Dan Gillmor

Bio and disclosures: dangillmor.com/about/ Boosts mean I think you should see this -- usually but not always an endorsement.

California, Nara · dangillmor.com

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nprofile1qqsqzte7z87uz4r2jlp8j9nz6xhx4vdq60krlcawx85xrevulhs78mgpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qjmama0

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Last Notes

2025-03-27 00:07:43

This is a kidnapping.
The word "detained" is inadequate to describe what is going on around the country these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuFIs7OkzYY

2025-01-22 06:39:48

To argue about whether Musk made a Nazi salute is beyond futile. It is stupid. Don't waste your time.
Instead, if you are still on Twitter, leave now and tell people who know who are still there that you will respect them less if they stay.
If you were planning to buy an EV, don't consider Tesla.
If you own a Tesla, sell it.
Tell your legislators to push NASA, the FAA, et al to stop handing so much money and power to SpaceX.
Act.

2024-12-26 02:15:09

"Wikipedia still can't be sold," says the headline on the donation page. Which also means it can't be bought and wrecked by fascist oligarchs.
It's an Internet treasure, and it's under attack from some of the world's worst people. Elon Musk's vicious denunciation of this Internet treasure would be shameful for someone who had an ounce of shame.
This is one of most important donations I make each year. I hope you'll join me in supporting Wikipedia.
https://donate.wikimedia.org/w/index.php

2024-12-23 04:56:14

The more I know about Spotify, the more glad I am that I don't have an account.
I still buy CDs and digital downloads (that are mine, not in someone else's control). To that end, I've supported several musicians via Patreon and Bandcamp but only when I can own what I pay for.
One reason this is easy for me is that I'm of an age where I am MUCH more fond of the music from <many> years ago than anything I'm hearing for the first time today...

2024-12-23 04:16:31

To remove a saved trip, Google tells you to reinstall Maps after deleting all data you'd otherwise want to save...
Is it only Google that is this user-indifferent?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/700/188/997/394/282/original/4e56188cc7c4fdef.png

2024-12-21 02:07:53

Here, @nprofile…qz4x summarizes the inherent conflicts in Trump world health policies, pitting legit(ish) against weird-awful nominees...
https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/20/clinical-trial-by-ordeal/#spoiled-his-brand-new-rattle

2024-12-15 03:29:57

I don't know what to make of this post, but I do know the East Coast UFO/drone panic smells of disinformation, at least in part. https://america2.news/making-sense-of-ufo-hysteria/?ref=america-2-0-newsletter
Be very cautious.

2024-12-08 23:37:07

Israeli mobile spyware is more widely deployed than researchers expected.
"Pegasus Spyware Infections Proliferate Across iOS, Android Devices: The notorious spyware from Israel's NSO Group has been found targeting journalists, government officials, and corporate executives in multiple variants discovered in a threat scan of 2,500 mobile phones."
https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint-security/pegasus-spyware-infections-ios-android-devices

2024-12-08 08:26:48

My bank uses phone SMS as its standard "2-factor authentication" -- better than nothing at all but GROSSLY insecure compared to encrypted messaging that it refuses to supply.
I paid extra for an RSA dongle, but when I log in there's an option to use SMS, which makes the dongle completely pointless.
Crap security is standard in the banking industry -- because contrary to pious words, it doesn't give a damn about your financial privacy.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/make-sure-texts-calls-are-encrypted-fbi-security-warning-rcna182810

2024-12-02 03:34:12

Trump has been a crook all his adult life. He bragged during the campaign about being a gangster, for god's sake.
His first presidency had an aura of gangsterism. This one features it, in every way.
Journalists are noticing pieces of this, but (as always) failing to put the pieces into context. Take a look at @nprofile…jhfw's short thread pulling just a few of the mob family elements together:
https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/113578765543838197

2024-11-24 03:16:46

'Nazism has nothing to do with race and nationality. It appeals to a certain type of mind. It is also, to an immense extent, the disease of a generation—the generation which was either young or unborn at the end of the last war. This is as true of Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Americans as of Germans. It is the disease of the so-called “lost generation.”'
-- Dorothy Thompson, from "Who Goes Nazi?" (1941)
https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/

2024-11-22 03:41:33

This is as awful as it sounds. The House -- with a few Democrats in favor -- just voted to let Trump regime declare any nonprofit (e.g. university, civil-rights org, news startup, hospital and more) a terrorism supporter. No evidence required, but the penalty for the accusation is loss of nonprofit status. A financial death penalty.
School allows a pro-Palestinian protest? Nonprofit status gone. Watch for Planned Parenthood and ProPublica to be on the chopping block.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/hr9495-nonprofit-killer-bill-passes-house-trump-palestine-protest/

2024-11-20 00:19:33

Hate to say it, because BlueSky had (still has) promise:
There is no reason to believe that its owners/investors -- now prominently including right-wing cryptocurrency bros -- will resist the opportunity to cash in, especially now that there's been such a surge in the user base.
And when/if they do, a genuinely open and decentralized alternative to Big Network (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) will still be -- with the current exception of the fediverse -- a mirage.

2024-11-19 14:59:00

Topics in the latest edition of my "Cornerstone of democracy" newsletter include:
-- Self-destruction as core policy
-- Cartel buddy to run FCC
-- All corruption, all the time
-- More advice: find friends
I curate to save you time. Please subscribe (it's free), and let other folks know about it.
https://cornerstone.ghost.io/essentials-november-19-2024/

2024-11-16 12:09:10

"I can’t believe leopards are eating my face!” says woman who voted for the “Leopards Eating Your Face Party”.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/muslims-who-voted-trump-upset-by-his-pro-israel-cabinet-picks-2024-11-15/

2024-11-16 10:56:08

"...Kennedy, Jr.; Gaetz; Musk; Ramaswamy; Hegseth; Gabbard...combine narcissism, incompetence, corruption, sexual incontinence, personal vulnerability, dangerous convictions, and foreign influence as no group before them has done. These proposed appointments look like a decapitation strike: destroying the American government from the top, leaving the body politic to rot, and the rest of us to suffer."
Wishful thinking and silence are assent.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/decapitation-strike

2024-11-16 10:42:49

The barbarians who control the Texas government are going to murder a man who didn't commit a crime.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6lvd6pr0eo

2024-11-16 00:53:54

One journalist -- @nprofile…eznj -- did the reporting this year on the cryptocurrency industry's successful purchase of politicians who will deregulate the most corrupt crowd since the 2000s real-estate and banking crew stole countless billions from average folks and nearly killed the global economy.
They may succeed this time with the latter.
You should follow Molly White and subscribe to (and support) her work.
https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-70/

2024-11-14 01:47:54

All corruption, all the time in Trump world: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rfk-jr-childrens-health-defense-tax-revenue-loss-rcna179934

2024-11-12 23:44:36

I guess it's good to see so many people realizing that they should get rid of Twitter, though they should have realized this long ago.
It's not good to see that so many journalists -- who have put their consciences into deep freeze with specious "have to be there" logic -- are still supporting a platform that operates in service to fascism.

2024-11-11 23:47:38

The cryptocurrency bros are ecstatic because the U.S. government is going to let them do anything they please.
The greatest heist of all time is under way, and I guarantee that regular folks are not the ones doing the stealing -- they are, sad to say, willing (if ignorant) victims.

2024-11-08 04:16:52

Democrats are years behind Republicans in understanding the media as it actually works. Twenty years ago they were way ahead. They'd better get to work, pronto.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/democrats-need-to-compete-in-the-new-media-landscape-or-keep-paying-the-price

2024-11-06 12:43:55

It's important to note that California voters said no to a ballot measure banning slavery.
Seriously.

2024-11-04 00:54:49

Is any journalism organization going to tell us who got the billions in advertising spending, as opposed to how much was spent?
Do you suppose there's any relationship between the -- at best -- indifferent coverage of this ongoing scandal and the fact that the people who should be exposing it are getting the money?

2024-10-28 06:52:02

A vote for a third party this year is a vote for fascism.
A vote to punish Harris even though you know Trump if vastly worse is a vote for fascism.
Not voting is a vote for fascism.
This is the starkest choice in decades: democracy or fascism.
It truly is that simple.

2024-10-25 22:49:42

Bezos is many things, but I didn't realize he was a coward...

2024-10-21 01:00:12

We now take Musk's arrogance and corruption so much for granted that he's expecting to get away with this.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/elon-musk-promises-award-1-mln-each-day-signer-his-petition-2024-10-20/

2024-10-19 22:06:10

-- If we are friends
-- and you think there's even a 10% chance of a Trump dictatorship
-- and you don't want that to happen
Then,
-- If you don't vote
-- or vote for a third-party candidate
please do not tell me afterward.

2024-10-19 20:53:02

I haven't seen a single article about the staggering windfall flowing into the pockets of media companies via political advertising.
One guess why not.

2024-10-19 17:43:38

To elect Trump, Musk deploys his minions to deceive voters, and he doesn't care a bit about breaking laws he knows won't be enforced.
We are in serious trouble, and sleepwalking into a modern version of fascism where the oligarchs who control so much are in league with a political monster.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musks-fake-sites-and-texts-impersonating-the-harris-campaign

2024-10-16 17:11:38

The New York Times has finally taken journalistic notice -- but in an opinion piece, not what it calls regular news -- of Trump's threat to, well, everyone.
Less than three weeks before an election, the Times did what it should have been doing relentlessly for two years.
No doubt it'll revert tomorrow to its primary mission of pretending this is an election like any other.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/15/us/politics/trump-opponents-enemy-within.html

2024-10-11 17:49:04

Feedly is slow to update my RSS feeds these days.
What do you use for RSS?

2024-10-11 15:37:38

If fascism comes to America in the near future, among the most culpable people will be journalists. They have -- with a few honorable exceptions -- refused to acknowledge, much less do something about, the imminent threat.
Even if Harris wins, the fascists will try to tear us apart, to destroy the nation so they can, later on, pick up the pieces. Most journalism ignores this.
I want to blame the bosses, but the people who work for them are collaborators, regrettably.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/what-it-looks-like-when-one-side-rejects-democracy

2024-10-09 16:12:35

The FCC's "punishment" of T-Mobile for its atrociously poor security practices -- constantly exposing user data to criminals -- is a wrist-slap at most.
The fine is a big number to you and me. For a giant corporation it's a rounding error of a rounding error. Deterrent? Come on.
Better than nothing, I guess. But not much better.
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/10/09/fcc-fines-t-mobile-31-5-million-after-carrier-was-hacked-8-times-in-5-years/
When the law requires confiscation of executive compensation, it'll have an impact.

2024-10-09 00:03:57

Musk steals a Twitter account from a user and redirects it into Trump propaganda.
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/10/08/elon-musk-is-now-seizing-other-peoples-twitter-accounts-to-promote-donald-trump/
Meanwhile, lots of journalists continue to directly support him by remaining active there.

2024-10-06 21:20:20

It's good that the NY Times finally discovered that Trump is old and deranged.
But his speeches haven't reignited "the question of age," as the headline says. They've highlighted the derangement.
THAT is the part the Times keeps normalizing: the increasingly violence-tinged extremism that characterizes Trump, his apparatchiks (including Vance), his puppet media operations, and his cult.
When the Times starts caring as relentlessly about that, I'll feel like our top journalism org gets it.

2024-10-04 05:15:25

This may be the most disgraceful thing the NY Times has published in this election campaign: a love letter to a candidate who lied relentlessly throughout the event and gilded his venality with a smile. Not a hint of any of that in this garbage "analysis"piece, which demonstrates the journalistic corruption that pervades the Times political coverage.
Just sickening. And just what we've come to expect from the decaying core of a once-great news organization.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/247/414/581/336/442/original/91db98874fff6f9a.png

2024-10-02 17:06:13

Dallas Morning News quietly (doesn't bother to tell its readers until several of them ask pointed questions) substitutes old Doonesbury cartoon strips for contemporary ones.
Why? Too tough on Trump.
This is how journalism discredits itself -- with cowardice in the face of loathing from a would-be dictator who's made it clear that destroying the press (the honest ones anyway) is part of his mission.
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/public-editor/2024/10/02/public-editor-whats-happening-with-doonesbury-in-the-dmn/

2024-09-28 16:35:33

- reply

@npub1x4c…jyvg Nice concept, but that's all it is at the moment.

2024-09-28 16:26:12

No American auto company is even thinking of making a car that I -- and millions of other people -- would buy in a heartbeat: a low-cost, small, short-range, no-frills EV or hybrid.
Why? Short-sighted policy and corporate greed.

2024-09-27 22:10:46

From the NY Times:
"A few years ago, Jack Posobiec was a fringe figure and a right-wing agitator best known for helping spread “Pizzagate,” a conspiracy theory about Democrats running a satanic child abuse ring underneath a Washington pizza parlor.
"This month, he was invited by the Republican National Committee to speak to a group of volunteers about how to monitor elections in Michigan."
This story won't cause more than a tiny ripple, Fascism is getting normalized.

2024-09-27 04:16:38

Apparently NewsMax is still in business after settling with Smartmatic...

2024-09-26 18:15:06

Talk about a grotesque invasion of privacy:
"Smart TVs from Samsung and LG take screenshots of what you are watching even when you are using them to display images from a connected laptop or video game console"
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2449198-smart-tvs-take-snapshots-of-what-you-watch-multiple-times-per-second/
How can this possible be legal?
Here's why: Congress isn't just indifferent to your privacy. It is actively complicit with big corporations -- and law enforcement -- with embedding surveillance into everything we do.

2024-09-23 22:47:15

Doesn't affect me anymore, but I'm unsurprised to see that Musk is neutering the blocking feature over at the deadbird site.
I speculate that one goal is to ensure that his can force-feed his own vile ranting to everyone who uses the site.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24252438/x-blocked-users-view-public-posts

2024-09-20 18:27:16

In 2017, 150k people paid Cards Against Humanity to protect a pristine plot of border land from Trump’s racist wall. But then an even richer, more racist billionaire—@ElonMusk—stole their land and dumped his shit all over it.
Lawsuit time --
https://ElonOwesYou100Dollars.com

2024-09-20 01:42:49

How is it even remotely possible that Trump's slow-the-mail-delivery Postal Service head still has his job? He's doing it again. I know there were roadblocks to getting him out, but he should have been long gone by now. This is incompetence by the Biden administration.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/slowest-mail-in-country-key-swing-states-nbc-investigation/5810571/

2024-09-20 00:18:37

The Trump "flood the zone with shit" strategy is working well.
I just checked the homepage of a major left-of-center magazine.* There wasn't a single headline about anything Harris has proposed to do as president.
But there was story after story about Trump/Vance rhetoric and acts.
I fell into this myself in my newsletter post yesterday.
* New Republic

2024-09-19 22:22:53

Republicans are freaking out about their extremist candidate in North Carolina after news reports that he's a bit kinky in his private life.
They were completely fine with his candidacy when all anyone knew was that he is a fascist.

2024-09-18 15:35:34

The NY Times is at it again, attributing solely to Democrats the plain truth that Trump is a threat to democracy.
The Times is also a threat to democracy, but its bosses can't imagine why.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/159/284/657/295/508/original/3bed3e4e01e4e680.png

2024-09-17 19:54:29

If Israel is behind the exploding pagers attack, I doubt the Netanyahu regime thought beyond today in its scenario planning. The ramifications, no matter who did it, could be staggeringly broad.

2024-09-15 16:15:43

Harris campaign should know better than to do this kind of stupid thing. It is completely unnecessary, and is just what the "both sides" people need to make it seem like Trump's all-lies-all-the-time is nothing special.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/14/politics/fact-check-harris-campaign-social-media/index.html

2024-09-14 19:03:10

You thought Trump couldn't be more vile than he already was, but he can always, always go lower -- and push his cult mob toward violence.
The danger is growing, fast.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/137/455/119/357/162/original/dc064c3a4d9652e6.png

2024-09-14 16:22:38

WTF?
https://www.securityweek.com/apple-suddenly-drops-nso-group-spyware-lawsuit/

2024-09-14 04:23:48

The Republicans have already created massive voting roadblocks for likely supporters of Democrats in the states they control.
In those states -- which include many of the swing states -- the Republicans start a 100-meter dash from a line 10 meters in front of the Democrats.
Big Journalism only notices this once a month or so. A direct attack on the foundation of democracy, and our journalist have normalized it.
It's malpractice.

2024-09-13 22:25:25

Trump has mobilized his violent cult to muzzle people who once would have challenged his contempt for law and basic decency.
Big Journalism, for whatever reason, doesn't think this is much of a story.
That's why we need outlets like Talking Points Memo.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/public-menace-how-trump-mobilizes-the-violent-extremists-in-his-midst-for-political-ends/sharetoken/a170ef86-130b-49f1-a8f6-abb08e23bb37

2024-09-13 22:01:13

Watched Trump's "press conference" in which he did nothing but lie, lie, lie.
The supplicant press just sat there and let him do it.
Sad, sad, sad...

2024-09-11 22:20:29

Will Big Journalism will take serious note of something Trump said on Fox "News" today, referring to the ABC News moderators' fact-checking of three (among dozens) of lies during the debate:
"They're a news organization. They have to be licensed to do it. They ought to take away their license for the way they did that."
Another lie, of course: The government doesn't license news organizations per se.
But ABC's airwave licenses are massively valuable.This is not an idle threat.

2024-09-11 21:25:19

The right-wing slime --- notably including Vance and Trump -- are using the death of an 11-year-old as a political tool. His parents have responded to the extremists' vile behavior with the contempt they deserve.
https://www.youtube.com/live/S2v8-HIvvoU?feature=shared&t=2550

2024-09-11 02:49:14

The moderators have let Trump talk much more than Harris. Diabolical liberal news media...

2024-09-10 22:32:41

Reminder that the Arizona Republican Party leadership is a collection of vicious Trumpists: https://bsky.app/profile/nick-martin.bsky.social/post/3l3t2ebgxoi2y

2024-09-08 20:35:48

Says Will Bunch:
"Unless you work on the politics desk of the New York Times or Washington Post, it’s getting harder and harder not to notice the increasingly incoherent yet also dangerously unhinged nature of Donald Trump’s campaign appearances."
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/gop-trump-campaign-russia-propaganda-20240908.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=will_bunch_alerts_09_08_2024&int_promo=newsletter&utm_term=Will%20Bunch

2024-09-08 15:50:17

Not one Big Journalism outlet reflected the sheer derangement of Donald Trump in his public rant in Wisconsin on Friday.
Heather Cox Richardson did, and it is terrifying, because he could be president next year -- and if so, our democracy, and our rights (and so much more), are done.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-7-2024

2024-09-07 05:55:36

I know I'm old-fashioned, but if someone was dropping $100,000 a week into my bank account for online postings, I'd be at least a tiny bit curious where the money was coming from...

2024-09-06 01:55:56

Oh boy...
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social/post/3l3gvukdbic2p
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/088/117/956/202/753/original/9e194db6f6eeee9f.png

2024-09-06 01:39:37

Bizarre bugs in Ubuntu 24.04 -- here's one that's just weird:
My default web browser is Firefox. But when I click on a link in Signal, it opens Vivaldi. (Other apps do Firefox.) There is no way this should be happening, but it is. Going to uninstall Vivaldi and see what happens.
Many other bugs -- I'm regretting having upgraded, even to the .1 version, at this point.

2024-09-06 01:26:52

Topics in the latest edition of my "Cornerstone of democracy" newsletter -- a compendium of the best of political reporting/commentary (and more) -- include:
-- Election interference from Netanyahu
-- "Sanewashing" Trump on news pages...
-- ...but truth-telling in commentary
-- Russian money for US influencers
I curate to save you time. Please subscribe (it's free), and let other folks know about it.
Let me know about great work I've missed.
https://cornerstone.ghost.io/essentials-september-4-2024/

2024-09-05 15:49:33

Everywhere but Big Journalism's news pages, you'll find coverage of Trump's accelerating derangement.
Our biggest media orgs, however, have systematically relegated the issue to the commentary pages. With rare exceptions, they are -- I love this word -- sanewashing Trump, and won't explain their reasons.
It would be great to see some investigative journalism to find out why.

2024-09-04 20:06:09

Others have said this, but the Internet Archive's appeals-court loss to Big Publishing is a disaster for everyone but the cartel of companies and a tiny number of A list authors.
The publishers will tolerate libraries only as long as they can control everything about how books can be loaned. If public libraries were being invented today, the cartel would make their core functions illegal.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/4/24235958/internet-archive-loses-appeal-ebook-lending

2024-09-03 22:47:54

Now it's Politico demanding registration before letting you read anything. Burner email address is now a must-have.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/076/055/043/732/229/original/e04a817aaeef5db4.png

2024-09-03 04:05:35

You imagine that Musk couldn't be any more vile, but he always finds a way.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/071/641/467/296/087/original/4e4354ef013a87ea.png

2024-09-01 20:46:00

NY Times has a new Maggie Haberman. His name is Shawn McCreesh, and he's been writing credulous story after story about Trump.

2024-08-31 18:56:17

"Moms for Liberty" is one of the most vicious of the far-right extremist groups.
Trump, seeing kindred souls, gave his usual litany of lies and rancid threats in an appearance at their meeting.
Journalism noted a couple of the most outrageous statements.
And that was that.
The real outrage was that this is now considered somewhat normal.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/31/donald-trump-at-moms-for-liberty-says-ivanka-hired-millions-of-people

2024-08-30 21:08:44

OK should I say yes to 24.04.1?
That will only make sense to Ubuntu Linux users.

2024-08-30 17:20:49

It bothers me as a longtime journalist that Harris-Walz are not doing press conferences, which -- when all the parties are acting with integrity -- serve a genuinely useful purpose.
But political journalists have so thoroughly discredited themselves when these spectacles do occur that I can't argue with the candidates' decision to say no thanks.

2024-08-30 16:50:04

Every day is just another example of Big Journalism's double standard when it comes to covering politics.
Kevin Kruse gets to the hear of it here, aptly satirising CNN's classic example of journalistic malpractice in the interview with Harris/Walz: https://www.threads.net/@kevinmkruse/post/C_RrNGaR7w3
“When speaking off the cuff, you said your family’s fertility problems were finally solved by IVF, when it was technically by IUI. How can the American people ever trust your word again?”

2024-08-29 22:43:24

PDF nerds:
I have a one page document that prints (on paper) text so small that I can't read it.
How do I print it so the type is 2x and runs to a second page?
(or 3x to 3 pages)

2024-08-29 21:53:18

Given that I can't trust exTwitter in any way, I'm hoping that news posted there of the untimely death of a fine writer and human being is not true.

2024-08-29 21:00:34

The U.S. Army's response to Trump apparatchiks' contempt for Arlington National Cemetery traditions and rules is, very sadly, muscular pearl-clutching https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/29/arlington-cemetery-altercation-trump-visit

2024-08-28 21:56:50

More and more fraudulent exTwitter accounts promoting Trump, using images of real people who absolutely did not consent to this abuse.
Just another reminder that Musk's platform is a haven for extremists who have contempt for democracy.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/28/europe/fake-maga-accounts-x-european-influencers-intl-cmd/index.html

2024-08-28 18:22:52

As political journalists relentlessly refuse to notice Trump's ever-more-evident derangement and extremist plans, you can't chalk this up solely or even mostly to (willful) incompetence and corporate maneuvering.
There is surely another motivation that needs exploration: rank cowardice.
It's understandable, if so, given the escalating threats against the media and the violence-prone Trump cult.
We need to talk about this more.

2024-08-28 14:51:36

Another great Will Bunch column:
"Fifty years ago this summer, Richard Nixon resigned the presidency because people believed what they read about him in the Washington Post. Today, Harris feels she doesn’t need journalists at all, and a lot of the public is cheering her on. And a vainglorious elite news media with severe tunnel vision has no one to blame but themselves."
https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/attytood/media-elections-dnc-kamala-harris-military-20240827.html

2024-08-28 14:40:14

This is a much better take on Gus Walz and his family than what's been running around the Internet. I appreciate the heads-up from someone here who shared it privately. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-08-26/gus-walz-shows-what-the-left-gets-wrong-on-disability-rights

2024-08-28 00:04:49

Zuckerberg goes on bended knee to the Republican disinformation brigades. This would be pathetic except that it's a signal he's decided to use his almost limitless power to help Republicans in the elections.
This, after disbanding all efforts to root out extremism on his platform.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/27/media/mark-zuckerberg-election-season-republicans/index.html
It's time to break up all of the biggest tech companies -- they have become a clear and present danger to democracy and, by extension, freedom of expression.

2024-08-27 18:13:51

Just another reminder that the Murdoch family's Fox "News" relentlessly injects poison into our civic bloodstream, for power and money.
https://www.votebeat.org/texas/2024/08/26/texas-voter-registration-election-ken-paxton-investigation/
Also a reminder that if you have cable/satellite TV or an online equivalent, you are sending money every month to this evil company.
Please cancel. Please stop supporting Murdoch's vile operation.

2024-08-27 18:09:19

Texas' anti-voting (if you are suspected of favoring Democrats) law is working as designed, with massive deletions from voting rolls and intimidation of, among others, Latino pro-voting organizations.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/texas-removes-over-1-million-voters-from-rolls-since-passage-of-anti-voting-law/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/house-raids-texas-democrats-ken-paxton-voting-rights-lulac-rcna168216

2024-08-26 17:33:34

Also not the Onion, this one from the Verge:
"Samsung will soon let you create AI wallpapers on its touchscreen refrigerators"
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/029/519/293/432/837/original/586a1def50ba5dcb.png

2024-08-26 17:28:13

Not the Onion -- but it could be.
NY Times op-ed headline: "Trump Can Win on Character"
Screenshot is to prove I'm not making this up.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/029/496/661/271/652/original/1a8704b3e25560ad.png

2024-08-25 22:42:42

Journalists continue to act as though there's ambiguity about the Trump/Republican stance on abortion. This is all gaslighting, designed to make people believe abortion policy would get magically liberal under Trump. ALL available evidence -- apart from several recent utterings from a man who lies all the time -- is clear on what will happen.
Please journalists, don't let them gaslight you, and by extension, your audiences. https://www.axios.com/2024/08/25/trump-reproductive-rights-sunday-snapshot

2024-08-25 17:57:00

Over at Threads, Walt Mossberg -- one of the best journalists of his era -- is baffled at the disintegration of the New York Times' political coverage: https://www.threads.net/@mossbergwalt/post/C_CXbTyxPD3

2024-08-24 22:11:23

Dear journalists: Trump has said -- many times -- that he is proud of nominating the judges who overturned Roe, and that states should have the absolute power to do what they want to control women's bodies.
So STOP already with the credulous "journalism" suggesting that Trump is all of a sudden for abortion rights. Just stop.

2024-08-24 20:26:43

RFKjr story seems even sadder than it looked before: https://www.gregpalast.com/i-was-on-the-phone-with-rfk-jr-when-he-lost-his-mind/

2024-08-24 17:41:19

Does any political reporter subtract more value from a major news outlet than Peter Baker does from the New York Times?
His work -- particularly the "news analysis" (a label that pretends it's not commentary) -- is a caricature of political journaiism. He states the obvious with savvy intensity on horse races and both-sides-ism.
Admittedly he has competition, but I think he's in a class of his own.
Latest example:
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/018/207/432/111/295/original/f8b1ded78469e34d.png

2024-08-24 15:43:29

If you're selling that over-expensive Peleton stationary bike you're sorry you bought, understand that the price for the buyer is actually almost $100 higher.
The company will force the buyer to fork that over as a "used equipment activation fee" -- pure corporate greed. They can get away with it, so they do it. Classic Doctorowian enshittification...
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/peloton-announces-95-used-equipment-activation-fee/?ai=

2024-08-20 04:33:04

Maureen Dowd isn't just a raging hypocrite. She's illiterate. She doesn't know what a coup is. And she was one of the countless NY Times people yelling at Biden to drop out.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/992/474/454/104/476/original/a4f74a5b069f1957.png

2024-08-20 03:15:35

Are the Dems really going to put Biden on after midnight Eastern time?

2024-08-20 00:11:54

Right-wing media is just aching for a repeat of the 1968 Democratic convention violence.
Example from the Murdoch family's Fox "News" -- headline is "DNC host Chicago, haunted by 1968 convention rioting, braces for bloodshed"
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/991/448/916/653/152/original/49db8b9220667251.png

2024-08-19 04:57:11

Topics in the latest "Cornerstone of democracy" newsletter include: soldiers in the streets; armed extremists making plans; Musk's U.K. "trial run"; poor widdle billionaires; and a great political podcast.
Please subscribe (it's free), and send me links to material I should know about.
https://cornerstone.ghost.io/essentials-august-17-18-2024/

2024-08-16 23:01:12

The Washington Post editorial page has definitely moved to the right in recent years. Its trashing of Harris' (admittedly not perfect) economic plan is shallow, and mostly wrong. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/16/harris-economy-plan-gimmicks/

2024-08-16 22:31:02

Remarkable, and revealing, to see the NY TImes' Andrew Ross Sorkin brainstorming with Republican propagandist Frank Luntz on how Trump can regain the initiative.
But listen to Luntz -- who is brilliant at this -- insist that if Trump frames the issues in a certain way, he wins.
Republicans know how to tilt the playing field with framing. Democrats -- incompetent at framing issues -- stupidly, but willingly, take the bait and exhaust themselves running uphill.
https://youtu.be/cEqbfuWXpQw?feature=shared&t=138

2024-08-16 21:42:48

If Harris said something as disgusting as Trump's dunking today on Medal of Honor winners, Big Journalism wouldn't stop talking about it for WEEKS.
Trump's vile statement is getting the denunciation it deserves today.
But I guarantee that our political press will decide it's old news by tomorrow, or Monday at the latest.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2024/08/16/trump-belittles-medal-of-honor-award-in-campaign-speech/