Pluralistic: 26 May 2020

Today's links

Scarfolk on Cumgate: Government Employee Eye-Test Slide (1970s).
Texas profiteers make bank from NYC's homeless: Crewfacilities.com LLC is gouging the city while finding hotel beds for homeless people.
FCC's willful broadband blindness in a pandemic: You can't fix broadband if you don't know what's wrong with it.
Uber is scrapping thousands of Jump bikes: Bikes are essential during lockdowns.
White Americans are increasingly opposed to democracy: Turkeys, Christmas, etc.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Armed Michigan voters escort their state rep to work: If the police won't stop the flu klux klan…
Konstantine Anthony for Burbank City Council: A candidate for working Burbankers.
Flooding Ohio's "work-refusal" snitchline: Volcano gods go hungry tonight.
Brett Favre received $1.1m in welfare money for speeches he never gave: Part of Mississippi's $98m corruption scandal.
The real Lord of the Flies kids were really nice to each other: Another paradise built in hell.
Phil Ochs rarities: Treasures from a lost and beautiful radical musician and writer.
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

100 Ideas for Dungeon Masters: Based on the Pathfinder Bestiary, readily adaptable for other systems.
Attack Surface author's note: My latest podcast is the afterword from the third Little Brother book.
Trump admits voter suppression: Proving intent was never easier.
Reality endorses Sanders: Pandemics have an obvious leftist bias.
Amazon fires walkout organizer: Low waged workers, doing the most important work in America, exposed to lethal risk.
Monopolists stole your respirator: Dying a gasping death is pareto-optimal.
Corporate welfare vs food stamps: A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money.
How viruses experience social distancing: XKCD mixes atavistic satisfaction with science communications.
Scarfolk pandemics: This isn't the worst timeline after all.
This day in history: 2005, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Charter techs get $25 gift cards instead of hazard pay: No hand-san or PPE, either.
The Pandemic Playbook: Trump won't rtfm.
Boardgame Remix Kit: Make 26 new games out of Monopoly, Clue, Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble sets.
McMansion Hell visits 1972: "Architecture store? I'd like one of everything."
Free Cheapass Games print-and-plays: KILL DOCTOR LUCKY, GIVE ME THE BRAIN, LORD OF THE FRIES, UNEXPLODED COW and so many more!
Trump officials killed Walmart opioid prosecutions: With help from Jones Day.
United gets $25B stimulus and announces layoffs: The biggest corporate giveaway in history.
FLICC vs denialism: A taxonomy of scientific denial, just in time.
This Waifu Does Not Exist: Autogenned anime characters, with backstories.
Fever cameras are garbage: It's the pivot-to-covid for grifty police enablers.
Employers scramble to buy remote-worker spyware: Even if you're paying for the product, you're the product.
Canada Reads Q&A on Apr 23: Unfortunately, it's on Facebook.
Cowboy Economist on covid stimulus: Congress doesn't spend taxes, it spends and then taxes.
88 Names podcast: Talking VR, AR and gold farming with Matt Ruff.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

The most beautiful RPG dice I've ever seen: And you can also make your own.
The king of Dutch climate denial was secretly in Shell's pay: Frits Böttcher was a packrat, and his papers detail exactly how he was paid to sow climate doubt. He was very good at it.
American Catholic officials helped priests who preyed on children escape to Mexico: At least 51 "credibly accused" priests left the US and took up positions abroad.
A grifty AI company conned the state of Utah into giving access to everything: Banjo claims it will predict and head off terrorist attacks, mass shootings, and child abductions without invading anyone's privacy.
Clearview AI says it only lets cops use its facial recognition tool but it's lying: Investors, cronies and pals got to literally use it as a party trick.
South Korea's beating covid-19 with free testing: Testing is part of the free national health system, and 140,000 tests have been administered.
The web is unusably beshitted with terrible ad-tech: "No, I don't want great articles."
For $3, a robolawyer will automatically force data brokers to delete you and sue the ones who don't: Donotpay meets the CCPA, it's like peanut butter and chocolate.
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading