gregg r
My coat is black and the moon is yellow
Here is where I get off
Boomer into #cycling, sysadmin from the early days, hardcore #SteelyDan fan. #MaskUp #CovidIsNotOver #ITMFA #ProtectTransKids #LGBTQ #Enshittification #FYYFF
"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." -- H.L. Mencken, 1916.
Near La Push Beach, Washington.
Sunrise from Magnuson Park, Lake Washington.
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Las Vegas NV.
West Point at Discovery Park, Seattle Washington.
@pluralistic@mamot.fr -- "Enshittification happens when someone sets out to reduce your choices, and then uses that lock-in to make things worse for you in order to make things better for themself."
Establishment Republicans & Democrats, corporate servants and/or ideological drones, intentionally limit our choices to a predictable set of self-serving alternatives designed to maintain their power at our expense. Feels like a hegemonic duopoly.
https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/27/analogs-and-analogies/#trapped
@pluralistic@mamot.fr : "New Mexico passed a law banning armed federal officials from showing their fascist asses anywhere within 50 feet of a polling place or ballot drop-box. ... what the *fuck* are the other blue statehouses waiting for? This is a white-hot, hair-on-fire emergency. As Blanc says, if we wait until November to find out what Trump is going to do, it'll be too late. The time to act is *now*."
Vote suppression is the all the dying GOP has left. Deny it to them.
https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/31/actual-federalist-society/#mayday
A calm morning on Lake Sammamish, WA
This week's Threat Model: Covid from @violetblue@mastodon.social contains an item about "people who had stopped taking precautions when our countries and communities “opened up” again and are now rethinking how to protect themselves." Find out how to do that here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/86871700?collection=1162
As always, these weekly updates are always free and patrons are always appreciated:
I would give anything to hear just one WH reporter say this: "What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it."
@pluralistic@mamot.fr 's essay today is a compendium of CorporateSpeak, complete with examples of self-serving nonsense and redolent of bulshytt.
Decontent the ideators!
https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/19/jargon-watch/#corporate-bullshit-receptivity-scale
@catvalente@mastodon.world flash-roasts a richly deserving flush fathead and reminds we nerds of our culpability:
"We fell for one of the classic blunders: if a guy shows up saying everything you’ve always wanted to hear in your deepest heart of hearts, don’t believe that asshole he’s gonna rob your house."
"Same shit as always. Anyone not like you is bad, give me your money and your love and I’ll punish everyone who ever hurt you. And also you, but you last. Maybe."
https://catvalente.substack.com/p/huddle-up-geeks-some-of-these-hot
"Every day, I think: there’s no possible way it can get dumber and more embarrassing. And then Trump does something like this. And yes, this is real. It is all too real.”
Hamilton Nolan: "It is impossible not to marvel at the utter moral depravity of two highly credentialed and educated professionals desperately debasing themselves in order to compete for the David Duke vote. A total absence of any standards that might prevent them from doing any grotesque act that might gain them an advantage in their horrifying careers. A case study in how not to live."
Time for a break from the daily doomscrolling. Here is "a monument to perfect," Steely Dan's *Gaucho*
New from @violetblue@mastodon.social
Threat Model Cybersecurity: New breach that DHS denied twice comes to light, Israeli cybersecurity startup caught deploying malware, SFPD leaked its drone surveillance footage and data online, US states prepare for a new adversary (the federal government), Epic Games' Kids Web Services hoovers up even more age check data, two-thirds of LinkedIn posts are AI, things are getting deeply weird in the anti-AI trenches, and much more.
https://www.patreon.com/violetblue/posts/cybersecurity-14-163759687
