Update! A kind soul over on twitter let me know that there are pretty reliable AI art checkers online, that have been developed by people specialising in AI and machine learning!

An NYT article also talks about the pros and cons of a number of them.

I tested all the 3 free open access sites (Illuminarty, Optic AI or Not, Umm-Maybe) and only Illuminarty and Optic AI or Not gave consistent results on both art and photographs.

I'll put the links below so anyone can go and check for whichever art they want to (download the original images from tumblr posts, and upload them)

https://www.aiornot.com/#home

https://app.illuminarty.ai/

These are the results :

Optic flagged it as AI immediately.

But Illuminarty had very interesting aspect : when I uploaded the full image, AI probability was 10%. but, on cropping out the bottom of the image (jacket) the probability jumped to 73.9%

This is consistent with my original comment on the art here

My limited understanding of these programs indicate that they scan the entire image including all the individual pixels. AI programs like Stable Diffusion, Mid Journey, DallE all leave signal artifacts when they process an image, which is then left on the final pic generated!

Compare these two @/skykashi original arts, that are immediately flagged as human made.

And now I get to my favourite AI art bro in the fandom @madasama! I commend you for admitting that you not only use AI, but are proud of producing a large number of "real" arts in such a short time!

Here's your "art"s results!!

@elhnrt made a far more detailed and organised post about this specific weirdo, feel free to check it out!

I will be using fandom tags on this particular post so that it has a broader reach. Especially for genuine digital artists and art lovers. Save the links, and always keep an eye out for AI, it's everywhere these days.

Golf Courses ARE Being Converted

The Solarpunk "fantasy" that so many of us tout as a dream vision, converting golf courses into ecological wonderlands, is being implemented across the USA according to this NYT article!

The article covers courses in Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, and New York that are being bought and turned into habitat and hiking trails.

The article goes more into detail about how sand traps are being turned into sand boxes for kids, endangered local species are being planted, rocks for owl habitat are being installed, and that as these courses become wilder, they are creating more areas for biodiversity to thrive.

Most of the courses in transition are being bought by Local Land Trusts. Apparently the supply of golf courses in the USA is way over the demand, and many have been shut down since the early 2000s. While many are bought up and paved over, land Trusts have been able to buy several and turn them into what the communities want: public areas for people and wildlife. It does make a point to say that not every hold course location lends itself well to habitat for animals (but that doesn't mean it wouldn't make great housing!)

So lets be excited by the fact that people we don't even know about are working on the solutions we love to see! Turning a private space that needs thousands of gallons of water and fertilizer into an ecologically oriented public space is the future I want to see! I can say when I used to work in water conservation, we were getting a lot of clients that were golf courses that were interested in cutting their resource input, and they ended up planting a lot of natives! So even the golf courses that still operate could be making an effort.

So what I'd encourage you to do is see if there's any land or community trusts in your area, and see if you can get involved! Maybe even look into how to start one in your community! Through land trusts it's not always golf course conversions, but community gardens, solar fields, disaster adaptation, or low cost housing! (Here's a link to the first locator I found, but that doesn't mean if something isn't on here it doesn't exist in your area, do some digging!)

Current Events Reading Reccs

I had a couple of people asking me about my “current events” reading in general (news aggregators, podcasts, etc) so I figured I’d just list them off here. 

I don’t read any tumblrs that are specifically focused on current events, I just kinda get news from various people I’ve followed, but I’ve found in general it helps to find people for whom the news is a hobby, not a consuming habit. I have communists and anarchists and prison abolitionists on my dash, but they aren’t people who have made that their identity, which removes the “You are insufferable” factor. So I guess find fandom weirdos with strong political views and follow ‘em. 

Also I want to state at the top that part of why I’m on top of shit that I get through Tumblr is that I have a policy of never reblogging or reacting to anything until I have 1. read the article being linked and 2. done my own research. This has saved me a vast deal of embarrassment, because sometimes I’ll save something outrageous to research and before I can even research it, it’s been rebutted. I cannot stress how important the process of reading and research is -- you can’t get your news from headlines and particularly not clickbait you see on Tumblr. 

As far as I know there’s no single tumblr clearinghouse for good high-level current events reporting and analysis (the analysis I think is a vital part) but if folks have resources they use, drop ‘em in the comments or reblogs.  

Anyway, some mailing lists I belong to are:

Quartz Daily Brief: finance and tech, mainly. Back when they were for-pay I paid for them, this newsletter was that entertaining. I believe they’ve now gone fee-free but they sometimes link to paywalls. I get it as an email newsletter, that’s just a link to the web version. 

Breakfast with ARTNews: Obviously a bit niche but I really like keeping up with the art world and they cover art crime too. The link is to the all-newsletters signup page, I only belong to Breakfast. 

The Futurist: This is the most insufferable nonsense masquerading as news ever. The ads are indistinguishable from the content. But it does help me keep a finger hard on the pulse of what irritating tech bros are into. Watch scams unfold in real time! 

I also follow a number of local interests -- community centers and neighborhood organizations primarily -- in Chicago, so those are always good to hunt up. Most major cities have a “citycast” podcast (just search “citycast [your city]” in your podcatcher) that is also good for local news.  

Some websites:

Longreads: Since longform.org went under, the best place to find the current longform pieces that everyone’s talking about.  

Brand Eating: Extremely niche, but I really love reading about “brand” food trends. It covers new food releases and sales and such in the areas of packaged food (potato chips, candy, etc), fast food, and casual dining. It’s also great as a resource for cheap eats. 

I stopped reading Bon Appetit recently (they ran this appallingly sympathetic story about a dickhead hiring manager) but like, honestly, if you want to track food trends, the BA email newsletter is kinda the way to go. If you’d like good food news in podcast form, I recommend The Sporkful (it’s in the podcast list). 

I used to read the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and Fortune Magazine (which mostly scraped the not-awful stuff from Forbes) but I’ve cut it down to just the Trib; I don’t really need Fortune to keep me current and the NYT has morphed into a creepy proto-fash nightmare. The Trib has pretty good national/international coverage so if you don’t have a decent local paper it’s not bad, but I don’t know how much access you get as a nonpaying reader (I subscribe). 

Podcasts:

Quartz has a podcast, Quartz Obsession, which is off-and-on in terms of when episodes come out but very interesting when they do. 

Planet Money is a once-weekly podcast about economics, and has a daily show called “The Indicator” which is daily “small bites” current events coverage. 

The Late Show and the Daily Show both have an “ears edition” podcast that’s just the show audio; I’ve stopped listening for the most part but if you want good cultural commentary, that’s the place to go. 

The Journal by the Wall Street Journal is a weekly podcast focusing on one or two news stories, generally pretty relevant. 

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me is a panel show but it’s a fun way to get bite-sized news you can look up later in more detail if you want. And it’s taped in Chicago! If you listen you can hear me in the audience laughing. :D (I’m going to another taping in a few weeks!) 

Behind The Bastards is actually a history podcast but if you’re listening current he does a bit of current-events commentary, and also I just really like it as a podcast.

Stuff You Should Know is a trivia podcast but they occasionally do current-events stuff.

The Sporkful is pretty good about current food news, although I run hot and cold on it.

I used to listen to a really good “professional” medical podcast, but it went full paywall when it started to offer certain forms of professional credit, so I found The House Of Pod as a very good free replacement. It’s not really for non-doctors, but as a non-doctor I still find it accessible and informative. (For medical history and curiosity, I do highly recommend Bedside Rounds, but I wouldn’t call it a current events cast.) 

So that’s how I get my news -- it’s not what I would call fully comprehensive but it’s reasonably informative! 

Hi okay. So opera is like. One of my biggest cultural blind spots. And I wanna start trying to get into it but at you know…reasonable prices lol. Any tips on where to start? Maybe in terms of where to watch operas online? And which operas are more easily digestible for a newbie lol

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! waking up and seeing this in my notifs made me sooooooo happy! S! there's a beautiful, wondrous, extremely problematic world of art awaiting you!

Alright, so I'm gonna try to take your question bit by bit but this is my specialized field and I love to talk about it but I'll try my best ok ok

pricing is definitely a valid concern - I totally get it. good news is there are still lots of options to see opera live that are not in A-level, top dollar houses. try googling and poking around instagram for what's called "storefront" companies, ie, smaller companies. there's less star power and production value, but you can see great performances for $20-$60 a ticket, depending on the house and your neck of the woods. another great option is the MetHD series. The Met Opera in NYC is an institution that I have....lots of thoughts about -- and we can talk about those too if you like -- but a decent thing they've done is that for about half of their season, they broadcast performances to movie theaters all over the world. I haven't gone since the Before Times (pre-covid), but I think the most I paid was 40 bucks. and it is a great way to see opera that's low stakes. wear comfy clothes, bring a big sweater, stuff your purse full of snacks. my friend and I went to Tristan and Isolde with numerous smuggled snacks and big old fountain drinks and it rocked!

online stuff: possibilities are endless. MetHD does have a catalog of past performances - you have to pay, so take that for what you will, but you can find whole ass operas on YouTube! and once you figure out what kinds you like, and which singers you like, you can get pickier and choosier. And of course, check out your local library! big city library systems likely have lots of digital subscriptions to peforming arts things. some names to look out for: Alexander Street Press; medici tv; naxos. a cursory google brought up this NYT article that has some resource possibilities too!

and, my recommendations for a new viewer!

disclaimer: I am a sucker for big, bombastic, romantic grand opera, but I understand that that can be A Bit Much for a first timer, so while I love all of these, not all are my top faves, but I think they are a great primer, and hopefully if you like them I can go on and on about the heavier-hitters later.

I personally think the best starting point for someone looking to get into opera is Puccini. He was a bit of a bastard (weren't they all) but his music and stories all unfold in a cinematic kind of way. Opera was written to fit a specific kind of theatrical/musical structure for a long time, and Puccini and his era was where that structure kind of broke down, and he just wrote to move a story and characters and music forward, away from this speak-sing, solo, repeat, speak-sing, ensemble, rinse repeat kind of thing. for a specific title, I highly recommend Tosca. The political battle for Italy's unification is the backdrop for one hell of a story. The title character is a boss ass bitch. She sings well, fights well, dies well. I think it rocks. and it's a very popular one, so finding an online version or a live performance should be easy going!

and S, since you are a theatre kid, I'd steer you to checking out La Boheme as well -- its the og source material Larson based Rent off of, though it's considerably more tragic. music is gorgeous though. Zefferelli (yeah, that one) directed a production at the Met that they mount every other year. it's beautiful! another I think you should try is La Traviata. aka the basis of the classic film Moulin Rouge. this one is by Verdi, based off the Dumas Lady of the Camellias. a courtesan in Paris who falls in love with this young man, and the forces of fate that pull them apart. it's got that aria that you hear in Princess Diaries 2 Royal Engagement, and there are moments of music that are just so fucking SUBLIME. Puccini also wrote his own spin on Dame aux Camellias called La Rondine, and it is a delightful, gorgeous, romantic piece, definitely worth checking out.

Okay one more rec and then I'll stop myself. and this one will be contemporary! mentioning the Met reminded me that this season they've swung big and put Dead Man Walking on their list. this is an opera that's been very important to me for like, 10 years. I learned one of the arias in undergrad, and I even met Sister Helen Prejean, and a few years after that, I got to see it live in kansas city, and even though we agreed that the lead was kinda meh, my friend and I were still so moved that we were sobbing. it's so so so powerful. idk if it is part of MetHD, but if so, I highly encourage you to see it. so, it is based off of Sister Helen's memoir Dead Man Walking, about how she came to be a spiritual advisor to inmates on death row, and it follows her starting this new -- phase? i guess? -- of her nun career, through to the inmates execution. it is not for the faint of heart, and I would say read the wikipedia and mind the content warnings, but god what a great opera. and one more note about the composer, honestly I don't think anyone else is doing it like Jake Heggie. he understands this concept that I think many modern composers don't, is that he's creating a dramatic work. and whether is comedic or tragic, it's got to move people. I've dealt with a lot of shitty modern opera, and I think those are mostly composed as if they are university assignments. llike, prove how well you understand this music theory concept by writing it. I say it's more like they are writing math problems instead of music. but Jake Heggie writes music. and that's what makes DMW such a standout to me. That and a low-voiced woman plays the heroic lead (rarer than one may think rip)

I am so so happy you asked and I am always open to talking more if you're curious! (and that goes for S and anyone else reading this <333)

Any good resources you can recommend to learn more about the inspiration for you musical?

Yes! Here's a list to get you started- each title will link to a place to read or buy the thing!

The Clairmont Correspondence

These are a collection of Claire Clairmont's letters. I wanted to be true to her voice, as she is often the most muted in many adaptations of the story- and it is really her story, more than anyone else's.

The Letters and Journals of Lord Byron

Some Unpublished Letters of Mary Shelley

The Life and Letters of Mary Shelley

The Correspondence between Byron and Percy and Mary Shelley

Though Claire's letters were the most important to me, I also gathered a lot of character info, dialogue inspo, and plot points from the letters of Byron, Mary, and Percy. There's some overlap in these, but it's still worth it to read everything.

The Diary of John Polidori

John is a very insular character, and most of his presentation in the musical is self-reflection. So, I had to read his thoughts. And boy, the guy was depressed AF.

Then, there are the various stories told within the show... get ready for this:

Don Juan

Le Morte Fiancee & The Family Portraits, from Fantasmagoriana

Christabel

Darkness

Fragment of a Novel

The Vampyre

A Hymn to Intellectual Beauty

Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus

Note that for the Frankenstein text I selected, I chose the original 1818 text, purely because this is the original, the least edited, and in my opinion, the best. Far too many people only know the 1831 version, which is so far removed from that original summer I feel it is irrelevant.

This Article from the New York Times that was totally viewable back when I actually started researching for this show back in 2015 without a subscription so here's the web.archive link yo

After my dad suggested this story as the basis for a show to me back in 2015 (my god, 8 years ago???) this article was the very first thing I read about the Shelleys and Byron, and their summer at Diodati, and it got me hooked. I recommend giving it a read. It's great writing, and the sort of thing that NYT no longer writes nearly frequently enough anymore.

I immediately purchased the following three books, cited as sources by that article:

Byron in Love: A Short Daring Life

Young Romantics: The Shelleys, Byron, and Other Tangled Lives

Byron and the Romantics in Switzerland, 1816

Followed by like... hundreds more books, articles, etc. But those three are a great start! If anything, I'd add this book, purely because it's more well known and referenced than those three, and takes a more Byron-centric view that, well, gels more with the portrayal of events in my show.

Thank you for this question! I'm going to post this list on my Patreon as well, where I'll go more into detail on each resource. :)

I feel that my nonfiction writing is far stronger than my fiction writing. If I’m starting out with really no platform to speak of today, what is a list of things you would suggest I do to be on the pathway to publication with a nonfiction title?

First, idk if you are writing kids or adult nonfiction -- so I'm gonna just ASSUME you are talking kids books. Building a "platform" is not an overnight thing -- and you don't HAVE TO have a huge audience when you are just getting started (though sure, it's great if you do) -- but there are definitely ways you can set yourself up for success.

First, I'd listen to this episode of my podcast with Jess Keating. She has great thoughts on platform development, etc. Unfortunately I can no longer find her extremely helpful old blog posts on the topic, but she does talk about stuff on the podcast if I recall correctly!

https://www.jenniferlaughran.com/literaticast/episode-8-be-careful-what-you-tell-yourself-with-guest-author-jess-keating

I'd figure out what qualifies you as knowledgeable on the non-fiction topics you are handling, and lean into that. For example: Let's say, like Jess, you are a zoologist, and you are writing kids nonfiction about animals. Well, a helpful thing might be to talk about ANIMALS on your social media (in addition to talking about kids books generally) share books and resources you find informative, fun & weird facts, animal vids, etc. You know about animals, right? Being that you are writing books about them? So TALK about them! Follow teachers and librarians and animal educators, etc, and develop relationships with them. Have conversations.

Pitch articles to relevant magazines and news outlets if that is your thing, or do a podcast about your niche. Whatever - there are no RULES per se, just figure out ways to share your passion about Weird Animals (or whatever it is).

And then when you have an actual book, those people that you've befriended will be like "oh, that funny Animal Person has a new book about Weird Penguins -- she knows all about weird animal things and is a delight, LET'S BUY THE BOOK!"

Another example (from the adult NF world): I started following Blair Braverman on twitter because she has cute dogs, and highly interesting and fun-to-read stories about dogsledding to share. That's cool. She's an expert about dog-sledding, and also adventurer-life stuff, survival in the arctic, etc etc. Since I started following her, I've gotten great tips from her about how to dress for sub-zero weather, I've read articles by her in the NYT and other places, I've also heard her on a fascinating podcast about the Dyatlov Pass incident, and now she has a novel coming out about survivalists on a reality show and I'm ALL IN with her fiction, nonfiction, or *whatever* she writes, because she's fun to read and has an expertise that shines very clearly. . . even though I have never and will never go within a thousand miles of a dog-sled!

Another example: My client Nancy Castaldo is an environmental educator and writer, and pretty much her books have something to do with that -- whether it's a picture book about a year on the life of a farm, or a YA nonfiction about the water crisis, or MG nonfiction about endangered animals brought from the brink of extinction, or whatever. So on her social media, she shares things that are important to her (like things about justice for kids, kids books, etc) -- but she also shares things to do with her books -- endangered animal rescue stories, water crisis stories, sniffer dog stories, etc. And she does classroom/school visits and talks to all kinds of kids about this stuff, too.

Basically what all these people have in common is, they found their "thing" and they positioned themselves as a resource about it, talked about it, taught about it, wrote about it -- and when they had books, that further cemented their position as a resource about it -- and all of that builds, right?

i watched Ben Hur last night (by watched i mean... mostly paid attention. this movie is 3.5 hours long. thank u to aixing who suffered through it with me) and now i'm obsessing over finding news articles from the end of 1959 about how this movie was received.

when i watch a movie that is generally 20+ years old, i look for contemporary reviews to get the vibes of what people thought about it at the time (this is fun for me ok??). roger ebert is a great resource since his website has a great archive. but ben hur is a little too old for Ebert to write about so here i am

only the nyt had free access archives (at least enough for one article) and this um stuck with me. here's the link to the article

so, now i have learned to search the archives of other newspapers through my local library since its FREE and libraries are AWESOME

I did learn that movies used to premiere in different cities in the SAME COUNTRY like WEEKS apart? or maybe just this one? but this from the chicago sun times from Nov 22, 1959 is like... we don't have it yet!

this is fun

It’s really fucked up that even googling “healed phalloplasty” shows you gory medical photos of obviously not yet healed arms and dicks. It’s completely unfair to people considering it to only have those images thrown at them, with gross commentary from transphobes included on the first fucking page

Yes!! Absolutely. And some of those photos that are healed are still in between stages, so they look unfinished because they ARE unfinished. Some of this also comes from the understandable reticence to publicly share archives of post-op photos. We saw what happened to transbucket when the NYT doxxed it in an article a year or two ago (tho thankfully it's back online).

If anyone is considering phallo or meta and they want more accurate experiences or photos, there are archives like transbucket and some blogs on tumblr who share post-op photos (DM for some blogs). YouTube is also a great resource for this if you're looking for personal experiences of the phallo/meta process, or if you want to see how graft sites look years later. There are videos of guys with different graft sites, some with tattoo cover ups, some years old, that are much less gory and shocking than what's being peddled online.

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hey do you know anything more about south asian communities and their histories with allowing AFAB gender nonconformity? were trans masc identities recognised? were lesbians? hoping to find a place to start looking for some more info, thank you!

ok ok ok i want to preface this VERY CLEARLY that i am white . my mom is south asian but i am Very White so i am not an expert at ALL . this being said :

• https://www.desirainbow.org/ is a great resource designed specifically for families (parents+kids) of queer desi individuals. they have a lot of ally resources including recorded zoom meetings you can watch of desi holiday discussion, as well as bits of history- and they host weekly discussions specifically for allies to ask about history and how to be a better ally for desi communities. although this is a contemporary resource I’m including it because those behind it are considered elders/adults and will have more historical stuff for you!

• https://www.queeringdesi.com/ is a podcast that unfortunately hasn’t been updated in a year, but was a desi specific space where the hosts invited different queer south Asians from DJs and drag artists, to proud parents of their trans kids on the show to talk about their experiences and whatever else. again this is one I wanted to include because of the diversity of the guests + their adult insights.

• https://sahodari.org/the-projects/transhearts/ i know again technically not history but i’d like to touch on this trans/nb specific charity based in india using artwork made by these various trans women seeking support.

• https://www.saqtc.org/directory-entertainment here is a HUGE directory of SA/Indian films, books and more all relating to LGBT+ specific subjects!

onto more specific resources:

• We Have Always Been Here, Samra Habib: A Queer Muslim memoir relating to the author’s experience as a child in Pakistan. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43383506-we-have-always-been-here)

• The Truth About Me; A Hijira Life Story, A. Revathi: The autobiography of a young Hijira* growing up and finding her true life in Delhi after facing prosecution for being trans. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8771361-the-truth-about-me?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=nXPFKgFQtF&rank=2#bookDetails)

• Moving Truth(s): Queer and Transgender Desi Writings on Family, Aparajeeta Duttchoudhury: An anthology of 13 real life accounts of South Asian queer people. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25366330-moving-truth-s?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=HG7lB5AU7Q&rank=3)

*Hijra — this’ll be what you find talked about most specifically in conversations of SA/Indian history for GNC, as hijra has been used to describe trans people, intersex people, as well as being referred to as a ‘third gender’. It was harder for me to find a better source for purely because there’s multiple names for them, and I hate using the NYT as a source but unfortunately it’s probably the best overview of what being a Hijra means in SA communities. (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/style/india-third-gender-hijras-transgender.html)

This is a paper written specifically on transgender history within India, and mentions the Hijra’s impact in history relating back to 1500BC.

Here is another article (unfortunately BBC published, but written by an Indian correspondent) that covers more of the Hijra’s origins + newly found discrimination with the increasing western colonialism.

i want to add real quick though a lot of these sources refer to Hijra specifically as AMAB individuals later finding their femininity, the official historical definition was for anyone born who didn’t feel they fit into either male or female categories- so there’s no explicit mention of trans masculinity in these, but it’s fair to assume they were included.

again sorry with what seems like a dismissive link but I promise isn’t, wikipedia. i know. but this has a good set of references to again, how homosexuality changed with the ages and its involvement in art and sculptures- for MLM and WLW.

i hope any of this helps at all!! once again im not tying to like. talk on behalf of south asian queer people, i understand my experiences as a white person in Europe don’t line up with someone who actually is directly asian/indian . if any of these sources are incorrect please let me know, im happy to learn more too!!

Payments for an Op-Ed doesn't seem right.

Hi Skippy & Friends-I too looked high and low on the NYTs website-the Op-Ed dept and Letters to the Editor etc…there is no mention of a fee.  There is a very thorough explanation that they receive so many, it takes much time to sift thru and decide the most worthy.  Editors may even rework the pieces and there are also limits on word count.  They state very clearly this is the personal opinion of the one submitting. 

So, once again to read that she was charged or paid that advertising rate seems insane.  I even wrote a question to their Op-Ed dept for clarification but all you get are robot/virtual responses.  If they paid for an advertisement, asking for placement on a slow Wed. Op-Ed page-(which stands for the page across from the editorial page for outsiders to comment)-that just happened to look like an article…well that is their shifty business. 

I suppose the old “gray lady” is much different these days, possibly taking $$ wherever they can get it.  When I was a freelance pro, if a solid resource sent in a timely piece to the right dept. with an interesting sharp photo, it had a good chance of going to press as news.  For years PR photography was my bread and butter.  I had so many photos appear in all kinds of print, including the NY Times and Time magazine.  PR companies hired me to provide photos from their great events which were submitted with deep captions and left to rights-names.  I met lots of very famous and interesting people while doing this for close to 20 years.  Pilgrim 

Sounds like you have led a very interesting life....we appreciate your expertise....great post dear friend......as always....😊❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

About the protests

Here, some food for thought about the murder of Mr George Floyd, the way it was the straw that broke the camel’s back, how white supremacy has educated a whole country about “being civil”, and what WE ALL (yeah, we all, no matter who and where we are) can do something to help the Black Lives Matter movement.

First of all, I think I’ve mentioned before, but images and videos of Black bodies suffering are not and will not be shared in this blog. So no, here’s not the video of Mr Floyd dying for all to see, or a black protester being hit. Just no. There is no need of a constant victimization though images and videos of both, the individuals and the whole black community, since we all know what is happening (and have happened for hundreds of years).

Now, we can start. I’ve made it in bullet points for easier reading, answering questions I’ve seen in media, and different social media platforms:

Why is this murder suddenly more important than the ones before? It is not. Mr Floyd’s life loss is as important as Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castille, and many others who have died thanks to police brutality. All lives lost are equally important. The difference is that the black community cannot take it anymore, and change (maybe violent change) needs to be done.

Let’s talk about systemic racism. The United States of America was founded with a racist system, that even after the Civil War was still racist, and 100 years later after the Civil Rights movement was still racist, and now is still racist. The way institutions, education, and society work is deeply racist: from the way wealth is distributed (white families hold 90% of the country’s wealth), the way education is “available” (black students are 3 times more likely to be suspended for the same infraction than white students), the way criminal justice “works” (black people make 40% of incarcerated population, even though they’re 13% of general population); to the housing available to different races thanks to redlining, and even how healthcare is biased (67% of doctors have a bias against African-American patients). Add to that that the education (civic and academic) is white centered, and that black drivers are 30% more likely to be pulled over, and you have a whole society working against and entire race, while saying that everyone is treated equally, even though there’s every proof that only white people are treated as people. Here a NYT article about systemic racism and how it’s part of the DNA of the US.

“Peaceful protest are OK, but riots are wrong!” Or “I mean, I don't like racism either, but do they have to be so AGGRESSIVE about it?” This is such an oppressor answer I’ve seen repeated everywhere: from feminist to BLM protests, the oppressor (in this case white people) feel that Black people need their permission and approval for how they ask for their basic rights, and that saying “no” if they are rude is ok. NO, IT IS NOT OK. BLACK PEOPLE OWE YOU NOTHING. STOP ACTING LIKE THEY DO. Here a good article “Nonviolence as Compliance”, shining a light on asking for nonviolence in the middle of the war.

“But they are destroying property! That is wrong!”  One of the things I hear the most and it is the LEAST important of all is this. Property owners have insurance, they will not loose a single penny. Things can be replaced, human lives cannot. In a racist and materialist society, the only way to make the oppressor care is destroying what they think is more important: their property. Look at how people phrase stuff, meaning (consciously or not) that a life lost at the hands of the police is not as important as a destroyed Target.

“Yes, police brutality is wrong, but there’s also climate change! There are other more important things that we need to fix first!” Supporting a cause do not diminish other causes. I’ll say it again louder for the ones in the back: SUPPORTING A CAUSE DO NOT DIMINISH OTHER CAUSES. We can use the Black Panthers as an example to follow on how to join forces and support each other’s causes. So this is a call to all People of Colour: let’s join each other’s causes, support and rise to the light what needs to be done. So, right now we can fight against police brutality to black people, while keeping an eye open for Hong Kong protests, and next week we can support and shine a light on Native American’s fight for their lands, while being vocal against racism to Asian Americans... Together we’re so much more powerful.

Some info for protestors. Before all, please be careful. Being in a mass of people with strong feelings can be exhilarating, but please try to keep a cool head: research the path of the protest, and think of ways to get out of there fast if necessary. Write important information on your arm with sharpie and put some hairspray on it so it doesn’t fade. Here a few other things to take a look at:

What do police use for crowd control. Take a look at this and think of gear to go against it.

Use Hong Kong protestors as inspiration. Take a look at Hong Kong protestors gear, they have been fighting an authoritarian regime for a while now and have come with not only great organization, but great ideas to counterattack police. Check the evolution of their protest and their organization (that article includes terms and strategies during the protests).

Here a thread of several tips and another one

I’m not black, what can I do? Not being black is not an excuse to do nothing. For starters, DO SOMETHING. Do not only say or post stuff. Do it. Act. Be there for your black friends and neighbors. Go to the protests with them (if you’re white, the chances of being attacked by police are less, use that to protect your friends), stand beside them as support (this is not about you!), be available, listen and do not diminish their struggles, help them get the gear needed for protests. If you have a little money to spend, donate to the cause, sign petitions, call your representatives (here a link from BLM with several more options), amplify their voices. Be vocal about it, be sure that all voices (especially black ones) are listened. Take a look at the HK protestors organization, and note that not everybody is on the ground, and you can help your friends being there or following and informing from home. Just help anyways necessary, they’ll let you know.

Finally, this post might be read as quite *revolutionary shaking her fist*. And it might be. The change is happening now and we all should help for it to happen. Right now the Black community should be at the front and center of this fight, and we all other PoC should stand behind them in support. Next time it might be Hawaiians on front and the rest of us in support, or Native Americans, or Latinos, or East Asians, or whoever on front, we all must support their cause.

Please reblog and add your resources, links and info for a better and more useful post.

pleasee share a compiled list it would genuinely be so helpful to find new pages and I think it's a great resource for people who would want to research from more varied sources that the usual rw media that everyone knows about

hi, thanks for your ask! i'll definitely make a list of all the brown (mostly indian) pages i follow on instagram that are about casteism, body positivity, lgbtq+, mental health, etc. but i've been getting a lot of replies already saying that they need leftist news sources asap because the mainstream media isn't covering any of the important stuff. so here's a small list of independent leftist indian news sources that i follow on instagram that i think are absolutely essential:

The Caravan

The Wire

The Quint

The Swaddle

Scroll.in

i'm definitely forgetting more news sources but these are pretty good, for a start. BBC news India is also pretty trustworthy but you guys probably already knew that. The New York Times and Washington Post are really good and i love their reporting on india. NYT's reporting on our covid-19 crisis and WaPo's reporting on our rw govt. is better than our mainstream media's. plus they let me know about india from an international perspective.

obviously this isn't an exhaustive list and there are so many more pages but these are the ones i could think of off the top of my head for now. go check out their instagram, twitter, facebook pages and definitely their websites too. if you like any articles, find out who the journalist is and follow them on social media too. stop relying on our news channels because it's not going to get us anywhere.

25. Tax Fraud, probably Bank Fraud, Lying about his businesses, Shady tax schemes he picked up from his father

24. Attacking protesters and media for a photo-op at a church he doesn’t go to

23. Demonizing immigrants

22. Awful conditions at detention centers, large scale immigration raids, forced hysterectomies 

21. Firing Attorney General Sally Yates for being ‘disloyal’

20. Firing 5 independent watch-dogs (Inspectors General) from 5 different departments

19. Diverting money from Pentagon to pay for the Wall

18. Abandoning Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, possibly didn’t know Puerto Rico was part of the US - “Big Water”

17. Encouraging Uyghur concentration camps in China “exactly the right thing to do”

16. Cozying up to dictators - Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

15. Lying about voter fraud, trying to undermine the entire election process

14. Slacking off on the golf course

13. “Our media is the enemy of the people”

12. Undermining Judges

11. Washington Post reports he has made over 20,000 false or misleading claims as president

10. Routinely skips reading intel briefings

9. Attacking mail-in voting

8. Encouraged Russian meddling in the election

7. Obstruction of justice in Mueller investigation

6. Protecting Jamal Khashoggi’s killers (Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman)

5. At least 9 women with sexual assault allegations

4. Separating families at the border

3. Ukraine debacle - impeachment

2. Everything to do with Covid-19 (Firing the Pandemic Team to begin with, attacking Anthony Fauci, racist statements, denying problem, Diamond Princess ship, saying he doesn’t want to do testing, lack of PPE, disinfectant...by injection, refusing to practice social distancing, holding super spreader rallies, promoting drugs not supported by scientists, promoting woman who preaches about demon sex)

“You’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people slow the testing down”

Admits in interviews with Bob Woodward that he knew how deadly the Covid-19 virus was “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down.”

1. He’s somehow still president...and he’s not done with us yet

There’s a lot they missed....

101. In 2019 US airstrikes killed more civilians in Afghanistan than any other year since 2002. There was a 330% increase from 2016 to 2019. Attributed to a decision by the Trump administration to loosen the Rules of Engagement for airstrikes. More bombs were dropped in Afghanistan in 2018-2019 than at the height of the US troop presence in 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbwGo27v9QQ&t=263s

102. Anti-Environmentalist agenda: His administration filled agencies with climate deniers, unraveled and watered down numerous environmental regulations, pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, buried climate studies, and opened up swaths of public land for oil and gas drilling.

103. Climate change denial, and general disregard for science, while claiming he inherited a “a scientific mind” from his uncle 

104. Fired James Comey as Director of the FBI. A memo was later leaked to the press where Trump had asked him to end the FBI's investigation into Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor.

105. Wanting to be a dictator: Says “When somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total” at a press briefing about the novel coronavirus

106. Comments on Xi Jinping: “He’s now president for life, president for life. And he’s great.” “And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.”

107. Kavanaugh

108. Everything in John Bolton’s book

109. Iran bullshit

110. Saying Biden will “Hurt God. Hurt the bible”

111. Supporting asbestos

112. Anti-Choice situation

113.”I just wish her well” about Ghislaine Maxwell (Epstein’s right hand woman)

114. Threatens to shut down Twitter for fact checking him

115. Federal Police sent to snatch up protesters in certain cities

116. “When they start looting, we start shooting.”

117. At a rally when a supporter shouts “Shoot Them!” in reference to illegal immigrants, Trump laughs and says “Only in the panhandle can you get away with that statement.”

118. Praising Congressman Greg Gianforte for assaulting a member of the press

119. Removes language on Freedom of the Press from Justice Department handbook

120. Tweets calling for followers to “LIBERATE” Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia, in response to Covid lockdowns.

121. Seems to suggest a wave of anti-Semitic threats in 2017 could have come from Jewish people themselves to “make others look bad.”

122. Claims there was some sort of terrorist attack “happening last night in Sweden” that never happened, because they took in “large numbers“ of immigrants. 

123. Pulls US out of the WHO.

124. Tries to ban news outlets he doesn’t like from press briefings in 2017 (including BBC, CNN, NYT).

125. Claims at debate that the Portland, Oregon sheriff supports him “As the Multnomah County Sheriff I have never supported Donald Trump and will never support him.”

126. Supporting discrimination of LGBTQ people in many ways. Removes mentions of LGBT people from anti-discrimination guidelines for a number of federal departments. In March 2018, lesbian and bisexual resources disappeared from the website of the Department of Health and Human Services. Doesn’t interpret Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Proposed Rule allowing federal contractors to discriminate against LGBTQ Workers. Expanding the ‘conscience rule’ that would allow health care workers to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

127. Opposed the Equality Act, which would have protected against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,

128. Trans military ban

129. Strips workplace protections from civil servants, in an executive order that also makes it easier to hire new employees outside of the competitive process which can be used to hire employees without appropriate experience.

130. Steve Bannon

131. Comments on electoral college

132. Breaking diplomatic protocol by handing out his cellphone number to world leaders and urging them to call him directly, which raises concerns about national security. Jared Kushner’s meeting with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. to discuss securing a secret line of communication with Moscow. https://apnews.com/article/11a48fde81634789b1cc361696693b68

133. Pardoning soldiers implicated in war crimes

Protests and social movements: local news media and you.

This Patriot Act video by Hasan Minhaj is about how important local news is to covering what affects us, especially in light of BLM and antifa protests. Local news media are compiling lists of Black-owned businesses, protest groups that need support, community resources, and documenting/recording perspectives and events. It's also local news media that are breaking stories of national importance like Epstein.

First, a timely article about the Seattle autonomous zone/CHAZ that’s an exact example of what’s going on in the video: local Seattle Times journalists did original reporting [link] and fact-checked some claims (yes, it’s peaceful; no, crimes are not happening; no, local businesses are not being extorted and in fact are doing well; yes, the mayor and governor told Trump to shut up) along with USA Today, which picked up ST’s reporting and added more information [link]. And here’s more original local reporting about armed right-wing groups being dangerous and obnoxious because they boogeyman antifa: [link]. Industry callouts on Fox News for creating and publishing doctored images of CHAZ, which is as ridiculous as it sounds [link].

Ridiculous.

To the point, the video had me thinking about the widespread "Why isn't the media talking about this" or "What the media won't show" messaging that's in nearly every high-note protest/BLM Twitter thread or Tumblr post I’ve seen that are not only often false (Yes, local and national news organizations are reporting that protesters are peaceful [link], cops are abusive+lying to everyone about the content of their body cams [link], and communities are creating resource and hydration centers [link]. No, news media will not ignore you if you keep protesting - the video in this post [link] is from NBC.), but show how much of an information bubble some people live in.

Remember, these are your news orgs, not a government's news orgs. Everyday people are the voices in an article, especially in local and community news.

The same popular posts I see about not trusting Democrats/Biden/liberalism and incrementalism are voiced by several knowledgeable activists in this article, New generation of activists, deeply skeptical of Democratic Party, resists calls to channel energy into the 2020 campaign [WP link | non-paywall MSN link] by Cleve Wootson Jr. [link].

Some pull quotes (but you should check out the article):

“Some people are like I’m . . . done accepting what the Democratic Party has offered us. It’s not getting better,” said Keene, 37. “This current moment is a reflection of the United States’ inability to meet any of the demands black people have put forward. I wish they would stop holding black people responsible for the failures of the Democratic Party. Why aren’t y’all responsible for not giving us a candidate worth voting for?”

Malcolm X warned people that neither Democrats nor Republicans had adequate plans to help black Americans in his “Ballot or the Bullet” speech. And Martin Luther King Jr. called on his followers to not accept political stalling.

“It’s always come down to the question of time,” Delmont said. “Dr. King had so many great sermons or speeches about time and how that group of activists just could not wait. People feel the same way today. You can’t wait for Biden to get elected. You can’t wait four years. We can’t wait on politicians if we want to see these things change.”

These are the same ideas that have floated through the blogosphere, especially here on Tumblr.

That isn't to be an idealist though. There's a lot to complain about in US journalism. At the top editor positions, it's highly staffed by white people, men, cishets, and those with privileged backgrounds. All journalists use news judgement (PBS has information on what news judgement is here: [link]), which in front page design aims to showcase what’s important to know in terms of impact, but deciding "what's important/what will people read" when the decision-making team is homogeneous and privileged leaves valuable voices unheard, entire life experiences unaddressed, and harms marginalized groups.

This is something recognized among journalists: The Inquirer's POC staff had a sick-out and open letter about a now-fired top editor's news article that insensitively riffed on BLM [link], NYT staff and union came out against the now-demoted opinion editor’s publishing of an opinion piece by the Arkansas governor that called for violence against protesters [link], Post-Gazette was publicly criticized by staff, union, and the public when management barred a Black journalist from reporting on protests because she joked about anti-protester hypocrisy [link].

There's a lot of criticism to be had about US journalism, but the "Why isn't the media talking about this" or "What the media won't show" messaging I'm seeing on Tumblr and Twitter is inaccurate because the very things people are saying are not being reported actually are being reported. It's coming from a place of not having the methods to access this information - maybe it’s not visiting non-social media sites to receive the news that affect and reflect you, not understanding that articles of quality take time, not knowing that you can reach out to news orgs and tell them what the news is, and/or not knowing how overwhelmed/source competitive news organizations are.

A read more to not dash stretch. Under the read more is information on how to escape the “Why isn’t the media reporting”/”Why am I only just hearing” information bubble (visit a news site), why the news takes days to be good (imagine writing an original research essay), and tips on avoiding paywalls and on basic journalism.

Receiving the news that affect and reflect you

There's a significant difference between the news you will see on a social media feed (even if you do follow news orgs) and the news you will see by going to any news website. I can write more about it later, but the tl;dr is that the news you see on a social media feed is decided entirely by algorithms, money, and community bubbles, which isn't evil, but causes other important news to be buried on your feeds. Social media are great for fast news and no longer letting only a select few people, who cannot reflect the need-to-knows of everyone, decide what's important. And to better avoid the information bubble, you can combine your social media feeds with news websites so that you can better avoid the "Why am I only just hearing about this" phenomenon and see that yes, the thing you said was never reported on, probably was reported. Yes, the front page curation won’t reflect the need-to-knows or even nice-to-knows of everyone, but the information available is still valuable and impactful - I saw the article on armed right-wingers holding an anti-antifa block party by visiting Seattle Times, Wootson’s article from MSN, the article on cops lying on documents about their body cam recordings from CNN’s front page. By visiting news websites, you may find information and topics that never landed on your feed - which you can now introduce to and improve your social circles with.

Articles of quality take time, aka "People wanted the news five minutes ago"

There's a few tweet threads where someone is shooting video of a currently developing situation, with a caption akin to "Why isn't the media talking about this" ...even though this is something that is currently happening, so of course no one has sat down and made the article or video segment. Especially if they’re waiting on comment from city officials. Tweets are a fast, immediate information delivery method and this is where protesters have an advantage. If you had checked YouTube's front page from the US the past weeks, you may have noticed that the news video article/news livestream section took about two days from the start of the protests to say that the protesters are peaceful and that it's the police that are violent. It's extremely slow compared to a protester's tweet. If you combine the speediness of a protester's tweet with the context/backstory/statement from officials in a news article, your knowledge of what's happening is more thorough. The news article takes time to come out and be worth reading, though.

(Related to the topic of speed and quality is the Mueller Report. It's 450 pages, yet news orgs were writing about it on day one. It was all junk because they were reading from the Trump CliffsNotes in the rush to meet the people-want-to-know-yesterday/first scoop demands so the articles worth any time only started coming out a week after the Report's release. News orgs admitted to their initial reporting being garbage and being led on, but by then readers who don't look at news websites had moved on. The same goes for any protest or breaking news coverage: it's usually junk for the first few days. Sometimes subverted by local news orgs due to their proximity to the events.)

Reach out to news orgs

There's important ground information coming from protesters and observers - first-hand experience with police brutality, police militarization, and just how tired Black Americans are of having to protest for their lives. Among this info are communities' food and hydration resources, example here [link].

"What the media won't show." "These stories need to be told."

Two things that go well together by remembering to tell your local news organizations. And if they show up (you might get the reporting from a desk treatment: adapting a press release (which btw, nonprofits and non-organized groups can write and submit too) to an article), you have their ear: tell them your message. Something every journalist has heard? "Your article is only as good as its sources." You can be the reason that article and news org are good.

The above mostly applies for when you don't want to be a press worker. But another angle is to be your own community's source of news and watchdog. You have access to the exact same information a news organization is privy to (FOIA and PRA), the same protective laws (shield laws, the First Amendment guarantees the right for journalists to work), and being a writer is free to learn and easy to do especially in the time of free blogging and content hosting. As this NPR post [link] put it:

I think I can say that I have some professional credibility as a journalist. I have a master’s degree from a major university, a national Emmy award, work in all forms of media, and am in charge of journalism at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Yet legally, I have the same standing as a journalist as a high school dropout who writes a blog in his grandmother’s basement, and that is exactly the way it is supposed to be.

And if you do start your own community news source, forward the articles you publish to the wider-area news orgs above you. Tying it back to the video: this is how the news works - local news media are important to national discourse.

Here’s some other things that can hopefully be helpful to understanding the essential field that is journalism:

- If you're being paywalled by a local or national newspaper or by a magazine you want to read, check if your library (or a friend who will let you use their library card) already pays for online access either through a website or through an app like Flipster. Or, search the title of the article and see if an another site (such as MSN) offers it free. - Tips: You only need to read the first two-three paragraphs of a news article, but it helps to read the rest. How and when to be an anonymous or on-background source: when you have information no one else has and/or you would face retaliation for speaking. More here: [link]. What differentiates an opinion from an editorial: editorials are the opinion of the editorial board, opinions are written by columnists, officials, and readers. Figure out what type of article you like better: inverted pyramid favors quick reporting (minutes to hours) and fewer facts, feature style favors long-term reporting (weeks to months) and more research, details, and human-focused anecdotes/testimony.

To nitpick the video: local and national broadcast news has more than what’s on TV, they also have a robust web article and web video article presence. For example, NBC’s article about BLM NY members’ and other activist groups in NY’s social justice and policy goals (and an app that creates digital models of Black and brown heroes of history to educate!). [NBC link | MSN link]

Glenn Kirschner  - As a former career prosecutor, including 6 years as an Army JAG, this makes me sick. Please bear with me as this will take a minute: Our military criminal justice system protects the rights of soldiers accused of crimes as well as, if not better then, many civilian systems...

It’s rarely an easy decision to prosecute a soldier, particularly for crimes committed during a time of war or otherwise in a hostile environment. But we expect, indeed demand, that our soldiers not commit murder/war crimes/atrocities while in military service

...  Indeed, the need to maintain good order & a cohesive fighting force requires that soldiers act in a law abiding way even under the most difficult circumstances. Military commanders & prosecutors often agonize over decisions whether to charge a soldier with a criminal offese...

This is, in part, because we recognize the sacrifices soldiers make for their country, putting their lives on the line to protect our people & our freedoms. But when a decision ultimately is made to court-martial a soldier, the system takes great pains to insure that soldiers receive excellent legal representation & fair trials. Enormous time/effort goes into investigations, prosecutions and, in the event of conviction, appeals. I know this first hand, having handled as an Army prosecutor (in both the trial courts & appellate courts) cases including murder during Operation Just Cause, espionage during Operation Desert Storm, death penalty litigation & many others.

Today I saw this NYT’s article that Trump is ginning up pardons of soldiers who criminally killed others, intending to use it as some sort of  twisted Memorial Day celebration. Among the pardons reportedly being contemplated are cases involving the Blackwater security firm. Please bear with me for a moment while I relate some basic public facts about the Blackwater case. The defendants were US civilians (veterans) who were being paid to perform security services in Iraq. Multiple Blackwater employees opened fire on innocent Iraqis in what was a massacre in broad daylight. They killed 14 unarmed Iraqi citizens and injured 17 others in front of dozens of witnesses

Some of the testifying witnesses were the defendants own Blackwater teammates. Many of the fellow Blackwater members testified about how the defendants were in the wrong - they did not even attempt to defend their teammates, rather  they described their teammates’ use of deadly force as being wholly unjustified and without provocation. Evidence at trial included how one defendant, Nicholas Slatten, called Iraqis “animals” and “less then human.” According to Slatten, Iraqi lives were worth “nothing.”

My former office, the DC US Attorney’s Office, prosecuted the case, obtained convictions & brought justice to the surviving victims & the families of the dead (I didn’t work on the case). I saw the enormous time, energy & resources that went into that prosecution

It was important that the perpetrators of those horrific offenses were brought to justice. Now Trump, in a twisted, grotesque “celebration” of Memorial Day, wants to pardon these and other murderers?! What message is he really trying to send to the military?