Uhh this definitely matters. Do you realize what Palantir tech already does to people in other countries?

Apparently my city is already allowing this on its own citizens:

That provision could, for the first time, give the city explicit permission to use a whole host of surveillance technology in certain circumstances, including voice recognition, x-ray vans, “through the wall radar,” social media monitoring software, “tools used to gain unauthorized access to a computer,” and more.

All they need is a picture of your face, whether they get it from a protest you attended, a street camera you passed by, your driver’s license. Doesn’t matter.

Then they can do all this to you or any of your friends or family members they might be able to connect to you via social media.

They are storing your data and making billions of of it while making their own AI smarter and deadlier for the rest of the fucking planet. You think that’s not important?

This is how they think they’re going to fix the economy (for themselves). Taking your rights away and exploiting the people to get richer.

And yeah you’re right, the federal government will cease to exist that’s why it fucking matters states enact laws to protect themselves and ban together instead of splitting apart and trying to fight separate battles.

My state just became the first to start using DOGE voter database maintenance. Clearly I’m losing my right to vote. Who do I report to when that happens? The DOJ?

My state is helping this happen. So until they lose enough money and power by collapsing the economy with their failed AI attempt, that’s what I’m stuck with.

I know if I go to another state it will follow me there because once they conquer blue cities, they’re moving on to blue states unless blue states wake the fuck up, ban together with businesses and universities who have money and power and are also feeling the burden of the economy, and start protecting themselves.

Here’s a preview of what’s probably in store if you keep pretending like your states protection of the rights of its own citizens don’t matter

Why TF do you think Texas, the first state to volunteer it’s national guard to enforce Trump’s immigration policy in other states, has a law protecting itself from other states being able to do the same to them? Because it doesn’t matter?

Once the federal government is gone, state laws are all you will have. Wake Up!

Dude, I’ve just been thinking about this as privacy violation bc it’s being used for surveillance in my state, but you just made me realize it’s probably being used for different things in different states.

The very first AI supercomputer in the U.S. was built in Memphis, TN and nobody knows what they’ve been using it for, but given Memphis and especially Nashville are such huge recording cities that is probably not an insignificant thing to consider.

That is probably why Blackburn actually opposes it, because she’s probably getting push back from her wealthy donors in Nashville!

If you work for a corporation, sure why not?

If you’re just firing as a citizen absolutely not!

Also doesn’t hack what my city apparently quietly allowed as of 2022 when they rolled back previous bans on predictive policing tech and created a new ordinance with very bare minimum regulations (which the city still violated)

That provision could, for the first time, give the city explicit permission to use a whole host of surveillance technology in certain circumstances, including voice recognition, x-ray vans, “through the wall radar,” social media monitoring software, “tools used to gain unauthorized access to a computer,” and more.

Through the wall x-ray surveillance?! Oh yeah also created the initial ban after it was revealed they were secretly partnering with Palantir for several years, so probably not a coincidence

I just found this all out a few days ago, but if we all learn to shimmy and wear sheets of lead 24/7 maybe we’ll be able to get around it

It’s like a fucked up doctor Seus rhyme

States rights for me, and none for you, not if blue states might get them too

But if we all think about it you will see

On banning state regulations, we can’t agree

They say the only regulation needed is a federal light touch

Because these stupid assholes spent way too much.

They put all our eggs into one AI basket

Why trust them now that the economy is in a casket?

Our economy is fucked either way

But handing over our rights won’t make it magically ok

They’ll have to figure it out, like we do with tariffs and inflation

Tell them to eat our AI regulations

Well large or small be sure to cover your face at protests (or even anytime you walk outside) bc my state is now using facial recognition AI to track and profile people on a watchlist or even people that maybe kind of look like them

If this passes the Senate your state will be doing it too, and if my theory about why they are starting all this here in my city is correct, then when they use the various states national guardsmen to march across state lines and enforce Trump’s federal immigration laws, even the bluest state will be forced to comply

Blue cities within red states being used to test run full scale U.S. authoritarian takeovers?

Sorry, got a little heated and misunderstood what you were saying, and yeah I agree that is a perfect example

This one lady is nervously stepping out of line bc she’s starting to sweat and realized it means she’s also fucked and not magically protected by being a part of the old money white men’s club

Meanwhile the technocratic elites that want this ban and all the Republicans in the house that tried to sneak this through are the ones secretly looking out for you by banning blue states from regulations to protect themselves

Here’s a story about the dystopian nightmare I’m facing bc my state is in favor of banning its own regulation and is ALLOWING THIS DEREGULATION TO GO ON

The NOPD have paused their use bc it was in violation of a city ordinance (which I’m also guessing would be reversed by this ban)

Now the FBI, ICE, National Guard, and for some reason the fucking Department of Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries also have completely unregulated access to look for whoever they want with zero oversight bc it’s a private company. We all know corporations are our frenz right?

This still has to go to the Senate so please for the love of god if you care about your rights and privacy tell your senator to vote NO!

My city is currently in the midst of an AI facial recognition/predictive policing thanks to a secret city partnership with Palantir, dystopian nightmare

Frankly I would be happy to see my state ban facial recognition completely, but they definitely aren’t going to, but please take this as a warning of what is definitely coming for you next!

We should have federal regulations and state regulations! There is absolutely no need for them to ban regulation at the state level other than the argument it will halt progress.

In reality they are invading your privacy and generating valuable data for these stupid AI data centers and they don’t want you to be able to decide this sucks and I want it to stop in my state!

Not only would it ban laws for the next 10 years, it would remove existing laws. Some places already have a facial recognition ban, and this would repeal it!

It’s nuts this seems to actually have some bipartisan support in the Senate, bc everyone is “so concerned” about America winning the AI race.

News flash, we probably won’t win it. It was a dumb fucking idea in the first place, and yeah they put all of our eggs into the AI basket and it’s probably going to tank the economy even more, but why TF should we be giving them even more control of our lives in the hopes that just maybe they can make a lot of money by further invading our privacy and doing some really evil shit with our data that will make the world an even worse place?

Here is an article about the May 8, 2025 hearing.

Altman, during the hearing, said that Texas had been “unbelievable” in incentivizing major AI projects. “I think that would be a good thing for other states to study,” Altman said. He predicted that the Abilene site would be the “largest AI training facility in the world.” But Altman also later cautioned against a patchwork regulatory framework for AI.

“It is very difficult to imagine us figuring out how to comply with 50 different sets of regulations,” said Altman. “One federal framework that is light touch, that we can understand, and it lets us move with the speed that this moment calls for, seems important and fine.”

Here is a quote from Peter Thiel protege, Michael Kratsios regarding AI regulation in 2019

“A patchwork of regulation of technology is not beneficial for the country. We want to avoid that. Facial recognition has important roles—for example, finding lost or displaced children. There are use cases, but they need to be underpinned by values.”

They have no values, I support a federal regulation too, but in case you haven’t noticed, the people who want you to vote to remove state regulations in favor of a “light touch” federal regulation are also in charge deciding what that “light touch” federal regulation will be and if it gets enforced at all.

Most of what we attribute to Elon Musk/DOGE including using protected government data banks full of our private data to train AI, can actually be traced back to Thiel and Kratsios, as early as 2018!

I cannot believe I actually agree with Marsha Blackburn on something, but she’s right! Why TF would you believe you don’t need state regulations bc there is the possibility the same party that just tried to sneak in this nightmare, might enact some federal protections.

Government deregulation has been in the works for a very long time. Do not let them keep taking our protections away!

Until then, his chair on the dais of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee had sat empty all year.

Mr. Fetterman does not enjoy participating in these hearings that he has sat through in recent weeks as he seeks to prove that he is capable of performing the job he was elected to do until 2028. In fact, at a critical moment for the country, he appears to have little interest in the day-to-day work of serving in the United States Senate.

In an interview, Mr. Fetterman, who represents 13 million people, said he felt he had been unfairly shamed into fulfilling senatorial duties, such as participating in committee work and casting procedural votes on the floor, dismissing them as a “performative” waste of time.

Ohhhh this mother…

k…,so this is the committee that determined fitness for Trump’s Science Advisor, Michael Kratsios. I literally begged for them to not approve his fitness. I wrote about this here, and fun fact even have a screenshot of me @ing fetterman and others on the committee on bluesky included in the article. Little did I know he wasn’t even bothering to show up bc he thinks it’s “performative…?!”

Quick summary: Kratsios is a protege of Peter Theil, who actually served as Chief Technology Officer during the first Trump administration. During that time, he helped set up all of the dangerous AI shit we’re now dealing with, making sure they wouldn’t be restrained by any pesky regulations.

Unregulated surveillance and facial recognition tech use by ICE, the FBI, and other LEOs, you can thank Kratsios.

Access and use of private government data to train AI, you may think that’s all on DOGE/Musk but that is actually something Kratsios mentioned back in 2018

Senate Dems knew how dangerous deregulated AI was, particularly facial recognition tech for profiling use. Yet, with a few exceptions, they either approved his fitness or they just didn’t show up like Fetterman

I guess it’s ok bc Kratsios is now agreeing maybe we should dial it back and start to regulate AI…

Lol jk, of course he’s actually saying we need to somehow further deregulate it so we will have even less protection for our privacy, rights and liberty.

Thanks Dems of the committee for taking your job so seriously 👍

And OF COURSE Fetterman showed up for this one. Not because he felt like his depression was being weaponized, it’s because he just weaponizes the D next to his name to help force through Republican policy

Here is an article about that May 8, 2025 hearing.

Altman, during the hearing, said that Texas had been “unbelievable” in incentivizing major AI projects. “I think that would be a good thing for other states to study,” Altman said. He predicted that the Abilene site would be the “largest AI training facility in the world.” But Altman also later cautioned against a patchwork regulatory framework for AI.

“It is very difficult to imagine us figuring out how to comply with 50 different sets of regulations,” said Altman. “One federal framework that is light touch, that we can understand, and it lets us move with the speed that this moment calls for, seems important and fine.”

Here is a quote from Kratsios about regulation in 2019

“A patchwork of regulation of technology is not beneficial for the country. We want to avoid that. Facial recognition has important roles—for example, finding lost or displaced children. There are use cases, but they need to be underpinned by values.”

🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕

I am trying to enjoy it while it lasts, but the combination of federal policy and state policy, and the state trying to takeover my city, have already fucked my life up in so many ways, it’s hard not to stay angry.

I’m losing my job soon, everybody I know is struggling to pay bills, even groceries are becoming barely affordable, I love where I live but I’m probably going to have to move to find a cheaper place bc I can’t afford rent without a steady income, and no luck on any other jobs I’ve applied to.

I was the first person in my family to get a college degree and I was planning to go back to school this fall, but had to put that on hold. I have family and other people I care about who are dependent on Medicaid, and I am already watching them lose so much health progress they had previously made bc the hospital oligopolies in this state began implementing policy ramping down Medicaid acceptance long before the House actually admitted they would be cutting anything in the budget. They’ve already done so much harm to so many people, and it’s only going to get worse. All just to give wealthy people who already received an insane amount of corporate welfare even more of a tax break. I also know I’m not the only one in my state going through this, and I know I’m relatively privileged compared to many people right now.

Frankly, I don’t see much of a point in planning for the future bc there doesn’t seem to be one. They’ve fucked this whole country over, and I don’t believe there is even any money left for things like federal aid/emergency relief/funding for grants, because they have either stolen it all or flushed it down the toilet on AI.

They just constantly use disinformation and distractions to keep people from seeing what is actually going on, and then dangle hope that if you comply, if you pretend along with them that everything is ok, maybe you’ll be taken care of. I’ve never believed it, and I think more people are finally starting to understand it’s just another distraction.

I’ve said this before, but it’s like being in a burning building, and knowing the people that are supposed to be in charge of the building were the ones that started the fire. They’re not trying to put it out, they’re just stuffing as much cash into their pockets as possible before the roof collapses while screaming it was somebody else’s fault. Even if we can’t stop them, why not throw some banana peels for them to slip on as they try to run out the door?

The Louisiana National Guard has officially partnered with ICE so they will obviously be enforcing immigration, and depending on Hodges bill, potentially seizing property and parts of the city from anyone who the state AG can successfully argue is a foreign adversary or aiding a foreign adversary.

As far as not thinking they won’t be trying to take over other states, I feel like it says a lot that the bill the Rep from Washington introduced as a safety assurance, was modeled after a law that several of the states participating in the MS training drill already have in place. Kind of funny they would be so concerned about other states doing it to them, if it really wasn’t a reasonable concern to have.

The legislation is about maintaining the state’s autonomy and authority, Mena, a Democrat, told her colleagues during last week’s hearing. “Without this bill, there’s nothing on the books to prevent this.”

“Other states may take matters into their own hands when they want to enforce federal laws.”

Mena pointed out that Idaho, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas have laws that prevent other states’ National Guard troops from entering without permission.

This is the part that seems so telling bc Texas was the first state to agree to allow their national guard to be used for enforcing Trump’s immigration policy, and attended the recent National Guard training in MS along with South Carolina.

Louisiana is trying so hard to model itself after Texas, so of course the Governor would do the same with our own national guard, but it’s kinda funny we don’t have a similar law protecting ourselves from invasion by the National Guard in other states.

Given that so much of the strategy currently being used to divide the country and dismantle the U.S., seems to be based off of the same strategy that was used to dismantle the Soviet Union,(I also have some suspicions about why that strategy might be so similar given the role of the Heritage Foundation in post Soviet Russia) I wouldn’t be surprised to also see something like state secession from the Union, followed by the formation of new “state-countries.”

In our case, you might see states like Louisiana do a lot of work, thinking they’re gaining independence, only to then be absorbed into a “super-state” by Texas.

Idk about half the country, I would guess ~35-40%.

What’s funny about that 35-40% though, is that almost all of them can’t really wrap their head around the fact that a loss of constitutional rights isn’t something that you can force to only hurt the right people.

It means that if your house gets raided by accident, you would not be in the right to stand your ground in your own home. But yeah even if you tried it would almost certainly not end well against the government. Even if you somehow survived you’d probably end up on trial for defending your home.

Regardless of the reasons behind what led to Waco, that really should be enough evidence for anyone (left or right) to understand how that scenario is most likely to end.

I think a better bet is to use what remains of the law to your advantage. It’s just a matter of getting enough groups of people United together to take on something like a lawsuit.

I am involved in community activities, but the problem is that a bunch of small groups have less power than one large group. We need to remember this is still the United States of America and join in with people that remember what that is supposed to mean.

Several blue jurisdictions that were being targeted for sanctuary policy joined together in a lawsuit, but my city never had an official policy, it was the result of a federal decree (which is itself a whole other long story).

I feel like joining in on something like that would provide the most protection, but like I said, the city leaders aren’t doing shit except pointing the finger at each other and spreading Landry’s narrative about the recent jailbreak bc they’re all hoping to save themselves. It’s like he set a trap and they are all falling for it.

Given there are so many cities all over the country facing similar things, I feel like maybe we should even consider creating a giant lawsuit as blue cities, blue states, and all Americans regardless of location (community organizations, small businesses, and non profits, universities) to at least attempt to get back and rebuild federal protections for our rights and liberties from the people who are behaving like traitors to the U.S. constitution.

There is a reason the union is powerful, whether it’s a workers union or remembering we are supposed to be part of the Union not some neo confederacy.

Even if you’re not seeing it around you yet, if we as a country let them continue like this, you will eventually find yourself face to face with it and surrounded by it on all sides.

If he is allowed to keep these departments and agencies dismantled and empty, then that means there is nobody there to enforce protections. It’s kind if nobody is on duty at the weather center, then when a tornado comes in at 1 am, that means nobody is there to warn people of the danger. Pretty sure that actually happened recently exactly bc of these dumb fucking policies and cuts…

We’re sitting back and falling into the trap he’s laid for us by breaking apart and keeping ourselves isolated and then panicking once we start to feel the heat.

For example, Nashville is a very wealthy city (and we all know wealth=power). They actually sued their governor over trying to force his policy on the city, and they actually won! I doubt that’s an option for New Orleans v our oligarch Governor unless we join in with others that have more power and money.

Why couldn’t all individuals and organizations that were interested in doing so as citizens of the United States (I mean, I just realized corporations are people, right? So any businesses really) join together in a massive lawsuit and sue the President for something like threatening our rights and liberty?

The People v. The President of the United States?

I’m half kidding about the name on the lawsuit but very serious about figuring out how to do that. You already have hundreds of small lawsuits, why not offer something like a giant class action lawsuit open for all Americans as individuals, small groups, or businesses, etc., to join? Why the fuck should we be sitting back and handing over any of the rights we had to fight to gain in the first place?

If we’re going to devolve into a civil war anyway why not at least try to a lawsuit first?

It’s a politico article about Trump budget cuts. Doesn’t really fit a science community, not sure where else it would go

Idk about being used anywhere else now, but if it isn’t stopped or at the very least regulated soon it definitely will be all over the U.S.

New Orleans was the testing ground for Palantir predictive policing going back as early as 2012. I have been suspecting it will serve as a testing ground not just for AI, but for the complete authoritarian take over of blue states, for a while now.

There are some pretty blatant plans for how to do so. Like this proposed bill by a LA DOGE member to seize land within a 50 mile radius of national guard bases in the U.S. Doesn’t really seem like much of a coincidence that would be pretty much all of New Orleans if the base where the Louisiana National Guard is headquartered decided to do that. Imagine if that passes in Louisiana and then spreads to other states? How do you plan to stop the national guard from a red state marching into a blue one it shares a border with to seize territory? Especially following something like an emergency or natural disaster? Do you honestly think Trump will do anything at the federal level to stop it?

So when people say to just move, it feels like they’re telling you to flee your home to avoid a tsunami you know will follow you just about anywhere you could go without leaving your country. If you did anyway, and nobody stops it from engulfing the entire U.S., it seems pretty likely it would eventually just follow you anywhere around the globe. Anytime you may think you somehow managed to make it to higher ground, the threat will always remain until somebody contains it and stops it from spreading.

It even seems like other red states may be preparing to do just that. Look at this National Guard training drill that happened recently in MS

“Vigilant Guard 2025,” will take place May 12-18. It will give participants the opportunity to activate and employ their response plans to improve mission command, relationships, and interoperability among federal, state, and local agencies.

Guardsmen from Mississippi, along with those from Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, the ability to command a statewide response to a major disaster in coordination with the Mississippi and Tennessee Emergency Management Agencies

Why those states specifically? Considering how different everything would be in terms of landscape and infrastructure, why would you bring the national guard in from Utah and Wyoming to Mississippi to take place in a drill preparing them for a natural disaster??

Nothing really makes us special to keep being used as a testing ground like this, except being a continuous work in progress, and it being easier to use corruption and money to violate rights, cover things up, intimidate people into not speaking out, and having fewer resources available for people to take legal action when their rights are violated. Looking at the way things are shifting throughout the entire U.S., it kinda seems like that way of running things is already getting a head start to prepare this to spread to even really wealthy and economically sound blue states.

This story from WaPo came out Monday, and there has been practically no local news coverage of this information except for one story reporting on the guy that owns the cameras, trying to claim that if police had full unregulated access, they would have caught more of the suspects that escaped from the jail last Friday. Even that is a new phenomenon for New Orleans. Keeping this shit quiet doesn’t make it go away or play nice. It only gives it time to grow stronger.

Yeah, anytime you hear casual mentions of facial recognition or biosensor data being used to prove something in a case, it should be setting off alarm bells.

I’m assuming most people would think, why is it a bad thing if it’s just being used against people like a drug kingpin for serious crimes?

A. Because like any other questionable police method (whether it’s entering homes without warrants, use of excessive force, or harassment and intimidation tactics) we should be a little more smart at this point in history after learning the same lessons sooo many times already, that the potential for abuse and use against people for completely non justifiable reasons always exists, especially when you have zero regulations regarding how it’s used.

B. If elections continue in the U.S. (big if, but this point should go for both sides) you have to consider if you’re using even the most basic reasoning skills, that if sides that control the power switch (right to left or left to right), you not only face consequences of that technology being used by the other side to do something you don’t support, but you also have the potential for cases like the drug kingpin to be overturned if laws change, and it can be proven the tech was used improperly to collect evidence.

It’s not really an infrequent occurrence in the U.S. People who are innocent are railroaded and locked up for things they never did, while people who are clearly guilty are let off on a technicality after it’s shown that evidence was improperly or illegally obtained.

Taken from her family just before midnight and thrown into a prison for speaking out against an authoritarian POS.

The one where safety was achieved not through any real improvements to society but by threat of being thrown into an overcrowded super prison?

Lol is this a joke? You’re asking if we should RAGE? No.

My memory isn’t great but I still know that there are plenty of Trump’s political enemies left on the inside. That’s who keeps leaking information despite threats from the administration to hook them up to a polygraph.

Ok, I think you found a loophole

I feel like somebody did that when they first came out and they created some kind of ridiculous over the top penalty for doing it.

Its a bigger risk than I’m willing to take, but I would suggest if you’re going to go that route, try to get a wealthy and well connected friend to do it for you or have a good lawyer on retainer