A person I otherwise deeply respect has remained (very) active on the deadbird site, and is even paying for it, because (the person says) it fulfills a professional need that can't be met elsewhere.

My friend calls it "a deal with the devil." On that, we agree.

I have my share of hypocrisies, and try to manage them carefully. Sticking with a site run by an enemy of journalism and democracy was just too much to stomach.

Journalists should leave. Period.

People seem to be settling on calling Elon Musk's social media dumpster fire "Xitter". I study classical Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and in the Spanish transliteration of that language, "x" is pronounced "sh" (so e.g. "xochitl" is approximately "SHOH-cheet"). It seems to me that this pronunciation is quite appropriate for use in "Xitter". Tezcatlipoca would approve. 🙃

#XitterIsPronouncedShitter #nahuatl

Following is reposted from my alt where I posted this a couple days ago. Feel free to read and ponder but I won't be entering into discussion in replies.

it's frustrating to read this Tusky business because I was in the chat while issues were being discussed, and it basically consisted of nik in some kind of 'detective mode' posting wall of text after wall of text, and the other people in the room asking him to stop posting large walls of text because it was overwhelming, to which he would then respond by posting another wall of text, without really acknowledging anything that had been said before; then others in the room became frustrated and upset and responded very harshly, which escalated the situation (I left shortly after this because it felt like a conversation I didn't belong in, since I'm not actually a Tusky contributor--I was in the chat basically by accident because I asked to be added to the channels at some point and never got around to leaving yet)

as such, the original issue didn't really get discussed properly, because of nik's aggressively verbose style getting the hackles up of everyone else in the chat, which led to aggression in return; essentially, if you've ever had a conversation with someone where they kept going on about a particular point without giving you room to breathe or respond properly, you'll know exactly the energy nik was bringing to that conversation, and why it elicited such aggression in response

when nik says in his blog post that people were telling him to shut up or whatever (I'm paraphrasing obviously), it's essentially this conflict in communication style that he's talking about, but it's framed in such a way that it can be read as some elaborate embezzling conspiracy or a nefarious pattern of disingenuous behavior. Nobody was trying to silence him because of some sneaky cover up or ego, it was simply a case of 'it is not possible to communicate in this manner, please stop taking all the oxygen out of the room for a minute so we can actually talk'

and now, because nik is the one with energy and ability to write a long "reasonable" blog post with lots of citations, and (presumably) because of his white tech guy privilege and open source credentials, that's how this whole thing will be framed and remembered, which continues the pattern of him having the spoons to pull out long walls of text which hamper actual communication or addressing of issues, while his interlocutors are unable to match his pace

(as an aside, I think folks will also be unlikely to see that this long 'reasonable', citation-filled blog post also probably comes from a place of nik being hurt on a personal level by his messages being rebuffed, or his project ideas not being adopted, and is not just an objective 'investigation' or 'summary' of what happened

white techy men who've been working on open source since the 90's are not generally prone to talk about their feelings or acknowledge that they are capable of being harmed and of causing harm, and ambient misogyny and patriarchy will ensure that we never ask them to do so either; nor do we tend to we examine their responses to things in light of hurt rather than as coldly analytical statements of fact)

Anyway, from my view, what happened is an easily-fixed issue where some spending was approved that oughtn't have been, and communication around it sucked shit and then conversation became hostile, and now people are swearing off Tusky for life or whatever because they just love the vitamin G, and throwing around words like 'governance' and all that shit; Tusky is now in a basically impossible situation where people's minds are made up, and nothing they write will be good enough to sway them

So it's rather unfortunate and frustrating, as I mentioned at the start. In his post nik is at pains the reassure the reader that he's not making accusations of foul play and doesn't want folks to pile on. But regardless of that, the damage is done now and for some folks nik's post is all they'll read on the matter. This could have been really easily handled, in my view, with a cooler conversation before shit escalated unnecessarily, and responsibility for that is on both sides.

(As a final aside, and as some people have pointed out elsewhere, the amounts of money being discussed here are, relative to other software projects, fucking peanuts)

Andrew Duncomb, also known as "Black Rebel," Confederate apologist (incredibly enough) hate group member, street terrorist, and just general piece of shit-person who participated in the deadly Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, is working as security at Providence Park Fred Meyer HERE in Portland, address 100 NW 20th Place. He was on the clock there last night at 5 PM.

Duncomb is a white nationalist shill with an EXTENSIVE record of assaulting protestors, women, journalists, disabled people, deploying bear mace, shooting into crowds with paintball guns, fighting alongside Alan Swinney, flipping over cars in Portland, and getting stabbed.

Call Fred Meyer or, if you feel safe doing so, show up and let their manager know what you think about them employing a known member of christofascist hate groups who is on extensive video record attacking Portland.

Duncomb at Providence Park Fred Meyer on 3/2/23
https://twitter.com/2LessLegz/status/1631458336670650368?s=20

Andrew Duncomb at the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville
https://twitter.com/GoadGatsby/status/1297548389966655489?s=20

And here
https://twitter.com/2LessLegz/status/1631492975804182529?s=20

Duncomb in our streets
https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1312871565223030785?s=20

And here
https://twitter.com/2LessLegz/status/1631512041872838656?s=20

Duncomb talking about attacking a man who is confined to a wheelchair with other Black white nationalist Philip 'Toothless Pip" Anderson
https://twitter.com/2LessLegz/status/1631674631253020673?s=20

Article about Andrew Duncomb bailing out Oregon Capitol invader and white nationalist with one less friend Chandler Pappas

https://www.thecentersquare.com/oregon/confederate-flag-apologist-paid-25-000-to-bail-out-an-oregon-capitol-invader/article_b77bc76e-60df-11eb-aefb-bb2e38a2b20c.html

Duncomb unsuccessfully trying to hide his ID while committing Measure 11 crimes at the white nationalist event that terrorized Parkrose in Portland in 2021 (see pic)
https://www.portlandtribune.com/news/proud-boys-antifa-violently-clash-on-122nd-in-east-portland/article_51e777f6-89d7-597b-9886-a3d5e6035f40.html

Call the Fred Meyer at +1 503-273-2004 and demand his termination of employment.

Fred Meyer corporate number: 18005764377