Notices by Dave Rahardja (drahardja@sfba.social)

I think people wondering why US citizens aren’t more outraged by the wanton constitutional disregard committed by the US government need to realize that the US government has ALWAYS BEEN committing transgressions—just not against its white middle- and upper-class citizens.

From its founding, the US has treated certain populations as having less rights than its preferred class: the wealthy, white†, male, Protestant. It is NORMAL for the US to ignore its own constitution to oppress and exploit people. From African slaves, to displaced Native Americans, to Chinese railroad workers, to Banana Republics, to occupied Hawaii, to CIA-backed coups in Asia—UNCHECKED POWER IS THE DEFAULT.

IMO things finally changed for the better after the Civil Rights Act, thanks to the relentless sacrifice of its champions. But for CENTURIES prior, exploitation was the norm. Realize that what Trumpists want to do is to REVERT to how things were before the CRA.

†The social construct of who gets to be “white” has changed over time.

And so it’s normal to see USians sit around and wait things out, instead of going out and protesting and demanding accountability—because this is how things have always been. The normal thing one does is hope that the shit doesn’t reach one’s doorstep, because NEW SHIT IS CONSTANTLY OUT THERE.

I think wealthy, white, Protestant men, especially, feel NO THREAT from ICE, from the Epstein Files, from illegal invasions and coups, because that’s how things have always been around them. They assume they will not be affected, like they haven’t been affected for centuries (they in fact benefit from the lawlessness), so they go about their day as if nothing happened.

For those in the margins, e.g. middle-class nonwhites like myself, it’s tempting to believe that we’ll be safe if we huddle close to the preferred class and passively watch the carnage from behind the garden gates, but I hope that illusion has been well and truly shattered by the atrocities committed by the Trump administration.

@inthehands You can’t have the largest law enforcement budget in the US and have ICE do *nothing* with it.

They will use that money, one way or another.

I used to live in Kansas, in the Kansas City metro area. The city itself is lovely. Diverse-ish, tolerant, friendly, progressive. But it resides in the deep red state of Kansas. Just as Austin (and Dallas-Fort Worth) is a relatively progressive metro in a red state, Kansas City is subject to the awful whims of a christofascist and bigoted legislature and attorney general.

The news that trans Kansans will have their drivers’ licenses revoked IMMEDIATELY—without a grace period—is persecution, erasure, and criminalization of one’s existence. My heart is breaking for the victims of this open persecution. All my “christian” friends in Kansas who voted for the villainous characters in this legislature should be ashamed of themselves. YOU are the persecutors.

#kansas #transRights

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article314844596.html

I heard someone say once that a progressive will feed 99 hungry people even if they accidentally fed one undeserving one, and a conservative will starve 99 hungry people in case they accidentally fed one undeserving one. https://shakedown.social/@aburtch/116128442283653364

Hey #SFBA, your neighbors in Gilroy are mounting an opposition to a new #Amazon hyperscaler data center that they are proposing to build there.

If you have a moment, sign their change dot org petition here: https://www.change.org/p/banning-regulating-data-centers-in-gilroy

You can read more about this here: https://gilroydispatch.com/residents-raise-concerns-over-new-data-center-in-gilroy/

And here: https://www.kron4.com/news/technology-ai/gilroy-community-fights-against-amazon-from-constructing-data-center/

You can also follow the organizers’ Instagram page here: https://www.instagram.com/stopgilroydatacenternow/

Sadly, the data center construction was approved by the city last year. This campaign is a hail-mary by the organizers to stop yet another #AI datacenter from being built.

GO ROB BONTA GO

“Attorney General Bonta Exposes Amazon Price Fixing Scheme Driving Up Costs for Americans, Asks Court to Immediately Halt Illegal Conduct”

#amazon

https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-exposes-amazon-price-fixing-scheme-driving-costs

This is a cover-up.

“A U.S. judge permanently barred the Justice Department on Monday from releasing a prosecutor's report on the criminal case accusing President Donald Trump of unlawfully retaining classified documents following his first term in office.

Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon found that releasing the report would be a "manifest injustice" to the Republican president and two former associates who were charged alongside him because it would detail substantial allegations of criminal wrongdoing in a case that never reached a jury.

Cannon, who Trump appointed to the bench in 2020, dismissed all the charges in 2024.”

#kakistocracy #coverup

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-permanently-blocks-release-report-trump-documents-case-2026-02-23/

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/116118616000885211

The hero we need!

Never trust lawmakers who want to expand surveillance “to protect children”.

It’s never about protecting children.

And this was *with* safety drivers, who probably prevented even more crashes than what was documented.

#fuckTesla #cars #fuckElon

“Tesla ‘Robotaxi’ adds 5 more crashes in Austin in a month — 4x worse than humans”

https://electrek.co/2026/02/17/tesla-robotaxi-adds-5-more-crashes-austin-month-4x-worse-than-humans/

“The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity.”

— Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: First Contact

#starTrek #quotes

RE: https://med-mastodon.com/@jeneralist/116063720006024901

The fact that “return on investment” needs to be a consideration at all when developing pharmaceuticals is the more fundamental problem.

#capitalism #kakistocracy

Public pressure works.

Relatedly, I’m glad that the Flock brand is quickly becoming radioactive in the public mind, so much so that Amazon wants to dissociate their Ring brand from it (even though Ring is still used by police for surveillance without Flock). This is a good development. Keep complaining about Flock ALPRs and tell your local legislators/executives to get those systems off your streets.

#fuckFlock

#GoodNews @rickf https://indieweb.social/@rickf/116061170322779830

RE: https://flipboard.social/@newsguyusa/116049114290884393

Showing some backbone. Good.

Remember that DOGE cuts are not just #Trump but #Musk hatchet jobs. Elon Musk is responsible for these cuts as much as Trump is. @TexasObserver https://texasobserver.social/@TexasObserver/116048462656350779

You may already know that “data centers in space” is a cynical scam to tie AI funding to taxpayer-funded space operations. This article does a good job of explaining why the *physics* of putting data centers in space is an enormous problem unlikely to be solved any time soon.

#ai #scam

https://news.satnews.com/2026/01/29/the-fractal-lab/

RE: https://sfba.social/@jeridansky/116033968330473657

I’m *exceedingly* disappointed with @ProPublica management on this decision. Everything good about ProPublica is directly attributable to its human craftsmanship, and #AI directly devalues that.

Note that negotiations are not over. Tell ProPublica management that you do NOT want AI writing their articles.

#Substack openly platforms—and profits from—#Nazis. And not just nudge-nudge-wink-wink types of Nazis, but literal black-swastika “NatSoc” Nazis. And they recommend Nazi writers.

If you are still on Substack either as a reader or publisher, please seriously consider leaving the platform. It’s a Nazi bar. You don’t want to give them your money or your attention. I hear ghost dot org is a great, Nazi-free alternative.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/07/revealed-how-substack-makes-money-from-hosting-nazi-newsletters

@skyfire747 @nomenloony The problem with AI is you don’t know when it’s wrong.