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johnmark

@johnmark.org

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johnmark

@johnmark.org

Images from the hellscape of Portland OR... Oh how I miss Portland

October 21, 2025 at 4:19 PM

johnmark

@johnmark.org

Fuck you @bostonglobe.com

This does not "deepen the divide" it shows the length that authoritarian fascists will go to stifle dissent

June 12, 2025 at 11:52 PM

johnmark

@johnmark.org

And ... Hahaha
lolol
lmao
rotflmao

"I'm Jewish... I don't bring that up because of the Holocaust" lololol

At the end of listing her Harvard and government credentials, she [Marne] concludes with, "And I'm Jewish."

The room is silent.

"I mean, I don't bring that up because of the Holocaust."

Absolute silence. As if every living thing in the meeting room has been frozen. I'm trapped in some terrible parody of diplomacy. "It's just I figured you already knew," she continues. "We can discuss it if you wish?

The tension in the room is unbearable. I picture leaving and walking back home. Leaving this whole Facebook thing behind me. "I think we could probably turn to the substantive part of the agenda we agreed on, now that we've covered introductions," I cut in, desperately.

April 18, 2025 at 5:43 PM

johnmark

@johnmark.org

Continuing with #carelesspeople by Sarah Wynn-Williams and... OMG the Germans were wise to facebook the whole time!!! If only others had followed their lead

"It wasnt very long ago that Germans lived with networks of spies and informants in their country the Stasi in East Germany and the Gestapo before that. As a result, they have a fundamental suspicion of anyone who wants to gather lots of personal information-which of course is Facebook's business model. Where others see a website that's good for wasting time, Germans see a comprehensive surveillance tool that needs muscular oversight. This instinctive and deeply held wariness of a technology company centralizing and processing vast amounts of personal information raises questions that Facebook has never had to answer, certainly not to a government. Germany, prescient because of its history, can see around corners. It's on the verge of passing laws and starting investigations into Facebook-one of the first countries to do so."

April 18, 2025 at 5:43 PM

johnmark

@johnmark.org

Highly topical front matter quote from Sarah Wynn Williams

They were careless people, Tom and Daisythey smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. E SCOTT FITZGERALD, THE GREAT GATSBY

April 18, 2025 at 4:08 PM

johnmark

@johnmark.org

In case you were wondering where this is headed. Congratulations to our new treasury secretary, the reanimated corpse of Andrew Mellon.

Andrew Mellon quote in reference to his preferred policy of austerity in the face of the great depression: "Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate. It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people."

April 7, 2025 at 4:59 AM

johnmark

@johnmark.org

I ran my 1st 5k since 1987. My pace was uh... slightly behind my 14yo time (20 minutes) but I had 2 goals: keep pace (don't walk) and don't finish last. 2/2 on both counts! A stretch goal was to beat a 12 minute mile pace, and I very nearly did that. Most importantly, I didn't collapse! lol