Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Today, for some reason, I'm remembering how anti-genocide protesters were treated by Democrats during the last election cycle. I remember them being jeered at and mocked by the Dem elite. I remember how the Biden admin began the crack down on pro-Palestine campus protests. I remember how Harris promised to continue funding the genocide.

For all my talk about community and grand ideals I have come to realize that a very large part of my politics boils down to: We ought to have nice things. And often the reason we don't is rich people telling us we can't afford it and powerful people telling us it's “unreasonable” and shits who just want to hurt others to fill some hole in themselves.

"You can interact with this technology and it's just like a real person!"

* fake nice for no practical reason
* unwilling to admit when they just don't know
* wasting time with social graces and frippery
* using flattery to hide incompetence or laziness
* fake enthusiasm because they want to be liked
* lies

... yeah. I guess I can't say that claim is untrue.

Google joins Apple in caving in to Trump regime re ICE-spotting app.

Looks like Android side-loading will the only way forward.

Big Tech's cowardice is disgusting, though no surprise.

https://apnews.com/article/apple-ice-iphone-app-immigration-fb6a404d3e977516d66d470585071bcc

actual perk of getting older: I used to worry "oh no if I [do a temporarily convenient or fun thing], what if that sets me up for a lifetime of indolence & disippation"

it is now WAY too late to get my life started on the wrong foot. I do what I want

This seems very grim: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/04/greta-thunberg-israel-gaza-sweden The Israelis appear to be trying to make an example of Thunberg. So brave of them 🙄 . (<-total sarcasm)

If you have any use for a bunch of old desktops and laptops, and can pick 'em up in Northwest Montana, boy have I got a deal for you.

@broadwaybabyto Civil rights attorney Ben Crump's legal team arranged for the Colin Kaepernick “Know Your Rights Camp Autopsy Initiative” to fund an independent autopsy. Dr. Matthias I. Okoye of Nebraska completed his inspection before Reed's funeral on Saturday, Sept. 27.

On the afternoon of Oct. 2, the Crump team told The Clarion Ledger that the conclusive autopsy hasn't been finalized and no details would be released until it was. https://archive.ph/VVtLF

If everyone was refusing to provide official IDs to verify their identity and age on social platforms, and just let their account rot there unused instead, we would soon see platforms themselves starting to advocate against these invasive laws to recover their users.

Just saying.
They need you more than you need them.
Stop complying with invasive requests.

#Privacy #AgeVerification

A San Francisco Supervisor wants to amend a landmark surveillance law so it is harder to sue police when they spy on you illegally. Police are not above the law and this policy change will result in one thing: more illegal surveillance. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/hey-san-francisco-there-should-be-consequences-when-police-spy-illegally

The EU is once again trying to push a dangerous legislative proposal that undermines encrypted communication and obliterates our rights to private conversations. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/09/chat-control-back-menu-eu-it-still-must-be-stopped-0

#BeckyBarnicoat on the growth of #fascism in #Britain – #cartoon | Becky Barnicoat | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/oct/04/becky-barnicoat-growth-fascism-britain-cartoon

#Humour #Satire #Politics #UK

Latest comic: Pundit bro doom loop

#comic #cartoon #media #journalism #authoritarianism

Sacramento folks! See you there!

I have a weekend blog post ready. I finished that thing I've been writing, which now has a new title:

Why Intolerance and Extremism Happen (and how to protect democracy in a divided world)

I take on some big questions. (See the screenshot)

The conclusions are what I’ve been trying to say for several years, but I believe now I've explained it better and with more context.

https://terikanefield.com/whyextremismhappens/

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@cstross @laird

For those who haven't been watching:

A load of AI companies are actually just OpenAI resellers. OpenAI is among the biggest investors in these companies, but NVIDIA is also big. The way it works is something a bit like this:

NVIDIA invests $10M in some AI company.
That company takes $2M in revenue for effectively reselling OpenAI models at well below cost.
That company buys $12M of OpenAI credits (from their revenue plus investor money).
OpenAI reports $12M of revenue and uses this to justify raising $100M more investor money.
OpenAI buys $100M of GPUs from NVIDIA.
NVIDIA reports $100M of revenue and an asset worth at least $10M.

Everyone wins! Money from thin air!

There's a more fun variant that is, roughly:

Investment firm has a $100M stake in NVIDIA.
Investment firm borrows $50 against this stake and uses it to invest in a load of AI startups (maybe even OpenAI).
Demand for GPUs goes up!
NVIDIA valuation increases significantly and now the firm's NVIDIA portfolio is worth $1B
Company slowly sells 20% of their stake (slowly, so it doesn't spook the market, but it's a fairly small fraction of market cap, so that's fine).
Company writes off the $50M investment in startups.
Company now has $150M in cash and an NVIDIA stake valued at $800M that they can borrow against.

If anyone except Trump were in the White House, I'd expect the end result of a bunch of SEC investigations to result in a lot of folks going to prison.

Choice is power.
Choice is freedom.
And I will never have anyone take that away from me.

@_elena kicks off Berlin #FediDay with something like a #Fediverse creed.

#SaveSocial

Trump casts shadow over Nobels as prize-awarding body warns academic freedom at risk - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/03/trump-nobel-prize-academic-freedom this alone disqualifies #trump for any award (especially for "peace")

@hetzner now listed on https://jaz.co.uk/projects/orgs-using-ap?

Do you know a company or organisation running their own Fediverse service? let me know!

me, a small farmer: Small farmers in the US aren't peasants who need to be saved. Most of us are middle class at LEAST. Here's the data if you don't believe me

folks from The City(TM): are you sure? have you considered all the Details? this does not fit my worldview & causes me distress. so surely you, Small Farmer, must be mistaken

folks from farm country: haha yeah I know right