The single greatest and most fascinating “futurist” architecture movement in the world right now is happening in Bolivia, where national prosperity and a dedication to works for the poor and public housing led to an explosion of colorful styles inspired by Aymara Indian art. There should be more articles about this, the interiors are just as amazing. Incidentally, most of these buildings are not for the rich or in trendy neighborhoods, but are public housing. I’ve heard this style referred to as “Neo-Andean” but like most currently thriving styles it doesn’t have a universally agreed on name yet.
A proposed new rule (pdf) filed to the Federal Register on Friday would enable the department—which, along with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has been responsible for pushing through President Donald Trump’s widely condemned regulatory rollbacks—to ignore public records requests that officials deem too “unreasonably burdensome.”
The rule would loosen timelines for the agency to fulfill Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests—which journalists, advocacy groups, and others use to attain government records in the name of accountability—and increase requirements for how specific requests must be. Critics of the proposal warn it could jeopardize efforts to keep the public informed about the actions of the administration.
“This is a war on transparency,” declared Jeremy Nichols of the environmental group WildEarth Guardians. “This is a calculated attempt to shield the Interior Department from scrutiny, to shield it from watchdogs, and to shield it from accountability.”
“They are depriving the American people of their right to know what the government is doing—they are only going to cause themselves more fights and more litigation,” Nada Culver, senior counsel at The Wilderness Society, told The Hill.
The rule was filed without an agency press release—and spokespeople declined multiple media outlets’ requests for comment, citing the government shutdown—but the Federal Register filing claimed the department has seen a 30 percent jump in requests over the past two years and such “changes are necessary to best serve our customers and comply with the FOIA as efficiently, equitably, and completely as possible.”
Outgoing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke—who announced his resignation earlier this month while facing multiple ethics investigations—and other officials have complained about, as the filing put it, “the unprecedented surge in FOIA requests and litigation” that the agency has been fielding. Critics, meanwhile, charge that the influx is the result of the department’s operations in the Trump era.
“I think this is a problem that they have created for themselves, by failing to be transparent, by failing to make documents available to the public,” Culver concluded, “and this is going to make it worse.”
listen friends, 2019 could be the year we summon Cthulhu. Maybe cultists are actually just Very Tired millennials and gen Zers who figure an eldritch horror can’t be any worse than what’s already going on, so why not???
General strikes are a big deal. They need organization, mass support, an agreed-upon list of demands, related demonstrations, etc. It’s not as easy as 10k people across the country at multiple different jobs not showing up - despite what you think, that will be seen as 10k independent occurrences and will result in several thousand firings for no call/no shows with no other notice paid. Even if this wildcat general strike gets enough traction to be seen as an actual threat (which is unlikely as just a viral tumblr post), the government will simply respond with arrests and brutality as they have in the past, and no part of this post prepares people for that
And don’t just decide to do it on your own - talk to your coworkers, get in touch with local unions and your IWW branch, talk to local chapters of climate activism groups like Rising Tide, 350.org, and Transition Towns to organize concurrent demonstrations and actions, and spread the word as much as you can so we can get some steam behind this in the 2 months we have to prepare
“Fuck Work Day” would probably just make things worse while scaring people off from participating in the real coordinated action less than a month later
Article 13 is going into it’s final stages of voting.
If this gets through, it will allow many, many companies to abuse and misuse this article to take down as many memes, fan works, and even other independent creators on sites like YouTube, Facebook, and other websites INCLUDING Tumblr.
THE FAIR USE LAW AND SAFEHARBOR LAW WILL NO LONGER APPLY IN THE U.S OR IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
IT HAS ALREADY PASSED IN SEVERAL OTHER COUNTRIES.
WE CANNOT ALLOW THEM TO TAKE AWAY WHAT WE BUILT FOR THE INTERNET SO FAR.
So here is what you need to do to drag this article down.
1. Spread the word
I can’t stress this enough. The more attention this gets the more people we can get to take this down.
2. Make your own content
Make your own content on the matter and make sure it is clear to others that Article 13 is bad for every internet user involved.
3. If you live anywhere in Europe, contact your MEPs
Ask them if they approve of the article and why. If they do approve of it, try to convince them in a clear, reasonable, and most sensible way possible that this law is BAD.
The article itself is way to vague about what it’s conveying to its people.
Saying that as long as the use of said internet memes or content is good as long as it’s in “good faith.”
We cannot let some shoddy government tell us what we can and cannot post.
FREE SPEECH IS A HUMAN RIGHT. NOT A PRIVILEGE.
Here’s a video on Article 13 that Film Theory made on the matter. It will explain things better than I can.
It’s remarkable to me that he could personally afford to fix Puerto Rico’s critical infrastructure, and still be among the top 10 billionaires in the USA afterwards. He could afford to completely repair Puerto Rico and still have enough money to be in the top 20.
Jeff Bezos could afford to personally end world hunger for a year and still be among the top 10 US billionaires. He could feed the entire planet for 3 years and still be in the top 20.
If you had $133.2 billion in a savings account with an interest rate of 0.06% (the average rate), you would receive $79.9 million in interest every year without having to do anything. All he needs to do is keep breathing, and he will make 57 times more this year than an average US citizen will make in their entire lifetime.
He could spend $80 million this year and would not even notice its absence.
It’s estimated that it would take $55 million and a year of work to fix Flint, MI’s water supply.
I’m just saying.
I can’t imagine having that kind of money and NOT trying to help others with it.
