The Medford Police Department is building a network of mass surveillance through controversial collaborations with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and law enforcement agencies across Southern Oregon, according to new documents we obtained. Major components of the surveillance network include the use of automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology, and monitoring of social media through “sock puppet” accounts. Meanwhile, Jackson County is using a third-party lease to make its publicly owned building available to ICE for its Southern Oregon field office, creating another “backdoor” for local government resources to be utilized by ICE despite Oregon’s status as a “sanctuary state.”

Our latest trove of public records total 313 pages. Below is an overview of the records, which were obtained through public records requests to the city of Medford, the city of Grants Pass, and Jackson County. We provide a downloadable copy of the records at the bottom of this blog post.

The Medford Police Department is building a network of mass surveillance through controversial collaborations with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and law enforcement agencies across Southern Oregon, according to new documents we obtained. Major components of the surveillance network include the use of automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology, and monitoring of social media through “sock puppet” accounts. Meanwhile, Jackson County is using a third-party lease to make its publicly owned building available to ICE for its Southern Oregon field office, creating another “backdoor” for local government resources to be utilized by ICE despite Oregon’s status as a “sanctuary state.”

Our latest trove of public records total 313 pages. Below is an overview of the records, which were obtained through public records requests to the city of Medford, the city of Grants Pass, and Jackson County. We provide a downloadable copy of the records at the bottom of this blog post.

Hi,

i want to explore the various way we can highlight content.

Currently, on the threadiverse, we use vote to show our approval, discontent...and we can couple it with a bot for moderation. Or hide post below a certain score...

Some instance completly removed downvote as Beehaw. Piefed is experimenting private vote. On other fediverse software, mastodon, iceshrimp, there is no downvote and we use emojis to express our feelings.

You also have website as slashdot.org/ where you can tell that comment was insightfull or a troll, or funny...

There is also also website that compare software or video as tournesol.app/

• Do you think vote sould be private ? Public ? And why ?
• Are you sastified with the current voting system ? And why ?
• What other interesting software/website that tried something different do you know ?
• What way do you imagine to highlight content and improve search, discoverability ?

Tournesol

Compare online content and contribute to the development of responsible content recommendations.

^Tournesol

Whistleblower Disclosure.

Today, Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, Acting Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella requesting information and documents in Microsoft’s possession regarding reports that individuals associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) attempted to remove sensitive information from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), raising serious concerns of technology-related misconduct.

“According to recent reporting by the National Public Radio (NPR) and whistleblower disclosures obtained by Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, individuals associated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have attempted to use high-level systems access to remove sensitive information—quite possibly including corporate secrets and details of union activities. The whistleblower has also explained how the responsible individuals have attempted to conceal their activities, obstruct oversight, and shield themselves from accountability, including by deleting system logs and opening back doors into the NLRB case management system to send massive amounts of data outside of the agency. Potentially in connection with these efforts, a DOGE engineer reportedly wrote bespoke code that appears designed to remove data from NLRB and saved that code to a repository on Microsoft’s GitHub platform. Given Microsoft’s ownership of GitHub, I request information and documents in Microsoft’s possession regarding this incident,” wrote Acting Ranking Member Lynch.

Recent reporting by NPR disclosed how a DOGE engineer saved code to a GitHub repository titled “NxGenBdoorExtract,” suggesting that the code could have created a backdoor used to extract files from the NLRB’s internal case management system.

The exfiltration of large swaths of sensitive information through backdoor channels raises significant concerns about the legality of DOGE’s actions and its threat to independent federal agencies, as well as Elon Musk’s personal conflicts of interest with this case.

“Notably, the now-former de facto leader of DOGE, Elon Musk, owns and operates companies that have frequently run afoul of NLRB rules. For example, NLRB has taken action against Mr. Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla for its attempts to discourage unionizing efforts, part of Mr. Musk’s ongoing anti-union actions. Mr. Musk’s social media company, X, also faced a complaint from NLRB after an employee was terminated for posting a tweet challenging the company’s return-to-office mandate. These cases raise concerns about Mr. Musk or anyone associated with DOGE having access to NLRB data, as any such access poses a serious conflict of interest,” concluded Rep. Lynch.

Following Whistleblower Reports, Acting Ranking Member Lynch Demands Microsoft Hand Over Information on DOGE’s Misconduct at NLRB

Washington, D.C. (June 16, 2025)—Today, Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, Acting Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella requesting information and documents in Microso…

^{The Committee on Oversight and Accountability Democrats}

“From Trump: ALL HELL JUST BROKE LOOSE! I WAS CONVICTED IN A RIGGED TRIAL!” one example text message in the complaint says. “I need you to read this NOW” followed by a link to a donation page.

RNC Sued Over WinRed's Constant 'ALL HELL JUST BROKE LOOSE!' Fundraising Texts

^{Court Watch}

“From Trump: ALL HELL JUST BROKE LOOSE! I WAS CONVICTED IN A RIGGED TRIAL!” one example text message in the complaint says. “I need you to read this NOW” followed by a link to a donation page.

RNC Sued Over WinRed's Constant 'ALL HELL JUST BROKE LOOSE!' Fundraising Texts

^{Court Watch}

https://www.patreon.com/posts/were-increasing-130695366

A return to vernacular buildings, which maintain interiors at a comfortable temperature through architectural design rather than energy-intensive technical installations, could significantly reduce energy consumption for heating and cooling. However, it’s not a short-term solution: it would require a large amount of time, money, and energy to replace the existing building stock.

Fortunately, history offers an alternative solution that can be deployed more quickly and with fewer resources: textiles. Before the Industrial Revolution, people added a temporary layer of textile insulation to either the interior or the exterior of a building, depending on the climate and the season. In cold weather, walls, floors, roofs, windows, doors, and furniture were insulated with drapery and carpetry. In hot weather, windows, doors, facades, roofs, courtyards, and streets were shaded by awnings and toldos.

Removable insulation can achieve significant energy savings with much more flexibility than permanently enclosed insulation materials. Because modern insulation methods require construction permits and structural interventions to a building, they are expensive, time-consuming, and only accessible to home owners. Furthermore, modern insulation methods are ill-suited for older buildings, in which case they are often not financially and energetically sustainable.

How to Dress and Undress your Home

Before the large-scale use of fossil fuels, removable textile layers kept homes warm in winter and cool in summer.

^{LOW←TECH MAGAZINE}

https://www.patreon.com/posts/were-increasing-130695366

The US House of representatives is preparing to vote next week on a resolution that would deem “Free Palestine” to be “an antisemitic slogan.”

If anybody votes against this, they’ll say they voted to support Colorado terrorist attack.

Update (from comments): A Nitter link to the Ryan Grim tweet in the screenshot:
https://
xcancel.com/ryangrim/status/19
30972170479370686

#USpol #FreePalestine #Genocide #Israel #Antisemitism #Fascism
#Palestine @palestine@a.gup.pe

Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that the House passed is objectionable for many reasons, most obviously because it is the most regressive economic bill of my lifetime, the class war condensed into in legislative form. Its tax policies and spending cuts will erode the well being of Americans slowly for decades to come. Its most immediate destabilizing impact, however—the one that has the potential to push our democracy to the brink—is its vast expansion of the Homeland Security budget, which will be used to build ICE into a huge national army of loyalists under Trump’s control. The money to build America’s brownshirts is in the pipeline. Whereas our military-industrial complex is a threat to the rest of the world, this force will be a direct threat to all of us in the USA. This is the Proud Boys, at national scale, with badges. It is a very dangerous prospect.

Everything I am writing about here has been previously reported in the past few weeks since the House sent the bill to the Senate. But, from my vantage point, the public has not quite grasped just how horrifying a precipice we are on. When you consider the scale of protest already unleashed by the ICE raids in LA; Trump and Stephen Miller’s clear intent to double and triple and quadruple down on the ICE raids and crush the protests with military force; Trump’s unhinged declaration yesterday that “we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York” to achieve “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History”; and then connect this deep well of poisonous intent with the staggering expansion of ICE’s size and scope that will occur if this bill’s funding comes through, what you will see is the setup for not just a mass deportation program, but a violent national clash between a militarized, government-sanctioned army of Trump loyalists and everyone else.

How much does ICE stand to grow if this bill’s funding comes through? A lot. The all-in costs of deportation over the next decade could reach a trillion fucking dollars, according to this Cato analysis. That includes the border wall and a huge expansion of prisons for immigrants, to a size nearly on par with the federal prison system.

Building the American Brownshirts

New funding will make ICE an unaccountable army of Trump loyalists.

^{Hamilton Nolan (How Things Work)}

Yes 🙏❤️

#Madleen #FreedomFlotilla #HumanRights
#Gaza #BreakTheSiege #FreePalestine #HumanRights #Palestine

FREEDOM FLOTILLA COALITION SAYS THE LAST THREE DETAINED VOLUNTEERS HAVE BEEN RELEASED FROM ISRAELI DETENTION, RETURNING TO HOME COUNTRIES VIA JORDAN

@palestine@a.gup.pe @israel

cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/36828953

Archived

The Apple and Google app stores continue to offer private browsing apps that are surreptitiously owned by Chinese companies, more than six weeks after they were identified in a Tech Transparency Project report. Apple and Google may also be profiting from these apps, which put Americans’ privacy and U.S. national security at risk, TTP found.

[...]

After the Financial Times asked Apple for comment on these findings, two of the apps linked to Qihoo 360—Thunder VPN and Snap VPN—were pulled from its app store. When TTP checked again in early May, another Qihoo 360-connected app called Signal Secure VPN had been quietly removed. But two other apps linked to Qihoo 360—Turbo VPN and VPN Proxy Master—remained available in the U.S. Apple App Store, along with 11 other Chinese-owned apps identified in TTP’s report.

The Google Play Store, meanwhile, offered four Qihoo 360-connected apps—Turbo VPN, VPN Proxy Master, Snap VPN, and Signal Secure VPN—as well as seven other Chinese-owned VPNs identified in TTP’s initial report.

The linked article lists several China-owned VPN apps identified by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP).

[...]

TTP - Spot Check: Apple and Google Still Have a Chinese VPN Problem

The Apple and Google app stores offer VPNs without revealing they’re owned by Chinese companies. That keeps Americans in the dark about privacy and national security risks.

^{www.techtransparencyproject.org}

Valedictorian told to stay home after making pro-Palestinian remarks in grad speech | CBC News (2025-06-16)

cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/vale…
------
h/t mastodon.social/@RealJournalis…

>> The valedictorian at a west #Ottawa high school says she's been told not to come to school Monday after she made pro-Palestinian remarks during a speech at her commencement ceremony.

>> Her comments on the war in Gaza came at the end...

>> "As a commitment to truth and reconciliation, I must acknowledge colonial and genocidal atrocities today, including the massacre of more than 17,000 Palestinian children in Gaza," ... the crowd cheered.

>> The next day, ... a call from her principal, who said her statements had "caused harm" and told her she shouldn't come to school on Monday.

>> That decision is being criticized by some as going against Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (#OCDSB) policy, and Yao said she stands by her speech.

#Canada @palestine@a.gup.pe

hcommons.social

hcommons.social is a microblogging network supporting scholars and practitioners across the humanities and around the world.

^{Hometown hosted on hcommons.social}

RealJournalism

2025-06-16 11:30:47

Valedictorian told to stay home after making pro-Palestinian remarks in grad speech cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/vale… #Palestine #Canada #Ottawa #Fascism

Martedì 17 luglio verso metà mattinata verrà aggiornato Lemmy alla versione 0.19.12.

È stato fatto l'aggiornamento oggi nel server di test e non ci sono stati problemi di alcun tipo.

Tutte le novità della nuova release le trovate qui: join-lemmy.org/news/2025-06-13…

Israel’s onslaught on Iran, which began Friday night, entered a new phase on Sunday. Having destroyed large portions of Iran’s air defenses, attacked military and nuclear facilities, Israel has now shifted its targets to civilian infrastructure, including water treatment facilities and energy infrastructure.

The Israeli military reported striking more than 80 targets in Iran overnight Saturday and Sunday. “Tehran residents reported the heaviest wave of attacks yet on Sunday afternoon, with explosions ringing out every half hour,” the Washington Post reported.

Among the targets were water treatment facilities in northern Iran, whose destruction sent waves of sewage flowing in Tehran’s streets. On Saturday, Israel attacked the main oil refinery in Tehran and South Pars, the world’s largest natural gas field.

On Sunday, Israel expanded its strikes to airports, manufacturing plants and police stations.

Commenting on the shift, the Post wrote, “The targets appear to indicate an expansion of Israel’s war aims… By striking Iranian industry and infrastructure, Israel is aiming to degrade the Iranian state, further damage the country’s already-reeling economy, and possibly trigger regime change, according to analysts and former officials.”

Richard Nephew, a former State Department and White House official, told the Washington Post, “It sure does feel like this is a regime change ending, rather than taking out the nuclear program.” He added, “Israel may have decided that the best way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon was to topple the Iranian regime.”

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked whether “regime change” in Iran was a goal of his government. Netanyahu replied that it “could certainly be the result because the Iranian regime is very weak.”...

Israel attacks civilian infrastructure in Iran as Netanyahu calls for regime change

Israel's onslaught on Iran appeared to enter a new phase Sunday in what has been described as the heaviest period of attacks yet.

^{World Socialist Web Site}