onfocus

Framing a strike as potentially strangling the economy (with little mention of the hardship striking workers would no doubt face) serves to help the reader, whose economic situation is almost certainly closer to the workers, identify instead with the multibillion-dollar logistics companies.

News stories are always from management’s point of view. You typically have to go directly to the union to get their take.

At one point during the event — which was ostensibly supposed to focus on Trump’s policy vision — the former president told his supporters, “Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music. Let’s make it into our music. Who the hell wants to hear questions? Right?”

Sounds like the vibes were immaculate for Trump, but this is not normal presidential behavior. This isn't even stalling for time. This is a problem when this person wants to be commander in chief.

Historians: He’s a fascist. Political scientists: He’s a fascist. His own aides: He’s a fascist. The NYT: He shows a wistful longing for a bygone era of global politics.

That, in essence, is the issue with these headlines.

Breaking my rule about linking to Substack because the NYT coverage of the election has been abysmal. In a just world it would mean the end of the NYT. (It would be ok, we could get our word games somewhere else.) But maybe there are enough fascist-curious consumers and backers to keep it going. They just need one billionaire to weather any storm.

The United States imports a wide variety of items that cannot be produced in large enough quantities to satiate domestic demand. Basic foodstuffs such as coffee, bananas, avocados, cocoa and much more do not grow in U.S. climates. And there are no domestic replacements for wild-caught Chilean sea bass or yellowfin tuna.

Countering MAGA beliefs with logic isn't going to move any numbers, but it is good to make the rational case that Trump's economic plan would tank the economy. He's not good at business or economics. That’s a mythology that was created to sell garbage. Plus he's surrounded people who are out to prove the government doesn't work.

The letter is an effort to draw a contrast between the 59-year-old Democratic nominee and her 78-year-old Republican rival, Donald Trump, who is vying to become the oldest person ever elected to the Oval Office and has released relatively little detailed information about his own medical history.

Please remember that a vote for Trump is a vote for a potential Vance presidency and no one wants that.

Writer/researcher Erin Kissane is working to build better and safer networks for collective survival, with efforts including the COVID Tracking Project, a powerful 40,000 word analysis of Meta’s role in the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, and current research into the culture and governance of the next wave of social networks.

When necessary government infrastructure to fight the covid pandemic was missing, internet randos came together on Twitter to build it. Amazing, heartbreaking talk here. Inspiring reminder that confronting the pain of the world is difficult and necessary.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that AI is advancing so fast, and requires so much energy, that there is no way to keep up with climate goals.

"On second thought," Eric Schmidt implied, "be evil." This kind of shameless greed is going to ruin our planet.

For those Americans who are still tempted to return him to the presidency or to not vote in November, it is worth considering the assessment of Mr. Trump by those who have seen him up close.

Quotes from people who worked closely with Trump. They don’t paint a picture of competence.

He is not a disaster waiting to happen. He is a disaster that has already happened.

An article by Admiral Steve Abbot who served as deputy Homeland Security Adviser to President George W. Bush.

Trump elaborated on his proposal to eliminate the Department of Education by describing what he envisioned the agency would look like: “I think you will have like one person plus a secretary. You’ll have a secretary. The secretary will have one person plus a secretary. And all the person has to do is: Are you teaching English? Are you teaching arithmetic? What are you doing? Reading, writing and arithmetic. And are you not teaching woke? Not teaching woke is a very big factor. But we’ll have a very small staff.”

Trump should not be in charge of anything, and least of all the most powerful military in the world.

It alleges that he always planned to declare victory no matter the result, and laid the groundwork for this long before election day. It also accuses him of knowingly spreading false claims about the vote that he himself deemed "crazy".

Since the Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling threw a wrench into the case, we’re suddenly getting a clearer view of what Trump did on January 6th and it’s disgusting. Informed about the danger the violent mob posed to his Vice President Mike Pence, Trump reportedly replied, “So what?”

Let’s not leave unspoken the irony that the guy who basically is WordPress.com, and WordPress.org, and the WordPress Foundation, wants you to think the name “WP Engine” is confusing.

Curious about the WordPress vs. WP Engine drama? This is a good rundown of the situation.