Anyhow, media is just a tool--- it can be used for good or for ill.
Hi Iridium, I guess over the last few years, and possibly a lot longer, being used for ill seems to be what is happening. With Russian interference in 2016 election and probably 2020. The big lie, Trump won didn't you know just ask Rudy. I think it played a role in Brexit. The storming of the Capital, all the anti vaccination rhetoric, the plugging of dubious medicines for personal gain. Fox news and so on. Its like there is a malevolence out there we don't necessarily realise is pulling our strings, influencing our ideas etc. for whatever reason and probably money will be playing a part as well as countries wanting to influence.
Life is just too darn interesting these days.
Regards to all
Hi guys
Apparently the Northern Territory of Australia has upset Ted Cruz, Teddy boy has got his knickers in a knot about NT and created a twitter exchange.
The Northern Territory chief minister, Michael Gunner, has hit back at US senator Ted Cruz who criticised the Northern Territory’s vaccine policy, telling the firebrand Texan conservative “you know nothing about us”.
The spat began when the US Republican shared a video of Gunner announcing the territory’s wide-ranging vaccine mandate for workers.
Cruz lamented the “Covid tyranny of their (Australia’s) current government,” which he said was “disgraceful and sad”.
“Individual liberty matters,” Cruz declared, adding he had considered Australia the “Texas of the Pacific”.
Michael Gunner tweeted back to Ted Cruz
Gunner did not appreciate the feedback, responding on Twitter with a statement sharing a “few facts about Covid down here” and tagging Cruz.
“We don’t need your lectures, thanks mate,” the chief minister began.
“Nearly 70,000 Texans have tragically died from Covid. There have been zero deaths in the Territory. Did you know that?
We’ve done whatever it takes to protect the Territory. That’s kept us safe and free. We have been in lock down for just eight days in 18 months. Our businesses and school are all open. Did you know that?”
Gunner went on to say that Cruz knows nothing about Australia, and criticised his stance on vaccination.
“You know nothing about us. And if you stand against a life-saving vaccine, then you sure as hell don’t stand with Australia.”
“I love Texas (go Longhorns), but when it comes to Covid, I’m glad we are nothing like you.”
Well there you go
Regards to all
So, Texas. My first inkling that the GOP would not flip the House in 2022 came in the days after the presidential election last year. I began wondering about what would happen in 2022 and had a vision in which a young woman was leading a raucous protest in front of the Supreme Court. I don't often get visions when I'm going about my daily activities, but I got the sense that the Supreme Court would make an unpopular decision involving women's health that would energize Democratic-leaning voters; my vision seemed to be a metaphor for the mood across the country leading up to the midterms.
Looking at the new abortion law in Texas, it seems like the unpopular Supreme Court decision I intuited will be about abortion, especially since Mississippi is now asking the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. @bluebelle saw the new Texas law as shifting politics in that state leftward since it will energize voters who might usually be apathetic. But I think Texas is just ground zero for a trend that will occur nationally where the GOP in many states becomes openly medieval and triggers the opposite reaction from voters. I saw an opinion piece in the New York Times a few months ago that sums up exactly how I feel. It was written by Linda Greenhouse and titled "The Free Ride May Soon Be Over for Anti-Abortion Politicians:"
“Ever since the 2010 election ushered new Republican majorities into state legislatures, politicians there have been able to impose increasingly severe abortion restrictions without consequence, knowing that the lower courts would enjoin the laws before they took effect and save the people’s representatives from having to own their actions.
“It’s a dim memory, but a salient one, that in Mississippi itself, a voter referendum that would have amended the state Constitution to grant personhood status to a fertilized egg was defeated in 2011 by a margin of 58 to 41 percent, despite endorsement by leading politicians and widespread predictions that it would pass. That’s when the anti-abortion forces decided that friendly legislatures were a better bet than the will of the people.
“Last fall, in each of four nationwide polls, including one conducted for Fox News, more than 60 percent of registered or likely voters said they did not want the Supreme Court to overturn “Roe v. Wade.” I put the case in quotes because that’s how the pollsters asked the question; although Roe obviously carries strong symbolic meaning, the 1973 decision is in many respects no longer the law.
“The question as the polls’ respondents processed it was most likely “Do you want to keep the right to abortion?” And no wonder the answer was yes: nearly one American woman in four will have an abortion. (Catholic women get about one-quarter of all abortions, roughly in proportion to the Catholic share of the American population.) Decades of effort to drive abortion to the margins of medical practice have failed to dislodge it from the mainstream of women’s lives.
"For the cynical game they have played with those lives, politicians have not paid a price. Now perhaps they will.”
Anyways, America's first ever Pluto return goes into full force in February. So no matter what, next year will be "totally lit" ?
Texas is headed for another big freezing storm. Hopefully it will be short lived.
The PTSD regarding last years Texas freeze is a real thing. My daughter is stressed, partially because her district hasn't canceled classes yet. The other part because it was nearly nearly 10 days of survival of the fittest with no help from the "powers that be". None! Fear was real. There was also a lot of time spent after the fact trying to heal the emotional trauma of her students. When she moved this fall she even made sure her pantry was stocked for incoming winter, just in case.
In the prediction hit thread, @bluebelle posted the following:
The Texas power grid is being monitored. (Bluebelle) Prediction made February 22, 2021 for January, 2022. The Texas power grid is being monitored as a massive storm approaches. https://abc13.com/texas-weather-power-grid-update-electric-reliability-council-of-ercot-conditions/11526864/ . https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/energy-experts-ercot-expect-power-to-stay-on-during-north-texas-freeze/287-d7b729cb-0963-4347-8d2c-c24af5b2dd08
I then responded with this post:
@bluebelle I suspect most of Texas is monitoring the entire situation. I am and I don't even live there...
They seriously need to cancel school on Thursday where my daughter teaches. The only forecast for that day is below freezing, snow and freezing rain yet the district is waiting...
Which prompted the following post from @saokymo
@lovendures I fully expect my kiddo’s classes to be cancelled tomorrow and Friday; we’re in the North Texas region and stand to get a fair bit of ice & snow from the front. My household has been dealing with PTSD anxieties stemming from last year’s disaster, but we’re about as socked-in and prepped as we possibly can be.
I strongly suspect the front will bring more precipitation & accumulation than the weather reports have been indicating - it’s steadily ticked up from “minimal accumulation” to “3 to 4 inches” for our area. Wouldn’t be surprised at all to wind up with 6 to 8” total - it’s happened that way to us before!
Here is the first paragraph from the Austin-Statesman newspaper today. If you go to the link below you can read the entire article and see how people on Twitter are preparing for the #texasfreeze . I am actually laughing over some of those twitter posts. Especially the one were a Doodle is next to a water filled bathtub saying: When your dog thinks it’s a bath for him but it’s actually #texasfreeze prep.
Though Texas is projected to get a winter storm including rain, snow, and cold fronts in coming days, it's unlikely to be as severe as last year's deadly Texas freeze.
Most Texans, however, cannot help but draw a parallel between the two, recalling the two-week long freeze that resulted in a major power grid crisis and a multitude of deaths. As the February 10 anniversary looms closer, Texans took to Twitter to look back on the horrors of last year and anticipate the impending storm using #TexasFreeze. And, they're not shy about calling out lawmakers for their remarks ahead of this week's storm.
Today I got a letter from someone in Galveston asking me to vote for Beto for Governor, I was surprised to get a hand written letter and I didn't know he was running, totally fired me up, will vote for him. So far we're supposed to get freezing rain in Houston not the snow like last year but I will worry anyways.
Beto needs help. In a poll, Abbott was a head 48% to 38%. I watched the end of trump's Texas rally, on newsmax, and the newsmen were laughing at Beto.
If reading the #texasfreeze thread on twitter is any indication, Beto couldn't ask for better publicity right now.
People REMEMBER last year and their PTSD is not going away anytime soon. Nobody trusts the grid or the Governor right now and with good reason.
@lovendures the PTSD is real. It was not even a year ago, when people here in Houston were burning their furniture to try to stay warm. Or trying to melt snow to have water to drink, or maybe to finally be able to flush the toilet. People shivering in the dark, only to have the overhead pipes burst, drenching them, and everything that they owned in ice water.. I guess if things get too bad again this year, we can head over to the library, and see if there are any books still left to burn //s
Texas. Again.
Abbot is causing a supply chain crisis which will impact the country.
He is also infuriating trucks. They have protested, shutting down the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge where more produce enters the U.S. than at any other port.
*Side note, I wonder how many of those infuriated truckers traveled to DC for the trucker protest, wouldn't that be special?
What should be a 3 hour trip across the border is turning into 10 or longer. Miles of backlogged trucks waiting to cross.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday defied intensifying pressure over his new border policy that has gridlocked trucks entering the U.S. and shut down some of the world’s busiest trade bridges as the Mexican government, businesses and even some allies urge him to relent.
The two-term Republican governor, who has ordered that commercial trucks from Mexico undergo extra inspections as part of a fight with President Joe Biden’s administration over immigration, refused to fully reverse course as traffic remains snarled.
The standoff has stoked warnings by trade groups and experts that U.S. grocery shoppers could soon notice shortages on shelves and higher prices unless the normal flow of trucks resumes.
@lovendures Sounds like Abbott s trying to cause greater inflation in the US and thus harm the democrats' chances of reelection.
@jeanne-mayell Did a quick scan and saw that Abbott will be intervened and the border will be reopened.
I am not sure how that is going to help him in his re-election bid. Or when he runs for president which I suspect he will do as well. I mean, truckers are (generally) his base. It is giving Beto a lot of substance to work with, if anyone will listen to Beto.
Greg Abbott has his next cruel plan -- denying public eduction to kids without legal status. Plyler v. Doe mandated it in 1982, but with today's SCOTUS, who knows? Texas, Texas, Texas indeed.
That is one way to solve the teacher crisis. If you get rid of a large portion of students you will not need as many teachers.
My daughter's current school in Texas has over 20 teacher openings for next year. 20. She is planning on leaving and has a new job lined up. A large part of the reason for the move is the principal. The he superintendent and a nice chunk as he doesn't lead and the fact that there will be 850 students next year at the beginning of school year, a 150 student increase over this year is a big reason too. Not enough classrooms, specials teachers ( art music pe) are expected to teach 150 additional students and there with no extra help and no plan on how to get through curriculum with less days teaching the students since they will only see them once every 7 days for art and music now instead of 5-6 days. They might hire an addition PE instructor but they were supposed to do that this year and couldn't find one. No portables being brought in either for extra needed regular classrooms. Nowhere to for required but now displaced special programs like the gifted classroom and intervention rooms for speech and reading specialists. Their rooms are going to be used for the increase regular classroom growth. There will be an extra V.P if they can hire one, but that is it.
Oh, did I mention there is no discipline plan at this school??
It the neighboring district she will be teaching at next year, there will be 650 students and an additional part time music teacher and art teacher helping out the main special teachers so it will be like teaching 400 kids. She will make more money, have less grades to fill out, have a principal that leads and communicates regularly and she will work 12 minutes closer to home. ONLY negative is that she will be in an older school instead of a 2 year old beautiful school.
A beautiful school is nice but what good is it if everything else fails.
Her current principal is actually not encouraging anyone to stay or recruit new hires. He told them there is no plan yet on how to accommodate the growing student population. He has known for months now about population projections and has only just informed the staff. He told them to leave if they felt it in their best interest to do so. He had no ideas about what to do for the next year. No ideas how to handle drop off and pick up which already takes a long time.
How do you fill over 20 staff, especially when you have no leadership capability?
This will thankfully not be her problem next year. ( If all goes according to plan).
@lynnventura
*gestures emphatically at everything*
It's this damn state again. Texas, Texas, Texas. Ever time we think we've reached the end of this thread, Texas holds its own beer and outdoes itself. While it's great that the party has returned to having a platform (beyond "Whatever TFG says!") this isn't exactly "pro democracy" https://www.npr.org/2022/06/20/1106229988/texas-gops-new-platform-says-biden-didnt-really-win-it-also-calls-for-secession
Texas, Texas, Texas indeed.