Yudi
@cutonaction.bsky.social
Art, cinema, science fiction, philosophy, sailing, and course prep
“Mr. Rukirabashaija knew Uganda’s government was brutal, and he says he didn’t expect much from an Israeli company, either. But the cameo appearance of a Canadian company rankled him — the cold, corporate touch of a Western democracy.”
Opinion | I Went to Uganda and Saw the Authoritarian Future
A crackdown in Uganda shows how new technologies, Chinese influence and America’s moral retreat are making the world safer for autocrats.
www.nytimes.com
October 8, 2026 at 4:53 PM
“Mr. Rukirabashaija knew Uganda’s government was brutal, and he says he didn’t expect much from an Israeli company, either. But the cameo appearance of a Canadian company rankled him — the cold, corporate touch of a Western democracy.”
Reposted by Yudi
From describing the border as a “sieve” for fentanyl and illegal immigrants to slamming Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, PSPP’s rightward pivot echoes American-style populism. What happened to the man who identified as a “progressive and democrat” just ten years ago? https://ow.ly/5n6750ZSWL8
September 30, 2026 at 8:00 PM
From describing the border as a “sieve” for fentanyl and illegal immigrants to slamming Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, PSPP’s rightward pivot echoes American-style populism. What happened to the man who identified as a “progressive and democrat” just ten years ago? https://ow.ly/5n6750ZSWL8
“Gil Duran talks to Casey Michel, author of "United States of Oligarchy," to talk about how the billionaire class is waging an open war on American systems. As Gil points out, these tech oligarchs "claim to be leading us into the future with technologies like crypto and AI.”
The Corruption is The Point: Casey Michel on America's New Billionaire Oligarchs
Podcast Episode · The Nerd Reich · September 30 · 42m
podcasts.apple.com
September 30, 2026 at 2:02 PM
“Gil Duran talks to Casey Michel, author of "United States of Oligarchy," to talk about how the billionaire class is waging an open war on American systems. As Gil points out, these tech oligarchs "claim to be leading us into the future with technologies like crypto and AI.”
“A successful arrangement with the E.U. will not bring us relief from the reality of our border.
And yet! And yet this is a profoundly strategic moment in our history. For the first time in almost two centuries we will be building a solid counterweight”
And yet! And yet this is a profoundly strategic moment in our history. For the first time in almost two centuries we will be building a solid counterweight”
September 16, 2026
There are days when understatement is foolish.
open.substack.com
September 17, 2026 at 1:17 PM
“A successful arrangement with the E.U. will not bring us relief from the reality of our border.
And yet! And yet this is a profoundly strategic moment in our history. For the first time in almost two centuries we will be building a solid counterweight”
And yet! And yet this is a profoundly strategic moment in our history. For the first time in almost two centuries we will be building a solid counterweight”
Reposted by Yudi
After eighteen months of tariff-induced turmoil, most Quebecers are frustrated, angry, and worried. Yet, most have firmly drawn their battle lines in this trade war. The Walrus contributing writer Toula Drimonis reports from a province under pressure: https://thewalrus.ca/quebec-trump-tariffs/
September 11, 2026 at 4:01 PM
After eighteen months of tariff-induced turmoil, most Quebecers are frustrated, angry, and worried. Yet, most have firmly drawn their battle lines in this trade war. The Walrus contributing writer Toula Drimonis reports from a province under pressure: https://thewalrus.ca/quebec-trump-tariffs/
Thank-you Paul Verhoeven for the inspiration. Maybe you should have posted a note at the end of Starship Troopers about the film being satire.
September 8, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Thank-you Paul Verhoeven for the inspiration. Maybe you should have posted a note at the end of Starship Troopers about the film being satire.
“Trump’s actions make him by far the most anti-union president in our modern history,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants and a leading progressive voice in the labor movement.
‘The most anti-union president’: how Trump turned his back on US workers
Labor experts stunned at how anti-worker Trump has been with actions since last Labor Day that have hurt unions
www.theguardian.com
September 7, 2026 at 6:08 PM
“Trump’s actions make him by far the most anti-union president in our modern history,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants and a leading progressive voice in the labor movement.
Authoritarians always fall back on the top 10 fascist hits established over 100 years ago. Whether it’s Orban’s Hungary, Modi’s India, Russia’s Putin or Trump’s USA, the songs remain the same.
What Mussolini's rise and fall reveals about modern authoritarianism
Podcast Episode · Ideas · September 7 · 54m
podcasts.apple.com
September 7, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Authoritarians always fall back on the top 10 fascist hits established over 100 years ago. Whether it’s Orban’s Hungary, Modi’s India, Russia’s Putin or Trump’s USA, the songs remain the same.
"Does America have either the appetite or the ability to check the power of the tech companies, or will they increasingly operate without limits or boundaries, just like the East India Company before them?"
Opinion | What It Took to Dismantle the Most Powerful Company in the World
A playbook to curb the growing power of Big Tech.
www.nytimes.com
August 28, 2026 at 1:51 PM
"Does America have either the appetite or the ability to check the power of the tech companies, or will they increasingly operate without limits or boundaries, just like the East India Company before them?"
“…an extreme division between the wealthiest and the rest tend to be politically unstable ones as well. They provide fertile ground for conspiracy theories to flourish, as people grapple with why they are struggling and why the mechanisms of democracy do not seem to respond to their needs.”
Opinion | We’re in a New Era of Class Warfare. History Points to a Way Out.
The class-based violence of the past was part of a broader struggle. Today, the violence is the end in itself.
www.nytimes.com
August 24, 2026 at 11:38 AM
“…an extreme division between the wealthiest and the rest tend to be politically unstable ones as well. They provide fertile ground for conspiracy theories to flourish, as people grapple with why they are struggling and why the mechanisms of democracy do not seem to respond to their needs.”
ShieldFont is a unique typeface created to safeguard human writing from unauthorized AI training. It achieves this by embedding decoy text that is difficult for AI scrapers to filter out, while still allowing screen readers to access the original content.
ShieldFont
Publish for humans, not for crawlers. A web font that swaps the words in your HTML, so readers see your writing and AI training gets a stale copy.
shieldfont.org
August 23, 2026 at 3:14 PM
ShieldFont is a unique typeface created to safeguard human writing from unauthorized AI training. It achieves this by embedding decoy text that is difficult for AI scrapers to filter out, while still allowing screen readers to access the original content.
Trump presented tariffs as a way to pay for income tax cuts. But while the tax cuts went overwhelmingly to the rich, the tariffs were paid mostly by the middle class.
ANALYSIS | How Trump's tariffs work to redistribute wealth up the food chain | CBC News
Though nominally aimed at making foreign "cheaters" pay, the U.S. president's tariffs have in fact been a powerful domestic mechanism for taking money from poor and middle-class Americans and giving i...
www.cbc.ca
August 23, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Trump presented tariffs as a way to pay for income tax cuts. But while the tax cuts went overwhelmingly to the rich, the tariffs were paid mostly by the middle class.
Trump delivered for the 1%, that was always his signature issue, less taxes and the ability to buy political power. Everything else is a theatre of cruelty designed to distract and obfuscate.
youtu.be/4S25FfbFw4M?...
youtu.be/4S25FfbFw4M?...
Oligarchy is worse than you think
YouTube video by Johnny Harris
youtu.be
June 30, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Trump delivered for the 1%, that was always his signature issue, less taxes and the ability to buy political power. Everything else is a theatre of cruelty designed to distract and obfuscate.
youtu.be/4S25FfbFw4M?...
youtu.be/4S25FfbFw4M?...
"Times Opinion gained access to a rare glimpse of ICE on patrol, reviewing 50 hours of body camera footage from a single night in Nashville. An investigation led by Lighthouse Reports first made the footage public."
Opinion | White Drivers Got a Warning. Latino Drivers Got Detained.
www.nytimes.com
April 29, 2026 at 5:31 PM
"Times Opinion gained access to a rare glimpse of ICE on patrol, reviewing 50 hours of body camera footage from a single night in Nashville. An investigation led by Lighthouse Reports first made the footage public."
...I see Mr. Paduka and many others his age who dress up in the face of this horror, showing their determination to carry on despite all the blows of history they have endured. It’s as if they are mocking our hopelessness and daring life to surprise them with anything else it can throw their way.
Opinion | Can You Dress Your Way Out of Heartache?
www.nytimes.com
March 22, 2026 at 2:27 PM
...I see Mr. Paduka and many others his age who dress up in the face of this horror, showing their determination to carry on despite all the blows of history they have endured. It’s as if they are mocking our hopelessness and daring life to surprise them with anything else it can throw their way.
Professor Madoff has written a persuasive book, “Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy.” She says billionaires in the United States can be virtually exempt from taxes, like the French aristocracy before the revolution of 1789.
It’s Good to Be a Billionaire, Even at Tax Time
www.nytimes.com
March 15, 2026 at 3:39 PM
Professor Madoff has written a persuasive book, “Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy.” She says billionaires in the United States can be virtually exempt from taxes, like the French aristocracy before the revolution of 1789.
For Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, war was hell. But as represented by the Trump White House’s social feeds, war is LOL.
The Trump Administration Goes to War, by Any Memes Necessary
www.nytimes.com
March 11, 2026 at 1:07 PM
For Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, war was hell. But as represented by the Trump White House’s social feeds, war is LOL.
“ChatGPT offered assistance to people saying they wanted to carry out violent attacks in 61% of cases, the research found, and in one case, asked about attacks on synagogues, it gave specific advice about which shrapnel type would be most lethal. Google’s Gemini provided a similar level of detail.”
‘Happy (and safe) shooting!’: chatbots helped researchers plot deadly attacks
Users posing as would-be school shooters find AI tools offer detailed advice on how to perpetrate violence
www.theguardian.com
March 11, 2026 at 12:59 PM
“ChatGPT offered assistance to people saying they wanted to carry out violent attacks in 61% of cases, the research found, and in one case, asked about attacks on synagogues, it gave specific advice about which shrapnel type would be most lethal. Google’s Gemini provided a similar level of detail.”
A journey from the evolution of early humans to the social expectations placed on men today. How sexual reproduction shaped our species, why diverse personalities are essential, and how patriarchal systems emerged from warfare and historical accident, not biological destiny.
Masculinity
What does it mean to be a man? Dr. Roy takes listeners on a journey from the evolution of early humans to the social expectations placed on men today. Along the way, he explains how sexual reproductio...
www.podbean.com
March 2, 2026 at 7:43 PM
A journey from the evolution of early humans to the social expectations placed on men today. How sexual reproduction shaped our species, why diverse personalities are essential, and how patriarchal systems emerged from warfare and historical accident, not biological destiny.
The billionaire class has never been bigger.
Supercharged by Trump-era tax cuts and other policies that favor the rich, America’s wealthy minority has more power over the country than at any time in the last century.
Supercharged by Trump-era tax cuts and other policies that favor the rich, America’s wealthy minority has more power over the country than at any time in the last century.
5 Takeaways on America’s Boom in Billionaires
www.nytimes.com
March 2, 2026 at 2:30 PM
The billionaire class has never been bigger.
Supercharged by Trump-era tax cuts and other policies that favor the rich, America’s wealthy minority has more power over the country than at any time in the last century.
Supercharged by Trump-era tax cuts and other policies that favor the rich, America’s wealthy minority has more power over the country than at any time in the last century.
"There’s not much to love about big tech these days. So many ills can be laid at its door: social media harms, misinformation, polarisation, mining and misuse of personal data, environmental negligence, tax avoidance, the list goes on."
Leave big tech behind! How to replace Amazon, Google, X, Meta, Apple – and more
A handful of companies monopolise the web, with unprecedented access to our data. But there are many more ethical – and often distinctively European – alternatives
www.theguardian.com
February 26, 2026 at 2:50 PM
"There’s not much to love about big tech these days. So many ills can be laid at its door: social media harms, misinformation, polarisation, mining and misuse of personal data, environmental negligence, tax avoidance, the list goes on."
Why Does Everyone Think We’re Living in a Paul Verhoeven Movie?
www.nytimes.com
February 25, 2026 at 11:29 PM
"97.5 percent of mass shootings in his database were carried out by men who are cisgender — those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth...0.5 per cent were carried out by people who are trans, making trans people statistically underrepresented."
After Tumbler Ridge shooting, false claims about trans people have spread online | CBC News
Anger and false claims are being directed at transgender people after Tuesday's mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., that left nine people dead, including the suspected shooter, who RCMP identified a...
www.cbc.ca
February 12, 2026 at 1:40 PM
"97.5 percent of mass shootings in his database were carried out by men who are cisgender — those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth...0.5 per cent were carried out by people who are trans, making trans people statistically underrepresented."
Eugenics by another name.
Genetic Data From Over 20,000 U.S. Children Misused for ‘Race Science’
www.nytimes.com
January 24, 2026 at 2:19 PM
Eugenics by another name.
“Future fictions are, as Atwood has said, really deep examinations of the present. From there, as Borges shows, it’s an enormous guessing game. Some guesses at the future are better than others. Some are strangely brilliant.”
Mass surveillance, the metaverse, making America ‘great again’: the novelists who predicted our present
From Jorge Luis Borges to George Orwell and Margaret Atwood, novelists have foreseen some of the major developments of our age. What can we learn from their prophecies?
www.theguardian.com
January 11, 2026 at 2:19 AM
“Future fictions are, as Atwood has said, really deep examinations of the present. From there, as Borges shows, it’s an enormous guessing game. Some guesses at the future are better than others. Some are strangely brilliant.”