Notices by gregg r (grheavyroller@mastodon.social)

The #handsoff protests are truly nationwide -- Bothell, Washington turns out

@kbeninato Carole Cadwalladr, the excellent reporter who coined the term Broligarchy, and who is about to lose her job at The Guardian, wrote about this on her Substack a week ago:

https://broligarchy.substack.com/p/it-is-a-coup

Reliable, independent sources are few and far between -- she's worth a subscription.

@pluralistic : "'Now the whole country gets the experience of what it’s like when private equity buys the place you work'. That's exactly it. We are witnessing a private equity-style plunder of the entire US government – of the USA itself."

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/07/broccoli-hair-brownshirts/#shameless

Mussolini reputedly said "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." We're living it.

In God We Trust will be replaced with Business As Usual

Hamilton Nolan: "The business lobby’s many years of selfish conduct and support for deleterious public policies have produced so much inequality and undermined our democratic institutions so successfully that we are now watching a strongman seize control of our government. Smooth move, you fucks. You grasping roaches. The things that you thought would always be there are crumbling. You are going to be homeless, with all the rest of us. And we are going to eat you."

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-business-community-is-extraordinarily?publication_id=1536173&post_id=156521241&isFreemail=false&r=kte6&triedRedirect=true

@pluralistic "Authoritarian societies are inherently corrupt, and corrupt societies are inherently unstable. Rule of thieves brings collapse, eventually, because they can't stop stealing." William Gibson, '"Agency"

@Dss @WiseWoman @pluralistic FWIW, I use Mastodon in my browser. I see the first post of the Long thread from the Home section (as well as a list in which I have Cory as a member), but not the following thread posts. I just click on the first post to see the thread.

@pluralistic looks out for his readers, for example the ease with which his Mastodon followers can see only the initial post of his threads if they choose: on the web, from Preferences select Filters; use the title Long thread; set Expire after to Never; check "Home and lists" and "Public timelines" for the Filter contexts; select Hide completely for the Filter action; type "Long thread" for the Keyword or phrase (minus the quotes); check Whole word; click Save changes.

@pluralistic : Surveillance pricing combined with cartel "IP rights" exemplify Wilhoit's' Law:

"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

Stopping this naked exploitation of consumers requires new privacy laws protecting consumers rather than cartels.

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/11/socialism-for-the-wealthy/#rugged-individualism-for-the-poor

It's a new Marty Hench book coming out this February, "Picks & Shovels"; it's the dawn of #enshittification ; it's @pluralistic -- what else do you need to know? Hop on Kickstarter and support excellent writing and DRM-free production!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/picks-and-shovels-marty-hench-at-the-dawn-of-enshittification

Choosing between two parties locked into appeasing the same zottarich donors ( @pluralistic 's marvelous term for the 0.01% from "Walkaway") only perpetuates the power imbalance. Time to try something new.

"Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth." -- Lucy Parsons

@violetblue : "If you take one lesson from today’s Cybersecurity Roundup, as well as from everything that’s happened in cyber this year and what fresh hell we’re looking at for 2025 and beyond: get yourself on a communication app that has end-to-end encryption for messages and everything else. Privacy and security on any US company’s apps or comms that are not end-to-end are going to be a complete horrorshow after the new administration is in full control."

https://www.patreon.com/posts/118999407

@Npars01 Billionaires prepping for the apocalypse in NZ should read @pluralistic 's recent adaptation of Poe's *The Masque of the Red Death*: "It’s the story of a plute who brings his pals to his luxury bunker during civilizational collapse in the expectation of emerging once others have rebuilt. They discover that humanity has a shared microbial destiny and that you can’t shoot germs. That every catastrophe must be answered with solidarity, not selfishness, if it is to be survived."

I bought the book in 2019, read the story and wondered why it hadn't happened yet. I read the story again when the news broke last week, and now I'm waiting for it to happen again. *Radicalized* by @pluralistic is excellent, and it's accompanying stories are equally so. Support you local writer!

https://craphound.com/category/radicalized-full/

"Americans may not care about hypocrisy, but they *really* care about being stolen from. No one wants to be a sucker."

This from @pluralistic should have been the Democrats' slogan for the last election:

"You have a right not to be cheated."

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/04/its-not-a-lie/#its-a-premature-truth

This passage from @pluralistic 's novel "Attack Surface" sums up how the technology we depend on has been turned against us:

@pluralistic : "Trump is a scab, Dems need unions, Dems are not faithful to unions, unions make the Dems better, workers want unions, the public loves unions, and union membership is falling."

"We've got four years. Join a union. Take over its leadership. Create solidarity with your fellow workers and your community. Bargain for a contract. Make it expire in 2028. Get ready.

Because in 2028, we're having a general strike."

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/11/rip-jane-mcalevey/#organize

With the election drawing near, it's good to recall Ed Yong's perfect précis of the incoherent man who again desires to drag the U.S. back into the pit of his fears, hatreds, delusions, and demons.

The Sentence.

#voteblue

"Who's laughing now?"

https://mastodon.social/@jwz/113330895244892964

@violetblue 's Pandemic Roundup is a compendium of the sublime & the ridiculous:

-US President Biden announces 3rd infection
-Australia, New Zealand Olympic teams taking precautions
-Canada’s new long covid tool
-Violet Affleck leads the way
-Masks back at Tour de France after multiple cyclists withdraw from covid
-Tour de France cyclist refuses to drop out after contracting covid

Support your pandemic correspondent!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/108356962

#covidsafety #covidisnotover #maskup