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The Independent Variable

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šŸ˜ž I can’t do this

Birchtree

I got into the irony of 2nd Amendment fanatics saying they needed gun for if the government sent masked men into their streets yelling, ā€œpapers pleaseā€, only to then cheer for those masked men when they did take to the streets.

Things have been quiet around these parts and I apologize for that. Life, holidays, work, and Foofaraw, have taken up a lot of time and the news as of late has just been devastating. We’re invading countries, have a secret police asking people for their papers, shooting unarmed citizens in the face, storming houses without warrants, racially

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šŸ“ā€ā˜ ļø The United States has captured Venezuela’s dictator, NicolĆ”s Maduro

The Economist

I’m blowing up ships in international waters, breaking domestic and international laws, invading other countries, asking people for their papers on the street and rounding them up based on inherent traits, and participating in genocide. Who am I?

šŸ“ā€ā˜ ļø The United States has captured Venezuela’s dictator, NicolĆ”s Maduro Read more

šŸŽ§ Streaming music is the lie we tell each other

Birchtree

I’ve come to the conclusion that streaming music platforms are a shared lie we all agree to that suggests we’re paying for music when we’re actually may as well be pirating it, we just pay $10 a month to keep the cops away.

It’s been fun to see Matt’s evolution of thought here, going from not thinking Spotify’s rates are an issue, To realizing all music streaming is a bit of a sham… I think the one point that keeps getting glossed over is it’s Spotify’s choice to do free ad-supported

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šŸ¤– Anthropic Exec Forces AI Chatbot on Gay Discord Community, Members Flee

404 Media

Users voted to restrict Anthropic’s Claude to its own channel, but Jason Clinton, Anthropic’s Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and a moderator in the Discord, overrode them.

The word of the year might be Slop, but the theme of the year is companies forcing things on their users that they didn’t ask for and do not want.

šŸ¤– Anthropic Exec Forces AI Chatbot on Gay Discord Community, Members Flee Read more

😔 Megyn Kelly Fumes Over Charlie Kirk Not Being Named Time’s Person of the Year: ā€˜A Thumb in the Eye’

TheWrap

This might come across as insensitive… but what on earth did Charlie Kirk do in 2025 to deserve Person of the Year? Besides getting shot… If getting assasinated is the requirement, I’d like to nominate Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman, and their spouses, Mark and Yvette.

😔 Megyn Kelly Fumes Over Charlie Kirk Not Being Named Time’s Person of the Year: ā€˜A Thumb in the Eye’ Read more