One Thing Has Changed at Portland City Hall: The Socialists Are Setting the Agenda

https://www.wweek.com/news/2025/07/16/one-thing-has-changed-in-portland-city-hall-the-socialists-are-setting-the-agenda/

#portland #pdx #pdxpol

Men and AI are unhinged.

No I will not be taking questions, read the thread.
https://xcancel.com/jasonlk/status/1946069562723897802

#tech #infosec

#Texas just gutted #FreeSpeech on #college #campuses. Is your state next?

New laws in the Lone Star State will silence dissent and undermine #faculty authority.

By Laura Benitez and Jonathan Friedman
July 14, 2025

"As thousands of students return to college campuses this fall, they will find themselves stepping into an environment reshaped by political and ideological mandates. Across the country, state legislators have been racing to exert new influence over free expression in higher education. Now, Texas has surged to the forefront, closing its 2025 legislative session by passing two alarming laws that take effect Sept. 1.

"Signed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in June, the new laws amount to a stunningly aggressive legislative crackdown on campus protest (#SB2972) and academic shared governance (#SB37) at public colleges and universities. The laws will not just silence dissent and undermine faculty authority in Texas; they provide a blueprint for how to dismantle academic freedom and chill speech on campus state by state.

"Only a few years ago, conservative lawmakers railed against college 'free-speech zones,' arguing that liberal administrators were muzzling students on the rest of campus. In 2019, Texas legislators joined other states in taking action by declaring all outdoor spaces on public campuses open for protest and speech by students, employees and the general public.

"Now, some of the same legislators have done an about-face. The campus protest law actually directs public colleges and universities to implement a version of free-speech zones and adopt sweeping limitations on protests. #Encampments? Banned. #Megaphones or #speakers during 'class hours'? Forbidden — if anyone claims your 'expressive activity' is one that 'intimidates others' or 'interferes' with an employee’s duties. Even wearing a mask during a protest — something many do for safety — could land a student or employee a disciplinary hearing resulting in 'sanctions.' And any expressive activity between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. is off-limits altogether."

Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/14/texas-campus-free-speech/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2LuBD

#TexasProtestLaws #ProtestLaws #ProtestLawsTexas #Project2025 #AntiProtestLaws #Authoritarianism #SilencingFreeSpeech #Censorship #AcademicFreedom #AntiMaskLaws #Fascism #USPol #CivilLiberties #Texas

The #climatetech that beats all others: #maturetrees. The only reason mature trees are not seen as a solution to #climatebreakdown is because they are actively capitalised on for other purposes.

Now all Western capitals suffer from unprecedented #heatwaves, Andrew Hunter Murray explains why the #London plane tree is an extraordinary tree working double shifts to cool down the #British capital & remove #pollution.

We don't need #BigTech: we need to stop #deforestation now!

Volunteers flock to immigration courts to support migrants arrested in the hallways

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-court-arrests-ice-bd145fae56c0d493ba52418cc66ef3b7

Warning: fediverse scam alert

You've promised yourself that you'll sit down to just read a few toots and, two hours later, you've read 500+ toots, made six new friends, and installed Linux or BSD on your laptop.

What a scam.

Life hack incoming.

Hate on-line annual recurring subscriptions, particularly those that surprise you with renewals without warning? (I'm looking at YOU America's Test Kitchen.)

Check the subscription terms for what happens when you cancel. A few refund for unused term, but most don't. So let's turn it into a non-recurring subscription.

The day after you subscribe, go back and CANCEL. You'll get your year of service, and a year later you can positively decide whether you want to re-subscribe.