Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

With almost no exceptions, journalists have again been conned by Elon Musk and his PR minions.

One key exception, as usual, is Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/dont-fall-for-elon-inc-s-press-campaign/sharetoken/f4c7e195-4c56-4ba1-afca-ccf994331d0d

A PR person (whose name I've forgotten) once said to me, "You people" -- the press -- "are so easy."

You’ve seen my posts about Linux accessibility. You’ve read me scream about broken screen readers, unusable bootloaders, and the sheer volume of stuff that only works after three undocumented hacks and a blood sacrifice. That’s from someone who already knows how to deal with this mess.
But what happens when someone new tries to step in?
My partner just published the first post in a new blog series called “Linux: Helpful or Headache?” It’s a personal account of what it feels like to stare into the abyss of Linux as a blind user who hasn’t even installed it yet. This isn’t a “how to” guide. It’s not a technical tutorial. It’s a moment of honest vulnerability and curiosity in the face of a system that’s infamous for treating newcomers like an inconvenience.
Part One – An Introduction
https://reading4life.mataroa.blog/blog/linux-helpful-or-headache-part-one-an-introduction/
She’s totally blind. She’s used to Windows and iOS — platforms where accessibility is at least visible, documented, and supported. Linux? From the outside, it looks like a twisted obstacle course: too many distros, zero onboarding, no centralized help, and a community that can't agree on anything except that "you should have read the wiki."
And yet… she’s jumping in anyway.
This first post talks about that pre-installation limbo. The “what the hell even is a distro?” stage. The existential dread of picking between MATE and GNOME when you don’t even know how to pronounce “Flatpak.” The raw, unfiltered feeling of not knowing what you don’t know — and doing it anyway, because the itch to explore is stronger than the fear of breaking stuff.
There’s no cheerleading here. No “yay open source!” No tidy beginner tutorial with copy-paste terminal commands. Just one blind woman staring down the reality that Linux doesn’t come with a support number, and deciding to try it anyway — not because it’s easy, but because she wants to learn, grow, and maybe even call bullshit where it’s due.
And if you're wondering — no, I didn’t write or co-write it. This is her voice, her experience, her story. But it does tie in beautifully with the nightmare I’ve been chronicling in my own posts, from a totally different vantage point.
If you’ve ever tried to onboard someone to Linux, especially someone disabled, this is what it actually looks like. And if you’ve ever told someone “Linux is great, just pick a distro,” read this and realize how much we take for granted.
Go read it. Boost it. Follow the series. She's only just getting started.
#Linux #Accessibility #FOSS #DisabilityInTech #Blind #NewUserExperience #Debian #UX #TechBlog #DigitalInclusion

“If people can’t trust that the data they are giving the government will be protected, (and believe) that it will be used for things other than what they gave it for, it will lead to a crisis of trust,” EFF’s Mario Trujillo told @newyorktimes https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/trump-palantir-data-americans.html

🔔 Join us for a conversation about the Trump administration's attacks on broadcast licensees and nonprofits, featuring FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, Elias Law Group political law Chair Ezra Reese, and FPF's Caitlin Vogus.

🗓️ June 9, 2 p.m. EDT/11 a.m. PDT

RSVP: freedom.press/hijacking-public-interest

Privacy is Calling You, Will You Answer?—Looking for a smartphone and service that puts you in control of your data, privacy, and security?

Try the Librem 5 paired with Librem AweSIM, powered by PureOS—a fully open-source OS.

Buy here: https://puri.sm/products/librem-awesim/

I haven't customized the shop yet, but two of these are already up on Threadless for those interested. https://mcfadden.threadless.com/

Some ideas for an updated Massachusetts flag. https://www.patreon.com/c/BrianMcFadden

Born in 1814, Mikhail Bakunin was a Russian revolutionary and key anarchist thinker. Trained as a soldier, he turned to radical politics and spent his life opposing the state, organized religion, and authoritarian socialism. Exiled and imprisoned across Europe, he fought for workers’ liberation and collective freedom.

The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader is long out-of-print, but you can still order a signed, sketched copy directly from me.

https://tomdbug.wpcomstaging.com/tom-the-dancing-bug-store/#signed-books

Lawmakers don't need to risk criminalizing journalism to outlaw stalking and harassment.

Good for the New England First Amendment Coalition and the Rhode Island Press Association for speaking up about the problems with this legislation.

https://www.nefac.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/h5655_nefac_ripa.pdf

From the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker:

Dropping federal oversight programs into police reform means journalists are left to the policies and reform measures — if any — at the state and local level.

This and more updates in our Tracker newsletter from managing editor Kirstin McCudden:

https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/protecting-journalism-without-federal-police-reforms/

Chaos on German autobahns as Google Maps wrongly says they are closed - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/30/chaos-on-german-autobahns-as-google-maps-wrongly-says-they-are-closed "Drivers using the navigation app confronted with mass of red dots indicating stop signs" there's a moral here... #germany #google

Your guide to Cryptogate, Trump’s $4 billion corruption scandal that’s 10 times bigger than Watergate | Will Bunch
https://share.inquirer.com/BdAFY7

"That shift explains why Massachusetts remains a global center of education today. Even as late as World War II, the phenomenon was still regional, anchored on the East Coast, but its logic was already spreading. After the war, the credential became national. You could swing a hammer without a degree. But if you were expected to think, Harvard, or someplace like it, had to give you permission first."

This ☝️ is the worst thing about working manual labor jobs, imho.

Hi again folks 👋

As some of you may have noticed, we're experiencing another spam wave. Although a content reporting feature was merged into Forgejo very recently (https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/pulls/6977 🎉 ), they didn't make it to Codeberg like some other improvements.

Here's how you can help for now: Just tag @moderation in a reply (or e-mail moderation@codeberg.org), and we will get around to removing all of an account's issues.

Bullshit and fraud are the Trump regime's touchstones, so it's not even a tiny surprise to learn that RFKjr's "Make America Healthy Again” report cites bogus "studies" and lies about real ones.

Fine reporting from Notus, a news site you probably hadn't heard about.

https://www.notus.org/health-science/make-america-healthy-again-report-citation-errors

Getting our people out to talk and spread the word and community of Veilid costs money.

We want to keep doing this work, and want to spread the word of a a safer more privacy centric network experience.

But we need your help.

Veilid exists, and new tools keep coming online, but getting the word out is critical.

Here is our fundraiser. Every dollar made will go directly to Veilid Foundation.

Help us continue to get the word out globally.

https://www.customink.com/fundraising/veilid-aint-came-to-lose

You may ask, why are you still doing fundraisers?

Because we don’t do this with Venture Capital. We have gotten this far…Punk AF, one T-shirt as a time.

We don’t accept enshittified dollars. Yes, there have been offers.

We do this grassroots and how we see as righteous. No sellout.

The revolution will not be monetized.

Ok #Fediverse: if I was keen to set up an Aotearoa-based tech services #cooperative, what coop models would people suggest I look at - looking for good descriptions of how they'd be set up, especially to recognise the contributions of those involved. All insights appreciated!

The difficult truth is that since the Microsoft takeover, GitHub has evolved into a near-totally automated vast human labour exploitation apparatus, that holds coders to ransom through their legacies and professional dependence upon it. They built up coder morale and buy-in on the back of a rhetoric and culture of openness and collaboration (and great tooling) only to quietly work to implement the very machinery that ultimately threatens that same culture, its openness and warmth.

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