Happy #PrideMonth2024. I don't claim to be the world's best ally, although I try really hard to understand people who are different than my cis white male self. There is one repeated episode where it has been easy to speak up and shut down #transphobia.

I have a former colleague who is trans. I am quite close with them - we have published together, co-mentored students, run together, and had a quite a few happy hours together, before each moving to different institutions. We are friends as well as colleagues.

Still, I run into other colleagues and acquaintances who mention it. "Do you know ___ used to be ___? Snicker, snicker." My response is invariably, “I know and I don't care, and I think we should assess each other professionally and personally, not based on these pre- and mis-conceptions." That is always the end of the discussion. I have never had anyone continue their schoolyard level gossip and derision. And it has never caused anyone to get angry, upset, offended, etc. with me.

In other words, some things are easy. We should all practice these things. I welcome feedback on how I can do better, and accounts which differ from my experiences.

The terrifying, reactionary, fascist, Constitution-shredding vision you see below is brought to you by the same folks who are backing #Project2025.

If you don't know what that is, maybe take a look: https://michiganadvance.com/2024/01/16/project-2025-if-allowed-will-cement-america-as-a-rightwing-authoritarian-state/

Project 2025 is not a liberal fever dream.

It's a 900-plus page manifesto for #authoritarianism

It's WHAT WILL HAPPEN unless people who know better choose to protect #democracy and re-elect #BidenHarris2024.

#UsPolitics #democrats #election #Constitution #CivilRights

Today in Labor History June 8, 1917: The Granite Mountain/Spectacular Mine disaster killed 168 men in Butte, Montana. It was the deadliest underground mine disaster in U.S. history. Within days, men were walking out of the copper mines all over Butte in protest of the dangerous working conditions. Two weeks later, organizers had created a new union, the Metal Mine Workers’ Union. They immediately petitioned Anaconda, the largest of the mine companies, for union recognition, wage increases and better safety conditions. By the end of June, electricians, boilermakers, blacksmiths and other metal tradesmen had walked off the job in solidarity.

Frank Little, a Cherokee miner and member of the IWW, went to Butte during this strike to help organize the miners. Little had previously helped organize oil workers, timber workers and migrant farm workers in California. He had participated in free speech fights in Missoula, Spokane and Fresno, and helped pioneer many of the passive resistance techniques later used by the Civil Rights movement. He was also an anti-war activist, calling U.S. soldiers “Uncle Sam’s scabs in uniforms.” On August 1, 1917, vigilantes broke into the boarding house where he was staying. They dragged him through the streets while tied to the back of a car and then hanged him from a railroad trestle.

Author Dashiell Hammett had been working in Butte at the time as a striker breaker for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. They had tried to get him to murder Little, offering him $5,000, but he refused. He later wrote about the experience in his novel, “Red Harvest.” It supposedly haunted him throughout his life that anyone would think he would do such a thing.

You can read my complete biography of Little here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/ And my complete biography of Hammett here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/dashiell-hammett/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #FrankLittle #indigenous #nativeamerican #cherokee #freespeech #mining #antiwar #civilrights #Pinkertons #books #fiction #writer #author @bookstadon

12 jurors had more bravery and smarts than half our Supreme Court, most of our Senate, most of the Mainstream Media, many of our other judges, and many of our prosecutors.

Our leaders are mostly failing us.

But democracy will save us.

Turns out there is nothing libertarian about imprisoning journalists and prosecutors, having legal immunity even for killing your political opponents, sending immigrants to concentration camps, and criminalizing reproductive rights.

Trump isn’t a libertarian — he’s a fascist.

Hi, Fediverse:

Whew. I finished this week's blog post. Do your thing, Mastodon.

https://terikanefield.com/beware-the-lawyers-follow-up/

It's a follow up from last week, answering some of the questions and comments I got.

In response to people telling me that I am overestimating the ability of people to decode legal news, I attempt to prove this hypothesis:

If people stop listening to legal pundits speculating, they wouldn’t feel confused and they wouldn’t think they need help from lawyers decoding the news.

1/

Lack of affordable childcare forces working moms to take unpaid time off & pass up good jobs, costing the average working mom of two ~$94,000 in lost income over their career.

Republicans (and Manchin & Sinema) have repeatedly blocked investments in childcare. Do they hate moms?

Student protestors are portrayed as anywhere between naive and brainwashed. Now listen to this. Nothing naive here.

#Israel #Gaza #Chicago #Palestine #StudentProtests