Republicans get court win over "green bank" funds
A federal appeals court sided with the Environmental Protection Agency in its effort to freeze billions of dollars and terminate contracts for nonprofits charged with running a "green bank" to finance climate-friendly projects.
The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, handed down in a 2-1 ruling, shifts the dispute away from the federal district court and into the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which handles contract matters. For the nonprofits involved, including Climate United Fund, the ruling represents a major setback in their push to regain access to roughly $16 billion in frozen funds.
Trump Administration Gets Court Win Over 'Green Bank' Funds
The decision stands as a high-profile win for the Trump administration's EPA and a stinging blow to climate groups.Gabe Whisnant (Newsweek)
copymyjalopy likes this.
‘Puppet!’ Charlamagne Calls Hakeem Jeffries ‘AIPAC Shakur’ in Brutal Takedown of Minority Leader
Charlamagne and the rest of The Breakfast Club welcomed entertainers Claudia Jordan and Erica Cobb to the show, where the duo talked about their new podcast Accidentally Informed.
While talking about their favorite guests, Jordan — who’s also a contributor for CNN — revealed she enjoys political conversations and spoke fondly of her talk with Jeffries. That’s when host DJ Envy revealed that Charlamagne “hates” the minority leader:
JORDAN: You do?CHARLAMAGNE: I don’t hate him. I just don’t think he stands for anything. I call him “AIPAC Shakur.”
JORDAN: Well, definitely — we did talk about messaging, and I actually went to the Capitol and had a meeting with him. And we talked about messaging how I was like, the frustration of the party is y’all have to get more gangster. Like, stop going by the politics of the late 2000s, in 2010, and you have to rise to the occasion in the messaging. And he did. I saw him do more afterwards.
CHARLAMAGNE: Hakeem is a puppet. Hakeem isn’t doing anything if Chuck Schumer doesn’t tell him to do it. And it’s simple as that.
‘Puppet!’ Charlamagne Calls Hakeem Jeffries ‘AIPAC Shakur’ in Brutal Takedown of M ...
Charlamagne tha God revealed his brutal nickname for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries while detailing his gripes with him.Ahmad Austin Jr. (Mediaite)
geneva_convenience likes this.
Solar flares as you've never seen them before
Solar flares as you’ve never seen them before
The world’s largest solar telescope captured a powerful X-class solar flare in August 2024.Laura Baisas (Popular Science)
CDC erupts in chaos after ousted chief Susan Monarez refuses to resign
The US’s top public health agency was plunged into chaos on Wednesday after the Trump administration moved to oust its leader Susan Monarez, sworn in less than a month ago, as her lawyers said she would not resign and that she was being “targeted” for her pro-science stance.
Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was ousted on Wednesday evening, according to a statement from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that offered no explanation its decision.
“Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people,” HHS said in an unsigned statement posted to social media.
Monarez, who was confirmed by the Senate just last month, appeared to have afoul of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, after she declined to support sweeping changes to US vaccine policies, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.
CDC erupts in chaos after ousted chief Susan Monarez refuses to resign
Lawyers for Monarez say she was ‘targeted’ for ‘protecting the public’ by not endorsing ‘unscientific’ ordersRobert Mackey (The Guardian)
CDC erupts in chaos after ousted chief Susan Monarez refuses to resign
The US’s top public health agency was plunged into chaos on Wednesday after the Trump administration moved to oust its leader Susan Monarez, sworn in less than a month ago, as her lawyers said she would not resign and that she was being “targeted” for her pro-science stance.
Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was ousted on Wednesday evening, according to a statement from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that offered no explanation its decision.
“Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people,” HHS said in an unsigned statement posted to social media.
Monarez, who was confirmed by the Senate just last month, appeared to have run afoul of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, after she declined to support sweeping changes to US vaccine policies, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.
CDC erupts in chaos after ousted chief Susan Monarez refuses to resign
Lawyers for Monarez say she was ‘targeted’ for ‘protecting the public’ by not endorsing ‘unscientific’ ordersRobert Mackey (The Guardian)
Did you just copy & paste bits? There are words missing.
offered no explanation its decision.appeared to have afoul of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary
What distro do you game on?
GE-Proton10-15 Released
- fixed opening hang in crosscode
- fixed video playback in fable: the lost chapters
Release GE-Proton10-15 Released · GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom
fixed opening hang in crosscode fixed video playback in fable: the lost chaptersGitHub
What was the update? Getting address not found on both calyos.org and calyxinstitute.org which doesn't bode well
Edit: came back up. Update if it's down when viewed
Update: August 27 2025We are concerned that some users may have not seen the important message in this letter about CalyxOS’ current hiatus. Therefore, we are rolling out one last OTA update to devices currently running CalyxOS to reach as many active users as we can. You can read our post for more details about this update.
Apertus: a fully open, transparent, multilingual language model
Apertus: a fully open, transparent, multilingual language model
EPFL, ETH Zurich and the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) released Apertus today, Switzerland’s first large-scale, open, multilingual language model — a milestone in generative AI for transparency and diversity.news.epfl.ch
The Former Lead For Apple Graphics Drivers On Linux Is Now Working At Intel
The Former Lead For Apple Graphics Drivers On Linux Is Now Working At Intel
There's a follow-up to yesterday's surprising story of Alyssa Rosenzweig stepping away from Asahi Linux and that ARM graphics driver work where she led reverse engineering and development of the Asahi Gallium3D and HoneyKrisp Vulkan drivers within Me…www.phoronix.com
(solved, thanks guys!) "No key available with this passphrase" despite it being the correct passphrase
Edit: Turns out you guys were right, I entered the setup password wrong for LUKs. I got this new Logitech keyboard I got for a gift and I type around 170wpm, but I've been having issues with it kind of lagging keys for some reason. What I did was I opened up a notepad and typed in my password a bunch of times and noticed whenever I would type something such as "stain" for example, it would come out at "stani" despite me looking at the keyboard and knowing that wasn't what I was typing. So I encrypted my drive with the wrong password, but figured out how to decrypt it that way. Thanks for the help doods!
Hello! I have a external drive I've encrypted with LUKs that has irreplaceable backups of mine, and for some reason no matter which PC I try it won't unlock despite it being the correct password. It doesn't give me anything else in the terminal other than what I put in the title.
I recently just backed up everything onto the external drive from my computer cause I was distro hopping. It's worked fine on my PC, I saved the password so I was able to mount it no problem before, but now it won't mount on any other PC I try. It isn't the end of the world since I can just try and copy old data from my computers drive before the format since I haven't downloaded anything yet that could overwrite anything important, but I'd still like to be able to get this external drive unlocked. As I've said, irreplaceable files of mine are on it so I'm hoping to get it working. Thank you!
How Erik Prince is Trying to “Make Haiti a Hub for Mercenaries” | Haiti Liberte
Erik Prince, the founder of many mercenary companies since Blackwater, is looking to gain a lucrative foothold in Haiti through wheeling and dealing with unelected, illegitimate leaders as cynical as he is. It won’t end well. Photo: ABC News
How Erik Prince is Trying to “Make Haiti a Hub for Mercenaries” | Haiti Liberte
(Français) Erik Prince, 56, the founder of several mercenary companies beginning with the now rebranded Blackwater, might have Washington’s backing forTravis Ross (Haiti Liberté)
Linux and Secure Boot certificate expiration
Linux and Secure Boot certificate expiration
Linux users who have Secure Boot enabled on their systems knowingly or unknowingly rely on a ke [...]LWN.net
like this
Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler for New York will retire next year in move to galvanize generational change among Democratic party
Jerry Nadler, a Democratic representative from New York, will retire next year after 34 years in Congress in a self-proclaimed move aimed at galvanizing a generational changing of the guard in the party.
Nadler, 78, who represents one of New York’s wealthiest districts covering midtown Manhattan, said he had been persuaded not to run for re-election in 2026 after witnessing the implosion of Joe Biden’s presidential bid last year. The former president was pressured into abandoning his candidacy amid widespread doubts about his age and mental acuity. He was replaced by the former vice-president, Kamala Harris, who subsequently lost the election to Donald Trump.
“Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that,” Nadler told the New York Times, which broke the news of his forthcoming retirement.
He told the newspaper that a younger replacement “can maybe do better, can maybe help us more”.
Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler will not seek re-election in midterms
New York representative will retire next year in move to galvanize generational change among Democratic partyRobert Tait (The Guardian)
CHECK DETAILS
Session is a FOSS messenger focused on privacy. No phone numbers, decentralized servers, and full end-to-end encryption. Perfect for anyone tired of surveillance-hungry chat apps. Secure, anonymous, open-source.
🔗 GitHub: SESSION - GITHUB
GitHub - oxen-io/session-android: Session Android - Onion routing based messenger [DEPRECATED SEE README]
Session Android - Onion routing based messenger [DEPRECATED SEE README] - oxen-io/session-androidGitHub
😅😅😅
kill --windows,
install --linux,
like this
What will MS do when Linux becomes a serious threat to their monopoly ?
What actions might they take in the future?
like this
I'd wager they have enough resources to stave it off for as long as possible, and when they can't do that anymore they will have a strategy for making money off of their "services" in the linux space.
Microsoft is part of the cabal at this point. Businesses give it money because they're expected to.
Linux on my smart tv?
I have been rather unhappy with my smart TV's functionality as I feel it isn't smart for me but smart for the manufacturers. I just can't use it how I want to. I would love to overwrite the existing OS from Android to Linux. I've recently converted from Windows and loving Mint.
I haven't read too much regarding Linux smart tvs as my searches mostly come up with raspberry Pi and overwriting an Android box. I don't want to connect anything and just want my tv to boot up in Linux when it's turned on, and get some of my apps going. Is there a way to do this?
For reference I have a Sony Bravia with Android installed on it.
like this
I wish! I have a Samsung and I used to have an LG. One thing I anticipated which turned out to be on the nose is that these TVs stay operational just up until the maker decides they want your money again. I never bought into it to begin with. I only got a Smart TV to begin with because it has everything else I want. But I go straight to hooking up a computer. The apps on the TVs are all ooh and aah until a couple of years go by and then suddenly the apps are not compatible with the sites or backends what have you, and guess what? No more updates. You need a new TV despite the fact that yours is 100% perfectly fine, other than the inherent sabotage built in.
So that’s why I never even had any expectations. But I would love to find the best Linux distro for a media machine that my wife could learn to use. Right now I have to do all of it because it’s just browse to the files or load a playlist. I’d like something like Kodi or Plex but they have issues with one thing or another. I just want an SMB based connection in an interface that shows friendly thumbnails kinda like Nova player on Android. That app is highly underrated. Free, as far as I know open source and aside from a few control designs not being too great, the app is terrific. Kicks VLC’s butt. Why are they still designing the software like it’s 20 years ago and it’s on Windows XP?
Anyway I digress. Smart TV running Android or Linux would rock but I don’t expect it to be too feasible. But what do I know, because I’m not a professional dev.
The cheapest is to buy some android box with armlogic processor and install coreelec on it. You can do it for 20 bucks, then you have a kodi oriented linux distro on your tv.
Though I prefer to straight up connect my laptop to the tv with a small remote keyboard and have full computer functionality. I'm looking to change the laptop for a miniPC when the laptop finally breaks down. I would use a normal DE. Nothing specially suited for smartTV usage. But you get used to it pretty quick.
Do you guys just have flawless experiences or what?
It's been a week. Ubuntu Studio, and every day it's something. I swear Linux is the OS version of owning a boat, it's constant maintenance. Am I dumb, or doing something wrong?
After many issues, today I thought I had shit figured out, then played a game for the first time. All good, but the intro had some artifacts. I got curious, I have an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and thought that was weird. Looked it up, turns out Linux was using lvmpipe. Found a fix. Now it's using my card, no more clipping, great!. But now my screen flickers. Narrowed it down to Vivaldi browser. Had to uninstall, which sucks and took a long time to figure out. Now I'm on Librewolf which I liked on windows but it's a cpu hungry bitch on Linux (eating 3.2g of memory as I type this). Every goddamned time I fix something, it breaks something else.
This is just one of many, every day, issues.
I'm tired. I want to love Linux. I really do, but what the hell? Windows just worked.
I've resigned myself to "the boat life" but is there a better way? Am I missing something and it doesn't have to be this hard, or is this what Linux is? If that's just like this I'm still sticking cause fuck Microsoft but you guys talk like Linux should be everyone's first choice. I'd never recommend Linux to anyone I know, it doesn't "just work".
EDIT: Thank you so much to everyone who blew up my post, I didn't expect this many responses, this much advice, or this much kindness. You're all goddamned gems!
To paraphrase my username's namesake, because of @SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone and his apt gif (also, Mr. Flickerman, when I record I often shout about Clem Fandango)...
When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall GNU/LINUX OS grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."
Most people are so used to the windows bullshit that they don't even recognise it anymore, Linux (especially fedora) has been much more stable for me.
Also, the problem is always nvidia
Good stuff. As much as I hate Microsoft and everything they do, if you're enjoying a stable system, and don't mind the injected Spyware and ramsonware that comes with windows by default, enjoy.
Not everyone has to like Linux.
I have tried twice getting a notice of failed payment due to change of banks and therefore change of credit card. But then I gave it the new card's details and everything was good. However, I don't remember if I was passed some doomsday deadline or not.
Not saying it's not an issue and I would consider it bad business for Microsoft to delete users data without proper notifications and a long enough time frame to fix any payment issues. However, deleting data online is not ransomware - if Microsoft deletes the data, then they have nothing to hold ransom.
I agree that there should be a grace period after payments are stopped before they delete stuff. But I see no reason that they should provide you with free access to their service - if you haven’t paid, service is cut off.
But that is just my opinion.
Why do Waymos keep loitering in front of my house?
Why do Waymos keep loitering in front of my house?
Waymo vehicles have been loitering outside some houses in LA, leaving residents confused as to why their streets have become informal hangouts for the robotaxis.Rachel Kraus (The Verge)
Raoul Duke likes this.
GE-Proton10-14 Released
- fixed launch crash regression in Age of Empires 4
- fixed UE4SS mod failure regression in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
- fixed Impetus Repository menu video playback crash in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
- fixed Black Desert settings not saving regression
- fixed menu and mouse focus regression in Dead by Daylight with wine-wayland
- fixed wine-wayland crashes in Warhammer 40k: Darktide
- fixed lost mouse focus in Teardown with wine-wayland
- fixed broken menus in Outer-wilds with wine-wayland
- fixed mouse click crash in Halo:MCC with wine-wayland
- fixed broken raw input in Overkill withn wine-wayland
- fixed system mouse cursor shape crash in wine-wayland in multiple games -- fixes P-Organ crash in Lies of P
- fixed WAYLANDDRV_PRIMARY_MONITOR not being respected withn wine-wayland
- fixed controller input in Dragon Age Inquisition (NOTE: YOU HAVE TO GO IN-GAME AND CHANGE CONTROLS FROM M+K TO CONTROLLER)
- fixed video playback intro crash in Assassin's Creed Syndicate
- fixed video playback in Life Makover
- fixed video playback in Ark: Survival Evolved
- removed no longer required cursor force grab protonfix for helldivers 2
- add protonfix for Two Worlds: Epic Edition
- add protonfix for GOG Two Worlds: Epic Edition
- add protonfix for ubisoft assassins creed syndicate
- fixed github actions release build not providing .tar.zst file.
Release GE-Proton10-14 Released · GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom
fixed launch crash regression in Age of Empires 4 fixed UE4SS mod failure regression in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers fixed Impetus Repository menu video playback crash in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers fixed...GitHub
Sept. 11 Victims’ Lawsuit Against Saudi Government Can Go to Trial, Judge Rules
In his ruling, Daniels noted that the two sides had different interpretations of almost every piece of evidence. But he endorsed the plaintiffs’ views of several key exhibits, including a diagram of an airplane found in one of Bayoumi’s notebooks. Citing aviation experts, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said the drawing and the calculations beside it showed how a plane might hit an object on the ground. The Saudis’ lawyers suggested that Bayoumi had drawn it while helping his son with homework.
Daniels said the plaintiffs’ evidence created “a high probability as to Bayoumi and Thumairy’s roles in the hijackers’ plans, and the related role of their employer,” the Saudi government. “In many instances,” he added, “it even appeared that Bayoumi actively injected himself” into the hijackers’ illicit activities.
9/11 Victims’ Lawsuit Against Saudi Kingdom Can Go to Trial: Judge
Information uncovered by plaintiffs has already undermined the FBI’s conclusion that two U.S.-based Saudi officials “unwittingly” helped al-Qaida hijackers after they arrived in America.ProPublica
Fedia and Piefed have baked in code to block their users from seeing our replies, posts, and comments, while allowing a form of one way federation.
US suspends most visas for Palestinian passport-holders, after 80 Palestinian officials were denied visas ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Earlier in August, visitor visas were paused for people hoping to travel from the Palestinian territory of Gaza. This newly-reported decree would affect a wider group - including people living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The decision was issued in a diplomatic cable dated 18 August, the New York Times and CNN reported.
US consular officers were told to refuse non-immigrant visas to "all otherwise eligible Palestinian Authority passport holders", the communication was quoted as saying.
That would apply to Palestinians hoping to come to the US for a range of purposes, including for business, study or medical treatment.
The move meant that officials would be required to perform a further review of each applicant, which amounted to a blanket ban on issuing visas to Palestinians, the New York Times added in its report.
US suspends most visas for Palestinian passport-holders, reports say
The new restriction comes after a group of Palestinian officials were refused visas for a key UN meeting in New York.James FitzGerald (BBC News)
I am web developer where can I get white label websites and other resources since I am solo
like this
Trump's use of National Guard in Los Angeles illegal, judge rules
A federal judge in California has ruled that the way President Donald Trump deployed deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles this summer was illegal.
The ruling comes as Trump seeks to use National Guard troops in order to crack down on crime in other US cities and support immigration enforcement.
US District Judge Charles Breyer said Trump violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the power of the federal government to use military force for domestic matters.
The law, first passed in 1878, prohibits using the US military in order to execute domestic laws, or assist with doing so. The law has limited exceptions, such as authorisation by Congress.
Judge Breyer found that the ways the Trump administration used the National Guard in Los Angeles violated these restrictions.
Trump's use of National Guard in Los Angeles illegal, judge rules
The ruling comes as Trump seeks to use National Guard troops in order to crack down on crime in other US cities.Kayla Epstein (BBC News)
Help Me Comprehensively Understand The "Big Picture".
There's just too much going on for any one person to understand it all. Never mind accounting for the geopolitical, economic, and cultural factors of every situation. Than there's the rapidly changing contexts. New technology, new science and physics, new species of bacteria/fungai. Rediscovering of ancient practices. Regional problems and solutions. I could go on and on.
I advocate for "futuristic solutions" but I acknowledge that transition will not be overnight or always linear.
So what is going on out there? That's what I'm asking c/climate@slrpnk
- What's going on in your local region / etc and what is the political or economic context.
- Which solutions are being implemented or developed
- Who is organizing and leading their community towards solutions
...
As a Canadian I'm aware that we're expanding our LNG/Fracking, mineral mining, and oil... First Nations groups are providing some pushback against those projects, but we can't expect them to hold the line on ecological protection (There's a clear fiscal incentive for them to give in).
davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-d…
ief.org/news/how-to-make-minin…
cbc.ca/news/indigenous/leaders…
Canada also has and ongoing protest to stop old growth forest logging, which has gotten out of control. I honestly don't know what to think about our forest management, because I'm under the impression that logging can be done in an environmentally friendly way; but it isn't.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_Cr…
naturecanada.ca/news/press-rel…
Canada also has a lot of old hydro-electric dams which are bad for the rivers and their immediate environment.
ucs.org/resources/environmenta…
I'm hopeful Canada's growing role as a global commodity supplier will allow us to set higher international environmental standards.
I've also read online that there are already climate refugees from both rising oceans and regional droughts upending agriculture in the middle east.
lawfaremedia.org/article/from-…
Logging Emerges as Canada’s Third Largest Climate Polluter - Nature Canada
Report concludes that logging is Canada’s third-highest-emitting sector behind oil & gas and transportation greenhouse gas emissions in CanadaNature Canada
like this
stop doing the things we can't electrify
Or eliminate the problem in the first place. For instance walkable cities reducing transportation demand overall.
substitute a few industrial gases
What and why?
steel making without fossil fuels and it works
This is interesting! Can you please elaborate or provide a link? Where is it being adopted?
emissions are increasing more slowly than they would have without the effort, but we are ona trajectory which makes loss of major ecosystems quite likely and threatens the viability of agriculture as a basis for civilization
This is where I'm coming from. Outdoor agriculture is both harming the planet and about to become significantly less viable as the planet heats up.
As far as industrial gases, there mostly ones with fluorine in them. SF₆ and refrigerant are the biggies.
For steel, the big one that exists at pilot scale is the use of hydrogen to reduce ore instead of carbon. Seems to work OK and makes a good enough product for most use.
Indoor farming only really is viable for specialty crops like drugs and a few vegetables. I dont expect to see it used for the grains that feed most of the population. The room to lower the amount of agriculture comes from reducing meat consumption and the use of food crops as motor vehicle fuel.
pilot scale is the use of hydrogen to reduce ore instead of carbon
Ooh it's being done in Canada! cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/ar…
Indoor farming only really is viable for specialty crops like drugs and a few vegetables.
Yes and no. I garden. Hydroponically grown produce in my experience is higher quality, has long shelf life, and grows significantly faster. While cash crop commercial scaling may not be viable outside select crops, smaller household grows certainly are.
I fully agree though that mitigating livestock cultivation and biofuels are our biggest opportunities at present.
technical readiness level for hydrogen production is lacking.
adoption is slowed down by chicken egg problem (steam methane reforming vs pyrolysis/electrolysis)
but yeah. I sign your points.
Israeli protesters stage ‘day of disruption’ calling for end to war in Gaza
A majority of Israelis back ending the war as part of a ceasefire deal to free all remaining hostages, a sentiment mostly driven by concerns about hostages still in Gaza and the impact of two years of war on Israeli society and its economy.Most protests include some demonstrators calling for an end to famine and the slaughter of Palestinians, but they are usually a tiny minority. Polling this week showed that nearly three-quarters of Jewish Israelis partially or totally agree with the claim made by Israel's government that "there are no innocents in Gaza".
Earlier this month, another survey found 78% of Jewish Israelis said they were "not so troubled" or "not troubled" at all by reports of Palestinian suffering.
Large majority of Israeli Jews untroubled by reports of famine in Gaza, poll finds
Among the Arab public, 86 percent of respondents said they are 'very troubled' or 'somewhat troubled' about the situation in Gaza. The poll also found a much greater degree of concern among left-wing JewsLinda Dayan (Haaretz)
like this
Jesus... Three quarters of Israel's population think there are no innocent people in Gaza.
That's some evil shit right there.
Haiti at the Tipping Point: From Invisible Chains to Tangible Solutions | Haiti Liberte
Haiti at the Tipping Point: From Invisible Chains to Tangible Solutions | Haiti Liberte
(Français) Over the first two and a half decades of the 21st century, we have seen the emergence of Haiti’s “gangs,” as the U.S. State Department andKervens Louissaint (Haiti Liberté)
Report: Apple Demands Suppliers Switch to Robotics for Manufacturing
Report: Apple Demands Suppliers Switch to Robotics for Manufacturing
Apple is significantly accelerating the rollout of automation and robotics across its manufacturing supply chain, DigiTimes reports. While Apple...Hartley Charlton (MacRumors.com)
copymyjalopy likes this.
Static sites enable a good time travel experience
- Hacker News.
:::
Static sites enable a good time travel experience
A static site with version control history enables me to travel into any point in the project’s past and serve the site as it was back in the day.Juha-Matti Santala
Technology Channel reshared this.
Salesforce CEO says it cut 4,000 support jobs - and replaced them with AI
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has revealed the company has nearly halved its customer support workforce, replacing thousands of jobs with AI agents.In a podcast interview with Logan Bartlett on YouTube, Benioff brutally stated: “I need less heads,” noting how instead of using human power, Salesforce is now using AI to process around 10,000 leads weekly.
Yet in the same interview, Benioff noted a lack of human resources had caused the company to accrue a backlog of 100 million uncalled leads over 26 years.
Salesforce CEO says it cut 4,000 support jobs - and replaced them with AI
Salesforce has cut 45% of its customer support workersCraig Hale (TechRadar)
For those of us with ADHD, if you are thinking about a task every second you're not doing it and desperately want to do the task more than anything else and are devastated that you can't do it so much that you use all your energy just on trying to make yourself do the thing that you want to do but can't, that is NOT procrastination. That is executive dysfunction. It only seems like procrastination to people who have never experienced executive dysfunction and those who have only ever experienced executive dysfunction.
Procrastination is when you fully have the ability to do something and choose not to do it but to do the thing you prefer doing instead. I hadn't experienced this until very recently, after a lot of therapy and medication.
Rozaŭtuno likes this.
reshared this
Trial of Brazil’s Bolsonaro enters verdict phase over alleged coup plot
Trial of Brazil’s Bolsonaro enters verdict phase over alleged coup plot
The former president is charged with five counts, including plotting the assassination of senior officials.Al Jazeera
What is the best Android browser for privacy?
PrivacyBrowser is a really good browser in my opinion. But I cant do an analysis on its privacy.
I will add that I love how they handle bookmarks.
CBP Had Access to More than 80,000 Flock AI Cameras Nationwide
CBP Had Access to More than 80,000 Flock AI Cameras Nationwide
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regularly searched more than 80,000 Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, according to data released by three police departments. The data shows that CBP’s access to Flock’s network is far more robust and widespread than has been previously reported. One of the police departments 404 Media spoke to said it did not know or understand that it was sharing data with CBP, and Flock told 404 Media Monday that it has “paused all federal pilots.”In May, 404 Media reported that local police were performing lookups across Flock on behalf of ICE, because that part of the Department of Homeland Security did not have its own direct access. Now, the newly obtained data and local media reporting reveals that CBP had the ability to perform Flock lookups by itself.
Last week, 9 News in Colorado reported that CBP has direct access to Flock’s ALPR backend “through a pilot program.” In that article, 9 News revealed that the Loveland, Colorado police department was sharing access to its Flock cameras directly with CBP. At the time, Flock said that this was through what 9 News described as a “one-to-one” data sharing agreement through that pilot program, making it sound like these agreements were rare and limited:
“The company now acknowledges the connection exists through a previously publicly undisclosed program that allows Border Patrol access to a Flock account to send invitations to police departments nationwide for one-to-one data sharing, and that Loveland accepted the invitation,” 9 News wrote. “A spokesperson for Flock said agencies across the country have been approached and have agreed to the invitation. The spokesperson added that U.S. Border Patrol is not on the nationwide Flock sharing network, comprised of local law enforcement agencies across the country. Loveland Police says it is on the national network.”
New data obtained using three separate public records requests from three different police departments gives some insight into how widespread these “one-to-one” data sharing agreements actually are. The data shows that in most cases, CBP had access to more Flock cameras than the average police department, that it is regularly using that access, and that, functionally, there is no difference between Flock’s “nationwide network” and the network of cameras that CBP has access to.
According to data obtained from the Boulder, Colorado Police Department by William Freeman, the creator of a crowdsourced map of Flock devices called DeFlock, CBP ran at least 118 Flock network searches between May 13 and June 13 of this year. Each of these searches encompassed at least 6,315 individual Flock networks (a “network” is a specific police department or city’s cameras) and at least 82,000 individual Flock devices. Data obtained in separate requests from the Prosser Police Department and Chehalis Police Department, both in Washington state, also show CBP searching a huge number of networks and devices.
A spokesperson for the Boulder Police Department told 404 Media that “Boulder Police Department does not have any agreement with U.S. Border Patrol for Flock searches. We were not aware of these specific searches at the time they occurred. Prior to June 2025, the Boulder Police Department had Flock's national look-up feature enabled, which allowed other agencies from across the U.S. who also had contracts with Flock to search our data if they could articulate a legitimate law enforcement purpose. We do not currently share data with U.S. Border Patrol. In June 2025, we deactivated the national look-up feature specifically to maintain tighter control over Boulder Police Department data access. You can learn more about how we share Flock information on our FAQ page.”
A Flock spokesperson told 404 Media Monday that it sent an email to all of its customers clarifying how information is shared from agencies to other agencies. It said this is an excerpt from that email about its sharing options:
“The Flock platform provides flexible options for sharing:
National sharing
- Opt into Flock’s national sharing network. Access via the national lookup tool is limited—users can only see results if they perform a full plate search and a positive match exists within the network of participating, opt-in agencies. This ensures data privacy while enabling broader collaboration when needed.
- Share with agencies in specific states only
- Share with agencies with similar laws (for example, regarding immigration enforcement and data)
- Share within your state only or within a certain distance
- You can share information with communities within a specified mile radius, with the entire state, or a combination of both—for example, sharing with cities within 150 miles of Kansas City (which would include cities in Missouri and neighboring states) and / or all communities statewide simultaneously.
- Share 1:1
- Share only with specific agencies you have selected
- Don’t share at all”
In a blog post Monday, Flock CEO Garrett Langley said Flock has paused all federal pilots.
“While it is true that Flock does not presently have a contractual relationship with any U.S. Department of Homeland Security agencies, we have engaged in limited pilots with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), to assist those agencies in combatting human trafficking and fentanyl distribution,” Langley wrote. “We clearly communicated poorly. We also didn’t create distinct permissions and protocols in the Flock system to ensure local compliance for federal agency users […] All federal customers will be designated within Flock as a distinct ‘Federal’ user category in the system. This distinction will give local agencies better information to determine their sharing settings.”
A Flock employee who does not agree with the way Flock allows for widespread data sharing told 404 Media that Flock has defended itself internally by saying it tries to follow the law. 404 Media granted the source anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.
“They will defend it as they have been by saying Flock follows the law and if these officials are doing law abiding official work then Flock will allow it,” they said. “However Flock will also say that they advise customers to ensure they have their sharing settings set appropriately to prevent them from sharing data they didn’t intend to. The question more in my mind is the fact that law in America is arguably changing, so will Flock just go along with whatever the customers want?”
The data shows that CBP has tapped directly into Flock’s huge network of license plate reading cameras, which passively scan the license plate, color, and model of vehicles that drive by them, then make a timestamped record of where that car was spotted. These cameras were marketed to cities and towns as a way of finding stolen cars or solving property crime locally, but over time, individual cities’ cameras have been connected to Flock’s national network to create a huge surveillance apparatus spanning the entire country that is being used to investigate all sorts of crimes and is now being used for immigration enforcement. As we reported in May, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been gaining access to this network through a side door, by asking local police who have access to the cameras to run searches for them.
9 News’s reporting and the newly released audit reports shared with 404 Media show that CBP now has direct access to much of Flock’s system and does not have to ask local police to run searches. It also shows that CBP had access to at least one other police department system in Colorado, in this case Boulder, which is a state whose laws forbid sharing license plate reader data with the federal government for immigration enforcement. Boulder’s Flock settings also state that it is not supposed to be used for immigration enforcement.
This story and our earlier stories, including another about a Texas official who searched nationwide for a woman who self-administered an abortion, were reported using Flock “Network Audits” released by police departments who have bought Flock cameras and have access to Flock’s network. They are essentially a huge spreadsheet of every time that the department’s camera data was searched; it shows which officer searched the data, what law enforcement department ran the search, the number of networks and cameras included in the search, the time and date of the search, the license plate, and a “reason” for the search. These audit logs allow us to see who has access to Flock’s systems, how wide their access is, how often they are searching the system, and what they are searching for.
The audit logs show that whatever system Flock is using to enroll local police departments’ cameras into the network that CBP is searching does not have any meaningful pushback, because the data shows that CBP has access to as many or more cameras as any other police department. Freeman analyzed the searches done by CBP on June 13 compared to searches done by other police departments on that same day, and found that CBP had a higher number of average cameras searched than local police departments.“The average number of organizations searched by any agency per query is 6,049, with a max of 7,090,” Freeman told 404 Media. “That average includes small numbers like statewide searches. When I filter by searches by Border Patrol for the same date, their average number of networks searched is 6,429, with a max of 6,438. The reason for the maximum being larger than the national network is likely because some agencies have access to more cameras than just the national network (in-state cameras). Despite this, we still see that the count of networks searched by Border Patrol outnumbers that of all agencies, so if it’s not the national network, then this ‘pilot program’ must have opted everyone in the nation in by default.”
CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Texas Cop Searched License Plate Cameras Nationwide for a Woman Who Got an Abortion
The sheriff said the woman self-administered the abortion and her family were concerned for her safety, so authorities searched through Flock cameras.Joseph Cox (404 Media)
They're advertised to the public as "license plate readers" but can do way more than that. Fingerprinting cars based on bumper stickers, colors, dents, scratches, etc.
And if the ability to do all of that is baked into these cameras, it would be trivial to do the same for humans.
SlyLycan
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •Honestly don't know much about her, but happy to see someone at their helm standing up and not just resigning. Dunno if it will accomplish anything but it feels like a more active opposition.
Hopefully everything works out for her and she doesn't have some kind of "accident."
geneva_convenience
in reply to SlyLycan • • •