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Links 24/8/2021: GNOME 41 Beta and KaOS 2021.0 Screencasts



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • Late Night Linux – Episode 139

        What we all thought about the open and federated Twitter alternative Mastodon, plus your feedback about the new user experience, and why Graham and Joe don’t use Linux for making music.

      • Most Stable Linux Distros Are Really Semi Rolling! - Invidious

        Typically we split up linux distros into rolling and stable releases but in reality there are very few distros which are actually stable releases, the vast majority of these are actually known as a semi rolling release and I'd like to see the correct term used.

      • Destination Linux 240: 30 Years of Linux & What Linux Means To Us

        This week’s episode of Destination Linux, we’re going to celebrate 30 Years of Linux starting with “What Linux Means To Us” discussion. Then we’re going to have Philip Müller from Manjaro on to discuss their latest 21.1 release. Plus we’ve also got our famous tips, tricks and software picks. All of this and so much more this week on Destination Linux. So whether you’re brand new to Linux and open source or a guru of sudo. This is the podcast for you.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • What we'll likely do when Linux distributions drop Python 2 entirely

        Currently, Linux distributions claim that they want to stop including even a minimal Python 2 at some point, although when that will be isn't clear (the latest Debian and Ubuntu in development versions both seem to still include it). Since we have any number of perfectly functional small Python 2 programs used in managing our systems (and no particular time or enthusiasm for porting them all to Python 3), this presents a potential future problem, never mind the disruption for our users (who may also have such programs). Thus, it seems likely that we will roll our own version of Python 2 even after Linux distributions stop doing so.

      • SSH quoting

        A while back there was a thread on one of our company mailing lists about SSH quoting, and I posted a long answer to it. Since then a few people have asked me questions that caused me to reach for it, so I thought it might be helpful if I were to anonymize the original question and post my answer here.

      • How to install MCreator on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install MCreator on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

      • How To Install MariaDB on Debian 11 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install MariaDB on Debian 11. For those of you who didn’t know, MariaDB is a popular open-source relational database, developed by MySQL developers. Unlike MySQL, MariaDB was meant to be totally free for use. The original creators of MySQL developed MariaDB in response to fears that MySQL will suddenly become a paid service due to Oracle acquiring. With its history of doing similar tactics, the developers behind MariaDB have promised to keep it open source and free from such fears as what has happened to MySQL.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of the MariaDB database on a Debian 11 (Bullseye).

      • How to Create Database in MySQL a Complete Guide 2021

        As you know MySQL is the most popular and open-source relational database management system. If you don’t have MySQL installed on your Linux machine then read another article “How to install MySQL in Ubuntu 19.04“.

        Remember one more thing, this is important MySQL must be installed in your system. If you don’t have, then where will you create a database?. Many People in the world start running the command, without knowing the basic requirement. And last they will blam to writer or trainer.

        If you are an administrative user (the minimum privilege required to create a new database is CREATE) or with a root user account then you can run all commands. You can read the article on “How to create a user in MySQL”.

        In this tutorial, I will cover How to create database in MySQL, create the database if not exists, show all database, select database for starting work, and use of mysqladmin and more. This article is good for beginners.

      • How to Enable SSH on Debian 11

        SSH is a network protocol for secure communication between a client and a server. This enables you to remotely connect to your Debian machine to perform commands, file transfer, or administrative tasks. SSH provides strong authentication using passwords and public key authentication. Once the connection is established, the data that is transmitted is encrypted.

        In this tutorial, we learn how to enable SSH on a Debian Desktop system.

      • How to Install and Use Tmux (Terminal Multiplexer) in Linux

        As the naming convention suggests, tmux is indeed a terminal multiplexer. Linux users that are used to server-based or terminal-based OS environments mostly find themselves opening more than one terminal instance while running programs. With tmux, it is possible to limit your Linux OS interactions to a single terminal.

        The tmux command flexibility makes it possible to switch between a user or system programs. You can detach from these programs and keep them running on the Linux system background and also re-attach them back to the same command line instance or a different terminal.

      • How to Install the Latest MySQL 8 on Debian 11

        MySQL is a relational database management system based on SQL (Structured Query Language). It is one of the most widely used database software for several well-known applications that utilize it. MySQL is used for data warehousing, e-commerce, and logging applications, but its most used feature is web database storage and management.

        Debian 11 comes with MySQL in its repository, however as many know, Debian stable provides only security updates for its releases in line with keeping its stable build essentially stable. This has great benefits but some drawbacks; in the tutorial, you will learn how to install MySQL 8 for Debian 11.

      • How to Kill Linux Process Using Kill, Pkill, and Killall

        Linux Operating System comes with a kill command to terminate a process. The command makes it possible to continue running the server without the need to reboot after a major change/update. Here comes the great power of Linux and this is one of the reasons, why Linux is running on 96.4% of servers, on the planet.

        Kill command sends a signal, a specified signal to a currently running process. The kill command can be executed in a number of ways, directly or from a shell script.

      • How to Mine Etherum in 2021: Beginner’s Guide

        Etherium mining is an excellent way for people with high-end graphics cards to earn some cash while sleeping – at least until the eth2 rolls out completely. Even after the recent crypto dip, Etherium’s value has been up considerably. Not to mention the congestion on the Ethereum network has been driving up gas fees. All this means Etherium mining is still a profitable business in 2021.

        In this comprehensive guide for beginners, we will dive deep into the features of Ethereum mining, what makes it different from Bitcoin mining, and how you can get started. We will also discuss everything you need to consider before investing your hard-earned cash in Ethereum mining, such as software, hardware, and online mining forums/community. So, grab a cup of coffee and read on!

      • How to Rename a File in Linux with Examples, beginner's guide 2021

        Do you not like the name of any file or directory? Do you want to change it? Do you want to give new name to file or directory?

        If you don’t know how to rename a file in Linux then this article is helpful for you.

        When you read complete article, You will learn about move and change name of files.

        You must read warnings mentioned in the article. Cautions make you perfect, and save you from disaster happen by using wrong command.

      • How to Script ssh Login with Passwords

        This tutorial explains how to automatically login with a password when connecting to ssh.

        After reading this tutorial, you’ll know how to implement a script to automatically login with passwords to connect to ssh. Additionally, you’ll find instructions for automatic ssh password login using the sshpass tool. Finally, this tutorial explains how to connect without a password with public key authentication.

      • How to Share ZFS Volumes via iSCSI

        ZFS volumes are block storage devices that work like any other storage device (HDD/SSD). You can create partition tables, create new partitions, format these partitions, create filesystems, and mount them on your computer.

        You can also share ZFS volumes via the iSCSI protocol and access them from remote computers.

        In this article, I am going to show you how to share ZFS volumes via iSCSI and access them from remote computers. I will be using the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS operating system for the demonstration. However, the steps shown in this article should also work on other Linux distributions with some adjustments.

        Let’s get started.

      • How to include options in your Bash shell scripts | Opensource.com

        Terminal commands usually have options or switches, which you can use to modify how the command does what it does. Options are included in the POSIX specification for command-line interfaces. It's also a time-honored convention established with the earliest UNIX applications, so it's good to know how to include them in your Bash scripts when you're creating your own commands.

      • How to use mkdir command to create a directory in Linux Guide 2020

        If you are looking at how to make a directory in Linux then you are at the right place, use mkdir command to create a directory in Linux by using the terminal.

        You are using a graphical interface to create a folder in windows, but you must use the command to create a folder in Linux. I will teach you to create a new directory, multiple directories, a directory with full permission, etc.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs



      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • GNOME 41 Desktop Environment Enters Beta Testing with New Apps, Better Wayland Support

          GNOME 41 will be the first major update to the popular desktop environment since the release of GNOME 40 with its redesigned Activities Overview, and promises new apps, new features, as well as numerous improvements and bug fixes.

          Highlights of GNOME 41 include a new Calls app that acts as a phone dialer and call handler, mostly useful for mobile devices but capable of doing VoIP calls too, and support for the GDM login manager to allow Wayland user sessions even if the login screen is on X.Org, as well as for single GPU vendor NVIDIA machines.

        • GNOME 41 Beta Released With "Calls" SIP/VoIP Support, Wayland Improvements - Phoronix

          The GNOME 41 beta is now available ahead of next month's official half-year update to this open-source desktop environment.

          There is a lot that's been queued up for GNOME 41 beta. Below is a look at the highlights of the lengthy changes for this beta milestone.

        • GNOME 41.beta released!
          Hello,
          
          

          GNOME 41.beta is now available. It also marks the start of the UI, feature and API freezes (collectively known as The Freeze). Any string changes need to be announced to the i18n mailing list in advance of the string freeze which should start next weekend. If you'd like to target the GNOME 41 platform, this is the best time to start testing your apps or extensions.

          You can use the 41beta branch of the flatpak runtimes, which is now available on Flathub beta.

          This branch is based on the 21.08 branch of freedesktop-sdk and as such has quite a few ABI breaks. In addition, this release removed zenity and librest. The additions of this release are libmanette and sysprof-capture. The release team has agreed to pre-announce removals at least one cycle in advance. Starting with GNOME 42, all removals have to be announced at least one cycle in advance. As such, the following are deprecated and will be removed in a future release: clutter and friends (cogl, clutter-gtk and clutter-gst) and libsoup version 2.x (to be replaced with version 3.x).

          An installer image is also available for testing and porting extensions

          https://os.gnome.org/download/41.beta/gnome_os_installer_41.beta.iso

          This is meant to be installed in a virtual machine with EFI support (such as the GNOME Boxes version available on Flathub). You can also try to install it on bare metal but be warned that hardware support is very limited.

          If you want to compile GNOME 41.beta yourself, you can use the official BuildStream project snapshot:

          https://download.gnome.org/teams/releng/41.beta/gnome-41.beta.tar.xz

          The list of updated modules and changes is available here:

          https://download.gnome.org/core/41/41.beta/NEWS

          The source packages are available here:

          https://download.gnome.org/core/41/41.beta/sources/

        • GNOME 41 beta is here -- the best Linux desktop environment is getting better
          There are a lot of great desktop environments for Linux, such as Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, and Xfce to name a few. With that said, only one can be the best, and that is GNOME. If you prefer a different environment, you are simply wrong or ignorant on the subject. You know what? That's fine. As they say, ignorance is bliss, so if you are happy not using GNOME, more power to you.

          For those of us superior Linux users that prefer GNOME, it is time to get excited. You see, as of today, the GNOME 41 Beta is officially here! Keep in mind, the Beta tag is quite literal -- unless you are a Beta tester or Linux developer, you shouldn't be bothering with it just yet.

    • Distributions

      • The 8 Best Linux Distributions for Penetration Testing

        Linux users have a plethora of free operating systems when it comes to penetration testing and digital forensics. The world of ethical hacking has continued to evolve, which is probably one of the reasons why many people find themselves being attracted to these auditing fields.

        To serve this purpose, several Linux distros and software are available for forensic investigation, ethical hacking, and penetration testing. If you are an advanced Linux user looking to flex your brain muscles and get the ball rolling, it’s time for you to check some of these cybersecurity-related Linux distros.

      • Screenshots/Screencasts

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • Web Browsers

        • Perceived Relations Between Gopher Gemini And HTTP

          I present my perceptions of Gemini and Gopher, and how they seem to be all somewhat overlapping, and then give my two cents for people to fight over.

          The piece is structured so the focus is Gemini (as it's the subject of the day) compared to HTTP and Gopher. It's not necessary to read sections which don't align with your interests.

        • Mozilla

          • Firefox follows Chrome and prepares to block insecure downloads

            Called mixed content downloaded blocking, the feature works by blocking file downloads initiated from an encrypted HTTPS page but which actually take place via an unencrypted HTTP channel.

          • Mozilla Firefox will also block insecure downloads on HTTPS pages

            According to references in Mozilla’s bug tracker, the feature is planned to be generally available with Firefox 92. That’s the next major update for Firefox, and it’s currently planned for September 7. It’s already available in experimental versions of Firefox, though, and you can also enable it in the stable release via a flag. Simply go to about:config and search for dom.block_download_insecure. Setting this value to true will enable mixed content download blocking.

          • OpenPOWER Firefox JIT update

            As of this afternoon, the Baseline Interpreter-only form of the OpenPOWER JIT (64-bit little-endian) now passes all of the JIT tests except for the Wasm ones, which are being actively worked on. Remember, this is just the first of the three phases and we need all three for the full benefit, but it already yields a noticeable boost in my internal tests over the C++ interpreter. The MVP is Baseline Interpreter and Wasm, so once it passes the Wasm tests as well, it's time to pull it current with 91ESR. You can help.

      • CMS

      • Programming/Development

        • If Conditions in Ruby

          Decision-making is a base factor in programming and human life. They allow us to perform certain actions when a condition fits a specific scope.

          In this tutorial, we will focus on how to implement condition statements in Ruby programming language. Using Ruby conditionals, we can check for a specific condition and take a specified action based on the result.

          The simplest way to make a single decision in Ruby is to implement an if statement.

        • Let's write a compiler, part 7: Arrays

          Arrays are an important feature for our language and compiler. Not defined in the original PL/0 specification but later added in its successor language, Oberon-0, arrays allow us to carve out pre-defined regions of memory of any arbitrary size to be used as we see fit. Because the original PL/0 language has no concept of arrays, we are free to define our own syntax for them.

          These are our challenges for today: choosing a syntax for arrays, implementing that syntax, and allowing array identifiers to be used just the same as the TOK_VAR identifiers we already have.

        • Python

          • How to Use Frozenset Objects in Python

            This article will cover a guide on using the “frozenset” function in Python that returns a new frozenset type Python object. These objects are similar to set objects available in Python with some key differences. All code samples in this article are tested with Python 3.9.5 on Ubuntu 21.04.

          • How to Use the Tokenize Module in Python

            This article will cover a guide on using the “Tokenize” module in Python. The tokenize module can be used to segment or divide the text into small pieces in various ways. You can use these segments in Python applications that use machine learning, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence algorithms. All the code samples in this article are tested with Python 3.9.5 on Ubuntu 21.04.

        • Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

          • How to Use Boolean Value in Bash

            The boolean value can contain two types of data. These are True or 1 and False or 0. Bash does not support Boolean values, but any bash variable can contain 0 or “true” and 1 or “false“. The logical boolean operators are supported by bash. The boolean value is required to use when the script needs to generate the output based on the True or False value of a variable. The way to declare and use boolean values in the bash script has shown in this tutorial.

        • DB

          • PostgreSQL Union All Query

            This tutorial will show you how to use PostgreSQL Union and Union All queries to combine results from select statements.

          • PostgreSQL Limit Clause

            Let’s discuss the ins and outs of using the PostgreSQL LIMIT clause to limit the output to a specified value.

            Although the LIMIT clause is an optional statement, it is very handy when you do not want a query to return thousands and thousands of records.

          • PostgreSQL Grant Privileges

            In PostgreSQL, a user must have the LOGIN privilege to log into the database. However, explicit permissions must be assigned to perform database operations, including selecting tables, columns, and records.

            The PostgreSQL GRANT query allows you to modify privileges for users on database objects such as tables, columns, views, functions, schemas, and more.

            This tutorial will walk you through using the PostgreSQL GRANT command to modify privileges for various database objects.

          • PostgreSQL Functions

            PostgreSQL is a powerful and easy-to-use database management system that provides secure, fast, and very intuitive features, allowing you to focus on the data and not the query syntax.

            One way PostgreSQL makes its usage very easy is the functionality of pre-defined functions. These functions allow you to call them and pass the required arguments to get an output.

            In this post, we will give you a cheat sheet of the most common PostgreSQL functions and even show you how to define custom ones if needed.

          • PostgreSQL Count Function

            In most cases, when working with databases, our interest is the actual records stored in the database. However, an instance may occur where we need to determine the number of records in a specific column or entire table.

            To achieve this, we can define a custom function or use the built-in count function. In this guide, we will discuss the count function and various examples of how to use it.

          • MySQL IN Clause

            This tutorial will discuss using the MySQL IN query to check if a specific value is within a set of values, which is useful in replacing a set of OR operators.

  • Leftovers

    • Web of Connections

      A popular song lyric from 1927 ran: “I’ve danced with a man, who’s danced with a girl, who’s danced with the Prince of Wales.” The poet Allen Ginsberg liked to boast that a line of three intermediate lovers connected him back to his idol, Walt Whitman. Well before the development of social media, the 1993 film Six Degrees of Separation made many of us aware of just how few steps it takes to connect you, or me, to millions of others around the globe.

    • Science

      • The August 2021 full moon is, somehow, a Blue Moon. Here's why.

        That explanation said that the full moon "usually comes full 12 times in a year, three times for each season." Occasionally, however, there will come a year when there are 13 full moons, not the usual 12. The almanac explanation continued:

        "This was considered a very unfortunate circumstance ... and it upset the regular arrangement of church festivals. For this reason 13 came to be considered an unlucky number."

        And with that extra full moon, it also meant that one of the four seasons that year would contain four full moons instead of the usual three. When a particular season has four full moons the third was apparently called a Blue Moon so that the fourth and final one can continue to be called the "late moon."

    • Education

      • In First 'Fatwa', Taliban Ban Co-education in Afghanistan's Herat; Call it 'Root of All Evils'

        Taliban officials on Saturday issued their first ‘fatwa’ in Afghanistan, banning co-education in government and private universities in the restive Herat province, describing it as the ‘root of all evils in society’ validating fears that the country will undergo major ‘regressive’ changes despite their promises.

        The announcement comes as the terror group vowed to respect women’s rights in Afghanistan. The decision was taken after a meeting between varsity professors, owners of private institutions, and Taliban authorities, Khaama Press News Agency reported on Saturday.

    • Health/Nutrition

      • Once Secret Prices Expose 'Irrational and Cruel' Nature of US Healthcare System

        "Keep these prices in mind the next time you see a report...that tries to figure out whether a particular single payer plan's reimbursement rate would be unworkable."€ —Matt€ Bruenig, People's Policy Project

        "It was the most convoluted, useless process,” Eichelberger,€ told the Times.

      • NYC to Require Teachers, School Staff to Get Vaccinated Starting Next Month
      • Key 'Milestone' in Pandemic Fight as FDA Grants Full Approval to Pfizer's Covid Vaccine

        The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for people who are 16 years of age or older, a long-awaited step that came as Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising sharply across the country—particularly in undervaccinated regions.

        Some public health experts have argued that the FDA's decision to issue a final seal of approval for the Pfizer vaccine—which until Monday had been administered under emergency authorization—could be helpful in easing hesitancy among those who have yet to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, which has killed more than 628,000 people in the U.S.

      • The Sub-Prime of Ms. Jane Brody: Still Ignoring the Science on Medical Marijuana

        Big Pharma has had good reason to fund the longterm effort to divert and choke off the medical marijuana movement. If US doctors had been routinely recommending cannabis instead of SSRIs like Zoloft to treat depression all these years, the bottom would have fallen out of the anti-depressant market. Instead, sales continue to soar. According to the CDC, “During 2015–2018, 13.2% of adults aged 18 and over used antidepressant medications in the past 30 days… Use was highest among women aged 60 and over (24.3%).”

        A small example of Big Pharma’s success was provided by Jane Brody’s August 2€ column€ on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS),€ Brody has been the€ New York Times€ “Personal Health” columnist since 1976. An influencer before they had a word for it, she anchors the Tuesday Science Section with a half-page column on page 7.

      • Are Bans Against School Mask Mandates Against the Law?

        My son, a 14-year-old autistic boy with Down syndrome, has the right to be educated thanks to federal civil rights legislation passed in the 1970s and updated in the years since. These laws promise him a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment adapted, within reason, to his needs.

      • The Virus and the Storm

        It was supposed to be homecoming concert For New York City 60,000 people crowded Central Park To celebrate New York City’s Return to normal cultural life After a year and a half of COVID-19 shutdowns Barry Manilow began to sing his 1980 song “I Made It Through The Rain” “We dreamers have our ways Of facing rainy days And somehow we survive We keep the feeling warm Protect them from the storm Until our time arrives” The Delta Variant said to Hurricane Henri “I just finished my all-you-can-eat buffet. Now it’s your turn.” Hurricane Henri said, “Yeah, I’ve heard enough of his singing. Let’s shut this thing down.” Four to five inches of rain began to flood Central Park And people got soaking wet as they ran screaming To get out of the rain. The concert never resumed.

        August 21, 2021.

      • Republicans Rush to Squash Local Control in Fight Against COVID
      • Pfizer Vaccine Gets Full FDA Approval, Potentially Triggering Mandates
      • FL's Capital City to Have School Mask Rules, Defying DeSantis's Anti-Mask Order
      • Facebook's Most Viewed Article In Early 2021 Raised Doubt About COVID Vaccine

        The social media giant prepared the report about the most widely viewed posts on its platform from January through March of 2021, but decided not to publish it "because there were key fixes to the system we wanted to make," spokesperson Andy Stone tweeted on Saturday.

      • Geert Vanden Bossche is back and still blaming vaccines for COVID-19 variants

        I was perusing the in box of my account for this blog a week ago, when I came across a bit of what I like to call “fan mail.” No, this wasn’t hate mail (which is what a lot of my “fan mail” consists of), but rather an email of the “Won’t you reconsider what you wrote about a crank?” variety. Today, I decided finally to answer, but publicly. The crank is Geert Vanden Bossche, whom I€ first wrote about in March€ in the context of an open letter by him that had gone viral warning of global catastrophe if the mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 were not stopped. The reason for his warning was a prediction that mass vaccination would select for more dangerous variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This led a reader (whose name I will not reveal) to ask me whether, in light of the much more transmissible (and possibly more virulent) Delta variant that’s been spreading across the US like proverbial wildfire over the last few of months, I might want to “reconsider” my previous criticism of Vanden Bossche:

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • .docx With Embedded EXE

          What is hiding in this maldoc, is just 2 embedded files: [...]

        • Finland's Nokia wins 5G order for three European markets

          Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia (NOKIA.HE) said on Monday it had won a 5G network order from A1 Telekom Austria Group for operations in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Slovenia.

        • Hillicon Valley: Millions exposed due to Microsoft misconfiguration

          Data from private companies was also exposed, including from various other Microsoft groups, Ford, American Airlines and J.B. Hunt. Data exposed included COVID-19 contact tracing, vaccination appointments, Social Security numbers, employee IDs and other personal information on millions of individuals.

        • Security

          • Get paid to improve Linux and open-source security | ZDNet

            To help remedy this, David A. Wheeler, the LF's director of Open Source Supply Chain Security, recently revealed the LF or its related foundations and projects directly fund people to do security work. Here's how it works.

          • What You Need to Know About Linux Rootkits [Ed: Overlooks the fact that those rootkits need to get there in the first place; for this, the system needs to be compromised in the first place. This is just a stealth thing.]

            Rootkits are an effective way for attackers to hide their tracks and keep access to the machines over which they have gained control. Read on to learn about rootkits, how to detect them and how to prevent them from being installed on your system in the first place.

          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • ACLU Advocate Reining in Government Use of Face Surveillance, Champion of Privacy Rights Research, and Data Security Trainer Protecting Black Communities Named Recipients of EFF’s Pioneer Award
            • Researchers Who Built Similar System Explain Why Apple's CSAM Scanning System Is Dangerous

              Jonathan Mayer, a Princeton University professor and former chief technologist at the FTC, is one of the smartest people I know. Every time I've spoken with him I feel like I learn something. He's now written a quite interesting article for the Washington Post noting how he, and a graduate researcher at Princeton, Anunay Kulshrestha, actually built a CSAM scanning system similar to the one that Apple recently announced, which has security experts up in arms over the risks inherent to the approach.

            • atracids

              which reminded of a speech by my daughter in which she denounced surveillance capitalism and privacy abuses through software with pictures of Big Bad Wolf disguised as Little Red Riding Hood's grandma with sentences like Aral's citation, and of the witch offering Snow White a poisoned Apple, of Jack climbing the beanstalk and meeting the Giant on the Clouds, and of Rapunzel seeing the world only through the tower Windows. Shortly thereafter, she demanded to switch schools, because her school was rolling out Google for Ad-ucation (her term) and she couldn't take that any more.

            • Confidentiality

              • T-Mobile breach hits 53 million customers as probe finds wider impact

                In its latest update, which comes days after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened an investigation into the breach, T-Mobile revealed it had identified 5.3 million additional wireless subscribers who were impacted by the breach as well as 667,000 more accounts of former customers.

                The data includes addresses, dates of birth and phone numbers of customers, the company said, adding that it had no indication that the accessed data contained financial information such as credit card or other payment data.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Investigation Of ShotSpotter's Practices Is Raising Questions The Company's Angry Statement Really Doesn't Answer

        Earlier this month, another courtroom challenge of evidence exposed another questionable alteration of a gunshot report by law enforcement tech supplier, ShotSpotter. In 2018, a man shot by police officers claimed in his lawsuit that ShotSpotter altered gunshot detection records at the request of law enforcement to back up the officers' narrative -- one that claimed he had shot at them first. No gun was ever recovered and the number of shots originally detected by ShotSpotter matched the number fired by officers, leaving them at least one shot short of their "he shot first" story.

      • Biden’s Botched Withdrawal From Afghanistan is Consistent With Two Decades of America’s Missteps There

        Republicans predictably jumped on this demonstrable foreign policy failure, neglecting to mention that it was Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump who laid the groundwork for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and worked with the Taliban to do so. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) expostulated, “This debacle was not only foreseeable, it was foreseen,” as if Trump would have done any better as a second-term president. Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in an interview on Fox News with Chris Wallace chimed in, saying, “It looks like the Biden administration has just failed in its execution of its own plan,” even though of course the Democratic president was essentially carrying out Trump’s plan. The Republican National Committee has now deleted a page on its website that had celebrated Trump’s dealings with the Taliban, perhaps hoping no one would notice.

        The corporate media was equally unforgiving of Biden. The Washington Post’s editorial board issued a scathing opinion blaming Biden for any future deaths, saying that the U.S. “assumed at least partial responsibility for all Afghans. Leaving them now means walking away from that responsibility.” The Post also worried about America’s global prestige, saying, “at risk is the United States’ reputation as a partner, as would-be allies around the world watch and calculate the value of an American commitment.”

      • After Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, Is It Credible to Trust the Intel Agencies on Wuhan?

        On May 26, these words should have poured forth from the White House Press Corps and the mainstream Commentariat when Joe Biden declared that he was placing the question of Covid-19’s origins securely in the hands of the “National Intel Agencies.”€  They were to report back in 90 days.

        Have not the Intel Agencies been up to their eyeballs in deception about the “Global War on Terror” for the past 20 plus years?€  Must we really remind the press and commentariat of the scandal of the Weapons of Mass Destruction hyped by the Intel Agencies to bamboozle a highly skeptical public into the War on Iraq?

      • 'The Answer Is No': Taliban Reject Idea of US Extending Exit Deadline

        Taliban leaders on Monday said they will not accept any effort by the Biden administration to extend its August 31 deadline for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, warning that such a move would be certain to "provoke a reaction."

        "If the U.S. or U.K. were to seek additional time to continue evacuations—the answer is no," Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News in an interview Monday. "Or there would be consequences."

      • The Myth of Empire and the Real Message of Dune

        Over the last few days, I have been thinking a lot about this book, as well as the movie adaptations. When Westerners (see: Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Brits, Australians) see Dune this fall, I wonder if any of them will have any idea that Arrakis is a perfect symbol for Afghanistan (or even Iraq, or Bolivia, etc.). Or that the much coveted and fought over€ “spice”€ is code for opium (or oil, or lithium, or whatever the Empire and its imperial houses demand or wish to control). Or that the imperial bad guys in the film, complete with their noble houses, obscene material wealth and military might, are symbolic of their own governments, corporate powers and armed forces?

        Of course, the same questions could be asked about other modern cinematic epics, from Star Wars to Avatar, even The Hunger Games. Despite the obfuscation of Hollywood and its unholy alliances with the Pentagon, the underlying mythic message remains, if even as a whisper largely drowned out by the latest computer-generated effects and Pentagon approved technology. An empire brutally forces its hegemony on the poorest and most maligned peoples. These people happen to sit on a vast wealth of minerals or resources or€ “spice.”€ And many of them resist the brutal incursion onto their lands. But it always seems lost on the audience that should get the message the loudest and the clearest. There is a disconnect with most Western audiences when it comes to the reality of their government’s foreign policies and military aggressions in the Global South. How much of the propaganda have Westerners swallowed?

      • Opinion | Star Trek: Anti-Imperialist Doctrine

        On February 9, 1967, hours after the US Air Force pounded Haiphong Harbor and several Vietnamese airfields, NBC television screened a politically momentous episode of Star Trek. Entitled "The Return of the Archons," the episode marks the debut of the Prime Directive – the supreme law of the fictional United Federation of Planets, and its Starfleet, banning any and all purposeful interference with alien people, civilizations, and cultures. Devised in 1966, as President Lyndon B. Johnson was sending another 100,000 troops into Vietnam, the Prime Directive constituted a direct, though well-camouflaged, ideological challenge to what the US government was up to.

      • In Must-Watch Rant, Mehdi Hasan Rips War Hawks for Lecturing World on Afghan Exit

        In a brief and fiery monologue on national television Sunday night, MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan took aim at the journalists, hawkish politicians, and defense industry-funded ex-military officials who are currently denouncing the ongoing U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan after playing an integral role in launching—and lying on behalf of—the catastrophic 20-year war that set the stage for the chaotic departure.

        "Our newspaper op-ed pages, our TV screens are filled with people who got it wrong still trying to lecture the rest of us about what should happen now in Afghanistan," Hasan said in the "60-second rant" segment of his weekend show.

      • The Poison of Nationalism

        The ideal of a post-cold war tolerant world where resources (including food and water), are shared equitably, governments cooperate and borders soften has been usurped by rabid intolerance and racism, wall building, flag waving, cruel unjust immigration policies and violent policing of migrants and migrant routes. Rather than addressing issues and tackling underlying causes the ardent nationalist blames some group or other, ethnic, religious or national.

        Love, distorted but potent, and hate sustain the monster: Love and corrupted pride of nation and ‘our way of life’, seen among the flag wavers as somehow superior; hatred of ‘strangers’, and hatred of change to that which is familiar. It is an insular reactionary movement of introspection and division based on false and petty notions of difference: skin color, religion, language, culture, even food.

      • Opinion | Despite Trillions Spent, the US Military Hasn't Won a Real War Since 1945

        The United States emerged from its victory in World War II as the world's preeminent superpower. Its annual military budget—about three-quarters of a trillion dollars a year—exceeds the aggregate of the next ten countries in the world.

      • Far Right Groups Tied to Jan. 6 Attack Reporters and Others at Anti-Mask Rally
      • Media Rediscover Afghan Women Only When US Leaves

        Just as US corporate news media “discovered” Afghan women’s rights only when the US was angling for invasion, their since-forgotten interest returned with a vengeance as US troops exited the country.

      • The US and UK Got Things So Wrong in Afghanistan Because They do Not Understand the Afghan Way of War

        The Afghan way of war has created confusion among foreign political and military leaders in the past 20 years, but never more so than during the past few weeks as the Taliban swept through the country, capturing city after city without facing serious resistance.

        Intelligence agencies had generally assured western leaders that the Afghan government had the soldiers and weapons to make a fight of it. They did so, even after president Joe Biden announced on 14 April that all American troops would be out of Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Biden said that a Taliban victory was not “inevitable” and Boris Johnson added that the Taliban had “no military path to victory”. Experienced politicians do not make such confident predictions unless their intelligence chiefs have been telling them the same thing.

      • Will Americans Who Were Right on Afghanistan Still Be Ignored?

        That decision set in motion a cycle of violence and chaos that no subsequent U.S. policy or military strategy could resolve over the next 20 years, in Afghanistan, Iraq or any of the other countries swept up in America’s post-9/11 wars.

        While Americans were reeling in shock at the images of airliners crashing into buildings on September 11, 2001, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld held a meeting in an intact part of the Pentagon. Undersecretary Cambone’s notes from that meeting spell out how quickly and blindly U.S. officials prepared to plunge our nation into graveyards of empire in Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond.

      • Why We Lost in Afghanistan

        “The soul of [an] army can’t be breathed into the army by a foreign military power or a foreign military force on the ground.” Any inquiry into why the American enterprise in Afghanistan ended in abject failure should begin with this cogent observation by retired Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, who commanded all US forces in Afghanistan and subsequently served as US ambassador in Kabul. “Only the Afghans,” Eikenberry emphasized “can give their army a soul and its identity.”

      • Guam Was Ready to Help Relocate Afghans. Biden Ghosted.

        HagÃ¥tña, Guam—Before the Taliban toppled the US-backed government of Afghanistan, refugee advocates and government insiders had been calling on President Joe Biden to take steps to evacuate Afghans at risk of violence. They offered resources, ideas, and expertise, but for months they received no response. The State Department sluggishly issued “special immigrant visas” for those who had helped the US military, seemingly with no plan for what to do with the tens of thousands of SIV applicants—and those facing persecution who don’t fall under SIV parameters—who would be stranded in Afghanistan when the US troops were gone. This article was published with support from Columbia University’s Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights.

      • Invasion of the US Capitol
      • Proud Boys & Far-Right Groups Tied to Jan. 6 Attack Reporters & Others at Anti-Mask, Anti-Vax Rally

        As COVID-19 cases surge in the United States, anti-mask and anti-vaccine protests are continuing nationwide, with some turning violent. In a shocking story out of California, at least one person was stabbed and two journalists were attacked while covering an anti-vaccine, anti-mask demonstration outside Los Angeles City Hall on Saturday, August 14. The protest was attended by members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing groups. A Southern California mortgage broker named Tony Moon, who also participated in the deadly January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was videotaped attacking the independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg. “He started screaming 'Unmask them all!' He ripped my mask off and manhandled me,” says Berg, a reporter at Status Coup News in Los Angeles, who describes how the same people have been involved in violent protests nationwide. “This is a group that has been traveling around … and they instigate violence wherever they go.”

      • The Taliban’s Resurgence Was Years in Making & Aided by Trump, Who Sidelined Afghan Gov’t in Talks

        Concern is growing over a broader humanitarian crisis across Afghanistan as people continue to crowd the Kabul airport to flee after the Taliban takeover of the country. The World Health Organization says about one-half of Afghanistan’s population, including nearly 10 million children, already need humanitarian assistance, and the numbers are expected to soar as Afghanistan’s economic crisis intensifies. The Taliban is now under intense pressure, says Emran Feroz, an Austro-Afghan journalist and author. “They know that any kind of Afghan state in future will be dependent on foreign money, which includes American money; otherwise, the people of Afghanistan and the state itself cannot survive,” says Feroz. “The Taliban must be really pragmatic and try to find a way to build a very inclusive government within a short time, because otherwise they will have a lot of problems.”

      • MintPress News Confronts Senator Cruz on Murderous US Sanctions

        On Saturday, MintPress News’ Ben Rubinstein ran into Senator Ted Cruz at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport. Recognizing the senator’s long-standing support for economic warfare on the Global South via unilateral coercive measures, or sanctions, Rubinstein jumped at the chance to confront Cruz.

      • Expanding the Military Draft Is Not Feminism. Abolishing Draft Registration Is.
      • Some Taliban websites go offline amid broader tech crackdown

        The downed websites come amid a growing crackdown from some tech companies on the Taliban. Throughout the week, the Taliban have used WhatsApp groups in Afghanistan to help relay messages about their government takeover. But some Taliban WhatsApp groups have recently disappeared, according to SITE, a private intelligence firm that tracks extremist groups.

      • UK: During the half-time interval at the home game of the Blackburn Rovers football team, the stadium announcer calls on Muslims to pray!

        On August 10, when Lancashire Rovers were playing against Morecambe, the stadium announcer cordially invited all Muslims who wished to go to the designated prayer room to perform Salat Maghrib (prayer just after sunset).

        Note that at the entrance to the Rovers Stadium “multi-faith prayer room”, which consists of a room for men and a room for women, it is advised to take off one’s shoes….

      • Nigerian Gunmen Free 15 More Abducted Baptist Students

        Around 1,000 students have been kidnapped since December after gangs started to target schools and colleges. Most have been released after negotiations, but scores are still being held in forest camps.

      • Spike Lee Says He Still Has ‘Questions’ About What Happened on 9/11

        The four-part docuseries, which weaves together stories, memories and insights of New York’s greatest challenges in the 21st century, premiered on Aug. 22 on HBO and HBO Max. For the series, Lee conducted over 200 interviews with first responders, politicians, journalists and Lee’s own family and friends. Featured interviewees offering first-hand accounts include Jon Stewart, Rosie Perez, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Chuck Schumer, Bill De Blasio, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and more.

    • Environment

      • Beyond Science: Art and the Environment
      • Forest people offer the best hope of saving them

        Trees are vital for solving the climate crisis. But there’s nothing simple about the forested world, as forest people know.

      • 'Extreme Weather' Ads Target Democrats Defending Fossil Fuel Subsidies

        More than two dozen advocacy groups launched "extreme weather ads" in five state newspapers on Monday to pressure right-wing€ Senate Democrats to stop giving taxpayer money to the oil, gas, and coal companies most responsible for the climate emergency.

        "It's time for Congress to stop taking over $15 billion from hardworking Americans and giving it to billionaire fossil fuel CEOs."—Anusha Narayanan, Greenpeace

      • Global Warming's Walking Dead

        Today, it is a time when NASA is able to present its data without having to be afraid to get its budget cut by conservative politicians for using the words “global warming”. Yet, conservatives and right-wing populists are all too eager to replay the Galileo Galilei vs. Catholic Church power struggle in which, the world’s foremost astronomer had the knowledge but the church had the power and the instruments of torture.

        As the journal Nature said on the IPCC climate report, earth is warmer than it’s been in 125,000 years. Collectively, the 7.9bn people on earth have moved earth into what we know as Anthropocene – the geological epoch dating from the time when human beings began to make a significant impact on earth’s geology and ecosystems. Some set the Anthropocene’s starting date as the early 1950s – the beginning of routine above-ground atomic testing. Anthropocene means rampant global warming.

      • Extinction Rebellion Blockade Central London Street to Kick Off Fortnight of Protests

        Hundreds of climate activists are occupying a busy street in central London today in the first of two weeks of protest against the UK financial sector’s continued investment in fossil fuels.

        The environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion (XR) has erected a large pink “crisis table” at the junction of Long Acre and St Martins-In-the-Fields in Covent Garden.

        Stay up to date with DeSmog news and alerts

      • Opinion | Carbon Dividends Provide a Win-Win Solution for People and the Climate

        Win-win solutions that bring tangible benefits in the present generation while safeguarding the planet for future generations can broaden public support for policies to fight climate change. This is the political intuition behind the Green New Deal, which reframes climate policy as an opportunity to reboot the economy and create millions of jobs. The same logic applies to carbon dividends, a strategy that puts a price on carbon emissions and returns the money straight to the people.

      • Energy

        • 15 Insurers Drop Trans Mountain Pipeline After Grassroots Pressure
        • As Subsidies Roll in, the Fossil Fuel Industry Is Winning Efforts to Cast Blue Hydrogen as a ‘Clean’ Fuel

          As global efforts to ramp up the hydrogen industry gain support with big government subsidies, new research casts increasing doubt on the climate credentials of the main recipient of that support, so-called “blue” hydrogen, which is extracted from natural gas and paired with carbon capture technology.€ 

          Hydrogen, an energy carrier proposed for helping transition the world away from fossil fuels, is well-suited for the oil and gas industry’s public relations machine. The industry, a major player in the main lobbying group, the Hydrogen Council, can run ads and talk about moving toward green hydrogen, which is produced from water using renewable energy, while working in the interim to get the world hooked on blue hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is made from natural gas, which is mostly methane, using electricity generated by burning more gas, and hydrogen is considered “blue” (rather than “gray”) when its carbon emissions are sequestered. The process uses lots of energy and releases carbon dioxide, plus, the natural gas supply chain is known to leak the powerful greenhouse gas methane.€ 

          Stay up to date with DeSmog news and alerts

        • Tallinn's train stations missing bicycle parking lots

          People taking trains often use bicycles as a means to get to the train station and leaving bicycles at the station would be a comfortable way of transportation. In many larger Tallinn train stations, such as Ãœlemiste, Kitseküla or Balti jaam, there is no option to do so, however, ETV's daily affairs show "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported on Sunday.

    • Finance

      • In Win for Gig Workers, Judge Rules California's Prop 22 Unconstitutional
      • Opinion | A Victory for Gig Workers as California Rules Uber Can't Hack Labor Laws

        Gig workers have won an important victory in California's courts. On August 20, a judge ruled that a ballot initiative by Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash aimed at creating a permanent precarious workforce was unconstitutional. The decision is a major blow to the platform companies, which spent well over $200 million last year on Prop 22 to overturn a state law extending employee rights to most California gig workers.

      • Understanding The California Ruling That Said Prop 22, The Gig Worker Ballot Initiative, Was Unconstitutional

        Opponents of Uber et al. have been cheering the recent California court decision declaring Proposition 22 unconstitutional. Proposition 22 was a ballot measure passed to override significant parts of the legislature's AB 5 bill, which affected all sorts of untraditional employment arrangements, including those of "gig workers." Some people unhappy with the policy effects of Proposition 22 then sued to challenge its validity under the California Constitution. And, at least initially, have won.

      • Explaining 21st-Century Capitalism in a Way Everyone Can Understand

        Capitalism is just one particular way of—a system for—organizing the production and distribution of goods and services. It differs from other systems such as slavery and feudalism but also shares some similarities with them. Capitalism, like slavery and feudalism, divides those engaged with the production and distribution of goods and services into two groups, one small and the other large. Slavery had masters (few) and enslaved people (many), while feudalism divided the groups into lords (few) and serfs (many). Employers are capitalism’s smaller group. They control, direct, and oversee the economic system. The employers use production and distribution to grow their wealth. Capital is wealth engaged in self-expansion. As the systemic agents who are socially positioned to perform that expansion, employers are capitalists.

        Capitalism’s much larger group comprises the employees (or workers). As the majority in the system’s workplaces, they do most of the work. Employees are divided into two groups. One group, often called “productive workers,” are those directly involved in producing goods or services. In a company that produces chairs, for example, they are the makers of the chairs (people directly transforming wood into chairs). The second group of employees, often called “unproductive workers,” are not directly involved in contributing to the workplace’s output. Rather, unproductive workers provide the conditions and the context that enable the productive workers to directly produce the output. Examples of unproductive workers in a workplace include clerks who keep records and sales and purchasing departments’ employees who secure inputs and market outputs.

      • Sex workers made OnlyFans valuable — then it sold them out

        In 2019, OnlyFans, a content subscription platform founded three years prior, had about 120,000 creators registered with the site. But after the pandemic left millions of people out of work and sex workers unable to safely meet with clients in person, people flocked to the platform, which was already well-known for its adult content. By the end of 2020, OnlyFans boasted 1 million creators and 90 million users.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Opinion | Will Senate Democrats Stoop to Confirming Rahm Emanuel as Ambassador?

        When President Biden announced late Friday afternoon that he will nominate Rahm Emanuel to be the U.S. ambassador to Japan, the timing just before the weekend was clearly intended to minimize attention to the swift rebukes that were sure to come.

      • Opinion | Our Progressive Agenda Is Popular and Our Candidates Can Win

        Progressive policies are popular. Progressive candidates are winning. But you would not know that after the establishment takeover in the op-ed pages and political pieces following former state Sen. Nina Turner's (D) loss in the Ohio special primary election.€ 

      • The Fall of the House of Cuomo – Lessons Unlearned

        First, the comparisons: Former President Donald J. Trump must be chuckling. As the worst sexual predator to rule the White House, he must be wondering about the “weak” (his word) loser who quit while protesting his actions were innocent. Trump, the rapacious, super sexual assaulter, physically pushed women around, boasted about his prowess, and bragged about his seizures of women’s private parts. He also paid hush money to prostitutes in violation of campaign laws during his 2016 presidential campaign.

        Yet the Democrats, led by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), hounded Senator Al Franken out from the Senate before his requested investigations by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics began its inquiry for alleged sexual harassment. Franken’s actions were not Trump-like by any measure and occurred before Franken even ran for office. The women who worked for him, past and present, voluntarily came forward to vouch for Franken as a Senate champion both of women and of consumer rights.

      • Primary Challenger Hits Henry Cuellar for Trying to Tank Biden Agenda

        Jessica Cisneros, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in Texas' 28th district, on Monday slammed the district's incumbent Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar for being willing to obstruct his own party's effort to expand Medicare, establish a pathway to citizenship, and fight the climate crisis.

        "It is sad to see Henry Cuellar work so hard to stand in the way of improving the lives of everyday South Texans."—Jessica Cisneros

      • Buffalo's Democratic Establishment Still Trying to Defeat Socialist India Walton

        "I can promise every person in Buffalo that if I lost the primary, I wouldn't be trying to change election laws and work with Republicans to override the will of Buffalonians."—India Walton

      • Bernie Sanders’s Third Campaign

        Burlington, Vt.—Bernie Sanders does not want to be mistaken for an optimist. “I’m a glass-half-empty kind of guy,” he grumbles, as he works his way through the stacks of budget documents that are strewn across the desk in his spartan office on the third floor of a 123-year-old red-brick building on the north end of downtown Burlington. That’s the image he’s fashioned for himself across five decades of political campaigning, and he’s comfortable with it. But the thing is, for all his genuine cynicism about the political and governing mechanisms he has long decried as corrupt, Sanders keeps erring on the side of what the writer Rebecca Solnit refers to as “hope in the dark.” He’s willing to take chances in order to push the boundaries of the possible: to run for and secure a seat in the US Senate as an independent, to bid for the presidency as a democratic socialist, to propose a political revolution. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that—from his recently acquired position of prominence and power as chair of the Senate Budget Committee—Sanders has launched a new campaign to achieve “the most progressive moment since the New Deal.”

        For Sanders, this is an urgent mission that is about much more than the proposals outlined in the budget plan he joined Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer in outlining on August 9. It is a necessary struggle to address the simmering frustration with politics as usual that Donald Trump and his Republican allies have exploited to advance an antidemocratic and increasingly authoritarian agenda.

      • The Biggest Gamble of Nancy Pelosi's Life
      • Right-Wing Dems Begin to Cave as Progressives Hold Their Ground on Reconciliation Vote

        An effort by nine conservative House Democrats to force a quick vote on a bipartisan infrastructure bill reportedly began to collapse over the weekend as progressive lawmakers—and Speaker Nancy Pelosi—made clear that they would not allow the legislation to advance until the Senate also passes a sweeping reconciliation package, a centerpiece of the majority party's agenda.

        Earlier this month, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and eight other Democrats sent a letter to Pelosi (D-Calif.) threatening to vote down a $3.5 trillion budget resolution—a measure that sets the stage for the reconciliation package—unless the House first passes a $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill that the Senate approved on August 11. Their stance won the support of powerful actors in Washington, most prominently the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest-spending corporate lobbying organization in the country.

      • Afghanistan: the Miserable Performance Of The Mainstream Media

        The editorial boards and oped writers of our mainstream media in discussing the war, continue to cite “enduring American faith in the values of freedom and democracy” as the underlying purpose of our effort.€  The€ New York Times,€ in fact, cited the “purity of U.S. values” such as civil rights, religious tolerance, and women’s empowerment as a justification for our occupation of Afghanistan.

        Although the U.S. press praises our benighted efforts at nation building, the Soviet Union actually built more hydroelectric dams, tunnels, and bridges in Afghanistan than the United States has.€  This includes the Friendship Bridge that provided an exit ramp for the Afghan military.€  Moscow also educated about 200,000 Afghan engineers, military officers, and administrators, which allowed the Najibullah government to hang on for several years in the wake of the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.€  The Ghani government didn’t last for 24 hours after our withdrawal.

      • Dennis Kucinich and Lisa Wells - The Project Censored Show, Uncategorized

        Dennis Kucinich, of Ohio, served eight terms in the US House of Representatives, and twice ran for President.

      • Apple’s Tim Cook, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella Plan to Visit White House

        Apple’s Tim Cook, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Amazon’s Andy Jassy plan to attend the event scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, according to people familiar with the matter.

      • Joe Biden reportedly hosting cybersecurity meeting with Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, and Andy Jassy attending

        Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM, JPMorgan, and Southern Company all declined to comment to Bloomberg, and a Southern Company spokesperson declined to comment to The Verge. The other companies and the White House have not replied to requests for comment from The Verge.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press

      • Statement On Receiving The Serena Shim Award For Uncompromised Integrity In Journalism

        Kevin Gosztola was awarded the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism for his work thus far on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s case. The Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees, based in California, is an antiwar group that gives the award to those whose work is “deemed important, courageous, and relentless in pursuit of truth, however inconvenient it may be to those who use deception for political gain.” “Thank you for this award,” Gosztola said. “It validates the commitment I have to covering a case that has widespread implications for truth-tellers and freedom of the press. My coverage will not stop until the United States government is no longer trying to bring a publisher to the U.S. for a trial. ” Gosztola joins an esteemed group of independent journalists and organizations that have previously received the award including: Max Blumenthal, Glen Ford, Danny Haiphong, Caitlin Johnstone, Rania Khalek, Margaret Kimberley, Aaron Maté, Ben Norton, Gareth Porter, Black Agenda Report, Consortium News, The Grayzone, MintPress News, and Venezuela Analysis. In fact, Julian Assange previously received the award. All of these people or organizations are in some way, shape, or form scorned by think tank members or staff of outfits that receive funds from U.S. government-affiliated institutions, military and security contractors, or private companies in the banking or oil and gas industry. They are despised because they are effective in challenging the warfare state. What this award amounts to is a much needed but rare form of solidarity that will make it possible for Gosztola’s independent journalism on Assange and other truth-tellers, who are treated as enemies of the United States, to continue.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • 1984 in 2021: We're Doing Big Brother's Job for Him

        Disturbing, yes, but a prediction fail on Orwell’s part. The political class’s openly stated desire for a Ministry of Truth to suppress “misinformation” on social media notwithstanding, there’s little evidence that it needs any such brute mechanism to let it have its way with the facts.

        Circa 2021, mainstream media spend most of their ink and bandwidth uncritically regurgitating, and affirming their faith in, the political establishment’s preferred narrative of the moment.

      • Opinion | We Reject the Right-Wing Attacks on Racial Justice and Our Classrooms

        As of the middle of August, more than two dozen states have introduced—and 11 states have enacted—bills or rules to restrict the teaching of history and contemporary social realities. Right-wing activists have mounted similar attacks at school board meetings throughout the country. This stunning barrage of legislation and policies aims to ban teaching critical race theory (CRT), and supposedly “divisive topics” in the curriculum.

      • How Will the UK's Nationality and Borders Bill Affect Migration Across the English Channel?

        I attempt to put myself in the shoes of those desperate asylum seekers who put their life on the line knowing they may not make it to their destination. Unfortunately, while you, as a reader, and I, as a writer, and those policymakers in our safe place have the option to choose sides, the sea does not. The sea does not care where you come from or who you are; the sea does not discriminate; and the sea can kill, particularly those in those fragile boats.

        These asylum seekers are heroes fleeing persecution, oppressive governments, and, in many cases, wars in search of protection, security, and a better life. These asylum seekers are actual heroes, but if the current bill is passed, they will become criminals the moment they arrive in the UK.

      • Truth and Justification: On the Cruelties Against Indigenous People

        “Kill the Indian, save the man,” proclaimed Richard Henry Pratt, a veteran officer of the Indian Wars and follower of Gen. George Custer. Pratt was describing the true mission of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, which opened on a former Army base in 1879. By 1900, there were 150 such schools across the United States, all dedicated to eradicating the culture, language, and customs of Indigenous children. Europeans sailed across the Atlantic to “discover” the so-called New World, and they kidnapped our siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents. In these schools, our names were changed, our heads were shaved, and our clothes and other belongings were taken from us. Our families endured enormous physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, and sexual abuse. And it’s not ancient history; we live with survivors of those schools.

      • He Admitted to a Rape 41 Years After the Fact. For One Survivor: “It’s the Most Freeing Experience in the World”

        Julienne Wood was walking through the aisles of Costco this June when a college friend rang her up.

        “Jules, where are you?” asked her friend, out of breath and barely able to speak. “I have something REALLY BIG to tell you. … You’re gonna finally get answers you’ve been looking for. … I sent you a series of articles from ProPublica. … It’s big — way, way bigger than we thought.”

      • Why Americans hate and fear the poor: Joanne Samuel Goldblum on the price of inequality

        The Institute for Policy Studies recently reported on how the world's richest people have profited from the human misery of the coronavirus pandemic while returning little if anything to the common good: [...]

      • EXPOSED: Western Females Groomed to Embrace Islamic Garb as Afghani Females Shot for Improper Attire (Video)

        Muslims have launched a sharia propaganda campaign aimed at veiling non-Muslim western girls using TikTok. The video-sharing platform has already been under scrutiny for its illegal use of data about children and ties to the Chinese government. Young women in German and Austrian cities are approached by Muslims who offer to “restyle” them with Hijabs and Islamic body coverings. Muslims film the young western girl’s “hijabi transformations” then post them on their TikTok channel. The channel is linked to an online Hijab store.

        The videos are inundated with comments by hundreds or thousands of what appear to be Muslim men, praising the girls for their beautiful Islamic transformation. The videos are being celebrated among radical Muslim circles.

        This embracement and glamorization of Islamic headwear and bodywear are helping to advances sharia in Germany, Austria, and the West. Cultural jihad is the attempt to change and subvert Western culture from within, or more simply put: to Islamize it. Sharia fashionwear is an example of a cultural and civilizational jihad   and the submission of Western non-Muslim women to that jihad.

      • Taliban 'going door to door' marking those of prominent women

        "Just an hour ago, I received an update from Kabul where they are going house to house searching for women who were activists, women who were bloggers, YouTubers, any women who had a role in the development of civil society in Afghanistan,’ she told Women’s Hour.

        "They are going door to door targeting those women and marking the doors with bright pink or bright-coloured paint to ensure 'this is the house we need to come back to and do something about them'."

      • Police killed a Black Army veteran outside his home. His family wants answers.

        She said she believes that because of her brother's race, police took no measures to de-escalate the situation.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Monopolies

      • NY Times And Washington Post Criticize Facebook Because The Chicago Tribune Had A Terrible Headline

        I'm going to try, once again, to do that stupid thing where I try to express a nuanced point on the internet, where there's a high likelihood of it being misunderstood. So, consider this opening a warning that you should read this entire article to try to get at the larger point.

      • Patents

      • Copyrights

        • Aerosmith Hands Entire Catalog to Universal Music Group

          Since Aerosmith’s founding 50 years ago, the group has gone on to sell more than 150 million albums around the world. Universal says the group are “the best-selling American hard rock band of all time”.

        • The Pirate Bay Earned Millions in Bitcoin Donations (If it HODLed)

          The Pirate Bay continues to receive a steady stream of Bitcoin donations. Over the past year, these added up to roughly $10 per day, which isn't a life-changing amount. However, if the site had kept all bitcoins received over the years, it would now be sitting on a pile of more than $6 million in Bitcoin.

        • Two DJ Music Piracy Cases Five Years Apart, Two Very Different Outcomes

          Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN says it has shut down a music piracy service that offered an illegal pool of 350,000 tracks in exchange for an annual payment of 250 euros. That matter has now ended in a cash settlement but five years ago, a man who provided a similar service in the UK with a not-for-profit motive, was jailed for a year.

        • Meet the CC Summit Presenter: Leo Cunha

          Leo is a seasoned systems architect and education technology executive with over 30 years of progressively challenging experience in management, leadership, and the design and development of mission critical software systems for education.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day