Pluralistic: MLMs are the mirror-world version of community organizing (04 Feb 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Society
Elon Musk’s secretive government IT takeover, explained
Musk’s growing influence over the government’s digital infrastructure raises concerns about privacy and overreach.
The mysterious statisticians shaping how we think about fertility
Experts were wrong about overpopulation before. Could they be wrong about underpopulation now?
Dan Hon: "28/ What I know is what I said up top: tech does what you tell it to do. If there's *no one to tell you to stop*, and *you don't care either way*, all bets are off. You have someone in charge who unplugs shit and doesn't care, and an administration *on record* that wants to break things." — Bluesky
28/ What I know is what I said up top: tech does what you tell it to do. If there's *no one to tell you to stop*, and *you don't care either way*, all bets are off. You have someone in charge who unplugs shit and doesn't care, and an administration *on record* that wants to break things.
Opinion | There Is No Going Back
The president’s opponents, whoever they are, cannot expect a return to the Constitution as it was.
The ‘Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly’ of the United States Government
Elon Musk’s bureaucratic coup is under way.
“Musk’s political project with DOGE is actually quite straig...
“Musk’s political project with DOGE is actually quite straightforward: The world’s richest man appears to be indiscriminately dismantling the government with an eye toward consolidating power and punishing his political enemies.”
“A self-coup, also called an autocoup…is a form of coup d’...
“A self-coup, also called an autocoup…is a form of coup d’état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power illegally through the actions of themselves and/or their supporters.”
Self-coup - Wikipedia
A self-coup, also called an autocoup or coup from the top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power illegally through the actions of themselves and/or their supporters. The leader may dissolve or render powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers. Other measures may include annulling the constitution, suspending civil courts, and having the head of government assume dictatorial powers.
The de minimis exemption, update – USPS halts packages from China and Hong Kong? Yes, No…
Back in September 2024, I posted about “The de minimis exemption” and, over the years, kept track of the proposed changes (and challenges) to how international shipping works (free/low-…
I don't know how to live
Something so garish defies metaphor
No One Wants War. Everyone Wants War.
We grow hungry again. Driven by the primal urge to dominate, conquer, make human sacrifices great again. A critical mass is within reach.
You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism
Authoritarians and tech CEOs now share the same goal: to keep us locked in an eternal doomscroll instead of organizing against them, Janus Rose writes.
Trump wants a TikTok deal. China may pull the plug.
TikTok’s Chinese owner is slow-rolling negotiations for a sale, as the Trump administration seeks to broker a deal.
Realtime Fascism
Watch fascism unfold in the United States in real-time. An automated system tracking and classifying global headlines against historically confirmed steps toward fascism.
Trump claims US banks can't open in Canada—US banks disagree
In what seems to be an effort to extort Canada for additional benefits, Donald Trump complained yesterday on social media that CANADA DOESN'...
Why Is There an Ancient Rome Researcher on Musk’s DOGE Staff?
Luke Farritor, who used AI to decode a Greco-Roman scroll from Pompeii, is reportedly part of the team leading Musk’s chaotic takeover of government systems.
Does Wind ‘Work’ Without Subsidies? - FactCheck.org
President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned the economics of wind energy, saying that wind "doesn't work" without subsidies. Experts have differing assessments of that. By some metrics, wind power is already competitive with fossil fuels without subsidies. But other measures don’t come to the same conclusion.
The True Cost of the "Free" Market Was Exposed by the Pandemic and Climate Change
From the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change, the high costs of letting the free market run rampant are becoming clear
The True Cost of a Hamburger | AIER
"Subsidies’ dollar value, unfortunately, do not cover their full cost. Meat production costs reach the environment, the neighborhood, and the market.&q ...
How Much Do Things Really Cost?
True Price, a Dutch nonprofit, aims to help us grasp the real costs of consumption.
How Do We Stop the South African Billionaire?
Take 30 seconds to demand the Treasury Department comply with the Privacy Act of 1974, and spread the word
After “How do we stop Trump?” the second most common question I’ve received this week is “How do we stop Musk?” As you may know, Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott
As Internet enshittification marches on, here are some of the worst offenders
Ars staffers take aim at some of the web’s worst predatory practices.
Pluralistic: Ron Deibert’s “Chasing Shadows” (04 Feb 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Knights of the Flaming Circle - Wikipedia
The Knights of the Flaming Circle was a militant organization founded in 1923 to fight the anti-Catholic Ku Klux Klan.[1] They were part of an opposition that included politicians, labor leaders and immigrant groups.[2] Membership was open to anyone who opposed the KKK and was "not a Protestant".[3] They had significant support amongst various ethnic groups in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.[1] Bryce Bauer has written that, "Instead of only admitting white, native-born Protestants as the Klan did, the organization vowed to accept anyone who was anything other than that."[4]
Simplifying User Accounts and Permissions Management in Linux | Linux Journal
Can anyone stop President Musk?
A republic, if you can keep it.
Is Trump’s trade war with Mexico and Canada over?
Why the tariffs might — and might not — still happen.
Catala
Clear-Site-Data - HTTP | MDN
The HTTP Clear-Site-Data response header sends a signal to the client that it should remove all browsing data of certain types (cookies, storage, cache) associated with the requesting website.
It allows web developers to have more control over the data stored by browsers for their origins.