Tag: #digitaldivide

Comcast is killing Net Neutrality

VOTE BLUE #DeleteComcast

PANDEMIC PUT K12 EDUCATION INTO A TAIL SPIN
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE EXISTS AND HAS ALWAYS EXISTED BECAUSE OF COMCAST AND THE REST.

Gigi will close the #digitaldivide

RIP Colonel Dave Hughes (aka The Cursor Cowboy) has passed on

Gigi Sohn @gigibsohn
Fellow @Georgetown Law & @benton_inst
@EFF Board Former @FCC
Host, Tech on the Rocks podcast. Broadband, media, tech law & policy. http://gigisohn.com

The Washington Post is reporting that Comcast has been waging an “absolutely unprecedented” lobbying blitz to stop net neutrality by blocking confirmation of President Biden’s nominee for FCC chair.

Everybody should cut their Comcast Cable and Switch

Comcast bad infrastructure can’t compete with Verizon!

Tim Berners-Lee says internet access should be a basic right

Understand what happened in America

Contracts from Dept. of Education (FY 2012)

The Rigging of the American Market By Robert Reich

The campaign against Gigi Sohn has become viciously personal and has even opened her up to attacks about her sexual orientation and threatening phone calls and emails.

Without net neutrality, the monopolies that control our internet access can throttle data speed, block services they don’t like, and jack up your internet bill with phony fees.

Pressure is rising on the Democratic-led Senate to act on net neutrality before it’s too late.

When President Biden defeated Donald Trump, Trump’s FCC chairman and former Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai resigned. It should have been only a matter of time before Pai was replaced by a Biden nominee and net neutrality was restored.

But then Comcast, Fox News, and an army of lobbyists went to work smearing President Biden’s nominee, Gigi Sohn, using an enormous war chest to lobby against her.

Just since the start of 2022, Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, Charter, and T-Mobile together have spent over $28 million combined lobbying Washington, with Comcast leading the pack at $7.36 million. The major trade groups representing the wireless and cable industries have spent another $13 million.

In the words of one net neutrality advocate, “It’s insane.”

As long as the tie-breaking fifth seat on the FCC remains open, the commission is deadlocked 2-2 and unable to move forward on major policy decisions like net neutrality.

The Washington Post quoted Demand Progress founder David Segal reminding readers that the telecommunications industry “still wields extraordinary political power” in Washington, and that they “stand to benefit from a Sohn-less FCC.” That’s why we’re mobilizing massive grassroots pressure alongside nearly 250 other organizations that have demanded that the Senate vote to confirm Gigi Sohn before the end of this Senate session.

actblue.com/donate/

ESRI Story Map Vulnerable Pennsylvanians in the Context of a Pandemic

Vulnerable Pennsylvanians in the Context of a Pandemic

Certain social and economic factors could make some Pennsylvania residents and households more vulnerable to risk in times of crisis.

Penn State’s Center for Economic and Community Development

May 19, 2020

As we face the COVID-19 pandemic together in Pennsylvania, it is important to consider the conditions that could make some of us more vulnerable to shocks and affect our ability to prepare for and recover from unexpected events.
Penn State’s Center for Economic and Community Development has created this “Story Map” to help Pennsylvanians think about how, why, and where populations could experience challenges due to sudden changes in health and healthcare, job and income security, education continuity, service availability, food access, transportation, and housing.
Each section contains information about a vulnerability risk factor, an interactive map that shows data, and discussion questions. You can zoom in and out on the maps to explore data at the county and neighborhood (census tract) level. Click around to find detailed data pop-ups and hover over charts and symbols to see additional information. Map keys will appear if you hover on the notebook symbol in the lower left-hand corner of each map. Consider the discussion questions as you think about what the information could mean for people and communities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This Story Map includes 12 vulnerability risk factors to look at: Poverty, Housing Cost Burden, Broadband and Internet Access, Race and Ethnicity, School Enrollment, Healthcare Coverage, Language Barriers, Disability Status, Food Insecurity, Populations 65 and Over, Transportation, and Sources of Income.

SUPPORT THE K12PLAYGROUND.COM SITE
WHICH ENCOURAGES STUDENTS TO BUILD
ESRI STORY MAPS FOR FREE #storymaps
AND LINK TO THEM FROM
THEIR SCHOOL’S INFORMATION PAGE
FOUND HERE https://K12PlayGround.com

BLACK LIVES MATTER

 

Digital Divide

Among public schools w/ a sworn law enforcement officer present at least once a week, 51% had officers who helped maintain #studentdiscipline in 2017–18.

How many had a policy that included language defining officers’ role related to student discipline?

Today, an appeals court threw out a lower court’s grant of qualified immunity for cops in West Virginia who killed a homeless black man they stopped for walking in the road instead of on the sidewalk. He was tased 4 times, placed in chokehold and shot at 22 times. The appeals court concluded that it WAS clearly established that the victim had been secured by the officers before they shot him and that he was incapacitated when shot. RULING

@DianeRavitch
⁩ ⁦@ZephyrTeachout
⁩ ⁦@NYCKidsPAC
⁩ ⁦@NPEaction
⁩@sarahkendzior

Trump Says F–k It, Starts Planning New Mega-rallies
As thousands show up to protest the police killing of George Floyd, Trump and his allies see an opportunity to resume in-person MAGA rallies—despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Restarting public rallies is something Trump tasked his team with last month, directing them to find a way to make such gatherings happen despite the pandemic

#ShutDownSTEM strike happens tomorrow 6/10

Academics to stage Strike for Black Lives, #ShutDownSTEM on 10 June
An effort organized by Black physical scientists and allies calls on the academic community to take specific actions to combat anti-Black racism.
More than 1700 physicists, astronomers, and other academics have pledged to forgo research, classes, meetings, and other normal business on Wednesday, 10 June, to pursue a day of action dedicated to protecting the lives of Black people. The Strike for Black Lives is needed “to hit pause, to give Black academics a break and to give others an opportunity to reflect on their own complicity in anti-Black racism in academia and their local and global communities,” a group of 15 physicists write on the website Particles for Justice. The strike is being held in conjunction with the #ShutDownSTEM and #ShutDownAcademia initiative, a collaboration that includes astronomers and other physical scientists.