sing along with project 2025

when i was a kid, there were a series of public service announcements on saturday mornings that cleverly taught us all kinds of things - how laws are passed, how to eat healthy, language skills, etc. - via entertaining animation and catchy songs. this collection was called 'schoolhouse rock'.

now there's a new online animation that explains project 2025 in a similar way.

uterus

 

robby starbuck

in case you were wondering, robby starbuck is a key player in the push for companies to drop their dei initiatives.

critical thinking education

part of the reason that fascists come to power is that they do everything possible to limit education, especially history and critical thinking. here's a way to counteract that.

debunking nra bullet points

the nra has a series of tropes that they've been trotting out for decades:

1. this isn't the right time to talk about it
2. gun laws don't work because criminals don't obey laws
3. people who obtain guns legally don't commit crimes
4. it's not a gun crisis, it's a mental health crisis
5. women need gun for self-defense
6. the uk banned guns and still have knife violence, so stop blaming guns
7. restricting guns invites government tyranny
8. guns don't kill people, people do. do you want to ban xxx next?
9. what about chicago?

all of these are myths, or what i like to call total bullshit. for the facts on each bullet point, click here,

"go woke, go broke"

a research study on global advertising found that - despite stories to the contrary - ad campaigns that are inclusive have a positive effect on profits, brand value, and sales.

trump's transgressions

as we roll into the 2024 presidential election in the u.s., it's worth remembering everything that former president trump has done to disqualify himself not only from office, but from consideration as anyone we would want to associate with in any way.

because we forget. but mcweeney's doesn't.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-complete-listing-atrocities-1-1-056

immigrants and crime

a common soapbox for fascists is that immigrants commot more crime than natural-born citizens. aside from the fact that racism is behind this idea, crime statistics compiled by actual police officers tell a completely different story - one that right-wingers hate.

• a natural-born u.s. citizen is nearly twice as likely to commit a violent crime (such as rape or murder) as an undocumented immigrant.
• a natural-born u.s. citizen is more than 4 times as likely to steal or commit other property-based crimes as an undocumented immigrant.
• a natural-born u.s. citizen is more than twice as likely to commit a drug-based crime as an undocumented immigrant.
• a natural-born u.s. citizen is nearly twice as likely to commit a traffic violation as an undocumented immigrant.*

*interestingly, a legal immigrant is more likely to commit a traffic violation than either of the other two.

wind turbines kill HOW many birds?

 328,000 a year or so.

guess how many birds cats kill?

a little under 2 billion-with-a-b. but i don't see anyone rushing out to ban cats.

wanna see what else kills crazy numbers of birds? click here.

what percentage of congress doesn't believe in climate change?

at the time of this writing, 23 current members of the house and 100 members of the senate - all republicans - don't believe in human-caused climate change. that's nearly 1 in 4.

they also collected u.s.$52,071,133 in contributions from the fossil fuel industry.

on the plus side, the nuber of new members of congress who are climate change denialists is dropping like a rock.

click here to see who they are.

creating the new hitler youth

white nationalism has always had a soft spot for kids. remember the hitler youth?

nowadays, radicalizing children is easier than ever. social media, blogs, targeted email campaigns and ads, podcasts and other media are largely unregulated in the 21st century - or at least unpunished - which makes them fertile ground for extremist recruiters.

dreamers

81% of american believe that dreamers - undocumented immigrants who were brought to the u.s. as children - deserve a path to citizenship. and that's just the start.