A close look at the cases that the administration has brought in court shows that the government’s charges, mostly of assaulting or resisting federal officers, are faltering as they come up against video evidence or lack thereof. In at least four cases that were brought in connection with protests against Midway Blitz, Chicago federal prosecutors either withdrew charges or had a judge declare that they failed to meet their burden of probable cause, per a TPM review.

These cases are important not only because prosecutors are withdrawing them in their initial stages. The administration has sought, largely successfully, to portray these operations in Chicago, Portland, Los Angeles, and elsewhere as focused on immigration enforcement. They involve large numbers of federal law enforcement officers ostensibly charged with related missions: CBP patrols the border; ICE is responsible for enforcing immigration law (as administrative as it may be). Showy missions like the Blackhawk helicopter raid on a South Side Chicago apartment building use pyrotechnics to reinforce that impression.

But the reality is that these overbearing operations also affect U.S. citizens. They involve federal law enforcement taking aggressive steps against people who record their actions or who stage protests. The increased threat of facing charges after appearing at a protest can have a chilling effect as well.

Yup (from the same article)

But Johnson made it clear on a conference call with House Republicans on Thursday that he does not plan on passing a standalone bill to pay the troops before Wednesday, when military personnel are set to miss their first paychecks, according to two Republican sources on the call.

During the call, Johnson received some slight pushback from GOP members over his strategy. Two Republicans spoke up to express their concerns over the House’s remaining out of session, the sources on the call said, but several others spoke up in support of the idea.

Like other affected federal workers, controllers are worried about how they will pay their bills during the shutdown when they won’t get paychecks. Duffy and the union’s president have acknowledged the unfairness of their situation, which only adds more stress to their already stressful jobs.

NATCA President Nick Daniels said controllers might have to take time off to work a second job just to make ends meet during the shutdown. But Duffy said that right now, he thinks the controllers who are missing work are “lashing out” in frustration.

“It’s going to eventually be that when people don’t have money, they have time to start making life choices and life decisions. And it shouldn’t be waiting for air traffic controllers to break because of having to take out loans, credit card debt, paying bills, gas, groceries, mortgages. Those things aren’t going to stop,” Daniels said.

So… What if they are actually sick…? I mean not getting paid and still having to show up let alone the stress of being a air traffic controller seems likely to make people prime candidates for low immune systems. Oh, but that’s right sickness doesn’t exist under RFK, right?

While I empathize with the feeling I disagree. The trend is polarization—not a universal rightward shift—and liberal politicians have not systematically adopted more conservative positions. Instead, both parties have moved toward ideological extremes, with Democrats consolidating progressive stances and Republicans embracing stronger conservative positions.

So this is not indicative of a pull to the right, but more that the right is in power.

John Durham, the former special counsel who spent nearly four years examining the origins of the FBI investigation into President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and its alleged ties to Russia, told federal prosecutors investigating James Comey that he was unable to uncover evidence that would support false statements or obstruction charges against the former FBI director, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Federal prosecutors in Virginia met remotely with Durham in August to understand the findings of his investigation, according to sources familiar with the meeting, and his conclusions raise the prospect that Durham – who was once elevated by Trump and other Republicans believing he would prosecute high-level officials involved with the investigation of the president’s 2016 campaign – could now become a key figure aiding Comey’s defense.

The prosecutors also met with a team of lawyers at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., who had investigated Comey for years – including calling him to testify before a grand jury in 2021 – but were unable to identify any chargeable offenses committed by Comey, sources familiar with the meeting said.

…

I think this needs a different title. This is burying the lead that this is likely or even possibly politically related to the recent rulings as the house is a judge’s.

Ah, you mean https://fightchatcontrol.eu/.

I am not aware of anything yet, apart from what the article suggests. https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/contact-dma-team_en

Ah yes, American exceptionalism. Silly me. Have to win as an underdog. If only we had education and learning history as part of our American ethos.

I always wonder why people venerate Edison so much. He did innovate, but man was he a shifty barron.

For those in Europe, write your representatives.

Fro me f-droid’s post: https://f-droid.org/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html

What do we propose?

Regulatory and competition authorities should look carefully at Google’s proposed activities, and ensure that policies designed to improve security are not abused to consolidate monopoly control. We urge regulators to safeguard the ability of alternative app stores and open-source projects to operate freely, and to protect developers who cannot or will not comply with exclusionary registration schemes and demands for personal information.

If you are a developer or user who values digital freedom, you can help. Write to your Member of Parliament, Congressperson or other representative, sign petitions in defense of sideloading, and contact the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) team to express why preserving open distribution matters. By making your voice heard, you help defend not only F-Droid, but the principle that software should remain a commons, accessible and free from unnecessary corporate gatekeeping.

https://f-droid.org/2025/09/04/twif.html [^antifeatures]: F-Droid Anti-Features overview: https://f-droid.org/docs/Anti-Features/ [^howmanyusers]: How many F-Droid users are there, exactly? We don’t know, because we don’t track users or have any registration. “No user accounts, by design”: https://f-droid.org/2022/02/28/no-user-accounts-by-design.html [^sideloading]: ‘“Sideload” is a weird euphemism that the mobile duopoly came up with; it means “installing software without our permission,” which we used to just call “installing software” (because you don’t need a manufacturer’s permission to install software on your computer).’ — Pluralistic: Darth Android: https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/01/fulu/ [^playprotect]: “Google Play Protect checks your apps and devices for harmful behavior”: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2812853

Doesn’t she realize how this could backfire on her in the future? If she can do it, then so can others.

Each myth is contiguous in each episode rather than being interweaved. Much more satisfying.

Replace it with Melissa Hortman or John Hoffman.

Just give up and get streamlined mythbusters. Easier to watch anyway.

The video: https://youtu.be/Pp9MwZkHiMQ

[Jordan] was able to develop a transparent sticker that renders a license plate unreadable to the ALPR but still plainly visible to a human observer. https://github.com/bennjordan

Other links: IR LEDs to confuse security cameras

what about yarn

camera that only takes nudes

generates a picture based on geographic data

Can you say more on your point on local or allied production? I haven’t kept up, but last I heard the domestic US production of chips is many years away and likely to be generations older than Taiwan can produce. I was under the impression that these production lines take many many years to set up and train people for, unlike some manufacturing.

Absolutely, having worked in remote existence I’m well aware of how much support and maintenance it takes to keep up equipment and collect the data.

The article wasn’t clear that Trump was trying to cut the collection & analysis from the headline and several paragraphs in. Initial impression were that we had more orbiters in line for launch that were being scrapped half built… Also tragic, but having working orbiters makes budget inertia slightly more likely to win against a cut.

Several budget cuts have been overturned by lawsuit and although they take months, the orbiters can probably be left in a reduced budget or even maybe limbo for that period while still being recoverable (IMO).

I read this article does a really bad summarization to me as someone who has not been tracking these satellites. I had to go look at the wiki for the OCO’s. Turns out that OCO-2 & OCO-3 are in orbit and operating.

So as I understand this, Trump is not killing the launch of new Sat, but cutting off data collection on existing Sat launches. Further the reason these two SATs are so important is that although there are other Carbon Observers, they don’t have the resolution these two do.

Overall, it’s an entire waste of money to have built and spent something over a billion dollars, just to cut off the data that Oil companies don’t want. (Or at least that’s the perception.)

The article could have done a better job bottom lining this.

As a journalist in Afghanistan, Abdul says he helped promote American values like democracy and freedom. That work, he said, resulted in him being tortured by the Taliban after the US withdrew from the country in 2021.

Now he’s in California applying for political asylum, amid the looming threat of deportation.

“We trusted those values,” he said. “We came here for safety, and we don’t have it, unfortunately.”

But when Abdul walked into a San Diego court to plead his case, he wasn’t alone.

Ten veterans showed up for his hearing – unarmed, but dressed in hats and shirts to signify their military credentials as a “show of force”, said Shawn VanDiver, a US Navy vet who founded ‘Battle Buddies’ to support Afghan refugees facing deportation.

“Masked agents of the federal government are snatching up our friends, people who took life in our name and have done nothing wrong,” he said.

Approximately 200,000 Afghans relocated to the US after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, as the US left the country in chaos after two decades fighting the war on terror.

Many say they quickly felt embraced by Americans, who recognised the sacrifices they had made to help the US military and fight for human rights.

But since the Trump administration has terminated many of the programmes which protected them from deportation, Afghans now fear they will be deported and returned to their home country, which is now controlled by the Taliban.

…

I think this is the program https://afghanevac.org/battle-buddies

Could happen to a more obnoxious company… Support the farmers and give them a right to repair, maybe farmers across the world will pay the expense.