Notices by kottke.org (kottke@mastodon.social), page 2

After 54 years, the organizers of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (which celebrates bad opening lines to novels) have brought an end to the contest. So bummed…a friend and I had a pretty good entry we’ve been workshopping! https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

Buttondown makes it super-easy to migrate your newsletter from Substack. Plus: “Need help migrating to Buttondown? Just contact our support team and we’ll take care of it for you!” No more excuses. https://docs.buttondown.com/substack

The Covid Alarmists Were Closer to the Truth Than Anyone Else. Those who followed the science and predicted mass death & social, economic, and political chaos in early 2020 were ridiculed — but they were right. (See also Trump alarmists.) https://kottke.org/25/02/covid-alarmists-closer-to-the-truth

“The ‘war on woke’ did not suddenly appear. It is an idea deeply rooted in a form of scientific racism that has been laundered into the mainstream over decades by the Pioneer Fund and right-wing activists connected with this group.” https://bylinetimes.com/2025/02/27/trumps-war-on-woke-and-dei-incubated-by-a-nazi-eugenics-foundation/

Great Timothy Snyder analysis of the Trump/Vance/Zelenskyy meeting. “There was a logic to what happened…the logic of throwing away all reason, yielding to all impulse, betraying all decency…in order to bring out the worst in the world.” https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-war-trump-chooses

Dana Milbank responds to the WaPo’s pivot to focusing on “personal liberties and free markets” with a piece *in the Post* calling Donald Trump “the single greatest threat to ‘personal liberties and free markets’ in the United States today”. 👏 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/28/free-markets-personal-liberties-trump-threat/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzQwNzE4ODAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzQyMDk3NTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3NDA3MTg4MDAsImp0aSI6IjJmNGI5ZTJiLWU0ZmMtNDBiNi05N2E2LTMwY2M4MWRjNzMwOSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy8yMDI1LzAyLzI4L2ZyZWUtbWFya2V0cy1wZXJzb25hbC1saWJlcnRpZXMtdHJ1bXAtdGhyZWF0LyJ9.vk_xqU0U-9i92b2c-jWPeCIzm7ILdtT-h37stIcRdv8

Women Are Scared And Scrapping Their Baby Plans Under This Administration & For Good Reason. “I don’t want to die trying to have another baby. I don’t want to leave my own living child motherless.” https://www.romper.com/pregnancy/the-families-changing-their-baby-plans-now-that-gestures-broadly

JD Vance is skiing at a Vermont resort this weekend. The resort’s snow reporter took the opportunity to make some good trouble, sending out a message of resistance against an administration “threatening our democracy, our livelihoods, our land”. https://kottke.org/25/03/jd-vance-chastised-by-vermont-snow-reporter

Many are participating in a 24-hour economic boycott on February 28th to protest the ongoing actions of the Trump administration and to send a message to corporate America. “No online shopping or in person. No Amazon, no Walmart, no Best Buy.” https://kottke.org/25/02/the-february-28-economic-blackout

Pedro Pascal responding to transphobia on social media: “I can’t think of anything more vile and small and pathetic than terrorizing the smallest, most vulnerable community of people who want nothing from you, except the right to exist.” https://www.capitalfm.com/news/pedro-pascal-trans-instagram-sister-lux/

The Great Resegregation. “Much of the chaos, lawlessness, and destruction of the past few weeks can be understood as part of the administration’s central ideological project: restoring America’s traditional hierarchies of race and gender.” https://kottke.org/25/02/the-great-resegregation

This website is tracking how many people have lost their jobs because of the USAID Stop-Work Order (55K confirmed, 100K+ estimated globally) and documenting other effects (people dying around the world). https://www.usaidstopwork.com/

Surviving Fascism: Lessons from Jim Crow. “Accept that this is happening. Denial won’t change the outcome.” https://scalawagmagazine.org/2025/02/surviving-fascism-lessons-from-jim-crow/

How Democracy Supporters Can Still Beat Back the Rising Tide of Fascism. “We are (still) in the majority. They are divided. Extreme levels of material inequality are eroding democracy. Knowledge is power. Organization matters.” https://lithub.com/how-democracy-supporters-can-still-beat-back-the-rising-tide-of-fascism

Here’s a site that tracks how much of Project 2025 has been implemented. Currently at 34%. https://www.project2025.observer/

“We, the opposition, are the majority. Take heart,” says Hamilton Nolan. “How do regimes manage to impose minority rule on enormous populations? By getting the majority to give up. Don’t do that.” https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/they-are-a-minority

Security expert Bruce Schneier & digital ethicist Davi Ottenheimer: “The U.S. government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history.” And: “This is beyond politics — this is a matter of national security.” https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/11/doge-cyberattack-united-states-treasury/?utm_content=gifting&tpcc=gifting_article&gifting_article=ZG9nZS1jeWJlcmF0dGFjay11bml0ZWQtc3RhdGVzLXRyZWFzdXJ5&pid=PNILoiIJgqmxsxl

House GOP has reintroduced the SAVE Act, which would require voters to show a passport or birth cert. when voting as proof of citizenship. But 140M Americans don’t have a passport and 69M women don’t have a birth cert. matching their current last name. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-save-act-would-disenfranchise-millions-of-citizens/

On a scale of +10 (full democracy) to -10 (full autocracy), the US now scores a 0, its lowest score since the Civil War. “The USA is no longer considered a democracy and lies at the cusp of autocracy.” https://www.systemicpeace.org/index.html

A federal judge has ordered the HHS, CDC, and FDA to restore their websites and datasets to how they were on Jan 30th by 11:59pm tonight. Resistance is not futile, but we’ll see how much Trump wants to push/piss off the judiciary. https://www.404media.co/federal-judge-orders-cdc-fda-to-bring-back-web-pages-before-midnight/