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● 12.30.15

● Links 30/12/2015: Death of Murdock, Microsoft Blocks Linux Game Port

Posted in News Roundup at 11:18 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

=> ↺ Op-Ed: Microsoft makes it more difficult to run Linux

• There are numerous computer operating systems (OS) other than the various versions of Windows and this includes well over 100 distributions of Linux-based systems.

Desktop

=> ↺ 5 ways Ubuntu Linux is better than Microsoft Windows 10

• Windows 10 is a pretty good desktop operating system. Unfortunately, that OS is very far from perfect. The most glaring issue, of course, is the confusing privacy settings. Plus, let us not forget the arguably shady tactics Microsoft is employing to get users to upgrade to the operating system. While Windows 10 is more focused than its predecessor, there is still a lack of consistency, such as having a Settings Menu and separate Control Panel menu.

• Meanwhile, in the land of Linux, Ubuntu hit 15.10; an evolutionary upgrade, which is a joy to use. While not perfect, the totally free Unity desktop-based Ubuntu gives Windows 10 a run for its money. Does this mean I think Linux will soon rule the desktop? Absolutely not. Windows will still be dominant in number of installs for the foreseeable future. With that said, more does not always mean better. Here are 5 ways Ubuntu bests Windows 10.

=> ↺ Major Linux Desktop Problems In 2016

• A widely-cited blog post about the major Linux desktop problems has been updated for 2016.

• Over on the LinuxFonts.Narod.ru is the “major problems of the Linux desktop” and it’s been updated with all of the latest issues, etc, for 2016. The article was updated yesterday by Artem Tashkinov.

Kernel Space

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ Nouveau Hooks Up ARB_shader_draw_parameters Support

=> ↺ For Those Dealing With Binary Blobs, NVIDIA Continues Owning The Linux Desktop

• The NVIDIA Linux driver this year continued to keep pace with the latest Linux kernel and X.Org Server releases, continued working towards restructuring on KMS support, improved its EGL support, and is nearly ready to support Wayland/Mir. NVIDIA internally has also been working to prepare their launch-day Vulkan driver for once the specification is out in 2016.

Applications

=> ↺ What’s New in Mixxx 2.0?

• Three years in the making, we’ve added so many new features to Mixxx that we had to call it 2.0. As always, Mixxx 2.0 is available as a free upgrade for all existing Mixxx users.

=> ↺ Announcing Mixxx 2.0!

• The wait is finally over. After years of hard work, the Mixxx development team is pleased to present Mixxx 2.0!

=> ↺ Clementine Review – One of the Best Music Players on Linux

• There are a billion music players on the Linux platform and it’s getting difficult to find a really good one that can bring something new. Fortunately, Clementine comes to the rescue.

=> ↺ Webmin 1.780 Brings Let’s Encrypt Support

• Today’s Webmin 1.780 release brings updates to its file manager, translation updates, support for SSL certificate requests from Let’s Encrypt, MySQL 5.7, automatic DNS records in partial reverse donations, and other bug-fixes and smaller feature work.

=> ↺ Shotwell Review – An Almost Invisible and Useful Application

• Shotwell is an image viewer and photo manager that’s implemented by default in a number of distros, including Ubuntu. It’s more versatile than people give it credit for, so we’ll try to see what some of the cool things you can do with it are.

=> ↺ Wireshark 2.0.1 Lands with Multiple Small Fixes

• Wireshark, the best network protocol analyzer that offers users the means to capture and interactively browse the traffic running on a computer network, is now at version 2.0.1.

=> ↺ Mixxx 2.0 Open Source DJ Software Brings Better Support for DJ Controllers

• After being in the making for three years, the developers of the Mixxx open source DJ software have had the great pleasure of announcing the release and immediate availability for download of Mixxx 2.0.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to install Python3 on CentOS

=> ↺ How to dual-boot Deepin 15, Windows 10 on a PC with UEFI firmware

=> ↺ Install Mixxx 2.0 on Ubuntu 15.10, 15.04, 14.04 LTS & 12.04 LTS

=> ↺ Forking processes and Gtk2

=> ↺ Jos Poortvliet: Five Reasons To Upgrade Your ownCloud

=> ↺ Linux kernel module options on Debian

=> ↺ I joined the internet of things.

=> ↺ MySQL—Some Handy Know-How

=> ↺ Setting Up “NTP (Network Time Protocol) Server” in RHEL/CentOS 7

Games

=> ↺ Top 10 Games Released on Linux in 2015

• So, while the Steam Machines did not (predictably) manage to get a really good start (I hope Valve learned a thing or two out of that situation), 2015 has been an excellent year for Linux Gaming. We have received numerous ports and a few first-citizen releases as well, and not just indie games this time around. Like all Top 10’s, this list is going to be somewhat subjective and maybe your own favourite game is not there, but here goes nonetheless.

=> ↺ FNA, the open source reimplementation of Microsoft’s XNA first official release

• I’m a big fan of FNA, as the quality of the ports made with Ethan Lee’s project are really quite awesome. Ethan announced recently that FNA has now had its first official release.

=> ↺ Carmageddon: Reincarnation still aiming for a Linux version

• The Linux version of Carmageddon: Reincarnation promised during the Kickstarter has been completely MIA for some time, but they say they are still planning to do it.

• It’s a familiar thing by now, dates slipped for all versions, the Windows version didn’t turn out as well as one hoped and the Linux version is waiting for the Windows version to get sorted out. Originally, the Linux version was due around the end of 2013, that’s a rather large slip for Stainless Games.

=> ↺ Ori and the Blind Forest won’t come to Linux for now, thanks to Microsoft

• Other Microsoft published games have made their way to Linux, so it’s not out of the question. It depends what sort of publishing deal they signed, still a damn shame though.

=> ↺ Microsoft Blocks Linux Game Port From Happening

• The reference was in regards to a Linux port of Ori and the Blind Forest, a single-player adventure game developed by Moon Studios and originally released earlier this year. Ori is powered by the Unity Engine, which would make a Linux port possible, but apparently the publishing deal with Microsoft Studios would prevent the game from being released outside of Microsoft platforms.

=> ↺ The most popular Linux gaming articles from 2015 and thoughts on the year

=> ↺ Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition available now for Mac

=> ↺ Best open source games of 2015

• 2015 has been a great year for open source and Linux gaming. The number of Linux games continues to grow, and Steam Machines finally hit the market on November 10. So, with the end of the year closing in, I’d like to give you my picks for the top five open games. Which one is your favorite? And which games do you think should have made the list?

=> ↺ Valve Adds Even More Improvements to Steam Controller in the Latest Beta Client

• Valve has announced the they’ve updated the Steam Beta Client for all supported operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and GNU/Linux, with even more improvements to their Steam Controller device.

=> ↺ Have proprietary Linux games failed?

• Admittedly, free software games are few in number, and their development is slow. However, since they are not dependent on sales for their existence, they are more likely to stay available.

• By contrast, proprietary Linux games could cease to exist at any time. If you run them, enjoy them while they can, because, in another year or two, they may not around.

Desktop Environments/WMs

=> ↺ The Most Popular GNOME & KDE Happenings Of 2015

• Continuing on with our other year-end looks, here are lists of the most popular GNOME and KDE desktop happenings of the year.

• First up, here’s a look at the ten most popular GNOME stories on Phoronix for 2015. GNOME made much progress this year on Wayland support, app sandboxing, UEFI firmware updating, and other features.

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ Frogr 1.0 released

• I’ve just released frogr 1.0. I can’t believe it took me 6 years to move from the 0.x series to the 1.0 release, but here it is finally. For good or bad.

=> ↺ From a lawyer who hates litigation

• Before I started working in free and open source software, before I found out I had a heart condition and became passionate about software freedom, I was a corporate lawyer at a law firm. I worked on various financial transactions. There were ups and downs to this kind of work but throughout I was always extremely vocal about how happy I was that I didn’t do any litigation.

Distributions

New Releases

=> ↺ UberStudent 4.3 Release Announcement!

• UberStudent is a Linux distribution FOR EVERYONE, especially higher education and college-bound secondary students, people who teach them, and their schools. Researchers, knowledge workers, and lifelong learners will equally benefit. It has been specifically designed for complete Linux beginners, while remaining equally satisfying to the most advanced Linux user.

=> ↺ UberStudent 4.3 Is Based on Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS and Xfce 4.12, Supported Until 2019

• Earlier today, December 30, 2015, Stephen Ewen was very happy and proud to announce the release and immediate availability for download of the UberStudent 4.3 computer operating system.

Screenshots/Screencasts

=> ↺ What’s New in Budgie Desktop 10

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva Family

=> ↺ Come help mageia with us

• it is with pleasure that I see that Mageia is increasingly used.

Arch Family

=> ↺ Manjaro Linux BspWM Community Edition 15.12 Arrives with Linux Kernel 4.4 LTS

• Today, December 30, the Manjaro Linux community was proud to announce the release and immediate availability for download of the Manjaro Linux BspWM Community Edition 15.12 computer operating system.

Red Hat Family

=> ↺ Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT) Seen Profiting From Growing Interest In Open-Source Software

• Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT) is expected to continue profiting from the trend in which enterprises are abandoning proprietary software for open-source software. According to Oppenheimer analysts, there are multiple ways in which Red Hat stands to benefit from the trend. One of them is the fact that the company continues to invest in new solutions, thus expanding its addressable market and revenue opportunity.

=> ↺ Zacks Short Term Rating on Red Hat, Inc.

=> ↺ Red Hat an analyst top ’16 pick; Kalobios bakruptcy; Apple’s $350M tax deal; offensive trademarks case

• Red Hat is a “top pick” for 2016 according to one Wall Street analyst

=> ↺ Red Hat’s Mobile App Platform Includes New Push Notification Capabilities

• The main focus of the recently released Version 3.6 of the Feed Henry’s (which is now owned by Red Hat) cross platform Mobile Application Platform (MHP) is the integration of the Aerogear UnifiedPush Server into the platform which provides improved iOS, Android and Windows Phone push notification functionality.

=> ↺ Prepare for CCNA, CCNP & Red Hat Certification with this $49 training bundle

=> ↺ Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT) – Mid-Day Large Cap Report

=> ↺ Drexel Hamilton Reaffirms Buy Rating for Red Hat Inc (RHT)

=> ↺ Red Hat Inc (RHT) Hits New 52-Week High at $84.44

=> ↺ Key Stocks of the Day: Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT)

=> ↺ Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT): Earnings Focus According to Analysts

=> ↺ Red Hat Inc (RHT) Downgraded to Hold at Vetr Inc.

=> ↺ Red Hat Inc (RHT) Rating Lowered to Hold at Vetr Inc.

=> ↺ Red Hat Inc (RHT) Shares Gap Up to $82.34

=> ↺ Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT) – Large Cap Afternoon Report

=> ↺ Earnings Focus: Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT)

Fedora

=> ↺ Fedora Security Lab – hack yourself!

• Fedora Security Lab is probably one of the most unknown Fedora Labs for the public. It is typically used for a very specific task. But what exactly is that task? This article aims to answer that question!

Debian Family

=> ↺ Debian Founder in Trouble, Ubuntu’s Wrong Turn

• A big story getting a little attention today was the shocking news of Debian founder Ian Murdock’s desperation at the hands of law enforcement. Much of the story is unknown, but Murdock was on the verge of suicide Monday evening. In other news, Brian Fagioli reported that the System76 Oryx Pro is the gaming machine of your dreams and Matt Hartley thinks he knows where Ubuntu went wrong.

=> ↺ In Memoriam: Ian Murdock

• It is with great sadness that we inform you that Ian Murdock passed away on Monday night. This is a tragic loss for his family, for the Docker community, and the broader open source world; we all mourn his passing. To Ian’s children, family and loved ones, we offer our full support and deepest sympathies.

=> ↺ Debian founder and Docker employee Ian Murdock has died at 42

• Docker today announced that Ian Murdock, a member of the startup’s technical staff and a former Sun and Salesforce employee known for founding the Debian Linux operating system, has passed away. He was 42.

• A cause of death was not provided in the blog post announcing the news. Docker declined to comment. The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately have information on Murdock’s cause of death.

• Murdock’s Twitter account posted several tweets (PDF) on Monday that suggested he had been involved in an incident involving police, and one tweet said that he would commit suicide that night. Some people speculated that his account had been hacked. It has since been deleted.

=> ↺ Ian Murdock has died

=> ↺ R.I.P Ian Murdock, Founder of Debian Linux, Dead at 42

• The cause of death is unclear at present, but Murdock tweeted the same day that he would commit suicide that night. His Twitter account had since been deleted.

=> ↺ Debian Founder Ian Murdock Passes Away

• On Monday via Twitter he was threatening suicide over alleged police abuse in California. His Twitter account has since been removed. Other information about his suicide or alleged police detention and abuse has yet to be made public.

=> ↺ Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

• With a heavy heart Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock, stalwart proponent of Free Open Source Software, Father, Son, and the ‘ian’ in Debian.

• Ian started the Debian project in August of 1993, releasing the first versions of Debian later that same year. Debian would go on to become the world’s Universal Operating System, running on everything from embedded devices to the space station.

=> ↺ Debian founder Ian Murdock dead: Tributes pour in from colleagues

• Debian GNU/Linux founder Ian Murdock has died.

• Murdock, who lived in San Francisco, founded the open-source distro in 1993, and just recently started working for Docker in the city.

• “It is with great sadness that we inform you that Ian Murdock passed away on Monday night,” Docker CEO Ben Golub blogged a few moments ago on Wednesday.

=> ↺ APT 1.1.8 to 1.1.10 – going “faster”

• APT 1.1.10 also switches the cache’s hash function to the DJB hash function and increases the default hash table sizes to the smallest prime larger than 15000, namely 15013. This reduces the average bucket size from 6.5 to 4.5. We might increase this further in the future.

=> ↺ Open Source Pioneer Ian Murdock Dead at 42

• Murdock, who died at the age of 42, is best known professionally as founder of the Debian project. Debian is one of the three most widely used Linux distros and one of the first ones ever created. He started the project in the early 90s, when he was a student at Purdue University.

=> ↺ Ian Murdock, Debian GNU/Linux Founder, Passed Away

• It would also appear the Mr. Murdock’s Twitter account was closed today.

=> ↺ Linux Pioneer Ian Murdock Dead at 42

• Ian Murdock, the 42-year-old programming phenom who developed the Debian Linux operating system back in the early days of open-source software, died Monday night.

• The news was disclosed in a blog post by his employer, Docker, the San Francisco company that sells services associated with a popular open-source software tool for businesses. Murdock joined Docker as a technical staff member in November, according to his LinkedIn profile. Docker founder and chief technology officer Solomon Hykes tweeted about Murdock’s death (below).

=> ↺ In Memory of Ian Murdock

• Although Ian and my paths crossed relatively infrequently, over the years we became friends. His tremendous work in Debian was an inspiration for my own work in Ubuntu. At times when I was unsure of what to do in my work, Ian would share his guidance and wisdom. He never asked for anything in return. He never judged. He always supported the growth of Open Source and Free Software. He was precisely the kind of person that makes the Open Source and Free Software world so beautiful.

=> ↺ Ian Murdock, father of Debian, dead at 42

• Inquiries to the San Francisco Police Department by Ars went unanswered.

=> ↺ Debian Linux founder Ian Murdock dies at 42, cause unknown

• Murdock wrote that he had been assaulted by the police, had his clothes ripped off, and told, “We’re the police, we can do whatever the fuck we want.” He also wrote, “they beat the shit out of me twice, then charged me $25,000 to get out of jail for battery against THEM.”

• This implies he had been arrested and booked at an area court. He may also have actually been in jail. I have been unable to find a record of the arrest.

• Murdock also vented his anger at the police. “(1/2) The rest of my life will be devoted to fighting against police abuse.. I’m white, I made $1.4 million last year, (2/2) They are uneducated, bitter, and and only interested in power for its own sake. Contact me imurdock@imurdock.com if you can help. -ian”

• After leaving the courtroom, presumably a magistrate court, Murdock tweeted that he had been followed home by the police and assaulted again.

• He continued, “I’m not committing suicide today. I’ll write this all up first, so the police brutality ENDEMIC in this so call free country will be known.” He added, “Maybe my suicide at this, you now, a successful business man, not a NIGGER, will finally bring some attention to this very serious issue.”

=> ↺ OSI Mourns Co-Founder Ian Murdock

• The OSI Board is very sad to note the death of Ian Murdock. As well as founding the Debian GNU/Linux distribution in 1993 (Debian obituary), Ian was a co-founder of the Open Source Initiative and was the original Board Secretary named in our Articles of Incorporation. A charismatic and visionary leader, Ian influenced many community and commercial projects and was a friend of many former and current OSI Directors and Members.

=> ↺ Debian Founder and Docker Employee Ian Murdock Apparently Dead at 42

• The news of Murdock’s apparent death was first made public in a blog post on the Docker website. However, at about 4:20 p.m. the page announcing the death became unavailable. We are not certain at this time whether that’s because the site has been overloaded with traffic or because the page has been taken down. As other pages on the site are working, we suspect the later.

=> ↺ Debian Creator Ian Murdock Dead At 42

• Ian Murdock – the ‘ian’ in Debian – was found dead at his home in San Francisco on Monday. The cause is yet unknown.

=> ↺ Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

=> ↺ Software Pioneer Ian Murdock Dead After Extraordinary Police Brutality Claims

• He alleged that police had “sent him to the hospital” for knocking on his neighbour’s door, and that he had then been charged $25,000 bail for assaulting a police officer. He claimed they told him “we’re the police, we always win,” before following him back to his house and beating him again.

=> ↺ Debian Linux Founder Ian Murdock Dies At 42

=> ↺ Disturbing News… RIP Ian Murdock

=> ↺ Debian founder Ian Murdock dies at 42

• The cause of his death is not known.

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

=> ↺ Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) Alpha Flavors to Arrive in a Few Days

• Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) is coming along, and it looks like the developers are preparing for the release of the first Alpha version.

=> ↺ Watch: Ubuntu MATE Desktop Running on Meizu MX4 with Ubuntu Touch

• Today we’re continuing our “Watch” series of articles with a quite interesting one that we have spotted earlier on the official Twitter account of the Ubuntu MATE project.

Flavours and Variants

=> ↺ Is Lubuntu Faster Than Windows XP And Frankly Who Cares?

• Scientifically there is a reason Windows XP slows down over time and it is due to the file allocation table and the fragmentation of the hard drive.

• When you start with a freshly installed system all the files are at the start of the disk. As files are added and deleted they space out over the disk, leaving gaps.

• A recommended performance improvement for Windows XP is to defragment the hard drive.

• All of those Windows engineers couldn’t have been wrong for all those years could they?

• No they weren’t.

=> ↺ Should Linux Mint be the default distro for Dell and System76 computers?

• Linux Mint has long been one of the most popular desktop Linux distributions around. But companies like Dell and System76 don’t use it as the default distribution on their computers. Instead they opt for Ubuntu, and that had one redditor wondering why they don’t use Linux Mint.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Getting Started With the Raspberry Pi

• Some of you might have received a Raspberry Pi for Christmas or know of a family member or friend who received one. While some of us know exactly what to do with the devices and what peripherals to buy, that does not hold true for a majority of non-technical people. This article, focused on the Raspberry Pi 2 B, will help serve as a guide to answer questions you or someone you know might have.

Phones

Android

=> ↺ Android 6.0 Marshmallow features

• It’s one of the biggest questions around here: “when is my phone getting Android 6.0 Marshmallow?”. We all want to have the latest and greatest Android software around, but we can often be guilty of not even knowing what these updates bring to the table.

=> ↺ Google Drops Java for Next Android and Moves to OpenJDK

=> ↺ Verizon Go90 To Hit 2 Mil Users Soon; Android Leads

=> ↺ Google Drive is an Android themer’s best friend

=> ↺ Android 6 Marshmallow update for the LG G3 official in Poland

=> ↺ How to Sync iTunes Music To Your Android Device

=> ↺ My Favorite Android Games of 2015

• We already delivered our Favorite Apps for 2015, and now it is time for the games. Oh yes, the games. How far we have come over the past few years, seeing the release of major titles for mobile devices that were once the pinnacle of console gaming. For example, the Grand Theft Auto series is available on Google Play for virtually any Android device with enough storage to hold them, and that series was the biggest thing to hit consoles ever. Now, they are merely apps on our phones. Pretty mind blowing, if you ask me.

=> ↺ Android N to ditch Oracle’s proprietary Java APIs for OpenJDK

• According to the commit in the Android code base, Google has been working on the switch since February of 2015, but Google’s statement makes it official, and it looks like we’ll see the fruit of the company’s labors in the next major Android release.

=> ↺ Google comes up with a new Android plan as its epic legal battle with Oracle continues

=> ↺ Google Will Switch to OpenJDK in Android N

=> ↺ Google Will Replace Oracle’s Java APIs With OpenJDK In The Next Version Of Android

=> ↺ Android N and beyond to ditch Oracle’s Java for open source version

=> ↺ Google switches to open-source license for Java APIs in Android: will this limit Oracle’s case to past damages?

• It’s too early to agree with those who believe it’s a virtual settlement (except that damages for past infringement might still have to be determined in court). I do remember that Oracle’s lawyers released a statement ahead of the 2012 trial in which they basically said that Google had two options for using Java in Android–a proprietary license or using it on open source terms with the obligation to contribute back to the open source community–but, by simply using Java without either kind of license, Google had committed copyright infringement. That was more than three-and-a-half years ago. Why wouldn’t Google have taken this step long before, if such a seemingly simple solution to the legal problem as OpenJDK had existed all along?

=> ↺ Bluboo Xfire 2, World’s First Triple-SIM Android Smartphone Priced At $69 And Bluboo XWatch To Release Early 2016

• In early 2016, Bluboo will be releasing two new products. The Chinese firm is currently working on a new affordable smartphone with triple-SIM support as well as a new sports-centric smartwatch.

=> ↺ Largest Computer Makers when Smartphones and Tablets are Included

• So Sony drops out as it sold its Vaio business and the smartphone business has been struggling. New chart entrants Xiaomi and TCL from China are powered only by smartphone sales. Traditional PC giants, Dell and HP keep dropping down on the charts as they are not participating in the fastest growing side of the computer business, the smartphones. Lenovo held its ground in market share so of the top 3 its the only one able to keep pace with the computer industry growth rate and it obviously sells computers in all the sectors of the industry. Samsung and Apple gave up market share while holding their top rankings. The race in the midfield is very intense and close.

=> ↺ HTC One E9, One E9+ Start Receiving December Android Security Update

=> ↺ Our Favorite Android Devices of 2015

• With apps and games out of the way, you may be curious what our favorite Android devices of the year are? No? That’s rude and we are going to tell you anyway because 2015 is coming to a close in a matter of hours it seems and we like to look back and reflect on these types of things.

• The phone of the year battle probably won’t shock you, since we recently released a list of the Android phones you should consider buying. The tablet, though, that may surprise you a bit once you jump below. We also tackled our wearable of choice for 2015, should you be in the market for some wrist candy.

=> ↺ 5 Android smartphone makers to watch in 2016

• In 2015, the smartphone or, more specifically, the Android smartphone market reached tipping point. What you can get for your money now compared to 12 months ago is pretty astounding. It started with the sub $300 Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 in March, and ended with the $100 BLU phone equipped with a full HD screen. With 2016 almost here, we’re right in the thick of a race to the bottom, and the price drops are being driven primarily by Chinese companies.

=> ↺ 10 things to expect from Android in 2016

• The year is drawing to a close, and it’s time to reflect on last 12 months and peer into our crystal ball to see what the next will bring. The short answer: lots. 2016 is going to be an exciting year for Android, and big things are coming. Here are 10 things to expect from Android in 2016.

Free Software/Open Source

=> ↺ Applying open-source tracking technology to hunting research in Brazil

• Mark Abrahams explains his innovative use of an open-source animal monitoring platform

=> ↺ 5 Open Source Replacements for Accounting Software

• In recent years, cloud computing has transformed the ways that people purchase software, but it hasn’t necessarily made it more affordable.

• If you’re looking for accounting software – and you’re pinching pennies – you may want to explore one of these open source replacements for expensive accounting software.

• Let the downloading begin!

• As always, if you know of additional open source accounting software that you think should be on our list, feel free to add them in the comments section below.

=> ↺ Open-Source / Linux Enthusiasts Have A Lot To Be Thankful For This Year

• There are far too many “open-source wins” to list from 2015, and some of the exciting advancements have already been covered in our other year-end articles. This article are just some of the major items that come to mind. You’re more than welcome to share your own exciting open-source/Linux highlights of the year with us and the community by commenting on this article in our forums.

=> ↺ The danger ahead: skyscraper code favelas in earthquake zones

• Do software application development leaders need a new year’s resolution?

• Do team leaders, software engineering managers and senior architectural planners need a new wake up call?

• [...]

• The story here is that yes, indeed, software is eating the world… but in a proprietary-only technical debt-ridden software world… that software sucks.

SaaS/Big Data

=> ↺ Google Cloud Platform Offers New Avenues for Leveraging its Power

=> ↺ Essential Tools for Development in the Cloud and on the Web

• Web site and application development is becoming in reach for nearly everyone, thanks to easier and better tools. Software as a Service (SaaS) applications are increasingly either employing open source or are built entirely on it. And all of this adds up to an increasing need for web development toolsets focused on the open source community. The good news is that there are many open source tools to help you with your web project, and given the costs of web development environments and the like, they can save you a lot of money. Here are many good examples of tools and tutorials, with a few that we’ve covered before appended at the end, in case you missed them.

Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

=> ↺ Oracle, The Butt Of Jokes

• They did earn their power by making a powerful database but then abused it by charging far more than cost of production plus reasonable profit. Hence PostgreSQL and MySQL and others are thriving. I made the move to mariadb years ago.

Pseudo-/Semi-Open Source (Openwashing)

=> ↺ Facebook, LinkedIn Reflect on 2015: The Year in Open Source

• Both Facebook and LinkedIn look back on 2015 as a seminal year for open-source technology at their respective companies. With 2015 at its end, Facebook took a look back at its year of using, developing and contributing to open-source software.

• In a blog post, Christine Abernathy, developer advocate for the Facebook open source team, said the open source program at Facebook has grown, not only in terms of new projects, but also in the size and strength of its community. Abernathy credits the growth to contributions from more than 3,400 developers who contributed to the company’s projects – the majority of whom were external.

BSD

=> ↺ BSD Unix-like OS is Resurrected for Embedded IoT Market

• It took two decades, but BSD — the operating system that dominated the Unix world during the 1980s and 1990s before being supplanted by the open source Linux kernel — is now ready for embedded computing. That’s according to the RetroBSD project, which has announced success running BSD on modern embedded hardware.

FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

=> ↺ A look at the FSF tech team’s tireless work for user freedom

• Our tech team keeps the FSF and the GNU Project running — and in order to fulfill their goals for 2016, they need your support.

=> ↺ Rust Now Prefers Using The GNU Gold Linker By Default

• The Gold linker tends to be significantly faster than ld at linking ELF files. In some cases like DragonFlyBSD, the Gold linker is used by default as the linker. However, Gold has some differences to GNU ld which is why it isn’t used everywhere right now — can’t be used for Linux kernel modules, the default libraries are different, etc.

=> ↺ GNU Guile FOSDEM schedule available!

Public Services/Government

=> ↺ Open-source advocates see big opportunity for federal software acquisition reform in 2016

• With open-source software, the code would already be in the public domain, and agencies would instead be procuring value-added services to mold those open-source applications to their needs.

• This saves money for agencies because it eliminates the licensing fees that come with traditional software products as well as the nonrecurring engineering costs — the one-off costs to research and develop the software, or “reinvent the wheel” as Gary Shiffman, CEO of Arlington-based Giant Oak Inc., described it to me.

Openness/Sharing

=> ↺ Glass Half: The latest open movie from the Blender Institute

• At this year’s Blender Conference, the Blender Institute released its latest open movie project, Glass Half. You can watch the full three minutes of this short animation in all its glory right here.

Open Hardware

=> ↺ Google, HPE, Oracle back RISC-V, an open source ARM alternative

• Tech giants Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Lattice, Microsemi and Oracle are among the first 15 members of a new RISC-V trade group. Next week the group is hosting a workshop for the processor core. One of the current tasks of the group is to draft the open source agreement which will form part of its membership. The RISC-V is developed under an open source license and members will be able to verify and use the RISC-V logo.

• [...]

• RISC-V processors can currently be used to run Linux and NetBSD.

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ Telecom law ‘overlooked’ in ICT standards policy

• Using telecom law offers fundamental advantages over competition law to remedy monopolised ICT market sectors and in eGovernment initiatives, says Felix Greve, a German lawyer specialised in IT-law. In November, Greve summarised his July 2015 PhD thesis in a webinar organised for the European Commission’s ‘Open Standards for ICT Procurement’ project.

Leftovers

=> ↺ Star Wars and the Death of American Cinema

• ‘Star Wars’ is a simple story, simply told, of good versus evil, light versus darkness, and freedom versus tyranny. In other words it is the story of America’s struggle to preserve democracy and civilization in a world beset by evil and ‘evildoers’.

=> ↺ Meet “Sledgehammer Shannon,” the lawyer who is Uber’s worst nightmare

• Four years later, Liss-Riordan is spearheading class-action lawsuits against Uber, Lyft, and nine other apps that provide on-demand services, shaking the pillars of Silicon Valley’s much-hyped sharing economy. In particular, she is challenging how these companies classify their workers. If she can convince judges that these so-called micro-entrepreneurs are in fact employees and not independent contractors, she could do serious damage to a very successful business model—Uber alone was recently valued at $51 billion—which relies on cheap labor and a creative reading of labor laws. She has made some progress in her work for drivers. Just this month, after Uber tried several tactics to shrink the class, she won a key legal victory when a judge in San Francisco found that more than 100,000 drivers can join her class action.

=> ↺ I Got Married At the Perfect Age

• Looks more like age 29 in the chart, but I got married at 32, so I’ll take it. Unfortunately, this is for people getting married now. For people who got married back when I got married, the older the better. Today, for some reason, it’s the older the better until age 32, and then the divorce risk curves back up. Why the change? After a bit of statistical argle bargle, Wolfinger admits he can’t really figure it out

=> ↺ Dr Joshua Freeman, Dr Hayley Bennet: TPP could trump climate accord

• Trade deal gives polluters power to sue governments who try to implement the Paris agreement

Health/Nutrition

=> ↺ Anti-vaccine Californians are rich, white, but not necessarily highly educated

• At this point, it’s well documented that affluent, educated white communities are behind the surge in unvaccinated kids—and by extension the increase in vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles and whooping cough (pertussis). But there are few studies that dig into the detailed demographics of those unprotected younglings, leaving health experts at a loss for how to target strategies to combat anti-vaccination myths and fears in the specific groups that need it most.

=> ↺ Here’s a Whole Bunch of Interesting Facts and Figures About Births and Babies

• This comes from the CDC’s final report on births for 2014, which is chock full of everything you might want to know about US birth and fertility rates. The increase in triplet births is most likely due to the rising use of fertility therapies, and the drop after 1998 is likely due to improvements in fertility therapies. The reason for the steady increase in twins is less clear, since it seems too large to be accounted for by fertility treatments.

Security

=> ↺ Still More Reasons to Avoid Windows 10

=> ↺ Vista 10 isn’t the first time Microsoft grabs keys

• Microsoft has figured out what Google and Facebook already sussed: your eyeballs, and even more your personal data, are commercially valuable, and they’re determined to harvest and sell as much of that as they can.

• The tech blog Boing Boing points out other issues, starting with this: Windows 10 covertly sends your disk-encryption keys to Microsoft.

=> ↺ Wednesday’s security advisories

Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

=> ↺ Turkey: A Criminal State, a NATO State

• It is now openly discussed even in mainstream media the fact that Turkey has been intimately involved in fomenting and supporting the war on Syria, with its ultimate goal of the overthrow of the Syrian government and its replacement by a compliant proxy aligned with Turkish President Erdogan and the Muslim Brotherhood. That this is no longer a ‘conspiracy theory’ but a conspiracy fact not only vindicates my analysis over the last four years, but it also brings to the fore the nefarious role of a NATO member in stoking a brutal and bloody war for its own ends.

=> ↺ Bad Government Decisions That Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

• And bad governmental decisions are not confined to the Middle East. Violating the implicit (and maybe explicit) promise made to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to get him to approve the reuniting of Germany as the Cold War ended, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have expanding the hostile NATO alliance right to Russia’s borders. Recently Obama took in the small country Montenegro as a deliberate slap in Russia’s face. Yet, expanding the NATO alliance effectively followed the Versailles model after World War I – keeping your defeated adversary outside the community of European nations – which led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and World War II and went counter to the much more effective Congress of Vienna model, which brought post-Napoleonic France back into Europe, thus ensuring a century of relative peace in Europe. Because the United States and NATO walked all over a defeated Russia after the Cold War, they are now faced with a nationalist Russian leader in Vladimir Putin who is destabilizing Ukraine to keep it out of NATO, which George W. Bush promised would become an alliance member. Not taking any responsibility for this unfortunate chain of events, the United States is using Russia’s behavior to put more NATO forces in Eastern and Southern Europe. Where will the escalation cycle end?

=> ↺ Authorities are investigating a firebomb attack on a mosque in Tracy, California

• Authorities are investigating a firebomb attack on a mosque in Tracy, California that took place on Sunday as a hate crime.

=> ↺ Israel Firsters

• When I first began commenting on articles here at openDemocracy, I was motivated to answer a writer who contended that the State of Israel had intentionally opened the flood gates on one of its dams in order to flood some villages in Gaza.

• The article was simply one of many examples where Palestinian leadership misfeasance brought tribulations to Palestinians that were blamed on the Israelis. I have come to refer to such observers as “Israel Firsters”.

=> ↺ The Jewish Equivalent of ISIS

• The Jewish extremists running amok in Israel have far more in common with the Islamic State than they realize. Both groups need to be confronted and destroyed.

=> ↺ Iran Hands Over Stockpile of Enriched Uranium to Russia

• A Russian ship left Iran on Monday carrying almost all of Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium, fulfilling a major step in the nuclear deal struck last summer and, for the first time in nearly a decade, apparently leaving Iran with too little fuel to manufacture a nuclear weapon.

=> ↺ What Are the Chances for Peace in 2016?

• None of this trillion dollars taken from us is spent to keep us safe, despite what politicians say. In fact, this great rip-off actually makes us less safe and more vulnerable to a terrorist attack thanks to resentment overseas at our interventions and to the blowback it produces.

=> ↺ ‘Shadow CIA’ Warns: Daesh Will Opt For Radical Measures to Offset Losses

• Stratfor maintains that despite major anti-Daesh efforts in Iraq and Syria, the group will not be vanquished in 2016.

=> ↺ Drones fly over Iraq and Syria without congressional oversight

• With the military, not the CIA, in charge, few know whether casualties include Iraqi and Syrian civilians.

=> ↺ With less oversight, activists fear more civilian casualties from drone strikes

=> ↺ How Qatar Is Funding al-Qaeda — and Why That Could Help the US

• Ask Americans to name the terror group they fear most, and they’ll probably says ISIS, even though it was al-Qaeda that killed more than 3,000 people on 9/11/2001. Compared to ISIS, al-Qaeda is seen as the “devil we know,” not the band of barbaric thugs who burn people alive, rape children, and destroy or pilfer historic artifacts for sale on the black market.

• The rivalry between the two terror groups has even prompted the unthinkable—that the U.S. and al-Qaeda would somehow work together to defeat ISIS. Last August General David Petraeus, former CIA director and commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, urged the Pentagon to consider empowering al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front in Syria to fight ISIS. Petraeus, like others, believe Nusra is “moderate” compared with the tactics of the Taliban or ISIS, and could be an asset. But aligning with the lesser of two evils of terrorism is a policy fraught with pitfalls.

=> ↺ I revealed the truth about President Erdogan and Syria. For that, he had me jailed

• Early in 2014, a truck understood to belong to the Turkish intelligence service (MIT) was stopped near the Syrian border. The gendarmerie and the intelligence officials in control of the convoy pulled guns on each other. This was the moment the two blocks vying to rule the state came face to face. The truck was searched. Beneath the camouflage composed of medicines boxes, weapons and ammunition were found. The truck was held for a while, but following the intervention of government officials a safe passage into Syria was granted.

• The government immediately discharged the prosecutor and gendarmerie who stopped the convoy and had them arrested. It was declared that the trucks contained humanitarian aid. This incident, which fuelled allegations that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government was intervening in the Syrian civil war, was rapidly covered up.

=> ↺ 92 Killed in Iraq as PM Comes Under Rocket Fire in Ramadi

• Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited a relatively safe zone in the recently recovered city of Ramadi, where he promised to move the fighting against the Islamic State to the northern city of Mosul. However, there are reports that he was evacuated due to rocket fire. Meanwhile, Anbar’s governor, Suhaib al-Rawi, said over a thousand militants were killed during the battle for Ramadi. The true tallies of the fighting may never be publicly known.

=> ↺ Economic reform: tackling the root causes of extremism in Tunisia

• As we have seen over recent months, the phenomenon of fighters from different countries joining terrorist groups abroad highlights the need for of a global response to terrorism. Terrorism does not respect geographical borders and cannot be addressed within a single country. Tunisia does not operate within a vacuum, and we cannot counter terrorism, meet the expectations of our youth, and continue our democratic transition without the support of the international community.

=> ↺ These Ain’t Masterminds: Would Be Terrorist Crowdsourced Targets On Twitter Using ‘Silent Bomber’ Handle

• I have to say, it can certainly be quite frustrating to watch dispassionately how terrorism is discussed in the United States. After the fervor in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when terrorism was used either as a reason or excuse to enact all kinds of liberty-diffusing policies and to launch an insane surveillance state that we still haven’t recovered from, I had thought we were quietly entering an era of eye-rolling at the way some in government throw around the word “terrorism.” But, because the home of the brave is so easily whipped into a frenzy of fear, an admittedly horrible terrorist attack half a world away and a shooting spree in California that would have been shrugged off as “Hey, that’s just America” except that the perpetrators had scary sounding last names, has once again meant that our political debates and twenty-four hour news programs are focused on the threat of Islamic extremist terrorism and not all of the other zillions of ways that you might die in the next twenty-four hours.

• What all of this fear-mongering has done, which completely escapes my understanding, is create the impression that our enemy is generally devious and technologically intelligent on Bond-villain-esque levels. This is how you create a climate where a legitimate tool such as encryption is under attack as a threat. That’s what makes it so useful to point out when would-be terrorists prove themselves to be bumbling idiots practically begging to be caught.

=> ↺ Bumbling would-be UK bomber asked Twitter followers for target suggestions

• Once again, encryption was not used to cover tracks in any way.

=> ↺ The GOP Candidates Know Nothing about Syria

• Like many political animals, I was glued to the latest Republican presidential debate.

• For the most part, there were no surprises: Donald Trump railed against Muslims, Chris Christie lamented that the NSA can’t intercept Americans’ phone calls and emails as easily as it used to, Ben Carson remained confused about foreign policy, and Carly Fiorina yelled loudly that nobody was paying any attention to her.

• That’s great entertainment. But one ongoing theme bothered me – a lot.

• It seemed to me that none of the Republicans running for president had even the vaguest understanding of what’s happening in Syria.

• I learned during my nearly 15 years of working on the Middle East at the CIA – and after earning my college degree in Middle Eastern Studies – that nothing in that region is easily accomplished. Almost no issues are black and white. Alliances shift constantly, and sometimes politics makes for strange bedfellows.

• [...]

• And those “moderate” rebels? Maybe a few are freedom-loving secularists. But many more are hardcore Islamists like the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. They aren’t any more interested in democracy than Assad or the Islamic State itself.

• There is, however, a solution. And it doesn’t involve killing more people, stumbling into other countries’ civil wars, or “carpet bombing” the Middle East, as Ted Cruz proposed. It’s called diplomacy.

Transparency Reporting

=> ↺ Spy agencies resist push for expanded scrutiny of top employees

• U.S. intelligence agencies recently fought off a move by Congress to require the CIA and other spy services to disclose more details about high-ranking employees who have been promoted or fired, despite pledges to be more open and accountable.

• The disputed measure was designed to increase scrutiny of cases­ in which senior officers ascend to high-level positions despite problems ranging from abusive treatment of subordinates to involvement in botched operations overseas.

=> ↺ US Spy Agencies Crush Congressional Demand for More Employee Scrutiny

• Despite pledges of increased transparency, the US intelligence community successfully fought a Congressional measure that would require agencies to give more details about personnel who have been promoted or fired.

=> ↺ TPP’s Forgotten Danger: Stronger Trade Secrets Protection, With Criminal Penalties For Infringement

• Since the release of the TPP text back in November, commentators have naturally tended to concentrate on the bigger, more obvious problems — things like the corporate sovereignty chapter, the extension of Big Pharma’s monopolies to scientific data, and copyright provisions — that Techdirt has been exploring for years. But there’s one area that has received relatively little attention, perhaps because for most people it’s an obscure topic that seems rather unimportant. It concerns the issue of trade secrets, which Techdirt wrote about in the context of TPP in October 2014. There, we concentrated on the risk that it would chill investigative reporting and corporate whistleblowing, but a new column in The Globe and Mail by Dan Breznitz, professor of Innovation Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, looks at the economic impact of TPP’s trade secrets measures.

=> ↺ For their eyes only… Secrecy row as Whitehall refuses to release Cabinet files in full for first time in 50 years

• The Cabinet Office was accused of suppressing ‘politically sensitive information’ last night after it failed to fully release official files for the first time in 50 years.

• It usually releases hundreds of documents about government decision-making through the National Archives, but this year there are just 14.

• Files on subjects ranging from the SAS shootings in Gibraltar to the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 should have been available to the public but are not.

• MPs pointed out last night that two senior ministers connected to the National Archives were government advisers during the period covered by the missing files.

=> ↺ Police Union Thinks Cops Should Receive Less Scrutiny Than Retail Workers

• Police unions are working tirelessly towards destroying any remaining shreds of respectability. Presumably, they once served a purpose roughly aligned with the public good. Now, they serve the singular purpose of ensuring our nation’s law enforcement agencies will always be forced to keep the abusive, incompetent officers on their payroll.

Environment/Energy/Wildlife

=> ↺ Fracked Gas Won’t Achieve Paris Climate Goals, But Empowering Communities Could

• The United States is undergoing a massive energy transition that isn’t receiving enough attention, and it could render the Paris climate agreement meaningless. We’re swapping one climate-damaging fuel, coal, for another that is actually worse: fracked gas.

• It’s a stark contradiction for U.S. climate policy. The Obama administration used its executive power to push the agreement and its aspirational goal of keeping warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. The agreement is a good thing. But for the U.S., a big part of reaching its intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) commitment is implementing the Clean Power Plan, the EPA’s framework for states to reduce their carbon emissions. It’s designed to facilitate a wholesale transition from coal to natural gas, much of which is a product of fracking.

=> ↺ ‘Incredible’ Winter Flooding Along Mississippi River Could Be Historic

=> ↺ Deadly Missouri Flooding Forces Town Evacuations as Water Continues to Rise

• At least 20 people have been killed by severe flooding in Missouri, where several towns along the Mississippi River have been forced to evacuate due to rising floodwaters that are predicted to break records in the next few days. Such catastrophic, widespread flooding hasn’t been seen in the region in over two decades.

=> ↺ Sunderland Fan Zone closed by bad weather

=> ↺ The 15 Most Ridiculous Things Conservative Media Said About Climate Change In 2015

• From Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change, to the establishment of the first-ever federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants, to a landmark international climate agreement, 2015 has been full of major landmarks in national and global efforts to address global warming. Yet you wouldn’t know it if you inhabited the parallel universe of the conservative media, where media figures went to ridiculous and outrageous lengths to dismiss or deny climate science, attack the pope, scientists, and anyone else concerned with climate change, and defend polluting fossil fuel companies. Here are the 15 most ridiculous things conservative media said about climate change in 2015.

=> ↺ No Denying It, Climate Change Is Happening Now

• The leaves came off the last trees — a crabapple, a willow and a hardy Norway maple — during the first week of December this year, surely the latest I can remember seeing leaves on trees since we moved to the Philadelphia area 18 years ago. But it’s not just that.

• A rhododendron bush beside the house has huge blooms ready to burst open, the white petal tips pushing out of their scaly looking egg-sized buds. And our garden is still boasting a surprisingly fast-growing crop of chard, sweet kale and perhaps most surprisingly, tall fava bean plants that, while they didn’t produce any beans this year, saute up to make a beautiful doumiao — one of my favorite Chinese vegetable dishes.

=> ↺ Waiting to exhale: The politics of fire in Indonesia

• Why are there more land fires in Indonesia before an election? Why are oil palm plantations burned also? Why does everyone involved see the fires differently?

• And what do elephants have to do with any of it?

• The devastating land and forest fires in Indonesia begin long before someone lights a match: They start with a complex entanglement of politics, economics, power and practice.

=> ↺ Commentary: Emissions From Indonesia’s Fires Reach New Highs, but Solutions Are Within Reach

• Indonesia’s forest and land fires have reached a new level of global significance. New analysis published this week by Guido van der Werf, lead scientist with the Global Fire Emissions Database, indicates that since September greenhouse gas emissions from the fires exceeded the average daily emissions from all US economic activity. Extrapolating from van der Werf’s estimates, these emissions are likely to add about 3 percent to total global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities for the year. The emissions from fires so far in 2015 are more than three times higher than expected by Indonesia’s national planning agency.

• The fires in Indonesia are set to clear land for agriculture or as a weapon in conflict over land. Many of the fires are burning on carbon-rich peatlands and as a result spew extremely large amounts of toxic smog into the air and climate-altering gas into the atmosphere.

=> ↺ Floods, climate, and neglect: a reflection

• We have been lucky with the flooding where we live, at least so far. Kirkburton is in the east Pennines a few miles out of Huddersfield and the village was on the Environment Agency’s “risk of flooding” warning for twenty-four hours on the weekend of 26-27 December. Fortunately, while the rain may have been very heavy it didn’t persist here as long as it did up on the moors, but some of the Calder Valley towns like Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge were hit appallingly badly.

Finance

=> ↺ Affluenza: An Outrage in All Its Forms

• Ethan was sentenced to mere parole instead of prison. Ethan Couch, whose family is worth a reported $15 million, became the embodiment of our unfair treatment of the rich. He recently re-entered headlines after a jaunt through Mexico in violation of parole left him in federal custody. He may, in the end, face jail time.

• The public outrage at Ethan’s legal treatment has been understandably intense. Why should someone get off easy simply because they’re rich?

• However, much less public outrage has come from another insidious from of affluenza—the legalized tax evasion by the ultra wealthy. According to a blistering new report from The New York Times, “The very richest are able to quietly shape tax policy that will allow them to shield millions, if not billions, of their income.”

=> ↺ For the Wealthiest, a Private Tax System That Saves Them Billions

• The hedge fund magnates Daniel S. Loeb, Louis Moore Bacon and Steven A. Cohen have much in common. They have managed billions of dollars in capital, earning vast fortunes. They have invested large sums in art — and millions more in political candidates.

• Moreover, each has exploited an esoteric tax loophole that saved them millions in taxes. The trick? Route the money to Bermuda and back.

=> ↺ Apple to pay Italy 318 million euros, sign tax deal – source

• Apple Inc will pay Italy’s tax office 318 million euros ($348 million) to settle a dispute over allegations it failed to pay taxes for six years, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

• The maker of iPhones and iPads will also sign an accord next year on how to manage its tax liabilities from 2015 onward, the source said.

=> ↺ German Ministry of Finance’s anti-Europe proposal

• Recently, I wrote a blog – Who is responsible for the Eurozone crisis? The simple answer: It is not Germany! – where I contended that Germany was not to blame for the Eurozone crisis. I also wrote that while Germany was not responsible, single-handedly, for the creation of the dysfunctional monetary union, its politicians were surely complicit in making the crisis deeper and longer than it otherwise could have been given the circumstances.

=> ↺ Clinton Senior Adviser Authored Paper Arguing for Paid Leave Proposal She Now Opposes

• But for Hillary Clinton, this tiny increase in payroll taxes is not only a reason to delay, but a reason to oppose the legislation altogether – something O’Leary has apparently discarded her own previous advocacy for.But for Hillary Clinton, this tiny increase in payroll taxes is not only a reason to delay, but a reason to oppose the legislation altogether – something O’Leary has apparently discarded her own previous advocacy for.

=> ↺ The Sharing Economy

=> ↺ A Crisis Worse than ISIS? Bail-Ins Begin

• At the end of November, an Italian pensioner hanged himself after his entire €100,000 savings were confiscated in a bank “rescue” scheme. He left a suicide note blaming the bank, where he had been a customer for 50 years and had invested in bank-issued bonds. But he might better have blamed the EU and the G20’s Financial Stability Board, which have imposed an “Orderly Resolution” regime that keeps insolvent banks afloat by confiscating the savings of investors and depositors. Some 130,000 shareholders and junior bond holders suffered losses in the “rescue.”

=> ↺ What Went Right in 2015

• Sure, income inequality has grown—but so what? The rich don’t get richer at the expense of the poor. Poor people’s income grew 48 percent over the past 35 years. Bernie Sanders says that “the middle class is disappearing!” But that’s mainly because many middle-class people moved into the upper class. Middle class incomes grew 40 percent over the past 30 years.

PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

=> ↺ 5 of the Worst Examples of Biased and Distorted Media Coverage of Education in 2015

• 2015 was an important year in education policy, with the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the beginning of the 2016 election campaigns, and local fights for teachers and public schools making national headlines. In an important year for students and teachers across the education spectrum, however, some media outlets used their platforms to push falsehoods. Here are five of the worst media failures on public education this year.

=> ↺ George Pataki Leaves Presidential Race

• Earle I. Mack, a prominent real estate developer and Republican donor who was supporting Mr. Pataki, said the former governor had faced a difficult national environment for his “middle of the road” brand of politics. Mr. Mack, who spoke with Mr. Pataki ahead of his announcement, said Republicans faced a dire future if they did not tack toward the center, as Mr. Pataki had urged.

=> ↺ Trump Spokeswoman Loves Her Bullet Necklace, but Might Wear a ‘Fetus’ Necklace Next Time

=> ↺ The Airwaves May Soon Be Awash With Footage of Donald Trump Mugging in the Debates

• My colleague Russ Choma, who was apparently denied entry to a Donald Trump rally in chilly New Hampshire, nonetheless reports that Trump says he will soon begin spending millions of dollars on television ads in early primary states. Maybe so—or maybe it’s just Trump jabbering again.

=> ↺ Does Donald Trump Have Any Friends?

• This is an odd quirk in Trump’s personality. He seems to have an ironclad rule against ever attacking someone first. Even Vladimir Putin. Putin says nice things about Trump, so Trump has to say nice things back. Opposing candidates who don’t attack him are “great guys.” But if you attack first, then he has to fire off a nuclear retaliation. There’s an odd kind of chivalry at work here, and I suppose it also provides people with a motivation to leave him alone.

=> ↺ Here Is Every Crazy, Insane, Terrible, Genius, Infuriating Thing Donald Trump Did This Year

• It’s hard to overstate Donald Trump’s impact on the 2016 race for the White House. The business tycoon symbolizes the shift from traditional presidential campaigns to the new uncampaign. Trump has had no need to pander for money, and he has been impervious to criticism—no matter how justified. He seems to only be strengthened by political gaffes that would doom other candidates. This year, he has dominated the news cycle repeatedly and ridden high in the polls. Chronicling all his wacky remarks, blunders, outrageous proposals, and, of course, crazy tweets of this past year would be nearly impossible. But we tried.

=> ↺ Donald Trump Is About to Open His War Chest

• But the biggest news of the night came when Trump said he would vastly increase his spending on television commercials. To date, Trump appears to have spent only $217,000 on advertising—compared with $41 million spent by Bush and his allied super-PAC. But Trump told the crowd that’s about to change.

=> ↺ EXCLUSIVE: The Story Sheldon Adelson Didn’t Want You To Read

• Two weeks ago, conservative billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his family purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada’s largest paper. On Tuesday, its editor-in-chief of five years, Mike Hengel, resigned.

• If you are a subscriber to the Review-Journal, you would have read a grand total of 79 words on Wednesday about Hengel’s departure. According to the story, which did not have a byline, the decision was “mutual” and “he did not believe he was forced out.”

=> ↺ Michael Moore on Why America ‘Needs a Little Time in the Timeout Room,’ and Whether Hillary Will Start a War

• Where do you see signs of hope? Is the Bernie Sanders campaign a sign of hope, even if he doesn’t win?

• Absolutely. A socialist was on the stage for a Democratic debate! There was a poll last month where they asked Democrats how they felt about socialism and capitalism, and 46 percent said they had a positive view of socialism, while 37 percent said they had a positive view of capitalism. Things are changing, and young people are making this change happen. My politics and Bernie’s line up almost exactly the same.

=> ↺ Bernie Sanders’ Ambitious Plan to Win the Backing of Donald Trump Supporters

• Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said Sunday that he believes he can boost his own standing in the race by swaying supporters of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump to back his campaign.

• Sanders told CBS’s Face the Nation that many of Trump’s supporters have legitimate fears stemming from income inequality that Sanders is best positioned to address.

• “What Trump has done with some success is taken that anger, taken those fears, which are legitimate, and converted them into anger against Mexicans, anger against Muslims,” Sanders said.

=> ↺ One person shows up to O’Malley event in Iowa, remains uncommitted

• The uncommitted voter told the candidate that he had the strongest résumé of the three Democrats seeking the nomination, according to Beckman’s report. “I give you a lot of credit for coming out here,” Kenneth told O’Malley. “I’m glad you took the time.”

=> ↺ Ukraine’s media: a plea for pluralism

• Under these conditions, so-called ‘explanatory journalism’ has come to play an increasingly important role. This is journalism that tells its audience how a particular incident, phenomenon or statement impacts them personally, and how it relates to their value systems and principles.

• In a pluralistic society, the commitment to a particular belief system is important for building audiences around specific media resources. Conservatives and liberals, supporters of free enterprise and socialists, supporters and opponents of migration, tend to group around the publication which best reflects their personal views.

Censorship

=> ↺ A deadly landslide exposes the depths of China’s corruption and censorship

• DISASTERS, BOTH natural and man-made, tear a hole in society. When that tear comes in a place such as China, systemic failures often are exposed as well as lives lost and dreams crushed. The landslide that came roaring down on the Chinese city of Shenzhen on Dec. 20 underscores yet again the dangers of unbridled growth, lax safety inspections, corruption, unaccountable government and lack of rule of law.

=> ↺ Official in China city hit by deadly landslide kills himself

• A government official in southern China killed himself a week after a landslide from a huge pile of construction waste in his city left scores missing and presumed dead, police said Monday.

=> ↺ 2015 was the year ‘censorship’ lost all meaning

• This year, in lieu of the traditional “Best Of” lists, we thought it would be fun to throw our editors into a draft together and have a conversation. This is the year that censorship was either a big deal or lost all meaning. We got an error code for governments blocking web pages, a presidential candidate suggested we “close up” the internet, we spent a lot of time wondering whether college campuses were limiting free speech, and we got into a gigantic debate over whether Reddit’s stricter policies constituted censorship. And of course we heard about whether all the things Gamergate and similar internet bottom-feeders hated last year — Twitter block lists, comment moderation, saying a game was sexist — were still turning the internet into a censorious wasteland. We brought together Adi Robertson and Russell Brandom to discuss whether anyone knows what censorship means now.

=> ↺ Fighting abuse to protect freedom of expression

• Today, as part of our continued efforts to combat abuse, we’re updating the Twitter Rules to clarify what we consider to be abusive behaviour and hateful conduct. The updated language emphasizes that Twitter will not tolerate behavior intended to harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence another user’s voice. As always, we embrace and encourage diverse opinions and beliefs –but we will continue to take action on accounts that cross the line into abuse.

=> ↺ Filmmaker wins lawsuit against censorship in Chinese court

• Director Fan Popo says he won a lawsuit targeting censorship in China, but the victory is only partial because he must continue his fight to screen a film.

=> ↺ Gay filmmaker claims partial victory over China censors

• ‘I also saw online comments saying that they don’t support gay rights but they are happy to see somebody sue SAPPRFT’

=> ↺ Gay Filmmaker Fan Popo Declares Legal Victory, but Banned Film Still Can’t Be Viewed

• At issue is Fan’s 2012 documentary titled Mama Rainbow, which follows mothers of gay children throughout China. Fan’s 30-minute-long documentary was previously available on many Chinese video streaming platforms, namely Youku, Tudou, and 56.com, receiving a huge amount of hits, comments, and reviews from people from all walks of life, both positive and negative, until it was removed in late 2014.

=> ↺ New media law gives Polish government fuller control

• Poland’s parliament on Wednesday adopted a new media law that gives the conservative government more latitude to control state-run television and radio.

• The law on “national media” is the latest in a series of legislative efforts by the newly elected Law and Justice party (PiS) government to take control of a wide array of state institutions, something that’s creating a growing, but so far ineffective, domestic and international pushback.

=> ↺ Latin American Journalism and Advocacy Groups Recognized by Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards

• Journalists, media organizations and freedom of expression advocates from El Salvador, Cuba, Argentina, Mexico and Ecuador were included on the long list of candidates for the Index on Censorship’s 2016 Freedom of Expression Awards announced on December 16.

=> ↺ Twitter Closes Out 2015 By Tackling Harassment In Its Terms Of Service

Privacy

=> ↺ War on drugs meets terrorism

• Last month I had the pleasure of attending the biennial Drug Policy Alliance shindig in Washington on behalf of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc). We also held our annual LEAP board meeting ahead of the DPA, and it was great to have the chance to catch up again with my fellow directors.

=> ↺ Reforms Abound for Cross-Border Data Requests

• Currently, all countries must meet the U.S. legal standard of probable cause before obtaining communications from U.S.-based companies. The proposal seems to lower this standard by mandating requests be “relevant and material” to the crime under investigation. While it’s our understanding that the proposed language is meant to approximate the U.S. probable cause standard without using the words “probable cause,” the elasticity of “relevance” (as seen in U.S. debates over the scope of Section 215) is a red flag.

=> ↺ Report: Obama spied on Netanyahu after NSA reforms

• President Barack Obama’s administration continued to spy after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, even after he announced two years ago he would curtail the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping program on friendly heads of state, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

=> ↺ China expert Adam Segal: U.S. companies should worry about Beijing’s new anti-terrorism law

• American tech companies are worried that China’s new anti-terrorism law will force them to open up their encryption for the country’s notoriously repressive government.

• As the United States debates whether police should have guaranteed access to encrypted products like your iPhone or Android device, Beijing’s new technology policies—part of a broader law that passed on Sunday to combat terrorism in the country—are sure to spark renewed hand-wringing in Silicon Valley over whether and how U.S. firms should even operate in China.

=> ↺ EFF Joins ACLU in Amicus Brief Supporting Warrant Requirement for Cell-Site Simulators

• EFF, ACLU, and ACLU of Maryland filed an amicus brief today in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals in the first case in the country (that we know of) where a judge has thrown out evidence obtained as a result of using a cell-site simulator without a warrant.

• In the case, Baltimore Police used a Hailstorm—a cell-site simulator from the same company that makes Stingrays—to locate Kerron Andrews, the defendant. The police not only failed to get a warrant to use the device, they also failed to disclose it to the judge in their application for a pen register order. And it appears they even failed to tell the State’s attorney prosecuting Mr. Andrews’ case.

• Luckily Mr. Andrews’ intrepid defense attorney suspected the police might have used a Stingray and sent a discovery request asking specifically if they had. The prosecution stalled for months on answering that request, but, on the eve of trial, one of the investigators responsible for Baltimore PD’s stingrays finally testified in court not only that he’d used the device to find Mr. Andrews, but that he’d specifically not disclosed it in any report filed about Andrews’ arrest. The judge concluded the police had intentionally withheld information from Mr. Andrews—a clear violation of his constitutional rights.

=> ↺ Spying on Congress and Israel: NSA Cheerleaders Discover Value of Privacy Only When Their Own Is Violated

• The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the NSA under President Obama targeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top aides for surveillance. In the process, the agency ended up eavesdropping on “the contents of some of their private conversations with U.S. lawmakers and American-Jewish groups” about how to sabotage the Iran Deal. All sorts of people who spent many years cheering for and defending the NSA and its programs of mass surveillance are suddenly indignant now that they know the eavesdropping included them and their American and Israeli friends rather than just ordinary people.

=> ↺ One Of Congress’s Biggest Defenders Of NSA Surveillance Suddenly Aghast That NSA May Have Spied On Him

• Remember how Dianne Feinstein — a huge supporter of the intelligence community — absolutely freaked out about surveillance when it happened to her staffers (when the CIA snooped on their network)? It would almost be funny how the defenders of surveillance react when they’re being surveilled… if it weren’t so tragic.

=> ↺ House Intelligence chair seeks answers on NSA spying report

• The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday his committee will look into a report the U.S. spied on the Israeli prime minister and in the process swept up communications with Congress.

=> ↺ Poisoned apple: the curse of social media in the Gulf

• The increased social media use in the Gulf might signify some progress for its citizens, but the extent to which it empowers them is greatly outweighed by state surveillance through the same vehicle.

=> ↺ NSA Never Stopped Intercepting Foreign Leaders’ Communications, Swept Up Congress Members In Its Collection

• Technically, spying on Congress is off-limits. In reality, the NSA can grab anything involving conversations with foreign citizens, provided it feels the content of the communications contains “significant foreign intelligence.” Even so, the NSA is required to inform oversight committees when it has released unminimized, Congress-related communications to the executive branch. In this case, that information was never turned over to the oversight committees, and the executive branch deferred entirely to the NSA’s judgment on the withholding of this information.

=> ↺ Paul “appalled” by NSA surveillance, Pataki on campaign exit

=> ↺ Rubio: Reports of NSA spying on Congress ‘worse than some people might think’

=> ↺ Rand Paul Appalled By NSA’s Possible Data Collection on Congress

=> ↺ Rand Paul: ‘Appalled’ By NSA Spying on Members of Congress

=> ↺ Rand Paul ‘Appalled’ The NSA Spied On Members Of Congress

=> ↺ NSA eavesdropping on Israeli PM Netanyahu is nothing new

• The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that President Obama did not include Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu in his list of world leaders that the US does not spy on, and that he ordered the continued monitoring of the discussions between Netanyahu and his senior aides.

=> ↺ US ‘spied on Binyamin Netanyahu during Iran nuclear deal talks’

=> ↺ The New WSJ Report on the NSA Has Some WTF For Everyone

• This latest Wall Street Journal bombshell about the National Security Agency’s having spied on the back-channel shenanigans between putative ally Benjamin Netanyahu and the members of Congress regarding the state of the Iran nuclear talks has a little WTF somethin’-somethin’ for everyone. If you happen to be a staunch American Likudnik, you can ask WTF the NSA is doing spying on our plucky ally. If, like me, you don’t trust the NSA’s assurances as far as you can throw the billions of dollars we spend snooping around the world, you can ask WTF the NSA is doing spying on members of Congress. (Answer to outraged conservatives in this camp: exactly what all you people want it to do to Muslims.) If you have made a career out of being a public nut, you can go indiscriminately crazy. And if, like me, you’ve always wondered WTF members of Congress were doing helping a putative ally derail a major foreign-policy initiative of the United States, thanks to the NSA, you’ve now got a pretty good idea.

=> ↺ No comment: Sen. Harry Reid declines to blame NSA spying allegations on Koch brothers

=> ↺ Is the Freedom Act More Effective Than the Patriot Act?

• As members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), we have witnessed firsthand how oversight, coupled with transparency, can drive efforts to improve flawed surveillance programs.

• Section 215 of the Patriot Act, under which the National Security Agency (NSA) collected and searched the telephone metadata of millions of innocent Americans, serves as a prime example.

=> ↺ The Cold War-Era Rules Designed to Protect U.S. Lawmakers’ Communications

• When Americans, including U.S. lawmakers and government officials, were referenced in foreign communications swept up by the NSA, their identities were required to be obscured through a process called “minimization.” The question of how the NSA handles lawmakers was raised in a Wall Street Journal piece about U.S. spying on Israel’s top leadership.

Civil Rights

=> ↺ What Everyone Should Know About The Police Killing Of Tamir Rice (2002-2014)

• Today, prosecutor Tim McGinty announced that he would not seek criminal charges against the officers involved in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback. The decision came after a grand jury, which has been hearing evidence for three months, declined to issue an indictment. Rice’s family and others sharply criticized McGinty’s conduct throughout the grand jury process, arguing that he was manipulating the proceedings to the benefit of the officers.

=> ↺ Top Wins for Civil Liberties in 2015

• We made great progress on key fronts in 2015. We fought to protect our privacy, demanded justice for torture victims, and stood up against pregnancy discrimination. We also won the right for same-sex couples to legally wed, fought for families seeking asylum—and much more. The strides we’ve made in the past year are all due to your support. Thanks to you, the ACLU’s impact throughout the country—in courts, legislatures, and the media—resonates across issues and generates new momentum for change.

=> ↺ The Illusion of Freedom

• The seizure of political and economic power by corporations is unassailable. Who funds and manages our elections? Who writes our legislation and laws? Who determines our defense policies and vast military expenditures? Who is in charge of the Department of the Interior? The Department of Homeland Security? Our intelligence agencies? The Department of Agriculture? The Food and Drug Administration? The Department of Labor? The Federal Reserve? The mass media? Our systems of entertainment? Our prisons and schools? Who determines our trade and environmental policies? Who imposes austerity on the public while enabling the looting of the U.S. Treasury and the tax boycott by Wall Street? Who criminalizes dissent?

=> ↺ Argentina lurches rightwards but progressive policy gains will endure

• The ascendency of the pro-business conservative Mauricio Macri to Argentina’s Presidency on 10th December 2015 spells the end of 12 years of centre-Left Peronist governments.

=> ↺ The Ku Klux Klan: America’s Long History of Tolerating White Terrorist Organizations

• One centuries’ old example of US government double standards when it comes to terrorism, is the infamous Klu Klux Klan. The Klan has terrorized and killed far more Americans than Islamic terrorists ever have; and despite being America’s oldest terrorist organization, the US government does not officially consider the KKK a terrorist organization, classifying it merely as a “hate group”.

=> ↺ Cleveland officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice will not face criminal charges

• Grand jury declines to indict white officer Timothy Loehmann and partner over shooting of 12-year-old, citing lack of evidence of criminal misconduct

=> ↺ Cleveland’s Terrible Stain

• Tamir Rice of Cleveland would be alive today had he been a white 12-year-old playing with a toy gun in just about any middle-class neighborhood in the country on the afternoon of Nov. 22, 2014.

• But Tamir, who was shot to death by a white police officer that day, had the misfortune of being black in a poor area of Cleveland, where the police have historically behaved as an occupying force that shoots first and asks questions later. To grow up black and male in such a place is to live a highly circumscribed life, hemmed in by forces that deny your humanity and conspire to kill you.

• Those forces hovered over the proceedings on Monday when a grand jury declined to indict Officer Timothy Loehmann in the killing and Timothy McGinty, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, explained why he had asked the grand jurors to not bring charges. Mr. McGinty described the events leading up to Tamir’s death as tragic series of errors and “miscommunications” that began when a 911 caller said a male who was “probably a juvenile” was waving a “probably fake” gun at people in a park.

=> ↺ Pressure Mounts After Chicago Police Admit To Killing Innocent 55-Year-Old Woman By Accident

• After police officers shot and killed two Chicago residents — one admittedly accidentally — early Saturday morning, their friends and families are asking why officers “shoot first and ask questions later.”

=> ↺ CIA Torture Program Originated in MKUltra Department

• As Soft Panorama notes, Seligman’s theory of Learned Helplessness was initially used to design a training program to help captured military personnel resist the effects of torture (3). LH went on to be used in the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay to assist the interrogation of convicts.

• According to an article by Shadow Proof about the CIA’s torture program originating in the same department as MKUltra, Seligman is believed to have met with Mitchell on three occasions, which, as Shadow Proof claims “strongly suggests” that the CIA torture program was initiated by the OTS and constituted “at least in part” of an experimental program (4).

=> ↺ The whipping girl: Screaming in agony, a woman collapses as she and a man are caned under Sharia law in Indonesia merely for being ‘seen in close proximity’ to each other without being married

=> ↺ Federal Judge Says Cops Can Hold Your Family at Gunpoint if You Drink Tea or Grow Tomatoes–Here’s Why

• A Kansas couple lost their lawsuit after a federal judge essentially ruled that drinking tea and gardening were probable cause for a drug search warrant — but they forced a change in state law that could prevent similar raids.

=> ↺ Why Sarah Silverman Is Scary: It’s the Cultural Power of Celebrities That Drives Conservatives Insane

• Conservatives love decrying liberals for “political correctness” and “oversensitivity,” a particularly poignant form of hypocrisy since liberals could never reach the levels of whininess and hyper-sensitivity to perceived insults that the right wing coughs up daily. Doubly so when it comes to anything that a celebrity says.

• Freaking out on celebrities allows conservatives to double down on their sense of victimhood — not only do they get to feign offense, they also get to wallow in how supposedly unfair it is that the giant liberal media conspiracy is oppressing them by allowing celebrities to say progressive things in public.

=> ↺ The Unspoken Problem With the Tamir Rice Killing

• This is absolutely right, of course. The war by police on Black Americans is a continuation of the war on former black slaves in the post bellum South, when unfortunate young black men, Billie Holliday’s “Strange Fruit,” were strung up with utter impunity by whites in hoods and sheets. None of us who saw it can ever forget the face of Emmett Till in his coffin.

=> ↺ The Politics of the “Comfort Women” Deal

• The comfort women are in their 90s now but it is not their increasing frailty that led to the “agreement’’ between Seoul and Tokyo. The timing concerned an event held in Beijing on Sept 3. China’s “Victory over Fascism’’ military parade which marked the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII had one telling moment that made strategists in Washington sit up and take notice. The attendance of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, the only major US ally to turn up, prodded Washington to lean on Japan and Seoul to get an agreement. The pivot, a mild word for what is a major US military redeployment, depends on the pillar of Japan and South Korea cooperating. The plight of the former sex slaves, which Japan euphemistically calls the ianfu, or comfort women, is the main thorn in the side of relations between Seoul and Tokyo.

=> ↺ Bill Cosby To Face Criminal Charges For Sexual Assault

• Prosecutors announced Wednesday morning that Bill Cosby will face criminal charges for a sexual assault he allegedly committed in 2004 against a former Temple University employee. He is expected to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

=> ↺ 2015 in reproductive rights: Arkansas sets off year of abortion restrictions

=> ↺ U.S. Passed 47 New Anti-Abortion Laws in 2015

• In 2015, U.S. states introduced upwards of 350 anti-abortion bills and passed 47 of them, according to a report from the Center for Reproductive Rights.* This is down somewhat from 2013, but an increase over the number of measures passed in 2014.

=> ↺ Why Black Lives Matter Is the Movement of the Year

• Although more than two years have passed since three black women—Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi—founded Black Lives Matter (BLM) in the wake of George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the murder of Trayvon Martin, the U.S. justice system’s continued failures clearly illustrate why the movement is still as important and necessary as ever.

• Earlier this month, a Baltimore judge declared a mistrial in the case of William Porter, the first of six officers to be indicted in the death of Freddie Gray.

• Then, just five days later, on Dec. 21, a Texas grand jury decided not to indict anyone in the mysterious police-custody death of Sandra Bland.

=> ↺ 2015: The Year Police Killings in America Were Counted

• The Black Lives Matter movement that swept the country in 2015 has—among other accomplishments—forced global media outlets to afford victims of police killings the most basic acknowledgement: a public record of their names and deaths.

• Such a grim tally was maintained this year by both the Guardian and the Washington Post, following the consistent failure of the U.S. government to keep adequate records.

• According to the Guardian, 1,126 people were killed by police so far in 2015, averaging more than three a day, with 27 percent of those slain facing mental health issues.

=> ↺ LeBron Shouldn’t Boycott Basketball. But He Should Learn Something About Tamir Rice.

• His comments came after a group of activists online started a #NoJusticeNoLeBron campaign, asking the NBA superstar and Cleveland native to sit out of Cleveland Cavaliers games until the Department of Justice “imprisons the murderers” of Rice.

=> ↺ America’s Incarcerated Population, Largest in World, Grew Even More Last Year

• The federal government’s Bureau of Justice Statistics has released new numbers detailing how America’s incarcerated population — already the world’s largest — grew even bigger in 2014.

• The bureau’s researchers report that the number of individuals incarcerated grew by 1,900 people over the course of last year — “reversing a 5-year decline since 2008.”

=> ↺ Racial prejudice is driving opposition to paying college athletes. Here’s the evidence.

• With the money made from college sports increasing every year, the way colleges treat their athletes has become controversial.

• That’s because college sports is a tremendously lucrative business for everyone but the athletes. The National College Athletic Association (NCAA) will receive $7.3 billion from ESPN for the right to broadcast the seven games of the College Football Playoffs (CFP) between 2014 and 2026, and $11 billion from CBS and Turner Sports to broadcast “March Madness” over the next 14 years.

=> ↺ Chicago’s Solution to Killings by Police? More Tasers! Which Also Result in Death.

• So Chicago’s police are a disaster and has been since forever, honestly. Even before the latest outrages—the brutal police killing of Laquan McDonald (and the city’s attempt to suppress video footage of it) and the accidental killing of a 55-year-old grandmother by police responding to a call over the holidays—the city had been paying out millions of dollars in settlements over claims of misconduct by police.

• Some are calling for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s resignation. He is declining and has been promising reform. Today we are going to be seeing what his idea of reform looks like.

=> ↺ After the French 9/11, Le Patriot Act

• The visible signs of change here at the merciful close of France’s annus horribilis are subtle to the American eye. Travelers arriving by air from other European countries no longer encounter an automatic “hurry along” at the passport booth. More tricolors than usual are draped across apartment buildings. The rifle-gripping soldiers walking slowly through the shopping promenades look decidedly alert and grim.

=> ↺ VIDEO: White Police Officer Who Fatally Shot 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice Will Not Face Criminal Charges

• More than a year after the shooting in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty declared, “The death of Tamir Rice was an absolute tragedy. It was horrible, unfortunate and regrettable. But it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime.”

=> ↺ Virginia Man Shot 23 Times by W.Va. Cops, Family Challenging Judge’s Summary Dismissal of Lawsuit

• In March 2013, Wayne Jones was stopped by a police officer in Martinsburg, West Virginia for walking in the street. He reportedly told the cop he had a knife and then tried to flee. Five police officers caught up with Jones, shooting him at least 22 times after yelling at him to “drop the fucking knife.” That October, a grand jury predictably declined to indict anyone in relation to the shooting.

=> ↺ The Paranoid Style of American Policing

• When I was around 10 years old, my father confronted a young man who was said to be “crazy.” The young man was always too quick to want to fight. A foul in a game of 21 was an insult to his honor. A cross word was cause for a duel, and you never knew what that cross word might be. One day, the young man got into it with one of my older brother’s friends. The young man pulled a metal stake out of the ground (there was some work being done nearby) and began swinging it wildly in a threatening manner. My father, my mother, or my older brother—I don’t recall which—told the other boy to go inside of our house. My dad then came outside. I don’t really remember what my father said to the young man. Perhaps he said something like “Go home,” or maybe something like, “Son, it’s over.” I don’t really recall. But what I do recall is that my dad did not shoot and kill the young man.

=> ↺ Update: TSA Will Give 120 Days Before “Implementing REAL ID Enforcement at Airports”

• Come January 10, at least nine states and several territories will be in defiance of a decade-old law mandating various security features on the driver’s licenses they issue. That raises the specter of people traveling on domestic flights being turned away from airport gates for having non-compliant IDs.

=> ↺ Rahm Emanuel Announcing Plans for ‘Major Overhaul’ of Chicago PD This Afternoon

• Rahm Emanuel’s resignation could be an acknowledgement of the depths of the problem, but on its own it’s not a solution nor even a step toward one. There are blueprints for reform, and they don’t require a blue ribbon panel stocked with politicians and police. This summer activists from Black Lives Matter launched Campaign Zero—a list of reforms to police practices and policies that work toward eliminating excessive police violence and increasing accountability that have been adopted in some jurisdictions and could be adopted in others. And earlier this month, they launched Check the Police, a program to collect and analyze police contracts around the country in an effort to direct attention to how they perpetuate police violence.

=> ↺ Penn. Court Says State Can’t Block Folks from Some Jobs Forever Entirely Due to Criminal Record

• A modest but important win for occupational liberty in Pennsylvania. Today its Commonwealth Court judges (that’s a step below the state’s Supreme Court) ruled unanimously that a state law that forbids people with any criminal past from getting jobs in nursing homes and long-term care facilities is unconstitutional.

Internet/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Save The Internet (part 3). Tell TRAI that we need net neutrality, once again (Dec 2015)

=> ↺ Zuckerberg’s Free Web Woes Extend Beyond India

• Mark Zuckerberg didn’t see this coming.

• When Facebook Inc.’s co-founder proposed bringing free Web services to India, his stated aim was to help connect millions of impoverished people to unlimited opportunity. Instead, critics have accused him of making a poorly disguised land grab in India’s burgeoning Internet sector. The growing backlash could threaten the very premise of Internet.org, his ambitious, two-year-old effort to connect the planet.

• Indian authorities are circumspect because the Facebook initiative provides access to only a limited set of websites — undermining the equal-access precepts of net neutrality. The telecommunications regulator is calling for initial comments by Jan 7, extending the deadline from today, on whether wireless carriers can charge differently for data usage across websites, applications and platforms. Losing this fight could imperil Facebook’s Free Basics, which allows customers to access the social network and select services such as Messenger and Microsoft’s Bing without a data plan.

=> ↺ ‘Free Basics’ will take away more than our right to the internet

• As the TRAI decides the fate of Free Basics, Mark Zuckerberg is in India with ₹100 crore, in pocket change, for advertising. Facebook’s Free Basics is a repackaged internet.org, or in other words, a system where Facebook decides what parts of the internet are important to users.

=> ↺ Broadband Rates Are Too Damn High

• Low-income communities are being stranded as everyone else catches a ride on the information superhighway.

=> ↺ Accused of Gatekeeping India’s Internet, Facebook CEO Lashes Out

• Nikhil Pahwa, an organizer with Save the Internet-India, raised the question earlier this week in the Times of India: “Why has Facebook chosen the current model for Free Basics, which gives users a selection of around a hundred sites (including a personal blog and a real estate company homepage), while rejecting the option of giving the poor free access to the open, plural and diverse web?”

DRM

=> ↺ If We’re Not Careful, Self-Driving Cars Will Be The Cornerstone Of The DRM’d, Surveillance Dystopias Of Tomorrow

• We’ve talked a lot about the ethical and programming problems currently facing those designing self driving cars. Some are less complicated, such as how to program cars to bend the rules slightly and be more more human like. Others get more complex, including whether or not cars should be programmed to kill the occupant — if it means saving a school bus full of children (aka the trolley problem). And once automated cars are commonplace, can law enforcement have access to the car’s code to automatically pull a driver over? There’s an ocean of questions we’re not really ready to answer.

Intellectual Monopolies

=> ↺ Pharma Exec for Maker of $150,000 Cancer Drug Tells Investors Its Pricing Is “Very Responsible”

• A top official at pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson dismissed questions on a recent earnings call about the drug price reform debate in Washington, saying that the company is “responsible” in its pricing.

• As part of the question and answer period during the company’s third quarter earnings call in October, one questioner asked Johnson & Johnson Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso where he sees the drug pricing reform debate in Washington going and if the company was planning a pledge, similar to one made by many firms in the 1990s, to not raise drug prices beyond the cost of inflation.

• “Despite significant media attention on drug pricing, there really isn’t a consensus on policy solutions that would lower prices without negatively lowering innovation,” he said.

=> ↺ Besides Which, Don’t You Want The Blades To Wear Out?

• No, I am not calling Gillette a troll, Paul. But they’re acting awfully trollish by going after the competition like this. As if we all can’t see what’s going on here, right?

• C’mon, Gillette. You’re better than that.

=> ↺ Qualcomm Signs New Patent Licensing Deals In China

• Qualcomm announced today that it has inked new patent licensing deals in China with smartphone manufacturers Beijing Tianyu Communication Equipment and Haier Group. The San Diego-based chipmaker has made a series of similar agreements over the past two months as it recovers from an antitrust investigation by the Chinese government.

• Since the beginning of November, Qualcomm has also announced deals with QiKu, a joint venture between Qihoo 360 and Coolpad, Xiaomi, Huawei, TCL Communication Technology Holdings, and ZTE.

Copyrights

=> ↺ China box office to beat out U.S. by 2017

• China’s box office is expected to surpass the U.S. in 2017 to become the largest market in the world, while more Chinese movie enterprises will turn to global investments to learn and practice international industry methods, a report released by H. Brothers Research and the Institute for Cultural Industries at Beijing University on Monday predicted.

=> ↺ CBS Sues Over Star Trek Fan Film Because It Sounds Like It’s Going To Be Pretty Good

• When it comes to passionate fan-bases, it’s kind of hard to match Star Trek fans. This is a group of fans that fuel much of the cosplaying and fan-creating that goes on to this day. CBS, owners of the Star Trek copyrights, has had something of a complicated relationship with these fans, flip-flopping between allowing this community to foster a wider appreciation of the franchise while occasionally clamping down on them. In the past, it has seemed clear that CBS’ chief criteria for deciding when to go legal on fan-made works boils down to two factors: is there money involved and just how professional is the fan-creation going to be?

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