Researcher in the U.S. trying to stay informed and help others stay informed. I write a blog that focuses on public information, public health, and policy: https://pimento-mori.ghost.io/
I only recently began using ghost, and am slowly figuring things out. Apologies for any formatting issues.
Yeah fuck the intercept, not really the point.
My point is that while big news networks are fucking around it’s the locals news and individuals who are getting fucked over the most by this bullshit who are actually trying to make sure this shit doesn’t get buried
True, there was not a whole lot of mainstream media coverage of assange but there were journalists from places like the intercept and I believe rolling stone or vice also covering it.
In this case, and many cases all over the country lately, I’m finding that tiny local news outlets are doing a better job keeping us informed than mainstream media or even larger less mainstream news outlets.
Also realized that if this was a case of spying it would seem very unlikely he would have a lawyer at his residence while it was being raided but who tf knows. Not us.
What are you talking about. State secrets are well protected by Elon Musk
Yeah, if only we had a free press that could keep the public informed about matters so we could know what the fuck is actually going on anymore.
It’s especially weird the university just didn’t release a statement about it or anything.
It definitely could go either way
If we actually still had a free press, you would expect this to be getting some coverage and for there to be some kind of statement from the University’s lawyers saying they were cooperating with the FBI if this guy was legitimately wanted for shady dealings.
It’s fucking sad that we all read this and have to think, is this the FBI handling a legitimate threat or is this why DHS keeps complaining about Civil Rights Offices standing in their way.
Yeesh nvm. I need night nights
My instance has a rule that new accounts can’t post images until 30 days old
Bc last time I just posted the link it got removed for not being a screenshot. Only screenshots are allowed to be posted here
Funny thing is there are plenty of Republicans in Louisiana who never felt that way.
“Now, let’s be political. I’m a Republican. I represent the amazing state of Louisiana and as a patriotic American, I want President Trump’s policies to succeed in making America and Americans more secure, more prosperous, healthier,” Cassidy said Thursday while leading Kennedy’s confirmation hearing.
“But if there is someone that is not vaccinated because of policies or attitudes you bring to the department and there is another 18-year-old who dies of a vaccine-preventable disease, helicoptered away, God forbid dies, it’ll be blown up in the press.”
Cassidy was one of several senators who was skeptical about Kennedy’s stance on vaccinations, also noting Kennedy has changed his tune on the subject during the hearing.
“You are telling us in the Senate this week that you support vaccines. What are you going to tell them?” Cassidy said. “Now, your past of undermining vaccine confidence with unfounded or misleading arguments is concerning to me.”
Cassidy, a medical doctor, shared a story of an 18-year-old patient brought to his hospital with hepatitis B who had to undergo an “invasive, quarter-of-a-million-dollar surgery” that would continue to cost $50,000 in hospital bills annually.
“As I saw her take off, I was so depressed, a $50 vaccine could have prevented this all,” Cassidy said. “Ever since, I have tried to do everything I can so that I do not ever have to see another parent lose their child due to a vaccine-preventable illness.”
There has always been plenty I disagreed with Cassidy on, but Medicaid and vaccines he always made decisions informed by his background as a doctor. I always had a lot of respect for him for that reason. I was glad he was on the Senate committee deciding RFKs fitness.
I watched the hearings. I heard RFK say things that I know Cassidy doesn’t agree with. I wrote Cassidy a letter saying I know you understand how dangerous this is and I am glad to have someone like you in the position to make such an important decision.
He was the deciding vote. All he had to do was say what he already knew and believed. He didn’t, and I lost the respect I had for him.
Not because he’s a Republican. Not because of everything else we disagree on. Because I know for a fact he knew how dangerous RFK would be, and yet his vote is the only reason his fitness was approved.
The only social media I used was reddit and I eventually got shadow banned for trying to warn people about shit like this.
I’ve tried using bluesky and Mastodon but it never gets much if any traction. I share stuff online hoping people that use other forms of social media will share it too though, so please feel free to share it everywhere you can.
Pretty positive there is no actual plan to improve cybersecurity, it’s a facade to quietly hand over power and control to the national guard to keep people in line.
The same day the emergency order was signed by the governor, he announced he was restructuring GOHSEP (governors office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness) under the National guard as part of his state DOGE plan to cut waste and save money.
The emergency order grants the director of GOHSEP authority to act however they seem fit to handle cybersecurity. But on the same day the director of GOHSEP was given a new title, and is no longer director.
The “acting director” is now Louisiana National Guard Brig. Gen. Jason P. Mahfouz
Here is a summary of everything: https://lemm.ee/post/59671562
But tldr for even that: One day last week the governor just declared he was suddenly moving the entire office that handles state emergencies (Governor’s office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness-GOHSEP) under the control of the state’s national guard.
On the same day he also suddenly announced he was Renewing a previous state of emergency that was created by the previous governor to address a cyber attack.
For some unknown reason that nobody has addressed, he added a new section to the renewed executive order that essentially says the director of GOHSEP has authority to do whatever he deems necessary to handle cybersecurity.
Except when he moved GOHSEP to be controlled by the National Guard, he also removed the director of the office and gave him a new title. So there is no actual director.
A member of the National Guard is acting director, so it would appear that the governor basically handed very broad control of cybersecurity to the national guard in a very underhandeded way hoping nobody would notice
Yikes, I knew we had detention centers but didn’t know people were getting shipped here.
Well, I’m here and while there’s plenty of things I don’t like, there’s also things people and places that I love. It makes me angry they’re trying to hide what they’re doing in the shadows in order to destroy something I love even if it wasn’t perfect to begin with. Why should I leave? It’s my world as much as it is theirs.
Actually feel that way about the whole country at this point. Even if I’m powerless to stop you I’m not going to just pretend I don’t see something happening. If there’s any chance for my state or my country that’s what we’re all going to have to do. That’s exactly what “speak out while you still can” means.
This shit is going on all over the place. Louisiana was one of the first, but DOGE has taskforces in 16 states at this point. I’ve actually been considering creating a community to have people start collecting stuff like this across all their states, so that we don’t let this shit keep happening in the dark.
Here it is if anyone wants to join feel free: https://lemm.ee/c/stateleveldoge
Allegedly moving GOHSEP under the National Guard is just a way to save money, as to why it happened on the same day this executive order was signed? No idea because nobody has even brought it up. I only realized it by accident, and only realized that he granted the director of GOHSEP authority because I downloaded the recent executive order and compared it to the old one (which I had to go to archive.org just to find).
But if Moskowitz’s bill passes:
With hurricane season there is always the threat of a disaster. It is not unusual for the guard to be called in as a precaution and stick around after a hurricane to enforce curfew.
Even though I personally have not had a bad run in with any guardsman, I think it’s understandable to feel uneasy seeing tanks on the street and guys with guns standing guard when you go to buy groceries. I know I always do, and I don’t even have the negative experiences that many people do to justify it. It would be naive to pretend that there’s not always the possibility things could go wrong.
Usually if a disaster is bad enough for the guard to stick around for a while, that means members of FEMA are also present. While FEMA is by no means an ideal agency in terms of how it should be run, the fact that they have their own dedicated civil rights office within the agency, is very important. Without it, you have armed soldiers being asked to handle crowd control and resources for a huge group of people, often during a time of extraordinary stress for everyone involved. If nobody exists to enforce civil rights, you’re relying on people to maintain them out of the kindness of their hearts. While I like to believe people for the most part will try to do the right thing, I’m not naive enough to believe that’s the case when people are scared and desperate.
Most people didn’t even notice that this happened, and I’m not even sure how the governor can do this, but a week ago today it was like he just decided to hold a press conference, say this is what I’m doing, and now that’s the way it is. That’s kind of the problem with unchecked executive authority and letting people see how far they can push things.
So I updated some stuff and yeah this seems very strange. The original order was in 2019 after an attack on some government servers. I had somehow forgotten that in 2023, the government admitted that there had been an ongoing cybersecurity attack on Louisiana OMV data and that essentially every adult in the state had their data breached (it’s been a bit of a hectic year).
The governor is a former lawyer, so someone might even suggest it was left intentionally vague?
Yep fuck Sinclair broadcasting too, but as you can see, the only news covering this is from local Indiana news reporting.