Mike Follert
@mfollert.bsky.social
Assistant Professor @ StFX Sociology & Research Fellow @ BMIG 🏳️🌈 Nalikitquniejk/Antigonish
Reposted by Mike Follert
I had to see for myself: it really says that Canada’s stablecoin initiative will “benefit men and youth". there’s no reason given why that is or why they care to specifically benefit men here. I am telling myself this is a typo or ended up here by accident because 🤯
November 11, 2025 at 1:49 PM
I had to see for myself: it really says that Canada’s stablecoin initiative will “benefit men and youth". there’s no reason given why that is or why they care to specifically benefit men here. I am telling myself this is a typo or ended up here by accident because 🤯
Reposted by Mike Follert
I honestly don’t get the value of this company. They hoover up energy and water. Their product constantly gets things wrong and, in extreme cases, coaches people into suicide.
And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.
What does OpenAI offer the world?
And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.
What does OpenAI offer the world?
“authors & publishers who filed a lawsuit against the Sam Altman-led firm have secured access to internal Slack messages… discussing the mass deletion of a pirated books dataset… A NY district court ordered OpenAI to hand over the communications regarding data deletion”
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
OpenAI in Danger After Authors Suing It Gain Access to Its Internal Slack Messages
Authors and publishers, who are suing OpenAI, secured access to internal Slack messages and emails discussing the deletion of pirated books.
futurism.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:35 AM
I honestly don’t get the value of this company. They hoover up energy and water. Their product constantly gets things wrong and, in extreme cases, coaches people into suicide.
And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.
What does OpenAI offer the world?
And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.
What does OpenAI offer the world?
Reposted by Mike Follert
On behalf of the StFXAUT, Dr. Michael Follert, Department of Sociology (right), presents a $1,000 cheque to Katerina Allan, Vice-President Mount Saint Vincent for @cupe3912.bsky.social
www.stfxaut.ca/stfxaut-supp...
www.stfxaut.ca/stfxaut-supp...
StFXAUT Support for CUPE 3912
On behalf of the StFXAUT, Dr. Michael Follert, Department of Sociology (right), presents a $1,000 cheque to Katerina Allan, Vice-President Mount Saint Vincent for CUPE 3912. Read our earlier post to…
www.stfxaut.ca
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 PM
On behalf of the StFXAUT, Dr. Michael Follert, Department of Sociology (right), presents a $1,000 cheque to Katerina Allan, Vice-President Mount Saint Vincent for @cupe3912.bsky.social
www.stfxaut.ca/stfxaut-supp...
www.stfxaut.ca/stfxaut-supp...
Reposted by Mike Follert
MAMDANI CAME OUT TO JA RULE "NEW YORK" AND IMMEDIATELY QUOTED EUGENE DEBS
November 5, 2025 at 4:21 AM
MAMDANI CAME OUT TO JA RULE "NEW YORK" AND IMMEDIATELY QUOTED EUGENE DEBS
Reposted by Mike Follert
A New Yorker cover shouldn’t make me feel like this, but here it is, making me feel like this
November 5, 2025 at 4:57 AM
A New Yorker cover shouldn’t make me feel like this, but here it is, making me feel like this
Reposted by Mike Follert
The St. Francis Xavier Association of University Teachers is pleased to stand with our colleagues at CUPE 3912 by making a donation of $1000 to support their ongoing efforts to achieve a fair and equitable agreement.
October 29, 2025 at 8:19 PM
The St. Francis Xavier Association of University Teachers is pleased to stand with our colleagues at CUPE 3912 by making a donation of $1000 to support their ongoing efforts to achieve a fair and equitable agreement.
Reposted by Mike Follert
BREAKING: economist discovers “second shift,” a concept coined by sociologists almost 50 years ago; gives it new, stupider, and less explicitly labor-oriented name
October 26, 2025 at 1:58 PM
BREAKING: economist discovers “second shift,” a concept coined by sociologists almost 50 years ago; gives it new, stupider, and less explicitly labor-oriented name
доверяй, но проверяй
Wait until he hears that Reagan didn't trust the Russians.
October 25, 2025 at 10:08 PM
доверяй, но проверяй
Reposted by Mike Follert
So for-profit AI companies have trained on the world's largest collaborative volunteer project and a precious free resource, to make money for their for-profit enterprises. They have crushed traffic to the volunteer project, starving it of donors and volunteers
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
www.404media.co
October 17, 2025 at 2:28 PM
So for-profit AI companies have trained on the world's largest collaborative volunteer project and a precious free resource, to make money for their for-profit enterprises. They have crushed traffic to the volunteer project, starving it of donors and volunteers
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Reposted by Mike Follert
Only UNRWA can deliver lifesaving aid at the scale #Gaza needs. We have the network, the experience, and the trust of the community.
The State of Israel must let UNRWA bring in the huge amount of aid that has been blocked in our warehouses in Jordan and Egypt since 2nd March.
Let UNRWA do its work.
The State of Israel must let UNRWA bring in the huge amount of aid that has been blocked in our warehouses in Jordan and Egypt since 2nd March.
Let UNRWA do its work.
October 13, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Only UNRWA can deliver lifesaving aid at the scale #Gaza needs. We have the network, the experience, and the trust of the community.
The State of Israel must let UNRWA bring in the huge amount of aid that has been blocked in our warehouses in Jordan and Egypt since 2nd March.
Let UNRWA do its work.
The State of Israel must let UNRWA bring in the huge amount of aid that has been blocked in our warehouses in Jordan and Egypt since 2nd March.
Let UNRWA do its work.
Reposted by Mike Follert
Reposted by Mike Follert
Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead
Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead
The children’s names below appear on a list of victims of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, maintained by health authorities in the territory. As of the end of July it ran to 60,199 names, of whom 18,457 were under 18s. Far from comprehensive, the list does not include the thousands still buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, as well as the war’s many indirect victims
As of the end of July there were 18,457 children named on the long official list of Palestinian victims of Israel’s war in Gaza. Over almost two years, that is equivalent to bombs, bullets and shells killing a boy or girl every hour of every day.
In reality the deaths are not spaced out so evenly. Siblings, cousins and playmates are often killed together, by an airstrike or artillery shell. Even children shot by snipers or quadcopters are sometimes brought into hospitals in groups, doctors say. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 8, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead
Reposted by Mike Follert
MSF strongly condemns the killing of Omar Hayek by Israeli forces this morning in #Gaza. Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues.
Omar is our fourteenth colleague to be killed in Gaza since the war started. We call yet again for an end to the genocide.
Omar is our fourteenth colleague to be killed in Gaza since the war started. We call yet again for an end to the genocide.
October 2, 2025 at 5:35 PM
MSF strongly condemns the killing of Omar Hayek by Israeli forces this morning in #Gaza. Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues.
Omar is our fourteenth colleague to be killed in Gaza since the war started. We call yet again for an end to the genocide.
Omar is our fourteenth colleague to be killed in Gaza since the war started. We call yet again for an end to the genocide.
Reposted by Mike Follert
Uh oh. Is someone upset he might be stopped from overriding basic constitutional rights to life, liberty, and security of the person in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice because he hates bike lanes?
Ottawa’s bid to curb the province’s use of the notwithstanding clause is “way overreach,” warns Premier Doug Ford.
Doug Ford blasts Carney government for proposal to limit use of the notwithstanding clause
Ottawa's bid to curb the province's use of the notwithstanding clause is "way overreach," warns Premier Doug Ford.
www.thestar.com
September 25, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Uh oh. Is someone upset he might be stopped from overriding basic constitutional rights to life, liberty, and security of the person in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice because he hates bike lanes?
Reposted by Mike Follert
The federal government has censored the work of dozens of scientists, including work by my lab, on the impacts of climate change on Acadia National Park. Signs have been removed from Cadillac and Great Meadow. They’re also removing signs about the Wabanaki’s sacred connections to Cadillac.
Signs Referencing Climate Change Along with Web Pages Removed from Acadia National Park
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund.
barharborstory.substack.com
September 23, 2025 at 10:59 PM
The federal government has censored the work of dozens of scientists, including work by my lab, on the impacts of climate change on Acadia National Park. Signs have been removed from Cadillac and Great Meadow. They’re also removing signs about the Wabanaki’s sacred connections to Cadillac.
Reposted by Mike Follert
At the Nuremberg trials, Karl Dönitz was convicted of war crimes for the sinking of civilian vessels. This is not a complicated question, it's been illegal for centuries.
A fourth boat bombed in international waters. Total death toll now 19
What I dont get is, if these boats are "carrying fentanyl" as Trump says (they absolutely arent. Even the DEA says VZ doesnt produce fentanyl), then why not seize one and show us?
www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...
What I dont get is, if these boats are "carrying fentanyl" as Trump says (they absolutely arent. Even the DEA says VZ doesnt produce fentanyl), then why not seize one and show us?
www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...
U.S. naval forces have sunk a fourth suspected drug boat in the Caribbean, Trump says
U.S. naval forces have conducted another lethal strike on a vessel President Donald Trump said was tied to a designated terrorist organization involved in drug trafficking in the Caribbean.
www.miamiherald.com
September 22, 2025 at 12:26 PM
At the Nuremberg trials, Karl Dönitz was convicted of war crimes for the sinking of civilian vessels. This is not a complicated question, it's been illegal for centuries.
Reposted by Mike Follert
“We’ve normalised horror” in #Gaza, our JulietteTouma tells @newhumanitarian.bsky.social
“There's been impunity – and that has been going on for a long, long, long time… This carte blanche has got us, all of us, where we are right now.”
This must stop.
“There's been impunity – and that has been going on for a long, long, long time… This carte blanche has got us, all of us, where we are right now.”
This must stop.
Israel’s mass killing of Gaza aid seekers: An undeniable pattern of escalating atrocity crimes
The nearly 200 attacks we recorded contribute to the growing evidence that Israel is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
www.thenewhumanitarian.org
September 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM
“We’ve normalised horror” in #Gaza, our JulietteTouma tells @newhumanitarian.bsky.social
“There's been impunity – and that has been going on for a long, long, long time… This carte blanche has got us, all of us, where we are right now.”
This must stop.
“There's been impunity – and that has been going on for a long, long, long time… This carte blanche has got us, all of us, where we are right now.”
This must stop.
September 12, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Mike Follert
Equality of rights is a baseline precondition for a liberal democracy, and advocating for the end of that condition is not compatible with a commitment to the liberal democratic project.
Ezra Klein is trying in this column to argue that Kirk was doing politics correctly if you just ignore the content of what he was advocating. That he was contributing to American democracy by arguing civilly for the subjugation of women, gay people, trans people. It simply doesn’t work.
I feel like I am taking crazy pills. Charlie Kirk’s ultimate goal, which he said time and time again, would have been the suppression, through threat of violence and the use of state power, of the rights of those he disagreed with, including freedom of expression.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/o...
September 11, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Equality of rights is a baseline precondition for a liberal democracy, and advocating for the end of that condition is not compatible with a commitment to the liberal democratic project.
Reposted by Mike Follert
Don’t forget, for many years #Uber insisted loudly that it would reduce traffic in cities. Instead, Uber drivers cruise without passengers 40% of the time. Uber and Lyft no longer claim they reduce traffic. They now admit they increase congestion.
So much for “making cities better…”
Via @wsj.com
So much for “making cities better…”
Via @wsj.com
The Ride-Hail Utopia That Got Stuck in Traffic
Uber and Lyft said they would ease congestion. Instead they made it worse.
www.wsj.com
September 3, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Mike Follert
My mother always told me that if I was feeling bad about myself, I should go help somebody. I’ll have to tell her about these findings.
Self-care is overrated—helping others has the biggest benefits for everyone involved
A new 2-week intervention finds that helping others improves well-being more than "self-kindness", with benefits for depressed mood, anxiety, and loneliness due to social connection psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
A new 2-week intervention finds that helping others improves well-being more than "self-kindness", with benefits for depressed mood, anxiety, and loneliness due to social connection psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
September 3, 2025 at 9:20 PM
My mother always told me that if I was feeling bad about myself, I should go help somebody. I’ll have to tell her about these findings.
Reposted by Mike Follert
Graham Greene, a Canadian actor who belonged to the Oneida First Nation and portrayed Indigenous characters in “Dances With Wolves” and other Hollywood blockbusters, died on Monday in Ontario. He was 73. nyti.ms/425In7L
September 2, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Graham Greene, a Canadian actor who belonged to the Oneida First Nation and portrayed Indigenous characters in “Dances With Wolves” and other Hollywood blockbusters, died on Monday in Ontario. He was 73. nyti.ms/425In7L
Reposted by Mike Follert
New Mexico has issued a public health order that removes federal restrictions to COVID-19 vaccine access so that pharmacies in New Mexico can vaccinate people of all ages and risk profiles. Every state need to do this!
August 31, 2025 at 5:04 PM
New Mexico has issued a public health order that removes federal restrictions to COVID-19 vaccine access so that pharmacies in New Mexico can vaccinate people of all ages and risk profiles. Every state need to do this!
Reposted by Mike Follert
I will remind folks those images of Nazi book burnings aren't burning just any books. They're burning the library of Magnus Hirschfeld; a gay, Jewish doctor who created an institute dedicated to LGBTQ sex education and healthcare. And a man who pioneered gender affirming care surgeries.
US government orders 46 states to destroy trans education materials
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/27/trans-education-us-state-directive/?utm_content=1756312804&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/27/trans-education-us-state-directive/?utm_content=1756312804&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
US government orders states to destroy trans education materials
The US government has ordered 46 states and territories to destroy education materials referencing trans people.
www.thepinknews.com
August 29, 2025 at 1:23 AM
I will remind folks those images of Nazi book burnings aren't burning just any books. They're burning the library of Magnus Hirschfeld; a gay, Jewish doctor who created an institute dedicated to LGBTQ sex education and healthcare. And a man who pioneered gender affirming care surgeries.