gotta admit going from “super easy to solve bot problems because I am very smart" to "please give me your credit card number, that's the only way I can tell who’s real” took less time than expected
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Josh Berthume
@jberthume
Writer. Founder / CEO | National Security Fellow | Former Texan | he/him | Advertising can be good, actually
Josh Berthume’s Tweets
Our system of corporate policing is awesome because in the rare cases corporate lawbreaking is caught their punishment is simply “paying back what they stole”. This standard, as you may know, is not common for non corporations. Poor people don’t just get to do an oopsie do-over
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SCOOP: The NLRB has ruled that Starbucks illegally withheld a major benefit to unionized workers.
In September, the company rolled out credit card tipping to all stores—except the union ones.
Now the company must give backpay to nearly 7000 workers.
perfectunion.us/starbucks-nlrb
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Support our GoFundMe and other efforts to save our magazine that may come together in the near future: gofundme.com/f/laid-off-tex
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As the news of the Texas Observer shutting down sinks in 
, here is a quick 
from my perspective of just how critical the @TexasObserver was in recognizing, and even more importantly, calling out the rising cloud of Christian nationalism in Texas.
bit.ly/42INJVd
, here is a quick from my perspective of just how critical the @TexasObserver was in recognizing, and even more importantly, calling out the rising cloud of Christian nationalism in Texas.
bit.ly/42INJVdShow this thread
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Nearly 70 years of fearless progressive reporting had and continues to have immense value to the people of Texas, to the journalists we've incubated and the whole country who warily watch our state knowing what happens here will reach them too.
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Some folks have wondered why the board didn't put TO up for sale. He said because another board member had convinced the others that TO wasn't worth anything on the market, that it had "no intrinsic value."
7/x
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ANYWAY there is a not-entirely-dotted line between the "gosh didn't Austin used to be weird" mindset and the kinds of Texas liberals who will just shut down a 70-year-old magazine overnight
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In response to the potential closure of the Texas Observer, the recently resigned business manager has released a GoFundMe. Funds raised here go toward keeping staff on payroll should the board revisit their decision. If not, it goes directly to staff.
gofundme.com/f/laid-off-tex
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Real problem with a mass Twitter exodus always was “How am I going to find my two favorite Twitter follows, Hamburger Dipshit and The LeBron James of Wikifeet, on whatever secondary platform?” There is still no current answer to this question.
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I am at a loss for words here. I'll try... This is a tragedy—for the staff, for readers, for anyone who cares about independent journalism, for everyone at TO who put blood, sweet, and tears into the place.
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The @TexasObserver, a storied liberal magazine, is shutting down and laying off its 17-person staff after a 68-year run marked by feisty, combative and often humorous investigative work from a stable of renowned journalists. bit.ly/42INJVd
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He’s on to something
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Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president? (Bad Dudes, Data East, NES, 1989) #retrogaming #gaming
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i say this every time i walk into a room of my friends
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This is awful.
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EXCLUSIVE: The Texas Observer, the crusading liberal magazine founded in 1954, which Molly Ivins edited in the ’70s, is closing down and laying off its staff. The board voted on Wednesday, and again today, to proceed with the shutdown.
texastribune.org/2023/03/26/tex
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4 of 5 stars to Dead Lions by Mick Herron
You are surrounded by a vast expanse of stars, all alike. You are missing someone in deep space.
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4 of 5 stars to Trust by Hernan Diaz
Scrunt!!
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This nearly made me fucking cry
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This review process put a loved one’s health in danger unnecessarily—cancer caught early became cancer care that was neglected and tumors that regrew as we waited for approvals.
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3/ Nick's unease was justified. His claim was just one of ~60,000 rejected in just a month by Dr. Cheryl Dopke, a Cigna-employed medical director responsible for deciding whether patient claims will be paid or rejected.
propublica.org/article/cigna-
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Maybe one of the most important lessons, there’s no way to get back time.
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I gave up vacations for years because work had projects that needed doing. Audiences needed to be served. My newsroom projects were understaffed so I put in extra effort.
In a couple of months I'll be 69 and what I learned in those years: Do NOT Fucking do that.
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I love this. What a fun memory and a cool moment for this lad
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Absolutely nobody asked for this, but this is a fun little breakdown of what went through my head as I faced Shohei Ohtani in the WBC
My main thought was “If he hits a home run, he’s supposed to. He’s the best… but if you get him out, that’s a fun memory to have forever” 
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Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to hide their blue checkmarks to avoid the shame boingboing.net/2023/03/23/twi
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L - and I cannot stress this enough - MAO
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"You really don't get that the session is over."
Senator Megan Hunt says they will filibuster everything, even progressive bills put forward, if Nebraska moves forward with its attempt to ban gender affirming care for trans youth.
This is fight.
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Proud to testify against the attacks on drag performers happening in Texas.
Lawmakers love to talk about protecting kids, but I’m somebody’s kid too. I’ve got parents who love me and fear that I might get shot at a drag show by someone radicalized by the hate in these bills.
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Us watching you attempt to outrun something you tried to pspspspspspsps after we specifically said not to
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A thread of Black folk enjoying spring, flowers, and outside in celebration of springtime:
Hazel Scott, Josephine Baker, Nina Simone, Lena Horne
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This is fkn fire: Questlove’s new book imprint Auwa Books (as in Prince screaming “auwa”)—dropping Sly Stone’s memoir (with Ben Greenman) first, followed by Hip-Hop Is History (by Quest and Ben Greenman, about hip-hop’s first 50 years) and more. 👏🏽
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After the White Stripes thing they sent this National Review guy in to show conservatives occasionally have good music takes. Psy-op but he happens to be right.
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Madness
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I’m listening to the bill layout for the Texas House’s priority book banning bill, and the author just claimed most YA novels don’t have educational value…
Turning kids & teens into lifelong readers IS an educational value. We give them books enjoy reading OR THEY DON’T READ.
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IL Dem Gov Pritzker just signed into law guaranteed paid leave to all IL workers.😄
MN Dem Gov Walz just signed into law free universal school breakfast & lunch for all children.😄
AR GOP Gov Huckabee just signed into law making child labor easier for corporations to exploit.😳
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