The Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. typically marks the start of summer there, so here’s a collection of light and frothy… just kidding! We’ve got stagflation! We’ve got a barnstormer from @Daojoan about the global loss of virtue and morality! We’ve got Dr. Phil’s son and his payday loans! In and amongst the hard news, find a little optimism with not one, but two stories on helping birds, a piece from @TexasObserver on how Jess Rizo, whose niece died in the Uvalde shooting, turned pain into a run for public office, and some inspiring stories on activism from @Joysauce. Don’t forget to follow independent publishers on the open social web, engage with their stories, and donate money if you can. ️

#Media #Journalism #News #Newstodon #MastodonMigration #FollowFriday

We were hoping for the summer of love, or at the very least, the summer of ice cream and going to the beach, but alas, @damemagazine tells us, it’s the summer of stagflation. Kaz Weida explains the difference between this and a common-or-garden recession, the signs that indicate the U.S. is going in that direction, and lessons from the past about how to survive the squeeze.

The Summer of Stagflation Is Here - Dame Magazine

The Trump regime is making everything old new again—and not in a good way. And it’s not just that Americans are being threatened with the return of segregation, police raids on gay clubs, and women dying from illegal abortions. Trump’s economically regressive policies are poised to bring back a dreaded era of deep recession known

Dame Magazine - (www.damemagazine.com)

#Stagflation #Inflation #Economics #Tariffs #USPolitics #USEconomy #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Nine-year-old Jackie Cazare was one of the victims in the horrific Uvalde, Texas, shooting. In total, 19 children and two teachers were murdered. In the aftermath, Jackie’s uncle, Jess Rizo, became a regular at local government meetings. A year ago, he was elected to the Uvalde CISD school board. He spoke to @TexasObserver’s Gus Bova about turning anger to activism, what he’s learned, and how the community is coming back together. “Everybody, when you go to these meetings, you hear the word transparency, you hear the word accountability, and so everybody’s practicing what they’re preaching, and so we hold each other to that,” he says.

Three Years Later, an Uncle in Uvalde Searches for Solutions on School Board

Jesse Rizo, who lost a niece in Texas' deadliest school shooting, turned pain into a run for public office. He thinks his town is beginning to “come back together.”

The Texas Observer (www.texasobserver.org)

#Texas #TexasPolitics #Uvalde #SchoolShootings #Safety #School #Education #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

John J. Lennon lives at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where he is serving his 24th year of a 28-years-to-life sentence. He’s also a journalist whose work has appeared in Esquire, the New York Times, the Atlantic, and more. Until last year, he was at Sullivan Correctional Facility, where he mentored emerging writers, both informally and most recently, through the Sullivan Nonfiction Writing Workshop. He writes for @nybooks about setting that up, and what happened when it came to an end with the prison’s closure. “I often think about the time before I came to prison, when I had no promising future. I’ve come to realize that two opposing realities can be true at once: prison probably saved my life and it’s where I learned to write; and prison is a disgusting place that’s hurting me more now than ever,” he writes. “I’m both ashamed and proud of my path. But it wouldn’t have been possible if prison officials hadn’t given writing programs a chance.” [Story may be paywalled]

Finding the Story | John J. Lennon

Running a nonfiction workshop in prison for three months, I saw how writing could let my peers forge a new identity. Then it came to an end. 

The New York Review of Books (www.nybooks.com)

#Writing #Journalism #AmWriting #Prison #Incarceration #JusticeSystem #Crime #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Graphic novel legends Art Spiegelman and Joe Sacco collaborated on a three-page “comic” about Gaza earlier this year. @thetyee’s Tom Sandborn thought that might lead to controversy, but it didn’t. He looks at the art of the comic form — how it can provoke, satirize, and challenge moral complacency, and whether it’s journalism.

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

(thetyee.ca)

#Culture #Art #Comics #Journalism #Media #GraphicNovels #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

On Tuesday, Larry Krasner easily won the Democratic primary ahead of a November election that could see him win a third term as district attorney of Philadelphia. @bolts’s @taniel writes about Krasner’s role as one of a number of progressive prosecutors across the United States, the opposition he faced from everyone from Elon Musk to the city’s Democratic Party, and why he continues to be supported across Philadelphia.

Larry Krasner Easily Wins in Philadelphia, Reinforcing Network of Reform DAs - Bolts

Local advocates cheered Krasner’s primary victory on Tuesday, which all but assures him a third term, as an affirmation of criminal justice reform by Philly voters.

Bolts (boltsmag.org)

#Pennsylvania #Philadelphia #LarryKrasner #ProgressivePolitics #Law #Elections #LocalElections #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

A pattern of practices, both deliberate and unintentional, has concealed the history of Massachusetts’ state institutions from the public, including institutional survivors and their family members. This is the finding of a newly released report from the Massachusetts Special Commission on State Institutions — a commission that was made up of majority disabled people, many with personal experience of having been institutionalized. Here’s @gbhnews’s story about the report, which could have national ramifications, since Massachusetts was the home of the U.S.'s first institution for disabled people, creating a blueprint for the nation.

‘Shocking’ report spotlights Mass. history of mistreating disabled people

Thousands of disabled people are buried in unmarked graves across Massachusetts, according to a legislative commission.

GBH (www.wgbh.org)

#Disability #DisabilityRights #Massachusetts #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Not every farmer is happy to see birds on their land, but their cooperation with conservation programs can be key to the survival of wetland-dependent waterbird species. @KnowableMag reports on projects that are helping safeguard breeding grounds, molting spots and migration stopover sites for our feathered friends.

How farmers can help rescue water-loving birds

Cranes, sandpipers, ducks, geese and many other waterbirds have lost essential rest stops along their seasonal migration routes. Bird-friendly agriculture can assist in filling the gaps.

Knowable Magazine | Annual Reviews (knowablemagazine.org)

#Birds #Conservation #Farming #Agriculture #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Environment #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

One of TV personality Dr. Phil’s maxims is that you should avoid debt at all costs. At the same time, his son Jay McGraw has been involved in the payday lending industry. @ProPublica collaborated with Anchorage Daily News on a story about his role in CreditServe Inc., a consulting firm that worked with a company owned by a Native American tribe in Alaska that offered small dollar loans, with interest rates as high as 700%. CreditServe provides the infrastructure to market, underwrite and collect on loans while “the Tribe is merely a front” and shares in only a small percentage of the revenue, according to a suit filed by five borrowers. They claim that McGraw has collected hundreds of millions of dollars of consumer payments.

A 700% APR Lending Business Tied to Dr. Phil’s Son Is Dividing an Alaska Tribe

Tribal lender Minto Money has boosted the economy of its Alaska town. But some tribal members are appalled by the millions it’s made off desperate borrowers — much of which, lawsuits allege, has gone to outsider Jay McGraw, son of Dr. Phil.

ProPublica (www.propublica.org)

#Money #Finance #Alaska #Anchorage #DrPhil #FinancialCrimes #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Have you heard the one about the small dog in the terrible zoo? We first heard it back in the 1990s, when Dad told it and “ruined Christmas dinner,” according to Granny. It’s also a favorite of Google’s Veo 3 AI video generator. But why? Emanuel Maiberg from @404mediaco tries to figure things out.

Why Does Google’s New Veo 3 AI Video Generator Love This Dad Joke?

“I went to the zoo the other day, there was only one dog in it…”

404 Media (www.404media.co)

#Tech #Technology #AI #Comedy #Humor #Jokes #DadJokes #ArtificialIntelligence #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday