See tagged statuses in the local bookrastinating.com community
ICYMI: The Massachusetts Legislature passed a $56.2 billion budget on Monday that includes $171.5 million "to require public schools to provide universal school meals to all students free of charge." The bill now awaits approval from Gov. Maura Healey.
#boston #massachusetts #politics #education #food #news
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/free-school-meals-students-budget-massachusetts/
Top story: The "death star" legislation’s real intent is both narrower and potentially more profound than just upending city ordinance-making powers.
https://www.texasobserver.org/death-star-hb-2127-democracy/
#Texas #TXlege #politics #USpol #news #GregAbbott #democracy
I just started reading Michael Parenti's 'To Kill a Nation', about the war against and inside of Yugoslavia https://bookrastinating.com/book/482377/s/to-kill-a-nation
6% in, it's breathtakingly sobering. The image from the book is an example of how some murderous bureaucrats view their work, and mainly themselves.
#MichaelParenti #reading #book @bookstodon #Yugoslavia #politics #war #terrorism #NATO
![WHEN TERRORISM IS NOT TERRORISM
State Department Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Michael Sheehan, speaking at a Briefing on the 1999 Annual "Patterns of Global Terrorism" Report, May 1 2000:
SHEEHAN: Our definition of terrorism by the legislation is very explicit. But in general terms, in a war, if military forces are attacking each other, it's not terrorism. But if an armed terrorist organization attacks civilian targets, that's terrorism. So that's generally the breakdown. Or if you attack-it's also... a terrorist attack if you attack military people in barracks, such as the Khobar bombings or the Marine barracks in 1982. Those are terrorist acts. Each case is taken on a case-by-case basis.
REPORTER: So, for example, if the United States were to drop-what do you call them?-cruise missiles on people who were in barracks or in tents, as it may be, would that be terrorism? Could that be terrorism?
SHEEHAN: No.
[laughter]
The laughter was not included in the transcript of the briefing released by the state department, but could be heard when this segment was played on C-Span radio,](https://pub-1146fd6c5b9443ce8a2adde617e7847d.r2.dev/images/status/6c7d2a94-933d-4270-831f-f770f85b74f0.webp "WHEN TERRORISM IS NOT TERRORISM
State Department Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Michael Sheehan, speaking at a Briefing on the 1999 Annual \"Patterns of Global Terrorism\" Report, May 1 2000:
SHEEHAN: Our definition of terrorism by the legislation is very explicit. But in general terms, in a war, if military forces are attacking each other, it's not terrorism. But if an armed terrorist organization attacks civilian targets, that's terrorism. So that's generally the breakdown. Or if you attack-it's also... a terrorist attack if you attack military people in barracks, such as the Khobar bombings or the Marine barracks in 1982. Those are terrorist acts. Each case is taken on a case-by-case basis.
REPORTER: So, for example, if the United States were to drop-what do you call them?-cruise missiles on people who were in barracks or in tents, as it may be, would that be terrorism? Could that be terrorism?
SHEEHAN: No.
[laughter]
The laughter was not included in the transcript of the briefing released by the state department, but could be heard when this segment was played on C-Span radio,")
Florida bans AP psychology over gender identity, sexual orientation lessons, College Board says
#FloridaBansAPPsychology #GenderIdentityLessons #SexualOrientationLessons #CollegeBoard #PsychologyEducation #FloridaEducation #Politics #News
Texas A&M has agreed to pay Dr. Kathleen McElroy $1 million after her recruitment process broke down over "DEI hysteria." Dr. McElroy will remain a tenured professor at UT Austin.
#news #texas #houston #highered #education #diversity #politics
‘The pressure to make public retractions of past statements — there’s something medieval about it.
What does it mean, anyway, to retract what you’ve said? How can anyone categorically state that a thought he once had is no longer valid?’
— Milan Kundera
This week I've been mainly reading, No. 78.
Preparing for an #arthistory & #politics course I am (re)running as a retired visiting lecturer, I've been considering Amy Whitaker's Economics of Visual Art (2021) for students. Its a breezy, largely successful attempt to get the sociology of art & economics to intermesh, which balances some good exploration of economic issues with examples from the #artworld. Although (perhaps) a little to US in focus, it remains an instructive read.
@bookstodon
Our friends at the BBC (@BBCRD) are running a six-month experiment to test whether running own instance (social.bbc) on the fediverse is worth it. Please follow and boost the accounts they’re testing to show your support!
BBC News and Media:
@BBCTaster
@Connected_Studio
@BBC5Live
@BBCRadio4
BBC R&D:
@BBCRD
@BBC_News_Labs
#newstodon #news #journalism #culture #politics
https://www.bbc.com/rd/blog/2023-07-mastodon-distributed-decentralised-fediverse-activitypub
#Truth and #Justice can be
like large, bothersome flies —
brush them away and they
return, buzzing louder.
http://fomitepress.com/quarantine-notes.html
#poetry #wisdom #books #bookstodon @bookstodon #writing #WritingCommunity #activism #news #politics #ethics
In a historic agreement, UPS agreed to many of the demands from its unionized members. The company agreed to higher wages for full- and part-time union members and, crucially air conditioning in vehicles.
https://www.chron.com/business/article/ups-reaches-contract-with-340-000-unionized-18259759.php
#news #labor #texas #world #houston #politics #work #UPS #teamsters
Passage of Israel’s judicial reform entrenches ‘Jewish supremacy’
The new law passed by Knesset will make it easier for the far-right government to pursue policies that harm Palestinians, experts say.
“Without context, Marcos’ SONA 2023 figures warp economic reality”
#philippines #StateOfTheNationAddress #SONA #politics
https://www.rappler.com/business/without-context-ferdinand-marcos-jr-sona-2023-figures-warp-economic-reality/
Ed Davey: ‘Tactical voting can lock Tories out of power for a generation’ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/23/ed-davey-tactical-voting-can-lock-tories-out-of-power-for-a-generation?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other #UK #politics #GTTO
Byelection results paint ominous picture for Tories despite Uxbridge win https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/21/byelection-results-paint-ominous-picture-tories-despite-uxbridge-win?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other 🙂 #GTTO #UK #politics
