It’s Friday. It’s 5pm. It’s ironing time 💃🍻

Last boost: I still get flashbacks to that Christmas. It was horrible, and for me it was only the beginning of a whooooooole lot of suck.

House Republicans are threatening to shut down the government tonight just because Elon Musk told them to.

Johnson reengages with Dems after failed Plan B

https://www.axios.com/2024/12/20/johnson-reengages-with-dems-after-failed-plan-b

‼️ Announcing the launch of
THE TOP TEN TOM THE DANCING BUGS OF THE YEAR!
#10 is revealed here!
https://tomdbug.wpcomstaging.com/2024/12/20/launching-the-top-ten-tom-the-dancing-bugs-of-2024-countdown/

Ich mag...
so viel und doch so wenig...

Von ganzem Herzen wünsche ich euch, ihr Lieben, 🧡
einen wunderbaren Tag mit freundlichen Begegnungen
und vielen schönen Momenten!
Lasst euch von nichts und niemandem ärgern und genießt jeden Sonnenstrahl, den ihr einfangen könnt! ☀️

#gutenMorgen #Freitag

Maybe I will learn JavaScript over intercession so that I can make a browser plugin that inserts

"60% of adults have chronic conditions and 17% of people in the US are over 65"

into websites that have this parenthetical phrase

Look I'm just going to say it, all you people who are worshipping Luigi Mangione and treating him like some kind of hero for murdering an innocent person on the street, you're freaking weird, ok. You people are contributing to violence in this country. And I don't want to live in an America where you can be murdered while just walking to work.

In a school? Fine.
In a homeless shelter? Fine.
In your own home, while asleep? Also fine.
In your car by the police? Fine.
In a movie theatre? Fine.
In a grocery store? Fine.
In a place of worship? Fine.
In a gay club? Fine.
In a mall parking lot? Fine.
At a concert? Fine.
When you're already in the building at work? Fine.
But on the street? Yeah that's fine too.
...But when you're CEO on the street??

The Moon may look like barren rock, but it’s actually covered in a layer of gravel, pebbles, and dust collectively known as “lunar regolith.” During the Apollo Moon missions, astronauts learned firsthand that the fine, powdery dust – electromagnetically charged due to constant bombardment by solar and cosmic particles – is extremely abrasive and clings […]

Caught

#Photography

Since Trump’s election we’ve seen a massive capitulation of legacy media to ‘bend the knee’ to the President-Elect.

I document several of the main outlets ‘complying in advance,’—and how we can still remained informed despite their capitulation.
https://www.qasimrashid.com/p/legacy-medias-walk-of-shame

You still have people saying, "I don't see any evidence that Musk is a neo-Nazi." And it's like, I can't know what's in his heart, but he follows them on Twitter, retweets them, promotes their conspiracy theories, parrots their rhetoric, and now recommends their party for Germany. But who knows?

Mehr Musk wagen: Christian Lindner erklärt ebenfalls Unterstützung für die AfD https://www.der-postillon.com/2024/12/musk-wagen.html

"To access our latest innovations in AI driven #enshittification, please disable your regional regulations."

#Meta #GenAI #EuropeanUnion #legislation #privacy

#USA #politics #Trump #Musk #GOP

9,000 signatures! Can we get it to 10,000 before the end of the month?

(For the folks who don't know, 10,000 signatures is the threshold where the government has to write a response to a petition, while 100,000 is the threshold for scheduling a debate)

NB: Unfortunately, you can only sign this if you're either a UK resident or a UK citizen, but boosts from folks who can't are really bloody helpful in extending reach.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700217

Welp.

“The House has rejected #Trump’s new plan to fund federal operations and suspend the debt ceiling a day before a government shutdown. Democrats refused to accommodate his sudden demands and the quick-fix cobbled together by Republican leaders.”

https://apnews.com/live/government-shutdown-congress-spending-trump-updates

"Wer seit Montagabend viel auf X unterwegs ist," lautet der Anfang eines Kommentars bei t-online. UND GENAU DAS IST DAS PROBLEM. Wie wär't mit nicht auf X unterwegs sein und vor allem mit nicht über X schreiben, als sei das eine normale Plattform, auf der man eben mal unterwegs sein kann. Und klar, im weiteren Text steht dann, wie abgründig es da geworden ist, aber eben auch, daß man da noch schreibt. Naweißicknich, vlei läßt man es einfach mal jetze. Meine Fresse.

Luigi Mangione prosecutors risk 'full acquittal' after first major 'mistake': legal expert https://www.rawstory.com/luigi-mangione-2670650848/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Danke, Gisèle. 🏆

Ueli Maurer führte die Öffentlichkeit in die Irre und die Banker:innen bekamen fast gleich viel Boni, wie sie Verluste gemacht haben: Heute stellte die Parlamentarische Untersuchungskommission ihren Bericht zum Untergang der Credit-Suisse vor.

Von @kasparsurber

https://www.woz.ch/taeglich/2024/12/20/puk-bericht-dicker-waelzer-brisante-erkenntnisse

Die 10-Minuten-Stadt: In #Basel soll das Auto obsolet werden
Innerhalb von wenigen Minuten sollen alle alles erreichen können in der Stadt - zu Fuss, mit dem Velo oder dem öffentlichen Verkehr. So sollen die Menschen kein #Auto benötigen.

https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/kurze-wege-die-10-minuten-stadt-in-basel-soll-das-auto-obsolet-werden

So was konnte ja niemand ahnen. Also außer z. B. der Bundeswahlleiterin, die für Warnungen heftig kritisiert wurde…

Zu eng geplant: Dresden bittet...

Rick Wilson writing at https://therickwilson.substack.com/p/merry-friday-brief -

"The Democrats should show no mercy, no quarter. If Johnson is kicked from the Speaker’s chair only to be replaced by some next-level freak from the GOP’s roving carnival of oligarchs, crackpots, and alt-right cosplay warriors, fine. Fantastic. Let them devour each other like Cronus snacking on his offspring. 😲

Maximal instability, maximal confusion, maximal conflict is what you get from MAGA, always and forever."

https://therickwilson.substack.com/p/merry-friday-brief

Content warning: well this aged like milk Click to open/close

Kylie Kelce Reveals Her Political Views After Unseating Joe Rogan
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/kylie-kelce-political-views-podcast?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Top Stories @top-stories-vanityfair

U.S. Department of Justice: Captain in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Charged with Murder and Terrorism Offenses
IRGC Captain Mohammad Reza Nouri was charged with orchestrating the 07 November 2022 murder of American Stephen Troell in Baghdad, Iraq. Nouri was arrested in Iraq in March 2023. Nouri is alleged to have gathered intelligence on Troell’s daily routine and whereabouts, procured weapons and vehicles, and provided safe harbor to the operatives who carried out the sinister plot to brutally attack Troell in front of his wife. Iran is actively targeting U.S. citizens living in countries around the world for kidnapping and execution, both to repress and silence dissidents critical of the regime and to take vengeance for the death of Qasem Soleimani.

#iran #irgc #murder #news #doj #intelligence

🤭 @eventphone #38C3

We appear to have made it to Friday. Tomorrow the sun turns. Depending on your hemisphere, tomorrow will either be the longest, or shortest, day of the year.
Who you spend it with, and how you spend it, can profoundly impact your perception of the length of a day, however.
As for me, we will have a small solstice gathering around the fire pit, with the large metal shrimp spewing fire from his antennae, hot cider, warm port punch, smoked cheeses, and friends.

Bei all den Tipps, wie man Leuten hilft, damit sie am Heiligen Abend nicht einsam sind, denkt bitte auch dran, dass einige von uns tatsächlich sehr gerne alleine sind und uns total drauf freuen, dass sämtliche Bekannten mit ihren Familien beschäftigt sind und uns einige Tage lang in Ruhe lassen.

"… a huge amount of streaming music originates from just 20 ppl … under 500 different names.

… An obscure Swedish jazz musician got more plays than most of the tracks on Jon Batiste’s We Are—which had just won the Album of the Year Grammy (best album in *any* genre).

… Every track sounded like it was played on the same instrument with the exact same touch & tone … the artists were all different.

Were these AI generated? Was Spotify doing it to avoid paying royalties?"
https://mstdn.social/@geospatialist/113684320200632949

‘These assertions defy credulity’: Capitol Police officers using KKK Act to sue Trump over Jan. 6 push to unseal Jack Smith grand jury materials

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/these-assertions-defy-credulity-capitol-police-officers-using-kkk-act-to-sue-trump-over-jan-6-push-to-unseal-jack-smith-grand-jury-materials/

If Trump doesn't dump Musk over this, it will be surprising.
"'Big deal' Elon Musk raises alarms by endorsing what's known as 'German neo-Nazi party'"
https://www.rawstory.com/elon-musk-germany/