Un-Wired

Today was a surprisingly emotion tugging day for me…  I received a notification of subscription renewal for Wired Magazine for just shy of $30 for the year (a monthly issue – hard-copy via “snail-mail”).  This is more than normal (at least in the past) and I just don’t believe I can justify the continued subscription now I’m into my sixth year of retirement.  So, I’ve canceled my subscription…
I started reading Wired back in 2000, when I got hired as a web-development manager in San Francisco (just before the “dot-bomb”) at a “dot-com”.  The company I was working at had a whole bookshelf of every back issue of Wired from inception to present (2000).  I started at issue #1 and read them all – cover to cover – during the time I was separated from my family.  After I got current, I purchased my own subscription and have maintained it all of these 20+ years – until today.  So, I am probably one of just a few people who can say they’ve read EVERY issue of almost 30 years of Wired.  Interestingly, (to me anyway), I was the only person at the company who EVER read the magazine.  I asked!  I also asked why we kept the annual subscription if no one read the magazine, and was told:  “We have a handful of subscriptions and we just renew them all each year.”
Now, in full disclosure, I have to qualify that I’m “currently” a few months behind in my reading, due to “life issues”, so you will probably see multiple quotes from 2022 issues in the future as I wrap up the outstanding reading.  My future son-in-law is also a hard-copy subscriber, and he’s promised to hold on to and pass along his copies.  Other than that, there’s always the public library…
Having cancelled my subscription to Time Magazine last year (June 2022 – after a near 50 year relationship), it feels strange to cut another string from my past primary written information sources.
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On This Day In:
2023	Un-Wired
	An Exquisite Balance
2022	You Ought To Be Having Fun
2021	Democrats Talking To Republicans
	Talkin’ To Myself And Feelin’ Old (Rainy Days And Mondays)
2020	You Are Not Late (Yet)
2019	Too Difficult To Try
2018	Hold Fast
2017	The Only Real Security
2016	Time Said
2015	If Only Common Sense Were More Common
2014	PTI
2013	What Now, Then?
2012	Big C, Little B
	Duty, Honor, Country

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An Inclusive Phrase

Nothwithstanding the recent tumult, we remain one country, not two.  Going forward, let us advocate vigorously on behalf of causes that concern us as individuals or groups;  but let us also never forget that we belong in addition to a larger circle.  No matter how we define us, no matter how we define them, We the People is an inclusive phrase.
—     Madeleine Abright
From her op-ed:  “Our destructive cycle of us-vs.-them thinking“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  1 / 8 February 2021
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On This Day In:
2022	An Inclusive Phrase
2021	The Right Questions
	Like Sunday Morning (Easy)
2020	#DonTheCon: Why The Oval Office Is Dark
2019	Begin Now
2018	Do You See Him At The Border
2017	Keep Moving Forward
2016	That Which You Restore
	The Best Of Disinfectants
2015	Thousands
2014	What We Can
2013	Mostly Unsound
2012	Malcontent
2011	What Have You Seen Lately?
	Just Perspire!

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The End Of Time

WAY back when I was starting high school (just before the meteor killed most of the dinosaurs), I signed up for a social studies / current events class.  As our homework, we were expected to become familiar with current events by reading at least one “national” publication (as opposed to a local newspaper with national news).  My mom always tried to encourage our reading so she signed up for three (four actually):  Time Magazine, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report.  The fourth was more for herself and the whole family:  Life Magazine.
Thus began my (more or less) life-long subscription to Time Magazine…
We dropped the other two after the first year’s subscriptions ran out – but she kept me going on Time.  There was a brief lapse while I was in the military and in training, but I picked it back up when I got stationed in Germany for my last two years.  I was reading the “International / European” edition.  I didn’t realize there was a “different” version until after I’d already subscribed.  I just assumed everybody in the world got the same news – after all, our “national” version contained international and European news.  But of course, this was a completely different focus / emphasis and I – being the ugly American – resented I wasn’t getting as much American news.
Anyway, I kept it up when I got out and went to college and, in fact increased my subscriptions to include the Time / Life book series on “understanding computers”, the book series on history and civilization, the book series “Reading Program” – (kind of a mini-“Great Books”) secondary works of famous authors, and two music series: “Great Men of Music” (classical composers) and “Big Bands”.  I continued my weekly subscription when we moved to Liverpool and again upon returning to the Bay Area.
Now, however, my 50+ year relationship with Time has run its course.  My subscription ended towards the end of last summer (2021).  For whatever reason, they continued to send me issues until the end of January this year (2022), but I did not and will not be renewing my subscription.
There are three primary reasons for my non-renewal:  1)  As of five years ago, I retired and funds are getting tighter.  Now don’t get me wrong…  I can still “afford” the subscription.  I just choose to spend the limited discretionary funds on other things.  2)  the magazine has gone from a weekly to a every-other-week magazine.  They are under pressure to turn everything over to the internet and are apparently struggling to keep up staff, quality and quantity.  The practical effect was the weekly was getting thinner and thinner.  Their shift has “almost” restored the number of pages in any given issue, but it’s still only half as many pages of information.  And, 3)  the magazine has modified the typeface in their hard-copy.  I’m fairly confident they explained / justified their reasons for doing this in one of their editor columns, but frankly, it (the magazine) is just less appealing to look at now.  And so I’m moving on…
And just to make a long story (post) longer…  Why now?  If the subscription ended last year and the “bonus” issues back in January, why am I writing this (blog post) is the end of “Time“?
It’s purely personal.  I get the issue in the mail.  I take a quick glance to see if there’s anything I “NEED” to know about now.  I read that.  The issue then goes into my “throne” rack to be read cover to cover when I’m doing “something else”.  So, now, at the end of six months, I’m all caught up and “moving” to other things…
I am continuing my subscription to “Wired” magazine and I will be occasionally be posting quotes from that source.   I will miss the Red border and (regretfully) I’m sure my overall knowledge of current events will suffer / decline.
Back in the Principal’s Office of my high school, there was a framed question on the wall:  “Time is passing…  Are you?“
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On This Day In:
2022	Except To You
	The End Of Time
2021	Best To Be Trained And Educated
	The Great Relief
2020	Diversity And Uniqueness
2019	Ebb And Flow
2018	America: Paging #45
2017	Near By
2016	Maybe Someday
2015	How’s The Cow?
2014	Mind Made Up
2013	On Purpose
2012	The Dream
2011	What Could Be More Comfortable?

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Planned, Promised And Promoted

Like our pandemic response, the U.S. Capitol riot is the latest cataclysm to be blamed on a failure of imagination.  Who could imagine a virus that crashes the entire global operating system, or an attack that narrowly fails to decapitate the U.S. government?
And the obvious answer?  Anyone who was paying attention.
Just as epidemiologists long warned of a pandemic, the insurrectionists helpfully advertised their violent intentions all over social media.  The phrase storm the Capitol, unleashing countless QAnon furies, appeared 100,000 times in the month before the attack, according to Zignal Labs.  The President clashed his cymbals and stoked the lie;  party leaders largely ignored or pampered him.  The day before the attack, an FBI office shared the warnings from online:  “Be ready to fight.  Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in  …  Get violent.  Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest.  Go there ready for war.”
Which means that it should have required no imagination to foresee an uprising that was planned, promised and promoted in plain sight.
…
But until we find our way back to a shared reality, lack of moral imagination will remain a national-security threat.  Lack of moral leadership at a moment like this imperils democracy itself.  In our schools and sanctuaries and clubs and communities, in our dealings with alienated friends and family, the vital work of replacing toxic fantasies with hard realities falls to each of us.
—     Nancy Gibbs
From her op-ed:  “TheView Essay: America’s Moral Vaccum“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  1 / 8 February 2021
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On This Day In:
2022	Classic Kane
	Planned, Promised And Promoted
2021	Are You Rotating Crops?
	Wrong Block, Dummy
2020	I Choose Justice And Mercy
2019	Close, Sustained, Careful, Daily
2018	One Brick At A Time
2017	Order The Rope, #DumbDonald
2016	Chains Of Habit
2015	That You Shall Remain
	Did You See That?
2014	True, Vibrant And Open
2013	Remembering, Yet Again
2012	Something Of Value
2011	Sleep All Day

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“Tends To” Is Not Always

I don’t know that art can be understood in any final way, but a search for understanding tends to open one’s eyes rather than close them.
—    Jasper Johns
From the interview:  “15 Questions“
Written by:  Belinda Luscombe
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  11/18 Oct. 2021
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On This Day In:
2022	“Tends To” Is Not Always
2021	The Beauty Of Life
	Seeds
2020	Better Sooner Than Later
2019	Possibilities And Challenges
	And Miles To Go Before She Sleeps
2018	What I Tell You Three Times Is True
2017	And So On
2016	Kept
2015	Envy * 2
2014	Destiny For The Talented
2013	I Do Not Fear It
2012	Until Found
2011	Reducing Goods To Data
	The Fog Of Civilization Building

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Is Normal Just Routine?

I would say that I don’t know how we got through that first shaky week of this third pandemic-impacted school year, hugging our kids and checking to make sure their masks were secure before they left each morning, except that I do know:  We had no choice.  We still don’t.  Though we’re grateful to their teachers and glad that our kids are once again learning alongside their peers, the worry persists, an undercurrent to which we’ve been forced to adapt as we settle into routines both familiar and new.
Each week brings more pediatric infections, more student quarantines.  Each day, I’m conscious of the fact that I’m allowing my children to assume a risk from which I, working at home, am protected, and this feels hopelessly backward.  I read every update to the school COVID-19 guidelines so I know what to expect after the inevitable exposure, but I can’t tell my kids what they have long wanted to know:  When will things go back to the way they remember?
…
Over the past 18 months, a common refrain has been that this pandemic should compel all of us to recognize our interdependence, the inescapable fact that we will not address this or any of the other grave threats we’re facing without collective action.  This is a lesson that I expect many of our children are also learning, though the cost and the danger to them feels too high.  I know I don’t want my kids to conclude that they are or forever will be powerless, or that there is no one who will fight with and for them.  There are many things I still have to hope for to get through each day, and while our children’s survival and health top the list, I also want them to retain their faith in themselves and in their ability to look forward to something better than this — to find, as they so often do, their own reasons to hope.
—     Nicole Chung
From:  “The View Essay: Parenting – Did I point my kids to the wrong North Star?” Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  11/18 Oct 2021
Also online at:  https://time.com/6102019/covid-19-hope-for-kids/
The online version appears as:  “There’s No End in Sight for COVID-19. What Do We Tell Our Kids Now?“
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On This Day In:
2022	Is Normal Just Routine?
2021	The Rush Is On
	Another Rerun
2020	It Is Still About Sharing And Cheering
2019	Sounds Like #LyingDonald
2018	Start Building
2017	Woof! Woof!
2016	Cast Out
2015	Small Pieces
	Happy Father’s Day!
2014	Uncertain Work
2013	Unpatriotic And Servile
2012	What Price Freedom?
2011	Particular Importance
	Three From Bette…

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We Just Need Will And Leadership

Researchers , and governments, also still need to figure out a better way to coordinate this effort around the globe.  “We haven’t learned this much about any disease so quickly, I would say, in the history of science that I’m aware of,” says Sumit Chanda, the director and a professor of the immunity and pathogenesis program at Sanford Burnham Presbys Medical Discovery Institute.  “Genomic technology allowed us to get here.  But if we really want to get serious about preparing for the next pandemic, there needs to be a global command and control infrastructure, with transparency from all governments around the world.  These viruses don’t know national boundaries, so it does not make sense to have a balkanized response to the virus.”
…
“We got pretty lucky that [COVID-19] vaccines work as incredibly well as they do,” says Sanford Burnham’s Chanda.  “But we can’t just rely on luck.  We need to make a global commitment and come up with an organization that has some teeth and has some funding whose job it is to survey, track and share genetic information.  We have the tools to do it – we just need the will and leadership and especially the public to demand that the devastation of COVID-19 is something that shouldn’t have happened and that we never want to have happen again.”
—     Alice Parker
From her article:  “The Sequencing Solution:  Genetic Surveillance Is The Key To Controlling Future Pandemics“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  21/28 June 2021
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On This Day In:
2023	Similar To Options And Decisiveness
2022	We Just Need Will And Leadership
2021	Standing Next To Anyone?
	Pitter Pater, Pitter Pater (Rhythm Of The Falling Rain)
2020	Only Now
2019	I Think I’ve Been Blurred
2018	Progress On The Honey Do List
	And It’s Mostly Free, Too!
2017	Both Dismissed
2016	Poetry Isn’t Going To Work
2015	MA Fix
	Getting Better
2014	Actually
2013	Unfortunate Evolutionary Accidents
2012	Tense (Past, Present And Future)
2011	What Is Your Preference?

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Prescient (Or Not?)

Russia is still contending with the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Russia can meddle in Ukraine at the margins, but threats to fully invade and occupy a country of more than 44 million people aren’t credible.  That big a move would cost too many Russian lives and too many rubles for a chronically weak – and weakening – Russian economy.  In recent months, Belarus provided the latest example of the post-Soviet demand for fundamental change and the need to shoot people to keep protests under control.  In the most recent presidential election in Moldova, a Harvard-educated economist toppled a pro-Kremlin incumbent.  Last year, Turkey’s backing for Azerbaijan dealt a humiliating defeat to Russian ally Armenia in a region that Russia once dominated.  Beijing is increasingly competing for influence with Moscow among the former Soviet Central Asian states.
—     Ian Bremmer
From his opinion piece:  “The Risk Report:  What game is Putin playing?“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  21/28 June 2021
[It seems the “threat” of invasion was a little more “credible” than Mr. Bremmer believed (the editorial was from 2021).  IF the West continues to support Ukraine and IF Putin doesn’t resort to tactical nukes, it appears Mr. Bremmer will ultimately be proven correct that Russia bit off it bit more than it could chew (let alone conquer).    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Give Freedom
2022	8 And 9 (40)
	Prescient (Or Not?)
2021	Or Faith In A Creator…
	It Seemed The Taste Was Not So Sweet (Changes)
2020	Nearer My God To Thee, By George
	I’ve Got To Keep Working On It
2019	Laugh With Me
2018	Both Sides, Mr. President?
2017	Republicans Better Wake Up
2016	Truth Telling
2015	To Be Effective In The Modern World
2014	A Little Cover
2013	Binding
2012	Lift
2011	Another Good Movie, Another Excellent Book
	miSFits
	I’m Just Not Sure

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Threat Calculus

The Fed has had almost no success gently bring down inflation once an economy has started to overheat.
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The long-run threat (facing the economy) is that we will cease to be one effective country.  Whether that’s a failure of public investment in everything ranging from collecting the taxes that are owed – where there will be $7 trillion in taxes that are owed but not paid over the next decade;  that is a huge loss to the government  …  [and] a huge source of injustice because most of the nonpayment comes among the highest-income Americans.  Whether it is the fact that at the early stage, we were dependent on other countries for masks, and we were not well prepared for a pandemic, despite the fact that there had been repeated warnings that a next pandemic would come.  Whether it is the fact that it takes half an hour longer on the schedule to fly from Boston to Washington that it did when I first started taking the trip regularly 40 years ago.  This falling-apart of society is our greatest long-term threat.
…
I think another important part of the calculus is that when governments lose control over money, people tend to lose confidence in them.  Progressives need to ponder the fact that when they’re not able to keep inflation under control, they can pay a very large political price.
—     Larry Summers
Former Secretary of the Treasury
In an interview with / by:  Eben Shapiro
The interview was titled:  “The Leadership Brief: Inflation worries are keeping Larry Summers up at night“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  21/28 June 2021
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On This Day In:
2023	Necessities
	On CNN Interviewing #45DonaldTheLiar
2022	Threat Calculus
	7 (And 6) – 40
2021	Questioned By Life
	If There’ll Come A Time (Never My Love)
2020	Trying To Grow Pearls?
2019	Instantly Turned
2018	Sitting
2017	No Right Way
2016	Still Ticklish
2015	Maybe Sooner Than You Think
2014	The Path Of Mastery
2013	Love’s Ignorance
2012	Here’s To Enjoyment
2011	Not Just The Facts, Ma’am

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Defeated: So Far (Anyway)

“The untold story of the election is the thousands of people of both parties who accomplished the triumph of American democracy at its very foundation,” says Norm Eisen, a prominent lawyer and former Obama Administration official who recruited Republicans and Democrats to the board of the Voter Protection Project.
…
“Every attempt to interfere with the proper outcome of the election was defeated,” says Ian Bassin, co-founder of Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan rule-of-law advocacy group.  “But it’s massively important for the country to understand that it didn’t happen accidentally.  The system didn’t work magically.  Democracy is not self-executing.”
From an article written by:  Molly Ball
The article is titled:  “How Close We Came:  The secret history of the shadow campaign that saved the election“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine
Dtd:  15 February 2021
[This story is not even close to being over.  Unless there is a massive turnout of Democrats this November, the Republicans will likely take both the House and the Senate.  If that happens, the treasonous insurrection of 6 January 2021 will be swept under the rug and the Republicans will use their dominance at the state level to guarantee the election of a Republican nominee, irrespective of the actual vote totals.  They will “find” the votes necessary to win.  Voter suppression and fake ballots?  You ain’t seen nothing yet…  After all, to Republicans it seems it is less important who wins the election at the ballot box than who actually gets to take office and rule.  (And, yes, I said “rule”.  Not “govern”;  rule.)    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Zapped Again (Three)!!!
	The Darkness Of 6 January 2021
	Decrease Your Limits To Increase Your Rates
2022	Defeated: So Far (Anyway)
2021	Elections Have Consequences
	It’s Cold Way Down There (And When I Die)
2020	Fearless Security
2019	I Prefer A Neat Single Malt
2018	Seeking Finer Fruits
2017	Something That Is Absolute
2016	Animate And Encourage
	Out Of Time
2015	In Time
2014	Robust Interconnectivity
2013	What Have We Here?
2012	Tributaries And Eddies
	An Honest Politician
2011	Penultimate

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Just Waiting

On Lunar New Year, the moon is always invisible.  That’s what a new moon is.  Impossible not to read meaning into that, so I do.  And that’s how I know that whatever is invisible is merely hidden;  that light will always rise.  We just have to wait.  Think about all the times, alone at night, you’ve looked out a window to find the moon.  We count the days, watching that light get bigger.  We hope for a better year for everyone.
—    Beth Nguyen
From her essay:  “The comfort of Lunar New Year in isolation“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine
Dtd:  15 February 2021
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On This Day In:
2023	Another New Year’s Resolution
2022	Just Waiting
2021	Tomorrow: Will Republicans Choose Democracy Or Tyranny? (Well, I guess we know which one they chose…)
	How Long Must I Dream? (Dream Baby)
2020	On Killing Foreign Generals…
2019	Patient Understanding
2018	I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Form
2017	Fashionista (Tacky)
2016	A Faulty Model Of God
2015	Non Sequitur
2014	No Flags League
	I Ain’t Who Am
2013	Spoiling For Fame?
2012	How Many?
2011	Too Tired To Chat Much
2010	I Must Be Crazy!!

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Our Common Humanity

Black people, like all racial groups, are knowledgeable and ignorant, law-abiding and lawbreaking, secure and insecure, hardworking and lazy.  The racial groups are equals, and what makes the racial groups equals is our common humanity;  and our common humanity is imperfect and complex.
…
Mobs have amassed in front of our Capitol and told us we are stealing their country, and told us to go back to our “sh-thole” countries, which caused us to lean in and create more unapologetically.  When the violence and intimidation did not work, the discrediting began, saying we hated white people since we didn’t worship white people;  saying we hated America because we didn’t worship America as exceptional.  Because in racist minds Black people either worship white people or hate white people.  In racist minds, white people can’t just be people like we are.  Black people can’t just be ourselves, like they are.
—    Ibram X.  Kendi
From the essay / article:  “The Renaissance Is Black“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  15 / 22 Feb. 2021
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On This Day In:
2022	Be Glorious
2021	Our Common Humanity
	A History Story (American Pie)
2020	At The Very Least Smile More
	Your Touch (Unchained Melody)
2019	Still Working On Both
2018	Two Jordans To Heaven
	Speaking Of #45
2017	All Greek To Me
2016	Judgment
2015	I Love Bacon, Too
2014	The Wee Bit
2013	Reading Rules
2012	Cadet Prayer
2011	Easy To Tell
2010	A NEW Lion In The Senate (Channeling Mr. Smith)
	Inception Redux
	A Quick Hit Of Stats

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My Fear Is She Loses This Bet

Conversations about democracy, technology and the economic dominance of surveillance capitalism are now inseparable.  Looking ahead to the year 2030, I put my bet on democracy because it’s the best idea humanity has ever had, despite all of its obvious imperfections.  When I wake up every morning, I’m thinking about what I can do to contribute to this so that our societies mobilize to double down on democracy.  This begins with saying out loud that the current state of affairs is intolerable.  As citizens, we begin by joining together in our communities, organizations, associations, political networks to demand an end to commercial surveillance.  Our lawmakers hear from the tech lobbyists every day.  They need to feel us at their backs instead.  We are poised at a new beginning, and not a moment too late.
—    Shoshana Zuboff
From her interview:  “Living up to the promises of the digital age“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  1 / 8 February 2021
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On This Day In:
2022	Sits Loose
2021	My Fear Is She Loses This Bet
	Gotta Stay Hungry (Dancing In The Dark)
2020	Still On The Obstacle Course?
	Thunder (December ’63 – Oh What A Night)
2019	Expecting A December Correction
2018	Dominoes II (Update From Last Year’s Post)
2017	Dominoes
2016	Itchin’
2015	In The Not So Distant Future
2014	Sources
2013	Three Essentials
2012	Just Looking
2011	Religious Lessons
2010	View From Under The Bus… (A mid-term report card on the Obama Administration. Long, but still worth reading for historical perspective.)

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In That Moment

After a few moments, I realized that I was moved by [Julia] Child not only because she brought back happy boyhood memories but also because Child herself was so genuinely happy to be doing what she was doing.  I saw in that moment the embodiment of what I, and so may of us, aspire to.  To spend your life doing what you love and doing it well.  To achieve this is a rare thing, but for those who can, real joy is theirs, as is the ability to bring that joy to others through their chosen vocation.
—    Stanley Tucci
From his book:  “Taste:  My Life Through Food“
Originally found in the article:  “Julia Child Changed My Life“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  25 Oct / 1 Nov 2021
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On This Day In:
2022	Two Views On Contentment
2021	In That Moment
	Something A Little More Recent (Uptown Funk)
	A Request For Help (Indian Pop Music)
2020	Above Her Sink
	In A Slower Lane Now (Burning Man)
2019	#DullDonald
2018	And Start With Charity
2017	First Things First
2016	Why Would We Expect Truth From A Liar?
	Unknown Fear
2015	Something Pagan
2014	A Note To Self
2013	Determining Our Degree Of Freedom
2012	Journalism And Fantasy
	Known Knowns
	Jerk, n.
2011	Love Questions

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The Question Is Courage

Personal autonomy and democracy are under assault from surveillance capitalism.  And yet today’s tech industry is largely unregulated, having emerged in the midst of an era of deregulation and defunding of enforcement agencies.  This has allowed tech giants to behave as unelected governments.  Their communications systems have become central to our way of life, as the impact of this week’s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp outage underscores, but they have their thumb on the scale, amplifying content that triggers fear and outrage because doing so maximizes profits.
…
The sad truth is that the unregulated tech industry produces products that are unsafe.  Congress has faced the challenge of dangerous products in the past.  When the food and medicine industries were unsafe, Congress created the Food and Drug Administration.  When petrochemical companies dumped toxic waste indiscriminately, Congress approved a series of environmental laws.  Just like tech companies today, the affected industries claimed they would not be able to operate with regulation, but that turned out to be wrong.  Now we need something like an FDA for technology products, designed to prevent harmful technologies from coming to market.  For qualifying products, it would set safety standards, require annual safety audits and certification as a condition for every product, and impose huge financial penalties for any harms that result.  There should also be amendments to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to create better incentives for Internet platforms.
Congress also needs to protect people’s privacy from relentless surveillance.  My preference would be for Congress to ban surveillance capitalism just as it banned child labor in 1938.  (The many industries that employed child labor complained then that they could not survive without it.)  At a minimum, Congress must ban third-party use of sensitive data, such as that related to health, location, financial transactions, web browsing and app data.
The third area for legislation is competition, where Congress needs to update antitrust laws for the 21st century.  The six-hour outage of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp illustrated for many one downside of monopoly:  absolute dependence on a service.
…
All of this may be true in Mark Zuckerberg’s mind, but the design of Facebook’s business model suggests that growth and profits are the only factors driving “the company we know.”
Based on the evidence of the past five years, one might say that Internet platforms have launched an attack against democracy and self-determination.  It is a battle they will win unless voters and policymakers join forces to reassert their power.  We have been losing the battle since 2016, but I would like to believe that this week was a turning point.
We have the power.  The question is whether we have the courage to use it.
—     Roger McNamee
From the article:  “Facebook Will Not Fix Itself“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  25 Oct / 1 Nov 2021
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On This Day In:
2022	Large, Reasonable And Important
	Prairie Life
2021	The Question Is Courage
	Never Change (Hello It’s Me)
2020	Two Quotes Which Remind Me Of Our Lame Duck President
	Still Running (Running On Empty)
2019	I’m Up For Trying
	60 Day Health / Weight Update (Nov 2019)
2018	#PresidentBoneSpur
2017	My Staggering Confusion
	Zapped!!!
2016	And Bloggers?
2015	Ethical Energy
2014	Are You Likely To Defend It?
2013	Might As Well
2012	The Long And Short Of It
2011	Bravery

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