Stranded Stories Sunday 5/26/24
These stories never found a home on my TikTok throughout the week, but they have here. Could be here cause of TikTok censorship or it just didn't make the cut for a full video. Enjoy!
Strengthening our approach to countering influence attempts - May 23, 2024 (TikTok Press Release)
What does TikTok consider state-affiliated media? This is a question I’m asking today as I read this press release that informs us:Now, we're expanding our state-affiliated media policies to further address state-affiliated media accounts that attempt to reach communities outside their home country on current global events and affairs. When we identify these accounts, they will become ineligible for recommendation, which means their content won't appear in the For You feed. In addition, over the coming weeks, if these accounts advertise on our platform, they will not be allowed to advertise outside of the country with which they are primarily affiliated.
Okay, cool. So does this mean media subsidized by a foreign government or run by a foreign government? Will we no longer get BBC and CBC on our For You Feed? Will Canada no longer be able to see NPR’s pages?
I get the point, I know the reason, but this seems like it’s going to do more harm than good. Unless they clarify that it’s not state-funded, but rather state-controlled. BBC, for instance, is state-owned, but it is independent from the government. Clarification is a must, and hopefully, we get some.
Bob Iger: Hollywood Storytellers Need to ‘Embrace the Change’ Driven by Tech Innovation - May 23, 2024 (Variety)
Iger spoke at a Canva event in LA sayingWalt Disney himself was a big believer in using technology in the early days to tell better stories. And he thought that technology in the hands of a great storyteller was unbelievably powerful.
With the conversations around AI all around us, but also present in this article, it sounds like that’s the main thing he’s referring to. Quite an interesting choice considering all the strikes last year to prevent AI from being involved on a creative level. Maybe he means on a different level, but he is talking about “Hollywood Storytellers” which sounds like we’re talking about creatives. I’ve seen some really positive uses for AI, but not a single one of them has been involving the creative arts. Maybe he’ll clarify what he means at a later date.
A year without Sofía Fernández: the family of the trans woman asks for justice for her death in a police station - April 11, 2024 (Agencia Presentes)
This is a story I would post on my TikTok, except for the fact that I’d have to censor so many words that I fear the meaning would be lost. This article is from April 11, but I only found it because The Advocate posted about it on May 23, 2024.
Let’s start with the victim. Sofia Fernández was a 39-year-old former linguistics professor studying to be a nurse in Buenos Aires Argentina. She was also trans. She was so excited to become a nurse.Her sister and her niece remember that they saw her very excited. She had “everything bought” to start the course. She was also initiating the procedures for the registry change of her gender identity.
She was arrested last year in early April for robbery and assaulting a neighbor. Jury is still out and will probably always be out on if she actually did these things.
She was taken into police custody and murdered soon after. At the time, the police insisted she committed suicide, but six months after she was murdered, the prosecutor’s assessment was challenged. And that only happened because her family fought for it. After an actual investigation took place, 10 police officers were arrested for murder. This JUST happened, which is when the Advocate got ahold of the story. Five were arrested for actually committing the murder, while the other five were arrested for covering it up.
To me, this story is just as heartening as it is heartbreaking. It’s heartening because we don’t expect anyone to be arrested for murdering a trans woman. It’s rare. And how much of a rarity it is is despicable, but seeing it happen, and seeing it happen because of how hard the family fought, that brings me hope. Of course, everything else about this situation is heartbreaking. I hope that more families can get this kind of closure.Biltmore Hotel Workers honored at Giants of Justice Awards at the Biltmore - May 23, 2024 (CLUE’s Twitter)
The hotel workers at the Biltmore were striking for a better contract along with many other hotel workers in the UNITE HERE Local 11 chapter. And in September they got one. They were the first honorees at the Giants for Justice Awards, which took place at the Biltmore Hotel. To clarify, they were honored for striking for a better contract at the very hotel they had been striking against.
This is a very powerful moment. It shows the power of unions, and the power of everyday people just wanting to do their jobs. There are still some hotels that haven’t signed new contracts with their workers, though less and less every month. I hope they can make deals soon and return to work.
CLUE and UNITE HERE Local 11 are well worth following on all platforms, whether you live in the Los Angeles area or not.Singapore Air flight hit turbulence and dropped 6,000 feet in an instant - May 21, 2024 (Singapore Air’s Facebook)
I used to see a location in Twitter trends and assume it was a school or mall shooting, but now, I find myself assuming something happened to a Boeing plane headed for or leaving that destination first.
However, this story, while both sad and preventable, does seem to be as a result of really bad turbulence and not a mechanical error caused by Boeing’s lack of regulations.
A Singapore Air flight headed to Heathrow dropped 6,000 feet instantly from 37,000 feet in the air. One person is dead and 30 people were injured. While this is an awful situation, it is a reminder why they tell us to keep our seatbelts on unless we are up and moving about the cabin. It doesn’t matter how steady the air seems, turbulence can come out of nowhere and send you flying. I know, after hearing this story, I will be keeping my seatbelt fastened even if I am still seated on a plane that seems to be flying in perfectly calm air, cause you never know what may come next.
Singapore Air was immediately on top of this and handled it expertly, in my opinion, and the opinion of many people in the comments on the Facebook post. Sadly, things like this do happen, but it’s important that when they do the airline handles it immediately, and in this case they did. Refua shlema, a complete healing, to those who were injured, and may the memory of the person who died be a blessing.Boy, 13, Arrested For Gender-Based Hate Crime In Brooklyn: NYPD - May 23, 2024 (Patch)
I don’t want to go into details, you can read the article for that, and the title of the article gives you enough of a summary.
My big reason for including this is because this is yet another reminder of why queer representation is so important. I don’t know why a 13-year-old feels the need to hate a queer person publicly and in such a violent way. I don’t know if they were raised by people who had those views and they internalized them, or maybe they go to school with people who have those views, I just don’t know. But I do know this is why we need queer representation, because hate comes from ignorance, and the less queer representation there is, the more people can continue to be ignorant about it.
Whatever information this child has been getting has taught them to hate, and that can only be mitigated by awareness and compassion and empathy.
Two people were involved in this attack, and as of right now, we don’t know who the second person is. Hopefully, they will be found soon and apprehended. We don’t know anything about the second person, they could be an adult or a second child.
I hope both these people learn to have compassion and empathy for those they might not understand and pass that knowledge onto others. And refua shlema to the person who they attacked. I can’t imagine the mental, let alone physical trauma of this situation.Governor Newsom signs bill to protect abortion care for Arizona patients in California - May 23, 2024 (Governor’s website)
When Arizona Republicans tried to reinstate the 1864 abortion ban (which was from before Arizona was even a state, by the way), Governor Newsom, and the rest of the California legislature immediately started figuring out a way to help the neighboring state.
Even though thanks to the incredible Democrats in the Arizona legislature, the 1864 abortion ban shouldn’t be in effect at all, it is still on track to temporarily be Arizona law starting on June 27. For the short amount of time the law is in effect, SB 233 will protect abortion care for Arizona patients, and their doctors.
Governor Gavin Newsom today signed SB 233 by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland) and Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) to allow Arizona abortion providers to temporarily provide abortion care to patients from Arizona who travel to California for that care.
This bill will allow Arizona doctors in good standing to perform abortions for their Arizona patients in California for a limited time.
If California can do this, I wonder why we haven’t heard about other blue states doing the same thing.
I always imagine a competition between Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota’s Tim Walz, Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker and Governor Newsom for the best bills signed into law. And while Tim Walz is usually winning in my imaginary competition, this puts Newsom in great standing.Sharon Stone and Liam Neeson demand Kevin Spacey be allowed to resume Hollywood career - May 15, 2024 (Telegraph UK)
Big sigh. The names in the title aren’t the only names either. Others demanding he be allowed to return include: Stephen Fry and F Murray Abraham.
The article included this nauseating paragraph:F Murray Abraham, the Oscar-winning actor, said he “vouched for” Spacey “unequivocally” and accused his detractors of being “vultures” for attacking “a man who has publicly accepted his responsibility for certain behaviour, unlike so many others”.
So, to be clear, all someone has to do is take responsibility for past sexual assault and then they should be allowed to return to work…
What happens if they do it again? What has happened to suggest that any young man will be safe on a set with Spacey? Didn’t he blame it on a sex addiction?
I also notice that all these people vouching for him are older. There was never a time when he would have targeted them, so it’s safe for them to be on set with him. What I don’t understand is why they don’t seem to have any empathy for those who don’t have that same experience.
I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed.Socialist Stunner: Sanchez Ousts Anulewicz in State House Primary - May 24, 2024 (Marietta Daily Journal)
This is what I mean when I say “start at the local level.” In Georgia State House District 42, 26-year-old Gabriel Sanchez won the Democratic primary. He won the primary with the support of the Democratic Socialists. He beat incumbent State Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna. Incumbent. He beat the Democrat who already holds the seat.
It is very rare in every elected office that an incumbent is pushed out in the primary. This shows the power of voting. This shows the power of political action. I always say “Your vote is your voice and that voice is your superpower.” This is the proof of that.
For the first time since the late 1960s, a candidate endorsed by the Democratic Socialists will be on the ballot in the general election for a seat on the Georgia State Legislature.
Imagine how different the makeup of the government both state and federal would be if more people realized the power of voting.
Bonus stories that didn’t quite make it:
Tom Cotton intentionally flying a flag outside his office that was flown during the insurrection and outside one of Alito’s houses - May 23, 2024 (Tom Cotton’s Twitter)
Molly Cook is the first LGBTQ+ Texas State Senator - May 7, 2024 (Advocate)
Stories I covered on TikTok this week:
Republicans block cap on banking late fees
US judge halts rule capping credit card late fees at $8 (quoted this article)
Frank LaRose is trying to keep Biden off the November ballot in Ohio
Includes video from Nicole Wallace’s interview with Mark Alias on Deadline White House on MSNBC
Smart and Final’s illegal union busting
Teamsters Local 630 Instagram posts mentioned
I hope you enjoyed the first installment of Stranded Stories Sunday!
Sponsorships (please keep reading! 🥰)
To continue with this series and all my videos on TikTok, I have to do sponsorships. It’s just a fact of life as an influencer.
This week, I am partnered with Environmental Defense Fund - Action to get people to pledge to be climate voters (but I get paid each time you click the link, you don’t actually have to sign the pledge)
If you could click on the button below one or more times, it would help me a lot. Here is the first video I made about it, and here is the second. In that second video, I connected it to Magic School Bus if that’s of interest to you at all!
Well done! I hadn't heard about all of these stories. Thanks!