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No to DNC/UBI, GOP omnibus bills, or Musk's BTC party. Yes to pro-America tariffs & building a self-reliant economy.

Signal Chat’s Group Verification Blind Spot
Think of verification (V) as a required security check (like that special handshake) between any two members in a secure chat.
1. One-on-One Chat: Let the chat be just between Alice and Bob. The set is S = {Alice, Bob}. Signal provides the mechanism (Safety Numbers) for Alice to verify Bob (V(Alice, Bob)) and for Bob to verify Alice (V(Bob, Alice)). For full trust, this verification should happen. Signal makes it possible and encourages it for this single pair (Alice, Bob).
2. Group Chat (Signal’s Current Design): Let the group be the set G = {Alice, Bob, Charlie, … N}. Signal allows Alice to individually verify Bob (V(Alice, Bob)), or Alice to verify Charlie (V(Alice, Charlie)), and so on for any pair, optionally. Crucially: The group chat works even if these verifications haven’t happened. Alice can be in the group and talk to Bob and Charlie without the system forcing her to verify them, and without them having to verify her using the Safety Number check.
3. Ideal Group Chat (Logical Requirement): Let the group be the set G = {Alice, Bob, Charlie, … N}. For this group G to have the same fundamental identity assurance as a verified chat between just Alice and Bob, the system design should require or enforce that verification V exists between all relevant pairs within the group. This means: For Alice to securely participate, the system should ensure that V(Alice, Bob), V(Alice, Charlie), and V(Alice, Y) for all other members Y in the group G are established (or at least flagged clearly if not). The same should apply to Bob verifying everyone else, Charlie verifying everyone else, and so on. Think of it like needing a “complete graph” of verification: Alice is securely linked to Bob, Alice to Charlie, Bob to Charlie, and so on for every pair.
The baffling point is: Signal built the tool for Alice to verify Bob (V(Alice, Bob)), but didn’t make establishing these verification links across the entire group (G) a mandatory prerequisite for group operation. It treated security within the group G as a collection of optional one-on-one checks rather than a fundamental, required property of the group itself.

Originally Posted on 𝕏 on April 19, 2025
David Gross
Follow me at https://x.com/dgapps and https://davidgrossapps.com
June 20, 2025
The MADC ‘Defense Pact’: A Playbook for Evading Accountability
Universities, nudged by faculty groups and unions primarily within the Big Ten, are floating a plan for a “Mutual Academic Defense Compact” (MADC). The idea is to create an alliance where member schools pool resources to defend each other against what they term “political attacks.” While presented as a shield for academic freedom and institutional autonomy, the MADC looks more like a coordinated strategy to sidestep accountability to elected governments, taxpayers, and the public, particularly regarding controversial programs and policies.

Breaking Down the Goals: A Pattern of Evasion

Examining the stated aims reveals a consistent thread of trying to avoid oversight and consequences:
1. “Collective Defense”: This isn’t about protection in the usual sense. It’s about creating a shared war chest—funded by tuition, endowments, or potentially taxpayer money—to fight back against governmental investigations, audits, or legislative actions. It’s a mechanism designed explicitly to resist accountability measures imposed by elected bodies.
2. “Resisting Political Interference”: This frequently serves as code for resisting laws, regulations, and oversight that university administrations or faculty dislike. It suggests an attempt to operate outside the normal democratic process where institutions are subject to political (i.e., governmental) direction, especially public universities. Shielding specific research agendas or programs, like contested DEI initiatives, from scrutiny under the guise of fighting “interference” is a direct dodge of public and governmental accountability.
3. “Protect Academic Freedom”: While crucial, this principle can be misused. In the context of the MADC, there’s a risk it becomes a justification for insulating specific, often left-leaning, ideological viewpoints or controversial scholarship from legitimate criticism and external review, thereby evading intellectual and public accountability.
4. “Support Vulnerable Communities / Uphold DEI”: The push to use pact resources to defend DEI programs is particularly telling. These programs face significant legal challenges and public criticism as discriminatory, promoting division, and chilling speech. The MADC aims to provide a financial and legal shield to prevent these programs from facing accountability through courts or legislatures, essentially using collective power to protect contested initiatives from consequences.
5. “Mitigate Financial Pressure”: This goal is perhaps the most blatant attempt to avoid accountability. If a university faces funding cuts due to legislative decisions, declining enrollment, or public disapproval of its policies, the MADC seeks to use funds from other (potentially out-of-state) universities to cushion the blow. This undermines the basic principle that institutions should be accountable for the consequences of their actions and policies, including financial ones.
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June 20, 2025
Ethereum Classic on Coinbase: Seriously? Let’s Talk About That Hash Rate and the 2020 Ownage.
Forget the deep history lesson. Let’s talk about the here and now, and the flashing red warning light whenever Ethereum Classic (ETC) pops up on major exchanges like Coinbase: its security is fundamentally shaky.

Why? It boils down to one critical factor in Proof-of-Work cryptocurrencies: Hash Rate.

Hash Rate = Security (or Lack Thereof)

Think of hash rate as the total computing power protecting the network. Miners use this power to validate transactions and add blocks to the chain.
- High Hash Rate (like Bitcoin): Makes it incredibly expensive and difficult for anyone to gain 51% control and attack the network (e.g., reverse transactions, double-spend coins).
- Low Hash Rate (like ETC): Makes it comparatively cheap and easy for attackers to rent enough computing power to overwhelm the network and launch a 51% attack.
And with ETC, this isn’t just some abstract threat. It’s a documented reality. Remember August 2020? Ethereum Classic didn’t just get 51% attacked once – it happened three times within that single month. Yes, you read that right. Attackers repeatedly gained majority control, reorganized thousands of blocks, and successfully double-spent millions of dollars worth of ETC. The very ledger that’s supposed to be immutable got forcibly rewritten, not just once, but again and again in rapid succession. It got owned. Publicly and embarrassingly.
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June 20, 2025
Okay, Let’s Actually Fix Immigration: Apps, Accountability, and Opportunity

So, the U.S. has this ongoing challenge with lots of people crossing the border illegally. We need to get a handle on it, but we also want America to stay strong, prosperous, and basically open to folks who want to be here the right way. People act like this is rocket science, but honestly? A practical fix using tech we already have isn’t that far-fetched.

Using Apps for Smarter Immigration (It’s Just Common Sense)

Apps can help manage the whole immigration process, keep track of people, and make communication way easier. This isn’t about slamming the door shut; it’s about having a system that actually works and is fair.

Two Lanes: Handling Things Fairly but Firmly

The main idea here is to treat people differently based on their record:

1. Folks Just Looking for a Shot (Non-Violent): Let’s be real, a lot of people come here illegally just wanting a better life. That drive is kind of what America’s built on, right? If someone hasn’t committed violent crimes, let’s be decent about it.

* Get the Paperwork Started: Let them start the *legal* application process, maybe even while they’re still here. If it looks like they’ll probably get approved anyway, why go through the whole drama and expense of deporting them just to have them apply from outside? Let technology help manage their case.

* Managed Transition (If Deportation is Necessary): Okay, if deportation is required by the rules for non-violent folks, the process itself needs to be respectful. Crucially, this isn’t about just ‘dumping’ them and forgetting about it. The U.S. still has a responsibility to manage this transition properly. The idea is to handle their departure in a way that still keeps the possibility of legal return clearly defined and accessible. We should leverage technology (like that app we talked about) to provide them with clear information before and after departure on exactly how they can apply legally from abroad and track requirements. Think of it as respectfully managing their exit while keeping the lines open and providing the tools for a legal comeback if they qualify down the road. We need to keep tabs on their potential re-application status through the system. And importantly, even after they’ve left, there needs to be a dedicated 1-800 emergency hotline they can call if they face a serious crisis overseas. This provides a crucial safety net.
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June 20, 2025
A “Manhattan Project” for Measles Detection: Our Urgent Non-Invasive Moonshot

Measles is back, spreading rapidly through communities where vaccination isn’t universal. Relying solely on traditional methods while facing deep public distrust presents an immense challenge. We need a bold, new approach – a focused, massive scientific undertaking akin to the Manhattan Project, dedicated *now* to developing cutting-edge, non-invasive technologies purely for *detecting and warning* against this airborne threat. This is not about altering bodies; it’s about illuminating the invisible danger.

Priority 1: Nationwide Atmospheric Viral Surveillance

Imagine a national crash program to deploy hyper-sensitive sensors across all critical public infrastructure – schools, transit, hospitals, community centers. These sensors wouldn’t be simple air monitors; they’d be the result of a concentrated scientific push to detect the specific airborne signature of the measles virus with unprecedented speed and accuracy.

* The Mission: Instantly identify *where* the virus is present in the air. The system wouldn’t neutralize, only detect and report. Data would feed into immediate public alerts via screens, apps, and emergency broadcasts (“Warning: Measles virus detected at [Location]. Advised precautions: High-filtration mask, avoid area if possible.”). This requires a Manhattan Project-level effort in sensor physics, micro-engineering, and secure data networking, deployed nationally.

* The Goal: Provide real-time, location-specific intelligence on viral presence, empowering individuals and public health officials with the critical information needed to take immediate protective actions.
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June 20, 2025
Warning: Buldak Ramen’s Risks for Kids and Schools

You’ve seen it: Buldak Ramen, the super-spicy “fire noodles” kids are crazy about. It’s fueled by internet challenges, easily found in stores (often bought with SNAP EBT), and known for one thing: extreme heat. But while it might seem like a harmless, trendy snack, there are serious downsides parents and schools need to understand – issues that affect health, learning, and potentially even the spread of sickness.

Engineered Heat, Not Health

Made by South Korea’s Samyang Foods, Buldak’s intense spice is no accident. It’s measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU):

* Original: ~4,400 SHU (already very spicy)

* 2x Spicy: ~8,800-10,000 SHU

* 3x Spicy: ~13,200 SHU (extremely hot)

This level of engineered heat brings problems:

* Poor Nutrition: High in salt, unhealthy fats, and processed carbs, with very few nutrients. It’s junk food, plain and simple.

* Stomach Upset: The intense spice commonly causes pain, heartburn, and diarrhea – miserable for kids, especially at school.

* Safety Questions: The heat is so extreme that Denmark actually recalled the 2x and 3x versions, worried about “acute poisoning” from too much capsaicin (the heat chemical), particularly for children.
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June 20, 2025
SPECIAL REPORT, PART II: The TikTok Betrayal: Beyond the Trojan Horse, The Rot Within
While the first report detailed the overt threat of TikTok as a weapon of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), this second analysis drills deeper into a more insidious danger: the rot within our own institutions that has allowed this threat to fester. The story of TikTok is not just one of foreign aggression, but of domestic failure, political cowardice, and a legal system that has been twisted to protect the adversary. This is a chronicle of the swamp’s self-preservation at the expense of American security.

The Political Uni-Party and the Propaganda Machine

The most glaring hypocrisy in the fight against TikTok comes from the very politicians who should be our first line of defense. The Republican and Democratic parties, in their lust for votes, have proven themselves to be two wings of the same Uni-Party, willing to engage with the enemy for political gain.
- Biden’s Betrayal: Why in the Hell would a sitting U.S. President use a CCP-controlled application? The “Biden-Harris HQ” TikTok account is a slap in the face to the entire U.S. intelligence community. We are told it is run by campaign aides, not the President himself, which is an irrelevant distinction. The account, with its hundreds of thousands of followers, legitimizes the platform and signals to our enemies that our leaders are not serious about the national security threat. We must ask: was the campaign paid? What data is being collected on the American citizens who follow and interact with this account? It is a staggering display of political malpractice.
- Government-Sponsored Propaganda: The “No TikTok on Government Devices Act,” buried in a massive appropriations bill, was a weak and performative gesture. Why did it require the Office of Management and Budget to “establish deadlines” for removal? The ban should have been instantaneous. The real question is why these apps were on government devices in the first place. A search reveals a shocking list of U.S. agencies that maintained large TikTok accounts, effectively using a CCP platform to conduct government outreach. The TSA, the National Parks Service, and numerous state-level agencies built substantial followings, normalizing the app and handing the CCP a direct pipeline to American citizens under a veneer of officialdom.
- The Apology of Jeff Jackson: Look no further than Rep. Jeff Jackson of North Carolina for a profile in political cowardice. After voting for the ban, he posted a now-infamous “apology video” to his massive TikTok following, explaining why he voted the way he did. This act of appeasing a digital mob, potentially inflated by foreign bots, over his duty to national security is contemptible. How does a representative from North Carolina, not a media hub like LA or NYC, amass such a following? How is follower authenticity or monetization even verified by TikTok? This entire ecosystem stinks of fraud, a problem Apple and Google refuse to address, even as new legislation against fake app store activity is debated.
- The Chinese Embassy in the Halls of Congress: It is a fact that representatives from the Chinese embassy met directly with U.S. congressional staffers to lobby against this bill. This is not normal diplomacy; it is an act of hostile influence. For a foreign adversary to walk the halls of our government and directly pressure our lawmakers is an outrage reminiscent of a spy thriller. This practice, while technically legal, is part of a pattern of corruption that has been allowed to fester in the post-9/11 era, where foreign money and influence have become commonplace in Washington D.C.
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June 20, 2025