Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

#ThichNahtHanh #Dharma #Buddhism #BelovedCommunity #Interbeing #Mindfulness #Meditation #PlumVillage #EngagedBuddhism #RecoveryDharma
@thichnhathanh
@dharma @belovedcommunity @engagedbuddhism
@recoverydharma @plumvillage

A political anthropologist submitted an opinion piece to the LA Times. The newspaper, which is owned by an RFK Jr.-supporting billionaire, edited the piece and gave it an inaccurate title to make it sound optimistic that Trump and his nominees could be good for public health. Here is the complete, unedited OpEd making clear RFK Jr. is a clear danger to the health of Americans.

https://newrepublic.com/article/191030/rfk-jr-op-ed-los-angeles-times

X appears to be becoming the official US Government propaganda network. This is likely aimed at forcing back the media and other large organisations. Do not fall for it. Journalists, universities, government agencies, international organisations - you can monitor x with an account and remain broadcasting on this platform. Help your audience stay here.

[I sent the following to my senators and representatives via https://resist.bot (and thanks for the prompting, @spaf)]

I am writing in concern over reports of Elon Musk and his accomplices exerting control over government information systems. At best, Mr Musk and his team are unauthorized personnel who apparently are installing new email systems and blocking authorized employees from accessing government information systems. At worst, they are saboteurs with agendas that conflict with our laws and institutions.

I have spent the bulk of my 40 year career in information systems protecting US users and networks from intrusions by hostile foreign attackers. I am a recognized expert in my field and have performed computer forensics and incident response work for a diverse set of organizations including the FBI, NASA, the FTC, DoD, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, eBay, and the University of Pennsylvania. I have held TS/SCI clearances with both DoD and DoJ.

So when I say that dropping new email servers into existing networks without proper planning and access control constitutes a clear and present danger to those networks and an enormous opportunity for our adversaries, I want you to understand that this comes from a place of hard-won and bitter understanding. Already there are confirmed reports of entire agencies receiving deluges of pornographic spam and other inappropriate material due to misconfigurations on these new email servers. But it is what other opportunistic nation states are doing out of sight that is more troubling.

I have worked on investigative teams that have led to decades of jail time for offenders who have gained unauthorized access to government information systems. Yet we have corroborated reports that Mr Musk’s team has not only accessed OPM systems without authorization, but actually locked out the authorized personnel. Need I remind you that these systems contain information about all government employees and contractors, including security clearance paperwork, personal financial information, and healthcare and insurance information?

Where is the immediate and aggressive emergency response to this dangerous and unauthorized activity into government information systems? The executive branch does not have the authority to permit any individual to conduct such operations. When Chinese government actors breached OPM in 2015, the reaction was swift and significant. This is as just as much of a hostile takeover, but the posture is one of blasé indifference.

This must not stand. Every hour this activity continues, more information may be captures and exfiltrated by Mr Musk’s agents. Every hour foreign adversaries may be establishing beachheads in government networks. Every hour the scope of potential compromise and the cost of fixing the damage grows exponentially.

The congress must resist the extreme actions of the executive and its minions. Without decisive and immediate pushback, we are lost.

@Codeberg

Also maybe a good day to mention a hobby project started last year:

https://codeberg.org/khaeru/yokoso#readme

Are you, or do you know, a person ‘from’ one country who's living in another? Do you have a story worth celebrating, or experiences worth sharing?¹ If yes, then please open a PR!

¹ hint: as long as you're not choosing to harm others, yes you do.

Interestingly, two days before Oracle deleted my account and all servers associated with it, I publicly criticized Oracle's CEO in a viral post for promising dystopian AI surveillance technology to his investors.

https://mastodon.de/@ErikUden/113879369270806353

What a weird coincidence.

If you are reading this, then welcome to Day Two of #fluConf2025

For those just tuning in now, #fluConf is intended as an alternative, online venue for those in involved in #openSource and #freeCulture who still care about public health.

Our program is fully online and includes contributions in a variety of formats, including pre-recorded videos, live presentations, and articles.

https://fluconf.online/program/#day-two

Got to explain to Mr 10 that one of reasons why higher education used to be (almost) free, and now isn't, is because charging for education overwhelmingly favours the rich.

Free education runs the "danger of producing an educated proletariat", which is trouble if you're trying to run a country that doesn't favour the masses.

https://archive.is/U1cuC

Federal agencies requiring you to have an account on Musk's vile platform to see official documents?

It's a reminder that fascism requires the merger of government and corporate interests.

How about a little good news in this *gestures around*... you can now get ebooks via bookshop.org, including THE AI CON! (Available May 13, but you can pre-order now.)

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-ai-con-how-to-fight-big-tech-s-hype-and-create-the-future-we-want-alex-hanna/22044744?ean=9780063418554&digital=t

w/ @alex

It is critically important for all NZers to understand that, amongst other rights and resources, #TeTiritioWaitangi protects the right to water for all people of NZ. Privatisation of water is a key aim for the #AtlasNetwork funded #ACT Party and #NZPol govt. While the treaty principles remain intact this will not be legally possible. #ToitūTeTiriti #JohnathanPie #UKPol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj-gAUaUF-4

I'm going to read this, and no one can stop me.

https://annas-archive.org/md5/38149f9d67cd722c3b514cb47634aa0e

#uspol I talked to stateside mum the other day and she said that her hopeless MAGA brother had finally broken the peace with her over her resolute retelling of Jan 6. He lives in the San Joaquin Valley, surrounded by irrigation-dependent farms. I wonder what the local mood is like now that the monumentally stupid orange skidmark just flushed next summer's profits into a dry lake where it will never be recovered.

All to score points with his base on social media.

The last session of Day One of #fluConf2025 will be @coopcloud's

"Co-op Cloud: Grow Your Own International Democratic Tech Federation"

https://fluconf.online/sessions/co-op-cloud-grow-your-own-international-democratic-tech-federation/

hosted as a livestream via their cooperatively operated Owncast instance, starting in 15 minutes (at 18:00 UTC)

https://cast.coopcloud.tech/

#fluConf

💡 "Free" as in "free time": To be able to work on free software you've got to have enough quality time available to work on this, outside the time you need to dedicate to survive under capitalism

#FluConf #FOSS #capitalism

Final session of day 1 of #FluConf coming up! By Calix (they/them):

Co-op Cloud: Grow Your Own International Democratic Tech Federation

Description:

The Co-operative Cloud is an international, democratic federation with members representing developers, administrators, and users of our system for setting up community technology infrastructure.

Since 2020, our tools and configuration have been used by worker co-operatives, trade unions, artistic collectives, friend groups, other libre software projects, & home-hosters to provide privacy-supporting, user-empowering platforms to their members and supporters. Co-op Cloud has been used on recycled servers and upcycled laptops as well as traditional "cloud" providers, helping extend the useful life of otherwise-forgotten hardware, & squeeze the most out of cheapest hosting providers' cheapest services.

In this livestream (hosted on a Co-op Cloud Owncast instance) we'll get into detail on the governance side of Co-op Cloud: the issues we saw with other models of community-building and software maintenance which led us here, our inspirations in building the Co-op Cloud Federation, the resources that have supported us along the way, & some tales of the rough and the smooth of our experiment so far. (...)

Session link: https://cast.coopcloud.tech/

Oh and co-op cloud are federated too, in the sense that as a co-op, they connect with other co-ops

Which in general is good practice: co-ops support other co-ops <3

#FluConf

@jensorensen Saw a suggestion to stop saying D.E.I., use re-segregation instead. When they try to eliminate that, ask why they want segregation again.

The term “DEI” is being used as a cover to tear apart much of the federal government. It’s not that this language didn’t exist before, but it’s being weaponized now. Suddenly the cold, impersonal-sounding acronym DEI has replaced “diversity initiatives,” “civil rights,” “equal rights,” “fairness,” and “anti-discrimination” in everyday conversation. I would suggest that one small thing we can do is return to using those actual words. This week's comic:
#cartoon #uspol

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