U.S. Pedestrian Deaths Up 77% Since 2009 & The Auto Industry Knew It Would Happen
U.S. Pedestrian Deaths Up 77% Since 2009 & The Auto Industry Knew It Would Happen
America’s Pedestrian Death Crisis: 77% Rise in a Decade Shows How Car Capitalism Kills WalkersChris Jeffries (HR NEWS)
rsyslog Goes AI First — A New Chapter Begins
rsyslog Goes AI First — A New Chapter Begins - rsyslog
After 24 months of focused evaluation and careful experimentation, we’re excited to announce a major shift in the evolution of rsyslog: we’re going AI First. For those who love more details, please the the more in-depth description of AI First.Rainer Gerhards (Adiscon GmbH)
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The Grothendieck’s Toposes as the Future Mathematics of AI
The paper argues that we are hitting a wall with current AI because we are obsessed with number crunching instead of structure.
Belabes posits that modern AI is too focused on statistical minimization and processing speed, which reduces everything to collections of numbers that inherently lack meaning. You lose the essence of what you are actually trying to model when you strip away the context to get raw data. The author suggests a pivot to Alexandre Grothendieck's Topos theory, which provides a mathematical framework for understanding geometric forms and preserving the deep structure of data rather than just its statistical number crunching.
Topos theory focuses on finding a new style space that acts as a bridge between different mathematical objects. Instead of just looking at points in a standard space, a topos allows us to look at the relationships and sheaves of information over that space, effectively letting us transfer invariants from one idea to another. It creates a way to connect things that seem totally unrelated on the surface by identifying their common essence. Belabes links this to the idea of conceptual strata where something that looks like noise or insignificant data in one layer might actually be critical structure in another layer. It's a move away from the binary notion of significant versus insignificant data and toward a relativistic view where significance depends on the conceptual layer you are analyzing.
The author uses literary examples like Homer and Dostoevsky to show that authentic meaning often precedes the words used to express it, whereas our current digital systems treat language as a closed loop where words define other words. Current AI essentially simulates discourse without the underlying voice or intent. By adopting a Topos-based approach, we might be able to build systems that respect these layers of meaning and read slowly to extract the actual shape of the information. It is basically a call to stop trying to brute force intelligence with bigger matrices and start modeling the actual geometry of thought.
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As a "mathematician"... Yeah this is phony AF. Typical "AI" bullshit.
The field of application of Grothendieck’s toposes goes
beyond the strictly mathematical framework. It makes it
possible to connect literary works, which seem at first glance
to have nothing in common, as evidenced by the connection
between Homer’s The Iliad, Kurāʿ’s al-Muntakhab and
Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot. This connection could in turn enrich
research on topos, if it is taken seriously as an archeology
[20], which invites to deepen the knowledge of things beyond
binary oppositions to explore how things are formed
lmao. fraud. Foucault is cool and all, but dude was not writing about categories and sheaves. Not even close.
With Poincaré, we discover that building a bridge
between things –a topos– can arise from an intuition
lol no. They can't just call anything a "topos". That's not how math works. This paper is entertaining but that's about it.
Digital Sewer Socialism: What we need is sewer socialism for the digital realm — and it can start at the municipal level.
The basic insight of sewer socialism is bringing people into your politics by improving their lives in obvious ways. “You win someone’s trust through an outcome” is how Mamdani puts it. The sewer socialists of Milwaukee made the case that municipal ownership of systems like sanitation, water, and power could deliver services more efficiently and more equitably than private ownership. They solved practical problems for their constituents while constructing working examples of a postcapitalist political economy in miniature.The same method can be applied to the internet. Call it “digital sewer socialism.” Socialist elected officials in New York, Seattle, and beyond can craft policy interventions that increase the quality of life for residents by addressing the difficulties that arise in their relationship with technology. These interventions can be carried out in such a way that, by modeling socialist principles, they win wider support for socialist ideas.
Digital Sewer Socialism
With the rise of AI slop and overall “enshittification,” it is increasingly the case that the internet is failing to address the public’s needs. What we need is sewer socialism for the digital realm — and it can start at the municipal level.jacobin.com
Is It a Bubble?
Is It a Bubble?
In his latest memo, Howard Marks explores if there is a bubble in AI, identifying uncertainty, parallels to past bubbles, AI's vast potential, and emphasizing the importance of prudence.Oaktree Capital
Is It a Bubble?
Is It a Bubble?
In his latest memo, Howard Marks explores if there is a bubble in AI, identifying uncertainty, parallels to past bubbles, AI's vast potential, and emphasizing the importance of prudence.Oaktree Capital
Brutal winter storms in Gaza put 850,000 people at imminent flood risk; Over 100 Palestinians detained in West Bank; U.S. military onboards Google’s AI
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/40142430
Winter storms are expected to hit Gaza today. Child malnutrition in Gaza remains at crisis levels. Only a third of Gaza’s children are enrolled in school. Israel remains the foremost state perpetrator of journalist killings in 2025 for the third consecutive year. More than 100 Palestinians are detained Wednesday in a sweeping raid on the West Bank. Bolivia restores full diplomatic ties with Israel. President Donald Trump says Russia is “obviously” winning in a wide-ranging interview with Politico. The U.S. military installs Google’s AI technology. A Senate report finds that immigration officials have detained and brutalized at least 22 American citizens. The U.S. sanctions a “transactional network” funding the RSF in Sudan, but fails to mention the UAE. UNICEF estimates 10 million have been displaced in Sudan. Nigerian soldiers are detained in Burkina Faso. The M23 pushes toward the city of Uvira in eastern Congo. Dozens are killed after intra-gang fighting in Haiti, six are killed in an attack on a security installation in northwest Pakistan, and the death toll rises in border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia. A new Drop Site report uncovers that Jeffrey Epstein, contrary to previous claims, was de facto chief financial officer of Leslie Wexner’s pro-Israel philanthropic foundation.
ICE is using smartwatches to track pregnant women, even during labor: ‘She was so afraid they would take her baby
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/40010335
In early September, a woman, nine months pregnant, walked into the emergency obstetrics unit of a Colorado hospital. Though the labor and delivery staff caring for her expected her to have a smooth delivery, her case presented complications almost immediately.The woman, who was born in central Asia, checked into the hospital with a smart watch on her wrist, said two hospital workers who cared for her during her labor, and whom the Guardian is not identifying to avoid exposing their hospital or patients to retaliation.
The device was not an ordinary smart watch made by Apple or Samsung, but a special type that US Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) had mandated the woman wear at all times, allowing the agency to track her. The device was beeping when she entered the hospital, indicating she needed to charge it, and she worried that if the battery died, ICE agents would think she was trying to disappear, the hospital workers recalled. She told them that, just days earlier, she had been put on a deportation flight to Mexico, but the pilot refused to let her fly because she was so close to giving birth.
The woman’s fear only grew from there, according to the hospital workers. Her delivery wasn’t progressing the way the care team hoped, and she needed a C-section, a procedure that requires doctors to use a cauterizing tool to minimize bleeding. To prevent possible burning and electrocution, patients are instructed to take off all jewelry or metals before the surgery. The mandatory watch had no way to be easily removed, nor was information about whether it would be safe to wear during the procedure readily available. Hospital staff didn’t know how to contact ICE to ask what to do. When hospital staff told the woman they might have to cut the smart watch off, she panicked, the workers said.
Staff eventually did remove the device, and ICE agents did not show up at the hospital during the delivery. The nurses said they do not know what happened to the woman after she left the hospital with her baby.
The woman was one of three pregnant patients wearing a location-tracking smart watch whom these two workers encountered in their ER in the last few months, they said.
BI Inc and alternative to detentionThe watches are built and operated by BI Inc, a company specializing in monitoring tech that runs the US government’s largest immigrant surveillance operation. The program, Alternative to Detention (ATD), allows select immigrants to await their day in court at home rather than in detention, provided they subscribe to intense monitoring.
When immigrants are enrolled in ATD, they are assigned one or more types of supervision. Some have to wear an ankle monitor, some a smart watch. Some are required to complete regularly scheduled facial recognition scans at their home using a BI Inc app, others are mandated to go into a BI Inc or ICE office for regular in-person check-ins.
The smart watch, officially called the VeriWatch, was introduced two years ago by BI Inc. It was first piloted under the Biden administration and framed as a more discrete alternative to the less digitally equipped ankle monitor, which BI also manufactures and supplies to ICE. As the Guardian previously reported, immigrants wearing the ankle monitors have complained about the stigma that comes with wearing the conspicuous device as well as physical pain caused by the monitors, including electric shocks and cuts from devices that are strapped on too tightly.
Nearly 200,000 people are currently enrolled in the program, and many of them have become increasingly fearful of being considered out of compliance as the Trump administration works to deport immigrants en masse. There have been several cases of people in the program showing up to a mandated, regular in-person check-in with immigration officials, believing they will continue in the ATD program, only to be detained.
All three women encountered by the Colorado hospital staff were reluctant to take their monitors off, fearing that doing so would trigger an alert to ICE or BI Inc, the staff said, even if removing the device was deemed medically necessary.
One of the women went into the ER for a C-section and was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a complication that can cause significant swelling. Staff were worried her smartwatch would cut off her circulation.
“She was in tears about it. She had this deep fear that ICE was going to come to the hospital and take her baby,” one of the staff said. The hospital worker’s shift ended before the patient underwent the C-section. They said they do not know whether the staff who took over the patient’s case convinced her to cut off the watch.
The confusion and fear surrounding the wrist monitor caused delays in the hospital’s ability to provide adequate and necessary care for these women, the workers said, though the patients delivered their babies safely.
“Waiting and trying to figure these things out even when things are not super emergent can cause something emergent to happen,” one of the workers said. “Sometimes in birth, doing a C-section 20 minutes before something bad happens can prevent it.”
The workers pointed out that when they treat patients wearing a monitor issued by the state Department of Corrections, there is a protocol in place to remove it ahead of medical procedures.
Trump’s chaotic crackdownHospital staff from across the US who spoke to the Guardian say the confusion brought on by monitoring devices is just one of several ways Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is affecting medical care, and comes as immigrant patients are increasingly fearful of seeking out treatment.
One of the staff at the Colorado hospital said she’s had at leastthree pregnant patients show up for their first-ever prenatal appointment at anytime between 34 and 38 weeks – well into their third trimester and long after pregnant women are recommended to begin going to consistent doctor appointments.
In California, hospital workers have also noticed a drop this year in immigrants not just seeking emergency care but also showing up for regular doctor visits or vaccinations, according to the California Nurses Association president, Sandy Reding.
“Obviously it has a cascading effect,” Reding said. “If you don’t see your doctor regularly then the outcomes are worse and you wait until you have a crisis to go to the ER.”
In Chicago, CommunityHealth, one of the largest volunteer-based health centers in the country, documented an overall drop in visits per patient and patient retention between 2024 and 2025 due to immigration enforcement activity in the city. In June, the organization observed a 30% dip in patients showing up for their appointments and around a 40% drop in patients picking up their medication since Trump took office.
Neither ICE nor BI Inc responded to requests for comment. ICE previously told the Guardian that there is no evidence the ankle monitors have caused physical harm and that the ATD program was effective at increasing court appearance rates among immigrants facing removal.
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Vague procedures, concrete problemsThe lack of procedure to have ankle or wrist monitors removed in medical emergencies has affected more than just pregnant women. In one July 2025 case, ICE responded to a man’s request to remove his ankle monitor because of a medical issue by detaining him, according to a court petition filed on his behalf by immigrant rights group Amica, which the Guardian reviewed.
The man came to the US from Bangladesh to seek political asylum, and was told he had to wear an ankle monitor while his claim was pending. Suffering from nerve damage in one leg, he obtained a note from a medical clinic requesting the monitor be removed. His lawyer sent the note to the ICE officer on the case but never heard back. During his first check-in at the BI offices, the man brought the medical note to the BI Inc employee assigned to the case, who suggested the man might be able to move the ankle monitor to his other leg. But after the man’s lawyer called ICE to inquire about moving the ankle monitor, the BI case manager informed the man that ICE officers were coming to the BI office to speak with him. They arrested and detained the man, according to the petition.
“He explained that he was just asking for the ankle monitor to be put on the other leg, and the officer told him it was ‘too late’,” the petition reads.
In 2009, ICE discontinued the use of ankle monitors for pregnant women and people whose medical conditions made it “inappropriate” to wear them. But former BI Inc staff as well as immigrants rights groups Amica and American Friends Services Committee said they are concerned that these exceptions are not always enforced. That exception also doesn’t apply to smart watches, a June 2025 ICE memo shows.
The ICE memo instructs agency staffers to put ankle monitors on anyone enrolled in ATD. Dawnisha M Helland, an ICE acting assistant director in the management of non-detained immigrants, wrote that the only group who would not be given ankle monitors were pregnant women. Instead, pregnant women in ATD would wear the smart watch.
Though it resembles a typical consumer smart watch, the VeriWatch is not less restrictive than the ankle monitor. Like the ankle monitor, the wrist watch can’t be removed by the person wearing it. ICE had the option of using a removable version of the watch, according to a 2023 request for information DHS published. The agency chose a different direction; it currently only uses a watch that cannot be removed except by an ICE or authorized BI agent, according to two former DHS officials and two former BI employees.
Immigrants in the program are not told what to do with their ankle or wrist monitors in case of medical emergencies, and BI staff were not authorized to approve the removal of the monitors without first speaking to ICE, the two former BI Inc. staff recalled.
There’s not always time in emergency cases to wait for approval from ICE to cut off the monitors, the Colorado hospital workers said. One of the Colorado staff said they’re deeply concerned about how this unremovable watch will continue to impact vulnerable pregnant women.
“They’re looking at people who literally can’t speak up, who have no legal resources, who are not American citizens, and are pregnant. They’re asking themselves what they can get away with in terms of violating civil liberties for these patients,” the employee said. “That’s the true pilot program: How far can they overreach?”
Internal alarmHealthcare workers are not the only ones sounding the alarm over surveillance’s interference with medical care. Two former Department of Homeland Security officials told the Guardian that the lack of protocols for immigrants surveilled under ATD with exigent medical issues is a symptom of a larger issue with the way BI Inc and ICE run the program. As the Guardian previously reported, immigrants surveilled under ATD and BI Inc employees alike have long complained that the program is highly discretionary. They said that many of the decisions about how, why or how long a given person was mandated to wear an ankle monitor or a smart watch were left to individual case workers.
BI Inc, which started off as a cattle monitoring company, and its parent company the Geo Group, which develops detention centers, private prisons, and rehabilitation facilities, have been given the exclusive DHS contract to operate all aspects of the ATD program since its inception in 2004. That’s despite previous attempts by ICE leadership under Joe Biden’s administration to break the contract up into three parts rather than awarding the entirety of the contract to Geo Group, a company that has served as a landing spot for former ICE and DHS officials.
At its peak, BI Inc monitored approximately 370,000 immigrants under the Biden administration as part of a policy that put every head of household crossing the border on ATD. The tally decreased in 2025 to about 180,000 people, due in part to high costs of putting so many people on ATD, former DHS officials said. As Trump’s second administration supercharged immigration enforcement and greenlit a $150bn surge in funding for ICE, though, Geo Group executives expressed confidence they could reach the same height by the second half of 2025. The goal, the executives have said, is to monitor all 7.5 million people listed on the federal government’s non-detained docket, the list of non-citizens who have not been detained but are subject to removal.
However, the Trump administration has focused on deportation and detention rather than monitoring, and the number of immigrants enrolled in ATD and wearing ankle monitors or other GPS tracking devices has hovered around 180,000, much to the dismay of Geo Group executives.
“Now the count has been fairly stable, which is a little disappointing, obviously,” George Zoley, the GEO Group founder and executive chairman of the board, said during the company’s November earnings call.
ICE awarded another two-year-contract to BI Inc to manage ATD in September. Executives have said they’re pleased that the agency is prioritizing using the company’s more expensive ankle monitors on those immigrants already in ATD rather than the more cost-effective tools like the company’s facial recognition app, Smart Link.
Under the Biden administration, several departments within DHS attempted to address the lack of consistent policy around how ICE should run ATD. In December 2022, DHS hosted 100 non-governmental organizations as well as members of academia and private industry to discuss how to bring more “uniform standards to govern” ATD. That two year effort to draft guidelines in a document, initially titled Non-Detained Management Standards, was ultimately scuttled by ICE and BI, said Scott Shuchart, a former assistant director for regulatory affairs and police at ICE under the Biden administration. Another former DHS official confirmed his account. The draft standards were never made public.
“The program is really structured for the benefit of BI and not for the benefit of the non-citizens who were going to be managed through it,” said Shuchart. “Therefore ERO [ICE’s enforcement and removal arm] was extremely resistant to bring rationalization and consistent policy into it.”
ICE is using smartwatches to track pregnant women, even during labor: ‘She was so afraid they would take her baby’
Pregnant immigrants in ICE monitoring programs are avoiding care, fearing detention during labour and deliveryJohana Bhuiyan (The Guardian)
Brutal winter storms in Gaza put 850,000 people at imminent flood risk; Over 100 Palestinians detained in West Bank; U.S. military onboards Google’s AI
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/40142430
Winter storms are expected to hit Gaza today. Child malnutrition in Gaza remains at crisis levels. Only a third of Gaza’s children are enrolled in school. Israel remains the foremost state perpetrator of journalist killings in 2025 for the third consecutive year. More than 100 Palestinians are detained Wednesday in a sweeping raid on the West Bank. Bolivia restores full diplomatic ties with Israel. President Donald Trump says Russia is “obviously” winning in a wide-ranging interview with Politico. The U.S. military installs Google’s AI technology. A Senate report finds that immigration officials have detained and brutalized at least 22 American citizens. The U.S. sanctions a “transactional network” funding the RSF in Sudan, but fails to mention the UAE. UNICEF estimates 10 million have been displaced in Sudan. Nigerian soldiers are detained in Burkina Faso. The M23 pushes toward the city of Uvira in eastern Congo. Dozens are killed after intra-gang fighting in Haiti, six are killed in an attack on a security installation in northwest Pakistan, and the death toll rises in border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia. A new Drop Site report uncovers that Jeffrey Epstein, contrary to previous claims, was de facto chief financial officer of Leslie Wexner’s pro-Israel philanthropic foundation.
Brutal winter storms in Gaza put 850,000 people at imminent flood risk; Over 100 Palestinians detained in West Bank; U.S. military onboards Google’s AI
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/40142430
Winter storms are expected to hit Gaza today. Child malnutrition in Gaza remains at crisis levels. Only a third of Gaza’s children are enrolled in school. Israel remains the foremost state perpetrator of journalist killings in 2025 for the third consecutive year. More than 100 Palestinians are detained Wednesday in a sweeping raid on the West Bank. Bolivia restores full diplomatic ties with Israel. President Donald Trump says Russia is “obviously” winning in a wide-ranging interview with Politico. The U.S. military installs Google’s AI technology. A Senate report finds that immigration officials have detained and brutalized at least 22 American citizens. The U.S. sanctions a “transactional network” funding the RSF in Sudan, but fails to mention the UAE. UNICEF estimates 10 million have been displaced in Sudan. Nigerian soldiers are detained in Burkina Faso. The M23 pushes toward the city of Uvira in eastern Congo. Dozens are killed after intra-gang fighting in Haiti, six are killed in an attack on a security installation in northwest Pakistan, and the death toll rises in border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia. A new Drop Site report uncovers that Jeffrey Epstein, contrary to previous claims, was de facto chief financial officer of Leslie Wexner’s pro-Israel philanthropic foundation.
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Brutal winter storms in Gaza put 850,000 people at imminent flood risk; Over 100 Palestinians detained in West Bank; U.S. military onboards Google’s AI
Man Charged for Wiping Phone Before CBP Could Search It
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/40009551
404media.co/man-charged-for-wi…A man in Atlanta has been arrested and charged for allegedly deleting data from a Google Pixel phone before a member of a secretive Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit was able to search it, according to court records and social media posts reviewed by 404 Media. The man, Samuel Tunick, is described as a local Atlanta activist in Instagram and other posts discussing the case.
The exact circumstances around the search—such as why CBP wanted to search the phone in the first place—are not known. But it is uncommon to see someone charged specifically for wiping a phone, a feature that is easily accessible in some privacy and security-focused devices.
💡
Do you know anything else about this case? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.
The indictment says on January 24, Tunick “did knowingly destroy, damage, waste, dispose of, and otherwise take any action to delete the digital contents of a Google Pixel cellular phone, for the purpose of preventing and impairing the Government’s lawful authority to take said property into its custody and control.” The indictment itself was filed in mid-November.
Tunick was arrested earlier this month, according to a post on a crowd-funding site and court records. “Samuel Tunick, an Atlanta-based activist, Oberlin graduate, and beloved musician, was arrested by the DHS and FBI yesterday around 6pm EST. Tunick's friends describe him as an approachable, empathetic person who is always finding ways to improve the lives of the people around him,” the site says. Various activists have since shared news of Tunick’s arrest on social media.The indictment says the phone search was supposed to be performed by a supervisory officer from a CBP Tactical Terrorism Response Team. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote in 2023 these are “highly secretive units deployed at U.S. ports of entry, which target, detain, search, and interrogate innocent travelers.”
“These units, which may target travelers on the basis of officer ‘instincts.’ raise the risk that CBP is engaging in unlawful profiling or interfering with the First Amendment-protected activity of travelers,” the ACLU added. The Intercept previously covered the case of a sculptor and installation artist who was detained at San Francisco International Airport and had his phone searched. The report said Gach did not know why, even years later.
Court records show authorities have since released Tunick, and that he is restricted from leaving the Northern District of Georgia as the case continues.
The prosecutor listed on the docket did not respond to a request for comment. The docket did not list a lawyer representing Tunick.
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They don't explain enough about the circumstances of the arrest or how the phone was wiped. As far as I'm concerned that's probably because the law enforcement entity mismanaged the situation and supposed "evidence" and are now trying to pin whatever they can on the guy.
It's stupid that they can just do this with no actual evidence and just an accusation with no factual information provided.
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Most phones aren’t zeroing out the SSD on factory reset AFAIK, might not even format the partitions.
He was using a Pixel and he fast wiped the phone. That means that he was probably using Graphene OS and entered the duress password when the agents told him to unlock his phone. See: grapheneos.org/features#duress
GrapheneOS features overview
Overview of GrapheneOS features differentiating it from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP).GrapheneOS
Man Charged for Wiping Phone Before CBP Could Search It
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/40009551
404media.co/man-charged-for-wi…A man in Atlanta has been arrested and charged for allegedly deleting data from a Google Pixel phone before a member of a secretive Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit was able to search it, according to court records and social media posts reviewed by 404 Media. The man, Samuel Tunick, is described as a local Atlanta activist in Instagram and other posts discussing the case.
The exact circumstances around the search—such as why CBP wanted to search the phone in the first place—are not known. But it is uncommon to see someone charged specifically for wiping a phone, a feature that is easily accessible in some privacy and security-focused devices.
💡
Do you know anything else about this case? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.
The indictment says on January 24, Tunick “did knowingly destroy, damage, waste, dispose of, and otherwise take any action to delete the digital contents of a Google Pixel cellular phone, for the purpose of preventing and impairing the Government’s lawful authority to take said property into its custody and control.” The indictment itself was filed in mid-November.
Tunick was arrested earlier this month, according to a post on a crowd-funding site and court records. “Samuel Tunick, an Atlanta-based activist, Oberlin graduate, and beloved musician, was arrested by the DHS and FBI yesterday around 6pm EST. Tunick's friends describe him as an approachable, empathetic person who is always finding ways to improve the lives of the people around him,” the site says. Various activists have since shared news of Tunick’s arrest on social media.The indictment says the phone search was supposed to be performed by a supervisory officer from a CBP Tactical Terrorism Response Team. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote in 2023 these are “highly secretive units deployed at U.S. ports of entry, which target, detain, search, and interrogate innocent travelers.”
“These units, which may target travelers on the basis of officer ‘instincts.’ raise the risk that CBP is engaging in unlawful profiling or interfering with the First Amendment-protected activity of travelers,” the ACLU added. The Intercept previously covered the case of a sculptor and installation artist who was detained at San Francisco International Airport and had his phone searched. The report said Gach did not know why, even years later.
Court records show authorities have since released Tunick, and that he is restricted from leaving the Northern District of Georgia as the case continues.
The prosecutor listed on the docket did not respond to a request for comment. The docket did not list a lawyer representing Tunick.
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Man Charged for Wiping Phone Before CBP Could Search It
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/40009551
404media.co/man-charged-for-wi…A man in Atlanta has been arrested and charged for allegedly deleting data from a Google Pixel phone before a member of a secretive Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit was able to search it, according to court records and social media posts reviewed by 404 Media. The man, Samuel Tunick, is described as a local Atlanta activist in Instagram and other posts discussing the case.
The exact circumstances around the search—such as why CBP wanted to search the phone in the first place—are not known. But it is uncommon to see someone charged specifically for wiping a phone, a feature that is easily accessible in some privacy and security-focused devices.
💡
Do you know anything else about this case? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.
The indictment says on January 24, Tunick “did knowingly destroy, damage, waste, dispose of, and otherwise take any action to delete the digital contents of a Google Pixel cellular phone, for the purpose of preventing and impairing the Government’s lawful authority to take said property into its custody and control.” The indictment itself was filed in mid-November.
Tunick was arrested earlier this month, according to a post on a crowd-funding site and court records. “Samuel Tunick, an Atlanta-based activist, Oberlin graduate, and beloved musician, was arrested by the DHS and FBI yesterday around 6pm EST. Tunick's friends describe him as an approachable, empathetic person who is always finding ways to improve the lives of the people around him,” the site says. Various activists have since shared news of Tunick’s arrest on social media.The indictment says the phone search was supposed to be performed by a supervisory officer from a CBP Tactical Terrorism Response Team. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote in 2023 these are “highly secretive units deployed at U.S. ports of entry, which target, detain, search, and interrogate innocent travelers.”
“These units, which may target travelers on the basis of officer ‘instincts.’ raise the risk that CBP is engaging in unlawful profiling or interfering with the First Amendment-protected activity of travelers,” the ACLU added. The Intercept previously covered the case of a sculptor and installation artist who was detained at San Francisco International Airport and had his phone searched. The report said Gach did not know why, even years later.
Court records show authorities have since released Tunick, and that he is restricted from leaving the Northern District of Georgia as the case continues.
The prosecutor listed on the docket did not respond to a request for comment. The docket did not list a lawyer representing Tunick.
Trump's SAVE tool is looking for noncitizen voters. But it's flagging U.S. citizens too
"I was confused because I have a passport. I've been voting for almost 10 years. Why is this happening now?" Nel recalled in an interview with NPR. "My first thought was something is going on in terms of wanting to adjust and change who is registered to vote."
An election worker raises a U.S. flag while assisting voters at a polling station in Las Vegas on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024.
earlier
Other eligible Texas voters received the same notice, though official numbers are not yet known.
Their experience underscores concerns election experts have had about the reliability of SAVE, which the Trump administration has turned into a controversial citizenship lookup tool. While the changes to SAVE have made the tool more accessible to states, the overhauled system has been widely criticized for being rolled out without public notice, congressional input or transparency about its accuracy.
adhocfungus likes this.
Xbox was outsold by a little-known Kinect-style console during Black Friday
The Nex Playground crashed the Black Friday hardware chart in the US
US | Man Charged for Wiping Phone Before CBP Could Search It
The exact circumstances around the search are not known. But activist Samuel Tunick is charged with deleting data from a Google Pixel before CBP’s Tactical Terrorism Response Team could search it.
Archived version: archive.is/20251210041435/404m…
Case file: s3.documentcloud.org/documents…
Microsoft Teams is getting a new location tracking feature that lets bosses snoop on staff – research shows it could cause workforce pushback
The new Microsoft Teams feature aims to improve office coordination by automatically updating location based on Wi-Fi
adhocfungus likes this.
Brazilian lawmakers approve bid to reduce Bolsonaro's jail term after ruckus
cross-posted from: lemmy.eco.br/post/18962989
On Tuesday, chaos broke out in Brazil's lower house ahead of a successful vote on a sentence-reduction bill for Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro. Leftist MP Glauber Braga was forcibly removed by police after denouncing a 'coup offensive' and occupying the Speaker's chair.Brazil's lower house of Congress approved a bill early on Wednesday, December 10, that could drastically reduce the sentence of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who has been serving 27 years in jail for staging a coup. If ratified by the Senate, the 70-year-old far-right leader, who has been behind bars since late November, could see his sentence cut to just over two years.
Discord is force-restarting itself on Windows 11 to stop eating your RAM
A "temporary" solution as the company optimizes desktop app performance
https://www.techspot.com/news/110542-discord-force-restarting-itself-windows-11-stop-eating.html
A Developer Accidentally Found CSAM in AI Data. Google Banned Him For It
Mark Russo reported the dataset to all the right organizations, but still couldn't get into his accounts for months.
Archived version: archive.is/20251210153820/404m…
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Home insurance costs are up 150% in one part of California. This map shows premiums by county
Climate change is making insuring homes more risky — and more expensive. And in neighborhoods where that risk is the greatest, higher insurance costs are starting to eat into property values as well.
Main link is a gift link, though some people are asked to register. Not providing an archive.is link because Hearst lawyers don't like that.
Here’s where in California home insurance costs have risen the most
Devastating wildfires set the stage for an explosion in California insurance premiums in the last decade.Christian Leonard (San Francisco Chronicle)
He Spent Funds Meant for Native Hawaiians on Polo and Porsches. The Federal Government Failed to Stop Him.
- Diverted Funds: Christopher Dawson won hundreds of millions in federal contracts by promising to help Native Hawaiians. Instead, prosecutors say, he bought luxury homes.
- Poor Oversight: The Small Business Administration failed to police its business development program despite audits showing years of abuse.
- Few Changes: Even after federal agents raided the company and the SBA threatened to terminate it from the program, Dawson’s firms continued to win massive contracts.
He Spent Funds Meant for Native Hawaiians on Polo and Porsches. The Federal Government Failed to Stop Him.
A small business program allowed Christopher Dawson to win big contracts if he promised to uplift Native Hawaiians. Instead, federal prosecutors allege, he used the money to line his own pockets.Peter.DiCampo@propublica.org (ProPublica)
“Stai Distruggendo la BATTERIA del tuo TELEFONO 😱 (non lo ricaricare MAI PIÙ così!)”
Figo, La Fica Fisica Che Ci Piace ha buttato fuori un altro video utile, oltre ai soliti pazzerelli che tipo boh… Oddio, beh, questo forse non è utile per me, perché io da infiniti anni conosco molto bene tutto quello che qui viene spiegato, perché io sono magica e speciale e decisamente meglio della media […]
octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…
"Stai Distruggendo la BATTERIA del tuo TELEFONO 😱 (non lo ricaricare MAI PIÙ così!)" - fritto misto di octospacc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUIN07mJ624 Figo, La Fica Fisica Che Ci Piace ha buttato fuori un altro video utile, oltre ai soliti pazzerelli che tipo bohminioctt (fritto misto di octospacc)
Meta offers EU users ad-light option in push to end investigation
Meta offers EU users ad-light option in push to end investigation
Facebook agrees to change “pay or consent” model after talks with European Commission.Financial Times (Ars Technica)
Sem anistia para golpistas de ontem e de hoje!
Sem anistia para golpistas de ontem e de hoje! - Pastor Henrique Vieira
Assine o abaixo-assinado e pressione o Congresso para impedir a anistia dos golpistas! Nós protegemos seus dados e respeitamos a Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados. Veja aqui nossa política de privacidade. Ao enviar o formulário, você concorda com ela.Pastor Henrique Vieira
Valve: HDMI Forum Continues to Block HDMI 2.1 for Linux
The HDMI Forum, responsible for the HDMI specification, continues to stonewall open source. Valve's Steam Machine theoretically supports HDMI 2.1, but the mini-PC is software-limited to HDMI 2.0. As a result, more than 60 frames per second at 4K resolution are only possible with limitations.
Valve: HDMI Forum Continues to Block HDMI 2.1 for Linux
Technically, the Steam Machine supports HDMI 2.1. However, Valve and AMD are not allowed to offer an open-source driver for it.Mark Mantel (heise online)
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As long as the manufacturers are competing against each other, that's never going to happen.
The "gamer" consumer demographic has some of the most whiny, entitled vocal minorities. They're going to endlessly complain about the next generation of console needing a special cable/dongle to connect to their TV, one of the manufacturers are going to fold, and then the other one is going to walk back the lack of HDMI because they don't want to lose sales to their competitor.
When they say CachyOS is mostly for newer machines...what's "newer"
Been Manjaro for years and years. Latest update (due to my own screw-up...not the distro's fault) shit the bed and corrupted my timeshift backups (again...my fault...not the distro)
Wasn't too concerned because a) I keep everything on a backup drive, and b) I'm a big believer that every computer needs to be refreshed with a new install every few years anyway.
But now that that time is upon me, I got to thinking about maybe giving CachyOS a shot for the "performance improvements". But my desktop is coming up on 9 years old (AMD A10 processor). Would it even be worth it to try Cachy in that instance, or would the performance difference between that and Manjaro be negligible on that particular processor?
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What's interesting about CachyOS is you can install mods on any Arch you like. I have EndeavourOS (best Arch distro imho) and recently installed the CachyOS mods and it works great. Check out the following video for an easy guide.
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
CachyOS will work on older hardware as well. There are four repositories for x86-64 v1, v2, v3, and v4. If you have newer hardware, the v3 or v4 packages will theoretically give you better performance. That is probably what you are talking about.
That said, the v1 repos will work on x86-64 machines going back to 2003. Not exactly bleeding edge.
The only thing that I have noticed is that packages are not all in sync between repos with v1 lagging behind v3. For example, I think Cachy is already on the 6.18 kernel but the v1 repos still only have 6.17. I have seen svt-av1 lag as well.
I am not a CachyOS user so apologies if any of my info is dated.
I will never say anything bad about EndeavourOS.
In my personal life I have a few people I can rely on and I’m actually quite happy.
It’s the entire rest of the species that’s the constant disappointment.
How can I feel good about people in general when they’ve done the wrong thing my entire life?
More Powerful Hurricanes but Less Frequent: Was 2025 Hurricane Season a Glimpse of the Future?
More Powerful Hurricanes but Less Frequent: Was 2025 Hurricane Season a Glimpse of the Future?
Why we can expect stronger hurricanes in a climate-changed world.The Equation
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Wisconsin Tribes Have Helped the Lake Sturgeon Recover. Climate Change Is Stressing Its Ability to Adapt.
The ancient, enormous fish have lived on Earth for more than 150 million years but changing weather conditions have researchers questioning whether future generations will thrive.
Zillow’s short-sighted move to overlook climate risk | Welcome to the ‘la, la, la, can’t hear you’ climate era.
Zillow’s short-sighted move to overlook climate risk
Zillow pulled its flood and wildfire scores after complaints that the numbers hurt sales. But communities that actually act on these risks are saving money.Umair Irfan (Vox)
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I don't see this as a big deal. We all pretty much know what we're in for, even if we're not familiar with the area. You know Texas is hot, California catches fire and the Gulf Coast catches hurricanes.
In any case, I wouldn't trust a private company's data on climate risks. If I'm considering such a huge spend, going to do some due diligence. FEMA gave me a flood map in seconds, free.
Kinda funny the realtors backed Zillow up on this. Zillow should have told them to get bent, we need this because our competition has it. What are they gonna do? Not use Zillow? 😆
How one controversial startup hopes to cool the planet | And why many scientists are freaked out about the first serious for-profit company moving into the solar geoengineering field.
* archive.today
* web.archive.org
* ghostarchive.org
How one controversial startup hopes to cool the planet
And why many scientists are freaked out about the first serious for-profit company moving into the solar geoengineering field.James Temple (MIT Technology Review)
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dispelling myths
distributing the future isn't possible when profit is measured by greed alone
we are all expenditures in such a capitalist reasoning
COP30: capitalism’s steady march towards climate catastrophe
The latest round of COP talks, which concluded last week, have ended just as we might have predicted. The final agreement contains no direct mention of fossil fmarxist.com
"Causing irreversible environmental instability:" Panel Unveils “Dark Side” of the China’s Green Energy Push in Tibet
cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/46910935
Archived[...]
China’s dominance in the renewable energy supply chain—especially in rare earth minerals, copper and lithium processing—has led to massive industrial expansion in Tibet. While promoted internationally as sustainable climate action, many projects have instead resulted in water contamination, ecosystem collapse, cultural displacement, and intensified political repression.
“Under the guise of green energy development, Tibet is being reshaped to fuel China’s economic and geopolitical ambitions,” said Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha, Deputy Director of the Tibet Policy Institute, in his welcome address. “These mines and mega-dams are marketed as climate-friendly, but they have devastated Tibet’s rivers, grasslands, wildlife habitats, and traditional communities.”
The Tibetan Plateau, often called the Third Pole, contains the world’s largest reserve of freshwater outside the polar regions. Its rivers support nearly 1.9 billion people across Asia. Yet, scientists have warned that the plateau is warming at nearly twice the global average, accelerating glacial melt and causing irreversible environmental instability.
[...]
Panel Unveils "Dark Side" of the People's Republic of China's Green Energy Push in Tibet
Experts warn of mining, dam disasters and human rights abuses behind Beijing’s green narrative Dharamshala: A panel discussion was held on 1 December 2025 at the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi, brought to light the severe ecological…Central Tibetan Administration
China risks emissions rebound amid policy shifts, experts warn
cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/46910756
ArchivedThe world’s biggest carbon polluter is expected to keep total emissions flat in 2025 despite rising energy demand – a sign that clean power may, for the first time, fully offset the growth in electricity consumption, the analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) showed.
The country’s emissions only rose by 0.6% in 2024, a significantly slower pace of growth than the previous year, according to official Chinese government data published on Thursday.
But the Finland-based research group cautioned that a “concerning” policy environment for the next few years increased the risk of an emissions rebound. It added that China was also set to miss its key target for cutting carbon intensity – CO2 emissions per unit of gross domestic product – this year, meaning steeper reductions will be needed to hit its headline 2030 climate goal of slashing carbon intensity by 65%.
[...]
Record solar energy installations and strong growth in wind power capacity have increased the share of non-fossil fuel electricity this year, with emissions from the power sector set to decline for the first time since 2016, the report said. But that progress has been partially countered by the rapidly growing use of coal for the production of plastics and other chemical products, meaning overall emissions are expected to remain stable.
At the same time, experts have warned that China’s new pricing system for solar and wind projects risks slowing the clean energy boom. Under the new policy introduced last June, developers of new solar and wind power plants need to secure contracts with provincial authorities through competitive auctions, instead of being guaranteed a fixed price.
[...]
Coal power plants, on the other hand, are protected from this market-based system, relying instead on long-term power purchase agreements that lock in prices, Schäpe said, describing it as “unfair competition”.
China’s rapidly expanding coal power fleet is adding to the concerns. In 2025, the country has added the largest amount of coal-fired capacity since 2015, while progress on retiring older plants remains very slow, CREA’s report highlighted.
This runs contrary to a pledge made by President Xi Jinping in 2021 to “strictly control” new coal power projects. That commitment was omitted from Beijing’s updated national climate plan (NDC) submitted in late October ahead of COP30.
[...]
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New report warns of critical climate risks in Arab region
An excerpt:
The 22 Arab region countries covered in the WMO’s new State of the Climate report produce about a quarter of the world’s oil, yet directly account for only 5 to 7 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions from their own territories. The climate paradox positions the region as both a linchpin of the global fossil-fuel economy and one of the most vulnerable geographic areas.WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said extreme heat is pushing communities in the region to their physical limits. Droughts show no sign of letting up in one of the world’s most water-stressed regions, but at the same time, parts of it have been devastated by record rains and flooding, she added.
New report warns of critical climate risks in Arab region
Foundations of daily life are being pushed to the brink by human-caused warming.Inside Climate News (Ars Technica)
New report warns of critical climate risks in Arab region
An excerpt:
The 22 Arab region countries covered in the WMO’s new State of the Climate report produce about a quarter of the world’s oil, yet directly account for only 5 to 7 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions from their own territories. The climate paradox positions the region as both a linchpin of the global fossil-fuel economy and one of the most vulnerable geographic areas.WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said extreme heat is pushing communities in the region to their physical limits. Droughts show no sign of letting up in one of the world’s most water-stressed regions, but at the same time, parts of it have been devastated by record rains and flooding, she added.
New report warns of critical climate risks in Arab region
Foundations of daily life are being pushed to the brink by human-caused warming.Inside Climate News (Ars Technica)
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No. The middle east (people and governments alike knew the consequences of fossil fuels and they knew their precarious nature.
Make your choice. Live with the consequences of your actions.
😝
earth.org/global-carbon-emissi…
Don’t get me wrong, I hate the use of fossil fuel as much as the next guy, but you can’t blame a people for the consequences of everyone’s actions
Global Carbon Emissions: Richest 1% Match Emissions of 5 Billion People
The new Oxfam study proposes a tax of 60% on the incomes of the richest 1% globally, which would generate approximately US$6.4 trillion.Martina Igini (Earth.Org)
Future generations born in the region, i.e., the people who are actually going to suffer, had nothing to do with this shit.
I know moralizing gives a hit of dopamine but let's just do better.
Current generations made the choice for their progeny.
It's not exactly moralizing. Actions have consequences. *Gestures broadly out the window. Let's stop doing the obviously bad things and clutch our pearls at the obvious and predictable consequences.
Actions have consequences. *Gestures broadly out the window. Let’s stop doing the obviously bad things and clutch our pearls at the obvious and predictable consequences.
Yes, of course 100%. We are together shoulder to shoulder on this. With you 100%.
their progeny
This is where we are having our small difference. The word "their". I say "our". I am not going to wash my hands off of the future humans of the MENA region just because the rulers of their direct ancestors are doing shitty things.
just another dev
in reply to brianpeiris • • •I was gonna post a list of other things that happened on July 9 2025, but it was all kinda depressing.
The post ended with "stay tuned". Do you have any update for us, OP?
brianpeiris
in reply to just another dev • • •- rsyslog.com/rsyslog-documentat…
- rsyslog.com/clarifying-ai-firs…
- rsyslog.com/shipping-better-do…
- rsyslog.com/introducing-the-rs…
- rsyslog.com/new-rsyslog-ai-ass…
New rsyslog AI Assistant — powered by DigitalOcean Gradient - rsyslog
Rainer Gerhards (Adiscon GmbH)algernon
in reply to brianpeiris • • •FauxLiving
in reply to brianpeiris • • •I, like the other commenters here, am not privy to the 2 years of evaluation and experimentation.
However, I won't let that stop me from condemning this in no uncertain terms because AI bad and that's more correct than any amount of "observational data" or "experimental evidence".
We may not be users of the software, contributors to the project or were even aware of what rsyslog is prior to seeing this announcement but as people who are chronically outraged we have valid concerns about this development which will ruin the software that we only recently discovered existed.
SystemQ
in reply to FauxLiving • • •Rsyslog comes standard on most if not all Linux distros, I'm willing to bet most people here have at least heard of it, or use/have used it in the past, especially if you're a sysadmin. You pretending it's some obscure software we're all only just now hearing about, tells us you have no idea what you're talking about.
Think before you speak.
FauxLiving
in reply to SystemQ • • •Rsyslog comes standard on most linux distros, yes. It didn't get that way because the development team are idiots who don't know what they're doing.
So, on one hand we have the developers of a piece of software used by a majority of Linux users saying that, after 2 years of evaluation and testing, that these tools are useful and effective and on the other hand we have random social media people who's only knowledge on the topic is that they know AI is bad and therefore this cannot be anything but bad.
Ⓜ3️⃣3️⃣ 🌌
in reply to brianpeiris • • •