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Beto O'Rourke's Secret Membership in America's Oldest Hacking Group (reuters.com)
One thing you might not know about Beto O'Rourke, the former Texas congressman who just entered the race for president is that while a teenager, O'Rourke acknowledged in an exclusive interview to Reuters, he belonged to the oldest group of computer hackers in U.S. history. From the report: The hugely influential Cult of the Dead Cow, jokingly named after an abandoned Texas slaughterhouse, is notorious for releasing tools that allowed ordinary people to hack computers running Microsoft's Windows. It's also known for inventing the word "hacktivism" to describe human-rights-driven security work.
Members of the group have protected O'Rourke's secret for decades, reluctant to compromise his political viability. Now, in a series of interviews, CDC members have acknowledged O'Rourke as one of their own. Slashdot interviewed members of the Cult of the Cow in 1999 -- which gave bizarre answers.
Members of the group have protected O'Rourke's secret for decades, reluctant to compromise his political viability. Now, in a series of interviews, CDC members have acknowledged O'Rourke as one of their own. Slashdot interviewed members of the Cult of the Cow in 1999 -- which gave bizarre answers.
On this alone. The last Presidential race was a shit show of insane proportions (I voted, but not Dem/Repub).
First post?
BlameBillCosby.com
And the oppositie just gained a butt-load of ammunition. Most of the population doesn't know what hacktivism is and would just hear "hacker" and think "criminal". Although, considering the choices last race that might not be that bad for him.
If he was a Republican, you'd be hearing:
- He's the son of a judge
- Went to boarding school
- Dodged burglary and DUI charges
- He married into a Billionaire family
But he's a Democrat, so nothing matters. Different standards. It's so important that he be judged by different standards the media won't even give you the information you need to make any other judgement.
Oh great he's a Window's guy... No way I can vote for him now...
and his thoughtful and nuanced policy positions
What exactly are those? I went to his website https://betoorourke.com/ which contains absolutely nothing on his positions. There are only links to a store (one of which is placed prominently), applying for a job in his campaign, and a donating to his campaign. Is this serious?
This guy isn't exactly giving me a reason to even consider him as a serious candidate. Also, he couldn't even beat the Zodiac killer so by the transitive property of politics that I've just invented, he wouldn't unseat Trump, so I'm not interested.
And our (Virginia) Lt. Governor is credibly accused of forcing a woman down to suck his dick and the same people who wanted to all but literally nail Roy Moore (Republican) to a literal cross over accusations are shrieking "due process!!11!" or trying to just pretend there's no reason to even investigate.
Between this, skateboarding as an adult, and his thoughtful and nuanced policy positions I think this Beto guy is pretty good.
Being a Texas voter who was paying attention to his policy positions as he lost to Cruz, I can tell you his positions may be nuanced, but they are NOT thoughtful. What they are is focus group tested, trite policy statements which when you press them are really just a mishmash of liberal talking points. Once he gets off his stump speech scripts, he totally breaks down on content, so if you press him on details, he doesn't have them to give... Or more to the point, won't actually be pinned down on the details, because the devil is in the details and there is no way it works when you start talking detail.
However, Beto.. AkA Robert... Does have a stage presence that is hard to match. He comes across as a natural on stage, plays to the audience well, looks good and knows how to give a speech. Reminds me of Dan Quale. He will appeal to the young crowd with his hobbies and stuff, but where the trappings are good, the substance is kind of bland.
However, the issue here is will he win the primary. I think the answer is no, not this time around. I see him finishing up at best #3, behind Sanders and Biden, but I'll not be surprised he's out long before the likes of Warren and Harris. So Beto is in this for 2024, everybody knows he's not got a prayer in 2020.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Finally someone who might get technology. On that alone, I'd give him a chance FFS... instead of being stuck with the pontificating tribe elders who only see a 'series-of-tubes'.
He is just about as Latin as tuna casserole.
The word "tuna" actually derives from the Spanish word "atún". And, while it's the wrong latin, casserole does have Latin etymology.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Look at the quotes from his speech yesterday. He was off script and sounded exactly like Trump.
Seth Meyer even read his transcript in Trump's voice: https://youtu.be/CuXlBSuQbMo?t...
So you're saying that Beto is eminently electable for 2020?
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
The September 1999 cover story for the late, great Boardwatch Magazine was my interview with Sir Dystic, which took place at the house in the Oakland Hills he shared with a half-dozen other members of the Cult of the Dead Cow.
Note that the link points to my own website, because no other web archive of the magazine from that period exists, afaik. But here's the Caltech Library citation for the article, in case you have any doubts about its provenance ...
Check out my novel.
He wasn't a "hacker," he joined an underground BBS group that was into writing morbid, bloody, and offensive fiction. And sharing pirated games. The group was named the Cult of the Dead Cow. It was just a writing club.
Then a couple decades much later, one of the people from that group released Back Oriface, so they got associated with hacking/cracking. But that has absolutely nothing to do with this guy.