> Oligarchy Has Arrived in America. Will We Confront It? https://inequality.org/article/oligarchy-has-arrived-in-america-will-we-confront-it/
Correction: Oligarchy HAS been, is, and will always be in America. Where the hell you guys been? There, fixed that for ya. Will gringos confront it? Not as long as they see themselves as millionaires in the waiting.
Oh well, vote #PartyOfStupid, and #FAFO.
> NEW REPORT: 102 million Americans who live in suburbs, small towns, and remote areas would pay biggest price for postal privatization https://ips-dc.org/release-102-million-americans-in-suburbs-small-towns-remote-areas-would-pay-biggest-price-for-postal-privatization/
FTA: "Unlike the for-profit carriers, the Postal Service has a universal service obligation to provide affordable deliveries to all Americans, regardless of where they live or work. Currently, USPS parcel rates are about 25 percent to 60 percent below FedEx and UPS prices."
> The USDA cut $500 million in funding to food banks. Here’s how they’re coping https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/food-banks-usda-cuts-impact-rcna200482
That surplus population ain't gonna decrease itself. Oh, and not just food banks feeling the hit. But gringos get what they voted in.
> Donald Trump’s disastrous tariffs policy is based on a book his son-in-law saw on Amazon https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/donald-trumps-disastrous-tariffs-policy-is-based-on-a-book-his-son-in-law-saw-on-amazon-391839/
I always cringe a little when certain overenthusiastic folks advocate reading without restriction nor discernment. That's how you get shit like this published. Then again, Jared should've gone to a library instead of trolling Amazon.
In #ChampagneProblems. These are not daily use sneakers, these are very high end luxury items. I said it before, cardinal sin in the US is to mess with the #RealOwners. Children going barefoot, no one gives a fuck. Mess with fancy sneakers collector, there will be hell to pay.
> Sneaker designers, retailers and collectors brace for Trump's tariffs https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/sneaker-companies-tariffs-china-vietnam-taiwan-rcna200104
#BackInTheUSColony, PR loses FEMA funding for climate change assistance. (Spanish language article)
> Puerto Rico pierde fondos de FEMA que promovían la adaptación climática https://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2025/04/puerto-rico-pierde-fondos-de-fema-que-promovian-la-adaptacion-climatica/
> The Fallout from “Liberation Day” https://rooseveltinstitute.org/roosevelt-rundown/the-fallout-from-liberation-day/
I bet y'all out there feeling tired of all that liberation. Hot dang (/s).
Meanwhile, in the #BadEconomy.
> Beginning March 24, 2025, Publishers Weekly charges $25 for every book submitted for PW review consideration.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/corp/submissionfeeforpwreviewconsideration.html
PW is one of those sources #librarians, especially public librarians, often check and rely on for #reviews and acquisition decisions. This, IMHO, seriously taints it.
> This is why you can't have nice things in a trade war https://www.axios.com/2025/04/03/tariffs-trade-war-vanilla
FTA: "When nice things more get expensive, we consume less of them, or move to cheaper alternatives." Duh.
And the big deal in the #AmericanEmpire is buying and consuming. Oh well.
> Apple Hit With $5 Billion Class Action Lawsuit Over eBooks Availability
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/02/apple-books-licensing-lawsuit/
Oh gee, they are discovering the racket of ebooks that #libraries have known and warned about for ages.
Maybe libraries need to get in on this and sue some publishers as well. (But that would require having a pair.)
> Sublimating the Grief of the Left Behind https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2025/04/01/yes-academic-job-loss-really-different-opinion
Meanwhile, in the #BadEconomy.
> Things Are Bad At Tesla And They're About To Get Much Worse
https://youtu.be/_SKaBwmHq9Y?si=mleKOH_Za6YhqD2X (video)
BYD is basically eating the #swasticar 's lunch. Sadly you won't see them in the US thanks to the tariffs.
I guess Michigan is getting some help to diminish the surplus population.
Jeebus on a popsicle stick.
> Feds cancel $4.3M worth of poultry, cheese, eggs to Michigan food banks
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2025/03/29/usda-cancels-4-3m-in-poultry-cheese-eggs-to-michigan-food-banks/82674058007/
> What Happens if Libraries Can’t Buy Ebooks?
https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2025/03/25/what-happens-if-libraries-cant-buy-ebooks-opinion
Let me bottom line it for you without some of the polite 
in the article: Libraries would be fucked, and more importantly, so would faculty who may rely on books and/or publish them.
#BadEconomy #academia #HigherEd #books #reading #publishing #fuckery (c)
A pretty good overview of the significance of Amazon's #greed and #fuckery. Part of it is the usual by now #AI bullshit.
> Pluralistic: Amazon annihilates Alexa privacy settings, turns on continuous, nonconsensual audio uploading (15 Mar 2025) https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/15/altering-the-deal/ by @pluralistic
As usual, all gung ho GOP here until it hurts them. Distillers here send a lot of their whiskey overseas (to point in some cases locals complain they can't get certain bottles), including to Canada. Personally, as much as I like bourbon, I will gradually switch to other whiskeys or liquor options.
> Bourbon industry in crosshairs of U.S.-Canada trade war https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bourbon-industry-crosshairs-us-canada-trade-war-rcna195906
> US economic worries mount as Trump implements tariffs, cuts workforce and freezes spending https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-recession-fears-535e22b2c7c62ce917afe12c19c60c75
FTA: "...there are growing worries President Donald Trump may be doing more to harm the U.S. economy than to fix it."
So, just how much does he have to fuck up the country before it moves from "worrying" to actually removing the asshole and the rest of the #PartyOfStupid?
Meanwhile, in the #BadEconomy and while I have nothing against the "trades," let us be honest, a lot of this is as headline says fear of #AI.
> High Schools Training Students for Manual Labor as AI Looms Over College and Jobs https://futurism.com/shop-class-manual-work-ai
> ChatGPT and Other Chatbots Are Hurting Publishers Even Worse Than We Thought https://futurism.com/openai-google-hurting-publishers
You wanted #AI for whatever money saving #CacaDeToro , here ya go.
Meanwhile, in #BadEconomy #fuckery
> Google Cofounder Exhorts Employees to Work 60-Hour Weeks to Create AI Designed to Replace Them https://futurism.com/google-sergey-brin-60-hour-week-ai
But yea, the #tech #HigherEd and #academia are rushing to embrace, including certain small campuses with #librarians who should know better.
