👏🏻Via Kyle Griffin:

IBM says it has "zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination" and has "immediately suspended" all advertising on #X following a report that the platform ran IBM ads alongside pro-Nazi material. #Twitter

On the new Covid boosters:
Since @CDCgov gave them full approval, by law health insurers have to provide them for free. So don't let your insurer get away with any charge to you!

Solar Eclipse from Western Australia

Image Credit & Copyright: Gwenaël Blanck

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230421.html #APOD

This question from last month still stands, even after a $787.5M settlement: “How many billions in compensatory and punitive damages will it take before Rupert Murdoch decides to stop his propagandists from spreading lies about election fraud and further poisoning American democracy?”
https://open.substack.com/pub/america/p/the-recklessness-of-rupert-murdoch?utm_source=direct&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Hard to imagine this story could get worse but Tennessee Republicans voted to expel the two black men who were involved but not the white woman

RT @JuddLegum@twitter.com

1. Something absolutely outrageous in happening in Tennessee

Republicans are moving to EXPEL three Democratic members of the Tennessee House

What did they do?

The three members expressed solidarity w/peaceful protesters calling for gun safety legislation

🧵

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1643632371369902080

Happy St. Patricks Day ☘️

Sarah Feinberg, who headed the Federal Railroad Administration under President Barack Obama, said the derailment points to a systemic breakdown in the federal safety regulatory process. She said federal safety officials have faced challenges for decades in getting new rules through a vetting process, where critical safety measures can be subject to long delays and are routinely watered down by industry influence or bureaucratic struggles over costs and benefits.

That process is “broken and makes it incredibly challenging for safety regulators to finalize even common-sense safety regulations,” Feinberg said. “No matter which president you’re operating under, it has always been a challenge.”

Railroads spend heavily while lobbying in Washington, according to records analyzed by the transparency organization Open Secrets. Norfolk Southern is among the biggest spenders, paying $1.8 million last year for the services of 36 lobbyists.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/02/18/norfolk-southern-derailment-ohio-train-safety/

https://linksharing.samsungcloud.com/jpdVFNxgdIMX

Vladimir Putin is a murderous thug who launched a war in Ukraine a year ago to steal Ukrainian sovereignty and end their democracy by committing mass murder and terrorizing destruction. But sure, tell me again how Zelensky and the Ukrainians should negotiate for peace with him.

Earth's human population recently reached 8 billion people.

Here's where they live.

Data visualization by Pietro Violo https://pietroviolo.com/

🔎 Regional instrumental seismicity in Romania. The colored dots represent the #earthquakes that have struck the region [using @ISCseism catalog -1960 to 2020- and @emsc data -from 2021 onwards]:

The self-serving Kevin McCarthy is continuing the Trump pattern of promoting incompetent people and giving them greater access to the levers of power. A tragedy for the country.

A school board in Virginia just voted to ban the following 21 books from their Public Libraries!

Welcome to 1930s Germany after the Nazis took power!

So, it’s The Christmas Story…over & over &…it ain’t over, ‘till it’s over 🙀🎄

Beautiful timelapse of Earth setting below the Moon's horizon captured by the Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft Kaguya. ©JAXA/NHK

#moon #earth #japan #timelapse

Zelensky ends speech by presenting Congress with a Ukrainian flag he got from troops in Bakhmut yesterday. Incredibly powerful and historic speech. He walks off with a U.S. flag given by Pelosi to another standing ovation.

If you're wondering what the 10-point peace plan referenced by #Zelensky in his speech was, this is the tl;dr version (from his speech to global leaders in November) #Ukraine

#MastodonNews Dec 20, 2022

CNN: As Twitter backlash grows, rival Mastodon reaches 2.5 million monthly users >>> https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/tech/mastodon-twitter-usage/index.html

Twitter rival Mastodon has grown eight times its size in a matter of weeks, going from approximately 300,000 users in October to 2.5 million in November, according to a blog post by the platform’s founder, Eugen Rochko.

#twittermigration
More News >>> https://medium.com/@mastodonmigration/sharing-advice-and-assisting-with-the-great-mastodon-migration-53c1a286b805#cfd1

"statements by then-President Trump and others at the January 6, 2021 rally at the Ellipse... would not be offered for the truth of the matter asserted..." -- DOJ in filing ahead of trial of Danny Rodriquez, who drove a stun gun into Mike Fanone's neck.

Yet 64% of seniors in the US have not had a recent booster
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-people-additional-dose-totalpop
And seniors account for nearly all of the rise of Covid hospitalizations
https://nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html

Warning signs: GOP support for parent opt-out from the childhood MMR vaccine mandate doubled since 2019 (though most still say the benefits outweigh the risks) https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/poll-finding/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-december-2022/