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1 year, 1 month, 5 days ago I posted ASTS the space trade will cum. The six word title told you that the thematic trade around the space sector will materialize and that $ASTS was the public pure-play. The stock was $20 that Monday and it closed this Friday at $105. Seems like the space trade came and most wsb commenters were wrong (hard to believe). To quantify this I have compiled the money hating commenters to publicly shame them at the bottom of this post. If you wish to avoid the same fate all you need to do is read, buy, and hold. Space is still undervalued and will re-rate higher(er) in the lead up to the SpaceX IPO. https://preview.redd.it/lf8bav830c3h1.png?width=477&format=png&auto=webp&s=12d3ce43dc252150171a920cdf0438d523f05ef8 Now that the street suddenly cares about space we can quickly compile what they don't understand about ASTS (yet). I know that none of you can read outside of a title of a post but if you were paying attention you would know that SpaceX just filed its S-1 prior to their IPO. As the Patagonia vests pour over it this weekend and try to make some money Tuesday they will likely come across ASTS and see the white space the name still has. You can do the same but with less Claude credits by reading this thread. For those new to the story you can read my DD but in short: ASTS is designing, building, and operating the largest satellites in Low Earth Orbit designed to provide broadband connectivity to every cell phone on earth. TL;DR (it's okay to admit you can't pay attention for long spans of time) SpaceX S-1 shows where the money is. Launch is a commodity; profit is in Starlink-style satellite connectivity. SpaceX is going public at a ~$2T valuation. $ASTS is THE public pure-play leading into the IPO. SpaceX names ASTS as a competitor in their own risk factors. The biggest space company on Earth named ASTS. $740B Starlink Mobile TAM quantified by SpaceX themselves. This is a huge market and ASTS is positioned to dominate it. Constellation ramp: ASTS is set to have 45 sats in orbit by EOY. The next 3 are launching in June — via SpaceX. Yes, SpaceX is launching their named competitor's satellites. Imagine that. More batches are rolling out soon and will show the street that production is up to scale. Defense / Golden Dome: the same hardware as the commercial sats does space-based radar. Already in use. DoD scaling it. 2026 government revenue will be a "big contributor" per the last earnings call. The street still doesn't understand this capability. The company knows where every cell phone on earth is located. What is that worth? FCC SCS commercial authority granted. For years the bears (and wsb commenters below) yelled "Elon owns Trump and the FCC. ASTS will never get approval" — wrong. Spectrum: ASTS holds an 80 year lease of 45 MHz of L-band spectrum for the US. SpaceX just paid EchoStar $17B for 50 MHz of AWS-4 / H-Block - that's the public comp. Apply that comp to the Ligado L-band ASTS controls and sum-of-parts gets you to half of the current market cap on spectrum alone. US telco JV: ASTS already has Verizon and AT&T. T / VZ / TMUS are forming a Direct-to-Device JV to keep Starlink out; SpaceX is being locked out and blindsided. When TMUS exclusivity rolls off, ASTS owns the satellite layer of the entire US mobile industry. Big tech is circling: Meta has visited ASTS and is working on WhatsApp connectivity. The question is when Zuckerberg realizes Meta missed the biggest trend after AI and buys a stake in ASTS. 1. SpaceX's S-1 Is My Bull Case Source: SpaceX S-1 What the market hasn't priced: Launch is a commodity. Money is in connectivity. SpaceX's entire pitch is that the value driver isn't rockets — it's Starlink. They are IPO'ing on the back of the satellite-to-consumer connectivity business (with Grok so Elon can get out of some bags). ASTS is the only public pure-play for a vertically integrated satellite manufacturer. ASTS also isn't burdened by an AI Chatbot that puts women in bikinis. What is the only public comp worth against the massive SpaceX valuation? More than what ASTS trades at today, I figure. We can break out the segment margins. From the S-1: Segment FY25 Revenue FY25 Adj EBITDA EBITDA margin Launch $4,086M $653M 16% Starlink $11,387M $7,168M 63% AI $3,201M ($1,237M) negative 63% EBITDA margins. Larger than the rocket business that gets all the press. Launch is a 16%-margin commodity. AI is still in the cash-burning $8 burrito and $20 uber anywhere stage of the business. https://preview.redd.it/i87jlx440c3h1.jpg?width=889&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aa6bcf80306306601b52a4b466d198ae56530146 SpaceX puts a number on the TAM. Direct from the filing: "There were eight billion mobile connected devices globally. … We estimate the Starlink Mobile market opportunity to be $740 billion … weighted average monthly mobile ARPU of $8 per user." This is the market ASTS sells into too. ASTS currently has more and better global MNO partnerships than SpaceX. SpaceX lists ASTS as a competitor in the risk factor section: "Our Starlink Mobile offering competes with other satellite-to-mobile satellite operators including, among others, AST SpaceMobile, Lynk, Globalstar and Skylo." When the largest space company in the world flags you by name in their IPO risk factors, that is not bearish. You can track SPCX and its assumed open price via hyperliquid. Multiply the price shown by the float of 11,870,000,000 shares its currently priced at 2.45 Trillion dollars. With a T. Why own that when you can just own ASTS? I'm not making a judgment on the SpaceX IPO valuation but if it goes live anywhere near where it is presumed to open then every single public space stock needs to re-rate. They will. Bonus: a chunk of recent sales in ASTS is SpaceX investors hedging their private SPCX exposure. That hedge collapses the moment they can offload SpaceX post-IPO (thank your 401k for them). 2. Production Ramp Is Real And Accelerating 45 satellites in orbit by end of 2026. Next 3 satellites launch in June via SpaceX. Once production for the next batch is proven (timeline weeks) we will see a slew of new satellites leaving the facility and entering orbit. A constant string of news over the next 6 months will keep momentum on the stock and the company in headlines as the space sector re-rates. The build-out is happening at the factory level. See the production in action. 3. Golden Dome And The Defense Rerate I caught flak the last time I wrote about Golden Dome. People can stop now. Direct from the last earnings call: "Remember, we're currently deploying the largest ever phased arrays in low earth orbit, and that gives us really an unprecedented capability to go to regular, small, low-profile handsets as well as do radar capabilities. And when you look at the backdrop of awards and budgets over the last 3 to 6 months, there's been a real strong uptick as expected in the Space Force budget and in allocations related to Golden Dome." "RFPs are being issued, awards are being made for key elements of Golden Dome that will relate to us, things that you see that are space-based radar and others. So this is a really big moment for us. You're going to see some revenue coming in through U.S. government that's going to be a big contributor to our 2026 revenue." And on the defense capability itself, from CEO Abel Avellan: "I will not be able to describe it on this forum, but basically, it is a non-communication capability that uses the same hardware that we use on our commercial satellites. And that's been in use today." Translation: the largest phased arrays ever flown in LEO double as space-based radar. The DoD is already using it and is scaling it materially. 2026 government revenue is going to be a needle-mover. When this stock rerates from "communications stock" to "communications AND defense stock," the multiple is not where it is today. 4. FCC SCS Approval — Bears Got Embarrassed For a year the bear case was "Elon controls Trump and the FCC, ASTS will never get commercial authority." That ended in April 2026: FCC commercial SCS authorization Business Wire release ASTS has commercial SCS authority. ASTS will continue to gain approvals. The bear case died. What is the value of owning guaranteed parking in space for the largest satellites in low earth orbit? Probably a few bucks. 5. Spectrum Stack Alone Is Worth Most Of The Market Cap ASTS holds Ligado L-band spectrum for the US — a strategic, scarce, mid-band asset built for satellite-to-mobile. SpaceX just paid EchoStar $17 billion for 50 MHz of AWS-4 and H-Block to compete in the satellite-to-mobile arena: "On September 7, 2025, the Company entered into a License Purchase Agreement … with EchoStar Corporation for total consideration of $17,000 million … to purchase EchoStar's rights and licenses related to an aggregate of 50 MHz of spectrum in frequency ranges 2000–2020, 2180–2200, 1915–1920 and 1995–2000 (the AWS-4 and H-Block Licenses)." That's the comp. The biggest, most sophisticated buyer in the sector just paid $17B for 50 MHz to do what ASTS already has spectrum for. Apply that price-per-MHz against ASTS's Ligado L-band position and sum-of-parts on the spectrum stack alone covers a large fraction of the current ASTS enterprise value. I actually laid this out in the original writeup before the Echostar purchase and was proven right again. Weird. 6. US Telco JV — SpaceX Just Got Locked Out, ASTS Is The Replacement State of play in the US: ASTS has Verizon and AT&T. Two of the big three already exclusively partnered for the service over a number of years. T-Mobile is exclusive to SpaceX/Starlink — and that exclusivity ends in ~4 months. The big three are forming a Direct-to-Device JV explicitly to keep Starlink from disintermediating them. SpaceX is being locked out. The SpaceX side noticed. Gwynne Shotwell's reaction: Gwynne Shotwell (SpaceX President & COO) on the JV blindside ASTS commends the proposed DtD JV When the TMUS exclusivity rolls off and the JV stands up, ASTS becomes the satellite layer for the entire US mobile industry. SpaceX gets pushed to enterprise / consumer-direct only on US soil. The carriers — who have the customers, the billing relationships, and the spectrum — back the partner who doesn't compete with them. That partner is ASTS. What is owning the satellite layer of the US mobile industry's defense against Starlink worth? Significantly more than current EV. Do you think the market will realize that the company already has the same in progress in Europe with Satellite Connect Europe? 7. Big Tech Is Going To Wake Up Meta has visited ASTS and is working with ASTS on WhatsApp satellite connectivity: LinkedIn post from Vinod Samarawickrama (industry insider). https://preview.redd.it/i7t5dhi50c3h1.jpg?width=346&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5b59186e19cfe77fb28c376fcf38699b6a44080 Zuckerberg knows that mobile is where the money is (look at Facebook before their iOS app) and he will want to gain exposure to the connectivity layer for every existing cell phone on earth. What is connecting every cell phone on earth worth? https://preview.redd.it/r2i2md560c3h1.jpg?width=896&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab4ea6997bebe4e601f33fea1659390e1158a09d 8. Launch Supply FAA cleared Blue Origin to launch. Launch supply is no longer a single-vendor SpaceX bottleneck. ASTS has launch agreements with Blue Origin, SpaceX, and (after last earnings call) United Launch Alliance. Being a buyer of launch (instead of a provider of) is bullish. (Launch is a commodity remember?) As prices drop the company who can put the most mass in orbit stands to benefit. That is ASTS. 9. Space Based Data Centers are Real Bezos did an interview with CNBC and told us that space based data centers are a reality. Elon has said that satellites need 100kW of energy to be feasible replacements. Starlink V2 satellites are currently ~28kW according to Google's research for the effort. Guess who has the largest satellites in low earth orbit TODAY that have more than 100kW of power? ASTS. https://preview.redd.it/vl9ac6e70c3h1.png?width=798&format=png&auto=webp&s=163f7ec33d6e924a618e779856df396558a6c71f I know people here love to shit on AI and futurism. I think its worth considering that maybe the people putting the most shit in space might actually know what's possible rather than some redditor who has AI derangement syndrome. AI Data Centers will happen and ASTS patents and knowledge launching huge satellites into LEO will play a part. I'm sure of it. The SpaceX S1 has a section titled We Believe Orbital AI Can Accelerate Time to Power and Reduce Token Costs. The logical jump to ASTS is going to be simple enough for the street to understand. Maybe you should think about it too. 10. "But The PE Ratio…" Someone will load this thread and post "lol no earnings" "only 14.7M in revenue lol" "omg price to sales." Its a growth stock, understand the growth potential of the company to understand its valuation. Get your mom to read this to you slowly: You don't value an under-construction oil pipeline at zero because it hasn't shipped a barrel yet. You value the infrastructure for what it will produce when it is built. ASTS is a GLOBAL UTILITY building the satellite layer connecting every cell phone on earth. The buildout is funded. The contracts are signed. The regulatory approval is done. The launches are scheduled. Here is what the street sees for future growth of the company: https://preview.redd.it/kih97ie80c3h1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3f4a24edb0a4976c86d622150deec23746b72ce The PE ratio starts to matter when the constellation is built. Until then you are trading the buildout. The buildout is happening on schedule and into the hottest cycle for space of all time. The setup is insane. 11. Want to Learn More about ASTS? Read this. Position (the number is bigger than last time) https://preview.redd.it/0tuhzy890c3h1.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=9e1aee4ec13fc0ffa3afd846a0c0f7126be3180d Posting this obviously leads to a sell off at some point (as has every one of the posts I've made) but I've held through it all and will continue to do so. The trend is up and to the right. Remember chat: In order to make a 100x you need to hold after a 10x. Look at these idiots https://preview.redd.it/07zsmhga0c3h1.jpg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3bf55cb5c7b57687f3c3beeb2cdc43fbb8cb12c Everyone (I think) who told me I was wrong is on the list below. We will revisit this post in the same way I'm sure. Catch ya next year. I needed to make the links distilled since having too many links got the post removed by reddit. So it's a build your own perma-link scenario. Think of how fun it will be for you! I couldn't tag every user based on the same. If the user deletes the content its saved via artic-shift, no worries. From ASTS DD: the space trade will cum Name Comment to recreate add rudyallan They already been thru several rug pulls. He needs newbie to enter the rug pulls. /mo4e4f1/ rudyallan when the regards get an indoctrination. They become ''super Fanboys''. They become ready for the ultimate rug pull. /mo4eqbd/ rudyallan they claim that Blue Origin will launch all their satellites..But Blue Origin have many many problems also /mo4vuqg/ rudyallan Stock brutally Gaped and Beaten. /moahop9/ cbusoh66 They need 150+ satellites, they got 4 up, and they're way behind Starlink and Apple going their own wag, and they just diluted and will continue to dilute because they need more than $2 billion, at the very least. And there's no market for satellite service, the TAM for actual paying customers is tiny, Abel is blowing smoke up your asses... /mo3wj5a/ cbusoh66 They sent 4 fucking satellites up last year and they just got delayed to send the next batch (sans ASICs) until July at the earliest, how long have they been sitting on their "17" now? They are way behind on everything, as it's their habit, and they need to send hundreds up, good luck with that, they will end up having to dilute again and again, and again. /mo3zlph/ cbusoh66 All B.S., they will never turn a profit before the end of the decade and they will dilute to death. ASTS will see single digits sometimes this year. /mo3t58f/ Rocketeer006 So here's what happened. ASTS just delayed their next launch which doesn't look to great, so some dumb hedge fund came here to try and pump it with the stupidest post I've ever seen on WSB. /mo4fu02/ Rocketeer006 Of fuck off, no you didn't. You're probably a pump bot just like OP /mo4fyb3/ Rocketeer006 Didn't this company just delay their next launch? They are falling more and more behind unfortunately /mo4fkoj/ c4chokes How much are you in the hole?? I don't think we can dig you out 😂😂😂 /mo5xmuq/ c4chokes Why are you stumping for this company?? /mo6fjqu/ Hefty_External_1212 you're gambling with literally your savings account for health-related expenses? you're a degenerate and I hope your calls keep bleeding /mo9qduk/ Hefty_External_1212 what a massively transparent cope lmao /mo9qb0l/ Hungrymon111 Yes you do, since you posted this for random people to buy in and pump your bags. Once recession starts really rolling this stock will drop/slow bleed to at least -70%. Momentum's already fading. /mo8wf5g/ Hungrymon111 Not even 5m in revenues, burning 500M(!!!) and has 7.5B market cap LOL. Good luck, I will not touch this with a 100 meter stick /mo8ujku/ ku8475 Couple issues off the bat I see: -These sats work like cell towers in the sky. From my quick research they are looking at about 160ish SATs for the constellation. So assuming the capacity is roughly 2k-5k we are looking at a generous 850k global simultaneous users when the all sats are up… /mo4o5x7/ ku8475 Spoken like a true MBA, good luck. /mo66o7v/ last-shower-cry-was Price to sales and EV to sales is over 100. /mo4dsaf/ last-shower-cry-was Great! All it has to do is double revenue every year for 5 years, demonstrate high margins, and it's grown into its current valuation. I can find tons of stocks growing 30% at a P/S of under 1.5. Oops sorry I forgot this is a casino. My bad. /mo4ez6c/ Maritime88- Did you mention the delay? Or the requirement for more capital raises? /mo5dtob/ Maritime88- If you guys aren't selling with both hands , ask yourself why when it's $2 again. More capital raises are required. /mo5doh5/ SkatesUp Nope. It's the same shit regurgitated every time. Stock gets pumped on some mumbo jumbo news and falls back each time... /moc9mg3/ SkatesUp The pumpers are starting to panic - the blind them with science tactic isn't working anymore. Glad I got out when I did. /mocccaq/ 7fingersDeep You bunch of fucking morons. The comms are for terrestrial commercial users. Holy fuck. This is not for weapons systems or for missile warning and tracking. I love getting downvoted by people who put their money into a stock when they literally have no fucking idea about the business or technology. /mo600i8/ AchyBreaker Excuse me sir I came here to lose money on stocks not to read entire books /mo3noma/ Aggressive-Ad3286 Still a shit company and even shittier stock, no matter how many times you shills try to pump it. /mof0rjq/ Aranthos-Faroth I've been on WSB a long time. This is the longest post I've ever seen here. Puts. /mo3mos2/ AxDeath The first thing I read says "These kinds of companies normally fail", so I think I know everything I need to know /mo3tzod/ bnh1978 TL;DR Puts on OP's wife. /mo3p0bc/ Cash50911 This convinced me not to buy.... Your comparison about cell phone connectivity uses decade old tech. There are many other things that are just inaccurate or purely speculative. You provided a great narrative but no financials to back up how the company can execute the narrative. /mo3xl2p/ chosunwon OP please show loss porn for today's -12% day. we must know /moaos0k/ Designer-Composer820 Down 11.5% after this post. Welcome to Wendy's. /mobiwcq/ DLD1123 Space isn't real. Puts. /mo5umc2/ domthebomb83 This aged like fine milk /mo9ilmj/ ElectricalGene6146 Got it, puts, thanks! /mo3xhr0/ FabricationLife Puts on this garbage because this post is so long is literally has to be cope /mo5u0ze/ Fancy-Jackfruit8578 We need to ask Reddit to reduce to 10 character limit to avoid this phd thesisimg /mo3ovzr/ Father_of_Lies666 Brother, not all satellite companies have failed. Just most. If you don't think SIRI, T, and VZ are satellite companies, you're wrong. /mo3os3d/ Federal-Hearing-7270 Don't expect the stock to go up 100% in a week when market cap is on its way to 10 billion and there is no revenue yet. There are too many whiners at the subreddit chat of this stock and there is no need for more /mo4qhc0/ figlu Will be cheaper when stock market crashes /mo5vhvi/ fltpath You failed in your analysis, as it does not address the single point failure in the entire system...the required ground based system, which has to be connected to the cell phone provider network. No ground based system...no connection. /mo4dx8a/ frosty765 Lol anyway puts, as they again delayed launch…. Buy around 20, sell 24+ worked for months… /mo4bjdd/ Go_With_The_Fleaux Right. I'm waiting until right till we get close to expiration and exiting the trade. Don't really care what happens to the stock after that. /mo6642b/ GoLoco511 We don't want a more comprehensive write up man /mo3yikt/ GVtt3rSLVT I couldn't read all that during one shift of work. Especially about a boring stock /mo651de/ Hot-You-7366 as someone who covered Satellites industry at a bank, your missing that satellite service sucks ass. Cant get it indoors, even leaves on trees fuck it up. Its terrible compared to cell towers and wifi. So... yea /mo9yjhw/ iannoyyou101 Going long on any stock in this market lmao /mo5ukqp/ IcestormsEd If you need all that to sell us an idea, you are hiding something. But puts it is. /mo3m38t/ Invest_and_ballout Took me 5 days to read that post. Now I'm going to short the stock /mo3qatm/ JackFourj4 what is their cash position right now, how long till positive cashflow? I like their business but not fond of hopping on hype trains in this climate, might wait it out a bit till the tariff war is over /mo8jcl6/ Jelopuddinpop Not OP, but 2 reasons... 1) they're trying to contribute to the community instead of just leeching others' iddas, and 2) they hold a significant position and are trying to drum up exit liquidity. /mo5d9wt/ justbrowse2018 It's up 1000% in a calendar year bro. That seems unsustainable. /mo40xug/ MajikoiA3When No TLDR? Puts it is. /mo3lxhe/ Mother___Night They face competition that has large, insurmountable cost advantages and absurd levels of regulatory influence. Puts. /mo3sl5m/ Ok-Big-4585 its in a short setup atm unless breakout /mo7rbxd/ Ok-Caregiver-1689 Holy shit I ain't reading that, I'll just buy some puts. /mo3kayp/ Ok-Resist8342 Oh, I'm one of those Asts sub Reddit morons, don't you worry about that. /mo4bhln/ Pepepopowa Bro they are already dead, stock kicking /mo6ieol/ perivascularspaces You forgot Mango Pres killing the US role in the World and the opposition not even trying to defend it, driving all of your DD into the dirt. /mo3pldw/ ProgrammaticallyHip Yes, they are safer in a recession. But ASTS is down 11% in a month and VZ/T/AMT were down 6.5, 5.5% and 5% at one point respectively during this recent volatility... And ASTS would likely get crushed. /mo42x4r/ PuzzleheadedSound407 This guy knows more about the company than the CEO and board combined.. So, puts. /mo6ouhq/ sev3791 With all the satellites crowding space already, believe it or not puts 👇 /mo5kyqm/ shadow_p This is a really cool report. I read the whole thing. But I'm still not buying. I don't want to hold your bag. /mo48nfz/ skyfox437 Read? My attention span stopped at the pictures. /mo46aql/ Southern_Cap_816 ASTS has no customer base and the tech is not proven. One launch error and the sell-off begins. Summer is a good time for launch failures. /mo3ul0m/ steffur What happens if SpaceX says we won't fly ASTS satellites anymore. Then...? /mo3vzrm/ Strive-- I feel like potential ASTS stock traders are still sifting through this post's coke-driven multi volume keyboard burner of a post, so they haven't had the time to pump and dump the stock, so it sits idle. /mpn9zr7/ The_NiNTARi Isn't ASTS reliant on SpaceX to launch these satellites? I'd for see that as a major issue /mo4ou8v/ thelundyy Longest and most useless post of all time award! Congrats! /mo3lax7/ TonyStarks81 Love the company, hate the current economic climate. Went all cash weeks ago and sold my ASTS that I bought at $10. I will join back in at some point, but right now I don't think anyone would be shocked if this trade war caused more significant bleeding across the market… /mo44fm8/ WallStWarlock What's the catalyst. Needs catalyst /mr0p1lb/ From Conviction or mental illness, you decide (ASTS) Name Comment to recreate add jay_i_am Sir! i know how PUMP AND DUMP works lol /lj2o92l/ jay_i_am Calm down son! You're very triggered. What sort of life do you live that you have to CON people? Just to make some money. I mean, it's one thing that you made your money (if you actually did). Who knows? this might just be a paper trade. But, to think that you are actually 'helping people' is beyond delusional… /lj2ta9i/ jay_i_am I suspect this post is set up to now DUMP ASTS. Trapping a lot of newbies into buying ASTS while this guy (who probably works for some big hedge fund) dumps these shares. CLASSIC PUMP AND DUMP /lj2gx4a/ fazellehunter when you are crying in the shower again, ya tool /ljg8gnj/ fazellehunter i'd buy a put option on your portfolio /lj3rxqk/ JayMurdock Trust me when you lose 80% of these gains, it will be your life story... /liyfpcd/ JayMurdock Mental illness for sure, you don't have an exit plan since you held this long and will be a bag holder when this ultimately explodes. We've entered obscene wildly overvalued territory, the end is coming and it will decimate you all. /liyfbtf/ 21APE21 Funny, I follow wallstreetbets on Reddit and discord and never heard of anyone betting on $ASTS. Fuck you and everyone else who bank off of this /lj10zef/ ___TychoBrahe Its been over bought on the daily for the past week almost, EPS off by 188% revenue off by 80%, stock rockets like 50% You: its still got room Oh boy…puts gunna look tasty /liyeydq/ anonuemus just remember to sell when it is low again /lj04qoc/ Any_Anything_316 did you get sliced in half this morning? /lj1lexk/ Apart-Consequence881 More like overbought for 3 months. It's been rallying insanely for 3 months. /lj0jx1c/ arbyman85 If you don't sell and up back at $3 definitely as regarded as the ceo who kept his word and didn't do share offering when it made sense on runup. When it becomes apparent a CEO is a dumbass, institutions jump shit fast. /liz25uq/ BarnacleHistorical70 You just won the lottery. Time to cash out and get the fk out of the market or start learning the fundamentals /liyz1tk/ Big-Professor3578 Nice now take some of that off the table before 18k happens /lj1pz4r/ Comfortable-Spell-75 It will end in tears. img /liyqm8i/ darktidelegend Mental illness It has no infrastructure No greater funding No real contracts No ability to service Just an idea and one publicized satellite launch This is exactly the same pump and dump as virgin galactic and they actually have the ability to execute /liyu2fa/ Deep-Values-Thinking Will be awaiting your loss porn /lj0g6gh/ DistantGalaxy-1991 Seriously though, you should take 250K of that, put it in something extremely boring and fairly risk free like a mutual fund or 2, and do not let yourself trade with it, ever. You have to recognize that NOBODY gets this kind of success because of skill, it's luck. So congrats for the luck. But if you think you're 'figured out how to do it', you will lost it all before too long. /lizqm0b/ Dontknowgoat Congrats remember to take profit don't be greedy. 😉 /lj12c8s/ Dstrongest Less than losing it all or most . /lj3az0u/ EatYourMeats Starlink is launching multiple satellites this month. Their entire business is reliant on starlink. Plus how much money is really available from overarching coverage? Especially when spacex is much better funded and equipped to provide the service? I took out puts yesterday on ASTS. This is euphoria that's short-lived. Yes I'm a gay bear. /lj1f7tl/ Elegant-Isopod-4549 I knew I should have shorted this when I see it on wsb /lj1p7bi/ Emergency-Eye-2165 Good enough to screenshot… /liz1iyk/ expandyourbrain Seems like a good time to finally get out bud. /liznyh3/ FaceClown Post again once you lose it all! /lizd4aj/ Far-Outcome-8170 One thing I've learnt about this sub is that when a ticker gets constantly pushed over several days, it's time to load up on puts. /lizgf2r/ Fun_Audience5220 Set trailing stop loss weekly No revenue yet. /lizin1w/ Hopeful-Power9021 What goes up must go down 😃 /liyylt6/ Jaded_Frosting7770 Wife's a walking red flag /lj0dunc/ JefferyTheQuaxly Congrats man, in b4 it goes back down to 20k. /lj1wemc/ Kwerby Does regarded count as a mental illness? /lizg2rd/ lewdacris916 HAVE YOU SOLD YET?? IF YOU DONT CASH OUT THEN YES 100% MENTAL /liyikwf/ lukeehassel Feels like virgin galactic to me /lj2hkgo/ maikaubay Good enough to screenshot ... /lj1e3dm/ MakaveliTheDon831 Please tell me you cash out. /liywncx/ ManBearPig_1983 Twas a legit question. I just looked it up. It's BS that you can only report $3k in losses /liz1tnb/ mat_the_wyale_stein Take 100k off. Sell some covered calls and live the American dream. Put a down payment in a 2 bedroom home in the hood with no picket fence. /lizi8kt/ Neat_Custard5289 i was told invest ASTS, i was told money make big green. where green. sad. /lj1mxwv/ No_Day_9464 You should definitely sell, that's already life changing money. /lj2pk3a/ P_A_N_C_H_O__ Have you sold? That would answer your question... /lj01kx7/ pinochetlospatos At least get your initial investment out.... /liyz6fu/ RaisinPutrid4423 When should we short asts /lizaitp/ skankhunt1983 Is it too late to get in? Feels like a pump and dump!! /liyt1d7/ SlipstreamSteve Mental illness with degenerate gambling. /lizapa2/ stargazer_me Sell I had same n lost it all on one stock /liyi6v1/ talentsmart It's only mental illness if you don't take some chips off the table before you find out whether or not Elon chooses to blow up that rocket before those satellites deploy. /liyxvuw/ TheInfiniteBRAIN As they say: "Bulls make money, bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered." /liyjslv/ TrueNorthCoin Take the money and run /liywifi/ From DD: ASTS, a binary bet with deep space value Name Comment to recreate add fuk_normies Pump and dump This place has become a cesspool /h1upffq/ idoescompooters Lol no. This will end up like Iridium Part 1 in 1999. Instead, you should invest in Iridium Part 2 (Iridium NEXT), who actually has side business taking care of the debt (Aireon) in the meantime while they get military contracts for their polar orbits and proprietary waveforms. /h201inx/ my5cent My concern is irdm already has satilites and in some videos they plan to do something similar. /hbr51ea/ TheSlipperiestSlope Bought this shit and immediately lost 5%. Pump and dump bullshit. /h29ux15/ submitted by /u/F1CKEN to r/wallstreetbets [link] [comments]

☣️ What’s Happening? A confirmed hantavirus outbreak is ongoing aboard the MV Hondius, a Dutch-flagged cruise ship. 🔧 How to Use This Megathread The megathread is where we’re collecting smaller updates, general discussion, and quick questions. It’s not meant to shut down discussion: it’s there so the subreddit doesn’t get flooded and people don’t have to chase information across dozens of tiny posts. Major updates or significant new information are still absolutely welcome as standalone posts. Minor updates, general questions, and preparedness advice belong in the megathread so everything stays centralized and easy to follow. Got a travel related question? Feeling anxious about this outbreak? Your question should be in our Should I Travel? Hantavirus Travel Anxiety & Risk Questions Megathread Thanks for helping keep the sub readable for everyone. Also, don't forget to "Sort" by “New” to see the latest updates as they come in. Please share any information you come across. 📊 Cases & WHO: DONs* Timeline courtesy of /u/ReferenceNice142 and /u/AcornAl (work in progress) Dashboard created by /u/BeastofPostTruth and Dashboard thread WHO DON (8 May 2026) WHO DON (4 May 2026) 🔔 Major Updates and Past Threads Newest at Top ⬇️ Hantavirus outbreak should reset WHO's default approach to airborne risk French hantavirus patient is critically ill, on an artificial lung as total cases grow to 11 A spaniard isolated in the Gómez Ulla hospital tested provisionally/preliminary positive for hantavirus 15 in quarantine, 1 in biocontainment unit in Nebraska; 2 in Atlanta French evacuee from hantavirus-hit ship tests positive, health minister says One American positive for Andes virus, another symptomatic, HHS says French evacuee shows symptoms of hantavirus Countries evacuate passengers from hantavirus-stricken cruise The French suspected case tested negative as of last night The woman from Alicante who had contact with a deceased person from hantavirus tests negative in the PCR No mandatory quarantine for US passengers: CDC official WHO director says he will personally oversee hantavirus cruise evacuation Spain: Hantavirus case suspected in Alicante, say officials New suspected case on Tristan Da Cunha KLM flight attendant tested negative for hantavirus infection, WHO says Hantavirus cases suspected in multiple countries as authorities scramble to contain outbreak Oceanwide Confirms 30 Passengers Disembarked at St. Helena - Full Nationality List Released Flight attendant possibly also infected with hanta, hospitalized at Amsterdam UMC Hantavirus-hit cruise ship heads to Spain after three people evacuated Possible Case(s) of Hantavirus outside of the MV Hondius Patient with a hantavirus infection being treated in Zurich hospital WHO confirms Andes strain of hantavirus in cruise ship passengers Cruise ship to sail from to Canary Islands with passengers trapped on board Rare human-to-human hantavirus transmission suspected on board cruise ship How an ocean cruise turned into a hantavirus nightmare: First victim's body remained onboard for 13 days Evacuations planned as suspected hantavirus outbreak traps 150 on ship off Cape Verde Three die on cruise ship from suspected hantavirus: WHO 💚 Quick reminder we’re ContagionCuriosity for a reason. This space is for learning and staying curious, not for overwhelming ourselves. If things start to feel like a lot, it’s completely okay to take a break and step away for a bit. Also please try keep things grounded: we’re a science‑news community, so please avoid alarmist takes and make sure your commentary is supported by evidence. If you’re sharing news, include a source, and/or tag sources as speculation or opinion when unreliable It helps everyone stay oriented and keeps the sub clear, calm, and informative. This thread is now closed Click here for the next thread submitted by /u/Anti-Owl to r/ContagionCuriosity [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/narak777 to r/PowerfulJRE [link] [comments]

In my original post, I made a terrible mistake giving the victim's name. I accidentally mixed-up the names of the victim, Adria Sauceda, and her murderer, instead referring to her as Adria Garcia. Given the nature of the post and the error, I decided that it would be for the best to delete the initial post and repost everything with a corrected title. An appellate court's summary of what happened On May 20, 1994, Adria Sauceda attended an outdoor Friday night party held at the home of Juan Francisco "Paco" Delgado in San Antonio. A witness observed Adria, who was partially undressed, in the middle of a circle of men who were taking turns raping her. Two women, Mirasol Torres and Vicki, approached and tried to help her. Adria refused their offers and told them to leave her alone. Adria appeared to be drunk and was unable to assist the women as they attempted to pull her pants back on her. One of the women, Mirasol Torres, later testified that she recognized Adria Sauceda, whose nickname Mirasol said was "Freckles," because they had met before, shared a mutual friend, and had gone to high school together. She testified that she observed Adria with her shirt on but her pants down to her knees in the middle of a circle of men. It was apparent to her that something was going on because she also observed used condoms. Mirasol Torres testified further that she and her friend Vicki approached the scene and attempted to help Adria, who appeared "flimsy, like she was real loose, her arms and everything." Mirasol Torres insisted that Adria did not appear to understand what was happening to her and did not appear to be in any condition to consent to what was being done to her. She also testified that the men who were raping Adria told her to shut up, go get a drink, and argued that Adria knew what she was doing. Around the same time, another partygoer, Simon Ortega, became aware that Adria was in a crowd of people in the dark behind the bushes. Ortega was approached by a male, whom he did not recognize, who advised Ortega that Adria had passed out, was back behind the bushes, and had her clothes off. This man invited Ortega to rape her. Ortega refused. A few hours later, he saw another man carry Adria out from behind the bushes and place her on the hood of Ortega's car. At that time, Adria appeared to Ortega to be "real shaken up," "disoriented," "not all there," and "like if she was in shock." Ortega unsuccessfully tried to talk with Adria while she was lying on the hood of his car. Another man whom Ortega did not recognize then picked up Adria, carried her to a truck that was parked in the driveway of the home nearest to the party, and proceeded to also rape her. Ortega then directed the male who assaulted Adria in the truck to place her inside Ortega's vehicle so that he could take her home. Ortega testified that he had feared for Adria's safety because some of the young men present appeared and spoke as if there were gang related. This also explains why he did not attempt to stop other men from raping her. At that point, another man, later identified as 21-year-old Humberto Leal Jr., approached Ortega and asked that Adria be placed in his car instead. When Ortega protested, Leal Jr. told Ortega that he knew the girl and her family, knew where she lived, and would take her home and explain everything to her family. He then drove away with her. The girl was never seen alive again. About 30 minutes later, Gualberto Leal, the brother of Leal Jr. arrived at the party and yelled that Leal Jr. had returned home "full of blood, saying he had killed a girl." Several of the party attendees went looking for Adria. They found her naked body on a dirt road and called the police. Her head had been bashed in, bleeding, and it was flinching or jerking. She had been raped with a broken stick of lumber about 14 to 16 inches long. It was still protruding from her. There was a gaping hole in her head from the corner of her right eye to the center of her head, and blood was oozing from the hole. There was a bloody rock by her right thigh. Her left arm was under a chunk of asphalt weighing 30 to 40 pounds. When Leal Jr. was questioned by police, he had scratches and cuts on his body. He stated that he was with Adria in his car when she started hitting him and the steering wheel, causing him to hit a curb. He tried to calm her down, but she leaped from the car and ran away. After waiting about 10 minutes to see if she would return, he went home. After the police informed Leal of what his brother had said, Leal gave another statement. This time, he claimed that he followed Adria after she jumped out of the car. She attacked him and he pushed her away. Adria had then fallen on the ground and did not get up. Leal said he tried to wake her, but could not. When he saw bubbles coming out of her nose, Leal got scared and left. He said he went home, prayed, and told family members what had happened. Police searched the Leal family home and found a blouse belonging to Adria that had bloodstains and hair on it. Police also found traces of blood on the passenger door and seat of the car. Bloodstains had been wiped off. A medical examiner testified that Adria died from blows to the head and that based on the injuries to her head, she would have had to been struck with the rock two or three times. The medical examiner said her neck had injuries consistent with manual strangulation and that she had three bite marks on her body that matched dental impressions of Leal's teeth. Bite mark evidence has since been discredited as junk science, but the other evidence was sufficient to prove Leal's guilt beyond of a reasonable doubt. The booking photo of Humberto Leal Garcia Jr. Leal Jr. was charged with capital murder in the commission of kidnapping and aggravated rape. Prosecutors announced their intent to seek the death penalty. Called by the prosecution, Gualberto Leal tried to cover for his brother. He testified that he had been unable to understand a single word he said when he came home. He denied that Leal Jr. said anything about leaving a body by a school or about killing a girl. The defense called only one witness, the girlfriend of Leal Jr., Elvira Briones. She testified that she and Leal had sex at the party and she hadn't noticed Adria with any men. On July 10, 1995, Leal was convicted of capital murder after 90 minutes of deliberation. The sentencing phase was conducted the next day. The options were death or life imprisonment with parole eligibility after 40 years. Leal had no criminal record, but the prosecution presented the testimony by then 16-year-old Melissa Ruiz, who testified about an incident in May 1994, about two weeks before the murder of Adria Sauceda. Melissa Ruiz said Leal Jr. had raped her and bitten her on the neck. Her testimony was corroborated by a San Antonio Police Officer who had photographed the bite marks and bruises on her body and a physician who examined Ruiz approximately 66 hours after the assault. Furthermore, Ruiz's older sister, Iza Marie, testified stated that Leal Jr. had called her repeatedly at her place of employment in the weeks following the rape, threatening to have someone murder her if she testified against him. The prosecution also introduced testimony from law enforcement and school officials establishing that Leal had a history of intimidating and bullying fellow students and teachers. The defense offered the testimony of psychiatrist Raymond Potterf: Dr. Potterf testified on direct examination that (1) petitioner suffered from alcohol dependence and pathological intoxication, (2) the latter condition occurs when a person who ingests alcohol experiences a sudden change in mental status and becomes very aggressive, and (3) there is no cure for petitioner's condition. On cross-examination, Dr. Potterf admitted that it was possible petitioner's tendency toward violence predated petitioner's problems with alcohol. On re-direct, petitioner's trial counsel elicited testimony from Dr. Potterf suggesting that petitioner had been beaten as a child and that such children tend to develop anti-social personalities. On re-cross-examination, Dr. Potterf admitted that persons with anti-social personalities tend to ignore societal norms and can be dangerous The defense also called (1) one of Leal's former high school teachers, who testified she had counseled him when he was her student, his father had mistreated him and one of his brothers, and she had never felt afraid of him, (2) a 14-year-old friend of Leal Jr., who testified about an incident in which Leal Jr. had saved his life by shoving him out of the way of gunfire, (3) Leal's 14-year-old brother Carlos, who testified that Melissa Ruiz had sent love letters to Leal Jr. a few years before the alleged rape, and (4) Leal's mother, who testified her son began drinking until he passed out about a year and a half ago and requested the jury to be merciful and take pity on him. Leal Jr. took the stand. He testified that although he did not get along with his father, his father had never beaten or hurt him. He said he was sorry Adria had died but felt her family, rather than the jury, should decide his fate. He said he had been a good inmate while awaiting trial, had no criminal record, and was not a violent person. He said he was very drunk on the night of the murder and that while had made mistakes, he was not a murderer. Lastly, Leal said he would most likely be peaceful if sent to prison, but would act to defend himself if he felt threatened. He denied having any gang affiliation. On cross-examination, Leal Jr. insisted he was innocent. Leal Jr. said Adria had scratched him and he pushed her. When he felt something wet on the back of her head, he shook Adria in an unsuccessful attempt to wake her, and he fled in fear when he saw bubbles coming out of her nose. He denied wiping any blood from his car, did anything more to Adria than push her down. He suggested that his father found Adria's blouse in the street and brought it inside the house. Leal Jr. stated that as he was taking Adria from the party, he turned at the end of the street in the opposite direction from the way Adria directed him to go. When Adria tried to get out of his car, he initially refused to stop. He said Adria got out his vehicle and when he tried to take her back to his car, she began hitting, pushing, and scratching his face. Leal Jr. said he left Adria's body fully clothed, along the side of a street, three or four streets from where her body was found. He said any person who could bash in Adria's head, leave a stick inside her, and take a piece of her clothing as a trophy was a violent and dangerous person. He denied raping Melissa Ruiz. After deliberating for less than two hours, the jury unanimously found that Leal Jr. posed a continuing threat to society and that there was no mitigation sufficient to warrant leniency. As such, he was condemned to death. The TDCJ death row notecard for Humberto Leal Jr. During a post-conviction hearing in 2004, Leal's entire family evidently conspired to commit perjury to protect him by attempting to implicate others in the murder that Leal Jr. alone had clearly committed. His sister, Nancy Leal, testified she saw fresh blood on the pants of both "Ralph" and "Paco" and suspected from the reactions of Ralph and Paco that they knew what had happened, Ralph and Paco were burning papers and a lady's purse. She said she did not speak with petitioner's lawyers prior to trial, but told one of her brother's trial attorneys, Jose Guerrero, and the police that she had seen blood on the clothing of the two men. His brother, Gualberto Leal, testified that he and his sister went to the party after Leal Jr. returned home. He said he saw Ralph Guerrero and Juan "Paco" Delgado had the girl's purse and all her stuff. He said the two were burning pictures and other items they had taken from the girl's purse. Paco had blood smeared on his right pants leg at the thigh while Ralph had blood splattered on his left leg at the ankle but neither man had a lot of blood on him. Ralph had attempted to explain the blood on his clothes by claiming he had a bloody nose while Paco attempted to explain away the blood on his clothing by claiming the girl had sat on his leg. Gualberto claimed that he could not read and did not read either of the two statements he signed for police during his interview. He said both he and his brother had been home since five that morning, creating an alibi. His father, Humberto Leal Sr., testified that he routinely washed the outside of the windshield and windows of the car every morning by spraying a water hose on same. He said he used the car for deer hunting about four times and put the deer on or inside his car after he killed and gutted same. Leal Sr. also said he had found a woman's blouse in the street outside his house on the morning in question and put it in the backyard. His wife had then picked up the blouse and put it with other clothes that needed washing. Leal Sr. said he had told Jose Guerrero about finding the blouse, but could not recall whether he told his son's lawyers about his habit of washing off his vehicles. He said he never saw any blood on the blouse. His mother, Francisca Leal, testified that her husband found Adria's blouse outside on the street and threw it into their yard. She said she did not see any blood on it, but put in with other clothes to be washed and had told the police and her son's attorney about the blouse. The court concluded that the testimony wouldn't have changed the outcome of the trial. Other challenges against the sufficiency of the evidence were rejected. Humberto Leal Garcia Jr., 38, was executed by lethal injection at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville on July 7, 2011. His last meal consisted of fried chicken, tacos, fried okra, a bowl of pico de gallo, and two Cokes. After his execution, relatives of Leal Jr. burned a T-shirt with an image of the American flag in protest in Guadalupe, Mexico. To the end, his family maintained that he was innocent. His uncle, Alberto Rodriguez, criticized the United States for executing his nephew and Mexico for not doing enough to save his life. He declared, "There is a God who makes us all pay." But in his final statement, Leal Jr. made a surprise confession: "I am sorry for everything that I have done. I've hurt a lot of people. For years I have never thought that I deserved any type of forgiveness. Lord Jesus Christ in my life, I know He has forgiven me, I have accepted His forgiveness. I have accepted everything. Let this be final and be done. I take the full blame for this. I am sorry and forgive me. I am truly sorry. I ask for forgiveness. Life goes on and it surely does. I am sorry for the victim's family for what I had did. May they forgive me. I don't know if you believe me, life goes on. I am sure it does. To the man to the right of me, I ask for forgiveness for you. Life goes on, it surely does. I ask for forgiveness. I am truly sorry. That is all. Let's get this show on the road. One more thing, Viva Mexico, Viva Mexico." With the exception of Humberto Leal Jr., none of the men who gang raped Adria Sauceda for hours were ever identified. Semen was found inside her and potentially could've identified at least one of the other rapists from the party, but it was never tested. Adria's family was silent about her for years. In 2011, her parents talked about her shortly before the execution of their daughter's murderer. Long-silent family of victim speaks submitted by /u/lightiggy to r/TrueCrimeDiscussion [link] [comments]

EDIT/UPDATE: New post and research at https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1rtd51g/update_i_pulled_irs_filings_for_the_org_that/ Website: https://tboteproject.com Support Findings: https://tboteproject.com/donate/ Repository: https://tboteproject.com/git/hekate/attestation-findings I've been pulling public records on the wave of "age verification" bills moving through US state legislatures. IRS 990 filings, Senate lobbying disclosures, state ethics databases, campaign finance records, corporate registries, WHOIS lookups, Wayback Machine archives. What started as curiosity about who was pushing these bills turned into documenting a coordinated influence operation that, from a privacy standpoint, is building surveillance infrastructure at the operating system level while the company behind it faces zero new requirements for its own platforms. I want to be clear about what this is and isn't. I am not the author of the earlier r/linux post by aaronsb and I'm not affiliated with them. I titled this to draw attention on this subreddit because the privacy implications go well beyond Linux. Every source cited here is a public record. What the bills actually require you to hand over Most reporting on these bills says something vague like "age checks at device setup." The statutory language is more specific and more invasive than that. California AB-1043, signed October 2025 and effective January 1, 2027, defines "Operating system provider" under Section 1798.500(g) as "a person or entity that develops, licenses, or controls the operating system software on a computer, mobile device, or any other general purpose computing device." Every OS provider must then: provide an interface at account setup collecting a birth date or age, and expose a real-time API that broadcasts the user's age bracket (under 13, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18+) to any application running on the system. Read that again. Every app on your device gets to query a system-level API that returns your age bracket in real time. This isn't age verification at the point of accessing restricted content. This is a persistent age-broadcasting service baked into the operating system itself, queryable by every installed application. Colorado SB26-051 (passed the Senate 28-7, now in the House) copies the same definitions in the same order, same penalty structure ($2,500 per child for negligent violations, $7,500 for intentional ones), same exemptions. The template is the ICMEC "Digital Age Assurance Act," and it's been introduced or is pending in Illinois (three separate bills), New York, Kansas, South Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, and at the federal level. New York's S8102A goes further. It requires device manufacturers to perform "commercially reasonable and technically feasible age assurance" at device activation and explicitly bans self-reporting. The AG picks the approved methods. That means biometric age estimation or government ID verification before you can use a device you purchased. Exemptions in all of these bills cover broadband ISPs, telecom services, and physical products. None contain any exemption for open-source software, non-commercial projects, or privacy-preserving verification methods. The status right now: State Bill Status CA AB-1043 Enacted, effective Jan 1, 2027 CO SB26-051 Passed Senate, in House committee LA HB-570 Enacted, effective July 1, 2026 UT SB-142 Enacted, first in nation TX SB-2420 Enjoined by federal judge NY S8102A Pending IL HB-3304, HB-4140, SB-2037 Pending Federal KOSA, ASAA Pending The privacy architecture these bills create What's concerning about these bills is they don't just verify age once. They create persistent identity layer inside the operating system that applications can query at will. The commercial age verification vendors who would provide this infrastructure (Yoti, Veriff, Jumio) charge $0.10 to $2.00 per check, require proprietary SDKs, demand API keys tied to commercial accounts, and operate cloud-only with no self-hosted option. Your age verification data goes to a third-party cloud service. Every time. Compare this to what the EU built. The EU Digital Identity Wallet under eIDAS 2.0 has a reference implementation published under Apache 2.0/EUPL and uses selective disclosure credentials. A user can prove they fall within an age bracket without handing over their date of birth. The EU's Digital Services Act puts age verification obligations on Very Large Online Platforms (45M+ monthly users), not on operating systems. FOSS projects that don't act as intermediary services are explicitly outside scope. Micro and small enterprises get additional exemptions. The EU approach is not without its own problems. The reference code is open, but the operational system is not self-hostable. You cannot run your own trusted identity provider. The wallet apps require Google Play Services or the iOS equivalent, which locks out users of privacy-focused Android distributions like GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, and LineageOS. Device attestation requirements effectively ban rooted or jailbroken devices. The zero-knowledge proof privacy guarantees only hold if you trust that credential issuers and verifiers are not colluding to correlate your activity. ZKP is a cryptographic mechanism, not a trust architecture, and it cannot solve the problem of collusion between parties in the chain. Even with those caveats, the architectural gap between the two approaches is wide. The EU model does not create a persistent age-broadcasting API at the OS level. It does not mandate commercial vendors. It does not force biometric data into a third-party cloud on every check. The US bills assume every operating system is built by a corporation with the infrastructure and revenue to absorb these costs. The EU started from the opposite assumption and built accordingly. EU approach US bills Who's regulated Platforms with 45M+ users FOSS exemption Yes, five separate mechanisms Verification method Open-source wallet, zero-knowledge proofs Cost to non-commercial projects $0 Privacy architecture Selective disclosure, privacy by design Works offline Yes Who wrote the legislation This is where it gets interesting. Rep. Kim Carver (R-Bossier City), the sponsor of Louisiana's HB-570, publicly confirmed that a Meta lobbyist brought the legislative language directly to her. The bill as drafted required only app stores (Apple, Google) to verify user ages. It did not require social media platforms to do anything. Meta deployed 12 lobbyists across 9 confirmed firms for this single bill, paying at least $324,992 (described as a "very conservative estimate"). The confirmed firms include Pelican State Partners (who also lobby for Roblox, letting Meta frame this as "broad industry support" rather than one company's project), Adams and Reese LLP (the #1 ranked Louisiana government affairs firm), and State Capitol Solutions. Nicole Lopez, Meta's Director of Global Litigation Strategy for Youth, testified at the House Commerce Committee in support. She also testified in South Dakota for a similar bill. She's Meta's national point person for these laws. HB-570 passed unanimously at every stage: House 99-0, Senate 39-0. So why did Meta need 12 lobbyists? Because the votes were never the concern. The lobbyists were there to control the text and block amendments. The key amendment battle came from Senator Jay Morris, who expanded the bill to include app developers alongside app stores after Google's senior director of government affairs publicly questioned why "Mark Zuckerberg is so keen on passing these bills." When Morris introduced his amendment, Meta went silent. The conference committee compromise maintained dual responsibility but kept the primary burden on app stores, which is what Meta wanted from the start. At that same Senate hearing, Morris directly questioned DCA Executive Director Casey Stefanski about who funds her organization. She reportedly deflected, said she "wasn't comfortable answering," then under continued pressure admitted tech companies provide funding but refused to name them. The advocacy group that doesn't legally exist The Digital Childhood Alliance presents itself as a coalition of 50+ conservative child safety organizations (later inflated to 140+, though only six have ever been publicly named). It has been testifying in favor of these bills across states. Here is what public records show about its legal status: I searched all four regional extracts of the IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File (eo1 through eo4.csv), which cover every tax-exempt organization registered in the United States. DCA is not there. No EIN exists for this organization. I also searched for incorporation records in Colorado, DC, Delaware, and Virginia, plus OpenCorporates (200M+ companies), ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, GuideStar, and Charity Navigator. No incorporation record exists in any of them. DCA's domain was registered December 18, 2024 through GoDaddy with privacy protection and a four-year registration. The website was live and fully formed one day later: professional design, statistics, testimonials from Heritage Foundation and NCOSE staff, ASAA talking points already loaded. This is not a grassroots launch. This is a staging deployment of a pre-built site. 77 days later, Utah SB-142 became the first ASAA law signed in the country. DCA processes donations through For Good (formerly Network for Good, EIN 68-0480736), which is a Donor Advised Fund. For Good explicitly states in its documentation that it serves "501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations." DCA claims 501(c)(4) status. DCA is classified as a "Project" (ID 258136) in the For Good system, not as a standalone nonprofit. I searched all 59,736 For Good grant recipients across five years, roughly $1.73 billion in disbursements. Zero grants to DCA, DCI, NCOSE, or any related entity. The donation page appears to be cosmetic. Bloomberg reporters exposed Meta as a DCA funder in July 2025. The Deseret News detailed the arrangement in December 2025. No version of the website, across 100+ Wayback Machine snapshots, has ever disclosed funding sources. Every blog post and testimony targets Apple and Google. Meta is never mentioned or criticized. DCA's leadership traces directly to NCOSE (National Center on Sexual Exploitation): Casey Stefanski, Executive Director, spent 10 years at NCOSE as Senior Director of Global Partnerships. Unusually, she never appears on any NCOSE 990 filing as an officer, key employee, or among the five highest-compensated staff. A senior director title at a $5.4M organization for a decade with no 990 appearance suggests either below-threshold compensation, an inflated title, or something else about the arrangement. Dawn Hawkins, DCA's Chair, simultaneously serves as CEO of NCOSE. John Read, DCA's Senior Policy Advisor, spent 30 years at the DOJ Antitrust Division investigating app stores and Big Tech. NCOSE's own 501(c)(4) structure turns out to be complicated. Tracing Schedule R filings across four years reveals that NCOSE created "NCOSE Action" (EIN 86-2458921) as a c4 in 2021, reclassified it from c4 to c3 in 2022, then created an entirely new c4 called "Institute for Public Policy" (EIN 88-1180705) in 2023 with the same address and the same principal officer (Marcel van der Watt). By 2024 the original entity had disappeared from Schedule R entirely. Despite NCOSE's website describing NCOSEAction as "created by NCOSE," and Schedule R listing the Institute as a "controlled organization," all 19 transaction indicators between NCOSE and the Institute are marked "No." No grants, no shared employees, no shared facilities, no reimbursements. Zero reported transactions between a parent and its own controlled c4 while staff move freely between them. Concurrently, NCOSE's lobbying spending tripled from $78,000 to $204,000, coinciding with DCA's launch and the ASAA legislative push. $70M+ in super PACs, deliberately fragmented Meta poured over $70 million into state-level super PACs and structured every one to avoid the FEC's centralized, searchable database: Entity Meta's contribution Type Notable detail ATEP $45M Bipartisan 527 PAC Co-led by Hilltop Public Solutions META California $20M State PAC Chaired by Brian Rice, Meta VP of Public Policy California Leads $5M State PAC Union-partnered Forge the Future Downstream from ATEP State PAC (TX) Policy priorities mirror ASAA language Making Our Tomorrow Downstream from ATEP State PAC (IL) Also chaired by Brian Rice By registering every PAC at the state level rather than federally, Meta scatters filings across dozens of state ethics commission databases with different formats, different disclosure timelines, and no centralized search. Each filing is technically public. Aggregating them into a coherent picture requires manually querying each state. This is structural opacity by fragmentation. Forge the Future's stated policy priorities include: "Empowering parents with oversight of children's online activities across devices and digital environments." That is functionally identical to the ASAA framing. Of 20 Meta-backed candidates across Texas and North Carolina primaries, 19 won (Washington Post, March 12, 2026). The firm that bridges both tracks This is the finding that connects two things I'd been tracking separately. Hilltop Public Solutions, a Democratic consulting firm, shows up in three distinct contexts: Co-leads ATEP, Meta's $45M bipartisan super PAC Involved in DCA's messaging coordination, per investigative reporting Connected to Forge the Future, the downstream Texas PAC with ASAA-aligned policy priorities This makes Hilltop the first confirmed entity bridging Meta's political spending operation and the DCA advocacy campaign. The firm helping Meta elect "tech-friendly" state legislators also coordinates messaging for the nominally independent grassroots organization pushing those legislators to pass ASAA. The dark money network Meta's Colorado lobbying runs through Headwaters Strategies, paid $338,500 since 2019, with monthly payments jumping from roughly $5K/month to $14K-$30K/month starting July 2023 as state-level age verification bills accelerated. Headwaters co-founder Adam Eichberg simultaneously serves as a registered Meta lobbyist in Colorado, as Chair of the Board of the New Venture Fund (the flagship entity of the Arabella Advisors network, $669M revenue), and as founding board member of the Windward Fund (another Arabella entity, $311M revenue). The Arabella network operates four entities from the same building at 1828 L Street NW, Washington DC, with combined annual revenue exceeding $1.3 billion. NVF transfers $121.3M per year to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4) with no donor disclosure requirements. I parsed the IRS Form 990 Schedule I filings across all five Arabella entities. That's 4,433 grants totaling approximately $2.0 billion. I searched for every child safety, age verification, and tech policy organization I could identify. Zero matches. The Schedule I grant pathway is definitively ruled out. If Meta money flows through this network, it would have to travel via fiscal sponsorship, consulting fees, or non-grant payments, which are inherently less transparent. The Eichberg connection matters not because it proves a pipeline, but because the person receiving Meta's lobbying payments chairs the governance structure of the largest anonymous-donor-funded advocacy network in US politics. That structural overlap is documented regardless of whether money moves through it. The company that benefits Meta's own Horizon OS (powering Quest VR headsets) already has Meta Account age verification, a Get Age Category API, Family Center parental controls, Quest Store age ratings, and default minor account protections. I scored Horizon OS at 83% compliance readiness with these mandates. Meta is not opposing these bills. In Colorado, I pulled lobbying records from the Secretary of State's SODA API and found Meta's four registered lobbyists on SB26-051 listed in a "Monitoring" position. Not amending, not opposing. Watching. On every social media regulation bill in Colorado, Meta takes an "Amending" position, actively fighting changes. Across 117 lobbying records on 22 bills: Bills regulating social media: Meta position is "Amending" (fighting) The one bill putting the burden on OS providers: Meta position is "Monitoring" (watching) Meta fights bills that regulate Meta. Meta watches bills that regulate everyone else. In California, Meta spent over $1 million on state lobbying in the first three quarters of 2025 and publicly supported AB-1043, breaking ranks with its own trade associations (TechNet and Chamber of Progress both opposed it). Meta supported a bill that creates surveillance infrastructure at the OS level while leaving social media platforms untouched. Meta's LD-2 filings with the Senate explicitly list H.R. 3149/S. 1586, the App Store Accountability Act, as a lobbied bill. The filing narrative includes "protecting children, bullying prevention and online safety; youth safety and federal parental approval; youth restrictions on social media." In the same filing, Meta also lobbies on KOSA and COPPA 2.0, which would regulate Meta directly. Meta supports the bill that burdens its competitors and lobbies to weaken the bills that burden itself. Both positions appear in the same quarterly disclosure. The privacy questions I've tried to present findings here, not conclusions. But from a privacy standpoint: Why does the company that profits from collecting user data draft legislation requiring every operating system to collect age data and broadcast it to every installed application via a system-level API? Why do these bills mandate commercial age verification vendors (Yoti, Veriff, Jumio) whose business model is collecting biometric data, while the EU's equivalent uses open-source zero-knowledge proofs that reveal nothing beyond "over 18"? Why is there no data minimization requirement in any of these bills for the age verification data itself? AB-1043 creates a persistent age signal API. Who governs what happens to the data flowing through it? Why does Meta fund an advocacy group with no legal existence in the IRS system to push legislation that creates new data collection infrastructure at a layer below Meta's own products, while Meta faces zero new requirements? Why does the company whose lobbyist drafted one of these bills write it to specifically exclude social media platforms from the age verification mandate? If the goal is child safety, why regulate the operating system, which has no direct contact with children, instead of the social media platforms where the documented harm occurs? What you can do If you're in CO, IL, or NY, these bills are still in committee. Comment on the record. System76's CEO met with the Colorado bill's sponsor on March 9 and the sponsor suggested excluding open-source software. The conversation is happening now. Contact the EFF, FSF, and Software Freedom Conservancy with the specific statutory language and compliance gap numbers. They need to know these definitions cover volunteer-maintained software with no exemption. Read the actual bill text. CA AB-1043 is searchable on leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. CO SB26-051 is on leg.colorado.gov. The definitions are what matter, not the news summaries. If you maintain software that could be classified as an "operating system provider" under these definitions, start thinking about your response now. CA AB-1043 takes effect January 1, 2027. Louisiana HB-570 takes effect July 1, 2026. Sources (all public records) Bill text: CA AB-1043 (Chapter 675, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov), CO SB26-051 (leg.colorado.gov), LA HB-570 Act 481 of 2025 (legis.la.gov), NY S8102A (nysenate.gov), TX SB-2420, UT SB-142 (le.utah.gov) Federal lobbying: OpenSecrets Meta profile (opensecrets.org, client ID D000033563), Senate LDA filing UUID b73445ed-15e5-42e7-a1e8-aeb224755267 Colorado lobbying: CO Secretary of State SODA API (data.colorado.gov, datasets vp65-spyn, dxfk-9ifj, df5p-p6jt) Louisiana lobbying: LA Board of Ethics, F Minus database (fminus.org/clients/pelican-state-partners-llc/, fminus.org/clients/meta-platforms-inc/) California lobbying: CalAccess (cal-access.sos.ca.gov), Bloomberg Government Super PACs: Forge the Future (texasforgefuturepac.com), Texas Ethics Commission, Illinois State Board of Elections, Politico (Feb 2, 2026), Washington Post (Mar 12, 2026) DCA records: WHOIS/RDAP (rdap.org), Wayback Machine CDX API (100+ snapshots), IRS EO BMF (eo1-eo4.csv), OpenCorporates, ProPublica, GuideStar NCOSE: IRS Form 990 FY2020-FY2024 including Schedule R; NCOSEAction/Institute for Public Policy (EIN 88-1180705); original NCOSE Action (EIN 86-2458921) via Schedule R history For Good/Network for Good: forgood.org, DCA donation page source (targetable_type=Project, targetable_id=258136), For Good 990s via ProPublica (EIN 68-0480736, 59,736 recipients searched) IRS 990 filings: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: NVF (EIN 20-5806345), STF 2024 (sixteenthirtyfund.org), DCI (EIN 39-3684798), Windward, Hopewell, North Fund, NCOSE (EIN 13-2608326), ConnectSafely (EIN 47-3168168) Campaign finance: CO TRACER bulk data (tracer.sos.colorado.gov), FollowTheMoney.org, FEC API (Meta PAC C00502906) Reporting: Bloomberg (July 2025), Deseret News (Dec 2025), The Center Square, ACT | The App Association, Dome Politics, Pluribus News, Nola.com, Privacy Daily EU framework: EUR-Lex (Digital Services Act, eIDAS 2.0 Regulation), EUDIW GitHub repository, T-Scy consortium Technical: freedesktop.org, GNOME/KDE documentation, Meta developer docs (developer.meta.com/horizon) Full dataset, OSINT tasklist, and all processed findings are published with sources embedded in each file: github.com/upper-up/meta-lobbying-and-other-findings This is an ongoing investigation. Pending: Texas Ethics Commission records for Forge the Future expenditure recipients, NCOSEAction's first 990 filing, IRS Form 8872 for ATEP, and FOIA responses from Colorado and Louisiana. If you have access to lobbying data from states I haven't covered (IL, NY, UT, GA), I'd appreciate a heads up. I am not claiming Meta wrote every one of these bills. Louisiana is confirmed by the sponsor; the others use a shared ICMEC template. I am not claiming there is a direct Arabella-to-DCA funding pipeline; I checked $2 billion in grants and found no evidence. I am not claiming child safety isn't a legitimate concern. What I am documenting is: the company whose lobbyist drafted HB-570 wrote it to exclude its own platforms; the advocacy group pushing these bills nationally has no legal existence and is confirmed funded by Meta; the same consulting firm bridges Meta's super PAC and DCA's messaging; none of these bills exempt open-source or non-commercial software while the EU equivalent does; and the mandatory age-signal API creates persistent surveillance infrastructure at the OS level with no data minimization requirements. The records are above. Draw your own conclusions. This section documents what happened when this investigation was posted to Reddit, and provides context on Meta's documented history of using astroturfing, coordinated reporting, and platform manipulation to suppress unfavorable content. What happened The original version of this investigation was posted to r/linux, where it was mass reported and pulled down pending moderator review (150 upvotes, roughly 15k views before being pulled down some 40 minutes after being posted) The content that was suppressed names Meta lobbying firms, traces documented payments, cites Senate LD-2 filings, and links to IRS records. It identifies Hilltop Public Solutions as the first confirmed entity bridging Meta's $45M super PAC and the DCA astroturf campaign. This is the kind of content that a well-resourced actor would have reason to suppress. I cannot prove the mass reports were coordinated rather than organic. That is the point of the tactic: Reddit's infrastructure makes it impossible to distinguish genuine community objections from manufactured ones, and it rewards the behavior either way by automatically removing the content. Meta has done this before In March 2022, the Washington Post reported that Meta hired Targeted Victory, one of the largest Republican consulting firms in the country, to run a nationwide astroturfing campaign against TikTok. Internal emails obtained by the Post showed the campaign: Placed op-eds and letters to the editor in regional news outlets across the country, none of which disclosed the connection to Meta or Targeted Victory Promoted stories about dangerous TikTok "trends" that had actually originated on Facebook Pushed local politicians and political reporters to frame TikTok as a threat to children In an internal email, a campaign director wrote that the "dream would be to get stories with headlines like 'From dances to danger: how TikTok has become the most harmful social media space for kids'" Meta's spokesman defended the campaign by saying "all platforms should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success." Meta did not deny hiring the firm or directing the campaign. The story was confirmed by the Washington Post, Fortune, Variety, CBS News, Engadget, Tortoise Media, the Boston Globe, and Techdirt, among others. This is not speculation about what Meta might do. This is what Meta has been publicly documented doing: hiring firms to plant stories, manufacture public concern about competitors using child safety as the framing, and conceal the corporate origin of the messaging. The Targeted Victory campaign and the DCA campaign use the same playbook: fund an outside entity to push messaging that serves Meta's commercial interests while hiding Meta's involvement. Reddit's bot and astroturfing problem is structural Research published in Nature (Scientific Reports) documented coordinated political astroturfing patterns across platforms including Reddit. A separate study found that at least 15% of content in surveyed subreddits was posted by corporate trolls or bot accounts designed to manipulate public opinion. Since June 2025, bot networks have been systematically exploiting Reddit and Meta's own moderation systems through mass reporting. Thousands of legitimate Facebook groups were deleted after coordinated bot reports triggered automated enforcement. The same mass-reporting tactic works on Reddit: a small number of accounts can file reports, trigger automated removal, and flag the poster's account for site-wide spam filtering, all without engaging with the content. Venture-backed firms like Doublespeed now offer astroturfing-as-a-service across Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram, operating physical phone farms to bypass platform detection. The infrastructure for suppressing content through coordinated inauthentic behavior is commercially available. What this means for this investigation Meta spent $26.3 million on federal lobbying in 2025 and deployed 86+ lobbyists across 45 states. It funded a nationally active advocacy group (DCA) with no legal existence in the IRS system. It hired Hilltop Public Solutions to simultaneously run its $45M super PAC and coordinate DCA's messaging. It previously hired Targeted Victory to run a covert astroturfing campaign against TikTok using child safety as the narrative frame. This investigation documents all of that with primary sources. A post containing those findings was mass reported on Reddit within hours and suppressed site-wide by automated systems. Whether the reports were organic or coordinated, the outcome is the same: the content was removed from the platform where Meta has both the motive and the documented capability to suppress it. The research is published in a git repository with every source embedded. It does not depend on Reddit's infrastructure to survive. Sources Washington Post, "Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok" (March 30, 2022): https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/facebook-tiktok-targeted-victory/ Fortune, "Meta paid a Republican consulting firm to turn the public against TikTok" (March 31, 2022): https://fortune.com/2022/03/31/facebook-meta-paid-republican-consulting-firm-targeted-victory-turn-public-opinion-against-tiktok/ Variety, "Facebook Parent Company Defends Its PR Campaign to Portray TikTok as Threat to American Children" (March 31, 2022): https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/meta-facebook-tiktok-pr-campaign-1235218866/ Techdirt, "Facebook-Hired PR Firm Coordinated Anti-TikTok Campaign To Spread Bogus Moral Panics" (March 31, 2022): https://www.techdirt.com/2022/03/31/facebook-hired-pr-firm-coordinated-anti-tiktok-campaign-to-spread-bogus-moral-panics/ Tortoise Media, "Meta 'astroturfed' TikTok" (April 5, 2022): https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2022/04/05/meta-astroturfed-tiktok CBS News, "Report: Facebook Hired PR Firm To Smear TikTok": https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/report-facebook-hired-pr-firm-to-smear-tiktok/ Engadget, "Meta reportedly paid political consultants to smear TikTok": https://www.engadget.com/meta-targeted-victory-tiktok-smear-campaign-133139892.html Boston Globe, "Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok, internal e-mails reveal" (March 30, 2022): https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/30/business/facebook-paid-gop-firm-malign-tiktok-internal-e-mails-reveal/ Georgetown Free Speech Project, "Facebook hires GOP consulting firm to smear rival TikTok": https://freespeechproject.georgetown.edu/tracker-entries/facebook-hires-gop-consulting-firm-in-dc-area-to-smear-rival-tiktok/ Nature Scientific Reports, "Coordination patterns reveal online political astroturfing across the world" (2022): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-08404-9 Medium/HR News, "Study: At Least 15% of All Reddit Content is Corporate Trolls": https://medium.com/@hrnews1/study-at-least-15-of-all-reddit-content-is-corporate-trolls-trying-to-manipulate-public-opinion-49cb302c26a5 TechCrunch, "Facebook Group admins complain of mass bans" (June 24, 2025): https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/24/facebook-group-admins-complain-of-mass-bans-meta-says-its-fixing-the-problem/ YNet News, "Public opinion for sale: The new startup causing a storm" (Doublespeed): https://www.ynetnews.com/tech-and-digital/article/hyraenbmzx Meta Transparency Center, "Inauthentic Behavior" policy: https://transparency.meta.com/policies/community-standards/inauthentic-behavior/ The Hacker News, "Meta Disrupts Influence Ops Targeting Romania, Azerbaijan, and Taiwan" (May 2025): https://thehackernews.com/2025/05/meta-disrupts-influence-ops-targeting.html submitted by /u/Ok_Lingonberry3296 to r/linux [link] [comments]

The American Flag outside the post office in Fountain Inn SC flying upside down (pictures taken a few minutes ago) Employee inside said the flag is “broken” and it has been line that for over a week, even though the flag is clearly clipped on the pole this way. submitted by /u/Acceptable-Agent-428 to r/greenville [link] [comments]