RE: https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard/117382389534465476
If I were Tibetan or Uyghur, I’d be worried about the Chinese government. As a Usonian, I think people fomenting China-panic are just Cold War nostalgics who miss having a big, bad enemy to organize the country around.
They really miss the USSR.
Right so, Facebook is all sad because people are calling their "AI" surveillance specs "Pervert Glasses" and it's killing them. It's also establishing the social norm that you don't go around with video recording glasses on your face, you'll be shunned.
So we need to start calling the Apple Watch the "Creep Watch" for humanity's sake.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/117020051806265919
#PDX
Maybe coming soon to Portland. To be decided this Summer.
#PDX
Local lawyer has video of signature gatherers for the ballot measure to redirect 25% of the Portland Clean Energy Fund to the cops — and they are busted!
"Four of the videos reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive show signature gatherers describing the measure as funding “911 dispatchers,” “mental health officers, not police officers” and “Portland Street Response” — even though the actual measure would only fund police officers, not dispatchers, mental health responders or other unarmed staff."
“Morris has made the strongest course correction towards revolutionary solidarity that is possible in her position. Her refusal to cooperate further landed her a fifty-year sentence. If we believe that remorse, redemption, and renewal are possible, then Morris has committed herself to seeking them. If we do not, then we must ask ourselves what we can offer defendants who have erred but have yet to decide whether to continue to assist the state.”
https://crimethinc.com/2026/07/07/manufactured-betrayal-a-statement-from-fire-ant-movement-defense-on-solidarity-and-betrayal-in-the-prairieland-trials
“… a new disruptive transport technology is rapidly changing cities across the rich world. It is highly energy-efficient, costs almost nothing, reduces congestion and pollution, and obviates the need for huge car parks. Yet it is not the self-driving electric car, as tech moguls and car industry executives imagined. Rather, it is the humble bicycle.”
Legal defense fund for 15 Minnesota anti-ICE responders who were indicted by the Federal government for their efforts yesterday has reached $109,928. Goal is $150,000.
https://chuffed.org/project/186570-minnesota-15-legal-defense-fund
People ask how an unprofitable industry can attract so much investment. I think this, from Signal CEO Meredith Whittaker, helps answer:
"Venture capital looks at valuations and growth, not necessarily at profit or revenue. So you don’t actually have to invest in technology that works, or that even makes a profit, you simply have to have a narrative that is compelling enough to float those valuations. So you see this repetitive and exhausting hype cycle as a feature in this industry. A couple of years ago, you would have been asking me about the metaverse, then last year, you would have asked me about Web3 and crypto, and for each of these inflection points there’s an Andreessen Horowitz manifesto."
"It’s not simply that one piece of technology is overhyped, it’s that hype is a necessary ingredient of the current business ecosystem of the tech industry. We should examine how often the financial incentive for hype is rewarded without any real social returns, without any meaningful progress in technology, without these tools and services and worlds ever actually manifesting. That’s key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world."
— Meredith Whittaker, Signal CEO, to Derek Robertson. "5 Questions for Meredith Whittaker". Politico, 2023-12-01.
www.politico.com/newsletters/digital-future-daily/2023/12/01/5-questions-for-meredith-whittaker-00129677
This site is good and well done considering how opaque the financing involved is.
Seize more autonomy by switching to renewables:
‘More renewables mean less dependence on fuel imports, helping “remove this lever of coercion,” said Kevin Cashman, an economist with the Transition Security Project, a US-UK research organization.’
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/13/climate/cuba-solar-us-oil-blockade-trump-china
The Vivaldi browser is made by an Oslo-based company with an AI-skeptic view.
“Google Chrome will steal 4 GB of disk space from your computer for its local large language model unless you opted out.”
https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/05/07/chrome-silently-installs-a-4-gb-local-llm-on-your-computer/5230893
Closing statements by the Filton 6, who are the Palestine Action activists mentioned by Zarah Sultana above being stitched-for terrorism sentences without being charged with specific terrorism offenses.
Tapping the sign, again.
![On The Media's Breaking News Consumer Handbook
1. In the immediate aftermath, news outlets will get it wrong.
2. Don't trust anonymous sources.
3. Don't trust stories that cite another news outlet as the source of the information.
4. There's almost never a second shooter.
5. Pay attention to the language the media uses.
* "We are getting reports"… could mean anything.
* "We are seeking confirmation"… means they don't have it.
* "[News outlet] has learned"… means it has a scoop or is going out on limb.
6. Look for news outlets close to the incident.
7. Compare multiple sources.
8. Big news brings out the fakers. And photoshoppers.
9. Beware reflexive retweeting. Some of this is on you.
— On The Media. "Breaking News Consumer's Handbook". *On The Media*. WNYC Studios. 2013-09-20.
https://www.wnyc.org/story/breaking-news-consumers-handbook-pdf/](https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/468/723/609/747/731/original/9f1a0af5b8d73567.jpeg)
If Zarah Sultana MP had not entered this into the public record by saying it in the House of Commons on 14 April 2026, today it would be illegal to print this in any UK media.
Calvin's Dad on the US economy 2026:
@gruber
“OpenAI burned a ton of money on what was effectively a stunt.”
And spaffed a load of carbon into the atmosphere, as well.
RE: https://union.place/@propublicaguild/116284215371526578
Even ProPublica!? The non-profit? Even a hierarchy with that is set up with righteous intentions is still poisoned by hierarchy.
Only newsrooms that are co-operatives of the people who work there will get my support from now on: like 404 Media, Hellgate, Defector, …
"If I have one message to give to the secular American people, it’s that the world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don’t know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same."
— Marjane Satrapi to Michelle Goldberg. "Sexual Revolutionaries". Salon, 24 April 2005.
Chicago Pope is not having any part of Fascism on July 4.
