Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

There is an ongoing low-grade crisis of political manipulation on twitch, X, and youTube.

Here are three stories:

Rightwing twitch streamers were "botting"
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/08/27/huge-drop-in-twitch-streams-explained-platforms-crackdown-on-viewbotting/

MAGA bot network on X
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/maga-ai-bot-network-divided-trump-epstein-backlash-rcna219167

Secret Payments For Centrist Dems on YouTube (some conditions may apply)
https://www.wired.com/story/dark-money-group-secret-funding-democrat-influencers/

I created a repo @Codeberg for my really simple #XSL-weblog:
https://codeberg.org/harlows/xsl-weblog

It's part of my tiny attempt to preserve #XSLT and very much a work-in-progress. Thus far it's really just a repackaging of Evan Widloski's example:
https://github.com/Evidlo/xsl-website

You can see it evolve here:
https://blog.harlow.net.nz/
or follow the #RSS feed:
https://blog.harlow.net.nz/feed.xml
Transformed by the magic of #XSLT!

@Sarahp

One option for Bluesky users who are concerned that they might be blocked from the Bluesky network is to "Bounce" to Mastodon.

Bounce is a cool tool from the makers of Bridgy Fed that allows you to migrate your Bluesky account to a Mastodon account and retain all your follows and followers.

You will still be able to interact with bridged Bluesky accounts and won't have to worry about geographic blocks.

Check it out: https://techboltx.com/bounce-social-media-migration-tool/

When the Washington Post asked 604 DC residents about Trump’s takeover, Post editors didn’t like what they said, so they took it out of the headline.

https://fair.org/home/wapo-editors-doing-their-best-to-conceal-reporters-vital-work-on-dc-occupation/

@dangillmor #ICE #usPolitics #trump

remember kids, just say “ask again later” to drugs

"Open"AI is scanning its users' chats and reporting them to the cops.

https://futurism.com/openai-scanning-conversations-police

notice this new tax. Why? Because they spend proportionally less on essentials, and far more on investments or luxuries untouched by tariffs. Their wealth insulates them from feeling any pain, while higher prices crush everyone else.

So forget the hype. Tariffs are just a back-door tax shift, punishing those with the least cushion while insulating those with the most. A reverse-Robin Hood scheme wrapped in patriotic branding, being aggressively peddled by conservative politicians, …

First confirmed case of screwworm in the US. What does it mean?

This news is somehow being treated with both way MORE PANIC and also LESS SERIOUSNESS than it deserves. Let's talk about flesh-eating maggots wooooooooo

https://youtu.be/tdM1_lsYPAI

For #BlackAugust we're rewatching the first ever episode of System Fail, Riots Across America.

This episode chronicles the rise, repression and recuperation of the George Floyd uprising and interviews Oluchi Omeoga of the Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block.

https://kolektiva.media/w/5qAAeiNhB7z5uY2GUZSU3z?start=0s

I'm handing https://activitypub.rocks over to the community! And I wrote a post about it https://activitypub.rocks/news/handing-off-activitypubrocks-to-the-activitypub-community.html

I did the original design of activitypub.rocks 9 years ago and I haven't done much to keep it up to date. So the W3C SocialWG is taking over instead!

As a nice sendoff, the blogpost also includes some fun AP history, which I detail a bit in this thread too 🧵

Now that he signed an executive order about it, all I want to do is burn a US flag, but I also don't want to burn all that plastic.

Maybe if I just pee on it? That's better for the environment, and because it's reusable, I can do it as often as I want!

Last chance to help bring Seahorses to life — a powerful collection of trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive pregnancy stories celebrating resilience, family, and joy. Back the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ww3/seahorses

Republicans investigate Wikipedia over allegations of organized bias - https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5473331-wikipedia-bias-probe-republicans/ what they mean: they want the right kind of organised bias in #wikipedia...

In Greece, neo-Nazis like the Spartans posed as “helpers” shopping for the elderly, escorting voters then entered into parliament.

Now UK extremists are copying the same playbook. They call it “concierge nationalism,” with street patrols, escort apps and fake charities that sell hate as care.

Don't be fooled. This isn’t protection. It’s fascism repackaged.

https://bylinetimes.com/2025/08/27/concierge-nationalism-how-the-far-right-is-selling-extremism-as-a-lifestyle-service/

“What we need are people who are prepared to be unpopular. Who are prepared to put themselves in danger. Who are prepared to tell the truth. Brave journalists can do that, and they have. Brave lawyers can do that, and they have. And artists — beautiful, brilliant, brave writers, poets, musicians, painters and filmmakers can do that.

That beauty is on our side.

All of it.”

#Books #MotherMaryComesToMe #ArundhatiRoy #literature

https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/we-are-being-lied-to-responding-to-request-to-hate-each-other-arundhati-roy-10215277/?ref=hometop_hp

"I am not here to make a careful comprehensive argument, because people have already done that. I am here to be rude, because this is a rude technology, and it deserves a rude response."

"But I am a hater, and I will not be polite. The machine is disgusting and we should break it. The people who build it are vapid shit-eating cannibals glorifying ignorance. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself."

https://anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/haterdom/2025/08/26/i-am-an-ai-hater.html

CDC slashed food safety surveillance, now tracks only 2 of 8 top infections - https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/08/cdc-stopped-actively-tracking-6-foodborne-infections-amid-budget-cuts/ still want to eat #murican food, already less safe than UK/EU stuff?