I've represented a ton of people on weed charges, simple possession to massive wiretap investigations. Cannabis prohibition is an arbitrary rule, designed only to find and incarcerate those who do not follow arbitrary rules. The rule doesn't matter, just who refuses to follow it.

Christopher Webb@cwebbonline.com · 2h ago

Talarico’s argument is simple: Stop treating marijuana like a crime. Legalize it. Regulate it. Tax it. Stop wasting police resources on low-level marijuana offenses. Clear the records of people whose lives have been derailed by nonviolent marijuana convictions.

Automobiles. For fuck's sake, 40 years ago they were still phasing out carburetors, getting 18 mi to the gallon while producing 120 horsepower. And airbags were still a luxury item.

Revan@revan.eurosky.social · 12h ago

So this is basically one of the entry points to becoming a reactionary

I've de-googled over the last 18 months, all but (ironically) buying an unlocked Pixel to run GrapheneOS. Denied all permissions. Niagara Launcher for Android. Proton for email, cloud (incl. photos), passwords, wallet, calendar, & VPN. Only the business listing remains, because monopoly.

In just a few days of following, I've come to look forward to @doctorow.pluralistic.net Cory Doctorow's tech essays. Solid work.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 4h ago

Forget "Don't be evil"; Google's true motto is a form of vulgar spidermanism: "With great power comes no responsibility." The internet's *de facto* boss is an absentee landlord. 1/

For anyone with a small business who uses advertisements, this also means that your business is going to pay for clicks from people who are not active customers who do not know that they are clicking on an advertisement. Nothing like paying somebody $5 or $10 to read your website blog...

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 4h ago

To make this even worse, Google's spent years making it more difficult to distinguish ads from "organic" search results, changing the font and size of the "ad" warning to make it harder to spot, and making the font and color of the ad itself closer to the color of the search results below it. 28/

I pay $10 a month for Kagi, & it is worth every bit of it. Google's front has devolved into a digital amalgam of old yellow pages, Sears catalogs, and coin-operated trinket machines, while the back end scans our family photos, reads our emails and deletes our work at will.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 4h ago

If Kagi (with a handful of engineers) can extract useful search results from Google's databases, then Google - a thrice-convicted monopolist that's had its pick of *thousands* of the top computer scientists from the world's most prestigious universities for a generation - could also do so. 14/

Good work.

Abdul El-Sayed@abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 4h ago

Money out of politics. Money in your pocket. Medicare for All. Michigan... We won. I am so proud to be your Democratic nominee for US Senate. Let's win in November.

The oil cartel extracting huge profits off of the People's strategic oil reserve.

Chris Osieck@chrisosieck.bsky.social · 3h ago

Iran conflict windfall over three months reignites calls for companies ‘cashing in on human misery’ to pay for environmental damage.

@nytimes.com gave Joseph Goebbels a platform to tell everybody that, despite being the chief Nazi propagandist, he's not a Nazi.

Marc Elias@marcelias.bsky.social · 24h ago

David Ellison may think we are stupid, but we know who he is. We know what he has done to CBS. We know what he wants to do to CNN. Support independent media.

*taps impeachment clause*

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 24h ago

Cornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"

Run on accountability.

Jennifer Shin - WTAF@jennifershin.bsky.social · yesterday

They need to hammer down relentlessly on this. They can't become overconfident, like they did with Hillary in 2016.

With the rise of fascism, everyone must run parallel. This is really cool to see from human rights groups:

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · yesterday

The Technology Freedom Cooperative is a brand new organization founded by the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (San Francisco), Kilómetro 0 (Puerto Rico), Invisible Institute (Chicago), Data Cívica (Mexico) and Innocence & Justice Louisiana: www.linkedin.com/pulse/techfr... 15/

I received discovery recently from a prosecuting attorney's office which sent it to me through Google drive. Google retains the encryption keys, likely uses the material to train AI, and retains the authority to delete anything at will. Shocking lack of security. (Proton, never Google again)

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · yesterday

It's a strange irony that in this moment when so many of us are struggling to "de-Google" our lives, a forcible, sudden de-Googling amounts to a sort of digital death penalty: www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/t... 5/

They are nothing but warm meat, the face doesn't matter. But in this instance, it's probably because our economy isn't getting the goddamn courtesy of a reach around and so they trot treasury out to make propaganda.

A friend of mine in a punk band 30 years ago snagged his dad's Sears Roebuck from the closet, and it was fucking brilliant.

Walter Mondial@dabenner.bsky.social · yesterday

There are some who will claim epiphone or squier guitars are better for having a less refined sound than Gibson or Fender counterparts

Goebbels bought CBS and put Riefenstahl in charge of the news.

Senator Ron Wyden@wyden.senate.gov · yesterday

One more interesting point: this spring I sat down with Sharyn Alfonsi of 60 Minutes for an extensive interview about my Epstein investigation. Subsequently, CBS pulled the segment and fired the reporter. The MAGA buyout of media has unquestionably aided the Trump administration’s cover up here.

Develop the record. Extend the statute of limitations over veto. Regain power. Put them in prison forever.

Senator Ron Wyden@wyden.senate.gov · yesterday

If Democrats retake the majority in the Senate and I become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, one of my first acts will be to subpoena the bankers that helped Epstein carry out his crimes and help deliver real accountability.

Can't prohibit masks? Enforce criminal impersonation. If their face is covered & no badge, acting like cops, arrest immediately. Slow walk booking, 24-hour holds to the minute. Make them prove who they are to get out of jail. Repeat everywhere all at once. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

US federal judge blocks New York’s ban on ICE officers wearing masks

Judge puts hold on mask ban while allowing state law prohibiting cooperation between police and ICE to stand

theguardian.com

Fucking fash.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Cornyn: "Given this agreement with Mr Blanche, I expect the DOJ to live up to this in future litigation and I will vote to advance him out of the committee today"

Impeach, yes. Then prosecute. Then imprison forever. And for those whose participation in the conspiracy against our rights has caused others to die, let the jury kill them. 18 USC 241 and 242.

Jen Rubin@jenrubin.bsky.social · yesterday

Then vow to impeach. Stop pussyfooting around

The American People have been waiting for true accountability since 1865, and it is easily the most resonant message today. The public is ready to start nailing up gallows, and promising a robust Nuremberg trial event will win every time. Especially among reformed MAGAts who feel duped.

Denny Carter@dennycarter.bsky.social · 2d ago

Kinda think you could just run for office today with one message: I’M GOING TO PUT THE RICH GUYS IN PRISON.

True. Then the interstates physically carved the cities into white and black neighborhoods, divided by concrete, while they destroyed the cohesive transit system that the people built for themselves.

David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 3d ago

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

Vichy morherfuckers

Murshed Zaheed@murshedz.bsky.social · 3d ago

Patty Murray and Chuck Schumer decide to strike a “bipartisan” deal with … checks notes … Susan Collins to fund the Trump regime through December which appears to not to any include any safeguards against Trump’s meddling with midterm elections.

Domestic assault victims routinely report the crimes & receive medical care, then become reluctant or even hostile witnesses after they return to their abuser. Maybe psychologists can explain this, but in the courtroom, it is as ordinary as wallpaper no matter the reason it happens.

Ron Filipkowski@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3d ago

Anyone who has worked with domestic violence victims know the answer to this is too often yes.

Perhaps assigning theoretically neutral immigration judges to the Department of Justice, rather than the judiciary, wasn't such a good idea, Congress?

Andrew Levesque@andrewlevesque.bsky.social · 4d ago

apnews.com/article/trum... Damn. We saw this coming….

Labor unions stand in solidarity with each other. You will -never- see cops walking a picket line with people on strike. You will see "union" cops working a strike on overtime, and you will see them arrest strikers (for "trespassing") at management's behest. Cops aren't union. 3/?

Kind of like when every company selling retail goods had to use the words platinum or titanium or gluten-free. They're a stampeding herd with nothing chasing them, running mindlessly, knowing if they fail collectively they won't be accountable for their universally bad judgment.

Jeffrey Sessions invented child separation, imposed cruelty as a deterrent, and I haven't forgotten that mother fucker over the last decade. Not one minute of even slightly foggy recall. He remains on the Nuremberg list with the rest of them.

burn it all down@russbengtson.bsky.social · 4d ago

into the bin with the rest of them. remember rex tillerson? i sorta do.

The Irish Volunteer: "Then fill the ranks and march away!--no traitors do we fear; We'll drive them all to blazes, says the Irish volunteer" ... We'll give them all short nooses that come just below the ears Made strong and good of Irish hemp by Irish volunteers" youtu.be/GJf0hgcJavo?...

The Irish Volunteer

YouTube video by David Kincaid - Topic

youtu.be

David Burbach 🇺🇸@dburbach.bsky.social · 4d ago

I've been trying to swear less, but, fuck this guy (he is a regular columnist for The Federalist) That said, I look forward to Republicans defending the notion that anyone with German (or Polish or Italian or Greek whatever) surnames are not real Americans