I was coerced into it because someone thought they were my illegitimate half-sibling. I was extremely hesitant due to privacy concerns but I succumbed to family pressure. Through the test, we discovered she’s more likely to be my cousin. Immediately after, I “deleted” all my info. I guess you can only take their word for it.

While this certainly doesn’t help our already failing primary education system, the department of education mostly works with grants and loans and continued education (GED), ensuring a safe learning environment, aiding those with disabilities, etc. You know, the bare minimum governments should be doing.

I feel like “another” is not doing enough work here.

the country continues to grapple with AN ADDITIONAL bird flu strain ON TOP OF THE ONE WE’VE ALREDY GOT that has infected humans…

Try reading again. The amendment was removed from the bill and it was specifically clarified that it is illegal to examine someone after birth to determine their sex. If a court case comes up where a doctor is being sued for examining someone after their birth to determine their sex, they would point to this law that says it is clearly forbidden.

CORRECTION: Bill passed by WV lawmakers will not allow doctors to inspect child’s genitals to confirm gender

An amendment introduced by House Judiciary Chair J.B. Akers on March 6 would have allowed medical professionals to “to visually or physically examine a minor child for purposes of verifying the biological sex of the child without the consent of the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian.”

That amendment was adopted into the bill.

Before officially passing the Senate, Senator Patrick Martin (R - Lewis, 12) proposed two further amendments, one of which clarifies “that the article does not authorize certain examinations of minor children.”

Senator Martin’s amendment nullified Delegate Akers’ amendment, thereby excluding it from the final bill.

SB 456 was passed by the Senate Tuesday 32-1 with one Senator absent for the vote. In the House, 90 delegates voted in favor, eight opposed, and two were absent.

Right. I had to edit my initial comment to replace ‘profit’ with ‘revenue’. Profit is down for the year (increased losses) but revenue is up. It seems to me (not an expert) that they’re investing more in their platform while it becomes even more popular. Their stock may very well skyrocket in the near future.

From the article:

Last year, Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) saw net losses expand by 433 percent to $484.27 million from the $90.82 million registered in 2023, despite revenues growing by 62 percent to $1.3 billion from $804 million.

However, it recorded a 283.7-percent jump in its net income for the fourth quarter last year at $71 million versus $18.5 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenues for the quarter also surged by 71 percent to $427.7 million versus $249.8 million.

And a quick search shows “Reddit’s daily active user count has grown by 47.27% since Q3 2023.” And they’ve doubled their daily users in four years.
https://backlinko.com/reddit-users

And this should say a lot about a lot of thing today…

When it comes to daily Reddit app usage, only 7% of Reddit users opened the app every day in Q4 2023. To put in perspective, other social media platforms have a higher share of engaged users who open the app every day, specifically “X/Twitter (18%), Snapchat (25%), Facebook, TikTok (32%), and Instagram (43%)”.

Only 7% of users opened the app every day. That’s a huge opportunity for growth. And how do they drive growth? Presumably the same way other social platforms have - quicker content consumption that increases emotional engagement.

I’m a bit surprised it’s not higher.

Everything they’ve done is to increase their profits revenue. While some people may have left as a protest, the vast majority of people don’t really care - see: twitter, facebook, instagram, tiktok. If anything, the “bad news” about people leaving was great advertising for them.

What I’ve observed over the past ten+ years, and still don’t understand, is how anyone enjoys the platform at all. At one level, I get that it’s just another social media platform that promotes headlines and memes. But the voting system and the engagement is revolting. I’m not going to say it’s 80% bots but I will say that 80% of people using social media might be dumber than the bots.

I deleted my account in 2023. I have to admit that there are few if any reasonable alternatives for some of the subs existing there. The Fediverse really doesn’t satisfy the need for people to get semi-expert opinions on things, for example.

It makes me sick thinking of all the people who believe and support the lies coming out of this administration. We democratically voted in favor of fascism because we’re a nation of entitled lazy-ass mouth breathers.

I still genuinely believe that the vast majority of Americans want the same things to a large degree. But it’s not possible to observe or negotiate this because we keep electing people and supporting media organizations that are intent on dividing us for their own profit and power.

Respectfully, we made the choice ourselves.

Because, contrary to what you may think you’ve observed over the past ten+ years, copying and republishing anyone’s content without their permission is a US copyright infringement.

So yeah; if you want to get their permission, ensure all their links and such are migrated over, and do all the work for them to mirror content they’ve created without the benefit of making any money on it, have at it.

I laughed at this very loudly.

This is peak r/NotTheOnion.

Here’s the bill from Georgia rep Buddy Carter: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1161

A lot of people do not share the same opinions or views or reality that I do. I try to put myself in their position, I try to not allow click bait and misinformation to cloud my efforts. I mean, a lot of the “news” in the past two weeks has been a bit exaggerated to spark fear and engagement. I can not overstate how massive the issue is around the media manipulation and the public’s lack of intelligence.

But holy fucking shit:

In addition to Black History Month, the agency also ordered the suspension of events marking Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, National American Indian Heritage Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, Women’s History Month, Juneteenth, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Look, if you want to remove DEI policies and hire and promote staff based solely on their merits, at its face, that’s not terribly difficult to agree with. The issue is that you continue to exert your racism over and over and enforce our belief that your belief that caucasians are superior to all other races and you just want to wipe out all other races that this nation was literally built on the backs of.

These people see diversity as a threat to their livelihoods. This country has given white people an inherited advantage since before its inception. “DEI” means they might have to work harder to prove their merit. Their advantages are being stripped away and their exceptionalism culture is being diluted.

For the life of me, I - a straight white American male - can not understand the desire to preserve your “whiteness”. That’s just me though. There are plenty of people in the US with lineage in Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria, China, etc who embrace their country of origin and family history. My favorite thing about this country is its diversity. We should be more inclusive of it all while not living in fear that someone’s going to take our job based on the color of their skin. The racism in this country goes so deep and we’re missing out on learning from each other.

These national holidays are supposed to promote the entire fucking point of this country - inclusion and diversity.

I was going to ask, teaspoon or tablespoon. No, it’s the whole spoon. LOL

That’s the equivalent of an entire standard plastic spoon, Campen said.

“Compared to autopsy brain samples from 2016, that’s about 50% higher,” he said. “That would mean that our brains today are 99.5% brain and the rest is plastic.”

Hold the phone.

Are you saying the same people that let the dogs out are the one’s responsible for this mess??

It all makes sense now!!

First - Theoretically, his larger actions with tariffs could lead to lower federal taxes or get rid of them entirely. This essentially becomes a tax for being poor.

Second - Tariffs, when implemented properly, are supposed to strengthen American businesses. The problem is the US doesn’t really have the ability to compete with foreign manufacturing - especially now that we’re deporting our near-slave labor.

What exactly is the problem that applying tariffs to Canadian goods will solve?

“illegal immigration and drugs” (I don’t get it either) https://www.forbes.com/sites/andyjsemotiuk/2025/01/31/tariff-on-canada-not-justified-by-us-immigration-and-drug-claims/ EDIT: Ah, of course. Because it was never about tariffs. It was Trump being a dick to get what he wants.

This freaking tariff thing is ridiculous. The President of the United States doesn’t know how to implement them and the general public doesn’t know why they’re used (both believe they do).

This entire country is full of morons because we value political identity and virtue signaling over knowledge and rational thought. The way we get information now is largely engineered by algorithms so you only know what already aligns with your existing ideologies. Everyone has a strong opinion about something they know very little about. This strengthens the walls that divide us because we’re arguing for “our side” rather than based on the vast complex realities of a subject. Most people should not be engaging in a conversation, let alone a political stance, about tariffs.

I’m certainly not an economist or trade expert so I won’t bother adding to the misinformation. However, this particular president seems to know far less about the economy and American history than do I. Moreover, the fact that he has point towards the import of illegal drugs as the reason for the tariffs is just bonkers.

Edit: Since I posted this, I’ve been more mindful of the tone and rhetoric with what I’m reading online. It’s apparent the left are being taken advantage of just as much as the right was years ago. While it seems there’s more responsible reporting from what is now, I guess, regarded as “the left” (apparently neutral reporting is left-leaning), everything else is misinformation and propaganda. And a lot of blatant lies. Engagement is all that matters, despite the truth. I can not say both sides are ‘the same’ but they are both living in misinformation bubbles and that’s not good.

I live about ten miles from here, closer to center city Philly. So, a few of my relatives who evidently lack any ability to look at a map were asking if I was okay and sending me info before I heard about it.

What’s so nuts about this is the missile-like trajectory of this aircraft. Even more than 9/11, this relatively tiny incident feels more like what so many other countries experience so frequently.

I don’t know about $TRUMP but this administration is absolutely attempting to tank the dollar in favor of crypto.

Every action taken by the GOP (since Reagan) is to deplete the federal government. They want everything not explicitly in the constitution (basically everything but the DOD) to go to the states or to a corporation.

In this case, pushing commerce towards crypto means investors can make money from betting on money. Same reason why they’re supporting charter schools, wanting to privatize social security, etc.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, given the rumors that Barron is pushing his dad towards Crypto, tanking the dollar and replacing it with $TRUMP would mean, one day, Barron could be in charge of the world’s currency.

“The Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities, not just the legacy media that are seated in this room,” Leavitt said. She cited a Gallup poll showing low trust in media in the United States, particularly among younger people.

I’m not a younger person but my diminished trust in legacy media is largely due to it being influenced by social media and influencers and not holding up to the standards or responsibilities they’re trusted with.

Do people, younger people, have a higher trust among podcasters than ABC, CBS, PBS, Reuters?

It’s clear now why the metric system hasn’t caught on even after the US officially adopted it. This country I live in is full of pathetic fragile losers who have to demand everything is America first.