Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@qoto.org

Tonight, I sent my public Facebook page into hibernation. I am leaving up as an archive of my work in the Senate and my work as a journalist. But I no longer find it fun or useful to post there - and my algorithm sends me is a never ending stream of racist, transphobic and smutty posts. That - plus the standard chronic abuse from trolls, which had always been there - and I’m done. Tomorrow I delete my Senate Instagram account too. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted. #Meta #Facebook

Amidst the current American hellscape, want to share one bit of good news.

I can see well again.
Just had cataract surgery.

An amazing difference.

I can read books without a magnifying glass.
Read the computer without having to always enlarge the screen.
Drive even at night.
Walk the dogs at night without headlamp and feeling the road with my cane.

And at night I looked up and saw all these little white specks in the sky.

Stars. I can see stars.

The UK's Demands for #Apple to Break #Encryption Is an Emergency for Us All

There is no technological compromise between strong encryption that protects the data and a mechanism to allow the government special access to this data. Any “backdoor” built for the government puts everyone at greater risk of hacking, identity theft, and fraud
#backdoor #security #privacy #e2ee #uk

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/02/uks-demands-apple-break-encryption-emergency-us-all

Elon pretty pissed

"Elon Musk said on social media in response to Coristine being identified: "Can't believe they doxxed another DOGE team member …" "

Aren't we all, little buddy, aren't we all. I'm pretty pissed that you're not rotting in jail Elon.

normalize deportation of Elon Musk

Hmm, someone raided (part of) my not-a-trademarked-library-with-free books.

Either:
1. A teenage girl suddenly realizing ALL the books she wanted to read but couldn't find at the library were there.
2. My mother-in-law looking for the newest looking books to sell at the senior citizens "boutique store".
3. Used book dealer who happened to drive by. (I pity the people who try to make a living as a used book dealer)

LOL
(the books are free, so that's fine, it just means I'm going to have to go to the thrift store and find a few new titles to round out the collection again... as long as they are being read!).

Reminder: When GOP talks about getting rid of “DEI” they don’t mean getting rid of stupid contrived training that does no good. They mean getting rid of Black people, women, trans folk, and others that don’t fit their ideal of a white ethnostate. They mean getting rid of *PEOPLE*. Not programs.

This is an update of some of our activities for the month of January, 2025.

January was a hell of a year, especially for those of us on Turtle Island, but also for those of us who cannot escape the foreign policies of the so-called "United States".

It somehow seems old-hat to say that we're dealing with an overt fascist takeover here. It's almost too obvious to be meaningful anymore. But despair is what's expected of us
https://anarchistrrl.blackblogs.org/2025/02/04/january-update-2/

@ai6yr You'd have to be pretty dumb to cooperate even if you're in the country legally. Do you WANT your groceries to get more expensive?

Keep pushing back. Hard.

He blinked on tariffs when Mexico and Canada showed some spine.
His California water stunt failed and has been ridiculed.
He was forced to roll back cutting grants and govt payments.
NSF support is resuming.
CDC webpages are being restored.
Street protests are starting.
Lawsuits are being filed.
Fight back.

Awesome! In the US, a nationwide protest is organized for Wednesday.

Boost this because Trump deserves it.

https://www.newsweek.com/50-states-anti-trump-protest-nationwide-february-5-details-2025300

Via @MontyRunner — thanks! ♥️

IMPORTANT UPDATE:
https://mastodon.social/@randahl/113945836475979928

Meta just paid Trump $25 million to settle a lawsuit that his first amendment rights were violated when he was removed from Instagram.

The First Amendment does not grant you a platform.

So the corruption is just flagrant at this point.

In case you were wondering... My spouse is a school bus driver, and these are the instructions drivers have received today.

Earlier today, Anglican Priest Calvin Robinson ended a speech at a pro life summit in DC by giving the exact same Nazi salute that Elon Musk did.

The crowd laughed & cheered.

The Anglican Church revoked his license.

This is how you handle Nazis. You condemn them. You don’t pander to them.

Considering how many organizations excused Musk’s salute as an “awkward gesture”, I’m incredibly grateful to see the church taking a strong stand against hate

https://anglican.ink/2025/01/29/calvin-robinson-license-revoked-by-the-anglican-catholic-church-over-political-actions/

#uspoli #fascism #nazis #anglicanchurch #resist #calvinrobinson #donotcomply

Today on r/fednews. Lots of acknowledgment that the scam buyout sent to employees yesterday is a scam. And things like this:

"To my fellow Feds, especially veterans: we’re at war

We watched this goon try to overthrow the government on live tv four years ago. Now, we are witnessing him try to overthrow it from within. We are the last line of defense against fascism. If we leave, we will be replaced by loyalists. Read P2025 and, for the love of god, please believe what is written because that is what is happening. All the EOs are directly from that document.

I didn’t dedicate years of my life serving this great country to be bullied into quitting my career by a bunch of fascists. We are being led by the same types of people our grandparents fought against in WW2. They don’t care about us, regardless of the fact that one-third of us are veterans and many are military family members. They don’t care about your kids, your homes, your bills, your livelihood. They don’t care that you’re an American citizen. They don’t care that the annual spending on us is only 4% and won’t make a difference if we’re gone. They don’t care that we’re middle and lower class employees. They want to harm you. Do not give in to this nonsense and remember your oath to the constitution and the people of America. I don’t know what the future holds, but I refuse to bow down to this fascist authoritarian elite class. Nobody is coming to save us but we have strength in numbers. It’s time to buckle up, and continue protecting freedom and democracy."

In this time of search engine decline and AI flooding the net with trash...

...it's time to bring back curated information. Expert reseachers and tomes of information.

This is the age of the librarian.

The people who are now in charge of the Office of Personnel Management apparently don’t know how to scrub PDF metadata, and have exposed the original authors of the guidance they’re publishing. Two have links to the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025.

Noah Peters is the author of the OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell’s January 27 memo (archive) providing guidance on the “Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce” executive order, which is being described as the “Schedule F” order because it effectively reinstates that policy under a new name (“Schedule Policy/Career”). Peters also authored the January 20 memo (archive) from Ezell, which exploits loopholes to bypass limits on political appointments. Both of these memos are clear steps towards achieving a primary goal of Project 2025: to expand President Trump’s power, and to replace career civil servants with Trump loyalists.

As far back as 2023, The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 was recommending Peters for a position in Trump’s second administration. Peters had previously been appointed by Trump in 2019 as the Solicitor at the Federal Labor Relations Authority, where he “aided and defended Trump appointees’ anti-union FLRA policies that went against decades of the agency’s own precedents” according to Court Accountability Action and State Democracy Defenders Action.4 Peters returned to private practice in 2022, but recently quietly updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect a new title of “Senior Advisor” to the Office of Personnel Management. This appointment does not appear to have been announced anywhere else.

1/2

#USpolitics #USpol #Project2025 #HeritageFoundation

Remember Project 2025? That Trump said he knew nothing about?

Anyhoo, the federal documents that Trump has been putting out for instructions have Project 2025 authors all over them, as they forgot to strip the metadata. https://www.404media.co/opm-memos-to-federal-employees-metadata/