Elusive Freedom: How Society is Growing More Oppressive Rather Than Progressive
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-13 17:22:01 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-13 17:22:01 UTC
Summary: Items of news from the past week, demonstrating quite clearly that dehumanisation of people starts not only abroad but also at the borders
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Yesterday upon returning to the United States from Canada, the United States Customs and Border Protections ruined my HTC One by breaking off the charger inside the phone. This was after I refused to delete recordings I had of them from the device.
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The diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, was arrested on December 12 on charges of visa fraud and lying to U.S. authorities about what she paid her housekeeper. She was stripped-searched while detained in a Manhattan federal courthouse, an incident that triggered a major rift between India and the United States.
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This interview with Beau Abbott was done by John Gentry, a wannabe cameraman, at Stew Webb’s request in the 1990s and recently loaded on YouTube by John Gentry of Dallas, Texas.
I, Stew Webb was held as a Political Prisoner from 1992-1993 and met and talked for weeks with Beau Abbott, who was also a Political Prisoner at the Federal Prison in Springfield, Missouri, also known as Siberia- USA.
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In an attempt by fact to imitate fiction, the US military’s “Iron Man” armor will take an important step towards reality in June, when multiple prototypes will be revealed and tested.
According to a report by Defense Tech, Navy Admiral William McRaven said three prototypes of the TALOS – Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit – are currently being put together in the hopes that they’ll be ready for testing this summer.
Ed: Cops in Manchester, in particular the Tactical Aid Unit (TAU), have had something similar for a number of years (Iron Man-like armor) and they act like private thugs of the state, beating up people people in the street with no oversight (a bit like death squads)
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Many Anniversaries
- Many anniversaries in quick succession
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- Rumours of Further IBM Shutdowns
- IBM is going out of existence
- Brigading Against Women - Part II - Threatening Women Using the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) and Then False Threats Miscarrying the Name of a Court
- In this series we intend to show the threats, the outcomes of those threats, the response to those threats
- Collapse of MElon Companies a Taste of What's to Come for Slop Bubble and GAFAM (Trillions in Debt, Justified as Slop "Investments")
- One good example of this was SpaceX
- The 'Hyperinflation' in Hardware Dooms Video Hosting (Very Large Files)
- a terabyte of video files would be expensive
- Rumours of Silent Layoffs in Microsoft This Month (August 2026), PIPs and Global Voluntary Separation Agreement (GVSA), aka "Buyouts"
- Will any investigative journalism follow or just shallow puff pieces and LLM trash from slopfarms?
- Links 04/08/2026: "Framework for Musician Burnout" and Alexa+ "is a Buggy Embarrassment"
- Links for the day
- Signs That XBox as a Console is Coming to an End, Windows Gaming Will be Called "XBox"
- "XBox" is the next "Surface"
- Microsoft's Share in Search Falls Sharply in Europe
- The layoffs at Microsoft's Bing will carry on
- Romania: GNU/Linux Reaches 4% (Less Than EU Average)
- We expect this same upward trend to carry on
- Microsoft Sites or Sites Sponsored by Microsoft Angry That GNU/Linux is Gaining
- The Microsofters cannot easily dismiss reports of GNU/Linux growth as "bots" or just allege that statCounter alone is wrong
- Ableism in the Free Software Movement Typically Comes From GAFAM Operatives and Proprietary Software Apologists
- And their hired guns
- Afghanistan: GNU/Linux Steadily Rises to 9%
- Windows is steadily declining
- IBM Innovation: It Has Invented New Methods of Silent Layoffs or Secret RAs
- How IBM disguises mass layoffs now
- LLM Slop Won't Replace People and Jobs (in the Long Run)
- At the end of the day, people who know their job offer more useful information, whereas LLMs waste people's time (typically an 'externality' to the entity deploying chatbots)
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 03, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, August 03, 2026
- Over 3,500 Known Gemini Capsules Accessible and Active According to Lupa
- It finally happened this morning
- Gemini Links 04/08/2026: Library Cards, Dead Ends in Software Development, and DOS on USB Key
- Links for the day
- IBM Has Embraced and Rewarded Liars
- The IBM culture vanished
- statCounter Estimates GNU/Linux at 5.32% in Kuwait, Years Ago It Was Near 0%
- Kuwait rose to fame in the 1990s because of a war
- Swatting People Who Write About Corruption, Misogyny, Criminal Misuse of Funds
- we've given ourselves a decade to cover all those stories
- GNU/Linux Rises Above 6% in Colombia
- In Colombia, which is a large south American country, GNU/Linux has risen steadily in recent years
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 138 Out of 200: Garrett Has Basically "Lost" and It is "Embarrassing" to Them
- they just wound up costing hundreds of thousands of pounds
- Gemini Links 03/08/2026: Great Exodus, xkcd as Text, and Dead Ends
- Links for the day
- GNU/Linux Has Surged to 6.3% in Madagascar
- Madagascar's adoption of Free software is a subject we covered a lot in past years
- Microsoft's Slop Bet is Killing the XBox Even Faster
- LLMs destroy almost anything they touch
- The Cyber Show on "Weaponised Antisocial Technology"
- by Andy
- Alexandre Oliva on Slippery Slop (LLMs)
- By Alexandre Oliva
- RMS Won the Argument and Now GNU Wins Over Computer Users
- He can look back at nearly 43 years of GNU and say, "I was right..."
- statCounter Corrects GNU/Linux Estimates, Now Measured at 9% Worldwide
- Windows has sunk like a rock
- GNU/Linux-Centric Blogs Belatedly Pick Up News About GNU/Linux Gains: 4-8% Depending on the Surveyor
- more people will get curious and give it a go
- Links 03/08/2026: Strike By Flight Attendants (WestJet) and Greedflation
- Links for the day
- Links 03/08/2026: EU Curtailed Slop, Frank Zappa Recalled
- Links for the day
- Daniel Pocock on Sky News This Morning
- No harm done
- Morten Linderud Has Helped Microsoft Put Locks (and Kill Switches) on the PCs of Arch Linux Users
- "the first rule of "secure boot" is to disable "secure boot"
- In Poor Peru, GNU/Linux Surges From 1% to 5% in a Few Years
- Windows is dying
- All Social Control Media is a Weapon (Against Its Users, Serving the Real Owners)
- That social control networks are weaponised isn't a new concept
- Fanning the Flames of Journalism
- This week we have several surprises coming
- Forcing the Slop Bubble to Implode Fully to Save the Economy From an Even Greater Collapse and Societal Harm
- Let's blow up the bubble. The sooner, the better
- GNU/Linux at 8% in Croatia
- somewhat of a GNU/Linux adoption hotbed
- It's Easy to Predict Microsoft Layoffs for October 2026 Because of the Financial 'Results' That Month (More Faking, More Secret Debt and Buzzwords to Perfume This Debt as "Investment")
- From what we've read, Microsoft is silently laying off people this month based on LITE, which leads to PIPs
- Not Hard to Guess Who Will Pay for IBM's Collapse (Due to False Statements Made to Shareholders), Red Hat May Disappear
- IBM's leadership is never being punished for its failures
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 02, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, August 02, 2026
- Gemini Links 03/08/2026: Collectibles, Cities of the Red Night, and Lali Lambda
- Links for the day
- IBM's August 2026 Promotions (Annual Ritual) Can Turn Into a "Bloodbath" (RAs, Layoffs)
- IBM Common Stock is set to open in the red (minus) on Monday
- Microsoft Culture Explained by People Who Work at Microsoft
- "Be ready for politicking and working over time and weekends."
- Codes of Conduct Attract Hoarders and Sociopaths, They Are Intolerant Towards Good People
- Codes of Conduct (CoCs) are also promoted using violence
- XBox is in Trouble, Sunday News Shows How Serious a Problem It Now Faces
- it seems impossible to resuscitate at this point
- statCounter Observes GNU/Linux at 10% in Libya
- this month statCounter finally sees GNU/Linux approaching "double-figures" there
- Thailand: GNU/Linux Approaching 15%, Windows in a Freefall
- It makes perfect sense for Thailand to adopt GNU/Linux for technical reasons, not just political reasons
- GNU/Linux in Bulgaria Back Up
- part of a trend in Europe
- Cuba Sees Leap in GNU/Linux Usage, as Reported by statCounter
- For the ordinary Cuban it makes sense to reduce a dependence on GAFAM
- Gemini Links 02/08/2026: Drift, Crawlers in Gopher Space, Purpose, and Python
- Links for the day
- Links 02/08/2026: Some Large Slop Investors "Crumbling", Russia Intensifies Bombing of Kiev
- Links for the day
- IBMers Discuss Who Killed IBM (It Impacts Red Hat)
- Fedora is fast becoming like another CentOS
- GNU/Linux Rises to 6% in Mexico
- Did the soccer (football) matches have some impact or just the "unknowns" being deciphered (or omitted) by statCounter?
- GNU/Linux Leaps to 8% in Asia
- In Asia, is it a bit higher because of GAFAM distrust? Maybe some other factor/s?
- Clownflare Web Usage Survey: About 10% in North America Use GNU/Linux, Worldwide 6.7%
- surveyors that showed GNU/Linux growth
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 137 Out of 200: Discovering That Spending a Million British Pounds (1,348,250.01 United States Dollars) on Lawyers Cannot Take Down One's Critics
- just outright bullying and criminality
- Steam Survey, analytics.usa.gov, and statCounter All Point to GNU/Linux Gains (Again)
- This must be very annoying to Microsoft
- GNU/Linux Exceeds 6% in Spain
- In recent years the "market share" steadily grew from 3% to over 6%
- Brazil: GNU/Linux Record High, 5%
- On average, GNU/Linux has evidence of growth in many countries this summer
- Amid 2026 Bing Layoffs Microsoft Share in Search Collapses
- How much longer before Microsoft throws in the towel or rebrands again?
- United Kingdom: GNU/Linux up to 7%, ChromeOS Another 5% (Total 12%)
- further significant gains for GNU/Linux this month
- Links 02/08/2026: Cheeto "Blurted Out Vile Plot to Censor ABC"; New York Times Fights 'Intimidation'
- Links for the day
- Why Techrights Will Still be Active a Decade From Now
- Techrights will carry on for many years to come
- We Are Witnessing the End of IBM
- IBM cannot find growth by moving downwards, by lowering standards
- The Slop Presumption Rule
- Tainting oneself can take one day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 01, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, August 01, 2026
- Gemini Links 02/08/2026: Older Books, Esperanto Music History, and Slop Making Things Worse
- Links for the day