A domino effect is shifting candidates into new seats, pushing incumbents to retire and exposing deep political rifts in state parties.

The national redistricting battle triggered by Donald Trump has cast a long shadow over the race for control of Congress next year — not only fundamentally shifting the House battlefield, but also creating a domino effect that’s shifting new candidates into new seats, ushering longtime members of Congress to the exit and exposing deep political rifts in state parties across the country.

The fight is still playing out across courtrooms, back rooms and Trump’s social media, as Republicans and Democrats tinker with district lines. Developments like this week’s federal court ruling blocking the new Texas maps from going into effect — leaving the ultimate decision to the Supreme Court — also show how much remains to be determined in the redistricting fight.

The battle kicked off when Trump started pushing Texas Republicans to redraw district lines in the hopes of netting the party up to five seats in the state, and later began pressing leaders in other GOP-controlled states.

I see way more posts complaining about Windows users complaining about switching to Linux than I have ever actually seen of Windows users actually complaining about switching to Linux.

I don't really want companies or anyone else deciding what I'm allowed to see or learn. Are there any AI assistants out there that won't say "sorry, I can't talk to you about that" if I mention something modern companies don't want us to see?

cross-posted from: https://piefed.zip/c/privacy/p/717792/massive-leak-shows-erotic-chatbot-users-turned-womens-yearbook-pictures-into-ai-porn

Chatbot roleplay and image generator platform SecretDesires.ai left cloud storage containers of nearly two million of images and videos exposed, including photos and full names of women from social media, at their workplaces, graduating from universities, taking selfies on vacation, and more.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/55550318

The extent of dependence on the USA in the digital sector is currently being experienced by a French judge. Nicolas Guillou, one of six judges and three prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC), was sanctioned by the USA in August. He described his current situation as a digital time travel back to the 1990s, before the internet age, in a recent interview.

The reason for the US sanctions are the arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. They were indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the context of the destruction of the Gaza Strip. The USA condemned this decision by the court, whereupon the US Treasury Department sanctioned six judges and three prosecutors.

Digitally excluded from almost everything In Guillou's daily life, this means that he is excluded from digital life and much of what is considered standard today, he told the French newspaper Le Monde. All his accounts with US companies such as Amazon, Airbnb, or PayPal were immediately closed by the providers. Online bookings, such as through Expedia, are immediately canceled, even if they concern hotels in France. Participation in e-commerce is also practically no longer possible for him, as US companies always play a role in one way or another, and they are strictly forbidden to enter into any trade relationship with sanctioned individuals.

Tencent are increasing their stake in Ubisoft, but the rumors of them buying the company outright seem to be false

To preface, I know this is a community is for computer science careers, but I could really use your help here Lemmy! There isn't an active IT career questions community.

Background: I'm a top performer in my current organization in Southern California of 3000+ employees at my helpdesk as a Lead currently making $36/hr. I believe I'm making the highest for my department. I'm known as the go-to person for troubleshooting T1 and T2 issues and assist other IT technical teams when needed. Additionally, I have experience in programming and basic networking. It's hell here... I'm growing more and more insane day by day.

Living: The expenses are very high in my area VHCOL, but I'm a position where I don't rent and don't have to drive since I work remotely, which both save a ton of money. Money isn't a problem, given my current position, but it will be impactful in terms of future savings, retirement, and relationships if I had to spend on driving and eating out. Yes, I know I can make food and bring it to work.

Intentions: I wanted to transition as on-site IT Technician to gain the experience with working hands-on as opposed to working remotely. With this experience, I'm thinking this would help me a bit when trying to transition onto a Systems Admin/Engineering role in the future.

Me Venting: I know I shouldn't compare, but man I've seen so many folks who come work at helpdesk move onto System Admin roles when they have no idea how to use Active Directory or even know how to do basic network troubleshooting. Will those companies be okay?

Situation: I've got an offer at my current organization for on-site IT Technician but it would come with a pay cut and of course I would be spending more money and time out of my day driving. I definitely want the experience because I think it will further my growth, but I'm being told by everyone to not accept and I should never take a pay cut.

My Thoughts: Yes, I can stay working remotely, gather a billion IT certs, build some home labs at home, but will certs really get me to where I want to go? Wouldn't managers just hear that I don't have IT enterprise experience and shove me off for the next guy who has experience at an MSP? I'm a bit lost here. I am grateful for any advice you have to offer. Thank you

It's funny that they might call this a PSYOP because they use disinfo and misinfo on every type of media imaginable, on a worldwide scale the likes of which most can not even imagine and would never believe. internet bots were sent by the millions to destroy america, lol. and every day, there are more. every accusation, and all.

(TijuanaSlumlord) (2025)

Image description: A small, pale blue dragon's head and upper neck facing directly toward camera against a pale white background. The creature's skin displays coloration with lighter almost white tones on its bumpy, rounded scales. Multiple sharp horns and sails crown its head, all showing similar pale blue coloring. The dragon's large round eyes feature bright cyan-blue irises with vertical black slit pupils surrounded by dark gray eye sockets set into its scaled face. Two small nostrils sit above a slight smiling mouth on its short snout. The neck and blurred body extending below show continuation of the scaled texture and blue coloration fading into soft focus.

Things that will make aliens go w̶̨͎̞̗̮̬͎̟̆̃̌̌́́͂̈͐͘h̷̨̰̻̭̫̮̰̓̽͋â̵̖̪͙͊̈́̌t̷̨̠̠͎̥̞͒̊̒͘͝ ̷̛̙͖͔̣̼̫̝̳̿̂̐̅̈͝ţ̷̹̪̍͐͐̒̃̊́͂͠h̶̥͕̹̦̀͂͋̅͑͛ė̵̥̟̠̼̘͎̳̈̀̉̅́̀̀͜͝ ̶͚̟̜̱̙̠̋́́͒̔́f̷̘͖̅̋̊͘̕͠͝ư̶̬͍̗̥͓̹͈̤͆̎̓͂ć̵̙̬̼̈̓͗͂͑k̴͍̱̿

A bank’s privacy policy lists a lot of data they collect, including customers’ MAC addresses. I was dumbfounded. How is that possible? The router on your LAN obviously knows your device’s MAC address. And I guess the ISP’s router would know your gateway’s MAC address. But from there wouldn’t the bank only see your IP address from the WAN?

Then it occurred to me-- the bank has a smartphone app. So the app likely demands perms to get the phone’s MAC. But then what would the likely purpose be? To check vendor consistencies (to block VMs) and raise impostor flags if your MAC changes?

(update) Another question: instead of using the bank’s shitty phone app, you use their shitty web app instead. I would assume the JavaScript engine is naturally blocked from obtaining your MAC address and transmitting it. But I would like a sanity check.. anyone know for certain?