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1. Embed this notice
   Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:49:52 JST Cory Doctorow

   Today's threads (a thread)

   Inside: It's pretty easy to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, actually; and more!

   Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/27/beltway-bandits/

   #Pluralistic

   1/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:50:08 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     *Picks and Shovels* is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. THIS IS THE LAST DAY to pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton:

     http://martinhench.com

     2/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:50:36 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     It's pretty easy to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, actually: Just end all the private-sector profiteering.

     https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/113901508480062618

     3/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:51:31 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Hey look at this

     * Labour’s decision to muzzle regulators in the name of ‘growth’ will backfire horribly https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/25/labours-decision-to-muzzle-regulators-in-the-name-of-growth-will-backfire-horribly

     * We Only Have Ourselves: The How-Tos and DOs and DON’Ts of Mutual Aid https://lithub.com/we-only-have-ourselves-the-how-tos-and-dos-and-donts-of-mutual-aid/

     * Austin rents have fallen for nearly two years. Here’s why. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/22/austin-texas-rents-falling/ (h/t Hacker News)

     4/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:51:49 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     #20yrsago Gilberto Gil’s extraordinary engagement with Brazilians https://web.archive.org/web/20050130034511/http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002400.shtml

     #20yrsago Social Security “crisis” commentary that had me laughing aloud https://fafblog.blogspot.com/2005_01_23_fafblog_archive.html#110687103723037689

     #20yrsago Details on cracking Apple’s iTunes DRM https://web.archive.org/web/20050129031800/http://osdir.com/Article3823.phtml

     #20yrsago Outstanding tips for community moderation https://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/006036.html#006036

     #15yrsago Copyright-maximalist judges plagiarize lawblogger in opinion https://www.24oranges.nl/2010/01/23/judges-plagiarize-blog-posting-in-copyright-case/

     5/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:51:59 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     #10yrsago Comcast ghost-wrote politicians’ letters in support of Time Warner Cable merger https://www.theverge.com/2015/1/26/7878239/comcast-twc-fcc-merger-letters-politicians-ghostwritten

     #10yrsago Koch brothers raise 2016 election warchest that’s on par with either party’s spend https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/us/politics/kochs-plan-to-spend-900-million-on-2016-campaign.html

     #10yrsago Podcast: The case for … cities that aren’t dystopian surveillance states https://ia802809.us.archive.org/11/items/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_325/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_325_-_The_case_for_cities_that_arent_dystopian_surveillance_states.mp3

     #5yrsago Listen: loudspeakers broadcast corona virus closure messages to the empty streets of Shanghai Disneyland https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1221812589161799682

     6/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:52:13 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     #5yrsago Amazon threatened to fire 2 tech workers who spoke about climate and Amazon’s business, then 357 more workers joined them https://amazonemployees4climatejustice.medium.com/amazon-employees-share-our-views-on-company-business-f5abcdea849

     #5yrsago Climate denial has destroyed the libertarian movement https://jacobin.com/2020/01/libertarianism-climate-change-environment-private-property

     #5yrsago Why I won’t buy an Ipad: ten years later https://memex.craphound.com/2020/01/27/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-ten-years-later/

     #5yrsago One of the CIA’s waterboarding torturers called himself “The Preacher” and shouted religious nonsense while performing executions https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/25/some-folks-were-tearful-cia-waterboarding-on-trial-in-guantanamo

     7/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:52:26 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     #5yrsago The privacy-invading, junk science “home DNA test” industry is cratering https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/01/23/276092/is-the-consumer-genetics-fad-over/

     #1yrago Solar is a market for (financial) lemons https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/27/here-comes-the-sun-king/#sign-here

     8/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:52:37 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Saturday's threads: It's not a crime if we do it with an app; and more!

     https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/113890218967430211

     8/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:52:47 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     My last nationally bestselling novel was "The Bezzle," an ice-cold revenge story of high-tech finance crime starring the forensic accountant Martin Hench.

     https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

     Signed copies from Chevalier's Books:

     https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/product-page/the-bezzle

     --

     My latest nonfiction book is "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation" from Verso Books:

     http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

     Signed copies available from Book Soup:

     https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245

     Both are national bestsellers!

     10/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:53:07 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."

     https://craphound.com/shop/

     10/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:53:17 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Upcoming appearances:

     * Picks and Shovels with Ken Liu (Boston), Feb 14
     https://brooklinebooksmith.com/event/2025-02-14/cory-doctorow-ken-liu-picks-and-shovels

     * Picks and Shovels with Charlie Jane Anders (Menlo Park), Feb 17
     https://www.keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/cory-doctorow

     * Picks and Shovels with Wil Wheaton (Los Angeles), Feb 18
     https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Cory-Doctorow-Wil-Wheaton-Author-signing

     * Picks and Shovels with Dan Savage (Seattle), Feb 19
     https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-with-dan-savage-picks-and-shovels-a-martin-hench-novel-tickets-1106741957989

     11/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:53:32 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

     * Picks and Shovels at Another Story (Toronto), Feb 23
     https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/picks-shovels-cory-doctorow-tickets-1219803217259

     * Picks and Shovels with John Hodgman (NYC), Feb 26
     https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-john-hodgman-picks-and-shovels-tickets-1131132841779

     * Picks and Shovels (Penn State), Feb 27
     https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/assets/uploads/CoryDoctorow-Poster.pdf

     * Picks and Shovels at the Doylestown Bookshop (Doylestown, PA), Mar 1
     https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-picks-and-shovels-a-martin-hench-novel-tickets-1146230880419

     * Picks and Shovels at Red Emma's (Baltimore), Mar 2
     https://redemmas.org/events/cory-doctorow-presents-picks-and-shovels/

     12/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:53:45 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

     * Picks and Shovels with Lee Vinsel (Richmond, VA), Mar 5
     https://fountainbookstore.com/events/1795820250305

     * Picks and Shovels at First Light Books (Austin), Mar 10
     https://thethirdplace.is/event/cory-doctorow-picks-shovels-1

     * Picks and Shovels at Dark Delicacies (Burbank), Mar 13
     https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3257/Thu%2C_Mar_13th_6_pm%3A_Pick_%26_Shovel%3A_A_Martin_Hench_Novel_HB.html#/

     * Cloudfest (Europa Park), Mar 17-20
     https://cloudfest.link/

     * Picks and Shovels at Imagine! Belfast (Remote), Mar 24
     https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cory-doctorow-in-conversation-with-alan-meban-tickets-1106421399189

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:53:53 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Upcoming appearances (cont'd)

     * ABA Techshow (Chicago), Apr 3
     https://www.techshow.com/

     * Teardown 2025 (PDX), Jun 20-22
     https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardown/portland-2025

     * DeepSouthCon63 (New Orleans), Oct 10-12, 2025
     http://www.contraflowscifi.org/

     14/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:54:13 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     Recent appearances:

     * A radical plan to fight U.S. tariffs and build an export industry jailbreaking consumer products from iPhones to tractors
     https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-14-day-6/clip/16123612-a-radical-plan-fight-u.s.-tariffs-build-export

     * Right to Repair with Karen Sandler (Software Freedom Conservancy):
     https://videos.trom.tf/w/q1AAL629GYMFtN6nCy15WE

     * Just Say It's Capitalism (This Week in Tech)
     https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1014?autostart=false

     15/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:54:23 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     You can follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!

     Here's today's edition: https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/27/beltway-bandits/

     --

     If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is ad-/tracker-free, and is utterly unadorned save a single daily emoji. Today's is "🍅". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!

     --

     You can also get a fulltext RSS feed, licensed CC BY 4.0:

     https://pluralistic.net/feed/

     16/

   • Embed this notice
     Cory Doctorow (pluralistic@mamot.fr)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 02:54:42 JST Cory Doctorow

     in reply to

     *Picks and Shovels* is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. THIS IS THE LAST DAY to pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton:

     http://martinhench.com

     eof/

   • Embed this notice
     tanya tussing (tanyatussing@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 06:48:35 JST tanya tussing

     in reply to

     @pluralistic Great blog post about ways to cut the US federal deficit in ways that are financially and socially healthy for most Americans.

   • Embed this notice
     Ulrich Best (ubx@mastodon.online)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 07:56:29 JST Ulrich Best

     in reply to

     @pluralistic As a federal employee of a different country, and of course speaking as a private citizen, I support this message.

   • Embed this notice
     cpm (cpm@spore.social)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 22:20:49 JST cpm

     in reply to

     @pluralistic

     As an on & off former beltway bandit worker.

     I wholly endorse this message.

     Too many anecdotes from the near half-century of being/working in & around the region to even hope to encapsulate in a post.

     folks can't grasp the scale, because it defies credulity.