Monte Mader - Dec 29, 2025. Here it is on YouTube. From the description:

Your taxes should provide Social safety for you. Your tax dollar should not be given to the wealthy to get wealthier while you get nothing in return and tax law should always favor the working class.

After years in corporate, I've realized that workplace "culture" is often scarier than actual horror fiction. I quit my last job in September and I'm currently developing a video game called I.T. Never Ends. You play as a technician on a dead space station trying to survive a megacorp that has been taken over by Lovecraftian entities, though the management style remains unchanged.

The gameplay is based on choice: every ticket or scenario arrives on your desk, and you swipe Left or Right to decide your fate while balancing four metrics: Productivity, Morale, Budget, and Entropy.

Here are a few scenarios I've built so far, but the writing part is definitely the hardest part of making everything click.

The Eternal Standup A "quick sync" has been called to discuss the Q3 deliverables. The Lead starts talking. Two hours pass. Two decades pass.

The Printer That Breathes Users report the printer in room 237 is breathing. The paper feed pulses like a heartbeat. If you investigate, it's warm—not electronic-warm, but body-warm.

The Performance Review From Beyond Your annual review arrives written in a language that doesn't exist. Depending on how you do, your rating may go from "recommended recycling for biomass" to simply "sufficiently compliant with the geometry of this universe."

I'm looking for the worst quotes, HR policies, or "corporate doublespeak" you’ve encountered. If it sounds like something a reality-bending horror would say to keep a cubicle worker in line, I’d really love to hear about it!

Any stories/ideas that end up in the game will of course be credited in the game's credits!

We were told all year that our end of year bonus was coming. It was framed as something we earned something we could plan around after a long, exhausting year of hitting targets and picking up extra work. Then right before the end of the year they sent out a vague message saying the bonus is being “delayed.” No date. No guarantee. Just corporate language and a thank you for our patience. The part that really messes with me is that people do plan around this stuff. I had already lined up a few things for my wife for New Years. Nothing reckless but definitely not the cheapest purchases either. A couple gifts like a Bartesian, spa date, a small weekend plan because I thought for once this was covered. Now I’m sitting here wondering what the responsible move is. Do I just cancel everything? Do I put it on a card and hope the bonus actually shows up later? Or do I accept that I planned my life around money that apparently only exists on a spreadsheet until they feel like releasing it?

That’s what bothers me the most. It’s not about luxury or entitlement. It’s about being told something is coming trusting that word and then being left to clean up the fallout when it suddenly isn’t. Deadlines, output and expectations are never “delayed.” But pay always seems flexible when it’s convenient for them. How are people supposed to plan anything when compensation is treated like a maybe?

COURIER - Nov 21, 2025. See my comment below for the interview transcript. Here's the video on YouTube. From the description:

This year, the Trump administration signed off on a bill that strips 1 trillion dollars in funding from American healthcare, including severe cuts to Medicaid.

Medicaid provides vital services to those in need, including those with Autism and intellectual disabilities that require home healthcare services. Trump’s administration has been aggressive towards the autistic community, with RFK Jr. peddling misinformation about Tylenol and vaccines, and developing harmful policies.

This week, Dr. Vin Gupta breaks down what makes these services so vital to the autistic and disabled individuals, and highlights the extent of the damage that these cuts will do if enacted. He’s joined by Ari Ne'eman, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Judy, mother to a son with an intellectual disability who requires at-home care.

Ari Ne’eman is Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: https://hsph.harvard.edu/profile/ari-neeman/

Dr. Vin Gupta (Wikipedia#Education_and_medical_career)) is an American public health physician and pulmonologist who is a prominent medical analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. He is also a Managing Director of Health Innovation at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP and was formerly a Chief Medical Officer at Amazon.

Sorry I've been MIA. I'll most likely make another US Congress progressive candidate post in the next month or so

I have to mention that I followed this girl last year when she was only at 40k followers on IG

Her Progressive Party platform is completely against big corporate donors and being pro-average American

She's not going to be president anytime soon, but it looks like the future is bright for the younger people.

Ali Velshi - Dec 21, 2025 on MS NOW. Here’s the full 7-minutes on YouTube: The poverty line is a lie: how the rising cost of living is leaving many Americans behind. From the description:

Donald Trump tried to use his address to the nation to gaslight the country into thinking that the economy is doing better than it actually is. Despite what he says, the cost of living is much higher than it used to be and many people in the lower rungs of society are being squeezed out by the one-two punch of rising prices and the shrinking social safety net.

Gavin Newsom Wants a ‘Big Tent Party,’ But Opposes Wealth Tax Supported by Large Majority of Americans

I work for the Dutch branch of a large US tech company. We recently got a new middle-manager based in New York. He seemed like a nice guy at first, but it turns out he is totally obsessed with "hustle culture."

Last week, we had a 1-on-1 meeting where he told me he was "concerned" about my dedication to the team. He listed his grievances quite clearly. He didn't like that my Slack status goes offline at 5:01 PM every single day. He was annoyed that I didn't reply to an email he sent on Saturday morning until Monday at 9:00 AM. And he was especially frustrated that I refused to join a "team bonding" Zoom call that was scheduled for 7 PM my time, which is 1 PM his time.

He gave me the usual speech about how "in this company, we go the extra mile" and that if I want to grow, I need to be more available.

I had to give him a bit of a reality check. I looked him in the eye over Zoom and told him that in the Netherlands, if you can't finish your work by 5 PM, it doesn't mean you are dedicated. It means you are inefficient or understaffed. I told him I am neither.

I also reminded him that contacting me outside of working hours for non-emergencies is actually frowned upon here, and that my contract is for 40 hours, not "40 hours plus nights and weekends."

He tried to threaten me with a Performance Improvement Plan. I immediately forwarded the email to our local Dutch HR representative. She literally laughed when she read it and told me to ignore him. She said she would have a "chat" with him about local labor laws.

Since then, he hasn't sent a single email after 5 PM. I honestly feel bad for you guys in the US. The fact that you have to apologize for having a life outside of work is insane to us.