Pluralistic: We bullied HP into a minor act of disenshittification (22 Feb 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Society
Automated Contempt
The political-technological crisis is only deepening in the United States, and I hardly know where to begin today's email to you, other than to say that I hope you're okay. And if you're not, do feel free to hit "reply" – I can't promise anything other than a very human ear
Government is not business
If you scour the pages of LinkedIn, it won’t take long before you begin running into folks from the corporate sector who are attempting to rationalize Elon Musk‘s current approach to organizational…
Fake Libertarians, Fake Leftists, and Real Fascists
The day after Elon Musk’s infamous use of the Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute in an Inauguration Day speech, Thomas Lecaque — a professor of history specializing in religious violence — pointedly observed: “Elon Musk did a Nazi salute. There isn’t a discussion, there aren’t interpretations, this isn’t a controversy, there are people lying about it...
DOGE’s USDS Purge Included the Guy Who Keeps Veterans’ Data Safe Online
The cybersecurity lead for VA.gov was fired last week. He tells WIRED that the Veterans Affairs digital hub will be more vulnerable without someone in his role.
On leaving, on never leaving
When I was in high school, I picked up a copy of Václav Havel's "Disturbing the Peace." It’s a book-length question-and-answer exchange between Havel and Paul Wils...
Utahism Explained | Official Website
The official website for the ideology of Utahism - proposing the redrawing of U.S. states to achieve true representation at the local, state, and federal level, and finally bring an end to American polarization, radicalism, and un-representative government with the most overdue reform in United Stat
You Deserve a Tech Union — ethanmarcotte.com
Read this page on ethanmarcotte.com
The foundations of America’s prosperity are being dismantled
Federal scientists warn that Americans could feel the effects of the new administration's devastating cuts for decades to come.
Germany: drained of power; der Kraft beraubt
Germany holds a snap election on Sunday and the current coalition government of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP) is heading for a heavy defeat. The main opposition conser…
Anarchism and Taoism
Josh Anarchism and Taoism
Economics as politics and philosophy rather than some independent science – William Mitchell – Modern Monetary Theory
Goodbye Surveillance Capitalism, Hello Surveillance Fascism
First they stole your data. Now, they’re stealing your future
Donald Trump Was Recruited by the KGB Under Codename 'Krasnov' Claims Former Soviet Spy Chief
A former senior KGB chief claims Trump was recruited by them in 1987 due to his role as a prominent US businessman
Science must step away from nationally managed infrastructure
Scientific data and independence are at risk. We need to work with community-driven services and university libraries to create new multi-country organizations that are resilient to political…
A New Plan To Create a World Without Elon Musks - Inequality.org
From Germany, a bold political push for a billionaire-free future.
Software engineering job openings hit five-year low?
There are 35% fewer software developer job listings on Indeed today, than five years ago. Compared to other industries, job listings for software engineers grew much more in 2021-2022, but have declined much faster since. A look into possible reasons for this, and what could come next.
Statement of APWU President Mark Dimondstein on Attacks to the Public
The Sound of Freedom - The Role of Music in Political Change - Contested Histories
The project on Contested Histories primarily focuses on controversies over monuments, statues, street names, and other tangible representations of historical legacies. However, the project recognises that contested historical legacies can also include intangible heritage, such as music. In this blog post, Serena Jampel examines the role of music in political change. Part of intangible history, […]
Pluralistic: Premature Internet Activists (13 Feb 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Pluralistic: Trump’s Tiktok two-step is a lesson for future presidents (12 Feb 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Abe Newman: "1/ Musk seeking control over nerve systems of the federal government. As someone who spent a decade studying how centralized information systems are used for coercion this is a five alarm fire. We need to name it, identify risks, and seek to mitigate their impacts. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/u..." — Bluesky
AI and Copyright: Expanding Copyright Hurts Everyone—Here’s What to
You shouldn't need a permission slip to read a webpage–whether you do it with your own eyes, or use software to help. AI is a category of general-purpose tools with myriad beneficial uses. Requiring
Copyright and AI: the Cases and the Consequences
The launch of ChatGPT and other deep learning quickly led to a flurry of lawsuits against model developers. Legal theories vary, but most are rooted in copyright: plaintiffs argue that use of their
Rethinking Reconstruction: Kate Masur on Freedom Was in Sight
“Freedom Was in Sight” conveys that even as Reconstruction ended and the Jim Crow order took shape in the South, not everything was lost.
Hannah Arendt: From an Interview | by Hannah Arendt
What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie—a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days—but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.
Project 2025 Tracker
Track the progress on Project 2025
Why Democrats Won’t Throw a Real Punch
Faced with existential threats from the right, the Democratic leadership remains timid; faced with demands for justice from the left, it goes on the attack.
Pluralistic: Ad-tech targeting is an existential threat (20 Feb 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Umarell - Wikipedia