Tootfinder

When the Lyrics Hit Home: Songs I’ll Never Forget
For this week’s WWBC prompt, I’m reflecting on the song lyrics that have stayed with me through the years. From Buffett’s laid-back musings to Seger’s longing and Steinman’s drama, these lyrics still echo in my heart.
https://www.bob…

When the Lyrics Hit Home: Songs I’ll Never Forget – Bob Mueller
This week for WWBC: A nostalgic look at the song lyrics from Buffett, Seger, and Steinman that shaped my memories and soundtrack.

"Weimer’s obsessions are no secret – they were probably the reason Christian Democratic Union chancellor Friedrich Merz appointed him as commissioner for culture and the media."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/

Why independent bookshops strike fear in the heart of Germany’s culture tsar
First he came for Berlin’s film festival. Now it’s books. Wolfram Weimer seems to be on a mission to curb progressive thinking, says Guardian Europe columnist Fatma Aydemir

Running with the herd

well, gillian welch & david rawlings doing the dead at the capitol was as stunning as expected & then some. as beautiful as i've ever heard any of those songs, stripped down to stark platonic dream arrangements. quiet & cathartic & powerful to be in a room getting knocked sideways together.

Remember how there were endless fights over whether it was appropriate to say President Trump was a fascist?
Well, that one seems pretty well-settled now.
But Trump’s second-term swath of destruction doesn’t only prove that the fascist moniker is apt.
It also shows that America is living under a personalist regime,
and it’s wrecking us.
Consider the whiplash of Tuesday’s genocidal threat to wipe out Iran’s entire civilization,
one that hung in the air al…

America learns about "personalist regimes" the hard way
Truth Social posts are no way to run a country (or war).

People saying they are moving their data from clouds to a local hard drive.
I hope they understand cloud isn’t just space but also redundantly stored space and that moving to a drive locally is A fucking stupid idea.

Mir deucht, der Einsatz von Palantir, aber vielleicht auch schon von Microsoft berührt § 97 StGB (Preisgabe von Staatsgeheimnissen).
Vor allem nachdem das MS Management ausgesagt hat sie würden der US Regierung gewünschte Daten rausgeben (müssen).
„Wer ein Staatsgeheimnis, […] das ihm kraft seines Amtes, seiner Dienststellung oder eines von einer amtlichen Stelle erteilten Auftrags zugänglich war, leichtfertig an einen Unbefugten gelangen läßt und dadurch fahrlässig die Gefahr ei…

From Detroit Free Press, Michigan, June 30, 1940

#Rant
Rob Shaw is solidifying his position as the new Dean of Right Wing, anti-Worker Legislative Reporters in British Columbia.
With these gems, it's incredible that he has an education or goes to a doctor at all…
"The BCTF is typically one of the most militant unions, and quickly prone to job action.”
BCTF Strikes since 2000:
2005
2014
phew! almost got to three!
Remember that this was at the time of a union-busting BC Liberal government that had to go to the Supreme Court of Canada to get told that they ripped up union contracts unconstitutionally and were *forced* to compensate many years later.
"The ratification is a win for a New Democrat government. And extraordinarily expensive for taxpayers, too."
“extraordinarily expensive. Really? How is a wage increase that is *barely* in line with inflation after literally decades of below-inflation increases, “extraordinary”? I'll wait.
"Teachers can thank the BCGEU for turning what was an initial 3.5 per cent wage offer over two years by government, into a more than 12 per cent increase over four that is now forming the baseline for all other union deals."
Indeed! For those who can do math, that means 3% each of 4 years instead of 3.5 over two. But thanks Rob for making it seem like 4 times more!
Thanks BCGEU members for your solidarity and perceverence! I have been on strike. It sucks HARD. But it was worth it and it works.
"The ratification by the BCTF means roughly half of the 450,000 public sector employees now have deals of some sort with the province. Two majors left on the table are nurses and doctors.”
Oh no! Let’s not pay doctors and nurses! Surely they'll stay regardless in our incredibly overworked and under resourced healthcare system!
Like how does Mr Shaw believe we are to stay competitive or attract people. Or is he just not worried about getting sick….
"The skyrocketing deficit has the NDP government inking sweetheart deals with organized labour on the one hand, while pledging to cut public sector jobs with the other.”
Ya, we could have kept those public sector jobs if it weren't for fools like you who demanded governments cut taxes over the past 20 years instead of reasonable rises to... again…keep up with inflation and retain service!
It is a crappy balancing act that the NDP is doing and I do not like a lot of it. At the same time as Mr. Shaw complains about "sweetheart deals" for people in post-secondary, I am seeing historic cuts in that same sector. It's a blood bath actually. So the potential wage increases are going to be welcome, but feel pretty hollow as so many collegues have left.
Rob Shaw would have had us all lose our jobs and take a pay cut at the next one for good measure.
Thanks but no thanks Rob, your world view sucks.
https://www.nsnews.com/economy-law-politics/rob-shaw-ndp-deal-with-bc-teachers-sets-another-costly-precedent-for-public-sector-talks-11966874

Mining the strait would mean a protracted closure of at least a month, because finding and removing mines is a difficult and time-consuming process.
This would create a global economic disturbance well beyond what we are already seeing.
Laying mines is comparatively easy and can be done from both modern fishing boats and dhows.
In the area of the strait, both of these number in the thousands.
Iran used this strategy for conducting the clandestine mining of the Persian…

The Implications of Iran Mining the Strait of Hormuz Are Many—and Ugly
Laying mines is cheap—and easy. Clearing them is expensive and hard. The potential consequences are terrifying.