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A Florida School Banned a Disney Movie About Ruby Bridges. Here’s What That Really Means. by Charles M. Blow
This month, an elementary school in St. Petersburg, Fla., stopped showing a 1998 Disney movie about Ruby Bridges, the 6-year-old Black girl who integrated a public elementary school in New Orleans in 1960, because of a complaint lodged by a single parent who said she feared the film might teach children that white people hate Black people. The school banned the film until it could be reviewed. So I decided to review the film myself.
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news announcement at @fediforum: #flipboard has launched their Mastodon integration on Android!

This means you can follow Mastodon posts via Flipboard, and add them to your magazine, or share articles from your magazines directly to Mastodon.

Even better, full #ActivityPub integration is coming for the coming months, so it can work with the full fediverse (Pixelfed, anyone?).

https://about.flipboard.com/inside-flipboard/mastodon-on-android-flipboard-integration-is-here/

—@fediversereport

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Kentucky Republicans voted to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto –

This means republicans have effectively forced children to detransition while increasing their rates of suicide by 70%

No gender affirming care. No puberty blockers. No choice in which restroom to use

When a republican talks about protecting children…

They’re the party of child labor. The party of keeping child marriage. The party of demonizing certain children to force their agenda.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights

—@flexghost

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The fact that it is 2023 and we still must use sighted people to fill out paper forms when they originated in soft copy is unacceptable. And the fact that these uneducated overly paid paper pushers send and expect it returned in print when someone is being sent braille because they can’t read said print is beyond ridiculous! It must take barely one working brain cell to work for the social insecurity administration. We’re not in the wrong here. They are.

—@amy0223

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Yes! @TexasObserver is saved!

But this story is bigger than any one publication.

What we’ve just demonstrated:

* journalism can survive beyond Google, Meta, and Twitter
* private equity firms don’t get to decide what journalism matters
* big media conglomerates aren’t the only voices that matter

Journalists, are you seeing this? The Fediverse might be your future!

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

@fediversenews

—@atomicpoet

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In other words, the board got owned thoroughly by the big kids, it knows it got owned, so instead of just quietly slinking away it's going to flop around in court to try to save face. This is going to be awesome because Florida has an amazing public records law. Pass the popcorn.

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Bing Chat has ads now, so it’s just like that person you know who tries to work their MLM scheme into every conversation.

Google ruins every good thing it does with twisted incentives that mean they shut it down in its infancy. Microsoft ruins every good thing it does by trying to cram ads into it.

—@Kye

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God damn it. I’ve literally been warning FOR YEARS that LLMs will cause someone to commit suicide. I use this example in all my talks on why we need more research on safe NLP systems. The example I literally use is that a chatbot will reinforce someone’s suicide ideation and they will act on it. Now it’s happened. Now it’s real.

“Belgian man dies by suicide following exchanges with chatbot”

https://www.brusselstimes.com/430098/belgian-man-commits-suicide-following-exchanges-with-chatgpt

—@Riedl

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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