7 February 2025

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🚩 You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism /// 404

Of course it’s important to stay informed, and journalists can still provide the valuable information we need to take action. But this process has been short-circuited by tech platforms and a media environment built around seeking reaction for its own sake.

This already made the rounds (for good reason), but I’m just catching up on things now.

7 February 2025

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🚨 I’m The Media Is Missing the Story: Elon Musk Is Staging a Coup /// TPA

This is what a coup looks like in 2025. It doesn’t require tanks in the streets or soldiers storming buildings. It just needs control of the bureaucratic machinery that makes government function. By seizing these mechanisms while Trump provides political cover, Musk is accumulating unprecedented power for an unelected individual. As president, even Trump should not have this kind of power.

I get posting doesn’t help, but that’s not going to stop me from linking to these sorts of things I think are important.

7 February 2025

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I can’t keep up with all the great reporting at Wired, and the wonderful satire at The Onion and McSweeney’s, along with everything else right now.

7 February 2025

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🗞️ Purged From the Pentagon /// Status

Not only did the Pentagon opt against reversing its initial decision, it doubled down on it. Instead of four outlets losing their workspace inside the Pentagon, eight now will.

While it’s obviously wrong and anti-democratic, I get Trump and his lackeys are insecure idiots and don’t like NYT and the like, but this vendetta against NPR (and PBS elsewhere) is absurd.

6 February 2025

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🎨 I’m gonna keep making shit and I hope you will too /// Annie

I’m gonna work on another writing project, too. I don’t feel motivated. Too bad. Motivation is icing. I AM THE CAKE. Or something.

Love this. I’ve been pretty unmotivated lately and needed a good push.

6 February 2025

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🐻 Virginia Halas McCaskey, Chicago Bears Owner and Daughter of Founder George Halas, Dies at 102 /// The Wrap

McCaskey took over principal ownership of the Bears in 1983. She was preceded by her father, George Halas, who founded the Bears organization over 100 years ago in 1920.

6 February 2025

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🤖 Google removes pledge to not use AI for weapons from website /// TechCrunch

Google’s newly updated AI principles note the company will work to mitigate unintended or harmful outcomes and avoid unfair bias,” as well as align the company with widely accepted principles of international law and human rights.”

Not surprised about this one bit. They’ve been chomping at the bit to have an excuse to do shit like this after the employee protests half a decade ago.

6 February 2025

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📰 Inside a network of AI-generated newsletters targeting small town America” /// Nieman Lab

It turns out Good Day Fort Collins is just one in a network of AI-generated newsletters operating in 355 cities and towns across the U.S. Not only do these hundreds of newsletters share the same exact seven testimonials, they also share the same branding, the same copy on their about pages, and the same stated mission: to make local news more accessible and highlight extraordinary people in our community.”

I hate a lot of this, especially given the high probability of the AI making mistakes and potentially causing misinformation or just creating ill-informed citizens, but there is an accessibility problem and if something like this (with human intervention and oversight) can help solve the accessibility problem and make people more informed about local news, I don’t hate it…

6 February 2025

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🏀 The Warriors And Jimmy Butler Are Trying To Stop The Clock /// Defector

He also said at one point that he also didn’t want to go to San Francisco, but the idea of being trapped in a loveless marriage and subsequent separation made him see the light—well, that and a new two-year deal worth $111 million to make him pretend to love North Beach. There is a lot of good coffee there. That part, at least, might work out.

At this point I just feel like I’m being stalked by Jimmy Butler. First, he comes to my home town of Chicago and now that I’m in the Bay, here comes Jimmy. I do think if the Warriors can add one more role player or a big (like Vooch), they are a real Finals contender with all the experience and defense surrounding Steph.

6 February 2025

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🏨 Palestinians Propose Taking Ownership of Mar-a-Lago /// Borowitz Report

Additionally, the spokesman indicated, Mar-a-Lago would require extensive fumigation,” adding, If it’s like any other Trump property, it has a bedbug issue.”

If only.

6 February 2025

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This NBA trade deadline is making me dizzy.

6 February 2025

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🏀 Mavericks Send Luka Doncic To The Lakers In Trade Best Described With Unhinged Obscenities /// Defector

Look for Mavs brass, in hopes of staving off a fan mutiny, to leak even more nasty things about Luka’s lipids and personality to justify his jettisoning. But unless Dallas followers find out, like Dallas viewers did all those years ago, that this awful development was all a bad dream and the star is coming back, they’re gonna be pissed.

While the Lakers obviously won the trade, I do actually think people are underestimating how good Dallas could be with AD and Irving. At the same time, I don’t think Luca and LeBron will work at all. Dallas is making a sum of parts” bet, while the Lakers are sacrificing the end of LeBron to build for the next eight years.

5 February 2025

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🫦 Oklahoma Senator Introduces Bill to Make Porn Completely Illegal /// 404

Deevers seeks the total abolition of porn by imposing criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison for production, distribution, or possession of porn and 10-to-30-year criminal penalties for organized pornography trafficking.”

There are so many things wrong with this that I don’t even know where to begin… From the outrageous penalties, to the hypocrisy, and this idea of moral superiority—but one positive here is something like this is more likely to get them voted out then passed.

5 February 2025

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⬛ This is why people see attacks on DEI as thinly veiled racism /// Birchtree

But to jump to the conclusion that this was surely the fault of some minority employee who didn’t deserve to have the job despite there being zero evidence that was the case is at best a blindingly dogmatic belief in your own agenda or at worst plain-as-day racism sneaking out with the buzz words of the day.

Really glad Matt shared this—although I’d argue against the phrase thinly veiled”, but that’s neither here nor there. Also really enjoyed watching the Phil DeFranco show; I’m going to be checking that out more often.

5 February 2025

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🐂 De’Aaron Fox-Zach LaVine trade grades: Spurs swing big, Kings get nice haul, Bulls look to bottom out /// Sporting News

At this point, it just feels like the Bulls want to shed players and money and don’t really care what they get in return… it’s hard to blame them, but they still feel like the loser in every trade…

5 February 2025

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👩‍🎤 From Drake’s humiliation to Doechii’s coronation: the talking points from the 2025 Grammys /// Guardian

It’s the kind of stress dream that pop stars tell their therapists about: My artistic rival won record and song of the year at the Grammys for a track attacking me, and everyone was dancing and singing along. Even Beyoncé.” And so it came to pass for Drake, seeing Kendrick Lamar win for Not Like Us, walking to the podium in double denim — a Canadian tuxedo”, no less — while half the arena seemed to chant tryna strike a chord and it’s probably a minor”, a line alleging child sexual abuse (which Drake has strenuously denied).

I can’t help but be so giddy about all of the Drake embarrassment. And obviously Doechii’s meteoric rise is wonderful. Her Tiny Desk concert is one the best.

5 February 2025

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👩‍⚕️ Doctor Criminally Indicted Over Abortion Pill in Dark New Timeline /// The New Republic

The lengths these people feel comfortable going now is getting scary.It’s setting up some pretty gnarly battles between states now…

5 February 2025

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🤡 Trump’s Gaza plan will be seen as flying in face of international law /// BBC

Trump and his officials are framing his call to - in his language - permanently resettle” all Palestinians out of Gaza as a humanitarian gesture, saying there is no alternative for them because Gaza is a demolition site”.

So he wants to turn Gaza into a destination and remove all of the Palestinians permanently??? How the fuck is that a solution?!?

5 February 2025

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🖋️ A Programming Note /// Kottke

I have pivoted to posting almost exclusively about the coup happening in the United States right now. My focus will be on this crisis for the foreseeable future. I don’t yet know to what extent other things will make it back into the mix. I still very much believe that we need art and beauty and laughter and distraction and all of that, but I also believe very strongly that this situation is too important and potentially dangerous to ignore. And it is largely being ignored by a mainstream press that has been softened up by years of conservative pushback, financial pressures, and hollowing out by Facebook & Google.

I love this. I’ve been behind on posting links, but I have a stockpile of links from The New Republic, The Verge, and Wired too. It feels so weird seeing all this shit Trump and Musk are doing and the world just moving forward like nothing is happening.

30 January 2025

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⌚️ Why We’re Bringing Pebble Back /// Eric Migicovsky

I never had an original Pebble, but given the way I currently use my Apple Watch, this feels like the ideal time to bring Pebble back—at least for me to give it try.

30 January 2025

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🚨 Fox News Turns Full Propaganda With Trump Monument Proposal /// The New Republic

Leaving aside the absurdity of the idea, it’s not feasible–the National Park Service said in 2020 that there is no secure space on the mountain. Not to mention that any attempt would be quite an expense for the American taxpayer for an administration pledging to increase government efficiency.”

What do you think would happen if they actually went forward with this and either had to remove a face (or all of them) and/or ended up accidentally destroying the whole thing attempting to get his face on there. Most likely, his cult following would cheer either way—and they don’t see the problem with that. At all.

30 January 2025

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🦌 The buck stops here /// Indignity

Trump promised his supporters a dictatorship, and they cheered, and it was all a big joke or a figure of speech, and now suddenly Trump has the power to decide how much of a joke it was. He jokes about taking another term, too.

People are going to overlook a ton, but the settlement with Disney (that he would’ve lost), the lifting of the TikTok ban, the withholding of federal funds and removing people without notifying and/or getting approval from Congress; these are real signs of fascism.

30 January 2025

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🪑 Get a Shelf

The automation and productization of the Now page, essentially. I can’t see myself using this, but would be curious if normies end up using something like this to get that sense of a Now page.

30 January 2025

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🥥 Jason Schwartzman’s Band Coconut Records Is Back /// Stereogum

Coconut Records is extremely underrated. I’m stoked to get a new record from him and happily discovered Ben Kweller from this article.

30 January 2025

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🚀 The long-planned return of two astronauts from space is now a political issue /// Ars Technica

Pushing knowingly false narratives to win points is probably my least favorite form of politics/fascism.


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