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Links 23/11/2021: Libreboot 20211122, Deepin Linux 20.3, Amazon Linux 2022, and Mabox Linux 21.11 Released



  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Applications

      • Manage Flatpak Permissions Graphically With Flatseal

        The newer versions of Android give you a more granular control over the access and permission an individual app can have. This is vital because many applications were (are) abusing the system permissions. Download a weather app and it will ask to access your call logs as if that has anything to do with the weather.

        Why am I talking about Android app permissions? Because that is something you could relate with this application’s functioning.

        You probably already know what Flatpak is. These are sandboxed applications with selected access to system resources like file storage, network interface etc.

      • Top 5 Video Players for Ubuntu

        With advancements in GUI OS design, most operating systems now have a default multimedia player. These multimedia players can provide good quality audio and video playback and offer support for a wide variety of video file formats. Despite their reliability, you may want to switch to a third-party media player because of the wide variety of features they have to offer. These multimedia players are designed to provide the most control to their users.

        If you’re someone looking for a different multimedia player for Ubuntu, then you’ve come to the right place! We’ve compiled a list of the best video players that provide extensive support for different file types and a plethora of features that will make the default video player seem lackluster.

        Without further ado, here’s the list of the top 5 video players for Ubuntu...

      • Top Tools for Taking and Editing Screenshots on Linux

        In the modern era of Digital communication, we have access to modern devices that simplify our lives through their ease of use. These devices include our handheld units, digital wristbands, modern computing systems, and many more. However, several other tools and utilities can make our daily tasks comparatively easier and less daunting should we have the right ones on our systems. A screenshot application can be a nifty tool for our operating systems to save time and provide additional features that enable us to cut corners and be more productive.

        While we can take screenshots with the stroke of a few keys or through buttons on our handhelds, the ones discussed here have fortes that make them outshine others in various areas. So without further ado, let us delve into the top tools for snapping and editing screenshots on Linux and analyze their strong points...

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • How to Install Animated Plymouth During Boot Process in Arch Linux

        A tutorial on how you can install animated Plymouth during boot process in Arch Linux.

      • Tips and tricks of using wget Linux command | FOSS Linux

        Wget is a command-line, open-source utility to download files and web pages from the internet. It gets data from the internet and displays it in your terminal or saves it to a file. The wget utility is non-interactive. You can get the most out of it through scripts or even schedule file downloads.

        Typically, web browsers such as Firefox or Chromium also download files except, by default, they render the information in a graphical window and require a user to interact with them. Alternatively, other Linux system users use the curl command to transfer data from a network server.

        The article illustrates how to use the wget command to download web pages and files from the internet.

      • How to install Pycharm with Python 3.9.2 on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install Pycharm with Python 3.9.2 on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

      • How To Install OpenVPN Server on AlmaLinux 8 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install the OpenVPN server on AlmaLinux 8. For those of you who didn’t know, OpenVPN is a robust and highly flexible open-source VPN software that uses all of the encryption, authentication, and certification features of the OpenSSL library to securely tunnel IP networks over a single UDP or TCP port. A VPN enables us to connect securely to an insecure public network such as a wifi network at the airport or hotel. Typically business and enterprise users need some sort of VPN before they can access services hosted at your office.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of the OpenVPN on an AlmaLinux 8. You can follow the same instructions for CentOS and Rocky Linux.

      • How to use Search Monkey to find files and folders on Linux fast

        Need to find files and folders on your Linux PC fast? Check out Search Monkey! It’s an excellent application that can find files and folders with lightning speed. This guide will show you how you can use Search Monkey to find files on your Linux system.

      • Upgrading Homelab Kubernetes Cluster from 1.21 to 1.22 | Lisenet.com :: Linux | Security | Networking

        Calico 3.21 has been released with support for Kubernetes 1.22.

        Kubernetes 1.22 release brings alpha support for swap: we can now run nodes with swap memory.

      • How to Install Dota 2 on Ubuntu

        Dota 2 is one of the most popular free-to-play games that are available on Steam. The wide selection of characters referred to as “Heroes” combined with various spells and abilities ensures that every game in this MOBA is different from the rest.

        The beta version of Dota 2 was released on the 9th of July, 2013. Since then, its player base has only seen an increase every year. This is because Dota 2 offers a competitive esports environment like no other game.

        Dota 2 was the first game to have a tournament where the prize pool was more than 1 million USD. This was an astronomical amount for the players at that time. The tournaments only got bigger and more luxurious every year, with the prize pools reaching as high as 25 million USD.

        Despite having existed for more than eight years, Dota 2 continues to thrive and refuses to show signs of slowing down anytime soon.

      • VRChat Starter Guide for Linux

        VRChat is a virtual reality MMO platform that was released in 2017 by VRChat Inc. The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows and was accessible by Windows Mixed Reality headsets, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, etc. It was later launched for Oculus Quest platforms in May of 2019.

        VRChat can also be played without a virtual reality headset on a PC. However, we recommend using a VR headset to get the finest VRChat experience.

      • How To Save Output Of A Linux/Unix Command To A File - nixCraft

        I am new Linux and Unix-like system user who recently switched from MS-Windows XP. How do I save the output of a Linux / Unix ls command to a file named “lists.txt” using command prompt or POSIX shell such as SH/KSH/BASH?

      • nixCraft - Linux / Unix tutorials for new and seasoned sysadmin || developers

        We all know we can use the xclip Linux command-line interface to X selections, aka clipboard. The xclip command to copy any Linux command output to the Linux clipboard directly.

    • Distributions

      • Top 8 Reasons to Use Garuda Linux

        Have you been going back and forth between multiple Linux flavors in search of an exciting experience? Or perhaps you are coming from a Windows or MAC environment and want to try out a Linux distribution that offers a superb user experience with a colorful and zestful UI? If you are any of those, then Garuda Linux is one of the popular Linux distros to check out.

        Garuda Linux is a relatively new Arch-based Linux distribution that offers an unparalleled user experience. It comes in a stunning array of colorful and vibrant desktop environments including KDE, Xfce, Wayfire, GNOME, Qtile, Sway, i3wm, and LXQt-win. Since its release, Garuda Linux has won accolades for being one of the most user-friendly and exciting Linux flavors to use given its otherworldly appeal. Garuda Linux is a rolling release distribution. It comes with a huge collection of software and uses Pacman as its package manager.

      • New Releases

      • BSD

        • [Old] BSD, Linux, and Snarfs

          Why isn't snarf going into M$ corporations, Windows user groups, Windows mailing lists, or even general computer groups talking about BSD's superiority to Windows? Because he lacks the necessary guts and social skills. Snarf is too wimpy to endure the taunts and rejections of the Windows crowd. So he comes as a friend and fellow Unix guy to the Linux group, then slowly starts his put-downs and recruiting.

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

        • AWS commits to update its own Linux every other year ● The Register

          Amazon Web Services has announced that it will release an updated version of its own Linux every two years, starting with Amazon Linux 2022, which it is previewing now.

          The cloud colossus launched its first Linux distro in 2010, and seven … years … later … delivered a successor.

          In the name of speeding things up a bit, Jeff Bezos's computer rental service has promised a new release every other year, each of which will be supported for five years and receive quarterly tweaks.

          AL2022 uses the Fedora project as its upstream, but AWS may add or replace specific packages from other non-Fedora upstreams. The preview of AL2022 is based on Fedora34, while the full release will move up to Fedora 35 (which was released on 2 November).

          The SELinux security module is enabled and enforced by default in AL2022, but EC2 instances running the OS won't automatically implement patches or security updates. Users can instead choose to automate installation of packages, or patches, or both.

        • Announcing preview of Amazon Linux 2022

          Today, we are announcing the public preview of Amazon Linux 2022 (AL2022), Amazon's new general purpose Linux for AWS that is designed to provide a secure, stable, and high-performance execution environment to develop and run your cloud applications. Starting with AL2022, a new Amazon Linux major version will be available every two years and each version will be supported for five years. Customers will also be able to take advantage of quarterly updates via minor releases and use the latest software for their applications. Finally, AL2022 provides the ability to lock to a specific version of the Amazon Linux package repository giving customers control over how and when they absorb updates.

          Customers use a variety of Linux based distributions on AWS, including Amazon Linux 1 (AL1) and Amazon Linux 2 (AL2). These have become the preferred Linux choice for AWS customers because of no license costs, tight integration with AWS-specific tools and capabilities, immediate access to new AWS innovations, and a single-vendor support experience. AL2022 combines the benefits of our current Amazon Linux products with a predictable, two year release cycle, so customers can plan for operating system upgrades as part of their product lifecycles. The two year major release cycle provides customers the opportunity to keep their software current while the five year support commitment for each major release gives customers the stability they need to manage long project lifecycles.

        • Amazon Linux 2022 Released - Based On Fedora With Changes - Phoronix

          Amazon Web Services has made Amazon Linux 2022 now publicly available in preview form as the newest version of their Linux distribution.

          Amazon Linux / Amazon Linux 2 had been based on a combination of RHEL and Fedora packages while in today's Amazon Linux 2022 release they note it's explicitly based on Fedora. Besides apparently being more Fedora oriented now than RHEL, with Amazon Linux 2022 they are transitioning to a formal two year release cadence between their releases while having quarterly point releases.

          AWS intends to provide major Amazon Linux updates every two years while each major release will see five years of support and quarterly minor release updates.

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • FSF

        • GNU Projects

          • Libreboot 20211122 released!

            The last Libreboot release, version 20210522, was released on May 22nd in 2021. This new release, Libreboot 20211122, is released today on November 22nd, 2021. This is yet another testing release, so expect there to be some bugs. Every effort has been made to ensure reliability on all boards, however.

            You can find this release in the testing directory on Libreboot release mirrors. If you check in the stable directory, you’ll still only find the 20160907 release in there, so please ensure that you check the testing directory!

            This is a bug fix release, relative to 20210522. No new boards or major features have been added, but several problems that existed in the previous release have now been fixed.

          • Libreboot 20211122 Rebases Against Newer Coreboot, Drops "Very Bloated" TianoCore - Phoronix

            Libreboot 20211122 has been released as the downstream fork of Coreboot on providing fully free software boot firmware support.

            Libreboot continues taking the more fully free software approach to system firmware than upstream Coreboot that will accept ports requiring binary blobs and other non-free software components. Libreboot also aims to be easier to setup/deploy than Coreboot.

      • Public Services/Government

        • Munich mk2? Germany's Schleswig-Holstein plans to switch 25,000 PCs to LibreOffice

          From the department of If At First You Don't Succeed Try Try Again comes news that a German state is to have a crack at shifting thousands of PCs from proprietary software to an open-source alternative.

          In this instance, it is the north-German state of Schleswig-Holstein that is aiming to ditch proprietary code, including Microsoft Office, in favour of open-source software. According to open-source productivity platform LibreOffice, 25,000 PCs will be running its wares by the end of 2026.

          In an interview, digital minister for the region, Jan Philipp Albrecht, explained while LibreOffice would be the locally installed option, in the longer term the expectation was that most work would be done within the browser.

      • Programming/Development

  • Leftovers

    • On the Overnight from Agadir
    • Life in West Virginia’s “Quiet Zone”

      I was on my way to a scheduled tour of the Green Bank Observatory when I noticed an artifact: a rural payphone, still standing in 2021. I was on a reporting trip, but it was purely for novelty that I pulled a U-turn to snap a photo with my disposable camera—which I had packed because cell phones and digital cameras are banned on observatory grounds. As lights flashed in my rearview mirror, it occurred to me that the U-turn probably wasn’t legal.

    • Science

      • Retrotechtacular: Junior Missile Men Of The 1960s | Hackaday

        Just like the imaginative kids depicted in “Junior Missile Men in Action,” you’ll have to employ a fair bit of your own imagination to figure out what was going on in the original film, which seems to have suffered a bit — OK, a lot — from multiple rounds of digitization and format conversion. [GarageManCave] tells us he found the film on a newsgroup back in the 1990s, but only recently uploaded it to YouTube. It’s hard to watch, but worth it for anyone who spent hours building an Estes model rocket and had that gut-check moment when sliding it onto the guide rail and getting it ready for launch. Would it go? Would it survive the trip? Or would it end up hanging from a tree branch, or lost in the high grass that always seemed to be ready to eat model rockets, planes, Frisbees, or pretty much anything that was fun?

      • Six ways shoebox-sized satellites are trying to change the world

        The CubeSat is a small but mighty bit of tech. About the size of a shoebox, the tiny satellites were invented by Professor Bob Twiggs in 1999 as an educational tool for students.

    • Hardware

      • Simple But Stylish Numitron Clock Can Display Time, Date And Temperature | Hackaday

        While it seems like Nixie tubes get all the attention when it comes to making retro-style displays, there are plenty of other display technologies that can make a good-looking retro design. Take the Numitron tube: introduced by RCA in the early 1970s, these display tubes might look superficially similar to Nixies but work in a completely different way. The Numitron uses incandescent elements that make up seven-segment displays.

        The main advantage Numitrons have over Nixes is that they don’t require a high-voltage supply, which makes them much easier to hook up to modern low-voltage electronics. [mircemk] used this to his advantage when he built a simple clock using four numitrons that can display the time, the date, and the ambient temperature.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • Google Play Store starts rolling out 'Offers' tab for few users

          Google Play Store recently received the Material You redesign and now the company is reportedly adding a new “Offers” tab on the app. Although the company has not revealed anything about the new tab, it has been spotted by several users.

        • Security

          • Arrest in ‘Ransom Your Employer’ Email Scheme

            In August, KrebsOnSecurity warned that scammers were contacting people and asking them to unleash ransomware inside their employer’s network, in exchange for a percentage of any ransom amount paid by the victim company. This week, authorities in Nigeria arrested a suspect in connection with the scheme — a young man who said he was trying to save up money to help fund a new social network.

          • Code execution bug patched in Imunify360 Linux server security suite

            A severe PHP deserialization vulnerability leading to code execution has been patched in Imunify360.

          • New Windows zero-day with public exploit lets you become an admin [Ed: Microsoft booster Lawrence Abrams knows that Windows is not secure]

            A security researcher has publicly disclosed an exploit for a new Windows zero-day local privilege elevation vulnerability that gives admin privileges in Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server.

          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • 'Anonymized Data' Is A Gibberish Term, And Rampant Location Data Sales Is Still A Problem

              As companies and governments increasingly hoover up our personal data, a common refrain is that nothing can go wrong because the data itself is "anonymized" -- or stripped of personal identifiers like social security numbers. But time and time again, studies have shown how this really is cold comfort, given it takes only a little effort to pretty quickly identify a person based on access to other data sets. Yet most companies, many privacy policy folk, and even government officials still like to act as if "anonymizing" your data actually something.

            • Hikvision's Director Of Cybersecurity And Privacy Says IoT Devices With Backdoors 'Can't Be Used To Spy On Companies, Individuals Or Nations'

              Hikvision describes itself as "an IoT solution provider with video as its core competency". It hasn't cropped up much here on Techdirt: it was mentioned earlier this year as one of two surveillance camera manufacturers that had been blacklisted by the US government because they were accused of being "implicated in human rights violations and abuses" in Xinjiang. Although little-known in the West, Hikvision is big: it has "more than 42,000 employees, over 20,000 of which are R&D engineers." Given the many engineers Hikvision employs, the following comment by Fred Streefland, Director of Cybersecurity and Privacy at Hikvision EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), reported by IPVM, is rather remarkable:

            • NSO Pegasus Malware Deployed To Spy On Palestinian Human Rights Activists

              Another day, another revelation about the abuse of NSO malware by its customers. The latest report shows NSO Group's powerful Pegasus malware was used to target Palestinian human rights activists. Citizen Lab is again on the case, providing the forensic examination of the detected malware and coming to this conclusion:

            • Amazon's Dark Secret: It Has Failed to Protect Your Data

              ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2018, a row of tech executives filed into a marble- and wood-paneled hearing room and sat down behind a row of tabletop microphones and tiny water bottles. They had all been called to testify before the US Senate Commerce Committee on a dry subject—the safekeeping and privacy of customer data—that had recently been making large numbers of people mad as hell.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Opinion | The Costs of War to the American Taxpayer

        As a Navy spouse of 10 years and counting, my life offers an up-close view of our country's priorities when it comes to infrastructure and government spending.

      • National Defense and Dead Children

        How fascinating — and how irrelevant — that the vote is scheduled just a few days after the€ New York Times€ published its investigation of a U.S. airstrike in Baghuz, Syria two and a half years ago, which the Defense Department had been desperately trying to cover up.

        America, America . . . shall we celebrate our country, boys and girls? Here’s a passage from the story: “Civilian observers who came to the area of the strike the next day found piles of dead women and children.”

      • Opinion | The High Stakes of the U.S.-Russia Confrontation Over Ukraine

        A report in Covert Action Magazine from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic in Eastern Ukraine describes grave fears of a new offensive by Ukrainian government forces, after increased shelling, a drone strike by a Turkish-built drone and an attack on Staromaryevka, a village inside the buffer zone established by the 2014-15 Minsk Accords.

      • Opinion | Raids, Arrests, and Death Threats: Israel's Strategy of Silencing Human Rights Defenders

        On October 21, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced the issuance of a military order designating six prominent Palestinian human rights groups as 'terrorist organizations'. Gantz claimed that they are secretly linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a socialist political group that Israel considers, along with most Palestinian political parties, 'a terrorist organization.'

      • Francia Márquez Mina Confronts Colombia’s “Politics of Death”

        Francia Márquez Mina, 39, has defended Black and Indigenous land rights in Colombia since she was a teenager. She’s taken on multinational corporations, the government, and paramilitary groups. It’s a hazardous calling. A recent Global Witness report found that in 2020, for the second year in a row, Colombia had the highest number of deaths of environmental activists: 65.

      • America’s Decline Started at Home

        When the leaders of more than 100 nations gathered in Glasgow for the UN climate conference last week, there was much discussion about the disastrous effect of climate change on the global environment. There was, however, little awareness of its likely political impact on the current world order that made such an international gathering possible.

      • On the Hook: War, Factory Farming, & the Lies We Tell to Make Them Possible

        On December 15th many Americans (and many more Iraqis) will celebrate the anniversary of the end of the Iraq war.€  Because of the courage and dedication of war photographers and journalists, and their commitment to the truth, we have thousands of images to remind us of the terrible violence, brutality, and costs of war.€  And yet when I recall that conflict, only (and perhaps thankfully) a few images come to mind, including the charred bodies of four American security contractors hanging from a bridge above the Euphrates; an Iraqi child wailing and squatting at the feet of soldiers, covered in her slain parents’ blood; and the rows of coffins containing American troops, dozens of them, war’s dark cargo tightly wrapped in American flags.

        By now far too many Americans—beset by a continuous stream of content from every corner of the world, and still somehow largely ignorant of recent wars and the toll of waging them—have likely become inured to images such as these.€  But this steady stream of information, particularly information that might actually be useful when deciding the best course of action, has not always flowed so freely into the minds and hearts of the American populace.€  Take, for instance, the images of the flagged-draped coffins of American troops killed in the Iraq war.

      • Who Can Purchase a Gun?
      • January 6 Organizers Were “Following POTUS’ Lead,” According to Leaked Texts
      • Potential Legislation on China Amounts to a New Cold War

        Congress is itching to pass a sweeping bipartisan package that threatens to enshrine a new Cold War, this time against China, and they’re counting on the American public’s inattention to get it through by the end of the year. After months of stalling in the House, and a failed attempt to attach the legislation to the annual defense bill, majority leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi struck a deal this week for a bicameral conference on the anti-China legislation.

      • Nearly 3/4 of the World’s Dictators Receive US Weapons and Military Assistance

        Comparing Freedom House’s list of€ Not Free€ nations* to FY 2020 US overseas weapons sales, military training and financial assistance**, we find that of the 57 nations considered undemocratic, 42 receive weapons, training and/or money for their military and security services. This means 74% of the non-democratic nations of the world are supported militarily by the US. Interestingly, the remaining 15 nations are nearly all sanctioned. The world’s countries can be divided into two parts: those who buy/receive weapons from the US and those sanctioned. It seems like it’s a pretty simple arrangement.

        74% is a slight increase from four years ago when€ Rich Whitney€ at€ Truthout€ utilized the Freedom House list and compared it to FY 2015 military assistance data. It is likely no surprise to anyone that US support for non-democratic governments increased under President Trump, but, to be fair, it was a minor increase. The hypocrisy and dissonance between stated US support for democracy, liberty and freedom, and how the US government conducts itself exists whether a Democrat or Republican is in the White House.

      • Former US Ambassador to Viet Nam Chooses Expediency Over Integrity Time and Again

        Madison Avenue Ted

        Shortly before President Donald Trump’s visit to Vietnam in November 2017, the White House requested that Osius leave his post and the country within six days. This was likely the result of his opposition to the Trump Administration’s cruel and vindictive policy of deporting Vietnamese American permanent residents who arrived in the US before the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1995 and had been convicted of a crime – in violation of a 2008 bilateral agreement. It was also a sure sign that the ambassador was on Trump’s hateful, revenge-seeking radar for that and perhaps other dubious reasons.

      • At Least 5 Dead, 40 Injured After SUV Slams Through 'Comfort and Joy' Christmas Parade in Wisconsin

        A Christmas holiday parade themed 'comfort and joy' in the town of Waukesha, Wisconsin turned deadly Sunday evening after a driver plowed into participants and observers, killing at least five people and injuring more than 40.

        According to the Greater Milwaukee Today, a local paper...

      • Trapped Between Taliban And US Empire: Afghan Women Keep Hope Alive After Occupation

        This is Part 2 of a two-part feature on women in Afghanistan and the diaspora after the withdrawal of U.S. military forces in August. Part 1 can be read here.In Albany, New York, three young Afghan women organized a protest at the state capitol that brought out over 100 people. One of the organizers, Audrea Din, said that the “protest had a very general message, which was about addressing the humanitarian crisis and having resources to help out refugees in the area.”€ 

        She added that the organizers demanded a ceasefire, the end of proxy wars, and for the United States to accept more Afghan refugees. “We also want all actors engaged in the war of Afghanistan to be held accountable and pressure them to comply with international law,” said Din.€ € 

      • Corrupting Science: in Syria probe, OPCW erased experts’ inconvenient findings
      • EU and NATO: Military, police, secret services against migration as „hybrid threat“

        Since the Lisbon Treaty, the EU Commission and the Council intertwined internal and external security and thus closer cooperate with NATO. In 2015, a fighting word was created for this, which is being positioned against disinformation, cyber attacks and migration.

      • No Surprise With the Rittenhouse Acquittal

        Rittenhouse shot two people to death and wounded a third person on August 23, 2020, who were protesting the August 20, 2020 shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer. Video of the police officer shooting Blake in the back seven times – as Blake’s small children were present – sparked public demonstrations in Kenosha and elsewhere. Rittenhouse, who was seventeen years old at the time, drove from his hometown in Antioch, Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin, claiming that he did so to help protect property from looting and destruction. According to his trial testimony, Rittenhouse shot the three people in self-defense. A jury found Rittenhouse not guilty of all charges.

        Why are you surprised that a jury acquitted a white man who killed two people and wounded a third person when the victims of his conduct were protesting the police shooting of a Black man seven times in the back?

      • Rittenhouse Reflections: Eight “Upsides” and Eleven Forgotten Martyrs

        But terrible and ominous as the Rittenhouse trial is, I find it useful and even to some degree welcome in nine ways:

        +1. It is yet another nail in the coffin of the frankly ridiculous and often cowardly fascism-denialism that has crippled so many left and liberal hearts and minds in the USA. The Rittenhouse murders were classic fascism: a wicked white Trumpist teen came to Kenosha, Wisconsin to wield a fully loaded military-grade rifle as part of a neo-Nazi paramilitary presence meant to terrorize civil rights and social justice protesters under the cover of protecting small business private property. The fascist thugs operated in coordination and cooperation with the local racist police state. As one of the paramilitaries’ and police state’s pawns, baby-faced Killer Kyle epitomized a classic fascist calling card: violent lawlessness in the name of law and order. A clownish old white male Republikaner judge helped rig the trial for the cop-worshipping Hitler Youth and the Amerikaner jury complied. People on “the left” who can’t see the fascism in this (and in so much more that has taken place in Amerika in recent years and months) are outing themselves as morons and bootlickers.

      • A Land Where Justice is a Game

        Nothing could be more typically American than Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder spree and its aftermath. From the shooting itself to his courtroom defense that he “was only defending himself,” the entire scenario reeks of arrogance and sociopathy. Indeed, it’s a perfect metaphor for the US empire and its “foreign policy,” where the concept of self-defense often involves traveling away from one’s home with a loaded weapon, walking down unfamiliar streets away from home, and then murdering people who tell you to go away? This series of events is the template for what US politicians (and many citizens) call US foreign policy. The mindset it inculcates is one that creates the Kyle Rittenhouses among its residents.

        Make no mistake, the Rittenhouse trial was a political trial. The far-right knew it could manipulate the evidence in its favor, especially given the nature of stand your ground laws. The jury selection was also manipulated and the judge was not sympathetic to the murdered men. As for the prosecution, I was reminded of those grand juries that fail to indict murderous police officers because the state presents its case in such a way that makes indictment unlikely if not impossible. The assumptions of a jury’s members are played upon with the intention of bringing forth their fears and prejudices. A sophisticated legal team can convince a jury that what they see is not fact and that the legal team’s fiction is. Often, this manipulation involves removing the context of the acts being considered, shortening the timeline, and ultimately transferring the blame to the victims. This is a standard approach for the defense when police officers are charged with murder. It was used quite deftly by the Rittenhouse defense team.

      • Rittenhouse Verdict Flies in the Face of Legal Standards for Self-Defense

        The Wisconsin jury believed Rittenhouse’s claims that he feared for his life and acted in self-defense after he drove about 20 miles from his home in Antioch, Illinois – picking up an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in Kenosha – in what he claimed was an effort to protect property during violent protests. The lakeside city of 100,000 was the scene of chaotic demonstrations after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, an unarmed, 29-year-old black man, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

        In delivering its verdict, a Wisconsin jury decided that Rittenhouse’s conduct was justified, even though the prosecution argued that he provoked the violent encounter and, therefore, should not be able to find refuge in the self-defense doctrine.

      • Anthony Huber Was a Hero: Victim of Kyle Rittenhouse Remembered for Trying to Save Lives At Protest

        The parents of Anthony Huber, one of two men killed by Kyle Rittenhouse, say they are heartbroken and angry over the jury’s Friday verdict, and argue it failed to deliver justice for any of Rittenhouse’s victims. In a statement Friday, they said: “Make no mistake: our fight to hold those responsible for Anthony’s death accountable continues in full force.” Rittenhouse shot and killed 26-year-old Huber within seconds after Huber attempted to disarm the gunman by hitting him with a skateboard. “Huber stepped in to try to stop this person. And in almost any scenario we call that person a hero,” says Anand Swaminathan, the attorney representing Huber’s parents, who have filed a federal lawsuit against the Kenosha Police Department, the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department as well as the sheriff and police chief.

      • “In Our DNA”: Jacob Blake’s Father & Uncle on the Family’s Long History of Racial Justice Activism

        Jacob Blake Sr., whose son was shot by Kenosha police in 2020 and left partially paralyzed, says the family is part of a larger movement fighting for victims of police violence and racial injustice. “We were always pro-Black activists and then after this happened to my son, we’ve become activists for everyone who’s been affected,” he says. The Blake family has a long history of activism going back to the civil rights movement and beyond. Justin Blake, Jacob Blake’s uncle, says it’s in the family’s DNA. “We cannot sit down, we must make change.”

      • NYPD Continues To Screw Over Its Oversight By Denying Access To Bodycam Footage

        The NYPD's war on its oversight continues. The secretive law enforcement agency has spent years fighting accountability and transparency, making up its own rules and engaging in openly hostile actions against public records requesters, city officials, internal oversight, and the somewhat-independent CCRB (Civilian Complaint Review Board). Journalists say the NYPD is worse than the CIA and FBI when it comes to records requests. The FBI and CIA say it's worse than a rogue state when it comes to respecting rights.

      • Jacob Blake’s Family Hails Rare Conviction of KC Police Officer Who Shot Dead Cameron Lamb in 2019

        In Missouri, white Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere was found guilty Friday of fatally shooting Cameron Lamb, a Black man, who was backing his truck into his garage in December of 2019. DeValkenaere, who had no arrest warrant nor evidence of a crime at the time of shooting, was convicted of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action. The jury decision was unexpected and may set a precedent for future cases in Missouri. The jury system “worked in Kansas City for the first time in 147 years,” says Jacob Blake Sr., who has been supporting Lamb’s family. “We should have that national coverage because that’s a victory.”

      • The System is Broken: Jacob Blake’s Dad & Uncle on Kyle Rittenhouse Acquittal for Vigilante Killings

        Protests erupted nationwide after a jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin, acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on all five counts for fatally shooting two people and wounding a third last year during protests sparked by the police shooting that left Jacob Blake paralyzed. Kyle Rittenhouse claimed he acted in self-defense when he killed Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum with an AR-15-style rifle. The jury’s decision was announced Friday afternoon after about 26 hours of deliberations. To discuss the significance of their verdict, we speak with Jacob Blake Sr. and Justin Blake, the father and uncle of Jacob Blake, who protested outside the trial of Rittenhouse everyday. “This is a tragedy and a slap in the face to all the families that are involved. It made a mockery of the judicial system,” says Justin Blake. “The system of justice works if I look like Kyle Rittenhouse. It does not work if I look like Jacob Blake,” says Jacob Blake Sr. The Blakes say their family had predicted a not guilty outcome. Jacob Blake Sr. also responds to the Biden’s administration’s decision to not seek federal charges against the police officer who shot his son.

      • Opinion | Five Reasons the Left Won in Venezuela

        For the first time in four years, every major opposition party in Venezuela participated in elections. For the fifth time in four years, the left won in a landslide. Voters elected 23 governors, 335 mayors, 253 state legislators and 2,471 municipal councilors. The governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won at least 19 of 23 governorships (one race remains too close to call) and the Caracas mayoralty in the November 21 "mega-elections." Of the 335 mayoral races, the vote count has been completed in 322 of them, with PSUV and its coalition taking 205, opposition coalitions 96 and other parties 21. Over 70,000 candidates ran for these 3,082 offices, and 90% of the vote was counted and verified within hours of polls closing. Turnout was 42.2%, eleven points higher than last year's parliamentary elections.

      • “No Mas!” Nicaragua Quits OAS as EU Tries to Undermine Venezuela Elections

        “We do not recognize ourselves as a colony of any power and we claim national dignity and decorum, in legitimate defense of our independence, sovereignty, and self-determination.”€  With these words, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada announced that Nicaragua would be joining Venezuela in quitting the Organization of American States (OAS).

      • Ethiopia's Tigray conflict: What are Facebook and Twitter doing about hate speech?

        Only about 10% of the population in Ethiopia uses Facebook, according to the company. There are relatively low rates of internet adoption in the country and a lack of broadband infrastructure in some areas.

        However, social media is widely used by Ethiopians abroad, and Facebook posts by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed regularly receive tens of thousands of likes and thousands of shares.

        The Ethiopian government - and those who oppose it - track what appears on social media closely.

      • [Old] Wilson the Warrior

        But in its time there was little dispute that the covert war was one of the most successful C.I.A. operations ever undertaken, a deadly confrontation conducted through a surrogate with the Soviet empire in its death throes. Only a handful of people in the government knew that behind the Afghan resistance was a pirate's crew of misfits, most notably Charlie Wilson himself, whom Crile affectionately profiles as the lawmaker who widened the war through a series of backroom deals on Capitol Hill that were never publicly disclosed or debated.

      • The Whiniest Nazis Could Still Destroy Our Country

        The plaintiffs still don’t know what to expect, since we never know what juries will do—well, that’s not true; we knew Rittenhouse’s jury would acquit him, but that was largely because of awful judge Bruce Shroeder—but this jury has been given clear directions on how to find these whiny Nazis culpable. Their defense has mainly consisted of insisting that they are all too incompetent to commit conspiracy, but Moon has defined conspiracy clearly. “You don’t have to do very much,” he told the defendants. “You just get in there, be there, go along with it, support it: You’re part of the conspiracy.” He also made clear that in a civil trial, the burden is not “beyond a reasonable doubt” but a “preponderance of evidence”—and he defined that as “50.1 percent.”

        Again, we never know what juries will do, but this jury has a path to justice.

      • Youths filmed brutal attack against senior for social media post

        A group of youths assaulted a senior in Guadalajara for no apparent reason last Thursday and shared a video of the attack on social media.

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

      • Local Journalism Matters: Democracy Needs 'More Muckrakers and Fewer Buckrakers’ (as Project Censored founder Carl Jensen used to say) - The Project Censored Show

        Today’s guests are longtime independent, investigative reporters Will Carruthers and Peter Byrne. They return to the program to discuss their recent reporting which further examines some of Anderson’s ethically-questionable activities, and why the people of the area are likely to be kept uninformed about them. Then Peter Byrne stays for the second half of the program, and explains the now-widespread and dubious practice of “native advertising:” advertisements in the format of news stories, sometimes written by the newspaper’s own reporters, thereby pulling down the traditional ‘firewall’ between the editorial and business sides of journalism.

    • Environment

      • [Old] From Buy Nothing to Freecycle, gifting groups help bolster budgets and build community

        During the pandemic, "communities came to realize that one of the biggest ingredients of resiliency is sharing, is relying on your neighbor," said Rockefeller, adding that during lockdowns, many people comfortable or able to go to stores but felt safe doing a contactless pick-up of a sanitized item from a neighbor's porch.

        Freecycle experienced an uptick in activity during the pandemic, something Beal also noticed during the Great Recession more than a decade ago. The organization now has about 9 million members and is in more than 5,000 local communities across the globe.

      • Opinion | Can a Doughnut Heal Our World?

        The human community faces two momentous challenges today that will loom ever larger in the years ahead. One is to establish the social and economic conditions necessary for everyone on this planet to flourish: to live with dignity and purpose and fulfill their life’s potentials. The other is to safeguard the natural environment on which we depend from the callous harm caused by an economy dependent on unrestrained extraction and consumption. These challenges to our collective well-being are bound to grow in severity and urgency over the coming decades. To meet them successfully calls for a transformation in the vectors that drive the economy both nationally and globally. Our current dominant economic system is pushing us toward a precipice, and we’re careening forward with hardly a thought for the plunge that lies ahead. It’s as if we’re in a car drawing ever closer to the edge of a cliff, and we continue to press down on the gas pedal while we argue over which station to listen to on the radio.€ 

      • Chomsky and Pollin: Protests Outside of COP26 Offered More Hope Than the Summit
      • Ruralist Lament: COP Out 26

        “Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that€  colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

      • Energy

        • To Keep Fossil Carbon Out of the Air, Just Stop Pulling It Out of the Earth

          Nakate chided her audience for sleepwalking toward catastrophe: “We see business leaders and investors flying into COP on private jets. We see them making fancy speeches. We hear about new pledges and promises. … I have come here to tell you that we don’t believe you.” She added, “I am here to say, prove us wrong.”

          Throughout the summit, people of all ages and backgrounds had rallied in the streets outside to demand effective climate action, climate justice, an end to exploitation, and other policies through which the world’s governments might prove Nakate wrong.

        • 'Momentous Day': Portugal Becomes Europe's 4th Country to Quit Coal

          Environmentalists on Monday hailed the shutdown of Portugal's last coal-fired power plant—a move that came nearly nine years ahead of the government's 2030 target—while warning against converting the facility to run on unsustainable biofuel.

          "Ditching coal only to switch to the next worst fuel is clearly not an answer."

        • Canadian Police Arrest Indigenous Opponents of Gas Pipeline and 2 Journalists Covering It

          Starting on November 18, Canada’s RCMP violently cracked down on a group of Indigenous land defenders who had sought to block the construction of a major natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia, arresting roughly 15 people over a two-day period. The RCMP also detained two journalists covering the events.

          The Coastal GasLink pipeline, under construction by TC Energy, will bring fracked natural gas from British Columbia to the Pacific Coast for export at a facility partly owned by oil giant Shell. The pipeline crosses unceded territory of the Wet’suwet’en, whose hereditary leaders never consented to the project.

        • Opinion | Shareholder Engagement With Fossil Fuel Companies Is a Failure for Climate Change

          What should pension funds, university endowments and other institutional investors do to help address climate change? The fossil fuel divestment movement calls on funds to divest from fossil fuel companies. Fund owners and managers often oppose divestment, preferring "shareholder engagement"—that is, owning fossil fuel company stocks and voting at shareholder meeting and urging companies to change. While shareholder engagement with fossil fuel corporations on climate change is well intentioned, I will argue that it harms rather than helps efforts to address climate change.

      • Wildlife/Nature

        • The Win-Wins of Climate and Biodiversity Solutions
        • Audubon Society Promotes Livestock Industry Propaganda

          The video is a slick production of happy talk featuring some urban cowboys. And it plays on the old, tired Condos vs. Cows argument. The idea being if you don’t want to see land subdivided, you must support cattle ranchers.

          The numerous ways that livestock production negatively impacts the environment, from water pollution to Greenhouse Gas Emissions to soil erosion and displacement of wildlife, are never mentioned in the video. Promoting ranching as a way to protect birds is like encouraging alcoholism as a solution for heroin addiction.

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Opinion | Americans Now Have an Opportunity to Determine Their Response to Rising Fascism

        Every week we witness a new, sometimes hidden or subtle, sometimes very blatant step toward normalizing violence as the solution to political problems. The Republican party is taking the late 1920's-1930's strategy of the Nazi party in Germany and using this model of bringing fascism to our door and manipulating voting so it will appear to be an elected choice.

      • Rights Defenders Decry 'Unlawful and Cruel' Texas Anti-Migrant Effort as Abbott Surges Troops

        As Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced the mobilization of 10,000 troops and police officers to the Mexican border as part of Operation Lone Star, human rights defenders condemned the effort as illegal, inhumane, and xenophobic and called on the Biden administration to stop the campaign.

        "The Justice Department should urgently investigate and take all available measures to stop these abuses and ensure accountability for violations of migrants' rights."

      • 'Total Asymmetric Warfare': Georgia GOP Redraws Political Map as US Senate Dems Do Nothing

        Voting rights advocates within and beyond Georgia ramped up calls for congressional action after the Peach State's Republican lawmakers became the latest to approve a gerrymandered political map intended to give the GOP a political advantage for the next decade.

        "Congress must pass federal voting rights legislation. We can't wait any longer."

      • GOP May Be Feeling Smug About 2022, But Trump Remains an Unpredictable Wild Card
      • AOC Warns of Political Disaster for Democrats If They Under-Deliver on Promises
      • Donald Duck Quacks Again as Chile Elects a New President

        It is hard to believe that half a century has passed since Para Leer al Pato Donald (How to Read Donald Duck), a book I wrote with the Belgian sociologist, Armand Mattelart, was published in Chile in November 1971.

      • Far-Right Candidate Surges to Win Runoff Spot in Chilean Presidential Election

        Far-right presidential candidate José Antonio Kast€ surged to victory in the first round of Chile's election on Sunday, securing 28% of the vote and setting up a December runoff versus leftist runner-up Gabriel Boric, who garnered 26% of the ballots cast.

        The two candidates could hardly be more different. Kast, a 55-year-old former congressman and supporter of deceased military dictator Augusto Pinochet—who forcibly imposed neoliberal reforms€ after deposing democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende in a bloody U.S.-backed€ coup on September 11, 1973—has drawn€ comparisons to other right-wing authoritarians, including Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former U.S. President Donald Trump.

      • Britain’s Two Job Politicians

        This condition has become rather acute in the British political scene.€  While a backbencher earns €£81,932 annually plus expenses, they may pursue consultancies in the private sector as long as they do not engage in lobbying – a ridiculous fine line.€  Astonishingly, there is no limit on the number of hours they may spend on these additional jobs.€  Accordingly, members of parliament have shown marked confusion on how to separate their various jobs.€  Every so often, business has tended to find its way into the member’s office.

        A stunning feature of the British system is that there is no revolving door to speak of.€  Politicians can seamlessly undertake contracts and perform services, irrespective of their parliamentary position.€  The conditions and rules have a Gilbert and Sullivan absurdity to them.

      • Bernie Sanders Endorses Peter Welch of Vermont for US Senate
      • Bernie Sanders Endorses Fellow Vermonter Peter Welch for US Senate

        Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday endorsed Rep. Peter Welch for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, calling the Democratic congressman a progressive champion of working people.

        "Peter Welch understands that if we are going to combat the existential threat of climate change, establish universal healthcare, lower the cost of prescription drugs, create good paying jobs in Vermont, and protect American democracy, now is the time to think big, not small," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement.

      • Researchers have found a simple way to reduce online hate speech

        Yet a new study by New York University researchers found that a relatively simple move on behalf of social media site could have a huge impact on the effect and spread of hate speech. Their study involved sending alert messages online to Twitter users who had been posting tweets that constituted hate speech.

        Published in the scholarly journal Perspectives on Politics, the study explored if alerting users that they were at risk of being held accountable could reduce the spread of hate speech. Researchers based their definition of "hateful language" on a dictionary of racial and sexual slurs. Then, after identifying 4,300 Twitter users who followed accounts that had been suspended for posting language defined as hateful, the researchers sent warning tweets from their own accounts which (though phrased in slightly varying ways) let them know that "the user [@account] you follow was suspended, and I suspect that this was because of hateful language." A separate control group received no messages at all.

      • In First, US Labeled 'Backsliding' Democracy as Global Authoritarianism Grows

        For the first time in its four years of compiling annual data on the state of democracy around the world, an international think tank added the United States to its list of "backsliding" democracies in the report it released Monday, pointing to factors including politicians' continued false claims that the 2020 presidential election results were illegitimate as one of the key elements weakening the country's democratic system.

        The Global State of Democracy report, released by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), called former President Donald Trump's public questioning of the election results in November 2020 "a historic turning point" both for U.S. democracy and the world, pointing to a knock-on effect in several countries.

      • European thinktank adds U.S. to list of "backsliding" democracies for 1st time

        The United States has joined an annual list of "backsliding" democracies for the first time, the International IDEA think-tank said on Monday, pointing to a "visible deterioration" that it said began in 2019. Globally, more than one in four people live in a backsliding democracy, a proportion that rises to more than two in three with the addition of authoritarian or "hybrid" regimes, according to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

    • Misinformation/Disinformation

      • The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 109: Striking the Balance on Misinformation and Freedom of Expression – My Examination of Canadian Policy Solutions

        CityNews Edmonton, Nearly All Canadians Saw COVID-19 Misinformation Online, Study Says

      • Paxlovid is NOT “#Pfizermectin”

        Recently, there were announcements of drugs that, unlike the “miracle cures” (primarily€ hydroxychloroquine in 2020€ and€ ivermectin this year) that have been promoted so heavily on social media, actually have evidence for their efficacy against COVID-19. One announcement was about Pfizer’s new drug Paxlovid, which in its clinical trials was€ 89% effective€ in preventing hospitalization due to COVID-19 if taken soon after symptoms develop. The other drug announced was Merck’s molnupiravir (trade name to be Lagevrio), which is now€ available through a clinical trial in the UK. Both drugs are very promising, and the Pfizer drug (a combination of PF-07321332 and ritonavir—more on why it’s a combination later—before it received a trade name), for example, decreased the hospitalization rate from 7% to 0.8% over 28 days in a Phase 2/3 study, a good absolute and relative risk reduction, with no deaths in the drug treatment arm. (It was so good that Pfizer stopped the study, because it would be unethical to continue with such a result in an interim analysis.) As a result, Pfizer has applied for an emergency use authorization for its drug. In an interim analysis of a phase 3 study, the Merck drug demonstrated a 50% reduction in hospitalization, again with no deaths in the treatment arm.

      • Hoax report that US Navy 'raided cargo ship full of smuggled children' passed off as real news

        Multiple Facebook posts have shared a purported news report claiming the US Navy "raided a cargo ship off the coast of California and rescued 200 foreign children". Social media users thought the incident was genuine. But the claim originated on a satirical website. "There is no truth to these claims", a Navy spokesperson told AFP.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • CNN airs live footage of its reporting on tennis star being censored in China

        "I've lost count the number of times over the last eight years in Asia covering China, of how many times CNN's coverage of controversial issues has been censored," Ripley responded. "It used to go to straight black, now they've upgraded and went to color bars, but nonetheless it is a live real-time example of of the censorship that's happening in the mainland."

        Peng apparently went missing earlier this month after accusing a high-ranking Chinese official of sexual assault. Conversations about her allegations were reportedly blocked from China's [Internet] and much of her online presence appeared to have been scrubbed.

    • Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press

      • Donald Trump Says He's Going To Sue The Pulitzer Committee If They Don't Take Away The NY Times And WaPo Pulitzers

        Former President Donald Trump really has perfected every little thing he doesn't like being a grievance that he thinks he can sue over. It's funny because the Republican Party used to insist that "the left" was the party of victimhood, and yet in Trumpist world, they're always victims all the time, and always have to whine about how victimized they are. The latest is that Trump is literally threatening to sue the Pulitzer Prize Committee if they refuse to retract the 2018 prize that was given to the NY Times and the Washington Post for reporting on Russia's attempted interference with the 2016 Presidential campaign.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • 'We Must Get This Done': House Dems Urge Restoration of Citizenship Pathway in Reconciliation Bill

        Following a series of immigrant rights protests in cities across the U.S. in recent weeks over the exclusion of a pathway to citizenship in the Build Back Better Act, a group of 90 Democratic U.S. House lawmakers on Monday sent a letter to leading Senate Democrats urging them to restore the key provision in their version of the flagship budget reconciliation bill.

        "We cannot forget our ongoing fight for the millions of immigrants who are waiting for a pathway to citizenship."

      • Purge at DSA: Why Are Activists Trying to Expel Representative Bowman?

        The rise of the Squad in Congress has mirrored the explosive growth of Democratic Socialists of America. The leftist lawmakers, all of them national celebrities, have promoted DSA and partnered with the organization on crucial legislation. In turn, young socialists have flocked to the insurgent representatives, lending necessary volunteers for contentious campaigns.

      • Petitioners Seek to End Nebraska Education Board Over LGBTQ-Inclusive Curricula
      • The Corporate Demolition of Our Pillars of Freedom

        Federal District Court Judge in Chicago, Jorge L. Alonso, couldn’t even wait for the scheduled hearing by Boeing’s law firms and the cooperating plaintiffs’ lawyers. He approved the stipulation a day earlier, without comment, that, among other surrenders, took away the right to argue punitive damages for Boeing’s admitted criminal conduct, stopped the discovery and depositions of the most culpable top executives, and set the stage for mediation to reduce the number of trials for compensatory damage to a very few of the 156 wronged families. These mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers lost their loved ones when a stealth software, unknown to the pilots, seized control of the 737 MAX planes and drove them down at 550 mph into smithereens.

        “Consolidated cases” like those of the 737 MAX disasters are not class actions. They are individual lawsuits from around the country brought together in one court for convenience and alleged efficiencies. Before plaintiffs are informed fully, they find themselves swept into one global deal after closed-door negotiations that unite both the corporate defendants and lawyers for the plaintiffs into one settlement framework.

      • Protest in Cuba: Why it Failed

        On November 15, the US media primed us for a repeat of the events of July 11 in Cuba — only more massive and more dramatic.

        In July, tens of thousands of Cubans took to the streets to express their frustrations with their government and, more generally, the state of their country and its economy.

      • “Freedom to Travel Act of 2021” introduced in Congress

        On the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Transportation Security Administration, the Freedom to Travel Act of 2021 (H.R. 6030, “To protect the right to travel by common carrier”), has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Homeland Security.

        If enacted into law, the Freedom to Travel Act would be the most significant step toward bringing the TSA within the rule of law since the creation of the TSA 20 years ago with the enactment of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) in 2001. It would rein in the TSA’s ability to substitute secret, extrajudicial edicts for court orders restricting American’s rights, and would remove key barriers that have stood in the way of judicial review of TSA actions and legal redress for those whose rights have been violated.

        The 20th anniversary of the creation of the TSA is an apt moment for Congress to step back from the post-9/11 panic that drove the enactment of the ATSA, take a deep breath, consider what it has actually wrought, and begin to restore the historic right to travel that the TSA has been steadily chipping away at for the entire 20 years of its existence.

      • “If Everybody’s White, There Can’t Be Any Racial Bias”: The Disappearance of Hispanic Drivers From Traffic Records

        When sheriff’s deputies in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, pulled over Octavio Lopez for an expired inspection tag in 2018, they wrote on his traffic ticket that he is white. Lopez, who is from Nicaragua, is Hispanic and speaks only Spanish, said his wife.

        In fact, of the 167 tickets issued by deputies to drivers with the last name Lopez over a nearly six-year span, not one of the motorists was labeled as Hispanic, according to records provided by the Jefferson Parish clerk of court. The same was true of the 252 tickets issued to people with the last name of Rodriguez, 234 named Martinez, 223 with the last name Hernandez and 189 with the surname Garcia.

      • Police Aerial Surveillance Endangers Our Ability to Protest

        You can sign the ACLU’s petition opposing this surveillance here.€ 

        Dragnet aerial surveillance is often unconstitutional. In summer 2021, the Fourth Circuit ruled that Baltimore’s aerial surveillance program, which surveilled large swaths of the city without a warrant, violated the Fourth Amendment right to privacy for city residents. Police planes or helicopters flying overhead can easily track and trace an individual as they go about their day—before, during, and after a protest. If a government helicopter follows a group of people leaving a protest and returning home or going to a house of worship, there are many facts about these people that can be inferred.€ 

        Not to mention, high-tech political spying makes people vulnerable to retribution and reprisals by the government. Despite their constitutional rights, many people would be chilled and deterred from attending a demonstration protesting against police violence if they knew the police were going to film their face, and potentially identify them and keep a record of their First Amendment activity.

      • More Than 100 Hertz Customers Are Suing The Company For Falsely Reporting Rented Vehicles As Stolen

        Earlier this year, a man, wrongfully arrested and imprisoned for murder, was finally able to prove his innocence by producing rental car receipts showing he could not have possibly committed the crime. When the murder occurred, Herbert Alford was twenty minutes away from the scene of the crime, renting a car from Hertz.

      • Buy Nothing Day Messages 2021

        The special occasion of Buy Nothing Day is all about waking up against consumerism and living a much-sorted life. Warm greetings on Buy Nothing Day.

      • Buy Nothing Day

        Going an entire day without buying anything might seem alien to us within an age of instant gratification, though when did you last reflect on the damaging impact that excess consumerism has on our planet and society? You may never have, but the annual recurrence of ‘Buying Nothing Day’ – which takes place this year on Friday 26th November – can give us all food for thought and help improve our lifestyle habits for good.

      • The joy of buying nothing new for the holidays

        Every new purchase puts into motion a global chain of events, usually beginning with extracting oil to make the plastic that is in everything from stretchy jeans to the packaging they come in. Those materials travel from processing plant to factory to container ship, to eventually land on my front porch, and then become mine for a time. Sooner or later, they will most likely end up in a landfill.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • Help us rekindle the night, support La Quadrature du Net
      • Indonesian Court Allows Internet Blocking During Unrest, Tightening Law Enforcement Control Over Users’ Communications and Data

        Indonesia’s Constitutional Court dealt another blow to the free expression and online privacy rights of the country’s 191 million internet users, ruling that the government can lawfully block internet access during periods of social unrest. The October decision is the latest chapter in Indonesia’s€  crackdown on tech platforms, and its continuing efforts to force compliance with draconian rules controlling content and access to users’ data. The court’s long-awaited ruling came in a 2019 lawsuit brought by Indonesia NGO SAFEnet and others challenging Article 40.2b of the Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) Law, after the government restricted Internet access during independence protests and demonstrations in Papua. The group had hoped for a ruling reining in government blocking, which interferes with Indonesians’ rights to voice their opinions and speak out against oppression. Damar Juniarto, SAFEnet Executive Director told EFF:€ € 

        SAFENET and Human Rights Watch in Indonesia have been sounding the alarm about threats to digital rights in Indonesia ever since the government last year passed, without public consultation, Ministerial Regulation #5 (“MR 5/2020”), a human rights-invasive law governing online content and user data and imposing drastic penalties on companies that fail to comply.€ 

        In 2012, Indonesia adopted a data localization mandate requiring all websites and applications that provide online services to store data within Indonesia’s territorial jurisdiction. The mandate’s goal was to help Indonesian law enforcement officials force private electronic systems operators (ESOs)—anyone that operates “electronic systems” for users within Indonesia, including operators incorporated abroad—to provide data during an investigation. The 2012 regulation was largely not enforced, while a 2019 follow-up initiative (M71 regulation) limited the data localization mandate to those processing government data from public bodies.€ 

    • Monopolies

      • Manifest V3: Open Web Politics in Sheep's Clothing

        The security and privacy claims that Google has made about web extensions may or may not be addressed with Manifest V3. But the fact remains that the extensions that users have relied on for privacy will be heavily stunted if the current proposal moves forward. A move that was presented as user-focused, actually takes away the user’s power to block unwanted tracking for their security and privacy needs.

        Large Influence, Little Challenge

      • Patents

        • EPO considers what data can support patent applications [Ed: This EBA that they speak of is rigged and corrupted]



          The nature of evidence that businesses filing patent applications in Europe can rely on to demonstrate the patentability of their inventions is likely to be clarified in the months ahead, according to experts in patent litigation.

          Nicole Jadeja, Jules Fabre and Sarah Taylor of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law, were commenting after the European Patent Office’s (EPO’s) Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) was asked to determine what evidence must be included in the patent as filed and to what extent evidence published after a patent application has been filed can support claims made about the inventiveness of the process or product covered by the application. The EBA is the final arbiter on interpreting the European Patent Convention.

          “The answer to this question is key for applicants to decide when to file their application: whilst they may be tempted to file early to secure protection and avoid prior art, they must also ensure that there is sufficient data available at the time of filing to be included in the specification” said Fabre.

          To demonstrate that their inventions are patentable, applicants must, among other things, show that an inventive step has been taken that advances the known art and is not obvious to a person skilled in that art. At the EPO this is assessed by reference to the so-called problem-solution test.

        • Technology puts China at the top of the global innovation pyramid [Ed: Very poor article which conflates patents with innovation and says "technology" where it means something else]

          2019 was a remarkable year for global technological development and economic competitiveness. China filed 1.4 patent applications, accounting for 43.4% of all applications filed in the world, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

          As for the United States, once the world’s leader in patent applications, the loss of the position has profound implications on two levels: first, the international economic competition is getting more intense; second, China is strengthening its position in the field of innovation.

        • Ahead of WTO Meeting, Biden Urged to Stop Letting Europe 'Block Progress' on Patent Waiver

          With just over a week to go before a key World Trade Organization meeting starts, a coalition of civil society organizations is urging U.S. President Joe Biden to play a more active role in securing unanimous support for a temporary waiver of the intellectual property barriers that are limiting the global supply of Covid-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests required to bring the ongoing pandemic to a swift end.

          "U.S. passivity has empowered close U.S. allies... to block progress even as millions die or become seriously ill waiting for effective vaccines and treatments."

      • Trademarks

        • Rock Band Doomscroll Has Trademark App Opposed By id Software

          id Software is not a complete stranger to silly IP enforcement actions. Between trying to own concepts that are un-ownable and occasionally trying to throw its legal muscle around to bully others into not using common words in their own video game titles, the company has proven that it is perfectly capable of playing the IP bully. But at least in those specific instances, if you squint at them, they kinda sorta seem like industry-related, almost understandable IP disputes.

      • Copyrights

        • Introducing the Better Internet Series

          This year at CC Global Summit, we hosted two workshops focused on the notion of a better version of the internet. For the workshops, we prepared in smaller groups, identified common areas of interest and concern, and gathered a global group of voices to dig into the issues. In this blog post, we introduce the Better Internet series, which we will use to share the findings of the workshops we hosted at the CC Global Summit, explore the perspectives communicated by those who participated, and share what we are working on with partners to drive these conversations forward and take action.€ 

        • Disney Seeks Analyst to Spot the Latest Online Piracy Trends

          Disney plans to add fresh blood to its anti-piracy team. The movie giant wants to hire an analyst who will be tasked with investigating the latest piracy trends, helping out with enforcement efforts, and evaluating new anti-piracy tools and services. A dream position for those who aspire to a career in the anti-piracy workforce.

        • RIAA Takes Down Popular Music Piracy Discord Over Adele '30' Leak

          A popular Discord server specializing in music piracy has been taken down by the RIAA. Sources inside the RipRequests community suggest the problem stemmed from a pre-release leak of Adele's new '30' album. This appears to be backed up by a cease-and-desist notice obtained by TF which cites criminal copyright law.



Recent Techrights' Posts

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