Paul Sutton @zleap@qoto.org

Trump has fired the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter which had just released a report warning of the risks of using generative AI on copyrighted creative materials. Her firing comes just days after Trump fired the woman who hired her: Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.

Trump Fires Copyright Office C...

Fuck.

Spread the word and light up those phone /email lines.

We just learned yesterday that the majority on the House Ways and Means Committee added language to the reconciliation bill that would give the administration unchecked power to revoke nonprofit tax status for organizations.

Section 112209 raises profound constitutional concerns, as it opens the door to restrictions on free speech and could be weaponized against organizations that promote civil rights and liberties and racial justice.

They paused that nonprofit EO because the sector immediately mobilized and was prepared.

These sneaky shits hope we don't notice this time around.

Have a favorite nonprofit? Speak up on their behalf.

#uspol #nonprofits

GreatApe is a public conversations platform for the Fediverse and decentralized social-media (DeSo) — where an audience can listen to your conversation live.

We are very close to doing a public GreatApe release.

Just a bit more polishing.

#DeSo #Fediverse #GreatApe

This is Postmodern, my concept for a #Fediverse platform. This mockup is a builder interface for making your own UI, timelines, and pages visually. It’s a weird and ambitious concept, but this is what I’ve been dreaming about for years.

Blog post dropping this week.

GLAAD 2025 Social Media Safety Index: Tech Companies Intentionally Roll Back Safety Policies for LGBTQ+ Persons
https://glaad.org/social-media-safety-index-unveils-how-tech-companies-intentionally-rolled-back-lgbtq-safety-policies

https://glaad.org/smsi/social-media-safety-index-2025

🇺🇲 🇬🇧 🇨🇦 #Christofascism #transgenocide
🇨🇦 #Poilievre #DanielleSmith #ScottMoe #Trumpism

🏳️‍⚧️ #TransLivesMatter
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/114186381298087870

“At a time when real-world violence & harassment against LGBTQ people is on the rise, social media companies are profiting f. flames of anti-LGBTQ hate instead of ensuring the basic safety of LGBTQ users.”

House Democrat forces long-shot vote on impeaching Trump https://twp.ai/4indNq

The last paragraph of this week's Crux, from @daedalus ...

Yes.

Fuck yes.

The Israeli government has not prioritised the safe return of captives amid its ongoing war on Palestinians in Gaza, a new investigation by Israeli news outlet Ynet has revealed.

The government and the military are fully aware that army attacks pose a grave risk to the captives and have, in fact, already led to fatalities.

“The manoeuvre kills captives, not theoretically, it actually kills them,” a security source told Ynet.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-officers-admit-assault-gaza-kills-captives

🕎 🇵🇸 ☮️
#Gaza #Palestine
#Press #News

Netzfundstück

It’s hard to put this moment into words—especially as scientists.

Watching vital agencies dismantled, brilliant colleagues dismissed, and critical data erased is not just heartbreaking—it’s a loss that reverberates far beyond the scientific community.

But science is resilient. We are resilient.

And we will carry our knowledge, passion, and purpose forward—prepared to rebuild stronger together.

Leading forecasters predict a busier-than-average #Atlantic #hurricane season this year, with 17 named #TropicalStorms, including 9 hurricanes.

If state directors & local emergency managers are not briefed on the federal government's latest tools & resources, it will impact their ability to prepare for & warn communities of impending #storms, said Deanne Criswell, who headed #FEMA during President Joe #Biden's admin.

#ExtremeWeather #Climate #ClimateChange #disasters

Organizers of April's National #Hurricane Conference in #NewOrleans canceled several #FEMA-led sessions - including one aimed at helping #emergency managers make #evacuation decisions during #hurricanes - after FEMA staff dropped out due to the travel restrictions, said John Wilson, chair of the conference.

Wilson said the director of the NHC usually speaks at the conference about lessons learned from past hurricane seasons & shares forecasting model updates, but did not this year.

#Trump

Hopefully this time we get it right around the world.

#BBC Young Elvis impersonator from Paignton to perform at Graceland https://w.st/Jyrseaz

If a platform requires you scan your eyeball as a proof of humanity to keep your account, you do not have to do it.

You do have a choice.

You can, and you should, say no.

#Privacy #OptOut #SayNo

Okay, I've just deployed a bleeding edge #Fedify, which implements both RFC 9421 and double-knocking, to Hackers' Pub. If you'd like to test your implementations against a real server, please give it a try! (If you want to create an account, let me know—I can invite you.)

#fedidev #ActivityPub

In the late 1980s, I stood in a record store near where I grew up, facing a critical choice. I had saved up some money from chores and mowing lawns, and early one Sunday morning, I decided that I was going to discover new music that was outside of the comfort of top 40 radio hits.

I had a shitty record player and even shittier speakers from a garage sale I scored the day before, and all I could think about was the independence of choice and exploration. I was tired of what I was hearing over and over on the radio; sterile, predictable, often vapid and repeated on the hour, every hour. I knew there had to be more out there.

Thumbing through the plethora of musical choices, I saw a classmate come into the record store and pick up some pop cassette that had a hot song of the moment on the radio. I hated this classmate, and his choice in music only encouraged me to not be a stooge like him. My money wasn't going to go to music he would like.

I was about to leave empty handed, but something caught my eye; 2 albums side by side, with curious names and intense artwork on their covers. It didn't look like anything I had ever seen. The song titles couldn't have been more outside what I had been listening to, and I was instantly compelled to buy these records.

The Cramps - Bad Music For Bad People
Dead Kennedys - Bedtime for Democracy

I rode my bike home like I was on fire, one hand on the handlebars, the other firmly keeping the records under my other arm. Rushed to my room, and frantically setup the record player for it's maiden voyage.

The Cramps album confused me immediately. It sounded like Elvis had eaten a medicine cabinet and went to the studio. It was chaotic. It was crazy. I fell in love instantly because it wasn't ever going to be in the top 40.

The Dead Kennedys was a completely different animal. Furious, laser pointed at topics while pummeling out a metric shit ton of music in some of the shortest songs I had ever heard. This album is solely responsible for my lifelong connection with punk. Jello Biafra's lyrics also introduced so much commentary on how dysfunctional the US was and had been consistently, that it encouraged me to seek out truth from non-official sources. I wrote down so many things he had said that I found myself spending hours at the local library trying to learn about topics kids my age wouldn't even consider as worth the time.

This is one of my favorite memories. I wanted to share this with you because if you are overwhelmed and needing a temporary disconnect from this timeline.... get some headphones and listen to something that brings you better feelings.

We all deserve some grace.

https://www.europesays.com/uk/92904/ Physicists Have Succeeded in Transforming Lead Into Gold… in a Fraction of a Second #Science #UK #UnitedKingdom