I have 2 GOP parents, one that voted Trump originally and one that did not. Over the last 9 years, I have watched them both travel down the MAGA pipeline to become visibly fascist. The parents who taught me racism was wrong and to have empathy for others, have become openly hostile about immigrants, Muslims, and even parrot the Nazi "great replacement" theory.

Part and parcel with this, they refuse to have any discussions about the facts -- like immigrants not stealing and eating people's pets. They won't hear it, they won't even engage in the conversation...they just get angry and loud the second they hear anything that doesn't fit into the Fox News narrative. Can you relate? How are you dealing with it in your relationships with your parents?

Happy to see a privacy-focused carrier, and it has better policies than any other carrier out there. But founder is formerly from Palantir and there’s a lot of VC money behind it (not inherently a problem, just flagging).

Thoughts?

Gen Z, the first generation to have grown up in the internet age, has been at the forefront of anti-government protests in several countries of the Global South. Madagascar and Morocco are the latest countries to be hit by these youth-led movements, which use digital tools to communicate anger at corruption and underfunded social services.

Experts say Commission is ‘fanning the flames’ of the continent’s own Watergate

An arsenal of angry European Parliament members (MEPs) is demanding answers from senior commissioners about why EU subsidies are ending up in the pockets of spyware companies.

The group of 39 politicians referred to recent investigations that revealed countries such as Italy, Greece, Hungary, and Spain have funnelled millions of taxpayer euros at a time to help support commercial spyware-makers' finances.

They wrote: "According to these findings, entities such as Intellexa, Cy4Gate, Verint and Cognyte – whose technologies have been linked to unlawful surveillance of journalists, human rights defenders and political actors in the EU, as well as in third countries with dreadful human rights records – have benefitted from public financing, including EU programmes.

As the article notes, the increase seems to be driven mainly by users in Asia, where recycling and reusing older hardware is quite common. I wonder if third-party companies are offering extended security patches there, which could make affordable second-hand Windows 7 machines more appealing for people who just need them for browsing or light tasks. It would certainly make sense given recent fiascos and Microsoft’s current stance on AI, especially with generative AI being used to develop system-level code.

I called them for the first time ever back in February of this year due to my first manic episode. I was stoned 24/7 for a month straight after being illegally fired from my job. I was also smoking one of those mystery "mushroom" vapes during this time.

Eventually, I believed that my union had started a massive international social media campaign surrounding my case without telling me. This was exciting and fun at first, until I made a statement insulting Trump and Musk to some of my union siblings. At that point, I started to believe that I was the subject of a gamergate style hate mob and that my life was in danger.

At 3am after at least 2 weeks of very little sleep, I thought I heard noises from my phone that indicated a streamer that hacked me. At this point, I called 911 to report a stalker. Nothing came of the call, but my family knew something was wrong and gave me the help I needed. I'd be happy to share more about what I was believing at the time for those interested; mental health is important folks!

cross-posted from: https://ibbit.at/post/70458

The Canadian Department of Global Affairs has updated its travel advice for people planning to travel to the United States, specifically warning people who have the gender marker “X” on their passports that they may face obstacles or restrictions while traveling abroad. The X marker is specifically granted to transgender or nonbinary individuals who do not want to place a “male” or “female”…

Source

From Truthout via this RSS feed

A critical vulnerability in the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Wi-Fi configuration interface used by several different Unitree robots can result in a root-level takeover by an attacker, security researchers disclosed on 20 September.

The exploit impacts Unitree’s Go2 and B2 quadrupeds and G1 and H1 humanoids. Because the vulnerability is wireless, and the resulting access to the affected platform is complete, the vulnerability becomes wormable, say the researchers, meaning “an infected robot can simply scan for other Unitree robots in BLE range and automatically compromise them, creating a robot botnet that spreads without user intervention.”

A critical vulnerability in the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Wi-Fi configuration interface used by several different Unitree robots can result in a root-level takeover by an attacker, security researchers disclosed on 20 September.

The exploit impacts Unitree’s Go2 and B2 quadrupeds and G1 and H1 humanoids. Because the vulnerability is wireless, and the resulting access to the affected platform is complete, the vulnerability becomes wormable, say the researchers, meaning “an infected robot can simply scan for other Unitree robots in BLE range and automatically compromise them, creating a robot botnet that spreads without user intervention.”

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/47146770

Contract not yet negotiated, Congress must grant approval

Short version I'm in a position that my ENT wants to put in a cochlear implant in my right ear when they go in to do some other work. I have had no hearing in my right ear in 20 years and have tinnitus in both for the last 25 years. Looking for someone else that has had hearing loss and received the implant. How long have you had it? Is it worth all the hassle and expenses? Does the garbling sounds ever disappear? How comfortable are they? How differently do people look at you for wearing it?

I enjoy going to local markets and buying art from the artist. I would love to be able to shop online with the same confidence that the art is actually made by a human. Any places where I can buy posters, photos, or other art that is by humans? Is Etsy safe, or are there better places?

Archived

[...]

The recent testimony, coming from a SpaceX insider during a court case, marks the first time direct Chinese investment in the privately held company has been disclosed. While there is no prohibition on Chinese ownership in U.S. military contractors, such investment is heavily regulated and the issue is treated by the U.S. government as a significant national security concern.

“They obviously have Chinese investors to be honest,” Iqbaljit Kahlon, a major SpaceX investor, said in a deposition last year, adding that some are “directly on the cap table.” “Cap table” refers to the company’s capitalization table, which lists its shareholders.

Kahlon’s testimony does not reveal the scope of Chinese investment in SpaceX or the identities of the investors. Kahlon has long been close with the company’s leadership and runs his own firm that acts as a middleman for wealthy investors looking to buy shares of SpaceX.

SpaceX keeps its full ownership structure secret. It was previously reported that some Chinese investors had bought indirect stakes in SpaceX, investing in middleman funds that in turn owned shares in the rocket company. The new testimony describes direct investments that suggest a closer relationship with SpaceX.

[...]

National security law experts said federal officials would likely be deeply interested in understanding the direct Chinese investment in SpaceX. Whether there was cause for concern would depend on the details, they said, but the U.S. government has asserted that China has a systematic strategy of using investments in sensitive industries to conduct espionage.

[...]

Buying shares in SpaceX is much more difficult than buying a piece of a publicly traded company like Tesla or Microsoft. SpaceX has control over who can buy stakes in it, and the company’s investors fall into different categories. The most rarefied group is the direct investors, who actually own SpaceX shares. This group includes funds led by Kahlon, Peter Thiel and a handful of other venture capitalists with personal ties to Musk. Then there are the indirect investors, who effectively buy stakes in SpaceX through a middleman like Kahlon. (The indirect investors are actually buying into a fund run by the middleman, typically paying a hefty fee.) All previously known Chinese investors in SpaceX fell into the latter category.

[...]

Kahlon has turned his access to SpaceX stock into a lucrative business. His investor list reads like an atlas of the world. The investors’ names are redacted in the recently unsealed document, but their addresses span from Chile to Malaysia. One is in Russia. At least two are in mainland China. One is in Qatar. (In one email to SpaceX’s chief financial officer, Kahlon said a Los Angeles-based fund had money from the Qatari royal family and was already invested in SpaceX.)

“You made a big fortune,” a China-based financier wrote to Kahlon four years ago. “Lol something like that. SpaceX has been the gift that keeps on giving,” Kahlon responded. “All thanks to you.”

[...]

Why I don't usually bring it up, especially since I dont like fighting with Chinese comrades

President Donald Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors, by threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting “irreversible” cuts to programs important to Democrats.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/50092016