Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

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

Today, we’re ready to show you the upcoming quote posts feature in more detail. We’ve put together a blog post with examples of how quote posts will work on Mastodon, ahead of early access on our own servers next week 💬 Full launch to come, in Mastodon v4.5

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/09/introducing-quote-posts/

"Maybe the worst thing I’ve seen today is Ezra Klein’s smarmy 'Charlie Kirk practiced politics exactly the right way' in Thursday’s New York Times. …

Author Mark Harris said it better than I could on Bluesky: 'You can write this only if, by virtue of your income, identity, or both, you are utterly removed from the consequences of politics.'"

~ Joan Walsh

#CharlieKirk #guns #violence
/20

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/charlie-kirk-assassination-tragedy/

First we get scammed by fossil fuel companies responsible for climate disasters, then we get scammed by post-disaster contractors.

https://grist.org/extreme-weather/first-came-the-wildfire-then-came-the-scams/

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, it was taboo to point out that his politics, and those of the MAGA movement he embraced, contributed to a culture of hatred and demonization.

https://fair.org/home/kirk-coverage-downplayed-magas-culture-of-violence/

I am seeing a broad effort to search social media & pressure organizations to fire people who have said negative things about Charlie Kirk in recent days.

The State Department has also warned immigrants against "praising, rationalizing, or making light" of his death.

https://www.axios.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-shooting-immigrants-state-department

Trump apparatchik's attack on Federal Reserve board member pretends it's about mortgage filings, but Reuters shows that the entire "case" is bogus -- just what you'd expect from a thoroughly corrupt regime.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fed-governor-cook-declared-her-atlanta-property-vacation-home-documents-show-2025-09-12/

Enjoyed a gyro so much that place should hang a GYROS poster of me smiling with that shit all over my beard.

Hey #electronics, question for you.

What small weatherproof, bike-proof, 4-pin connector would you use for signals?

All I can think of is a custom pogo pin abomination, but there must be a better option.

#AskFedi #dyi #mechanical

From the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker:

The LA Press Club won a preliminary injunction against the LAPD on Sept. 10.

The ruling comes after a federal judge said a “cannonade of evidence” showed the “LAPD appeared to target journalists” during a wave of immigration protests this summer.

https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/

Federal agencies are sharing data even when they’re not supposed to, EFF’s Cooper Quintin told KQED News. “Even if you personally are not concerned about ICE… it should be concerning to anybody. This is going to be used to further dragnet surveillance.” https://www.kqed.org/news/12055606/how-ice-is-using-your-data-and-what-you-can-do-about-it