So as of today Mastodon now has a US 501(c)3 non-profit entity to go along with their German corporate entity that appears to be losing its non-profit status for reasons the don't know yet. #mastodon#fediverse#newsblog.joinmastodon.org/2024/04/…
@hankg Congratulations. The IRS will eventually post information from the newly approved nonprofit organization on its web site but have you considered making it publicly available sooner? I imagine, for example, that the information from the 2022 annual report was translated to US currency in the Form 1023 application?
@lovelylovely As an outsider, occasional visitor who discusses politics when I do, I thought Florida was a ‘lost cause’. Recent news like this makes me wonder what I missed in my assessment.
@thepoliticalcat@lovelylovely I have come to learn and appreciate, not usually agree with, the strong Cuban culture community of Miami area. Separately, the ‘average’ US born FL resident I meet is noticeably different, likely less educated, than the average people in my life in Philly area.
@StillIRise1963 For example, I deal with USDA. Leadership is decentralized, many committees in charge, very focused on following law and regulation to minute detail. Focus is consistency and fairness to the public. Almost no individual wants to take charge of making a decision that has their signature. Same with IRS. Those are my two most intimate connections to federal government.
@StillIRise1963 we think of fascist as authoritarian, self-serving decision-making, centralized power, not law-abiding, willing to ignore the perceived best interests of the public.
Yesterday, for example, the topic of my tax podcast was the use and application of the phrase from federal code “in the efficient administration of tax policy” as it pertains to helping people with government acting unfairly.
@glynmoody there are rural local governments n the U.S. that do not make ordinances public but pull them out when they want to target someone, often an outsider.
Tom Moran of the #NewJersey Star Ledger editorial board wrote this op-ed following the #AndyKim / Tammy Murphy debate last night, and it is a scorcher (with regard to Murphy). #VoteBlue2024
"Andy Kim crushes Tammy Murphy in their first debate"
@PamelaBarroway Absolutely no doubt Kim is the stronger candidate. No doubt he thinks it is best for his career. But it will be a disaster for us in South Jersey. We will lose the Congressional district, probably for the remainder of my life. Murphy is a fantastic leader, based on my limited personal experience working with her, and the debate skills will come later.
Seeing “philosophy” often lately used as code for far-right content, e.g. in social media profiles
(Please understand that they don’t mean actual philosophy, they’re just using that word as code for aignalling to other right-wingers; they could have used “fartwaffle” or “dingleberry” instead just as well.)
@thomasfuchs Interesting. I don’t see that but will now look out for it. In my rural community I’m more likely to get blowback from ‘city education’ as the reason I ‘ain’t got no common sense’. They are strongly opposed to philosophical approaches to real life issues.
Startling new landmark research [By the British Institute and Faculty of Actuaries!] has just been published. It's conclusion? Climate Change will destroy half of our economies by 2070. Let me emphasize that again: 50% of GDP. By 2070. Gone. Burned, drowned, incinerated, levelled, flooded. How bad is that? It's even worse...than it might sound. #ClimateChange https://www.theissue.io/how-bad-is-climate-change-going-to-get-you-dont-want-to-know/
I've been using Mastodon now for 7ish years, and it's safe to say that I'm a big fan. Today I was reading an article about the Fediverse on The Verge that was saying the Fediverse as it currently exists is just the beginning. I'd like think that's true. What are some other ways we could use ActivityPub and the Fediverse other than how we currently are? Not just a clone of an existing service, but something new!
@mike I read the article also this morning and being newer here, I don’t grasp all of it. At the most basic level, I am concerned about the platform’s lack of progress in recruiting more users, despite what we see as the advantages.
Now this is the kind of clear, time-based, measurable #climateChange stat that people can grasp onto because it will directly affect their daily lives:
“Estimates show that 30 years from now, basically 50% of coffee lands as we know them today will not be viable for coffee production anymore.”
@Brendanjones Yet this statement still seems so mild, so abstract, so far away. I use more relatable comments like “Based on climate research by Rutgers University, the State of New Jersey predicts that your entire town will be under water before the mortgage on the house you just bought is paid off”.
Brace yourselves, this isn’t going to be pretty: A deep dive into the best survey data we have on the ideas and attitudes that shape the political conflict in the United States.
@tzimmer_history At this moment, I am listening to the audiobook "Democracy Awakening" by Healther Cox Richardson for the 2nd time. Highly recommended for anyone seeking deeper understanding on this issue.
Several years after the Covid era loss of the people closest to me here I am still wrestling to understand. Almost all of the people I worked or communicated with daily in our small rural community have died. Many businesses here, including mine, have not reopened since the government-ordered shutdown in March 2020.
Cumberland County is ranked as the least healthy county in New Jersey according to study. About 1 in 4 people are described as in fair or poor health. In a state considered among the richest in America, Cumberland County is worse off than even some Appalachian counties in rural Georgia and Tennessee in key indicators for health and poverty. Cumberland County residents die at younger age than almost anywhere else.
What’s most frustrating for me is that the state offers no support to small business job creators in our most rural neighborhoods. Public programs helped build an impressive NASCAR race track here and are now focused on helping build a Tiger Woods designed golf course owned by a baseball celebrity. But nothing is available to help recover the business at the state’s second most productive seafood landing port here at Money Island. https://www.nj.com/news/2023/07/crisis-in-cumberland.html
