michaelwhuff.bsky.social

META has been using your posts, photos and conversations — apparently going as far back as 2007 — to train its AI and target you for ads. It is apparently even uploading photos and documents from your phone to use. Without your permission. META apps are not a safe space or private.

The wealthy have done a lot of damage over the decades to the lives of the rest of us in their attempts to suck up as much money and power as possible.

Beware of election disinformation — especially efforts to convince you that it really isn’t worth your while to vote. If voting didn’t matter, then nobody would be putting in effort to make you think that you shouldn’t bother. VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Testing an app designed to help you avoid surveillance devices such as Flock cameras.

Generally good advice: focus on building and reinforcing our base of democracy and freedom in this country. Don’t squander energy and effort trying to engage those determined to sabotage and undermine these things. Al you’re doing is platforming them.

Voting “independent” or not at all this election is voting to allow the Trump administration to continue to be cruel, destructive and corrupt without any checks or balances against its power.

How consolidation (which is bad for our food supply and for our freedom) is infecting the companies from which we buy seeds with which to grow food. Angela includes a list of independent, locally-owned seed companies she recommends (pro-MAGA Baker Seeds hasn’t been on her list for a while now).

It’s good to remember: the “rules”, the way things work”, the way we organize and do things — these are mostly things we made up and, if they make life worse for most of us, we can decide to change them. Not usually easy to do, but it can happen if we resolve and commit to acting to change them.

@dennisgoris.bsky.social

Is it Talarico derangement syndrome?

Don’t tell someone you love them and then vote to have them spend the next years (maybe even the rest of their lives) living under cruel, destructive, corrupt authoritarian rule. Is that really the legacy you want to leave for your kids and grandkids?

While the Christian faith should be nonpartisan, it cannot be nonpolitical.

How Susan Collins, the Republican Party, and this GOP regime have made childbirth even more dangerous in places such as Maine.

A fairly exhaustive list of everything that Trump and his GOP regime have done “for” our communities, the U.S., and the world. We need to always remember and never stop talking about these things.

I just discovered that Mapquest has added a map layer showing the locations of surveillance devices (Flock cameras, license plate readers, etc). Our decision to dump Apple Maps and Google Maps in favor of Mapquest is a good one.

👇👇👇

The climate scientists fired by this GOP regime have republished the information the regime removed. You can find it at www.climate.us

How your elected officials are selling out their communities to companies like META and Google and lining their own pockets

If you love your children and care about the kind of country you’re leaving them to grow old in, and reject the cruelty, destructiveness and corruption of the GOP, take the initiative to “cure” your ballot if necessary. They can only get away with stealing the midterms if we let them.

Reports about the state and safety of Paris from people who actually live around there. youtu.be/FfYxS-m2gtw?... youtu.be/SKIP3S0g4-4?...

Repubs seem to be trying to coast to victory on the back of gerrymandering and billionaire-backed ads: skipping debates, not holding town halls, etc. and showing little interest in their constituents. Dems, on the other hand, are going all out and seem to want the jobs for which they’re applying.

Long story short: #MatthewMcConaughey is a rich, white, entitled idiot.

Bees are a great metaphor for our resistance: If you have enough bees, they can take down and drive off a bear.

This video was first blocked, then unblocked but demonetized by YouTube Watch and share.

“Their panic is proof that we are powerful”

It’s good to share information about what’s been going on. It means that more of us will be aware of it and of the danger that surveillance technology and activities pose to our rights and freedoms.

On the importance and foundational significance of freedom of conscience.

It would be nice if the Democratic Party followed through. Will they do WHATEVER it takes to get this through and reform care for the better, or will they “give it a shot”, agree to compromises that undermine the whole thing, and give it up when they meet GOP/corporate resistance? #Democraricparty

Students from North Carolina A&T marched an hour to a polling place after the GOP-run elections board closed the polling place on their campus. The GOP has provided a safe haven for white supremacists and fascists and given them power over our communities. We need to fight back with all we’ve got.

The situation with Starlink and Ukraine reminds us of the danger of letting one or two companies — or just one or two people — have such complete control over the things we need and depend upon. It gives them tremendous power and control over us. It’s not in our best interest to let that happen.

Three tragedies here: (1) Someone entered a school and killed (2) Someone was put in the position of having to decide that the only way to prevent more harm was to kill another child (16 yrs old is still a child) (3) Gun violence is such a part of U.S. life that most will move on in just a few days

Remind everyone on Maine that Senator Susan Collins helped it happen. She has blood on her hands.

Interesting video about how New York City is dealing with traffic congestion caused by delivery trucks clogging streets.

All good questions

Maybe Teslas should come with bumper stickers: “My car helped Putin murder Ukrainians” or something to that effect

Maybe Teslas should have bumper stickers: “My car helped Putin kill Ukrainians” or something to that effect.

Barry Lopez, “Six Thousand Lessons” Diversity isn’t just a characteristic of life — it is necessary for life.

Some have bought into the idea that the GOP is going to cut their taxes, leave more money in their pockets, and make their lives more affordable. It should be obvious that this isn’t true. Stop believing the propaganda. All it has done is make ridiculously rich people even richer and you worse off.

A song about the plan of the GOP cult of corruption, violence and destructiveness to turn the execution of a guy in a wheelchair into a public spectacle.

“If you have ever come across someone who has told you your humanities degree is worthless, useless, a waste of time, know that they are wrong. Nothing in this world that deals with fostering knowledge is worthless. It is an honour and a privilege to seek knowledge and share it with others.”

To take down fascism and the Epstein class, we have to revise our relationship to rules and authority.

Interesting: Adobe charges a guy a fee to cancel his subscription, so the guy and his team use AI to create an open source Adobe replacement suite.The substitute is available for $0. Could this point to the future: using AI to undermine and take down the tech companies that threaten our freedom?

It’s an often-heard story: people don’t realize what a scam and cage America is until they begin living outside the U.S. and discover the truth.

If you’re not familiar with what’s going on in France right now with the kids: they should inspire us all to stand up for and demand a system that makes our lives better rather than just allowing the wealthy to bleed us dry.

“Identifying where the actual radicalism in American politics lies at this moment is important.”

How other countries have created strong democracies — and we can have that in the U.S., too, if we resolve to fight for it, refuse to take “no” for an answer, and get off our complacent backsides, break out of our day-to-day routines, and do whatever it takes to get it.

If you think people aren’t resisting because they aren’t filling the streets night after night, you’re missing something important that’s happening. Millions of people are engaging in a variety of forms of resistance and we need to get out there and do a better job of connecting with them.

The Hebrew Bible consistently condemns charging the needy interest on loans. For most of its history, so did theologians and the church. “All of the Church Fathers who addressed lending money at interest viewed the Old Testament prohibitions of the practice as still binding, without exception.”

A good discussion of how “good” people become part of atrocity and evil.