The tendency toward political centralization that has characterized the western world for many centuries, first under monarchical rule and then under democratic auspices, must be reversed.
-- Hans Herman Hoppe //

The truth is any post-breakup map of America would not resemble an electoral map following state lines, nor even a redrawing of state boundaries, such that the fantastical greater Idaho or Free State of Jefferson might exist as part of a wider Confederation of Constitutional Republics, or a Breakaway Philadelphia city-State join a Union of Progressive Democracies…

No. It’d be nothing so comprehensible or easily mapped to modern politics.

A post breakup America would probably look closer to this:

If you’re a sane person and your immediate reaction is: WHAT THE HELL AM I LOOKING AT!?

….Well that’s kinda the point.

(I really do apologize for all I’m going to have to digress)

For our purposes we can broadly divide history into 2 types of period… Periods of Centralizing trends, and periods of Decentralizing trends.

Gavin
5d
Occasionally, one comes across something that just stops one in one’s track and messes up the day’s schedule. This long (I mean … long) article by Anarchonomicon fits the bill.

After the State: The Coming of Neo-Medievalism and the Great Decentralization

The article is too long to summarize, but the basic idea is that history has seen long periods of centralized political control, and much longer periods of de-centralized control. The author predicts that the inevitable collapse of modern states will lead to “Neo-Medievalism” in which small political units will proliferate.

".… What you may have noticed is there’s really just two great centralizing eras in the history of western civilization… the 300-350 years from the start of Alexander’s conquests til the final centralization of the Roman empire under the Caesars… And the 250-300 year history of modern empire: From approximately 1700-1945. …

… The total number of autonomous Greek city states, which prevailed from the Bronze age collapse to the first conquests of Alexander, and only truly ended with the final roman conquest of all of Greece, numbered over 1000. …

… In the past 3200 years we’ve had only 600-800 years of truly centralizing eras where power concentrated, or merely continued without disintegration, when power didn’t dilute… But 2400-2600 years of Decentralizing eras where polities where shrinking and the ability to exert power across distance was eternally shrinking. …

… The Roman empire ended when all of its tech advantages were adopted by the Germanic tribes its was fighting… because those Germanic tribes had been trained in them while employed as roman mercenaries. Likewise the age of imperialism ended shortly after WW2 ended, because at that point every colony had a generation of young men who’d just been trained in western fighting styles. A process that began with the Irish declaring independence after WW1 and reached a fever pitch after WW2 when even the colonial white settler states set up by the British (who you’d think would be the apex of dependence, what with minority rule) declared independence. …

… Federal Authority, legitimacy, and even Seeing Like a State style legibility and intelligibility to the central government is collapsing in real time before our eyes… and far from panicking and trying to rescue their control over the body of the American Nation… the US Federal Government is accelerating the collapse of their own power through petty bureaucratic interests and short term political considerations. …"

Optimistically, the author concludes:

“… whatever successor institutions, aristocracies, and duchies devour the modern welfare states in a orgy of map redrawing and private fortune making will probably find that there is a great deal of economic and technological low hanging fruit just lying about. …”

It really is worth reading the whole thing.

Biden and Xi held their first phone since July 2020 on Monday. Within hours, dozens of Chinese warplanes and multiple naval vessels were reported around Taiwan, the largest coordinated display (implied threat) of 2024. At least 30 planes and nine ships were detected in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) by the country's Ministry of National Defense (MND).

Critical swing state Michigan announces a ‘first-of-its-kind collaboration’ with the Small Business Administration to help drive Biden’s GOTV campaign.

European farmers are reshaping the political landscape across the Atlantic just months before the EU’s parliamentary elections.

January 09, 2018

After 35 years, the consent decree that prohibited the Republican National Committee (RNC) from engaging in ballot security activities wasterminated by a federal judge. RNLA Chair John Ryder, former General Counsel to the RNC, stated:

Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ended the consent decree that had banned the Republican National Committee from engaging in activities to ensure that elections are open, fair, and honest since 1982. Despite years and much money spent searching for evidence of Republican voter suppression, the Democratic National Committee could not present evidence to the court sufficient for the consent decree to remain in effect. We applaud the fact that the RNC may now, on the same, lawful, non-discriminatory basis as other political organizations, ensure that every eligible voter is able to vote and that the votes of ineligible voters are not counted. //

While the consent decree has been in effect, other Republican organizations, such as the RNLA, NRCC, NRSC, Republican state parties, and other groups, have worked to ensure that elections are open, fair, and honest. As Mr. Ryder noted, we look forward to a new era where the RNC can, if it so chooses, be a part of this effort to protect the right to vote of every eligible voter.

When the Wisconsin Republican congressman who chairs the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, announced March 22 his retirement from Congress effective April 19—after the April 2 primary—instead of at the end of this congressional session, he did more than ensure Republicans could not replace him before January.

He left unfinished his work exposing the Chinese e-retailers Temu and Shein - work that started with a flourish.

“These results are shocking: Temu is doing next to nothing to keep its supply chains free from slave labor," said Rep. Michael J. Gallagher in his remarks at the June 23 release of the committee's report: "Fast Fashion and the Uyghur Genocide: Interim Findings.” //

“At the same time, Temu and Shein are building empires around the de minimis loophole in our import rules—dodging import taxes and evading scrutiny on the millions of goods they sell to Americans,” the Marine captain veteran of Iraq said. “We need to take a hard look at this loophole that is being abused to tilt the playing field against American companies.”

That tax loophole, the so-called “de minimus” rule, was first enacted in 1938 to allow Americans traveling abroad to mail home knick-knacks and souvenirs outside the regular tariffs on imports.

In 2015, Congress raised the tax-free limit from $200 to $800, which did not seem consequential at the time. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic fueled the online shopping boom, suddenly, that $800 limit was child's play for Temu and Shien, where some dresses cost less than $15.

The report found:

Key Finding 1: Temu and Shein alone are likely responsible for more than 30 percent of all packages shipped to the United States daily under the de minimis provision and likely nearly half of all de minimis shipments to the U.S. from China. //

Now, there are more than 685 million packages shipped every year, tax-free, because the import tax loophole exempts packages addressed to a residence. //

Key Finding 2: Temu’s business model, which relies on the de minimis provision, is to avoid bearing responsibility for compliance with the UFLPA and other prohibitions on forced labor while relying on tens of thousands of Chinese suppliers to ship goods direct to U.S. consumers.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act directs the Homeland Security Department’s Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to maintain a list of entities in violation. //

For a long time, I have been obsessed with how the ChiComs exploit our open society and good nature to vacuum up as much of our data as they can. //

Now, I see that Gallagher is out the door, and Temu is still avoiding import tariffs, using slave labor, and swiping data.

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth (December 26, 1819 – June 30, 1899) was an American writer of more than 60 novels in the latter part of the 19th century. She was the most popular American novelist of her day.

The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson

A research letter published on March 28 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that the combined industries made more than 85 million payments to more than 820,300 (57 percent of) eligible physicians across 39 specialties from 2013 to 2022. Nearly 94 percent of the payments were related to one or more marketed medical products. Yeah, I'm gonna go with kickbacks. //

According to the JAMA report, the three drugs associated with the majority of payments were Xarelto ($176.34 million), Eliquis ($102.62 million), and Humira ($100.17 million).

The three medical devices associated with the majority of payments were the da Vinci Surgical System ($307.52 million), Mako SmartRobotics ($50.13 million), and CoreValve Evolut ($44.79 million).

Gordian Knot News is now up to 100 some posts. They range in importance from fundamental to trivial; in writing quality from pretty good to tech manualese. But it is impossible to figure out either importance or readability from the title.

So I've prepared a list of links, which groups the posts by subject and gives them a grade. The same post can show up multiple times.

A means you must read this to stay in the choir.

B means you should read the piece.

C means read this if you have nothing better to do.

D means don't waste your time.

In many cases, there is a very similar PDF on the Flop Book site, in which case I have also included a link to display that file.

Fear campaigns have led to tight regulation of nuclear power plants and nuclear waste, which means that to see dry fuel casks you have to jump through hoops with security clearance, over-the-top security checks, supervised visits and so on.

I think we should normalise nuclear waste by putting it in public places that allow people to see it. In the Netherlands, COVRA (The Central Organisation For Radioactive Waste) stores all of the country’s high-level waste and is also a public museum and art gallery that hosts many exhibitions.
Inside COVRA: the art of preservation

On a panel in Paris last year, I called nuclear power plants national monuments, and I believe that they are, because they represent clean air, good jobs, and high-quality lifestyles. I think we should decorate nuclear power stations like the mural on the Cruas-Meysse cooling tower in France. We should celebrate what humankind can achieve with clean energy: a high quality of life for everybody, without the negative impacts of burning fossil fuels.

Fortunately, someone stepped up to do something about it: Phil Izon of Alaskans for Honest Elections. On Monday, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) released their interview with Mr. Izon, describing in detail how RCV was pushed on Alaska, how he decided to fight back, how he got a repeal on the ballot for this fall — and in so doing provided a blueprint for other states faced with this terrible idea.

One man, it seems, can still make a difference. //

anon-7lqi
2 hours ago
Congrats.

Now the PR campaign leading up to the election begins. There are a lot of outside groups who want to protect their $7 million investment in Sen Murky Murkowski.

Good luck, may actual Alaskans who live in Alaska prevail.

The end goal here isn't ambiguous. It's not to just promote radicalism. It's to make it preeminent and to raise it above everything that you believe in and hold dear. It's only going to get worse from here. The far left is playing for keeps, and dominance is the point.

Building Christlike character one story at a time.

We’d like to introduce to you our collection of rare books and audio dramas along with a colorful cast of characters who live out a biblical worldview centered around four truths:

1. God is good.
2. God works all things together for good.
3. God keeps His promises.
4. God allows suffering to grow our character so we can experience His love.

Steeped in these biblical themes, each Lamplighter book and audio drama demonstrates how “suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope never disappoints, because God’s love is gushed out into our lives” (Romans 5:3-5).

As you engage in these life-transforming stories, you’ll experience the Word of God as it was intended, for it is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword! In a day and age when Hollywood and social media have captured the hearts and minds of our children, it is our goal that each reader and listener be inspired to know God intimately, proclaim Him passionately, and enjoy Him infinitely!

mustached-dog Seniorius Lurkius
22y
30
Subscriptor
Interestingly enough, "Jia Tan" is very close to 加蛋 in Mandarin, meaning "to add an egg". Unlikely to be a real name or a coincidence. //

choco bo Ars Praetorian
11y
402
Subscriptor++
Performance hit is quite substantial, actually. I have no doubt that this thing would have been detected, eventually. However, it might have happened months from now. Then it would have been everywhere already.

But this is a good thing. A very good thing, actually.

There have been discussions about supply chain attacks, for years. Decades, actually. We used to call it "poisoning the well" many years ago. But no matter how much we talk about it, it was all theoretical. I mean, people even assumed that compilers have been backdoored many years ago. But noone was going to spend this much effort just to show that it was possible and to make people accept the possibility. So not much was really done about it.

Until now.

Now we are already seeing changes being made to OpenSSH that would have not been possible few months ago. Native systemd notification integration is already been developed (since 30th of March), so no need for libsystemd linking anymore. It will take some time to get integrated but it will happen. We are seeing people understanding that there is absolutely no need to have binary blobs in source repositories (except rare cases, of course, but those are going to be audited even more now). Checking source repositories against tarballs have been done before, many times. But obviously it wasn't good enough or often enough. That will change as well. People being dicks to maintainers are going to get greeted with "go fuck yourself" now, without a second thought. It will be extreme but it will be safer. For eternity I was terrified of compiling software myself because every time I invoked "./configure ..." I would think "fuck knows what is going on there right now". I did occasionally check scripts, I would grep for unexpected things but I was aware I'd never detect a very skilled attacker, like this one. Now there is going to be much more checking of autoconf/make/CMake/etc files in source repos. It won't be easy to detect things, but it will be easier. More eyes will be put on sources. For example, I am going to pick a random smaller project and just read the commit history, look for oddities, etc. Not because I expect to find something but I want to see what else should be looked at, etc. Eventually, I might end up with toolset that might help speed this process up. So there will be at least one more set of eyes looking at sources. I imagine that companies/organizations with more resources are going to put tons of effort into automating all this. So yeah, xz backdoor is actually a good thing, in a very bizarre way.

Also, I can't hunt all the references at the moment but I believe it was certificate (not the SSH key) that is used as a vector of attack, because certs are checked early and no configuration options will disable that check, while it wouldn't be the case with keys. A change to OpenSSH has already been suggested so OpenSSH will only get more secure because of this and one less vector of attack is now available.

Amount of skill and time/effort invested in this is mind blowing. I don't think people outside security really comprehend the skill/time involved here, this was insanely well executed attack. My first thought was "This had to be TURLA" because it was insanely smart and whoever did this had lots of patience. This does not (and will not) happen often.

So yeah, we were incredibly lucky that a Postgres developer caught it early.

However, it is mind blowing how many times security incidents have been detected by looking at CPU/RAM usage on systems, it is really no surprise that this is how xz backdoor got detected.

The chaplains say the Department of Defense continues to defy a 2023 law rescinding its Covid vaccine mandate. //

“The Department of Defense is hostile to religion,” said the chaplains’ lawyer, Art Schulcz, who is also a veteran. He said the way the DOD handled the vaccine mandate has contributed to the military’s recruiting crisis by repelling recruits and current soldiers with serious faith convictions. In response to ongoing shortfalls, U.S. military branches are lowering enlistment standards and issuing waivers of risk factors such as marijuana use.

The U.S. military’s chaplains “recruiting deficit is extreme,” wrote Rear Adm. Gregory Todd, the Navy’s chief of chaplains, last year.

According to Limming, technology is a catalyst that causes loneliness and isolation because it gives the illusion of comfortable communication without the awkwardness. But it is by no means the only causation. People spaces that used to help forge connection, like going to a 9 to 5 job, commuting to that job, drinks after work, clubs, and social events, are no longer places where people connect. Remote work has cut into this significantly, and the pandemic and its ills further contributed to the breakdown of social interaction. Our dependence on technology also contributes to the lack of socialization. In order to accomplish tasks and negotiate, we have to learn a certain set of soft social skills. Reading facial expressions and emotional cues (boy, did the masking ever do damage to that!). Learning to read body language. Smiling when appropriate. Shaking hands and making eye contact (my personal pet peeve). Listening to people, and learning when and how to speak (tone). //

During a talk March 20 at Harvard Law School, MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle, whose books include “Reclaiming Conversation” and “The Empathy Diaries,” outlined her concerns over the fact that individuals are starting to turn to generative AI chatbots to ease loneliness, a rising public health dilemma across the nation. The technology is not solving this problem but adding to it by warping our ability to empathize with others and to appreciate the value of real interpersonal connection, she said.

Turkle, also a trained psychotherapist, said it’s “the greatest assault on empathy” she’s ever seen. //

It appears that, just like with the so-called pandemic, the government is working hard to invent yet another crisis that they plan to swoop in and solve. After 2020-2023, any time appointed bureaucrats or elected officials feel the need to speak to a problem, people immediately tune out. The experience of the last four years has made their agendas suspect. The initial appearance of care and concern for Americans is merely gaslighting. The real intent is to push some nefarious drug we'll be forced to take or institute a program that we will be forced into. The fact that Murthy's advisory has been picked up by the World Health Organization (WHO) should give one pause. //

Hanging out and deeper face to face interactions is not all that hard when you boil it down to basics. Making connections with our fellow humans requires three things: 1) shared values; 2) shared experiences; and 3) shared spaces. Human beings are wired for connection; devices may make connection seem fluid and seamless, but it is anything but. However, when we are sharing space, purpose, and ultimately our experience, that is the lubricant to the gears of community. //

There is no substitute for human interaction. While sometimes uncomfortable, it is essential to our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and it is not something we want to outsource through technology or allow the government's involvement. As the "Hang Out" author Limming says, "Cultivating meaningful relationships and experiences requires active participation, effort, decision, stamina, and care." But it is worth the investment of expanding your worldview and forging lifelong connections. "Reclaiming Conversations" author Turkle says, “Face-to-face conversation is where intimacy and empathy develop. At work, conversation fosters productivity, engagement, and clarity and collaboration.”

Matt Taibbi was asked “why doesn’t he pay much attention to the sins (or threats) from “the right”?”

He gave a great answer:

Why I don’t spend a lot of time on the Republicans:

1) There is a enormous army of MSM reporters already going after them from every angle, with most major news organizations little more than proxies for the DNC, to the point where stations hire Biden spokespeople as anchors;

2) The Republicans have very little institutional power nationally. It’s not their point of view prevailing in schools, on campuses, in newsrooms (where over 90% of working reporters vote blue), and especially in the intelligence and military apparatus, which has openly aligned itself with Democrats. Even if Donald Trump were a “threat to Democracy” he lacks the institutional pull to do much damage, which can’t be said of Democrats;

3) The Democrats’ ambitions are significantly more dangerous than those of the Republicans. From digital surveillance to censorship to making Intel and enforcement agencies central players in domestic governance — all plans being executed globally as well as in our one country — they are thinking on a much bigger and more dangerous scale than Republicans. I lived in third world countries and the endless criminal indictments of people like Trump and ongoing lawfare efforts to prevent even third party challenges are classic authoritarian symptoms. The Republicans aren’t near this kind of capability;

4) Last and most important, the Democrats are being organized around a more potent but also much dumber, more cultlike ideology. People like Yuval Harari and his Transhumanist “divinity” concept scare me a lot more than the Rs, and I was once undercover in an apocalyptic church in Texas. Ask your average Russian or Cuban what overempowered pseudo-intellectuals are capable of.

I have a pretty good record of picking dangerous phenomena ahead of time. I feel confident on this one, and that’s before we get to the demographic/class shifts in the parties.

The Equal Protection Project, which is equalprotect.org, is a nonprofit that I founded in order to fight against what I loosely call DEI racism. So racism done in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our operative motto is that there is no good form of racism and that the answer to racism is not more racism. And that’s what has developed on campuses throughout the country and increasingly corporations and government, is that people seem, some people seem to think that the answer for past discrimination or even current is more discrimination, to discriminate against whites or Asians or Hispanics or anybody else. And we are against any of that. We’re against discrimination against any person on the basis of race. And that’s why we founded it. And we bring legal challenges too, we’ve done over 20 so far to programs that on their face have discriminatory eligibility requirements.