Researcher in the U.S. trying to stay informed and help others stay informed. I write a blog that focuses on public information, public health, and policy: https://pimento-mori.ghost.io/
I only recently began using ghost, and am slowly figuring things out. Apologies for any formatting issues.
The only social media I used was reddit and I eventually got shadow banned for trying to warn people about shit like this.
I’ve tried using bluesky and Mastodon but it never gets much if any traction. I share stuff online hoping people that use other forms of social media will share it too though, so please feel free to share it everywhere you can.
No DeVos is the Amway family.
I had never heard of Vos before, but out of curiosity just looked at his Wikipedia page. I learned he made his money in the popcorn business (?) and apparently is notable in Wisconsin for his legislative role to weaken bargaining rights and labor unions in Wisconsin while Scott Walker was governor. Which also checks out with some typical SPN scumbag BS going way back:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/state-policy-network-union-bargaining/
Unsurprisingly the model for this meta AI data factory is almost identical to Musk’s xAI data factories I’ve been trying to call attention to for months.
Giant data centers, build them where you think people will be less likely to have power to complain, pollute the shit out of those areas, and then ignore any regulations because you control the federal (and soon the state) government.
Soon coming to the UK as well.
https://www.uktech.news/ai/elon-musks-xai-starts-hiring-in-london-after-setting-up-shop-20250108
From the SPN source watch page: https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=State_Policy_Network
SPN groups operate as the policy, communications, and litigation arm of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), giving the cookie-cutter ALEC agenda a sheen of academic legitimacy and state-based support.
Many SPN groups are and often write ALEC “model bills.”
In the states, SPN groups increasingly peddle cookie-cutter “studies” to back the cookie-cutter ALEC agenda, spinning that agenda as indigenous to the state and giving it the aura of academic legitimacy. Many SPN groups, such as the Mackinac Center in Michigan, have been accused of lobbying in their states, in violation of IRS rules for non-profit “charitable” organizations.
Pretty positive there is no actual plan to improve cybersecurity, it’s a facade to quietly hand over power and control to the national guard to keep people in line.
The same day the emergency order was signed by the governor, he announced he was restructuring GOHSEP (governors office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness) under the National guard as part of his state DOGE plan to cut waste and save money.
The emergency order grants the director of GOHSEP authority to act however they seem fit to handle cybersecurity. But on the same day the director of GOHSEP was given a new title, and is no longer director.
The “acting director” is now Louisiana National Guard Brig. Gen. Jason P. Mahfouz
Thank you! The level of coordination with this shit is insane. It is so convoluted even within just a single state, but it’s happening all across the country.
Here is a summary of everything: https://lemm.ee/post/59671562
But tldr for even that: One day last week the governor just declared he was suddenly moving the entire office that handles state emergencies (Governor’s office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness-GOHSEP) under the control of the state’s national guard.
On the same day he also suddenly announced he was Renewing a previous state of emergency that was created by the previous governor to address a cyber attack.
For some unknown reason that nobody has addressed, he added a new section to the renewed executive order that essentially says the director of GOHSEP has authority to do whatever he deems necessary to handle cybersecurity.
Except when he moved GOHSEP to be controlled by the National Guard, he also removed the director of the office and gave him a new title. So there is no actual director.
A member of the National Guard is acting director, so it would appear that the governor basically handed very broad control of cybersecurity to the national guard in a very underhandeded way hoping nobody would notice
•Florida
•Georgia
•Iowa
•Kansas
•Kentucky
•Louisiana (Fiscal Responsibility Program)
•Missouri
•Montana (Red Tape Relief Project)
•New Hampshire
•North Carolina
•North Dakota
•Oklahoma
•South Carolina
•Tennessee (State level and at least one county level in Hamilton County)
•Texas
•Wisconsin
Sorry I fucked up the formatting, couldn’t figure out the bigger bullet points.
I’m pretty sure there are more than this. I swear I saw a headline with a new one recently and didn’t save it. But it’s like they’re constantly popping up
They missed a few. It’s at least 16 state level and 1 county level last time I counted. Some of them go by different names other than DOGE.
Yikes, I knew we had detention centers but didn’t know people were getting shipped here.
Well, I’m here and while there’s plenty of things I don’t like, there’s also things people and places that I love. It makes me angry they’re trying to hide what they’re doing in the shadows in order to destroy something I love even if it wasn’t perfect to begin with. Why should I leave? It’s my world as much as it is theirs.
Actually feel that way about the whole country at this point. Even if I’m powerless to stop you I’m not going to just pretend I don’t see something happening. If there’s any chance for my state or my country that’s what we’re all going to have to do. That’s exactly what “speak out while you still can” means.
This shit is going on all over the place. Louisiana was one of the first, but DOGE has taskforces in 16 states at this point. I’ve actually been considering creating a community to have people start collecting stuff like this across all their states, so that we don’t let this shit keep happening in the dark.
Here it is if anyone wants to join feel free: https://lemm.ee/c/stateleveldoge
Allegedly moving GOHSEP under the National Guard is just a way to save money, as to why it happened on the same day this executive order was signed? No idea because nobody has even brought it up. I only realized it by accident, and only realized that he granted the director of GOHSEP authority because I downloaded the recent executive order and compared it to the old one (which I had to go to archive.org just to find).
But if Moskowitz’s bill passes:
With hurricane season there is always the threat of a disaster. It is not unusual for the guard to be called in as a precaution and stick around after a hurricane to enforce curfew.
Even though I personally have not had a bad run in with any guardsman, I think it’s understandable to feel uneasy seeing tanks on the street and guys with guns standing guard when you go to buy groceries. I know I always do, and I don’t even have the negative experiences that many people do to justify it. It would be naive to pretend that there’s not always the possibility things could go wrong.
Usually if a disaster is bad enough for the guard to stick around for a while, that means members of FEMA are also present. While FEMA is by no means an ideal agency in terms of how it should be run, the fact that they have their own dedicated civil rights office within the agency, is very important. Without it, you have armed soldiers being asked to handle crowd control and resources for a huge group of people, often during a time of extraordinary stress for everyone involved. If nobody exists to enforce civil rights, you’re relying on people to maintain them out of the kindness of their hearts. While I like to believe people for the most part will try to do the right thing, I’m not naive enough to believe that’s the case when people are scared and desperate.
Most people didn’t even notice that this happened, and I’m not even sure how the governor can do this, but a week ago today it was like he just decided to hold a press conference, say this is what I’m doing, and now that’s the way it is. That’s kind of the problem with unchecked executive authority and letting people see how far they can push things.
So I updated some stuff and yeah this seems very strange. The original order was in 2019 after an attack on some government servers. I had somehow forgotten that in 2023, the government admitted that there had been an ongoing cybersecurity attack on Louisiana OMV data and that essentially every adult in the state had their data breached (it’s been a bit of a hectic year).
So I updated this to reflect more information. I’m not just dumb and this is sheisty.
What is going on?
The governor is a former lawyer, so someone might even suggest it was left intentionally vague?
See you speak? 🙈🙉🙊
Even if I disagree with what you say, I support your right to say it.
Enjoy the right while you can. It will soon be a privilege if these people succeed. https://pimento-mori.ghost.io/states-continue-to-push-law-and-policy-that-coincidentally-aids-federal-government-agenda/
I’m not even in Wisconsin and I don’t know who is pushing what argument right now, but I’m going to recommend that whichever option the evil billionaire in the federal government who is currently destroying the world and trying to bribe people in Wisconsin wants you to vote for, don’t do that.
Do the opposite of that. Regardless of what you believe about how things would/should work during normal times. This is not normal and we need people to start understanding that.
It reminds me of one of the best pieces of advice I ever received. I had a friend who had grown up with probably the worst parenting you could imagine. She told me that since she had her son there are plenty of situations where she has no clue what to do or what the outcome will be. When that happens, she stops and thinks about what her mom would do in that situation, acknowledges it, and says ok, just don’t do that, and you’re already off to a good start.
In this case her mom is Elon. So whatever he is trying to get you to vote for, don’t do that.