figgy lives
@figgylives.bsky.social
Ornery, ancient, curious. Chicagoan in exile in Indiana. Politically engaged since 1964 and now in (how can it possibly be?) 2025, I can say with confidence, this is every bit as bad as you think.
Reposted by figgy lives
And then there is this -
December 14, 2025 at 3:14 PM
And then there is this -
Reposted by figgy lives
They're enshittifying toilets now
Kohler claims its smart toilets are end-to-end encrypted. They don't seem to understand what that phrase actually means
Kohler's Smart Toilet Camera Not Actually End-to-End Encrypted
Gives new meaning to the 'internet of shit.'
www.404media.co
December 4, 2025 at 10:50 PM
They're enshittifying toilets now
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The most ascendant version of America is, unfortunately, in Dallas. I went there to see our future.
Part one: The megachurch.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/america-is...
Part one: The megachurch.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/america-is...
America Is Becoming Dallas
Part One: The Lord of Plano.
www.hamiltonnolan.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:26 PM
The most ascendant version of America is, unfortunately, in Dallas. I went there to see our future.
Part one: The megachurch.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/america-is...
Part one: The megachurch.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/america-is...
Reposted by figgy lives
November 10, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by figgy lives
Participants are now enrolling in our #longCovid randomized, controlled trial of tirzepatide. The largest trial to test a treatment for this condition. Home-based—no sites. In today's @sandiegouniontribune.com
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/11/01/c...
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/11/01/c...
November 1, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Participants are now enrolling in our #longCovid randomized, controlled trial of tirzepatide. The largest trial to test a treatment for this condition. Home-based—no sites. In today's @sandiegouniontribune.com
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/11/01/c...
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/11/01/c...
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This needs to be publicize. Pinned down man getting his head bashed and face dragged across the pavement. (Very beginning of the video) www.reddit.com/r/illinois/s...
From the illinois community on Reddit: Today in Evanston: ICE agent hits man, drags his face across concrete as people yell that he can’t breathe
Explore this post and more from the illinois community
www.reddit.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:34 AM
This needs to be publicize. Pinned down man getting his head bashed and face dragged across the pavement. (Very beginning of the video) www.reddit.com/r/illinois/s...
Reposted by figgy lives
'As of Monday, roughly 8 per cent of US warships deployed globally were in the Caribbean, according to a fleet tracker. Until destroyers arrived to start the build-up in August, the only US ship spotted in the region by the tracker this year was a hospital ship.'
www.ft.com/content/dc10...
www.ft.com/content/dc10...
The US forces threatening Venezuela
Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire to see Nicolás Maduro ousted. Here are the forces he has sent to the region
www.ft.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:10 PM
'As of Monday, roughly 8 per cent of US warships deployed globally were in the Caribbean, according to a fleet tracker. Until destroyers arrived to start the build-up in August, the only US ship spotted in the region by the tracker this year was a hospital ship.'
www.ft.com/content/dc10...
www.ft.com/content/dc10...
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Remember when they hounded Hillary for years over insufficient email security protocols?
Dutch intelligence suspends sharing arrangements with the US after concluding that high level intel was routinely being shared by the White House with their friends in the Kremlin. www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/n...
Nederlandse diensten delen minder informatie met de VS: ‘Soms vertellen we dingen niet meer’
Het aantal dreigingen dat op Nederland afkomt is groot, zien de hoofden van de AIVD en de MIVD elke dag: niet alleen Russische agressie, maar ook de opmars van China als digitale macht en binnenlands ...
www.volkskrant.nl
October 19, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Remember when they hounded Hillary for years over insufficient email security protocols?
Terre Haute Indiana shows up and makes some good noise. No Kings!
October 18, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Terre Haute Indiana shows up and makes some good noise. No Kings!
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The Saudi government murdered Jamal Khashoggi seven years ago today. His editor @karenattiah.bsky.social wrote this two years ago.
Opinion | The moment I knew the world would try to move on from Jamal Khashoggi
I could see it coming at Time’s 2018 Person of the Year celebration.
wapo.st
October 2, 2025 at 12:06 PM
The Saudi government murdered Jamal Khashoggi seven years ago today. His editor @karenattiah.bsky.social wrote this two years ago.
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I can only hope Jake Tapper, who bravely broke the news that Joe Biden is old, was watching the Trump speech today.
September 30, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I can only hope Jake Tapper, who bravely broke the news that Joe Biden is old, was watching the Trump speech today.
Reposted by figgy lives
Reposted by figgy lives
Cartoon by @mluckovich.bsky.social.
September 24, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Cartoon by @mluckovich.bsky.social.
Reposted by figgy lives
Last week, the Trump Administration filed its 24th emergency application (in 32 weeks, for a rate of 1 application every 1.33 weeks) with the Supreme Court. That astounding statistic demonstrates that the Administration is counting on the Supreme Court to alter the law, blessing Trump's power grabs.
September 8, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Last week, the Trump Administration filed its 24th emergency application (in 32 weeks, for a rate of 1 application every 1.33 weeks) with the Supreme Court. That astounding statistic demonstrates that the Administration is counting on the Supreme Court to alter the law, blessing Trump's power grabs.
Reposted by figgy lives
1/Great conversation between @pkrugman.bsky.social and @himself.bsky.social talking weaponized interdependence, hegemonic enshittification, and tech bro science fiction fever dreams. open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Talking With Henry Farrell
Weaponized interdependence and tech bro ideology, oh my
open.substack.com
July 26, 2025 at 12:37 PM
1/Great conversation between @pkrugman.bsky.social and @himself.bsky.social talking weaponized interdependence, hegemonic enshittification, and tech bro science fiction fever dreams. open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
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academics (Neil Postman, etc.) have been screaming about this for the better part of several generations and the U.S. response was to make the wrong choice at absolutely every turn
and here we are
and here we are
As I said earlier, Congress warned us in 1950 that corporate consolidation will lead to fascism. But monied interests in this country convinced themselves and decision-makers that this was a frivolous concern. Now, here we are.
To be clear Larry Ellison, a billionaire Trump donor who believed the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, used his own money to buy CBS and install his son as the boss.
They'll then convert CBS into another right wing propaganda mill like Fox News. It's not really subtle!
They'll then convert CBS into another right wing propaganda mill like Fox News. It's not really subtle!
July 18, 2025 at 2:28 PM
academics (Neil Postman, etc.) have been screaming about this for the better part of several generations and the U.S. response was to make the wrong choice at absolutely every turn
and here we are
and here we are
Reposted by figgy lives
Outstanding reporting from the @texasobserver.org — protect us from our “protectors”
July 16, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Outstanding reporting from the @texasobserver.org — protect us from our “protectors”
Reposted by figgy lives
Renewables have cut our energy costs. Trump is hurting renewables and will make us pay more for power. open.substack.com/pub/theclima...
Have renewables decreased electricity prices?
Empirical evidence in the US over the past 24 years points to yes
open.substack.com
July 15, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Renewables have cut our energy costs. Trump is hurting renewables and will make us pay more for power. open.substack.com/pub/theclima...
Reposted by figgy lives
Chief Justice Roberts, my friends are bitterly divided about you.
Half of them, I hate to say, say you're a partisan hack who churned out rulings that will benefit the GOP but destroy the lives of so many regular Americans.
The other half, however, just thinks you're a sociopath.
Who's right?
Half of them, I hate to say, say you're a partisan hack who churned out rulings that will benefit the GOP but destroy the lives of so many regular Americans.
The other half, however, just thinks you're a sociopath.
Who's right?
July 15, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Chief Justice Roberts, my friends are bitterly divided about you.
Half of them, I hate to say, say you're a partisan hack who churned out rulings that will benefit the GOP but destroy the lives of so many regular Americans.
The other half, however, just thinks you're a sociopath.
Who's right?
Half of them, I hate to say, say you're a partisan hack who churned out rulings that will benefit the GOP but destroy the lives of so many regular Americans.
The other half, however, just thinks you're a sociopath.
Who's right?
Reposted by figgy lives
This has always been the guiding principle of white supremacy. Better to set shit on fire than allow Black and brown people to have it. Applies to land, food, housing, education...
These are part of the emergency rations used to save displaced people facing starvation. This is a horrific and cruel waste.
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food
Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.
www.theatlantic.com
July 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM
This has always been the guiding principle of white supremacy. Better to set shit on fire than allow Black and brown people to have it. Applies to land, food, housing, education...
Reposted by figgy lives
“We are not witnessing a reimagining of federal disaster response — we are watching its demolition. With each policy rollback and staffing cut, the federal disaster management function is being hollowed out, leaving states and survivors to face storms, fires and floods with less.”
Trump Is Gutting Weather Science and Reducing Disaster Response
www.nytimes.com
July 13, 2025 at 12:16 PM
“We are not witnessing a reimagining of federal disaster response — we are watching its demolition. With each policy rollback and staffing cut, the federal disaster management function is being hollowed out, leaving states and survivors to face storms, fires and floods with less.”
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of course a reactionary billionaire wants to rip the foundation out from under Wired, Teen Vogue, &c
see this May Wired story on the gutting of the National Geodetic Survey
we need accurate spatial measurements to do most anything & boy howdy would a billionaire love to charge you for that service
see this May Wired story on the gutting of the National Geodetic Survey
we need accurate spatial measurements to do most anything & boy howdy would a billionaire love to charge you for that service
Trump Cuts Are Killing a Tiny Office That Keeps Measurements of the World Accurate
A tiny but crucial agency that maintains physical coordinates like latitude and longitude in the US is struggling as the Trump administration forces out federal employees.
www.wired.com
July 12, 2025 at 1:05 PM
of course a reactionary billionaire wants to rip the foundation out from under Wired, Teen Vogue, &c
see this May Wired story on the gutting of the National Geodetic Survey
we need accurate spatial measurements to do most anything & boy howdy would a billionaire love to charge you for that service
see this May Wired story on the gutting of the National Geodetic Survey
we need accurate spatial measurements to do most anything & boy howdy would a billionaire love to charge you for that service
Reposted by figgy lives
A holocaust before our eyes and screens
electronicintifada.net/content/pale...
electronicintifada.net/content/pale...
Palestine in Pictures: June 2025
A monthly digest of key developments in Palestine showcasing powerful images by photojournalists.
electronicintifada.net
July 10, 2025 at 9:20 PM
A holocaust before our eyes and screens
electronicintifada.net/content/pale...
electronicintifada.net/content/pale...
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July 10, 2025 at 9:41 PM