cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/21425435

Missouri…once again, making it too easy for social media! It's like living in an Onion headline…without the satire.

A longshot Missouri gubernatorial candidat e with ties to the Ku Klux Klan will stay on the Republican ticket, a judge ruled Friday.

Cole County Circuit Court Judge Cotton Walker denied a request by the Missouri GOP to kick Darrell McClanahan out of the August Republican primary.

McClanahan is running against Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, state Sen. Bill Eigel and others for the GOP nomination to replace Gov. Mike Parson, who is barred by term limits from seeking reelection.

McClanahan’s lawyer, Dave Roland, said the ruling ensures that party leaders do not have “almost unlimited discretion to choose who’s going to be allowed on a primary ballot.”

Everything I say is a lie…
[email protected] ☆ [email protected] ☆ [email protected]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12238058

A Michigan man whose 2-year-old daughter shot herself in the head with his revolver last week pleaded not guilty after becoming the first person charged under the state’s new law requiring safe storage of guns.

Michael Tolbert, 44, of Flint, was arraigned Monday on nine felony charges including single counts of first-degree child abuse and violation of Michigan’s gun storage law, said John Potbury, Genesee County’s deputy chief assistant prosecuting attorney.

Tolbert’s daughter remained hospitalized Wednesday in critical condition from the Feb. 14 shooting, Potbury said. The youngster shot herself the day after Michigan’s new safe storage gun law took effect.

We see posts everyday, some (most) with a square-cropped image to the left. Some of these post images, let's call them "post icons", are there because on the "Create Post" form there is a text entry field explicitly pointing to the author's uploaded image. Otherwise, the post icon is an image from the link entered in the URL text entry field.

Are you with me so far? I hope so.

Now, sometimes the URL returns an image and sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, a default Lemmy link icon appears.

Here's an example. The linked page has an image but it doesn't appear as a post icon.

1. How can I get the URL to return an image I know is on the linked page. Not necessarily a specific image but any image from the link.
2. Is there a way to use an author-chosen image when no linked image exists (or if I'd like a different image)? I've tried using both the URL and the Image fields but unfortunately the Image link takes preference.

I hope I've been clear. Please don't hesitate to ask questions. Thanks!

EDIT: added the post icon image.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10302444

Got a pretty Ford F-150 from 2021-2023 with the Trailer Tow Max Duty package and a 9.75-inch heavy-duty axle with a 3/4 float axle design sitting in your driveway? Read on…

The rear axle hub bolt may fatigue and break, which can damage the axle hub splines and result in the trucks rolling away when the vehicle is parked or cause a loss of drive power, according to the notice — both of which increase the risk of a crash.

Just a few months ago, Ford recalled more than 238,000 of its Explorer models due to an axle bolt issue that can cause the vehicle to roll away.

Note a pattern?

Cue appropriate video clip…

• Bonus link for our engineering friends at One American Road, Dearborn

Got a pretty Ford F-150 from 2021-2023 with the Trailer Tow Max Duty package and a 9.75-inch heavy-duty axle with a 3/4 float axle design sitting in your driveway? Read on…

The rear axle hub bolt may fatigue and break, which can damage the axle hub splines and result in the trucks rolling away when the vehicle is parked or cause a loss of drive power, according to the notice — both of which increase the risk of a crash.

Just a few months ago, Ford recalled more than 238,000 of its Explorer models due to an axle bolt issue that can cause the vehicle to roll away.

Note a pattern?

Cue appropriate video clip…

• Bonus link for our engineering friends at One American Road, Dearborn

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10260608

Happy 2024, you rats. Instead of me making you all sick, I'll let Illinois' Valley Meats have the honors…

Valley Meats, based in Coal Valley, Illinois, is recalling nearly 7,000 pounds of the raw ground beef products shipped to distributors in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Michigan, according to an alert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).Valley Meats' raw ground beef products, mostly in the form of patties and in various size boxes, were distributed to restaurants and other institutional users, the news release said.

If you have questions about the recall, contact Valley Meats at 309-799-7341, ext. 229 or email [email protected]. Consumers with food-related safety questions can call the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-674-6854.

Alternate links for your convenience…

• "To The Wayback Machine, Sherman."
• 1ft.io

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10051238

…and the penny-ante saga continues…

"They did what they say I did—Crazy!" Trump wrote Wednesday.

The audio recordings, captured in four recordings by someone present for the conversation between Trump and the canvassers, revealed Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel was on the call with Trump and the canvassers and offered legal assistance for the Wayne County officials if they would not sign a document certifying the county's election results.

Multiple legal experts and Republican political strategist Karl Rove have criticized Trump and McDaniel's actions. Some legal experts have questioned whether McDaniel's offer of attorneys to represent the canvassers in court for not carrying out their duties amounts to bribery.

…and yet, a non-trivial percentage of registered voters in the United States — Michigan included — still support this would-be dictator. I just can't fathom it. It appears that short of Mr Trump personally defecating on each and everyone's dining room table, the MAGA among us are committed to having the first King of The United States.

---

Alternate links:

• archive.md
• 1ft.io
• Wayback Machine

The renaming will not have any impact on official postal addresses or other legal designations and is solely a show of “solidarity, remembrance, and compassion for the lives lost in Gaza.”

One council member who voted “no” said he was against the resolution because of Hamtramck’s controversial “neutrality flag resolution,” which banned LGBTQ+ pride flags from being flown on city property. The policy also prohibits the display of religious, ethnic, racial, and political flags and states that the city won’t provide “special treatment to any group,” though critics say the resolution, which was voted on unanimously, was mainly rooted in homophobia.

Meanwhile, over at The Detroit Free Press…

Carolyn Normandin, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Michigan, called supporting one side of the conflict divisive, adding that Israel is fighting to fend off future attacks like the Oct. 7 one by Hamas militants. Some 1,200 Israelis were killed in that attack and more than 240 others were kidnapped. More than half of the hostages still remain in captivity, according to USA Today.

Rabbi Simcha Tolwin of Jewish Learning Center Aish Detroit meanwhile said the council "is festering a movement that ... in fact is just a call for the genocide of the Jews.

"Naming a street Palestine Ave. shows that Hamtramck supports terrorism, and gives the terrorists the support they need to keep at their goals of genocide through rape, murder and kidnapping of civilians," he said in an email, referencing the Hamas attack.

Saudi Arabia publicly claims to support the Paris climate change agreement, which aims to limit global temperature increases to 1.5C or 2C – requiring an almost total transformation of the way in which the world produces and consumes energy. The Crown Prince [Mohammed bin Salman], also known as MBS, has said that the Kingdom needs to go “further and faster” in tackling climate change.

The Oil Demand Sustainability Program (OSP) is a vast government program with dozens of projects aimed at embedding a high-carbon, fossil fuel-dependent development model in countries across Africa and Asia. This includes meticulously researched plans to drive a major increase in gasoline and diesel-fuelled vehicles and boost jet fuel sales via increased air travel.

Responding to the investigation, Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a non-governmental organisation based in Nairobi focused on climate change, told CCR: “The Saudi government is like a drug dealer trying to get Africa hooked on its harmful product. The rest of the world is cleaning up its act and weaning itself off dirty and polluting fossil fuels and Saudi Arabia is getting desperate for more customers and is turning its sights on Africa.”

A big experiment is underway in public school cafeterias across Michigan. As a part of the state Legislature's budget for the 2023-24 school year, lawmakers allocated $160 million for the Michigan School Meals program, which makes breakfast and lunch free for all students, with no income restrictions. The state recently announced that 1.3 million of Michigan's more than 1.4 million students have access to free breakfast and lunch programs through their school.

The total allocated for this school year — $160 million — is the state's best educated guess for cost, Diane Golzynski, deputy superintendent for finance and operations, said. Lawmakers deposited $245 million to a school meals reserve fund, so there are additional funds in case student demand overshoots the state's estimate this year.

The Detroit Free Press' photo gallery here.

Further reading at The Detroit News here.

"Our kitchen never closes. When a child is crying or upset or having some big emotions, usually a carrot or apple will help assist us in meeting their needs that way. I ask our cafeteria staff to be ready," said [Natoya] Coleman, principal of Doyle-Ryder Elementary School in Flint Community Schools.

Under the proposed plan, 97% of Detroit homeowners would get a permanent property tax cut starting in 2025, if the state and local officials approve the legislation. The plan would then go to Detroit voters for approval.

Taxes on vacant land, however, would more than double from 85 mills to 189 mills to punish property owners who have allowed it to fall into disrepair, creating eyesores in Detroit neighborhoods.