Arotrios

Arotrios OP , 11 months ago to Politics in Analysis: Pandemic deaths in Ohio and Florida show partisan divide after vaccine rollout

I get the sentiment, but personally I never liked those, as they just reinforce the us vs. them narrative without doing much to keep it from happening again, and as someone who loves America (flawed as it is), I can't take pleasure in the preventable deaths of my fellow citizens, regardless of their partisan beliefs.

At the same time, I think they do serve a purpose in drawing attention to the hypocrisy of the anti-vaccine movement when awarded to a celebrity outspoken in their refusals to trust the science. But when they end up giving awards to some unknown Alabama grandma, making her 15 seconds of internet fame a eulogy on her idiocy, then it moves from the realm of political mockery to cruelty.

Arotrios , 11 months ago to Politics in News: Mask Off: DeSantis Staffer Reportedly Shares Video of DeSantis and Giant Nazi Symbol

Yeah. I sincerely hope Kate Bush's lawyers get a copy.

Arotrios , 11 months ago to Politics in News: Mask Off: DeSantis Staffer Reportedly Shares Video of DeSantis and Giant Nazi Symbol

From the article - be warned, it's a TwitX link.

Arotrios , 11 months ago to Politics in Opinion: We last raised the US federal minimum wage 14 years ago. This is unacceptable | Rev William J Barber and Rev A Kazimir Brown

Raising it only kicks the problem further down the road. The minimum wage needs to be tied to the local average cost of living and dynamically adjust on a year to year basis accordingly to accomplish the original goal of allowing a full-time worker to support themselves on it. Without dynamic yearly adjustments, inflation and political apathy will simply put us back in the same place 10 years down the road.

This is the fight we should be fighting, not for a number, but for a law that makes it illegal to hire someone at a wage below the cost of living.

Arotrios OP , 11 months ago to Politics in Dark Money - Clarence Thomas got a personal media campaign worth at least $1.8 million from conservative nonprofit groups led by lobbyist Leonard Leo, part of $1.6 billion in donated by Barre Seid to Leo.

Weird, didn't notice. Turn off javascript and you shouldn't have an issue.

Arotrios , 11 months ago to RedditMigration in Reddit has started assigning power mods to subs they took over.

The moment I saw this headline this song popped into my head for some reason...

Arotrios , 11 months ago to Fediverse in Can the Fediverse Help Stop Bad Internet Bills?

Well, it's definitely doing a number on Spez right now -let's find out if some of that energy can be turned to stopping bad legislation - here's the direct action link for those in the US.

Arotrios , 11 months ago to Politics in Wisconsin billionaires quietly bankroll effort to shrink state’s social safety net

“This is a cynical distraction from the work that we should be doing,” Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard, D-Madison, said. “But thankfully, they’re not becoming law.”

Agreed, Ms. Agard. It's political theatre, and is not going to get past Evers' veto. The detail in the article is excellent and calls out:

A lead proponent testifying at the Capitol was a former Republican legislative aide representing a Florida-based advocacy group with no membership and tens of millions of anonymous donations. One Republican lawmaker noted it was the third time that afternoon that Adam Gibbs had spoken in favor of the bills, all which were aimed at dismantling the state’s social safety net.

“Busy day in the Legislature,” replied Gibbs, communications director for the nonprofit Foundation for Government Accountability.

...what's the problem with the FGA (aside from it's an out of state organization with no actual membership that for some reason has the full attention of Wisconsin legislators)?

A Wisconsin Watch analysis of the 2021-22 session found that of the 17 bills passed with Opportunity Solutions Project/FGA support, Evers vetoed all but one. The lobbying group also opposed a Democratic-sponsored bill that would extend Medicaid for eligible women for a full year after childbirth; Republicans refused to schedule a hearing, and the GOP-led budget committee stripped it from the governor’s budget. The group also supported 16 bills that ultimately did not pass both chambers.

....

Watchdogs that monitor dark money groups say FGA is just the latest example of an advocacy organization bankrolled by a small network of billionaire activists intent on deregulation, dismantling welfare protections and restricting voting rights.

FGA doesn’t disclose its donors. But IRS data tracked by the Center for Media and Democracy, which investigates the influence of money in politics, show some of the largest checks came from foundations tied to conservative causes.

The Ed Uihlein Family Foundation donated $17.85 million between 2014 and 2021, according to tax filings. The Bradley Foundation of Milwaukee gave $2.75 million over a similar period.

FGA’s lobbying arm isn’t required to disclose its funding sources. Critics call that a loophole in the law, giving donors the ability to secretly influence public policy.

The IRS says charitable foundations like FGA aren’t supposed to engage in substantial political lobbying. But like other similar groups, it shares office space, staffers and other resources with its lobbying arm. Such arrangements allow donors to make tax deductible donations that ultimately end up being used for lobbying.

So all you have to do to funnel dark money to Wisconsin Republicans is to open a non-profit in the same office as your lobbying firm. Gotcha.

Arotrios , 11 months ago to RedditMigration in I just wanted to leave this here

JFC I left just in time. This is literally encouraging me to go through the effort of deleting my old reddit accounts. Am I the only one that became notably nauseous when viewing that link? It's like it's been designed by the CCP for kindergartners.

Arotrios OP , 11 months ago to Politics in Opinon: Impeachment lawyer details list of people considered at risk for indictment along with Trump for 2020 election fraud

RICO RICO RICO RICO RICO RICO

...don't mind me, just dreaming of a better day...

Arotrios , 11 months ago to Politics in Mississippi, under judge's order, starts allowing religious exemptions for childhood vaccinations

Can someone point me to the bible verse where Jesus says you should let your kids die of plague?

Arotrios , 11 months ago to Politics in Texas Judge Refuses to Marry Same-Sex Couples, Cites Supreme Court Decision

Not this shit again... already went through this drama with Kim Davis. She should be removed from the bench and disbarred to boot.

Arotrios , 11 months ago to RedditMigration in I think the rush to recreate communities is a bad idea.

I agree - there are plenty of empty magazines setup as subreddit clones. What we really need is a push encouraging content and comment submissions more than anything else. That's what's going to drive the development of a vibrant community on kbin.social.

Generally, unless you have at least 20 pieces of content from multiple users with active commentary, most folks will assume it's a dead community and move on to a bigger community on lemmy.world or similar to find more content. One thing I would suggest for the moderators of growing communities is to always comment on, upvote and boost your contributors' submissions in the beginning stages of community growth. Your personal engagement of the content is the first step in encouraging your readers to do the same.

That being said, I'd love for folks to create more new niche communities that didn't exist on Reddit. There's a lot more freedom here - we should take advantage of it.

Arotrios , 11 months ago to Politics in Trump's unprecedented campaign pitch: Elect me to be your revenge on the government

Excellent point, and thanks for illustrating the historical precedent. Interestingly enough, it was Superman who eventually broke the Klan, and it looks like he's been gearing up to do again.

Here's hoping the next issue will have him fighting MAGATs.

Arotrios , 11 months ago to Politics in Trump's unprecedented campaign pitch: Elect me to be your revenge on the government

Agreed, unless something changes, I don't see his level of support increasing to a point where he'd actually be able to mobilize a force large enough to begin a true civil war on the occasion of his loss.

That being said, given the virulence and fanaticism of the extremists in his cohort, I can see him advocating violence to the point where domestic terrorism becomes a daily part of American life, much like mass shootings have.

I'm not so much worried about him winning as the damage he'll do when he loses.