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The Cracker Barrel Hype(rreality) - by John Ganz
The Cracker Barrel Hype(rreality) - by John Ganz
Simulation and Simulacrum in America
the United States is not made up of well-adjusted adults; it’s made up of Americans
It’s sort of pathetic to reflect that we have so few—maybe no—authentic and unmediated experiences that the thing that now really upsets people is an alteration of a simulation of authenticity.
You can read conspiracy theorization itself as a nostalgia for the reality of political power in a situation where people feel powerless.
#via:waxy#politics#blag#culturewars
·unpopularfront.news·
The Cracker Barrel Hype(rreality) - by John Ganz
Weird Al on Tour Dates, Creative Freedom & Influence on Pop
Weird Al on Tour Dates, Creative Freedom & Influence on Pop
What a career
“Nobody owns any piece of me,” he says, exhaling. “I’m at a point in my life where if something isn’t going to be fun or a pleasant experience, I have no problem saying no, even if it’s a lot of money or a lot of eyeballs. I can do literally whatever I feel like doing.”
#weirdal#music#billboard#interview
·billboard.com·
Weird Al on Tour Dates, Creative Freedom & Influence on Pop
Gold, Frankincense, and Silicon
Gold, Frankincense, and Silicon
It is disturbing to think that the leader of a beloved, trusted, and widely believed-to-be-ethical company like Apple has succumbed to avarice. That Tim Cook feels no qualms about — or perhaps even delights in — participating in a quid-pro-quo-driven corrupt administration in which flattery, fealty, gifts, and barely-concealed bribes are rewarded. That the United States devolving into kleptocracy suits Tim Cook just fine, because Apple’s pockets are deep enough to pay the vig. But the alternative is more disturbing.
#apple#trumpadministration#timcook#daringfireball#usa#politics#corruption
·daringfireball.net·
Gold, Frankincense, and Silicon
To what problem is the modern American university a solution?
To what problem is the modern American university a solution?
Did not know that Darthmouth caused the definition of corporation!
A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law.
Among the most important are immortality, and, if the expression may be allowed, individuality; properties by which a perpetual succession of many persons are considered as the same, and may act as a single individual.
#corporations#usa#supremecourt#history#college
·ailog.blog·
To what problem is the modern American university a solution?
Opinion | The Death of the Fourth American Republic - The New York Times
Opinion | The Death of the Fourth American Republic - The New York Times
The Supreme Court may extinguish a law that more than any other made the promise of American democracy a reality.
If by American democracy we mean a pluralistic, multiracial society of political and social equals, then American democracy as we know it began with the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 60 years ago today.
“There is no middle ground in this question,” Ross continued. “We must concede the right of suffrage to everyone who stands as our equal in the scale of creation, or we must deny it to all. It is universal suffrage or autocracy.”
#nyt#supremecourt#usa#opinion#jamellebouie#racism#voting
·nytimes.com·
Opinion | The Death of the Fourth American Republic - The New York Times
The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine
The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine
Wow.
The relationship between the firm and this network is cemented by blatant self-dealing. The most glaring example is End Citizens United. In 2015, just one year after founding their consulting firm, Mothership principals Greg Berlin and Charles Starnes also co-founded this PAC. It quickly became one of their largest and most reliable clients, a perfect circle of revenue generation that blurs the line between vendor and client.
This represents a fundraising efficiency rate of just 1.6 percent.
#via:jwz#politics#usa#democrats
·data4democracy.substack.com·
The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine
Marc Andreessen Is a Traitor
Marc Andreessen Is a Traitor
It is the tech oligarchs, not young radicals, who have turned against the system that made them.
Netscape’s task was relatively easy. People simply had to download it—on computers built by someone else, running an operating system developed by someone else, connecting to a network built by many others.
After reaping the benefits of that public infrastructure and investment, Andreessen went to the private sector, where he developed Netscape Navigator, eventually selling his company to AOL for billions of dollars.
The tech oligarchs want government cash but not obligations, wealth without duty or any of the basic burdens of citizenship. The rewards of success without the risks of failure, and indeed, they want to be rewarded even when they fail.
#politics#capitalism#internet#donaldtrump#webbrowser#academia
·liberalcurrents.com·
Marc Andreessen Is a Traitor
The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Tax Records With ICE — ProPublica
The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Tax Records With ICE — ProPublica
This is fine.
“ProPublica continues to degrade their already terrible reputation by suggesting we should turn a blind eye to criminal illegal aliens present in the United States for the sake of trying to collect tax payments from them,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement after receiving questions about the blueprint from ProPublica.
“For years, the IRS has told immigrants that it only cares that they pay their taxes,” said Nandan Joshi, an attorney with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, which is seeking to block the data-sharing agreement in federal court. “By agreeing to share taxpayer data with ICE on a mass basis, the IRS has gone back on its word.”
#propublica#irs#immigration#trumpadministration#doge#politics
·propublica.org·
The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Tax Records With ICE — ProPublica