JM Feighery

Because if you care about securely owning a movie that you love--as opposed to "owning" it only until a license agreement over which you have no control expires without warning--you need a DVD or Blu-ray. The hardware may be yesterday; the concern is very much of this moment.

"The firing of Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter came after Perlmutter and her office earlier this week issued part three of a lengthy report about artificial intelligence and expressed some concerns and questions about the usage of copyrighted materials by AI technology."

Warnings over DOGE cuts to organization that keeps elderly people in their homes Former employees of the Administration for Community Living say they fear it is being ‘broken up for spare parts,’ Eric Garcia reports

New from me: Most people have not heard of the Administration for Community Living. But it's a vitally important Institution to keep people with disabilities and elderly people in their homes. And RFK Jr. and DOGE are targeting it.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

What Happens to Libraries if IMLS Goes Away? On Friday night, March 14, President Trump issued an Executive Order that called for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and six other agencies. In FY24, the IMLS bu...

do you like interlibrary loan service? do you like libraries and museums in general? funding from IMLS keeps libraries running, especially in rural areas, and that funding is in jeopardy thanks to the latest in this cascading parade of dipshittery.

Disappeared Tufts Human Dev. PhD student Rumesya Ozturk is also a graduate of Teachers College - she’s a dev. psychologist studying children’s media & prosocial development. She also bakes without recipes and binge-watches cartoons. She is our colleague & she was abducted on the street w/ our tax $.

I don’t have the reach I did at the other place, so I hope you’ll help me share this, if you feel it’s important.

I also owe a huge thanks to @dannagal.bsky.social @katestarbird.bsky.social @ajbauer.bsky.social @mattgertz.bsky.social @mikemadrid.bsky.social @ninajankowicz.com @cwarzel.bsky.social

Engines of Outrage Pt. 1 Podcast Episode · Landslide · S1 E12 · 32m

The result is a four-part podcast miniseries, Landslide: Engines of Outrage. It looks at how we got here, the characteristics of the right-wing bubble, and what — if anything — can bring us back to a shared, fact-based reality.

How did we get here, and what can be done? For months, I’ve interviewed psychologists, historians, misinformation researchers — many the subject of backlash and conspiracy theories for their work.

In this alt reality, government agencies are “fraudulent,” federal workers are “partisan hacks,” vaccines “don’t work,” climate change is “fake,” and the merits of any political action depend on who performs it.

In this ecosystem, there is no weighing or presenting of different sides of an argument. There’s no weighing of info about what’s lost from cuts to USAID, or CDC, or NOAA. Conspiracy theories and misinfo travel as fact.

A massive, alternate media ecosystem is propping up all of these actions. It delivers a distorted version of reality, justifying and championing everything we’re seeing.

It is hard to overstate its effect.

A lot of the political discourse I see on here forgets something essential. The unilateral agency shutdowns, mass firings, ethics rule flouting, etc. are politically acceptable to so many Americans.

There’s a reason. You might know it.

New Indiana Law Requires Women Voters To Show Husband’s ID INDIANAPOLIS—In an effort to ensure only properly credentialed individuals are allowed to participate in the political franchise, a new law passed Thursday in Indiana requires all women voters to show...

New Indiana Law Requires Women Voters To Show Husband’s ID

At least 11 librarians in LA lost their homes in the LA Fires. A thread of their gofundmes:

Glad you are here!

Forgive my dark humor, but we were estate planning today and someone was late and conversation got around to cabinet pick competence and spiraled into us making this bingo card of dark new possibilities under Trump. Feel free to fill in the empty space.

My outlook email grammar corrector keeps highlighting my signature, noting that I need to use a period or exclamation mark after my name. Should I just enter this next phase of work/life terror by just signing every email “have a good day, Julie!” or “best, Julie!”?

I’m a public librarian in a degenerating democracy, and I am pleading: Care about your library. Use it. See what programs and events it offers. And pay attention to its governing body. See who the trustees are. Consider running yourself. Libraries will need all the community support they can get. 📚

Hello. I am a librarian, Mom, and comedy & music fan from the PNW originally, but life now has me in the Midwest. Grateful for this space.