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Posted by BeauHD

VMware is overhauling its partner program again under Broadcom's direction, drastically reducing the number of authorized partners -- especially small and mid-size ones -- while ending the white label program by October 31, 2025. The Register reports: Australian IT service provider Interactive outlined the changes on Wednesday in a post that explained the changes with the following five points: - Partner Reduction: The new program significantly reduces the number of authorized partners, being a by-invitation-only program. As a result on July 15, 2025 VCSP partners who are not invited to participate in the new Program for VCSP partners will be sent a notice of non-renewal. - Transition Period Until 31 October, 2025: Non-invited partners can continue to transact until 31 October 2025. After that date, they may only service existing VCSP commitment contracts for the remainder of the current term. No new commitment contracts or renewals will be accepted for those partners. - White Label Program Ending: Broadcom is also sunsetting the White Label model on 31 October 2025. The same transitional commercial conditions apply to White Label contracts as stated above. - Immediate Impact: Departing partners are encouraged to work with authorized VCSP partners to ensure a smooth transition for customers who seek to renew a service at the end of their current term. - Shift Toward Hyperscale Private Compute: Broadcom is reshaping its vision for private compute, whereby VMware Cloud Foundation 9 underpins a small number [of] hyperscale private cloud platforms in each region. A future where customers buy managed infrastructure from partners like Interactive to support their compute requirements. Interactive also warned that customers whose partners are no longer part of the partner program could expect the change to effect: - Your ability to renew licenses through your existing partner - The support and service quality you've come to expect - Potential delays or confusion during upcoming renewals or service requests - Potential cost increases as partner consolidation may led additional costs for migration and re-onboarding, and reduced bundling options that previously allowed for greater cost efficiencies VMware also told The Register that "Non-renewing partners can continue to support their existing customers until the end of their current commit contract term including co-termed capacity orders. Non-renewing partners are encouraged to work with authorized VCSP partners to ensure a smooth transition for customers who seek to renew a service at the end of their current term." Making matters worse: VMware on Tuesday divulged three critical flaws in eights of its products rated 9.3/10.

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Posted by msmash

Perplexity has partnered with Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel to provide its premium Pro service to 360 million customers for free for an entire year, representing the largest distribution deal of its kind globally. The service normally costs $200 annually and provides access to advanced models including GPT-4.1 and Claude Sonnet and Opus 4. India is already ChatGPT's largest market by mobile usage.

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Posted by BeauHD

alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: Monitoring changes in water temperature and pressure at the seafloor can improve understanding of ocean circulation, climate, and natural hazards such as tsunamis. In recent years, scientists have begun gathering submarine measurements via an existing infrastructure network that spans millions of kilometers around the planet: the undersea fiber-optic telecommunications cables that provide us with amenities like Internet and phone service. Without interfering with their original purpose, the cables can be used as sensors to measure small variations in the light signals that run through them so that scientists can learn more about the sea. Meichen Liu and colleagues recently developed a new instrument, consisting of a receiver and a microwave intensity modulator placed at a shore station, that facilitates the approach. Their work is published in Geophysical Research Letters. Transcontinental fiber-optic cables are divided into subsections by repeaters, instruments positioned every 50 to 100 kilometers that boost information-carrying light signals so that they remain strong on the journey to their destination. At each repeater, an instrument called a fiber Bragg grating reflects a small amount of light back to the previous repeater to monitor the integrity of the cable. By observing and timing these reflections, the new instrument measures the changes in the time it takes for the light to travel between repeaters. These changes convey information about how the surrounding water changes the shape of the cable, and the researchers used that information to infer properties such as daily and weekly water temperature and tide patterns.

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Posted by BeauHD

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For some years now, detractors of battery electric vehicles have held up hydrogen as a clean fuel panacea. That sometimes refers to hydrogen combustion engines, but more often, it's hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, or FCEVs. Both promise motoring with only water emitted from the vehicles' exhausts. It's just that hydrogen actually kinda sucks as a fuel, and automaker Stellantis announced today that it is ending the development of its light-, medium- and heavy-duty FCEVs, which were meant to go into production later this year. Hydrogen's main selling point is that it's faster to fill a tank with the stuff than it is to recharge a lithium-ion battery. So it's a seductive alternative that suggests a driver can keep all the convenience of their gasoline engine with none of the climate change-causing side effects. But in reality, that's pretty far from true. [...] Between the high development costs and the fact that FCEVs only sell with strong incentives, the decision was made to cancel the production of hydrogen vans in France and Poland. Stellantis says there will be no job losses at its factories and that R&D staff will be put to work on other projects. "In a context where the Company is mobilizing to respond to demanding CO2 regulations in Europe, Stellantis has decided to discontinue its hydrogen fuel cell technology development program," said Jean-Philippe Imparato, chief operating officer for Enlarged Europe. "The hydrogen market remains a niche segment, with no prospects of mid-term economic sustainability. We must make clear and responsible choices to ensure our competitiveness and meet the expectations of our customers with our electric and hybrid passenger and light commercial vehicles offensive."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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The Trump administration has been deporting immigrants to random countries, and they couldn’t be more proud.

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin boasted on X that “a safe third country deportation flight to Eswatini in Southern Africa has landed,” with 5 immigrants aboard.

“This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back,” she wrote. “These depraved monsters have been terrorizing American communities but thanks to Trump and [Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem], they are off of American soil.”

To back up the assertion, McLaughlin posted some photos of the alleged barbarians, along with their criminal convictions. Of course, their names are not provided, so as per usual, there’s no way to fact check the now-standard assertion that the people being deported are the very worst of the worst. 

FILE - King Mswati III of Eswatini arrives for the swearing-in ceremony of Cyril Ramaphosa at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, on May 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
King Mswati III of Eswatini

Similarly, when the Trump administration deported immigrants to South Sudan, McLaughlin made an almost identical statement, saying that it was necessary because “no country on earth wanted to accept them because their crimes were so uniquely barbaric.”

Just as the Trump administration decided it was fine to deport people to South Sudan despite warning people not to travel there because it’s too dangerous, it’s also content to ignore government reports on the human rights crisis in Eswatini. 

The State Department’s 2023 report found “significant human rights issues” in Eswatini, including torture by the government, extrajudicial killings, lack of independence of the judiciary, trafficking, and child labor. Of course, neither immigrants nor their lawyers have any idea what exactly they will endure, but the report detailed overcrowding, nutrition deficiencies, lack of health services equipment, and gang violence in Eswatini’s prisons. 

A spokesperson for the Eswatini government confirmed that the 5 immigrants are imprisoned in “isolated units” and that both Eswatini and the U.S. government will work with the United Nations to “facilitate the transit” of the men to their countries of origin. 

It’s not entirely clear what that means, as it makes it sound like somehow the Trump administration deported people to Eswatini only to work jointly with that country to eventually send them home. Of course, that does not at all seem like the intent.

According to a report from The New York Times report last month, the Trump administration has explored these trafficking arrangements with dozens of countries, many beset by violence, poverty, and human rights abuses. And of the 58 countries the administration has approached, many are covered by or are being considered for President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban. 


Related | Rubio callously revokes visas for entire country over US mistake


So it’s too dangerous to allow people from those countries into the United States, but it’s totally safe and cool to send people to their prisons. And in case countries were on the fence, the State Department told diplomats that these countries could possibly evade the travel ban if they take deportees. 

We can expect much more of these blatant human rights violations, thanks to the Supreme Court blocking a lower court order requiring immigrants to have a reasonable chance to challenge their deportations. Now, people can be deported to any random country of Trump’s liking with as little as 6 hours’ notice

The conservatives on the Supreme Court knew full well that their decision would open the floodgates to these evil actions. They just don’t care.

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President Donald Trump is celebrating an enormous win: allegedly getting Coca-Cola to switch its sweetener from high fructose corn syrup to real cane sugar in the United States. 

“I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so,” he wrote on Truth Social Wednesday. “I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by them — You’ll see. It’s just better!”

The official White House X account even shared a bizarre Coke-inspired promotion of the very dumb announcement. 

White House X account Coca-Cola tweet

Despite being a Diet Coke drinker himself—with his very own “Diet Coke button” in the Oval Office—Trump’s move of getting U.S. Coke to be made with cane sugar effectively makes it the same as Mexican Coke. 

And for a man who has touted mass deportations and a U.S.-Mexico border wall while claiming that people coming into the United States are murderers and rapists, his promotion of the Mexican drink is certainly an interesting move. 

Then again, this is the same man who celebrated Cinco de Mayo in 2016 by hunching over a taco bowl and declaring, “I love Hispanics.” 

So anything is possible.

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A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know.


Trump really, really wants to tank the economy

And like so much of Trump’s agenda, it’s probably illegal.

Democrats slam Trump and GOP for cover-up of Epstein files

“Did anyone really think the sexual-predator president who used to party with Jeffrey Epstein was going to release the Epstein files?” 👀

Pentagon scales back its invasion of Los Angeles

Who knew TACO also applied to domestic military campaigns?

Bye-bye, Big Bird: GOP inches closer to gutting public media

Trump’s agenda will hit rural America the hardest.

Trump is gutting Medicaid—but rural America still won’t wake up

Seriously, it’s like the guy is trying to crush his rural base.

Cartoon: Tanks for nothing

First, Trump tanks the economy, then he tanks education.

Click here to see more cartoons.

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Posted by BeauHD

Longtime Slashdot reader Qbertino writes: Heise, a German IT news publisher, reports (English version via Google Translate) that the German state of Brandenburg is getting the world's tallest wind turbine, with an overall height of 300 meters (approximately 365 meters including rotor blades), designed to capture so-called third-level winds at higher altitudes. The article also includes a short 3D animation illustrating the construction and its size relative to standard modern wind turbines. The wind turbine uses a dual-framework base instead of a traditional closed tower to access stronger high-altitude winds, aiming to match offshore energy output while keeping onshore operating costs. According to Heise, the prototype could lead to the installation of up to 1,000 units across Germany -- fitting seamlessly between existing wind farms without needing extra land.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Intel Layoffs Exceed 5,000 Across US

Jul. 17th, 2025 12:30 am
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Posted by msmash

Intel is laying off more than 5,000 employees across four states, according to updated Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filings. From a report: Most of the cuts are happening in California and Oregon. Intel more than doubled its layoff estimates for Santa Clara and Folsom to a total of 1,935 affected employees, according to California WARN filings. The cuts began taking place in Folsom on July 11, and in Santa Clara on July 15.

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Posted by BeauHD

Scale AI is laying off 14% of its workforce and 500 contractors as part of a major restructuring just weeks after Meta bought a 49% stake and absorbed its CEO into a new superintelligence lab. The Verge reports: Jason Droege, CEO of Scale AI, sent an email to all Scale employees today, which was viewed by The Verge. Droege said he plans to restructure several parts of Scale's generative AI business and organize it from 16 pods to "the five most impactful": code, languages, experts, experimental, and audio. The company will also reorganize its go-to-market team into a single "demand generation" team that will have four pods, each covering a specific set of customers. "The reasons for these changes are straightforward: we ramped up our GenAI capacity too quickly over the past year," Droege wrote. "While that felt like the right decision at the time, it's clear this approach created inefficiencies and redundancies. We created too many layers, excessive bureaucracy, and unhelpful confusion about the team's mission. Shifts in market demand also required us to re-examine our plans and refine our approach." Droege said that he believes the changes to the company will make it more able to adapt to market shifts, serve existing customers, and win back customers that have "slowed down" work with Scale. He also said that the company would deprioritize generative AI projects with less growth potential. "We remain a well-resourced, well-funded company," he wrote. Scale's generative AI business unit will have an all-hands meeting tomorrow, followed by a company-wide meeting on July 18th. Osborne said that Scale plans to increase investment and hire hundreds of new employees in areas like enterprise, public sector, and international public sector, in the second half of 2025 and that severance has been paid out to impacted roles. "We're streamlining our data business to help us move faster and deliver even better data solutions to our GenAI customers," he said.

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Linux Reaches 5% On Desktop

Jul. 16th, 2025 11:10 pm
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Posted by BeauHD

Longtime Slashdot reader bobdevine shares a report from OSTechNix: For the first time, Linux has officially broken the 5% desktop market share barrier in the United States of America! It's a huge milestone for open-source and our fantastic Linux community. While many might think of Linux as a niche choice, this new data shows a significant shift is happening. According to the latest StatCounter Global Stats for June 2025, Linux now holds 5.03% of the desktop operating system market share in the United United States of America. This is fantastic news! [...] One truly satisfying detail for me? Linux has finally surpassed the "Unknown" category in the USA! It shows that our growth is clear and recognized. "It took eight years to go from 1% to 2% (by April 2021), then just 2.2 years to reach 3% (June 2023), and a mere 0.7 years to hit 4% (February 2024)," notes the report. "Now, here we are, at over 5% in the USA! This exponential growth suggests that we're on a promising upward trend."

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fired two of his top aides, rattling his department’s leadership team amid his broader attack on the nation’s public health apparatus.

The two ousted officials—chief of staff Heather Flick Melanson and deputy chief of staff for policy Hannah Anderson—were dismissed after only a few months on the job. CNN, which first reported the firings, said Kennedy had lost confidence in both, though it’s unclear what triggered the move.

In a statement to CNN, an HHS spokesperson confirmed the departures and said White House liaison Matt Buckham would serve as acting chief of staff effective immediately. 

“He brings valuable experience in personnel strategy and organizational management to this new role,” the spokesperson said. “Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again.”

No permanent replacements have been named.

FILE - A sign marks the entrance to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, on Oct. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, shown in 2013.

HHS oversees the work of major federal health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health—institutions now squarely in the crosshairs of Kennedy’s largely anti-science agenda. The leadership churn hasn’t stopped with Kennedy’s own staff, either. According to The Washington Post, NIH’s chief operating officer, Eric Schnabel, was recently fired as well. 

The various shakeups come mere months into Kennedy’s tenure and leave him scrambling to fill key leadership roles amid mounting scrutiny of his radical plans to reshape health policy, gut vaccine programs, and overhaul the structure of the department itself.

Flick Melanson was one of Kennedy’s more seasoned Washington players, having previously served as acting general counsel and senior adviser to then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar during Trump’s first term. Anderson, a former GOP Hill staffer and policy adviser to Senate Republicans, had recently worked on health care at the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank.

Politico reported that Flick Melanson had been viewed by some as a steadying hand—someone who understood the functions of the department, given concerns about how aggressively Kennedy might pursue his anti-science agenda.

And yet, backed by President Donald Trump, Kennedy has charged ahead with his “Make America Healthy Again” crusade. Not only did he fire all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and replace them with loyalists, but he also published a widely criticized, error-filled report on childhood illnesses. And he’s moved to axe 20,000 HHS staffers and slash dozens of agency divisions—all while facing a wave of legal challenges.

His war on synthetic food dyes faces industry changes. And under his watch, HHS has taken a series of anti-vaccine actions that experts say have eroded public confidence in immunizations.

More chaos at HHS under Kennedy. No surprise there.

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Posted by BeauHD

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Security researchers say Chinese authorities are using a new type of malware to extract data from seized phones, allowing them to obtain text messages -- including from chat apps such as Signal -- images, location histories, audio recordings, contacts, and more. In a report shared exclusively with TechCrunch, mobile cybersecurity company Lookout detailed the hacking tool called Massistant, which the company said was developed by Chinese tech giant Xiamen Meiya Pico. Massistant, according to Lookout, is Android software used for the forensic extraction of data from mobile phones, meaning the authorities using it need to have physical access to those devices. While Lookout doesn't know for sure which Chinese police agencies are using the tool, its use is assumed widespread, which means Chinese residents, as well as travelers to China, should be aware of the tool's existence and the risks it poses. [...] The good news ... is that Massistant leaves evidence of its compromise on the seized device, meaning users can potentially identify and delete the malware, either because the hacking tool appears as an app, or can be found and deleted using more sophisticated tools such as the Android Debug Bridge, a command line tool that lets a user connect to a device through their computer. The bad news is that at the time of installing Massistant, the damage is done, and authorities already have the person's data. "It's a big concern. I think anybody who's traveling in the region needs to be aware that the device that they bring into the country could very well be confiscated and anything that's on it could be collected," said Kristina Balaam, a researcher at Lookout who analyzed the malware. "I think it's something everybody should be aware of if they're traveling in the region."

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The country, and that includes some MAGA faithfuls, aren’t letting go of the White House’s attempt to brush off the unreleased Jeffrey Epstein files and President Donald Trump is seemingly starting to squirm under the spotlight. 

“It’s a hoax, I know it’s a hoax,” he said to reporters from the Oval Office on Wednesday. And if you ask Trump, he’ll tell you that it’s time to move on because Epstein is “dead and gone.” 

Where many were left disappointed when it was announced that Epstein, a convicted sex offender charged with trafficking minors, did not have an infamous black book containing a high-profile list, Trump seems to be ready to move on. And not only is the president pushing the idea that the client list is fake, but he’s now saying that it’s all purported by the pesky Democrats. 

“It was started by Democrats, it’s been run by the Democrats for four years,” he added. “Some stupid Republicans, some foolish Republicans have fallen into the net and so they try to do the Democrat’s work.”

While Democrats currently may be the ones trying to get the files released, it wasn’t too long ago that the GOP and Trump himself ran on the platform of revealing the truth and exposing the evils behind Epstein’s work. 

Even the White House held a spoof Epstein file release meeting with right-leaning influencers—which, not unlike the current day, gave the public virtually no new information. 

MAGA and the conspiracy theorists following the Epstein story have long awaited Trump’s promised release of the files to finally expose who was also involved in the traumatic sexual dealings of the disgraced millionaire. However, when the time came for Attorney General Pam Bondi to do her job, she released a lackluster report saying that, all along, there was actually nothing there but smoke and mirrors. 

Even Epstein’s rumored suicide was reduced to a hoax as well, with the department releasing footage from the prison from the night of his death. It didn’t take long for eagle-eyed viewers to not only notice almost three missing minutes, or more, of footage, but for journalists to note the doctored metadata from the file sent by the White House. 

Known conspiracist and far-right mouthpiece Alex Jones was one to call Trump and the White House’s dismissal “beyond fu@ked up.”  

Even election denying, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is fuming over the lack of findings as he leads MAGA’s furor. 

“The fact that the U.S. government, the one that I voted for, refused to take my question seriously and instead said, ‘Case closed, shut up, conspiracy theorist,’ was too much for me,” he said during a Turning Point USA Student Action Summit on Friday.  

But as Trump’s more faithful turn away from him, he is making his stance clear. 

“They’re stupid people,” he told reporters. “All it is is the Republicans, certain Republicans, got duped by the Democrats and they’re following a Democrat playbook.”

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Posted by BeauHD

Steam has begun banning games that violate the payment rules of banks and card networks, targeting adult content in particular -- especially titles with extreme or controversial themes. Engadget reports: The new clause states that "content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam's payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers" is not allowed and could result in removal from the platform. In other words, if credit card companies get mad about something, they could actually have the power to ban a game. The clause goes on to say that this will affect "certain kinds of adult-only content." This has likely already resulted in many games being pulled off the platform. SteamDB doesn't give a reason for these removals, but the timing does match up.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Newly uncovered documents detailing the process of building Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant detention facility show that equipment meant to be used to respond to natural disasters was diverted to the right-wing project.

Talking Points Memo examined the contracts between vendors and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, uncovering one with Baker’s Electronics & Communications Inc. that refers to an “Atlas trunked radio system,” which is used by public safety agencies for communication.

The document indicates that the system was “pulled” from an existing disaster preparedness platform and sent to “Alligator Alcatraz.” The contract also indicated that the system had to “be back-filled to prevent a response gap during hurricane season given the unknown duration of detention center operation.”

Soldiers with Florida National Guard's 20th Special Forces Group are going door to door in the Jacksonville area around Ortega Island following Hurricane Irma, Sept 11, 2017.
Flooding is seen in Florida following Hurricane Irma in 2017.

No U.S. state has more hurricanes than Florida. The storms, flooding, and other destruction associated with such weather events have taken thousands of lives over the years. Despite Florida’s need for an extensive preparedness infrastructure, the contract appears to prove that the right’s pet project took priority instead.

In addition to concerns about diverted emergency equipment, recent reporting from the Miami Herald revealed that several contractors involved in the facility’s construction were also donors to DeSantis and the Florida GOP.

The detention facility is operating similar to a black site, run by the state government with little to no oversight. The reasons for why people are being detained are hidden from the public, and those inside are not informed of the terms of their incarceration. The state is receiving funding from the Trump administration as a reward for operating.

Democratic officials in Florida recently sued the state after they were denied entry to conduct standard oversight. The DeSantis administration is notoriously secretive and has threatened the press over investigations into the governor’s wife, Casey Desantis.

The tactic echoes the Trump administration’s approach at the federal level, where Democratic lawmakers have been arrested while trying to investigate ICE detention facilities.

“Alligator Alcatraz”—a brand that Florida Republicans have now monetized with merchandise—is a manifestation of Trump’s previously expressed desire for an inhumane immigration detention facility. 

He and other leading Republicans have expressed glee at the prospect of violating human rights—and they’re clearly willing to hobble emergency response systems for the opportunity to do so.

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Though the so-called Department of Government Efficiency doesn’t grab as many headlines as it did in its Elon-Musk-led heyday, its workers cling like wood ticks on various agencies and continue to have access to a staggering amount of data. 

Take the Department of Agriculture. 

On Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin wrote a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on behalf of Wisconsin farmers, expressing the legitimate concern that letting DOGE rummage around in USDA databases of private data seems not great. Baldwin also pointed out that DOGE also has access to the National Payment System, giving it control over billions of dollars in loans and payments to farmers. 

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks with reporters at the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, shown in February.

DOGE intrusion “not only breaches [farmers’] privacy, but also raises serious concerns about the future of USDA payments, our nation’s food security, and the consolidation of farmland and processing operations,” Baldwin wrote.

This project seems to be led by a DOGE bro named Jordan Wick. Who is Jordan Wick? Surely someone with deep experience in agriculture, the intricacies of farm finances, and/or government payment systems? Oh, heavens no. He’s a 28-year-old former software engineer for Waymo, the self-driving car company. Yes, the very same Waymo that just recalled over 1,200 vehicles because they were prone to crashing into barriers, which is really not what you want in a taxi.  

Nonetheless, Wick appears to have unprecedented access to USDA data. A source provided NPR with access logs revealing that Wick can see all the private, personal, and financial information at USDA, and can change or cancel payments and loans. He has access that no one else at USDA has.

Even those tasked with the professional responsibility of explaining why Wick needs this level of access can come up with only a series of buzzwords. The “USDA Efficiency Team”—which is apparently what they’re calling the burrowed-in DOGE kids now—is reviewing “many loans, guarantees, and payments” for supposed fraud and national security concerns, per a USDA spokesperson. 

Why? Because “the abuse of USDA systems and data centers is a serious issue,” said a USDA spokesperson, and the DOGE team has been “immensely supportive due to their unmatched skillset in protecting our data and ensuring those that use their positions to access systems to defraud American taxpayers.”

It’s unclear if the spokesperson is accusing farmers or USDA employees of defrauding American taxpayers, but let’s talk about that “unmatched skillset” part. What skillset, exactly? Wick’s past experience programming self-driving cars? Or perhaps the spokesperson meant Wick is a genius at keeping data safe. Well, except for the part where he may have been a part of DOGE’s illegal exfiltration of National Labor Relations Board data. 

Letting Wick determine what contracts and payments are valid will probably go as well as when the government let a different DOGE bro review Department of Veterans’ Affairs contracts. The bro wrote an AI program—or rather, he co-wrote it with another AI. Said new AI program then was turned loose in the VA systems, where it promptly and incorrectly determined that over 1,000 contracts were worth $34 million apiece, when some of them were worth more like $35,000. 

These tech kiddies don’t have an “unmatched skillset.” They don’t even have a normal baseline skillset for the jobs they have barged into. The Trump administration's project of firing all federal workers with specialized knowledge was bad enough, but it’s just adding insult to injury that we now have to pretend that random software guys understand the inner workings of government far better.

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