Mastodawn

From Chris Hedges on Twitter (X):
"I was present more than once as Israeli troops shot Palestinian children. Such incidents, in the Israeli lexicon, become children caught in crossfire. I was in Gaza when F-16 attack jets bombed overcrowded hovels in Gaza City. I saw the corpses of the victims, including children. This became a surgical strike on a bomb-making factory. I have watched Israel demolish homes and entire apartment blocks to create wide buffer zones between the Palestinians and the Israeli troops that ring Gaza. I have interviewed the destitute and homeless families, some camped out in crude shelters erected in the rubble. The destruction becomes the demolition of the homes of terrorists. I have stood in the gutted remains of schools as well as medical clinics and mosques and counted the bodies. I have heard Israel claim that errant rockets or mortar fire from the Palestinians caused these and other deaths, or that the buildings were being used as arms depots or launching …"

DoNotPunchDown Oct 4

Indivisible ❌👑Oct 4

If a high-ranking elected official can be detained in broad daylight, no one is immune from this regime’s authoritarian overreach. https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/ald-jessie-fuentes-arrested-ice-agents-humboldt-park-hospital/

Chicago alderwoman arrested by ICE agents while checking on detainee at hospital in Humboldt Park

A Chicago alderwoman was arrested by ICE agents on Friday afternoon inside a hospital in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

DoNotPunchDown Oct 4

Carolyn Barber, MD Oct 4

HAPPENING NOW: “Heavy military presence outside the Broadview ICE facility in Illinois.
Snipers can be seen on top of armored vehicles. Protesters are also being arrested.

This is insane. This is not America anymore.”— R/t Ron Smith #press

DoNotPunchDown Oct 4

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AnarchoNinaWrites Oct 4

The fascist does not "believe" anything - or rather he believes ANYTHING that justifies the accumulation and exercise of power, preferably through violent means, in the moment. If he needs to believe A, to be a fascist today, he believes A. And if he needs to renounce A tomorrow and now believe B, he does that too.

So fascism cannot, ultimately be about what you believe. Cause what they believe, is subject to rapid, irrational degrees of change.

Fascism, is what you do.

DoNotPunchDown Oct 4

Ham on Wry Oct 4

Were you spanked as a child?

#poll #spanking

No

21.5%

Rarely

55.6%

Often

18.7%

Not often enough

4.2%

Poll ended at Oct 5 at 3:30am.

DoNotPunchDown Oct 4

Christina Warren Oct 4

Kinda wild Apple will kick ICEBlock out of the App Store on safety grounds but the Saudi government app that lets men track women (their “property”) and control their travel is fully allowed even after the Human Rights Watch AND members of the Senate begged them to ban it.

DoNotPunchDown Oct 4

Dr. Flowers Oct 4

DoNotPunchDown Oct 4

Carrie Shanafelt Oct 3

As a former "gifted" elementary school student, I'm 100% in favor of Mamdani's proposal to end the gifted programs in early public education. When you're separating 6 and 7yo's and saying "These kids are special and high-achieving," you are selecting almost entirely for kids with learning support at home, and allocating extra resources to them, while draining resources from the kids with less support.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/nyregion/mamdani-schools-gifted-and-talented-program.html

Mamdani Says He Would Phase Out N.Y.C. Gifted Program for Early Grades

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic front-runner in the mayor’s race, plans if elected to replace the selective program, which became a symbol of segregation in public schools.

The New York Times

A tragic truth, again, fellow citizen DoNotPunchDown.
ST

"Democracies are lost because the people that live within them, given enough time, forget how precious they are, and forsake the foundations upon which they stand."
SearingTruth

DoNotPunchDown Oct 4

I haven't been on in a while. Since I was last on they have added "quote" to toots. I don't quite get why some posts may be quoted while others won't allow it. Is it something that the poster controls?

Thank you