"Senate Republicans had the chance to lift 16 million kids out of poverty by expanding the Child Tax Credit.

They voted against it.

Remember this the next time they claim to care about American families."

https://19thnews.org/2024/08/child-tax-credit-2024-senate-votes-against-bill/

It seems that even those who are not interested in sports and do not follow the Olympic Games have already read about the "50-year-old Turkish man who showed up at the competition in a wrinkled T-shirt, without special equipment, and took the Olympic silver without even taking his hand out of his pocket."

"Surely, Turkey sent some kind of hitman to Paris!" social media marvels.

In the blink of an eye, Yusuf Dikec, a previously unknown figure outside professional circles, a retired gendarmerie officer and professional shooter, became a global internet meme and sensation.

Everything is great! The moral of this story could be: no matter how old you are, keep doing what you love, and your best achievements may still lie ahead, even if you are an athlete over 50!

But another nuance caught my attention.

The fact is, Yusuf Dikec did not win the Olympic silver alone. It was a team event. Shooting alongside him was his colleague Sevval Ilayda Tarhan. In the same T-shirt, in the same pose, and also with minimal equipment.

The only difference is that he is 51, and she is 24. He began professional shooting around the time she was born.

Dikec is an excellent shooter with a plethora of medals from prestigious competitions, but he had never made it to the Olympic podium until his young partner grew up and competed with him on the same team.

If we look at the individual performances of these shooters in the same discipline where they took silver as a team, we will see that Tarhan finished 7th, while Dikec only came in 13th.

Now let's trace how mass consciousness works: we simply do not notice the woman standing next to him. It does not matter who she is, how she is dressed, how she shoots, or how unique her achievement is. We only see the man in the "wrinkled T-shirt," deliberately nonchalant, and create a romantic image of a "hitman." We spread a photograph in which he is shooting alone, and the result of this shooting is 13th place! Yet, we declare that he won "silver."

Why does the logic of mass culture work this way? After all, patriarchy has long ceased to exist, feminism is unnecessary, equality has been achieved, at least in Paris 2024 for sure!

This is how patriarchal myths about great male victories are born before our eyes. These images are entrenched in culture and shape our thinking. Meanwhile, women's contributions and achievements are simply erased from history. It was like this before. Unfortunately, it still happens today.

#Paris2024 #YusufDikec #SevvalTarhan #Olympics

Translated text. Original text from Maya Guseynova

Book challenges are fueled by parents' objections to LGBTQ themes - The Washington Post

Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges
An analysis of book challenges from across the nation shows the majority were filed by just 11 people.

ELEVEN BIGOTS, FOLKS. JUST ELEVEN BIGOTS are trying to destroy public education across the USA. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/23/lgbtq-book-ban-challengers/

Update from Albania
Political situation, Censorship and Persecution

Today the parliament of Albania approved doubling the parliamentary members wage and making it 39x more than the minimal pension in Albania. Meanwhile two months ago we sent in the parliament a draft law with 21.000 signatures requesting the approvement of a minimum universal income which till now has not been touched by the members of the parliament.

With the Movement Together we protested outside the parliament, throwing printed bills at the deputies. Only a couple hours later the police stormed the parties offices and we are expecting them to arrest 8 activists, including me who was recording the action, by 18:00 today.

Some of our comrades social media accounts have been under heavy reporting and they are risking their accounts and we also received phishing emails in the official parties email.

We will not give up fighting for social justice and democracy! ✊

You have to see this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USqBg4-_XOo&feature=youtu.be