Hacker relocated from the Gulf South, engineer, retro tech enthusiast. #CoinOpCollection #Meta
Seattle, WA
Joined December 2007
- Tweets689
- Following472
- Followers182
- Likes795
Brandon Arnold retweeted
It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say. But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
To understand why this is so appalling, it’s important to know the facts. Congresswoman Omar came to this country with her father when she was 12 years old. Five years later, her father became a naturalized citizen. If Ilhan had been 18 at the time, she would have had to apply for citizenship separately. But because she was 17, she became a naturalized citizen automatically.
Congresswoman Omar went on to graduate from college, work as a community organizer, become the first Somali-American legislator elected to public office in the U.S., and win a seat in Congress. There, she has been one of the Trump Administration’s fiercest critics, which has led the president to repeatedly single her out as someone who he believes does not belong in this country.
Now the Administration is actively trying to deport Congresswoman Omar, seemingly based solely on the unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and therefore is not a citizen. Federal agents have raided her home, confiscated personal records, and seized her phone — all to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case.
Think about that. The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president. And it’s not the first time this has happened. Under President Trump, the Justice Department has repeatedly gone after those he considers his political enemies — from the Attorney General of New York, to the former head of the FBI, to members of the Federal Reserve.
In those cases, the prosecutions either stalled or were dismissed for having no basis in law, and the same is likely to happen in this case. But not before Congresswoman Omar’s life has been turned upside down, her legal bills have piled up, and she’s been forced to spend time fighting unsubstantiated charges instead of serving the people of Minnesota.
The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views. Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.
Brandon Arnold retweeted
This is it, the biggest release ever in the history of #MiSTer! This game pushes the performance limits of the DE10-nano to the max.
Enjoy this in time for the #MortalKombat2 movie in theaters today.
#CoinOpCollection
The Kombat kontinues for #CoinOpCollection patreon subscribers this weekend! Enjoy the #MortalKombat II beta release for #MiSTerFPGA... Now I'm off to the theater!
patreon.com/posts/157759538
Brandon Arnold retweeted
‼️🇺🇸 Utah is about to become the first US state to legally target VPN use as part of online age verification. The law goes into effect Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
🔴 If you are physically located in Utah, you count as a Utah user, regardless of whether you use a VPN, proxy, or any other tool to disguise your location. Websites are now legally responsible for age-verifying you anyway.
🔴 Sites that handle "material harmful to minors" are banned from sharing instructions on how to use a VPN, or from offering any means to bypass geofencing.
The EFF calls this a "liability trap." Websites cannot reliably tell where a VPN user actually is, so the safest legal move is either to block every known VPN IP outright, or to force ID-based age verification on every visitor worldwide. Either path subjects millions of users to invasive identity checks, regardless of where they actually live.
The Cato Institute put it bluntly. When a policy can be defeated by a privacy tool millions of people legitimately use, the policy is the problem.
The collateral damage is, as always, the people who actually need VPNs:
🔴 Journalists protecting sources
🔴 Domestic abuse survivors hiding from stalkers
🔴 Activists in hostile environments
🔴 Remote workers tunneling into corporate networks
🔴 Travelers banking from abroad
🔴 Anyone who simply does not want their ISP, employer, or data brokers reading their traffic
This is not staying in Utah. The UK's Children's Commissioner has called VPNs a "loophole that needs closing." France's Minister Delegate for AI and Digital Affairs has named VPNs as "the next topic on my list."
The EU is rolling out age verification across all 27 member states by end of 2026, with EVP Henna Virkkunen openly admitting they have no plan for VPN bypass yet.
Utah is leading by example.
EFF: "Attacks on VPNs are, at their core, attacks on the tools that enable digital privacy."
Brandon Arnold retweeted
Short update on the T Unit progress as some people have been waiting. Basically, most if not all the graphics are complete, however, there are some palette corruption bugs, not sure what it is about, but will take a look. There's some flickering, maybe due to performance related issues, but will investigate.
Sound partially working on the ADPCM, still have a bit to do on the DCS sound board though, been working for a few months on it, it is pretty large. Stay Tuned!
#CoinOpCollection #Midway
Brandon Arnold retweeted
Moderate conservatives were aghast by this “hysterical” opinion piece before the election 🤡
Brandon Arnold retweeted
In watching the clip below of Danya's last stream and hearing the pain in his voice, how deeply the baseless accusations affected him, I am left so mad at what we all allowed to happen right in front of us.
It's time to stop worrying about the backlash. I am calling on the FIDE EDC to remove Vladimir Kramnik from the FIDE record books, revoke his title, and disqualify his world championship. Chess is one of the most beloved games in the world and should be a place for kindness and inclusion. It should be unilaterally unacceptable to use a platform that Chess has given you to bully, harass, and slander a colleague. What Kramnik has done to David Navara, Hikaru, and Danya, and others can not be tolerated.
It is up to our community and the governing body to set an example that this type of behavior will have consequences. Make it known loud and clear that Chess stands against these hateful acts. If you do them intentionally and maliciously there will be no place for you in our game.
FIDE and it's EDC must establish clear policies moving forward around the safety of it's players both in person and digitally. The events leading up to this tragedy happened in broad daylight over the last 18 months. They could have been stopped. Nothing like this can ever be allowed to happen again.
Brandon Arnold retweeted
The USDA website now says “Radical Left Democrats shut down the government.”
On a federal .gov site.
That’s not “communication.” That’s propaganda… the kind we used to point to in authoritarian regimes and say, “Wow, glad that’s not us.”
Well… surprise. It’s us.
We’ve officially entered the “state propaganda, but make it agriculture” phase of American democracy.
Brandon Arnold retweeted
Thanks to @brandonarnold on our team for helping fix my TMNT2 board that just went broke as we were making the core initially in April. For learning, posting the diagnosis and fix here:
1) Board presented symptom of watchdog trigger with gray screen. Unknown cause as board looked clean and no visible damage on either side.
2) With a logic probe, DTACK and other pins checked on the 68k. DTACK held low continuously, address bus floating for most pins.
3) I know from making the core that the 53997 controls the DTACK and decoding/ bus selection on the 68K. In the first image, the 53997 is the PAL on the right, the one on the left is another PAL, used to do the same thing for sound and the Z80 bus.
4) Logic probe on the 53997 indicated that there was no VCC on pin 24. however, on the neighboring PAL, the last pin had VCC. The nearby capacitor C1 was verified.
5) Looking at the back of the board under the microscope found that the VCC on the 53997 was not actually on the pad. Seems like a cold solder situation and the pad got lifted. This was an original socket soldered on in the conversion process.
6) Bridged VCC to neighboring PAL to fix the issue.
7) TURTLES ONCE AGAIN WORKING perfectly!
I am also happy to report that the original hardware glitches observed on the board are in our core too. :). It is amazing what you can do with experienced folks on the team and amazing work from Furrtek with his decaps and information!
We will further refine the audio from here and look for any loose ends to improve the core in another cycle. Thanks again @brandonarnold for helping fix the board, and the rest of the team and Furrtek.
Of course, don't forget to check out our FREE core here for the pocket and MiSTer.
patreon.com/posts/coin-op-up…
#CoinOpCollection
TIL Portland is “war-ravaged”, so our commander in chief is authorizing “Full Force” to protect it from domestic terrorists. Are the two other branches of government ever going to get with the program?
BREAKING: Trump says he'll send troops to Portland, Oregon, as he expands military deployments in U.S. cities. apnews.com/article/trump-fed…
Brandon Arnold retweeted
Brian Wilson has passed away at age 82. He gave us the sound of innocence, the ache of longing, and the harmony of hope. Today, the world is quieter without him. Thank you for the music, Brian.
Brandon Arnold retweeted
I put together another video in my learning series about investigating and putting together audio modules in FPGA for your core. I show you how to use the datasheet and other information, as well as how to test. Enjoy!
youtu.be/F34AYFilhME?si=W_Ry…
“It was 95 years since the Smoot-Hawley tariffs, which were an act of monumental stupidity in 1930. I think history will record that Trump-Vance tariffs as another monumental act of stupidity, and hopefully it’ll be another 95-year-long lesson. From that perspective, a lot of what has happened in the first 100 days is incomplete because while Trump has moved his pawn to King 4, the rest of the system is still reacting.”
“I think if we come back in a couple of years, we’ll see a lot of the effort of the first 100 days just in ashes because the courts will have held. I think that is the ultimate check. It obviously will have cost people money for attorneys’ fees and time and aggravation and concern. But I think a lot of these efforts will fail, and they will set precedents that will make it even harder for a future president to try this kind of thing.”
Brandon Arnold retweeted
With all this being said, everyone involved with the arcade emulation space today is standing on the shoulders of a giant. None of this would be possible without @NSalmoria, original developer of MAME and author of the TMNT driver.
It's incredible that T.M.N.T. Turtles In Time has been emulated since August 1999. Remembering how we got here matters. History shouldn't be rewritten but preserved with care.
Brandon Arnold retweeted
As a small business you have two choices:
1. Upend your established supply chain and pray that domestic manufacturing may be viable in 5 to 10 years (would love this, btw) before you become insolvent.
or
2. Work it by having diversified logistics so you can continue to service the rest of the world and remain in business (and remain a productive US taxpayer).
This quoted post is unavailable.
