BREAKING: #Trump's billionaire Commerce Secretary says that seniors won't care if they don't get their #SocialSecurity checks — and that anyone who does complain is a fraudster.
Yikes. Also, from this Rolling Stone Article today, rollingstone.com/politics/poli… If DOGE can't have access IN defiance of the Federal Judge Lipton Hollander's order.
"According to the Trump administration, Musk and DOGE must have access to everyone’s most personal data — or you, your parents, or your grandparents can’t have Social Security."
California bill would force ISPs to offer 100Mbps plans for $15 a month Like New York law, Calif. bill demands cheap plans for people with low incomes. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…
Scientists have announced that a dim star in a constellation easily visible after dark from the Northern Hemisphere is finally on the verge of exploding. The binary star system, called T Corona Borealis (TCrB), dramatically brightens approximately every 80 years and was last observed doing so in 1946, making it a once-in-a-lifetime event. It could become visible to the naked eye next week.
The parents of the unvaccinated 6-year-old girl in Texas who died of measles last month say they still do not encourage any parent to have children vaccinated. They maintain that getting measles builds the immune system and prevents cancer in future. They say that measles are not as bad as they're made out to be.
And their daughter who died? Well, this was God's will. Her time in this world was over and she's now better off.
The interview in which they made these statements was given to an anti-vaxxer group associated with Director of the Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
When AI systems try to bridge gaps in their training data, the results can be wildly off the mark: fabrications and non sequiturs researchers call hallucinations.
A new major release with exciting changes including notification stacking, performance improvements, an improved image viewer, a new interface font, new digital wellbeing settings, a new audio player, HDR support and much more!
To find out more, and to see what else happened this week, check out the latest issue of #ThisWeekInGNOME!
Target killed its DEI program to appease MAGA, and what did they get in return? Nothing. In fact, they lost $12.4 billion. thegodpodcast.com/p/maga-cries…
it is so fun that when the "woke" creates DEI programs, the MAGAzists yell boycott everywhere and nothing happens. And when the reverse boycott is done, there even is no need for a coordonation. People just do. Shows where the real sleeping majority is.
"It seems as if the Trump administration is rushing to tear apart as much as it can as opponents of its wholesale destruction of the United States government organize to stop them."
"Today, members of the 'Department of Government Efficiency' team showed up at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which helps to fund libraries and museums across the country and whose elimination Trump called for in an executive order last week. They sent employees home, swore in a new acting director in the lobby, and proceeded to cancel contracts and grants."
"The attack of Trump and his MAGA supporters on the courts and the rule of law has illustrated how quickly the United States is sliding from democracy to authoritarianism. “'Honest to god, I’ve never seen anything like it,' Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky told Amanda Taub of the New York Times."
"Along with his colleague Daniel Ziblatt, Levitsky wrote How Democracies Die. 'We look at these comparative cases in the 21st century, like Hungary and Poland and Turkey. And in a lot of respects, this is worse,' Levitsky said. 'These first two months have been much more aggressively authoritarian than almost any other comparable case I know of democratic backsliding.'”
"The toxic brew of irresponsible pseudo-news outlets and the successors of the Tea Party movement radicalized the electorate to a fever pitch. The result was a collective desire to smash the existing order to smithereens and allow Donald Trump to replace it with chaos."
"There is a myth harbored by some that Trump turned the Republican Party into a cynical, unprincipled institution that preyed on the poor, on minorities and on working people. In fact, Trump was elected precisely because those characteristics preceded his rise. He was the perfect vessel for a large sector of the Republican constituency."
"Most people in this country, most of them are unaware of what’s happening right now. They do not know the direness of the threat that we’re under. They just don’t, people don’t understand what’s happening. Plenty of people do, for sure. And plenty of people are also for it; you know—they love Trump, they love MAGA, they think Elon Musk is a genius, they’re just fascists, whatever."
Morning thoughts on Democratic messaging and the failure of the New York Times, Washington Post, and other legacy media outlets to convey the direness of the threat
"There was a time when people collectively agreed on what constituted 'the news.' Walter Cronkite would sign off with “And that’s the way it is,” and most Americans nodded along. The New York Times was the 'paper of record,' and if something appeared in its pages, it existed as fact in our shared reality.
That world is dead. And we should stop pretending otherwise."
"When the New York Times was treating Trump’s Tesla stunt on the White House lawn like a car show instead of corruption, independent outlets were the ones pointing out that having a president use the people’s house to promote his billionaire donor’s private company is, in fact, a serious ethical breach."
"What independent journalism offers that legacy media increasingly doesn’t is transparency about where it’s coming from. There’s no pretense of objectivity that masks institutional biases and billionaire influence."
"The Administration is taking a wrecking ball to services and institutions Americans rely on for essentials, as well as the fundamentals of American civic life. For example, this week:
• An Executive Order directed at the evisceration of the Department of Education"
"• The Trump Administration targeted private universities — canceling $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University; pausing $175 million for the University of Pennsylvania; and Johns Hopkins cut research after losing $800 million in USAID grants
• Trump began dismantling Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia"
Ma'am, if your "they" there is the US - and some other places - then you probably know that those governments absolutely want an uninformed and uneducated population. One can spin nonsense much more easily if the listeners have never gone to college perhaps, or even been taught about 'critical thinking'.
It's the most beautiful country, and I've done a couple of 1,000 mile roadtrips over there. But right now I am soooo glad I don't live there.
I guess I'm just a little disappointed the Columbia still has illusions about their status with respect to those in power now. They cannot do anything to make them anything but something to be dismantled if possible.
That said their endowment is massive. They will be fine.
I guess liberals really struggle with the concept that THEY could be just as hated as the "embarrassing" scruffy left. I keep saying "they can't tell us apart!"
"• The Administration is implementing policies at the Social Security Administration — no longer verifying identities over the phone, but instead requiring online verification or in-person identity checks for new and existing recipients — that, contrary to their claims, will make this system less efficient, and actually serve the purpose of dismantling the program"
As Dan Rather reports, with Trump's blessing, Elon Musk continues to go after Social Security, and,
"Trump and Musk must be betting that Americans care more about possible waste, fraud, and abuse at the Social Security Administration (SSA) than they do about getting their monthly benefit checks.
"One of President Donald Trump's closest advisors [Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick] is now suggesting that most of the tens of millions of Americans who rely on Social Security wouldn't be concerned if they didn't receive their benefits."
One of President Donald Trump's closest advisors is now suggesting that most of the tens of millions of Americans who rely on Social Security wouldn't be concerned if they didn't receive their benefits.
"We hear this again and again, especially from members of Congress, 'the answer is simple. Elon Musk and his billionaire buddies want to rob you of your social security so he and his fat-cat pals can enrich themselves at our expense.' Wrong, wrong, wrong! Those of us who track this ideology know that their real goals are much more nefarious — they don't want to run the federal government, they want to eliminate it."
"I describe it to people this way: Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, who is 94, she wouldn't call and complain. She just wouldn't. She'd think something got messed up, and she'll get it next month," said Lutnick.
"Elon knows this by heart," he continued. "Anyone who's been in the payment system and the process system knows the easiest way to find a fraudster is to stop payments and listen. ... whoever screams is the one stealing!"
I'm sorry. I don't get it. I must be missing something. Is this a joke? A troll? Is he really this clueless?
Part of the reason I ignore most of what these people say is I can't tell when they say tone-deaf infuriating obnoxious things: are they trying to get a rise out of people? or are they just THAT incompetent and out of touch? or both?
A man who has never had to think about the price of what he puts in his grocery cart. (or, heck, put a thing in a grocery cart himself. ever.)
@futurebird The implication isn't meant to be logical it's purely emotional.
"Only thieves complain!"
That idea _will_ stop someone acting when they're deprived. "I don't want to cause trouble," etc.
The junta and friends are playing an emotional game not a logical one. An emotional game isn't a zero sum game. There's the ability to create _new_ territory to hold. By waging an emotional contest they can create new fronts at _will_.
@futurebird @401matthall they're like the Cardassian interrogator who kept trying to pressure Captain Picard to say there were five lights. They know how many lights there are; that's why they see denial of that reality as proof of their power, that's why they pressure everyone else into complying with said denial. For them, denial of reality is the demonstration and the foundation of power.
@futurebird neither. He is just making shit up and lying. This is their way ro solve problems: invent lies that move the issue/topic/problem somewhere else. If the issue/topic/problem inevitably shows up again, try different lie or double down.
@futurebird yes! Exactly the correct reaction! (Also, in general:"don't listen to what people say, watch what they do." is the best life advice to give to anyone. (*))
(*) unless it's a blind person, that would be very rude. (**)
(**) in so sorry, i cannot help trying to be funny..
@futurebird Lutnick appears to be trying to create a pretext to dismiss the complaints of everyone who will be rightly angry if Social Security is disrupted.
@futurebird …what? I just… by what logic does this mean anything? “I know an old woman who would rather tighten her belt for a month than go through the bureaucracy of complaining, therefore anyone who doesn’t respond that way is illegitimate and therefore defrauding.”
Alright, I see obvious false dichotomy fallacy, I see a slippery slope fallacy in the complaint=fraud, and I suspect a variant on Straw Man in the old lady being embellished. 3 fallacies, min!
I love the stupidity of this, actually, because getting personal with retirees is going to be like throwing gasoline on a fire. If you are old enough, you may recall this: youtu.be/qre7DzEtxyc
Edit: that’s a link to video of angry seniors mobbing then-House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski and refusing to let his car move. These are not passive people.
Washington Unplugged examines a report from 1989 in which Former Illinois Congressman Dan Rostenkowski is booed and even chased at a town-hall event in our n...
scammer, poor = won't complain (need to bail fast) real, poor = will complain (need the money and have no other recourse) real, rich = won't complain (trust the system to be on their side) scammer, rich = will complain (need the money to pay off their other scams, know the system starts out on their side, need to poison the well to make sure it stays on their side)
The Federal Communications Commission has announced a new investigation that appears focused on eliminating Huawei, ZTE, Dahua Technology and other Chinese vendors from conducting any business in the US.
The FCC is concerned Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese firms are trying to conduct business in the country, despite regulations blocking new equipment sales to US clients.
"Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker revealed during a speech this week that he clashed with President Donald Trump during the first Trump administration after Trump promised necessary medical equipment during the COVID pandemic on the condition that Pritzker praise him publicly."
Wow
Let's make sure we convert outrage over narcissist hypocrisy into action to get rid of this president.
Yes, that plot is beyond lame. Whoever wrote that script around a narcissist villain: get another job! That villain is boring, without a single redeeming quality, and his incompetent sidekicks are just cringe. And now there are two main villains in a downward arc? Sloppy writing! Can’t believe they really ordered a second season after that disappointing season one. I will switch to EU channel. It has its shortcomings, but at least it takes it audience serious.
Kombucha! It’s a delicious fermented beverage that is kind to your digestive system and often sold in glass bottles. You don’t just have to use those bottles for healthy drinks, though.…
I've been adding some isolated LAN segments to our network. This post talks about using VLANs and OPNsense to isolate our guest wifi network from everything else.
The new API features opacity micromaps and shader execution reordering, offering substantial improvements in raytraced gaming performance and fidelity.
“the FCC is soliciting public input on any FCC rules in any service that members of the public believe should be deleted or modified...The National Association for Amateur Radio®, through its Executive Committee and FCC Counsel, is conducting a review of the provisions in Part 97 and other related rules that apply to radio amateurs. ARRL is also soliciting feedback from its members.”
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
If you are, like me, an ARRL member, they are (finally) soliciting input from membership regarding the FCC's #DeleteDeleteDelete Public Notice. Check your email on file with the ARRL
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
Italian court orders Google to block IPTV pirate sites at DNS level A lawsuit claims Google has not blocked football streams as required in Italy. arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/0…
If you are, like me, an ARRL member, they are (finally) soliciting input from membership regarding the FCC's #DeleteDeleteDelete Public Notice. Check your email on file with the ARRL
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
Just to be abundantly clear: I also believe that it is incumbent on the ARRL as an organization with paid members and an expressed related charitable purpose to undertake a coordinated and reasoned response. I'm disappointed that it took them this long to say anything publicly about the, and hope that they are bringing their experience with public policy to bear not just on what to say but also how to say it.
I'm a baby ham (since October of last year) so there's a lot I don't know. I am hoping for a public and thoughtful exchange of ideas that could help me avoid being stupid should I submit such a comment. 🤞
@profdc9 FWIW at least at first glance this site looks good for thinking carefully about a response. I haven't yet read it carefully but it looks like a helpful contribution to the discourse so far. 🤞
I read their excuses for their old boys network bylaws amendments and wonder how they keep their 501(c)3 status.
Whether I want to encourage and equip them to contribute meaningfully and beneficially in this instance is totally independent of whether I think they are currently faithful stewards of their role.
The only reason I haven't sent out my first QSL card to print is that I had put the ARRL logo on it as a member, and now I have second thoughts about that. Will probably replace it with my local club logo before sending it out for print...
I put in a request to remove the low symbol rate limits for digital comms on HF. Despite newer modulations fitting more data through the same 2.6KHz bandwidth, it's been kept arbitrarily low (likely to benefit vendors of hardware modems).
Trump is clearly panicking after the boycotts of US companies. After hawking Teslas from The White House, he is now selling fighter jets from The Oval Office, hoping that we will not boycott Boeing.
And of course, he calls it the F-47, because everything has to be renamed after him.
How many European politicians do you think will back the purchase of a plane named after this fascist? My guess: 0.
"Our allies are calling constantly. They want to buy them", says Trump.
President Donald Trump announced the Pentagon’s decision to move forward with a next-generation fighter jet titled F-47 on Friday in joint remarks alongside ...
Boeing already has an image problem lately with airplanes falling apart. That alone would be enough not to order any jets with them. Besides that I don't see any reason why countries that cancelled their orders at Lockheed Martin would switch to Boeing.
And the funniest thing is: Orban - Trump's authoritarian protégée in Europe and the only European leader who would do it - has bankrupted his country, so he doesn't even have a budget to buy them......
#Tesla scheint Langzeiterkrankten Gehalt zu verweigern. Wer dennoch Zahlungen erhalten hat, soll nun angeblich Schulden gegenüber dem Unternehmen haben. Um diese "Schulden" zu tilgen, sollen betroffene Mitarbeiter einen Aufhebungsvertrag unterschreiben. focus.de/finanzen/musk-macht-d…
Every day this administration finds new ways — petty and profound, symbolic and consequential, buffoonish incompetent and cartoonishly evil — to embarrass the people it serves.
U.S. limits Canadian access to iconic Stanstead, Que., border-straddling library, officials say Quebec town says move 'undermines the spirit of cross-border collaboration'
Starting at 1, infants can form memories, but they don’t last until later It looks like humans actively suppress our earliest memories. arstechnica.com/science/2025/0…
I have a few memories before I was walking and talking so well, and can put dates in a couple, due to news events, people still living, where I was at the time. Even TV of the day helps. But the memories are somewhat sparse before Kindergarten age
my first memory is from around 1 1/2. My parents took a photo of me looking through a fence at some trains - you can't see the trains in the picture, but I remember seeing them. I think having the picture to look at helped me go back to that moment.
I was really shocked to learn that most people DON'T have early memories. I always have, and assumed others did as well. I didn't learn into well into adulthood that it wasn't typical. I can distinctly remember having my diapers changed when I was too young to having enough motor develop to move around much on my own. I distinctly remember and describe a dog that passed away before I was two and I rarely got to see at all (she was too rough).
Over the past six months I've combined 3D printing with DIY electronics to make some really cool bike wheel lights, and probably gained and lost followers from my mega thread documenting the process: mas.to/@yantor3d/1141961143909…
I've been toying with the idea of making and selling kits, with options like number, size, and color of the lights.
But one major unknown is would anyone other than me actually want these on their bike?
I already talked about why we should own our timeline algorithms (fosstodon.org/@mala/1139675405… ) and promised a blog post soon… Here’s the long awaited post AND a whole new Mozilla.ai Blueprint 🔥
I chose the Blueprint format as a commitment to share my work better, with updated code, more documentation, Docker images, and a demo you can play with right now: mozilla-ai-byota.hf.space/
Timeline algorithms should be useful for people, not for companies. Their quality should not be evaluated in terms of how much time people spend on a platform, but rather in terms of how well they serve their users’ purposes.
![[A person is holding up their smart phone while speaking to the Chief of police who is sitting at a desk in front of a ringing phone.]
Person: Okay Chief. You кеер them on the line and I'll trace the call on my smartphone.
Chief: Got it.
[The chief answers the phone.]
Chief: Hello? Yes, this is the Chief. What are your demands? What time would--
[The first person runs back into the room, holding a sheet of paper.]
Person: Done!
[A close-up of the paper shows a crude pencil tracing of that persons smart phone.]](https://friendica.rogueproject.org/photo/preview/640/312796 "[A person is holding up their smart phone while speaking to the Chief of police who is sitting at a desk in front of a ringing phone.]
Person: Okay Chief. You кеер them on the line and I'll trace the call on my smartphone.
Chief: Got it.
[The chief answers the phone.]
Chief: Hello? Yes, this is the Chief. What are your demands? What time would--
[The first person runs back into the room, holding a sheet of paper.]
Person: Done!
[A close-up of the paper shows a crude pencil tracing of that persons smart phone.]")
Spocko
in reply to Laffy • • •Yikes. Also, from this Rolling Stone Article today,
rollingstone.com/politics/poli…
If DOGE can't have access IN defiance of the Federal Judge Lipton Hollander's order.
"According to the Trump administration, Musk and DOGE must have access to everyone’s most personal data — or you, your parents, or your grandparents can’t have Social Security."
Trump Admin Threatens to Stop Social Security If DOGE Can’t Have Data
Andrew Perez (Rolling Stone)