It’s not a “both sides” though. Do you really think state governments in the past weren’t just as right wing as the government? Hell, it took the Voting Rights Act to get minorities and the poor the unfettered ability to vote, and still it didn’t come easy. In the past, state governors routinely called out the National Guard. Americans got killed and arrested. Blue-collar “Hard Hats” would sail into crowds of protestors beating the shit out of “hippies” and “radicals.” Actual brownshirt uniform wearing NAZIS would march openly showing their faces… In 1984 I got pulled over in Darien Connecticut by a cop wearing a White Aryan Resistance pin on the collar of his shirt.

What’s different now is most of the people that fought fascism directly in the Second World War are now dead, and generational amnesia has taken over and so many people have embraced militant reactionary views because of it. My generation, raised on TV, lost the plot when cable TV became the unregulated norm and the right wing fearmongering of the Murdochs and others presented itself as legitimate “news” and snowed almost everyone over 60 into supporting things that they were taught as children to avoid.

Against the historical drift and where we’ve come from 50 years ago, AND the forward march through the 90’s that was breathtaking in many ways, (leading to Barack Obama being elected) yeah, things are backsliding, but that’s just the reactionary stupid part of the society. The rest of it is progressing.

I’m at an interesting point watching my Alex Jones listening co-worker come to grips with the fact that his grandson isn’t troubled at all by his friends who are the gay and LGBTQ theater kids (the ONLY group in the school to NOT tease him because of his disability) and they’ve accepted him and he’s happy. Watching someone that was spewing racist, sexist bile a few years ago have an epiphany that FEW would have had decades ago says a lot more about what the public really is thinking. Tells me that much of it isn’t real, just performative. I friends in high school that got thrown out of their homes and disowned by their parents because they hung out with others whom the folks didn’t approve of. That seems to occur a LOT less today. Which is amazing.

The best thing to happen for the progressive movement is these regressive policies and actions that come just as AI torpedoes 100’s of thousands of jobs and the climate and energy prices spike along with health and housing (nevermind education) and there is a sitting buffoon in the White House making it all worse.

NGL, it’s been this way since J. Edgar Hoover was running the FBI. Nothing new at all in this.

Good idea! Yaah, the UI is rather 1999 but NGL, it’s basic and people with older hardware and OSes can navigate it easily enough.

Prog metal? Oooo, that sounds interesting1 What bands are you listening to?

I was on bandcamp for a while last night dipping into a bunch of new stuff. One of my favorite electronica musicians - Amon Tobin - just dropped a new album under his old (30+years) name, “Cujo” and I’m in heaven!

Yup.

This is why it is critical to have the numbers and contact info of as many of one’s family committed to memory, not the Contact list, as possible. Cops can’t get at what’s in one’s head (for the most part)…

I haven’t tried that site yet… how is the selection of artists? Mainstream or not?

I’m on bandcamp and get most of everything there but it does tend to be indie acts.

Oooo, been doing as much of that as I can for years.

When facebook wanted us to use our real names, instead of our screen names… welp, Euell Ooluu (“you lulu”) was born. My alt account there also has an equally ridiculous name.

Got an app for that? Ehhhh. no. My iThing is too full with photos, so it’s the browser only.

It’s old, so I need an ad-blocker in it to get pages to load… same for my ancient computers… the newest hardware I have (and am using right now) is from 2010… was a dumpster dive discovery.

Nice!

Unsupported installs only. Add a stout firewall, NoScript, a tassel of privacy tools and stay away from the dark corners of the interwebs… am good.

Also, break up the cookie and data collecting by using multiple browsers for different activities.

It’s NOT on the machine I am on right now, but for porn, I have Chrome on a different computer (also a dumpster-dive find) and google can sort whatever data my filthy porn habits tell them about me. (I also hit some really hardcore European gayporn sites to throw a real bit of spice into the mix… data mine THAT you cyberstalking fucks!)

For banking and anything financial, I use Opera.

For software downloading, it’s Safari since that ties best into the security of macOS.

Social media and general out and about… Firefox with ALL the privacy and security tools in.

All of it underpinned by Dan Pollock’s hosts file, (someonewhocares.org) that I have been using since the list was 2 pages long. (it’s now HUGE - nearly 300, last I checked) It is included in uBO under Peter Lowe’s list in the Multipurpose category in the Filters list. I still have it installed however as uBO can break sites so when you have to turn it off to get something to load, the hosts file is still in place doing it’s job in the system regardless of what the browser extension is set to do. Which is nice.

Email is two throwaways on the older services… my ISP, and one Gmail that is online storage (no one has EVER been given that address… ever) only and my “official” google account linked to the throwaways is The World’s Oldest youtube account from before Google bought the website.

Have been born on January 1, 1960 since I came online. Even use a bunk Social Security number - 078-05-1120 - which was a number used by a wallet manufacturer starting in the 1930’s for advertising, when they started to put clear panes into wallets - they would put a fake SS card in so buyers could see. The IRS knows it is non-valid. Online data scrapers don’t. Have at it gents.

The thing is, you can easily discover if your efforts are working by simply turning off the ad-blockers and taking a quick trip across the internet to check… If you don’t see ads that are relevant to you, or aimed at your age… you know it’s working. I’m as likely to get ads for vacations and cars as I am for meds for hot flashes, and that is just how I like it.

It’s like this: fuck spez.

…Hmmmm… It should. If you read the linked article it claims the group lists X, discord, telegram and vimeo as sites that encourage infringement, so there’s that.

Oh, that’s not who the letter is for.

You’d be surprised what can happen when the underlings that are responsible catch wind that angry customers are trying to get in touch with the boss.

Learned this one from the wife of a CEO, and it works.

Years ago, in a battle with HCA, I got a major part of my husband’s hospital bill from a surgery charge dropped because the bill which was part of a Workman’s Comp case was challeneged by the businesses insurer, went into legal arbitration, and we won.

The hospital had 6 months to get the full and compete bill to the Workman’s Comp insurer and they fucked the dog and when the insurance settled, the part that was for the use of the surgical suite - the single LARGEST part of the bill - was not included in the total.

Imagine my surprise when 5 months later, that part of the bill showed up.

Oh hell no. Straight to the top, naming and shaming the head of corporate billing. Used meaty words like “incompetent” and “ineffective”.

Two weeks later I got a call from the head of corporate billing herself, and a letter stating that yes, ooops, we’re sorry, the bill has been forgiven.

ALWAYS go to the top.

Oooo, that happens and I’d make it a point to contact the manufacturer/creator of said advertised product or service and politely inform them that because of the interruption of MY TIME, while relxing in a game, I will now never, ever consider their company, goods or services.

Make it formal, concise and final and if possible send it to the CEO. You want that one to come down on the head of whomever decided to insert themselves into a player’s game - get them in trouble with the boss - with a vengeance.

It often works.

This. Totally this. Illicit recording of live broadcast radio performances of black jazz and blues artists in the 20’s and 30’s was how the major labels got their coffers large enough to start to change laws to protect them from others doing what they did to those original musicians.

The copyright enforcement laws came into place once they’d established themselves by breaking copyrights.

Utter cunts.