general leftism square

[leftism-square]

We will eventually legalize weed in the United States. You and I both know it. It’s a question of when is this going to happen, not if. So why are we putting this off? Prohibition costs states like Pennsylvania big money. States like Illinois have already banked more than $100m in weed tax revenue. New Jersey just voted to legalize weed and 40% of Pennsylvanians live like 20 minutes or less from the border. Why should New Jersey make all that tax revenue, but not Pennsylvania? In fact, PA could raise $5 billion in the next 20 years through a weed tax. It’s not just about tax revenue though — it’s about justice. 20,000 Pennsylvania residents are charged with weed possession every year. White and Black people use weed at the same rate, yet Black people are four times more likely to be arrested and charged for its use. Legal weed is an opportunity to create jobs and support our farmers. It would be an economic boon at a time when we could badly use a break. So today, we’re starting a big petition.

Left Net email Jan 21, 2021 petition

[ratfuck]

sick of this shit

[ratfuck]

I don’t think people realize just how draconian and horrifying this is, and they’re keeping it that way, because this is a “must-pass” bill forced into a federal spending bill and if this isn’t included in it, then the government will be forced to shut down during the pandemic and during a time of massive poverty and hunger and homelessness

In essence, this law seeks to criminalize DMCA violations, whether it be copyrighted music included in a tiktok or instagram video, copyrighted footage of a movie on youtube, or copyrighted music in a twitch vod, not with a DMCA strike or a take down, but fucking imprisonment

Senator Thom TIllis, the wretch forcing this shit into law, is backed by Creative Future, a lobbying group consisting of corporate lawyers and lobbyists for the entertainment industry, which, under the name Creative America back in the early 2010′s, were the ones behind the SOPA/PIPA bills that would’ve drastically controlled communications on the internet and given control of it to corporations

This doesn’t appear to be reversible as trying to veto this legislation would shut down the federal government. It isn’t just a major blow to creativity and freedom of expression that will force streamers and social media personalities into totalitarian servantry under the command of massive media corporations, but opens the doors for the total annihilation of freedom of speech online.

[dykecostanza-deactivated2024112]

beyond pisses me off that the US and england - two countries that did virtually nothing to stop the spread of covid on their own - are getting premier access to the vaccine just bc they have the $ and the desire to send all of us back to work asap no matter the human cost. meanwhile many countries in the so called third world that took covid seriously, locked down, and provided for their citizens without a second thought or complaint wont receive the vaccine until 2022 or beyond. totally fair and cool.

[historical-nonfiction]

Indigenous Peoples of Australia, Mapped

This is pre-colonialization and genocide.

The island of Tasmania’s indigenous peoples, for instance, were nearly completely wiped out by European guerilla fights from the mid-1820s to 1832. None of the Tasmanian languages survive today.

[theburialofstrawberries]

The idea that Trump has been a relatively dove-ish non-interfering U.S President in such a way that a Democratic presidency will be actively worse for the rest of the world (instead of business as usual) doesn’t hold water…of course he stands on the shoulders of prolific war criminals like Obama but until someone does a comprehensive comparative please don’t give Republican propaganda credibility ajsgdjshjhk…BOTH parties are imperialist cesspools, we know this, anyway 

Trump launched more airstrikes on Somalia in his term than in Obama’s two terms, he also bombed Yemen more than all previous presidencies combined and has made the region into “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world” (e.g. in an early attack just weeks after being sworn in his troops leveled the village of al-Ghayil and killed at least ten children under the age of 13, some with bullets to the neck) 

Trump’s administration increased exports of major arms by 23%, selling billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia and abetting them in air raids of Houthi rebels and Yemeni civilians 

He loosened rules of engagement for cyber attacks, giving greater reins to the CIA who got to carry out their attack wish list, including leaking the bank details of millions of Iranian citizens  

Speaking of Iran of course Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal and literally killed their military commander Qassem Soleimani, an unprovoked and unimaginable act of aggression the likes of which I believe the U.S. has not done since WW2? It nearly brought Iran and U.S. to the brink of war

He announced new sanctions against Venezuela that has exacerbated famine conditions in the country where people have lost something like 11kg of body weight on avg.; new sanctions against Cuba too 

He said that he’d withdraw all troops from Afghanistan but he hasn’t, he withdrew a few thousand from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria but then deployed a couple thousand more to the Persian Gulf after escalation with Iran (god forgive me for linking to the NYT here)

And of course he said that Chelsea Manning should never have been released from jail and continued the indefensible and inhumane prosecution of Julian Assange, who is not even a U.S. citizen; on the flip side, he has pardoned the kind of unspeakable war crimes these journalists are being punished for uncovering 

[a-square-6-28-496]

Back to Normal With Biden's Cabinet - A SOME MORE NEWS Holiday Special!

Thanks Biden. The first 1000 people to use this link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: https://skl.sh/somemorenews12201Check out our ME...

Fuck. 

[bibutch]

once again i’m bitching at you all but basically if ur a white woman joking abt objectifying men ~but in a feminist way~ i’d strongly encourage you to look into the history ww have with LITERALLY objectifying men of color and think long and hard about whether ur actually being funny or if this is maybe inappropriate. yes, it’s a joke. i’m aware. but for some reason ur quirky objectification seems to have a body count in moc and not white men.

in general you white girls on here seem to forget that you are often the most violent tools of white supremacy and use your whiteness to degrade, humiliate, brutalize and objectify (hey look at that) poc INCULUDING moc, especially black men, and idk why u can’t get it through ur thick fucking skulls that u Also hve to watch what u say !!!!!! anyway please be fucking normal Thank You.

you are encouraged to reblog this if ur white and if you have thoughts on this keep it to urself including in the tags. i’m not in the mood for ur bitching and moaning.

[leftism-square]

The big tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon have too much power over our economy and over our democracy. During Trump's time in office we saw repeatedly how they fueled right-wing conspiracies while undermining small and local businesses. Just this week we learned that Google and Facebook were conspiring to undermine competition in online advertising — with journalism being the hardest hit by this illegal activity.1 The federal government and numerous states are fighting back. They've filed suits against Facebook and Google, and Amazon is under investigation. But these companies and their lobbyists are mobilizing to try and derail these efforts as a new president takes office. We cannot let them succeed and do even more damage to our country. Sign Demand Progress' petition: Tell Joe Biden and his administration to take on Facebook, Google, and Amazon!

Daily Kos email Dec 23rd 2020  https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/forms/sign-tell-president-elect-biden-to-take-on-facebook-google-and-amazon?detail=emailaction&link_id=0&can_id=a24ef39eae2fd488e37b532557755672&source=email-sign-president-elect-stop-big-tech-from-crushing-small-businesses&email_referrer=email_1029651___subject_1401420&email_subject=sign-if-you-agree-we-cant-let-big-tech-force-small-companies-out-of-business

Google currently faces three antitrust lawsuits from the US Department of Justice and more than 30 states, including those led by both Republicans and Democrats.2 These suits allege that Google uses its market dominance in online searching to dominate other activities online and crush their competitors. Facebook is facing a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission and dozens of states who are seeking to force the company to sell off WhatsApp and Instagram.3 If successful, this suit would help make it harder for Facebook to profit from extremism on the sites and apps it owns. Amazon is also the subject of numerous federal investigations into the ways it uses its power to crush small businesses that try to sell on their site. Jeff Bezos has become $90 billion richer during the pandemic, thanks to these predatory practices.4 These companies will spend millions of dollars lobbying the Biden Administration to ease up and settle these suits. We need to keep the pressure on President-elect Biden and his team to ensure that they maintain, and expand as needed, their efforts to break up the big tech companies. Will you help? Add your name: Tell Joe Biden to break up Amazon, Facebook, and Google!

[leftism-square]

2020 is almost over—but what we do in the next several days will make all the difference about what we can accomplish in 2021. No matter where you live, please spend some time this week to reach Georgia voters remotely and urge them to cast their ballots on Tuesday, January 5. Click here to look over, and sign up for, volunteer get-out-the-vote activities for Jon Ossoff & Rev. Raphael Warnock. Daily Kos has made it easy for you to find Georgia GOTV opportunities with a single, easy to navigate webpage. Click to volunteer Chip in $1 to each of these amazing Georgia-based groups that are working hard on the ground to get out the vote for Ossoff & Warnock in their communities. We are rocking the early vote in Georgia! As of December 17, over a million Georgians had already cast their ballots for the Senate runoff, either through early in-person voting or by returning an absentee ballot. Organizers on the ground are working hard to get out the vote, but we all must keep fighting right to the end as we expect an influx of Republican voters in January. At Dailykos.com/GOTV, you will be directed to all the stakeholders who are working hard to get out the vote in Georgia: the Jon Ossoff campaign, Rev. Raphael Warnock's campaign, Fair Fight Action, New Georgia Action Project, NextGen America—and our feed on Mobilize America where we collect local & remote volunteer opportunities for the Georgia effort. More than 23,000 Daily Kos community members have volunteered for the Georgia runoff, but over 100,000 of you volunteered in get-out-the-vote-efforts for the November general election. That means we still haven't met our potential, and there is still more work left to be done. Check out our Georgia GOTV volunteer webpage and get involved today so we can celebrate a victory on January 5.

[reasonandempathy]

[aberrantshrink]

[ID: Three transparent stock images of cheerful essential workers pasted on top of a funky psychedelic background; in left-to-right order, they are: a healthcare worker, a restaraunt clerk, and a janitorial staff. A black businessperson in a suit points to black text in capital letters that is overlaid atop the image. The text reads: “Thank essential workers by paying them more”. /END ID.]