Andre Hernandez-Romero is the gay make up artist who was kidnapped and disappeared into the supermax El Salvador prison CECOT.

Why was he sent there? Because of his tattoos.

He came to the US legally in 2024. He sought and was granted asylum because he was trying to escape anti-LGBTQ+ violence and political persecution in Venezuela

He should have been starting a new life in the US. Enjoying the “freedom” to be who he is and love who he wants.

Instead he’s been locked in a prison in a foreign country because of an ICE mistake.

It’s the definition of cruel and unusual punishment

Today The Hill announced a prisoner exchange. The US has secured the release of 10 US citizens held in Venezuela in exchange for returning more than 250 Venezuelan men being held in the El Salvador prison

Hernandez Romero is one of them.

This young man who fled Venezuela because it wasn’t safe for him, has now spent months trying to survive a foreign supermax prison only to be swapped like a chess piece and sent back to the country he fled in the first place.

Keep saying his name. Speak out. He needs and deserves protection.

Abolish ICE.

https://www.advocate.com/news/andry-hernandez-romero-released-venezuela

#abolishice #ice #immigration #fascism #lgbtq #uspol

@PhilSalkie "So be it. You had your chance."

If you need some joy in your day, this is my gift to you. Jon Batiste is a gem of a human being. He is also massively talented.

In this interview from 2023 with Chris Wallace, Jon talks about the limitations genres put on music. And THEN he genre hops through part of a Beethoven piece on the fly.

It’s so good. And Chris’ face is priceless. He’s almost giddy.

#JonBatiste #Music #Genres #Piano #Genius #ChrisWallace #Joy #GoodNews

Some days, casually playing the #mandolin makes for an excellent anti-depressant.

@Badscrew Pretty!

What's the sound like?

Trump tried to fire the Inspectors General who keep government accountable.

Trump successfully fired the FBI agents who prosecuted Jan 6 Nazis (then pardoned the Nazis).

And now, Trump has fired Maurene Comey, who prosecuted Sean Combs, Ghislaine Maxwell, and one Jeffery Epstein.

A man who fires Inspector Generals, pardons Nazis, and fires the people prosecuting sex criminals is a man who is telling you clearly that he is a Nazi and sex abuser who wants to avoid accountability. BELIEVE HIM.

#3GoodThings #ThreeGoodThings

The homegrown tomato harvest continues. Tonight: caprese sandwiches with tomatoes and basil from my deck, plus very good fresh mozzarella.

The discovery that small inexpensive hygrometers work for 3d printing filament AND mandolin storage.

Dinner al fresco with my sweetie.

#3GoodThings #ThreeGoodThings

The first tomato harvested from the plants on my deck!

Combined with crispy, smoky flavored seitan strips

(Along with vegan mayo and special ingredient chaat masala, among other things) to make the FIRST FACON LETTUCE & TOMATO SANDWICH OF THE SEASON!

Well my employer has decided to partner with Palantir, which means it's time for me to find a new job. I was a lot more willing to make 40% less than market rate when I knew my employer wasn't funding concentration camps because they want AI coding tools.

Anyway if you need a UX designer/researcher located around the Minneapolis-St. Paul region of Minnesota, USA who knows his way around US government regulations for CMS quality reporting, healthcare, enterprise software I'm looking!

For all of you who have been so incredibly helpful, I cannot thank you enough!

#FediHire #FediHired #GetFediHired

WeTransfer just changed their ToS to allow them to train AI on any files you transfer through them.

Don't use there service, especially for work that you don't have the right to relicense to them (e.g., commercial work that's exactly the most likely to create the huge files WeTransfer specializes in).

(ETA: this is already going boom so I'm muting it.)

https://wetransfer.com/explore/legal/terms

@deliaturner Thanks for boosting a reference to the article (was it https://www.glp1digest.com/p/how-glp-1s-are-breaking-life-insurance )! Now it makes sense: What's breaking the insurance models is direct-to-consumer prescribing. (Someone gets their weight loss medication thru a website or an app that connects them with a prescriber for this one thing; the GLP-1 therefore doesn't show up on records from the insured person's PCP or pharmacy. )

Expect that insurance companies will demand better system interoperability, aka less medical privacy; also expect a few show trials for insurance fraud.

@deliaturner In other contexts, insurance companies are used to the idea of "the benefits go away when you stop taking the medication." High blood pressure medications, statins for cholesterol, insulin for diabetes, etc. I wonder why they're stymied with this class of medications.

I wrote this thread, explicating Sotomayor’s excellent dissent in McMahon v. NY. The larger context is critical: the Trump regime’s effort to abolish the Department of Education is a direct continuation of the patriarchal white supremacism that surged throughout the U.S. in response to Brown v. Board of Education. 1/
https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/114853320878018877

We should stop calling them “ad blockers”. If a site serves up a few banner ads as images like the old days, that’s fine. I don’t object to a site paying the bills, or seeing a banner ad.

They’re malware blockers and privacy protections. I don’t want a site popping up bullshit and trying to track me across the net. If that’s what a site is serving, it’s more than an ad, and I absolutely want to block it.

Superbe vue sur le Crater Lake en #Oregon aux #USA

#Paysage #Planète #Photo #Photography

I've been trying to stay away from screens for a few days, so here are a few days' worth -- more than #3GoodThings #ThreeGoodThings

Met someone from my own city at a #mandolin camp 600 miles away;

Figuring out some things, and finding so many new things to learn;

Spending time with friends and family on the road-trip days before camp;

Good meals and better ice cream;

Waking up at my own time, then hearing soft music from the common rooms start before I'm up and moving;

Good weather on a long trip.

When your local water provider says you’re not allowed to keep your pretty garden flowers alive but billionaire companies can continue consuming whole reservoirs to cool their fucking AI habit, there’s something up with that…