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Created
Fri, 23/12/2022 - 01:09
Part III Of My Interview: Twitter and Reasons For Hope

Last of three parts.

(I am fundraising to determine how much I’ll write this year. If you value my writing and want more of it, please consider donating.)

Created
Fri, 23/12/2022 - 01:05

We all do it. Make little snap judgments about everyday strangers as we go about our lives. Without giving it a second’s thought, we sketch minibiographies of the people we pass on the sidewalk, the guy seated across from us on the train, or the woman in line in front of us at the grocery store. We wonder: Who are they? Where are they from? How do they make a living? Lately, though, such passing encounters tend to leave me with a sense of suspicion, a wariness tinged with grim curiosity. I think to myself: Is he or she one of them? By them, I mean one of the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of “people” I... Read more

Source: Lessons Learned in the Internet’s Darkest Corners appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

Created
Thu, 22/12/2022 - 23:15

Firefighters and control staff are currently being balloted on strike action. If Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members do go on strike, it would be historic. There have only been three national strikes in the union’s 104-year history, and the last on pay was two decades ago. We do not take this lightly. The FBU moved to a strike ballot […]

Created
Thu, 22/12/2022 - 23:15

On Thursday, the Royal College of Nursing went on strike for the first time in their 106-year history. Understaffed, underpaid, and overworked, tens of thousands of NHS nurses walked out after being denied decent, liveable pay rises. Hailed as heroes one year, forced to use foodbanks the next, nurses’ wages have fallen more than £3,000 […]

Created
Thu, 22/12/2022 - 23:00
“Kitchen table” issues were on the minds of our readers in 2022, though what was labeled as such was perhaps a bit broader than in the past. Supply chains—now firmly placed on the radar of Main Street—were the subject of the year’s top post by number of page views and accounted for three of the top five (we’ll consider them as one for this roundup). Student debt forgiveness and inflation were also in the news, drawing readers to our preview of various possibilities for the (subsequently announced) federal student loan forgiveness program and a quarterly update of a New York Fed economic forecast model. Posts on more technical topics were popular as well, including an update on the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet “runoff” and a discussion of stablecoins. Underscoring their broad appeal, the year’s top two posts rank among the top five in the history of Liberty Street, which dates back to 2011. Read on to see which posts resonated most with readers.