Lemdro.id

This has been denied to our community ever since Reagan silenced the deaths of those who fell to AIDS. And yet, we are still here, and every further day we spend on this planet is yet another victory.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/45483

The coalition behind a plan to tax California billionaires on Monday announced it's reached a major milestone in its efforts to get its proposed wealth tax on ballots this fall.

The California Billionaire Tax coalition revealed it has now filed more than 1.5 million signatures, or nearly twice the 875,000 signatures required to make the California Billionaire Tax Act an official state ballot initiative.

The proposed tax, which has drawn opposition from Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and support from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), will hit the state's billionaires with a one-time 5% wealth tax that proponents say will be used to fund local hospitals, food aid, and public education.

Mayra Castañeda, an ultrasound technologist and a member of Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), which proposed the ballot initiative, said that the tax was essential to preserve quality of healthcare in California.

"When funding is cut, it brings a world of pain," said Castañeda**.** "It means longer ER waits, fewer healthcare workers, rural hospitals shutting down, delayed care, and lives lost that could have been saved. It's clear that most Californians and most billionaires recognize how reasonable and necessary this proposal is—both to keep emergency rooms open and to save California businesses from closing."

Jared Hamil, a member of Teamsters Local 396, said gathering more than 1.5 million signatures in favor of the tax means "we are one step closer to the California we deserve."

"We deserve to be able to afford to see a doctor when we’re sick," Hamil emphasized. "We deserve to know our local hospital will be open and ready to treat you in an emergency. In a nation as rich as ours, that’s the least we deserve."

A poll of California voters conducted last month by the University of California, Berkeley found that the proposed billionaire tax is broadly popular, with support outweighing opposition by a roughly two-to-one ratio.

An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that the tax will raise $100 billion in revenue over the next five years, which would be enough to fill the hole in California's state budget caused by the Republican-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act that takes an ax to spending on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

Edit: Also please tell me if a meme is even allowed as the thumbnail for the post in this community - just feels like it gets some of my current desperation across :D

Since the last time I posted here sharing my new home server, I've gotten a little more acquainted with the services I'm using. After getting acquisition of shows and movies sorted, I ventured into music (streaming).

As many here, I'm used to using streaming services for music, ie. Spotify or YouTube Music. Naturally, I tried a similar approach by setting up my Arr stack to feed its music into Jellyfin where the music is picked up by Symfonium. I tried it out for a couple days and liked it quite a bit since it keeps my phone clean of "unnecessary" data but I still retain access to music. Unfortunately, the way I acquire my music limits my selection quite a bit unless I venture into torrenting, which I'd prefer not to. So unless I figure out a safe way to torrent on my server, I'm stuck with getting access to a very limited selection of artists and albums.

In addition to that limitation, there's also the files formats of the music. Most of the music I've downloaded was only available in FLAC, which is awesome if you've got the bandwidth and data plan for playback, but for me it means that I spend 3GB of data for a day of streaming music which is just not sustainable.

In comparison, I can set up a Revanced version of Spotify in addition to my Revanced YT Music to get access to all the music I could want. Unfortunately, that comes with the caveat of still being tied to the companies I'm trying to get rid of - albeit not financially anymore, but I'm still sharing my data.

Ultimately, I'm not sure what to do. What I love about self-hosting is the independence from all the companies we're being fucked over by in all kinds of imaginable ways. But if it's free, outside my sharing data with them, can I really compete?

I'd be interested in hearing your opinions and thoughts on this. How did you solve music streaming with your build?

Donald Trump has wielded the full might of his administration to crush the progress of clean energy, which he has called a “scam” and “stupid”. But there are signs this assault is not going to plan.

In March, the US generated more of its electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind than it did via gas, the first time clean energy has surpassed the planet-heating fossil fuel for a full month nationally, according to data from the Ember thinktank.

While this was just one month, it follows a record 2025 for renewable energy. The pipeline of new power coming online in the US is overwhelmingly green this year, too, with 93% of all electricity capacity added in 2026 set to come from solar, wind and batteries. Just 7% will come from the fossil fuels that are dangerously overheating our world.

If you are using a rolling release distro like Arch, you might have noticed that your home directory now has a new member, a new folder called "Projects".

For as long as I remember, Linux has always had a set of default folders under the home directory. Usually they are Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos and Downloads. Templates, Desktop and Public folders are also there.

Now we have a new addition in the form of "Projects".

The original reference material was desaturated which have it a beautiful chilly effect. In my painting I tried to bring warmth in and change how inviting the model appears. Thoughts?

Timelapse: https://bsky.app/profile/ballshapedman.bsky.social/post/3mkkxhddozk2z (Mastadon is struggling with video again)

Original:

The two original developers of ZSNES are finally back together! Introducing SUPER ZSNES! Re-written completely from scratch, this GPU-powered SNES emulator is here to bring you the following: some of what is familiar, some of what's new, and then some of what goes beyond.

Key features:

• Far more accurate CPU and Audio cores than the original ZSNES
• GPU-powered PPU core to allow for hi-res Mode 7 and special per-game enhancement features
• Classic UI with falling snow, modernized with higher definition and improved UX
• Fast forward, rewind, save states, auto save history, save bookmarks, cheat codes, quick load, and more
• No Vibe Coding. Classic development style.
• Super Enhancement Engine, where the ZSNES developers are enhancing the games one at a time

After police prevented the main procession, families returned to depopulated villages across the country, keeping alive the memory of what was lost in 1948.

This is the ideal body. you may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like