With model devs pushing more aggressive rate limits, raising prices, or even abandoning subscriptions for usage-based pricing, that vibe-coded hobby project is about to get a whole lot more expensive. Fortunately, you're not without cost-saving options.…
Comrade Trump continues his unbroken streak of destroying the American empire's grip on the world, hastening the renewables transition, de-dollarizing global trade, and killing the world's suicidal habit of entrusting its digital life to America's defective, enshittified tech exports:
https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/20/praxis/#acceleration
But Comrade Trump's ambitious praxis knows no bounds. Now, he's helping to remake the Democratic Party as a muscular opposition with a serious commitment to workers' interests over billionaires. It's not merely that Trump has empowered the primary campaigns of leftist Democrats facing down corporate, AIPAC-backed sellouts:
https://prospect.org/2026/04/30/palestine-super-pac-new-jersey-12-district-adam-hamawy/
He's also stiffening normie sellout Democrats' spines, forcing them to confront the stark choice between socialism and barbarism! And Dem leaders don't come more normie sellout than Cory "Big Pharma" Booker, a disgrace to Corys everywhere:
Nevertheless, that very same (lesser) Cory has introduced legislation to unwind every illegal, corrupt merger that the Trump administration has waved through:
Under the Correcting Lapsed Enforcement in Antitrust Norms for Mergers (CLEAN Mergers) Act, any company that was acquired in a deal worth $10b or more will have to break up with its merger partner if it turns out that these mergers were "politically influenced." "Politically influenced" sums up every major merger under the Trump II regime:
https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/13/khanservatives/#kid-rock-eats-shit
You could be forgiven for assuming that this is just about reining in Wall Street greed, but that it isn't an especially political maneuver. That's not true: antitrust is the most consequentially political regulation (with the possible exception of regulations on elections). Every fascist power defeated in WWII relied on the backing of their national monopolists to take, hold and wield power. That's why the Marshall Plan technocrats who rewrote the laws of Europe, South Korea and Japan made sure to copy over US antitrust law onto those statute-books (that's also why the tech antitrust cases brought in Europe could be re-run in South Korea and Japan – their laws are all substantively similar, because they were harmonized with US antitrust in the 1950s):
https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/22/autocrats-of-trade/#dingo-babysitter
Fascism and monopolies go hand in hand, and smashing monopolies is key to the program of fighting fascism. After defeating fascism in the mid-20th century, the Allies oversaw a program of "denazification," starting with the Nuremberg trials:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials
Inspired by those trials, I've proposed that Congressional Dems could form a "Nuremberg Caucus" that would publicly promise sweeping plans to denazify America after Trump and his allies have been swept from power:
https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/10/miller-in-the-dock/#denazification
The centerpiece of the Nuremberg Caucus playbook is a set of ready-to-file, public indictments against Trump officials who have violated the law, the Constitution, and the rights of the people of the USA. Dems should create and maintain a docket with exhibits and witness lists that gets updated every time one of these crooks runs their big, stupid mouths on Fox News or OANN or Twitter. The Nuremberg Caucus could even set dates for the trials of officials, with judicial calendars for each federal courtroom, starting on January 21, 2029.
The idea here is to both demoralize Trump's collaborators and to stiffen the spines of the Democratic base who will have to be convinced that turning out for the coming elections, and defending them, will mean something, delivering the change and hope they've been promised since the Obama campaign, but which has never materialized.
While trials and punishment for Trump's fascist goons are at the center of the Nuremberg Caucus plan, that's not all of it. The plan also calls for publicly announcing the intention to unwind every corrupt merger that was consummated under Trump. This serves two purposes: first, it promises the electorate that the monopolists who steal from them will face consequences for their crimes; but second, it also puts investors on notice that any gains from corrupt mergers will turn into massive losses once the next administration orders these companies to unscramble the inedible omelets they're cooking up, no matter what the cost.
That's exactly what Booker's CLEAN Mergers Act – cosponsored by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) – does. I don't think that Booker is listening to me, but I do think that Dems who are willing to introduce this kind of legislation can be cajoled, coerced and sweet-talked into more ambitious Nuremberg Caucus actions.
For example, there could not be a better time to announce plans to unrig the Supreme Court, which has just gutted the Voting Rights Act:
https://prospect.org/2026/05/01/turning-civil-rights-inside-out-supreme-court-voting-rights/
The Supreme Court's legitimacy has been burned to the ground, and Trump's chud justices are pissing on the ashes. Packing the court is a very good idea:
https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/20/judicial-equilibria/#pack-the-court
It's also a very popular idea:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/18/the-people-no/#tell-ya-what-i-want-what-i-really-really-want
Which is why I included it in the Nuremberg Caucus plan. But packing the court is just table stakes. In his latest video, Jamelle Bouie lays out a detailed plan for denazifying the Supreme Court:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRzS61buXkQ
As Bouie points out, "as long as John Roberts has his majority, nothing the left of center in this country wants to do is safe or stable…We can have democracy and self-government in this country or we can have the Supreme Court as it exists, but we cannot have both."
But packing the court – while a good place to start – isn't enough. Per Bouie, the problem isn't just the court's corruption – it's how powerful the court is. Article 3, Section 2 of the Constitution permits Congress to "jurisdiction strip" the Supremes: Congress can pass a law taking voting rights and racial discrimination away from the Supreme Court's jurisdiction. Congress can impose ethics reforms on the court, banning justices from taking bribes (I can't believe I have to type these words).
Congress can turn the Supreme Court's current building into a museum and move the Supreme Court back into its original home in Congress's basement. Congress can take away the Supremes' ability to select their clerks or which cases they hear. All the Constitution says is that there must be a Supreme Court, and it must adjudicate "disputes between states, disputes involving ambassadors, impeachments, that kind of thing." Everything else is up to Congress to grant or withhold from SCOTUS.
This is very good Nuremberg Caucus stuff. It would be an amazing campaign promise for anyone primarying a shitty normie Dem in the midterms: "Vote for me, and I will be part of the legislative movement to make the Supreme Court weaker and thus more accountable."
Now, as much as I like this, I'm really holding out for a Dem to go with my big ICE-melting idea: promising million-dollar bounties for ICE officers who rat out their buddies for violating the law:
ICE agents are signing up with the promise of $50k hiring bonuses and $60k in student debt cancellation. That's peanuts. The Nuremberg Caucus could announce a Crimestoppers-style program with $1m bounties for any ICE officer who a) is themselves innocent of any human rights violations, and; b) provides evidence leading to the conviction of another ICE officer for committing human rights violations. That would certainly improve morale for (some) ICE officers.
As I wrote in February:
Critics of this plan will say that this will force Trump officials to try to steal the next election in order to avoid consequences for their actions. This is certainly true: confidence in a "peaceful transfer of power" is the bedrock of any kind of fair election.
But this bunch have already repeatedly signaled that they intend to steal the midterms and the next general election:
ICE agents are straight up telling people that ICE is on the streets to arrest people in Democratic-leaning states ("The more people that you lose in Minnesota, you then lose a voting right to stay blue"):
The only path to fair elections – and saving America – lies through mobilizing and energizing hundreds of millions of Americans. They are ready. They are begging for leadership. They want an electoral choice, something better than a return to the pre-Trump status quo. If you want giant crowds at every polling place, rising up against ICE and DHS voter-suppression, then you have to promise people that their vote will mean something.
Why are the Artemis II photos on Flickr? https://www.anildash.com/2026/04/30/artemis-photos-flickr/
Your Dinner Got Worse On Purpose https://www.worseonpurpose.com/p/your-dinner-got-worse-on-purpose
Hadopi (2009–2026) https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2026/04/30/hadopi-2009-2026-2/
You’re Not Wrong, Babies Are Getting Worse: Enshittification Comes For A Once-Beloved Classic https://theonion.com/youre-not-wrong-babies-are-getting-worse-enshittification-comes-for-a-once-beloved-classic/
#25yrsago Implementing TCP over pigeon https://blug.linux.no/rfc1149/
#20yrsago Barenaked Ladies frontman on copyright reform https://web.archive.org/web/20060505032617/http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=3367a219-f395-4161-a9b9-95256c613824
#20yrsago Stephen Colbert kills at White House press corps dinner https://web.archive.org/web/20060501114431/http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002425363
#20yrsago Cinema owners try to lure us back to the movies https://web.archive.org/web/20060620140301/https://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/14457900.htm?source=rss&channel=mercurynews_peninsula
#20yrsago Smithsonian’s sellout to Showtime slammed by Congress https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/28/AR2006042802213_2.html
#20yrago Wallaby milk: proof against antibiotic resistant bacteria https://web.archive.org/web/20060429102138/http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=593632006
#20yrsago Documentary on radical free school https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgpuSo-GSfw
#15yrsago Facebook celebrates royal wedding by nuking 50 protest groups https://anticutsspace.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/political-facebook-groups-deleted-on-royal-wedding-day/
#15yrsago Jay Rosen: What I Think I Know About Journalism https://pressthink.org/2011/04/what-i-think-i-know-about-journalism/
#15yrsago Companies should release the source code for discontinued products https://makezine.com/article/maker-news/if-youre-going-to-kill-it-open-source-it/
#15yrsago Scratch-built “freedom press” https://makezine.com/article/craft/freedom_press/
#15yrsago HOWTO quilt a 3D Mad Tea Party set https://www.instructables.com/Quilted-Mad-Tea-Party-Set/
#15yrsago Online activism works: Canada delayed US-style copyright bill in fear of activist campaign https://web.archive.org/web/20110501103056/https://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5763/125/
#15yrsago Ad agency to radicals: “We own radical media(TM)” https://web.archive.org/web/20110503045909/http://radicalmediaconference.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/we-make-radical-media-you-make-adverts/
#15yrsago Troubletwisters: Garth Nix and Sean Williams’ action-packed new kids’ fantasy https://memex.craphound.com/2011/04/30/troubletwisters-garth-nix-and-sean-williams-action-packed-new-kids-fantasy/
#15yrsago RIP, Joanna Russ https://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/012974.html#547586
#5yrsago Experian doxes the world (again) https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/30/dox-the-world/#experian
#5yrsago Disney's writer wage-theft is far worse than reported https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/29/writers-must-be-paid/#pay-the-writer
#5yrsago Korea set to break the Samsung dynasty https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/29/writers-must-be-paid/#dynasties
#5yrsago What the hell is "carried interest" https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/29/writers-must-be-paid/#carried-interest
#1yrago Mike Lee and Jim Jordan want to kill the law that bans companies from cheating you https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/29/cheaters-and-liars/#caveat-emptor-brainworms
#1yrago Republicans want to force students to pay off scam college loans https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/30/trump-u/#i-think-you-know-what-the-trustees-can-do-with-their-suggestions
Virtual: How to Disenshittify the Internet with Wendy Liu (EFF), May 14
https://www.eff.org/event/effecting-change-enshittification
Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20
https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow
Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19
https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html
Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25
https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2
SXSW London, Jun 2
https://www.sxswlondon.com/session/how-big-tech-broke-the-internet-b3c4a901
NYC: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Jonathan Coulton (The Strand), Jun 24
https://www.strandbooks.com/cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaur-s-guide-to-life-after-ai.html
Edinburgh International Book Festival with Jimmy Wales, Aug 17
https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/events/the-front-list-cory-doctorow-and-jimmy-wales
When Do Platforms Stop Innovating and Start Extracting? (InnovEU)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cccDR0YaMt8
Pete "Mayor" Buttigieg (No Gods No Mayors)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pete-mayor-with-155614612
The internet is getting worse (CBC The National)
https://youtu.be/dCVUCdg3Uqc?si=FMcA0EI_Mi13Lw-P
Do you feel screwed over by big tech? (Ontario Today)
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16203024-do-feel-screwed-big-tech
"Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/
"Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels).
"The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org).
"The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org).
"The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245).
"Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com.
"Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com
"Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026
"The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027
"Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, April 20, 2027
"The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027
Today's top sources:
Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor.
"The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING.
A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING
This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution.
Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection):
Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection):
https://pluralistic.net/plura-list
Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection):
Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection):
https://bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net
Medium (no ads, paywalled):
Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising):
https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic
"When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla
READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer.
ISSN: 3066-764X
AMSTERDAM (ANP) - Klanten van ING en Triodos hebben zaterdagochtend moeilijker kunnen pinnen. Volgens ING lag het probleem bij een externe partij die pintransacties afhandelt, maar is de storing nu voorbij.
Een woordvoerder van ING zegt dat de bank de situatie goed in de gaten houdt en in gesprek is met de externe partij. "We bieden onze excuses aan voor het ongemak", voegt hij eraan toe.
Op de site allestoringen.nl, waar mensen storingen kunnen melden, is na 11.30 uur een duidelijke stijging te zien in het aantal meldingen van storingen die met ING te maken hebben.
Google Pay
Ook over Triodos werd rond dat tijdstip vaker geklaagd. Een klant van die bank meldde niet te kunnen pinnen. In de bankapp van Triodos stond dat er een storing met betaalpassen gaande was. Ook bij geldautomaten en betalingen via Google Pay waren er problemen.
Een woordvoerder van Triodos bevestigt dat het probleem bij een derde partij lag. "Maar we zien nu weer pinbetalingen binnenkomen, dus de situatie lijkt te verbeteren", zegt hij.
JERUZALEM (ANP) - Het Israëlische ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken zegt dat twee opvarenden van de vloot die richting Gaza voer met hulpgoederen, naar Israël zijn gebracht voor verhoor. Eerder werd via de sociale media van de Global Sumud Flotilla bekendgemaakt dat alle activisten waren vrijgelaten op het Griekse eiland Kreta, behalve twee van de organisatoren.
De organisatie riep eerder op tot de vrijlating van de Spaans-Palestijnse Saif Abukeshek en de Braziliaanse Thiago Ávila. Israël zegt dat een van de activisten werkt voor een organisatie die onder sancties van de Verenigde Staten staat, en dat de ander wordt verdacht van "illegale activiteiten". Ze zullen worden ondervraagd door de politie en zullen consulair bezoek ontvangen van vertegenwoordigers van hun landen, aldus het ministerie.
Ook bij eerdere pogingen om Gaza per boot te bereiken werden activisten naar Israël gebracht. Zij zeiden toen slecht te zijn behandeld terwijl ze daar werden vastgehouden.
Nederlandse pensioenfondsen hebben de afgelopen jaren miljarden aan mogelijk rendement laten liggen door structureel zwak beleggingsbeleid en discutabele keuzes in hun strategie. Dat blijkt uit diverse ranglijsten en onderzoeken waaruit volgt dat een groot deel van de fondsen, gecorrigeerd voor risico, achterblijft bij wat haalbaar zou zijn met een eenvoudiger, marktvolgend beleid.
In studies naar de prestaties van pensioenfondsen wordt vaak gekeken naar het zogenoemde overrendement: het extra rendement bovenop een risicovrij alternatief, zoals staatsobligaties. Uit eerdere analyses komt naar voren dat ongeveer de helft van de Nederlandse pensioenfondsen er over langere periodes niet in slaagt om structureel een positief overrendement te realiseren.
Voor deelnemers is dat geen academische discussie. Pensioenfondsen beleggen hun premies juist om, na aftrek van kosten en risico, méér op te leveren dan sparen in veilige obligaties. Wanneer dat, ondanks professionele vermogensbeheerders, niet of nauwelijks lukt, rijst de vraag of de gekozen beleggingsstrategieën wel in het belang van de deelnemer zijn.
Een belangrijke verklaring die in de sector wordt genoemd, is de sterke hang naar complexe beleggingsstrategieën. Veel fondsen investeren via private equity, hedgefondsen, niet‑beursgenoteerd vastgoed en ingewikkelde derivatenconstructies. Dat moet zorgen voor extra rendement en betere risicospreiding, maar brengt ook hoge kosten en beperkte transparantie met zich mee.
Tegenover die hogere kosten staat lang niet altijd aantoonbaar beter resultaat. Eenvoudiger opgebouwde portefeuilles – met wereldwijd gespreide aandelen- en obligatiebeleggingen tegen lage kosten – blijken in langjarige vergelijkingen regelmatig minstens zo goed, en soms zelfs beter, te presteren dan de dure, complexe aanpak. Dat voedt de kritiek dat sommige fondsen vooral hun eigen complexiteit financieren, in plaats van het pensioen van deelnemers te optimaliseren.
Daarnaast speelt de manier van meten een grote rol. Veel pensioenfondsen sturen op interne benchmarks en op het beperken van de afwijking ten opzichte van die eigen maatstaf. Het risico om “af te wijken” van de gekozen index – de zogenoemde tracking error – weegt in de praktijk soms zwaarder dan de vraag of het totaalbeleid wel voldoende extra rendement oplevert ten opzichte van een risicovrije basis.
Critici spreken daarom van “de verkeerde meetlat”. Als bestuurders zich primair verantwoorden ten opzichte van hun eigen indexen, en niet tegenover de vraag of het pensioen van deelnemers aantoonbaar beter af is dan met een eenvoudig, goedkoop alternatief, kan een fonds jarenlang onderpresteren zonder dat dat echt als een probleem wordt benoem
De periode van extreem lage rente heeft het effect van beleidskeuzes extra duidelijk gemaakt. Uit voorzichtigheid – en onder druk van regels en toezicht – hebben veel fondsen een groot deel van hun renterisico afgedekt met rentederivaten of zeer veilige obligaties. Dat beschermde de dekkingsgraad tegen verdere rentedalingen, maar drukte tegelijkertijd het rendement.
Met de kennis van nu blijkt dat een minder zware mate van afdekking op lange termijn meer had kunnen opleveren. Door de lang aanhoudende lage rente en de daaropvolgende rentestijging zijn fondsen in sommige jaren geconfronteerd met forse beleggingsverliezen, terwijl de financiële positie op papier verbeterde doordat de verplichtingen in waarde daalden. Voor deelnemers was dat moeilijk te rijmen: er verdwenen tientallen miljarden aan beleggingswaarde, terwijl bestuurders toch konden melden dat de dekkingsgraad steeg.
Door de herhaling van teleurstellende resultaten klinkt steeds vaker de stelling dat het niet langer om pech of marktomstandigheden gaat, maar om structurele weeffouten in beleid en governance. Als over meerdere economische cycli blijkt dat een aanzienlijk deel van de fondsen het niet beter doet dan een simpele, goedkope beleggingsmix, is de vraag gerechtvaardigd of de sector voldoende kritisch naar zichzelf kijkt.
Daarbij komt dat bestuurders en toezichthouders sterk zijn gericht op toekomstige scenario’s – via bijvoorbeeld ALM‑studies en lange termijnprojecties – maar veel minder op grondige terugblik: welke besluiten uit het verleden hebben aantoonbaar bijgedragen, en welke hebben vooral geld gekost zonder meerwaarde? Die systematische evaluatie ontbreekt vaak of blijft intern.
De discussie krijgt extra lading door de overgang naar het nieuwe pensioenstelsel. In dat stelsel worden persoonlijke en collectieve pensioenpotten directer gekoppeld aan het behaalde beleggingsrendement. Mee- en tegenvallers komen sneller en zichtbaarder terecht op de pensioenverwachtingen van individuele deelnemers.
Dat maakt de kwaliteit van het beleggingsbeleid nog belangrijker. Waar onder het oude stelsel schommelingen deels werden afgevlakt via de dekkingsgraad en buffers, zullen de verschillen tussen goed en slecht presterende fondsen nu directer gevoeld worden. De vraag of miljarden aan potentieel rendement structureel worden gemist, raakt daarmee niet alleen een technisch debat tussen experts, maar direct het vertrouwen van miljoenen Nederlanders in hun pensioen.
***
⚽ Updates from a crucial afternoon of football action
⚽ Ten things to look out for | Scores | Tables | Mail John
Should Sheffield Wednesday beat West Brom today, they will climb to a total of zero points, nil point, if you will
Millwall v Oxford teams
Continue reading...Figures for England and Wales prompt calls for more rigorous police investigations of cases
Only 3% of suicides related to domestic abuse in England and Wales in the past five years have resulted in any sort of prosecution, figures show.
Between 2020 and 2025, 553 people took their own lives after suspected abuse in an intimate relationship, but only 17 posthumous charges were brought.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...As the Onion waits for a court to approve its takeover, creative director Heidecker previews his ambitious plan to parody the site – already sending Jones into a fury
If you’ve tuned in to Infowars over the years, you might have heard a very angry man screaming about the 2020 election being stolen for “reanimated corpse” Joe Biden, or chemicals in the water turning frogs gay, or the Sandy Hook school shooting, which killed 20 children and six staff members, being faked. Founded in 1999, Alex Jones’s Infowars has long been a platform for toxic conspiracy theories with real-life consequences, in addition to weird dietary supplements. But if the Onion has its way, the InfoWars of the future will have a very different impact.
The satirical newspaper has been working for several years to take over the site, amid legal battles over Jones’s false claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. Pending a Texas court’s approval, the platform could soon be in the hands of the Onion and a newly installed creative director, comedian Tim Heidecker, known for his surreal sketches and mockery of the far right. The result would be the transformation of a dangerous political weapon into a comedy hub that undermines everything Infowars once stood for.
Continue reading...
