Mammon category archive
Phoning It In 0
Tony Norman seems to get spam phone calls from the same persons who call me.
I probably have more “blocked contacts” than I have entries in my contact list.
All that Was Old Is New Again, Throwing Granny under the Bus Dept. Reprise 0
The kleptocrats are coming for the olds.
TOS POS
0
Pretty soon, you won’t be able to own anything. Everything will be licensed. From the EFF:
The document purports to govern “any Software, data files, documentation, engine calibration tables, proprietary data messages, and controller area network (CAN) data messages that are in or communicated to or from any” covered product. Many of these items are numerical values that do not contain any copyrightable expression. The document forbids you to, among other things, “modify,” “reverse engineer,” or “reproduce” the covered information. These are necessary steps to understanding, repairing, and improving upon your equipment.
The Poisoning of Flint, Reprise 0
The no account just can’t be held accountable.
The Bully’s Pulpit 0
TPM points out that the Great Shakedown is under way.
Mammonfacturing Tradition 0
From the Bangor Daily News comes Stephen Carter’s short history of American Christmas. A nugget; follow the link for the rest.
Our current struggles over the holiday should not be viewed as the inevitable waning of the sacred and the triumph of the secular. It’s more accurate to say that the secularization of Christmas that so many claim to hate represents a return to the old days.
All that Was Old Is New Again, Throwing Granny under the Bus Dept. 0
Thom points out, almost in passing, a truism: “Big lies are always based on small facts.”
Twilight Zone of the Vanities 0
Rekha Basu shares her nightmare of a Gordon Gekko world:.
Follow the link for the rest, if you dare.
No Place To Hide 0
In the snares of the snaring economy:
Spangenberg, who was hired by Uber in March 2015 as a forensic investigator, goes on to say, “Uber collected data regarding every ride a user requested, their username, the location the ride was requested from, the amount they paid, the device used to request the ride, the name and email of the customer, and a myriad of other data that the user may or may not know they were even providing Uber by requesting a ride.”
And that’s just for starts.
Uber, natch, is shocked! just shocked! that anyone would think there is gambling in their establishment . . . .
Chartering a Course for Disaster 0
Kim Shroeder, President of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, warns of the Devostiture of public education.
The Art of the Con 0
Shorter E. J. Dionne: Let the sell-out begin.
Michigan Nestles in the Poisoning of Flint 0
The government of Michigan chooses profits over people.
This is what happens when you “run the government like a business.”
Jobs Con Job 1
Alan Caron points out an uncomfortable truth. A snippet:
But the notion that campaign promises can revive the 20th century economy belongs on the pages of the National Enquirer at the supermarket checkout stand. It’s nonsense.
For every one manufacturing job we’ve lost to trade deals and government actions, we’ve lost seven to eight to machines, computers and robots. Governments don’t control technological progress, new inventions, time-saving devices and brilliant breakthroughs. Heck, government is usually the last place to employ those things. And technological progress is what’s costing us jobs. The sooner we understand that, the better off we’ll be.
What’s missing from the “jobs” equation is this: The wealth created by this “progress” is not being shared; it’s being hogged.
And, as George Orwell told us, some pigs are more equal than others.