Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Let's play a game that is not a game: I'm curious what people are using for secure communications these days for groups where Signal is *not* an option (ie. let's assume people in the group have devices that are not iPhone or Android with Google Services). The group in question (a real use case, though they are likely not going to make change, I'm just curious what people will recommend) has the following requirements and threat model:

#AskFedi

A core thing that I preach falls right on its face when confronted by reality is the idea that it's valuable to retain contracting flexibility by replacing one big contract with a series of smaller contracts awarded over time. That's generally a good idea, *unless* an agency is facing the possibility of having a lot of their funding clawed back by an impending change in legislative control. At that point, they actually need to spend that money ASAP, with all of the loss of control that entails.

For U.S. folks, #^https://5calls.org/ provides a list of current legislative issues to call senators and representatives about.

This is a resource that I've been wishing for for a while, and a type of action that I think is really important.

Massacre in the jungle: how an Indigenous man was made the public face of an atrocity - https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/nov/26/massacre-in-the-jungle-how-an-indigenous-man-was-made-the-public-face-of-an-atrocity "In 2004, 29 people were killed by members of the Cinta Larga tribe in #Brazil’s #Amazon basin. The story shocked the country – but the truth of what happened is still being fought over"

@lightweight more than 4 and I’m uncomfortable. I’m going to start a support group for y’all. This is good. First step is admitting you have a problem.

‘What many of us feel’: why ‘enshittification’ is Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/nov/26/enshittification-macquarie-dictionary-word-of-the-year-explained @doctorow

The NYT vs. OpenAI court case found that OpenAI deliberately deleted vital evidence, such as proof of unauthorized AI training on data. OpenAI is also telling courts that it doesn’t have backup for deleted data and calling it a technical glitch 😂 are you kidding me? This is not the first time Sama lied and deleted the key evidence. If an average guy does something like this, they will be jailed immediately. But there is special treatment for billionaires like Sama. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/11/tech-problems-plague-openai-court-battles-judge-rejects-a-key-fair-use-defense/

I'm blaming DeJoy.

https://montanafreepress.org/2024/11/19/election-offices-in-montana-and-elsewhere-report-receiving-mailed-ballots-misdirected-from-other-states/

#Trump Orders Republicans to Kill Journalism Shield Law They Had Supported - https://www.techdirt.com/2024/11/25/trump-orders-republicans-to-kill-journalism-shield-law-they-had-supported/ "Many people voted for Donald Trump on the false belief that he would “protect free speech.” But in reality, nearly every instinct he has is to stifle free speech"

https://www.diffusionlibertaire.org/english/

A long-standing pillar of the Montreal anarchist community is asking for support to help cover the costs of some much-needed repairs to the building.

2033 Blvd Saint-Laurent is the home to Montreal's anarchist bookstore, L'insoumise, the DIRA anarchist library, and the queer feminist collective Les Révoltes.

Over the years, subMedia has hosted a number of outdoor film screenings and fundraisers here, generally held on the weekends of Montreal's anarchist bookfair.

If you're in a position to kick in, or want to organizer a fundraiser, please do!

Bloomington! Come to combat prison isolation and stay for a screening of It's Revolution or Death Part 1 with @bloomingtonabc

Request for support from Belkis Terán, mother of martyr Tortuguita, killed by police in 2023 for work to Stop Cop City. She needs $ support for travel to Atlanta next month to meet with lawyers, etc.

Please contribute if share if you’re able! Venmo: Belkis-Teran Zelle: belkisteran@hotmail.com

@Old Fucking Punk Of course we will fight.  Fighting is not optional.

And also, there is a lot of inertia in the U.S. system, which is both beneficial (it resists totalitarian takeover) and harmful (when things move to the right---including through antidemocratic process---there can be a ratcheting effect, as we've seen with the federal courts).  It's also useful to keep in mind that our system of government was never intended to be democratic.

I don't think economic collapse is a reliable escape valve.  Desperation makes people hungry for people to blame and more susceptible to propaganda that scapegoats others.  And it's been noted that the current state of the U.S. economy is a walk in the park compared to Germany in the 1920s.

"Christopher Alexander and his group of architects, back in the ’70s, compiled the groundbreaking book A Pattern Language, which looks at the built environment from a city scale down to the décor on your house walls in terms of the human relations that structures and spaces elicit."

#Starhawk, 2016

https://www.ic.org/social-permaculture-what-is-it/

#PatternLanguage #ChristopherAlexander #architecture #Psychogeography

The core of the prepper fantasy: "What if the world ended in the *precise* way that made *me* the most important person?" The ultra-rich fantasize about emerging from luxury bunkers with an army of mercs and bitcoin thumbdrives to a world in ruins that they rule using their "leadership skills."

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/25/mall-ninja-prophecy/#mano-a-mano

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I presume what would really offend republican voters would be allegations that Gaetz fed the children after he raped them

Two writers I respect enormously -- @joshtpm and @pluralistic -- posted complementary pieces in recent days, on Democrats, democracy, and institutions.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-party-of-institutions-in-an-era-of-distrust/sharetoken/fdd3e27f-73f6-45dd-a706-ca111139f4ac

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/21/policy-based-evidence/#decisions-decisions

I added some thoughts in my latest newsletter (first item): https://cornerstone.ghost.io/essentials-november-23-24-2024/

@thomholwerda Next cloud hosted by @coopcloud

Why is the eBook market such shit? You can't buy directly from the publisher but have to go through Amazon or Google (let me count the ways I hate this) and always with DRM (I want to read my book on my device with my choice of software) … and that's not even touching audiobooks where the situation is even worse.

The ugly truth of US politics that a lot of people seem to be in denial about (if there's anything we USians are good at, it's sticking our heads in the sand).