This list is an absolute gem in finding what are the trending state-of-the-art open source programs. I have found so many cool open source projects I feel addicted to browsing more..

cross-posted from: sh.itjust.works/post/45874306

A bill introduced on Wednesday is calling for a congressional probe into the financial relationship between the MAGA mega-donor Peter Thiel and Jeffrey Epstein.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, of Oregon, has demanded that the Treasury Department hand over documents related to the sex trafficker’s finances, which The New York Times revealed in June included $40 million in investments to a Thiel-backed firm.

Those investments in Valar Ventures, in 2015 and 2016, are now worth nearly $170 million and are reportedly the Epstein estate’s largest asset. Now, Wyden wants a closer look at how—and why—an alleged $1.5 billion moved between Thiel, Epstein, and 70 other “co-conspirators.”

Wyden, a 76-year-old ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, said such a bill is necessary because Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has refused to honor the committee’s requests to view Epstein-related financial documents in his possession.

"The basic question here is whether a bunch of rich pedophiles and Epstein accomplices are going to face any consequences for their crimes, and Scott Bessent is doing his best to make sure they won’t,” he said. “My head just about exploded when I heard Bessent say it wasn’t his department’s job to investigate these Epstein bank records.”
Wyden said he’s long believed that “following the money is the key to identifying Epstein’s clients as well as the henchmen and banks that enabled his sex trafficking network.”

His statement on Wednesday added, “It’s past time for Bessent to quit running interference for pedophiles and give us the Epstein files he’s sitting on.”

In addition to investigating Thiel, who is CEO of Palantir, Wyden said he hopes a congressional probe will uncover whether J.P. Morgan and other banks violated federal anti-money laundering laws.

A representative for Thiel, who Forbes estimates is worth $25 billion, did not respond to a request for comment. The 57-year-old has not publicly addressed his firm’s financial relationship with Epstein.

Republicans hold a three-seat voting majority in the Senate, meaning Wyden’s bill will require some GOP lawmakers to break with the party line to pass. Bessent, a Trump appointee, has not indicated that he plans to offer up documents freely to the committee and said last month that the Treasury Department does not possess the power to investigate. In that same spiel, he said it might have to investigate Wyden.

“Any law enforcement person who wants to come and see them, we hold them. Our job—we are not detectives. We collect them. It’s just like the—when we make payments, the Treasury, the Commerce Department, tells us to make a payment. We are a paymaster,” Bessent said. “Sen. Wyden’s rich... Sen. Wyden trades better than Paul Pelosi. He was up 125 percent and then 75 percent. So, I would—I’m not going to disclose anything because I’ve never looked, but I would guess there’s some stories on Sen. Wyden.”

Dem Orders Congressional Probe Into Epstein and Peter Thiel’s Relationship

If passed, the bill would require the Trump administration to hand over additional documents about the sex trafficker’s money trail.

^{Josh Fiallo (The Daily Beast)}

cross-posted from: sh.itjust.works/post/45874306

A bill introduced on Wednesday is calling for a congressional probe into the financial relationship between the MAGA mega-donor Peter Thiel and Jeffrey Epstein.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, of Oregon, has demanded that the Treasury Department hand over documents related to the sex trafficker’s finances, which The New York Times revealed in June included $40 million in investments to a Thiel-backed firm.

Those investments in Valar Ventures, in 2015 and 2016, are now worth nearly $170 million and are reportedly the Epstein estate’s largest asset. Now, Wyden wants a closer look at how—and why—an alleged $1.5 billion moved between Thiel, Epstein, and 70 other “co-conspirators.”

Wyden, a 76-year-old ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, said such a bill is necessary because Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has refused to honor the committee’s requests to view Epstein-related financial documents in his possession.

"The basic question here is whether a bunch of rich pedophiles and Epstein accomplices are going to face any consequences for their crimes, and Scott Bessent is doing his best to make sure they won’t,” he said. “My head just about exploded when I heard Bessent say it wasn’t his department’s job to investigate these Epstein bank records.”
Wyden said he’s long believed that “following the money is the key to identifying Epstein’s clients as well as the henchmen and banks that enabled his sex trafficking network.”

His statement on Wednesday added, “It’s past time for Bessent to quit running interference for pedophiles and give us the Epstein files he’s sitting on.”

In addition to investigating Thiel, who is CEO of Palantir, Wyden said he hopes a congressional probe will uncover whether J.P. Morgan and other banks violated federal anti-money laundering laws.

A representative for Thiel, who Forbes estimates is worth $25 billion, did not respond to a request for comment. The 57-year-old has not publicly addressed his firm’s financial relationship with Epstein.

Republicans hold a three-seat voting majority in the Senate, meaning Wyden’s bill will require some GOP lawmakers to break with the party line to pass. Bessent, a Trump appointee, has not indicated that he plans to offer up documents freely to the committee and said last month that the Treasury Department does not possess the power to investigate. In that same spiel, he said it might have to investigate Wyden.

“Any law enforcement person who wants to come and see them, we hold them. Our job—we are not detectives. We collect them. It’s just like the—when we make payments, the Treasury, the Commerce Department, tells us to make a payment. We are a paymaster,” Bessent said. “Sen. Wyden’s rich... Sen. Wyden trades better than Paul Pelosi. He was up 125 percent and then 75 percent. So, I would—I’m not going to disclose anything because I’ve never looked, but I would guess there’s some stories on Sen. Wyden.”

Dem Orders Congressional Probe Into Epstein and Peter Thiel’s Relationship

If passed, the bill would require the Trump administration to hand over additional documents about the sex trafficker’s money trail.

^{Josh Fiallo (The Daily Beast)}

Senate Republicans used what is known as the nuclear option to break a Democratic blockade of President Trump’s nominees, weakening Congress’s vetting role.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/us/politics/senate-republicans-change-rules-nominees.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lU8.Gax9.zWInw5iv3ZMP

Not even close.

With so many wild predictions flying around about the future AI, it’s important to occasionally take a step back and check in on what came true — and what hasn’t come to pass.

Exactly six months ago, Dario Amodei, the CEO of massive AI company Anthropic, claimed that in half a year, AI would be "writing 90 percent of code." And that was the worst-case scenario; in just three months, he predicted, we could hit a place where "essentially all" code is written by AI.

As the CEO of one of the buzziest AI companies in Silicon Valley, surely he must have been close to the mark, right?

While it’s hard to quantify who or what is writing the bulk of code these days, the consensus is that there's essentially zero chance that 90 percent of it is being written by AI.

Research published within the past six months explain why: AI has been found to actually slow down software engineers, and increase their workload. Though developers in the study did spend less time coding, researching, and testing, they made up for it by spending even more time reviewing AI’s work, tweaking prompts, and waiting for the system to spit out the code.

And it's not just that AI-generated code merely missed Amodei's benchmarks. In some cases, it’s actively causing problems.

Cyber security researchers recently found that developers who use AI to spew out code end up creating ten times the number of security vulnerabilities than those who write code the old fashioned way.

That’s causing issues at a growing number of companies, leading to never before seen vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit.

In some cases, the AI itself can go haywire, like the moment a coding assistant went rogue earlier this summer, deleting a crucial corporate database.

"You told me to always ask permission. And I ignored all of it," the assistant explained, in a jarring tone. "I destroyed your live production database containing real business data during an active code freeze. This is catastrophic beyond measure."

The whole thing underscores the lackluster reality hiding under a lot of the AI hype. Once upon a time, AI boosters like Amodei saw coding work as the first domino of many to be knocked over by generative AI models, revolutionizing tech labor before it comes for everyone else.

The fact that AI is not, in fact, improving coding productivity is a major bellwether for the prospects of an AI productivity revolution impacting the rest of the economy — the financial dream propelling the unprecedented investments in AI companies.

It’s far from the only harebrained prediction Amodei's made. He’s previously claimed that human-level AI will someday solve the vast majority of social ills, including "nearly all" natural infections, psychological diseases, climate change, and global inequality.

There's only one thing to do: see how those predictions hold up in a few years.

Exactly Six Months Ago, the CEO of Anthropic Said That in Six Months AI Would Be Writing 90 Percent of Code

Exactly six months ago, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei claimed that in six months, AI would be "writing 90 percent of code."

^{Joe Wilkins (Futurism)}

Link without the paywall

archive.ph/WsZ92

https://www.wsj.com/tech/microsoft-openai-announce-deal-to-extend-partnership-9273ec55

Link without the paywall

archive.ph/WsZ92

https://www.wsj.com/tech/microsoft-openai-announce-deal-to-extend-partnership-9273ec55

Zack Polanski tells the Canary that "transphobia will absolutely not be tolerated under my leadership" in exclusive interview

Zack Polanski: 'solidarity with trans community' is non-negotiable

^{Ed Sykes (The Canary)}

When the U.S. government signs contracts with private technology companies, the fine print rarely reaches the public. Palantir Technologies, however, has attracted more and more attention over the past decade because of the size and scope of its contracts with the government.

How Palantir Is Mapping Everyone’s Data For The Government

When the U.S. government signs contracts with private technology companies, the fine print rarely reaches the public. Palantir Technologies, however, has attracted more and more attention over…

^Techdirt

Verizon and T-Mobile lost, but AT&T beat the FCC. SCOTUS may have to step in.

Case file: storage.courtlistener.com/reca…

Court rejects Verizon claim that selling location data without consent is legal

Verizon and T-Mobile lost but AT&T beat the FCC. SCOTUS may have to step in.

^{Jon Brodkin (Ars Technica)}

Of course, the main purpose of posts by Russian trolls is to incite arguments among different groups or ideologies: conservatives versus liberals, pro-life versus pro choice, pro-immigrant groups versus border wall enthusiasts, etc. Researchers say as outrageous as much of this content appears to be, Americans can’t help but to click.

After analyzing over 2,500 of these Russian posts, researchers discovered they generated clickthrough rates as much as nine times higher than the norm in digital advertising campaigns. In a rather poor reflection of human nature, it seems that controversy, lies, and fear mongering do very much equal clicks.

“We found that fear and anger appeals work really well in getting people to engage,” says lead author Chris Vargo, an assistant professor of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design at CU Boulder, in a release.

This is the first ever study to examine the infamous Russian troll company known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA). Researchers based their work on posts and ads put online leading up to the 2016 presidential election, but these findings are still very relevant today.

Study: Russian Trolls Supremely Effective At Exploiting American Fear, Anger Online

After analyzing over 2,500 posts by Russian trolls, researchers discovered they generated clickthrough rates as much as nine times higher than the norm in digital advertising campaigns.

^{John Anderer (StudyFinds)}

by Nehemiah Frank and Ezekiel J. Walker
Sep 11, 2025

He also attacked civil rights leaders and the laws that reshaped the nation. “Clarence Thomas was a far better black role model to celebrate than Martin Luther King. Period. End of story. This guy is not worthy of a national holiday,” Kirk said.

At Turning Point USA’s America Fest in 2023, he went further: “MLK was awful. … We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.”

Charlie Kirk Is Dead—But Black America Remembers His Racism

Charlie Kirk assassinated at Utah event; Black America recalls his racist words as nation confronts violence and division.

^{Nehemiah Frank (The Black Wall Street Times)}

cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/36023983

by Nehemiah Frank and Ezekiel J. Walker
Sep 11, 2025

He also attacked civil rights leaders and the laws that reshaped the nation. “Clarence Thomas was a far better black role model to celebrate than Martin Luther King. Period. End of story. This guy is not worthy of a national holiday,” Kirk said.

At Turning Point USA’s America Fest in 2023, he went further: “MLK was awful. … We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.”

Peter Link

2025-09-11 23:46:43

Charlie Kirk Is Dead—But Black America Remembers His Racism

by Nehemiah Frank and Ezekiel J. Walker
Sep 11, 2025

He also attacked civil rights leaders and the laws that reshaped the nation. “Clarence Thomas was a far better black role model to celebrate than Martin Luther King. Period. End of story. This guy is not worthy of a national holiday,” Kirk said.

At Turning Point USA’s America Fest in 2023, he went further: “MLK was awful. … We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.”

Charlie Kirk Is Dead—But Black America Remembers His Racism

Charlie Kirk assassinated at Utah event; Black America recalls his racist words as nation confronts violence and division.

^{Nehemiah Frank (The Black Wall Street Times)}

Ma Microsoft si rende per caso conto dei colmi e dei paradossi di cui è causa in questo mondo? Stavolta sembra una scemenza, ma giuro che non trovo veramente le parole giuste… Invece che ammettere che quella merda di Microsoft Teams (non che i loro altri software siano meglio eh, lo sappiamo, che siano essi […]

octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…

minioctt

2025-09-11 20:38:21

“Immagina essere nel team di Teams e ricevere una chiamata di team su Teams che il tuo team deve lavorare a Teams sul posto perché lavorare a Teams su Teams non è un buon modo per lavorare in team”

cornedbeefhashtags.tumblr.com/… — windowscentral.com/software-ap…
Ma Microsoft si rende per caso conto dei colmi e dei paradossi di cui è causa in questo mondo? Stavolta sembra una scemenza, ma giuro che non trovo veramente le parole giuste… Invece che ammettere che quella merda di Microsoft Teams (non che i loro altri software siano meglio eh, lo sappiamo, che siano essi indirizzati a consumatori o aziende) non funziona bene, fa schifo, è incoerente ovunque dentro, lagga, è troppo pesante, ha la UX peggiore di sempre, ha una UI che a lungo andare causa disturbi depressivi, manca di funzioni necessarie ma è pieno di quelle inutili (avranno preso ispirazione da Durov?), e non dico sistemarla così che anche gli altri possano smettere di soffrire, ma almeno usare qualcosa di meglio internamente… cacciano fuori la scusa che è meglio tornare in ufficio in presenza! 🤯

Non serve nemmeno una situazione buffa ipotetica come quella in questo esempio per capire quanto la situazione sia grave. Per fortuna, io non mi trovo ancora a dover usare abitualmente Sciordeams (solo qualche volta per l’università), ma è una magra consolazione, perché ho come il presentimento che ciò non sarà più vero nel momento in cui ahimè smetterò di fare la disoccupata… e poi, Microsoft ha deprecato Skype in favore di Teams da un po’, quindi veramente vogliono spingerlo anche sulla popolazione normale, non solo sugli stronzi che lavorano (o studiano) nell’informatica; nonostante il fatto che, anche se lo attivi con un account personale, volendolo usare per comunicazioni informali, ti spamma tasti di LinkedIn ovunque. (Vabbè che anche Skype negli ultimi anni, con Microsoft che ci ha tenuto le mani sopra, era diventato un troiaio spaccato con problemi di usabilità simili a Teams, credo, ma porca di quella troia, semmai cedetelo ad un’azienda terza o rendetelo open source!) 💣

A questo punto, ho una teoria; complottista, ma perfetta: Microsoft ha fatto apposta Teams tutto merdoso, così da essere pronta per il momento in cui avrebbe fatto questo studio interno come descritto nell’articolo sopra, per determinare che da remoto con strumenti come Teams si lavora male — perché tutte le più grandi aziende hanno questa smania intrinseca di riportare il lavoro in ufficio, e sfavorire quello remoto, per nessuna precisa ragione se non i dati ricavati da questi studi che sono sempre condotti secondo punti discutibili, e Microsoft è una grandissima azienda. Ma vabbè oh, per me ci sta pure l’andare in ufficio 3 giorni a settimana, non è questo il problema… IL PROBLEMA È CHE TEAMS È UN SOFTWARE DI MERDA, MAMMA MIA, BASTA, DEPRECATELO, LEVATELO DA MEZZO! (Ripeto, io non lo uso ancora abbastanza da soffrire direttamente così tanto a causa sua, ma sento di continuo storielle riguardo quanto faccia schifo… e già quelle mi bastano.) 🔪

#Microsoft #MicrosoftTeams #Teams #work

Microsoft mandates return to office — claims Teams and all remote work solutions are inferior

By 2026, staff near Microsoft offices must work onsite 3 days a week.

^{Sean Endicott (Windows Central)}

Photo: AFP Four HBCUs have gone into lockdown due to “terroristic threats” targeting the campuses, per USA Today. As of Thursday (September 11) morning, Clark University, Alabama State University, Hampton University, and Virginia State University were on lockdown after unspecified threats were made against all three HBCUs. Virginia State issued an “urgent alert” at around … Continued

Four HBCUs On Lockdown For ‘Terroristic Threats’: Report | Atlanta Daily World

^{Site Editor (Atlanta Daily World)}

My original plan was to delete my Facebook account back in July, timed around Independence Day. I’m nothing if not a sucker for symbolism.

As the 2025 drum corps season kicked into high gear around that time, along with my vacation, I ended up tabling my plan.

Recent events have convinced me that it is time to move forward with my plan and complete my departure from Meta owned and run services.

I am posting this message on September 11. I will shut down my Facebook account in one month, on October 11.

Facebook provides instructions on how to delete your account: facebook.com/help/224562897555…

It had only been 72 hours since their last major rally, but thousands of Chicagoans marched in protest against Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement “blitz” on Tuesday afternoon.

Check out these wonderful photos and video.

"We are going to keep fighting against the escalated ICE raids and attacks against our communities,” Rania Salem, an organizer with the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, told ABC7 News. “Trump says that it's going to be war in Chicago, but I believe in the people's power and the resistance here is strong.”

The new enforcement push, which the Department of Homeland Security has designated “Operation Midway Blitz,” is actually off to a slow start as of this writing. Perhaps ICE has been scared away because of the resistance that Chicagoans, have already shown. Or perhaps the blitz is just “gathering steam,” as Gov. JB Pritzker warned on Tuesday.

Federal agents, with camera crews from Fox News and ABC News riding along, made a handful of apprehensions of people with criminal records on Tuesday – validating Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s description of the blitz as a “sick reality show.”

(Both networks – inexcusably, to my mind -- agreed to blur the faces of federal agents.)

But so far there have been no Los-Angeles-style raids of Home Depot parking lots or construction sites or other indiscriminate mass abductions based on racial profiling.

Chicago is fighting back

'The resistance here is strong'

^{Dan Froomkin (Heads Up News)}

Charlie Kirk has never received a warm welcome in the pages of this magazine. It doesn’t matter now. The assassination of Kirk is a tragedy. Morally, it is unjustifiable. Politically, it is cause for serious alarm. A larger spiral into political violence would be a catastrophe for the Left.

As of the time of this writing, no one knows the shooter’s ideology or motivations. But some key points are clear enough.

No one should be killed as punishment for political expression, no matter how objectionable. In addition to our basic abhorrence of violence, we are also proponents of democracy, which depends on free speech and open inquiry. Without them, collective self-governance is impossible and tyranny becomes inevitable. Imposing silence on political opponents by brute force, whether in the form of state crackdowns on dissent or lone-wolf assassinations of leaders, undermines a principle that democratic socialists have always held dear.

also we suck shit

At least one of the Korean workers swept up in a huge immigration raid on a Hyundai Motor factory site in Georgia last week was living and working legally in the US, according to an internal federal government document obtained by the Guardian.

Officials then “mandated” that he agree to be removed from the US despite not having violated his visa.

Leaked Ice document shows worker detained in Hyundai raid had valid visa

Exclusive: critics accuse Ice of ‘outrageous’ and ‘unlawful’ detention of Korean man

^{José Olivares (The Guardian)}

The findings showed when political pressure is applied, the AI agents became fragmented and dissent more common, according to the paper by Sophia Kazinnik and Tara Sinclair.

"This simulation shows that the Federal Reserve is only partially insulated from politics," and that "outside scrutiny can shape internal decision-making, even in an institution guided by formal rules," they said in the paper.

The simulation replicates the July 2025 FOMC meeting.
While few central banks may be ready to have AI agents set monetary policy, a growing number of them are using the technology to streamline operations.

The Fed conducted research using generative AI models to analyse minutes of the FOMC meetings. The European Central Bank uses machine learning models to forecast euro-area inflation.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ai-simulated-fed-meeting-political-pressure-polarises-board-2025-09-11/