IAMX

@prey.net

166 Followers 118 Following

🧠 Eat your informative veggies. And the rich and the powerful f*cks. No Gods, No Flags, No Bullsh*t. Anti-fascist. Hack/er. #PNW Portland & Southern Oregon

The Corruption of Lindsey Graham A case study in the rise of authoritarianism. Will Saletan May 09, 2023 [The Corruption of Lindsey Graham is also available in these formats: a printable PDF https://old.thebulwark.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-Corruption-of-Lindsey-Graham.pdf an audio adaptation https://specialto.thebulwark.com/s/corruption-of-lindsey-graham/archive ] THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WAS IN BIG TROUBLE, and Lindsey Graham knew it. It was January 21, 2016, and the senator was taking questions at a press conference. A month earlier, he had abandoned his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Now two men he despised, Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, were leading the race. Graham thought either of them, if nominated, would lose the general election. Choosing between them, he told reporters, was “like being shot or poisoned. What does it really matter?” Two months later, in March, Graham changed his mind. He endorsed Cruz and joked that it was better to be poisoned than shot. “Donald is like being shot in the head,” Graham told talk-show host Trevor Noah. “You might find an antidote to poisoning, I don’t know. But maybe there’s time.” Graham was wrong. Trump wasn’t a shot to the head. He didn’t kill the GOP. In fact, he won the election. Trump turned out to be poison. Over the next five years, he thoroughly corrupted Graham’s party. Republican leaders had time to counteract the poison, but they never did. One reason was that the poison moved slowly. Graham and other Republican politicians lost the ability to see what they were becoming. They rallied around an authoritarian, excused authoritarian acts, and embraced authoritarian ideas. This is a story about how that happened.
What do you say to someone like that who is given up, who has decided that this is basically an intractable problem? Muller: I think that that is how the big money wants you to feel. And don’t let them make you feel that way. We have seen real progress on these issues. In 2018, we elected a wave of reformers across the country, and they demanded that the very first bill in a new Congress and under a Democratic House was going to be a comprehensive democracy reform bill. And that bill would have made sure that no matter who you are, where you live, you had the same access to the ballot box. And especially in the wake of all the voter suppression that we are seeing and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, that is so critically important. It would have stopped all the gerrymandering wars that we are seeing. And actually made it illegal to do mid-decade redistricting as well. It would have gotten a bunch of this big money out of the system. It would have done the disclosure and transparency. It would have reformed the Federal Election Commission. It would have even set up a first-of-its-kind public financing system for members of Congress and candidates for Congress. And it would have restored ethics and oversight and stopped some of the revolving door and lobbyist influence that we’re seeing. It was tackling all the problems that we are seeing in our democracy and it passed the House five different times. And right now, we know it will be the top one or two item in a new Congress under Democratic leadership. So there is real support for this. People are willing to vote on it. They are willing to fight to get it passed into law because they understand the kind of decimation that we are seeing to our democracy and that we have to make real changes. So don’t let anyone tell you that it is hopeless because that is how the big money wants you to feel. And the fact is, we’re actually much closer than folks think to being able to get this through and signed into law.
[USER]: Describe both for someone with visual impairment. [CHATGPT]: Image 1 A dark, moody cyberpunk room shows a hooded hacker seated with their back mostly toward the viewer. The person wears a black hoodie with a large white anarchist “A” symbol painted on the back, along with the phrase “No gods, no masters, no systems.” The desk is crowded with multiple monitors and laptops glowing green and blue with dense code. One large screen shows a digital anarchist symbol and anti-system text. The room feels underground, secretive, and tense. The walls are heavily covered with anarchist graffiti and posters. A huge black anarchist “A” dominates the left wall, with slogans like “Abolish the state” and “No borders, no nations.” On the right side, a calm Buddha statue sits near candles, incense-like objects, and a hanging scroll with Buddhist text about impermanence. The Buddhist elements are quieter and more contemplative, while the hacker/anarchist elements are aggressive and dominant.
Frame of Christopher Walken, SNL, More Cowbell skit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_Cowbell
Luigi Mario jumping with fist in air. Thought bubble has him asking "who is [a] next?". [a] replaced with symbol for Anarchism. Also "Free Luigi".
Here’s a sampling of some policies that liberal policy wonks and officials from previous Democratic administrations believe the next president, armed with these widened powers, could implement — without the pesky inconvenience of consulting Congress: Creating a “public-option” government-run health insurer offering comprehensive medical coverage and a similar public-option plan for prescription drugs. Funneling federal funds to state-run public-option health insurance. Seizing patents from drug makers that developed their products with government funding and giving the patents to others that will produce the medicines at low cost. Establishing government-run grocery stores. Restarting government fertilizer production, forcing agribusinesses to cut seed prices or lose their patents, and breaking up the oligopoly in meatpacking. Initiating direct government lending, and perhaps government-run banks, to reduce banking costs. Cutting off all government funds for, and refusing to grant export licenses to, businesses that don’t significantly raise their wages, don’t remove barriers to union organizing and don’t have blemish-free records on labor violations. Taking “golden shares” in, or other forms of government control over, frontier AI labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic, banks, pharmaceutical companies and others. Denying electrical power to AI data centers. Establishing government-run factories that would produce solar and other clean-energy technologies, essential medicines and more. Dismantling and reorganizing the Department of Homeland Security. Unwinding previously approved acquisitions, including Paramount Skydance’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, or forcing these behemoths to divest pieces of their businesses. Forcing nonprofit hospitals to spend billions more on charity care. Cracking down on abuses by private equity in health care and by corporate investors in rental housing. <truncated-see-source>
Luigi Mario jumping with fist in air. Thought bubble has him asking "who is [a] next?". [a] replaced with symbol for Anarchism.
Photo of a person backlit by the sun that is lighting a small clearing with path leading into the woods behind them. They are taking a self portrait of the front of their black t-shirt with arms on both sides stretched out holding the camera. Their shirt says "WHO PUT THE MESS" above a pink, black, and whote vector shaped, cell shaded head with mouth wide open yelling and below says"IN YOUR HEAD?" And below that "IAMX".
With SpaceX’s IPO, you could argue that Musk has either won or broken capitalism. His wealth, in our current system, makes him a chaos agent with no real comparison. He is virtually impervious to fines. His money, should he wish to spend it, has the potential to drastically influence the outcome of elections. That leverage could be used to benefit Musk’s businesses, securing further contracts with the government and entrenching him deeper into the infrastructure of everyone’s lives. This power isn’t theoretical; Musk’s dominance in satellite connectivity has already made him geopolitically relevant in places including Ukraine and Iran.
A cicada on a small, green leaf facing the camera. An exuviae (its?) is on an adjacent branch of the same plant. Is it waiting for its wings to dry before flying off?
Looking out a window, two bugs are on it, attached at the rear doing their business. Green, leafy trees and woods are out of focus with small bits of blue skies up through the trees.
A black Labrador laying on a patch of trimmed grass looking down a slope with asphalt driveway, white fence line, meadow, and woods off in the surrounding distance.
A black Labrador sitting along a dirt, wooded and green trail. The dirt is slightly damp. The dog's face is looking at the camera, her nose is lightly covered in clay mud, some in her aged white snout. She looks like a young child caught doing something bad and worried about potential consequences. Which is far from the truth because her human would much rather her play in mud than animal poop.
Luigi Mario happily jumping up in the air with text saying "WHO'S A NEXT" & "FREE luigi". The "A" is using the symbol for Anarchism. >:]
Black Labrador out in woods laying on the ground trail, head raised, staring at the camera. Big thick bark tree up left side of frame, sun shining from background on soil and vegetation.
Hundreds of people on Saturday attended the third “No Kings” rally since President Donald Trump took office for his second term. People walked along Sixth Street at the Josephine County Courthouse in downtown Grants Pass carrying signs expressing concern over military action, overreach of power and corruption. Similar protests took place in Jackson County
An unclear (blurry) yet still stunning headshot of “Waddle” the turkey, who was set to receive the traditional presidential pardon on the day this photo was taken.
Helping Wild Bees Too Co-author Professor Phil Stevenson (RBG Kew and Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich) added: "Honey bees are critically important pollinators for the production of crops such as almonds, apples, and cherries and so are present in some crop locations in very large numbers, which can put pressure on limited wildflowers. Our engineered supplement could therefore benefit wild bee species by reducing competition for limited pollen supplies."
Soft book cover of The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder laying on a wood windowsil. The cover is of an old Data General desktop computer on a wooden desk with steaming drink mug and print material. The picture of a computer circuit and another of a sailboat are posted on the wall.
A top-of-the-head view of a black Labrador laying, sleeping on a striped pillow and dark brown blanket on a medium brown sofa. Sunlight is beaming in from the lower left lighting up the dog and back of sofa, but only half of it. The rest of it and the room is dark.
""" [0-16s] 4 score and 7 years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived [16-24s] in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. [24-29s] Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation. [30-37s] Or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. [37-42s] We are met on a great battlefield of that war. [42-47s] We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place, for those [47-52s] who here gave their lives that that nation might live. [52-58s] It is all together fitting and proper that we should do this. [58-59s] in a larger sense. [60-69s] We cannot dedicate. We cannot consecrate. We cannot hellow this ground. [69-81s] The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. [81-89s] The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. [89-90s] We're here. [90-100s] It is for us, the living rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who [100-104s] fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. [104-111s] It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that [111-116s] from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave [116-118s] the last full measure of devotion. [120-125s] that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, [126-135s] that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, [136-148s] by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. """
"HTP Forge" desktop application. Left panel shows EXPLORER (a file viewer) & TASKS list (currently empty, no processing). Right Panel is an open file tab of a recording. Top to bottom: - "Press Super+Scroll Lock to record a segment" w/ Prepend & Append radio buttons (former is selected) - A waveform of the last live-recorded segment. - Another waveform of the full audio file. - Play button w/ current cursor position (0:06) and total runtime (0:19) next to it. - Three tabs "Details" "Transcription" "Summary" with "Transcription" currently selected. - Source: (language) "Auto-detect" Target (language): "English" Model: "Whisper (base) (3 pull-down selectors). - Transcription History: section showing 6 recorded segments and the model + size used and the length of that segment (though the timings look inaccurate, a bug to be fixed) - Transcription: section w/ "Show Times" checkbox selected and "Copy Transcript" & "Copy Segments" links. Below shows the transcriptions and time of each segment. -
UI of an application window titled Voice PPT. Explorer file list on left side. Tasks file list on left side. Right side is a tab for the open file `sneakers-werner-brandis-voice-passport.m4a` which includes an audio player, visual waveform, transcription tab, and summary tab which is selected. Model selector shows Haiku selected. A Web Search checkbox is checked. Summary reads: ``` # Summary This is a **brief audio clip or quote** featuring someone introducing themselves as Werner Brandis and making a statement about their voice serving as verification/identification ("My voice is my passport verified"). This appears to be a **famous movie or TV quote** - the phrasing is distinctive and characteristic of espionage/spy fiction dialogue. --- ## Relevant Resources Let me search for more information about this reference... ``` Summary History displayed below with two different summary files.
A scene from the move Contact (1997) of S. R. Hadden floating on the Mir space station gleefully saying to the camera ".. wanna take a ride?"
.. I received orders to move against Colonel Thomas Harris, who was said to be encamped at the little town of Florida, some twenty-five miles south of where we then were. ... but when we got on the road and found every house deserted I was anything but easy. In the twenty-five miles we had to march we did not see a person, old or young, male or female, except two horsemen who were on a road that crossed ours. As soon as they saw us they decamped as fast as their horses could carry them. I kept my men in the ranks and forbade their entering any of the deserted houses or taking anything from them. We halted at night on the road and proceeded the next morning at an early hour. Harris had been encamped in a creek bottom for the sake of being near water. The hills on either side of the creek extend to a considerable height, possibly more than a hundred feet. As we approached the brow of the hill from which it was expected we could see Harris' camp, and possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting higher and higher until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I would have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do; I kept right on. When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view I halted. The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there and the marks of a recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his. The lesson was valuable.
A view underneath a freeway pillar with "FUCK ICE" spray painted on it in yellow. Another overpass is in the background with wooden supports.
Music video title art. ChatGPT: The image shows a stylized neon roadside sign glowing against a deep blue, star-filled night sky with faint mountain silhouettes along the horizon at dusk. At the top of the sign, a bright blue neon outline forms a two-headed wolf-like creature lying down, with red neon accents highlighting its eyes, ears, and snouts. The creature glows vividly, giving it a slightly eerie, supernatural feel. Below it, the main sign reads: “LA” in small red neon letters “EQUATEUR” in large blue neon letters “NUIT” in bold red neon letters Under the main sign, three smaller horizontal panels glow in blue neon with the phrase: “DRIVE UNTIL YOUR LIGHTS GO DARK” The overall mood is cinematic and atmospheric—reminiscent of a desert highway at night—with strong retro neon aesthetics and a mysterious, slightly ominous tone.
Three people at night facing the camera towards the street. They are standing on the sidewalk with bright background lighting from the Portland, Oregon ICE facility. Left to right: First one with headphones, cell phone in hand, gas mask hanging from arm, in a pink fuzzy onesie with a white circle on the belly with a rainbow. They have a trans flag draped over their back and are giving the sign for love with their hand. Second in a pink body and white underside axolotl costume holding a sign that says ABOLISH ICE. Third in a big pink pig costume. They look to be having a good time hanging out protesting.
## Development Tasks ### Phase 1: Core Infrastructure - [x] **1.1** Set up project structure with pyproject.toml - [x] **1.2** Create audio/samples/ and audio/import/ directories - [x] **1.3** Add sample audio files to audio/samples/ for testing - [x] **1.4** Implement config.py - load TOML config with defaults - [x] **1.5** Implement models/ package - base interface + Voxtral implementation (uses vLLM Realtime API) - [x] **1.6** Create basic test: transcribe a WAV file from command line (`voice-ptt-transcribe`) ### Phase 2: Audio Pipeline - [x] **2.1** Implement audio.py - capture from microphone with sounddevice - [x] **2.2** Test audio capture: record 5 seconds, save to WAV, verify quality - [x] **2.3** Integrate audio capture with model: record → transcribe → print ### Phase 3: Hotkey Integration - [x] **3.1** Implement hotkey.py for X11 using pynput (and Wayland alternative) - [x] **3.2** Wire up: hotkey down → start capture, hotkey up → stop capture → transcribe - [x] **3.3** Test end-to-end on X11/Wayland: hold key, speak, release, see transcription in terminal ### Phase 4: Text Output - [ ] **4.1** Implement output.py - detect display server, choose xdotool/ydotool - [ ] **4.2** Wire up: transcription → type at cursor - [ ] **4.3** Test end-to-end: hold key in text editor, speak, release, text appears ### Phase 5: Daemon Mode & System Tray - [ ] **5.1** Implement daemon.py - main loop, signal handling (SIGTERM, SIGHUP) - [ ] **5.2** Add __main__.py entry point with CLI args (--config, --debug) - [ ] **5.3** Implement tray.py - system tray icon with pystray (idle/recording states) - [ ] **5.4** Add tray menu: Edit Config, Reload Config, Model submenu, Quit - [ ] **5.5** Add "Transcribe File" submenu with Samples/Import folders and Refresh - [ ] **5.6** Add desktop notifications on errors (notify-send / libnotify) - [ ] **5.7** Test: start daemon, tray icon appears, use hotkey, transcription works ### Phase 6: Polish <truncated>
We want to proudly announce that the Hackers On Planet Earth conference is now officially a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. While we will always have a relationship with 2600 Magazine, HOPE is now its own independent entity. The possibilities are significant. Many of you have been asking over the years how to contribute to HOPE and make it even better. Now we have the means to receive tax-deductible contributions from individuals and organizations. Every hurdle we have struggled with in the past can now be surmounted with the help and support of the community.
Black Labrador laying on forest floor in leaves. She is facing camera with mouth open and is very excited (proud?) to have gathered a deer hip bone to work on.
Who is Sascha Riley?
Members of the public have reportedly also shared information about agents in hotels and even neighbors. “I’ve had hotel staff sending post-it notes, bar staff sending DHS IDs, and loads of people saying their neighbour is an agent,” Skinner said. Skinner told the outlet he was working to verify the names. “ICE and CBP are in clear need of reform, and I believe working for either is a bad move on a moral level," he added.
And that might have been where this all ended—an unread message sinking to the bottom of my inbox—if not for an email LabCorp sent three weeks later. “Thank you for confirming that you wish to continue with the hiring process,” it read. (To be clear, I had confirmed no such thing.) “Please complete your required pre-employment drug test.” The timing was unfortunate. Cannabis is legal in the state of New York, and I had partaken six days before my scheduled test. Then again, I hadn’t smoked much; perhaps with hydration I could get to the next stage. Worst-case scenario, I’d waste a small piece of ICE’s gargantuan budget. I traveled to my local LabCorp, peed in a cup, and waited for a call telling me I’d failed. Nine days later, impatience got the best of me. For the first time, I logged into USAJobs and checked my application to see if my drug test had come through. What I actually saw was so implausible, so impossible, that at first I did not understand what I was looking at. Somehow, despite never submitting any of the paperwork they sent me—not the background check or identification info, not the domestic violence affidavit, none of it—ICE had apparently offered me a job.