gmcgath

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Last Notes

2025-08-21 00:41:05 UTC

The Democrats have made it clear all they care about is getting elected, not about any principles. America's diagnosis: terminal.

2025-07-28 16:10:32 UTC

Nullification has a bad reputation from its use by slave states, but it could be a good response to Trump. States should declare that since ICE routinely violates the Constitution, they do not recognize it as a law enforcement agency and do not permit it to operate within their borders.
Not that it will ever happen.
#ICE #Trump

2025-07-22 10:47:42 UTC

Pope endorses faith healing over scientific medicine. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/07/20/pope-leo-declares-recovery-of-rhode-island-infant-first-miracle-of-his-papacy/

2025-06-30 10:06:16 UTC

It's any bookstore's right to decline to sell a book if they don't like it or the author. But is it a good idea?
https://garymcgath.com/wp/when-bookstores-refuse/ #bookstores #books

2025-06-30 07:15:18 UTC

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Also, a featured review described Toot! as "anti-fascist," apparently because it blocks sites the developer didn't approve of.

2025-06-30 06:59:04 UTC

Just deleted Toot! from my iPad after noticing it hadn't been updated in 2 years. I hadn't used it much in a long time anyway.

2025-06-28 11:34:20 UTC

Came upon this article on anti-immigrant activism by the KKK in the 1920s. It's scary how similar their propaganda was to anti-immigrant propaganda of today.
https://blog.history.in.gov/tag/1924-immigration-act/
#KKK #immigration

2025-06-12 11:38:52 UTC

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@nprofile…gqrj In a straight-up fight against the government, we lose. It's getting steadily closer to civil war, and there are ways to fight it, but it will have to be something smarter than throwing rocks at cops.

2025-05-14 10:10:11 UTC

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@nprofile…eqwd "To get re-elected" would be more precise. They won't have much power if Trump accomplishes all that he's after, but they'll continue to collect their salaries if they get re-elected to a compliant Congress.

2025-05-13 22:32:24 UTC

The Democratic Party, otherwise known as the Coward Party.
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/13/donald-trump-impeachment-thanedar-democrats-react
#Trump #impeachment #Congress

2025-05-08 16:01:37 UTC

UK's "safety" legislation could make life dangerous for Wikipedia volunteers. https://www.theverge.com/news/663402/wikipedia-fights-the-uks-flawed-and-burdensome-online-safety-rules
#UK #Wikipedia

2025-05-04 15:46:05 UTC

Recalling some of the craziness of 2020: The governor said I couldn't visit my closest friends, about 8 miles away, because they were on the other side of the state line. That other state mandated wearing masks outdoors, even when no one else was around. The librarians at my local library questioned me about where I had traveled.
#COVID

2025-04-12 10:06:39 UTC

Democrats want to make it absolutely clear they aren't against heavy taxes on international commerce, only against ones from Trump. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/11/democrats-tariffs-trump-trade-war-protectionism/
#tariffs #Democrats

2025-04-11 15:42:05 UTC

For decades, Democrats have been smearing and spitting on anyone who works within the Republican Party, calling them fascists and racists. This helped those who held the worst ideas to gain dominance in the party. It pushed the more reasonable Republicans and allies to regard the Democrats as automatic villains. The Dems haven't improved, but the current dominant faction in the Reps is even worse. We need to recognize that.

2025-04-07 12:40:30 UTC

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@nprofile…qe5x @nprofile…eacj Just found this:
https://capitalismmagazine.com/2024/11/anti-trumpites-for-trump/
Pro-capitalism? Pro-industry? No destruction of the Constitution? What alternate universe is this from?

2025-04-07 12:37:41 UTC

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@nprofile…qe5x @nprofile…eacj Peikoff argued for Trump? I missed that, but it doesn't surprise me much.

2025-04-06 11:06:32 UTC

On some days, my reward for half a century of warning people against the evils of government power is morons saying "Why did you only decide just now that unrestrained power is evil?"

2025-04-05 21:04:27 UTC

Pictures from today's rally in Boston (with one from Haverhill).
https://garymcgath.com/wp/april-5-2025-boston/
#Boston #Massachusetts

2025-04-04 15:05:39 UTC

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@nprofile…eacj @nprofile…qe5x Peikoff did a good job all by himself of making Objectivists look bad. He hit bottom when he called for blowing up the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque."

2025-04-04 12:26:31 UTC

I'm going to assume that any head of the NSA deserves to be fired and that the replacement will be at least as bad.
#NSA

2025-04-04 09:48:47 UTC

If you're going to tomorrow's protests, you may want to turn off location tracking on your phone. Some would say to leave it behind, but you might need it in an emergency. #April5

2025-04-03 20:42:56 UTC

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@nprofile…qe5x @nprofile…eacj The article was about matters of interest to Objectivists, but not about the philosophy as such.

2025-04-03 18:06:18 UTC

"Hands off" is a good motto for the April 5 protests. Unfortunately, a lot of the people involved are more interested in "hand out."
#April5

2025-04-03 14:49:18 UTC

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@nprofile…3fqn "Excuse" is the wrong word; businesses try to find the optimum price point to maximize their profits. If their competition is throttled, that price point goes up. Some domestic businesses will win from tariffs. Others will have to raise prices just to break even.

2025-04-03 10:27:56 UTC

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@nprofile…3fqn I was thinking of a post I saw claiming that US businesses would use tariffs as an "excuse" to raise prices on made-in-USA products. It's a variant of the "greedflation" line Biden pushed.

2025-04-03 09:38:59 UTC

People are already working on relieving Trump's tariffs of the blame for the price increases that will happen. They don't understand or don't want you to understand that even "made in USA" goods very often have foreign materials and parts in their supply chain.
#tariffs

2025-04-02 01:19:07 UTC

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@nprofile…3fqn Making noises about annexing Canada and Greenland isn't exactly taking down an empire. What he's taking down is (relatively) easy travel and free trade.
The world has definitely gone mad (der than usual).

2025-04-01 12:57:55 UTC

Trump is imposing ruinous taxes, having people snatched off the streets, and destroying foreign relations, yet nearly half of those polled approve of him. People WANT a thug state. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5224062-trump-approval-rating-dip-poll/
#Trump

2025-03-31 09:51:49 UTC

An interesting article about Leonard Peikoff and Ayn Rand. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/ayn-rand-peikoff-inheritance-battle/682219/

2025-03-30 11:04:46 UTC

Trump effectively admits his tariffs are a scheme to make the domestic auto industry rich at the expense of the buyer.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/29/trump-auto-tariffs-prices-rise/
#Trump #tariffs

2025-03-29 09:43:51 UTC

The people who applaud vandalizing automobile dealerships and EV charging stations and the ones who applaud abusive prisons in foreign countries are basically the same. They don't expect the actions to make things better; they just get sadistic pleasure.

2025-03-28 21:45:31 UTC

The people committing Tesla-related arson and firing shots have given Trump and Musk a huge gift, in the form of superficial plausibility for grabbing and deporting people who express disapproved opinions.
#Tesla #Musk #Trump

2025-03-27 15:45:28 UTC

Just noticed that the moderator on Reddit's /r/objectivism who was banning anyone who criticized him has stepped down, and I'm once again able to post there. All I've posted so far is a test comment.

2025-03-26 16:59:23 UTC

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@nprofile…3fqn Some mistakes are extremely serious. Disclosing information about upcoming military actions can cost the lives of the people involved. Clinton's action was reckless, and I've never understood why nobody spotted her emails as coming from an unauthorized server. The State Department's own email server was compromised. The rot went far beyond what people focused on.

2025-03-26 11:03:09 UTC

New Hampshire's documentation of citizenship requirement caused 96 people to be turned away, far more than any credible estimate of the number of non-citizens who have tried to vote in the state.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVQo2PLelXY
#NewHampshire #voting

2025-03-26 09:39:54 UTC

A nice A-B comparison of people who think using a private email server where no info was actually leaked is horrible, yet consider adding a journalist by mistake to a highly classified Signal chat is just a little oopsie.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-waltz-signal-leak-clinton-emails-2c888fc78b7c47865b5250dd97e9f319

2025-03-25 13:10:54 UTC

Equating harassment with protest, and denying due process. https://garymcgath.com/wp/equating-harassment-protest/

2025-03-24 23:09:58 UTC

Former LP chair Angela McArdle says that people who the government claims aren't citizens aren't entitled to due process. https://bsky.app/profile/billybinion.bsky.social/post/3ll55ix35vc2w

2025-03-23 22:09:58 UTC

I think I see the Democrats' game. They're counting on Trump to ruin the economy and make the Republicans lose badly in the next election, giving the Democrats a legacy of unlimited presidential power. It's an incredibly stupid scheme, but what else explains their failure to challenge him?

2025-03-23 14:30:06 UTC

Many news sites are pushing far-left figures like AOC and Sanders as the alleged leaders of the opposition to Trump. They don't want the country united against him; they'd rather see the country go to hell than miss a chance for their own authoritarian gang.

2025-03-22 11:29:01 UTC

The USA has closed off Canadian access to the Haskell Free Library, which straddles the international border. I wrote a song about the library; it's now out of date but tells the listener a little about its history.
https://garymcgath.bandcamp.com/track/library-on-the-border
#Bandcamp #Canada #libraries #Vermont

2025-03-22 10:37:21 UTC

A big part of the MAGA gang's success is its taking over pro-freedom symbols for its own purposes. I'd put up a big "Don't Tread on Me" display now, except they've taken it over to mean, "I'll tread on you." Likewise for the US flag itself.

2025-03-21 15:12:04 UTC

If I'm reading this correctly and it's accurate, DOGE puppet Leland Dudek has shut down the SSA's IT operations. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/20/doge-blocked-social-security-judge/
#SSA #DOGE

2025-03-20 11:41:22 UTC

Social security scams have been a major concern. People can get their benefits redirected. Tightening security on how SSA accepts information seems like a good idea, if done the right way. Has anyone talked about how effective the procedural changes will be and whether SSA is equipped to handle them? Or are new security measures just automatically bad now?
#SocialSecurity #SSA

2025-03-12 12:25:57 UTC

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I try to provide you with information, and you scream and rant. Are there federal courts who are in the executive branch, or are they part of the judicial branch by the fact that they're courts? I've just spent some time trying to find an answer to this without success. If I thought you were interested in clarifying the issue, I'd ask you for more information. But it's become obvious you're just interested in making excuses for Trump or ranting in general.
Muting.

2025-03-11 11:20:42 UTC

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@nprofile…xn4g Just came across a story about Trump firing immigration judges. It's not clear from the article if it was outside his jurisdiction, but I remembered you had asked about firings in the judicial branch.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-court-judges-fired-firings-d35eed0f685739c4a19d4c8baf39113a

2025-03-10 14:06:54 UTC

I went through Tiffany Flick's statement and now have a clearer picture of how Trump and DOGE bully government agencies into giving him confidential personal data. Please read this; it's important.
#Trump DOGE
https://garymcgath.com/wp/ssa-data-grab/

2025-03-09 12:34:49 UTC

Typical inept reporting. The article doesn't say how DOGE got access to confidential personal data or even probe the question. It allows the fake reassurance that it has "read-only" access. I guess I shouldn't worry when a thief has read-only access to my credit card. They can't change it, so I'm safe, right?
It's the DOGE mystery again. People are acting as if it has authority when legally it has none. What's really going on?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/doge-searching-social-security-payments-000600173.html
#DOGE #SSA

2025-03-08 22:49:08 UTC

Now, in a complete reversal, we're being told that DOGE hasn't fired anybody. It was the Office of Personnel Management that fired the probationary workers.
My impression is that the agencies are acting out of fear of Trump, rather than because they believe Musk holds authority over them. https://apnews.com/article/musk-doge-trump-blame-federal-workers-republicans-2945026366f42b0879087f2e7d4b9d71
#DOGE

2025-02-27 11:27:31 UTC

Some encouraging news: Washington Post will focus on defending personal liberties and free markets. Whether it lives up to that remains to be seen.
https://apnews.com/article/washington-post-bezos-opinion-trump-market-liberty-97a7d8113d670ec6e643525fdf9f06de
#WashingtonPost

2025-02-17 16:07:24 UTC

Trump says, "He who saves his country does not violate any Law." You know, a certain conclusion can be drawn from that ... but if I said it, the Secret Service might have words with me.

2025-02-12 14:55:03 UTC

If you get money from the government, you do as the government says. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/11/business/gbh-removing-dei-language/

2025-02-09 17:23:28 UTC

As usual, there's little hope for finding common ground with progressives against DOGE. They're less concerned about uncontrolled access to everyone's personal data than with the fear that some government program might be shrunk or eliminated.
#DOGE

2025-02-07 15:58:57 UTC

I don't pay much attention to celebrity news, but I know Kanye West is a self-proclaimed Nazi. What I don't get is why he still gets invited anywhere.
#KanyeWest

2025-02-07 13:45:35 UTC

New on my blog: Video vs. text. https://garymcgath.com/wp/video-vs-text/

2025-02-07 11:13:32 UTC

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@nprofile…6v3n Probably they figured they could get away with it while all eyes were on Musk and DOGE.

2025-02-06 20:49:47 UTC

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@nprofile…p9gs Sounds good, but the deficit will be bigger than ever. Wait, it already is. Make that bigger than bigger than ever.

2025-02-06 01:19:28 UTC

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@nprofile…6v3n They still have subscribers after declaring that D+ subscribers can't sue Disney for anything, including wrongful death?

2025-02-06 01:15:23 UTC

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Clarification on this: ICE was told "Come back with a warrant." So apparently no students were removed or threatened. https://bsky.app/profile/aaronrosspowell.com/post/3lhhtnbqo6k2x

2025-02-05 16:05:10 UTC

@nprofile…my2y reports on Bluesky that ICE raids have begun in Aurora, CO schools.
#ICE #Colorado

2025-01-22 20:26:42 UTC

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@nprofile…eqwd Exactly.

2025-01-22 11:14:29 UTC

Another silent comedy with my accompaniment is now up on YouTube: "Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde," starring Stan Laurel (pre-Hardy). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M6Xy17aR_c
#Stummfilm #silentFilm

2025-01-20 23:14:52 UTC

In the latest hilarious flip, people on the left are saying touching a Bible is mandatory when taking the presidential oath of office. They turn into the religious right as soon as it gives them a chance to claim political points.
#Trump #FirstAmendment

2025-01-20 12:14:42 UTC

Peak insanity day. https://garymcgath.com/wp/peak-insanity-day/
#Trump #inauguration

2025-01-16 00:45:39 UTC

This is a familiar pattern. Ban something, and people look for substitutes that may be worse. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/15/nx-s1-5260742/tiktok-china-rednote-xiaohongshu-app
#TikTok #RedNote

2025-01-15 20:24:16 UTC

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@nprofile…gqrj Mexico should get California back, along with Arizona and New Mexico.

2025-01-15 17:16:01 UTC

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@nprofile…9nj5 People got kicked off for supporting murder? Good.

2025-01-15 14:34:31 UTC

Biden spends $4.2 billion in Federal money for people who have recently attended college. The article doesn't bother to say what legal dodge he used. https://news.yahoo.com/news/biden-says-approving-student-loan-164013114.html
#Biden

2025-01-15 11:00:15 UTC

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This is explicitly about legislating religion. Speaker Johnson said, "We know from Scripture and from nature that men are men and women are women, and men cannot become women."

2025-01-15 10:47:51 UTC

The Republican Party is against centralized Federal control of education. Except on Tuesdays. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/01/14/house-votes-ban-transgender-students-girls-sports/6991736899178/

2025-01-15 01:40:15 UTC

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@nprofile…em78 "I don't have to run faster than the bear. I just have to run faster than you!"

2024-12-31 18:32:34 UTC

The biggest problem with Objectivism isn't inherent in the philosophy. It's that too many people, once they call themselves Objectivists (or anything-else-ists), stop thinking for themselves (which is what Objectivists are supposed to do) and instead strive for conformity to the tenets without comprehension. In doing so, they miss the whole point. It's like Life of Brian: "Yes, we are all individuals."

2024-12-08 11:22:41 UTC

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@nprofile…6cqx That comes on top of Authy ceasing to work without notice on some platforms (including my Mac in iOS emulation mode). It's now even more worthless than before, if "more worthless" is a meaningful phrase. #Authy

2024-09-11 14:37:20 UTC

Use of the word "neurodivergent" has been steadily rising over the past few years, and it seems as if the assumption that all neurodivergent people diverge in the same way has risen along with it.
https://trends.google.com/trends/

2024-09-05 09:57:31 UTC

New on my blog: AI panic has hit the National Novel Writing Month organization.
https://garymcgath.com/wp/ai-panic-and-nanowrimo/
#AI #NaNoWriMo

2024-09-01 10:49:30 UTC

Your occasional reminder that Hamas is a murder gang. https://www.yahoo.com/news/israeli-american-hersh-goldberg-polin-042524139.html
#Hamas #Palestine #Israel

2024-08-31 14:13:07 UTC

Brazil's thought police can't easily catch people who use a VPN to access Xitter. The point of using a VPN is to hide what sites you're accessing. The people who risk arrest and fines are the ones who provide information about how to use one.
#Brazil #VPN #Censorship

2024-08-12 09:46:12 UTC

New bullshit from Zoom: Customers are demanding AI monitoring, so it's auto-enabling AI Companion. Check your settings here to make sure Zoom hasn't enabled it behind your back (at your insistence, of course):
https://us06web.zoom.us/profile/setting?tab=aicompanion#smartMeetingSummaries
#Zoom #AI

2024-08-11 21:06:39 UTC

Suppose you get a car today and keep it 20 years. In 2044, will you be able to find a service shop that has the equipment to talk to its computer?
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/07/providing-security-updates-to-automobile-software.html
#automobiles #cars #obsolescence

2024-08-10 23:48:59 UTC

This interview with Trump should scare you to death. He intends to deport millions. To use the National Guard to do it. To bring these people directly across the border and dump them. To use the military inside the US. To give police immunity from prosecution. This is a formula for a police state.
https://time.com/6972022/donald-trump-transcript-2024-election/
#Trump #deportation

2024-08-10 23:25:24 UTC

Gee, someone figured out that pushing AI to make our decisions for us scares us away. https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/10/business/brands-avoid-term-customers/index.html
#AI

2024-08-04 08:56:20 UTC

A quarter of those polled said schools should have protesters arrested for opposing the Israel-Hamas war. Not for vandalism or disruption, not for supporting mass murder, just for opposing a war which the respondents support.
https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/national-speech-index-july-2024
#freeSpeech #firstAmendment

2024-08-02 12:19:11 UTC

Oh, this is really good. #Biden signed a bill banning #TikTok if it doesn't comply with the US government's demands, and most commoners who work for the federal government aren't allowed to use it at work, but Biden's campaign has a TikTok account. Different rules for the rulers. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/12/biden-campaign-debuts-official-tiktok.html

2024-08-01 12:35:59 UTC

Continuing my series of posts on Louis #Spohr 's #music, here's one on his first double string quartet. As a bonus, the post includes an account of how he stood up to a king. https://garymcgath.com/wp/spohr-double-string-quartet-1/ #classicalMusic

2024-07-31 00:33:18 UTC

300 followers! Thanks, everyone.

2024-07-30 11:49:58 UTC

Another thing Republicans and Democrats in #Congress agree on is #protectionism. They just voted to increase the cost of US flags bought by the federal government. https://apnews.com/article/american-flags-susan-collins-china-c31c30bce3b0a1afc74f79f769022a26 #flag

2024-07-29 21:22:41 UTC

Democrat, Republican, it makes no difference. What they want is control and censorship. #KOSA https://reason.com/2024/07/29/kosa-moves-forward-in-congress-threatening-free-speech-and-encryption/

2024-07-28 11:41:24 UTC

The Democratic branch of the Demopublican party fights to keep competing parties and candidates off the ballot. https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-rfk-ballot-election-2024-6578c475c48887f736270248d1664a4a

2024-07-27 14:02:19 UTC

#Trump isn't even hiding his dictatorial intent. "in four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good, you're not gonna have to vote." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tells-christians-they-wont-have-vote-after-this-election-2024-07-27/

2024-07-27 10:36:31 UTC

The #Olympics always take a heavy toll on civil liberties. 10,000 soldiers are being deployed in the Paris area. That's a military occupation by any standard. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/sports/article/2023/11/23/paris-2024-olympics-15-000-soldiers-will-take-part-in-security-set-up_6283268_9.html

2024-07-26 15:36:14 UTC

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@npub1m8z…3vxa "Broncho Billy" makes me think of a coughing cowboy. :)

2024-07-26 06:09:27 UTC

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Except Far Side cartoons. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8c/7b/67/8c7b67067ee7cd951d0d64206c58cc25.jpg

2024-07-26 06:08:56 UTC

Today I learned that #boneless wings aren't wings and may not be boneless. You can't put your trust in anything any more. https://reason.com/volokh/2024/07/25/should-consumers-expect-to-find-bones-in-boneless-wings/

2024-07-25 22:50:13 UTC

Somehow landed on a website that wanted me to download their Firefox extension. Red Alert, Captain! Not touching that site with a 10-foot pole.

2024-07-25 13:05:22 UTC

Today I'm busy muting and unfollowing people pushing the "couch sex" lie. Even if they expect suckers to believe it, why do they think it would shift anyone's vote?
As I've said elsewhere, it's not that I like Vance, but that I hate liars.

2024-07-25 00:53:48 UTC

The #ArrogantWorms are crowdfunding their first new album in eight years! https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-arrogant-worms-new-album#/

2024-07-24 21:53:02 UTC

#Reddit is blocking search engines — except Google. My use of Reddit has been steadily declining, and this is one more reason it should. https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/24/24205244/reddit-blocking-search-engine-crawlers-ai-bot-google

2024-07-23 11:26:23 UTC

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@npub10q5…u4w4 Is the 25th Amendment quote from Trump, Vance, or someone else? It's unattributed.

2024-07-23 10:15:55 UTC

Update your scorecard: Aggressive prosecutors who lock up parents when their kids don't go to school are now progressive heroes.

2024-07-13 22:42:18 UTC

People with a single shared characteristic don't constitute a "community" or an "identity." Claiming that they do denies their individual identity and uniqueness.