorship
/5

I do not mean that I'm inclined to give up. We do not have that luxury, any of us who care. I think I just have to figure out ways to conserve strength for the increasing personal battles I'll have to fight along with my husband on the home front, if his illness progresses more swiftly than his hematologist and oncologist hopes will be the case. He already experiences fatigue that's exacerbated by his having to have blood taken routinely as a treatment.

#Mastodon #censorship
/7

So, sadly and with much heart pain, I think I should stop posting here and wean myself of trying to keep up with the latest news. I find my focus already waning due to age, which tends to isolate us. And now my husband and I have a medical situation to deal with that hasn't been there until very recently — at least, we hadn't known that some blood irregularities his doctors had been tracking had a name.

#Mastodon #censorship
/8

"John Roberts life’s work of repealing the 20th century is essentially complete. What is clear about him is that he is determined to use the Supreme Court to systematically dismantle every outrage against white supremacy and oligarchy that were passed by 20th century congresses and upheld by 20th century Supreme Court majorities:"

~ Joy-Ann Reid

#SupremeCourt #JohnRoberts #VotingRights #Callais #GildedAge #JimCrow #corruption
/1

https://www.joyannreid.com/p/a-sunday-reid-john-roberts-corrupt

Matthew Taylor notes that though Trump is heavily supported by white evangelicals, one group of evangelicals have a particular grip on him: Pentecostal-charismatic evangelicals who constitute the network called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), led by his "faith advisor" Paula Cain-White.

#Trump #WhiteEvangelicals #Pentecostals #WhiteChristianNationalism #megalomania
/1

https://www.bettedangerous.com/p/medici-white-house-and-the-pseudopropheta

"Today is May 1. Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, President Trump’s authority to continue military operations in Iran without congressional authorization expires today. As of 0600 EST this morning, the administration has filed nothing — no authorization request, no 30-day extension certification, no supplemental appropriations."

~ Rudy Martinez

#Trump #Republicans #Iran #war #WarPowers #Congress
/1

https://www.restoftheworldreport.com/p/the-rest-of-the-world-report-may

Rebecca Bratten Weiss's article about the MAGA split within the US Catholic church is timely, in light of the fact that a bloc of Supreme Court justices controlled by right-wing integralist Catholics, most witwh strong ties to the secretive, wealthy, theocratic-aspiring Catholic cult Opus Dei, have just gutted the Voting Rights Act.

This bloc is actively working to undermine democracy.

#SupremeCourt #Catholics #MAGA #OpusDei #democracy
/1

https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/maga-split-isnt-catholic-vs-protestant-its-struggle-churchs-soul

"These are monumental decisions that are happening, that are rolling back where we are as a country."

~ Olivia Troye

#SupremeCourt #VotingRights #discrimination #SamuelAlito #JohnRoberts #Callais #WhiteSupremacy
/1

https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/more-lawfare-from-trump-the-frank

"Decked out in tuxedos and formal gowns, they assembled for a State dinner held in a White House controlled by the most explicitly and destructively racist President to serve in 150 years. They dined on Dover Sole 'expertly prepared and bathed in a nutty brown butter,' 'tender' spring ramps, and potatoes pave."

#SupremeCourt #VotingRights #discrimination #SamuelAlito #JohnRoberts #Callais #WhiteSupremacy
/3

"The night before the six conservative justices on the Supreme Court issued their decision in a case that betrays the sacrifices, determination, and demand of generations of Black people in this country for political voice and representation, they feasted."

~ Sherrilyn Ifill

#SupremeCourt #VotingRights #discrimination #SamuelAlito #JohnRoberts #Callais #WhiteSupremacy
/2

https://sherrilyn.substack.com/p/scotus-drops-the-other-shoe-on-the

"They raised glasses in toast to the British King, Charles.

One justice, Clarence Thomas was, it appears, the only Black guest in the room."

#SupremeCourt #VotingRights #discrimination #SamuelAlito #JohnRoberts #Callais #WhiteSupremacy
/4

"In other words: Discriminating against Black voters is okay because they vote for Democrats. Many Democrats in the 19th century, when Black people overwhelmingly voted Republican, would have enthusiastically agreed with Alito’s assessment. But if you apply Alito’s logic to those white-supremacist Democrats, they weren’t racist either."

~ Adam Serwer

#SupremeCourt #VotingRights #discrimination #SamuelAlito #JohnRoberts #Callais #WhiteSupremacy
/6

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/vra-supreme-court-callais-decision/686997/

“The John Roberts Court has now declared that racism in American politics is no more. Despite the recent behavior in Texas and North Carolina, Wednesday’s cruel Callais decision pretends that Jim Crow is a bygone era and not this week’s news."

~ Stacey Abrams

#SupremeCourt #VotingRights #discrimination #SamuelAlito #JohnRoberts #Callais #WhiteSupremacy
/5

https://www.ms.now/opinion/louisiana-callais-voting-rights-act-supreme-court-black-voters

"They just, you know, wanted to win elections or something, and Black people were in the way."

#SupremeCourt #VotingRights #discrimination #SamuelAlito #JohnRoberts #Callais #WhiteSupremacy
/7

"The Voting Rights Act of 1965, the signature achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, is now as dead as Medgar Evers. It is as dead as Viola Liuzzo. It is as dead as James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. It is as dead as Rev. James Reeb. It is as dead as Vernon Dahmer. And it is as dead as Martin Luther King, Jr."

~ Charles Pierce

#SupremeCourt #VotingRights #discrimination #SamuelAlito #JohnRoberts #Callais #WhiteSupremacy
/8

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a71168739/voting-rights-act-civil-rights-supreme-court/