Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 03/03/2023: NuTyX 23.02.1 and Linux 6.2.2

  • GNU/Linux

    • Linux LinksLinux Around The World: Lithuania

      We cover user groups that are running in Lithuania. This article forms part of our Linux Around The World series.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • Tux DigitalLinux Out Loud 52: Unpopular Opinions

        This week, Linux Out Loud chats about up-and-coming hardware using Linux. Welcome to episode 51 of Linux Out Loud. We fired up our mics, connected those headphones as we searched the community for themes to expound upon. We kept the banter friendly, the conversation somewhat on topic, and had fun doing it.

      • Bad Voltage 3×56: Hyperbole is the Magic Word

        Jeremy Garcia, Jono Bacon, and Stuart Langridge present Bad Voltage, in which we spend a show inventing topics which need a whole other show to talk about, we reminisce about Google Plus, and: [00:01:36] Twitter Blue, Meta Verified: the social networks go premium.

    • Kernel Space

      • LWNLinux 6.2.2
        I'm announcing the release of the 6.2.2 kernel.
        
        

        All users of the 6.2 kernel series must upgrade.

        The updated 6.2.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-6.2.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-s...

        thanks,

        greg k-h
      • LWNLinux 6.1.15
      • LWNLinux 5.15.97
      • LWNLinux 5.10.171
      • LWNLinux 5.4.234
      • LWNLinux 4.19.275
    • Applications

      • FOSSLinuxUbuntu Media Center: How to turn your Ubuntu system into a media center

        In this guide, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of turning your Ubuntu system into a media center. We'll cover everything from installing the necessary software to configuring your system for optimal performance. By the end of this guide, you'll have a fully-functional media center that can stream all of your favorite content directly to your TV. So let's get started!

      • FOSSLinuxUbuntu Remote Access: How to access your Ubuntu system remotely

        Have you ever wished you could access your Ubuntu desktop or server from another location, such as your home or office? With remote access tools, you can easily and securely connect to your Ubuntu system from anywhere in the world. In this article, we will guide you through the process of setting up and using remote access on Ubuntu. We'll cover various tools such as VNC, TeamViewer, SSH, and RDP, and show you how to use them to control your Ubuntu system remotely.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • TecAdminServer Maintenance Checklist

        Server maintenance is an essential part of ensuring that your IT infrastructure runs smoothly and efficiently. By creating and following a regular maintenance checklist, you can ensure that your servers are operating optimally, reducing the risk of downtime and data loss.

      • TecAdminRunning Laravel Queue Worker as a Systemd Service

        Laravel is a popular PHP web application framework that simplifies the process of building modern, scalable web applications. One of the key features of Laravel is its ability to handle background jobs through its queueing system.

      • UNIX CopHow to install Forgejo on Debian 11 – A nice Gitea Fork

        Hello, friends. In this post, you will learn how to install Forgejo on Debian 11. Forgejo is a fork of Gitea. It arose from the fact that Gitea was acquired by a company and this didn't sit well with the community who preferred to make a fork.

      • H2S MediaHow to Download and Install Slack App for Linux OS

        Are you a Linux user that's been wanting to try out Slack? Or are you already a developer who loves Slack and wants to use the app on your Linux machine? Either way, Slack is a satisfactory collaboration software choice for many professionals.

      • HowTo ForgeHow to Install and Use Vuls Vulnerability Scanner on Ubuntu 22.04

        In this tutorial, you will install Vuls - an open-source and agent-less vulnerability scanner - on an Ubuntu 22.04 server. You will also set up Vuls by creating the configuration file and building Vuls databases via the command-line tools provided by Vuls.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install FFmpeg 6 on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

        FFmpeg 6 is a highly anticipated release of the widely-used open-source multimedia framework. This major update brings many new features and improvements, making it a versatile command-line tool for processing and converting audio and video files.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Flatpak on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

        In recent years, the Linux community has seen an increase in the popularity of containerized software packaging formats, specifically Flatpak and Snap. These formats offer a range of benefits to developers, system administrators, and end-users alike, including increased flexibility, security, and ease of deployment.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install balenaEtcher on Manjaro Linux

        BalenaEtcher is a popular open-source tool for writing images to SD cards, USB drives, and other storage devices. It provides a user-friendly interface and a simple, three-step process for creating bootable media. Unlike many other image writing tools,

      • LinuxTutoHow to Install PyroCMS on Ubuntu 22.04

        PyroCMS is a popular open-source content management system (CMS) that is built on top of the Laravel PHP framework.

      • Make Tech EasierThe Complete Guide to Managing Snap Packages in Ubuntu

        The Snap packages has been around since Ubuntu 16.04. Just like the long-known deb format has its own commands to perform operations on .deb packages, there are commands dedicated to managing Snap packages as well. In this article we will learn how to perform basic management operations on Snap packages.

      • TechRepublicHow to deploy your first container with the Cockpit GUI

        Learn how to use the Cockpit GUI for your first container with this brief tutorial from expert Jack Wallen.

      • Ubuntu HandbookFFmpeg 6.0 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

        The popular FFmpeg multimedia library announced the new major 6.0 release yesterday. Here are the new features and how to install guide for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 18.04.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Python 3.7 on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

        Python 3.7 is an earlier release of the Python programming language that more recent versions have surpassed. Nevertheless, it is still a reliable and well-respected release often used in various applications.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Avidemux on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

        Avidemux is a free, open-source video editing software popular among video editors, filmmakers, and hobbyists. It is a simple yet powerful tool that offers a range of video editing capabilities, including cutting, filtering, and encoding. With its user-friendly interface and extensive features, Avidemux has gained a significant following in the video editing community.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Rust on Manjaro Linux

        Rust is a modern systems programming language designed to offer safe concurrency, high performance, and low-level control over computer hardware. It was created by Mozilla in 2010 and has since become increasingly popular, with a growing community of developers and an expanding ecosystem of libraries and tools.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Best Open Source Software List

      Open source software is software that is released under a license that allows companies the right to use, study, change, and distribute the software for any purpose. Open source software can also be developed in a public manner.

  • Leftovers

    • uni Stanford‘Be your own rockstar’: Entrepreneurs and influencers explore social tech

      Entrepreneurs and innovators gathered at Stanford on Feb. 23 for APARC’s conference on social tech futures. Keynote speaker YOSHIKI, leader of rock bands The Last Rockstars and X Japan, encouraged members of the Stanford community to pursue their dreams and make a positive impact.

    • JURISTIndia calls on G20 member states to adopt international anti-corruption strategy

      Indian Minister of State Jitendra Singh Wednesday urged G20 member states to adopt strict anti-corruption stances in advance of the group’s 2023 New Delhi summit.

    • uni MichiganI believed in love until YouTube breakups

      The first time I experienced heartbreak, I was 13 years old. But let me be clear — it wasn’t because my crush overlooked the rumor I started about us on our middle school’s Instagram confession page.

    • The NationGwendoline Riley’s Biting Realism

      When Bridget Grant, the narrator of Gwendoline Riley’s new novel My Phantoms, was a child, her favored state was a dissociated one. She speaks with her mother as if from a script, presenting a series of prompts—about her mother’s childhood, her school uniform, her divorce—to which the other can quickly provide “the right answer, an approved answer.” Whenever Bridget and her sister Michelle are forced to spend time with their father, they learn “to sort of fade out of the moment” when he goes off on one of his comic routines, as if averting their eyes from a wild animal’s challenge.

    • The NationAngela Davis’s Family History Is Remarkable—and Unexceptional for Black Americans

      The most recent episode of the PBS genealogy docuseries Finding Your Roots focused, in part, on the previously untraced family tree branches of activist and scholar Angela Davis. If you are on social media and have even a passing interest in this sort of thing, you’ve probably already watched the clip of host Henry Louis Gates Jr. announcing to Davis that she is “descended from one of the 101 people who sailed on the Mayflower.” The camera catches Davis reeling from the revelations, and the clip went viral, launching a million Twitter hot takes. But the snippet provides just one piece of the story of Davis’s ancestry unearthed by the show. Only in watching the rest of the episode is it made clear that her connection to that 10th great-grandfather was made during the Jim Crow era, through a previously unknown white paternal grandfather who had been her Black grandmother’s long-time neighbor. The episode also reveals that Davis’s mother, who grew up in foster care and never knew either of her biological parents, was fathered by a white Alabama lawyer, state representative, and senator named John Austin Darden. Through Darden, the show uncovered another of Davis’s ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War and later enslaved at least six Black folks in Georgia.

    • Common DreamsA Poll as Right-Wing Racist Troll: The Real Lessons From 'Dilbert' This Week

      Cartoonist Scott Adams, creator of the once-funny comic strip "Dilbert," has finally gotten what he always wanted. For a long time now, Adams has acted like that kid in third grade who craves negative attention. Now he's got it. Adams reportedly said...

    • Telex (Hungary)No Hungarian-born athletes among those representing Hungary at World Junior Figure Skating Championships
    • Telex (Hungary)Hungary spent most on culture, sports and religion in EU relative to GDP
    • The NationHealing Hands
    • HackadayNorm Abram Is Back, And Thanks To AI, Now In HD

      We’ve said many times that while woodworking is a bit outside our wheelhouse, we have immense respect for those with the skill and patience to turn dead trees into practical objects. Among such artisans, few are better known than the legendary Norm Abram — host of The New Yankee Workshop from 1989 to 2009 on PBS.

    • Education

      • Project CensoredIs Your Teacher Spying on You? - Censored Notebook

        In this bonus “Dispatches from Project Censored,” Allison Butler and Nolan Higdon, two of the most acclaimed media literacy educators working today, offer no-nonsense tips for€ teens€ to protect themselves against surveillance. As technology floods into the classroom,€ teens€ often fall prey to invisible violations of their rights to privacy and free expression. These rights should not be left at the school’s doorstep, but today’s technology make snooping and spying in the classroom easier than ever. Butler and Higdon’s “Is Your Teacher Spying on You?” gives€ teens€ a primer for taking back their rights and protecting them into the future.

      • Common DreamsTo Address Teacher Shortage Pay Teachers More

        Though states are seeking to reduce the teacher shortage, the problem only seems to be getting worse. Recently, the National Education Association reported that 55 percent of teachers are planning to leave the profession earlier than they planned. This means that, if current trends persist, the gap between the number of working teachers and the number of open positions will widen significantly by 2030. This is where Bernie Sanders, the new Senate Chair of Health, Education, and Labor, comes in.

    • Hardware

      • CNX SoftwareIntel Processor N100 mini PC with 8GB LPDDR5 memory sells for $156 and up

        Topton is selling a mini PC based on the Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N quad-core processor with 8GB LPDDR5 RAM for $156.44 and up depending on the selected SSD capacity. But despite its low price, the specifications are not too bad with dual 4K video output thanks to HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort interfaces, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity, four USB ports including one USB 3.0 port, and an audio jack.

      • HackadayA Look Inside Bicycle Gearboxes

        While bicycle gearboxes date back to at least the 1920s, they’re relatively unseen in bike racing. One exception is Honda’s race-winning mid-drive gearboxes, and [Alee Denham] gives us a look at what makes these unique drives tick.

      • HackadaySCSI: The Disk Bus For Everything

        Early home PCs usually had a floppy disk and a simple hard drive controller. Later, IDE hard drives became the defacto standard. Of course, these days, you are more likely to find some version of SATA and — lately — NVME connectors. But a standard predating all of this was very common in high-end systems: SCSI. [RetroBytes] recently did a video on the bus which he calls the “USB of the 80s.”

      • The NationThe CHIPS Plan to Revive American Manufacturing

        On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo unveiled a key new plank in the work-in-progress known as American industrial policy. After a decades-long trade regime that permitted private oligopolies to decide where and how to produce semiconductors, the Commerce Department launched a $39 billion incentives program to give grants, loans, and other financial support to businesses and nonprofits to build chip fabrication facilities in America.

      • Tom's HardwareRussian Nuclear Company Tests ‘Beaver’ PCs With Homegrown Baikal CPUs

        A major Russian company is testdriving Arm-based PCs.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

    • Proprietary

      • Counter PunchAI Chatbots are Even Scarier Than You Think

        A New York Times reporter has a creepy experience

        Among the most read stories in the NYTimes in the last few weeks was the one by tech reporter Kevin Roose about his unsettling experience with Bing, the updated search engine by Microsoft. Initially delighted by its capabilities and speed, he changed his mind after discovering that Bing’s Open AI Chatbot was creepy. After a brief, getting acquainted period involving online searches and basic questions about AI capabilities, Roose began to get personal. Posing his questions as hypotheticals, he put the bot on the couch, probing its inner life. He asked about his analysand’s desires, fears and animosities. After some resistance, Sydney (the bot’s emerging alter ego) opened up, and out poured a surprising series of confessions and professions.

    • Security

      • SANSPython Infostealer Targeting Gamers, (Wed, Mar 1st)

        They generate a lot of business around games.

      • Bruce SchneierDumb Password Rules

        Troy Hunt is collecting examples of dumb password rules.

        There are some pretty bad disasters out there.

        My worst experiences are with sites that have artificial complexity requirements that cause my personal password-generation systems to fail. Some of the systems on the list are even worse: when they fail they don't tell you why, so you just have to guess until you get it right.

      • Bruce SchneierFooling a Voice Authentication System with an AI-Generated Voice

        A reporter used an AI synthesis of his own voice to fool the voice authentication system for Lloyd's Bank.

      • Data BreachesMinneapolis Public Schools systems restored, no ransom paid

        [Note: MPS’s phrase “encryption event” appeared to be a ridiculous — and dare we say, sleazy– attempt not to call it a “ransomware attack.” The district still has not described it as ransomware attack.]

      • Businessman convicted of Experian data breach skips sentencing, court issues warrant for his arrest

        A man who was convicted of fraudulently obtaining the personal data of millions of South Africans is a wanted man after he skipped his sentencing.

        Karabo Phungula failed to appear in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court, for his sentencing on Wednesday.

        It was the second time that he missed a scheduled court appearance in the case, in which he was accused of fraudulently obtaining a trove of personal and business data from data services firm, Experian, in 2020.

        Phungula, the founder of Hi-Pixel Communications, was convicted in October last year. On 14 February, he failed to appear in court for sentencing, citing ill health.

      • Nearly 800 people affected by possible data breach during College of the Desert malware attack last summer

        College of the Desert has begun alerting the approximately 800 people who may be affected by a possible data breach during a malware attack last summer.

        The malware attack occurred in early July. The attack took down the school's phone and online services for nearly the entire month.

      • HHS OCR creates new HIPAA enforcement arm and enhances focus on cybersecurity and privacy oversight

        This week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the agency responsible for HIPAA enforcement, announced the formation of three new divisions within the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”). The new divisions – Enforcement, Policy, and Strategic Planning – are intended to enhance focus and efficiency in conducting HIPAA compliance reviews, developing policies related to HIPAA and health privacy, promulgating regulations, providing technical assistance, and educating the public about health privacy and cybersecurity requirements.

      • WHSmith targeted by hackers in cyber attack as company data at risk

        High street retailer WHSmith has reported it has been the target of a cyber attack with hackers accessing company data.

        The company said information regarding current and former employees had also been accessed by hackers during the security breach.

        Bosses of the established retailer said the situation does not impact its trading activities and stressed that the brand’s website, customer accounts and customer databases were all safe, as they were operated on a separate system.

      • Data BreachesLubbock Heart and Surgical Hospital sued for breach where no one knows for sure whether data was accessed or acquired

        If the victim of a cyberattack cannot determine whether data was accessed or acquired, should that increase the damages sought by plaintiffs in a class action suit? Or should it get the suit tossed out because the plaintiffs can’t prove any theft of their data?

        Kelly Mehorter reports about a class action lawsuit filed against Lubbock Heart and Surgical Hospital over a 2022 breach. The hospital notified 23,379 patients about a July incident in September 2022, but then updated their report in December 2022. The updated report frankly admitted, “Our investigation could not determine whether the unauthorized party did, in fact, access or copy any files but was unable to rule it out.”

      • Little Rock School District seeks cyberattack guidance

        The Little Rock School District is continuing to seek an attorney general’s opinion on the legality of holding private school board meetings when reacting to a cyber- or ransomware attack on a district’s electronic information systems.

        Little Rock Superintendent Jermall Wright sent a lengthy letter in January to the attorney general’s office asking how to appropriately balance a school board’s obligations for disclosure under state law with the risk of harm to students and employees that public discussion of a cyberattack could pose.

        Eric Walker, staff attorney for the 21,000-student Little Rock district that experienced a cyberattack late last year, said this week that the matter is pending.

      • RTHK Doctor suspended over medical records breach

        A doctor has been suspended from clinical duties and reported to the police on suspicion of accessing medical records without their subject's consent.

        A spokesman for North District Hospital said in a statement published on Tuesday night that they discovered the breach after a member of staff reported that she suspected her medical records had been accessed improperly.

        It said an investigation had found that a doctor had accessed the medical records of 29 individuals – including patients and healthcare staff – through the hospital’s Clinical Management System without their consent.

      • Houston ChronicleTexas waited two months to start informing 3,000 people that crooks copied their driver's licenses. DPS explains why.

        After discovering in December that an organized crime group had obtained thousands of replacement Texas driver licenses, state public safety officials waited more than two months to publicly reveal the breach and start notifying those swept up in the operation.

        The criminal effort, disclosed to lawmakers Monday by Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, targeted at least 3,000 Texans with Asian surnames, whose replacement licenses were then sent to Chinese nationals in the country illegally.

      • Data BreachesSentara Health notifying 741 patients after mistake by Coronis Health employee

        In a refreshingly straightforward breach disclosure, Sentara Health in Virginia reports that on December 19, an anonymous individual called their Compliance Hotline to alert them that while searching for something online, the called had stumbled across an exposed file with patients’ Medicare billing information. Sentara quickly verified the caller’s report and determined that the file had been uploaded to Adobe Acrobat’s site by an employee of a Sentara business associate, Coronis Health. The employee uploaded the billing remittance file on October 17.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Site36Significantly more attacks on refugees in Germany: Three victims every day

        In 2022 as a whole, at least 188 people were injured in attacks against refugees, 21 of them children. Police have identified suspects for many of the crimes

      • ScheerpostScott Ritter: Reimagining Arms Control Under Ukraine

        Having used arms control to gain unilateral advantage over Russia, the cost to the U.S. and NATO in getting Moscow back to the negotiating table will be high.

      • RFERLHungary Further Delays Vote On Sweden, Finland Joining NATO

        Hungary has further delayed a vote on ratifying Sweden and Finland's NATO accession bids, according to an updated schedule published on March 2 on the National Assembly's website.

      • RFERLSweden Expects Hungarian MPs To Visit Next Week Over NATO Bid

        A delegation of Hungarian lawmakers plans to visit Sweden on March 7 to discuss the Nordic country's bid to join NATO, a Swedish parliament spokesperson said on March 2.

      • SpiegelData on Russia's Dead: The Deaths Vladimir Putin Is Keeping Quiet

        Russian volunteers are searching through graveyards, archives and the internet to determine how many of the country’s soldiers have actually died in Ukraine. A database they helped build provides some astonishing insights.

      • teleSURVenezuela Denounces Losses Caused by US Sanctions

        "My country has been the target of 927 unilateral coercive measures and other criminal and illegal, direct and indirect, provisions," the Boliviarian Foreign Affairs Minister€ recalled.

      • Vice Media GroupRussia ‘Prepared for the Worst’ With Nuke Tests After Suspending Weapons Treaty

        Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia wouldn't test new nuclear weapons unless America did it first.

      • Helsinki TimesFinnish Parliament passes Nato bill by vote of 184 for, 7 against

        THE FINNISH PARLIAMENT on Wednesday reiterated its overwhelming support for joining Nato.

        Members of the Parliament voted 184 for and 7 against a government bill regarding the membership, with one lawmaker casting a blank vote and seven being absent from the vote. President Sauli Niinistö has announced his intention to approve the national legislation without delay after the vote in the Parliament.

      • Krebs On SecurityHighlights from the New U.S. Cybersecurity Strategy

        The Biden administration today issued its vision for beefing up the nation’s collective cybersecurity posture, including calls for legislation establishing liability for software products and services that are sold with little regard for security. The White House’s new national cybersecurity strategy also envisions a more active role by cloud providers and the U.S. military in disrupting cybercriminal infrastructure, and it names China as the single biggest cyber threat to U.S. interests.

      • Counter PunchLand for Peace: Borders Aren’t Sacred, Human Lives Are

        Nowadays, few things are as hazardous to one’s reputational health as suggesting that Ukraine should make territorial concessions to Russia. The vehemence with which mainstream commentators reject such suggestions is awesome to behold.

        Yet if we truly care about the Ukrainian people, we should at least be able to have a civil conversation about territorial concessions. In the quest to end this calamitous war – which has cost so many lives and could cost many, many more – no stone should be left unturned.

      • MeduzaLiving in limbo The Lachin Corridor blockade has upended daily life in Nagorno-Karabakh — and there’s no end in sight — Meduza
      • France24‘End this war of aggression’ in Ukraine, Blinken tells Russia’s Lavrov at G20

        US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his Russian counterpart to end the Ukraine war on the sidelines of G20 talks on Thursday, in their first face-to-face contact since the invasion.

      • Defence WebNo end to violence in South Sudan

        Violence against South Sudanese civilians increased sharply at the end of last year according to the United Nations (UN) mission in the world’s youngest country. The latest quarterly brief compiled by UNMISS shows the number of civilians “harmed” was up 87% – without giving actual numbers- for last October/December compared to the same period...

      • Defence WebSenegalese peacekeepers’ deaths condemned

        The death in Mali of three Senegalese peacekeepers and wounds suffered by another five is condemned by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) which called for swift response from the West African country’s transitional government. The peacekeepers, part of MINUSMA, were attacked by unnamed assailants near Songobia, south-west of Bandiagara, late in February.

      • Defence WebStrikes, riots and protests expected to rise globally

        Businesses are increasingly witnessing the impact of protest movements and civil unrest on their operations, a trend that is forecast to grow according to insurance company Allianz Global.

      • Defence WebIs Wagner Africa’s newest coloniser?

        In methods strongly reminiscent of the West’s first colonial era of the 17th and 18th centuries – inescapably linked to the era of genocidal slavery – Russia’s Wagner Group is blazing an increasingly murderous trail in Africa for loot, strategic resources and geopolitical influence, according to a new report.

      • Hong Kong Free PressUS selling Taiwan US$619m worth of F-16 munitions

        The US has approved the sale to Taiwan of US$619 million in munitions for F-16 fighter jets, the Pentagon announced Wednesday, in a move likely to anger Beijing. The package includes 100 AGM-88B High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM), 200 AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles(AMRAAM), and launchers and dummy missiles for training...

      • HRWUN Describes Worsening Afghanistan Rights Crisis

        The latest report€ by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, is comprehensive and devastating.

        The special rapporteur catalogues widespread, serious abuses, noting that the Taliban authorities have “normalized” the systematic violation of the rights of women and girls. He also suggests that their “discriminatory denial of women and girls’ fundamental human rights may amount to gender persecution, a crime against humanity.” The arbitrary detention of women protesters is highlighted, as well as edicts that have shut women and girls out of secondary and higher education, most jobs, and even the use of public parks.

        The special rapporteur describes a country under the Taliban in which there is “very little tolerance for difference, and none for dissent.” Journalists are increasingly subject to surveillance, intimidation, violence, and detention.

      • MeduzaRamzan Kadyrov says Russia should target the local relatives of the ‘saboteurs’ responsible for Thursday’s incursion from Ukraine — Meduza

        Chechnya Governor Ramzan Kadyrov is calling on federal authorities to respond with “maximum severity” to the armed group that led a brief incursion from Ukraine into Russia’s Bryansk region on Thursday.

      • Democracy Now“Unwinnable War”? Calls Grow for Negotiated End to Ukraine War

        Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was at the top of the agenda of a critical meeting of G20 foreign ministers this week in New Delhi. The issue has caused deep divisions within the G20, which includes 19 major economies and the European Union. U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, spoke briefly on the sidelines of the summit on Thursday, though there was no diplomatic breakthrough between the two countries. The G20 meeting comes a week after China released a 12-point peace plan and as calls grow for a negotiated end to the fighting. To talk more about possible peace talks, we are joined by two guests: Vladislav Zubok, a Russian professor of international history at the London School of Economics, and Wolfgang Sporrer, a conflict manager and adjunct professor at the Hertie School in Berlin, who was head of human rights for the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission in Kyiv from 2014 to 2020.

      • MeduzaGovernor reports Ukrainian drone attack and state media reports hostage situation in Russia’s Bryansk region — Meduza

        Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz reported Thursday that a Ukrainian military drone carried out a strike on the village of Sushany in the region’s Klimovsky District, causing a residential building to catch fire.

      • Counter PunchThe Nightmare of Great Power Rivalry Over Taiwan

        While the world has been distracted, even amused, by the diplomatic tussle around China’s recent high-altitude balloon flights across North America, there are signs that Beijing and Washington are preparing for something so much more serious: armed conflict over Taiwan. Reviewing recent developments in the Asia-Pacific region raises a tried-and-true historical lesson that bears repeating at this dangerous moment in history: when nations prepare for war, they are far more likely to go to war.

        In The Guns of August, her magisterial account of another conflict nobody wanted, Barbara Tuchman attributed the start of World War I in 1914 to French and German plans already in place. “Appalled upon the brink,” she wrote, “the chiefs of state who would be ultimately responsible for their country’s fate attempted to back away, but the pull of military schedules dragged them forward.” In a similar fashion, Beijing and Washington have been making military, diplomatic, and semi-secretive moves that could drag us into a calamitous conflict that, once again, nobody wants.

      • ScheerpostAt the Brink of War in the Pacific

        For nearly a year now, President Joe Biden has been trying to resolve the underlying ambiguity in previous U.S. policy toward that island by stating repeatedly that he would indeed defend it from any mainland attack.

      • The Gray ZoneSeymour Hersh: US bombed Nord Stream to prolong the Ukraine proxy war
      • ScheerpostSy Hersh: US Bombed Nord Stream to Prolong Ukraine Proxy War

        Seymour Hersh joins Aaron Maté to discuss his report on how the Biden administration bombed the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which blew up not only a vital Russian-German infrastructure project but a key off-ramp to peace in Ukraine.

      • MeduzaTwo drones reportedly crash on Russian military base in annexed Crimea — Meduza

        Two drones crashed on the territory of a Russian military base in Crimea on Wednesday night, the Telegram channels Baza and Astria reported Thursday.

      • The DissenterMarch To Iraq War, 20 Years Later: March 2, 2003
      • Counter PunchTortuguita's Playlist

        Tortuguita was killed by Georgia state police in a forest encampment in the outskirts of Atlanta on the morning of January 18th, 2023, in one of the highly militarized police raids that had become a regular feature of life for the forest-dwellers by then.€  Tortuguita was 26 years old, and by all accounts was one of the folks anchoring the movement based in the woods that the mayor of Atlanta is still intent on turning into a huge police training camp, which folks have nicknamed “Cop City.”

      • Counter PunchLeft to Die: Deterrence, Death, and Rescue in the Borderlands

        On February 16, a Guatemalan family contacted groups in southern Arizona about one of their family members who was lost in the Sonoran Desert after he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. They had his exact coordinates, they had a photo of him, and they had a photo of his ID. Martín (not his real name) had been walking for about six days with a small group of people but couldn’t continue because of chest pain. Around 9 p.m., volunteers from the Tucson-based Frontera Aid Collective—a search and rescue and humanitarian aid group founded about two years ago—got involved. One of its members, Taylor Leigh, contacted BORSTAR, the U.S. Border Patrol’s rescue, search, and trauma unit. Leigh hoped this unit could rescue the stranded man.

        According to Leigh, BORSTAR agent Hector Acuña told her she needed to contact the Guatemalan consulate because they couldn’t start a search until the consulate sent them the information. But the consulate was closed for the night. Another member of the Frontera Aid Collective, Scott Eichling, called BORSTAR again. Eichling said he wanted to make a report, and the dispatcher asked if this was about Martín. When Eichling said yes, according to the phone log, the dispatcher laughed and transferred him to Acuña, who told him they were “working on it.” When Eichling asked if they would start a search that night, Acuña said they would send someone in the morning. These were the first of more than 40 phone calls made by different people over two days. That night alone, humanitarian aid organizations called BORSTAR, the Three Points Police Department, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, and the Tohono O’odham Police Department.

      • Counter PunchNuclear Armageddon Games in Ukraine

        The Nuclear “War” in Ukraine May Not Be the One We Expect

        In 1946, Albert Einstein shot off a telegram to several hundred American leaders and politicians warning that the “unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” Einstein’s forecast remains prescient. Nuclear calamity still knocks.

      • Michael West MediaWho will keep our submarine reactors safe?

        Whether it’s a good idea or not, the decision has been made. We will be acquiring nuclear submarines. An important question follows; who will be responsible for keeping the reactors safe? Rex Patrick examines the issue after new information was released by Government under FOI.

        Thus far, the topic of nuclear safety has barely featured in public discussion about the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine program.

      • Common DreamsLiving on a Deadline in the Nuclear Age. Some Personal News
      • Telex (Hungary)Hungarian vote on Swedish-Finnish NATO accession delayed further: Parliament to vote on March 20th
      • Telex (Hungary)Orbán: Putin is not bothered by Hungary's NATO membership
      • Craig MurrayTruth and Ukraine

        Speaking to the No2Nato meeting on Saturday, I had the challenge of telling a packed and highly motivated audience some things that they very much instinctively disagreed with, from a very different viewpoint to much of what they had heard from some excellent speakers all day.

      • ScheerpostHouse Overwhelmingly Approves Resolution to Maintain Syria Sanctions After Earthquake

        Only Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) voted against the resolution.

      • ScheerpostPatrick Lawrence: The Return of Non-Alignment

        The Ukraine conflict as catalyst: I wonder how many people who pay attention understood a year ago that Russia’s intervention and the West’s extravagant support for the Kyiv regime would prompt fundamental shifts in the global order such that the world is now a very different place […]

      • The StrategistGermany’s self-centred Ukraine war debate

        Two months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Jürgen Habermas, perhaps Germany’s leading public intellectual, published a commentary that triggered one of the country’s most ferocious political debates in decades.

      • Atlantic CouncilTop foreign policy lawmakers bolster support for Global Tech Security Commission
      • Atlantic CouncilIran’s nuclear program is advancing. So too should negotiations.

        Regardless of whether the 84 percent enriched particles were accidental, this incident underscores the increased challenge in discerning Tehran’s nuclear intentions and the growing proliferation risk of Iran’s rapidly expanding nuclear program.

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

    • Environment

      • Counter PunchHumanity’s Secret War Against the Environment, Ourselves, and Our Children

        There is a conflict between ecocentric people struggling for freedom, and anthropocentric people threatening that freedom. This conflict, which happens beneath the surface of most media, constitutes a “secret war” for what the future of Earth will be.

        This secret war involves groups of people across the world using ecocidal€ pro-growth and inequitable family policies, as well as€ anthropocentric environmentalism, to€ quietly undo€ the progress that the world seemed to be making on multiple fronts: child equity,€ climate crisis mitigation,€ animal protection, as well as ensuring functional democracies. These groups involve many nonprofits that are knowingly undoing with one hand the success they claim to be making with the other. This last category of undoing—regarding our democracies—makes these family policies a secret war on freedom as well.

      • The NationCan Artificial Intelligence Help Cool the Planet? [Ed: No, exactly the opposite. It's a massive waste of energy and it results in misinformation, not just waste.]

        Between the political and technological hurdles to achieving a global energy transition, the climate crisis can often feel deeply overwhelming. But articulating a solution to what is arguably the greatest potential catastrophe humanity has ever faced is no problem for ChatGPT—or at least, so the chatbot makes it seem.

      • Common Dreams'Stop Wasting Public Money': Climate Groups Slam Carbon Capture Scam

        Climate organizations this week are calling out new legislation that would pour even more money into the "false solution" of carbon capture technology, which they warn is just a distraction by the fossil fuel industry that does nothing to address the climate crisis.

    • Finance

      • Counter PunchWomen Won’t Renegotiate Our Place in the Economy
      • TruthOutCori Bush Establishes Congressional Caucus to End Homelessness in the US
      • TruthOutStudent Loan Forgiveness Program Appears Headed for Defeat in the Supreme Court
      • ScheerpostIs Inflation Out of Control, Again?

        The January data on consumer expenditures released yesterday had a lot of people freaking out. The story is that the Fed is going have to get out the big guns to really shoot inflation down.

      • 'It’s really hard to live here in Denmark without working'

        The restaurant manager refused a work permit because his salary was deemed too high to be believable has told The Local of the struggles he is facing as he battles to overturn the decision on appeal, while his lawyer has complained of his client's 'crazy' treatment.

      • Danish store workers get pay rise in new bargaining agreement

        Some 150,000 people who work in retail in Denmark will see their pay increase after trade unions and employers’ organisations came to a new agreement on working terms.

      • Helsinki TimesStevedore strike to end after deal between transport workers, port operators


        AN AGREEMENT on the terms and conditions of employment for stevedores was reached on Wednesday.

        The breakthrough in the collective bargaining negotiations signals the end of a strike that had effectively suspended the loading and unloading of cargo ships at ports across Finland since 15 February, confirmed Ismo Kokko, the chairperson of the Finnish Transport Workers’ Union (AKT).

      • The NationStudent Debtors Need the Supreme Court to Not Be Wildly Unprincipled for a Change

        When Donald Trump wanted to spend $2.5 billion in Pentagon money that Congress never appropriated to build his border wall, the Supreme Court of the United States, without explanation, acquiesced. Environmental groups had contended that under constitutional and federal law, the president couldn’t “irretrievably commit taxpayer funds” to a project that would wreak havoc across habitats and public lands along the Southwest border—let alone do so without Congress’s blessing. Hiding behind the shadow docket, the five conservative justices who sanctioned this scheme didn’t bother to put in writing why this disruption was justified. One year later, the same justices agreed to let Trump’s border construction continue undisturbed.

      • Michael West MediaStuart Robert - loyal Robodebt slayer

        In his appearance at the Robodebt Royal Commission yesterday, Stuart Robert wants us to believe that not only was he the one that finally put a stop to the illegalities of income averaging, but that he knew it was wrong all along. However, the pesky Westminster system stopped him from speaking out.

        A ventriloquist could not speak out of both sides of his mouth like former LNP Government Minister Stuart Robert. In his combative performance at the Robodebt hearings, Robert appeared to blame it all on the public service who kept advice from him for months. At one stage, he earned a rebuke from Commissioner Cathy Holmes when wanting to “put something” to the unflappable Senior Counsel Assisting, Justin Greggery, making it clear to Mr. Robert who was asking the questions.

      • Common Dreams400+ Groups Urge Biden to Fight for Indo-Pacific Trade Deal That Benefits Workers and Planet

        A coalition of 403 progressive advocacy groups on Thursday outlined conditions they say must be met for a pending Indo-Pacific trade pact to achieve important labor and environmental objectives and urged the White House to promote them during upcoming negotiations.

      • Common DreamsNY AG Proposes New Rules to Stop Corporate Price Gouging

        Citing the "soaring cost of essentials" that have "pushed hardworking New Yorkers to the brink," Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday proposed rules to strengthen enforcement of the state's anti-price gouging law.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • TruthOutTrump Campaign Asked Proud Boys to Attend Post-Election Rallies in Plain Clothes
      • Common DreamsDOJ Says Trump Not Immune From Civil Suits Alleging Jan 6. Incitement

        The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday that there are limits to a president's immunity from lawsuits filed over their performing of official duties—namely, that immunity does not extend to allegations that former President Donald Trump incited violence leading up to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

      • TruthOutMike Pence Won’t Commit to Backing Trump If He Wins GOP Nomination
      • The NationThe Kevin McCarthy–Tucker Carlson Alliance Is Starting to Fray

        House Speaker Kevin McCarthy picked a bad time to go all in with Tucker Carlson and Fox News, providing them “exclusive” and supposedly “unfettered” access to 44,000 hours of US Capitol video from the January 6 riot. For the last two weeks, we’ve been learning that Carlson, along with other marquee hosts like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, plus Fox News’s controlling owner Rupert Murdoch, all knew Trump and his minions were lying about 2020 election fraud, but kept featuring said minions, as well as the entire bogus fraud story, out of fear of losing audience and risking the firm’s toxically swollen stock price.

      • Counter PunchDeSantis’s Educational Policies Come Right Out of the Fascist Playbook

        Fascism in its different forms has always thrived on attacking teachers, schools, critical ideas, democratic values, and allegedly unpatriotic groups while stifling dissent in the alleged name of freedom. Ron DeSantis is a religious, political, and ideological demagogue whose view of power is as ruthless as it is opportunistic. He views academic freedom and freedom of speech as liabilities to be stamped out, not unlike what happened in Nazi Germany. He has weaponized the government to punish industries such as Disney who challenged his “don’t say gay” bill. The dangerous nature of this precedent should be clear, particularly regarding how it resonates with tactics used in repressive regimes in the past.[1]€ He has signed into law Bill 233 which requires Florida’s public colleges and universities to conduct annual surveys of students’ and faculty members’ beliefs in order “to determine the institutions’ levels of ‘intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity’.” One can only assume that those with views at odds with DeSantis’s view of history, politics, and authority will be labeled as “unpatriotic” and will be pressured to conform to his indoctrinating pedagogy and policies or lose their jobs. This is not unlike what happened in the witch hunts conducted during the McCarthy era by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the 1950s in which a number of faculty were fired for having alleged subversive views.[2] In addition, DeSantis’s banning ideas, and entire fields of study–such as gender and race studies– aims to turn learning at the college and university levels into a form of stupidity, one whose ultimate goal is to undercut the ability of young people to think critically, learn from history, and make power accountable.

        Every level of education is under siege in Florida. Regarding public education, DeSantis intensifies and expands a policy of erasure and manufactured ignorance that is endemic to the GOP which provides the driving momentum for a nationwide banning of books and restrictions on teaching about race and gender in public schools. As Julianne Malveaux notes, “More than 1600 books have been banned in 138 school districts in 33 states so far, as the momentum for ignorance is increasing. Among the banned books – Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved; and Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale.”[3] In addition, as Sarah Schwartz points out in Education Week: “Since January 2021, lawmakers in 44 states have introduced bills or other policies that would restrict how teachers can discuss racism and sexism, according to an Education Week analysis. Eighteen states have imposed these bans.”[4]

      • Common Dreams'Expulsion' Only Answer, Progressives Say as Santos Ethics Probe Launched

        As the U.S. House Committee on Ethics announced an investigation into embattled Congressman George Santos, progressives on Thursday renewed calls for the New York Republican to be expelled from office over his elaborate lies and controversies.

      • The Local SEWhat a new report tells us about far-right extremism in Sweden

        Sweden's 'racial ideology' movement carried out more activities last year than in 2021, and viewed the Sweden Democrats as a party representing its interests to a greater degree, according to a new report from the Expo Foundation.

      • The NationBrandon Johnson Could Be Chicago’s Most Transformative Mayor In Decades

        When Chicago elected Harold Washington as its mayor in 1983, it was a transformational moment for not just the nation’s third-largest city but all America. Washington was the city’s first Black mayor. He was also a street-savvy political maverick who had broken with the city’s powerful Democratic machinery to beat incumbent Mayor Jane Byrne in a primary and then prevail in one of the most contentious general elections in the history of American urban politics. And he was a progressive who was willing to take on reactionary forces by building a multiethnic, multiracial rainbow coalition that challenged the conventional wisdom of American politics in an era of deep divisions and a narrow understanding of what was possible.

      • FAIRNicaragua’s ‘Political Prisoners’ Would Be Criminals by US Standards

        “Nicaragua Frees Hundreds of Political Prisoners to the United States,” the New York Times (2/9/23) reported. In an unexpected move on February 9, the Nicaraguan government deported to the United States 222 people who were in prison, and moved to strip them of their citizenship. The prisoners had been convicted of various crimes, including terrorism, conspiracy to overthrow the democratically elected government, requesting the United States to intervene in Nicaragua, economic damage and threatening the country’s stability, most relating to the violent coup attempt in 2018 and its aftermath.

      • The NationDora Maria Téllez Is Free at Last—and Able to Speak Freely!

        Nicaraguan political leader and historian Dora Maria Téllez is free! After 20 months of imprisonment in Managua’s brutal El Chipote prison, Tellez—a legendary figure in the Sandinista revolution jailed since before the country’s November 2021 elections—was one of 222 political prisoners who were released by the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo government on February 9 and immediately sent to Washington, D.C., on a charter flight after the United States agreed to provide asylum to the exiles.

      • Common DreamsPeople Fighting Back Against Rising Autocracy Offers Hope, Says Report

        An annual report released Thursday by researchers in Sweden sounds the alarm about countries that are "undergoing autocratization" but also highlights how people around the world "have reclaimed democracy and stopped negative trends."

      • ScheerpostMatt Taibbi: Twitter Files—GEC, New Knowledge, and State-Sponsored Blacklists

        Americans have been paying taxes to disenfranchise themselves, as government agencies and subcontractors undertake a massive digital blacklisting project.

      • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

        • France24How 'apolitical' Western Youtubers help push Syrian propaganda

          Their videos get huge amounts of clicks and profits on YouTube. And their vlogs show a Syria that has turned the page on years of civil war. But these so-called "apolitical" travel influencers are shown around the country by regime-sponsored guides that shape the narrative. One guide who appears in a number of travel vlogs even has family ties with the Syrian deputy minister of tourism.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • RFAChina targets banker, dissident and church leader ahead of annual parliament

        Authorities tighten 'stability maintenance' protocols as Xi Jinping moves on the financial elite.

      • RFAUyghur woman serving 21 years in jail for sending children to religious school

        Ayshemhan Abdulla is one of scores of Uyghurs punished by Chinese authorities for the ‘crime.’

      • TruthOutMS GOP Seeks to Block Voters From Using Ballot Initiative for Abortion Rights
      • TruthOutAn Anti-Abortion Law Firm Joined Disgraced Ex-Kansas AG to Dispute 2020 Election
      • Common DreamsUS Trampling of Abortion Rights Violates International Law, Groups Tell UN Experts

        The June 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court's reactionary majority to overturn the constitutional right to abortion, which has enabled Republican lawmakers to prohibit or restrict abortion in more than half of the states, unleashed a life-threatening crisis and should be condemned as a violation of the country's obligations under international law.

      • TruthOutGroups Tell UN Experts That Overturning of “Roe” Violates International Law
      • TruthOutJudge Finds Starbucks Violated Labor Laws Hundreds of Times in Buffalo Alone
      • TruthOutPalestinian Survivor Calls Israeli Settler Attack in Huwara “Ethnic Cleansing”
      • Common DreamsUS Jews Say Israeli Finance Minister Should Be Barred From Country Over 'Repugnant' Comments

        Jewish-led peace groups on Wednesday called on the Biden administration to bar Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the U.S. ahead of a planned visit over his recent comments about the Palestinian town of Hawara, which was the target of a deadly rampage earlier this week by Israeli settlers.

      • Counter PunchOn False Hopes and Broken Promises: Behind the Scenes of the UN Statement on Palestine

        Rarely does the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations make an official remark expressing happiness over any UN proceeding concerning the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

        Indeed, the Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour is “very happy that there was a very strong united message from the Security Council against the illegal, unilateral measure” undertaken by the Israeli government.

      • Democracy NowSurviving a Pogrom: Palestinian in Huwara Decries Israeli Settler Attack as “Ethnic Cleansing”

        On Sunday, Israeli settlers ransacked and torched Palestinian homes in Huwara, near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, killing at least one Palestinian resident and injuring dozens of others. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of backing a pogrom in Huwara. Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich said Wednesday that Huwara needs to be “wiped out” and that the state of Israel should do it. In response, 22 Israeli international law experts sent a letter to Israel’s attorney general demanding an immediate investigation against Smotrich for potential war crimes. U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price also condemned Smotrich’s comments, though he framed the conflict as bilateral by referencing the need to condemn Palestinian “incitement to violence.” Meanwhile, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called on the U.S., as the Israeli government’s most powerful international ally, to take action to stop its violence. For more on this latest escalation of the Israeli occupation, we’re joined by Saddam Omar, a Huwara resident who witnessed the settler attacks, and Gideon Levy, an award-winning Israeli journalist and columnist for Haaretz.

      • Counter PunchRoaming Charges: The Road to Huwara

        They came at dusk, wearing masks. They carried automatic rifles, pistols, knives and clubs. They swung chains. They hauled cans of petrol. They descended out of the Samarian hills bent on revenge, 400 riotous Israeli settlers. They came with the intent of making the villagers of Huwara pay for the deaths of two Israeli settlers, killed that morning on the road to the settlement of Har Bracha, a settlement built on lands seized from Palestinians in 1983. They came shouting slurs and “Death to the Arabs.” They came to make Huwara burn.

        The IDF knew they were coming. Shin Bet knew they were coming. Benjamin Netanyahu knew they were coming. None of them moved to stop the raid that was destined to happen, the mayhem and destruction members of Netanyahu’s own coalition government had called for. Hours before the raid, settler Davidi Ben-Zion demanded € “erasing Huwara today” and for showing “no mercy” to its villagers.

      • Common Dreams'Disgusting': Biden Embraces GOP Effort to Kill DC Criminal Justice Reforms

        Progressives expressed anger Thursday after U.S. President Joe Biden said that he would sign a Republican-authored resolution repealing criminal justice reforms recently approved by the elected leaders of the District of Columbia.

      • Pro PublicaColorado May Reform Family Courts’ Handling of Abuse Allegations

        Colorado lawmakers are considering two bills that would reform the way family courts in the state handle cases involving allegations of domestic abuse, saying ProPublica’s reporting on the issue has catalyzed efforts to change the state’s custody evaluation system.

        Rep. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat and the chair of the state House Judiciary Committee, praised ProPublica’s investigation, which found that four custody evaluators on the state-approved roster last year had been charged with harassment or domestic violence. In one case, the charges were dismissed. One case — that of psychologist Mark Kilmer —€ led to a conviction. In the two others, it is unclear how the charges were resolved.

      • uni StanfordNew study suggests child abuse reports may be linked to race

        Stanford researchers suggested that Black children may be overreported as suspected child abuse victims, while white children may be underreported.

      • ACLUCriminalizing Abortion Care is Wrong, and We’re Fighting Back

        The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and revoke the federal constitutional right to abortion continues to have life-altering and life-threatening consequences. With more than a dozen states banning abortion, a climate of fear and confusion has loomed over health care providers, abortion funds, helpers, and anyone seeking to end their pregnancy in recent months.

        Beyond exerting direct control over our bodies and our health, abortion bans and other criminal laws give prosecutors license to investigate, arrest, and prosecute people who provide necessary health care. In some instances, bans and laws can be used or misused to target patients and other people who help them get the care they need. In state legislative sessions across the nation, legislators continue to push for more ways to restrict abortion and criminalize those who provide abortion care.

        The ACLU has a long history of seeking transformational change in our criminal legal system and protecting people’s reproductive freedom. In this moment of crisis, we have brought together our expertise in both areas to launch the Abortion Criminal Defense Initiative (ACDI), which I am proud to lead.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Monopolies

      • Unicorn MediaNextcloud Taking On Microsoft and Google in Germany and the EU

        The PR folks at Germany-based Nextcloud, the open source platform that allows individuals and organizations to host their own cloud, were working overtime on Wednesday issuing two major announcements. The first was that they’ve released a ready-for-prime-time SharePoint replacement, complete with migration services for their enterprise customers. The second was was that Nextcloud Office is now available to users of Deutsche Telekom’s MagentaCLOUD.

        While the suits at Microsoft and Google would scoff at the suggestion, neither of these announcements is good news for either company.

      • Vice Media GroupAmazon Wanted to ‘Unlock’ the Liquor Market by Secretly Lobbying to Change Laws, Leaked Document Shows

        A leaked 2020 policy document shows that Amazon had detailed plans for “proactively changing alcohol laws” to get better sales.

      • Patents

      • Software Patents

      • Trademarks

        • TTAB BlogTTABlog Test: How Did These Three Section 2(d) Oppositions Turn Out?

          A TTAB judge once told me that you can predict the outcome of a Section 2(d) case 95% of the time by just looking at the goods/services and the marks. Maybe he or she was referring to ex parte cases only, but let's see how you do with the three oppositions summarized below. Answer(s) in the first comment.

        • TTAB BlogThe Trademark Reporter's 2023 "Annual Review" of U.S. Trademark Cases

          In his introduction, Ted Davis notes the decline in litigation under the Lanham Act, related state statutes, and the common law of unfair competition. In any event, a number of interesting cases have arisen involving the intersection of trademark law and the freedom of speech protection of the First Amendment, with the "Bad Spaniels" dogfight drawing the most attention as it heads to the Supreme Court. The Court will also be reviewing, in the Hetronic case, the nagging issue of the extraterritorial reach of the Lanham Act. The TRUMP TOO SMALL case may also make its way before the Court, the question being whether Section 2(c)'s requirement of consent is unconstitutional when applied to criticism of government public officials or public figures. Meanwhile, the failure-to-function refusal seems to be gaining in popularity at the TTAB, although not so much with trademark practitioners. And two Board decisions indicate that the once formidable claim of fraud on the USPTO is recovering from the near knock-out punch landed in 2009 by the CAFC's Bose decision.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

    • Technical

      • In defense of ReStructuredText

        OK, everyone knows RST sucks compared to Markdown or even org-mode (and that's a low bar since org-mode's format sucks. Org-mode is a wonderful app that I love, but the app is good in spite of its format, not because of it), but they can’t help it since RST preceded Markdown by three years and org-mode by two. RST came out before these good formats and it was all they had to work with at the time.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • finger ring
        • About Bluesky and Decentralisation

          Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder, is trying to launch Bluesky, a "decentralised Twitter" and people are wondering how it compares to Mastodon.

          I remember when Jack started to speak about "project bluesky" on Twitter, years ago. ActivityPub was a lot more niche and he ignored any message related to it. It definitely looked like a NIH syndrome as he could, at least, have started to discuss ActivityPub pros and cons. I was myself heavily invested in decentralised protocols (from blockchain to ActivityPub). It was my job to keep an eye on everything decentralised and really tried to understand what BlueSky was about.



          [...]

          If we don’t want to consider the hypothesis that "bluesky decentralisation" is simply cynical marketing fluff, I think we can safely assume that Jack Dorsey has hit his mental glass ceiling. He doesn’t get decentralisation. He doesn’t have the mental model to get it. He will probably never get it (he became a billionaire by "not getting it" so there’s no reason for him to change). The whole project is simply a billionaire throwing money at a few developers telling him what he expects to hear in order to get pay. A very-rich-man’s hobby.

* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



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