Dr. Flowers @AlliFlowers@talkedabout.social

Penguin Random House and others today sued school leaders in #Florida's Escambia County claiming that they have been too harsh in removing and restricting books from public school libraries.

The legal challenge is the latest attempt to undermine policies enacted by the state's #GOP leaders restricting how students can be taught about race and gender issues.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/17/penguin-random-house-others-sues-florida-school-district-over-book-bans-00097501?cid=mas

Also thinking today, as new anti-trans laws go into effect in FL or get signed to go into effect July 1st, of all the queer and trans people here in FL who can't leave. We've been fighting so long on so many fronts to protect our rights here in the state, and there are some big players helping (hello, Disney??? ACLU?) but it's not enough. And we're tired. We're trapped, and we're tired, and we need the rest of the country to rise up and say "Enough. No more."

"I have seen how the Palestinian people are at best second class citizens on their own ever-shrinking lands. Clearly, this is apartheid. We have denounced and defeated it before and we must again. Do not be brow-beaten into silent complicity by claims that supporting the near-defenseless Palestinian people is anti-semitic. The far-right government of Israel is doing this, not the Jewish people. Stand with the​​​​​​​ defenselessness, not the powerful." Mike said regarding this action. [2/n]

-DeSantis signed three new anti-trans bills into law.
-The laws limit LGBTQ+ schools' curriculum and transgender care for minors.
-They also criminalize "opposite sex" restroom access in public buildings, schools, and parks.

This is NOT about 'protecting children' it is about inciting hate against a vulnerable & marginalized community to gain political power. We have seen this before and it does not end well. #Fascism101

https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-authorizes-slew-of-anti-trans-laws-in-florida-2023-5?_gl=1*eli0xx*_ga*MTUwMzI3NDEyMi4xNjg0MzU3NDU2*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTY4NDM1NzQ1Ni4xLjEuMTY4NDM1NzU4OS4xOC4wLjA.&r=US&IR=T

Today I learned that Church Molestation Liability Insurance is a thing that exists.

Ministry Insured: Abuse and Molestation Liability Insurance: No one likes to think about the possibility of a situation involving improper behavior or sexual...
https://jwz.org/b/yj_4

The special counsel investigating #Trump is set to receive 16 records that show Trump knew the correct process for declassifying documents, sources say https://cnn.it/434y41N #news #worldnews

3/ “The records may also provide insight into Trump’s intent & whether he willfully disregarded what he knew to be clearly established protocols…

“…in letter, Wall rejects Trump’s claim, stating special counsel’s office has rep’d that it “is prepared to demonstrate w specificity to court, why it is likely that 16 records contain evidence that would be imp to #GrandJury’s investig”

The special Ccunsel also told the Archives that the evidence is “not practically available from another source.”

CNN: “National Archives has informed #Trump that it is set to hand over to special counsel #JackSmith 16 records which show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president…” #Documents #MarALago https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/17/politics/trump-letter-archives-special-counsel-declassification/index.html

There is another #PhD position on the @CMSexperiment available in my #team at @DESYnews Fancy doing innovative direct searches at the LHC that are not just re-running someone else's code, and with the amazing Andreas Hinzmann and me (and loads of others, we're good and fun!)

Then have a look: https://v22.desy.de/e67416/records202532/index_eng.html

#Academicjobs #physics #jobs #hamburg sharing is a caring of course 😇

Measles-Rubella Patch Vaccine Shown Effective as Injection

A clinical trial shows a peel-and-stick #patch device is as effective as a standard syringe injection in delivering a #vaccine that protects against #measles and #rubella.

https://sciencebusiness.technewslit.com/?p=44798

#News #Science #Business #ClinicalTrial #MedicalDevice #Microneedles #Africa #ImmuneResponse #Antibodies #Engineering #CDC #University

Nation's largest publisher files lawsuit challenging Florida county's book bans - UPI.com https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/05/17/penguin-random-house-pen-america-florida-book-bans/8841684348620/

Free-speech group PEN America and publisher Penguin Random House filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in federal court, challenging book bans...

...lawsuit alleges that...Florida's Escambia County School District have violated the First and 14th amendments...say the books that are being banned are "disproportionately books by non-white and/or LGBTQ+ authors."

"Publishing giant Penguin Random House joined five authors, two parents and free expression organization PEN America in filing a lawsuit Wednesday against a school district in Florida for its removal and restrictions of books by or about people of color and LGBTQ people"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/05/17/publishing-giant-penguin-random-house-joins-suit-against-florida-school-districts-book-bans/?sh=42a4b8f4482e

You know, I bet a whole bunch of "onboarding people to Mastodon is hard because of the choosing an instance thing" could be mitigated by letting instance users generate and share invite codes to the instance they're using, *which are effectively just links to that instance's signup page*, but see how they'd already feel different?

This is exhausting. How many more extreme acts of #GunViolence does the #TxLege need to see… does the US Congress need to see before it will finally enact legislation that will effectively stop the epidemic that is ravaging families’ lives?

And despite #guns being the number one killer of children in this country, the #Texas legislature is doing nothing about it. Screw you #GregAbbott

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1176371460/sonic-employee-shooting-texas