It's time to divest of Blackstone. The anarcho-capitalist says the rise of antisemitism was a reason he's voting for #TFG(?) Does Schwarzman think the end of #democracy is the change he supports?
Stephen A Schwarzman, CHM & CEO of Blackstone, the PE & real estate giant, will support TFG as a "vote for change." He said Fri that he plans to donate to TFG & various R Sen candidates. The endorsement gives TFG access to a potent network of Republican donors he's cultivated.
A controversial bill to give Taiwan's legislature increased power passed a second reading on Friday. A third reading is required for the bills to become law
Peru's new bill classifies LGBTQ people as mentally ill! This is the new of society.
Transgender model Carmen Carrera is speaking out against Peru's new bill that officially classifies transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people as "mentally ill"
Online discourse: "You have to convince me to vote for Joe #Biden"
Why? I don't like Joe Biden. The idea that anyone has to convince you to fall in love with Joe Biden is as absurd of a #political assertion as the #MAGA cult and #Trump, that #politics is about #passion
#ElonMusk has steadily ramped up his criticism of #Biden…. Musk has posted about Biden ≥7X a month since Jan, attacking the president for everything from his age to his policies on immigration & health. Before that, he posted about Biden twice in Dec & not at all in Nov. In all, #Musk had posted nearly 40X about Biden this year, compared w/about 30X for all of last year.
#Musk has lost a lot of his clout, but his RW rhetoric is harmful to Pres Biden, Dems & #democracy given his SM influence:
Last month, he posted on X that Pres Biden “obviously barely knows what’s going on.” “He's just a tragic front for a far left pol machine"-29th time this year -he'd posted about the pres. on X. By bringing an ideological bent to X, Musk mirrors what media moguls such as Murdoch are doing -helping shape their outlets’ coverage & broader pol discourse. https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/elon-musk-ramps-up-anti-biden-posts-on-x/
#Democracy is on life support, #DEI brought more equality, but now many programs are gone bc of Republican white nationalists in govt.
Leaders from all of TX’s 7 univ. systems said they've closed multicultural offices, fired or reassigned DEI staff & stopped requiring diversity statements, or letters in which job candidates in academia share their previous efforts to promote diverse learning spaces & help students of all backgrounds succeed.
As Heather Cox Richardson reports, the Supreme Court just signed off on a South Carolina congressional map that dilutes Black votes by gerrymandering.
And Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion. She writes,
"Almost exactly 70 years after the Supreme Court unanimously decided Brown v. Board, it appears that the framed timbers designed to reverse the expansion of minority rights are falling into place."
"In bestowing racist legislatures with the presumption of good faith, Alito is advancing the twin causes of white Christian nationalism and insurrection symbolized by the 'Appeal to Heaven' flag displayed over his beach house in 2023. Alito is, in short, in the vanguard of a hostile takeover of the US Constitution by white Christian nationalists."
"The conservative court on which Alito sits is largely the product of right-wing dark-money overlord Leonard Leo, and — wouldn’t you know it — Leo flew the same 'Appeal to Heaven' flag outside of his house in Maine.
Murray Ngoima, a Bar Harbor resident, provided Rolling Stone with a photo she took of the flag hanging outside of his house on Feb. 25."
"In this case, the Republican majority that includes Justices Alito and Thomas ruled consistently with the views of powerful people from whom they have accepted favors. Inevitably, that means people will question the decision. Is it fair? Is it about following the law in a difficult case? Or is it about favoritism and the return of favors?"
"The reason the Alito flag stories (like the Thomas stories) are so important is not because they reveal the individuals in question to be extremist ideologues. It is because of the utter contempt for the history, ethics, and standing of the court on which they serve."
A while ago I started getting involved in the Stop Killing Games campaign. I signed the petition. I wrote on my blog. I started writing up a report and I was hoping I could send to my MP to explain my position on the issue. Now, an election has been called. The UK government will soon shut down it’s entire democratic output until the result is called.
A side effect of the election is that all petitions currently open get closed. They won’t be re-opened afterwards. No responses to open petitions will be given. In effect, the slate is wiped clean.
I can understand that during a pre-election time and for some time post election while the new government is forming, it does not make sense for the government to engage with their petitioning platform, and indeed there are rules about non-interference. But I find it incredibly insulting to all the people who hold views bound up in the petitions to simply discard them once this process is complete.
The Stop Killing Games petition is incredibly important from a view of Digital Consumer Rights. An issue which I seriously doubt any of the electable political parties are going to bother mentioning, even as a footnote deep within their manifestos. Action such as petitions is one of the most effective ways to get these views across.
The DCMS previously failed to engage appropriately and was instructed to issue a new response. Unless they have an incredibly quick turnaround in the upcoming days, it is now highly likely this will not happen, and the current petition campaign will be consigned to history.
I am venting here because I find it immensely irritating to be teased with what looks like democratic engagement only to have it taken away from me after putting effort into it. The same holds true for the thousands of other campaigns that people had started. At time of writing there are 1415 open petitions that should still be accepting signatures, 9 petitions waiting for an initial response from government (not counting petitions needing additional responses), and 2 petitions that should be set for debate.
If I happen to come across any politicians during this campaign I will be challenging them on this, and I would encourage everyone else in the UK to do the same. Just because politicians leave their jobs and government gets wiped clean does not mean that everyone else’s priorities disappear.
Cyber Republic: Reinventing Democracy in the Age of Intelligent Machines by George Zarkadakis, 2020
Science and tech expert George Zarkadakis presents an indispensable guide to making liberal democracies more inclusive, and the digital economy more equitable in the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution.