Donald Trump's superpower is that he makes people unmask themselves.

The Republicans are fully revealed for what we've always suspected them to be: cruel bigots, greedy for power at any cost. With a few honorable exceptions, the Democrats can now be seen to be complacent, compliant & inept. The tech bros & billionaires are showing themselves to be literal fascists. Millions of Americans are vicious thugs.

But he has also created the opportunity for each of us to be unmasked as an actual hero.

On Independence Day, the New York Times ran an op-ed by a literal right-wing monarchist insisting it's bad to vote and people shouldn't do it.

Also, public records confirm he does vote. He just doesn't want *you* to.

If you needed any further evidence that their "Biden must go" coverage is rooted in hatred of democracy, this should be it.

"Trump isn’t being held up by people sending in $10. He’s running for those who measure their wealth in 10 figures. This is a contest for the future of democracy between the 0.01% and the rest of the U.S. And if the wealthy win, well, the statements from Mellon and Uihlein make clear what happens next."

Needless to say, it won't be pretty for the rest of us.

Trump’s cash isn’t from the masses but the billionaire boys club
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/21/2247787/-Trump-s-cash-isn-t-from-the-masses-but-the-billionaire-boys-club

Philip Bump notes that Louisiana governor Landry gives away the game when he says that the impetus for the law requiring display of the Ten Commandments in schools "was not boosting religion but, instead, bolstering the legal system."

Religious is a specious excuse for what Republicans are doing here, which is really to place the religious right in the driver's seat when it comes to making and enforcing laws.

#Louisiana #TenCommandments

Gift article from PRRI.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/20/us-decline-religiosity-isnt-lack-ten-commandments/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzE5MjAxNjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzIwNTgzOTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MTkyMDE2MDAsImp0aSI6ImFkOGZmOTY1LWQzMTMtNDdhOS1iZjk4LTZkMmM4ZmM4Y2I0YyIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy8yMDI0LzA2LzIwL3VzLWRlY2xpbmUtcmVsaWdpb3NpdHktaXNudC1sYWNrLXRlbi1jb21tYW5kbWVudHMvIn0.2Y8_2SIbvBHjz0oHwQ2Xy6Uuv_LqSf_PXXt0Bio6czI

My software philosophy:

I would rather buy indie software run by a single dev who has aligned incentives, or use native software built by Apple - a company who are too big and too visible to avoid regulators and scrutiny - than entrust my data and content to startups backed by VCs with a track record of lying, obfuscating, cheating and fucking their own Mothers for a return.

I just recently realized that what I truly hate about LLMs is that it devalues language. I love language, I love using it very intentionally, I love how different people wield and work language differently. A well forged phrase can cut right to the soul. Language is literally magic. It can do things where man and machine all fail.

But now with the press of a button you can get sugary pink language goo in any shape you like. And this is sold as an equal replacement to real human language. The insult! The depravity!

I think it might say something about how far language is already devalued. We live in a morass of content marketing and business process documentation and terms and conditions and propaganda and spam. All soulless language that nobody asks for but that people are compelled to create. We can't imagine not creating such language goo. And so we're grateful for the pink goo machine.

You know those stories about how there was once magic in the world but it was lost? This is it. This is how it happens.

Whooops!

Fox News just realized, being a convicted felon does in fact matter to voters.

https://www.foxnews.com/official-polls/fox-news-poll-three-point-shift-biden-trump-matchup-since-may