I am really struggling with the fact that this US Presidential Administration is a set of vassals to Vladimir Putin.
Kash Patel just confirmed as FBI Director
Fuck off, Putin, you won’t beat us all!
ft.com/content/dc981cd9-857d-4…
washingtonpost.com/national-se…
#usa #notrump #NoMusk
Ukrainian president’s remarks come as US counterpart appeared to blame Kyiv for war with RussiaChristopher Miller (Financial Times)
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“Our predecessors deposed a brain-addled king; they crushed the violent insurrectionists of a slaveholding confederacy; they forced the robber barons to contend with workers and unions; they kicked the Nazis’ asses throughout Europe.”
“No entitled reality-TV has-been backed by an addle-brained billionaire who cheats at video games is going to roll over us now.”
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A plan to harness grassroots energy—and to hold Democratic leaders accountableThe Nation
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Risk of wider war in Europe has 'never been so high', says French prime minister
#TroopDeployment #NATO #EuropeanSecurity #ColdWarEchoes #EuropeAtRisk
independent.co.uk/news/world/e…
The UK and France has banded together to propose 30,000 European troops stationed in UkraineAlex Croft (The Independent)
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Déjà vu down on the farm
Farmers feeling weight of Trump policies with shutdown of aid
#politics
pbs.org/newshour/show/farmers-…
In the last two presidential elections, farmers voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, but now some are saying his efforts to cut the government are causing major financial pressure.William Brangham (PBS News)
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A media circus?
Because you tried extorting the leader of a war-torn country... who became a global hero due to his strong, principled resistance?
And you were rejected, with everyone calling Trump venal, evil, a Russian stooge and incompetent as a result?
Gee. That's too bad.
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→ Signals of Trouble: Multiple Russia-Aligned Threat Actors Actively Targeting Signal Messenger
cloud.google.com/blog/topics/t…
“In anticipation of a wider adoption of similar tradecraft by other threat actors, we are issuing a public warning regarding the tactics and methods used to date to help build public awareness and help communities better safeguard themselves from similar threats.”
#Russia #Signal #threat #warning #public #safeguard
Russia state-aligned threat actors target Signal Messenger accounts used by individuals of interest to Russia's intelligence services.Google Threat Intelligence Group (Google Cloud)
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"Even in the best of circumstances, expecting residents to maintain sidewalks leads to suboptimal outcomes."
New at bl.ag online: 'Classifying Signs' by Harry Leeson, which explores class, taste, and the impact of street signs and public lettering policy on our built environments:
bl.ag/classifying-signs-by-har…
Kensington and Chelsea street sign photo by Alistair Hall: wemadethis.co.uk/.
#Class #Taste #PublicLettering #Lettering #Signs #London #Urbanism
Class, taste, and the impact of street signs and public lettering policy on our built environments.Better Letters (BLAG Magazine: Adventures in Sign Painting Craft, Community & Culture)
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Sign painters are also getting in on the cargo bike action.
Lots more of these at bl.ag/two-wheels-good-even-bet….
Pictured is Francois Morel's (mo-signs.com/) bike of burden in Paris, France.
#SignPainting #SignPainters #TwoWheelsGood #CargoBikes
Sign painter bicycles around the world lettered to advertise their sign painting services.Better Letters (BLAG Magazine: Adventures in Sign Painting Craft, Community & Culture)
he is such an intelligent and compelling orator. I’ve seen many clips over the past few years that have really impressed.
I also didn’t realize that’s why the Illinois Nazis were in the Blues Brothers. It seemed out of left field. Now I know and love that they were attacked in a satirical way as well.
A worldwide Mastodon instance from The Netherlands. Run by digital enthusiasts, inviting everyone, everywhere to join us in the #fediverse.Mastodon hosted on toot.community
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So Dodgy is a protection racket. "Be a shame is something was to happen to one of your tanks, General."
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What's not to like?!
Economists say the GOP budget would destroy Medicaid and "disproportionately benefit the 1%"
salon.com/2025/02/16/economist…
#ImpeachDonaldTrump #TrumpDidThis #RepublicansDidThis #RepublicansOwnThis #GOPKakistocracy #GOPWeirdos #NoRepublicansEverAgain #USPol
House Republicans want to pay for their tax cuts by cutting social services used by the working classSalon.com
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Musk:
“We’ve got people in there that are 150 years old. Now, do you know anyone who’s 150? I don’t, OK.”
Reason:
“Under ISO 8601, a missing value for a date is coded as May 20, 1875, because that was the date of an international standards-setting conference held in Paris, known as the “Convention du Mètre.”
For that reason, under some coding systems, a missing value for a date will default to 1875 — which in the year 2025 produces a round figure of 150.”
What a clown. 🤡
“experimental design”
What came to mind *first*?
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It’s been a tough year so far but I really find joy in the community here on Mastodon and the larger Fediverse.
There’s a satisfying DIY punk rock feeling to it all, as if I’m sticking it to dystopian billionaires every time I boost someone’s Mastodon post or fave someone’s Pixelfed image or try out some new Fedi app or follow some interesting stranger on some weird platform I’ve never heard of but can still interact with because it’s federated.
It’s what the internet is supposed to feel like.
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This guy woke up, got email he was fired and by 3:45pm locked out of everything digital,
He writes, "Additionally, before I could fully print off my government records, I was also locked out of my electronic personal file that contained my secure professional records."
If You work for the federal government in any capacity, and maybe even a sub-contractor, You should immediately back up and download/print any of your personnel and personal records #USPol
National Park ranger fired from "dream job" on Valentine's Day pens emotional viral letter: "Things are not ok" - CBS News
cbsnews.com/news/national-park…
"I am the defender of your public lands and waters ... I am the highlight of your child's school day ... I am tired of waking up every morning at 2am wondering how I am going to provide for my family if I lose my job," Brian Gibbs wrote.Li Cohen (CBS News)
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About a month ago I got a letter from the IRS saying they'd reviewed my 2023 return and were sending me an additional refund in 7-10 days. I thought that was great, obviously, but haven't received the check.
Not having a functional government kinda sucks.
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OMU that's too true.
Except I thought it was more like it was ending when somebody shows up at school with a gun.
From @MeidasTouch
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One frustrating aspect of trying to write about all the incredibly reckless and risky actions taken by this administration with govt data is that by the time you're done writing, half the stuff in your story is outdated already, because they've reversed themselves, or they've been reversed. Or, and this is usually the most frequent cause: Because they've gone and done something even more colossally stupid, cruel and/or unwise.
I have not missed this aspect of reporting on the Trump administration at all. But it is absolutely true that their flood-the-zone-with-stupid approach really can become something like a mental ddos on journalists. And ofc that's intentional.
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It's been truly sickening to read the news today: Trump calls Zelensky a "dictator" who took US money to go to war, making it clear as day that the US president sides with Russia in this conflict. Zelensky says the president lives in a circle of disinformation. That is plain to see, even for Trump's supporters, who live in and help cultivate that same bubble.
Meanwhile, Russian officials are offering American companies the chance to make billions by coming back to Russia. And wouldn't you know it? The White House is open to this idea. Nevermind that just two years ago Russia appropriated a good portion of the brands for the Fortune 100, and then took over their stores and sold them to Friends of Putiny.
nytimes.com/2025/02/19/world/e…
Russian officials are arguing that American companies stand to make billions of dollars by re-entering Russia. The White House is listening.Anton Troianovski (The New York Times)
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Now we are screwing Nepal on a large electrification grant intended to help Nepal balance China's influence.
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I am speechless.
"As far as Mr. Trump is concerned, Russia is not responsible for the war that has devastated its neighbor. Instead, he suggests that Ukraine is to blame for Russia’s invasion of it. To listen to Mr. Trump talk with reporters on Tuesday about the conflict was to hear a version of reality that would be unrecognizable on the ground in Ukraine and certainly would never have been heard from any other American president of either party.
In Mr. Trump’s telling, Ukrainian leaders were at fault for the war for not agreeing to surrender territory and therefore, he suggested, they do not deserve a seat at the table for the peace talks that he has just initiated with Mr. Putin. “You should have never started it,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Ukrainian leaders who, in fact, did not start it. “You could have made a deal.”
nytimes.com/2025/02/18/us/poli…
#USPolitcs #Trump #Ukraine #FreeArticle
As peace talks opened in Saudi Arabia, President Trump made clear that the days of isolating Russia are over and suggested that Ukraine was to blame for being invaded.Peter Baker (The New York Times)
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Imagine if we could liquidate and distribute Elon Musk’s assets…
3-year study finds MacKenzie Scott’s $19 billion in charitable giving has been ‘transformational’ for nonprofits fortune.com/2025/02/18/study-c…
#Philanthropy #MacKenzieScott #ElonMusk #DeportElonMusk
A new report analyzes data from over 1,000 organizations that have received grants from billionaire MacKenzie Scott.Alicia Adamczyk (Fortune)
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Bill Gates warns of millions of deaths if Trump and Musk don’t reinstate axed foreign aid funding
fortune.com/2025/02/18/bill-ga…
#USAid #StopTrump #StopMusk #USPol
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates warned millions of lives are on the line if foreign aid isn't reinstated.Eleanor Pringle (Fortune)
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You know why we Germans are so pedantic about data protection? Someone around 90 years ago went through all records available, selected people with certain criteria, with the help of IBM, and then killed them all.
We don't want to be on any list.
And now the US Gov and Musk are trying to get access to all data they have about every person and put them into a big fat DB and run AI over it.
I am afraid what they will do with that.
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If you want to know what "DEI firing" leads to, look at the amazing economic powerhouse that is Afghanistan under the Taliban since 2022!
Afghanistan's version of "DEI firing" was directed against women in public life.
It was motivated by religious bigotry (like Trump's anti-DEI bullshit) and it made everything worse, including the economy.
hachyderm.io/@stevel/114021787…
"DEI firing" "A mass firing of all employees of an organisation as means of removing all employees who do not meet the criteria of "white male".Hachyderm.io
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Sensitive content
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In walking limbs, the range of motion and control decreases as you move away from the body. In limbs made for manipulation things are less consistent. The human shoulder is a lot like the coxa in ants, it allows a wide range of movements in multiple dimensions. The elbow only allows one dimension of motion.
Ants have many more joints after that but they are like a stiff chain, no fine control. However, ants can flex their claws and expand and retract their foot pads.
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Ants use their front two legs differently from the back legs. They may use these limbs to dig or hold objects in place when manipulating them with their mandibles. The coxa of the front leg is often longer while all of the other segments are shorter. Ants have a comb on their front legs which they use for grooming—
I don’t think the front legs are used for manipulation in enough ways to have that be their primary purpose but there is a distinction that makes them more like “arms”
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Can't find my video, but this one is better. It's "silver ants" or Cataglyphis bombycina
(no it's not speed up, they really move like that, when they spin in a circle they are looking for the sun so they will know how to get back to their nest. )
They use their mandible with wet soil. The "dog style" sand flicking is only for dry substrate.
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John Breen
in reply to Augie Ray • • •random thoughts
in reply to John Breen • • •Hat should be a MAGA red, but it's an accurate representation.
@pineywoozle ‘s #3WordNote
in reply to Augie Ray • • •Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈
in reply to Augie Ray • • •Army Girl
in reply to Augie Ray • • •Doreen32128 ready to rumble!
in reply to Augie Ray • • •dummzeuch
in reply to Augie Ray • • •Augie Ray
in reply to dummzeuch • • •@dummzeuch First, it was not Biden's job to prosecute Trump. The DOJ is supposed to be independent. And believing in democracy and justice isn't a fault.
I, too, wish there had been more aggressive prosecution of Trump, but let's be careful "blaming" Biden for being an ethical leader, please.