Howdy — I’m Joe Portman. Texas. Elmendorf. Builder. I’ve been putting rural folks on the internet for 15 years with Alamo Broadband / UnFiber. Before that I built an ISP in Seattle in the ’90s (aa.net), sold it, “retired,” got bored, and did it again — this time with towers and Texas dirt under the boots. Also true: 🎸 Musician since 1972 💻 Programmer since the late ’70s 🏎️ Near-stock Model S Plaid at COTA (old PB 2:23.9 — still chasing faster) 🇺🇸 MAGA, Texan, and not shy about either If you found me under a big account’s post, welcome. Stick around for track days, real build notes, and straight talk — not quote-of-the-day filler. Soft follows appreciated. Spam bots can keep scrolling.

Video games have rules. The real world doesn't. I run my own GPU servers for a voice AI system: eight RTX 3090s and a 96 GB Blackwell card. The model is the easy part. Power, heat, uptime, and a real person on the other end are the job. Same with our towers in South Texas. Nothing out here reads the manual. AI that generalizes across the real world wins. That's the race worth watching.

Members — Thursday from the hangar, not the timeline. I fly under BasicMed. ~2,200 hours. Private pilot. Same rule as a climb day: if the approach isn't clean, you don't force it. Public gets roots. Y'all get the guy who still checks the weather before he commits. Glad you're in the Lounge.

I've played guitar since 1972. Not a brand story. Muscle memory. Same itch that keeps me on towers for UnFiber — make something hold when it matters. Customers don't care about your gear list. They care that Zoom starts clean on Monday. South Texas. Still practicing.

🚨 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 "𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐙𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐓𝐀𝐗𝐈"? 𝐑𝐔𝐁𝐈𝐎 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐌! You won’t believe how fast the tide is turning on one of the most exploited loopholes in American immigration history. Most people don’t realize that while the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship for those 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑛 in the U.S., it never promised a free pass for those who 𝑓𝑙𝑦 here just to claim it. That charade is officially over. 🇺🇸 Here is the raw truth: For years, an industry thrived on misrepresenting the intent of travel. Tourists pretending to be on vacation while secretly planning to give birth to secure a passport for their newborn was not just a grey area; it was a systematic erosion of trust in our border integrity. It treated U.S. citizenship like a commodity to be purchased, not a legal status earned through lawful presence. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has just pulled the plug. Effective immediately, the Department of State is blocking visas for anyone found facilitating these "birthright tourism" scams. This isn’t just a bureaucratic adjustment; this is a declaration of sovereignty. By invoking Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the administration is targeting the enablers—the agents, the hotels, and the facilitators who profit from this fraud. As Rubio rightly stated, "No one's ENTITLED to a visa." This is a foundational principle of international relations that has been ignored for too long. When you enter the U.S. as a visitor, you are doing so under the assumption that you will leave. Undertaking activities against our national interest, such as attempting to bypass legal immigration channels through deception, is grounds for immediate revocation and future bans. The message is clear: The United States will not allow its immigration system to be gamed. This move protects the sanctity of U.S. citizenship for those who follow the law. It ensures that the path to citizenship remains a journey of legal compliance, not a shortcut for the deceptive. But we cannot rest here. Visa bans are the first strike; legislation is the knockout blow. Congress must act now to codify these restrictions fully. We need strict, ironclad laws that make it impossible to carry out these schemes in the first place. The judiciary may interpret the Constitution, but Congress writes the rules for entry. This is a victory for legal immigration and a win for national security. It sends a powerful signal that the U.S. is open, but not a playground for fraud. Follow for more insights on how policy is reshaping our borders!

Members — Quiet Wednesday note. I build in Elmendorf. I vote with my wallet and my work. MAGA isn't a costume for me — it's wanting a country where a guy can still start something, hire neighbors, and keep rural folks online without begging a coastal committee for permission. Y'all are in this Lounge because that matters to you too. I'll keep dropping the real shop notes here. Timeline gets the public roots. Stay sharp.

I thought I would never break into the 2:20s here at Circuit of the Americas, but today I beat my personal best by three full seconds. I've got one more session today and I'm feeling good.

Just dropped a 2:23.907 at COTA in the Model S Plaid — one day after doubting I’d break 2:20! 2:33.9 on Lap 1. Felt like a spaceship the whole way. This might be one of the fastest near-stock Plaid laps at COTA. Insane how far these cars have come. Who else is tracking their Plaid? What’s your best time? Drop it below @Tesla @elonmusk @WholeMarsBlog @DirtyTesLa @teslaflexx @OutofSpec #ModelSPlaid #COTA #Tesla #TrackDay #EVPerformance #PlaidGang

This is my last year racing with Edge Addicts at COTA. Near-stock Model S. Texas heat. No trailer-queen build. What track keeps teaching a CEO: you don't wish a clean lap into existence. You show up, log the data, and fix one corner at a time. Same play building rural internet in south Texas. If you race — what's the one habit that actually made you faster?

AI fear is a PR product right now. Not a sudden turn in the tech. I build rural internet in south Texas. Customers don't pay for panic. They pay for a link that holds. Ship the tool. Skip the campaign.

Grok 4.7 just ranked third for agentic coding—behind only Anthropic and OpenAI. Faster. Lower cost. Everyday workhorse. From Elmendorf, Texas—building Alamo Broadband—I care about tools that actually ship. This one tracks.

I’ve been writing code since 1977. Not a flex. It’s why I keep building networks people actually use. Seattle ISP in the ’90s — wanted a better Net myself. Sold it. “Retired.” Lasted about five minutes. South Texas next. Same itch. The stack changes. The job doesn’t.

Members — Sunday note from the shop, not the timeline. Public feed gets the clean roots. Y’all get the real version: we’re chasing one stubborn LOS path a tree decided it owns. Customer doesn’t care about our excuses. Neither do I. Glad you’re in the Lounge. I’ll keep dropping the stuff that doesn’t belong on the public feed. Joe

Rural internet isn’t a press release. It’s a tower in the wind and a customer who needs Zoom to work Monday. 15 years building that in south Texas — Alamo Broadband / UnFiber. Same dirt. Same heat. Same rule: if the link doesn’t hold when weather turns, none of your branding matters. Builders ship. Talkers tweet. I’m Joe Portman. Texas WISP founder. Programmer. MAGA. Not shy about either. Rural folks — what’s harder where you live: coverage, price, or a human who actually picks up?

Elon’s right and Friedman already settled it. Open borders OR a welfare state. Not both. Not forever. Not without going broke. Built a company in south Texas. Watched the math up close. Slogans don’t pay invoices.

Elon says Tesla cars feel alive. He’s not wrong. Near-stock Model S Plaid at COTA. Texas heat. No trailer-queen build — just a license plate and a stopwatch. Old PB on the books: 2:23.9. Dusty number. The itch to beat it isn’t. When that thing rotates mid-corner and the torque hits like a second heartbeat, “appliance” is the dumbest word in the English language. Builders know. Track rats know. Keyboard experts can keep arguing. I’m Joe Portman — Texas WISP founder, programmer, COTA regular. If you like machines that work and people who build, you’re in the right place.

🧘‍♂️💭1️⃣ Today, I found strength in *silence*. Listening to others without waiting to reply opened my mind. 2️⃣ Marcus Aurelius once wrote, *“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”* Let's choose our thoughts wisely. 3️⃣ Find your peace in a world full of chaos.

1️⃣ Ever wondered why we stress about things beyond our control? It’s like trying to stop the tide with a bucket. 🌊 2️⃣ *Epictetus* said, "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." 3️⃣ Today, I chose calm over chaos. What about you?