DSmith_Tucson @DSmith_Tucson@mastodon.tucsonsentinel.com

From our political columnist, Joe Garofoli:

"#ElonMusk’s amplification of anti-trans memes and criticism of inclusive policies and practices puts him squarely with the far right on issues involving the #transgender community...

Some are concerned that his latest blasts could prop up discredited anti-trans politics at a time when they’re losing nationally."

Read more about how Musk is leaning into transphobia: https://bit.ly/3FOVIXl

Joaquin Castro? Colin Allred? Lina Hidalgo? Clay Jenkins? Can anyone gain a foothold in the #GOP-controlled state?

After investing everything in O'Rourke's candidacy, a party searches for future leadership.

A preview of our January/February 2023 issue, from #Politics Reporter Justin Miller:

https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-democrats-beto-orourke/

#txlege #Democrats #Election2022 #Texas

"Lensa’s fetish for Asian women is so strong that I got female nudes and sexualized poses even when I directed the app to generate avatars of me as a male."

Brilliant story from Melissa Heikkilä at Technology Review about how portrait-making AI Lensa -- which uses stable diffusion -- created sexualized drawings when prompted with photos of the author, who is an Asian woman.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/12/1064751/the-viral-ai-avatar-app-lensa-undressed-me-without-my-consent/

If you want to know why #creators are still on #birdsite even knowing it’s a cesspool, ask Willie Sutton, the bank robber. When asked why he robbed banks, he replied “That’s where the money is.” Money aside, if you are a journalist or activist or academic or NASA trying to get a message out, birdsite is still where the eyeballs are. Let’s keep growing the Fediverse and they’ll come. It may take a while.

Fox News future in question as Rupert Murdoch heads to court in Dominion $1.6 billion lawsuit https://www.rawstory.com/fox-news-dominion/

Future historians will write dissertations about the mass insanity of the early 21st Century.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/no-obama-wasnt-guarded-by-a-reptilian-secret-service-agent/

Sen. ChuckSchumer can put the PRESS Act in the Senate’s end of year package and be remembered as someone who cared about press freedom at a time when it's so massively under attack.

US residents need to contact their senators, pronto. This bill has already been passed in the House.

It may be the last chance for the foreseeable future to get this done.

https://freedom.press/news/urgent-tell-sen-schumer-to-pass-the-press-act-and-stop-the-government-from-spying-on-journalists/

Pima County finishes recount of ballots in Arizona AG, schools chief races https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/120922_pima_recount/pima-county-finishes-recount-ballots-arizona-ag-schools-chief-races/
Pima County officials have completed their recount in the election for Arizona attorney general and superintendent of public instruction, sending the results of the review of nearly 400,000 ballots to the Secretary of State's Office on Friday.
#Tucson #Arizona

#MastodonOnTheMove Dec 9, 2022

@TexasObserver @TucsonSentinel @restofworld Create Mastodon Instances

We've entered a new stage in the evolution of Mastodon social media. Trailblazing media organizations are creating their own instances–something impossible on other social media platforms.

Recently publications like @RollingStone, @ProPublica and @sfgate established official accounts, now a few pioneers are taking the next step.

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1 of 6
#twittermigration #media #instance

I find this really interesting.

http://scripting.com/code/testing/itemviewer/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmastodon.social%2F%40davew.rss

That's my proposal for how a feed reader should work with a Mastodon feed.

I think it looks pretty good. Proof that you can have titleless posts in a traditional feed reader.

Twitter is literally auctioning off their furniture.

Perhaps to keep their lights on?

Also, can someone send me the link to this please? I want to see more stuff!

(Thanks to @konomikitten for the image)

https://twitter.com/ekai/status/1601305748209750016

"They just don't care. Qatari World Cup organizers don't even hide their apathy over migrant worker deaths" https://grantwahl.substack.com/p/world-cup-daily-day-25

Journalist Grant Wahl, one of the most prominent chroniclers of American soccer over more than 20 years and a longtime writer for Sports Illustrated, died on Friday night while covering the World Cup in Qatar. He was 48. https://www.wsj.com/articles/grant-wahl-soccer-journalist-world-cup-11670639526

Departure: Sinema leaves Democrats, the sky is blue, Arizona is hot https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/opinion/report/120922_sinema_bolts_op/departure-sinema-leaves-democrats-sky-blue-arizona-hot/
News flash: U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema pulls an attention-seeking move to make herself so much more super-important. Or not. And my hot take: Eyeroll. Of course she did.
#Tucson #Arizona

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has left Democratic Party, registers as an independent https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/120922_sinema_independent/sen-kyrsten-sinema-has-left-democratic-party-registers-as-independent/
Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona’s senior U.S. senator, has left the Democratic Party and re-registered as an independent - a move that has immediate political implications for Democrats, who this week won a 51-seat majority in the Senate.
#Tucson #Arizona

NEW: Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves talked to Brett Favre about getting state funds to pay the remaining $1.6 million he owed on a volleyball stadium at USM after the State stopped using welfare funds for the project.

We have the text messages. 🧵
https://www.mississippifreepress.org/29628/texts-gov-reeves-talked-to-brett-favre-about-using-state-funds-for-volleyball-facilities/

What an ordeal for The Pilot's staff. This is a great example of the dedication of local reporters covering their community while living through the same hardship. (The story link - through my sub - bypasses the paywall.)

I was working for a small daily in Ohio during the August 2003 blackout that affected eight states and parts of Ontario. That was a definite challenge to get an eight-page edition out the next morning, but we were back to normal the next day.

https://wapo.st/3Y9MrjN

I'd like to congratulate Bari Weiss on discovering that mod tools exist, that moderation decisions are sometimes escalated to more senior officials, and that platforms often ban or quietly block specific words, topics, and users from accessing some or all of the platform.

#BariWeiss #TwitterFiles #ElonMusk #CommunityManagement #ContentModeration #TrustAndSafety #Twitter

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried hit with campaign finance complaint over GOP 'dark' money https://cnb.cx/3W1drjz #politics #GOP #DarkMoney

If Musk gave Taibbi and Weiss access to users' private messages --that is, access to other people's DMs -- it's a flagrant violation of privacy promises, and should cost Musk and his investors a ton of money in damages.