It’s time to de-privatize the US government. “The problem is not just that privatization is often inefficient because it adds a nontransparent layer of profiteering on top of government functions. The problem is that government loses basic capacity.” https://prospect.org/2026/10/13/time-to-de-privatize-federal-government
Here goes nothing. Here's my #intro aka #introduction: my name is Michelle. I'm a 29 year old #trans, #lgbtq and #disabled woman who is currently escaping domestic violence. I have decided to try my hand at Mastodon to find some friends. I'm from #canada. I love #reading, #writing and #gaming. I'm also really into talking about #politics - especially #cndnpoli, #onpoli, and #USPolitics. If you are interested in any of these things, I'd love to follow eachother and I'd love a boost on this post!
The U.S. is Breaking a 90-Year Rule on Public Executions
https://youtube.com/shorts/Ac4xS9P5hgk?is=8jeHg_dbbA3-wsgw
RE: https://mastodon.social/@hermes_vector/117429048675015964
Scary times. Please vote and do more, canvass, poll watch, rally, be loud!
Hackers force French supermarket fridges to heat up to 50C in ‘unprecedented’ cyber-attack
Meanwhile the UK continues to obsess over having all our home appliances, batteries, heatpumps, solar and car chargers connected to imaginary secure energy company services
With the days shortening and cooling in the northern hemisphere the #wildlife is busy preparing for the coming lean months of scarce food
But these two #deer seem to have made some sort of evolutionary leap in cognitive planning skills
Or they are evolving into snails
I'm not sure
EDIT: it's AI. thanks @katzentratschen @dictor
image removed
EDITEDIT: it's not AI. thanks
@geoffl
unfiltered version of the image restored
see my "exciting" rant about what happened here below if you want
hi i made a mildly interactive editor for css shape()s https://zatzhing.me/shape-maker
One of the things I hated most about the 2005-2010 workplace transition in Silicon Valley was all the Wall Street rats leaving their sinking Mortgage crisis ship.
Harvard, Princeton... all the old white male money kids flooded into SF looking for someplace to launder daddy money.
Remember how 1984 also gave us the Macintosh ad, the hammer through Big Brother's screen? It was sold by the guy who went on to build the tightest walled garden in consumer computing.
The attention-seeking leader type was there in the 80s; he just hadn't won yet. TRS80 and Commodore were way ahead of that arrogant asshat. Commodore outsold everybody (C64 is still the best-selling single computer model ever) and the man who ran it was an Auschwitz survivor from Łódź who learned repair in the US Army and sold typewriters in the Bronx. "Computers for the masses, not the classes" was his line. Tandy was a Fort Worth leather-goods company selling through Radio Shack strip malls.
Apple was knock-off crap. Seriously.
Then some MIT/Harvard knobs released Visicalc and Apple got a foothold in corporate offices, and some Sunnyvale elitists wrote everyone out of the story that mattered.
The quiet professionals were the vast majority, not the whole story, but the obnoxious libertarian loud minority is who the 2010s finance kids chased as their bogus hero.
Court Watch:
"...One federal agency stands above the rest for how often its employees break the law. It includes a secretary who took bribes to smuggle in drugs. A nurse who had a relationship with an incarcerated man and then lied to federal investigators. A chaplain who sexually assaulted a parishioner. And a lieutenant who waited more than 90 minutes to respond to a man in a medical crisis, who would pass away.
Since the beginning of 2022, at least 154 Bureau of Prisons employees and contractors have been charged in federal court for crimes ranging from fraud, abuse, and bribery to violating constitutional rights, according to an new analysis of federal charges by Court Watch. The overwhelming majority of charges stem from allegations that happened while the federal officials were on duty...."
(paywall)
https://www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit-hole-foxes-in-the-guardhouse
This is called the #pumpfoil. She is #pumpfoiling
You pump up and down with your legs and that motion alone is all that is necessary to translate via a hydrofoil under the water surface (like a wing) to give you lift and forward motion
You need good balance, endurance, and if you stop pumping you lose lift and sink rapidly
EDIT: this is Alina Kornelli. See @bruno 's comment below
EDITEDIT: https://youtube.com/@alinakornelli
RE: https://mastodon.social/@mcc/117417575856168461
Crap.
Big businesses do this strategy - take over a market, stop working on it, supress competition. See Microsoft, for instance internet explorer.
I never thought of it being applied to intellectual pursuits - also in pursuits of profits from market domination. What a dark thought.
Russian diesel won’t make the American corn harvest cheaper. It is like pissing into the ocean at this point. What it will do, though, is tell Putin that we don’t care about civilian deaths, systematic rape of a captured populace, torture, and hybrid warfare.
None of this is surprising, of course, because Donald Trump doesn’t read or understand anything, is incapable of critical thinking, and would do anything to feel like he’s part of the dictator club.
Wile. E. meets carma
#FridayFunnies #Funnies4Friday
h/t @anae
The US just sanctioned the entire International Criminal Court. Banks froze accounts, US tech vendors cut off licenses and updates, and YouTube pulled 700+ videos of possible war crime evidence. ⚖️
If one executive order can switch off a court, your family photos aren't safe on American clouds either. 🇪🇺
🐘 https://pixelunion.eu/blog/2026/10/icc-sanctions-digital-sovereignty/
It’s not just a song from Hamilton: immigrants really do get the job done, all •kinds• of jobs. And when you persecute those immigrants, kidnap them, terrorize them, drive them away? Then those jobs •don’t get done•.
The result?
- Food prices up
- Home construction down
- Housing costs up
- Crops rotting in the fields
- Landscaping labor shortages
- Day care labor shortages
- Health care labor shortages
- Job •losses• for •native-born• workers due to economic fallout
1/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/09/trump-immigration-cost-social-security
And that kicker in the headline? That thing about social security being at risk to the tune of >$2000/retiree/year?
That’s because those undocumented immigrants the Trump admin is driving away were still •paying• social security taxes even though they never expect to •collect• social security.
2/
It’s all happening. ProPublica has the receipts.
Link: https://projects.propublica.org/american-citizens-detained-dhs-civil-rights/
Israeli army bulldozes the home of the decorated hero who used his minibus under fire to save 30 Israelis on Oct 7.
"Zyadna told Local Call that he did not regret helping the Israelis despite the demolition of properties belonging to his family, adding 'these are our values. This is how we were raised.'"
We're at the final talk of the Decentralized and Federated track at @oscl
Our amazing @_elena talks about the state of social media, her Fediverse experience, and the importance of moving EU public institutions towards ethical, decentralized platforms. 🔥🔥
#OSCL26 #Oscl #digitalsovereignty #opensource #mastodon #pixelfed #fediverse #eupolicy