Facebook as a regulated utility?

Excerpt from Steven Hill, Should President Biden Revoke Section 230? https://www.laprogressive.com/revoke-section-230/ Jan 2021 Facebook is no longer simply a “social networking” website – it is the largest media giant in the history of the world, a combination publisher and broadcaster with approximately 2.6 billion regular users, plus billions more on the Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Instagram. A mere 100 pieces of COVID-19 …

Online misinformation about election fraud plunged 73 percent after several social media sites suspended President Trump and key allies last week. Also, Among the Insurrectionists

Luke Mogelson in The New Yorker: Among the Insurrectionists. “There was an unmistakable subtext as the mob, almost entirely white, shouted, ‘Whose house? Our house!’ One man carried a Confederate flag through the building. A Black member of the Capitol Police later told BuzzFeed News that, during the assault, he was called a racial slur fifteen times.” NPR: “Members of …

From Nazism to Democracy: Lessons from Germany

Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.PHOTO BY JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP / GETTY IMAGES The U.S. finds itself in a different place and time than postwar Germany, but the challenge is similar. Why you can trust us BY SYLVIA TASCHKA The Conversation & Yes Magazine, Jan …

There is a deep well of people in this country who are sure the system is not working for them, and we seem to be only coming around to recognizing how deep it goes.

‘The cultural elite are inexcusably unaware of the challenges and perspectives of many others in this country.’ Many Americans don’t like either party all that much or hold closely corresponding issue preferences. Instead, many Americans see politics as a battle between “the corrupt elite” and “the good people.” Trump took advantage of such views, presenting himself as an outsider taking …

Lead with information can be counterproductive: Ask people what they know and want to learn. Then have a conversation.

Anger, anxiety, overwhelm … climate change can evoke intense feelings. “It’s easy to feel dwarfed in the context of such a global systemic issue,” says psychologist Renée Lertzman. She says that when people experience these feelings, they often shut down and push information away. So to encourage climate action, she advises not bombarding people with frightening facts. “When we lead …

‘Petro-Masculinity’ of This Weekend’s Trump Highway Rallies

Violence is reaching a new level: in Colorado a white truck with trump flag and signs and license plate SKSCO1 is driving around local highways swinging a trailer into other vehicles. Police only ticketing these proud boys for lane departure. Brian KahnMonday, Gizmodo, Nov 3, 2020, 2020 ELECTION8 7 This weekend, highways from Texas to Kentucky to New Jersey were …

It’s time to have community conversations about what folks need, to make the transition work out for them and their families

Though we may be dealing with the same kind of corporate Democrats as we were in 2008, we are not the same. We have changed. Our movements have grown in size but they’ve also grown in vision. In the vision of defund the police, moving the resources from the infrastructure of incarceration, of policing, of militarism to the infrastructure of care. Vision work has …