Issues You May Know, 7 February 2025.
A list of things you might want to know about - or write your reps about.
The tycoons want us all to live in their authoritarian company towns instead of free communities.
Nobody voted for Elon Musk and what is he doing with American data?
I've worked for government, and one big rule in government work is that you sign agreements that you understand that you can't attach anything to government computers. You're not even supposed to plug in a USB spotlight lamp to government equipment.
There’s all kinds of reports that Elon Musk and his cronies are downloading government data to private servers all over the place in various agencies. One has to wonder why would Trump need Elon Musk to do this? Trump's the president so it wouldn’t make sense for him to need Elon Musk to download information to private servers unless Elon Musk is doing this for his own purposes. Which then raises the question about why is Elon Musk doing this and where is this data going?
Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social February 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM - bsky In case you’re still not clear what’s happening, look what happened to Palantir stock this morning after the CEO announced earnings and a “new phase” in its business: “We are still in the earliest stages, the beginning of the first act, of a revolution that will play out over years and decades.”
They have perhaps expanded their aspirations.
Tech Billionaires’ Shocking Plot for Rural America More Perfect Union Sep 4, 2024 Tech billionaires are waging a hostile takeover of rural Northern California. They want to build their own private city in Solano County, and they’re crushing farmers with lawsuits to do it. Local activists delayed them last month, but the fight has just begun.
These people are beset with megalomania and attention seeking, so they've been pretty open about it. The tycoons like Marc Andreesen suing ranchers who don’t want to sell out by using “antitrust” sounds an awful lot like Elon Musk suing advertisers who fled his crap social media platform for “antitrust”. They want to be feudal lords who can outlaw boycotts and FORCE people to buy (or more likely rent) their crap. They want monarchy. They aren’t kidding.
Tech tycoon guru reveals the Accusation in a Mirror of conservative pandemic rhetoric. Curtis Yarvin is reportedly a guru to tech tycoons and their acolytes like JD Vance, and he articulated that the aristocrat revolution should involve pandemic-type measures. Chloe Humbert Oct 21, 2024 Curtis Yarvin: "At most a week of Covid-style lockdown should be enough to secure the new regime—not only are the Americans of today, especially the blue-state ones, no Minutemen, but unlike most historical urban populations they do not even know how to be a mob."
Did Trump actually campaign on Elon Musk downloading American's PII to his own servers? Because if so, I missed that from clips from the rallies and it certainly wasn't mentioned in any of the many Trump campaign ads I saw. I have seen enough of these tech tycoon tescreal ideas to know I don’t want these people in charge of anything.
MEMORANDUM Date: February 5, 2025 Subject: Capture of U.S. Critical Infrastructure by Neoreactionaries https://america2.news/content/files/2025/02/Musk-NRx-Memo-February-5-2025.pdf
My letter to reps:
I didn't consent to have all my personal data fed into AI systems. What are you doing to protect my data in the federal government? Donald Trump's the president so it wouldn’t make sense for him to need Elon Musk to download not just emails, but the PII of Americans, all our information, to his own private servers. Elon Musk has way big conflicts of interests for one thing. His contracts should've been cancelled ages ago. He's not even a good business operator. I can't trust any business because now i have to assume any business operation is a free for all where human life is treated cheap and our personal data is compromised. Nobody voted for this. Elon Musk must be fired and barred from federal government contact, and all our data must be seized from his possession.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Join us…
The New Republic - “Disgusted” Democratic Voters Are Blowing Up Congress’s Phones Democrats in Congress are getting flooded with angry pleas to fight Trump’s lawless moves. Malcolm Ferguson / February 6, 2025 “I can’t recall ever receiving this many calls,” Massachusetts Representative Jim McGovern told Axios. “People disgusted with what’s going on, and they want us to fight back.” Wisconsin Representative Mark Pocan echoed McGovern’s sentiments: “We had the most calls we’ve ever had in one day on Monday in 12 years.” Maryland Representative Steny Hoyer said his office is receiving “hundreds, maybe thousands” of calls.
Don’t lead with a lie.
Most people don’t actually ever see beyond the headline. It’s a problem if someone starts with the thing they’re planning on debunking, and editor’s notes (or community notes) are probably not effective enough because of this reality.
Phys.org - November 19, 2024 Editors' notes Social media users probably won't read beyond this headline, researchers say by Ashley WennersHerron, Pennsylvania State University In an analysis of more than 35 million public posts containing links that were shared extensively on the social media platform between 2017 and 2020, the researchers found that around 75% of the shares were made without the posters clicking the link first. Of these, political content from both ends of the spectrum was shared without clicking more often than politically neutral content. The findings, which the researchers said suggest that social media users tend to merely read headlines and blurbs rather than fully engage with core content, were published today (Nov. 19) in Nature Human Behavior.
I’ve been griping about this for some time now. Sadly I think some people realize that they get more clicks for leading with the lie.
Curtail use of social media and start connecting with people personally.
404 Media - You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism Janus Rose · Feb 5, 2025 at 11:47 AM “The reality is you are oxygenating the things these people are saying even as you purport to debunk them,” Katherine Cross, a sociologist and author of Log Off: Why Posting and Politics (Almost) Never Mix, told 404 Media. “Whether it’s [New York Times columnist] Ross Douthat providing a sane-washing gloss on Trump’s mania or people on social media vehemently disagreeing and dunking on it, they’re legitimizing it as part of the discourse.” Cross’ book contains a meticulous catalog of social media sins which many people who follow and care about current events are probably guilty of—myself very much included. She documents how tech platforms encourage us, through their design affordances, to post and seethe and doomscroll into the void, always reacting and never acting. But perhaps the greatest of these sins is convincing ourselves that posting is a form of political activism, when it is at best a coping mechanism—an individualist solution to problems that can only be solved by collective action. This, says Cross, is the primary way tech platforms atomize and alienate us, creating “a solipsism that says you are the main protagonist in a sea of NPCs.” “Everything on social media is designed to make you think like that,” said Cross. “It’s all about you—your feed, your network, your friends.” In the days since the inauguration, I’ve watched people on Bluesky and Instagram fall into these same old traps. My timeline is full of reactive hot takes and gotchas by people who still seem to think they can quote-dunk their way out of fascism—or who know they can’t, but simply can’t resist taking the bait. The media is more than willing to work up their appetites. Legacy news outlets cynically chase clicks (and ad dollars) by disseminating whatever sensational nonsense those in power are spewing.
📍Note: The big public social media platforms are not the entirety of the internet. Forums, email, and messaging services still exist.
Also I know someone always comes along to defend their social media use, but the truth is it looks like it’s shaping up to be a net negative so, not really interested in those arguments anymore.
There's more than 1 way to disrupt, & some ways are better than others.
The success of nonviolent civil resistance: Erica Chenoweth at TEDxBoulder TEDx Talks Nov 4, 2013 "Sometimes, crackdowns do happen, but even in those cases, the nonviolent campaigns were outperforming the violent ones by 2 to 1. It turns out that when security forces beat up, arrest, or even shoot unarmed activists, there is indeed safety in numbers. Large, well-coordinated campaigns can shift between tactics that are concentrated, like protests or demonstrations, to tactics of dispersion, where people stay away from places they were expected to go. They do strikes, they bang on pots and pans, they stay at home, they shut off their electricity at a coordinated time of day. These tactics are much less risky, they're very hard, or at least very costly to suppress, but the movement stays just as disruptive. What happens in these countries once the dust settles? It turns out that the way you resist matters in the long run too. Most strikingly, countries in which people wage nonviolent struggle were way more likely to emerge with democratic institutions than countries in which they wage violent struggle." – Erica Chenoweth
Who could ever trust ImmunityBio medical products ever again?
If the owner favours RFKJr transforming healthcare that seriously puts in question the entire company's validity and safety. I don't know about anybody else but I would be very very very wary of any "treatments" that come out of this billionaire's medical company if he thinks RFKJr is good for health. I'm not sure why anyone would trust anything coming from ImmunityBio considering this.
The New Republic - Edith Olmsted / February 5, 2025 RFK Jr.’s Most Surprising Ally is the LA Times Owner. Here’s Why. Patrick Soon-Shiong has been extra vocal in his support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. When Kennedy’s nomination was narrowly advanced on Tuesday, Soon-Shiong posted on X to cheer him on. “Yay!!!! The transformation of healthcare begins,” he wrote. But it looks like the billionaire scientist’s support is ultimately self-serving. As Kennedy’s confirmation advances, ImmunityBio, Soon-Shiong’s biotech firm, has three pending drug applications in front of the Food and Drug Administration. Soon-Shiong founded ImmunityBio in 2014, just four years before he bought the LA Times. The firm’s first commercial drug, Anktiva, which treats a form of bladder cancer, hit the market last April after it was initially rejected the year before. The snafu led Soon-Shiong to infuse an additional $400 million into the company to keep things moving, according to the LA Business Journal. By ensuring his new buddy secures the position overseeing the FDA, Soon-Shiong can possibly avoid hitting the same expensive snag a second, third, and fourth time.
But her emails…
OPM asks to dismiss email server lawsuit, citing misinterpretation of law February 5, 2025 04:40 PM ET The agency notably released a privacy impact assessment for the dubious email server used to mass-message federal employees about a deferred resignation offer on the same day as the legal dismissal request. By David DiMolfetta, Cybersecurity Reporter, Nextgov/FCW Many workers suspected it was a phishing email and reported it to their IT departments. A second test email went out the following day, and federal employees were later sent the resignation proposal using the same system shortly thereafter, saying they would be paid until Sept. 30 — provided they resign by Feb. 6. OPM attorneys representing the Trump administration argue the suit misconstrues the law, contending the E-Government Act’s PIA requirement applies only to systems handling public data and not data attributed to internal employees. Despite this, OPM has now published a PIA for the system and submitted it to the court.
Get ready for AI hallucinated mistakes in Social Security payments.
They're planning on deploying dubious crappy AI in federal government systems.
Trump’s Diversion Tactics Stay Focused on the Hostile Takeover of the U.S. Government Olga Lautman Feb 05, 2025 Musk’s operatives are illegally copying and storing government data, giving him unprecedented access to millions of Americans’ financial records, Social Security numbers, tax filings, and potentially classified agency files. Meanwhile, Thomas Shedd, a Musk associate now in charge of the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Technology Transformation Services (TTS), has openly admitted that the administration plans to widely deploy AI throughout government systems. Shedd told government tech workers that they must “alter” Login.gov, the federal system used to access Social Security, Medicare, and IRS records. Employees immediately flagged this as an illegal task, yet Musk’s team is still moving forward.
My letter to reps:
I don’t want AI running government systems. It has a proven track record of being unreliable, and it’s a waste of power.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
The right-wing chopping at the American weather service.
My letter to reps:
There is no profit motive for maintaining public safety, that's why the weather service has to be a community government effort. The Elon Musk people should stay the hell away from my weather service. I don't trust things already. If I can't trust the weather information, then where are we? Nobody can plan for anything or trust anything if NOAA is corrupted.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Community leaders need pressure from below to counter pressure from authoritarianism above them.
I sent emails to my local school board and it wasn’t a resounding reassurance I got in response.
Schools don't have to overturn ADA compliance based on White House central government DEI edicts. Feb 3rd, 2025 The wording of the response I got from the president of the school board makes it clear that they do actually believe these "anti-DEI" edicts from the White House can overturn, for example, Section 504 law in the schools.
They are otherwise ready to roll over and institute anything. There will always be people who will follow illegal orders, for all sorts of reasons.
Dispatches From A Collapsing State | Jared Yates Sexton Actions To Take Now: Audio From A Collapsing State Time is of the essence. We have to start working. Now. Jared Yates Sexton Jan 31, 2025 They need to know that there are people who are going to hold them accountable. And if they are not going to stand up for what's right, you will find somebody else to do it. We view our relationships with these leaders and with these bosses and with these managers through that deferential lens. We let them have power often that they do not deserve and let them have an advantage over the rest of us. And this falls along a lot of different varieties of schisms, including class and privilege. But we need to start now saying, these things are coming. How are you going to stand against them? What are you going to do? How are you going to protect us? How are you going to do what's right?
Many won't like being pressured from below, of course.
The Original Intent of the Constitution | Myths of American History "what you have here one needs to realize is an elite definition of liberty it is not democracy at all it is individual freedom from tyranny or from any form of external control or interference but by the political thought of the day such tyranny or control could come from above or from below from mob rule that broke the social contract john randolph of virginia i think summed this up best in his famous quote “i am an aristocrat i love liberty i hate equality” now while the revolution has fought successfully for liberty and against tyranny from above liberty to these men is now threatened by tyranny from below"
☎️ Calling Gretchen Whitmer – pick up the clue phone, Big Gretch. 📍
Please do not go around saying you're gonna try to find "common ground" with lawbreaking jerks and meet people halfway on killing Americans. Good gravy if you live in Michigan please tell her not to be saying milquetoast and asinine crap to the media. What the hell happened here?
Puck - Silence of the Dems Democrats have been rendered speechless not just by the sweep of Trump’s victory, but also by the realization that his popularity has never been higher. A new Puck/Echelon poll illuminates his weaknesses—and how the likes of Whitmer and Pritzker could take advantage. Peter Hamby January 27, 2005 Whitmer, an occasionally talented politician, responded with some pablum—the same stuff you’re hearing a lot from Democrats right now, in state capitals and the halls of Congress. A few examples: “I am not out looking for fights. I am always looking to collaborate.” “I am focused on moving forward and finding common ground where we can.” “I am not against tariffs, per se, but we have to be strategic.” The interview wasn’t bad or embarrassing. It was just rote, cautious, and forgettable—a manifestation of where Democrats are right now in the first week of Trump 2.0, which looks very different from his first tour in office. Back then, the American public was stunned, Trump was unprepared, and Democrats were in permanent attack mode.
Remember, if your Democratic Party representative isn't hearing from you, they will assume you think they're doing just fine!
Coast Guard purge is about hatred of women and a preoccupation with the border.
A lot of the fascist sexist racist bullshit coming out of the White House makes me angry. A lot of what’s going on makes me extremely concerned, for my safety and the safety of others. But this is the first news that actually saddened me. It’s really just petty and grotesque. The American president’s preoccupation with the border and his intense hatred of women. An embarrassment.
NBC News – Trump administration evicts former Coast Guard leader from her house with 3 hours notice Trump fired Linda Fagan, the first female Coast Guard commandant, on his second day in office. A Trump official told her she had three hours to leave her house on Tuesday. Feb. 5, 2025, 6:32 PM EST By Jonathan Allen and Courtney Kube President Donald Trump’s administration evicted former Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan from her home with three hours of notice on Tuesday — not even enough time to gather her personal effects — according to two people familiar with the incident. Fagan, a four-star admiral and the first woman to lead a branch of the military, was removed from her post as the Coast Guard’s top officer on Trump’s second day in office. Officials at the Homeland Security Department — which oversees the Coast Guard — cited border security issues and an “excessive focus” on diversity, equity and inclusion among the reasons for her dismissal. Fagan, who was named commandant in 2022, made a convenient target for a new president who wanted to flex his muscle.
I had considered it, but couldn’t join the coast guard in 1989 because of my eyesight not being corrected to the needed level with eyeglasses. I hadn’t even considered at the time my being a woman would’ve mattered at all, things seemed much more hopeful to me back then. We’ve gone backwards.
The anti-woman hate campaigns in South Korea.
You’ve heard about the attempt at marital law. But have you heard about the cultural context for women?
The Documentary Podcast - Assignment: South Korea - the feminist hunters Release date: 07 January 2025 In South Korea “feminism” has become a dirty word - something to be whispered in private - as young men hunt feminists down online and offline. Jean Mackenzie investigates.
When gamergate becomes a permanent pervasive culture, things can get nastier and uglier and dangerous.
(I’m sorry I don’t know of a transcript, but they allow you to download the mp3 if you have a way to use a transcript maker.)
There is no system that you can just adopt and then set it and forget it.
There’s no political perpetual motion machine. Society will never work like a crock pot.
(tumblr)
Trump must just think ordinary Americans take pet baths in the backyard.
Trump Says RICH PEOPLE TAKE SHOWERS DIFFERENTLY Than Regular People?!?! Jesse Dollemore Jan 22, 2025 Jesse talks about Donald Trump's bizarre answer to a question about the fires in California, where he went off on one of his classic dumb guy rants about water and wealthy people. Specifically, he said, "They wanted to restrict you to 38 gallons of water a day. That sounds like a lot, but it's not when you're a rich person and you want to take a shower."
The strange thing here is that he seems to think being rich means you have special need for accommodation. How does this figure into all the merit based bullshit he's always on about? There's nothing coherent about anything the Donald says, I’m not sure there ever was, but it’s increasingly obvious that the’s a doddering old man. No wonder some tycoon can usurp his desired power and plunder the treasury under his nose.
☄️ Reminder: Near Earth Asteroids are a thing.
Thought you would enjoy this reminder. ☄️
NASA Shares Observations of Recently-Identified Near Earth Asteroid Molly L Wasser Posted on January 29, 2025 NASA analysis of a near-Earth asteroid, designated 2024 YR4, indicates it has a more than 1% chance of impacting Earth on Dec. 22, 2032 – which also means there is about a 99% chance this asteroid will not impact. Such initial analysis will change over time as more observations are gathered. Currently, no other known large asteroids have an impact probability above 1%.
Phendula wendoda.
This is from one of my favourite albums back in the 1980s when I was a teenager. I was introduced to Johnny Clegg by a pen-pal in France.