Jim Brandt

shopvac

This is what oligarchy looks like:

If you're Elon Musk, the richest man alive, Tesla gives you a $1 trillion pay package & Trump gives you a huge tax break.

If you're a poor kid on SNAP, Trump appeals a court decision that would have prevented you from going hungry.

Obscene.

ICE grabs father by the neck—send him into violent seizure while his arms lock up around his toddler.

"He's having seizure and they're trying to rip the baby out of his hands!"

Agents then handcuff him—before putting in ambulance with his child.

Mother is detained by agents as target of arrest.

Request Tracker 6.0.2 and 5.0.9 Released – Security Fixes, History Filtering, and Performance Updates Request Tracker (RT) 6.0.2 and 5.0.9 are now available with key security fixes, improved ticket history filtering, new calendar views, and better memory management. Upgrade now or move to RT Cloud…

We’ve released Request Tracker 6.0.2 and 5.0.9!

RT 6.0.2 adds ticket history filtering, a new calendar view, and server-side memory improvements. RT 5.0.9 delivers key maintenance updates.

Both releases include security fixes, so we recommend upgrading soon. 

buff.ly/Vm547fT

What he said Part 2: 💯 🎯

REV. BLACK (who was shot in the head with a pepper ball): “If this is what they’re doing to pastors, journalists, teachers, mothers, and the elderly gathered to sing and pray outside ICE facilities… what might they be doing to our neighbors who are behind those walls?”

It’s Public Radio Music Day. It’s a celebration of art over algorithms. It’s a celebration of discovery, diversity, and deep listening. Keep the music playing in stations across the nation.

Stand up for the NPR Network’s commitment to free, public-access music at the link here: n.pr/47jpe4d

How to make NPR and your local station your preferred news source on Google The NPR Network is your trusted source for reliable, accessible and fact-checked information. And now you can make sure we show up in your Google results.

The NPR Network is your trusted source for reliable, accessible and fact-checked information. And now you can make sure we show up in your Google results.

Washington Post: White House begins destroying East wing facade to build Trump’s ballroom

It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it.

“The demonstrations were very small.”

Photos: Scenes from the No Kings Protests People gathered for pro-democracy protests across the country today.

People gathered for pro-democracy protests across the country today. n.pr/3Jd0PoI

Picture of the No Kings peaceful protest by people who love America, including people in fun blowup dinosaur suits.

No Kings in Williamsville NY! #nokings

'No Kings' organizers project a massive turnout for this weekend's protests Organizers say they expect millions of Americans will march this weekend against the policies of the Trump administration. The protests come amid National Guard deployments in several cities.

Organizers say they expect millions of Americans will march this weekend against the policies of the Trump administration. The protests come amid National Guard deployments in several cities. n.pr/4ojrHSY

NO KINGS Williamsville · No Kings **In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...

I'll be at “NO KINGS Williamsville” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...

Are We the Nazis Now? How do we meet this moment?

There are hard questions we need to ask ourselves right now. But no matter what this administration is planning, we know who we are—we love democracy & plan to fight (peacefully) for it. In a moment where knowledge is power, here is what you need to know. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

I wrote up my "How I'm using coding agents in October 2025" post.

blog.fsck.com/2025/10/09/s...

Everything Trump is doing now is a preamble for his regime's real goal: to invoke the Insurrection Act.

I don’t want to unduly alarm you, but you need to be aware of this imminent danger. Let me explain what’s going on.

Dozens of Bob Ross paintings will be auctioned to help public TV after funding cuts Thirty of Ross' trademark landscapes will be sold at a series of auctions starting in November. He painted many of them live on The Joy of Painting, which started airing on PBS in the 1980s.

Thirty of Ross' trademark landscapes will be sold at a series of auctions starting in November. He painted many of them live on The Joy of Painting, which started airing on PBS in the 1980s. n.pr/474wJvJ

October 18. Who’s in? 👀

Millions turned out for No Kings—one of the largest protest days in U.S. history. Together we showed the world that Americans won’t bow to a wannabe dictator. This October, we’ll be even louder, stronger, and we won’t stop here.

Be part of the movement: moveon.org/nokings

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

We do have the ice maker, and it makes ice OK. But it seems under-designed. For example, the ice tray will dump when the freezer drawer is open, spewing ice everywhere. Seems like something they could have had a fix for

We have an LG, French door on top, bottom freezer. My main complaint is the drawer slides on the freezer. They are metal and condensation seems to freeze on them, making it very hard to open the freezer. And the metal is attached to plastic, so you don't want to force it

Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere.

Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself.

Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj

Whether you like or dislike what’s said, free speech is at the heart of our democracy.

Protecting it should be one of our core missions as a nation.

If there were ever a moment for the so-called “free speech warriors” to speak out, now would be the time.

This is the playbook, folks.

If you're not paying attention now and doing something about it, then you're going to have to sit down the rest of your life because democracy is being taken away.

Do not be quiet in this moment.

Disclaimer, as an open source dev myself: we're under no obligation to take your code, either as-is or at all.

Even just reviewing a PR takes time and energy, which for complex PRs can be more than if we implemented the change ourselves.

If it's more than a few hours of work, open an issue first 🙂

The eternally-great thing about open source: if something doesn't exist, and the devs don't have time to work on it themselves, you can just implement it for them!

If they decide not to take it as-is, you've still helped explore the design space.

And if they don't accept it, but you need it, fork!

YouTube video by The Perl and Raku Conference - Greenville, SC 2025 "Canadian" vs. "Freedom" Degrees - Graham TerMarsch - TPRC 2023

An attempt to explain the mix of units in Canada: youtu.be/ZwTKLLoxGYY?...

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Public Media Enables Americans To Trust One Another And Make Decisions Together - Katherine Maher

NPR CEO Katherine Maher on the @colbertlateshow.bsky.social.

youtu.be/ysvGRj79P9k?...

How Much Tax Do US Billionaires Pay? Evidence from Administrative Data Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

Really important new study on the tax rate of billionaires from @gabrielzucman.bsky.social et al

Upshot:

The top 400 ultrabillionaires: 23.8%

Avg Americans: 30.2%

Yes, the superrich pay far less in taxes than the rest of us.

www.nber.org/papers/w34170