Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Set up an appointment with a new pain therapist. At the end of our intake call, I asked, "Hey, just to be clear, there's no binding arbitration waiver in your paperwork, right?"

That was 3 days ago. I was just getting ready to drive over and he texted me this, then called me and told me he wouldn't treat me because being asked about his paperwork "made him uncomfortable."

I guess from now on I just go to the first appointment, read the paperwork and if it's objectionable, cancel and walk out?

@pluralistic I had a job offer retracted because I asked to see the document that the agreement I was asked to sign said i had read and agreed to.

Anyone know if Prof Andhov is in the Fedi? I'm going to reach out to her...

This is a very good interview - Prof Alexandra Andhov is spot on: a) bigtech is more powerful than our gov'ts, b) our sovereignty is at stakes, so c) we need to band together (as she says!) to replace their influence with local forces who're better aligned with our culture and requirements, and can't just laugh off our nation's regulation.

Wyoming’s new age-verification law deputizes parents to enforce internet censorship through lawsuits—no oversight, no standards, just lawsuits.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/08/book-bans-internet-bans-wyoming-lets-parents-control-whole-states-access-internet

and there's very little reporting on it bc

1) very few people understand the H2A farm guest worker program

2) people who DO report on farm labor are all busy covering the ICE raids

this sounds like clickbait but nope

there was a huge modern-day slavery bust in Georgia in 2021, the Biden admin very deliberately put in a bunch of antislavery updates to the H2A farm guest worker program in 2024 as a result, farmers hated them, & Trump just got rid of them back in June

Making fun educational shorts about how Trump low-key made it easier to get away with slavery on farms haha yay

https://youtube.com/shorts/THHLR1wa8Qo

“This is absolutely being framed as a tool of abuse,” EFF’s @evacide told @404mediaco. “Anything where the justification is ‘catch your partner cheating’ or ‘get peace of mind about your partner’ is enabling coercive control.” https://www.404media.co/tiktok-shop-sells-viral-gps-trackers-marketed-to-stalkers/

✉️ Read in our weekly newsletter (and subscribe):

- LAPD lies about attack on reporters
- Israel murders journalists in Gaza to silence reporting
- Two years since ‘a massive failure’ of the justice system in Kansas
- Plus, what we're reading...

https://freedom.press/issues/lapd-lies-about-attack-on-reporters/

“There’s a lack of imagination for the worst case scenario,” EFF’s Beryl Lipton told Government Technology News. The only way to definitively keep this data from those who aren't supposed to have it is by not collecting and storing it in the first place. https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/d-c-takeover-shows-how-cities-can-lose-control-of-surveillance

What fresh hell is this `share.google` domain I'm suddenly seeing all over the place? Are we doing a throwback to the days when people thought URL shorteners were a good idea?

Lufthansa is now Air COVID 😱

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/08/boycott-lufthansa-removed-passenger-from-flight-for-wearing-a-medical-mask.html

PM's own Ramsey Kanaan was interviewed: “They’re replicating digitally the model of public libraries,” said Kanaan, who values the “intellectual commons” over “corporations big and small doing their best to monetize everything.”
Read the full article here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/98310-library-startup-briet-wants-to-revolutionize-e-book-sales-not-licensing.html

Affordability, Not Volatility: #Renewables’ Cost Advantage Grows - https://rmi.org/affordability-not-volatility-renewables-cost-advantage-grows/ "In 2024, more than 90 percent of new global renewable energy capacity was cheaper." #murica getting left behind thanks to #trump energy madness (v @azeemazhar)

Oh look, here they are being totally in touch and not at all psychopathic.

DNC Leadership Pressured Gen Z Member to Kill Resolution on Banning Arms to Israel

https://theintercept.com/2025/08/15/dnc-chair-israel-arms-weapons-gaza/?

Gotta love it when the Democrat leadership shows it's true colors. I actually had to listen to this to confirm - yup, she's praising Trump for his foreign policy. I can't comprehend the level of cognitive dissonance it must take for liberals to maintain the thought that these people are somehow going to save them from anything or anyone. If Hilary thought the Rs would elect her, she'd be one of them in a heartbeat.

Remember that this article is shrieking about a 17% decline in European tourists visiting the USA … back in *March*, only two months into the Trump administration and six months ago.

The endless litany of news about abusive ICE behaviour since then means tourism is probably down significantly further by now.

(I know I for one cancelled all US visit plans after last November 7th. Otherwise right now I'd be in Seattle.)
https://mastodonapp.uk/@marqle/115044978561690299

One more reason NOT to buy a car from Volkswagen: escalating enshittification that makes customers pay a monthly fee to "unlock" features already built into the car.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62weyp4qqgo