The billionaire money fighting California’s proposed wealth tax shows how fast extreme wealth translates into outsized political power in this country. Great piece from the incomparable @rbreich.bsky.social, citing our research on how billionaire political influence has surged post-Citizens United.

Just installed GrapheneOS on a phone and I'm having so much fun with setting it up lol. This is how tech should be tbh; not the highly corporate nightmare it's turned into. Anyway, first problem I've run into... The clock app is this gross blue colour, any idea how to make it not blue?

roflmao should make a comeback.

I kind of wonder, have those CEOs who want to replace their coders with AI ever actually tried to code with AI? Because I have. I've also written code on my own. I can tell you that, for me at least, writing code on my own (when I know the language) is significantly faster and more rational.

This was legitimately one of #NinaDobrev 's most beautiful looks. And that's saying something.

Weird how all the republicans who were defending triple tapping a little girls school are now delivering sanctimonious lectures about morality! (Even though they know absolutely nothing about the shooter)

You know, it's funny, some people would probably call me "far-left" but I really don't think I am. I'm left, sure. But not far-left. Like, I'm not even a class abolitionist. I don't want to abolish currency either. I'm ok with people having a couple of million dollars, so long as three things...

Netanyahu and Donald Trump are probably the two worst and most evil people on the planet right now. Putin's the third, I think.

Pedro Sanchez is probably my favourite, current European elected leader. He seems to be doing well with Spain's economy, especially in these trying times. He has good positions on the EU, especially on the need for a European army. He's been great on Palestine and especially Iran. And he is...

God I fucking hope so. If there's one country on earth that deserves to be sanctioned it's Israel.

People are fucking dumb. It's true, most people just aren't that smart. And I don't see that because it makes me feel all superior, it's actually quite the opposite. In that it makes me feel endlessly frustrated and horrified. These people vote too. If they're being dumb over in a corner where...

Man, what Britain and the U.S. did to Iran is literally just... criminal. First, they exploit Iranian workers through the oil industry. Iran's democratic leader says he'll nationalize the oil, which makes perfect sense in this case. They then, instead of just... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovd3...

Market concentration → Less competition → Higher prices for consumers → Corporate profits at record highs → Record stock buybacks → Higher shareholder value → More power for corporations and the rich. How do we fight back? Break up monopolies and rebuild union power.

I support Ukraine's right to self-defence, however I can't really understand anyone who isn't disturbed at seeing clips from like drone footage or whatever. I've seen it sometimes and... those are people. And those are their last moments. Russian or not, I find that very disturbing. The thought...

You know, there's one novel I've been working on since literally like 2010. I first had the idea for it in late 2009, I think. And the shitty thing is that I feel like my novel would be so, so relevant today. But I still haven't been able to finish it. I was stuck on one thing for literally years.

Wish I'd studied app development or something.

Sen. Mike Crapo blocked Sen. Elizabeth Warren's last-ditch attempt to preserve the IRS's free Direct File program. In the last election cycle, Crapo was the top GOP congressional recipient of campaign contributions from the corporate PAC of TurboTax's parent company.

Laying in bed. Can't remember the last time I felt ok. Feels kind of pointless to type this. I know it will change nothing. Probably nobody will even read it. But I'm not ok. And I can't remember when I last was. Like really was. My pain due to my previous girlfriend still follows me...

I still miss my cat, Welle. It has been about a year now, but I still think of you. I'll always love you. I just wish I could hug you again.

They’re gonna call this "a pivotal moment" in history and I was just trying to get through Tuesday. #LivingThroughHistory

No more US military aid to Israel | Bernie Sanders

BREAKING: A jury has found Live Nation and Ticketmaster to be an illegal monopoly that overcharges fans. After the federal government settled the case, 34 states kept pursuing the giant ticket and concert company. Now, the states have won.

It’s Tax Day! As much as we hate paying taxes, we can take some small solace in the fact that America’s tax system is still more efficient and less corrupt than the privatized tax farming of the Roman Republic youtu.be/JRK3GuWEVX0?...

Over 2 years later and I'm still alone. Alone. I don't know what's worse, me feeling so crushingly alone or the fact that I still miss her and it still hurts after more than 2 years. I should've been dead years ago. I shouldn't be alive now. Sigh.

I have what I know is a somewhat unorthodox take for a leftist, but I'm not anti-AI. I think AI and its profits should be entirely publically owned. With companies paying for its use into a UBI pot. I think AI "art" of any kind should not be copyrightable. And I think AI data centres need to...

I'd love to believe that. Society doesn'f make me feel that way though.

It's literally crazy how perfect #KatyaSutak's face is. Legit perfect like a painting painted by some kind of master.

I wish they wouldn't called Orban's loss an "end to 16 years of authoritarian rule." Obviously in reality this stuff exists on a spectrum. Orban was certainly trying to become a dictator or something close to it. He WAS subverting Hungarian democracy. But he had not yet succeeded in becoming a...

“For 10 years, federal transgender employees had an absolute guarantee that they could use the restrooms consistent with their gender identity. That guarantee has now been pulled out from under them and reversed completely.” https://bit.ly/4tuwx2Z

Trump loves touting "no tax on tips," but ignores that his Department of Labor proposed a rule that would make it easier for corporations to misclassify workers. Millions of gig workers are wrongly labeled "independent contractors," and cut out of benefits and protections designated for employees.

Well, wrote the first few pages of 3 different short story series over the last two weeks or something. I do mostly like the one I wrote today. It's a story I've wanted to write for like a year now.

MAGA is a fascist imperialist terrorist death cult part 9,432

This is a huge relief. Well done, Hungary! Now here's hoping that Magyar is actually better. For Hungary, of course, but also on the level of Europe. Orban was a thorn in our side. And I hope that he can actually turn back some of Orban's damage to Hungary's system. www.bbc.com/news/live/c2...

I hope Orban loses, but I'm not going to celebrate until I see it happen.

Spent the last couple of hours talking to my sister. It has been interesting to find out how much we have in common, actually. I enjoyed it.

"we must develop a new social contract that begins with the basic premise that artificial intelligence must serve humanity...We cannot allow technological overlords to build a society where AI “progress” is defined by their wealth rather than by our democracy." www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Just imagining what they're going through, it's disgusting. This is a situation where language just deserts us in its utility. Because you can't seriously express what a fucking lunatic Donald Trump is. A literal, vile lunatic who cannot be allowed to serve out his term.

For the love of GOD, American politicians, fucking impeach and remove Trump! God, I know it's not gonna happen because the U.S. system is such a dysfunctional mess but this guy is a lunatic. Like not as an insult, he is literally not mentally stable. He's putting in question NATO again because...

Anger towards big tech companies exists because these companies harvest and exploit peoples’ data. We should pass laws to stop that. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

You know what strikes me about all this "kids and social media" thing? The argument is that it negatively affects mental health and stuff. So it should be restricted to adults like alcohol. But social media isn't alcohol. It's addictive and bad because tech giants deliberately make it...

@emmavigeland.bsky.social Inspired by your CNN experience (according to that one conservative guy).

Seriously considering an idea for developing a dating app I've been thinking about. I think it would be far more pleasant to use than other modern dating apps. It might get less profit per customer, but I honestly don't care. If it could keep me fed and housed that's all I care about.

I've said it before, but Israel needs dezionification. This is a sick, sick society. And unlike a lot of the people there and how they treat Palestinians, I don't want to kill them or take their land or destroy their government. But there needs to be mass... www.youtube.com/watch?v=RApJ...

Reminder 1057 that Donald Trump should be impeached and removed. How he's destroying the world economy and risking millions of lives due to food shortages is insane. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD7W...

Haven't looked into it in detail, but reading this it sounds great. Creators should be properly compensated for any material used and any AI-generated content that's 100% AI should not be able to be copyrighted. Loving the sound of this, @europarl.europa.eu! www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pres...

Look at the @europarl.europa.eu over here being based. The @ec.europa.eu could learn a thing or two from them. P.S. Parliament should have right of initiative on legislation. And this is yet another reason for why. www.patrick-breyer.de/en/historic-...

I am looking respectfully... #NinaDobrev