Meta Is Kicking Gay Bars Off Its Apps While Allowing Videos of Graphic Child Abuse https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-gay-bars-allowing-graphic-child-abuse
In January 2025 — right after president Donald Trump assumed office for the second time — Meta officially dropped hate speech rules designed to protect members of the LGBTQ community, leaving them even more exposed.
It’s Time to Boycott Starbucks https://otherwords.org/its-time-to-boycott-starbucks/
Still, Starbucks refuses to finalize a fair union contract after nearly half a decade of negotiations. Starbucks has to do more to earn the moniker “the best job in retail.”
Abortion Is a Workers' Rights Issue https://scalawagmagazine.org/2026/09/abortion-is-a-workers-rights-issue/
From access to health care and paid sick leave, to privacy rights and non-discrimination protections, the right to control what happens to your body is deeply connected to the right to control your labor.
Would any idling software folks have an interest in building a better web search?
While not perfect, YaCy's human-led index seems to get the best search results these days, BUT they have a clunky server for people to run, plus increasing vibe-coding and LLM intrusion.
I have it in my head to re-implement their protocol to use and eventually contribute to their federated index without their software, but that seems more viable/fun with a team.
A state too expensive in itself, or by virtue of its dependencies, ultimately falls into decay; its free government is transformed into a tyranny; it disregards the principles which it should preserve, and finally degenerates into despotism.
Simón Bolívar
People like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel are not geniuses. They're just evil morons who have been able to take advantage of a system built by and for evil morons. We need to rebuild a society where these idiots cannot get money and power.
Gen Z Women Don’t Owe America Babies https://otherwords.org/gen-z-women-dont-owe-america-babies/
Under the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, Congress created ,000 “Trump Accounts” as a “baby bonus” to encourage women to have more babies. But in that case, they’re missing a few zeroes. And since money is kept in a stock market index fund until the babies turn 18, it won’t help parents with the high costs of raising kids.
How Cops Are Treating Flock's Mass Surveillance As a Joke https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/high-crime-lmao-how-cops-are-treating-mass-surveillance-joke @eff
Flock Safety claims it has improved its system by requiring officers to select from a dropdown list of crimes before running a search–but that only makes it easier for officers to hide improper searches behind the veneer of uniformity.
On my blog: Roguish https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2026/09/20/roguish.html
I am become death, shatterer of worlds, and so can you for the low price of $20/month.
#artificialIntelligence #fiction #satire
If you see ads pointing you to votesafe.org to check your voter registration, read this first.
VoteSafe is run by America PAC, Elon Musk's super PAC. It is not a government site. Its own footer says "Paid for by America PAC."
It also doesn't register anyone. The flow ends by telling you to download a PDF, print it, and mail it in yourself.
Its privacy policy (updated Aug 29, 2026) lets America PAC share your info with "business partners" for targeted marketing, or sell it. That includes whether you're registered to vote and "how you submit your vote." Popular Information found your address going to Facebook and Google, a hashed email to The Trade Desk, your usage to X, and a device fingerprint that survives cookie deletion.
VoteSafe also white-labels voter sites for allied groups, including Sentinel Action Fund and Ready to Register. North Carolina's election board warned in July that Ready to Register mailings used an outdated form, went to deceased voters, and had QR codes that could pre-populate other people's data.
To check your registration, use your state's official portal, https://vote.gov, or https://vote.org. None of them sell your data.
Sources:
https://popular.info/p/the-hidden-dangers-of-musks-votesafeorg
https://votesafe.org/privacy-policy
https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00879510/
https://www.ncsbe.gov/news/press-releases/2026/07/01/bulk-voter-registration-mailings-cause-voter-confusion-additional-work-counties
Wikipedia Workers Unionize for the First Time https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-workers-vote-on-whether-to-unionize/
Concerns about pay and benefits were not major motivators for the union drive, according to Wikimedia employees. Instead, they say, frustration over how the organization explained several hiring and firing decisions in the past year provided the final push the union needed to win the vote.
On my blog: Developer Diary, Umhlanga https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2026/09/07/reed-dance.html
This week's projects include my mini-servers (including looking for Linux replacements), the blog's posts and code, and some library updates.
#programming #project #devJournal
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Fantastique Unfettered 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2026/09/05/unfettered-1.html
This week sees a variety pack from a unique project.
#freeCulture #bookClub
@elementary Maybe an awkward question given the work involved, but especially with the project's no-LLM-code stance and Linux's (ahem) "apolitical" stance, is there any thought to replacing Linux with a kernel that better represents the Elementary philosophy?
How Capitalism Undermines Democracy https://jacobin.com/2026/08/capitalism-democracy-friedman-class-power
We should start with how capitalism laid the foundations for democracy and then go on to why, nevertheless, there are significant tensions between the capitalist economy and democratic politics.
On my blog: Mitten Quest https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2026/08/16/three.html
Can you solve the mystery of the missing candy house before the witches do? Probably.
#fiction
Meta Suddenly Claims That Its AI Went on a Hacking Spree Too https://futurism.com/future-society/jealous-meta-claims-ai-went-hacking-too
As we await more details regarding the latest incident the suspicious optics of the situation are hard to escape. Meta has long struggled to keep up with the competition as the AI race continues to heat up. Could the company be looking for favorable media coverage about how its AI model is similarly capable of breaking containment?
#AI #Facebook
🔴 A defense contractor is now selling technology that scans every electronic device in your car as you drive past a camera. It ties everything to your license plate. You cannot opt out.
It is called SignalTrace. Made by Leonardo, an Italian military contractor with existing U.S. Special Operations Command contracts. It sweeps your phone, smartwatch, Bluetooth headphones, your dog's RFID chip, tire pressure sensors, your car's infotainment system. Anything that broadcasts.
It bundles these into what Leonardo calls your "electronic fingerprint," timestamped and geotagged. Stored in an "Enterprise Operations Center for future queries and analysis."
Those are their words. Not mine.
You did not consent. You cannot opt out. Your devices broadcast by existing. In most places, this is perfectly legal.
If this sounds like something that will be abused: it already has been. Police have used existing license plate reader networks to stalk partners, verify school residency, run background checks, and monitor protests. At least 22 officers charged or resigned for ALPR stalking.
SignalTrace does not read your messages. It does not need to. It knows who you travel with, where you go, and when.
Sources: https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/24/surveillance-tech-company-is-pitching-an-unholy-alpr-stingray-hybrid-to-law-enforcement/ and https://www.leonardocompany-us.com/lpr/elsag-signaltrace
Exxon and Chevron are having a ‘very good crisis’ reaping massive profits during the Iran war https://www.fastcompany.com/91583262/exxon-chevron-having-very-good-crisis-reaping-massive-profits-during-iran-war
ExxonMobil on Friday reported doubling its second-quarter profits to 4.53 billion, up 105% from the same time a year ago. The oil giant, based in Spring, Texas, brought in 16.02 billion in revenue, up 42% from the same time last year.
The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the thorns did not outlive the rose.
Charles Francis Richter