Communick News

Google handed over Gmail account information to ICE before notifying the student or giving him an opportunity to challenge the subpoena.

I reviewed my NAS today and determined that I'm running on borrowed time.

Perhaps only mildly interesting but I just did an apt show for birdtray on Debian 13 and got this in the second paragraph of the description:

It is a nasty hack -- an external process looking at Thunderbird's insides, it suffers from problems like noticing new mails only after a delay, having to restart Thunderbird just to hide its window, etc -- you'd want to use an extension like firetray instead -- but, it is likely that support for Thunderbird XUL extensions will be dropped soon, possibly by the time you read these words.

Not used to seeing this kind of language in the Debian repos tbh.

I followed a TikTok creator for a few years. The persona was simple: everyday ham radio hobbyist, sharing casual commentary. Authentic, relatable, low-stakes.

Then the tone shifted. One video was quite dystopian and she suddenly called for “bringing in the national guard.” The delivery was passionate, but it felt out of character. That raised my suspicion.

A quick search confirmed it:

• IMDB page with acting and screenwriting credits.
• LinkedIn listing actor/screenwriter.
• Personal website advertising acting services and agency representation.

None of this background is mentioned on TikTok. The image presented is “just a regular person.” When I left a polite comment pointing this out, it was first met with polite debate, then deleted. A follow-up comment got me blocked.

Why I think this matters:

• People build trust with influencers who seem authentic.
• Undisclosed professional backgrounds change how we interpret their message.
• Deleting comments that question authenticity suggests image control (so much for free speech!)

This isn’t about one creator. It’s about how propaganda works. Influencers can pose as everyday citizens to build trust, then steer conversations in political directions.

My takeaway from this is to not take online personas at face value - get in the habit of doing your due diligence, check backgrounds. Treat influencer content with the same scrutiny as political advertising.

Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday is damn good, but it’s not the same beast as the original Accident Man.

This time around, Mike Fallon has to fend off the world’s top assassins in order to protect the spoiled, whiny son of a Maltese mob boss, save the life of his only friend, and awkwardly patch things up with his maniacal father figure.

Now—let’s deal with the elephant in the room. What made the first film click wasn’t just the eccentric hitmen. It was the Britishness. London itself was practically a character. You had blokes, chavs, pubs, and the whole East End criminal tapestry. It was fun seeing the John Wick formula reimagined through a UK lens.

But here? London gets swapped for Malta. Why Malta? Two reasons: one, Malta has film tax incentives out the wazoo. Two, the Maltese government loves turning movies into tourist adverts. Which is why you get Valletta’s sun-baked alleys instead of rainy Soho backstreets.

And that single change totally shifts the movie’s DNA. Instead of the British underworld, we’re now in a Mediterranean arena where assassins of every nationality crash the party.

These aren’t just killers, they’re live-action anime characters. You’ve got Poco the Killer Clown wielding a giant hammer, a vampiric muscleman who literally drinks blood, a chain-choking bruiser, and Oyumi, a katana-slinging ninja played by real-life fight choreographer Andy Long Nguyen. This is a rogues’ gallery that makes the first film’s lineup look subdued.

Now, if it sounds like I’m slamming this sequel—I’m not. It’s just a different flavor of insanity. And in some ways, Hitman’s Holiday actually tops the original.

First, the fights. They’re tighter, cleaner, and choreographed like vintage Hong Kong. No surprise—Adkins pulled in the Kirby brothers, stunt pros who pre-vised every brawl, and roped in Corridor Crew to handle the gory VFX. (That eyeball-through-the-head shot? Courtesy of YouTube’s finest.) The result is wall-to-wall martial arts carnage that feels way more ambitious than its 22-day shooting schedule should have allowed.

Second, the villains are funnier. The mafia matriarch Zuuzer is all business, but her son Dante—played by George Fouracres—is a whiny, pathetic man-child who somehow survived into adulthood without being smothered in his sleep. Every scene he’s in is a delight.

And the comedy? On point. My favorite gag: Fallon hires a waitress, Wong Siu-ling (Sarah Chang), to ambush him at random moments so he never loses his edge. One minute he’s sipping coffee, the next he’s getting his face smashed into a counter—until he shouts the safe word. Watching Adkins get regularly brutalized by his own sparring partner is endlessly funny.

Sure, the story’s thinner. But let’s be real—we’re here for the fights. And on that front, Hitman’s Holiday delivers in spades.

Not as sharp as the first movie, but still one of the most entertaining DTV action flicks in years. A worthy sequel, just… a very different one.

Where to watch:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgE20NdIHXo

Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/100043358/accident-man-hitman-s-holiday

Prime Video: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0GYKTDAR10532Q854FHFLJAO0A/

@movies@piefed.social

Second shot from our date :)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez testified before senators on Wednesday that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired her after she refused to endorse forthcoming vaccine recommendations without reviewing scientific evidence to support the guidance.

Monarez was ousted just 29 days into the job, over disagreement with her boss on vaccine policies.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who chairs the powerful health committee Monarez is appearing before, expressed skepticism over the explanations Kennedy has given over her firing. He carefully praised President Donald Trump for his commitment to promoting health among Americans but made it clear he was befuddled by Monarez’s removal. He noted that senators had just approved Monarez’s confirmation with Kennedy praising her “unimpeachable scientific credentials.”

“Like, what happened?” Cassidy said. “Did we fail? Was there something we should have done differently?”

Monarez said in her testimony that Kennedy gave her an ultimatum: “Preapprove” new vaccine recommendations from an advisory CDC panel that Kennedy has stocked with some medical experts who doubt vaccine safety or be fired. That panel is expected to vote on new vaccine recommendations later this week. He also demanded Monarez fire high-ranking, career CDC officials without cause, she said.

“He said if I was unwilling to do both, I should resign. I responded that I could not preapprove recommendations without reviewing the evidence, and I had no basis for firing,” Monarez told senators. “He said he had already spoken with the White House several times.”

Should OS makers, like Microsoft, be legally required to provide 15 years of security updates?

Old meme I made when I was at the other place. Figured it might make a good first post here.

This is my first actual real attempt at music, and so I picked Mathcore as a style and spent the last year working on a few songs, but polished this one the most. I spent the last year re-recording it and re-writing, practicing, and I even learned how to fry scream. Last night, I felt good about it so I released it with a goal to finish an album and release it song by song until April 2026!

Would love your feedback if you have any, and I hope this is okay to share. I love beehaw but I don't post too much.

“TIPS FROM THE PUBLIC CAN BE REPORTED ANONYMOUSLY TO THE FBI INFORMATION HOTLINE. THOSE THAT LEAD TO LOCATING OUR SUBJECT MAY RESULT IN A REWARD WHICH WILL BE DETERMINED AT THAT TIME. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!!!”

President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime is already reshaping global trade and spiking government customs revenue. But these historic import taxes could also push more Americans into poverty, according to new research.

An analysis published by The Budget Lab at Yale on Tuesday finds Trump’s tariff hikes will likely increase the number of Americans living in poverty by 875,000 in 2026. This increase includes an additional 375,000 children in poverty.