Tootfinder

Human Traces VI ⛩️
人类踪迹 VI ⛩️
📷 Pentax MX
🎞️ Harman Red 125 （FF）
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I should do some work with Authentik, but I keep getting sidetracked to find out where the default background for the SSO page is coming from
https://github.com/goauthentik/authentik/blob/main/web/src/assets/images/flow_background.jpg

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright,
a former fracking executive,
was accused on Tuesday of manipulating global markets
after he posted a striking claim on social media:
The American Navy, he wrote, had “successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing.”
The post on X was deleted minutes later,
after “oil prices slid at their steepest pace in years,” according to the Wall StreetJournal.
The White House pres…

Trump Energy Chief Accused of Manipulating Oil Markets With Deleted Post About Strait of Hormuz | Common Dreams
"The fusion of war-making and market manipulation by top Trump officials isn't entirely without precedent," said one observer, "but the speed and brazenness does seem new."

Some thoughts from Claude about military use of AI in targeting.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYIHIM6ihVJ/?igsh=cmM1ZmdjaDl3bzJ5

The Senate confirms Army Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd to lead the NSA and US Cyber Command, filling a vacancy created when Gen. Timothy Haugh was fired in April 2025 (Martin Matishak/The Record)
https://therecord.media/rudd-confirmed-nsa-cyber-command-chief

Rudd confirmed to head NSA, Cyber Command after near year-long vacancy
Rudd, who was confirmed 71-29 to serve as the “dual-hat” leader of the organizations, takes the reins as the U.S. faces mounting aggression in cyberspace from foreign adversaries at the same time the Trump administration has sought to shrink the size of the federal government.

Loooong bike ride, then dinner out with my wife at Evie’s Bakery. One of my favorite spots — that kind of funky, eclectic, indie restaurant you can always walk in and find a table.
Great food, but the desserts, and particularly the cakes (they don’t call it Evie’s Entrees… 😉) are fantastic. Been working our way through the different flavors over time.
Tonight, we split Boston Cream and Strawberry. Figured I’d better get some pics or @…

Some high-profile publications have migrated from Substack to rivals like Ghost and Beehiiv citing Substack's high fees and increased focus on social features (Emma Roth/The Verge)

Writers are fleeing the Substack Tax
Substack writers are getting tired of the platform’s pricing model and limited customization features, bringing them to rivals like Beehiiv and Ghost.

Fleet of ‘Flying Ferries’ Will Provide Zero-Emission, Silent EV Boats for Commuters and Tourists Along Norway’s Coast https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/fleet-of-flying-ferries-will-provide-zero-emissio…

Fleet of ‘Flying Ferries’ Will Provide Zero-Emission, Silent EV Boats for Commuters and Tourists Along Norway’s Coast
Tourists and commuters along Norway’s coast will soon travel aboard “flying” electric ferries—quietly whizzing above the water from Candela.

Seahawks' Julian Love sets record straight on how much they knew was coming from Patriots offense in Super Bowl LX https://www.nfl.com/news/seahawks-julian-love-sets-record-straight-on-how-much-they-knew…

As salty as I am about it, there's also another way to think about this. For anyone who still has connections to folks on the right (which is perhaps unlikely for anyone on this server, I digress), the cult that has consumed them thrives on isolation and grievance.
The words "you were right" have the potential to cut through the programming and open up an opportunity for reconnection. The modern conspiratorial cult of the Right has been built partially around people who were told they were wrong or were crazy. In the vast majority of cases, they were wrong and even when they were right they completely misunderstood why, but we'll skip that for now. Liberals making fun of them (even the times when they definitely earned it) has pushed them further and further into their ideological hole.
The thing about those words, "you were right," in this context is that the way they offer reconnection also requires them to take one little step of betraying their ideology to accept them. So they must choose between maintaining allegiance to a pedophile or finally getting to feel superior after years of living in an illusion of persecution.
Under the ideology of the Right, admitting one is wrong is a weakness. It is admitting defeat. They have to "own the libs" by saying things, things that they know aren't true, in order to feel dominant. But these things are often so absurd that they end up being made fun of, feeling even more weak and pathetic, reinforcing their fear and alienation.
Offering what they're looking for can offer a way out, but only if they're willing to start to recognize the thing they've supported for what it is.
And they were right about some things. They were right that Bill Gates was a terrible person. I've had plenty of liberals defend him based on his philanthropy washing, but he's awful and always has been. The Epstein links make that blatant. They intuitively recognized him and didn't trust him, even if they were wildly off base about *how and why* he shouldn't be trusted... Even if their correct mistrust was leveraged into one of the most destructive conspiracy theories ever (vaccine denial and COVID vaccine avoidance).
They were right about Bill Clinton. He was always shady as fuck. Sure, the people who attacked him at the time turned out to be even more shady but that's not the point right now. He was connected to Epstein and that was always creepy as fuck.
And the Epstein thing was an open secret that liberals ignored for a long time. It was seen as some weird thing that right wing nutjobs believed about the Clintons. But it was true. Not all of it, and there has always been an antisemitic element to the right wing interpretation or Epstein stuff, but his whole pedophile conspiracy was always kind of real.
The whole "Illuminati"/deep state thing is a vast oversimplification, an attempt to make comprehensible an incredibly complex set of interlocking and emergent behaviors. But Epstein did very much want to remake the world, to create a new world order, and he absolutely played a part in it.
The Right wing nutjobs talked about global authoritarianism, Blackhawks flying over American cities, masked men with guns disarming and executing legal gun owners in the streets. That's all happening right now.
The "FEMA concentration camps" are not actually that far off. ICE and FEMA are sister agencies, both under DHS. I'd be more than happy to call that one "close enough" in order to hear some MAGA admit that ICE is, in fact, building concentration camps.
There was always a huge millennialist element to these things. They tended to be connected to "the antichrist." It was absurd, especially for me as someone who no longer identifies as a Christian. But I'll even acquiess that to a degree. The "the number of the Beast" is 666. That's just the sum of the Hebrew spelling of "Nero." Revelations focuses a lot on Nero coming back to life after his death. His death that involved a head wound, thus the line from Revelation 13:3:
> And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.
The parallels between Trump and Nero are easy to draw, and Trump's ear wound feels pretty on-the-nose for this. I don't believe in "prophecy" in this way. I think that there are patterns, and useful patterns can become encoded in beleif systems. But I will, again, happily call this one "close enough" for anyone on that side willing to also acknowledge it. I'm happy to meet on that common ground, because anyone who accepts it must recognize that their duty is to fight against it.
A lot of these correct nuggets are embedded in a framework of religious extremism and antisemitism. The vast majority of the beliefs holding these together are wildly wrong and incredibly toxic. But by giving some room to feel validated, listened to, understood, can give some room to admit things that were wrong.
Cult de-programming starts with an opening. People have to talk through their own thoughts, hear their own inconsistencies. Guiding questions can help them untangle these things for themselves. And it all starts by having enough room to feel safe, to not feel cornered, to not feel stupid. Admitting mistakes means being vulnerable, and the MAGA cult is built on fear. It's built on exploiting vulnerability and locking it away.
De-programming takes a long time. It's not easy. It takes patience. But every person who comes out does so with a powerful perspective, a deep understanding, that can be turned back against it. The best people at getting people out of cults are former members. Some of the most dedicated antifa are former fascists who understood their mistakes and dedicate their lives to fixing them.