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mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

I’m no economist, but… maybe these guys aren’t, either.

Boosted by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
lawfare ("Lawfare") wrote:

Samuel Estreicher and Andrew Babbitt argue that "the Trump administration’s threats and imposition of tariffs are inconsistent with how tariffs are normally authorized by Congress and present a problematic invocation of IEEPA’s broad, seemingly uncabined language." https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/are-tariffs-an-emergency-power

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

They just keep on arguing and discussing…it's a new infinite thread.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/03/infinite-thread-xxxv/

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
wim_v12e@tilde.zone ("Wim 🅾→Ⓣ") wrote:

More magnolias. They fade so fast, have to grasp the moment.
#photography
#bloomscroling

Boosted by jwz:
peter@thepit.social ("Peter") wrote:

for the people in Europe wondering why Americans don't protest, they did. 2020-2021 saw the biggest protest movement in American history. and then the cops beat the shit out of everyone, and when the Democrats re-took power on the backs of those protesters, they gave all the cops raises and threw the movement under a bus.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

About a dozen of the students in my surveillance course surprised me by attending the hearing. Big thanks to the committee staff who went out of their way to accommodate everyone.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

For those who don't follow legislative minutiae, there was a hearing on Salt Typhoon (and, inevitably, Signal) yesterday in House Government Reform.

My testimony focused on how Salt Typhoon was enabled by telecom wiretap mandates dating back to the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994.

Video of the hearing and written testimony are online here: https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/salt-typhoon-securing-americas-telecommunications-from-state-sponsored-cyber-attacks/

Boosted by jwz:
PhineasX@mastodon.art wrote:

Boosted by jwz:
ianb@well.com ("Ian Betteridge") wrote:

Sometimes the symbolism is heavy

Boosted by jwz:
oli@olifant.social ("D. Olifant") wrote:

Happy LINE GO DOWN day to all who celebrate.

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

yes, the world really *is* out to get you

Attachments:

• video: a2d1af9c3886a17b.mp4

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Me this morning. "Oh, hey, I haven't checked my retirement balance in a while."
...
"Never mind".

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
Flash@mastodon.world ("Flashdancer") wrote:

BREAKING: A massive protest is happening now on the Heard and McDonald Islands after Trump announced a 10% retaliatory tariff against the islands.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
vees@epistolary.org ("Rob Carlson :ally: :BLM:") wrote:

The woman who handcuffed herself to the doors of Twitter office as a tantrum and then had to ask police to uncuff her because Twitter was like “eh, we’ve got lots of other doors” and ignored her now has veto power over U.S. national security personnel.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
bourgwick@heads.social ("jesse jarnow") wrote:

bonus deadcast today! we get into robert hunter’s “tiger rose,” the only (released) full-length studio album by hunter & jerry garcia, made at mickey hart’s barn just as the dead began their brief retirement. archival interviews, lost road hog history, how it was almost "spider rose," & more. https://www.dead.net/deadcast/bonus-tiger-rose-50

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
benroyce ("Ben Royce 🇺🇦") wrote:

"It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop... ever"

Attachments:

• video: Shopping cart in a parking lot meanders towards a car, eventually hitting it, but not without an extraordinary level of variation that makes it seem almost sentient

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
taylorlorenz ("Taylor Lorenz") wrote:

SCOOP: YouTube removes 'gender identity' from hate speech policy. "YouTube quietly removing ‘gender identity and expression’ from its list of protected groups is a major radical shift away from best practices in the field of trust and safety." https://www.usermag.co/p/youtube-removes-gender-identity-from

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net ("Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:") wrote:

76 years ago: The General Agreement in Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was ratified and implemented. It brought down tariffs and connected markets. The idea was that global, interconnected trade would reduce the risk of a third world war.

It took Trump 73 days to tear it down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General%5FAgreement%5Fon%5FTariffs%5Fand%5FTrade

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

JFC, taking a look at how the market is doing today was a real mistake

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

The biggest security breach in that Signal transcript wasn't anything that was said, or even that a journalist was added to it. It was the complete absence of anyone saying "hey, should we really be discussing this over Signal?"

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
skinnylatte@hachyderm.io ("Adrianna Tan") wrote:

I just posted this at work and it seems like not everyone knows this.

You can take the Amtrak Coast Starlight from Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, Oakland, San Jose or LA in the other direction, to the Monterey Bay aquarium. On Amtrak.com, simply put Monterey Bay Aquarium as your destination and when you arrive in Salinas station at 12:20pm (daily), there will be a bus that waits for you and picks you up to send you to the doors of the Aquarium by 1:30pm (usually takes just 20min)

For a true car-free experience, book a hotel room in New Monterey near the Aquarium, like the Clement Intercontinental, Monterey Plaza, or Wave Street Inn or anything on that side of the tunnel (including Pacific Grove). You can walk / bike the coastal trail.

Rent a bike from Work Horse bicycles downtown.

If you bring your own bike on the train (check in without boxing!) you can put it on MST city bus no 20, the bus station is 5 min ride away. Wait at and have a taco at Tacos Don Beto next door. There is a small outdoor area for Covid cautious folks.

#Transit #Trains #Amtrak #Monterey #BikeTooter

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
rickenharp@social.lol ("Alex") wrote:

@adam ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ TAKE MY ENERGY ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Obsolete secret infrastructure like CARTWHEEL tower, only revealed decades later, intrigues me not just for its scale and design, but also for the obvious question it gives rise to. If this stuff effectively managed to stay unnoticed for decades, what newer secrets are hiding under our noses today?

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Despite CARTWHEEL being located in the middle of a residential neighborhood in a busy city and staffed by military personnel, officials went to great lengths to conceal the true purpose of these towers. They hid in plain sight, appearing to be silos or water towers (they even used civilian water trucks to send crews to some of the towers).

It was only after the cold war ended that the details of the network were declassified.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

The upper white section of the tower is actually a plexiglass radome, concealing various microwave and UHF radio antennas.

CARTWHEEL and its cousins were decommissioned around 1990. Most of the towers, mainly atop mountains in remote areas, were demolished or left to rot. However, CARTWHEEL and CORKSCREW (on a mountain near the Appalachian trail in central Maryland) have been maintained in good condition, now repurposed by the FAA.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Captured with the Rodenstock 23mm/5.6 HR Digaron-S lens (@ f/6,3), Phase One IQ4-150 back (@ ISO 50), Phase One XT camera (1/25 sec exposure).

This unassuming cylindrical tower, at first glance perhaps a grain silo or water tower, was part of a secret "continuity of government" microwave communications network. Built in the early 1960's, a network of similar towers located around the capital region linked the White House with critical sites such as Camp David, Raven Rock, and Mount Weather.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

"CARTWHEEL" Tower, Fort Reno, Washington, DC, 2020.

All the pixels, none of the continuity of government, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/49576247768

#photography

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

some days I love working with mongodb... and today ain't one of them

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
WeatherGoddess@journa.host ("Athena Masson, PhD") wrote:

Colorado State University released their first 2025 #hurricane season forecast. Calling for an above-average season with 17 named storms. Nine of which could become hurricanes and four which will strengthen into major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher). https://tropical.colostate.edu/forecasting.html

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
Bella@pixelfed.social ("B.ella") wrote:

Hidden treasure.
#Leer #SchlossEvenburg #castle #Ostfriesland #EastFrisia #magnolia #BloomScrolling #florespondence #spring