Francis 🇾🇪 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ @francis@greenplenty.social

Because age verification is really just there to:

- suppress queer information
- restrict abortion access
- gatekeep sexual education
- slurp up more personal data for marketing

"But think of the children!"

Maybe we should think about the corporations that prey on their attention-spans and self-esteem instead.

Sign stuff here:
https://www.stoponlineidchecks.org

Info on how to help here:
https://docs.fightforthefuture.org/s/637497e2-8a61-42aa-82fe-1b847e113ebb#h-what-are-online-id-checks-and-why-are-they-a-threat

#CallToAction #Activism #InternetSafety

I agree with Kevin Gopal; the real test of the focus & seriousness of the Govt.'s Child Poverty Strategy will be how it impacts the North of England, andWales where child poverty is notable more widespread than in the SE.

While there are pockets of good news (see the Gopal's short account of Preston Council's local strategy's impact), this strategy can only be said to be a success if the regionally skewed experience of poverty is reduced.

#ChildPoverty #politics

https://national.thelead.uk/p/the-north-of-england-is-watching-child-poverty-strategy-rachel-reeves

still baffled at people who have pin sharp and detailed cynicism about cryptocurrency but have fallen hard for chatbot AI

IT'S THE SAME FUCKING PERPETRATORS

In a world full of people who no longer trust each other, sometimes a small thing happens that just makes everything better.

A week or so ago I asked for German sci-fi books for my middle kid, who is struggling with his German grammar.

He's dyslexic and loves reading *my scifi books* in English, to the detriment of his German.

I asked on the internet, and I got a lot of fantastic advice, including from @lk108 who replied and said he had a whole series, and offered to send them.

So he did, and I happily paid for the postage as soon as he said he'd sent them.

The box arrived today! I had no doubt that they would, a random person who I did not know at all, said they would do something really nice, and I was sure it would be so.

Anyway thanks @lk108 for the lovely offer, and I'm sure Theo will be delighted.

Please give this post a round of boosts because a nice thing happened and we don't hear enough about that.

#GoodThings #SmallPackages

Britain’s biggest hunger strike in decades – and the media won’t touch it https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/britains-biggest-hunger-strike-decades-and-media-wont-touch-it #1u #Israel #Palestine #Gaza

with #santaclaus coming up soon just wanted to clear this up #hohoho #yo #arrr #nikolaus

I was being "funny". Someone made it funnier. Well played. 👏🏼

@ravensrod

A lot of Germans are posting in German about #Giessen today, and since many of our friends overseas may be confused, here's a summary:

The current iteration of the Nazi-Party, the AfD, is holding a summit in the town of Giessen today. They announced the formation of a youth org (Hitler-Jugend?). A ton of people came to protest. The police are busy protecting the Nazis, and politicians in the current government see fit to attack the protesters.

This needs international attention.

#depol

OwnCast is a Fediverse alternative to Amazon's Twitch. It's a livestreaming platform with built-in chat. You can chat without an account, or use your Mastodon etc account to verify your chat identity. Lots more info here:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/owncast-live-streaming-and-chat-on-the-fediverse

If you'd like to try it out, you can follow this OwnCast account that holds regular music streams and it will post in your Mastodon etc feed when it next goes live:

➡️ @video

#FediTips

David Hinchliffe offers an uncomfortable truth in a letter to the Guardian:

'In what is now very much a our “me first” society, it is swimming against the tide to refer to the common good. But accessing private healthcare is anything but a neutral act. It significantly worsens the prospects of those who are unable, or unwilling, to take this step, whose health problems are often considerably worse than those of the queue-jumpers'.

#SaveOurNHS #heath #NHS #politics