Nobody Cares: PRS

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

William Shakespeare (@shakespeare.lol)

Alas, poor country, Almost afraid to know itself!

bsky.app

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

https://boingboing.net/2025/03/07/late-and-hungover-influencer-johnny-somali-pleads-guilty-in-korean-court.html

This guy is so fucked.

 

[Free]

https://boingboing.net/2025/03/07/late-and-hungover-influencer-johnny-somali-pleads-guilty-in-korean-court.html

For months, Somali wreaked havoc across South Korea with nuisance streams that royally upset both the country's politicians and citizens, including a former member of the Korean Special Forces who KO'd the streamer in a must-see video.

Must see, not so much. Filmed on a cellphone with the POV of the puncher's perspective, you don't see much beyond Somali going down. But I did - with some chagrin - enjoy the viewing.

 

[Free]

Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)

While political reporters are still doing their view-from-nowhere “Democrats say this, Republicans say that” dance, tech and legal journalists have been watching an unfortunately recogn…

www.techdirt.com

While political reporters are still doing their view-from-nowhere “Democrats say this, Republicans say that” dance, tech and legal journalists have been watching an unfortunately recognizable plan unfold — a playbook we’re all too familiar with. We’ve seen how technology can be wielded to consolidate power, how institutional guardrails can be circumvented through technical and legal workarounds, and how smoke and mirrors claims about “innovation” can mask old-fashioned power grabs. It’s a playbook we watched Musk perfect at Twitter, and now we’re seeing it deployed on a national scale.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a few people reach out about our coverage these days. Most have been very supportive of what we’ve been covering (in fact, people have been strongly encouraging us to keep it up), but a few asked questions regarding what Techdirt is focused on these days, and how much we were leaning into covering “politics.”

When the very institutions that made American innovation possible are being systematically dismantled, it’s not a “political” story anymore. It’s a story about whether the environment that enabled all the other stories we cover will continue to exist.

We’ve always covered the intersection of technology, innovation, and policy (27+ years and counting). Sometimes that meant writing about patents or copyright, sometimes about content moderation, sometimes about privacy. But what happens when the fundamental systems that make all of those conversations possible start breaking down? When the people dismantling those systems aren’t even pretending to replace them with something better?

But there’s more to it than that.

It's a longish piece. I'm putting Techdirt on my daily read list.

 

[Soen Eber]

Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)

While political reporters are still doing their view-from-nowhere “Democrats say this, Republicans say that” dance, tech and legal journalists have been watching an unfortunately recogn…

www.techdirt.com

It's a longish piece. I'm putting Techdirt on my daily read list.

The author also puts out a call for recommendations of other sources of information calling B.S. just like he is, and there are a lot of good suggestions in the comments section beyond the ones we're actively paying attention to in this forum.

 

[Noodles]

Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)

While political reporters are still doing their view-from-nowhere “Democrats say this, Republicans say that” dance, tech and legal journalists have been watching an unfortunately recogn…

www.techdirt.com

It's a longish piece. I'm putting Techdirt on my daily read list.

Yeah, I hear this comment a lot on tech sites, and sometimes gaming news sites. "Stop being political". "Just talk about Tech(etc)."

Its almost like there is a large intersection of "politics" with literally everything.

Also, I am convinced half these complaints come from dumbasses (mostly Techno Libertarian types) who are upset about being reminded that their stupid utopian libertarian tech idealism is just a bunch of snake oil bull shit.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

I had to look this up. Apparently it's not what I thought it was. It's stuff you spray up your nose and it's supposed to give you a head-to-toe tan without the need to sunbathe. Like, wtf???

 

[Veritable Quandry]

It's stuff you spray up your nose and it's supposed to give you a head-to-toe tan without the need to sunbathe. Like, wtf???

 

[Dancien]

I mean if you want to shoot harmful shit up your nose that makes you feel pretty just do cocaine like everybody else.

 

[Casey Pelous]

I mean if you want to shoot harmful shit up your nose that makes you feel pretty just do cocaine like everybody else.

Heck, it seems like even meth would be an improvement on whatever she snorted.

 

[Dancien]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/12/politics/tim-walz-national-tour-town-halls

As of this moment, this guy is the only Democrat I would vote for as POTUS.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Congress has until the end of Friday to avert a funding shutdown. The way I read things, there are enough undecided democrats the bill may or may not pass. It is a last chance to force some hands yet many democrats in the senate are all wishy washy about whether to vote against it. Please have some spine and vote no.

 

[Noodles]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/12/politics/tim-walz-national-tour-town-halls

As of this moment, this guy is the only Democrat I would vote for as POTUS.

Pritzker/Walz or Walz/Pritzker ticket.

 

[Dancien]

I was thinking Walz/Mills honestly

 

[Essence Lumin]

The democrats have no spine. Chuck Schumer is voting for the funding bill. We're fucked.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-administration-presidency-03-13-2025/index.html

 

[Free]

Go where the science is respected, I say.

'We Are Witnessing a New Brain Drain' as Scientists Flee America for France

A French university says it's providing safe harbor to American scientists from Yale, Stanford, NASA, and the NIH.

gizmodo.com

Aix Marseille University in France has said that 40 U.S. scientists have “answered the call” it put out earlier this month offering safe harbor to fleeing Americans. Scientists in the U.S. under the Trump regime are facing a sudden loss of funding and stricter regulations on speech and areas of research. According to Aix Marseille University President Eric Berton, some of them will find a home in France.

In a press release about its “Safe Space for Science” initiative, the University announced that the 40 U.S. scientists included people from Stanford, Yale, NASA, the National Institute for Health, and George Washington University. It said that most of their research topics were related to “health (LGBT+ medicine, epidemiology, infectious diseases, inequalities, immunology, etc.), the environment and climate change…as well as the humanities and social sciences…and astrophysics.”

 

[Free]

Most of these "some would-be voters" are women, of course.

NH’s new ID requirements send some would-be voters home to grab passports, birth certificates

The law requires all new voters to show proof of their U.S. citizenship. For some, that meant making multiple trips to and from the polls before finally casting a ballot on Tuesday.

www.nhpr.org

It took three trips, but Brooke Yonge was finally able to cast her ballot.

On her first trip to the Derry polls Tuesday morning, Yonge didn’t bring proof of her U.S. citizenship, a requirement under New Hampshire’s new voter identification law. So she drove home to grab her birth certificate, and then tried to vote a second time.

But there was another problem.

“It doesn’t have my married name on it,” she said. Town voting officials then sent her away a second time, to get her marriage certificate.

“It is what it is,” said Yonge, walking back to her car yet again.

Tuesday’s town elections saw the first widespread application of New Hampshire’s new Republican-backed voting law. The new rules are considered some of the strictest in the country: No longer can would-be voters sign an affidavit if they don’t bring certain identification documents with them to the polls. Now, all new voters in the state must have paperwork in hand proving they are U.S. citizens — including a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers — as well as showing that they meet residency requirements.

"It is what it is." Fucking Republicans.

 

[Dancien]

Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social)

Extraordinary moment — Nancy Pelosi issues a statement calling on Democratic senators to reject the House funding bill, i.e. to defy Chuck Schumer. "Democratic senators should listen to the women," she says, referring to Murray/DeLauro who want a 1-month stopgap bill instead.

bsky.app

Nancy Pelosi has been summoned from her Cryo-Chamber.

 

[Dancien]

Next up in "Siri, show me fragile masculinity"

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick filed legislation to rename the "New York" Strip steak to the "Texas" Strip steak.

 

[Free]

Okay then, Tex-Mex is now New Mex-Mex.