Trump says his attacks on trans people and "gender ideology" are to protect women (by which he means cis women). Yet he also mandates that government agencies, like NASA, remove all words that reference diversity, including "women in leadership." And, of course, women's health and bodily autonomy, are targeted, too. Trump doesn't care about women. He's attacking all women and all bodily autonomy. #trump #feminism #TransRightsAreHumanRights #lgbtq #transphobia #choice #censorship #dei #healthcare #sexism #gender

2nd clade of H5N1 has spilled over into dairy cattle in the U.S. This is the far deadlier strain that has been decimating wild birds. In humans, the mortality rate may be as high as 50%. Meanwhile, now Argentina is also withdrawing from the WHO. Will other far right regimes also follow Trump's lead in this?

CIDRAP

USDA confirms spillover of 2nd H5N1 avian flu genotype into dairy cattle

#pandemic #birdflu #H5N1 #influenza #publichealth #trump #who

Today in Labor History February 6, 1919: The Seattle General Strike began. 65,000 workers participated. Longshoremen, trolley operators and bartenders also participated. The strike began in response to government sanctioned wage cuts. Both the AF of L and the IWW participated. During the strike, the workers formed councils, which took over virtually all major city services, including food distribution and security. They also continued garbage collection. Laundry workers continued to handle hospital laundry. And firefighters remained on duty. They established a system of food distribution, which provided 30,000 meals each day. Any exemption to the work stoppage had to be ok’d by the General Strike Committee. Army veterans created an independent police force to maintain order. The Labor War Veteran's Guard prohibited the use of force and didn’t carry weapons. The regular police made no arrests in any actions related to the strike. Overall, arrests dropped to less than half their normal number. A pamphlet that was distributed during the strike said, “You are doomed to wage slavery till you die unless you wake up, realize that you and the boss have nothing in common, that the employing class must be overthrown, and that you, the workers, must take over the control of your jobs, and through them, the control over your lives instead of offering yourself up to the masters as a sacrifice six days a week, so that they may coin profits out of your sweat and toil." The strike ended when they brought in federal troops and the workers were pressured to quit by bureaucrats from the national unions, particularly the AFL. #workingclass #LaborHistory #generalstrike #seattle #police #union #afl #IWW #wageslavery

Today in Labor History February 5, 1994: A jury convicted Byron De La Beckwork of murdering civil rights leader Medgar Evers, only 31 years after the fact. Edgars fought to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi, end segregation of public facilities, and expand voting rights for African Americans He was the first NAACP field secretary in Mississippi. He was also a decorated US Army veteran who served in World War II. #workingclass #LaborHistory #medgarevers #civilrights #assassination #racism #mississippi #naacp #segregation #BlackMastadon #blackhistorymonth

Today, in honor of Black History Month, we celebrate the life of Hubert Henry Harrison (April 27, 1883 – December 17, 1927), a West Indian-American writer, speaker, educator, political activist based in Harlem, New York. He was described by union leader A. Philip Randolph as the father of Harlem radicalism and by John G. Jackson as "The Black Socrates." Harrison’s activism encouraged the development of class consciousness among workers, black pride, secular humanism, social progressivism, and free thought. He denounced the Bible as a slave master's book, and said that black Christians needed their heads examined. He refused to exalt a "lily white God " and "Jim Crow Jesus," and criticized Churches for pushing racism, superstition, ignorance and poverty. Religious extremists were known to riot at his lectures. At one of his events, he attacked and chased off an extremist who had attacked him with a crowbar. In the early 1910s, Harrison became a full-time organizer with the Socialist Party of America. He lectured widely against capitalism, founded the Colored Socialist Club, and campaigned for Eugene V. Debs’s 1912 bid for president of the U.S. However, his politics moved further to the left than the mainstream of the Socialist Party, and he withdrew in 1914. He was also a big supporter of the IWW, speaking at the 1913 Paterson Silk Strike, and supporting the IWW’s advocacy of direct action and sabotage. In 1914, he began working with the anarchist-influenced Modern School movement (started by the martyred educator Francisco Ferrer). During World War I, he founded the Liberty League and the “Voice: A Newspaper for the New Negro,” as radical alternatives to the NAACP. The Liberty League advocated internationalism, class and race consciousness, full racial equality, federal anti-lynching legislation, enforcement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, labor organizing, support for socialist and anti-imperialist causes, and armed self-defense. You can learn more about the Modern School Movement here:

The Modern School Movement - Issue 411, Spring, 2022 - Fifth Estate Magazine

Fifth Estate Magazine, radical publishing since 1965

#workingclass #LaborHistory #HubertHenryHarrison #blackhistorymonth #Revolution #communism #socialism #anarchism #IWW #union #strike #racism #lynching #birthcontrol #harlem #slavery #jimcrow #author #writer #nonfiction #books #BlackMastadon @npub1wceq...lzu8

A student asked me if Trump is a dictator? Is it possible for a dictator to be elected? Well, seems pretty clear that the answer to both is yes. Hitler was elected. So were many dictators. And what defines a dictator? A tyrant. A despot. One who rules with absolute power. Isn't that what Trump is? Shutting down USAID and CFPB illegally (something only Congress can do). Breaking the law whenever he feels like it because he can. Because he trusts that the Democrats are too enfeebled to do anything about it, and the Supreme Court is in his pocket. And the financial oligarchy loves it. It's more money in their pockets. But what about the unions? What about the millions of federal workers being threatened with layoffs? And all the nonfederal workers threatened by the schemes written into Project 2025? We need a General Strike and we need one soon! #trump #musk #generalstrike #workers #workingclass #usaid #oligarchy #classwar #solidarity #SCOTUS