"By race/ethnicity and nativity status, the largest percentage of those with low literacy skills are White U.S.-born adults, who represent one third of such low-skilled population."

"Globally, the overall literacy rate stands at a commendable level. For individuals aged 15 and above, the combined literacy rate for both genders is 86.3%. Males in this age group exhibit a literacy rate of 90%, with females closely trailing at 82.7%. Notably, substantial variations exist between countries. Developed nations consistently boast adult literacy rates of 96% or higher, while the least developed countries struggle with an average literacy rate of just 65%. Accurate cross-country comparisons of literacy rates face challenges due to two primary factors: irregular reporting practices among countries, and divergent definitions of what constitutes literacy.

On average, 79% of U.S. adults nationwide are literate in 2024.

21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2024.

54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level).

Low levels of literacy costs the US up to 2.2 trillion per year.

34% of adults lacking literacy proficiency were born outside the US.

... Where does the US rank in literacy? The US ranks 36th in literacy."

Reminder that twitter is now an informal, unregulated (i.e. warrantless) information source for Trump administration use.

🚨Texas Republicans are going to attempt to ban gender affirming care for adults in the upcoming year. They are also planning to legally erase non-binary and intersex people (SB 84)🚨

I do not want to be too alarmist or fear mongering anyone, but if you are trans and do not want to be forcibly detransitioned without major medical costs, consider either stocking up or seeking refuge in a trans sanctuary state

Trans sanctuary states as of November 2024 (in alphabetical order):

STAY SAFE OUT THERE!

That excuse also may have worked the first time he won and we didn't know what he could do. People who voted for Trump now are like Neo-Nazis. They looked at all the bad that happened and said "yes, we want that again but MORE".

As someone who has actually done tshirt prints as a business, let me explain how this really looks and works.

Canadian made shirt at minimum wholesale - $2.80

Chinese made shirt at minimum wholesale - $1.97

USA made shirt at minimum wholesale - $3.78

Print cost within US, now "US made" - $3.85

Wholesale price of finished shirt - $10

Retail - $20

---

Trump places 50% tariff on products from China, Chinese shirt now $2.96.

Switch to Canadian made shirt, US supplier still doesn't get sale.

Print shop gets inks from Chinese supplier, no US alternative. Print cost now $5.78.

Wholesale price of finished shirt - $17

Retail - $34

Still gets to claim "Made in USA" even though shirt is from Canada and ink on it is from China. But the Chinese ink was put on the Canadian shirt in the US so that counts.

By the way, this is exactly how Ford and GM and most every USA manufacturing system works. So expect all the "Made in USA"/"US brands" to become more expensive too. Because their parts come from elsewhere.

- Timothy Snyder. The first and perhaps most important lesson from On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons for the Twentieth Century (2017)

Snyder's new book, On Freedom, was published in 2024.

This right here? ⬆️ Circle it, then underline it.

You can't offer your opponent a compromise and expect them to just accept it.

Especially when the 'compromise' in question involves people's basic rights, dignity, or safety.

Actually, don't walk in with what you want. Walk in asking more than you want. You want to buy a trinket for $30, you don't offer $30. You offer $20 and let them talk you into $30.

They want to get rid of ACA. Demand you representatives propose and support expansions to ACA and make them waste their time fighting to keep it exactly as it is so they don't have time to get rid of it.

this can’t be real

He put them together at the kids table that doesn’t exist I’m fucking crying

its easy to make fun of this (and i think we should) but its also important to note the description of this new department that trump has given

[transcript: "together, these two wonderful americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies - essential to the 'save america' movement," trump wrote. "i look forward to elon and vivek making changes to the federal bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all americans."]

to be clear: trump is planning to create a new department whose purpose is literally to deregulate and defund government oversight. this will lead to corporations having greater freedom to fuck over consumers while making more money, and he is putting two billionaires in charge of it.

sure, maybe this is just a ploy to keep them quiet. giving them the illusion of power in exchange for backing him. but lets not forget all the regulations trump cut during his last term

which has directly led to the constant recalls of consumer goods and foodstuffs over the past several years. the recent e coli outbreak at mcdonalds? the boars head listeria recall? these are the products of deregulation. getting rid of laws and standards that protect consumers by making sure money hungry corporations dont cut corners.

the funny name is a smokescreen. keep your eye on these fuckers.

Project 2025 ain't gonna roll out all at once. So what we're gonna wanna do is make passing each individual part of it as difficult as possible, so there's less to undo once we finally get this country back on the rails.

Resist every step and do not get distracted by stupid bullshit. Distracting people with stupid bullshit is one of Trump's favorite political techniques. We saw it all over the place in the first term.

Trump will say something like "You know the Hispanics actually punch kittens, it's what they do."

And the news will be like "TRUMP SAID HISPANIC PEOPLE PUNCH KITTENS" for three weeks.

And while they're doing that the Republicans in Congress have quietly deleted healthcare.

Do not get distracted by stupid bullshit. Trump is a dancing monkey whose greatest asset is the ability to yank the spotlight off of everyone else. Keep your eyes on Congress.

The MAGA 'didn't earn it' list grows.

Matt Gaetz for AG. What a fucking disgrace of a nomination.

If you don't know who Gaetz is, he is the one with a thing for teenage girls who was investigated for sex trafficking a 17yr old girl. And is still under investigation for sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

Good bye, West Bank. Hello, doomsday.

Single-issue Palestine voters, what say you?

"Huckabee is a staunch supporter of Israel, and his nomination comes following Donald Trump's commitment to align U.S. foreign policy with Israel's interests in its ongoing conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah."

If you haven't been to your local farmers market(s), start finding them and prepping to visit them when they start up. Make relationships with the people who grow the basics now. Get used to seasonal eating. Because we grow a lot of animal feed and cabbages but import a lot of everything else.

Now is a good time to check if you need to renew your passport or get one for the first time.

Not even as an alarmist thing, but because you want to do it NOW before any requirements change and your get distracted by the world. It's just a good thing to have.

The full passport book is pricey ($130), but the card ($30) has all the same benefits as identification and can be used at land borders.

Just to make it clear, because I've also seen this (good) advice going around on other platforms and being challenged:

The main point of having a Passport in the times to come is NOT to emigrate or have the ID to claim asylum, and I pray we don't need it for that.

The point is that Upcoming Administration wants to deport people. They will almost certainly not have the federal staff for the plans they espoused. The Passport is proof of citizenship in ways that other IDs in the US are not.

Additonally, beyond the travel book - which you should keep in a safe place similar to your Birth certificate when not traveling- you can get a wallet card. Immediate proof, right there.

This may be especially important for POC and Latine people soon.

Be safe, friends.

everyone says join your local mutual aid groups and build community, but uh, what do you do if a lot of them seem to have dissolved and the other ones don't have consistent recurring meetings.

this is real, and it's a thing that a lot of people are going to run into in the face of calls to "get involved," especially if they're people who haven't been deeply involved in their communities before. so here's what I can share:

Adding/Expanding

CENTER: libraries often have community meeting rooms you can book for free. This means less pressure to buy something from the place and helps the libraries with more foot traffic and use numbers

PLAY SECRETARY: Google Drive is not a safe option, they grant themselves full use and ownership rights. WhatsApp is a FB product and not secure either. Signal is generally considered the safe messaging app although I haven't used it myself. For work spaces CryptPad, Mega, and Tresorit have been recommended, again I have not used them personally.

NETWORK: Make a public social media page if you want it to grow. Let people submit what they are doing and post that. Cross post with other organizations doing things you like. When they have events they'll be more likely to give you a spot to set up a table for free to let people know what you are doing and recruit other people to the organization. Also, if you aren't readily visible online these days a lot of people not only won't find you, they will doubt you are legit/real.

Leave money out of it as long as possible. Don't make things a dues situation until you absolutely need to. The instant you add money you add not only a very large dividing wedge to the organization you add a huge legal and administrative burden because you have to do the tax stuff. I have seen organizations fall apart because of an argument over less than $100.

There are things that you can just do, yourself, and it will grow naturally. My friend put up a "daily needs" free library in front of his house at the beginning of COVID. Canned goods, prepackaged dry goods, toothpaste, etc that he had extra of lying around. He personally kept it stocked with whatever he got at Costco/Sam's that he needed but not that much of. Then people started adding to it. Whatever they had extra or didn't need. People do this with food they grow too. Tomatoes, zucchini, apples, whatever. You can put up flyers or put them in mailboxes that you will collect extra food from the garden and take them to the soup kitchen yourself. I used to do annual drives at work to gather old towels and sheets and take them to animal shelters. One person with some scrap paper, a pen, and reliable transportation can do a lot.

"School districts currently work with processing companies to offer cashless payment systems for families. But the companies can charge “processing fees” for each transaction. By law, students who are eligible for reduced price meals cannot be charged more than 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch. With processing fees, however, families can end up paying 10 times that amount. Processing companies charge as much as $3.25 or 4% to 5% per transaction, according to a recent report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."

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Yesterday I was saying how Biden's penchant for getting stuff done without anybody knowing was probably what lost democrats the election, but that hopefully it would save a lot of people in the next 2.5 months

This is what I'm talking about