Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Wow, this gives me hope for my homeland (the US) for the first time in years: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=RP8Oxe6OxJc or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP8Oxe6OxJc Especially Max. Max for President!

Revealed: river pollution twice as bad inside national parks as outside them - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/16/sewage-overflow-national-parks-england-wales-rivers-lakes #watercompanies are the epitome of corporate evil #sewage

Dear Fedi friends,

I would love to start a #GratefulForYou hashtag, doing shout-outs to Fediverse people that one finds inspiring, enlightening, or just plain cool.

The online world can be a dark, overwhelming place and I just wanted to encourage others to shine a light on people who make a positive difference... to say, "I see you, I hear you and I value you."

Today my #GratefulForYou goes out to @sylvia, whose creativity & positivity always uplift & inspire me ❤️

Who are you grateful for?

On the latest discourse...

"Don't comply in advance" includes "don't freak out more than is useful."

The word "prestige" used to mean "illusion." Human power enforcement has always been largely about illusion. Make yourself look bigger than you are. Paint the naked warriors blue. Wear a huge powdered wig. Project wealth through conspicuous consumption. Make each oppressed individual and group believe they're alone.

My experience of moving to rural Idaho has taught me so much, when I was terrified of everyone because of the huge Trump sign coming into town and the big trucks with threatening bumper stickers. That kept me freaked out and terrified and shy and unwilling to OWN WHO I AM and connect with people authentically and confidently.

Now that I'm getting to know folks, I'm finding that those bullies are in the minority. While yes, there's an echo chamber here for sure, plenty of people are willing to jump to say things like, "I never really was a big fan of Trump." There is a thriving human rights group here, too, and the turnout at No Kings was surprisingly huge given that I didn't even think there would be one in this town.

The *illusion* that everyone here was going to shoot me if they could was doing the work that they *don't have the actual resources to do*. It's a huge country and there are *hundreds of millions* of people. Even with each bit of power they grab, even with the full force of US military and legal might, it's not enough to take everyone, all at once, totally.

And it never will be.

But their victims thinking that they've already got it sewn up? That actually might be enough to lock it all down.

So stop doing that work for them. Don't give up.

And see if you can find joy somehow. And confidence in yourself. It's energizing.

And it's defiant.

#USPol #antifa

@wdlindsy

In the wake of the Georgia battery plant project shutting down...

Wondering which Republican billionaire donor will pick up these assets for pennies on the dollar?

Someone's going to get a big payday doing some asset stripping for private equity looters.

ICE raids are economic warfare & theft, just like the forced sale of TikTok; intended to benefit Trump's billionaire donors.
https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-yass-tiktok-bytedance-warren-buffett-wealth-billionaires-rich-poker-2025-3

1/

All corruption, all the time in Trump world: Great NYT reporting uncovers crypto billions flowing into the pockets of Trump, his family, and his close associates.

It simply doesn't get more corrupt than this.

Will Big Journalism will consign this to the usual memory hole?

https://archive.is/xczs1

Texas outlawed talking on campuses after 10 p.m. Students are fighting back.

Check out this op-ed from FPF Senior Adviser Caitlin Vogus in the Houston Chronicle:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/texas-law-lawsuit-speech-talking-college-campus-21045316.php

Purchase your music. Don't stream it. Musicians aren't properly compensated by streaming services. It's a scam involving the record labels: Spotify will now let free users pick and play tracks | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/15/spotify-will-now-let-free-users-pick-and-play-tracks/

I have a download code for a free audiobook version of my latest book.

Do I have any followers here who need audio? Looking for someone with a visual impairment.

PM me.

Important message from Jason Hickel on why bourgeois green politics are counterproductive. tl;dr - individual patterns of consumption are downstream from production systems - taking shorter showers and riding a bike doesn't change the structure of production, which is what is needed (and it alienates a lot of the working class). We need a structural, not individualist, analysis.

https://youtu.be/bjlqWHXrTak?feature=shared&t=5688

I wrote a paper for an econ course 20+ years ago about the IMF's "enhanced structural adjustment programs," which is the punishment you get for failing to make payments on your IMF loan. My findings were baffling - 90%+ default rate on IMF loans, and yet no changes made to the program. The ESAPs, which everyone agreed harmed the poor, seemed to be the whole point of making the loans in the first place. I see nothing has changed in the intervening years. 😡

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/8/29/sri-lankas-crisis-shows-how-debt-is-devouring-the-global-south

Trump regime's disgusting treatment of the Korean workers in Georgia seems designed to torpedo all foreign investment in the U.S.

Reminder: They were almost certainly treated better than most of the people ICE is kidnapping and disappearing.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/20250914/shackled-and-chained-mass-detention-of-koreans-fuels-criticism-of-us

Latest comic on the convenience of making less ethical choices

#comic #cartoon #journalism #academia #ethics #socialmedia

So the main org behind the protests that led to the overthrow of the government and the selecting of new PM on Discord(?!?) is a group called Hami Nepal. I have serious questions about this group. For one, their entire website is in English, without even an option to convert it to Nepali - i.e. the website is not meant for Nepalis, it's meant for Westerners.

https://www.haminepal.org/about

@coffee4danz I'm blind and for me alt text is the Big Special Thing about Mastodon. If someone posts a meme, I'm in on the joke. Someone shares beautifiul moss, or their cat, I'm in on the beauty or fun or whatever. I'm now 62, and this is the first time I entered a community and a culture where people grant me this kind of access and community. So grateful for people who do alt text.

Details what we know about ICE's shooting of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez.
https://unraveledpress.com/what-happened-to-silverio-villegas-gonzalez/

Part II of this thing I’m working on is ready.

Part I was called “Here’s Why Intolerance and Extremism happen.” It was about demagogues and artists (and more).

In Part II, I offer the lyrics to three songs,
-Sam the Sham’s “Lil Red Riding Hood”
-Roger and Hammerstein’s “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught,” and
-“Those were the Days.”

It’s about (almost) everything.

https://terikanefield.com/heres-why/

I'm trying to pull together the ideas I’ve been working out over the past several years.

lol

https://archive.is/1t1rm

Nothing we can do about these guys (that I will type under my government name). https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/9/12/2343158/-Cartoon-Future-Supreme-Court-decrees

It is an undeniable fact that Charlie Kirk “spewed hate and racism on his show.” That was his brand. Apparently a Secret Service employee has been suspended for saying so.

That is very different from celebrating his murder. Is this distinction too subtle for the NY Times?

We need to be able to condemn his murder without celebrating his life.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/us/politics/charlie-kirk-shooting-firings-celebration.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lk8.UAVT.j3Bl-Nfgieff&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare