There's a new post over at https://philanthropy2173.ghost.io/u-s-civil-society-under-attack/.
I have to post these here for now so that the posts still go to subscribers. (I'm working on it,
I'm working on it)
https://philanthropy2173.ghost.io/u-s-civil-society-under-attack/
Our tech stacks matter. It's easiest to use products made by big companies, but in the online world, doing so means you don't own your stuff, the oligarchs who own the companies own your stuff. I'm not a fan of oligarchs. I've been blogging for more than 20+ years and have moved this site a few times. And the time has come to move it again.
It's going over here - philanthropy2173.ghost.io
If you subscribed to the blog, you're subscribed over there. If you're reading this on LinkedIN, please subscribe directly at philanthropy2173.ghost.io
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It will take me some time to migrate everything over, so I'll be holding on to the blogger site for awhile. But not for long - paying for two sites ain't cheap. Getting the .ghost.io off the blog name costs even more, bear with me, please.
Zuckerberg, Musk, and Bezos are paying for and hosting parties for the incoming. Don't get worked up about that - you're not invited.
DO get worked up about the fact that, starting a few weeks ago, you should NOT trust any information you see on Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp. Why? Because Mark owns them. He has been telling you for weeks he's going to deliberately flood the first (Facebook) with AI people and end all content moderation. In this way, Facebook can "help" the #Trusk administration to incarcerate and deport people with brown skin.* Methinks this is what Mark speaks of when he seeks "more masculine energy."
It also makes it easier for people with the very whitest skin to steal from the government (NASA contracts sole-sourced to X, medicare billing overseen by Oz, lord only knows how deep Trump's own grift goes). Stealing from the government BY THE WAY is stealing from you - you paid your taxes. Those three guys at the top of this blog - not so much.
People, nonprofits and foundations still working for anything other than an oligarchic agenda, people still pursuing communities built on care and participation - ASSUME what you're reading online is BULLSHIT. Designed to distract and detract. I cannot say this any more clearly. The first item on their agenda - minimize, confuse, deflect, and diminish the administration's plan for internment camps and deportations.
And since Bezos has also bent the knee - enough to hang out with his sworn frenemy Musk - it's well past time to check where your "cloud" storage actually lives. Chances are better than 75% its on Bezos's servers. It's either there or on Google/Microsoft's servers. It's probably on all three, and add in Zoom. Can you possibly afford to host your own cloud? If so, do it. Yesterday.
TL;DR
Prediction from a non-predictor: In 2025 a progressive nonprofit, probably a Muslim-focused one, will find itself being persecuted by the US Federal Government, and the government will use internal messages, blog posts, socialmedia posts, zoom and Otter AI transcripts and information from internal documents stored on the cloud or AI-transcribed zoom calls as "evidence." No, they won't get warrants or even notify you that they're doing this - after all, your stuff is on their property. Assume you will be next (don't quote Heschel to me).
One of two US voters chose this. If you're one of them, and still reading my stuff, know that I hold you responsible for all of the horrors to come. Happy to chat with you but know that I believe your only absolution (which I don't control) is working to rectify things for those who are being immediately and directly hurt by your desire to save on taxes (and, no, egg prices won't go down. There's a bird flu now circulating among humans, c'mon on, now).
*I am a disabled, queer, Jew. No, I don't want to be called crip, faggot, or hebe online. But this IS NOT why they're doing what they're doing. They're doing it to (further) poison the well of news. That's the fight we need to be fighting. They're closely linked, but let's be clear on their purpose and their endgame.
Join us to discuss tomorrow January 16, 2025.
My health is poor, and so the planning for future Blueprints (or whatever comes next) is in your hands. Help me work with you to co-create our collective next. The short survey is in the #Blueprint and here's a direct link to be part of it.
