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WE DID IT! The Texas Observer will remain open!

Our board just voted to rescind both the layoffs and the closure. We’ll have more news soon, but we believe this is the start of a very positive transformation at our publication—and you were a huge part of it. THANK YOU! You proved to the world that #TexasNeedsAnObserver!

https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-observer-no-layoffs-remains-open-board-vote/

#Fediverse #Mastodon #WeWin

—@TexasObserver

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Hello everyone,
I hope all are safe and well during these crazy times. I need everyone to listen up for a second, because I’m here to talk about an important safety issue that is rarely discussed. I’m talking about active shooter situations, and people with disabilities. A discussion occurred this morning between my husband who has multiple disabilities, and his worker who assist him a few times a week. She basically wants to minimize his shopping experience to keep them safe, but she went about it in the most atrocious way. We had a shooting at our local Target just down the street from us, and it is a place my husband and I have visited many times. Thankfully no one was shot, but this brings to mind a very important discussion. So far, I’ve seen nothing talking about active shooters and how people with disabilities and their caregivers can prepare and plan for these situations. If you have a few minutes, I’d like to point you to the following blog post I’ve written, both as a therapeutic writing exercise, but mainly, to share awareness of this issue. How are these caregivers being trained? Why aren’t they approaching these subjects with sensitivity and respect as they should? Please read the blog post at the link below. Keep in mind I’ve also sent it to my local news station. Each and everyone one of us, as members of this society, have a civic duty to make sure equality isn’t just a word in the dictionary. We need to step up and draw awareness to these concerns. Thank you for taking the time to read our story today. Everyone, please be safe. Many blessings.
https://celestialvoice.net/active-shootings-and-people-with-disabilities-the-discussion-that-needs-to-happen-yesterday/

—@desertstar84

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What the Republican Push for ‘Parents’ Rights’ Is Really About by Jamelle Bouie
Ultimately, then, the “parents’ rights” movement is not about parents at all; it’s about whether this country will continue to strive for a more equitable and democratic system of education, or whether we’ll let a reactionary minority drag us as far from that goal as possible, in favor of something even more unequal and hierarchical than what we already have.
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I’m watching a 12 year old trans girl testify to lawmakers that the bills they’ve passed are a constant reminder that she doesn’t belong in her own state.

No kid should ever need to do something like that, and the people responsible for putting her in that position deserve to hear her words echoing in their heads for the sleepless nights I hope they suffer for the rest of their lives.

“I should be in school learning history, not out here making it”

—@quinn

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Let me put the unbearable pain of mass shootings into its’ proper prospective. As a retired federal agent, I have had the sad misfortune of cleaning up after a few of these “events” as they were called. Try to lift a dead child (or adult) from the ground to put on a gurney, and their head falls from their body. Or you have to collect body parts to “complete” a victim for analysis. It hurts the strongest of us. Let republicans come into scenes and do this job. Not one would last a minute.

—@AliensAbound