Lending some anecdotal support, the wireless network of the large flagship I went to (in the time spanning the late oughts to the early 10s) operated well enough for the the time while allowing students to plug their own wireless routers into the single Ethernet port they otherwise us to split. And this was back in 802.11g days; before all the channels of 5ghz.

Students had a DC++ service running on the campus MAN, fed it by downloading Linux isos over the onion network… it wasn’t just us nerds doing it either- nearly everyone had a Wi-Fi router.

As time marches on, more rules are made, none are repealed, and student freedom and innovation is stifled. Then those growing up in relative freedom grow grumpy as they watch things enshittify for the people who won’t have known an alternative. I usually apply this thought to privacy philosophy but I see it fits here too.

Would you mind expanding on this? The idea piqued my interest, but couldn’t find information on that connection when looking for myself.

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For anyone without a New Yorker subscription, these journalists are podcasters. This investigation is season 3 of In the Dark. I found it worthwhile and recommendable, which I admit understates the lengths they went to in unearthing the story.

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They let him off easy. I couldn’t figure out how exactly they’re related, but Richard Mellon Scaife is a big part of the reason we’re in the political mess we are today day. Americans distrusted corporations in the 1970s - tobacco, Dow Chemical, Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed… also low income inequality. In response, future SCOTUS Justice Powell - who was on the board of Philip Morris and close friends with GM’s general counsel wrote what was intended to be secret memo for members of the US Chamber of Commerce:

‘Attack on American Free Enterprise System’ was written to transform corporate America into a “vanguard.” Contents include “the American economic system is under attack… [enemies are] perfectly respectable elements of society…the college campus, the pulpit*, the media, the intellectual and literary journals, the arts and sciences, politicians.” Capitalists need to wage “guerrilla warfare” against those seeking to “insidiously” undermine them. “Capture public opinion by exerting influence over the institutions that shape it - academia, the media, the churches, and the courts - to control debate at its source.” Said donors should demand a say in university hiring and curriculum and “press vigorously in all political arenas.” Key to victory is “careful long-range planning and implementation” with a “scale of financing available only through joint effort.” The memo spurred the ultra-conservative foundations to weaponize their “philanthropic” giving to “fight a multi-front war of influence over American political thought.”

The Coors family heeded the call first, followed by Mellon Scaife who massively overshadowed the Coors’. These foundations, that only existed for inheritance tax avoidance, were weaponized right at this moment… two months before Powell was nominated to The Court.

That’s how close we came to living in a good timeline.

And I’m only 1/4 of the way through Jane Mayer’s Dark Money; maybe just a tip of an iceberg. I’d suggest it’s required reading for every American. I should add Mayer is also responsible for unmasking Clarence Thomas in Strange Justice, the source for nearly everything we know about his grotesque history. I haven’t read it.

*this was pre-Moral Majority, but not by much.

Does a news article contain a question mark? Then it’s not a news article.

I’ve had this setup and would recommend but since I’ve switched from OpenVPN to Wiregaurd I’m getting constantly hit by cloud flare verification s and captchas… and my IP hasn’t changed once since. Wondering if that’s just the environment now or specific to my protocol change. Any readers’ experiences?

He’s a Mellon. I couldn’t figure out how they’re related, but Richard Mellon Scaife is a big part of the reason we’re in the political mess we are today day. Americans distrusted corporations in the 1970s - tobacco, Dow Chemical, Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed… also low income inequality. In response, future SCOTUS Justice Powell - who was on the board of Philip Morris and close friends with GM’s general counsel wrote what was intended to be secret memo for members of the US Chamber of Commerce:

‘Attack on American Free Enterprise System’ was written to transform corporate America into a “vanguard.” Contents include “the American economic system is under attack… [enemies are] perfectly respectable elements of society…the college campus, the pulpit*, the media, the intellectual and literary journals, the arts and sciences, politicians.” Capitalists need to wage “guerrilla warfare” against those seeking to “insidiously” undermine them. “Capture public opinion by exerting influence over the institutions that shape it - academia, the media, the churches, and the courts - to control debate at its source.” Said donors should demand a say in university hiring and curriculum and “press vigorously in all political arenas.” Key to victory is “careful long-range planning and implementation” with a “scale of financing available only through joint effort.” The memo spurred the ultra-conservative foundations to weaponize their “philanthropic” giving to “fight a multi-front war of influence over American political thought.”

The Coors family heeded the call first, followed by Mellon Scaife who massively overshadowed the Coors’. These foundations, that only existed for inheritance tax avoidance, were weaponized right at this moment… two months before Powell was nominated to The Court.

That’s how close we came to living in a good timeline.

And I’m only 1/4 of the way through Jane Mayer’s Dark Money; maybe just a tip of an iceberg. I’d suggest it’s required reading for every American. I should add Mayer is also responsible for unmasking Clarence Thomas in Strange Justice, the source for nearly everything we know about his grotesque history. I haven’t read it.

*this was pre-Moral Majority, but not by much.

It’s a convention, we don’t have to mock his supporters for having some mirth. IDK what this sour author is going to say when people are having fun wearing Joe or Kamala masks at our convention, whatever that situation may be. This is what party conventions are- people wear flag suits and ridiculous hats. Let people have their fun. Christ. We don’t have to be negative about every goddamn thing. Some things are OK.

Great point. It took an entire world war that one time.

I hadn’t before heard about what happened in NH. Fascinating.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68077090

It’s seeming like a tide of unthinkability bias is awashing the country. Maybe there’s a better word for the phenomenon where one just can’t contemplate what could be a really bad problem. Or if one can, ‘oh but [the grim outcome] is so far down the road…’

Really upset with all the straight, white lawmakers in my state that decided to ban any rifle that performs better than grandpa’s deer rifle. Trump is going to win and there will be purges. There always are when a new dictator comes to power.

And the very ruling this article is talking about would make him immune if he makes it an order.

Just so we’re all calling a spade a spade, tea party roots = Koch roots

It’s hard when living in a panopticon. Even the smallest PDs have thermal drones, night vision, fully automatic weapons, ALPRs, facial recognition, security cameras tracking you from the nextdoor neighbor’s Ring to the network of cameras at every turn in a population center. Anyone that tries to make the world a better place in that way also throws away their own life. And that’s if you never use a computer.

Right now, the best use of the second amendment is keeping some weapon in a safe until the purges begin. Trans people will be probably be their first target. Then the LGBs, then anyone whose medical record reflects an abortion or adjacent procedure…

Things Christian Nationalists have already put into the record:

Day 1 Trump becomes a dictator; Day 1 insurrection act martial law; Replace the DOJ and FBI with loyalists to go weaponize them against the presidents “enemies;” His non-followers are vermin instead of Americans; “We are domestic terrorists” banner at CPAC;

Every authoritarian I can think of has tried to purge a population. It’s a way more common occurrence in human history than democracy. It’s just this time the recently unmasked fascists in Silicon Valley already know what every American’s political beliefs are and where they are at any given time.

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Why might that be? I ask as someone who doesn’t follow the court until it crosses my eyeline, as with this article.