Echinocentric @Echinocentric@social.cleverlibre.org

Wall Street has consolidated into 5 giant banks.

Airlines have merged from 12 carriers in 1980 to 4 today.

A handful of drug companies control the pharmaceutical industry.

Four giants control over 80% of meat processing.

The evidence of corporate concentration is everywhere.

Who bought George Santos?

BREAKING per NBC News: Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into George Santos

What is George Santos's real name?

What sets this winter apart
from last winter
and the one before that
is that this winter
we really cannot pretend
that we haven’t been warned.

*

A compendium of the hundred-and-forty-fifth week of plague poems…

https://librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/2022/12/29/plague-poems-the-hundred-and-forty-fifth-week/

For the SF Chronicle, I wrote about getting canceled from #twitter (& switching to Mastodon):

It’s an honor to get canceled by Musk, who is welcoming neo-Nazis back to Twitter while banning reporters. Still, it’s admittedly terrifying to see him cross the bright red line of declaring outright war against freedom of the press.

Twitter has become a virtual simulation of authoritarian rule.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/elon-musk-twitter-ban-censorship-17680044.php

Remember when all cars came with cigarette lighters and ashtrays, but seat belts were kind of optional.

The New Yorker piece, The Case for Wearing Masks is really written to make those of us who are aware of the dangers of Covid look like fringe weirdos.

Fascinating how many refuse to understand the racial and economic implications of our current Covid approach.

I love how we are all assuming his name is actually George Santos

@sanjaysharma @meowkittyfb
Yay! Giant Squirrels!

https://www.boredpanda.com/indian-giant-malabar-squirrel/

The DeSantis administration was sued for failing to release official records relating to its infamous migrant flight to Martha’s Vineyard. Then it dumped the documents right before Christmas, hoping no one would notice. But we noticed. I’m doing my part to amplify this story.
https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/a-top-desantis-aide-behind-the-marthas?sd=pf

#Twitter: where we used to go for breaking news.

#Mastodon: where we now go for news about Twitter breaking.

The question is not, "Should George Santos be seated in the House by the Republican party despite the fact that he lied about EVERYTHING?"

The question is, "How soon can 1000 chimpanzees be assembled to pelt Santos with feces over the sound of a thundering laugh track?" #politics

2009 INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (Tarantino) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
I'd cooled a bit on QT in the years after Jackie Brown (and have cooled a bit since), so I was pleasantly astonished to discover that what had been marketed as a goofy gloss on The Dirty Dozen was actually something far more audacious; a sharp deconstruction of war film, of propaganda, of the audiences that consume it, and of crimes that demand redress. Tarantino usually throws out the rulebook and swings big; this time he swings huge—and connects.

Kevin McCarthy on Nov 19: “With George Santos in NY…we have the largest Republican Jewish Caucus in 24 years”

McCarthy after finding out Santos lied about being Jewish & the grandson of Holocaust survivors: *crickets*

It’s amazing McCarthy can even walk without a goddamn spine

Short rant.

Southwest Air has cancelled ~70% of its flights in an epic meltdown this holiday season.

Remember, Southwest took $3.7B in federal aid from 2020-21.

It’s CEO got a pay raise to a $9.1M package in 2022.

Yet Southwest employees are working 16 hour shifts & threatened w/termination if they refuse overtime or call in sick.

Socialism for the wealthy. Capitalism for workers.

Stop trusting billionaires. Start holding them accountable. And start protecting workers.

End Rant.