This feels like it's straight from my heart!
To America’s Ultra Rich:
Are you really willing to exchange the rule of law for lower taxes?
youtu.be/Wq-Skoqp1Os
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#democracy
636 posts444 participants50 posts today
What if the foundations of American democracy are under siege? Heather Cox Richardson reveals alarming findings about Trump officials using Venmo to discuss military actions, shedding light on a broader agenda aimed at dismantling essential American institutions. This effort, notably through Project 2025, signals a push for authoritarianism and deep cuts to agencies affecting everyday citizens. Learn the full implications and context in her insightful article.
#Politics #Democracy #Trump #Authoritarianism #AmericanInstitutions [Source](https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-27-2025)
Letters from an American · March 27, 2025
ICYMI: Ijaw Youth Council Condemns Suspension of Rivers State Appointees, Calls It a “Military Dictatorship” https://www.rainsmediaradio.com/2025/03/ijaw-youth-council-condemns-suspension.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon Follow, Like & Share #IjawYouthCouncil #RiversState #MilitaryDictatorship #Democracy #PoliticalAppointees
Has this #potrait of #OrangeHead gone #viral yet?
#democracy #TrollingTrump
Destroying Autocracy – 27 March 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Featured Item
The Register reports:
EU OS is a proposal for an immutable KDE-based Linux distribution with a Windows-like desktop, designed for use in European public-sector organizations.
Rather than a new distro, it’s a website that documents planning such a thing, what functions the OS might need, how to deploy and manage it, and how to handle users.
EU OS drafts a locked-down Linux blueprint for Eurocrats
This needs to be implemented quickly and then exported to non-EU, non-fascist states as well.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Italy suspends Starlink purchase negotiations with SpaceX amid Musk controversy
Voice of America journalists sue Trump administration following president’s order to gut free press
The Register reports:
OTF, which backs Tor, Let’s Encrypt and more, sues to save funding from Trump cuts
US defense contractor cops to sloppy security, settles after infosec lead blows whistle
Wired reports:
How to Avoid US-Based Digital Services—and Why You Might Want To
Trump’s Aggression Sours Europe on US Cloud Giants
MIT Technology Review reports on:
Why the world is looking to ditch US AI models
NPR reports:
As the Trump administration purges web pages, this group is rushing to save them
California announces:
Attorney General Bonta Urgently Issues Consumer Alert for 23andMe Customers
404 Media reports:
Mozilla Foundation Calls on Tech Industry to Block ICE Contractor
The Guardian reports:
A French university is offering ‘scientific asylum’ for US talent. The brain drain has started
The Huffington Post reports:
Pete Hegseth Sued Over Signal Text Debacle
The Kyiv Post reports:
First Surveillance Satellite of Planned Czechia-Ukrainian Constellation in Orbit
Neutral
Tech Policy has:
Scientists Respond to FTC Inquiry into Tech Censorship
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
The Verge asks:
Is it safe to travel with your phone right now?
It’s not safe to travel to the U.S. period. Or even within it by air.
DarkReading reports:
US Weakens Disinformation Defenses, as Russia & China Ramp Up
Heisse reports:
US-Behörde stoppt Gelder für Let’s Encrypt und Tor ‒ Open Tech Fund wehrt sich
Tech Policy reports on:
AI Surveillance on the Rise in US, but Tactics of Repression Not New
How the White House is Gaslighting the World About Europe’s Digital Laws
On a related note to The Guardian article above, Not a Tech Bro has:
Pariah States
BleepingComputer reports:
Cyberattack takes down Ukrainian state railway’s online services
DarkReading reports:
Meet the Low-Key Access Broker Supercharging Russian State Cybercrime
FCC Investigates China-Backed Tech Suppliers for Evading US Operations Ban
Big Media
America2 reports:
The Substack Dilemma: How Creators Are Inadvertently Fueling America’s Failure
Nothing personal but if you are on Substack, you’re a fascist or uninformed or an amoral c^nt.
Big Tech
Politico reports:
Musk’s X suspends opposition accounts in Turkey amid civil unrest
How surprising. Two set of c^nts work together.
MIT Technology Review reports:
Why handing over total control to AI agents would be a huge mistake
Tech Policy asks:
Will Ireland be Big Tech’s Lapdog Yet Again?
Cybersecurity/Privacy
The Register reports:
As nation-state hacking becomes ‘more in your face,’ are supply chains secure?
BleepingComputer reports:
New VanHelsing ransomware targets Windows, ARM, ESXi systems
TechCrunch reports:
How to tell if your online accounts have been hacked
404 Media reports:
When Your Threat Model Is Being a Moron
You Need to Use Signal’s Nickname Feature
The Verge reports:
Vivaldi bundles Proton VPN into its web browser
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
Arxiv has a research paper:
Letterbook has a:
Fedihost has some how to videos:
Creating A GoToSocial Instance on FediHost
Configuring A PeerTube Instance
Reset Digital for Good has:
Dezentrale YouTube-Alternative PeerTube: Nachhaltiger dank Peer-to-Peer?
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
TechCrunch reports:
Hmm. Are they really?
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
- Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse
#109 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProto #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #GoToSocial #Mastodon #Peertube #Signal #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #Threads
The Romanian mathematician trying to stop Putin and Trump wrecking the West Elon Musk and JD Vanc...
https://www.politico.eu/article/romania-vladimir-putin-us-president-donald-trump-west/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication
#Cold #War #Conflict #Corruption #Crisis #Democracy #Disinformation #Elections #EU #affairs #EU-Russia
Event Attributes
https://www.politico.eu/article/romania-vladimir-putin-us-president-donald-trump-west/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication
#Cold #War #Conflict #Corruption #Crisis #Democracy #Disinformation #Elections #EU #affairs #EU-Russia
Event Attributes
POLITICO · The Romanian mathematician trying to stop Putin and Trump wrecking the West
Continued thread
Big money did not get Trump elected. Harris outraised Trump with huge margin.
Between 2016 and now Trump took over GOP and won the first term with grassroots support from MAGA movement.
Big money is just opportunistically entered "pay to play" arrangements. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/us/politics/trump-harris-campaign-fundraising.html
“The #Signal #leak was never about an #app. It was a diagnostic stain, exposing the rot festering beneath the Mythic US’s #veneer of #democracy and #law. The fleeting obsession with #encryption #protocols and personnel errors encapsulated the farce: a society expertly trained by its #distraction #machine to fixate on trivialities while the Operational US – the militarist-oligarchic core – wages #illegal #wars with #psychopathic #impunity”
The Geopolitical Compass · Beyond the App: America's Willing Acceptance of Imperial Crime
Brian Tyler Cohen:
Vance & wife get UNWELCOME SURPRISE in Greenland
“Far from getting a warm welcome, this was the reality on the ground... you can see a sign reading ‘Yankee go home!’ ...
Trump has managed to make America hated in even one of the most peaceful places on earth!” ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78LIqJG4wxE
GRACE UNDER PRESSURE –
BETWEEN THE WHEELS*
Hello
#democracy
¿|https://bioneers.org/thom-hartmann-life-organized-democracy-zstf2101/
#tonepoem __
https://www.rush.com/songs/you-bet-your-life/
¿You bet your life :
https://mastodon.social/@barrettaltonh/114239253609835344 <
Bioneers · Thom Hartmann – All Life Is Organized Around Democracy - BioneersHave you ever watched a flock of birds fly overhead and wondered how they all know when to turn and where to go? It turns out that with each wingbeat they’re all voting, and the majority decides. Understanding the essence of democracy can give us insight into how we can reinvent our society for a brighter, profoundly more meaningful future.
Democracy Now!:
"Kidnapped": 1,000+ Protest After Masked ICE Agents Abduct Tufts Ph.D. Student Rumeysa Ozturk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgFeYhaZPW0
Top Donors in 2024 Election
These totals combine contributions to campaign committees and independent expenditure groups. Notably missing from the list is prominent Democratic donor George Soros, who donated $179 million during the 2022 campaign. Much of that money was not spent until the 2024 election cycle. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2025/03/elon-musk-tops-list-of-2024-political-donors-but-six-others-gave-more-than-100-million/
Democracy Now:
Elon Musk's Family History in South Africa Reveals Ties to Apartheid & Neo-Nazi Movements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahv3IKzMdHA
#press #news #presse #aktuell #recht #politik #politics #germany #democracy #pressfreedom #ifg
" CDU &CSU wollen unter Verhandlungsvorsitz Amthors das Informationsfreiheitsgesetz (IFG) abschaffen. Dieses garantiert Bürger*innen den Anspruch auf Zugang zu amtlichen Informationen & ist zentral für #Demokratie & #Pressefreiheit in #Deutschland . Es ist eines der wenigen Gesetze, die Regierungsverantwortliche in die Rechenschaft vor uns zwingen & sie kontrollierbar machen"
nd - Journalismus von links · Ausgerechnet Amthor will ans Transparenzgesetz
just watched #ChuckSchumer the #LateShow with #StephenColbert ...
This man needs to go.
"The real reason for Schumer’s surrender was a mystery until this week. In an interview with Chris Hayes following the backlash, he was asked if we were facing a constitutional crisis. His response: “We’re not there yet.”
It was a stunning admission. The problem isn’t just Schumer’s strategy – it’s his perception of reality. He is conducting business as usual while the country burns."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/26/chuck-schumer-step-down-democrats
The Guardian · For the sake of US democracy, it’s time for Chuck Schumer to step down
MSNBC:
Americans disapprove of what Trump is doing on every issue in new poll
His disapproval ratings are higher than his approval ratings on everything.
On his handling of the economy…. on his relations with Russia…. on his handling of the federal budget, on energy policy, on foreign affairs, on the Ukraine war, on the environment...
Trump's favorability rating in Texas! has dropped 15 points since the election in November.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxfU_cvb658
Elon Musk accused of interfering with Irish politics
The Sunday Times https://archive.is/0T6af
What a surprise.
#democracy dies behind a #paywall