Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

NEWS: Rail lobbyists are pressing Trump regulators to slash human inspections of tracks & use computer technology instead, according to documents reviewed by The Lever.

56% of track-related derailments “involved conditions [computers] cannot detect.”

https://www.levernews.com/rail-barons-push-for-robots-to-conduct-track-inspections/

I have just read the following from a friend in Wales. Sue, a veteran of Greenham Common, is in her late 70s & in poor health; & yet has been subject to arrest & imposition of unreasonable bail conditions, while her partner was subject to a raid on their home by police at 3am.

Her crime? To protest peacefully in defence of the right to protest.

The United Kingdom & its constituent parts have become, under a Labour government, a police state.

#Starmer must go. #Cooper must go.

Google Tightens Android Sideloading—At What Cost to Digital Freedom?

Google has begun blocking sideloaded Android apps in Singapore, citing security concerns over apps requesting sensitive permissions like SMS and accessibility services.

Learn more at Purism: https://puri.sm/posts/google-restricts-android-sideloading-what-it-means-for-user-autonomy-and-the-future-of-mobile-freedom/

Recommendations for Colorado-based bookkeepers with worker co-op experience (or looking to join a worker co-op)? Any bookkeeping co-ops in that area? @Matt_Noyes @ntnsndr

@saraislet While GenAI is the current Big Evil, I think it's important to remember even the earlier applications of TensorFlow and the like were committing big harms. Recommendation engines were the core of the nazi radicalization pipeline, and automated labeling has perpetuated harmful biases in all sorts of ways (labeling picture of doctor as a nurse if she's a woman, assigning genders to YouTube accounts based on stereotypes of viewing habits, then reinforcing those by declaring 100% of viewers of a particular video are male, etc.)

IMO the whole field of applying any kind of statistical model to things that intersect with human behavior is rotten, dehumanizing, and destructive to our shared future. At most this stuff belongs at the level of modeling physics, chemistry, and biochemical processes not complex emergent phenomena.

🚨 URGENT: The state is not just charging anti-ICE activists with terrorism — now they’re straight-up torturing them inside Johnson County Jail.

The Prairieland Defendants — aka the DFW 10 — are being denied basic rights: no public defenders, no medicine, no calls or visits from loved ones, no vegan/vegetarian meals, no gender-appropriate placement. Some are in solitary. Some are in medical cells. All are being punished for standing up against ICE and showing solidarity with migrants.

This is cruel and calculated. They’re trying to break these comrades mentally, physically, and spiritually — before they even see trial.

This Monday, July 14th, we’re raising hell. PHONE ZAP these fuckers. Call or email Judge Boedeker and let them know the world is watching this abuse.

📞 (817) 556-6360
📧 judgeboedeker@johnsoncountytx.org
🗣 Script in image 2

And don’t stop there. Share the fundraiser, send what you can, and spread the word like your life depends on it — because for some of our people, it literally fucking does.

👉 https://givesendgo.com/supportdfwprotestors

No one deserves to rot in a cage — especially not for standing against ICE.

#FreeTheDFW10 #AbolishICE #DropTheCharges #FuckICE #SolidarityNotSilence

Partners in Print: Did you know that the PM Press warehouse supports all of these orgs? Support for one is support for all.
@autonomedia
@workingclasshistory@mastadon.social
@pmpress
@labornotes@twtr/ingeechat.party
@organizeworkers

"On the issues of support for genocide and aggression abroad and the police state at home there is near-universal support across the two-party system despite the heavy public opposition."

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/07/u-s-emulation-of-israel-deepens.html

University of Edinburgh School of Political Science graduates stage mass walk out at graduation ceremony to protest university’s complicity in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AlJazeera/s/G9teVzIYZJ

#israel #genocide #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #Palestine #Gaza #WestBank #UniversityOfEdinburgh #Edinburgh #Scotland #UK #complicity

Dear friends of the BSD Cafe,

This idea has been in my mind since the very beginning of this adventure, almost two years ago. Over time, several people have suggested it. But until recently, I felt the timing just wasn’t right - for many reasons. Today, I believe it finally is.

So I’m happy to announce a new service:
The BSD Cafe Journal - https://journal.bsd.cafe

At first, I thought I’d use BSSG for it (I even added multi-author support with this in mind), but in the end, it didn’t feel like the right tool for the job.

The idea is to create a multi-author space, with content published on a fairly regular basis. A reference point for news, updates, tutorials, technical articles - a place to inform and connect.
Just like people in Italy used to stop by cafes to read the newspaper and chat about the day’s news, the BSD Cafe Journal aims to be a space for reading, sharing, and staying informed - all in the spirit of the BSD Cafe.

What it’s not:
It’s not here to replace personal blogs, or excellent newsletters like @vermaden 's. And it’s not an aggregator.

What it is:
A place where authors can write original content, share links to posts on their own blogs or elsewhere, publish guides, offer insights, or dive into technical explanations.

The guiding principles are the same as always: positivity, constructive discussion, promoting BSDs and open source in general. No hype (sharing a cool new service is fine, posting non-stop about the latest trend is not), no drama, no politics. The goal is to bring people together, not divide them. To inform, not inflame.
Respect, tolerance, and inclusivity are key. Everyone should feel welcome reading the BSD Cafe Journal - never judged, offended, or excluded.

The platform I’ve chosen is WordPress, for several reasons: it’s portable (runs well on all BSDs), has great built-in role management (contributors, authors, etc.), and - last but not least - supports ActivityPub.
This means every author will have their own identity in the Fediverse (like: @stefano@journal.bsd.cafe ) and can be followed directly, and it’ll also be possible to follow the whole Journal.

Original and educational content is encouraged, but it’s also perfectly fine to link to existing articles elsewhere. Personally, I’ll link my technical posts from ITNotes whenever I publish them there.

The goal is simple: a news-oriented site, rich in content, ad-free, respectful of privacy - all under the BSD Cafe umbrella.

Content coordination will happen in a dedicated Matrix room for authors. There’ll also be a public room for discussing ideas, giving feedback, and sharing suggestions.

Of course, I can’t do this alone. A journal with no content is just an empty shell.
So here’s my call for action:
Who’s ready to lend a hand? If you enjoy writing, explaining, sharing your knowledge - the Journal is waiting for you.

#BSDCafe #BSDCafeServices #BSDCafeUpdates #BSDCafeAnnouncements #RunBSD #FreeBSD #NetBSD #OpenBSD #illumos #Linux #OSS #OpenSource #BCJournal #BSDCafeJournal

I tended to believe that Epstein killed himself in jail and that there wasn't much in his records that could further damage Trump, until I saw Trump's beyond-bonkers post at "Truth" Social.

Occam's Razor is making me wonder what's really there.

General reminder:

The domain name putty.org is *NOT* run by the #PuTTY developers. It is run by somebody not associated with us, who uses the domain to interpose advertising for their unrelated commercial products. We do not endorse those products in any way, and we have never given any kind of agreement for PuTTY's name to be used in promoting them.

Please do not perpetuate the claim that putty.org is the PuTTY website. If anyone is linking to it on that basis, please change the link. The PuTTY website is https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ and it always has been.

You can check this by downloading the source code, which cites that URL in many places (the README, the documentation, some strings in the actual code), or by using the "Visit Web Site" menu options in the official Windows binaries (the ones signed with my personal Authenticode certificate). The true PuTTY website is the one that PuTTY itself says it is.

Many search engines list putty.org above chiark. I don't know if this is due to active SEO on the part of the domain owner, or a heuristic in the rankings. Either way, don't believe them. It's not our site.

"The United States is being destroyed from within, and mainstream journalism isn't making that clear."

Rebecca Solnit implores Big Journalism to do its job -- to make it clear, and explain the consequences.

I fear they've already made their choice: to be quislings.

https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/please-shout-fire-this-tis-burning/?ref=meditations-in-an-emergency-newsletter

The deal?

Yum! Brands would only by from farms that had signed on to a fair food program with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. They'd pay extra for those tomatoes, and the extra $ would be passed through directly to tomato pickers as a raise.

This deal nearly doubled tomato pickers' wages.

And guess how much this big, ground-shaking deal raised the price of tomatoes?

ONE PENNY PER POUND.

That's it.

We even have a real-life experiment that proves paying farm workers a fair wage can be done. And prices went up so little, PEOPLE DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE.

In 2005, tomato pickers in FL struck a deal with Yum! Brands (Taco Bell, KFC, & others) to guarantee higher wages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_Immokalee_Workers

A *slow* strawberry picker can get 20lbs/hr. If they make $20/hr, that's only $0.75 for a pint basket.

Sure, that's a noticeable price difference. And it's still nowhere near "doubling or tripling" the cost of food, as I've seen people claim repeatedly.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2016/06/29/breaking-from-custom-one-small-oregon-farm-pays-pickers-by-the-hour/

Ex-farm worker here.

We need to talk about this whole "But a living wage for farm workers would spike the cost of food!" thing.

Not true AT ALL.

Y'all don't understand how fast experienced farm workers are.

The average tomato picker pulls 650lbs per hour.

At $20/hr, that's $0.03/lb for labor.

Tuesday 15 July 🐧 Linux install parties in #Canada 🇨🇦 and #France 🇫🇷 (all times local)!

* #VanLUG Linux Link @ #Surrey (#Vancouver #BritishColumbia), 17h30-19h30

https://www.meetup.com/vanlug-bc/events/308064078/

* Rencontre et atelier d'installation de Linux, #Grenoble, 19h-21h

https://www.agendadulibre.org/events/32051

For details and more events worldwide: https://endof10.org/events/

#EndOf10 #FreeSoftware #OpenSource #FOSS #FLOSS #Linux #GNULinux #Microsoft #Windows #Windows10 #Windows11