oh shit new logo just dropped
— kottke.org (@kottke.org) January 7, 2025 at 5:35 PM
This is an interesting piece about TikTok users getting around an algorithm that mainly rewards posts about shopping and fashion:
For the past 48 hours, thousands of TikTok users have been posting and sharing videos ostensibly about “cute winter boots.”
[…]The phrase “cute winter boots” is not about footwear. It’s a code phrase being used to discuss resistance to Trump and how to fight back against the draconian immigration policies his administration is enacting. Users talking about “cute winter boots” keeping people safe from “ice,” are referencing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Cute winter boots” is just the latest example of algospeak, coded phrases and words aimed at subverting algorithmic filters.
As the U.S. government seeks to enact stricter controls over speech online, TikTok users are adopting more coded language specifically aimed at criticizing the government and alerting others to government surveillance of online spaces. For instance, the phrase “Senator, I’m Singaporean,” a quote uttered by TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew in response to Sen. Tom Cotton’s racist line of questioning implying that Chew was a Chinese government agent, is now frequently posted in the comments of videos by users seeking to warn others about the content they’re posting. The phrase “Senator, I’m Singaporean,” has come to mean that a video is not something that the government wants, or that they’re going to show this type of video to congress, a creator explained.
Predictions about the future of non-right-wing content on social media are hard. Twitter is easy — it’s run by a nazi and is now a nazi propaganda hellhole. The rest are going to tune their algorithm, or even remove posts, as Meta recently did by blurring, blocking or removing posts from abortion pill providers.
Reddit, which I guess is a social media platform, is different from the others because it has strong volunteer moderators. Recently, a number of those moderators in some of the big subreddits (oddly enough, starting with sports Jersey subreddit*) starting banning Twitter links. This reddit post is an interesting read on that.
I’m really enjoying BlueSky and think it’s a great platform with great promise. But the reality is that the reach of BlueSky is minuscule compared to the Meta, TikTok and YouTube platforms. I have hope for the future, but for the moment, I’m not going to ding any Democrat or activist who uses platforms (other than Twitter) to try to spread the message. Hopefully, they’ll cross-post on multiple socials so they can build followers on all of them, and that includes BlueSky.
Please use this thread to talk about social media or anything else you’d like.
* JerseyBeard showed his Jersey pride by pointing out that the Jersey subreddit was the first to ban Ketamine Boy’s private website.
trollhattan
That’s funny as hell. Sad, and funny.
Trivia Man
Note how Chinese users have many ways to reference tienanmen square. The government cracks down as fast as possible so it needs to morph quickly. Winnie the Pooh, june 4th, and so many more.
Notthatproud
I started a blue sky account, but I’m not sure what for. I did Twitter back before Elon, but honestly, social media is just a distraction. That’s not to say it isn’t important. It is important that people are being distracted all the time. It’s incredibly important that people can be manipulated through distraction. But what are we doing? Every once in a while, I’ll read something insightful, but it’s never as insightful as a book. I would kind of like to see Democrats commit to repealing Sec. 230, or at least modifying it significantly to screw over social media companies. It’s never going to work in our favor, because we’re not the billionaires who own these platforms.
sentient ai from the future
another plug for freetube and newpipe as youtube viewers that avoid ads and the algorithm pushiness
RevRick
I remain on X, because I want to smash MAGA propaganda. Also Bluesky is just one too many passwords.
MattF
OT, I guess. Isabella Rossellini illustrates earthworm sex.
Kay
I had a lot of fun trolling MAGA accounts on TikTok and gained a lot of followers so I considered starting a Dem advocacy account in the name of our county Dem org – they would let me, I bet.
But I’m off all social media for now – the censorship rattles me. I have to think about it before I get back on.
I might still do it. TikTokkers are great. They’re lower income and working class too, which is who we need to reach. “cute winter boots” is very TikTok. They really don’t wallow in misery over there. Don’t take themselves too seriously.
trollhattan
@Notthatproud:
Never had one but access content using browsers, which Elmo fucked with his Twitter diddling and as far as I can tell, only gold check accounts display in chron order now.
Work still blocking Bluesky so that’s kind of a shortcoming for me ATM. Hopefully they’ll get an account and then reverse the block.
Meanwhile, my public will just have to keep waiting.
cain
I’m on a lot of social media accounts some like facebook and instagram I’m not on at all. I’m only occasionally on bluesky, but it doesn’t really hold a lot of interest because it seems to be filled with random bots trying to follow me. I get some of that on mastodon, but it’s definitely my home and I have 3 mastodon servers – one is my main one where I talk about politics, one where I talk about open source, linux, and gnome and a third one which is work related and I talk to the high performance computing community.
I’ve started to de-invest from google cloud and others and running my own cloud machine at home. You can easily do this with a raspberry pi, 2 TB stick or an ssd if you need more storage and running nextcloud.
In this day and age, we will need to start divesting from a lot of things and try to use tech that protects us from the federal govt. Especially if you’re an undocumented alien.
Kay
Our Dem county group is primarily working class people (not me) and I’ve known some of them forever. I thought I could do really short interviews with them – just them talking- where they say why they’ve been Democrats (for years or decades, depending). TikTok has a certain look and feel and I think that would fit and be popular. I’d have to talk them into it though :)
SpaceUnit
Great.
I’m now a laughingstock on TikTok because I’ve actually been talking about attractive winter footwear.
Starfish (she/her)
@Notthatproud: I agree with you that most social media is a distraction. I think that any platform that is doing algorithmic amplification of anything and removing time ordering is a publisher.
JerseyBeard
Important correction – the Reddit Xhitter link bans started with the NJ subreddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/newjersey/s/nYnuWWd633
trollhattan
@SpaceUnit: Is that footwear for an attractive winter? :-P
SpaceUnit
@trollhattan:
You too now? Darn you kids.
Suzanne
Love to see this. I am never disappointed by the creativity people show.
It would be a huge mistake to give up on social media. It’s got too much reach, and a totally different aesthetic than traditional media like TV or print papers. I also think it’s a grave mistake to turn away from it because the right wing has a head start. If there’s anything we should know by now, it’s that the landscape shifts quickly. Dems get heaps of donations now…. I hope a portion of that is going toward long-term media visioning and strategy.
eclare
@RevRick:
I am still on Twitter because unfortunately my local public utility is still on Twitter. But I def only see who I follow, none of this algorithm BS for me.
@mistermix.bsky.social
@JerseyBeard:
Thanks — I had just seen the NBA subreddit, but good to see Jersey in the lead.
JerseyBeard
@@mistermix.bsky.social: It’s was quite funny to see subs like the r/Seattle one basically ask: aren’t we better than Jersey?!? In the case of Seattle – turns out no.
Baud
@Kay:
That would be cool. Good luck.
trollhattan
Looks like my coffee and coke habits are going to cost me more.
BlueGuitarist
@Kay:
Awesome!
cain
@trollhattan:
This administration is so easy to troll. You can make him shoot himself in the foot. We should accelerate this and see what other norms we can destroy.
Percysowner
@BlueGuitarist: And so it begins. I just paid for a renewal of my coffee subscription, so I’m good for a couple of months, but America is about to hit the Find Out stage of believing a con man, wanting to return women’s rights to the 1950s, if not the 1850s, AND wanting to be able to say the N word freely.
Jeffro
@trollhattan: a new era of Retaliatory Moron Diplomacy!
a whole new world of instability and unpredictability for US retailers and markets!
“Did my suppliers in country X offend the Orange Airhorn in the past 24 hours? If so, what is the new tariff rate (and therefore, what do I need to charge customers today)?” – every business in the U.S., every morning, 9am
Kay
@BlueGuitarist:
I thought one subject could be what it’s like to be a political minority in a 75% Trump county. Some of it is funny – we laugh about it, but also WHY we remain Democrats when we’re such a minority. Some of these people have been losing since Bill Clinton. So why stick with it? I’m wondering that myself.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@trollhattan:
Good for Columbia, but those poor deportees. They must be exhausted and uncertain.
Jeffro
btw the WaPo (which I am still subscribed to for a couple more weeks) has…of course…a list of 12 Democrats “who make sense for 2028”
VP Harris is…#4, not #1
Senator Fetterman is on the list.
What a fucking joke of a paper!
DaBunny42
FWIW, Bluesky is privately held. It’s a “public benefit corporation” which means it operates under the same restrictions as…OpenAI did. Make of that what you will. By design, if the owners mess with it users can move to another server*. But right now there’s only one server. And there’d be considerable expense and effort required to set up a another server. Make of that what you will.
*By “server” here I don’t mean a single machine. There’s a whole distributed network…which is why it’d be tricky to replicate.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Dorothy A. Winsor: And typical of Trump that he felt no need to clear the flights ahead of time
sentient ai from the future
@trollhattan: shit, there goes my budget for cut flowers
(I just looked at the state department webpage on us-colombia relations, last updated, oh look, Jan 20, 2025, I wonder if that date is significant somehow)
@mistermix.bsky.social
Telling that Trump didn’t try the “deportation flight couldn’t land” gambit with Mexico. He’s afraid of Claudia Sheinbaum, specifically that she’d do something that would make him look foolish. She’s much more clever than him.
sentient ai from the future
@Jeffro: finance talking heads tomorrow gonna be lit
eclare
@Jeffro:
Yep. It will be a spot market for everything.
Percysowner
@Jeffro: Well, to be fair, I’m pretty sure the Democrats will panic and refuse to even consider anyone other than an white straight dude. Harris should be the prime contender, but to quote Trey Crowder, when he was talking about the VP pick, they’re going to go with a honky.
sentient ai from the future
@@mistermix.bsky.social: he’s clearly intending that someone else will preemptively capitulate after he attacks a minor entity, but I am hoping he is reading the room incorrectly. People in positions of genuine power don’t get rolled like that more than once if they know what they’re doing.
You know what they say, fool me twice, can’t get fooled again
RaflW
I bought a bag of coffee at the store an hour or so ago, on my way home from church. Glad I did, on sale no less!, because Trump just announced a 25% immediate, punitive tariff on all imports from Colombia, and they’ll go to 50% in a week if Colombia doesn’t let him (probably contra all sorts of international law, but who knows) fly a bunch of deportees there ASAP that got turned back earlier today.
So, we’ll very soon have skyrocketing coffee prices to add to spendy or non-existent eggs. Things are going great in MAGAmerica.
(Columbia is the #1 exporter of coffee beans to the US, I believe. Brazil might grow more coffee, but our current supply lines seem to favor Columbia.)
Chief Oshkosh
@trollhattan: It’ll take just one whiteboy bidnessman being detained in Colombia to really set this off. Hell, who knows. Petro might just round up a whole bunch of American whiteboys up to no good in his country and dump ’em at the border. Now, which border might be an interesting twist. A bunch of guys in suits and wingtips wandering around the Venezuelan jungle, wondering why they don’t have cell coverage and whether that plant over there is poisonous, would add a certain spice to the festivities.
hitchhiker
Also because people routinely post anonymously, and because those volunteer moderators attempt to manage their subs in good faith, according to posted rules. There are free-for-alls, and there are subs so rigorously policed that very few posts or comments survive. (r/askhistorians is an example of the latter).
There’s little point to trolling; in active subs your comments will be given so many thumbs down votes that they’re only visible if users take the trouble to pull them up.
An interesting sub in recent years has been r/nurses. It’s one of the few places where people in that profession can discuss their work environment freely. They’re scathing these days in their commentary on for-profit hospitals.
sentient ai from the future
@RaflW: just about all of the caffeine in his fucking diet cokes is from separating out the products of making decaf.
This might affect things in unanticipated ways
scav
@RaflW: Amusingly, we can pretty much count on those un-leashed price-gouging grocery chains to get their price hikes passed on to customers quickly when the tariffs are still in their little low-information minds.
ETA Once again a breakfast related inflation point!
mali muso
Sure glad that I detoxed off caffeine last year and kicked my coffee addiction. My expensive mushroom tea may end up being cheaper in the long run. good grief.
A Ghost to Most
Fight fascism. Kill ALL your social media.
trollhattan
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
What happened to flying them to Martha’s Vineyard and Sacramento? That was so very funny and owned the Libs at the same time.
Peke Daddy
@RaflW: Brazil and China are developing a direct import/export coffee relationship. Chinese billionaires are buying coffee farms, China is paying top dollar for future crops and building out the supply lines. Look for another fit from Trump.
https://youtu.be/_aR4RCqw-gg?si=nw_uWfJg9H4cngtd
Almost Retired
@trollhattan: Excellent. My oldest son and his wife are digital nomads in Colombia. Good for the Colombian prez.
trollhattan
@Chief Oshkosh:
I’d watch the hell out of that movie, believe you me.
Miss Bianca
@Jeffro: They didn’t endorse Harris for POTUS, so frankly I’m surprised they had her on any list at all.
different-church-lady
@A Ghost to Most: Co-signed. Can’t fight Nazis in a Nazi bar.
different-church-lady
@RaflW: Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Columbia know for… ruthless drug lords?
Miss Bianca
@Chief Oshkosh:
@trollhattan: Damn, you know…so would I.
different-church-lady
@scav: Cheerios have got to be next.
hells littlest angel
More and more, social media — and smartphones — remind me of the Star Trek: TNG episode “The Game.”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708798/?ref_=ttep_ep_6
hells littlest angel
@sentient ai from the future: He doesn’t give a shit. We pay for his Diet Cokes.
FelonyGovt
I am in the middle of a vacation from Facebook to see if I want to pull the plug. So far it’s been delightful- I don’t miss it at all. I do miss Instagram because I follow some artists and art instruction folks I enjoy.
And I do like Reddit. I’m pleased to say that both sports teams’ subreddits I follow have now banned Twitter links, despite being avowedly non-political, based on “No more Nazis”.
Baud
@Jeffro:
Am I # 1?
different-church-lady
@Baud: You are Number Six.
MagdaInBlack
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Well, see? That was my question. So he/they just sent a plane full of people and expected them to be allowed in without question?
Of course he/they did.
MagdaInBlack
I know some folks in great big chromed up compensator pickup trucks not gonna be too happy when the price of their fufu Dunkin coffee drink triples. They’ll scream louder about coffee than they ever did about eggs.
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
I thought libs were the ones who drank lattes?
different-church-lady
@MagdaInBlack: They’ll be furious Biden did this to them.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: Suburban myth.
Baud
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
Do libs drive Suburbans? I thought we preferred Volvos.
PaulWartenberg
Is there anyone in the Gainesville, FL area on Friday January 31st or Saturday February 1st? I will be up there for a book festival and would like to meet with any North Florida Juicers, please and thank you.
PaulWartenberg
@Baud:
Libs drive hybrids.
Sure Lurkalot
@hells littlest angel: Yep, I’ve often thought of that TNG episode in connection with social media and video games. Too bad there’s not an easy solution as in that episode.
Chemical based addiction is bad news regardless of the substance. Even addiction to exercise can have deleterious effects.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: 😐 I almost answered that seriously.
PaulWartenberg
@RaflW:
Starbucks stock about to take a huge hit. Time to short it.
sentient ai from the future
@hells littlest angel: i meant in terms of coca-cola potentially having something to say about it.
Miss Bianca
@Baud: our state’s great national embarrassment.
PaulWartenberg
@different-church-lady:
Reminds me of the best joke in the very uneven Superman III:
“Colombia has two exports, and ONE of them’s coffee!”
PaulWartenberg
@different-church-lady:
I am NOT a number! I AM A FREE MAN!!!
matt
@trollhattan: That whole ‘national security threat’ thing is nuts. I seem to remember Trump was threatening to declare martial law or something about it. Just using magical definitions of words
If Trump wants opposition, raising the price of coffee is a way to get it.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Baud:
That’s soooooo 80s.
Also too, interesting chart from a couple of years back. No idea if it has any semblance to reality:
https://fortune.com/2023/06/06/elon-paradox-sells-tesla-expect-him-to-drive-a-ram-what-your-car-says-about-your-politics/
Sure Lurkalot
@matt:
Especially after pardoning 1500 Jan 6 insurrectionists, many uber violent with retribution plans.
MomSense
I’ve posted this on a couple of dead threads and it fits better here anyway. Check out Cory Booker’s series of posts called Shit that ain’t true. He posts videos of senators talking about issues they are passionate about. It’s really good. They start with some BS trump says and then come in saying that was shit that ain’t true and then the Dem breaks down the topic with engaging and direct language. Padilla was great. Hell Schumer’s was actually great. Where the hell was that Schumer before the election?!
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: I’m not a podcast person but that one does sound interesting to me.
Baud
@MomSense:
Thanks for that pointer. I’m not on Insta but maybe others can spread the info.
Jim Appleton
@trollhattan: Assholes gonna asshole.
MomSense
@Miss Bianca:
These are very short reels (videos) on Instagram. Ive Heard that Bluesky is going to add photos and reels to their platform so hopefully Booker can bring this series there.
marcopolo
@trollhattan: For a little more context on this: 1) Colombia has accepted 100’s of flights of Colombian deportees over the past decade or two; 2) there was a negotiated policy for this; 3) the Colombian president turned back the 2 flights because they were on military, not ICE, aircraft; 4) the Colombian prez said they were open to accepting future flights & that Colombia would work with the US to ensurer proper conditions/actions were followed in the treatment of deportees.
Of course, the orange dumpster fire doesn’t like following rules so there you have it.
Melancholy Jaques
Teachers & administrators in Los Angeles & San Bernardino schools are being advised how to respond to ICE demands & visits. Not sure if there is a good place to find timely & accurate information. Nothing has happened so far, but the word from one admin is that they expect ICE to go to elementary schools first & request attendance records to see who is not coming to school.
Peke Daddy
@PaulWartenberg: “Colombia is one of the five largest producers in the world of coffee, avocado and palm oil, and one of the 10 largest producers in the world of sugarcane, banana, pineapple and cocoa.”
Wikipedia.
Lots more imports affected by tariffs.
Suzanne
@MomSense:
Thank you for this tip. Seriously. I don’t follow Cory Booker on social media, but I will now.
One of the things that I find frustrating about the general lack of effectiveness social-media-wise I see is that many of our people are really strong and talented at some of this stuff! They can be really likeable and engaging and appealing!
And, I want to note….. it shouldn’t be considered unserious or a distraction from core responsibilities to create social media content. It’s important to hear from our elected leaders in the medium to the era. I think of Secretary of Explaining Stuff Bill Clinton, and how good he was at the media engagement parts of the role.
MagdaInBlack
@marcopolo: Of course. Thank you for clarifying.
Starfish (she/her)
@Baud: You are Seven of Nine.
sab
@MomSense: I doubt Shumer was hiding before the election. He is famous for running towards cameras. They just didn’t cover him because for some reason tv thinks we want to see the Orange Fart Cloud more.
trollhattan
@Starfish (she/her):
Where? Where? Outta my way everybody! Resistance is futile.
ExPatExDem
@Suzanne: I think one of the biggest reasons that D leadership is so ineffective at social media messaging is that most of them were born, raised, and grew into adulthood and middle age in the pre-internet era.
Or to put it more bluntly, they’re really old.
bluefoot
@different-church-lady:
This is the third of fourth time this weekend I’ve encountered a Prisoner reference. It doesn’t say anything good about the times we are living in.
Starfish (she/her)
@Melancholy Jaques: They can’t have that. The schools are not going to let them in the building, and they can hide the information under FERPA.
Someone is truant cause their nana has cancer and can’t walk them to school, and some ICE agent is trying to deport them? Get out of here with that nonsense.
The schools are afraid of the family being deported while the kids are in school, so being with kids that have no one to pick them up because the family got deported.
Starfish (she/her)
@Peke Daddy: Write letters to your favorite millennials and explain the avocados thing. They will personally organize a militia against Trump.
eclare
@Suzanne:
I still love that title, and it’s so true.
RaflW
Of course.
I just hope we’re not such a pariah nation by the end of March that my mother in law has to cancel her once-in-a-lifetime cruise in Europe. It’s her 80th b-day present to herself (with a huge bday gift to her by my BF, which is that he’ll go keep an eye on F.I.L. while she’s gone).
I don’t really think things will fall apart that fast and far, but by 2028? Who knows. We might be barred from most countries because we’ve become so anti-vax and overrun by bird flu and measles.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/13/dnc-social-media-trump-kamalahq
Baud
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Stupid backward thinking. They need to focus on refining their digital outreach and economic messaging.
ETA: Is Jaime Harrison still in charge? The DNC election hasn’t happened yet, right?
Geminid
@Sure Lurkalot: I think addiction to anger is one of the worst addictions There’s a lot of that going around these days, too.
eclare
@RaflW:
I hope your mother in law doesn’t have to cancel either. But at this point who the fuck knows? I wouldn’t bet either way.
Steve LaBonne
@bluefoot: Be seeing you!
marcopolo
@Notthatproud: Don’t have an account but there are maybe a dozen or so folks who post to Bluesky that I follow over the course of the day (by typing their name/bluesky into my html bar which then remembers it). I use this method to see what is happening (plus getting more/better context than most regular reporting) informationwise. And I love to follow interesting links that well-informed folks put in their posts. That was also what I did with old twitter (which has pretty much banned links now–got to keep folks on the site, lol). I may sign up in the next month or so as a sign of support (I am getting a Costo membership this week) but I don’t think it will change the way I use it. I outright deleted my Insta account last week which was my only active social media account. Seeing the reporting last week on Insta throttling/blurring & breaking image links for pro-choice posts was the straw.
On this tack, Chris Hayes has a brand spanking new book out on how our attentions are getting pulled in all kinds of unhealthy ways due to social media and the current information environment. I’ll be getting a copy from my local library when it arrives.
The Siren’s Call: how attention became the world’s most endangered resource
JoyceH
I try not to gloat but… It was so discouraging to see so many people vote for literal Nazis because of the price of groceries so I’m going to enjoy watching that blow up in their faces.
Phylllis
@Starfish (she/her): Yep, so far as I know right now, FERPA remains in place and you don’t release any information to anyone about a student without the parent’s authorization. Schools and districts treat it seriously.
frog
“You are clear to land on runway 16, and thank you for the plane.”
MagdaInBlack
@JoyceH: I admit that I too take a certain grim satisfaction in seeing some of their crying.
Professor Bigfoot
I was at Aldi yesterday and saw a fat white man wearing a Trump beanie.
I had to vacate that area of the store.
It’s a lucky thing no one can hear my thoughts.
Princess
@Peke Daddy: I believe Columbia’s biggest export to the US in value is actually crude oil.
Starfish (she/her)
So I was listening to NPR (I know, I know), and they were just dragging us. They were talking about how Democrats tend to be political hobbyists, wanting to read about politics or engage in political discussions on line; but when it comes to showing up for activism, crickets.
I felt wounded because I very much fell into the hobbyist category this election and even right now. It doesn’t feel like there is a lot of organizing going on.
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: A FUCKING BEANIE???
Hahahahaha!
Baud
@Starfish (she/her):
I feel like we hear less about activism than we used to. It’s all memes now.
MagdaInBlack
@Professor Bigfoot: This week we had a big Ram 1500 he-man truck in the shop, with a big trump 2024 hood cover. Owner was a white man in his early 20’s, and worked construction.
I got nothin’
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
I would like us to use Moral Minority as a theme for clothing, memes, etc.
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
Thanks, Biden!
Jeffg166
A recording from Paul Krugman and Noah Smith’s live video:
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/paul-krugman-and-noah-smith?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=277517&post_id=155788965&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&utm_content=watch_now_gif&r=s49uo&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Professor Bigfoot
@TBone: Oh, there are a LOT of those fat, stupid white people around here.
Oh well, “it is what it is,” you dumb sonsabitches.
Edited because the pedant in me just despises silly spelling errors.
TBone
What a day. Drifted off for my first real nap in ages and Noah was sleeping by my side. He woke me up and got into his litterbox. He took a disaproving sniff (I clean the box every damn day) and got out of the box. He went into my en suite master bath, chose an area rug and dumped a huge pile of loose stool. Then he went limp and got it all over himself. He got a bath, the rugs we tracked it on got a bath, and HE is napping again. Hahaha I am not! CRAP.
Melancholy Jaques
@Starfish (she/her):
That happened to a few of my students during the Bush Jr administration
Gives new meaning to the phrase “stand at the schoolhouse door.”
bluefoot
@Steve LaBonne: I couple of months ago I was watching the Beatles movie “Help” and realized that it had its share of actors who had played Number Two. Then I started having weird ideas about a Help-Prisoner mashup…
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: I live among them too, usually encountered at Walmart but my neighbors directly across the street TAKE THE MAGA CAKE.
It was the word “beanie” that got me, hahaha I’ma use that one in Walmart! “Nice beanie ya got there, Chief!”
Professor Bigfoot
@TBone: Gods help me, I’m too fucking angry for even that much.
The only thing that comes to mind is “fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you fuck you fuck you FUCK YOU, you fucking racist fuck!”
But the racist fucks are almost certainly carrying and just ITCHING for a chance to shoot someone, so…
Suzanne
@Starfish (she/her): I was mostly a hobbyist this time, too. Family responsibilities, project responsibilities, and I was doing marathon training, running 35-45 miles a week. I did a few postcards, but not much else this cycle. (Wearing my KAMALA hat spurred a lot of great interactions, though.) In past elections, I have been far more active, and I hope to be similarly active in the future.
Cut yourself a break. There are a lot of demands on our time, and we all do the best we can do.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: I’ve been thinking what to do, and looking at signs on Amazon, but I’ve decided to just put my Harris-Walz sign back up (once the ground is unfrozen). There are tons of Trump signs still up, so fair game. I want to announce our status as decent people.
eclare
@TBone:
Poor baby! If it’s any consolation, it’s been so cold my dog has plastered herself to my side. So I was a perfect and easy target when she vomited a few days ago.
Change pants, drive on.
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: yep, my privilege allows me to mouth off a bit more than I should. I wish for you the peace of mind that venting to friends here can offer, any little help that offers …
Steve LaBonne
@bluefoot: I’d pay to see that!
zhena gogolia
@Professor Bigfoot: For some reason the supermarket is where I just go ballistic.
TBone
@eclare: amen, sista!
different-church-lady
@TBone: I haven’t brought this up because I’m not good at accepting sympathy and good wishes, but we’re going through something very very similar with our cat right now. Yesterday when you said “never been so happy to see a turd!” we had the exact same experience within hours of you.
So far our girl has been able to wiggle her way into the box and wiggle back out again, but she can’t clean herself yet. I’m worried that she’s too much of a lady to make a mess and she’d rather hold things in than go through the indignity.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
It’s the eggs.
Harrison Wesley
@Professor Bigfoot: How cool! I have to stop at the Trump merch store on my way into Sarasota and grab one of those puppies as a Valentine’s gift for LOML. Of course she’ll call me terrible names and throw me out of her life, but it’s the thought that counts.
Steve LaBonne
@zhena gogolia: I try to do that with a Progress Pride flag, which basically celebrates all of their targets.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Decent people of the world, unite!
currawong
I deleted my Twitter account several months ago and only use Bluesky now.
I’m waiting for my football team, Norwich City, to start posting there which will bring a large number of followers there. They set up an account a couple of months ago but haven’t used it yet. It was why I joined Twitter in the first place. Reading tweets after a match was like walking out of the game and listening to comments from other people round me. Bluesky has probably only 5% of the accounts (if not less) than Twitter had/has.
I see the NFL teams have been banned from Bluesky, for now at least. I suppose it’s because most of the owners being billionaires, love what they’re seeing.
Geminid
@Professor Bigfoot: Ragip Soylu posted a funny Aldies ad from Germany. It started like a tense spy thriller. An olive-skinned man is standing in an airport bording line. in line. The wary, stern security officers stare at him at his leather carry on bag. It gets even tenser they scan it and then open it.
Then they hand it back. The next scene shows him driving up to his home in Turkiye. His wife and daughters come out and hug him and then they they go inside Next thing, they’re sitting around the kitchen table as he opens the bag and we finally see what’s inside. It’s full of Aldies candybars.
Soylu commented about his and many other Turks’ childhood memories of their expat relatives visiting from Germany with loads of chocolate.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
I’m shocked, shocked! Why it’s almost as if there might be problems with allowing unfettered chasing of profits at the expense of everything else!!
Grr…
(via https://bsky.app/profile/cultureoftruth.bsky.social )
Best wishes,
Scott.
Suzanne
@zhena gogolia: One of my neighbors still has their Harris/Walz sign up, and I still see quite a few FFOTUS signs. I have heard rumors that houses with Harris signs will be targeted or surveilled.
I’m a member of our neighborhood’s Democrats group. I wonder if I’m being surveilled, too. Maybe someone is watching me get my toilet paper delivered.
TBone
@different-church-lady: oh sweetheart! The vet told me I can mix a 1/4 teaspoon of Miralax into water (plastic syringe) twice per day. You can also mix it into her wet food! This is The Way. She may also benefit from special kitty probiotics – I got some from the vet earlier today and you can open the capsule and sprinkle it into water or wet food.
eclare
@different-church-lady:
Oh no!
Harrison Wesley
@Another Scott: Shit. I’ve read that Manatee County (where I live) has a private contract fire department. Don’t know how well that works.
eclare
@Harrison Wesley:
I would not want to find out.
different-church-lady
@TBone: Oh she’s perfectly fine with gobbling down her meds mixed with food. I think she’s handling this whole thing better than we are.
I won’t go into details. They’re unfortunate, but at least we have a good chance of having her company for another few years and she seems very game to fight her way to recovery despite her advanced years.
TBone
@different-church-lady: my best hopes go with you and kitty!!!
TBone
Tube feeding time, then hubby feeding time! Smell me later hahahaha
Lily
Today at On The Greater Quiet, Steve Brodner’s cartoons and writing (on his substack account) there’s a cartoonists-protest-vibe video. He named it Telnaes Tribute video. It was put together by Kayleigh Waters.
sab
Cleveland Plain Dealer had a story today about the effects of immigration on Ohio.
They listed the top ten migrant groups. Indians were #1, then Mexicans, then Chinese, then Phillipinos. I forget who was fifth.
I was quite surprised about the Indians. Then I started thinking about all the immigrants I know who aren’t actual in-laws or in-laws of in-laws. Every non-related immigrant I know is an Indian. Sort of interesting that I hadn’t noticed.
Phylllis
@Another Scott: We’re dealing with that right now with the small department I work with. They were awarded a FEMA Assistance to Firefighters grant in July 2022, with a two-year period of performance. Meaning the truck should have been built and the project completed by July 2024. We had to request an extension because our vendor has had a heck of a time sourcing all the materials. We’re hearing it’s taking 2-3 years now to build out ambulances where it used to take 9-12 months and 3-4 years to build out fire trucks when it used to average 15 months or so
ETA: This is going to present another issue, since the typical FEMA grant performance period is 24 months.
gene108
@Starfish (she/her):
Republican voters do not do grassroots activism. They have billionaires able to fund “grassroots” movements, media to exaggerate how massive the movement is, and operatives to coordinate messaging.
Almost none of this is initiated by Republican politicians. They coast on billionaires largesse.
Democrats were burned out in 2024. Trump does not go away and gets every advantage imaginable and some advantages no one imagined possible (absolute immunity), and it felt ridiculously impossible to stop.
Also discouraging is so many people will support Trump no matter what he does.
I think there was a big societal shift in 2024, where Republican corruption, lies, and broken promises no longer matter to too many voters. There are no longer any standards the public shares. I think that’s what’s shocked me over the last 10 years.
I don’t know how much activism will change anything. I think too many people have given up hope things will be better in the future, which favors the cynical nihilism of Republicans.
Baud
@gene108:
A lot of propaganda has been deployed to make people feel that way.
MomSense
@Suzanne:
I’m beyond frustrated at the failure of Democrats to communicate where people are and in the way people talk. There has been so much complaining about FTFNYT and WAPO but those readers voted for Harris. We lost with people who do not consume network, cable, or print news. I also don’t include Harris in my criticism. Her campaign did an amazing job in the time they had to effectively use social media.
Biden was largely absent for over a year leading up to the election season. He was unable to stump for his administration’s policy and legislative achievements. He failed to define who Trump was while Trump was campaigning for years and basically setting the agenda for the discussion. We know that the most effective ad against Harris was the ad about Bidenomics. Wage increases were overwhelmed by cost of living, inflation, gas prices and increasing costs of consumer goods. Housing and rent costs rose dramatically. We knew in 2008 that this problem would snowball and become a crisis and we didn’t even talk about it. Harris tried but it was too little too late. I can’t tell you how many Democrats dismissed the housing issue and we were talking right past young people.
There was a complacency about Biden and his administration on so many fronts and I will never forgive it. If they honestly believed Trump was an existential threat they fucking well should have acted like it.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: That is my slogan. Works in Russian too.
eclare
@different-church-lady:
Best of luck to you all for a few more good years!
Baud
Jay
Does Spawn Jr know where his cocaine comes from?
Oh well, he can afford to pay 25% more for his massive coke habit.
sab
@TBone:
@different-church-lady:
I am a big fan of wee pads. I put them under the litter boxes, and also in corners where cats do their protest dumps.
We have seven cats, so everyday somebody has an issue with the litterboxes, or access to the litterboxes, or just to our attitude about them (cats and litterboxes) or timely arrival of food, or who got fed in what order, or when the lights came on this morning or went off last night.
trollhattan
@Jay: He’ll have to ask dad for a bump (heh) in his allowance.
“Daaaaad–you KNOW how much that costs. You own me!”
sab
@Baud: Outpourings of dissent often do work. A lot of folks in an information or media bubble really think that everyone agrees with them until they hear otherwise.
gene108
@Baud:
Propaganda has been highly effective. I think it’s one of the deciding factors in the last election.
Lily
@TBone: Last week we started the Miralax thing too. She’s 19 and vets say she’s in remarkable shape. But bonkers off and on now. Meeting her simple needs is a time zone in a different dimension –sleep litter eat –drink-sleep litter sleep. Then around 11 pm every night it’s off to her night shift watchcat job. Watching the kitchen floor all night in a motionless upright stance, inside a rotary cabinet shelf set into the counter. She claimed it months ago like she’d found a cabin to get away from it all.
But now she just stands in it til about 4-5 am, then comes back to bed. Every single night
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: Ah, well, so much for that. I do *have* an Instagram account, but haven’t actually accessed it in years, and I don’t do BlueSky so…oh, well, sucks ta be me.
Starfish (she/her)
@MomSense: They were URGENT and fearmongering while fundraising. No one fired their useless homies sitting in the executive branch and replaced them with someone who could get something done.
JoeyJoeJoe
@Starfish (she/her): According to the probably forgotten TV show Mr. Mayor, Los Angeles residents would likely be leading the charge if there were no avocados:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2aGjGYKtZaQ
different-church-lady
@MomSense: Running a traditional incumbent campaign in an environment of discontent was not a sound strategy.
Starfish (she/her)
@Miss Bianca: I think that at this point, Instagram is probably the largest social media site with the most users.
YouTube has its shorts, but I am not sure how popular they really are. It seemed like pointlessly ripping off TikTok.
Twitch makes no money and is mostly gamers and musicians, but I think this is an audience that Democrats need to be investing in some more. AOC would do some Twitch with some folks. Get some people who are good at e-sports to talk about lefty politics or talk about the issues that matter to them.
Starfish (she/her)
@different-church-lady: Yup.
I thought you were one of the folks who really supported Biden?
Suzanne
@Starfish (she/her): SuzMom is so, so angry about the fundraising. She lives with me and is on Social Security. Her texts and email inbox were absolutely blown up with fundraising messaging. She donated money that she doesn’t really have to spare to Biden and then Harris, Bob Casey, and I think she threw a few dollars to Sherrod Brown and Ruben Gallego. I sat with her for a bit after the election and UNSUBSCRIBED from all that stuff.
She’s decided not to donate to political campaigns any longer. She ended her recurring donations and changed it to a medical charity instead.
Miss Bianca
@Starfish (she/her): I never watch Youtube shorts either. I find most of that stuff to be a dead bore, frankly. I only use Youtube for yoga videos and music. Some how-to’s.
different-church-lady
@Starfish (she/her): I was agnostic. Even at the time I thought he was fucking up some things, but I wasn’t going to be a total fucking moron and kneecap him semi-publicly in the middle of the campaign. What good did anyone think that was going to do?
sentient ai from the future
@Phylllis: just as with HIPAA, there are pretty significant carve-outs for law enforcement and court orders
https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/ferpa-guide.pdf
Starfish (she/her)
@Suzanne: I am absolutely refusing to use ActBlue to donate to anything because the fundraising for candidates that I have no connection to was so bad. I may donate to local people at local events. I know that ActBlue makes reporting candidate donations to the state easier, but too bad. People are using the platform to sell their lists and just ask for money all the time.
It feels like they are burning their platform by behaving unethically, and I am not rewarding that.
Citizen Alan
@Professor Bigfoot:
I am a fat white man who occasionally wears a beanie when it’s cold. But it just says North Face and not “I am a piece if shit. ”
Also, I am typing this from the tour trolley in San Diego and I am still mad at driving past a million dollar home flying an “Arrest Fauci” flag.
Citizen Alan
@Professor Bigfoot: 50% of my desire to lose weight is so I won’t be mistaken for a MAGA freak.
Starfish (she/her)
@Citizen Alan: OMG. When I was less lazy and actually did voter registration, I was annoyed at the people I was doing voter registration with because they were not attempting to register fat people OR Hispanic people.
And I was like “You know, we may register a few Republicans, but we should attempt to reach out and register people who are not registered.
Citizen Alan
@gene108: I consider the WP and the NYT to be propaganda rags now. They sold us out for clicks and tax cuts.
Baud
@Citizen Alan:
I’m hoping high food prices under Trump will help me shed a few pounds.
different-church-lady
@Citizen Alan: The NYTs is just completing some unfinished business from the mid 1930s.
TBone
@Baud: fuckin’ A!
different-church-lady
@Baud: I’m feeling like I’m a little too old to really get into the food riots.
TBone
@sab: gawds bless alla youse!
Hubby got into my stash of older towels to use to rub his fucking truck and now I’m short on rags towels so that’s a really good idea – plus no laundering, just toss it!
different-church-lady
@sab: D-C-L’s rule of pets and children: never let them outnumber you.
different-church-lady
@TBone:
Oh is that what he calls it?
TBone
@different-church-lady: not me, I’m all in! IDGAF
(I dropped something today and emitted Old Lady grunts when I bent down to retrieve and me and the cashier had a good laugh when I straightened back up and said OLD People NOISES?!!)
sentient ai from the future
@different-church-lady:
alternative punchline:
what does he use to rub his unfucking truck?
cain
@Another Scott: private equity firms are the phantom menace. They are going after everything.
We won’t be able to solve the problem until Dems are in control in Congress and white house and its composition is not a bunch of fuckers like we have now
TBone
@different-church-lady: LOL! We had a convo about that on the way to the store today! HAHAHAHA!
TBone
Icky question for the BJ hive mind – it appears that Noah might have hemorrhoids now and it looks like it might hurt and I don’t know what to do for him. Vet said I could rub a bit of Vaseline on his poor little dry nose today – do I Q-tip that onto his other end too? Would it even help at all? I don’t have kitty Tucks medicated pads (can’t put chemicals on his hind quarters).
Vet has not answered my text in this regard although they answered a hundred other questions I had today.
Captain C
@trollhattan: The response: “Shut up, Junior! If crushed up adderall is good enough for your old man, it’s good enough for you!”
TBone
@Captain C: I once knew a guy who snorted all of his pain medication like it was coke. YUK! Waitaminute, I know TWO guys who did that – one still does!
@TBone: never mind, vet finally answered.
sentient ai from the future
@TBone: theres a lot of filler in them there pills, especially if they are pain meds that combine an opioid with acetominophen
TBone
@sentient ai from the future: not gonna lie, I tried it once or twice but it was too gross!
sab
@different-church-lady: Is it even possible to not be outnumbered? Sounds like a useful but very silly rule.
sab
@TBone: Cats being cats, they always have issues about our hospitality.
Darkrose
@TBone: Miralax is the best! My 17-year-old boy had to go in this summer for two enemas in three weeks. The vet told us to put him on wet food with 1/8 teaspoon of Miralax twice a day. He’s not always making it to the box, but it’s solid and regular.
YY_Sima Qian
@Trivia Man: I have not thought I would see the day when Americans need to speak in codes on social media to circumvent censorship, at least not so quickly, but this is the portent of things to come. The reactionary counter-revolutionaries will use the specter of foreign enemies (“illegals”, “drug gangs”, “terrorists”, the “reds”, the “feckless Euros”, the “inscrutable Chinese”, etc.) to justify suppression of domestic dissent (who they will characterize as “traitors in our midst”.)
It is a self-reinforcing feedback loop between reactionary/nativist/authoritarian policies at home & militarist/hegemonist/primacist policies abroad.
Harry
@Notthatproud: it’s better than spending time with the “news” media.
Harry
@A Ghost to Most: that’s fucking stupid.