Mastodawn

RFK Jr.’s war on scientific expertise destroyed 27% of agency's advisor panels
Under Kennedy, the health dept. has wiped out 75 advisory boards, corrupted others.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/rfk-jr-s-war-on-scientific-expertise-destroyed-27-of-agencys-advisor-panels/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Patch You Up Mar 16

Nicolas Fressengeas Mar 16

RE: https://mastodon.social/@_elena/116238453716406471

"Public institutions are funded by taxpayers' money: their communications serve public interests and should be open to all - without the need of creating social media accounts on proprietary, for-profit closed systems. This is especially salient for European governmental communications: isn’t it absurd that they would require social media accounts owned and run by U.S. based companies?"

#SocialMedia #FOSS #DigitalSovereignty #SocialSovereignty #policy #BigTech #Fediverse #RSS #SocialWeb

Patch You Up Mar 15

Algernon D'Ammassa Mar 15

Gift link: This guy is back to threatening to yank broadcast licenses if he or the president doesn’t like the war coverage.

This is totalitarian shit.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/world/middleeast/fcc-broadcasters-iran-war.html?unlocked_article_code=1.TVA.GiL5.qc_bhYZJHXrp&smid=url-share

#censorship #censorednews #fcc #brendancarr

FCC Chair Threatens to Revoke Broadcasters’ Licenses Over Iran War Coverage

The comment from Brendan Carr came on the heels of a social media message from President Trump criticizing the news media’s coverage of the war with Iran.

The New York Times

Patch You Up Mar 11

Dave Rahardja Mar 11

Welp

#endlessWar #illegalWar #IranWar #kakistocracy

https://xcancel.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2031531835453309125

Patch You Up Mar 7

Electronic Frontier Foundation Mar 7

EFF is appalled by how quickly and uncritically internet restrictions are being adopted around the world, David Greene told CNET. "Even if they are under 18, or under 16, children have the right to access information, to speak and to associate.” https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/indonesia-social-media-ban-under-16/

Indonesia to Ban YouTube, TikTok, Other Social Media Apps for Children Under 16

Indonesia is the latest country to block social media, saying the apps pose "increasingly real threats" to young people.

CNET

Patch You Up Mar 5

The "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" is a meaningless piece of slop designed to cleanse the image of big tech. It's non-binding and has no details for enacting it or legal mechanism for enforcement. But I bet a lot of people will see it and think "Gee, Trump really does care about the prices us normies pay."
Even Trump gave away the game at the event: "They need some PR help." And that's all this is, a PR stunt.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04032026/trump-data-center-power-costs-pledge/

Big Tech Signs Trump Pledge to Pay Data-Center Power Costs. Fulfilling It Is the Hard Part. - Inside Climate News

The pledge is nonbinding and unlikely to bring immediate relief on electricity bills. Making it real will fall to utilities and regulators.

Inside Climate News

Patch You Up Mar 4

Stefan Bohacek Mar 4

"A grassroots boycott called QuitGPT has been spreading across the US and beyond, asking people to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions. More than a million people have answered the call."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/04/quit-chatgpt-subscription-boycott-silicon-valley

"We're organizing Americans and people around the world to quit ChatGPT."

https://quitgpt.org/

#QuitGPT #news #USNews #USPol #technology #TechNews #OpenAI #ChatGPT #AI #GenAI

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism

As a historian, I’ve studied the major consumer boycotts of history. We can take down ChatGPT and send a powerful signal to Silicon Valley, says author and historian Rutger Bregman

The Guardian

Patch You Up Mar 3

VOTER ID LAWS ARE A POLL TAX

Patch You Up Mar 3

Chuck Darwin Mar 3

A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that
⚠️ the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was
💥“anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer.

From Saturday morning through Monday night,
👉more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

The complaints came from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations, the MRFF told me Monday night.

The MRFF is keeping the complainants anonymous to prevent retribution by the Defense Department.

https://jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-were-told-iran-war-is-for

U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus

Advocacy group reports commanders giving similar messages at more than 30 installations in every branch of the military

Jonathan Larsen’s Substack

Patch You Up Mar 3

Brian Jopek Mar 3

In my 21 1/2 years of military service I don’t recall ever running into anything like this. This is fucked up beyond all recognition.
#FUBAR

“A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was ‘anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,’ according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer.” - Jonathan Larsen
https://jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-were-told-iran-war-is-for?fbclid=IwZnRzaAQTONJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeJG3E3YqM8ukVozZseDDcDk7CWLgH6C2-l29rGcDD7SgEoT5gVduTtcaS4ak_aem_TITttkhQhu5b_C9u3tX4mA

U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus

Advocacy group reports commanders giving similar messages at more than 30 installations in every branch of the military

Jonathan Larsen’s Substack