Ken Smith

Civil War battle flag from Grant's Tomb, New York City.

And the 2026 election? Dave Winer says, “It must be about everything.”

Image: Civil War battle flag from Grant's Tomb, New York City.

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The timeline of activism and resistance is measured in decades.

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Resist much, obey little, wrote Walt Whitman. Liberty, once lost, he believed, would not readily be recovered.

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The Boots Theory A literal interpretation

Buy it nice or buy it twice, the advice goes. Advice that is useless to a person living on the edge.

Jess Piper reflects.

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"We think in hypertext. We have been speaking hypertext all our lives and never known it."

Ted Nelson paraphrasing Vannevar Bush.

Ordinary writing, Nelson said, "is a process of making the tree of thought into a picket fence."

But linking reasserts the tree nature of thinking and speaking.

In the 1989 founding document, Berners-Lee spoke of "Human-readable information linked together in an unconstrained way." So it's always been about freedom to make connections. In the next paragraph he says it doesn't have to be limited to texts.

What is the web? It's a Tim Berners-Lee kind of space.

And staying true to TB-L’s vision, extending and refining it, naming it precisely, and protecting it, is of immense importance in this perilous time.

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If conditions grow worse in the United States, what pathways for independent publishing might remain open? What publishing and reading tools might still be available?

Is there a chance for a 21st century samizdat, an American-style samizdat?

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How political common sense works.

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Why I need WordLand I’m primarily a writer, my podcasts reflect that, so most of the work I do on each podcast, beyond recording the audio, is in writing the show notes.  I have a template the writing and audio flow t…

A space for writing is different.

"I understand WordPress so far has a steady workflow through the block editor, but these are workflows for designers and programmers. WordLand is the flow for writers," writes Dave Winer.

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The power of creating sheer political noise, as the article puts it.

"Sheer political noise" -- how @GregTSargent describes the sounds a political group makes getting serious about an existential threat.

We're not seriously involved in activism or politics if we don't know how to create sheer political noise.

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After a long, careful analysis of something in the news, a tiny paragraph at the end a few general, link-free action items.

Or, write and publish in web-savvy ways. We're crazy not to.

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Why most social media posts and op-eds are utterly forgettable, but do not have to be.

In this crisis, there are only two kinds of social media posts, two kinds of op-eds.

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Getting specific about the methods of tyranny -- reading another book by Timothy Snyder.

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The American laboratory for subjugation — from a brief new blog post by Stephen Kuusisto.

All the clues are in the policing we see around us.

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Republican stealth government “No more 1000 page bills passed overnight and signed into law the next day,” writes Dave Winer. Far-reaching items added and passed without being brought into the light of day for public considerat…

Republican stealth government in DC and in Indiana.

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The Indiana Republican Party, having carefully gerrymandered themselves a supermajority in the Statehouse, works exactly the same way. They see no need for anyone else’s opinion in the legislature.

“No more 1000 page bills passed overnight and signed into law the next day,” writes Dave Winer. Far-reaching items never brought up into view for public consideration. That’s how the national Republican Party likes to do business.

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The quiet majesty of this little item.

Just finished writing several hundred words to begin to explain to myself what you cover in these four short sentences. Entering the linkblog dimension . . .

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Entering the linkblog dimension.

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Regarding: bsky.app/profile/dave...

Legal experts should tell us how to ask to see police credentials and proper warrants. What to say and not say, what counts and doesn't count as valid documentation and credentials if an "officer" or "agent" waves something in your face, what you must comply with and what you can refuse to do.

We can't waste this crisis on Democratic politicians who are just hoping to return the the status quo of, say, 2014, which nurtured Trump and helped alienate half the country.

Michiana Chronicles: Big city dilemma Ken Smith considers encounters with those in need.

My new radio piece starts in Manhattan and ends in Matthew 25.

Big city dilemma -- text and audio.

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Urgent times, plain speech Sometime after the war, Albert Camus was invited to speak at a conference about religion. He mentioned that during those terrible years it would have been very good to hear the Pope condemn the Naz…

The silence of the comfortable isn't good enough.

Times so urgent require speech so plain and emphatic that every person, of any background and training, will plainly understand.

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Two ways to love one's country, two ways to create personal identity as citizens. One way is proud no matter what, and the other is proud of the struggle to do something worth being proud of. Starting with a few sentences written in wartime by Albert Camus.

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In this crisis, don't count on the alienated to take much interest in restoring just-as-it-was the pre-Trump system that alienated them in the first place.

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Journalists who used to mock bloggers weren't playing nice but they also weren't thinking clearly about what they were observing.

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"Software isn't a thing, it isn't finished, it's a process as it gets invented by the users. It's a performing art."

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At @PosterHouseNYC, a current exhibit of activist and propaganda posters about the atomic age shows how society struggles to make sense of its greatest challenges. To find words and images that will serve us going forward . . .

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