#TBOT: Take Back Our Tech

My latest article for TLAV:

Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology: The Largest US Biometric Database You’ve Never Heard Of

A long-delayed, over-budget biometric program is set to become the largest centralized database of biometric data collected from Americans and foreigners who have visited the United States.

https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/hart-facial-recognition/

⚡️The Business of Staying Sick

In this clip from Real World Ayurveda, Nicole and Hakeem contrast symptom management with a system of health care that is actually focused on helping people get well.

They discuss the revolving-door model of chronic treatment and why true healing should eventually mean needing less intervention, not more.

Ayurveda focuses on addressing the root, supporting the body, and helping people move toward long-term health and seasonal care.

Book a consultation with Nicole:
https://newleafsac.com/appointments

📺 Watch on Substack
👉 Subscribe to Real World Ayurveda

⚡️ AI Arms Race or Overbuild?

U.S. tech leaders push AI as a defense race with China, yet 80% of China’s data centers sit unused. When they say it’s all about meeting demand, is there a different agenda behind the boom?

🎥 Watch the full interview here
📖 Read the full AI Data Center Ecology Report

—
@abovephone
Website | Substack | X

⚡️Bio-Surveillance with Andrew Kaufman

Is wearable technology creating an internet of bodies?

In our latest #TBOT interview, I sat down with Dr. Andrew Kaufman, a medical researcher who has firsthand experience with wearable biosensor technology. That experience gives him a unique perspective on the rapidly expanding Internet of Bodies and the risks that come with connecting our bodies to the internet.

“Gather the data first, and ask questions later” seems to be the modus operandi of the big tech companies steering the wearable industry, Andrew and I discuss how this fits into brainwave decoding, wearable biosensors, digital IDs, biometric surveillance, AI, and the growing push to gather massive amounts of personal data.

How much of your health data are you willing to give away for convenience?

📺 Watch now on Substack
🎒Protect your student’s privacy this school year, check out Above's Back to School Sale

—
@takebackourtech
Website | XMPP | Substack | X

Russia is moving to make digital identity verification standard practice at hotels nationwide. Hotels will soon be required to check in guests who arrive without an internal passport using the state-backed messaging app Max. https://ftnnews.com/travel-news/accommodation/russia-mandates-digital-id-app-for-hotel-check-ins-from-september-1/

NEW from Whitney Webb and Mark Goodwin

Javier Milei’s administration has been showcasing Patagonia to Silicon Valley executives, culminating in OpenAI’s recent ‘Stargate Argentina’ announcement. The focus of this piece, Emiliano Kargieman, is the man actually developing OpenAI’s Argentine project and boasts significant ties to United States’ military and intelligence, NASA, Palantir and the Silicon Valley stalwarts who helped privatize space.

Here, we detail how Kargieman has said the quiet part out loud about how data center construction isn't about "making jobs", it's about making money, and how he has suggested that OpenAI is a front for the accelerated build-out of AI infrastructure (financed by an intentional debt bubble). He has also suggested that Stargate Argentina will eventually be used, not by OpenAI (which Kargieman anticipates will collapse when the AI bubble pops), but by the Argentine State.

In looking at Javier Milei's policies with respect to AI domestically in Argentina, the "digital transformation" of the Argentine State - which Stargate Argentina hopes to further advance - is largely for "predictive" behavioral control of its population. We also touch on some of the likely motivators of Peter Thiel's move to Argentina and where he fits into all of this.

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2026/08/investigative-reports/how-argentinas-elon-musk-is-bringing-technocracy-to-patagonia/

Golf Courses & Data Centers: A Troubling Comparison

Water usage is often described in “golf course equivalents.” One golf course can represent 150 million gallons of water per year. So when a data center reports using the equivalent of seven golf courses, the scale is staggering!

If local authorities can’t even hold golf courses accountable, how will they hold billion-dollar companies accountable?

✨ Read the full report here
📚 Watch the AI Data Center Ecology webinar

—
@abovephone
Website | Substack | X

⚡️The Enshittification of Natural Medicine

Ayurveda has stood the test of time because it has never separated medicine from principle, individual evaluation, and the laws of nature.

In episode 4, we look at what happens when reductionist Western medical thinking enters the Natural Health space — from baseline averages and synthetic substances to one-size-fits-all recommendations.

Ayurveda is clear: every person is unique, and proper assessment must always precede prescription.

Book a consultation with Nicole:
https://newleafsac.com/appointments

📺 Watch on Substack
👉 Subscribe to Real World Ayurveda

—
@takebackourtech
Website | XMPP | Substack | X

Please read and share my latest report for TLAV:

Peter Thiel-Funded Company Anduril to Triple the Number of Autonomous Surveillance Towers Along the US-Mexico Border

The expansion of autonomous surveillance towers will come at a cost of $1 billion to the American taxpayer, funds that were originally allocated under Trump’s Big Brother Bill.

https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/surveillance-towers/

⚡️Healing Begins with Prevention

The longer imbalances are allowed to root into the body, the harder they can be to address, but healing is never impossible.

The body knows how to heal when the right conditions are created. This is why Ayurveda places such a strong emphasis on prevention, proactiveness, and supporting health before disease becomes deeply rooted.

It’s never too late, but the earlier we take responsibility for our health, the better.

Book a consultation with Nicole:
https://newleafsac.com/appointments

📺 Watch on Substack
👉 Subscribe to Real World Ayurveda

📚 “Free” School Devices Are Anything But Free

School-issued devices can include monitoring software that tracks keystrokes, browser activity, location, and more—inside and outside the classroom.

At Above, we believe learning should stay focused on the material, not on who’s watching.

Choose a privacy-first alternative and save on Above Phones and Above Books through August 31.

👉 https://abovephone.com/school/

⚡️ People Power vs. AI Expansion

Trillions are being spent on AI data centers that threaten land, water, and resources. But the real solution is community action—by contributing to Above’s interactive map, we can coordinate and resist together.

🎥 Watch the full interview here
📖 Read the full AI Data Center Ecology Report

—
@abovephone
Website | Substack | X

Finding Alternatives to Big Tech

In this clip, journalist Derrick Broze discusses the technology side of exit and build, why it's important to find tools that align with our values outside of the monopoly of companies like Google and Apple, and shares some resources for doing just that.

Watch the whole speech: Bringing Liberation 2030 to Life – The 2026 Activation Tour – NYC

⏩ @TheConsciousResistance

Registering the Chickens: Animal Passports & Drones Hit 8+ Countries [VIDEO]

Countries across multiple continents are rapidly rolling out mandatory animal registration, digital IDs, passports, and aerial surveillance of farms and private land.

Though they cite different excuses, the net result is the same: all backyard flocks and livestock are being pulled into centralized databases that can be queried and enforced in real time.

This is happening in "lock step" as a push is made to map and control livestock and food production worldwide.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXMHV1etZkE
Substack: https://unshadowed.substack.com/p/registering-the-chickens-animal-passports

The Independent Media Alliance Announces AI Transparency Pledge

Derrick Broze, Whitney Webb, and Ryan Cristian announce the new Independent Media Alliance AI Transparency Pledge.

⚡️The Illusion of Healing

Many treatments focus on suppressing symptoms rather than addressing what created them in the first place.
When the outward expression of illness is suppressed, it can create the illusion that the person is no longer unwell, while the underlying root cause remains.

Ayurveda asks us to look deeper and focus on actual healing rather than symptom management.

Book a consultation with Nicole:
https://newleafsac.com/appointments

📺 Watch on Substack
👉 Subscribe to Real World Ayurveda

xmpp (modẊ) LocalCrop

> A free, open source local farm and farmers market finder built on public USDA data.

https://codeberg.org/colem/LocalCrop

https://localcrop.cmcdaniel.xyz
(enable JavaScript and WebGL)

Sustaining the City by Draining the Countryside

While critiques of Indian agriculture have long focused on the crisis of commercial cash crops and the corporatisation of wheat and paddy procurement, this focus creates a significant oversight. By treating the state-backed system as the universal standard, such analyses overlook the reality of the vast majority of smallholders—those growing pulses, millets and rain-fed crops who were never integrated into formal procurement to begin with.

Consider the micro-farm in the foothills of Uttarakhand. A family tends a modest plot: a dozen goats, backyard poultry supplying fresh eggs and a handful of citrus and mango trees—one lemon tree alone yielding…...

Read full article ...

https://off-guardian.org/2026/08/13/sustaining-the-city-by-draining-the-countryside/