8 responses to “Politics as usual is finished in America.”

1. 

   granville

   03/12/2025

   Following up on the Firefox issue, this is crazy, man:

   https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/internet-policy/proposed-remedies-browsers/

   Mozilla’s worried they’ll lose their revenue from Google, so they oppose the Justice Department’s decision to break up Google.

   Like jwz says (wise, but weightier still since he founded the fucking company): It’s like an animal shelter worried about paying their bills, so they start selling kitten meat, and when people point out that selling kitten meat contradicts the goal of an animal shelter, they point out that without these delicious slices of kitten flesh, even more animals would be suffering. Tech really is a lost cause.

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      03/13/2025

      Firefox and tech in general sure seem determined to stink smellier and smellier. Gotta wonder, though, is the awfulness in tech any worse than the awfulness in the rest of the capitalist hellscape? I’m not techy enough to know, but I can’t think of a tech application or big business that existed 5 or 10 years ago and isn’t significantly suckier now. Not even counting democracy and Trumpy-Musky stuff, we’re living the slow-mo collapse of everything.

      Reply
2. 

   granville

   03/12/2025

   “I can’t imagine doing that work. I would sooner quit and starve and live in the woods.”

   I really hate moments like this. I constantly delude myself that people are better than they are, and moments of crisis force people to reveal themselves. Almost no one makes this decision. They don’t question the legality of orders. They don’t think for a moment, well, I might make less money at the post office but at least I won’t be making a malignant fascist richer and more powerful. I get the feeling that most people are incapable of handling that kind of realization, so they avoid it. So long as you don’t see the (checks today’s post) child with brain cancer deported from his hospital bed, you can convince yourself it’s not happening.

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   1. 

      Doug Holland

      03/13/2025

      Do you ever hang out in forums like Lemmy or Reddit, where random strangers spout their opinions? One of the more popular tropes on such sites is that we can ‘probably’ count on the military to refuse orders to act against American civilians, because they’re ‘trained’ to recognize and refuse illegal commands.

      And I don’t even know what to say to such delusions, except … yeah, I guess our final line of defense against presidential insanity will be the morality of individual soldiers and officers who’ve been trained to follow orders and know they’ll be court-martialled if they don’t. Makes me feel so much better.

      Reply
      1. 

         granville

         03/13/2025

         lol yeah, I read about one or two subreddits regularly but intentionally avoid any others or the front page. It’s like staring into the crazed eyes of the prototypical Consumer-American.

         This seems like a pretty good gut-check of where we’re at:

         https://archive.is/zHMoo (link to NYTimes)

         Just a group of lionized first amendment lawyers and New Yorker staffers and academics warning students not to write about anything controversial.

         Yes, these people are cowards. No, they’re not any different than any other member of the elite that is cowering at the thought of a crisis upsetting their brunches or weekend in the Hamptons. Good to have a reminder of who is “defending” us.

         Reply
         1. 

            Doug Holland

            03/13/2025

            > Students who were not U.S. citizens should avoid publishing work on Gaza, Ukraine and protests related to their former classmate’s arrest, urged Stuart Karle, a First Amendment lawyer and adjunct professor.

            That’s the “First Amendment lawyer” I want on the other side when I’m prosecuted. What a shitfuck. They’re now kicking out the students who protested a year ago. If there’s ever a recovery from 2025 (there won’t be) Columbia should be considered an educational laughing stock.

            Reply
3. 

   Claude Reigns

   03/12/2025

   Gene Hackman, damn right

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      03/13/2025

      Dude deserves a better clip, though.

      Reply

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