'Don’t argue with strangers… and 11 more rules to survive the information crisis' https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/nov/15/dont-argue-with-strangers-and-11-more-rules-to-survive-the-information-cris…
Nexstar's FCC filing in its $6.2B proposed merger with Tegna asks for urgent approval, which would require changing rules that limit station ownership (Al Tompkins/Poynter)
https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/nexstar-perry-sook-t…
A look at Amazon's Sparrow, Cardinal, Proteus, and other warehouse robots, taking over roles like selecting and picking items, carrying shipping carts, and more (Karen Weise/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/technology/amazon-robotics-automa…
The #IWW #GDC as an antifascist organization was always kind of a hack. It was a beautiful hack and it worked well for what it did.
In 2016, as Trump was rising, I found info from the Twin Cities GDC. They were super organized, building an amazing community defense organization. When we (Seattle) went to set up our chapter, following their lead, they were extremely supportive. When I got shot, Twin Cities folks were at my house keeping my partner safe. They literally flew people out to support us. They very much remain in my mind when I think about what mutual aid looks like.
Unionism is an important strategy of a larger fight. But it's important to realize that it's not the other way around. The GDC was built to defend the union, because there wasn't something larger to do that work. It filled a gap.
When we organized against Trump, we tried to make the GDC the greater thing. We tried to make the GDC into the vehicle for social revolution against the fascist threat... And it sort of worked. We were able to do a lot.
But that was never what it was built to do. It was always built as an appendage of the IWW. This contains its own problem. If Unionism is the revolutionary movement, then it becomes impossible to build a truly revolutionary society. Unionism centers "workers" which implicitly decenters those who can't work in the traditional sense (the young, the elderly, those physically or mentally able to work). It also decenters care labor that hasn't yet been widely commodified. Sure, there are all types of hacks to patch the holes, but the fundamental construction starts from the wrong assumptions.
It felt, for a while, like things could go another way. Like that our ability to bring members in could shift things a bit, maybe set the GDC on more equal footing with the core focus of the IWW. But that was always an illusion, far less important to think about than the crushing terror of the regime we were fighting.
Now, I will absolutely trash talk the IWW on occasion but in the end I do think they're doing good and important work. Any criticism I have should be taken with a grain of salt... And I know I do have a lot of salt. Again, Unionism is an important strategy. It's useful both in improving immediate material conditions and as part of the most powerful weapon we have against the capitalist system: the general strike. It's important, I can't say that enough. But it's not sufficient.
I've been thinking about this a bit recently, and I wonder if there are any other GDC organizers or former organizers who might be feeling the same. Feel free to DM me. I'd like to get some more perspectives and see if my understanding from several years ago deviates significantly from what other folks are feeling right now.
I'd also like to bounce some ideas around that come from my own organizing experience.
🌳 Mit ihrem langen Schwanz, der fast so lang ist wie ihr Körper, und ihren beeindruckenden Kletter- und Sprungfähigkeiten sind #Eichhörnchen faszinierend zu beobachten. Sie ernähren sich von Samen, Früchten und gelegentlich von Eiern und Jungvögeln. Welche Gefahren lauern auf sie in der Natur? Mehr über das Leben dieser flinken Nager im Artikel. 🐿️🍂
Three drawers is the number of drawers that can be done in a day apparently. Leaving the two hardest ones (too small to operate inside the box and hang the rails I guess?)
Carpenter is very much looking forward to not having to drive to North London every day so don't think we'll get more than just tomorrow out of him.
Drawers work well though, feeling more solid than the flatpack half-cardboard Ikea/Argos stuff I'm more used to.
New York Attorney General Letitia James today issued the following statement after she was indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s office of the Eastern District of Virginia.
“This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.
He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding,
all because I did my job as the New York State Attorney General.
“These charges are baseless,
and the president’s own publi…
And you don't need to accept the trap of authoritarian masculinity on logic alone, the proof is right there in male influencers like Andrew Tate and their followers. These dipshits get so obsessed with gatekeeping they don't realize that the gates they're tending keep them in, that the more walls they put up to protect their privilege, the smaller their identity can be. They huddle in tiny pens, terrified of crossing imaginary bounds that they imposed *on themselves.*
They have built their own torture chambers and locked themselves inside, and for what? They turn themselves into dragons, hoarding what they see as valuable while repressing every emotion including joy. And if they let themselves experience joy, they would, perhaps, realize that all these privileges are inconsistent with it. They might, perhaps, recognize that they have built up these privileges so they don't have to admit that their suffering and fear are not, in fact, admirable. They might have to face the fact that they have lived lives that are deeply pathetic, might have to face the fact that only empathy can give one access to deep satisfaction, might have to face the fact that they have lived their whole lives on a treadmill, going nowhere.
But I assume that they won't ever do that, because to do so would force them to face the enormity of the emotional debt, the pain and suffering they have inflicted on the world, and those are big feelings. It's far easier to hide in a hole, forever alone, making up silly rules to keep everyone inside scared and keep everyone outside from seeing in.
New York Attorney General Letitia James today issued the following statement after she was indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s office of the Eastern District of Virginia.
“This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.
He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding,
all because I did my job as the New York State Attorney General.
“These charges are baseless,
and the president’s own publi…
Myanmar releases six journalists from prison, all detained following the military's 2021 coup, but continues to hold at least 27 journalists behind bars (Committee to Protect Journalists)
https://cpj.org/2025/12/myanmar-releases-six-journalists-in-pre-el…