"You do not bring a persuasive argument to a gunfight" —Sarah Jeong, on how far things have slipped over a year (It's mostly far more nuanced, I just gravitate to the meatier bits)

The Verge

The year politics became brainrot

You don’t bring a persuasive argument to a gunfight.

Some Ursula K. Le Guin for your new Year's eve and your new year ahead "All of us have to learn how to invent our lives, make them up, imagine them. We need to be taught these skills; we need guides to show us how. If we don't, our lives get made up for us by other people."

Secure file sharing back on the new blog with OnionShare

Secure file sharing back on the new blog with OnionShare

As one of my Twixmas projects I’ve decided to reboot my OnionShare site. It’s a secure and anonymous way for someone in the world to se...

On the people who saw it coming...

The Americans Who Saw All This Coming—but Were Ignored and Maligned | The New Republic

This White House is taking McCarthyism global.

France 24

Five Europeans denied US visas for combating hate speech online, accused of censoring ‘American viewpoints’

The US State Department said Tuesday that it would deny visas to five Europeans, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, accusing them of ...

This White House is taking McCarthyism global.

France 24

Five Europeans denied US visas for combating hate speech online, accused of censoring ‘American viewpoints’

The US State Department said Tuesday that it would deny visas to five Europeans, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, accusing them of ...

You can, for now, see that '60 Minutes' segment that Bari Weiss de facto colluded with the White House to spike because CBS Canada didn't get the memo on time. Our only hope is their incompetence.

Soon "60 Minutes" will be down to 5. https://www.npr.org/2025/12/22/g-s1-103282/cbs-chief-bari-weiss-pulls-60-minutes-story

Soon "60 Minutes" will be down to 5. https://www.npr.org/2025/12/22/g-s1-103282/cbs-chief-bari-weiss-pulls-60-minutes-story

"In the United States of America," Vance said, "you don't have to apologize for being white anymore.” This is just a fascist rally. There's no disagreement over the direction of maga by its attendees. There's only the start of a race over who gets to lead next. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/21/politics/jd-vance-turning-point-usa

AP reports that files are going missing from the DOJ Epstein Files archive, and now I see on social platforms multiple accounts promising to have zip files of the ‘complete’ archive you can download (no, there are no previews) and, well, this is a super great way to get malware. Don’t do that.

AP News

At least 16 files have disappeared from the DOJ webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein

The Justice Department’s webpage for documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is missing at least 16 of its files a day after they were ...

 

'The strawberry is dead.'

'The strawberry is dead.'

Some things on the regular doom scroll can still give me pause. Not because they’re particularly horrible, or somehow hastening my own desens...

There is no ceasefire, just a rate limit.

There is no ceasefire, just a rate limit.

"“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has embarked on a spending spree, signing contracts worth up to $25 million for a smorgasbord of spy technology: social media monitoring systems, cellphone location tracking, facial recognition, remote hacking tools, and more.” …." "“What’s new is that the federal government now openly says it will use its supercharged spy capabilities to target people who oppose ICE’s actions.”" — The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law

Brennan Center for Justice

ICE Wants to Go After Dissenters as well as Immigrants

The Trump administration is being open about its plans to violate Americans’ First and Fourth Amendment rights.

Phreeli launched today. It's an anonymous phone carrier founded by privacy advocate Nicholas Merrill. Minimal legal information in the US to purchase an account is just a zip code, everything your carrier asks for in addition to that is for tracking purposes.

WIRED

A New Anonymous Phone Carrier Lets You Sign Up With Nothing but a Zip Code

Privacy stalwart Nicholas Merrill spent a decade fighting an FBI surveillance order. Now he wants to sell you phone service—without knowing almos...

"India's telecoms ministry has privately asked smartphone makers to preload all new devices with a state-owned cyber security app that cannot be deleted..." "No, no, no, and no" needs to be the answer. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/india-orders-mobile-phones-preloaded-with-government-app-ensure-cyber-safety-2025-12-01/

Lol, this lecture came on the radio now. Decided to look up Rutger Bregman. This is the top result. BBC left the part where he warns about declining trust in media, but censored the part where he warns about “the most openly corrupt president in American history.”

the Guardian

BBC tells staff they cannot quote Trump line removed from Reith lecture

Journalists not allowed to repeat Rutger Bregman’s corruption claims against US president in coverage of edit

I jump between Python IDEs, but nice to see Python stick with DEI, and tell the US to stick it for trying to use funding to wage its culture wars.

BleepingComputer

Python rejects $1.5M grant from U.S. govt. fearing ethical compromise

The Python Software Foundation (PSF) has withdrawn its $1.5 million grant proposal to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) due to funding ter...

If you are doing online campaigning in the year of our lord 2025 and your instant/easy share buttons are still just 'post to Facebook' & 'post to Twitter' then you are not paying attention.