News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by Muromec on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:18AM (#47365649)
Nobody stops the government from sending goons to your door right now for a snarky comment. Some govts in fact do it today. It is also cheaper than ai rocket and more precise too
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by Arubis on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:25AM (#47365728)
Goons don't scale well. Wide-scale intimidation does.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by gzread on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:18PM (#47366422)
In a sense, surveillance is a multiplier on your goons, creating virtual goons. If you have 5 goons but you can send them directly to the house of people who disagree with the government with 99% accuracy, it's like you had 500 goons waiting outside 500 houses then only entering the ones where people disagree with the government.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by mystraline on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:39AM (#47365921)
Its called police. And they scale extraordinarily well.

And turns out power-tripping men offered raw power over other humans on threat of violence is something they like.

And ICE? Remember J6 and Three Percenter's and all those right wing militias? They ended up in ICE. Same reasons.

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by brewcejener on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:46AM (#47366026)
A very bold claim I have heard repeatedly, backed up with zero evidence. Care to share any proof you have found?
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by pstuart on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:04PM (#47366270)
https://archive.is/nwxkh

That was from a quick search, no doubt there's more. Now it gets down to trust issues on reporting.

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by nurettin on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:56AM (#47366167)
It is called swatting.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by pessimizer on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:51PM (#47366803)
It's very important to pretend that ICE goons are significantly different from regular cops, because Democrats are going to wave a magic wand and declare ICE to be regular cops again when they are in control of them again.

Meanwhile, regular cops have been doing the same awful things that they've always been doing, literally at the command of Democratic mayors who are pompously declaring that they won't enforce immigration law in speeches. They'll send cops to throw your shit into the street when your rent suddenly doubles, and won't report an illegal immigrant felon (whose history we know nothing about) to ICE.

Organized white supremacists are nobodies with no power, they're all over the military, the cops, prison guards, and ICE. Meanwhile, Parchman Farm in Mississippi doesn't even report the people who are dying there, and has plastic all over the floors because the roofs are open to the elements. That's just legal American black people who this country actually owes something to, though. That was trendy like five years ago, it's so over now.

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by ToucanLoucan on Friday March 13, 2026 @01:25PM (#47367199)
If you set aside social justice issues, the Democrats and Republicans basically agree. Republicans want a theocratic authoritarian state that can micromanage the workers and keep the economy going. Democrats want the same thing but with freedom of religion and more female CEOs of color.

Now you obviously shouldn't set social justice aside, and given the choice, I absolutely prefer the capitalist hellscape where my friends and I are not being rounded up and killed, but that's a REMARKABLY low standard I've had to settle on as a voter.

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by KerrAvon on Friday March 13, 2026 @01:52PM (#47367473)
GOPs and Democrats are the same on environmental, science, and public health policy completely, huh? You sure you wanna both sides it that hard?
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by ToucanLoucan on Saturday March 14, 2026 @11:45AM (#47377829)
> GOPs and Democrats are the same on environmental, science, and public health policy completely, huh?

Environmental: Democrats Joe Manchin, Jon Tester, Michael Bennet, Bob Casey, Martin Heinrich, John Hickenlooper, and Ben Ray Lujan all backed the pro-fossil fuel position and blocked the Biden admin's ban on fracking. And that's before you get to the eleven House Democrats who crossed the aisle to vote for gutting NEPA, which is basically the foundational law for environmental review in this country.

Science: Democrats continue to stall on GMO foods despite thousands of studies confirming they're safe, and have pushed heavy restrictions treating them like health hazards with zero scientific basis. This is basically their version of climate change denial and it deserves way more attention than it gets.

Public Health: The entire mess with the ACA, juicing the insurance industry while keeping healthcare gatekept behind financial hooks and ensuring workers MUST stay employed to have any reliable access to it. Yeah they get some points for trying to keep Medicare and Social Security afloat, they don't want all the poor people to just die about it, but those are remarkably low bars.

So, the same? No. That said, NOTHING about ANY of that could be called "Left" by anyone being remotely intellectually honest.

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by mystraline on Friday March 13, 2026 @02:22PM (#47367801)
Indeed.

The Democrats and Republicans both are different approaches for the same billionaire class.

They're not "opposite sides of the same coin". Instead, they're more akin to 2 sock puppets. One wears red, and the other blue.

Like the Trump tariffs? They were initially Biden's tariffs that Trump increased and extended. Different clothes, same game.

But I'd be willing to try a good run with democratic socialism, or hell, communism. What we have is the cushy gold-parachute socialism for the elite, and unabashed hardcore capitalism for the poorest. And that fucking sucks. Burn it down.

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by ToucanLoucan on Saturday March 14, 2026 @11:53AM (#47377902)
Yeah and you say that and people are like OH SO YOU'RE FINE WITH REPUBLICANS and, no, categorically not. As a transwoman the Republicans have made it pretty clear my existence and rights are up for debate, so you know, not ever gonna vote for one. That said, the Democrats are not saints by a long, long way and their mealy-mouthed resistance can most often be summarized as twitter posts and flashy statements, and then they go fuck us over in the congressional chamber anyway.

My argument isn't pro-Republican, I just want Democrats to follow through with the shit they talk, and actually live up to the progressive label they try to retain with actual progressive policies, not just more female oppressors of color. That's nice but it's not a solution to the problems we're having.

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by mystraline on Sunday March 15, 2026 @12:31PM (#47388997)
Thats the problem. Even the democrats have sold transfolk off as well. Many of them have backed anti-trans bills across the country.

For them it was sniffing like a hound for easy votes. And when it didn't pan out, you all get sold down the river.

Even the "Progressives" like Sanders and AOC dont shake certain trees. Like when's the last time Sanders or AOC denounced Israel's genocide.

Even Mamdani basically did a 180 on rent control.

Republicans would heartily see you shoved in a chipper shredder. Democrats would shove you in a chipper shredder owned by a BIPOC woman owned company.

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by loursixtyone on Sunday March 15, 2026 @06:49PM (#47392839)
These so-called "anti-trans bills" are typically either reasserting boundaries around female-only spaces, or protecting children from iatrogenic harm. Nothing wrong with either, and plenty of Democrats are going to support this.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by rembal on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:33PM (#47366585)
Goons work MUCH better than rockets for intimidation, and actually scale much better.

Rocket is obvious and spectacular. Those are for amateurs.

A journalist got beaten up to the brink of death and will never walk again by 'unknown perpetrators'? Well, it's a dangerous country, and he had it coming, maybe some concerned citizens went a bit too far, but our dear leader cannot watch over everybody.

Scaling: do you think other journalists will not take notice?

And he will still be alive to reminder them how they may end up.

If you want to see how far imagination can go here, look up Artyom Kamardin and think how would you behave after hearing his story .

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by ghywertelling on Friday March 13, 2026 @01:23PM (#47367180)
Goons are bad publicity. Doing your dirty stuff as hidden from view as possible is best option
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by nesky on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:23AM (#47365709)
Cost kind of stops the government from sending goons right now, sure some governments do it but, it's costly at scale.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by justsid on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:30AM (#47365804)
Missiles are a lot more expensive and much less reusable than goons though. If the nation state can’t afford the goons, it can’t afford to missile you either
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by c22 on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:40AM (#47365947)
With the digital panopticon neither goons nor missles are really necessary. Opressive forces can just disable your spending and travel credits. If they need you dead or in custody they can just grab you the next time you pop up on camera near one of their agents.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by riffraff on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:26PM (#47366519)
> Opressive forces can just disable your spending and travel credits

"Disabled spending" already happened to the people in the ICC that acted contrary to Trump's diktats[0], without the need for a digital panopticon, both the banks and the government know who you are.

[0] https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/2025/12/12/its-surreal-u...

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by brewcejener on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:48AM (#47366049)
Reaper drones will be the more cost effective way to eradicate amalek.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by collingreen on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:37AM (#47365896)
Drones aren't though. Plenty of ways to use the data above for evil deeds.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by motbus3 on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:22PM (#47366461)
There are cheap drones with guns now thought
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by jpadkins on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:37AM (#47365894)
The UK gov has shown to be incredibly efficient at arresting and imprisoning citizens for social media comments.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by dontwannahearit on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:13PM (#47366376)
Please share evidence.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by QuantumFunnel on Friday March 13, 2026 @01:42PM (#47367369)
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by dboreham on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:21PM (#47366449)
This is widely promoted but not true.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by vikingerik on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:03PM (#47366253)
The cost effectiveness is the intimidation and chilling effects on a wider population, when that can be achieved with a small number of actual goons.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by ImPostingOnHN on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:03PM (#47366265)
The government already does that. The only challenge is scale.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by marcosdumay on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:36AM (#47365874)
The goons are. Almost no government can create goons that are submissive enough to comply with any kind of crazy order.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by XajniN on Friday March 13, 2026 @11:50AM (#47366087)
Are you living under a rock?
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by marcosdumay on Friday March 13, 2026 @02:23PM (#47367809)
I dunno? Are you referring to the USA? Did your military take over the Democrat-run states when Trump sent them there last year?
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by XajniN on Sunday March 15, 2026 @09:59AM (#47387446)
Your answer doesn’t make any sense to me.
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by motbus3 on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:21PM (#47366455)
Stop justifying more horrible stuff with "there is already some horrible stuff"
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by rapind on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:37PM (#47366633)
Wasn’t ICE pretty much doing exactly that with no oversight or accountability?
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by mrguyorama on Tuesday March 17, 2026 @02:35PM (#47416455)
The other day an ICE lawyer told our state's court that when a bunch of ICE agents rolled up to a private citizen's house and harassed and threatened them, they "were not acting according to policy"

So, yeah.

But none of that stops Meta wanting to help Trump be more efficient at harassing discontent.

It can always get worse. Always.

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by pessimizer on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:39PM (#47366661)
You're being silly, the missile thing was hyperbole. Your computer will direct the thugs to your door.

> Nobody stops the government from sending goons to your door right now for a snarky comment.

This is just dumb. They literally don't know who wrote it, and have to assign somebody to track you down. The fact that they're putting infrastructure on your computer and on the network to make this one click away for them matters.

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by rdn on Friday March 13, 2026 @12:41PM (#47366680)
The OP's point can be understood as an automization and mechanization of such targeting. Which will be necessary if the scope of thoughtcrime prosecution is to expand
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by dormento on Friday March 13, 2026 @01:16PM (#47367088)
> It is also cheaper than ai rocket and more precise too

Never stopped people overengineering :P

Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by QuantumFunnel on Friday March 13, 2026 @01:37PM (#47367322)
Who needs rockets when you have autonomous mini drones
Re:I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age... by Muromec on Friday March 13, 2026 @02:05PM (#47367605)
But you don't have autonomous mini drones, only the leader of the free world does.