ABrockwell @aebrockwell@qoto.org

A must-read from @jeffjarvis. There's even data: "U.S. ranks 36th worldwide in literacy. The lack of education in the United States, the attack by the fascist right on the institutions of education, and the ignorance of too much of the public is what made them vulnerable to the siren call of #fascism, #Fox, and extremist right propaganda."

https://medium.com/whither-news/this-is-how-the-brokentimes-covers-the-fascist-oligarchy-b6b2c38e1178

#NYT
#MAGA

The Onion really nails the morality we assign to "those who lost their homes" and "homeless people":

LAPD Arrests Everyone Who Lost Home In Fire

https://theonion.com/lapd-arrests-everyone-who-lost-home-in-fire/

In the coming months, many folks will feel power has foresaken them, and be driven into anger and sadness by their inability to effect some larger victory over the injustices they see.

I offer only this, from the movie The Hobbit:

“Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds or ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”

That’s what will preserve our humanity.

The war on "woke" is actually a war on workers. Like Musk before him, Zuckerberg appears to resent the people who work for him and make him rich. @AmandaMarcotte https://www.salon.com/2025/01/17/the-tech-billionaire-on-woke-is-really-targeting-workers/

#Journalists saw SpaceX's Starship explode with their own eyes, but many of their stories reported that it had "failed, "was damaged,"" or was "lost." SpaceX, of course, called it a "rapid unscheduled disassembly ." Now that the FAA has grounded it, they all are willing to use the "ex" word. Attributions are not needed for things you see. The Sun rose in the east this morning. Fascists are preparing to take over the American government. Now, more than ever, we need #reporting, not #stenography.

Breaking: #SCOTUS unanimously holds that only American companies have the right to spy on you and sell your secrets.

#Satire

“Only 16 percent of Republicans, the Pew project has found, say they believe what they hear on NPR.”

The problem is Republicans, not NPR.

This is yet another whining opinion piece by a Republican who wants public broadcasting to be Fox News.

https://thehill.com/opinion/5089700-defunding-public-broadcasting/

Honestly, the Senate would confirm Charles Manson at this point if Trump nominated him.

“Senate holds confirmation hearings for Treasury, EPA, other Trump Cabinet posts”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/16/senate-confirmation-hearings/

@Js_wordsmith
One person more than anyone else is responsible for this disaster we're facing...

Mitch McConnell. He could have given the ok to republican senators to impeach Trump and it would be over. He chose instead to "have the justice department deal with it". Profile in cowardice.

@GottaLaff @emptywheel

"I knew that one day we might have to watch as capitalism and greed and bigotry led to a world where powerful men, deserving or not, would burn it all down. What I didn’t expect, and don’t think I could have foreseen, is how incredibly cringe it would all be. I have been prepared for evil, for greed, for cruelty, for injustice – but I did not anticipate that the people in power would also be such huge losers."

~ Rebecca Shaw

#Trump #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg
/8

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/16/i-knew-one-day-id-have-to-watch-powerful-men-burn-the-world-down-i-just-didnt-expect-them-to-be-such-losers

The way most people have rejected the AI hustle but seemingly every Western government has gone for it like it were stupid pictures of apes.

We entrusted these people to run our lives and they get tricked with an obvious hustle, they are not Serious People, they are fools.

#GenAI #Politics

it's weird that an entire us political party is just "we want to do maximum cruelty" and the democrats are like "it's important to listen to these people and take their positions seriously"

Someone accused me of bias this morning. Specifically, bias against MAGA and Trump supporters. Apparently it's disappointing to discover that I'm not the morally neutral arbiter of truth they imagined me to be.

So let's talk about it. Let's talk about my neutrality. A thread. 🧵

Among all his crimes, Donald Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal illegal campaign contributions, and today he was sentenced to no fines and zero days in prison.

The US truly is where justice goes to die.

Basically, a functioning society needs trusted epistemic authorities. It's just not workable for everyone to be their own freelance truth finder, however attractive that romantic notion might be to some people.

"The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritising free speech," said Mark Zuckerberg.

Doublespeak.

As I wrote the other day:

#USpolitics #USpol

Moments before you see a targeted ad online, your personal information is being exposed to thousands of advertisers and data brokers. Learn how to protect yourself. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/online-behavioral-ads-fuel-surveillance-industry-heres-how

💀

Another form of vaccine:

“Science literacy is a vaccine against the charlatans of the world that would exploit your ignorance.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson