omfg this explains my feelings so much
FUCKING THIS
Tag: we deserve better
Advocacy group for disabled loses provincial funding (Manitoba)
The Manitoba League for Persons with Disabilities, which was founded in 1974, says it may have to call it quits after the province denied its core funding for the year.
It’s a “devastating blow,” the league that advocates for Manitobans with disabilities said Thursday in an open letter to its members. The provincial non-profit organization promotes accessibility and inclusion for people of all abilities. Its executive council said it recently learned that the provincial government will not be providing core funding of $50,000 for the 2018-19 fiscal year.
“It’s extremely difficult for organizations to operate where there is a lack of core funding,” said disabilities advocate Carlos Sosa.
The league has been the voice of Manitobans with disabilities for more than 40 years, pushing for changes in attitudes toward people with disabilities, Sosa said. One of its biggest accomplishments is the creation of HandiTransit in Winnipeg, which has opened doors for thousands of people, he said.
Your friendly reminder that Conservatives HATE disabled people.
Friendly reminder that Conservatives would rather disabled folks die and decrease the surplus population than be allowed to live with dignity.
If anyone believes the Scrooge line is an exaggeration, it is not.
$50,000 is nothing to a provincial budget but it is a fatal blow to the organization. They want us gone, make no mistake.
Advocacy group for disabled loses provincial funding (Manitoba)
Within the past two days, both the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Independent Police Review Director published reports containing evidence of systemic racism in policing in Toronto and Thunder Bay, and it’s already clear that neither the TPS, TBPS, or their municipal governments have any sense of accountability or desire to create change.
The TPS made a statement dismissing the issue, refusing to admit that their officers assault, shoot, and kill black people at disproportionate rates and instead saying that maybe some black people “feel” that this happens. The TBPS referred to evidence of their racism and callous disregard for Indigenous lives as a “barrier in policing.”
TPS Chief Mark Saunders told the CBC that “when it comes to racism as a whole, it exists everywhere.” Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro said that “it’s true we have our issues but it’s true that all communities have similar issues.” Mike McCormack, the president of the Toronto Police Association, said that we shouldn’t call out the TPS based on “sensationalized” data because every institution is biased and “we deal with it.” These aren’t acknowledgements of the problem, they’re attempts to deflect valid criticism.
None of these people are going to take responsiblity and actually do something unless we force them to. This means calling our city councillors, demanding that the recommendations from the OHRC and OIPRD are accepted, supporting political candidates who aren’t going to sit on their hands, and showing up at police board meetings – the next Toronto Police Services Board meeting is January 18.
Now this is interesting
Article: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a3mjxg/apple-tumblr-porn-nsfw-adult-content-banned
YES!! I LIKE THIS TAKE!!
Basically, because I know Mobile is bad with links, the article points out hat the broad, “sfw only, no titties allowed” wave on the internet in recent years is largely due to Apple’s absolute stranglehold on the App Store. Apple has strict guidelines about NSFW content that choke creators right out of mainstream social media, even on sites like Reddit, for users of their products:
But there are fewer and fewer mainstream sites and services that support porn and adult content, and much of that attitude has grown out of Apple’s strict controls over the App Store and the iOS ecosystem. Steve Jobs famously suggested that “folks who want porn can buy an Android phone,” and Apple has repeatedly leveraged its unprecedented power over millions of smartphones to sanitize the apps that are available on iPhones. Apple does not allow apps “that contain user generated content that is frequently pornographic.” In 2016, Apple famously deleted all third-party Reddit apps that allowed users to toggle NSFW posts on and off; even now, it is impossible to access porn on an iOS Reddit app unless you jump through various hoops.
remember though that this anger isn’t about Being Horny On Main, it’s about sex workers, their platforms and followers, NSFW creators and their art, and adult content communities that are continually being shoved out of spaces they created in recent years:
Tumblr’s leadership seems to believe that the community using Tumblr for adult content is the same as any other porn site—showing a serious disconnect with how its users actually interact and connect on its own platform. “We will leave it to them and focus our efforts on creating the most welcoming environment possible for our community,” he wrote.
The value of Tumblr for NSFW creators and fans was in the autonomy to curate something original, and the freedom to express and share what they’re into—something that can’t be replaced by algorithmically-suggested porn on the rest of the internet.
it was mentioned before somewhere else, but 20% of Tumblr’s traffic is brought in by content they’re now flagging as “adult”
This is yet another example of a platform ignoring adult content when it helps the platform flourish, and then leaving those users out to dry when it’s time to crack down for some monetary gain or face-saving. In addition to being a terrible way to treat your user base, banning adult content on Tumblr will stifle a lot of creativity.
and of course, Apple is also one of the companies that has repeatedly come under fire for censoring lgbtq/queer identities on their sites, the app store, and also caved to russia’s anti-lgbtq policies like a stick of rotten bamboo
The communities that will feel this change the most will be the already-marginalized. “Tumblr banning adult content is a huge loss for the LGBTQ community, especially those with overlapping marginalized identities,” Kitty Stryker, a queer porn performer and consent activist, told Motherboard in an email. “For many, that’s the one place we could find porn that represents us, made by indie performers who created their own content outside of an often racist, transmisogynist, fatphobic industry. Tumblr was where our content could exist without pushing us into the restrictions of a misogynist, male dominated workplace.”
‘Trans bodies are safe here’: Students drown out small anti-transgender demonstration (at the University of British Columbia)
Today, students drowned out a small anti-transgender demonstration that took place mere steps from UBC’s Pride installation outside the Nest.
Two individuals not affiliated with UBC came to campus this afternoon with materials denying the existence of transgender people, while stressing conservative Christian values.
“I’m protesting censorship on university campuses and human rights commissions, and the imposition of transgender ideology and the inability to be able to freely speak out on this topic, as evidenced by some of the responses,” said Bill Whatcott, a demonstrator and well-known anti-LGBT activist.
This is not the first time Whatcott has hosted an anti-LGBT demonstration on university campuses, having appeared at the University of Calgary and theUniversity of Regina in 2016.
Around a dozen UBC students responded by chanting “trans rights are human rights” and “trans bodies are safe here.” Some carried large Pride flags to block the demonstration from view.
It’s that time of year to say no to the Salvation Army.
Never forget they let a Trans woman die instead of helping her.
Never forget they have tossed entire families on the street for having an LGBT child.
Never forget they tell non Christian families that unless they convert they will not help them.
Never forget that the Salvation Army is bigoted and hateful, many of the bell ringers routinely heckle and harass LGBT couples.
Annual reblog.
Lack of progress on climate change is putting Canadians’ health at risk, doctors say
A new report from one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals says Canada’s failure to cut greenhouse-gas emissions isn’t just killing the planet; it’s killing Canadians.
The report on the health impacts of climate change, published Wednesday in The Lancet, concludes that successfully tackling climate change would be the single biggest thing governments can do to improve human health this century.
Chronic exposure to air pollution from greenhouse-gas-emitting activities is contributing to the deaths of an estimated 7,142 Canadians a year, and 2.1 million people worldwide, the report said.
Lack of progress on climate change is putting Canadians’ health at risk, doctors say
Hate crimes in Canada jump 47 percent in 2017
Hate crimes in Canada increased 47 percent in 2017, primarily targeting Muslims, Jews and black people, according to figures released by the country’s statistical agency on Thursday.
The biggest increase was in crimes targeting Muslims, Statistics Canada reported, in a year that saw a deadly mass shooting in a Quebec mosque, followed by a government motion to study Islamophobia that itself sparked anti-Muslim sentiment.
Postal Workers to Trudeau: We Will Remember
For Immediate Release
OTTAWA – The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is exploring all options to fight the back-to-work legislation passed in the Senate this evening, which will send our members back to the same old unresolved problems in the workplace at the busiest time of the year.
“Postal workers are rightly dismayed and outraged,” says Mike Palecek, CUPW National President. “This law violates of our right to free collective bargaining under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
Going back to work under the old collective agreements means that between now and the holidays:
- At least 315 disabling injuries will happen to postal workers;
- Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers (RSMC) will work roughly 250,000 hours without pay;
- Urban postal workers will work thousands of hours of forced overtime;
- RSMCs will continue to be treated, as Canada Post calls it, with “equity but not equality”.
Prior to this round of collective bargaining, the Trudeau Liberal government had claimed to be a champion for the labour movement, but through this legislation, it is clear that it has turned its back on postal workers.
“Postal workers will continue to defend our right to negotiate a settlement,” adds Palecek. “We know that an arbitrated contract will only prolong our problems with injuries, inequality, and overwork. If the Trudeau government thought that passing this legislation would end the dispute, they’ve made a mistake.”
The Ontario Child Advocate Was The One Safe Space For Vulnerable Kids. Then Doug Ford Cut The Office
As Ontario’s Child Advocate Irwin Elman tucked his pink slip into his pocket, and his office staff dumped desk drawers into boxes, I wonder if Doug Ford and his PC party patted themselves on the back for money saved. It appears Ontarians will be drinking their cheap beer at the expense of vulnerable children and youth.
Foster children, Indigenous children, disabled children, abused children — collectively a group most Canadians would wish to protect and champion — have been thrown under the bus in a reprehensible wielding of political power. Last Friday, the Conservatives repealed the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Act, 2007 as part of their fall economic statement, stripping these children of the one person guaranteed to be in their corner: The Ontario Child Advocate.
Not beholden to any agency or government, the child advocate (a position held by Irwin Elman since 2008) educates youth on their rights and pushes for action on their behalf. Because the office reports to the legislature, it remains independent. Most provinces have one, but now Canada’s most populated province has lost theirs. Although some people may not be familiar with the role of the child advocate, even those who have never had personal contact with the children who might need it would be left scratching their heads as to why kids in jeopardy have been targeted by the PC government.
With Children’s Aid Societies having limited oversight, the Advocate’s office was the one safe place where foster children could turn to report abuse within the system. For youth with mental health issues who have found themselves in the criminal justice system, the child advocate could push for a plan of care so they didn’t end up spiralling in the system. For blindsided parents who’d adopted children with severe special needs, the advocate helped their children receive critical services. The office called for mandatory inquests into the deaths of children in foster care and demanded rights for Indigenous youth. The advocate was the voice for the voiceless. Why did Doug Ford want that silenced?
The Ontario Child Advocate Was The One Safe Space For Vulnerable Kids. Then Doug Ford Cut The Office
Queer Fiction Writer 