“The India that Silicon Valley once so loved has long given way to a different one: an increasingly authoritarian regime that wants even tighter control over information dissemination. It’s an India that’s not only willing to bully the very companies it once welcomed in order to firm up its grip, but also one that’s attempting to craft its own parallel social mediasphere as a bargaining chip to Silicon Valley: Either you play by our rules, or we don’t need you.”
“Danish PSA for wearing bicycle helmets is the best Viking movie in 63 years”.
RIP, Ned Beatty, versatile character actor.
The rise and fall of the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain.
“The FBI has released an unclassified intelligence assessment that predicts that some Qanon adherents will soon decide they can no longer “trust the plan” after so many Q predictions have come up short and resort to acts of violence.”
Everyone involved in this story is an amazing human. Standing ovation. (Via Ask A Manager.)
“How Does One Get Hired by a Top Cybercrime Gang?”
“Senate unanimously passes a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday”.
“Again, I ask: Doesn’t this all sound pretty fucking familiar?!!!”
“Biden’s efforts to strike up an anti-authoritarian chorus among our allies will be uncomfortable for Putin (as well as Xi, Erdogan and many others). But nothing he could say privately to Putin will resonate as strongly as enhanced unity on this issue by a newly energized western alliance. After all, Putin’s main goal throughout his entire career has been to weaken that alliance. Trump was his pawn in that effort. But Biden will deliver a message before he sees Putin that his efforts have now suffered a major reversal.”
“This month, corporations are plastering their social media avatars with rainbows, sponsoring Pride parades, and declaring their unwavering commitment to the LGBTQ community. Many of these companies, however, are spending millions supporting the campaigns of anti-gay politicians at the federal and state level. A Popular Information investigation found that 25 major corporations have spent more than $10 million since 2019 supporting members of Congress with a zero rating on the latest Congressional scorecard produced by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the most prominent LGBTQ rights organization in the United States. These same corporations have also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to state legislators who have sponsored anti-trans legislation this year.”
“In an all-out push to clean up Europe’s beaches — one plank in the European Union’s trailblazing efforts to address the almost 28 million U.S. tons of plastic waste it generates annually — a ban comes into effect July 3 that halts the sale in EU markets of the 10 plastic products that most commonly wash up on the continent’s shores. These include, among other items, plastic bottle caps, cutlery, straws and plates, as well as Styrofoam food and beverage containers.”
“Per Breyer, the red states and the individual plaintiffs lack standing in the big case involving the Affordable Care Act. The case is dismissed. The holding here is one that I’ve discussed many times before, but let me walk you through it.”
“The federal calendar has long served as a national text into which the country writes a story about itself. Among many other things it does, the Juneteenth federal holiday puts the political Civil War back at the center of the national story and affirms the centrality of African-American liberation, albeit incomplete, to the American story.”
How the Obamacare Town Halls of 2009 connect to the current critical race theory “controversy”.
“In the strongest move yet this year from the Biden administration in support of transgender students’ rights, the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Education (DOE) have filed a joint brief in support of a transgender girl who is suing her state for the right to participate in school sports.”
Sooner or later, the hammer is going to drop on Rep. Matt Gaetz.
RIP, Champ, Presidential dog.
RIP, Frank Bonner, actor best known for WKRP in Cincinnati.
“Again, I ask: Doesn’t this all sound pretty fucking familiar?!!!”
For 4 years, I heard a steady narrative that Trump cheated, with Russia’s help. The odd thing? I don’t recall ANY attempts to audit votes. No audits of heavy Republican districts, no affidavits from poll workers in Republican areas claiming specific malfeasance, no fake water leaks/sending the poll watchers home/counting in secret with ballots in suitcases run through machines multiple times in the middle of the night caught on surveillance tapes. I don’t remember any of that.
If we were so sure Trump cheated, why no audits? Surely the MAGA folks must have their own Rubys and Wandreas who did the same kind of cheating, right? Why no interest in actually ferreting out the fraud by Trump?
There is a straightforward answer to this disingenuous question, Bill, but given the dishonesty of the question(er), it is decidedly not worth the effort.