Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: Voting is to politics as shopping is to boycotts; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/10/01/data-centers/
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@pluralistic You raise a very good point about Obama. If I may add, not only has every Republican President before and after proven that the President has vast powers unconstrained by Congress, Obama came to power with Democrats holding a 59-seat majority in the senate and an incredible +35 or +40 in the house. Not doing anything with those except for a milquetoast ACA was political malpractice. Unless of course that had been the plan all along.
@anand @pluralistic Obama still had a conservative supreme court. He never had the super majority they have right now.
@Jeanniewarner @anand Well, I'm glad he didn't try then. Never forcing the court to discredit itself certainly built a lot of political will for judiciary reform! Imagine if he'd actually used his massive supermajority in Congress and veto-proof Senate to do something and the court had overruled him. People would have been like, "Wow, I love the Supreme Court. We shouldn't reform it in any way." That's exactly how FDR did it, as I recall.
@pluralistic @Jeanniewarner @anand Trump really is the anti-FDR, pre #newdeal is the “again” in MAGA back to #sharecropping and #plantations #feudalism #segregation
@anand @pluralistic …and appointing every Clintonista retread to his cabinet…including an actual Clinton…was the first post-election sign that “Hope and Change” was about as meaningful as “the check’s in the mail”
Hey look at this
* The Facebook Fake-out https://www.anildash.com/2026/09/29/facebook-fake-out/
* Anatomy Unzipped: John of Arderne’s Sweden Scroll (ca. 1425–35) https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/arderne-scroll/
* Inside McDonald’s push to have AI price your Big Mac https://www.reuters.com/business/inside-mcdonalds-push-have-ai-price-your-big-mac-2026-09-29/
* what is going on with ceiling fans https://mcmansionhell.com/post/829127919552151552/what-is-going-on-with-ceiling-fans
* From Shitpost to Bullshit https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/from-shitpost-to-bullshit
#25yrsago GWB's press secretary to media: "watch what you do, watch what you say" https://web.archive.org/web/20010926223602/https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010926-5.html#BillMaher-Comments#BillMaher-Comments
#20yrsago Stencils kit “may not be reproduced in any form” https://web.archive.org/web/20061022000842/http://www.fairuseday.com/index.php/2006/10/01/copyright-is-broken/
#20yrsago DVD Jon selling Apple DRM to Apple’s competitors https://web.archive.org/web/20061004191106/https://featured.gigaom.com/2006/10/02/dvd-jon-fairplays-apple/
#20yrsago Unpaid diplomatic parking tickets as index of national corruption https://web.archive.org/web/20130719065306/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/10/primary-sources/305203/
#20yrsago Canadian deported to Syria for torture is cleared https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/oct/02/worlddispatch
#20yrsago Gilberto Gil slams WIPO https://fromgeneva.blogspot.com/2006/09/wipo-general-assembly-impressions-from.html
#20yrsago Speech given by censored Apple WiFi hacker at ToorCon https://craphound.com/cache_toorcon_2006.txt
#10yrsago Company suspected of blame in Office of Personnel Management breach will help run new clearance agency https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-security-background-idUSKCN1202M6/
#10yrsago Wells Fargo started demanding fraud of its employees in 1998; Illinois cuts Wells off from state business https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/wells-fargo-king-of-cross-sell.pdf
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#25yrsago GWB's press secretary to media: "watch what you do, watch what you say" https://web.archive.org/web/20010926223602/https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010926-5.html#BillMaher-Comments#BillMaher-Comments
#20yrsago Stencils kit “may not be reproduced in any form” https://web.archive.org/web/20061022000842/http://www.fairuseday.com/index.php/2006/10/01/copyright-is-broken/
#20yrsago DVD Jon selling Apple DRM to Apple’s competitors https://web.archive.org/web/20061004191106/https://featured.gigaom.com/2006/10/02/dvd-jon-fairplays-apple/
#20yrsago Unpaid diplomatic parking tickets as index of national corruption https://web.archive.org/web/20130719065306/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/10/primary-sources/305203/
#20yrsago Canadian deported to Syria for torture is cleared https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/oct/02/worlddispatch
Voting is to politics as shopping is to boycotts: The big P only matters if the small p is in play.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/117366820596564428
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