𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Wednesday, January 13, 2021 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Thu 14 Jan 02:42:15 GMT 2021 Created by Dr. Roy Schestowitz (𝚛𝚘𝚢 (at) 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚣 (dot) 𝚌𝚘𝚖) Full hyperlinks for navigation omitted but are fully available in the originals The corresponding HTML versions are at 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈 Latest in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕 and older bulletins can be found at 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕-𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 Full IPFS index in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔 and as plain text in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔/𝒕𝒙𝒕 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order): QmfVbepdUPJyP7uetx4BJryV4hgoNKQfrTCxSWgQPN1Rdx Qmerspha5sBXhxrSkZzuXGw8WeXrUmG8Gn1nDfz6fRSY8K QmXjVc4NJjr6RYHKPa7EFWknSzg9ZwLN4YnErbmcqdcEKL QmbKJcqeWwdwEZRmynaB1QUsBfphEamM17YNSFjDbd967Q Qmb7Vc3ijMXKkDXwdbFmKva484B1Txefyq476N1SQzkaPz QmYqhYrKEV9gAAitfZidCc8mCztdegVqsSjGntAvWHtCKY QmWzJPniMtb3SfrYyRRc9aN9sx4BQcsVRaBipsquzkyPyP QmTc7fVWDZAd8Hhdj4NZkukktpS3GgF3bkCCEsEPzBFQ8b QmQteVnu669KJD3aGFG9pTaha5NeLdUVvog8v7rtH7aAif QmZQ6Pn5zz59X5DotEqu3wFU1Zv7NgnekWx1XnZmEtgxoJ QmSFbBNGkS4rhKR4CEWoVvxihh6PGXm91pwQceXjQRvbqH QmU9utRxait6DvuC5UtvxHGqvGucHEXPr6tugdaE6zwHa9 QmVwyNzdqyZQseHF1h9twiPx9YwhTX5Czp3HzGyUFcvpqq QmcW6oTMq2wsnGxnPC9kbvxcneQTdmrTBUDSdcb7dcDpZ5 QmX4u8WLvSMeyBAUYLC4cppEKCNWzLjiXJiZMnUc3GWMhX QmTj7LsgiVYQ5yrja86fyugrT71ioj5BqEgHp9yghitcrZ QmdA6htMZSzPdyHdafnfdBHBxdZEysGBZB134zUHMUwEyF QmUkrxvJRop3NdRoZycgbUJyuFTkHiSGCsbK647F4cj3sf QmTioT2gP3XfUN7pt6ZeHG9qfg9Psg4b34Kj1YVUYV7GU3 QmSw555oSnJyZjxAcv5QKbZsC5fSkUQe5k87k3Sp1bZ5zE QmYU4BPVhs83e832MicVAqM37KSVnpZgQB2Ypq6xomSZuR ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⦿ InteLeaks – Part XIII: GNU/Linux Documentation From People Who Never Even Use GNU/Linux | Techrights ⦿ IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 | Techrights ⦿ Unitary Patent is Dead and Lies About the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Aren’t Ending | Techrights ䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2021/01/13/bad-development-experience/#comments http://techrights.org/2021/01/13/irc-log-120121/#comments http://techrights.org/2021/01/13/unitary-patent-is-dead-unlike-the-lies/#comments ䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2021/01/13/risc-v-computer-with-gnu-linux/#comments http://techrights.org/2021/01/13/sci-hub-under-attack/#comments ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 53 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2021/01/13/bad-development-experience/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 01.13.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ InteLeaks_–_Part_XIII:_GNU/Linux_Documentation_From_People_Who_Never_Even_Use GNU/Linux⠀✐ Posted in GNU/Linux, Hardware at 10:05 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link http://techrights.org/videos/low-tech-intel.webm Summary: Inside Intel there’s a whole bunch of embarrassing secrets about the Developer/Development eXperience (“DX”) team; no wonder documentation efforts have been lacking and far too much time wasted putting such documentation together THIS is the thirteenth part of at least half a dozen parts (see our index_in the_relevant_wiki_page). It deals with inside affairs at Intel and it sheds light on a situation so grim that we’ll need documents to properly expose it. We’ll get to that later in the series. “Intel worked extra hard to squash voices and restrict dissemination of such material, knowing that it’s likely true/correct/accurate but rather embarrassing to Intel.”Today’s video, unscripted as usual, deals with the sorts of useless feedback developers at Intel receive from the “DX” team — basically a bunch of “low-tech” or non-tech people who assess documentation with inadequate proprietary software tools and a complete misunderstanding of what developers need and want. Intel worked extra hard to squash voices and restrict dissemination of such material, knowing that it’s likely true/correct/accurate but rather embarrassing to Intel. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 99 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2021/01/13/irc-log-120121/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 01.13.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ IRC_Proceedings:_Tuesday,_January_12,_2021⠀✐ Posted in IRC_Logs at 2:49 am by Needs Sunlight 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_HTML5 #boycottnovell_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_HTML5 #techbytes_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_text #boycottnovell_log_as_text 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_text #techbytes_log_as_text Enter_the_IRC_channels_now ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 142 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2021/01/13/unitary-patent-is-dead-unlike-the-lies/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 01.13.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Unitary_Patent_is_Dead_and_Lies_About_the_Unified_Patent_Court_(UPC)_Aren’t Ending⠀✐ Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 4:27 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link http://techrights.org/videos/upc-dead.webm Summary: Not “Russian agents” but concerned European citizens are beginning to see the truth behind the Unified Patent Court, which the ‘media’ has wrongly called “Unitary Patent Court” three times in 2 days THE UPC_spinners_issued a misleading statement this afternoon/morning and it took yours truly about 5 hours to upload the above video. As noted at the start, Team UPC loves painting UPC sceptics/critics/opponents as Russian agents (at least behind the scenes, behind their backs) — basically baseless, evidence-free smears against complainants who are totally and entirely authentic, concerned citizens who care about their country and continent, as well as for science and technology. “…Team UPC loves painting UPC sceptics/critics/opponents as Russian agents…”The above video goes through the spin, for half of it is falsehoods (as explained in the video I made ‘on the spot’, having seen these lies, which are easier and faster to refute that way… verbally or orally). Among the falsehoods: “Unless the FCC throws out the complaints as inadmissible or manifestly unfounded in the short term, it means the ratification of the UPCA in Germany could be delayed severely once more. The first constitutional complaint against UPCA ratification in Germany was filed in March 2017. It took the FCC three years to decide on this complaint, and to partially uphold it, on formal grounds. “It is not unthinkable that due to new delay in Germany, combined with the departure of the UK from the EU and the Unitary Patent project, which has led to legal uncertainty and has made the UP and UPC less attractive for the industry, the new patent system will never see the light of day.” That’s actually untrue (many parts of that) and they abstain from expressing or explaining the full severity of the situation. This is not a “delay” but a death. “This is not a “delay” but a death.”I’ve meanwhile (whilst uploading the video) noticed this_new_article. A law firm’s Web site said today that the UK “refused to participate in the associated Unitary [sic] Patent Court (UPC),” but it failed to say UPC is dead anyway. It uses a highly misleading term, “IP rights”, right there in the headline (this site, Out-Law.com, used to be disguised as a formal news site, even though it was owned by a sort of lobby and a private litigation firm). I explain in the video why this term is meaningless junk and pure propaganda eschewed by real journalists. The video also alludes to this_article_from_yesterday. A person who “has served on the expert panel for the drafting of the rules of procedure for the Unitary [sic] (Unified) Patent Court,” it says. This is the UPC which was drafted by patent litigation moles… and is now basically dead. Hours ago I saw another_similarly- worded_article (second such article in two days, this latter one saying “Europe’s unitary patent courts,” which is also wrong; they mean “Unified Patent Court”; they don’t know what they’re talking about and they relay misinformation for litigation agenda). The text of the first says this: “The expiration of the Brexit transition period does not affect the current patent system, which is governed by the European Patent Convention, a non-EU related international treaty. However, prior to Brexit, the UK government formally withdrew from the proposed new European unitary patent system because it refused to participate in the associated Unitary Patent Court (UPC), on the basis that participating “in a court that applies EU law and is bound by the CJEU would be inconsistent with the government’s aims of becoming an independent self-governing nation”.” “How far will this lobby go? Who are the casualties?”Notice that this is the third article in two days that says “Unitary Patent Court (UPC)” (which is the wrong name, no such thing exists). What actually happened to good journalism about patents in Europe? Have Benoît Battistelli and António_Campinos blackmailed and bribed anyone who dared ask questions about the EPO and UPC? How far will this lobby go? Who are the casualties? Except truth itself… █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 240 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 01.13.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Links_13/1/2021:_$150_RISC-V_Computer_With_GNU/Linux,_Intel_Replaces_CEO Again,_and_New_Fedora_34_Plans⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 5:08 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Desktop/Laptop⠀➾ # ⚓ Slimbook_reveal_the_Ryzen_7_and_RTX_3070_powered_Titan⠀⇛ Slimbook, the Linux friendly hardware company that offers Linux as a choice on their hardware has revealed the powerful Titan laptop that’s ready for pre-orders. Coming as a result of the recent announcements of new CPUs from AMD and new GPUs from NVIDIA, this Titan combines them together into one unit. With a good screen to make use of all that power too, they’ve not skimped on the details for the Titan. You get 15.6 inches, with a 2560×1440 resolution and 165Hz. Plenty of screen pixels for the powerful CPU/GPU combination to move around. # ⚓ 5_of_the_Best_Linux_Distros_for_Windows_Users_in_2021⠀⇛ If you’re new to Linux or are switching to Linux from Windows, you’ll want an OS that is GUI-focused like Windows. There are many different distributions of Linux, and some aim to replicate the look and feel of Windows. This helps during the transition from Windows, since you don’t have to fight with an unfamiliar interface. With Linux boasting improved hardware support, long term stability, and a more comprehensive range of software applications, there is no better time to try it! In this roundup, we introduce you to the best Linux distributions for Windows users looking to switch to Linux. # ⚓ Choosing_a_Desktop_Environment_(Linux_for_Noobs_3)⠀⇛ o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ mintCast_352_–_Repredictability⠀⇛ First up, in our Wanderings, I’ve been playing with Docker, Joe got a 1up, Tony bundles up again, and Josh re-predicts Then in the news, Linux Mint 20.1 is here, the M1 gets closer, Firefox gets a facelift and Project Lenix makes more progress In security, what’s going on with Qt6? o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ What_must_be_done_to_bring_Linux_to_the_Apple_M1_chips⠀⇛ Everyone loves Apple’s new M1 chip Macs. Even Linux’s creator Linus Torvalds has said “I’d absolutely love to have one if it just ran Linux.” And, recently, Hector Martin, a Tokyo-based IT security consultant and hacker, is leading the crowd-funded Asahi Linux project to bring the Arch Linux distro to Apple’s ARM-based M1 architecture. But, in an e-mail interview, Greg Kroah-Hartman (gregkh), the Linux kernel maintainer for the stable branch and leader of the Linux Driver Project, said Asahi’s programmers will face “lots of work in figuring out the hardware connected to the CPU (i.e.driver stuff).” o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ KeePassXC_2.6.3_Password_Manager_Adds_Support_for_Argon2id KDF_and_XMLv2_Key_Files⠀⇛ Two and a half months in development, KeePassXC 2.6.3 is here to introduce support for the Argon2id key derivation function (KDF), which is a hybrid version of Argon2 and Argon2i. A KDF is a cryptographic hash function designed to derive one or multiple secret keys from a secret value like a key, passphrase or password. According to the developers, Argon2id is less vulnerable to side-channel-attacks than Argon2d, and it’s also recommended by IETF. Additionally, this release adds support for XMLv2 key files, improves import and export of CSV files, and automatically hides the key file path and re- selects the previously selected entry when unlocking the password database. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ How_to_Enable_Split_Screen_Mode_in_Chromebook_–_Make_Tech Easier⠀⇛ Sometimes you need to have two apps open at once. That doesn’t mean you need two devices or two screens. Instead, you can multitask by enabling split screen mode in Chromebook. Actually, you can follow the same process for most Chrome OS devices to split your screen in half to work on two different apps at one time. # ⚓ How_To_Install_Mantis_Bug_Tracker_on_Ubuntu_20.04_LTS_– idroot⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Mantis Bug Tracker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Mantis is a free and popular open-source bug tracking system. It is written in PHP and supports all types of database servers. It provides a professional dashboard to manage bugs assigned to the user. It supports powerful access control which provides per project base user access. It is very flexible, you can customize the issue fields, notifications, and workflow. 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 Mantis Bug Tracker on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian based distribution like Linux Mint. # ⚓ How_to_Install_AppImage_Files_in_Linux_|_IT_Pro⠀⇛ This article will explain how to install AppImage–or, rather, how to ‘install’ AppImage. # ⚓ How_to_launch_AWS_EC2_Instance_Using_Terraform⠀⇛ Terraform is an open source ‘infrastructure as code’ command line tool used to manage infrastructure in the cloud. With terraform you define declarative configuration file called HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) and provision your infrastructure. For instance, you need a Virtual machine, you just define resources like memory, storage, computing in the form of code and push in cloud. You will get the virtual machine or virtual instanace. # ⚓ How_to_Install_RTL8188EU,_RTL8723DS_or_other_rtlwifi_Driver via_PPA_in_Ubuntu_20.04_|_UbuntuHandbook⠀⇛ Miss Realtek rtlwifi drivers or get ‘No WiFi Adapter Found‘ issue? There’s now an Ubuntu PPA that contains the most recent rtlwifi drivers for Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and derivatives. Without building from the source code, the “Linux Mint Türkiye” team maintains a PPA that contains the most recent wireless drivers with DKMS support for rtl8723bu, rtl8822bu, rtl8188eu, rtl8188fu, rtl8192cu, rtl8192du, rtl8192ee, rtl8192eu, rtl8192fu, rtl8723au, rtl8723bu, rtl8723de, rtl8723ds, rtl8723du, rtl8812au, rtl8814au, rtl8821ce, rtl8821cu, rtl8822bu devices. If you have a RealTek USB WiFi Adapter or a laptop / notebook with built-in chipset in the previous list, do following steps may help you install the drivers in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Linux Mint 20. # ⚓ How_to_Install_TensorFlow_machine-learning_framework_on Ubuntu_20.04⠀⇛ TensorFlow is a free and open-source machine- learning platform developed by Google. It helps developers and data scientists to simplify the process of implementing machine-learning models. Currently, it is used by many companies including, PayPal, Intel, Airbus, Twitter and many more. It has a Python front-end and can be portable between operating systems like Linux and Windows. # ⚓ How_to_install_SEPTOR_Linux_2021_–_YouTube⠀⇛ In this video, I am going to show how to install SEPTOR Linux 2021. # ⚓ How_to_flatten_PDF_documents_–_Tutorial⠀⇛ A couple of days ago, I showed you how to redact information in Okular, the default PDF viewer in the Plasma desktop. The action is relatively simple to do, but it doesn’t effectively destroy the redacted information, merely obscures it from the viewer. What I want to show you today is the second part of the puzzle – the flattening of PDF documents. Think an image with multiple layers, and then you save it all in a non-layered format. The information is then flattened into a single layer – the values of all the vertically stacked pixels are calculated – added/subtracted/whatever – and then presented as a single definitive computation of this action. The same with PDF, except it’s more complicated, given the PDF structure. Let’s do it. # ⚓ How_to_install_Signal_Messenger_app_on_Ubuntu_20.4_LTS Linux⠀⇛ Signal is an open-source secure messenger alternative to popular Whatsapp that is also available for Ubuntu and other Linux apart from Windows, Android, and iOS platforms. Just like Telegram, we can install it on our Ubuntu desktop or laptop to get the benefits of its end to end encryption to send messages. Furthermore, if you are planning to ditch Whatsapp then you won’t miss out on audio and video conversations on your smartphones because that is available on Signal as well. Calls are also encrypted using the signal protocol, encoded with Opus, and transported with RTP. Apart from that, the general functions such as transfer documents and images are also there. # ⚓ How_to_create_Cloudwatch_alarms_for_an_S3_Bucket_on_AWS⠀⇛ Cloudwatch provides Storage Metrics and Request Metrics for S3 Buckets. Storage Metrics come up with no extra cost and provided once a day whereas Request Metrics are available at 1-minute intervals and incur charges. Also, Cloudwatch provides Replication metrics. In this article, we will see how to create Cloudwatch alarms for S3 Bucket on AWS of type Storage Metric for NumberOfObjects. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ PRIM_looks_like_an_incredible_gothic_burtonesque_adventure with_a_demo_coming_soon⠀⇛ Common Colors are currently creating PRIM, a point and click adventure with traditional frame-by-frame animation and a dark gothic style that’s inspired by Tim Burton. “Strange things are happening in the Land of the Dead. Instead of reaping souls, Thanatos, the Angel of Death, has to deal with his teenage daughter Prim. Every night, Prim has the same dream: An oddly familiar human boy cries out for her help. Needless to say that our heroine tries to answer the call. There’s just one tiny problem: The Grim Reaper has strictly forbidden her to enter the Land of the Living – she’s not ready for the immense power she‘d develop there, he claims. When Prim finds a way to trick her dad and travel to Earth, it turns out that Thanatos‘s presentiments have been right all along…” It will be getting a Kickstarter campaign at some point but the developer is doing more of a push before that happens. They’ve announced a demo is going to be launching February 2 with support for Linux, macOS and Windows (and the same for the full release). # ⚓ Dust:_The_Abandoned_Land_is_a_surprising_free_open-world_2D survival_game⠀⇛ Dust: The Abandoned Land is an in-development 2D open-world survival game, one that has a surprising amount of features and you can play it online with others. Developed by Mathieu Guillame-Bert, a Google Zurich staffer as a hobby. Set in a post-apocalyptic randomly generated world, Dust is a real-time survival game with permadeath in an open-world world filled full of strange creatures, robots, bandits, survivors, and remains of military groups. For a free and unfinished game, it’s actually quite amusing to play. Part of what makes it interesting is the AI system, which the developer mentions uses dynamic behaviour trees that they wrote a piece on a few years ago. It actually feels a little like Project Zomboid, with the Zombies being replaced by a lot more variety. # ⚓ The_Ranchers_is_an_upcoming_open-world_country-life_RPG sim⠀⇛ Love your open-world games? How about farming life sims? The Ranchers looks like another great entry into this more casual and laid-back part of the gaming world. Releasing on Steam sometime “early” this year, RedPilzStudio could be onto a hit here. As for Linux support, the developer confirmed it very clearly on Steam. “After years of living in the metropolis’ stressful and hectic life, you finally decide to leave everything behind to buy your first lot of land in the country and start a new life, in the quiet, close to nature. However, your skills as a farmer and manager will be put to the test to make your Ranch a prosperous business and earn the villagers’ respect and esteem. And who knows, maybe find love and start a family.” # ⚓ Stadia_gets_Scott_Pilgrim_vs._the_World_and_HITMAN_3_this month⠀⇛ For the Stadia users amongst our readership: two more big name games will be heading to the Linux and Vulkan powered game streaming service this month. Interestingly, both of which outside of Stadia will be Epic Games Store exclusives for at least a year and so will not be available on Steam at release. # ⚓ Shot_in_the_Dark_is_a_clever_tough_platformer_where_enemies blend_into_the_background⠀⇛ Shot in the Dark needs you to have good platforming skills, good point and click aiming skills and it’s a whole lot of fun if you’re up for the challenge. Note: key provided by the developer. Released with Linux support on January 12 from developer Possum House Games, the idea of it is seriously great. It’s an action-platforming that requires precision in more ways than one. Using a very simply and quite limited colour palette that’s largely black, white and red – a lot of things blend together. You need to pick out the enemies from the background and take them down. o § Distributions⠀➾ # ⚓ Raspberry_Pi_OS_Now_Supports_Epson_Printers,_Drops_Adobe Flash_Player⠀⇛ This is Raspberry Pi OS’ first release in 2021 and comes about one and a half months after the previous update, introducing support for Epson printers, screen reader support in the Chromium web browser, which has been updated to version 86.0.4240.197. Additionally, this release implements a timeout that would hide messages from the USB device monitor feature after 5 seconds and updates the Italian, Norwegian, and Slovak language translations. # § SUSE/OpenSUSE⠀➾ # ⚓ openSUSE_Tumbleweed_ARM_Adds_Support_for_Raspberry_Pi 400_and_Raspberry_Pi_4_CM⠀⇛ While this new openSUSE Tumbleweed ARM snapshot may look like an ordinary one, the biggest change is the fat that it now supports Raspberry Pi Foundation’s recently unveiled Raspberry Pi 400 personal computer kit, which is in fact a 4GB Raspberry Pi 4 board disguised as a keyboard. In addition, openSUSE Tumbleweed ARM now also supports the latest Raspberry Pi 4 Compute Module (CM), which is a Raspberry Pi 4 board in a compact form factor designed specifically for deeply embedded applications. # § IBM/Red Hat/Fedora⠀➾ # ⚓ Fedora_34_To_Ship_An_ISO_With_The_i3_Window_Manager_– Phoronix⠀⇛ While the i3 window manager has been around for more than a decade, it’s taken until now for an i3 window manager spin of Fedora to be solicited and approved. Following the creation of a Fedora i3 special interest group last year, approved this week is providing an official Fedora spin with the i3 window manager in place of other desktop environments / window managers. This is the first Fedora release image to make use of a tiling window manager. # ⚓ Fedora_Looks_To_Overhaul_Its_Community_Outreach_– Phoronix⠀⇛ In addition to pursuing many technical changes for its Linux distribution like systemd-oomd by default, Btrfs Zstd compression, and standalone XWayland releases, the Fedora project is also looking to overhaul its community outreach this year. Fedora’s “Community Outreach Revamp” is to focus on existing outreach teams within Fedora that are “struggling to function” or need greater support for success. # ⚓ Open_Mainframe_Tessia_Makes_It_Easy_To_Run_Linux_On Mainframe⠀⇛ Open Mainframe Project recently announced a new project called Tessia that’s designed to automate all the processes involving installation and configuration of Linux on Z systems. # ⚓ CloudLinux_Renames_Its_CentOS_Alternative_‘Project Lenix’_To_‘AlmaLinux’⠀⇛ Last month, the CentOS team’s announcement to replace and shift full focus from CentOS Linux to its future replacement CentOS Stream led to the creation of new alternative distributions such as Rocky Linux by CentOS creator Greg Kurtzer, and Project Lenix by CloudLinux Inc. On the one hand, Rocky Linux targeted its first release in 2021 Q2, i.e., after March. On the other, Project Lenix aimed for 2021 Q1, i.e., before March. Continuing the latest development on Project Lenix, CloudLinux has now renamed this CentOS alternative as AlmaLinux. # ⚓ Free_CentOS_Replacement_AlmaLinux_To_Be_Available This_Quarter⠀⇛ CloudLinux has named the free CentOS replacement AlmaLinux, previously code-named Project Lenix. Following Red Hat’s December 2020 announcement that the CentOS stable release is no longer under development, CloudLinux launched a project to deliver a drop-in replacement. The project was code-named Project Lenix. Project Lenix has now crystallized into AlmaLinux, a 1:1 binary compatible fork of RHEL 8, with a migration path from CentOS to AlmaLinux. Future RHEL releases will also be forked into a new AlmaLinux release. CloudLinux backs AlmaLinux with $1 million annual investment in development, and a commitment to supporting AlmaLinux through 2029. # ⚓ CloudLinux_readies_CentOS_Linux_replacement: AlmaLinux_|_ZDNet⠀⇛ When Red Hat, CentOS’s Linux parent company, announced it was “shifting focus from CentOS Linux, the rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), to CentOS Stream, which tracks just ahead of a current RHEL release,” the move ticked off many people. So, CloudLinux immediately announced it would create a new CentOS clone, Lenix, and that it would put over a million dollars a year behind the new Linux distribution. Now, it has a new name, AlmaLinux, and a more concrete plan. # § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Ubuntu_is_Making_Home_Folders_Private_in_21.04⠀⇛ If you create a new user on an Ubuntu system that user can ‘read’ files in the main ~/Home folder. Y’know, the one you probably use for your personal account. It sounds crazy lax but, back in the early days of Ubuntu the reasoning was that multi- user systems have: “…some level of cooperation (if not trust) among the users – they’ll be members of the same family, or friends, or co-workers, or whatever – and it is useful for them to be able to share files reasonably conveniently”. # ⚓ Ubuntu_21.04_Will_Finally_Stop_Making_New_Home Directories_World-Readable⠀⇛ Ubuntu 21.04 will do away with the existing practice on Ubuntu Linux systems of making new user home directories world-readable. Creating new users on Ubuntu systems up to now have led to home directories being world- readable. Home directories were created with 755 permissions but will be dropped to 750 now to prevent new home directories from being readable by other users on the system. # ⚓ This_Hack_Lets_You_Run_Ubuntu_on_iPhone_7_Using Checkra1n⠀⇛ Apple holds all control when it comes to software, You can only do so much on your iPhone and the company does give you liberty for that. However, Apple’s walled garden doesn’t allow you to experiment and customize according to your personal needs or how you want to use the device. The jailbreak community, on the other hand, has been able to flow against the tides for as long as the platform itself. Seemingly, an iPhone 7 user was able to get Ubuntu up and running on his device using the Checkra1n exploit. # ⚓ PostgreSQL_security:_The_PgMiner_botnet_attacks explained⠀⇛ Assuring the security of PostgreSQL and all open source database systems is critical as many learned with the PgMiner botnet attacks in December 2020. Having an understanding of, and visibility into, how these attacks happen and following standard best practices is the best way to make sure that your data is not at risk. This blog details the latest security issue with PostgreSQL, how to fix/prevent these attacks and how to ensure security of your PostgreSQL database instances. # ⚓ Telefonica_Brazil_selects_Canonical’s_Charmed OpenStack_for_industry-leading_cloud-based_online charging_system⠀⇛ Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu, today announced that its Charmed OpenStack has been selected by Telefonica Brazil to – in a first for the region – migrate its online charging system (OCS) to its private cloud, Unica Next. The transformation project will see eight private clouds built on Charmed OpenStack, geographically distributed to service Telefonica’s customers in Brazil. As the country’s biggest mobile operator with 76 MM mobile subscribers, Telefonica uses its OCS to give B2C & B2B customers real-time control and visibility of their precise usage across voice and data calls. Instead of selecting a conventional virtualised environment, Telefonica opted for Charmed OpenStack for future scalability on which to build a long term roadmap. With new market trends such as 5G, this migration will give Telefonica the agility to develop new features at scale, staying ahead of customer demand by providing more advanced offerings with a faster time to market. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ Seeed_launches_BeagleV,_a_$150_RISC-V_computer_designed_to run_Linux⠀⇛ Seeed Studios—the makers of the Odyssey mini-PC we reviewed back in August—have teamed up with well- known SBC vendor BeagleBoard to produce an affordable RISC-V system designed to run Linux. The new BeagleV (pronounced “Beagle Five”) system features a dual-core, 1GHz RISC-V CPU made by StarFive—one of a network of RISC-V startups created by better-known RISC-V vendor SiFive. The CPU is based on two of SiFive’s U74 Standard Cores—and unlike simpler microcontroller-only designs, it features a MMU and all the other trimmings necessary to run full-fledged modern operating systems such as Linux distributions. # ⚓ $119+_BeagleV_powerful,_open-hardware_RISC-V_Linux_SBC targets_AI_applications⠀⇛ Running Linux on RISC-V hardware is already possible, but you’d have a choice of low-end platforms like Kendryte K210 that’s not really practical for anything, or higher-end board like SiFive HiFive Unmatched or PolarBerry for which you’d have to spend several hundred dollars, or even over one thousand dollars to have a complete system. So an affordable, usable RISC-V Linux SBC is clearly needed. We previously wrote about an upcoming Allwinner RISC-V Linux SBC that will be mostly useful for camera applications without 3D GPU, and a maximum of 256MB RAM. But today, we have excellent news, as the BeagleBoard.org foundation, Seeed Studio, and Chinese fanless silicon vendor Starfive partnered to design and launch the BeagleV SBC (pronounced Beagle Five) powered by StarFive JH7100 dual-core SiFive U74 RISC-V processor with Vision DSP, NVDLA engine, and neural network engine for AI acceleration. # ⚓ BeagleV_is_a_RISC-V_single_board_PC_for_$150_or_less⠀⇛ Since the first Raspberry Pi launched almost a decade ago, there’s been an explosion of small, inexpensive single-board computers with ARM-based processors and support for Linux-based operating systems. The new BeagleV is a little different. It’s a small single-board PC with a RISC-V processor and support for several different GNU/Linux distributions as well as freeRTOS. With prices ranging from $120 to $150, the BeagleV is pricier than a Raspberry Pi computer, but it’s one of the most affordable and versatile options to feature a RISC-V processor. The makers of the BeagleV plan to begin shipping the first boards in April and you can sign up to apply for a chance to buy one of the first at the BeagleV website. # ⚓ Introducing_the_first_affordable_RISC-V_board_designed_to run_Linux⠀⇛ Seeed and BeagleBoard.org® have announced an official collaboration with the leading RISC- V solutions provider, StarFive, to create the latest member of the BeagleBoard.org® series, BeagleV™ (pronounced Beagle five.) BeagleV™ is the first affordable RISC-V board designed to run Linux. BeagleV™, pushes open-source to the next level and gives developers more freedom and power to innovate and design industry leading solutions with an affordable introductory price of $149 followed by lower cost variants in subsequent releases. [...] BeagleV™ supports a high-level of flexibility in development, which gives Linux users, Kernel, and BSP developers more flexibility from silicon to hardware. The social and community value of this development board is to elevate open-source to the next level, and the three parties are embracing this and pushing it further to enable the evolution of science and technology industries. BeagleV™ marks the first time that hardware development has ever achieved this level of freedom and openness, and the significance of the revolutionary collaboration is the shared purpose of the three parties, which is to make the open-source community stronger and more sustainable. # ⚓ Orbbec’s_3D_cam_dev_kit_runs_Linux_on_Amlogic_A311D⠀⇛ Orbbec has launched a Linux development board for its 3D depth cameras, such as the circa-2015 Astra Pro, which is incorporated on its Linux-based Persee camera computer. The Zora P1 features a high-end, hexa-core Amlogic A311D plus HDMI, GbE with optional PoE, WiFi/BT, MIPI-DSI and -CSI, and 5x USB ports. # § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ SeaMonkey_2.53.5.1_compiled_on_Raspberry_Pi4⠀⇛ Compiling SeaMonkey, now that is a challenge. I tried yesterday, and the ‘nss’ module failed. It was configured to use the internal ‘nss’ and ‘nspr’ and not the system libraries, as the latter were too old. So last night I did a complete recompile in OE, with later versions of ‘nspr’ and ‘nss’, and today compiled SM to use these system libraries …and success. I do come across posts on forums, people asking how to compile SM on an ARM board, so will post some notes here… I have compiled with EasyOS 64-bit (armv8- a+crc) running on a Raspberry Pi 4, with 8GB RAM. The source is on a 500GB SSD, plugged in via USB3, and using the standard official Raspberry Pi 3A power supply. The SSD has a 32GB swap partition. EasyOS for the Pi4 is currently under development and not yet released, but expected to be very soon. # ⚓ EasyOS_using_VC4_graphics_acceleration_on_Pi4⠀⇛ Commenting-out that line in ‘config.txt’ causes Xorg to load the ‘fbdev’ (frame buffer) driver. This gave quite snappy desktop rendering, however it will fall down when rendering games and video. The solution was to recompile ‘mesa’ with the ‘vc4_dri.so’ driver, which sits at /usr/lib/ dri. I mentioned in a previous post that I had recompiled everything in OE for a generic aarch64 target CPU, armv8-a+crc. This compiled mesa without VC4 driver. However, I had previously compiled in OE for a rpi4 target, and that has the driver. So, have created a PET just with that driver. # ⚓ Arduino_Blog_»_Detect_problems_with_your_Arduino projects⠀⇛ The Arduino team created a tool to check Arduino projects for common problems. Arduino Lint runs over 175 checks on your sketches, libraries, and boards platforms which cover specification compliance, Library Manager submission requirements, and best practices. [...] Arduino Lint would be a great addition to your continuous integration system. Running the tool after each change to the project can allow you to identify any problems that were introduced. # § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ New_PUBG_Mobile_1.2_global_update_for_iOS_and_Android platforms_released;_Gamers_in_India_in_awaiting_mode⠀⇛ # ⚓ Xiaomi_Mi_Band_5_vs._OnePlus_Band:_Which_should_you buy?⠀⇛ # ⚓ Amazfit_GTS_2_vs._GTR_2:_Which_should_you_buy?⠀⇛ # ⚓ MIUI_12.5_based_on_Android_11_could_be_the_next update_for_Redmi_Note_9,_Note_9S,_Note_9_Pro_&_Note_9 Pro_Max⠀⇛ # ⚓ Huawei:_Here_are_the_main_differences_between HarmonyOS,_iOS_and_Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ Google_urgently_investigating_Android_coronavirus tracking_app_issues⠀⇛ # ⚓ NortonLifeLock_Says_360_App_Brings_Cyber_Safety_To Android_And_IOS_Devices⠀⇛ o § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ # ⚓ Why_is_Free_Software_important_in_home_automation?⠀⇛ There are many serious issues to reflect on after the siege at the US Capitol. One of those is the importance of genuinely Free Software, with full source code for appliances in our homes and our communications platforms. From Trump Tower to the White House, Free Software like Domoticz is your (only) friend. # § Events⠀➾ # ⚓ Free_“Device_Tree_101”_webinar,_on_February_9,_2021⠀⇛ The Device Tree has been adopted for the ARM 32-bit Linux kernel support almost a decade ago, and since then, its usage has expanded to many other CPU architectures in Linux, as well as bootloaders such as U-Boot or Barebox. Even though Device Tree is no longer a new mechanism, developers coming into the embedded Linux world often struggle to understand what Device Trees are, what is their syntax, how they interact with the Linux kernel device drivers, what Device Tree bindings are, and more. This webinar will offer a deep dive into the Device Tree, to jump start new developers in using this description language that is now ubiquitous in the vast majority of embedded Linux projects. This webinar will be illustrated with numerous examples applicable to the STM32MP1 MPU platforms, which make extensive usage of the Device Tree. # ⚓ Bootlin_at_FOSDEM_2021:_two_talks,_member_of_Embedded program_committee_–_Bootlin’s_blog⠀⇛ Like all conferences in these times, FOSDEM will take place as an online, virtual event. For all the FOSDEM regular attendees, it will certainly be a very different experience, and for sure, we will all miss the chocolate, waffles, beer, mussels as well as the rainy, muddy, snowy, foggy and cold weather that characterize Brussels in early February. But nevertheless, knowledge sharing and discussions must go on, and FOSDEM will take place! As usual, FOSDEM takes place the first week-end of February, on February 6-7, and the event is completely free, with no registration required. # § Web Browsers⠀➾ # § Mozilla⠀➾ # ⚓ Good_News!_Mozilla_VPN_Desktop_Client_is Available_for_Linux_Now⠀⇛ Whether you shop online or check your social media, internet privacy is something that you should seriously consider. One popular way to protect your privacy or overcome unnecessary restrictions is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Not just for the sake of it, but you should also be aware of your VPN provider’s credibility. Taking these into account, Mozilla released their open-source VPN browser extension last year. However, the service wasn’t available for Linux and Mac users. Recently, Mozilla made their VPN available for Linux and Mac users. Of course, it is not yet available for everyone across the globe, so you might want to check some other VPN services that are available for Linux users as well. # § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Beware_of_Qt_Module-wide_Includes⠀⇛ You know the drill: in C++ you need to #include header files that declare the types and functions from the libraries that you use. Qt is no exception in this regard. # § Perl/Raku⠀➾ # ⚓ A_Static_Archive_of_rt.cpan.org⠀⇛ The archive is generally complete, it will be updated one more time before the end of February this year. If you discover any issues then please raise an issue using the github link above. If you need to search the archive then you can do that using the gihub link above also, or git clone it and use the command line. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ Doing_the_Business:_a_novel_about_the_office⠀⇛ Back in November, during the UK’s second lockdown, I put online my novel about travel and tourism – “Egyptian Romance” – since it was the closest I or most people would get to visiting these or any other places. As we enter the third UK lockdown, I thought I’d post the novel I wrote afterwards, about another activity that is now similarly rare and exotic: working in an office. o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ From_robots_to_dance,_sex_and_back⠀⇛ More specifically, robots are tools, that like any other tool since the stone axe exist just to move in the ways designed, or allowed for them, by humans. If what they do appears like dancing, it is only because humans have an instinct to trick themselves, by always trying to find familiarity around them. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ Intel_taps_VMware’s_Pat_Gelsinger_as_CEO,_to_replace_Bob Swan_|_Reuters⠀⇛ Chipmaker Intel Corp said on Wednesday it would replace Chief Executive Officer Bob Swan with VMware Inc CEO Pat Gelsinger beginning Feb. 15. # ⚓ Pat_Gelsinger_Is_Going_Back_To_Intel_As_New_CEO⠀⇛ Beginning mid-February, Pat Gelsinger will serve as the CEO of Intel and join the board of directors. This follows a bumpy few years from Intel’s manufacturing woes, security issues coming to light, and increased competition from AMD. Pat Gelsinger has been the CEO of VMware since 2012 while prior to VMware and EMC he was the Chief Technology Officer for Intel and SVP/GM of the Digital Enterprise Group during the 2000′s. o § Integrity/Availability⠀➾ # § Proprietary⠀➾ # ⚓ Got_an_Open_Source_Project?_You_can_get_1Password Team_Membership_for_Free⠀⇛ 1Password is a quite popular password manager out there. It is available for Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Even though it is not an open-source software itself, it plans to do something for the open-source community. # § Pseudo-Open Source⠀➾ # § Privatisation/Privateering⠀➾ # § Linux Foundation⠀➾ # ⚓ The_Linux_Foundation_offers_a_suite of_open-source_management_classes⠀⇛ There are many open-source and Linux technology and programming classes. The Linux Foundation offers many such top-notch open- source and Linux classes. But classes on how to manage open-source developers and their projects. That’s another matter entirely. They’re rare. So, the Linux Foundation’s new courses, Open Source Management and Strategy, on best practices on how to manage open- source projects and technical staff within your organization is quite welcome. # § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Microsoft_Delivers_Fixes_for_83_Vulnerabilities in_January_Security_Patch_Bundle ⠀⇛ Microsoft released its January security patch bundle on Tuesday, delivering fixes for 83 common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs). Of that number, 10 CVEs were described as “Critical” by security researchers, while 73 are deemed “Important.” One vulnerability (CVE-2021-1647) is known to have been exploited (Microsoft’s first “zero day” of the new year), while another (CVE-2021-1648) was described as being publicly known before Tuesday’s patch release. A list describing all of the January patches can be found in this Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative post by Justin Childs. # ⚓ Security_updates_for_Wednesday⠀⇛ Security updates have been issued by Debian (coturn, imagemagick, and spice- vdagent), Fedora (roundcubemail and sympa), Gentoo (asterisk and virtualbox), Oracle (kernel and kernel- container), Red Hat (dotnet3.1, dotnet5.0, and thunderbird), SUSE (crmsh, firefox, hawk2, ImageMagick, kernel, libzypp, zypper, nodejs10, nodejs14, openstack-dashboard, release- notes-suse-openstack-cloud, and tcmu- runner), and Ubuntu (coturn). # ⚓ Alan_Pope:_null [Ed: Canonical has outsourced its control to Microsoft already. Outsourcing GNU/Linux to Microsoft is a_big_no-no_but_part_of Microsoft’s_plan.]⠀⇛ The Snap Store has a delightful open source web frontend, the source code for which is on GitHub. # ⚓ David_A._Wheeler:_Preventing_Supply_Chain Attacks_like_SolarWinds⠀⇛ In late 2020, it was revealed that the SolarWinds Orion software, which is in use by numerous US Government agencies and many private organizations, was severely compromised. This was an incredibly dangerous set of supply chain compromises that the information technology community (including the Open Source community) needs to learn from and take action on. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released an alert noting that the SolarWinds Orion software included malicious functionality in March 2020, but it was not detected until December 2020. CISA’s Emergency Directive 21-01 stated that it was being exploited, had a high potential of compromise, and a grave impact on entire organizations when compromised. Indeed, because Orion deployments typically control networks of whole organizations, this is a grave problem. The more people look, the worse it gets. As I write this, it appears that a second and third malware have been identified in Orion. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ The_New_Humanitarian_|_Colombian_refugees_in_Ecuador trapped_in_loops_of_poverty_and_insecurity⠀⇛ Claudia’s* life changed the day she saw a paramilitary group kill a man in her hometown of Buenaventura, one of the most violent places in Colombia. Not only did she see the killers. Worse, they saw her. They threatened to murder her if she told anyone what she had seen. She promised not to, of course. But she also knew that witnesses to such acts are rarely allowed to live. So she took her four children and fled to Ecuador. They have lived in the Ecuadoran capital, Quito, for almost two years. But she still has no job. Employers have told her they will not hire foreigners – much less a Black woman. Claudia told The New Humanitarian she rarely leaves the single room she shares with her children, fearing she might meet paramilitaries in the street looking for her, or hear locals telling her to go back home. “For a refugee, too much support is lacking here, morally and psychologically,” she said. “A refugee here loses track of time: so many problems, so many things to think about.” o § Monopolies⠀➾ # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ Counsel:_Europe_not_‘losing_ground’_in_IoT_race [Ed: 'Journalism' in 2021: we ask a bunch of mindless and nontechnical lawyers for their views on buzzwords (like HEY HI ("AI") and "IoT") and dress that up as pseudo- nationalism]⠀⇛ EPO report suggests Europe is lagging behind when it comes to patent filings for connected devices and AI # ⚓ German_ratification_of_Unified_Patent_Court_Agreement put_on_hold⠀⇛ Unless the FCC throws out the complaints as inadmissible or manifestly unfounded in the short term, it means the ratification of the UPCA in Germany could be delayed severely once more. The first constitutional complaint against UPCA ratification in Germany was filed in March 2017. It took the FCC three years to decide on this complaint, and to partially uphold it, on formal grounds. It is not unthinkable that due to new delay in Germany, combined with the departure of the UK from the EU and the Unitary Patent project, which has led to legal uncertainty and has made the UP and UPC less attractive for the industry, the new patent system will never see the light of day. # ⚓ What_the_EU-UK_trade_agreement_means_for_IP_rights [Ed: A law firm's Web site said today that the UK "refused to participate in the associated Unitary Patent Court (UPC)," but it failed to say UPC is dead anyway]⠀⇛ The expiration of the Brexit transition period does not affect the current patent system, which is governed by the European Patent Convention, a non-EU related international treaty. However, prior to Brexit, the UK government formally withdrew from the proposed new European unitary patent system because it refused to participate in the associated Unitary Patent Court (UPC), on the basis that participating “in a court that applies EU law and is bound by the CJEU would be inconsistent with the government’s aims of becoming an independent self-governing nation”. # § Software Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ Conventionality_is_Irrelevant_to_Alice_Step_1 [Ed: Software patents rarely withstand courts' scrutiny in the US anymore; their boosters look for outliers.]⠀⇛ The Trial: The jury sided with iLife–finding Nintendo liable for infringing iLife’s U.S. Patent No. 6,864,796 and awarding $10 million in damages. At trial, Nintendo had argued that the patent was invalid for lack of enablement and written description, but the jury denied those defenses. Nintendo also challenged the patent in an IPR, but the claims not proven invalid. Here, the claims are directed a safety- feature for systems that evaluate body- movement, such as Nintendo’s Wii Sports and Mario Kart 8. The basic idea is that the system will sense acceleration of a body and determine whether the associated movement is “is within environmental tolerance.” A “tolerance indicia” is then created and transmitted. The patent notes that movements beyond tolerance might “be damaging, destructive, crippling, harmful, injurious, or otherwise alarming or, possibly, distressing to the body.” [...] The patent itself includes more specific hardware and logical elements. Consider, for instance Figures 1 and 5 below. However, the asserted claims here were directed to a much broader abstraction. # § Trademarks⠀➾ # ⚓ Counsel_call_for_action_over_lingering_bad-faith filers_in_China⠀⇛ Despite legal reform, better training for examiners and stronger punishment of bad- faith filers is needed to tackle trademark squatting ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 1682 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 01.13.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Links_13/1/2021:_Mozilla_VPN,_NeoChat_1.0.1_and_Sci-Hub_Under_Attack⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 9:35 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o ⚓ Linux_at_Home:_Creative_Writing_with_Linux⠀⇛ We are told by our governments that in the current crisis the single most important action we can take is to stay at home and minimise the amount of contact with others. The new variant of Covid-19 is much more transmissible than the virus’s previous version. The advice to stay safe is therefore even more important. It’s only with everyone abiding by the law can we protect our health services and save lives. In this series, we look at a range of home activities where Linux can play its part, making the most of our time at home, keeping active and engaged. The change of lifestyle enforced by Covid-19 is an opportunity to expand our horizons, and spend more time on activities we have neglected in the past. o § Desktop/Laptop⠀➾ # ⚓ Blast_off_with_Linux_in_2021!⠀⇛ 2021 is the year everyone can blast off with Linux! There’s the ageing meme – it’s the year of the Linux desktop! – that’s supposedly a call to arms for mainstream consumer Linux adoption. The irony, of course, is that it hasn’t happened, even though Linux is now running pretty much everything else in the world: from your Android phone and tablets, to the fastest supercomputers and large chunks of the internet. The last holdout is the consumer desktop. There are very good reasons why Linux hasn’t had a look-in here. The Microsoft Windows monopoly ensures consumers only ever get to see Windows pre- installed on systems they buy and, of course, there’s human laziness to factor in. You might not like it but Windows works well, and has all the software and games people need. So why would the average punter or even business exert any effort to switch? # ⚓ The_10_Best_Linux_Laptops_(Updated_2021)⠀⇛ # ⚓ [Older]_Best_Linux_distros_for_power_users_in_2021⠀⇛ The Linux power user is a celebrated breed, and one that does not simply burst fully-formed from the earth. All newbies must toil long and hard with their Linux installations before they can describe themselves as one. o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ Waxing_On_With_Wendell_|_LINUX_Unplugged_388⠀⇛ Wendell joins the show to cover the state of graphics on Linux, and what Intel has in store for the future. Plus why we’re excited about PeerTube again, some feedback, and more. # ⚓ Alt_Tech_Platforms_Should_Be_Open_Source_–_YouTube⠀⇛ Recently people have been moving to alt tech platforms like Bitchute and Parler but I think this is a massive mistake, if you’re going to move to alt tech platforms, you should be going to to the open source platforms where you have far more control over your data and how you can use the platform. # ⚓ Why_‘Remaster’_Is_a_Dirty_Word⠀⇛ o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux_5.10.7⠀⇛ I'm announcing the release of the 5.10.7 kernel. All users of the 5.10 kernel series must upgrade. The updated 5.10.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/ stable/linux-stable.git linux-5.10.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 # ⚓ Linux_5.4.89⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux_4.19.167⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux_4.14.215⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux_4.9.251⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux_4.4.251⠀⇛ # § Graphics Stack⠀➾ # ⚓ Mike_Blumenkrantz:_Hold_Em⠀⇛ As the merge window for the upcoming Mesa release looms, Erik and I have decided on a new strategy for development: we’re just going to stop merging patches. At this point in time, we have no regressions as compared to the last release, so we’re just doing a full stop until after the branch point in order to save ourselves time potentially tracking down any issues in further feature additions. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ How_to_Install_and_Configure_KDE_Plasma_Desktop_in_Arch Linux_[Complete_Guide]⠀⇛ If you love KDE and Arch Linux both, then this guide is for you. In this guide, we explain the steps required for setting up a complete fully functional KDE Plasma desktop with all of its native applications. Let’s take a look at how you can install KDE Plasma in Arch Linux. # ⚓ Daniel_Pocock:_Packaging_Domoticz_for_Debian,_Ubuntu, Raspbian_and_Fedora⠀⇛ Today I published fresh packages for Domoticz and the Domoticz-Zigate. As the instructions have changed for setting up the Domoticz-Zigate, this is an updated blog, verified with v4.12.102 of the Domoticz-Zigate plugin. Getting started in home automation has never been easier, cheaper and more important Many countries are now talking about longer lockdowns to restrict new strains of the Coronavirus. When the new US President takes office, many suspect he will introduce more stringent restrictions than his predecessor. Smart lighting can make life more enjoyable when spending time at home. At the same time, more and more companies are bringing out low-cost Zigbee solutions. A previous blog covered Lidl’s new products in December. Ikea’s products are also incredibly cheap, they include a wide range of bulbs, buttons, motion sensors, smart sockets and other accessories that work with free solutions like Domoticz. # ⚓ XTerm:_It’s_Better_Than_You_Thought⠀⇛ A couple months back I switched my terminal from xfce4-terminal to the venerable xterm. For some reason I always put xterm in the same bucket as xclock, xmessage, or any other prehistoric command starting with X that comes pre-installed on any graphical Linux distribution. It was surprising to learn that xterm is still very much actively developed. Even more surprisingly, it turns out xterm has incredibly low input latency compared to modern terminals. This is easy to test at home, try typing in xterm compared to any other terminal and feel how much snappier it is. The lower latency alone is worth the price of admission in my opinion, so I went about configuring xterm as my default terminal. The configuration goes in ~/.Xresources and you need to run xrdb ~/.Xresources after every change, or make vim do it. # ⚓ How_to_install_ClassiCube_on_a_Chromebook⠀⇛ Today we are looking at how to install ClassiCube on a Chromebook. It is a sandbox block game inspired by Minecraft Classic. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below. This tutorial will only work on Chromebooks with an Intel or AMD CPU (with Linux Apps Support) and not those with an ARM64 architecture CPU. # ⚓ How_to_install_Kodi_18.8_on_Linux_Mint_20.1_–_YouTube⠀⇛ In this video, we are looking at how to install Kodi 18.8 on Linux Mint 20.1. # ⚓ How_to_download_webcomics_from_the_command_line_on_Linux⠀⇛ Would you like to back up all the strips of your favorite website? Hopefully, the open source community has the solution: a command line program to download all your favorite webcomics from your terminal. # ⚓ How_to_Safely_Uninstall_Ubuntu_in_a_Windows_Dual-boot_PC_| FOSS_Linux⠀⇛ Previously, We covered a post on How to dual-boot Windows and Ubuntu on the same PC. We also went further and looked at How to dual-boot two Linux distributions like Fedora and Ubuntu. This post will look at something around the same line but a little different. # ⚓ How_to_mount_Google_Drive_on_Linux⠀⇛ In the past, close to 30K people signed up for a online petition, desperately wanting to have an official native Linux client for Google Drive, and yet their voice is still being ignored by Google. Perhaps when it comes to boosting their bottom line, Linux desktop market is not a priority for Google. They can ignore Linux desktop market all they want, but they cannot ignore the power of FOSS. Faced with the frustration, the open-source community respondded, producing unofficial Google Drive clients such as Grive or SyncDrive. These clients are file synchronization tools which sync files and folders between local file system and remote Google Drive. As such, you cannot mount Google Drive using these tools. # ⚓ How_To_Customize_Your_WordPress_Login_Page_–_Anto_Online⠀⇛ Let’s face it! The default WordPress login page is quite bland. If you have some impressive stuff on your site, then showing the WordPress form is a bad first impression. The login form should at least reflect the greatness that the users are about to experience. Let us take a look at how you can customize the WordPress login page! Besides, using the default WordPress login page shows that you are lazy or ordinary. This is a bad sign, especially when you want people to trust you. The good news is that customizing the login page is easy since it can be done with plugins’ help. # ⚓ Fedora_33_:_Install_wordpress_on_Fedora_distro.⠀⇛ For those who are celebrating the winter holidays with the Linux operating system, I have created this little tutorial… The first step – update and upgrade the Fedora 33 Linux distro. # ⚓ Efficiently_Manage_Remote_SSH_Connections_With_These_Linux Commands⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_To_Install_A_New_Desktop_Environment_Using_Raspberry_PI OS⠀⇛ The default desktop environment for the Raspberry PI OS is a good place to start when you first get your Raspberry PI but there are lots of other choices available. A desktop environment encompasses every visual aspect of your computer from the backgrounds, to the way windows appear and are managed, the panels, icons and in many cases a set of default applications. Thus far unless you have followed my guide for customising the Raspberry PI desktop your desktop experience will consist of a panel at the top, a single wastebasket icon on the desktop and a menu that pulls down from the top left and a series of system tray icons in the top right. There are many different desktop environments available and with Raspberry PI OS there is a fairly straight forward way to install the most popular ones. # ⚓ Pi4_slow_USB_drive_fixed⠀⇛ I have posted about extreme sluggishness of EasyOS on the Raspberry Pi4, and fixes: https://bkhome.org/news/202101/easyos-64-bit- running-faster-in-pi4.html Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story. Bootup is slow, the desktop drive icons are very slow to load, and other drive-related operations are very slow. A bit of online research on Pi forums revealed the cause — “USB attached SCSI” (CONFIG_UAS) is enabled in the kernel. UAS makes UAS-enabled SSDs go faster, however, it seems to be broken, even on some supposedly UAS- enabled SSDs. I do recall this issue, and EasyOS kernels for x86_64 PCs have CONFIG_UAS disabled. # ⚓ Learn_IP_Command_to_Manage_Networking_on_Linux⠀⇛ IP (Internet Protocol) command is used to manage, view network configuration on a Linux system. The command ‘IP’ and its uses are same in all the Linux family – Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu,Red Hat, CentOS and Arch Linux etc. It is the command-line utility that is part of iproute2 package installed in kernel. This article is going to demonstrate usage of IP command and how IP command is used to manage networking on Linux system # ⚓ How_to_get_Battery_status_notification_when_a_battery_is full_or_low⠀⇛ Linux laptops are good for Nix users, but it often drains the battery. I tried many Linux operating systems, but did not have a long battery life like Windows. Charging a battery for a longer duration will damage your battery, so unplug the power cable when it is 100% charged. There is no default application to notify when the battery charged or discharged, and you need to install a third-party application to notify you. For this, I usually install the Battery Monitor app, but it was deprecated, so I created a shell script to get the notification. Laptop battery charging and discharging status can be identified using the following two commands. # ⚓ How_To_Find_Currently_Logged_In_Users_In_Linux_– OSTechNix⠀⇛ A Linux system admin should keep an eye on who is currently logged into the Linux system and what are they up to. We already knew how to find the last logged in users in Linux. How would you identify who is logged on your Linux system at the moment and what they are doing? Easy! This tutorial lists various methods to find currently logged in users in Linux. # ⚓ How_to_install_Linux_Mint_20.1_–_YouTube⠀⇛ In this video, I am going to show how to install Linux Mint 20.1. # ⚓ Rescue_Your_PC_With_Linux_Live_CD⠀⇛ Most Linux distros provide an ISO file you can use to create a Live CD/USB. With this Linux Live CD, you can boot to the OS from your USB drive, test it out and install it if you like. However, do you know that the Live CD can also be used to rescue your PC when it is down? In fact, it is such a useful tool that I would advise you to keep a copy on hand at all times. # ⚓ Setup_a_Local_Web_Server_on_Windows,_Mac,_and_Linux⠀⇛ When developing a website, a web designer needs to be able to see his webpages in the same way the end user would. Sometimes simply clicking on and viewing your HTML files in the web browser is enough, but if you want to test dynamic content, you will need to set up a local web server. Doing this is quite simple and can easily be accomplished on Windows, macOS, and Linux. There are many types of web servers available, but we use Apache in this tutorial, as it is the most common server around, very easy to set up, and compatible with all major operating systems. # ⚓ How_to_Install_Different_PHP_(5.6,_7.0_and_7.1)_Versions_in Ubuntu⠀⇛ PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is an open-source, popular general- purpose scripting language that is widely-used and best suited for developing websites and web-based applications. It is a server-side scripting language that can be embedded in HTML. Currently, there are three supported versions of PHP, i.e PHP 5.6, 7.0, and 8.0. Meaning PHP 5.3, 5.4, and 5.5 have all reached the end of life; they are no longer supported with security updates. # ⚓ How_to_Manage_Internet_provider_Company_with_Odoo⠀⇛ In this article we are going to see how to manage your internet provider company with Odoo. Why choose Odoo ERP for your internet provider business? Odoo is a web-based business management software. Enterprise Resource Planning, prominently called ERP is considered as the backbone of any business organization for successful business management. Internet the world which changes the functioning history of the world. It’s the modernization tool which has provided us with connectivity, communication, information sharing and gathering. People can’t imagine a day without the internet in this era as they have paved the way for online conversions, Wikipedia, banking and many more. Moreover, there is no industry or institution which does not have access to internet facilities. # ⚓ How_To_Install_Wireshark_3.4.2_On_Ubuntu_/_LinuxMint_|_Tips On_UNIX⠀⇛ Wireshark an open-source protocol analyzer software mainly used to monitor the traffic in a network, analysis, and development. Wireshark got its new interface in the version 2.0 series and it is written in QT5 and the latest version of Wireshark is 3.4.2 with new and updated features with no new protocols in this release. This tutorial will be helpful for beginners to install Wireshark 3.4.2 on Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and LinuxMint 20.1 # ⚓ How_To_Encrypt_Partition_on_Linux_–_devconnected⠀⇛ In one of our previous articles, we learnt how you can encrypt your entire root filesystem on Linux easily. However, in some cases, you may want to encrypt one simple partition that may store some of your important files. As you already know, encrypting your disks is crucial. If your laptop were to be stolen, you would probably lose all your personal information. However, there are some ways for you to cope with this problem : by encrypting your disk partitions. In this tutorial, you will learn about all the steps necessary to encrypt an entire disk partition, secure it with a passphrase or with a keyfile. For the example, the article will be illustrated on a RHEL 8 operating system, but there should not be any differences if you use another one. # ⚓ How_To_Install_Nmap_on_CentOS_8_–_idroot⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Nmap on CentOS 8. For those of you who didn’t know, Nmap “Network Mapper” is a utility for network exploration or security auditing. It is one of the essential tools used by network administrators to troubleshooting network connectivity issues and port scanning. Most Unix and Windows platforms are supported in both GUI and command line modes. 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 install of the Nmap security scanner on CentOS 8. # ⚓ How_to_Install_gThumb_3.11.2_in_Ubuntu_20.04,_Ubuntu_20.10 |_UbuntuHandbook⠀⇛ Gnome photo manager and image viewer gThumb 3.11.2 was released a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Linux Mint 20, Pop!_OS 20.04 via PPA. # ⚓ How_to_record_your_Linux_terminal_using_asciinema_|_Enable Sysadmin⠀⇛ Asciinema might be the application you’ve been looking for to demonstrate a skill or process that you want your colleagues or students to learn on- demand. # ⚓ 5_advanced_rsync_tips_for_Linux_sysadmins_|_Enable Sysadmin⠀⇛ In a previous article entitled Sysadmin tools: Using rsync to manage backup, restore, and file synchronization, I discussed cp and sftp, and looked at the basics of rsync for moving files around. There are also a couple of other great articles here on Enable Sysadmin on tar and SSH you should take a look at. Copying files to and from remote systems and having an easy way to run a backup of something you’re working on (or, for that matter, critical company data) are basic, useful tools in the sysadmin toolbox that I use again and again. Sometimes, however, you may want to do something a little more sophisticated, like move data across a less trusted or slower link. Rsync can provide encryption to protect it in transit, compression to make it flow better, and checksums to ensure you get what you were expecting. # ⚓ How_to_Create_a_file_in_Ubuntu_Linux_using_command_&_GUI_– Linux_Shout⠀⇛ Creating files on Linux is not a cumbersome task, however those who are new to it or just shifting from Windows to Ubuntu like systems, they may face some problem to create files using command line especially. Well, even on Linux anybody can create files and folders using a graphical user interface that works just like a charm. Simply right-click and select the New folder or New Document for text files. However, this is not true with every Linux system. For example on Ubuntu right-clicking will give you the only option to create a new folder, thus when it comes to creating a text using GUI you will get stuck. # ⚓ How_to_Install_Arduino_IDE_on_Linux_Mint_20⠀⇛ The Arduino IDE software is an integrated development environment for Arduino that includes a text editor for writing code and a compiler for compiling the code for uploading to your Arduino. The Arduino IDE is supported on many operating systems, and the Linux system is no exception. Many Linux users worldwide can use this tutorial to use the Arduino IDE environment for their embedded experiments. It is available for 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. In this tutorial, we will use Linux Mint 20 to install Arduino. Even if you do not have this latest version of Linux Mint, you can still apply these steps to your systems. # ⚓ How_to_Install_the_latest_PHP_8.0_on_Ubuntu_20.04_/18.04⠀⇛ PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. It is one of the oldest server-side programming languages used to create Dynamic and Responsive Web-App. The most popular CMS and frameworks like WordPress, Magento, Joomla, Drupal, and Laravel are written in PHP Language. # ⚓ How_to_install_Virtualmin_on_Ubuntu_20.04_for_a_cPanel/ CentOS-like_web_hosting_control_panel_–_TechRepublic⠀⇛ For many, Red Hat pulling support from the standard CentOS releases had some serious side effects. One of the biggest dominoes to fall was cPanel–for many web hosting companies, cPanel is the de facto standard control panel. It offers absolutely everything necessary to manage the hosting of your every client’s needs. Once Red Hat pulled the plug on CentOS 8, cPanel announced they wouldn’t be supporting CentOS Stream. The good news is that the company is accelerating their efforts to support Ubuntu Server LTS, and should have that ready to ship by late 2021. For those looking to either migrate away from CentOS or are looking for something that can be used on the Ubuntu platform for now (or for good), there’s always Virtualmin. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ The_open_source_Epic_Games_Store_app_Heroic_Games_Launcher has_a_big_overhaul⠀⇛ Work on Heroic Games Launcher, the open source Linux alternative to the Epic Games Store continues rapid improvements with a huge new release out now. Continuing to build upon the work started with another open source tool, Legendary, which hooks into the Epic Games Store but doesn’t provide users with a proper GUI. The recently released 1.0 version (and a few bug fixes after) revamps the entire flow and design of the application, with a much sleeker looking interface and it actually does look pretty good right now. Most of it works how you would expect too, quite useful for all those free games Epic keeps giving out…if you decide to play them on Linux. # ⚓ Virtual_Reality_voxel_building_game_cyubeVR_will_be supporting_Linux_in_a_future_build_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ Minecraft in VR that’s a bit more hands on? cyubeVR (pronounced Cube VR) looks absolutely delightful, and the developer has confirmed their full intention to support Linux too. This isn’t some basic block-building game that tries to be Minecraft in VR though, it’s actually a lot more advanced than that with it being fully designed for VR. That includes proper support of the Valve Index controllers, along with fully tracked fingers and a control scheme built for it. cyubeVR works with a Vive too, so the Index is not specifically required. There’s also no traditional UI, instead you build everything you need in the detailed VR world. # ⚓ Revolutionary_Games_continue_building_up_their_free evolution_game_Thrive_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ Starting off as nothing but a tiny little cell in a massive world, Thrive is a free and open source evolution sim backed up by the power of science. Quite early on in development still overall, it is however very playable already and you can have a little fun exploring and eating away at various resources to evolve your creature. It’s like a much more detailed version of EA’s Spore (in the early game stage). Now powered by Godot Engine, their progress on it seems to be speeding up. Thrive 0.5.3 is up now and it brings with it numerous improvements to the flow of things like key rebinds, translation support, a process panel to show running processes in your cell, big improvements to the save game system, you can pan the camera in the editor now, music fade improvements, tips on the loading screen, plus lots of bug fixes to make it a lot smoother. # ⚓ Get_your_big-screen_Linux_gaming_on_with_a_new_GamerOS release_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ The SteamOS-like big-screen Linux gaming distribution GamerOS has a fresh release out, with some surprising new features integrated and it’s looking slick. Providing an out of the box couch / sofa gaming experience, thanks to the Steam Big Picture interface along with their own homebrew integrations for using things provided outside of Steam, GamerOS continues to be a fine choice for a dedicated big TV box. GamerOS 22 went out on January 12 upgrading the main internals like Linux Kernel 5.10.5, Mesa 20.3.2, NVIDIA 460.32.03 and updates to their web- based Steam Buddy tool and the Steam Tweaks tool. # ⚓ Experimental_Nintendo_Switch_emulator_yuzu_adds_Linux AppImage_for_easier_launching_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ While still highly experimental and quite a hassle to setup legitimately, the Nintendo Switch emulator yuzu is still another fine example of open source. It’s a very capable emulator already too, with it being possible to play through an increasing number of games. On the Linux side, dependency issues and getting it running hasn’t exactly been easy but they’ve partly solved that now as they’ve announced they’re providing an AppImage for all releases going forwards. So for all you big emulation fans, that’s going to make playing with each release a whole lot quicker and easier. Going by the latest progress report from January work is going well with multiple more games now actually able to boot up including Katana ZERO, DELTARUNE Chapter 1, Dragon Ball FighterZ and Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap. # ⚓ BROK_the_InvestiGator_is_an_upcoming_amusing_sounding ‘Punch_&_Click’⠀⇛ We’ve seen classic point and click adventures but what about merging one with a beat ‘em up? Punch & Click appears to be what you get with BROK the InvestiGator. Developed by COWCAT, the same team behind Demetrios – The BIG Cynical Adventure, BROK will blend together two very different genres and the result is pretty intriguing. At any time, with the press of a button or mouse wheel scroll, you can switch between adventure and action mode. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ NeoChat_1.0.1,_first_bugfix_release⠀⇛ This version fixes several bugs. NeoChat doesn’t require a .well-know configuration in the server to work. (Tobias and Kitsune) Edited messages won’t show up duplicated anymore. (Carl) NeoChat now ask for consent to terms and conditions if required instead of displaying nothing. (Tobias) Users avatar in the room list are now displayed correctly. (Carl) Fix image saving (Tobias) Various graphic glitches have been fixed. (Various authors) # § GNOME Desktop/GTK⠀➾ # ⚓ Molly_de_Blanc:_1028_Words_on_Free_Software⠀⇛ o § Distributions⠀➾ # § IBM/Red Hat/Fedora⠀➾ # ⚓ Fedora_34_Introduces_First-Ever_i3_Tiling_Window Manager_Spin⠀⇛ At last, some good things happening in 2021. The Fedora Project announces the first-ever official i3 window manager Fedora spin which will be available with Fedora 34 release. # ⚓ CloudLinux_CentOS_Replacement_Available_this_Quarter, Named_AlmaLinux⠀⇛ CloudLinux has named the free CentOS replacement AlmaLinux, which will be available in the first quarter this year. Previously, it was code-named Project Lenix. CloudLinux announced the drop-in CentOS alternative last month, committing $1 million annually in development. “The demise of the CentOS stable release left a very large gap in the Linux community which prompted CloudLinux to step in and launch a CentOS alternative,” said Igor Seletskiy, CEO and founder of CloudLinux Inc. “For CloudLinux it was an obvious move: the Linux community was in need, and the CloudLinux OS is a CentOS clone with significant pedigree – including over 200,000 active server instances. AlmaLinux is built with CloudLinux expertise but will be owned and governed by the community. We intend to deliver this forever-free Linux distribution this quarter.” # ⚓ StackRox_Acquisition_By_Red_Hat_Underscores_The Significance_Of_DevSecOps⠀⇛ Last week, Red Hat announced that it’s acquiring StackRox, a California-based Kubernetes security company founded in 2014. This is one of the most strategic acquisitions for Red Hat, which is squarely focused on increasing the enterprise infrastructure market share. StackRox complements Red Hat’s current portfolio by bringing critical security capabilities missing from its infrastructure and platform offerings. The founders of StackRox, Ali Goshan and Wei Lien Dang, have a strong security background. Ali worked at Microsoft and PwC as a security researcher while Wei led secure product initiatives at CoreOS, AWS, Splunk, and Bracket Computing. In 2018, StackRox appointed Kamal Shah, an industry veteran, and an investor, as the president and CEO. # ⚓ System_Monitoring_with_mpstat_on_Oracle_Linux_8⠀⇛ # ⚓ Introduction_to_Terraform_–_Deploying_Oracle_Linux_on Oracle_Cloud_Infrastructure⠀⇛ # ⚓ A_Red_Hat_Playbook_For_New_Open_Source_Companies⠀⇛ # § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Jailbreak_User_Gets_Ubuntu_Running_on_an_iPhone_7⠀⇛ Jailbreaking their iOS device allows iPhone users to run several tweaks and modifications not available on stock devices. Now one jailbreaker has installed the Ubuntu operating system on his jailbroken iPhone 7. The experiment was shared by the user identified as “newhacker1746” on Reddit. The user says the device used in the experiment was an iPhone 7 that was no longer working due to issues with its internal storage. So, the user decided to attempt to install another operating system on the device, using a USB Ethernet connection. # ⚓ A_developer_got_Ubuntu_Linux_booting_on_the_Apple iPhone_7⠀⇛ Back in March 2020 when Corellium presented Project Sandcastle to boot Android on the Apple iPhone 7 using the checkra1n jailbreak, it sparked hopes about the potential of OS- level aftermarket development on legacy iPhone models. Barring hardware failure, many of these devices may still have years of use ahead of them if power users can install any regular GNU/Linux distribution on them. In fact, a recent development has been brought to our attention which will help pave the way for the prolonged life of these old iPhone devices. One developer by the name of “newhacker1746” on Reddit is taking the challenge of turning the iPhone 7 into a Linux-powered smartphone. Besides booting the ARM64 build of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on an iPhone 7, the developer also managed to run the full-fledged graphical shell of the GNOME desktop environment on the device. # ⚓ Someone_managed_to_get_Ubuntu_to_run_on_an_iPhone_7⠀⇛ Being able to take software and run it on a device that wasn’t supposed to ever run it is something that people have enjoyed doing for years. The latest example is one Reddit user who managed to make Ubuntu run, surprisingly well, on an old iPhone 7. What’s more, that iPhone 7 couldn’t actually run iOS because of a hardware failure. But apparently, Ubuntu is no problem at all. iDownloadBlog was the first to spy the Reddit post. Redditor newhacker1746 says that the iPhone can even go ahead and mount filesystems and whatnot, just like a real computer. # ⚓ Digital_Hoarding:_Ubuntu_Mirror⠀⇛ have a bunch of Ubuntu machines on my local network at home. They all periodically need to check for updates then download & install them. Rather than have them all reach out to the official mirrors externally to my network, I decided to run my own mirror internally. This post is just a set of notes for anyone else who might be looking to do something similar. I also do a lot of software building, and re- building, which pulls all kinds of random libraries, compilers and other packages from the archive. Having it local saves me repeatedly downloading from the ‘net while the kids are on Netflix School Zoom classes. Don’t do this if you’re on a super slow connection because the mirror will probably never finish building. Also probably don’t do it if you have a per-byte billing arrangement with your provider. This will chew quite a bit of bandwidth, especially the first run. But even subsequent runs can do too, depending on how much chrurn in the Ubuntu Archive there’s been since it was last executed. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ These_Furby-‘controlled’_Raspberry_Pi-powered_eyes_follow you⠀⇛ # § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ Arduino_Blog_»_Arduino-powered_puzzle_boxes_help_pop the_question⠀⇛ As a creative way to “pop the question,” Redditor lmjd14 proposed to his girlfriend using a sequence of Arduino-based puzzle boxes. As seen here, the first box opens when one inputs a series of codes on a keypad, which relate to important relationship dates, while the second responds to holding down the correct buttons. The third involves a set of colored coins, and the fourth is activated with some RFID-enabled statues from the other boxes. The final box was unlocked with lmjd14’s now- fiance’s thumbprint, using a GPS module that allows it to be opened only in the correct location. As she said yes, it’s a hack that they will both certainly cherish, and something that will be a great story to tell others in the future! # § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Android_12_could_include_a_handy_‘app_hibernation’ feature⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android_12_could_get_a_mysterious_app_hibernation feature⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android_12_could_add_option_to_‘hibernate’_unused apps_to_free_up_storage⠀⇛ # ⚓ Samsung_has_updated_these_phones_to_Android_11⠀⇛ # ⚓ [Update:_Jan._13]_Android_11_arrives_on_Poco_F1, Xiaomi_Mi_A2,_OnePlus_6/6T/3/5/Nord,_Nokia_6.1_Plus, and_more_as_custom_ROMs⠀⇛ # ⚓ [Update:_January_13]_OxygenOS_11_(Android_11)_update for_OnePlus_7_series:_Here’s_what_we_know⠀⇛ # ⚓ OnePlus_OxygenOS_11_(Android_11)_update_tracker: Devices_that_have_received_the_stable⠀⇛ # ⚓ Xiaomi_Redmi_Note_8_Pro_MIUI_12.5_beta_update_based on_Android_11_goes_live⠀⇛ # ⚓ Huawei:_HarmonyOS_is_not_a_copy_of_Android_and_iOS⠀⇛ # ⚓ Huawei_P50_series_will_come_to_global_markets_in HarmonyOS_and_Android_versions⠀⇛ # ⚓ Experts_Sound_Alarm_On_New_Android_Malware_Sold_On Hacking_Forums⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android_malware_vendor_teams_with_marketer_to_promote new_malware⠀⇛ # ⚓ Rogue_is_An_Android_Malware_That_Gives_Hackers_Full Control_Over_a_Phone:_Here’s_What_We_Know⠀⇛ # ⚓ Warning_—_5_New_Trojanized_Android_Apps_Spying_On Users_In_Pakistan⠀⇛ # ⚓ Check_Point_exposes_Android_malware_vendor_using_dark net_to_rebrand_products⠀⇛ # ⚓ rlaxx_TV_now_available_on_Amazon_Fire_TV_and_Android TV⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_Transfer_Files_from_Android_TV_to_PC_or Smartphone⠀⇛ # ⚓ AVOD_rlaxx_TV_launches_on_Amazon_Fire_TV_and_Android TV⠀⇛ # ⚓ SK_Broadband_deploys_NAGRA_watermarking_solution_for Android_TV_app⠀⇛ # ⚓ Nova_Launcher_7_hands-on:_Still_the_go-to_Android launcher?_[Video]⠀⇛ # ⚓ Using_Android_Auto_wirelessly,_this_is_how_it_works⠀⇛ # ⚓ PUBG_Mobile_India:_As_global_update_for_Android_and IoS_gets_released,_gamers_in_country_face_more frustration⠀⇛ # ⚓ 2021_Honda_HR-V:_7-inch_display_with_Apple_CarPlay, Android_Auto;_LED_headlights_for_hybrid,_from_RM104k⠀⇛ # ⚓ 5_of_the_best_messaging_apps_for_Android_and_iPhone⠀⇛ # ⚓ Best_Fitness_Apps_for_Android_Devices_in_2021⠀⇛ # ⚓ Here’s_When_Your_Xiaomi,_Redmi_Or_POCO_Phone_Will_Get Android_11_With_MIUI_12⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android_12′s_hibernation_mode_will_let_you_put_unused apps_to_sleep⠀⇛ # ⚓ Elo_Introduces_M50_Android-Powered_Mobile_Computer⠀⇛ # ⚓ Act_quick!_The_Hisense_75-inch_4K_Android_TV_is_on sale_for_$650_today_only_at_Best_Buy⠀⇛ # ⚓ The_6_Best_Android_Apps_for_Learning_Martial_Arts⠀⇛ o § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ # ⚓ Twake_–_A_Modern_Open-Source_Collaboration_Platform⠀⇛ Twake is a modern open-source collaborative workspace that allows you to keep all of your data in one centralized location and to manage your projects using a single UI that features integrated support for all your favourite collaborative tools. Its beautiful user interface offers a rich user experience that is easy to get accustomed to whether you use it for chatting with your team, managing tasks, managing events using its calendar, or storing files. There is modern-styled online documentation to assist developers and users in having the best possible experience, and an external collaborator feature that allows for specialized discussion channels where Twake members and non-members can collaborate on projects simultaneously. Best of all, you can use it for free, subscribe to its paid plan, or host it yourself just like you would OwnCloud and NextCloud. # § Web Browsers⠀➾ # § Mozilla⠀➾ # ⚓ Mozilla_VPN_Is_Now_Available_To_Linux_Users⠀⇛ Mozilla VPN which was available to Windows, Android, and iOS users since July 2020 is now available to Linux and Mac users. It is now available to the Linux users from six countries. Currently Mozilla VPN is available in the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. The Mozilla VPN runs on a global network of servers powered by Mullvad using the WireGuard protocol # ⚓ Improving_Cross-Browser_Testing,_Part_2:_New Automation_Features_in_Firefox_Nightly_–_Mozilla Hacks_–_the_Web_developer_blog⠀⇛ In our previous blog post about the web testing ecosystem, we described the tradeoffs involved in automating the browser via the HTTP-based WebDriver standard versus DevTools protocols such as Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP). Although there are benefits to WebDriver’s HTTP-based approach, we know there are many developers who find the additional functionality and ergonomics of CDP-based test tools compelling. It’s clear that WebDriver needs to grow to meet the capabilities of DevTools- based automation. However, that process will take time, and we want more developers to be able to run their automated tests in Firefox today. To that end, we have shipped an experimental implementation of parts of CDP in Firefox Nightly, specifically targeting the use cases of end-to-end testing using Google’s Puppeteer, and the CDP-based features of Selenium 4. For users looking to use CDP tooling with stable releases of Firefox, we are currently going through the process to enable the feature on release channels and we hope to make this available as soon as possible. The remainder of this post will look at the details of how to use Firefox with CDP-based tools. # ⚓ New_in_Thunderbird_78.0⠀⇛ I use Evolution for work mail, for psychological separation, but also for Exchange support, and I have to say: Thunderbird is just much easier to use, in that you can customize it into whatever you want from a client. I’m genuinely shocked people prefer web mail interfaces to something more robust, like Thunderbird. # ⚓ Think_you_don’t_need_a_VPN?_Here_are_five_times you_just_might.⠀⇛ Have you ever connected to a hotspot called something like C0MCAST-WiFi- 77th-St or Verizon3-Hotspot-Baltimore? Looks legit, right? Not so fast. In reality, anyone can set up a phony public WiFi with a legitimate sounding name to lure people to use it. Connecting to any unknown WiFi makes you an easy target for creeps and criminals who want to access your device to steal private information, install malware or worse. Mozilla VPN can boost your security any time you’re connected to a public WiFi by blocking unknown entities from seeing private data that travels from your phone or laptop. This goes for connecting to WiFi networks at coffee shops, stores, doctor’s offices and so on. # ⚓ Mozilla_VPN_is_Now_Available_to_Mac_&_Linux Users_–_OMG!_Ubuntu!⠀⇛ Mozilla VPN now supports Mac and Linux. The subscription-based privacy service launched in 2020 but only for Windows, Android and iOS. # ⚓ Mozilla_brings_its_VPN_to_Mac_and_Linux⠀⇛ # § FSF⠀➾ # ⚓ A_journey_begins:_Kofi_Oghenerukevwe,_FSF_Tech_Team Intern_—_Free_Software_Foundation_—_Working_together for_free_software⠀⇛ It has been a while since I had to write anything about myself. And I do not like starting articles with my name in the first sentence. It’s my not-so-subtle way of rebelling against many English essays I had to write in primary school that began with “My Name Is.” So here we are. My name is Kofi Oghenerukevwe, but everyone I know calls me Rukky. I am a software developer living and working in Delta State, Nigeria, and I am excited about spending the next twelve weeks as an intern with the FSF tech team. [...] I have used proprietary software for most of my life, and never thought to question it. While I am sure I have used a ton of other free software in some way or another without knowing it, as a user, my conscious experience with free software is restricted to my preference for Mozilla’s Firefox browser and my use of WordPress blogs for some purpose or the other in the past. As a developer though, a lot of the tools I love to use — and a lot of times have to use — are the free ones. GNU/Linux and MySQL come easily to my mind. About a year ago, I began thinking about becoming a contributor to the Firefox project because I really love Firefox. For that, I needed to learn C++, and it did not take long for me to realize that C++ is difficult and I maybe did not want to learn C++… yet. I will eventually have to get into it, seeing as I still hope to make games at some point in the future. Firefox was way over my head, but I still wanted to get started contributing something, and so I kept searching for projects to contribute to and somehow, I got to learn about Outreachy. I had done some volunteer work with PHP in the past, so I applied to intern with the FSF through Outreachy because they had a PHP project for the December 2020 through March 2021 cohort of the internship. # § Openness/Sharing/Collaboration⠀➾ # § Open Access/Content⠀➾ # ⚓ Open_Education_Lightning_Talks:_Recordings_and Slides⠀⇛ In December, the CC Open Education Platform hosted a series of open education “lightning talks” (7 minutes + Q&A) in which open education practitioners discussed their work and answered questions with a global audience. We are grateful to all 24 speakers for sharing their open education work! # ⚓ [Old] Sci-Hub_Case:_The_Court_Should_Protect Science_From_Greedy_Academic_Publishers⠀⇛ Not many litigations have evoked strong, even panicky, reactions from researchers in natural sciences in India – but a copyright infringement suit filed by three publishing giants against Sci-Hub and Libgen before the Delhi High Court on December 21, 2020, has managed to do just that. The three are Elsevier, Wiley and American Chemical Society. Reactions to the ‘development’ ranged from wondering whether Sci-Hub will be banned in India to whether it is advisable for researchers to intervene in this litigation, to share their perspectives. In fact, researchers at all levels have expressed concern – from undergraduate students who may have to write term papers to senior professors whose future research is at stake. And the reactions are not surprising: the Delhi high court now has the duty to determine the future of access to scientific literature in India. The first hearing is set for December 24. # ⚓ [Old] An_anti-science_lawsuit⠀⇛ Three scientific publishers — Elsevier, Wiley, and the American Chemical Society (ACS) — filed a suit against Alexandra Elbakyan of Kazakhstan and others in the Delhi High Court on December 21, 2020. The case will reportedly be heard this week. Most major Indian Internet service providers are named as parties in the case. The publishers want Indians blocked from accessing a site called Sci-Hub, started by Ms. Elbakyan in 2011. Who is Ms. Elbakyan, what is Sci-Hub, and why are publishers chasing her in an Indian court? To answer this, it is necessary to explain how scientific publishing works. # ⚓ SCI_hub,_Libgen_case:_Delhi_HC_to_hear students,_researchers⠀⇛ The Delhi high court on Wednesday agreed to hear representations from scientists, researchers and students before passing any interim order in the copyright infringement claim filed by three academic publishing houses seeking to block popular online repositories Sci Hub and Libgen in India. Justice JR Midha also issued notice to Elsevier Ltd., Wiley India Pvt. Ltd. and American Chemical Society, and posted the matter for February 23. “It is an issue of public importance. It’s very important to the scientific community,” Midha said. # ⚓ ‘An_issue_of_public_importance,’_Delhi_HC allows_intervention_applications_filed_by scientists_in_SciHub_Libgen_copyright_suit⠀⇛ A single-judge bench of Justice J.R. Midha, hearing the plea through video conferencing, noted, “It is an issue of public importance, it is very important to the scientific community.” The intervention application has alleged, “Injuncting defendants from making the copies available will completely shut out rights under Section 52 to scientists, students, and researchers in India.” # ⚓ Twitter_suspends_Sci-Hub_account_amid_court case_in_Delhi⠀⇛ Micro-blogging platform Twitter has suspended the account of Sci-Hub, a portal that provides free access to paywalled academic papers, as a case against the website is currently going on in the Delhi High Court. Academic publishers Elsevier, Wiley, and the American Chemical Society filed a suit with the Delhi High Court in December last year, asking internet service providers to block Sci-Hub and another similar site LibGen. # ⚓ ‘Matter_Of_Public_Importance_Concerning_Entire Scientific_Community’_:_Delhi_HC_Refuses_To Restrain_LibGen_Publications⠀⇛ Sr. Adv. Amit Sibal appearing for Elsevier pressed vehemently for an ad interim order, stating that, while a majority of the material produced by them is available on subscription basis, some material is also available publicly. However, the former, is the incentive for the publishers in the first place. He stated that due to the manner in which the paywalls were [cracked] into, even searching for these articles results in further infringement, and therefore, there was no other way than to block these websites. # § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Excellent_Free_Books_to_Learn_PureScript_– LinuxLinks⠀⇛ PureScript is a small strongly, statically typed programming language with expressive types, written in and inspired by Haskell, and compiling to JavaScript. It can be used to develop web applications, server side apps, and also desktop applications with use of Electron. # ⚓ Help_test_the_v3_onion_service_patch_if_you_like⠀⇛ We have an experimental fix for making v3 onion services work, both client-side and service-side, even while the network is in a degraded state. # ⚓ New_release_candidate:_Tor_0.4.5.3-rc⠀⇛ There’s a new release candidate available for download. If you build Tor from source, you can download the source code for 0.4.5.4-rc from the download page on the website. Packages should be available over the coming weeks, with a new alpha Tor Browser release in 3-4 days. We’re getting closer and closer to stable here, so I hope that people will try this one out and report any bugs they find. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ World_Upside_Down⠀⇛ Almost a week out and nobody knows what to call the thing that happened at the Capital. Was it a coup, putsch, insurrection, revolt, riot or robbery? The one certain fact is that a few thousand Trump supporters stormed past a handful of flimsy barriers, evaded surprised police, broke windows and doors and entered the Capital, eventually making their way to the House and Senate chambers. Their purpose was to stop or delay the certification of electors – and that they quickly accomplished when Senators and Representatives were forced to evacuate to safety. “So far so good,” the putschists must have thought. But what then? Steal the electoral college ballots? If that was their plan, it was foiled when Senate staffers secured the documents on their way out of the chamber. (I assume that on their trip to Washington, the electors stopped at a Kinkos and made copies!) At this point, the uncertain Trumpists, like Woody Allen’s character with the illegible robbery note in Take the Money and Run, must have been at a loss. They needed direction from Mr. Big, but he was nowhere to be found, despite his pledge that morning: “I’ll be there with you!” And having broken into the capital and shut down the vote, they wondered, how would they now get out without being arrested? They were marooned, like robbers in a heist movie where the getaway car is nowhere in sight. In the end of course, the ever considerate Capital police simply guided them to the exits like guards in a museum at closing time. Some even took the arms of the more elderly rebels, helping them down some tricky steps. o ⚓ My_Friend_Emma_Nelson⠀⇛ A joke someone made yesterday reminded me of a friend I had in the FCO, Emma Nelson, who died terribly young about 20 years ago. I wanted to say a few things about her that occurred to me in the context of the Alex Salmond case. In doing so I am conscious that Emma’s family might see this, and I want to be plain that no disrespect is intended at all. Quite the opposite. o ⚓ In_the_Epoch_of_Bronze⠀⇛ We make the time pass. See, the devices laid out on the long tables, such ingenuity. o ⚓ Questions_n_the_Wake_of_the_Beer_Belly_Putsch⠀⇛ Naturally, social media and the media media are all going nuts since the more or less successful far right siege of the Capitol.  There are a variety of talking points that I’ve been hearing that I have some thoughts on. First of all, in one of Trump’s various post-siege missives, he assured his followers that the “our incredible journey is only just beginning,” meaning his political ambitions, and the future of the far right.  He’s getting on in years and evidently not in the greatest health, but if he lives long enough, my guess is he’ll start a TV network, a social media network, and a new political party, which will soon eclipse the Republican Party, and become the main competition for the Democrats.  Whoever planted explosives at the headquarters of both the RNC and the DNC during the event clearly agrees with Trump’s coming rejection of the two major parties. o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ Block_Cipher_Structures:_Ranked⠀⇛ Before we get started, let me give you a bit of my background and a standard disclaimer: At multiple points in my career, I’ve had to implement cryptographic primitives–usually due to either a lack of availability in the programming language in question, or I looked at the existing implementations and side-channels fell out (which at one point prompted my team to jokingly prohibit me from looking at code on Fridays, lest I find a security issue and ruin everyone’s weekend plans). Howevear, I am not a designer of cryptography primitives. There are cryptographers who specialize in this, who might have a more correct opinion than mine. If your cryptographer tells you I’m wrong, listen to them. I’m (almost certainly) not your cryptography expert. # ⚓ Removing_space_junk:_Plans_to_clean_up_orbits_around_Earth are_being_hatched⠀⇛ The upshot is a chain-reaction of impacts in orbit. Unlike the fictional version of such a chain- reaction, which inconvenienced Sandra Bullock’s character in “Gravity”, a film released in 2013, this real one is accelerating only slowly, so there is still time to curtail it. But if action is not taken soon, insurance premiums for satellites will rise, spending on tracking and collision-avoidance systems will have to increase, and certain orbits risk becoming unusable. If things get really bad, the authorities may even have to step in to restrict the number of launches. o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ Lessons_from_my_first_(very_bad)_on-call_experience⠀⇛ It’s been 7 years since this happened and it has taken me a long time to process what happened. But I do have some lessons from it. [...] o § Health/Nutrition⠀➾ # ⚓ DSA’s_Moment_of_Truth⠀⇛ Covid has especially elevated the demand of Medicare For All: the trillion dollar healthcare industry that annually leaves tens of thousands of uninsured dying unnecessary deaths — while bankrupting hundreds of thousands more — has proven a historic failure in the face of the pandemic, while pushing millions more into the realm of the uninsured. The totality of the disaster is similar to a poorer nation in the throes of war or famine. The demand for Medicare For All was further elevated recently by a coalition of independent Left media figures, such as Jimmy Dore, Krystal Ball, Katie Halper, and Briahna Joy Gray ( herself a DSA member) with the campaign to “Force the Vote,” i.e., force Nancy Pelosi to hold a Medicare For All vote in the House of Representatives. # ⚓ Pandemic-Caused_Plunge_in_Restaurant_Jobs_Leads_to_First Job_Loss_Since_April⠀⇛ # ⚓ Opinion_|_Biden_Must_Reject_Trump’s_WTO_Policy_That_Could Lead_to_“Vaccine_Apartheid”_in_Global_South⠀⇛ The president-elect pledged to combat racism. But he’s been mum about a racial injustice taking place on a global scale. # ⚓ COVID-19_Vaccine_Producers_Seek_Liability_Immunity_– Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ If a COVID-19 vaccine receives an emergency use authorization, Kim reported, it will be “the first time the FDA has used the process for a novel vaccine.” (Previously, the only other vaccine approved by the FDA for emergency use was the anthrax vaccine, but it was an already licensed vaccine, rather than a novel, investigational vaccine, Kim noted.) # ⚓ Prescription_Drug_Costs_Set_to_Become_Leading_Cause_of Death_in_the_US_–_Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ As has been widely reported, costs of prescription drugs have soared, with list prices having increased 159% from 2007 to 2018. # ⚓ COVID-19_Pandemic_Spurs_Rise_in_Hidden_Foster_Care_– Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ Professor Josh Gupta-Kagan coined the term “hidden foster care” to describe widespread but unofficial efforts to divert children facing abuse or neglect at home from formal foster care placements with non-kinship families. In such cases, a child welfare agency informs a parent that the agency will place the child in foster care unless the parent places their child in care with a friend or relative. The terms of this coercive practice vary from state to state, but “the end result is the same: The child and the parent are separated, without court review or access to counsel and often without a plan for reunification,” Schwartz and Krebs wrote. Because the arrangement is informal, the relative or friend who took custody of the child is “left to care for the child without the supports and services that the child welfare system provides to support children who have experienced abuse and neglect and without assistance in navigating contact and reunification with the parent.” # ⚓ Letters_From_the_January_25/February_1,_2021,_Issue⠀⇛ Better to Tax1 The problem outlined by Tim Schwab in “Playing Games With Public Health Data” [Dec. 14/21, 2020] is aggravated by the heavy reliance of research in general, and global health in particular, on private philanthropists like Bill Gates. No matter his motivations and sincerity, it would be better if Gates’s $40 billion spent on health care were taken from him as income tax and via a wealth tax. It could then be channeled through the proper government and international agencies with the same or better efficiency.David Gurarie2 # ⚓ Mike_Pence_Refuses_to_Invoke_25th_Amendment_on_Trump⠀⇛ On Jan. 6, far-right and white supremacist groups stormed the Capitol building in hopes of overturning the election results in Trump’s favor. The rioters vandalized and looted parts of the building, leading to a mass evacuation and five deaths. # ⚓ After_Positive_Covid_Test,_Jayapal_Demands_House_Sergeant at_Arms_Remove_GOP_Lawmakers_Who_Refuse_Masks⠀⇛ The Washington Democrat accused Republican lawmakers of “creating a superspreader event on top of a domestic terrorist attack.” # ⚓ Rep._Jayapal:_Unmasked_Republicans_Made_Capitol_Breach_a “Superspreader_Event”⠀⇛ # ⚓ Pramila_Jayapal,_Bonnie_Watson_Coleman,_Brad_Schneider_Test COVID-19_Positive_After_Lockdown_With_Maskless_Republicans⠀⇛ She continued, “Only hours after Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, many Republicans still refused to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution and simply wear a damn mask in a crowded room during a pandemic — creating a super-spreader event ON TOP of a domestic terrorist attack.” As CNN reported, video footage published by Punchbowl News showed six House Republicans were caught on tape during the security lockdown refusing to wear masks when they were offered by House Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. Those GOP members of Congress were Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Michael Cloud of Texas, and Doug LaMalfa of California. # ⚓ Michigan_Plans_to_Charge_Former_Governor_in_Flint_Water Crisis⠀⇛ Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, his health director and other ex-officials have been told they’re being charged after a new investigation of the Flint water scandal, which devastated the majority Black city with lead-contaminated water and was blamed for a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in 2014-15, The Associated Press has learned. Two people with knowledge of the planned prosecution told the AP on Tuesday that the attorney general’s office has informed defense lawyers about indictments in Flint and told them to expect initial court appearances soon. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The AP could not determine the nature of the charges against Snyder, former health department director Nick Lyon and others who were in his administration, including Rich Baird, a friend who was the governor’s key troubleshooter while in office. # ⚓ Russia_confirms_first_case_of_new_coronavirus_strain_first seen_in_Britain⠀⇛ Russia has confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus strain that was first seen in the United Kingdom at the end of 2020, reports the country’s chief sanitary doctor, Anna Popova. # ⚓ Rep._Bonnie_Watson_Coleman_Has_Covid-19_After_Hiding_From Trump_Mob_With_Maskless_GOP_Lawmakers⠀⇛ A statement from the 75-year-old cancer survivor says “she believes she was exposed during protective isolation in the U.S. Capitol building as a result of insurrectionist riots.” # ⚓ My_Brother_Was_Condemned_to_Death—Then_He_Was_Condemned_to Covid-19⠀⇛ My brother, Billie Allen, has been fighting for his life on two fronts. He has waged the first of these fights from federal death row, against a legal system that was not designed to find truth or enact real justice. He has waged the second fight from hospital beds, plagued by health issues that affect his very ability to prove his innocence. As Billie’s sister—and his best friend—I am more than a witness. My brother’s fight is my fight. His loss of freedom is mine. # ⚓ Montana’s_Face-Off_Over_Face_Masks⠀⇛ In the early days of the pandemic, a white-coated physician from Kalispell, Mont., stood at a podium and issued a dire warning about Covid-19’s death rate.1 # ⚓ What_can_policymakers_learn_from_the_disastrously_slow COVID-19_vaccine_rollout?⠀⇛ In the middle of a record number of COVID-19 infections and deaths—and continued evidence of racial disparities in the pandemic’s effects—December brought some good news to the fight against the pandemic: the FDA’s emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and the ensuing nationwide rollouts. The record-breaking vaccine development timeline and the videos of healthcare workers receiving early vaccines are worth celebrating. But the subsequent distribution has been tragically slow—echoing distribution challenges for COVID- related goods ranging from PPE to diagnostics. On Dec. 29, Dr. Leana Wen noted that at the initial vaccination rate, it would take 10 years to vaccinate the roughly 80% of Americans needed to achieve herd immunity. According to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker, as of today, fewer than 10 million vaccines have been administered in the United States. States are still sitting on nearly two- thirds of the doses they have received, and the federal government is holding half the U.S. supply in reserve. In this post we explain what went wrong and how policymakers can correct course for COVID- 19 and avoid such disasters in the future. [...] On the direct front, the federal government has substantial resources that could be devoted to solving “last mile” problems. The United States Public Health Service (PHS; the part of HHS that includes the FDA, CDC, and NIH) also includes the Commissioned Corps, a uniformed service of federal public health employees. Outside the PHS, the military has expertise and experience in logistical operations including large-scale distribution, especially in coordination with the national guard. An alternative, indirect approach is to focus on a funding structure that better incentivizes vaccination by the private sector. The private sector, including pharmacies, employers, and hospitals, already oversees the administration of many vaccines each year (notably the annual flu vaccine). But in a pandemic situation with limited supply, urgent timing, and complex logistics, careful coordination with manufacturers and others administering the vaccine is essential. Manufacturers could potentially play a coordinating role, but lack incentives to do so. Currently, incentives for development (e.g., for drug manufacturers) are wholly distinct from incentives for administration (e.g., pharmacy chains or hospitals getting reimbursed). The federal government could link these incentives; for instance, it could provide manufacturers a reward per patient vaccinated rather than simply for receiving vaccine approval or manufacturing a certain number of doses. The optimal approach may be a mixture of both types of incentives, such as a combination of private sector coordination and efforts at a centralized federal infrastructure. Both the public and private sector are subject to failures, and not all eggs should be put in one basket. Coordinated redundancy is not only acceptable in a pandemic, it is desirable. Accordingly, policymakers shouldn’t be afraid of spending too much on vaccine distribution or development—even under low-end estimates of social value, the billions spent on COVID-19 vaccine development so far are only a small fraction of this value. Part of the reason this pandemic has been as devastating as it has been was insufficient vaccine development funding prior to the pandemic. Providing adequate rewards at each stage of the vaccine pipeline will help us do a better job with the next outbreak. o § Integrity/Availability⠀➾ # ⚓ Microsoft_Teams,_Office_365_and_OneDrive_suffer_outage_–_UK users_unable_to_work_from_home⠀⇛ Office 365 services such as Microsoft Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint have all reportedly been hit with issues today. Independent outage monitor Down Detector has recorded a spike in Office 365, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint down reports. The heaviest hit services are Microsoft Teams and SharePoint, which so far have registered hundreds of down reports. Out of those affected, some 70 percent of Microsoft Teams users said they were experiencing server connection problems. # § Proprietary⠀➾ # ⚓ Email_security_firm_Mimecast_says_[attackers] hijacked_its_products_to_spy_on_customers⠀⇛ Email security provider Mimecast said on Tuesday that [attackers] had hijacked its products in order to spy on its customers. The company said it had been alerted to the attack by investigators at Microsoft and that “a sophisticated threat actor” had compromised the certificate used to guard connections between its products and Microsoft’s cloud services. In a four-paragraph statement, the company said around 10% of its more than 36,000 customers had been affected, but it believed “a low single digit number” of users had been specifically targeted. # § Pseudo-Open Source⠀➾ # § Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)⠀➾ # ⚓ GitHub_Fires_Jewish_Employee_For_Warning That_“Nazis”_Were_Among_the_US_Capitol Rioters⠀⇛ Microsoft-owned GitHub is facing an employee backlash after it reportedly terminated a Jewish worker for warning in a corporate Slack channel that there were “nazis” present at the U.S. Capitol riot. # § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ DOJ,_US_Court_System_Latest_To_Announce_They’re Victims_Of_The_Massive_Solarwinds_Hack⠀⇛ The hits just keep on coming for US federal agencies affected by the massive Solarwinds hack. State- sponsored hackers — presumably Russian — leveraged Solarwinds’ massive customer base and compromised update server to infect systems around the world. Here in the United States, a possible 18,000 Solarwinds customers are affected… as are their users and customers, which brings the possible number of infected back up into the millions. # ⚓ SolarWinds_Hack:_CISA_Asks_Agencies_To_Conduct Forensic_Analysis_By_Month-End⠀⇛ All other versions of the SolarWinds Orion platforms, regardless of whether included in the original range identified in ED 21-01, have been identified as not containing that malicious backdoor (“unaffected versions”). # ⚓ Security_updates_for_Tuesday⠀⇛ Security updates have been issued by openSUSE (chromium), Oracle (firefox), Red Hat (kernel), Scientific Linux (firefox), Slackware (sudo), SUSE (firefox, nodejs10, nodejs12, and nodejs14), and Ubuntu (apt, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.4, linux-azure, linux-azure-4.15, linux-azure-5.4, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.4, linux-hwe- 5.4, linux-hwe-5.8, linux-oem-5.6, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-5.4, nvidia- graphics-drivers-390, nvidia-graphics- drivers-450, nvidia-graphics-drivers- 460, python-apt, and xdg-utils). # ⚓ Microsoft_Patch_Tuesday,_January_2021_Edition⠀⇛ Microsoft today released updates to plug more than 80 security holes in its Windows operating systems and other software, including one that is actively being exploited and another which was disclosed prior to today. Ten of the flaws earned Microsoft’s most- dire “critical” rating, meaning they could be exploited by malware or miscreants to seize remote control over unpatched systems with little or no interaction from Windows users. # ⚓ Alleged_SolarWinds_attackers_offer_stolen Microsoft,_Cisco_source_code_for_sale⠀⇛ Attackers who claim they are responsible for the supply chain attack on the Texas firm SolarWinds, say they have data from their exploits which they wish to sell. # ⚓ Bitdefender_releases_decryptor_for_Windows DarkSide_ransomware⠀⇛ Cyber security solutions provider Bitdefender has released a decryption tool for the DarkSide ransomware, a malware entity that made its appearance in August last year, and one that can attack only Microsoft’s Windows operating system. # ⚓ SolarWinds:_What_Hit_Us_Could_Hit_Others⠀⇛ New research into the malware that set the stage for the megabreach at IT vendor SolarWinds shows the perpetrators spent months inside the company’s software development labs honing their attack before inserting malicious code into updates that SolarWinds then shipped to thousands of customers. More worrisome, the research suggests the insidious methods used by the intruders to subvert the company’s software development pipeline could be repurposed against many other major software providers. # ⚓ Mimecast_certificate_used_for_Microsoft_365 connection_compromised⠀⇛ Email security provider Mimecast says it has been informed by Microsoft that a certificate it issued for authentication of Mimecast Sync and Recover, Continuity Monitor, and IEP products to Microsoft 365 Exchange Web Services has been compromised. # ⚓ Internet-Connected_Chastity_Cages_Hit_By Bitcoin_Ransom_Hack⠀⇛ If you hadn’t noticed yet, the internet of things is a security and privacy shit show. Millions of poorly secured internet-connected devices are now being sold annually, introducing massive new attack vectors and vulnerabilities into home and business networks nationwide. Thanks to IOT companies and evangelists that prioritize gee-whizzery and profits over privacy and security, your refrigerator can now leak your gmail credentials, your kids’ Barbie doll can now be used as a surveillance tool, and your “smart” tea kettle can now open your wireless network to attack. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ Online_Monitoring_of_Students_During Pandemic_Raises_Concerns_–_Validated Independent_News⠀⇛ In Colorado, Whitehead reported, a 12-year-old student was suspended after showing a toy gun on his screen during an online art class; and police arrived at the home of an 11-year-old Maryland student after a school official saw a BB gun in his bedroom during an online class. These cases show, White wrote, how law enforcement officials can “sidestep the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for probable cause and a court-issued warrant in order to spy us on in the privacy of our homes.” # ⚓ Fifth_Circuit_Tosses_Child_Porn Conviction_Predicated_On_Unconstitutional Searches_Of_Three_Cellphones⠀⇛ There’s a warrant requirement for cellphone searches, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Riley decision. But not every search is, um, warranted, even when officers have a search warrant in hand. # ⚓ Securing_a_Quantum_Security_Ecosystem_– Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ Quantum computers use quantum mechanics to perform computations much more efficiently, and therefore faster, than standard (“classical”) computers can. The enhanced power of quantum computers puts at risk much of the cryptography that underpins our global digital security system. # ⚓ Police_Drone_Surveillance_Raises Constitutional_Concerns_–_Validated Independent_News⠀⇛ An increasing number of police departments now have surveillance drones. A March 2020 study produced by Bard College’s Center for the Study of the Drone identified at least 1,578 law enforcement agencies across the US that have purchased drones. The Bard report noted that the actual number of drones in use is likely higher because many agencies have undisclosed drone programs. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Atlas of Surveillance tracks police surveillance, including drone use, based on public documents and crowdsourcing. Launched in July 2020, EFF’s surveillance atlas already includes more than 1,000 cases in which police departments across the US have used drones. As with the Bard study, the EFF Atlas likely undercounts the actual number of cases, since not all instances get documented or reported. # ⚓ UK_rules_against_the_use_of_general warrants_to_hack_into_citizen’s_devices⠀⇛ Caroline Wilson Palow, the Legal Director at Privacy International stated in Privacy International’s press release on the victory: # ⚓ Face_Surveillance_and_the_Capitol Attack⠀⇛ Government use of facial recognition crosses a bright red line, and we should not normalize its use, even during a national tragedy. Make no mistake: the attack on the Capitol can and should be investigated by law enforcement. The attackers’ use of public social media to both prepare and document their actions will make the job easier than it otherwise might be.   But a ban on all government use of face recognition, including its use by law enforcement, remains a necessary precaution to protect us from this dangerous and easily misused technology. This includes a ban on government’s use of information obtained by other government actors and by third-party services through face recognition. # ⚓ Response_to_NSO_Group_on_the_Great_iPwn Report⠀⇛ The Citizen Lab is in receipt of the correspondence from NSO Group dated 23 December 2020 in response to the Citizen Lab’s report titled “The Great iPwn: Journalists [Cracked] with Suspected NSO Group iMessage ‘Zero-Click’ Exploit” (referred herein as “The Great iPwn” report). The report describes the suspected use of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware against 36 journalists with Al Jazeera and a journalist with Al Araby TV. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ Uncouth_Uncoup_Televised⠀⇛ Spoken word artist, Gil Scot-Heron, famously observed, “the revolution will not be televised.” In Washington D.C. on January 6, the uncouth uncoup was televised. We got to see the faces and the costumes of the rioters. We saw right-wing Americans in action. Language matters greatly to me. I like to be precise about the words I use, though at times I’ve wanted to show off my verbal pyrotechnical skills and have exaggerated and embellished. The word “coup” doesn’t seem to accurately fit the events of January 6, 2021. To learn more, I emailed my Chilean pal, Cristobal Dahm in Santiago and asked him what he thought. He knows about coups in his own country and elsewhere. Cristobal emailed back, “It wasn’t a coup attempt.” He added that in Latin America coups have usually been engineered “via military forces of a country.” # ⚓ Oath_Keepers_Mobilize_Police_and_Militia_Members_Nationwide –_Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ In 2009, Rhodes launched the Oath Keepers with a blog post that Giglio described as “both a manifesto and a recruiting pitch.” Responses “poured in,” Giglio reported, and Rhodes published them on his blog. Today, about two-thirds of the Oath Keepers come from military or law enforcement backgrounds, according to a leaked database compiled by several of Rhodes’ deputies. Members included a “grunt” from Afghanistan, two individuals working in the FBI, and a Secret Service special agent. Members tagged their cars with the Oath Keepers logo, which occasioned conversations with others about the group, one of the tactics employed to recruit new members. To avoid having the group seen as a threat, Rhodes refused to call it a militia; instead he registered the Oath Keepers as a nonprofit organization. # ⚓ House_Democrats_Briefed_on_Trump_Loyalist_Plots_for_Coup and_Assassinations⠀⇛ # ⚓ Mothers_in_Israel_Hold_Police_Accountable_for_Inaction_on Murdered_Palestinians_–_Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ Israeli government officials claim that the high murder rate for Palestinians is due to a “violent culture” and that Palestinian society is, according to Gil’ad Erdan, the former Israeli Minister of Internal Security, “very, very, very, a thousand times over very, violent.” Israeli officials have asserted that most of these fatalities are the result of Palestinian against Palestinian violence. # ⚓ Israel_Throttles_Gazan_Fishing_–_Validated_Independent News⠀⇛ In 2000, Gaza had a much stronger fishing industry with over 10,000 registered fishermen but that number has since declined to approximately 3000 due to the increased restrictions imposed by Israel. Those remaining fishermen, a majority who live far below the poverty level, find themselves in a tight situation attempting to provide for their own families. Fishing in restricted areas can have serious if not fatal consequences. Boats have been targeted, shot at and sunk, often without warning by Israeli naval forces, despite this being a violation of international law. The Israeli Navy has also seizing Palestinians’ boats and motors. # ⚓ Burns_at_the_CIA⠀⇛ Burns has every skill that is required for managing the key civilian intelligence agency in an overgrown intelligence community that has had too many intelligence failures at home and abroad in recent years.  Burns was only the second career diplomat to be named deputy secretary of state.  He also earned the rare title of “career ambassador,” and he is cut from the same cloth as such outstanding foreign service officers as George Kennan and Chip Bohlen.  Burns is currently president of the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace, our oldest international affairs think tank, with a global network of 140 scholars across six countries.  Burns has received awards from the Department of Defense, the CIA, and the intelligence community. More importantly, Burns’ leadership qualities and his experience point to the kind of strategic vision that has been missing within the militarized intelligence community, particularly within the CIA.  A career ambassador, Burns has experience that points to a deep understanding of key CIA functions: strategic intelligence analysis for the policy community and clandestine operations in support of presidential national security policy.  Senior foreign service officers understand the importance of long-term and strategic intelligence that is prepared at home.  As a former ambassador, Burns is familiar with the role of CIA operations abroad.  CIA clandestine operatives are typically hostile to directors from the “civilian” world, but Burns would be that refreshing change that should be welcome.  As a former CIA intelligence officer, I am confident that CIA analysts will be ecstatic over this appointment. # ⚓ ‘We’re_dying_on_the_ninth_floor’_Russian_woman_who_called for_help_on_Twitter_among_eight_people_killed_in Yekaterinburg_apartment_fire⠀⇛ In the early hours of January 12, eight people were killed in a fire that broke out in an apartment building in Yekaterinburg. Among the victims was a seven-year-old child and her mother, who called for help on Twitter after reportedly being unable to get through to the emergency services. Firefighters did in fact arrive on the scene and managed to evacuate 90 people from the burning building. The deceased woman’s Twitter account has since been removed and government officials are claiming that she never called the fire department; spokespeople for the Emergency Situations Ministry underscored that “rescue workers don’t monitor Twitter.” # ⚓ Christian-Right_Council_for_National_Policy_Linked_to Violent_Breach_of_Capitol⠀⇛ # ⚓ Defending_Apartheid⠀⇛ Though U.S. and Israeli pressure managed to suppress the report, evidence for this charge of apartheid is clear-cut. More recently, the facts have been brought together in a succinct presentation by the noted journalist Jonathan Cook. In a 2018 issue of The Link, a publication of Americans for Middle East Understanding, he wrote an expose` entitled “Apartheid Israel.” Some of the particulars Cook looks at are citizenship inequality, nationality inequality, marriage inequality, legal inequality, and residential inequality. The predictable Palestinian struggle seeking equality and the end of apartheid is seen as a subversive movement by both Israel’s Jewish majority and its increasingly rightwing governments. Of course, some Israeli Jews do understand that the country has a serious problem with racism. For instance, this comes through in the June 2020 Haaretz report that indicates that as “world sensitivity to racism and oppression” increases “historical injustice in Israel is … only getting worse.” # ⚓ Prominent_Rights_Group_Says_Israeli_Rule_Must_Finally_Be Seen_‘For_What_It_Is:_Apartheid’⠀⇛ “This sobering look at reality need not lead to despair, but quite the opposite. It is a call for change. After all, people created this regime, and people can change it.” # ⚓ Biden_Should_Think_Big_in_the_Middle_East⠀⇛ As the incoming Biden administration begins to map out its approach to the Middle East region, several things should be clear. The first is that it is not possible to simply return to the status quo ante—resurrecting the Iran nuclear deal or restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Consideration must be given to the new realities across the region and lessons that must be learned from past failures. # ⚓ ‘Absolutely_Chilling’:_House_Democrats_Briefed_on Disturbing_Assassination,_Coup_Plots_by_Trump_Supporters⠀⇛ “The coup attempt is ongoing.” # ⚓ Upon_His_Inauguration,_Biden_Should_Commute_All_Federal Death_Sentences⠀⇛ # ⚓ Will_Lisa_Montgomery_Die_Tonight?_Sister_Helen_Prejean Calls_for_Trump_to_Halt_Execution_Spree⠀⇛ A federal judge has granted a stay of execution for Lisa Montgomery, who was set to become the first woman executed by the federal government in 67 years, but the Trump administration is appealing the decision. Two men are also scheduled to die this week. Since July, when the Trump administration revived the federal death penalty, the U.S. government has executed 10 people — more than in any presidency since 1896. “Time is running out for the Trump administration to go through with these three executions, and they know that, which is why they’re very insistent that they happen this week and not after January 20,” says Isaac Arnsdorf, a reporter at ProPublica. We also speak with Sister Helen Prejean, Catholic nun and one of the world’s leading death penalty opponents, who says Trump embarked on his late killing spree simply because “he has the power to do it.” “The death penalty needs to be abolished completely, and you have to take the power out of individuals’ hands,” she says. # ⚓ Trump,_Insurrections_and_the_25th_Amendment⠀⇛ With the US imperium responsible for fostering numerous revolutions and coups across the globe during its history, spikes of schadenfreude could be found.  China’s state paper Global Times found it irresistible to use the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as a point of comparison.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s remark that the Hong Kong protests were “a beautiful sight to behold” was rubbed in the face of US lawmakers.  Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying, remarking on the gloating reaction of Chinese netizens, also referred to remarks by US lawmakers on the Hong Kong protests. It did not take long for carelessly chosen words such as “coup” to find their way into the political stuttering, as if President Donald Trump had somehow been having beer hall meetings in an atmosphere thick with plotting.  Presidential historian Michael Beschloss was one.  “This is a coup d’état attempted by the president of the United States.” # ⚓ US_backs_al-Qaeda_in_Yemen_while_dubbing_its_Houthi_enemies ‘terrorists’⠀⇛ # ⚓ Legal_Loopholes_Allow_US_Arms_Dealers_to_Profit_from “Atrocities”_in_Yemen_–_Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ The war between Yemen and Saudi Arabia is a deadly conflict that much of the world has ignored. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) estimates that there were over 25,000 war fatalities in 2019 alone. UNICEF states that Yemen is “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world,” with nearly eighty percent of the population in need of humanitarian assistance. While some expect the United States to provide humanitarian aid or troops to de-escalate the conflict, the Trump administration has stood on the sidelines and US firms profit war from weapon sales that perpetuate the suffering. # ⚓ The_Trump_Administration’s_Parting_Outrage_Against_Cuba⠀⇛ On January 11, in his final days before leaving office, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added one parting blow to the series of bludgeons his administration has inflicted on Cuba for four years: putting the island on the list of “state sponsors of terror” that includes only Iran, North Korea and Syria. The designation drew swift condemnation from policymakers and humanitarian groups as a decision widely characterized as “politically motivated.” It comes six years after the Obama administration had removed Cuba from the same list as part of his policy of rapprochement.  # ⚓ Opinion_|_The_Trump_Administration’s_Parting_Outrage Against_Cuba⠀⇛ “Perpetuating the myth that Cuba is a threat to the American people—while minimizing the threat posed by far-right extremists at home—is an embarrassment to our country on the world stage.” # ⚓ Stop_the_Steal_takeover_exposes_fragility_of_U.S._Empire⠀⇛ # ⚓ Opinion_|_We’re_All_Prisoners_of_War_Now⠀⇛ When will America free itself from war? # ⚓ New_York_City_Paid_an_NBA_Star_Millions_After_an_NYPD Officer_Broke_His_Leg._The_Officer_Paid_Little_Price.⠀⇛ Five years ago, NBA guard Thabo Sefolosha was standing outside a nightclub when he was tackled by five New York Police Department officers, one of whom broke his leg with a baton. Sefolosha sued, and the city paid its largest settlement for alleged police brutality in years, $4.5 million. After all, Sefolosha had to have surgery and couldn’t play basketball for a year. And a jury had acquitted Sefolosha of the charges against him for allegedly resisting arrest. The whole incident had been caught on tape. # ⚓ Some_Republicans_Call_for_Trump_to_Face_Repercussions_Yet Remain_Impeachment_Shy⠀⇛ # ⚓ Republicans_are_gaslighting_America_about_Trump’s_coup: Only_impeachment_can_set_the_record_straight⠀⇛ None of this is subtle or confusing. Unsurprisingly, however, right-wing media figures — who want to continue to push conspiracy theories and agitate their audiences with insurrectionist talk, but don’t want to face consequences for it — have already begun the process of gaslighting about Wednesday’s event, insisting that it’s being blown out of proportion and shouldn’t be treated like the insurrection that it was. # ⚓ Desperate_not_to_take_responsibility_for_what_they’ve_set in_motion,_pro-Trump_media_pivot_to_conspiracy_theories⠀⇛ Right-wing media have spent more than two months telling audiences that November’s election was “stolen” from President Donald Trump and promoting efforts to overturn the results. They’ve presented Trump’s loss as a great injustice and as a wrong that must be righted. Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich went so far as to call Biden’s election “the most dangerous assault on the very nature of America, certainly in our lifetime, and maybe since the previous Civil War.” Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh has floated the idea of secession. On Wednesday, that all came to a head when Trump called on his supporters to march on the Capitol — and they listened. Months of lies and incendiary rhetoric from Trump fueled by his media allies reached its inevitable conclusion: a violent attempt to overthrow democracy. Rather than take any accountability for how their reckless conspiracies had inspired a riotous mob to storm the Capitol, numerous right-wing media figures pounced on a different conspiracy theory that conveniently allowed conservatives to dodge responsibility: Antifa did it. # ⚓ How_Much_Danger_Is_American_Democracy_In?⠀⇛ This violent episode raises many questions about the future of democracy in America — not only its continued health, but the extent to which the U.S. has already become less democratic. So let’s first unpack this question by diving into this data point: Polls show while the majority of Americans condemn what happened on Wednesday, a plurality of Republican voters support it. What does that say about the current state of democracy in the U.S.? # ⚓ Go_read_this_report_that_uses_GPS_to_prove_Parler_users stormed_the_Capitol⠀⇛ You should go read this Gizmodo report that uses Parler’s leaked GPS data to show that its users were among the mob that stormed the Capitol last Wednesday. The report comes in the wake of the social network’s near-complete removal from the Internet, and is a good read for anyone who’s been following the story. The reporters, Dell Cameron and Dhruv Mehrotra, had to sift through tons of posts to build a map of the riot: Gizmodo has mapped nearly 70,000 geo-located Parler posts and on Tuesday isolated hundreds published on January 6 near the Capitol where a mob of pro-Trump supporters had hoped to overturn a democratic election and keep their president in power. # ⚓ Awful_voting-machine_demands_silence⠀⇛ It’s happening again, but in reverse. The outrage at Trump’s baseless conspiracy claims about Dominion is being hijacked to discredit real election security advocates by a powerful, corrupt monopolist. Don’t be taken in. # ⚓ FBI_received_over_100,000_pieces_of_digital_evidence_after Capitol_attack⠀⇛ It’s not clear how much of this evidence is unique, but FBI officials said Tuesday that the bureau had opened around 170 cases into individual rioters. Of those 170 cases, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia has brought federal charges against 20 people. Forty others have been charged in DC’s Superior Court. # ⚓ Refugees_Are_Victims_of_Chinese_Espionage,_Not Accomplices⠀⇛ As U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, the New York Chinese Consulate serves as a major spy hub. The United States must review and assess its relationship with Chinese consulates, where Angwang had been collaborating with officials for years. Other targets of CCP harassment, such as Uighur- Americans, should be offered security protection, since many of them are coerced into silence by the overseas Chinese government. Requiring Chinese organizations to exist by U.S. norms (at the bare minimum, a reciprocity of decorum) would benefit Tibetans, Uighurs, Chinese nationals who wish to study or work in the United States without CCP interference, and many others. # ⚓ Rattled_by_protests_in_Tibet,_China_performs_military_air drill_over_Lhasa⠀⇛ Amid the ongoing dispute at the Line of Actual Control with India, China has also been involved in a discourse with Tibet. The dispute and the protests by the Tibetans have now resulted in the Chinese perform a military air drill over Tibet’s capital of Lhasa. Several Chinese choppers and jets were seen performing air drills over Lhasa. The Chinese are rattled after the recently passed the ‘Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020′ by the United States (US). The policy states that sanctions should be put on Chinese officials who interfere in the selection of the successor of the exiled spiritual leader Dalai Lama. # ⚓ Russia,_Armenia,_and_Azerbaijan_adopt_new_statement_on Nagorno-Karabakh⠀⇛ During trilateral talks in Moscow on Monday, January 11, the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan adopted a joint statement on the development of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Kremlin announced on its website. # ⚓ ‘Despicable’:_Outgoing_Trump_Administration_to_Designate Cuba_a_‘State_Sponsor_of_Terrorism’⠀⇛ “Cuba has been sending doctors around the world to combat Covid-19,” one observer pointed out, while another said the “Trump administration should add itself as a state sponsor of terrorism.” # ⚓ Syrian_Refugees_Excluded_from_Lebanese_Labor_Market⠀⇛ Lebanon, a country of 6 million, hosts a large refugee population estimated at 1.5 million. As the economic situation in Lebanon has deteriorated due to inflation, reliance on imports, mass unemployment, and the port blast in August, tensions have grown between local Lebanese and refugees. Anti-refugee rhetoric is often deployed by Lebanese politicians. In an interview last year, Gebran Bassil, the leader of the Lebanese Free Patriotic Movement and the Foreign Minister, said that “Most of the Syrians – much more than 75% – are no more in security and political fear, but are staying for economic reasons”. Bassil added, “They are working in Lebanon, taking jobs from the Lebanese because they paid at a cheaper rate because they have no taxes to pay and they are being assisted on top of the wages they are paid.” # ⚓ Remove_Trump_Now!⠀⇛ Donald J. Trump is a clear and present danger to the nation and the world in his final days. The notion of this demented and desperate madman continuing to command the world’s most lethal military force is incredibly reckless. Trump continues to insist against all evidence that he won the 2020 election. His fascist thug minions are planning new rampages in Washington and the nation’s fifty state capitals in coming days. He is still a dire threat to peace and the rule of law. # ⚓ Acting_US_AG_Rosen_Urged_to_Postpone_Three_Executions Planned_for_This_Week_Due_to_Pandemic⠀⇛ The outgoing Trump administration has killed 10 death row inmates since resuming federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. # ⚓ Trump_Can_Be_Indicted_Under_Federal,_State_and_DC_Laws_for His_Role_in_Jan._6⠀⇛ # ⚓ Two_Days_that_Shook_the_World⠀⇛ I got home just in time to watch Joe Biden’s January 8 press conference – held two days after a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol. Biden said the Trump administration is one of the most incompetent in US history. He said Trump is absolutely unfit for office, and incompetent. He likened election lies to Goebbels propaganda. And he said Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri were complicit in instigating the Wednesday Capitol riot that left five people dead. # ⚓ FBI_Memo_Warns_Pro-Trump_Extremists_Plan_Armed Insurrections_in_State_Capitols_Across_US⠀⇛ An agency memo states that “if Congress attempts to remove POTUS via the 25th Amendment, a huge uprising will occur.” # ⚓ “Enabling_President’s_Unhinged,_Unstable,_and_Deranged Acts”:_GOP_Blocks_Measure_Urging_Pence_to_Invoke_25th Amendment⠀⇛ “Their complicity endangers America, erodes our democracy, and it must end.” # ⚓ 47_Lawmakers_Join_Rep._Cori_Bush’s_Resolution_to_Remove_GOP Members_for_Inciting_Attack_on_Capitol⠀⇛ “This is sedition,” said the freshman Democrat. “We must hold these Republicans accountable for their role in this insurrection.” # ⚓ Media_Cry_Wolf_for_Third_Time_on_Afghan_‘Bounties’⠀⇛ First it was Russia (FAIR.org, 7/3/20). And then Iran. But now it is China that has supposedly been placing bounties on the heads of US soldiers in Afghanistan—according to information received by outlets like the New York Times (12/30/20), Axios (12/30/20) and CNN (12/31/20). # ⚓ As_US_Sanctions_a_Starving_Yemen,_Iran_Asks_Interpol_to Arrest_Trump⠀⇛ Outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced yesterday that the United States will be designating Yemen’s Houthi rebels a terrorist organization and increasing sanctions on the already beleaguered nation.  # ⚓ ‘Going_Back_to_the_Cheney_Playbook’:_Fears_of_War_Grow_as Pompeo_Plans_to_Accuse_Iran_of_Ties_to_Al_Qaeda⠀⇛ “I wouldn’t put it past these lunatics to be plotting something evil at the 11th hour,” said one policy analyst. # ⚓ Venezuela:_the_United_States_is_Experiencing_What_It_Has Generated_in_Other_Countries_With_Its_Policies_of Aggression⠀⇛ Let’s look at the details and the possible relationship from an international point of view. The government of Canada places itself on the side of irrationality and, even worse, on the side of illegality, by ignoring the new National Assembly (NA) of Venezuela democratically elected on December 6 and, even worse, by maintaining the recognition of the NA of 2015 that no longer exists constitutionally. # ⚓ Military_in_the_Capitol_Insurrection_Should_Face_Courts- Martial⠀⇛ Insurrection is no ordinary crime. It’s an offense not against another individual or even group of people but rather against the polity in its entirety. A putsch is a declaration of war aimed at the whole political system. As such, insurrection tends to mobilize in opposition the full arsenal of social sanctions, punishments that go well beyond the purview of the criminal justice system. Those involved in the failed putsch of January 6, where a mob instigated by President Trump stormed the Capitol, are currently being rounded up by law enforcement. But it’s telling that the law is not the only instrument of retribution being called upon. # ⚓ The_Government_Has_All_of_the_Powers_It_Needs_to_Find_and Prosecute_Those_Responsible_for_the_Crimes_on_Capitol_Hill This_Week⠀⇛ These are all crimes that can and and should be investigated by law enforcement. Yet history provides the clear lesson that immediate legislative responses to an unprecedented national crime or a deeply traumatic incident can have profound, unforeseen, and often unconstitutional consequences for decades to come. Innocent people—international travelers, immigrants, asylum seekers, activists, journalists, attorneys, and everyday Internet users—have spent the last two decades contending with the loss of privacy, government harassment, and exaggerated sentencing that came along with the PATRIOT Act and other laws passed in the wake of national tragedies.    Law enforcement does not need additional powers, new laws, harsher sentencing mandates, or looser restrictions on the use of surveillance measures to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the dangerous crimes that occurred. Moreover, we know from experience that any such new powers will inevitably be used to target the most vulnerable members of society or be used indiscriminately to surveil the broader public.  EFF has spent the last three decades pushing back against overbroad government powers—in courts, in Congress, and in state legislatures—to demand an end to unconstitutional surveillance and to warn against the dangers of technology being abused to invade people’s rights. To take just a few present examples: we continue to fight against the NSA’s mass surveillance programs, the exponential increase of surveillance power used by immigration enforcement agencies at the U.S. border and in the interior, and the inevitable creep of military surveillance into everyday law enforcement to this day. The fact that we are still fighting these battles shows just how hard it is to end unconstitutional overreactions. # ⚓ ‘Oldest_Play_in_the_Book’:_Critics_Warn_New_Domestic_Terror Laws_Aimed_at_Pro-Trump_Mob_Would_Be_Used_Against_Legitimate Protest⠀⇛ “History shows that legislation going after ‘domestic terrorism’ will primarily be used to target Black organizers, Muslim communities, immigrant communities.” o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ Oak_Flat:_Trump’s_Final_Middle_Finger_to_the_Environment⠀⇛ Buried deep in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2015, section 3003 calls for the expeditious facilitation of a land exchange agreement between Resolution Copper Mining, LLC and the United States government to create one of the largest and deepest copper mines in the country, spanning nearly 11,000 square miles of national forest terrain and penetrating 7,000 miles into beneath the surface of the earth. # ⚓ [Old] Brazil_moves_toward_transfer_of_deforestation_and fire_monitoring_to_military⠀⇛ The VP claims INPE satellite monitoring is outdated and doesn’t see through clouds. Critics of the government note that the space institute’s Prodes and Deter systems continue to provide excellent data on Amazon fires and deforestation, usable for enforcement, while clouds matter little in the dry season when most fires occur. Critics contend that multiple moves by the government to disempower INPE are likely ways of denying transparency, ending INPE’s civil authority, and placing deforestation and fire monitoring satellites under secretive military control. # ⚓ Ocean_digitization_|_Stop_at_Zona-M⠀⇛ These three quotes highlight what may be coming bad: 1: “The data coming from [the Spotter buoys] goes into a proprietary marine weather prediction model and can also be used to help improve models run by others, including government agencies.” 2: “If… we can actually help industries perform better, save them money by collecting more ocean data… ocean sensing is going to change fundamentally.” 3: All this activity is _“an example of what the private sector is increasingly capable of doing on land, sea, air and in space (besides controlling who uses social media of course) namely, gathering data, processing it and selling it to paying customers, as well as providing it to government agencies. Western hubris is strong with these ones, isn’t it? And this is the second time in one month that I see it applied to oceans. # ⚓ Activists_announce_end_of_anti-landfill_protest_in_Russian far_north⠀⇛ On January 9, 2021, the activist group “Chistaya Urdoma” (Clean Urdoma) announced the end of their long-running protest against the construction of a landfill at the Shiyes train station in Russia’s far-northern Arkhangelsk region.  # ⚓ Opinion_|_Past_Time_to_Remember_Thousands_Displaced_and Left_Behind_by_Hurricanes_Laura_and_Delta⠀⇛ As 2020 ended some people were still living in tents. # ⚓ Earth_is_now_committed_to_a_2°C_hotter_future⠀⇛ 2020 matched all global heating records. In 2021 carbon releases will reach a milestone. Soon we face a 2°C hotter future. # ⚓ An_Exhausted_Planet_Limps_Into_2021⠀⇛ The mission: “We scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat.” (Source.) Even though it is very difficult to accept a cartoonish statement that “We Are Destroying Earth,” get accustomed to it because it’s happening but not right before our eyes or under our collective noses. To better understand the carnage, study the science and discover collapsing ecosystems within a chaotically threatened climate system, especially where nobody lives. That’s where it starts and most prominently stands out in full living color for all to see in the Arctic, Antarctica, Greenland, Australia, Siberia, the world’s rainforests, and within the vast expanse of the oceans. Almost nobody lives in those ecosystems. What’s next? # ⚓ ‘About_Damn_Time’:_Cautious_Optimism_as_Imminent_Charges Reported_for_Michigan_Ex-Officials_Over_Flint_Water_Crisis⠀⇛ “Justice for Flint is long overdue,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman. “But we need… reparations and long- term support for the kids and families who were irreparably harmed by racism and greed.” # § Energy⠀➾ # ⚓ Washington_State_Considers_Climate_Impact_of_Major Petrochemical_Plant_With_‘Pattern_of_Influence Peddling’⠀⇛ The facility would process fracked natural gas into methanol, a liquid chemical that can be used as fuel or for manufacturing plastics, and ship the flammable product down the Columbia River for export to Asia. # ⚓ With_Deep_Fossil_Fuel_Ties,_Justice_Barrett_Called_to Recuse_Herself_From_Pending_Climate_Case⠀⇛ “Barrett posing as an impartial judge in this hearing for climate accountability is about as safe as the Big Bad Wolf giving Little Red Riding Hood directions to Grandma’s house.” # § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ ‘Nature_Is_Under_Siege’:_Scientists_Sound_Alarm_About Insect_Apocalypse⠀⇛ The lead author of the new research package notes that insects “are absolutely the fabric by which Mother Nature and the tree of life are built.” # ⚓ Popular_Seafood_Contaminated_with_Microplastics, Australian_Study_Finds_–_Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ The team found plastic from packaging, synthetic materials, or marine debris in all 45 of the seafood samples it studied. The study’s lead author, Francisca Ribeiro, said that, for an average serving, a seafood eater could be exposed to “approximately 0.7 milligrams (mg) of plastic” when ingesting oysters or squid, and “up to 30 mg of plastic” when eating sardines. For comparison, a grain of rice weighs approximately 30mg. # ⚓ Grave_Threats_to_Amazon_Rainforest_from_Domestic Industries_and_Global_Capital_–_Validated_Independent News⠀⇛ The extensively documented report provides case studies from each of the three industrial sectors. For instance, mining operations overseen by Vale—a Brazilian company which operates in thirty countries and is the world’s second-largest producer of iron ore and nickel—has created many conflicts with the local Indigenous people, and is accused of contaminating the Carere River, the main source of water on Xikrin Indigenous land. Vale’s principal investors include BlackRock, Capital Research Global Investors, and Vanguard, all US-based companies that together hold more than 11 billion dollars of shares in Vale. Vale is just one example of how exploitation of the Amazon impacts Brazil’s Indigenous people of Brazil. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ Silver_Lining⠀⇛ Though others have suffered, the Wall Street guys got The bull-market profits to which they aspire. Will even more sickness be grim news for all? No, not if it means that the market goes higher. # ⚓ Opinion_|_Capitol_Rioters_Can’t_Stop_the_Economic_Forces Undermining_Their_Tribe⠀⇛ If we fail to appreciate what’s going on in the world, we will all suffer from the curse of the entitled, who rail against change rather than embracing it. # ⚓ Charter_Schools_“Highjacked”_More_Than_$1_Billion_in_CARES Relief_Intended_for_Small_Businesses_–_Validated_Independent News⠀⇛ In North Carolina and South Carolina, for example, emergency aid for small businesses “bypassed” most Black-owned businesses. Of the 2,026 small businesses and nonprofits that received aid, only 64 identified as Black-owned. Other news outlets reported comparable figures in other communities, including San Diego, CA; and Kansas City, MO; and Milwaukee, WI. Nationally, a Color of Change survey found that just twelve percent of Back and Latinx business owners who applied for federal relief received their requested funding. # ⚓ What_Kind_of_Country_Prioritizes_Billionaires_During_a Pandemic?⠀⇛ Sometimes things make sense only when seen through a magnifying lens. As it happens, I’m thinking about reality, the very American and global reality clearly repeating itself as 2021 begins. # ⚓ Socialists_Denounced_as_Foes_and_Tools_of_Real_Estate Industry⠀⇛ City & State (10/10/19) describes DSA as “centered on the yuppies and hipsters who have typically grown up in the suburbs and more recently moved into these [urban] neighborhoods after college. “When Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri, candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, joined the congressional “Squad” (Independent, 11/4/20), it was more evidence that the small socialist voting bloc wasn’t simply left-wing, but racially diverse—with two new Black members joining two other African American representatives (one a Somali immigrant), a Puerto Rican and a Palestinian American. # ⚓ ‘If_Wall_Street_Really_Believed_in_Defending_Our Democracy,’_Says_Sanders,_It_Would_End_Political_Donations… Forever⠀⇛ “The banks and corporations that have annihilated our social fabric, toppled governments, polluted our environment, and exploited us are now trying to get some good PR by pausing their political donations… Don’t buy it.” # ⚓ The_Hidden_Workers⠀⇛ Last year, I went on tour for a live journalism stage show, which meant I got to visit a handful of cities—San Francisco, Nashville, Los Angeles—that I hadn’t been to in a while. As someone who rarely has an excuse to travel around the United States, I quickly discovered not just a love of touring but also a new scourge that had taken over the country right under my nose: electric scooters. # ⚓ Accountability_for_Trump’s_Corporate_Enablers⠀⇛ There is another group of enablers who should be called to account: Corporate America. Sure, big business is now frantically trying to distance itself from Trump, with the National Association of Manufacturers going so far as to urge that Vice President Pence and the Cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment. Amid the chaos on Wednesday, the Business Roundtable called on Trump to put an end to the violence. In late November, a group of more than 160 chief executives urged the Trump Administration to accept Biden’s victory and cooperate in the transition process. Yet, as with Congressional Republicans, these gestures came after four years of enabling Trump’s anti-democratic practices. While Trump moved steadily along the path to authoritarianism, large companies allowed themselves to be bought off with tax giveaways and regulatory rollbacks. There were occasional confrontations with corporations such as Carrier and General Motors over layoffs and offshoring, but these were bogus, reality-TV-type confrontations that amounted to nothing. # ⚓ Opinion_|_The_Martians_of_Wall_Street_Have_Invaded⠀⇛ As Covid-19 grew ever worse while 2020 ended, the stock market reached heights that hadn’t been seen before. Ever. # ⚓ Housing_Is_a_Right._During_a_Pandemic,_It’s_Also_a_Fight.⠀⇛ Poplar, Calif.—In the Covid era, poverty in California’s rural agricultural counties has become deadly. California now has over 2.7 million coronavirus cases. While Los Angeles, with its huge population, has the largest number of cases with over 920,000, the highest infection rates actually are to be found in less-populous counties with large farmworker populations. Imperial County, right across the border from Mexicali, Mexico, and Kings County, just south of Fresno, both have well over 10,000 cases per every 100,000 residents. California is the richest state in the United States, so it’s easy to forget that its rural poverty and substandard farmworker housing have contributed to the surge in Covid-19 cases here. Support for this reporting came from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ No,_Not_‘Totally_Appropriate’:_Poll_Shows_63%_in_US_Believe Trump_Incited_Deadly_Insurrection⠀⇛ “Trump’s speech last week openly incited insurrectionists to storm the Capitol. Today, he called those comments ‘totally appropriate.’ He is continuing to encourage insurrection and undermining the rule of law.” # ⚓ Opinion_|_Republicans_Want_Clemency,_and_With_It,_a_Return to_the_Status_Quo⠀⇛ The public deserves something better: a true champion of the poor and vulnerable. # ⚓ ‘What_the_Hell_Happened?’:_Bowman_Introduces_COUP_Act_to Investigate_Pro-Trump_Mob’s_Capitol_Attack⠀⇛ The bill seeks to “establish an investigation into any further ties between Capitol Police and white supremacy, insurrectionism, or fascism.” # ⚓ Democracy_Prevails_in_Bolivia_after_US-backed_Government Loses_Election_–_Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ From November 2019 to November 2020, news from Bolivia had been almost non-existent in major western news outlets. Just a year ago, establishment outlets including the New York Times and the BBC, were pushing speculation of vote fraud in the election that appeared to have secured a fourth term for then-president Evo Morales. # ⚓ Lawmakers_Warn_‘Totally_Appropriate’_Comment_Proves_Trump Willing_to_Foment_Violence_Again⠀⇛ “These remarks make it clear that he has no problem endangering others or inciting insurrection.” # ⚓ Looking_Behind_and_Beyond_the_Sacking_of_the_Capitol⠀⇛ That said, I do have some cautionary thoughts on the future that Max might endorse. They were kindled by the unprecedented display of civil disobedience this past January sixth that our fuhrer-in-waiting instigated, in which the mob he egged on took on the Capitol Police and won. Won some over, even. Part of it was cosplay spurred by indignation and bad information with a racist slant, but among them is a sizable contingent of theology- and ideology- driven folks bent on catalyzing their own special version of “end times,” an effervescent amalgam of fundamentalists, racialists, and individualists. Some of Trump’s more dedicated acolytes call themselves “accelerationalists.” That’s a deconstructionist term of art for fomenting dissatisfaction with the existing order to hasten its creative destruction by exacerbating social conflicts. It has, amazingly, been a banner for neoliberals, neoMarxists, and neoconservatives that the White Power movement also waves. Though each segment defines accelerationalism differently, what seems to bind them is a hatred for moderation, which they say only suppresses legitimate grievances to enforce the status quo. Its glorification of violence against the alleged depravity of the established order and fear of state suppression swell the ranks of private militias. # ⚓ Opinion_|_Will_a_More_Dangerous_Far_Right_Spring_From_the Corpse_of_Trumpism?⠀⇛ Deferring to the economic and political elites that have set the stage for this carnage will only the embolden the far right to continue to provide a kind of reactionary framing to the feelings of abandonment, isolation and betrayal. # ⚓ Restoring_the_Threat_of_Impeachment_for_Future_Office Holders⠀⇛ The first was lying under oath and obstructing a critically important investigation into consensual oral sex. The other was obstructing an out-of-control propaganda operation about Russia, and pressuring the government of Ukraine by withholding deadly weapons from its Nazi-aligned war-making government. # ⚓ Democrats_Are_Making_a_Mistake_By_Pursuing_Articles_of Impeachment_Republicans_Won’t_Join._Or_Not…⠀⇛ The goal, if Democrats sincerely believe Trump remains a clear and present danger to the country every moment he remains President, should be to leave only one switch left for the Senate to throw to kick him out in the event of a new emergency. (The 25th Amendment gambit seems doomed, and the process is actually more cumbersome and uncertain than impeachment in the current circumstances.) And some number of Senate Republicans have signaled that they might be willing to sustain “reasonable” articles of impeachment. On the other hand, if Democrats want to help Republicans drive a further political stake through their own party, presenting them with an impeachment opportunity they will decline might be a good way to do it. Only impeachment will bar Trump from re-seeking federal office (although flight and/or physical incarceration could prevent him from filling it). But he’s the Republicans’ own Frankenstein monster coming for revenge against them, his creators. Their battle with him, and their party fractures, benefit Democratic office seekers—provided the rest of us are spared his re- election to any high position. # ⚓ Will_a_Calamitous_Week_End_Trump’s_Grip_on_the_Republican Party?⠀⇛ # ⚓ Here’s_How_a_14th_Amendment_Strategy_Could_Bar_Trump_From Ever_Holding_Office_Again⠀⇛ Donald Trump hates democracy when it does not serve his purposes, as was confirmed by the president’s incitement last week of a deadly assault on the US Capitol by supporters of his failed attempt to overturn 2020 presidential results. But that does not mean Trump intends to give up on his dream of serving a second disastrous term as president of the United States. # ⚓ Capitol_Mob_Reveals_Ongoing_Refusal_to_Accept_Black_Votes as_Legitimate⠀⇛ # ⚓ GOP_Is_in_Turmoil_But_We_Shouldn’t_Underestimate_Ongoing Threat_of_the_Right⠀⇛ # ⚓ American_Exceptionalism_Won’t_Protect_Us_From_Far_Right Street_Warfare⠀⇛ # ⚓ We_Need_a_Reckoning_With_Trump’s_Enablers⠀⇛ # ⚓ Yakut_shaman_Alexander_Gabyshev_announces_new_cross-country campaign_on_horseback⠀⇛ Alexander Gabyshev — a self-described shaman from the Siberian city of Yakutsk best known for making several attempts to travel on foot to Moscow to “expel Putin” from the Kremlin — has announced plans to undertake another campaign. This time, however, he plans to cross the country on horseback.  # ⚓ Progressives_Know_How_to_Turn_the_Page_on_the_Trump_Years. Biden_Should_Listen.⠀⇛ Last week exposed both the poison and the promise of America. Not surprisingly, the poison—Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol by a mostly white mob that looked, as Mike Davis noted, much like a “big biker gang dressed as circus performers and war-surplus barbarians”—received global attention. Meanwhile, the promise—the stunning election of an African American and a Jew to represent Georgia in the Senate—was virtually lost in the universal condemnation of the mob and President Trump. Yet, while prosecution of the perpetrators and repudiation of Trump are imperative, the incoming Biden administration should focus on building on the success in Georgia. # ⚓ Impeachment_Part_2⠀⇛ # ⚓ The_judge_who_will_hear_Russia’s_next_case_against_Navalny reportedly_has_a_father-in-law_who_earns_money_from_contracts with_the_Federal_Penitentiary_Service⠀⇛ Investigative journalists say they’ve uncovered evidence of a conflict of interest involving Yulia Okuneva, the Moscow judge due to hear the Federal Penitentiary Service’s request to imprison opposition figure Alexey Navalny for violating the terms of his parole. According to The Insider, Okuneva’s father-in-law, Boris Okuneva, is the founder of two companies that earn tens of millions of rubles a year from state contracts, including deals with the Federal Penitentiary Service to supply information technologies.  # ⚓ Russian_prison_authorities_seek_to_revoke_Navalny’s probation_and_incarcerate_him⠀⇛ Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) has filed an appeal in court seeking to revoke opposition figure Alexey Navalny’s probation sentence in the so-called Yves Rocher case and incarcerate him. # ⚓ Unrepentant_Trump_Insists_His_Incendiary_Jan._6_Speech_Was “Totally_Appropriate”⠀⇛ # ⚓ America_Has_Entered_the_Weimar_Era:_Walden_Bello_on_How Neoliberalism_Fueled_Trump_&_Violent_Right⠀⇛ Democrats in Congress are pushing ahead with impeachment following the violent insurrection that killed five people at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The single article of impeachment against President Trump cites his incitement of insurrection and accuses him of subverting and obstructing the certification of the 2020 election. This comes as authorities are warning of more right-wing violence around Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, with possible armed far-right protests planned at all 50 state capitols as well as the U.S. Capitol. We speak with Walden Bello, an acclaimed sociologist, academic, environmentalist and activist, whose latest column argues the United States has entered a “Weimar Era,” in which democratic elections are increasingly delegitimized as street violence becomes the norm. “This is not something that’s unusual that has happened in the Capitol. Right-wing groups, when they begin to lose electorally, … they resort to the streets and to violence in order to stop that process,” says Bello. # ⚓ Warnings_From_Weimar⠀⇛ What occurred at the Capitol was not an insurrection. It wasn’t a coup either. But it was most certainly an attempt at both. Trump, himself, has already tried this several times. He only recently agreed to a peaceful transition of power; but has doubled down on the lie that the election was stolen, sans evidence. On the far right, however, Trump is only a symbol of their cause. With or without him, they have pledged to “retake” the republic. In some sense, this is all rather karmic. After all, how many democratically elected governments have been overthrown via coups orchestrated by American intelligence agencies in concert with corporations? How many mass graves, massacres and atrocities have been committed by rightwing militias and death squads armed and trained by the United States military and the CIA? # ⚓ The_World’s_Greatest_Democracy⠀⇛ # ⚓ ‘This_Cannot_Go_Unanswered’:_Govt_Watchdog_Group_Files Criminal_Sedition_Complaint_Against_Trump⠀⇛ The filing from CREW says “Trump’s supporters did exactly what he urged them to do.” # ⚓ These_63_Billionaires_Who_Bankrolled_Trump_All_the_Way_to Insurrection_Have_‘No_Right_to_Feel_Shocked’⠀⇛ “Will there be any accountability for these recent billionaire enablers of Donald Trump, who saw what damage he caused and still stood by him?” # ⚓ Opinion_|_Twitter’s_Ban_on_Trump_Will_Deepen_the_US_Tribal Divide⠀⇛ This is a perfect illustration of why curbs on political speech—even of the most irresponsible kind—invariably backfire. # ⚓ DC’s_security_theater_panned⠀⇛ Security theater is worse than nothing. Security theater gives people the false impression that their risks have been mitigated, when actually things are just as dangerous. After all, if you know that danger exists, you can take some steps to mitigate or avoid it. But if you have the false impression that you’ve been made safer, you might unwittingly engage in risky behavior. # ⚓ Rev._Raphael_Warnock’s_Bend-the-Arc_Faith_Is_Precisely_What the_Senate_Needs⠀⇛ The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached a gospel inspired by the teachings of the abolitionist pastor Theodore Parker, who observed in an 1853 sermon: “Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the right. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.” # ⚓ Reflection_on_the_Events_of_January_6th_2021⠀⇛ He didn’t have to go; with two small children he was exempted. But Dad went because he loved his country and thought it was his duty. Left at home with two small sons, his wife Kathryn also sacrificed in service to that sense of duty. My Dad was a Roosevelt Democrat. When Truman was elected against long odds, my Dad wept for joy. Later he would become a Reagan Democrat, in search of the patriotic unity he had experienced during the wars. # ⚓ In_the_End_He_Lost⠀⇛ It just made sense, right? Having exhausted other means, Trump moved on to armed insurrection. So classic; the French and Russian precedents. But then what? Was this supposed to be the coup that would force the Congress to grant Trump a second term? Was there a plan? # ⚓ Opinion_|_Denouncing_Republican_Evils_Can’t_Do_Much_for_the Biden_Presidency_Without_Demanding_Progressive_Policies⠀⇛ The Sanders prescriptions for antidotes to right- wing poisons are absolutely correct. # ⚓ Opinion_|_We_Have_a_Constitutional_Duty_To_Defend_Our Democracy_in_Making_Trump_the_First_President_in_History_To Be_Impeached_Twice⠀⇛ For justice and to heal our nation, we need to hold those involved in the insurrection accountable. That includes the president. # ⚓ Whither_American_Democracy?⠀⇛ It will take decades before American officials can talk to foreign countries about the importance of elections and peaceful transfer of power without the horror of Wednesday’s event being thrown back at their face. Without doubt, America has been fundamentally weakened on the international stage. It has become a hopeless task to try to restore US deterrence and prestige. Rival powers will see new vulnerability in the United States. Even the US’ firmest allies in Europe are wondering why they should place trust in the transatlantic alliance with NATO at its centre when American politics has become so febrile. # ⚓ You_Say_You_Want_A_Revolution⠀⇛ We said the news was fake. We said the Democrats were part of the problem. We said the police were the enforcers of the state, not of the law. We said we needed radical change. We said we were inspired by revolutions past, many of which were violent, many of which were counter- revolutions. We embraced revolutions present, in parts of the world we didn’t understand. We said the system needed to be torn down. We said the people have the power. # ⚓ ‘We_need_to_be_closer_to_Russia’_Lukashenko_on_his friendship_with_Putin,_Western_sanctions,_and_the_Belarusian opposition⠀⇛ Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (Alyaksandr Lukashenka) has but one friend in the world and, in his own words, that person is Vladimir Putin. Or so he told host Nailya Asker- Zade in a lengthy interview for her program on the state-owned Russian television channel Rossiya-1. Rather than your typical sit-down interview, Asker- Zade’s hour-long segment on Lukashenko included a ride in his Mercedes, a tour of his residence, a trip to a hockey rink, and dinner with the Belarusian president and his youngest son. Here’s what Lukashenko had to say. # ⚓ First_female_mayor_of_Yakutsk_resigns_due_to_health problems⠀⇛ Mayor Sardana Avksentieva from the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk has announced that she is stepping down ahead of schedule for health reasons.  # ⚓ Opinion_|_Yes_It_Was_Attempted_by_Wingnuts,_But_It_Was_a Coup_Attempt_Just_the_Same⠀⇛ Over 140 Republican congressmen and 8 senators joined the attempt to overturn the election even after the mob tried to kill or kidnap them. # ⚓ 7,000+_Lawyers,_Law_Students_Demand_Hawley_and_Cruz_Resign for_Inciting_‘Violence_and_Terror’⠀⇛ “Hawley and Cruz directly incited the January 6th insurrection, repeating dangerous and unsubstantiated statements regarding the election and abetting the lawless behavior of President Trump.” # ⚓ Ex-Friends⠀⇛ Anne Applebaum’s new book, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, opens two decades ago with a rollicking New Year’s Eve party that she and her husband threw at their renovated country estate in Poland to celebrate the triumphant end of the 20th century. Applebaum is a historian of Eastern Europe under communism, the author of Red Famine and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Gulag: A History; her husband, Radosław Sikorski, is a center-right politician who at various times has served as Poland’s foreign and defense ministers. Unsurprisingly, the guest list included many center-right intellectuals, journalists, and politicians from the three countries this power couple calls home—the United States, the United Kingdom, and Poland. But as we soon learn, in the 20 years since then, many of the guests have migrated from the center-right to the far right. “I would now cross the street to avoid some of the people who were at my New Year’s Eve party,” Applebaum writes. “They, in turn, would not only refuse to enter my house, they would be embarrassed to admit they had ever been there. In fact, about half the people who were at that party would no longer speak to the other half.” # ⚓ Why_Trump_Should_Be_Impeached_Second_Time⠀⇛ These heartless Republicans who ignored the needs of their most vulnerable constituents got their reward: a $1.5 trillion tax cut for the wealthy, widespread deregulation that overturned many environmental laws and more than 200 conservative judges who can have a dampening effect on progressive legislation. We the ordinary people got virtually nothing. And now the Republicans are in disarray, fighting over their disgraced spoiled brat of a president. The moderates among them should quit and start a new party; the rest should resign in shame. # ⚓ The_GOP’s_Moral_Gap⠀⇛ # ⚓ In_America,_Business_Profits_Come_First_Over_the_Pandemic⠀⇛ There is a possibility that the deadly surge in cases may be a result of a new, more transmissible strain of the virus circulating in the area. But more likely the spread is the result of the message that authorities are sending of a premature return to normalcy. As social media platforms are filled with angry Angelenos blaming and shaming one another for brazenly vacationing and flouting social distancing guidelines, in truth, the burst of infections is the price that officials are willing to pay for ensuring that corporate profits are protected. California’s latest shelter-in-place order is quite different from its first one. Whereas in March 2020 the state ordered all non-essential businesses to remain closed, in early December, at the peak of the holiday shopping season, all retail stores were allowed to remain open, even as outdoor parks were closed. So outraged were Californians by the obvious double standards that state officials caved and reopened parks—instead of shutting down retail stores. # ⚓ Opinion_|_The_Bipartisan_Neoliberal_Regime_Is_No Alternative_to_Trumpism_and_the_Far-Right⠀⇛ The first reason for this crisis is that the US political system is not a “democracy” at all, but rather an oligarchy run by the unchecked power of corporate bribery. # ⚓ Justice_Democrats_Endorses_Nina_Turner_for_Congress_Based on_Record_of_‘Fighting_to_Uplift’_Working_People⠀⇛ The Ohio Democrat and former Bernie Sanders campaign advisor “has stood with our progressive movement since day one,” said Alexandra Rojas. # ⚓ Opinion_|_Trump’s_Top_Ten_Billionaire_Enablers⠀⇛ Trump didn’t get here on his own. Many have enabled him, especially the billionaires who funneled money his way and then stood by as he damaged our democracy. # ⚓ In_the_Face_of_Far_Right_Violence,_We_Must_Organize_to Survive⠀⇛ # ⚓ White_Chickens,_Coming_Home_to_Roost⠀⇛ These trends have deep roots in the historical construction of white identity politics. As an outgrowth of the establishment of a regime of social control that attempted to incorporate all whites into a relatively privileged space vis-à-vis Native people and people of African descent, the politics of whiteness represent a long, albeit contested, institutional and ideological legacy. Whiteness, therefore, has a long history of being weaponized in order to terrorize and otherwise dominate racialized others in the United States and abroad. A review of some of those instances should underscore the point made by Kai Wright in his 2017 essay, “White Identity Politics and American Terrorism,” in The Nation: “There is no road forward for progressive politics without confronting white identity politics…(including) owning the legacy of white terrorism.” # ⚓ Can_Justice Finally_Overtake_Trump,_Its_Most Defiant Fugitive?⠀⇛ The current prosecutor is Acting United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Michael R. Sherwin. USA TODAY reported that Mr. Sherwin said: “‘We’re looking at all actors here and anyone that had a role and, if the evidence fits the elements of the crime, they’re going to be charged,’ Sherwin said these words after he was asked by a reporter if investigators are looking at the role the president played.” From Day One in 2017, several people foresaw the signs of an emerging sociopath, using violent rhetoric to encourage illegal behavior. It wasn’t only professional psychologists who declared Trump to be severely unstable. Each day he created and disseminated dangerous fantasies. This egomaniacal wannabee monarch could not stop lying in a dangerous manner, making false accusations or delusionally bragging. # ⚓ The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_‘Steele_Dossier’⠀⇛ Donald Trump’s journey into and out of the Oval Office was shaped by xenophobia, conspiracy theories—and xenophobic conspiracy theories. Trump launched his political career by spreading the “birther” lie about President Obama, and then became Obama’s improbable successor with an anti- immigrant, anti-Muslim presidential campaign. Upon losing the White House four years later, Trump, true to form, blamed his ouster on a vast election fraud conspiracy aided—according to flunkies Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell—by “communist money,” “Venezuelan” voting machines, as well as Chinese and Iranian hackers. The right-wing mob that attacked the Capitol to thwart the certification of Joe Biden’s victory last week was the apotheosis of Trump’s unhinged bigotry. # ⚓ Opinion_|_25th_Amendment_or_Impeachment?_The_Answer:_Both⠀⇛ The punishment would fit the crime, and he’d be stripped of unwarranted perks. # ⚓ With_Pence_Refusing_to_Act,_Progressives_Say_Impeachment Must_‘Not_Wait_One_More_Minute’_as_Dems_Eye_Wednesday_Vote⠀⇛ “Donald Trump incited a deadly insurrection and we know his supporters are already planning more attacks. Every moment he spends in office he puts our nation at greater danger.” # ⚓ Biden_Should_Do_What_Trump_Never_Could:_End_America’s Forever_Wars⠀⇛ “This is a different kind of war, which we will wage aggressively and methodically to disrupt and destroy terrorist activity,” President George W. Bush announced a little more than two weeks after the 9/11 attacks. “Some victories will be won outside of public view, in tragedies avoided and threats eliminated. Other victories will be clear to all.” o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ Irony:_German_Chancellor_Merkel_Upset_At_Twitter_For Banning_Trump;_Meanwhile_Germany_Demands_Social_Media_Blocks Dangerous_Content⠀⇛ Lots of folks are reporting on the news that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has now said that she finds Twitter’s decision to ban Donald Trump “problematic.” # ⚓ Some_Thoughts_On_Twitter_Pulling_The_Plug_On_Trump’s Account⠀⇛ # ⚓ Roskomnadzor_draws_up_eight_protocols_over_failure_to_label ‘foreign-agent_media’_content⠀⇛ Russia’s federal media watchdog and state censor, Roskomnadzor, has written up eight protocols for violations of the rules for labeling information disseminated by “foreign-agent media.” This was announced on the agency’s website on Tuesday, January 12. # ⚓ Terrorist_Regulation_:_LIBE_Committee_votes_for authoritarian_censorship⠀⇛ Most of all, in June 2020, the very same obligation to remove within one hour any “terrorist” content notified by the police has been deemed unconstitutional by the French Constitutional Council. It was decided that such an obligation was a disproportionate infringement to the freedom of expression. Members of the LIBE Committee voted the text nonetheless. As the decision of the French Constitutional Council was widely publicised, it means that MEPS and especially French MEPS who voted the text, did it knowing that it would be unconstitutionnal in France. They must take responsibility for it. # ⚓ As_tech_giants_recoil_from_Trump_and_Parler,_is_free_speech at_risk?⠀⇛ Not really. It is tempting to think of Twitter, and the [Internet] generally, as the modern version of the town square. Many have made that analogy. But social media companies are corporations. So rather than a public town square, Twitter is a privately owned stadium where the Twitter corporation has built the facilities, hired the security, and handed out megaphones to everyone walking in the doors. They don’t charge admission, but it’s their property, and so they can let in – and kick out – whomever they want. # ⚓ Section_230_reform_[sic]_could_have_unintended_consequences for_the_press⠀⇛ Twitter’s permanent suspension of President Donald Trump’s account is reinvigorating debate about the law that protects social media platforms – specifically, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The statute shields tech companies and news websites from liability for making decisions about what people can say on their platforms, whether they take it down, or leave it up. # ⚓ Everything_Pundits_Are_Getting_Wrong_About_This_Current Moment_In_Content_Moderation⠀⇛ Since Twitter and Facebook banned Donald Trump and began “purging” QAnon conspiracists, a segment of the chattering class has been making all sorts of wild proclamations about this “precedent-setting” event. As such, I thought I’d set the record straight. # ⚓ Non-MAGA_Activists_Caught_in_Social_Media_War_as_Twitter Begins_Purge⠀⇛ Few could have predicted the huge fallout from the Stop the Steal rally in Washington, D.C. that saw the president of the United States banned from virtually every social media platform, including his favorite, Twitter.  # ⚓ Dear_Section_230_Critics:_When_Senators_Hawley_And_Cruz_Are Your_Biggest_Allies,_It’s_Time_To_Rethink⠀⇛ Last week Senators Hawley and Cruz used their platform and power as United States Senators to deliberately spread disinformation they knew or should have known to be false in order to undermine public confidence in the 2020 Presidential Election results. Their actions gave oxygen to a lawless and violent insurrection that nearly overran—literally and physically—our democratic government. # ⚓ Beyond_Platforms:_Private_Censorship,_Parler,_and_the Stack⠀⇛ Whatever you think of Parler, these decisions should give you pause. Private companies have strong legal rights under U.S. law to refuse to host or support speech they don’t like. But that refusal carries different risks when a group of companies comes together to ensure that certain speech or speakers are effectively taken offline altogether. To see the implications of censorship choices by deeper stack companies, let’s back up for a minute. As researcher Joan Donovan puts it,“At every level of the tech stack, corporations are placed in positions to make value judgments regarding the legitimacy of content, including who should have access, and when and how.” And the decisions made by companies at varying layers of the stack are bound to have different impacts on free expression. At the top of the stack are services like Facebook, Reddit, or Twitter, platforms whose decisions about who to serve (or what to allow) are comparatively visible, though still far too opaque to most users.  Their responses can be comparatively targeted to specific users and content and, most importantly, do not cut off as many alternatives. For instance, a discussion forum lies close to the top of the stack: if you are booted from such a platform, there are other venues in which you can exercise your speech. These are the sites and services that all users (both content creators and content consumers) interact with most directly. They are also the places where people think of when they think of the content (i.e.“I saw it on Facebook”). Users are often required to have individual accounts or advantaged if they do. Users may also specifically seek out the sites for their content. The closer to the user end, the more likely it is that sites will have more developed and apparent curatorial and editorial policies and practices—their “signature styles.” And users typically have an avenue, flawed as it may be, to communicate directly with the service.  o § Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press⠀➾ # ⚓ Swedish_Court_Hands_Lengthy_Prison_Terms_To_Attackers_Of Chechen_Blogger⠀⇛ A court in Sweden has sentenced two Russian citizens from Chechnya to lengthy prison terms for their roles in last year’s attempted killing of Tumso Abdurakhmanov, an exiled Chechen blogger and outspoken critic of the North Caucasus region’s Moscow-backed leader. Swedish media reports said on January 11 that a court in the city of Gavle sentenced Ruslan Mamayev and Elmira Shapiayeva to 10 and eight years in prison, respectively. # ⚓ ‘Journalists’_Who_Smear_Assange_Are_Pure_Scum⠀⇛ I wouldn’t have thought that any mass media reporters would have the temerity to continue the public smear campaign against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after it became clear to everyone that he was the subject of a brutal Trump administration prosecution aimed at criminalizing inconvenient journalism. But if there was going to be anyone to take up that flag, it would be the odious James Ball. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ California_Overlooks_Formerly_Incarcerated_Firefighters_– Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ As Motherboard reported, inmate firefighters typically make up between fifty to eight percent of personnel on wildfires across the state. But once firefighters have served their sentences, they face “enormous” barriers to pursuing careers as firefighters. Parole restrictions prevent people from traveling to remote areas, EMT certification excludes people with felonies and some misdemeanors, and CAL Fire and municipal fire departments refuse to accept applicants with felony records. # ⚓ No_Qualified_Immunity_For_Cops_Who_Made_Stuff_Up_To_Justify Seizing_A_Man’s_Phone_For_Twelve_Days⠀⇛ Here’s an interesting decision [PDF] by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. On one hand, it says cops can possibly hassle people for filming them if they can find almost any reason at all to justify it. On the other hand, it says they definitely cannot take people’s property (cameras, phones) just because their nearly unjustified hassling gave them the opportunity to seize it. # ⚓ ‘He_Is_Not_Welcome’:_Trump_Border_Visit_Denounced_as_PR Stunt_of_‘Blood-Soaked’_President⠀⇛ “Trump has blood on his hands, and he is not welcome at the border,” one migrant rights activist bluntly declared.  # ⚓ Moscow_court_eases_sentences_for_defendants_in controversial_extremism_case⠀⇛ On Tuesday, January 12, the Moscow City Court reduced the sentences of some of the defendants in the controversial “Novoe Velichie” (New Greatness) extremism case, RIA Novosti reported. # ⚓ Loophole_in_New_Jersey_Law_Protects_Police_Officers_from Misconduct_Charges_–_Validated_Independent_News⠀⇛ Between 2013 through 2017, New Jersey prosecutors charged law enforcement officers with official misconduct at least 118 times. As Ford wrote, these charges “were not based on minor complaints of tardiness or failing to maintain one’s uniform.” Instead officers were accused of serious acts of violence, including attempted murder, sexual misconduct, pistol-whipping, drug smuggling, intimidation and alleged bribery. Less than one- third of the charged officers received jail time. # ⚓ Kevin_Gosztola_and_Michael_D._Knox_–_The_Project_Censored Show⠀⇛ Notes: Kevin Gosztola is the managing editor of the news web site. He has covered the Julian Assange legal proceedings in the UK from the beginning, as well as other press-freedom and whistleblower cases. Michael D. Knox is a retired psychologist, and the founder and chair of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation # ⚓ Ohio_Prisoners_Argue_State_Uses_Solitary_Confinement_To Retaliate_Against_Political_Advocacy⠀⇛ In September, Mark Hinkston spent five days in the dark at the Toledo Correctional Institution in Toledo, Ohio.  Hinkston, who goes by the name Mustafa, was locked in a dimly lit cell, which he compared to a bathroom, for five consecutive days without respite. He had no books or anything with which to stimulate his mind. # ⚓ EFF_Welcomes_Fourth_Amendment_Defender_Jumana_Musa_to Advisory_Board⠀⇛ # ⚓ The_FCC_and_States_Must_Ban_Digital_Redlining⠀⇛ It doesn’t have to be this way. Federal, state, and local governments have a clear role in promoting anti-discrimination deployment and historically have enforced rules to prevent unjust discrimination. States and local governments have power through franchise authority to prohibit unjust discrimination through build-out requirements. In fact, it is already illegal in California to discriminate based on income status, as EFF noted in its comments to the state’s regulator. And cities that hold direct authority over ISPs can require non-discrimination like New York City just did when it required Verizon to deploy 500,000 more fiber connections last year to low-income users. That’s why dozens of organizations have asked the incoming Biden FCC to directly confront digital redlining after the FCC reverses the Trump era deregulation of broadband providers and restore their common carriage obligations. For the last three years, the FCC had abandoned its authority to address these systemic inequalities causing it to sit out the pandemic at a time when dependence on broadband is sky-high. It is time to treat broadband as important as water and electricity and ensure that as a matter of law everyone gets the access they deserve. A great number of people in cities that can be served fiber in a commercially feasible manner (that is, you can build it and make a profit without government subsidies) are still on copper DSL networks. Studies of major metropolitan areas such as Oakland and Los Angeles County are showing systemic discrimination against low-income users in fiber deployment despite high population density, and because income can often serve as a proxy for race, this falls particularly hard on neighborhoods of color. # ⚓ Opinion_|_Biden_Must_Follow_Through_With_Promise_to_Restore US_Asylum⠀⇛ A reversal of Trump’s asylum system is simply not enough—we must build our asylum system back better. Katrina Eiland is Managing Attorney, California Office, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project # ⚓ Egypt_court_overturns_TikTok_stars’_jail_sentences⠀⇛ The women were charged with inciting “debauchery” and “immorality” with the content they posted on the video-sharing platform, although it was not always clear which videos and photos were of concern to the authorities, correspondents say. # ⚓ It_is_time_to_ignore_Chinese_statements_on_Tibet⠀⇛ The more its spokesperson seeks to counter Indian media and thought process, the greater alienation it faces. Trust in China is at an all-time low. Rebuilding it is in Chinese hands. These are not being helped by the current Chinese approach and attitude of its embassy. Comments by Chinese spokespersons should be ignored, and China treated with disdain. # ⚓ Pakistani_Christian_Charged_with_Blasphemy_Over_Social Media_Post⠀⇛ On December 26, hundreds of Muslims gathered in the Charar neighborhood of Lahore, where Pastor Warris resides, and threatened to behead the pastor and set fire to Christian homes unless police took action. Hundreds of Christian families fled their homes, fearing an outbreak of violence in Charar. “The situation turned dangerous when someone found out the Muslims were planning to set fire to the houses of Christians,” Khokhar told ICC. “This forced the Christians to flee the neighborhood.” # ⚓ Anti-Armenian_Hate_Crimes_Rise_in_California⠀⇛ An estimated 2,500 Armenian-Americans live in the San Francisco Bay Area as a result of the spread of the Armenian diaspora following the Armenian genocide in the early 20th century. Turkey, the perpetrator of the genocide and supporter of Azerbaijan in the recent conflict, has been perpetuating a propaganda campaign to deny the existence of this genocide. California was also home to pro-Armenian protests around the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles last year in response to its aggressions against Armenia. # ⚓ Matt_Stoller_calls_Parler_restrictions_‘really_dangerous’⠀⇛ The companies said they cut ties with Parler because of the platform’s lack of content moderation, noting the restrictions could be dropped if Parler ramps up its screening of content. # ⚓ Behind_These_Prison_Walls⠀⇛ # ⚓ The_Beijing_Arrests_In_Hong_Kong_Expand_As_America_Loses Its_Ability_To_Credibly_Respond⠀⇛ While we’ve been discussing the troubling actions the Chinese government has undertaken against Hong Kong for some time now, the movements are starting to reach a rapid pace. It was only in July that Beijing unveiled a sparkling new and impossibly vague “national security” law that was perfectly tuned to make any pro-democracy talk or demonstrations in Hong Kong offenses that would result in lengthy prison time. This was the result of months of protests that served to embarrass a Communist government that prides itself on full control. Again, that was only June. In August, the arrests of media members who were pro-democracy began, followed by the ouster and then arrest of pro-democracy lawmakers in November. # ⚓ EXCLUSIVE:_GitHub_is_facing_employee_backlash_after_the firing_of_a_Jewish_employee_who_suggested_‘Nazis_are_about’ on_the_day_of_the_US_Capitol_siege⠀⇛ # ⚓ The_New_Humanitarian_|_Humanitarian_impacts_of_the_war_in Tigray⠀⇛ Food shortages, widespread looting, and sexual violence were among the findings in the first on- the-ground look at the situation in Tigray by UN and Ethiopian officials. A report released last week by the UN’s emergency aid department, OCHA, outlines an emerging humanitarian situation, with more than two million people in need of assistance due to recent fighting between federal government forces and troops loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Overall access to the region and communications have been constrained by the central government, making first-hand assessments difficult. Speaking in Geneva on 6 January, at an online briefing hosted by the Geneva Press Club, Ethiopia’s human rights commissioner, Daniel Bekele, said greater access to media, human rights groups, and international organisations should be allowed. He said civilian-military coordination is needed to smooth out hurdles in humanitarian access. The report also noted the difficulty of access for humanitarian agencies, as areas of armed conflict still persist and official responses to requests to visit or deliver supplies are often delayed or denied. o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ 3_email_rules_to_live_by_in_2021_|_Opensource.com⠀⇛ In prior years, this annual series covered individual apps. This year, we are looking at all- in-one solutions in addition to strategies to help in 2021. Welcome to day 2 of 21 Days of Productivity in 2021. Like many of us, I have a love/hate relationship with email. Email was one of the earliest means of communication on the proto-internet, corporate LANs, and the dial-up BBS ecosystem. Email was, and still is, one of the primary means of electronic correspondence. It is used for business communications, commerce, notifications, collaboration, and a pile of useful things. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ Trump_Was_Dangerous_But_the_Solution_is_Not_to_Give_More Political_Power_to_Unrivalled_TechGiants⠀⇛ While attention invariably turned in the immediate aftermath to the reckless words of the soon to be departed President, there was another momentous development taking place, which was effectively cheered on by nearly everyone who stood against Trumpism and his band of cos-play followers. Deciding to act in unison to save democracy and perhaps the world from itself, so all the major technological giants decided to act together and banish the President of the “free world” from their platforms. Let us be under no illusions this act represents a deeply symbolic moment in the history of global political affairs. Political power is after-all ultimately the ability to regulate and control the circulation of freedoms experienced. This especially includes the free circulation of language, ideas and the communication of thoughts. # ⚓ Social_Media_Put_Us_All_in_Our_Own_Truman_Shows, Threatening_Our_Democracy_(Guest_Column)⠀⇛ For the past four years, in the making of our documentary The Social Dilemma, my team and I have been studying how social media and search companies are impacting society. The tech insiders we interviewed revealed that social media has been distorting reality for more than a decade. Their business is keeping people hooked on their platforms, and their algorithms have learned that the best way to do that is by feeding us content that provokes fear and outrage. This doesn’t just change what we see and buy; it changes what we think, who we are and how we act. In the 1998 movie The Truman Show, Jim Carrey plays the unwitting star of his own reality TV show. He lives in ignorance of the artificial universe – from the fake morning paper to the actress he “marries” – that has been fed to him in a literal bubble since he was born. He sees himself as a free agent but, in reality, his whole world is counterfeit and controlled. The 3.6 billion of us on social media today are all Trumans. While we think these platforms are connecting us to the world, they’re actually separating us from reality. Each of us lives and learns inside a personalized filter bubble that changes – and radicalizes – how we function in society. # ⚓ Tuesday_Thingies⠀⇛ On January 14, the British Literary and Artistic Copyright Association (BLACA) is organizing a webinar on “Case C-265/19 – victory or blow for performers’ rights?”, to discuss the recent decision of the CJEU in C-265/19, concerning the performers’ rights to single equitable remuneration. Linda Scales and Paul Torremans will be the panelists at the event, while Sir Richard Arnold will act as the moderator. Participation at the event is free of charge, following this link. # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ Separate_Interferences_Declared_between_Toolgen_and Broad_and_CVC_over_CRISPR_Priority_Question [Ed: The sheer insanity of patents on life and on nature in CRISPR cases]⠀⇛ One of the most notable movie taglines, “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water,” was used to market the sequel to the original summer blockbuster movie, Jaws. It is perhaps impossible to not think of that message upon learning that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on December 20, 2020 declared two interferences: the first, Interference No. 106,126 involving the Broad Institute, Inc., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the President and Fellows of Harvard College, and the second, Interference No. 106,127, involving the Regents of the University of California, the University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier (each designated as the Junior Party) and each Interference naming Toolgen Inc. as Senior Party. # ⚓ AT&T_chief_launches_US_IP_Alliance;_wants_‘every citizen_to_join’ [Ed: David_Kappos_still_working_as lobbyist_after_his_USPTO_career]⠀⇛ IP CEO Scott Frank, former USPTO head David Kappos, and former Federal Circuit judge Paul Michel say the USIPA meets a dire need for public education on IP # ⚓ She_arrives_fresh_from_her_stint_as_President_of_the Court_of_Appeal_of_Milan. [Ed: Person who “has served on the expert panel for the drafting of the rules of procedure for the Unitary [sic] (Unified) Patent Court.” Which was drafted by patent litigation moles and is now dead.]⠀⇛ As well as her background in commercial, competition and industrial affairs, Tavassi also has experience in arbitration, IP and community law. She is president of the European Association of Competition Judges; a vice-president of the Intellectual Property Judges Association; and, since 2014, has served on the expert panel for the drafting of the rules of procedure for the Unitary Patent Court. In addition, she is professor of Industrial Law at the University of Pavia. # § Trademarks⠀➾ # ⚓ Louisville_Courier-Journal_Wins_‘Derby_Pie’_Trademark Dispute⠀⇛ Last month, we discussed a crazy lawsuit brought by Alan Rupp, owner of Kern’s Kitchen and the trademark for the fairly famous “Derby Pie.” Rupp has a reputation for policing his trademark aggressively, having gone after a myriad of online publications and blogs for publishing their own recipes, leading to the EFF at one point posting its own recipe for a “censorship pie.” # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Anti-Piracy_Coalition_Continues_to_Unmask_.To_Pirate Sites,_But_is_it_Effective?⠀⇛ Anti-piracy coalition ACE is continuing its crackdown on pirate sites. Represented by the MPA, the group obtained a DMCA subpoena that requires the .to domain registry to hand over personal details relating to the operators of Cinecalidad, Myflixer, Streamplay, and several others. The question remains, how effective is this strategy? # ⚓ Valorant_&_Destiny_2_Cheat_Maker_Sued_For_Copyright Violations⠀⇛ A pair of companies behind two of the most popular online multiplayer games have sued a cheat maker in the United States for copyright infringement offenses. Riot Games and Bungie claim that through the provision of its tools designed for Valorant and Destiny 2, GatorCheats trafficked in malicious software contrary to the anti- circumvention provisions of the DMCA. # ⚓ Twitter_Bans_Sci-Hub’s_Account_Because_Of ‘Counterfeit_Goods’_Policy,_As_Indian_Copyright_Case Heats_Up⠀⇛ A couple of weeks ago, Techdirt wrote about an important copyright case in India, where a group of academic publishers is seeking a dynamic injunction to block access to the “shadow libraries” Sci-Hub and Libgen. The person behind Sci-Hub, Alexandra Elbakyan, has written to Techdirt with an update on the situation: ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ¶ Lines in total: 6783 ➮ Generation completed at 02:42, i.e. 17 seconds to (re)generate ⟲