Scripting News: Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Obama once said to the bankers who had just crashed the economy, much like Trump/Musk are trying to do now -- that his administration is the "only thing between you and the pitchforks." These are the same people. They're back from 2009 and this time they want everything. They don't care what's left, they're machines. All they know how to do is to consume. Squeeze a cent of value from every dollar. This clip from Goodfellas explains. I saw a quote from one of the Dogeheads saying that all universities should be shut down. Hey you can say whatever you like, but they want to actually do it. #A piece that Paul Krugman should write. How what Musk is doing to the US is worse than the 2009 near-collapse of the world economy. People who think he's going to bring down just the US, should recall how close we all came to falling into the abyss. But this time there will be no one to save us.#
The basic thing about tech is that attracts people who take things that don't belong to them. There's no policing. The richest people are the ones who are best at grabbing control of other people's creations. That's the common theme. Now they're in DC, going for all of it. The whole thing. But they're like the dog that catches the car. They don't have the slightest idea what to do with what they're taking. How could they? It's incomprehensibly vast.#
The data behind a WordLand blog post I wrote a few days ago. I'm publishing these so people get an idea of the structures we're working with. It's basically a WordPress post with added metadata. They have these kinds of structures in RSS, Atom, ActivityPub and AT Proto. Eventually some of these will die out, there are too many formats to support. At any moment in time it feels like each one is enormous and permanent. But show me where the new OS/2, Novell, UCSD Pascal or CP/M apps are. Go back far enough, Alogol, Smalltalk, Lisp, Simula. I am very much a less-is-more type protocol designer, don't try to plan for things you don't have a working model of, because the ideas you gain when you actually put the app together will work much better. And only add things you're willing to live with forever. Slow down to hurry up. Etc. Anyway, this is the format we work with inside WordLand, and more important, in the new APIs, that build on and simplify the excellent API that Automattic had already produced.#
Of course I'm getting ready to ditch my Tesla Model Y, and thinking about what my options are. I saw someone comment on the Rivian truck, and I've seen them around but didn't imagine they'd have the same muscle car profile as the Tesla, but apparently they do. That's the thing I'd miss the most about the Model Y. Its power and handling. It's a big car, but it drives in many ways like the Miata I drove in the 90s. #Techdirt has a well-deserved rep for exposing the false claims tech companies make. I'd love to see a Techdirt analysis of Bluesky's claim that they're billionaire-proof and they don't lock users in. For background check out this TechCrunch piece from SXSW. #
Linkblog items for the day.
JFK assassination files converted to Markdown, uploaded to GitHub. github.com
Democrats Troll Republicans For Ghosting Their Constituents. huffpost.com
Menaced by Trump, Canada Prepares to Join E.U. Military Industry Efforts. nytimes.com
Where is an example of a Ghost-published post on a Mastodon server? theverge.com
Trump-Musk Scandal on Ukrainian Kids Stolen by Russia Just Got Darker. newrepublic.com
The Cost of the Government's Attack on Columbia. theatlantic.com
Work in Progress: What Trump Took Away. emptywheel.net
Stephen Mays wrote up a list of his early web influencers. smays.com
If you want to understand what Musk and Trump are doing, this scene from Goodfellas explains. It's worth watching, I promise. youtube.com
Does the Foreign Emoluments Clause Apply to Elon Musk? lawfaremedia.org
Trump's Tax Cuts Mainly Benefit Wealthy. politicalwire.com
Judging by what's in the press I'd say there's a journalist movement to remove Schumer, as they did with Biden. They aren't reporting his theory of why he voted as he did. Heard him last night on msnbc and it made sense. At least they let him speak. memeorandum.com
Tesla loses ground as Chinese EVs dominate global markets. restofworld.org
Social Security Administration to require in-person identity checks. apnews.com
Voters boo Nebraska Republican over Musk, Ukraine, Trump tariffs during raucous town hall. The pitchforks are out. thehill.com
Remember when Obama said to the bankers that his "administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks." These are the same people. They're back and this time they want everything. politico.com
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