mackenzian
@mackenzian.bsky.social
never a fraction. always a whole. | mackenzian almost everywhere | building a moral economy | babylon is fallen
Reposted by mackenzian
When you book a flight through major travel sites, a data broker owned by U.S. airlines will sell details about your flight—your name, credit card used, and where you’re flying to the government.
We found out how to opt-out of ARC selling your travel data. A guide:
www.404media.co/how-to-opt-o...
We found out how to opt-out of ARC selling your travel data. A guide:
www.404media.co/how-to-opt-o...
How to Opt-Out of Airlines Selling Your Travel Data to the Government
The Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), owned by major U.S. airlines, collects billions of ticketing records and sells them to the government to be searched without a warrant. I managed to opt-out…
www.404media.co
November 4, 2025 at 2:48 PM
When you book a flight through major travel sites, a data broker owned by U.S. airlines will sell details about your flight—your name, credit card used, and where you’re flying to the government.
We found out how to opt-out of ARC selling your travel data. A guide:
www.404media.co/how-to-opt-o...
We found out how to opt-out of ARC selling your travel data. A guide:
www.404media.co/how-to-opt-o...
The Trump administration is shutting down the fund that provides business and housing loans to Indigenous communities across the country.
ictnews.org/news/trump-a...
ictnews.org/news/trump-a...
Trump administration guts community finance fund, a move that threatens tribal economies - ICT
Native CDFIs provide lending services in rural areas that are often banking deserts
ictnews.org
November 4, 2025 at 3:50 PM
The Trump administration is shutting down the fund that provides business and housing loans to Indigenous communities across the country.
ictnews.org/news/trump-a...
ictnews.org/news/trump-a...
Reposted by mackenzian
This is the real story most mainstream journalists are missing. Ppl are setting up neighborhood watch groups to patrol their block, volunteers are accompanying migrants to school/work, etc. and much of this is happening organically as well as being organized by @freedcproject.bsky.social
#FreeDC
#FreeDC
Residents are finding all sorts of ways to fight ICE: They're recording and reporting. They're wheatpasting and sharing know-your-rights materials. And they're stepping up to care for each other, from delivering groceries to walking kids to school. 51st.news/dc-residents...
With cellphone cameras and tip lines, D.C. residents find small ways to fight ICE
How neighbors and school communities are organizing against the immigration crackdown.
51st.news
August 31, 2025 at 6:39 PM
This is the real story most mainstream journalists are missing. Ppl are setting up neighborhood watch groups to patrol their block, volunteers are accompanying migrants to school/work, etc. and much of this is happening organically as well as being organized by @freedcproject.bsky.social
#FreeDC
#FreeDC
"For the first time ever, there is an oversupply of Honeycrisp apples... the cheapest the apple has ever been—and possibly the least satisfying and delicious."
Thank a few generations of agriculture business development. (Nov 2024): www.seriouseats.com/how-honeycri...
Thank a few generations of agriculture business development. (Nov 2024): www.seriouseats.com/how-honeycri...
How Honeycrisp Apples Went From Marvel to Mediocre
An investigation into the Honeycrisp apple and how a complex string of events led to a decline in the quality of a beloved apple variety.
www.seriouseats.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:12 AM
"For the first time ever, there is an oversupply of Honeycrisp apples... the cheapest the apple has ever been—and possibly the least satisfying and delicious."
Thank a few generations of agriculture business development. (Nov 2024): www.seriouseats.com/how-honeycri...
Thank a few generations of agriculture business development. (Nov 2024): www.seriouseats.com/how-honeycri...
Reposted by mackenzian
"Freedom shouldn't be something that only some people can buy."
*slaps table*
THANK YOU!
---
Visit @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social Unite Against Book Bans for more information:
uniteagainstbookbans.org
*slaps table*
THANK YOU!
---
Visit @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social Unite Against Book Bans for more information:
uniteagainstbookbans.org
August 28, 2025 at 8:15 PM
"Freedom shouldn't be something that only some people can buy."
*slaps table*
THANK YOU!
---
Visit @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social Unite Against Book Bans for more information:
uniteagainstbookbans.org
*slaps table*
THANK YOU!
---
Visit @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social Unite Against Book Bans for more information:
uniteagainstbookbans.org
Reposted by mackenzian
Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step onwards.
The only path to serenity.
-TTC ch9.
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step onwards.
The only path to serenity.
-TTC ch9.
August 28, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step onwards.
The only path to serenity.
-TTC ch9.
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step onwards.
The only path to serenity.
-TTC ch9.
Reposted by mackenzian
On the 20th anniversary of hurricane Katrina, I recommend you read this book: Katrina, A History 1915-2015. This was a disaster a century in the making. It wasn't a "natural disaster," human decisions over decades drove the catastrophe forward. www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
Katrina — Harvard University Press
Winner of the Bancroft PrizeLouisiana Endowment for the Humanities Book of the YearA Publishers Weekly Book of the Year“The main thrust of Horowitz’s account is to make us understand Katrina—the civic...
www.hup.harvard.edu
August 28, 2025 at 9:36 PM
On the 20th anniversary of hurricane Katrina, I recommend you read this book: Katrina, A History 1915-2015. This was a disaster a century in the making. It wasn't a "natural disaster," human decisions over decades drove the catastrophe forward. www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
“I believe in nutrition and exercise. I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability." —Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who resigned from the CDC yesterday
thehill.com/policy/healt...
thehill.com/policy/healt...
August 28, 2025 at 10:04 PM
“I believe in nutrition and exercise. I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability." —Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who resigned from the CDC yesterday
thehill.com/policy/healt...
thehill.com/policy/healt...
Reposted by mackenzian
There are political issues and there are spiritual issues and folks who understand how to address both will win.
People are dying to be in community. For as cynical as many perform, craving for community is authentic and not accessible for so many people.
August 24, 2025 at 7:14 PM
There are political issues and there are spiritual issues and folks who understand how to address both will win.
Reposted by mackenzian
Today's news roundup:
-Pentagon has been blocking Kyiv's use of long-range missiles on targets inside Russia: WSJ
-Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital kills 19, including 4 journalists
-Pentagon plans military deployment in Chicago as part of Trump's crackdown
👇
www.justsecurity.org/119546/early...
-Pentagon has been blocking Kyiv's use of long-range missiles on targets inside Russia: WSJ
-Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital kills 19, including 4 journalists
-Pentagon plans military deployment in Chicago as part of Trump's crackdown
👇
www.justsecurity.org/119546/early...
Early Edition: August 25, 2025
A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend.
www.justsecurity.org
August 25, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Today's news roundup:
-Pentagon has been blocking Kyiv's use of long-range missiles on targets inside Russia: WSJ
-Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital kills 19, including 4 journalists
-Pentagon plans military deployment in Chicago as part of Trump's crackdown
👇
www.justsecurity.org/119546/early...
-Pentagon has been blocking Kyiv's use of long-range missiles on targets inside Russia: WSJ
-Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital kills 19, including 4 journalists
-Pentagon plans military deployment in Chicago as part of Trump's crackdown
👇
www.justsecurity.org/119546/early...
Reposted by mackenzian
Split the games scheduled to be played in the US between Canada and Mexico. I'm an American and I agree. It's not currently safe to hold the World Cup OR Olympics in the US
August 25, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Split the games scheduled to be played in the US between Canada and Mexico. I'm an American and I agree. It's not currently safe to hold the World Cup OR Olympics in the US
Reposted by mackenzian
SORRY (from Australia)
The USA should not be allowed to host the world cup next year 🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️
The USA should not be allowed to host the world cup next year 🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️
August 25, 2025 at 2:10 AM
SORRY (from Australia)
The USA should not be allowed to host the world cup next year 🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️
The USA should not be allowed to host the world cup next year 🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️🖐️
Reposted by mackenzian
Huntington's theory of "objective civilian control," the separation of military and civilian spheres reinforced by an "apolitical" professional ethos, remains a lodestar for the American military. Yet its foundation is flawed and, as events in DC show, continues to do more harm than good. My latest⬇️
Samuel Huntington’s Prussian Paradox
Clausewitz, Military Professionalism, and the Myth of a “Apolitical” Military
secretaryrofdefenserock.substack.com
August 20, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Huntington's theory of "objective civilian control," the separation of military and civilian spheres reinforced by an "apolitical" professional ethos, remains a lodestar for the American military. Yet its foundation is flawed and, as events in DC show, continues to do more harm than good. My latest⬇️
Reposted by mackenzian
When you exclude the disabled and chronically ill from your activism (intentionally or unintentionally) you are excluding Black people, people of color, Jews, LGBTQ+ people, poor people…every single marginalization that exists.
That makes your movement weaker. Period.
That makes your movement weaker. Period.
August 20, 2025 at 10:24 PM
When you exclude the disabled and chronically ill from your activism (intentionally or unintentionally) you are excluding Black people, people of color, Jews, LGBTQ+ people, poor people…every single marginalization that exists.
That makes your movement weaker. Period.
That makes your movement weaker. Period.
Reposted by mackenzian
Just the simple fact that you rarely see masks for the purposes of protecting health at protests and actions these days is a failure to create community in activism.
August 20, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Just the simple fact that you rarely see masks for the purposes of protecting health at protests and actions these days is a failure to create community in activism.
Reposted by mackenzian
He can do it. He's going to land at night
August 20, 2025 at 8:03 PM
He can do it. He's going to land at night
Reposted by mackenzian
I wrote about the ways different concentration camp systems have ended and how to stop the massive expansion of detention happening in the U.S. right now.
How does this end?
The key ways that concentration camps get shut down.
degenerateart.beehiiv.com
August 20, 2025 at 2:49 AM
I wrote about the ways different concentration camp systems have ended and how to stop the massive expansion of detention happening in the U.S. right now.
DOD is now authorizing civilian employees to support DHS.
If staff apply, DOD supervisors are to ask:
- Is the DHS task "similar" to the employee's usual DOD work?
- Could it be professional development?
- Would the cross-training save DOD money?
- How long would DOD be ok without those staff?
If staff apply, DOD supervisors are to ask:
- Is the DHS task "similar" to the employee's usual DOD work?
- Could it be professional development?
- Would the cross-training save DOD money?
- How long would DOD be ok without those staff?
BREAKING — Dept. of Defense civilian employees all received an email a short while ago offering them the opportunity to support ICE and CBP “as they fulfill the President's intent to ensure a safe and orderly immigration system.”
Full text of email and attached memo from Sec. Def. Pete Hegseth:
Full text of email and attached memo from Sec. Def. Pete Hegseth:
August 21, 2025 at 12:36 AM
DOD is now authorizing civilian employees to support DHS.
If staff apply, DOD supervisors are to ask:
- Is the DHS task "similar" to the employee's usual DOD work?
- Could it be professional development?
- Would the cross-training save DOD money?
- How long would DOD be ok without those staff?
If staff apply, DOD supervisors are to ask:
- Is the DHS task "similar" to the employee's usual DOD work?
- Could it be professional development?
- Would the cross-training save DOD money?
- How long would DOD be ok without those staff?
Reposted by mackenzian
With Jenny Reardon, I'm co-editing a special issue of The ANNALS: "The Public's Science" We're seeking papers that critically examine how we got here and chart new approaches to research governance oriented toward excellence, justice, transparency, and democratic participation.
August 20, 2025 at 10:03 PM
With Jenny Reardon, I'm co-editing a special issue of The ANNALS: "The Public's Science" We're seeking papers that critically examine how we got here and chart new approaches to research governance oriented toward excellence, justice, transparency, and democratic participation.
Reposted by mackenzian
proof of what i've been saying forever
PEOPLE NEED TO BE SOLD ON THE IDEA OF GOVERNMENT
they have NO IDEA. NO! IDEA! what government does for them. NONE. NOT EVEN A LITTLE.
even i, spectacularly well-informed by most standards, didn't know jack about USAID.
PEOPLE NEED TO BE SOLD ON THE IDEA OF GOVERNMENT
they have NO IDEA. NO! IDEA! what government does for them. NONE. NOT EVEN A LITTLE.
even i, spectacularly well-informed by most standards, didn't know jack about USAID.
🧪 New study: Learning about economic impact of NIH funding motivates action to oppose funding cuts.
Evidence from two preregistered, randomized experiments with >5,000 U.S. adults.
Similar change for liberals and conservatives. Preprint from @asinclair.bsky.social et al:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Evidence from two preregistered, randomized experiments with >5,000 U.S. adults.
Similar change for liberals and conservatives. Preprint from @asinclair.bsky.social et al:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
![Study 2 Intervention Materials
Base Intervention Text
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provide funding for scientific research that
leads to major breakthroughs for cancer, diabetes, dementia, heart disease, infectious
diseases, stroke, mental illness, and more.
NIH funding is also an excellent financial investment. For every dollar NIH invests in
research, an average of $2.56 of economic activity is returned–a gain of over 250%.
The White House recently ordered major changes to NIH funding, which would take
back funds already promised to the states. States have sued to challenge the order,
arguing that the changes are unlawful.
[page break]
There are two major sources of cuts to NIH funding, which will result in current and
future losses.
First, many NIH grants for health research have already been cancelled, interrupting
ongoing studies and clinical trials. These cancelled grants are projected to result in
economic losses of $4.9 Billion and over 21,000 jobs.
Second, another change would greatly reduce NIH funding that covers “indirect
costs” of research. These funds help pay for essential facilities, equipment, skilled staff,
and safety checks needed across many research projects. Medical research would not be
possible without funding to cover indirect costs. In the future, this proposed change to
funding for indirect costs of research would reduce the U.S. economy by about $16
Billion and over 68,000 jobs every year.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:c5xrowexysrnn6rn6piltqjz/bafkreid62fezp32bbl53u4iwhrwttks7rwcdbbfqatklh35wmyxzq6o73i@jpeg)
August 20, 2025 at 10:31 PM
proof of what i've been saying forever
PEOPLE NEED TO BE SOLD ON THE IDEA OF GOVERNMENT
they have NO IDEA. NO! IDEA! what government does for them. NONE. NOT EVEN A LITTLE.
even i, spectacularly well-informed by most standards, didn't know jack about USAID.
PEOPLE NEED TO BE SOLD ON THE IDEA OF GOVERNMENT
they have NO IDEA. NO! IDEA! what government does for them. NONE. NOT EVEN A LITTLE.
even i, spectacularly well-informed by most standards, didn't know jack about USAID.
Reposted by mackenzian
One of the biggest cultural issues we have is that no major media or journalistic institutions have been reinforcing norms of what things *should* look like. That corruption isn’t normal, that cronyism isn’t normal, that lies and scandals should be punished, that incompetence is disqualifying.
August 20, 2025 at 2:21 PM
One of the biggest cultural issues we have is that no major media or journalistic institutions have been reinforcing norms of what things *should* look like. That corruption isn’t normal, that cronyism isn’t normal, that lies and scandals should be punished, that incompetence is disqualifying.
Reposted by mackenzian
When a chatbot gets something wrong, it’s not because it made an error. It’s because on that roll of the dice, it happened to string together a group of words that, when read by a human, represents something false. But it was working entirely as designed. It was supposed to make a sentence & it did.
June 19, 2025 at 11:28 AM
When a chatbot gets something wrong, it’s not because it made an error. It’s because on that roll of the dice, it happened to string together a group of words that, when read by a human, represents something false. But it was working entirely as designed. It was supposed to make a sentence & it did.
Reposted by mackenzian
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
Reposted by mackenzian
we're here. the only question remaining is 'now what?'
August 11, 2025 at 10:55 PM
we're here. the only question remaining is 'now what?'