Don't forget Columbine. People always leave that out, but as far as historical milestones that shaped how awful American society has become, it was a big one.
Palantir had a contract with New Orleans starting around ~2012 to create their predictive policing tech that scans surveillance cameras for very vague details and still misidentifies people.
It's very similar to Lavender, the tech they use to identify members of Hamas and attack with drones. This results in misidentified targets ~10% of the time, according to the IDF (likely it's a much higher misidentification rate than 10%).
Palantir picked Louisiana over somewhere like San Francisco bc they knew it would be a lot easier to violate rights and privacy here and get away with it.
Whatever they decide in New Orleans on Thursday during this Council meeting that nobody cares about, will likely be the first of its kind on the books legal basis to track civilians in the U.S. and allow the federal government to take control over that ability whenever they want. This could also set a precedent for use in other states.
Guess who's running the entire country right now, and just gave high ranking army contracts to Palantir employees for "no reason" while they are also receiving a multimillion dollar federal contract to create an insane database on every American and giant data centers are being built all across the country.
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cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/61850217
Roe created the State Policy Network in 1992. to influence policy at the state level, allegedly after being urged to do so by Ronald Reagan. SPN currently has a network of think tanks in all 50 states.
UCS definitely has good intentions.
I just don't have faith in the Trump OSTP to actually look at the evidence or even bother reading a letter to consider their next steps.
They've been planning this for a long time. If they can't capitalize on it, they will be getting rid of it.
Do they even make dunkaroos anymore?
I remember they made them when I was a kid and then they were discontinued and then they returned, but I thought they got discontinued again.
Anyway, when I was in college I learned you can make a big ass batch of dunkaroo frosting super cheap
https://basicswithbails.com/popular/baking/homemade-dunkaroo-dip-funfetti-cake-batter-dip/
https://callascleaneats.com/viral-dunkaroo-dip-high-protein-low-carb/
It's never evil if it's all just a game, at least not to the ones playing the game.
TIL that the cofounder of the Heritage Foundation, author of the original mandate for leadership (the very first in an annual series that was eventually became Project 2025) also wrote a 1987 op-ed in WaPo that said the Iran-Contra should have been all the proof we needed to know democracy is a failure that should be replaced with a shadowy group of government of experts.
The funny thing is, we know now that he (Paul Weyrich) was one of the main people working in the shadows under Reagan.
As conservatives, we have to help the nation face a stark choice: either modify our institutions of government to play the game of great power, or move back toward our historic, less active foreign policy.
Third, our current system institutionalizes amateurism. Unlike European parliamentary democracies, we have no "shadow cabinet," no group of experts who are groomed by their party for decades before they take high office. Our presidents can be peanut farmers or Hollywood actors. They can choose their top advisors either from among "professionals" who may not share their goals or supporters who often have no background or expertise in policy. Either way, they lose, and so does the country. The current crisis could not make the point better: our foreign policy was set by an admiral and a Marine lieutenant colonel, neither of whom had any background in the field. The resulting failure is not their fault. The system by which they were chosen is defective.
Sounds kind of familiar.
Guess what shadow group is in the White House right now? Almost makes you wonder if the plan was always to make America and democracy look incompetent via embarrassing debacles like the Iran Contra, and now they're just picking up right where they left off?
Another Paul Weyrich gem regarding voter suppression:
"I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
You hurt me pretty bad, but I forgive you. I think if we both really try hard, we can still make it through this.
~~Ok..., I won't~~ 🆗👁️🙅♀️
Ok, sorry to upset you. Just an attempt to cope with the inevitable and absurd destruction of the world due to the action of ~4 men in a pissing contest, with a little humor. Btw, the inside joke wasn't even supposed to be relevant, but I do feel like it adds a little lagniappe to the whole ambiance/vibe of wtf are we even doing at this point?
Hopefully everyone starts taking this community a little more seriously, and content improves with each one up that brings us closer to our impending doom. I hear the memes in the afterlife (if there is one) are to die for.
That part is just a very complicated and dumb inside joke
Pissing contest or most careless game of chicken ever? Both?
Idiocracy prepared me for this to happen, but it also failed me because it made me believe that it would be a lot less serious/more funny than it is.
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It is insane how common it's become.
It's hard to even explain to people that there was a time when it used to be a very shocking thing to hear about.
"Back in my day, parents didn't have to send their kids off to school every morning pretending everything was normal, but internally struggling with anxiety they might never see them again."