Ben McIlwain
@cydeweys.bsky.social
This attitude is one of the reasons we've been losing elections recently. The US's big tech companies are now the biggest, fastest-growing, and most profitable companies in the world, and have immensely enriched Americans at large.
i will become a total shill for whichever politician decides to become the joe mccarthy of rooting out silicon valley ideology and influence
February 18, 2025 at 6:14 PM
This attitude is one of the reasons we've been losing elections recently. The US's big tech companies are now the biggest, fastest-growing, and most profitable companies in the world, and have immensely enriched Americans at large.
It's seeming like this will have been the deadliest US air disaster since November 2001.
January 30, 2025 at 3:42 AM
It's seeming like this will have been the deadliest US air disaster since November 2001.
Reposted by Ben McIlwain
January 28, 2025 at 2:12 PM
If Trump actually wants to end Russia's war on Ukraine, then relieving the pressure on Russia by pausing all aid to Ukraine makes no damn sense. The way to get Russia to back off is by making it clear that our support for Ukraine will only grow, not end. Russia can handle an isolatedUkraine.
January 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
If Trump actually wants to end Russia's war on Ukraine, then relieving the pressure on Russia by pausing all aid to Ukraine makes no damn sense. The way to get Russia to back off is by making it clear that our support for Ukraine will only grow, not end. Russia can handle an isolatedUkraine.
Imagine being so carbrained that you, a Democratic politician, bend the knee to Trump over *congestion pricing*. New Jersey, can you please elect better politicians? You're a solidly blue state, get someone who won't brown nose Trump this badly.
Today I sent a letter to President Trump urging his Administration to reexamine New York’s congestion pricing scheme.
Congestion pricing is a disaster for New Jersey commuters and must receive the close look it deserves from the federal government.
Congestion pricing is a disaster for New Jersey commuters and must receive the close look it deserves from the federal government.
January 21, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Imagine being so carbrained that you, a Democratic politician, bend the knee to Trump over *congestion pricing*. New Jersey, can you please elect better politicians? You're a solidly blue state, get someone who won't brown nose Trump this badly.
I don't think the ostrich approach is the way to go.
January 20, 2025 at 9:58 PM
I don't think the ostrich approach is the way to go.
Welp, exciting the Paris climate accords is an unmitigated disaster. We're just going to watch the whole world burn because selfish 80-year-olds don't care how bad it'll get after they die, huh.
January 20, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Welp, exciting the Paris climate accords is an unmitigated disaster. We're just going to watch the whole world burn because selfish 80-year-olds don't care how bad it'll get after they die, huh.
Reposted by Ben McIlwain
You could convince zoomers to read text posts if you pretended they were subtitles to a TV show
lmao no, TikTok users are not moving to Bluesky. They would literally rather learn Mandarin than learn how to read a feed of text posts. This is a millennial retirement home.
January 19, 2025 at 12:05 PM
You could convince zoomers to read text posts if you pretended they were subtitles to a TV show
*Sigh* ...
Just the worst kind of post on here.
Just the worst kind of post on here.
January 16, 2025 at 11:42 PM
*Sigh* ...
Just the worst kind of post on here.
Just the worst kind of post on here.
Such a good point. The Oscars will raise so much money if they properly monetize it for aid.
To me, “cancel the Oscars” is an understandable but short-sighted take that ignores a) how important the entertainment industry is to LA, b) how much that industry has suffered in recent years, and c) the potential fundraising opportunity of a televised awards show.
January 15, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Such a good point. The Oscars will raise so much money if they properly monetize it for aid.
DEI and idpol generally are dead. Zuckerberg sees which way the winds have blown on this and is simply getting ahead of it.
In my little neck of the woods, the death knell for DEI seems to have been summer 2022, when tech hiring abruptly reversed into tech layoffs.
In my little neck of the woods, the death knell for DEI seems to have been summer 2022, when tech hiring abruptly reversed into tech layoffs.
January 12, 2025 at 1:51 PM
DEI and idpol generally are dead. Zuckerberg sees which way the winds have blown on this and is simply getting ahead of it.
In my little neck of the woods, the death knell for DEI seems to have been summer 2022, when tech hiring abruptly reversed into tech layoffs.
In my little neck of the woods, the death knell for DEI seems to have been summer 2022, when tech hiring abruptly reversed into tech layoffs.
"Ready Player One is despicable for many reasons ..."
You really don't have to be outraged about everything. It was a fun book and a fun movie, nothing more.
You really don't have to be outraged about everything. It was a fun book and a fun movie, nothing more.
Ready Player One is despicable for many reasons, but today I woke up mad at its portrayal of the oligarch tech lord as a good and decent person. Yes the man who invents an app that ensnares all of society, so much so that they abandon reality altogether, he would be benevolent and virtuous, for sure
January 10, 2025 at 6:31 PM
"Ready Player One is despicable for many reasons ..."
You really don't have to be outraged about everything. It was a fun book and a fun movie, nothing more.
You really don't have to be outraged about everything. It was a fun book and a fun movie, nothing more.
$23M more for the LA Fire Department wouldn't have done a damn thing. This is a structural issue, with root causes going back decades: global warming, building too far into the wilderness, and setting aside land as a nature preserve instead of rigorously clearing it of brush as they used to.
January 10, 2025 at 4:16 AM
$23M more for the LA Fire Department wouldn't have done a damn thing. This is a structural issue, with root causes going back decades: global warming, building too far into the wilderness, and setting aside land as a nature preserve instead of rigorously clearing it of brush as they used to.
Home insurance in wildfire-prone areas of California is done. All insurers will leave the state entirely if necessary, but the existing CA policy of forcing insurers to keep money-losing contracts on the books simply won't continue.
And the fair market premium for fire insurance there will be HIGH.
And the fair market premium for fire insurance there will be HIGH.
January 9, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Home insurance in wildfire-prone areas of California is done. All insurers will leave the state entirely if necessary, but the existing CA policy of forcing insurers to keep money-losing contracts on the books simply won't continue.
And the fair market premium for fire insurance there will be HIGH.
And the fair market premium for fire insurance there will be HIGH.
I'm starting to think large swaths of California might need a non-flammable requirement for new construction in their building codes, like NYC and Chicago have had for over a century. You can't just be having all these houses made of wood that will go up in flames in wildfires.
January 9, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I'm starting to think large swaths of California might need a non-flammable requirement for new construction in their building codes, like NYC and Chicago have had for over a century. You can't just be having all these houses made of wood that will go up in flames in wildfires.
Los Angeles development in the WUI was a mistake.
January 9, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Los Angeles development in the WUI was a mistake.
Reposted by Ben McIlwain
This is funny, because Ireland is a completely insignificant force militarily. They aren't even part of NATO! They have zero ability to enforce anything an entire continent away, plus Israel isn't a signatory to the Rome Statute anyway.
www.cnn.com/2025/01/07/m...
www.cnn.com/2025/01/07/m...
Ireland joins genocide case against Israel at International Court of Justice | CNN
Ireland has joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, the International Court of Justice announced Tuesday morning.
www.cnn.com
January 8, 2025 at 12:13 AM
This is funny, because Ireland is a completely insignificant force militarily. They aren't even part of NATO! They have zero ability to enforce anything an entire continent away, plus Israel isn't a signatory to the Rome Statute anyway.
www.cnn.com/2025/01/07/m...
www.cnn.com/2025/01/07/m...
Reposted by Ben McIlwain
Day 3 of congestion pricing update: it’s 8:30AM, the peak of morning rush hour and basically zero traffic getting into Manhattan. Incredible.
January 7, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Day 3 of congestion pricing update: it’s 8:30AM, the peak of morning rush hour and basically zero traffic getting into Manhattan. Incredible.
Yeah so the original framing reads as more factually accurate to me than the proposed rewrite.
Please stop saying "rolled back diversity goals" and start saying "the company capitulated to a segregationist movement."
www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
McDonald's is the latest company to roll back diversity goals
The company rolled out a series of diversity initiatives in 2021 after a spate of sexual harrassment lawsuits and a lawsuit alleging discrimination by a group of Black former owners of McDonald’s fran...
www.nbcnews.com
January 7, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Yeah so the original framing reads as more factually accurate to me than the proposed rewrite.
We (the Democrats) really fucked up by constantly attacking big tech and pushing them into the arms of the right. They have so much money that can be used to buy elections, I don't see how we can recover from this.
January 7, 2025 at 6:13 PM
We (the Democrats) really fucked up by constantly attacking big tech and pushing them into the arms of the right. They have so much money that can be used to buy elections, I don't see how we can recover from this.
Bluesky needs a way to disable follow notifications. I don't care that some random bot has followed me, and it happens dozens of times per day. The only follow notification I ever want to see is if someone follows me *back*, because then I know they're not a bot.
January 7, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Bluesky needs a way to disable follow notifications. I don't care that some random bot has followed me, and it happens dozens of times per day. The only follow notification I ever want to see is if someone follows me *back*, because then I know they're not a bot.
Will never understand how "disabled" overtook "handicapped" on the euphemism treadmill. "Disabled" sounds way more like an old-timey slur to me, probably because I can't help but think of dictionary definition #2: "rendered inoperative (as by being damaged or deliberately altered)".
January 7, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Will never understand how "disabled" overtook "handicapped" on the euphemism treadmill. "Disabled" sounds way more like an old-timey slur to me, probably because I can't help but think of dictionary definition #2: "rendered inoperative (as by being damaged or deliberately altered)".
"People that consume the most meat are the poorest among us, doing so by necessity".
What planet is she from??
What planet is she from??
People forget that the longest commutes and the most fast food and the most meat are often consumed by the poorest among us by necessity. So I always demand that there be a free and accessible to all replacement for whatever you're disincentivizing FIRST, BEFORE the disincentive goes into effect.
January 6, 2025 at 10:44 PM
"People that consume the most meat are the poorest among us, doing so by necessity".
What planet is she from??
What planet is she from??
A take so hot it's wrong.
Of course surcharges on environmentally harmful goods and services, that reduce overall consumption of said goods and services, is good for the environment, full stop.
Of course surcharges on environmentally harmful goods and services, that reduce overall consumption of said goods and services, is good for the environment, full stop.
Hot take: surcharges on goods and services which harm the planet only work when there are accessible FREE alternatives. Otherwise they're just regressive taxes transferring wealth from the poor to the rich.
January 6, 2025 at 10:43 PM
A take so hot it's wrong.
Of course surcharges on environmentally harmful goods and services, that reduce overall consumption of said goods and services, is good for the environment, full stop.
Of course surcharges on environmentally harmful goods and services, that reduce overall consumption of said goods and services, is good for the environment, full stop.