The federal government of the US is defunding select US States from State level down to county & city level. Choking places that it deems oppositional in some way to right wing authoritarianism. The feds aren't doing many favors to "red" states, either.
taylr@taylordahlin.com · 17h agomarion greene says the county is in a tight pinch for their budget too. cuts from the feds are so extreme that even though their levy is less for 2027 than 2026 they still need to lower it
This sucks donkey balls. A proper public-health-oriented HHS would've made sure Metrix tests are kept in stock and offered at a discount through the govt. A proper public-health-oriented HHS would also make PlusLife readers and tests available to everyone in the U.S. but that's a whole other story.
For those impacted by @hourcar.bsky.social 's closure... Here's the input form for my @streets.mn Voices of HOURCAR/EVIE piece I'm convening: forms.gle/RgsAHVxDXd8W... Much more detail in there and a brief form to fill out if you want to contribute!
forms.gle
NEWS: the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders have unionized and the Cowboys have agreed to recognize the union
Speaking as a Minneapolitan: The goal is always friction - make it impossible for them to do their jobs. Frustrate them. If each attempted abduction takes a couple dozen agents, they logistically cannot do as many. They depend on your silence.
David Dayen@ddayen.bsky.social · 2d agoSome cities it's just not worth fucking with
St Paul, like most of it's residents, don't know what straight is.
Bill Lindeke@blindeke.bsky.social · 2d agoThis is what counts as a straight line in St Paul
I'm gathering community perspectives for an @streets.mn "Voices of HOURCAR/EVIE" piece. Relied on HOURCAR/EVIE? Impacted by its closing down operations? Interested in sharing your story? DM me!
Trump’s goal is to intimidate me and get me to back down. That’s not going to happen. I will not be silenced, and I will not stop fighting for my constituents.
Holy shit, hadn't seen this over here (makes sense cause the ad didn't run here, but wish @bookshop.org would post more here, the place where people love books!). Great, firm response. So dumb and insidious of Meta.
For #ThingThursday, here is a Great Lakes railroad marble. These were used to line the floors of railcars and ships around the Midwest. They acted as ball bearings to slide cargo. This one washed up from a shipwreck on the shore of Lake Michigan in Racine, WI.
I feel obliged to once again reiterate that lay offs and closures are not a reaction to the economy, but a failure of leadership. Each wave of closures and layoffs should be looked upon as a consequence of greed and incompetence. If you can't keep your people employed, you are bad at your job.
It is important to understand that capitulating, that being the quiet girl, the agreeable girl, the one who always apologizes, the one who is always sweet - also will not save you from a mob that wants you dead for being a woman.
We had pop-ups happen in STP a week or so ago. They were technically not early voting because it was absentee ballots; with the double sealed envelopes- but one of the workers told me it was a new (state?) law, and they were ironing out the kinks. I’m excited to see more in the future!
Eric Moran@deveric.net · 4d agoThat Ward 4 pop-up helped a ton. Would love to see more of this in W4/W5 (yes I know UROC/Urban League but it's not the same). The Webber Park popup was a happening spot on Monday early evening, and multiple neighbors missed the notices, the city/county need to do this in more spaces going forward.
Every time someone catches COVID they run the very real risk of developing a life altering disability. Mask up. Get vaccinated. Advocate for air filtration and other risk mitigation. And advocate for disability rights.
VirusSucks.com@virussucks.com · 6d agoWe're definitely going to need smarter doctors with funding to prevent the impending Apocalypse of life changing diseases that result from COVID infections. There are no risk free infections. In the meantime, I need a kitchen robot to prepare my meals.
Waymo is cops. It's a remote control car data scraper and surveillance system pretending to be a cab. The secondary revenue stream is you paying for a ride. The main source is selling data. And they're dangerous as hell. I'm always amazed how many people are unwilling to see that shit.
jentrification ♎@jentrification.com · 6d agoso banks are using waymo footage to repossess vehicles?
my neighborhood doesn’t even have street lights, so I think it’s good that the city has to be paying for all of this nonsense. Her should resign this week
Frederick Melo, Reporter (TwinCities.com, Pioneer Press)@frederickmelo.bsky.social · 6d agoPolice Chief Henry expands lawsuit against Mayor Her to include a seventh claim, and reference to an hour-long Hmong-language podcast she appeared on after his lawsuit was filed. And he says the Axon contract was already in play under the Carter administration. www.twincities.com/2026/10/18/s...
libraries truly are one of our greatest institutions and if i were ever to run for mayor one of my policy positions would be increase the base pay for librarians by 10% and overall budget by 20%. take it from police overtime.
I got the impression HOURCAR leaders misunderstood many of their users. We're not just customers out here buying a service; we rely on their existence and have no alternative to turn to. We could have been great partners in their search to fill the gap if they'd let us in earlier.
Grants for artists and creatives. So they can write/make art without worrying about keeping the lights on, the health insurance current, and a roof over their heads
Peter@notalawyer.bsky.social · last wk.question for the audience: if you were ultra rich (let’s say $25M), what completely frivolous thing are you buying?
All you Libby users borrowing digital books and audiobooks through your library cards, you can set your preferences to human authors and artists ONLY. Click the middle button at the bottom, then "Content Controls" under Settings. You'll find "AI Contributions" there. Click in to it to make changes.
I’d set up a foundation that granted small dollar asks.
Peter@notalawyer.bsky.social · last wk.question for the audience: if you were ultra rich (let’s say $25M), what completely frivolous thing are you buying?
Alt text included. My apologies for missing it on the original post but I was a mess reading it.
Very much wishing this transparency was there earlier so we could have known to raise the necessary funds instead of just trying to figure out what's going on based on rumors before oops shutting down in under a week notice.
inspired: bluesky becomes the platform of choice for progressive reform based on Minnesotan community norms
Jackson O'Lantern-Brien@sprobeforebros.bsky.social · last wk.tired: bluesky is dying wired: bluesky is slowly turning into a minnesota-only social media network. Soon it will become another local curiosity like saying "parking ramp" instead of "parking garage" and playing duck duck gray duck
This is a post that actually discusses what I thought the true value of HOURCAR - a dream/focus on Equity in transportation. They certainly had a long way to go as a PWI, but in my three years; many staff were fighting ferociously for it internally. That is the biggest loss, to me.
Isak Kvam@isakkvam.bsky.social · last wk.Owning a car is expensive. Today, it's very expensive. I'm sad that HOURCAR, MN's local (and very electric) carshare service is closing today after 20+ years. Nearly half their users identified as low-income or in the BIPOC community. They still need transpo. fresh-energy.org/fresh-energy...
Yes, and again I don't want to demonize them in the least. But there are a lot of HOURCAR/Evie staff losing their good jobs, too. Lacking a union, we should have been given the opportunity to fight for them.
St. Paul Corner Drug has this year's Novavax COVID vaccine available (along with Pfizer & Moderna ones as well) in case you're someone waiting on or looking for Novavax. They'll also vaccinate you in their parking lot if you prefer & can do home vaccination. www.stpaulcornerdrug.com/vaccination
