Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Good morning Fedi friends!

It's 11am, I'm still in my pyjamas and my parents are looking after my little one downstairs... so that I can work.

I'm formatting in Ghost a new blog post about "resistance to the digital coup" for #TheFutureIsFederated. I will post it later today here: https://news.elenarossini.com

Thanks for your thought-provoking questions & input... I tried to incorporate multiple POVs (following my divisive thread about Cadwalladr).

Off I go shower and grab my 3rd coffee 🤗

Must-read report from NPR, showing once again that DOGE is a massive threat to the cyber/national security of the United States:

"In the first days of March, a team of advisers from President Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency initiative arrived at the Southeast Washington, D.C., headquarters of the National Labor Relations Board.

The small, independent federal agency investigates and adjudicates complaints about unfair labor practices. It stores reams of potentially sensitive data, from confidential information about employees who want to form unions to proprietary business information.

The DOGE employees, who are effectively led by White House adviser and billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, appeared to have their sights set on accessing the NLRB's internal systems. They've said their unit's overall mission is to review agency data for compliance with the new administration's policies and to cut costs and maximize efficiency."

"But according to an official whistleblower disclosure shared with Congress and other federal overseers that was obtained by NPR, subsequent interviews with the whistleblower and records of internal communications, technical staff members were alarmed about what DOGE engineers did when they were granted access, particularly when those staffers noticed a spike in data leaving the agency. It's possible that the data included sensitive information on unions, ongoing legal cases and corporate secrets — data that four labor law experts tell NPR should almost never leave the NLRB and that has nothing to do with making the government more efficient or cutting spending."

Meanwhile, according to the disclosure and records of internal communications, members of the DOGE team asked that their activities not be logged on the system and then appeared to try to cover their tracks behind them, turning off monitoring tools and manually deleting records of their access — evasive behavior that several cybersecurity experts interviewed by NPR compared to what criminal or state-sponsored hackers might do.

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5355896/doge-nlrb-elon-musk-spacex-security

Even the right-wing Cato Institute is sounding the alarm about the Trump regime's headlong race into fascism. That's more than I can say for Big Journalism, which mostly continues to ever-so-politely do both-sides stenography.

https://www.cato.org/blog/where-writ-courts-does-not-run

For god's sake, journalists, take a stand. Now.

Hey, so, you know CVEs?
https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2025/04/mitre-backed-cyber-vulnerability-program-lose-funding-wednesday/404585/

"he U.S. government funding needed for non-profit research giant MITRE to develop, operate and maintain its flagship Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Program will expire Wednesday, the company confirmed to Nextgov/FCW."

Homeland security told US-born immigration lawyer to leave country - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/self-deportation-email-citizen-immigration-lawyer "Email to Massachusetts lawyer warned her to ‘depart the US immediately’ even though removing US citizens is illegal" #trump

An immigration judge's ruling that Mahmoud Khalil can be lawfully deported for his pro-Palestinian political speech sets a dangerous precedent for the future of free speech in America.

Read the rest of this Jacobin story by Chip Gibbons:

https://jacobin.com/2025/04/mahmoud-khalil-ice-deportation-louisiana

Inside a Powerful Database ICE Uses to Identify and Deport People
https://www.404media.co/inside-a-powerful-database-ice-uses-to-identify-and-deport-people/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into 404 Media @404-media-404media

We’re proud to announce that Eric King's new book A Clean Hell is now available for preorder.

To go with the release, Eric curated a playlist inspired by the book—songs that fueled his spirit through repression and resistance. Listen while you read, rage, or reflect.

Eric is an anarchist, antifascist, and former political prisoner who served time for acts of solidarity during the Ferguson uprising.

Playlist and pre-order links available at the link in our bio.

Locking down your phone, being mindful of what you're wearing, and coming up with plans to communicate with others are all key steps to take before attending a protest. https://ssd.eff.org/module/attending-protest

In the days after Berulis & his colleagues prepared a request for #CISA's help…, Berulis found a printed letter in an envelope taped to his door, which included threatening language, sensitive personal info & overhead pictures of him walking his dog…. It's unclear who sent it, but the letter made specific reference to his decision to report the breach. Law enforcement is investigating the letter.

#criminal #law #Trump #Musk #DOGE #InfoSec #NationalSecurity

About a week after arriving, the #DOGE engineers left #NLRB & deleted their accounts….

In the office, Berulis had had limited visibility into what the DOGE team was up to in real time.

That's partly because, he said, NLRB isn't advanced when it comes to detecting insider threats…. "We as an agency have not evolved to account for those," he explained. "We were looking for [bad actors] outside," he said.

#criminal #law #Trump #Musk #InfoSec #NationalSecurity

It's not surprising that e-cars break down less often than fossil fueled cars: There is simply a lot less than can break down, with the drive train containing tens of moving parts rather than. hundreds or in some cases thousands.

https://www.alphamotorinc.com/about/ev-vs-ice-fewer-moving-parts-less-maintenance

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2018/09/06/seven-reasons-why-the-internal-combustion-engine-is-a-dead-man-walking-updated/

Voters turn on Trump as he tanks the economy

#DailyKos #MidtermElections2026 #PoliticalGravity #RecessionFears #USPolitics

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/15/2316559/-Voters-turn-on-Trump-as-he-tanks-the-economy

China reportedly orders its airlines to halt Boeing jet deliveries amid US trade war - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/15/china-orders-airlines-to-halt-boeing-jet-deliveries-us-tariffs "Carriers also asked to stop purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US firms, report says" #boeing was already in trouble, this could finish it off... #tariffs

#Trump threatens #Harvard's tax-exempt status after university refuses to cave to administration's demands - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/apr/15/donald-trump-harvard-funding-tariffs-immigration-dei-us-politics-live-updates?page=with%3Ablock-67fe6aa88f08bcf9ff481f92#block-67fe6aa88f08bcf9ff481f92 wow, #trump really is going full evil here

Ireland’s data regulator investigates X’s use of European user data to train #Grok - https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/11/irelands-data-regulator-investigates-xs-use-of-european-user-data-to-train-grok/ #twitter #musk #gdpr

#Meta to start training its #AI models on public content in the EU - https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/14/meta-to-start-training-its-ai-models-on-public-content-in-the-eu/

Sealing arrest records doesn’t change the fact that someone was arrested.

Good for the Colorado Times Recorder for standing up to a former city council member who tried to pressure it into removing an accurate story about her past arrest.

https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2025/04/five-co-springs-news-outlets-scrub-their-websites-of-an-article-about-the-arrest-of-former-gop-council-member/68555/

@kitoconnell@kolektiva.social This. Every time I see the stupid "blue states should secede" case made I am like "so you do not care about the poor and marginalized in red states? You are going to abandon them to fascism?"

Either we care about people or we aren't leftists. Full stop.