william.maggos

Seeing this a few days ago and now hearing that #bluesky founder and CEO @jay.bsky.team is stepping down, I wonder if it wasn't a cry for help. Obviously I have no idea but we do know that governments contact corporations and demand they do things and keep quiet about it. And we know the Trump administration isn't shy about putting pressure on anyone. One has to assume that's gotten worse with the invasion and the anger that has sparked.

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ragtjsm2j2vknwkz3zp4oxrd/post/3mgksqnsn4s2u

Having the bookmark function as a marker to "read/watch/listen-to it later" in other social graph connected media apps is gonna be huge someday.

The ‘Most Massive Attack On Free Speech’ Is Happening Right Now, And The Twitter Files Crew Is Mighty Quiet

https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/18/the-most-massive-attack-on-free-speech-is-happening-right-now-and-the-twitter-files-crew-is-mighty-quiet/

This seems dumb. Create a space near Chicago that functions like a theme park for #ChicagoBears fans. Have the stadium but also the practice facility and restaurants and the place to buy official gear. And a hotel. Make it somewhere fun to come to outside of the season. Where we might see current and past players, coaches, media staff. The McCaskeys could easily pay for it all themselves if they just better cultivated the love so many of us have for the team.

@chicagotribune@flipboard.com

Conan says Trump is bad for comedy because you can't mock something already as outrageous as the National Enquirer. Exactly my point re #MAGA. They are tabloid culture as politics, made successful by the algos that raise up what humans pay attention to, mostly stuff we'd never admit to looking at. Conspiracies, celebrity gossip, car crashes etc.

@newyorker@flipboard.com

First off, Americans pay the #tariffs. But presidents are not supposed to be able to start conflicts (including embargoes and sanctions) with other countries without Congress unless Americans are threatened.

Still I understand the confusion when the rules haven't been enforced for decades.

#SCOTUS

@bulwarkonline@www.threads.com

"We need far more than a different PayFac or a different Itch. We need an entire different way of transferring funds online.

But I still hate crypto."

#interledger #GNUtaler #WebMonetization #OpenPayments #FediForFiat

https://voidfox.com/blog/payment_processor_fun_2025_making_your_own_msp/

To paraphrase @pluralistic@mamot.fr, economics focuses on efficiency but that assumes the perspective of the business owner with no concern over who will buy their good/service. A better term is optimization and then we can ask whose interests are being optimized for? Talking about our economy in terms of the stock market is a big part of how the propaganda works. #capitalism

https://pca.st/episode/586a0807-8a4d-4a84-b639-e802db301980

Imagine that every charity put one song on #Spotify. And then every paying customer of the service chose one of those songs to stream endlessly whenever they weren't actually listening to the service. Could we funnel money away from these mega rich musicians to good causes?

"The ruling class offers nothing without expecting something in return. The closer you get to these vampires, the more you become enslaved. Our role is not to socialize with them, it is to destroy them."

#EpsteinFiles #Chomsky #ChrisHedges

https://pca.st/episode/3b546a06-d4b3-4dd4-b6fb-9a6d5d98bc99

In a proper social media environment, I could click on #BadBunny and quickly scroll to a video explainer of the halftime show for us dumb English only folks. True decentralization would mean they all interoperate. Not only no separate corporate silos, but #peertube and #mastodon and #lemmy would all mesh better than they do today. Video hosting plus news feed virality plus sorting based on hashtag and reply ranking. No ads or algos. Creators get paid per second what we can afford.

#SocialWeb