Hate to see someone I respect as much as the Atlantic's Tom Nichols be so wrong. He keeps defending his presence on the deadbird site as some kind of resistance, yet he's cut back his political involvement there.

He's unwilling to see that by remaining, and participating, he's giving his support to someone who a) loathes honest journalism; and b) consistently amplifies and promotes extremists who are attacking democracy.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/12/x-is-elon-musks-lonely-party-now/676977/

I hope he'll see the reality some day.

In a few months, when my Apple TV+ annual subscription expires, I'll subscribe to zero streaming services.

Their incessant price hikes turned me into a once-in-a-while user, subscribing for a month only to catch up on specific stuff.

Also, Amazon's me-too greed -- making ad-free Prime Video a higher-cost option -- persuades me to drop Prime itself after ~15 years.

I'm estimating annual savings of at least $600, albeit with some added annoyance in keeping track of what's on where, and when.

Never thought that I'd write these words:

I read a hugely important thread over at Threads.

Probably won't surprise (m)any, I know, but still needs to be public knowledge.

https://www.threads.net/@umansky/post/C09b5I0OeLy

How we beat back the corporate takeover of America:

1. Break up corporate monopolies

2. Continue building union power

3. End Citizens United and get big money out of politics

Let’s keep working to unrig the system.

Trump has openly embraced fascism. He controls one of the two major political parties, which is led by people who embrace fascism, too.

Big Journalism continues, for the most part, to embrace business as usual.

I despise the leadership of supposedly democracy-embracing institutions that refuse to recognize -- or who tacitly seem to accept -- democracy's tailspin.

Journalists can't save us alone. But without their help, the worst is much more likely to come.

Good news for the German energy transition!

In the first 9 months of 2023, more new on-shore wind turbines have been approved than ever before in the same period (5.200 MW capacity)

https://www.energie-und-management.de/nachrichten/detail/neuer-rekord-bei-windrad-genehmigungen-197558

Today I filed a formal complaint against #YouTube with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner for their illegal deployment of #adblock detection technologies.

Under Article 5(3) of 2002/58/EC YouTube are legally obligated to obtain consent before storing or accessing information already stored on an end user's terminal equipment unless it is strictly necessary for the provisions of the requested service.

In 2016 the EU Commission confirmed in writing that adblock detection requires consent.