Thomas Royko

Owner of a software consultancy. Full stack developer & programming polyglot. Computational Linguistics. Contract CTO services.

[Thomas Royko @ThomasRoyko]

When Ohio enshrined the right to citizen ballot initiative in it's 1912 Constitutional Convention, the "Great Commoner" William Jennings Bryan spoke vociferously for its passage. Listen to his speech🔊.

#VoteNoOnIssue1
#VoteNoinAugust

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

‼️ Google is about to disable all adblocker extensions in Chrome. Instead of letting the adblocker inspect traffic itself, extensions now have to hand Google's browser a limited list of filtering rules and hope for the best. This leads to weaker blocking and more ads getting through.

Google makes the vast majority of its money selling ads. The company that profits from every ad you see also controls the browser most people use, with Chrome 149 being the last version supporting adblockers.

For example, under the new rules, uBlock Origin cannot exist. For millions of people, that extension is the only thing standing between them and a wall of ads, trackers, and autoplay garbage. One user put it bluntly: "The web is literally unusable without uBlock Origin."

[Shire Propagandist @ShirePropaganda]

Can't vote your way out, can't sign a petition, can't protest for change. All just gets shoved aside "sorry, the process says he's as native as you and, in fact, deserves more". These people have no answer for the disenfranchised, and are somehow shocked when it comes to this.

[bumbadum @bumbadum14]

Illegals were getting 2% interest rate covid FHA mortgages with 0 down payment backed by the US Government.

Thats why we cant afford a fucking house.

[Reverend Jordan Wells @WellsJorda89710]

We have lost our minds.

A jury convicted Karmelo Anthony of murder for stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf to death. Evidence was presented. Witnesses testified. Self-defense was rejected. He got 35 years.
That’s not a “legal lynching.” That’s justice.

Crying racism because the killer is Black and the victim was White doesn’t change the facts: actions have consequences.
Austin is dead. His family grieves. The system worked.

Stop excusing violence.
#JusticeForAustin #RuleOfLaw #NoMoreExcuses

[Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol]

🚨WOW!!!

A plant manager in South Carolina who had his business raided by ICE says the entire production line is now, "A GHOST TOWN" and no one is showing up to work anymore.

"We went from having 100 employees to 24, it's sad."

He says illegal immigrant women were trying to climb IN THE ROOF RAFTERS to hide from ICE.

In all, 48 illegal immigrants were detained + 2 of the American employers who are charged with stealing the identity of REAL Americans to forge work documents for nearly 50 illegal immigrants.

[Chancy Luck @chancy_luck]

Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa just announced that the state will outsource the IT operations of approximately 200 state employees to Cognizant.

Cognizant is classified by the Department of Labor as H-1B-dependent, meaning more than 15% of its U.S workforce holds H-1B visas.

The majority of Cognizant employees are based in India.

[Chancy Luck @chancy_luck]

Holy smokes, the DHS appropriations bill would increase the total effective cap for H-2B from 66,000 to an estimated 252,342.

They're increasing the flow of cheap visa labor into a collapsing job market.

[Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes]

McDonald’s is testing new drive thru AI technology that has facial recognition that can recognize you when you pull up

They are also equipped with license plate readers

The demo shows future capabilities like facial and license plate recognition to greet repeat customers by name and recall “usual” orders

This isn’t just a concept, it’s live and being used right now

It’s testing at 5 U.S. locations right now and has already processed over 1 million transactions, with 90% handled completely without human intervention

I don’t want McDonald’s to have my biometric and license plate data

[El Gallo @gallo_ohio]

Former Ohio Congressional candidate Carl Setzer delivered a masterclass testimony against data centers on June 1.

A clip:

[Vivek Sen @Vivek4real_]

WEF EXECUTIVE: “WATER, SOIL, AND OXYGEN SHOULD NOT BE INFINITELY ACCESSIBLE. THEY’RE ASSETS THAT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN OUR GLOBAL ECONOMIC BALANCE SHEETS.”

THEY WANT TO MONETIZE BREATHING...

AND CHARGE YOU FOR AIR WHILE THEY OWN YOUR LUNGS?

THIS ISN’T A CONSPIRACY THEORY ANYMORE.

[Kevin → Plant Daddy @KevinEspiritu]

Today I traveled to a small mountain town in Japan to learn a dying art (literally): natural indigo dyeing...

Most "indigo" today is synthetically derived. A chemically identical blue molecule, brewed in a factory from petroleum, reduced with industrial chemicals...

It's MUCH cheaper than natural indigo and you're probably wearing it right now in your pair of jeans.

Natural indigo is something else. It's aliiiiive...

The dye starts in the leaves of the indigo plant as a colorless compound called indican. The leaves get composted and fermented for months into a dark mass called sukumo

That goes into a vat with wood ash, wheat bran, sometimes sake. The ash makes the solution highly alkaline and bran and sake feeds it. Why? The vat is a living culture. Microbes do the work that factories do with chemicals...

I decided to attempt a "double gradient" with a nice cut of of cotton cloth. First, I hooked it to a wooden contraption that allowed me to dip it evenly into the solution...

I dipped and pulled it out and it wasn't blue. It was green. In the vat the indigo is in its dissolved form, "white indigo," and it comes out looking yellow-green...

Then you rinse off the solution and in a few seconds, the green crawls into blue right in front of you. That's oxygen bonding to the molecule and turning it back to true indigo, now locked into the fibers

Dip. Rinse, Oxidize, Repeat. Each cycle goes darker. I dipped each side 7 times, carefully planning the dip length and depth to create a beautiful gradient effect

It came out amazing for my first attempt and more importantly I learned yet another amazing process that's slowly being lost to the sands of time

[nazzo @nazzobetweeting]

so let me get this straight:

-soccer counts as brazilian/argentine culture, basketball counts as serbian/lithuanian culture, hockey counts as canadian/swedish/finnish culture, rugby counts as NZ/UK culture, but baseball and american football and college sports/march madness cannot POSSIBLY count as american culture?

-afternoon tea is british culture, masala chai is indian culture, espresso is italian culture, turkish tea/coffee is turkish culture, but iced coffee (and sweet tea down south) doesn’t count as american culture?

-telenovelas are part of latino cultures, bollywood is part of indian culture, but hollywood cannot count as american culture?

-kpop is korean culture, jpop is japanese culture, but boy bands (which literally originated in the US) don’t count as american culture?

-wine is part of italian/french culture, beer is part of czech culture, vodka is part of russian/polish culture, but cocktails and soeakeasies aren’t american culture?

-kilts are scottish culture, saris are indian culture, but blue jeans and cowboy boots don’t count as being american culture?

-italy can be respected for having varying regional cuisines throughout the country EVEN IF 85% of it is just different variations of PASTA but the fact that louisiana cajun and creole food is entirely distinct from NE lobster rolls and tex-mex and jersey italian american cuisine and southern biscuits and gravy etc still doesn’t count as america having regional cuisine ?

-maori history counts for NZ, aboriginal history counts for australia, but native american history doesn’t count for the US?

-quinceañeras are latin american culture but sweet 16s aren’t american culture?

i could go on for ages but this is already too long for twitter. i’m tired of this conversation! EVERYWHERE HAS CULTURE! even if you don’t like it!

[Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol]

🚨WHAT ON EARTH?!!!

A Catholic church in Columbus, OH had to SHUT DOWN its annual FAMILY FESTIVAL because a mob of "teens" turned it into a brawl.

Teens began punching each other and then ROBBED A CVS before they began jumping on cars to escape.

Over 10 people were arrested and 100+ cop cars from TWO DEPARTMENTS showed up.

This was a CHURCH fundraiser THAT WAS PLANNED ALL YEAR LONG FOR THE COMMUNITY!!!!!!!

A family event with carnival rides to support St. Catharine Parish and its SCHOOL.

And now?

The church has CANCELED the ENTIRE FESTIVAL for the rest of 2026.

A fundraiser for a Catholic school... GONE.

Because a mob of "teens" destroyed it and made it unsafe for everyone.

WE DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS!!!!!!!

[Leading Report @LeadingReport]

Up to 90% of India’s H1B visa applications contain fraudulent information or involve unqualified applicants, a former official tells Newsweek.

[Project for Immigration Reform @PFIRorg]

Fun fact: @USCIS does not verify whether a college degree is legitimate when an applicant applies for an H-1B visa.

[Amy Nixon @texasrunnerDFW]

During a severe national housing affordability crisis, US banks issued risky loans to foreign buyers moving to America on temporary work visas

Then policy shifted and the tech job market turned

The end result, detailed in the New York Post:

[Thomas Royko @ThomasRoyko]

@EdwardTWinz This can lead to denaturalizing immigrants too I believe.

[🇺🇸 Edward T. Winslow @EdwardTWinz]

🚨 stop scrolling.. do you understand what this fake degree ring actually means to your life..

because most people only think about visa fraud as a paperwork problem..

those 100,000 seized certificates weren't for desk jobs.. they were for medicine.. nursing.. engineering.. IT.. fields where a fake credential doesn't just steal a job.. it puts someone in a hospital treating your family..

and here's the part nobody's connecting..

100,000 seized is 10% of the estimated total.. 900,000 fake degrees are still out there.. attached to real people.. working real jobs.. inside real companies and real hospitals that verified nothing..

a former US consular officer who processed 51,000 H-1B applications in Chennai said 80 to 90% of the applicants she saw used fraudulent documentation..

a 2008 USCIS audit found more than 13% of already-approved H-1Bs were fraudulent..

that was 18 years ago.. the program kept running..

Manav Bharti University sold 36,025 fake degrees while issuing only 5,455 real ones.. this has been running since at least 2010..

this isn't a printer in a back room.. it's a supply chain.. fake seals.. fake holograms.. fake transcripts.. 22 universities.. multiple states.. an estimated 1 million documents worldwide..

your doctor might have one of these degrees..

the system worked for the forgers.. just not for you.

I'll keep you updated. Turn on notifications. 🚨

[Thomas Royko @ThomasRoyko]

@mattvanswol I'm glad I didn't end up going to it. I totally forgot that the festival was today.

[The Global Letter @TGLetter]

INDIA JUST PUBLISHED THE EXACT LIST OF WHAT THEY WERE SELLING TO GET INTO AMERICAN WORKPLACES

Not vague fraud. Not "some bad actors." NAMED CREDENTIALS. SPECIFIC INSTITUTIONS. Field by field.

🇮🇳 Medicine — fake medical degrees sold to applicants seeking hospital jobs in the US, UK, France, and Canada
🇮🇳 Nursing — counterfeit nursing certificates with fake seals, fake holograms, fake registrar signatures
🇮🇳 Engineering — forged engineering credentials specifically engineered to pass employer verification
🇮🇳 One institution — 36,025 fake degrees sold while awarding only 5,455 real ones
🇮🇳 Price per fake credential — as little as $1,400
🇮🇳 Total seized — 100,000+ counterfeit certificates from 22 universities
🇮🇳 Suspects arrested — 11, across multiple Indian states
🇮🇳 Estimated fakes still in circulation — 1,000,000
🇮🇳 H-1B approvals going to Indian nationals — 71% of all approvals in FY2024
🇮🇳 H-1B holders who ended up in junior or entry-level positions — 83% during Biden's term

💀 11 arrests
💀 22 universities implicated
💀 ZERO of the credentials targeted military bases or government facilities
💀 100% civilian workforce infiltration — hospitals, engineering firms, tech companies

Every credential on this list was designed to place someone in a job that requires skills they never actually proved they had. Not contractors. WORKERS IN AMERICAN WORKPLACES.

Ken Paxton's investigation is still running. These are the credentials it was built to find.

I'll keep you updated. Turn on notifications. 🚨