The only thing is that there's not really a vehicle for the fed to implement those bans. For all the weaknesses in the US constitution, freedom of speech is a historically tough nut for the government to crack. Not that they haven't tried, but they have almost no control over what media is and is not allowed to be published publicly.

What is working is when states get to decide what material to provide in schools. That includes required curriculum and what books they will buy and offer in classrooms and libraries. So the state can teach (or not teach) whatever they want within the confines of their own schools, but there's nothing they could do if, say, someone was to set up shop on the sidewalk across the street and hand out free copies of Gender Queer to any students who walk by. Nor could the fed, as it stands.

So we've led our horses to water, but how do we make them drink? How do you convince the students to want to pick up that book and read it for fun, and how can you help them understand what it all means when the critical reading skills for queer literature are not being taught?

Bear in mind that those countries are demonstrably not forthcoming with their actual incarceration rates. China especially—a lot of people know someone who was carted off for a short stay because they were heard saying the wrong thing or they posted the wrong thing online. They eventually show back up one day and everyone tries to pretend nothing ever happened.

These are "administrative" detentions, usually short and informal, not officially tracked but come with long-term consequences of reduced employment opportunities and restrictions on ability to travel.

And it's a bit crazy because usually no one knows what happened to you during this time. You get arrested, they don't have to tell you what for, but they threaten you with long term actual prison time unless you confess to something. Then there's no trial, no sentencing, just an immediate stay in a detention center for some time until they decide you're allowed to leave.

The other part of it is that China doesn't jump to jail time for a lot of things that the US would lock you up for. Robbery? Pay the victim, no jail. Assault? Pay the victim, no jail. Rape? Pay the victim, no jail. If the crime is "private" or "personal" in nature, they prefer to treat it more as a lawsuit. It's only when you do things that oppose authority or social order that get you "disappeared."

And for some serious crimes like possession of drugs, murder, or counter-revolutionary activities, they'll just sentence you to death, which is also not reported and does not come with any prison stay as it would in the US. The rate at which this occurs is estimated to be incredibly high but is not reported in any fashion.

So one day a family member just disappears, you don't know why, but you hope they just return eventually after a short stay in a detention center. But sometimes they don't.

I'm not expecting much to be banned or censored, per se, but I can see more GOP-controlled states removing a lot of LGBT books and other media from schools.

In general, education in the US is left to the states, which means I'd mainly just expect a continuation of the trend we've been seeing for a few years now in places like Florida and Tennessee of removing queer books from schools.

From the federal perspective, I'd also anticipate the possibility of FAFSA being gutted and making higher ed inaccessible to more students. If this sort of content is not covered in public schools, there will be fewer opportunities to study queer literature later on. And even then, state universities in red states are subject to the same restrictions as their public schools, so those students may be SOL unless they have the means to study out of state.

The main problem is: even if the material remains pretty freely available outside of schools, how do you make the people who would benefit from it the most feel driven to seek it out independently?

Insert "Hey Jarvis" meme here

"Would you like to hear about the Panopticon Effect and its role in maintaining the Ideological State Apparatus?"

I hope so. Less cost to the taxpayer, and the high calorie and sodium count will send Trump to an early grave.

"Would be?"

Will be.

Jerboa does not

California actually has no private prisons, for what that's worth. But that doesn't mean state and federal prisons can't be for-profit.

State and federal prisons contract their inmates out to businesses through "work reform" programs to make things like cheap dorm furniture or food products. The business pays the prison for a contract, and the prisoners work for free or for a small credit they can spend at the prison comissary. Or sometimes it reduces the debt they get stuck with when they leave prison, because the government bills people for the cost of their own incarceration.

There are valid uses for AI. It is much better at pattern recognition than people. Apply that to healthcare and it could be a paradigm shift in early diagnosis of conditions that doctors wouldn't think to look for until more noticeable symptoms occur.

Since the economy/inflation are already on a rebound trajectory after the pandemic, he'll likely have a better economy at the start of his presidency than Biden, which will be credited to Trump's "day 1 dictator" policies.

If the economy declines further in the latter half of his presidency, once all of the tariffs are more widely felt and income inequality continues to worsen, that decline will be attributed to a probable loss of the Republicans' Senate or House majorities (or both) come 2026.

And if you read that and come to the realization "Don't you mean in 2027, when the newly-elected folks actually begin their terms?" Just consider how much of the US' poorly-planned pandemic response in 2020 was attributed to Biden...before he took office in 2021.

Probably everything except the secretly gay one. It turns out discovering close relatives are gay is the easiest way to overcome homophobia.

They want out and proud gays. Who can be recorded on a centralized database. Then maybe made to wear identifying rainbow stars on their sleeves in public to "protect the children." Then used for forced labor until all remaining value has been extracted from them, after which they can find a ditch or an incinerator somewhere to dispose of the bodies.

Implement a keyword filter and I'm in.

That way the state can make money off of them via slave labor.

I was advocating for the $15 minimum wage back in 2010 when I was barely earning $9 in retail, as even then $15/hr was considered the bare minimum needed to avoid poverty.

I'd say we should be pushing for $25 now given how much the value of a dollar has changed between then and today. But then by the time the state finally implements that in 10-20 years, we'll probably need to be at $30 or more to just break even with inflation.

And modern Americans are doing their damnedest to make the polio one true again as well.

Will also add, not sure how big of a difference it makes, but the data in that article also captures the window of time when Mass implemented its millionaire tax. There was a lot of blustering from the 1% about moving out of state and taking the jobs with them; I doubt the last part but wouldn't be surprised if a good chunk ended up leaving for elsewhere to avoid paying.

Also worth looking at how the transition to remote work is a contributing factor. Since the pandemic, it's no longer necessary for a lot of people who used to work in Boston to live around Boston, and so they can keep their high-paying jobs while moving to more affordable surrounding states (or even other parts of the country). That is definitely middle-upper class migration and it affected regions with high percentages of pre-pandemic office jobs the most, which applies significantly to Boston.

That being said, I know anecdotally many members of my generation here in Mass (80's-90's Millennials) still live with their parents well into their 30's, and those who did not have that as an option often resorted to moving out of state. Rent remains high and property is even higher, so it's a waiting game to see if/when this bubble pops. Mass also happens to be close to the bottom in the US in fertility rate (which is not an inherently terrible thing) but speaks to the difficulty of starting a family here.

I guess the medical care is just so good here that the old people aren't dying off fast enough!

Don't forget about the intentional lack of people of color in this image!

I just have to continue reminding myself that people somehow continued to live happy, fulfilling lives during the fall of the Roman Empire.

Trees are the environment, and the environment is woke.

And the left side of the advertiser's lapel.