Tootfinder

My moment of clarity in the last few weeks was coming back to “Oh right, copyright is a hack, and one that is not serving us, particularly us on the margins”
The moral rights of authorship and the way we situate our legal process of ownership are, actually, kinda at odds. And it entirely misses the idea of a commons, both as community and as a cultural base to draw from.
I've long believed that we, collectively, should own our culture — to have modern myths be Copyright 1972 LucasFilm, the traditional songs we sing Copyright 1922, now owned by Warner/Chappell Music is one of the things I find repugnant about the situation we find ourselves in.
That said, reconciling that with the behavior of the AI companies, _particularly_ the American ones? It's hard. Google abuses its monopoly position; Microsoft has forced harmful and terrible tooling on people at every turn; OpenAI is run by someone who actively despises art and does not understand it; and Anthropic is run by a guy who is trying to make sure the apocalypse has a pleasant demeanor and doesn't offend any corporations on the way. All of the above have scraped the web with no active consent — and that's largely fine, that's what putting things in common _is_, that's the beauty of the open information world we have the remnants of — but also actively evading measures people put in place to stop it and with absolutely no willingness to engage with the process. Extracting from the commons _is_ the tragedy of the commons.
It does not mean that enlarging the commons with the resulting tools is bad. The doctrine of original sin is a Christian concept I do not subscribe to. The concept of 'fruit of the poisonous tree' is a legal tool to fix power relations not a moral stance. They're worth understanding, but they are not absolute moral stances that are self-evident.
These are not harmless tools, but so too putting hard regulation and corporate, legalistic scrutiny on everything has a vastly negative impact: it is a yoke on human creativity and community to the reins of capital.
And, so too, disruption has huge costs. We are, apparently, committed to doing things the worst possible way. One can just hope that we capture the good too, because the ride has started and it's rather late to get off.

"The aim of the Ukraine government, the EU, the US government, the multilateral agencies and the American financial institutions now in charge of raising funds and allocating them for reconstruction is to restore the Ukrainian economy as a form of special economic zone, with public money to cover any potential losses for private capital."
Ukraine- Russia four years on – Michael Roberts Blog

Ukraine- Russia four years on
Today marks the end of the fourth year of the Ukraine-Russia war. After four years, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused staggering damage to Ukraine’s people and economy. There are wildly varyi…

Capitol agenda: Senate heads into a weekend grind (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/03/20/congress/senate-weekend-session-save-america-act-dhs-00837277
http://www.memeorandum.com/260320/p24#a260320p24

The irony of Trump’s presidency: A business champion destroying American capitalism - Alternet.org
https://www.alternet.org/trump-economy-stanford/

US Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Saturday that he is set to headline two major rallies next weekend
“as part of a growing national movement challenging oligarchy and economic inequality,”
including the flagship “No Kings” rally at the Minnesota State Capitol.
The Vermont Independent plans to join other progressive elected officials, labor leaders, and organizers in Minneapolis on the afternoon of Saturday, March 28,
as Americans hold more than 3,000 related No Kings e…

Sanders to Headline Flagship Minnesota Rally During 3,000+ 'No Kings' Protests | Common Dreams
Sen. Bernie Sanders will headline the flagship No Kings rally in Minnesota and a Tax the Rich rally in New York City next weekend.

Sage, whose AI tools scan for distress and alert caregivers in nursing homes, raised a $65M Series C, bringing its total funding to $124M (Reuters)
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/st…

Sage raises $65 million to expand AI-assisted care for ageing Americans
Sage, a senior care technology firm, secured $65 million in new funding. This capital will fuel the expansion of its artificial intelligence platform. The technology aims to assist caregivers in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Sage's AI scans for distress and alerts staff in real time.

Hat tip to Cascadia Journal
Parksville, BC
Entrepreneurs who come from a long line of commercial fishers are capitalizing on an ocean harvest that has nothing to do with catching fish.
Kelp is presenting growing possibilities on international markets, contributing a valuable, self-regenerating ingredient to agriculture, food products and even the skin care industry.

I understand, I do. As a straight cis man I grew up with the the anarchist critiques of "anti-capitalism," "something something FREEDOM," and "all that other stuff that you should probably read if you have time." That failed me and left massive holes in my analysis that I'm still working frantically to patch.
I understand how we got here, but I don't understand why we aren't, specifically at this time, doing better.

Capitol agenda: House hard-liner headaches ahead (Mia McCarthy/Politico)
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/03/17/congress/house-conservatives-fisa-housing-save-america-act-elections-00831120
http://www.memeorandum.com/260317/p31#a260317p31

Capitol agenda: Trump's Doral demands ripple through GOP (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/03/10/congress/trump-save-america-act-elections-bill-gop-midterms-00820224
http://www.memeorandum.com/260310/p81#a260310p81