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31 posts28 participants3 posts today

**Texas Observer** @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social · 3h

Texas Observer @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social

“Now what we’re seeing is a full-on assault on our state’s immunization program. Activists felt like they could take advantage of the [COVID-19 pandemic] and exploit it and start going after laws that have been on the books for decades.” https://www.texasobserver.org/measles-outbreak-anti-vax-legislation/

The Texas Observer · Mar 7Amid Texas Measles Outbreak, Conservatives Double Down on Anti-Vax CrusadeSpread of the virus is due to low immunization rates in certain communities. Meanwhile, some legislators are cheering for more “medical freedom.”

#health #HumanRights #politics

**Texas Observer** @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social · 4h *

4h *

Texas Observer @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social

#ICYMI: A transgender prisoner held in solitary confinement reports on the growing usage of Tasers against the most vulnerable of the incarcerated in #Texas. https://www.texasobserver.org/an-inside-look-at-taser-use-in-texas-prison/

The Texas Observer · 4dAn Inside Look at Taser Use in Texas PrisonThe sound of electricity sizzling and crackling broke the silence. To me, it looked like the electric chair was officially back in the prisons.

#prison #HumanRights #politics

**Sir Rochard 'Dock' Bunson** @SrRochardBunson@universeodon.com · 6h

Sir Rochard 'Dock' Bunson @SrRochardBunson@universeodon.com

ICYMI, fighting fascism works by improv rules.

Yes AND.

Don't waste your energy or their enthusiasm by telling someone they are doing it wrong.

#FuckFascists #TransRights are #HumanRights

#ResInt #Fascism #Improv

**Zhi Zhu** @ZhiZhu@newsie.social · 22h

22h

Zhi Zhu @ZhiZhu@newsie.social

"So far, America’s leading universities have remained virtually silent in the face of this authoritarian assault on institutions of higher education. That must change. Harvard must stand up, speak out, and lead a public defense of our freedom to speak and study freely."
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/3/14/enos-levitsky-harvard-columbia-trump/

Headline and photo with credit from The Harvard Crimson:
Op Eds
First They Came for Columbia

By Ryan D. Enos and Steven Levitsky, Contributing Opinion Writers
Ryan D. Enos is a professor of Government. Steven Levitsky is the David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and a professor of Government.
3 days ago

Photo: The front of a classical building lit up in red, white and blue.
Credit: By Frank S. Zhou

#FreeSpeech #FirstAmendment #USConstitution

Continued thread

**Nonilex** @Nonilex@masto.ai · 1d *

1d *

Nonilex @Nonilex@masto.ai

"Thanks to the great work of the Department of State, these heinous monsters were extracted & removed to El Salvador where they will no longer be able to pose any threat to the American People," #Trump WH press secy Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

"Ooopsie… too late," El Salvador's Pres Nayib #Bukele posted, in response to the judicial order.

#law #immigration #DueProcess

**David on Formosa** @davidonformosa@mstdn.social · 1d

David on Formosa @davidonformosa@mstdn.social

Voice of America and its networks, including Radio Free Asia, have been shut down. 1,300 staff are on indefinite leave

These organisations do important work providing news to countries where there is no free media

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-5329244/bloody-saturday-voiceofamerica-radio-free-asia-europe-trump-kari-lake

#uspol #PressFreedom #journalism

Continued thread

**David August** @davidaugust@mastodon.online · 2d

David August @davidaugust@mastodon.online

“‘He hardly got anything to drink. And then he wasn’t feeling very well and he collapsed,’ said Senior [his mother].

He was transported by ambulance to Mass General Hospital.”

https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2025-03-14/green-card-holder-from-new-hampshire-interrogated-at-logan-airport-detained

2/2 end

NHPR · 3dGreen card holder from New Hampshire 'interrogated' at Logan Airport, detainedFabian Schmidt’s family said they are unsure of why he is being held. They said he has a recently renewed green card, and no active issues in court.

#USpol #ice #HumanRights

Continued thread

**Will** @StorieswithaWill@fosstodon.org · 2d

Will @StorieswithaWill@fosstodon.org

The proposed (Eureka) ordinance raises punishments from minor infractions to misdemeanor offences with jail time, outlawing not only camping in public spaces, but:
-sitting/lying in any public space
-bathing or washing belongings
-lighting warming fires

#NorthernCalifornia #humanrights #Houselessness

Pg 2 of 3

Here’s a link to the proposed ordinance to review before the meeting:
https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/3202931/Unlawful_Camping_Sitting_Lying_Ordinance_-_Final.pdf

**Texas Observer** @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social · 2d

Texas Observer @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social

Dispatch from the inside: A prisoner in solitary watches as guards use Tasers on a naked, mentally-ill woman in a shower, and reflects on their increasingly brutal use in the #Texas correctional system. https://www.texasobserver.org/an-inside-look-at-taser-use-in-texas-prison/

#prison #CriminalJustice #news

**Sankofab** @SANKOFAB@zirk.us · 3d

Sankofab @SANKOFAB@zirk.us

Muhammad Ali

#Blackhistory

#blackmastodon
@blackmastodon
@blackvoices
@BLKNewsNow
@blackgirlnerds
#usa
#Resistance
#democracy
#sports
#africa
#humanrights

00:00/04:37

**Texas Observer** @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social · 3d

Texas Observer @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social

“This is the Trump administration desperate to meet the goals that it’s set to carry out its mass deportation agenda. But he’s having trouble reaching those numbers, because he doesn’t have the manpower and the infrastructure to actually rip away people who have years and years of life in our communities and are deeply entwined.” https://www.texasobserver.org/local-state-police-ice-287g-task-force/

The Texas Observer · Feb 27Local and State Police Are Joining Trump's 'Deportation Force'Texas law enforcement agencies and others around the nation are reviving a long-dead "task force" program that led to racial profiling in the past.

#police #CriminalJustice #Texas

**Alexander Karn** @xankarn@mastodon.online · 3d

Alexander Karn @xankarn@mastodon.online

If you know who Maria Ressa is or read her book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator, then you'll know who Rodrigo Duterte is and why this is such important news.

Charged by the ICC with crimes against humanity.

Many thought this day would never come, but justice and accountability are just as real as raw power.

#democracy #humanrights #law #philippines #MariaRessa

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/world/asia/duterte-philippines-icc-crimes-against-humanity.html?unlocked_article_code=1.304.bmpJ.gw0es-pILFl5&smid=url-share

Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, appeared on a screen on Friday in the courtroom during his first appearance before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The New York Times · 3dDuterte Appears in Court in The Hague via Video After ArrestBy Claire Moses

**Texas Observer** @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social · 3d

Texas Observer @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social

“In solitary confinement, many prisoners suffer from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar, and psychosis that are exacerbated by prolonged isolation. Those suffering from schizophrenia and other mental diseases are target practice for the Tasers on a daily basis.” https://www.texasobserver.org/an-inside-look-at-taser-use-in-texas-prison/

#prison #HumanRights #CriminalJustice

**Canvases By Peter** @CanvasesByPeter@mastodon.social · 3d

Canvases By Peter @CanvasesByPeter@mastodon.social

I found this really nifty website today which lists products and brands by country so you can see where things are made, to shop local products, linking it below in case it helps anyone else

https://ethical.org.au/

ethical.org.auShop Ethical!

#BuyAustralian #AusPol #Products

**jiujensu** @jiujensu@mas.to · 4d

jiujensu @jiujensu@mas.to

So here are my thoughts on Pay No Heed to the Rockets by Marcello Di Cintio. It was on some Palestine reading lists, but the time was disappointing. Literature references were amazing.

Last page is attached.
1/2
#FreePalestine #humanrights #apartheid #palestine #gaza #westbank #endtheoccupation #sanctionisrael #genocide #antizionist #antifacist #resistance #readpalestine #books @bookstodon
@palestine @israel

I'm going to be honest: there are big pros and big cons. Big CN or TW for Orientalism. There are very good stories here, but the lens he's looking through will annoy the crap out of you if you're familiar with the history of the region or of resistance to occupation or international law.

Let's start with the good aspects. Di Cintio was a writer in residence in Palestine at one time - you can tell he loves literature and includes Palestinian literature in that. He highlights gay authors and meets and talks to so many poets and writers I can't list them all. He was able to tell their stories and draw out details I'd never heard them say elsewhere. If nothing else, you'll get a ton of titles and authors (&movies) for your to-read list!

When he gets into the storytelling, there's the Khalidi library, theft of books during the Nakba.(&movie called thre Great Book Robbery), intricate smelly details of how books are smuggled out of prison, role of Tamer Institute for Community Education, stories of collecting info for All That Remains - book of erased Palestinian villages, I enjoyed descriptions of the places he goes inside 48, the West Bank and Gaza, he has a detailed description of a humiliating checkpoint, there's the story of Jamal Abu Qumsan and the Gallery Café where artists meet, Kashabi Theater Company, the story of a salon for women authors, meeting Anni Kanafani, Mohammed El-Kurd, Atef Abu Saif, Abbad Yahya, khulud khamis, Dalia Taha, Adila Laïdi, Salha

Hamdeen, Anahid Mlikian, Suha Arraf, Asmaa Azaizeh, Mona Abu Sharekh, Asmaa al-Ghul, Mayy Nayef, Sumaiya al-Susi, Rana Mourtaja and more.

Di Cintio seems to be sympathetic to Palestinian pain and injustices, but when confronted with negative things about Israel, he can't seem to wrap his brain around it - he puts things Palestinians tell him they've experienced in quotes, it's all "he claims," "allegedly," and never allows a Palestinian permission to be angry or advocate for freedom by any means necessary. They must be unarmed and nonviolent in his opinion. He doesn't have such requirements for Israel or Israelis, like the Western country he comes from.

A few examples:
He said of the Israeli policy of blackmailing gay Palestinians to become informants that the person he spoke to suggested this was the case. He could've verified this with books, journalism and human rights organizations in 2018. It's a fact. He doesn't seem to be able to believe this about Israel, though.

He repeats some easy false history, the US/Canada summary, of the "conflict" as he calls it - Jews accepted partition, Palestinians rejected it. I hope he reads Khalidi's Hundred Years War or Ilan Pappé's work with Said or Khalidi. They can help him out of that with what actually happened.

In his meeting with Anni Kanafani, Di Cintio shares his view that Ghassan Kanafani was assassinated in retaliation for planning the Lod airport attack with the Red Army (he labels them terrorists).

Anni corrected him that Israel's plan was to liquidate intellectuals. (You can see this in the recent 2023 Israeli assault too - they called Refaat Alareer, taunted him, then leveled his building. Anyone good at communicating the struggle to Americans/Westerners is a target. It's repeated with journalists, professors, doctors.) Di Cintio still struggles for pages as he looks at photos of Kanafani, whose work he loves, with the possibility that he also could've killed someone. First, his widow said his weapon was a pen and Israel knew he was dangerous with that weapon. Second, under the daily violence Israel inflicts on the captive population, if he did plan an attack or kill someone - that would not invalidate his literary genius or the fact that Palestinians deserve equality, a life, self-determination, freedom as much as he does, as much as Israelis do. If he did plan an attack or kill someone, it certainly wouldn't in any way justify Israel's actions, occupation, collective punishment, attacks on occupied people, disproportionate violence, being THE CAUSE of the entire situation, cycle, conflict, etc - 75 years of genocide. I got really annoyed with the author at that point - just on page 21!

He loves talking to the Israeli curator of stolen Palestinian books now absorbed into their collection and also in a separate room. They say it's destruction and conservation, demolition and salvage - as though there's beauty or confusion there, but why isn't Di Cintio as

mad as I am, as mad as one might be if a Nazi with a museum full of Holocaust victims' belongs looted from their house or taken from them at concentration camps from jewelry to furniture to teeth and saying, wow, aren't you glad I was there to save all these artifacts? It's obscene! A shrine to the massive continued injustice. It's not conservation. It's gloating over mass murder and large scale theft.

One of his interview subjects said her relative suffered intestinal illness brought on by his Israeli captors treatment of him - he used the word "claimed" as though he doubts seriously Israel caused such a thing. He hasn't read up on Israeli prisons, clearly. In the sae conversation, he couldn't believe a militant Marxist could write a sweet sappy letter to his mother. He doesn't believe the Palestinian is a person, does he?

I was annoyed of El-Kurd's behalf when Di Cintio refused to believe that an Israeli doctor tried to get his mother to abort him but not his twin sister as a demographic strategy. Instead of investigating or bringing up that Israel does experiments on prisoners and sells Palestinian organs with doctors' help, so it's possible, he just dismisses it and says, wow, look how much the sides mistrust each other.

The last annoyance I'll highlight is something he said to Atef Abu Saif asking about The Drone Eats With Me. Di Cintio wanted to know if it was a deliberate omission not to mention the

**Texas Observer** @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social · 4d

Texas Observer @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social

New today: A prisoner watches as guards use Tasers on a naked, mentally-ill woman in a shower, and reflects on their increasing use inside #Texas prison walls..
https://www.texasobserver.org/an-inside-look-at-taser-use-in-texas-prison/

#HumanRights #politics #USpol

**Texas Observer** @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social · 5d

Texas Observer @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social

“Given what a support our church has been throughout Ruby’s life, it’s absolutely infuriating to see Republicans in my own state twist our faith to argue that my child does not deserve rights. Christian lawmakers in #Texas, members of my own religion, claim that #trans people are sinful, bad, and broken, but that is anything but the truth.” https://www.texasobserver.org/trans-children-gods-gifts/

#LGBTQIA+ #transphobia #HumanRights #politics #USpol #news #TXlege

The Texas Observer · Feb 3Trans Children Are God’s GiftsWithout the support of our Christian church in the Houston suburbs, my daughter might not be with us today.

**Texas Observer** @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social · 5d

Texas Observer @TexasObserver@texasobserver.social

Death penalty update: On March 11, the Court of Criminal Appeals stayed David Wood’s execution. The court has not yet announced whether it will send the case back to the trial court to review the evidence of Wood’s innocence.
https://www.texasobserver.org/david-wood-execution-desert-killer/

The Texas Observer · Mar 5David Wood, Set for Execution, Says He Was Never the 'Desert Killer'Wood’s attorneys have requested that more than 100 additional pieces of evidence be tested for DNA, but the state has opposed the request for over a decade.

#DeathPenalty #politics #USpol