Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy, 10/28

[SVPete]

China Tries To Backward Engineer ASML Stepper, Wrecks It

https://www.battleswarmblog.com/?p=68378

Every time I cover the vast technological gulf between China’s semiconductor ambitious and their actual native technological knowledge, some commenter blithely states that it’s easy for China to reverse engineer all Western semiconductor technology, which is why they’re already successfully producing chips at the [insert latest CCP propaganda here]nm node, etc. In this they’re engaged in the time-honored rhetorical device known as “talking out their ass.”

Semiconductors are hard. Not only do you have to exactly machine the thousands of painstakingly precise parts in the equipment itself, you need to possess the deep institutional knowledge necessary necessary to tweak the thousands of differing process parameters for different types of chips. Steppers, the lithography machines that actually project the patterns necessary to make each layer of the chip, are at the very top of the mountain in terms of technological complexity, and ASML dominates the stepper market. If it was easy to build steppers, Applied Materials, LAM, or Tokyo Electron would have come out with their own steppers long ago, and they haven’t.

But China would love to get their hands on that technology, which is why they tried to disassemble and backward engineering an ASML DUV stepper and ended up ruining it in the process.

A Chinese firm reportedly has sought technical support from ASML, the world’s largest chipmaking equipment supplier, after it failed to reassemble a deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machine following an internal teardown for alleged reverse engineering.

Note that a DUV stepper is not ASML’s top of the line model. Their Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) NXE and EXE steppers are far more complex and selling them to China is embargoed.

“An ASML DUV machine that China has used to make their chips recently broke down. They called the Dutch company for help repairing it,” Brandon Weichert, a senior national security editor at The National Interest, says in a X post. “ASML sent some techs. They discovered that the Chinese broke the machine when they disassembled it and tried to put it back together.”

“The reason Chinese technicians took apart their older ASML DUV system is simple. They are trying to find a way around US sanctions on the newest machines,” Weichert says. “By taking apart the older model and attempting to rebuild it, they hope to learn how to produce their own advanced versions. But it seems they still can’t figure it out.”

Weichert says he was unsure whether ASML had repaired the system. He adds that, in his view, although China maintains service agreements with the Dutch company, ASML would be unlikely to honor them given what he characterized as apparent foul play by the customer.

Yeaaaahhhhhhhhhhh, I think trying to disassemble, reverse-engineer, and copy the stepper might be a violation of the warranty and service contract. Also, China is Putin's source for the tech his more advanced planes and tanks need, so ... ... .

[SVPete]

Scott Wiener's Legacy: Making It Tougher to Stop Underage Prostitution in California

https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/10/27/scott-wieners-legacy-making-it-tough-to-stop-underage-prostitution-in-california-n3808282

More than 2 1/2 years ago, I wrote about the prostitution problem in San Francisco. Neighbors of one particular street, Capp St., were complaining about a sudden uptick of business on their block that was making it difficult to sleep at night.
...
The issue wasn't limited to Capp St. The same problems were happening near a Catholic grade school in Oakland.
...
Why weren't police doing more about this problem given that so many adults and parents were complaining? According to the Oakland PD, part of the problem was a new law promoted by State Senator Scott Wiener.

Previously, loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution was illegal. But SB 357, a bill introduced by State Sen. Scott Wiener repealed that law, in part because he found it to be disproportionately targeting transgender women.

“It allowed police officers to arrest a person, not based on what they did, but based solely on how a person looks,” said Sen. Wiener. “So an officer could arrest someone because they were wearing tight clothing, high heels, and extra lipstick.”

Anti-trafficking groups around the state agreed the new law had made it much difficult for police to arrest traffickers and to pull trafficked children off the streets.

Prostitution remains illegal in California. But police have lost significant ground in the effort to contain it, women at anti-trafficking nonprofits in the Bay Area, San Diego, and Los Angeles all emphasized. “The only time they have the right to engage and investigate is if they hear the transaction going on between the buyer and the exploited person,” said Russell, who works closely with the Oakland Police Department. “Which means it would have to be a sting operation where there’s an undercover officer posing as an exploitive person who can actually hear the transaction. Any other scenarios would not be grounds for the police to get involved.”

Sergeant Marcos Campos of the Oakland Police Department told me that his force rescued 24 underage girls from the streets in 2021. But in 2022, that number dropped to 14—most from before the law was signed. “Since, I believe, July, when we were officially told it passed, we have been directed by the district attorney’s office to not arrest for [statute] 653.22, which is loitering,” he said.

1. This looks to be a fulfilment of the Law of Unintended Consequences. It does not forbid apprehending probable trafficked/pimped under-age prostitutes, it "merely" forbids the common-sense and experience-based reasons under which such girls get picked up.

2. Wiener is the source of a lot of proposed California laws (and sometimes enacted) laws pandering to LGBTQWXYZ and pedophile activist groups/interests.

3. Wiener is running for the House seat Pelosiroo currently occupies.

[SVPete]

There’s About to Be a Huge Shake-Up at ICE — and the Left Is Gonna Be Furious

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/10/28/theres-been-a-huge-shake-up-at-iceand-the-left-is-gonna-be-furious-n4945335

A major shakeup is reportedly underway inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with multiple senior DHS and Trump administration sources confirming that a mass removal of ICE leadership is in progress. According to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, “up to 12 ICE field office chiefs [are] being removed & reassigned in an effort to increase deportation numbers.” The move is said to be led by longtime Trump ally Corey Lewandowski and will likely see several ICE directors replaced by Border Patrol and CBP officials — some hand-picked by “aggressive & controversial” Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino.

Among those being removed, Melugin reports, are ICE Field Office Directors in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Denver, El Paso, San Diego, Seattle/Portland, and New Orleans. The shift could mark a significant operational change, given that ICE and Border Patrol “do different things,” as Melugin explained.

ICE traditionally carries out targeted enforcement actions, focusing on criminal illegal aliens or individuals with deportation orders. Agents often conduct surveillance and “wait hours before arresting them if needed.” Border Patrol, on the other hand, has taken on a much more aggressive role under Trump’s second term, spearheading some of the administration’s most controversial immigration operations. Melugin notes they’ve conducted “roving patrols in Los Angeles, Chicago, etc., often at Home Depot, car washes, [and] flea markets,” which have already prompted injunctions from several federal judges.

Many viral immigration enforcement videos online actually involve Border Patrol rather than ICE, such as the “Trojan horse style” Penske truck sting at a Los Angeles Home Depot — an operation organized by Bovino himself. Yet ICE often bears the brunt of public outrage because, as Melugin points out, “the media and activists often cannot tell the difference between federal agents.”

Inside DHS, this aggressive new strategy is reportedly causing tension. Sources tell Melugin that Border Czar Tom Homan and ICE Director Todd Lyons want to stay focused on targeting “the worst of the worst” — criminal aliens and those with deportation orders. But DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Lewandowski, and Bovino favor broader sweeps to fulfill President Trump’s promise of mass deportations.

For all the PR about removing violent criminals - obviously worthwhile - they are a minority among illegals, and those who did not commit other crimes still entered the US illegally. If they don't self-deport they need to be deported involuntarily, through official process.

[SVPete]

More than 160 Republicans potentially investigated in FBI’s Arctic Frost probe, House panel says

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/160-republicans-potentially-investigated-fbis-arctic-frost-inquiry-house-gop

The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee disclosed Tuesday that more than 160 Republicans – including many closely connected to President Donald Trump – were targeted for possible investigation during the Biden Justice Department’s Arctic Frost investigation.

The committee tweeted that recently reviewed documents show the Arctic Frost investigation appears more wide-ranging than initially believed in Biden's DOJ's effort to "take down President Trump and his supporters.”

The nearly 200 pages of documents provide new insights into the sweeping investigation aimed at Trump World, which was launched by the FBI under then-Director Chris Wray and later picked up by former DOJ special counsel Jack Smith under then-Attorney General Merrick Garland.

LIEden & minions were "investigating" more than half the Rs in Congress? Wray, Smith, Garland, and their operatives in this need to be modeling orange jumpsuits in the hallways of the GreyBar Hotel.

[SVPete]

TikTok Filled With Videos of People Threatening to Loot Grocery Stores

https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/10/28/tiktok-filled-with-videos-of-people-threatening-to-loot-grocery-stores-n3808300

It would be easier to empathize with these people if they were not a bunch of entitled jerks who view looting as a natural part of life.

Instead, what we are learning is that among the 40 million people who get SNAP benefits through EBT cards, a whole lot of them are worthless, entitled people who need to get off their asses and go to work.

TikTok is filled with videos of SNAP "beneficiaries," most of whom are obese, explaining how they intend to loot grocery stores to stock up on junk food for the month of November because the government isn't going to fill their EBT cards in the month of November.

As the article pointed out quite a few of the makers of the videos have a chin-neck merger going on. I also noticed that several also have piercings and/or tattoos, which cost $$$, $$$ that would be better used for actual necessities or maybe for (horrors!) saving for difficulties. The video makers are also relatively young, probably in their 20s or 30s, probably mostly/all able-bodied. I get that not all disabilities are visible, but that they are talking about raiding stores or mugging people - significant physical exertion - suggests that none of them are disabled.