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● 04.07.22

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● Links 07/04/2022: Elive 3.8.27 Beta and Microsoft GitHub Deleting Projects Again

Posted in News Roundup at 5:18 am by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxDistributionsDevices/EmbeddedFree Software/Open SourceLeftovers

GNU/Linux

Server

=> ↺ Kubernetes Blog: Kubernetes Removals and Deprecations In 1.24

• As Kubernetes evolves, features and APIs are regularly revisited and removed. New features may offer an alternative or improved approach to solving existing problems, motivating the team to remove the old approach. Old APIs are first deprecated and then removed according to the Kubernetes Deprecation Policy.

• We want to make sure you are aware of the changes coming in the Kubernetes 1.24 release. The release will deprecate several (beta) APIs in favor of stable versions of the same APIs. The major change coming in the Kubernetes 1.24 release is the removal of Dockershim. This is discussed below and will be explored in more depth at release time. For an early look at the changes coming in Kubernetes 1.24, take a look at the in-progress CHANGELOG.

Kernel Space

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ Mike Blumenkrantz: Big Marge

• In particular, lots of cases of garbled/flickering rendering (I’m looking at you, Supertuxkart on ANV) will now be perfectly smooth and without issue.

• Also there’s no swapinterval control yet, so X11 clients will have no choice but to churn out the maximum amount of FPS possible at all times.

Applications

=> ↺ 7 Best Free and Open Source Firewall Tools

• Security is paramount. Security involves defense in depth. Approaching security one step at a time, with consistency and rigour, you can mitigate threats, and keep intruders at bay.

• Intruders use a variety of different techniques in an attempt to compromise a system. For example, systems can be attacked by denial of service, cracking, intrusion, snooping (intercepting the data of another user), or viruses/worms/Trojan horses. To have a secure box, a system therefore needs a variety of defenses.

• One important step to protect a system is using a firewall. Essentially, this is a network security system, acting like a security guard between internal and external networks. The firewall controls incoming and outgoing network traffic using security rules. The rules specify which connections you want to allow and the ports and zones through which the connection can be established.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ Getting a new IP address via DHCP from Spectrum Internet

• I have things relatively locked down here—more on homelab security coming soon!—but a DDoS isn’t something most residential ISPs take too kindly. So it was time for me to recycle my home IP. Lucky for me, I don’t pay for a static IP address. That makes home hosting more annoying sometimes, since I have to deal with tunnels and dynamic DNS, but it also means I can hop to a new IP address if one is under attack.

=> ↺ Building Your Own FreeBSD-based NAS

• This article is the first of a four-part series on building your own NAS on FreeBSD. This series will cover: [...]

=> ↺ An introduction to pvpanic

=> ↺ How To Setup SSH Passwordless Login in Rocky Linux

• SSH keys are cryptographic keys that are used for authenticating and securing traffic or communication between two servers or systems. They provide a more secure authentication method as opposed to the traditional password authentication which is prone to brute-force attacks.

• In this tutorial, we will walk you through how to set up SSH keys on Rocky Linux.

=> ↺ How to Create and Manage Linux Partitions using Parted

• When it comes to the usage and mastery of Linux operating systems, you will always find yourselves learning new cool stuff due to its open-source and extensible nature.

• One cool feature available in all Linux operating system distributions is disk partitioning, which is important as it helps with organizing your files and folders, preventing files and folders conflicts, and also in seclusion of the system files from the user files.

• While considering disk partitioning in other operating systems (not Linux-based), you are bound to go after a third-party application for you to fully meet your disk partitioning objectives. With Linux, using a third-party application for disk partitioning is an optional step.

=> ↺ How To Install LEMP Stack on Ubuntu 22.04

• LEMP Stack (Linux, Nginx, MySQL and PHP ) is a popular web hosting environment for websites developed in PHP programming language. Linux is the operating system, Nginx is the popular web server and MySQL is a relational database management system used for storing data.

• This tutorial will help you to install Nginx, MySQL, and PHP (LEMP Stack) on Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux systems.

=> ↺ 13 Apk Commands for Alpine Linux Package Management

• Alpine Linux is an independent, free, and open-source Linux distribution based on BusyBox and musl. It is a lightweight and security-oriented Linux distribution that comes in a small footprint (about 160 MB).

• For this reason, it’s widely used in creating containers that are lightweight and standalone units that provide an isolated environment to deploy and run applications.

• Alpine Linux targets users who desire simplicity, security, and efficient resource utilization. It is designed for x86, x86-64. AArch64 and ARM architectures.

• Like any other Linux distribution, Alpine Linux comes with its own package manager known as apk (Alpine Package Keeper) and comes pre-installed on all Alpine Linux distributions.

=> ↺ How to install Zabbix on Ubuntu/Debian Servers

• Today you will learn How to install Zabbix on Ubuntu/Debian Servers

• Zabbix is a free, open-source and powerful, High-Performance monitoring tool for servers. It can be used to monitor servers, applications , network and devices. It usually uses agents to collect data metrics. It can be also used to monitor services like ICMP Response, HTTP Servers, SMTP Services. It uses MariaDB/MySQL Database Backend to store its content. It is developed on C and JAVA and the frontend is written in PHP. The interface makes it easier to make use of the collected data metrics and show it in graphs, screens, maps etc.

=> ↺ ERROR: Boot option loading failed | Adam Young’s Web Log

• When PXE Booting an AARCH64 server, the above message probably means that you are fetching an x86_64 image for iPXE, not ARM64. Here’s how I debugged it.

=> ↺ How To Install NVM on Ubuntu 22.04 – TecAdmin

• NVM is a Node Version Manager tool. Using the NVM utility, you can install multiple node.js versions on a single system. You can also choose a specific Node version for applications. It also provides an option to auto-select the node version using the .nvmrc configuration file.

• In this tutorial, we will help you to install NVM on Ubuntu 22.04 Linux system. Also, provide you with the instructions to install multiple Node.js versions with useful examples.

=> ↺ How to change the root password in Ubuntu

• Ubuntu is an operating system designed for beginners and is therefore easy to use. However, this ease of use is not only used by novices, but also by professionals who use it. One of the easiest things we can do is to change the root password in Ubuntu. To achieve this, we can do it from the grub as a form of recovery or from the terminal with our session. Let’s go for it.

=> ↺ How to install Firefox on Debian

• This brief tutorial explains how to install the Firefox browser on Debian based Linux distributions. After reading this tutorial you will learn different methods to get Firefox installed in your system. This article is optimized for Debian based Linux distributions, but most methods work in other Linux systems.

• Techniques explained in this article include: Manual installation from Firefox official site, using the span packages manager, using flatpack and installing Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) with the apt packages manager.

• At the end of the article, you can find a bonus section showing how to install the Opera web browser.

• All steps described in this tutorial include screenshots for elaborate illustration intended for all Linux users to easily follow them.

=> ↺ Linux Home Directory

• This tutorial explains all you need to know about the Linux Home Directory. In this article, you will learn both theoretical and practical information on the Linux Home directory, which stores all information related to the users.

• After reading this tutorial, you will know what a Home Directory is, the permissions structure, and application scenarios. This is useful for Linux distributions and other Unix-based operating systems like BSD.

• Practical instructions in this tutorial include screenshots, making it easy for any Linux user to follow them.

=> ↺ Linux Iptables List All Rules

• Iptables is a gateway that is crucial for many Linux platforms’ network securities. Since many of the iptables tutorial guides will demonstrate how to write gateway rules to safeguard your Linux system, this article will concentrate on a diverse feature of firewall administration: listing the iptables rules. Assume that in your Linux server, you have recently unveiled NAT settings. In Ubuntu, how can you view the rules that you recently wrote, together with line numbers? This article assumes you are working with a Linux platform with the iptables function loaded and that your account has root access. So, let’s start today’s article by login in from your Ubuntu 20.04 system as we will be implementing all commands on its shell. To open the Linux terminal, you need to try out the Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut right after the successful login.

=> ↺ How to fix “Error: avrdude” when uploading code to Arduino

• Most of the errors faced by the students when programming the microcontroller using Arduino are of two types one type of errors that arise compiling the code and the other type is the errors that arise when the code is being uploaded to the Arduino. The compilation errors can be rectified easily as they are highlighted by the compiler but the errors that originate while uploading the code are not that easy to rectify because the compiler does not indicate what the cause of the error. So we have listed some of the common errors that you might encounter while uploading the code and have also given the respective solution for each error.

Distributions

New Releases

=> ↺ NuTyX 22.04.1 Released with Updated Desktops and Cards

• summary of the changes in the NuTyX 22.04.1 snapshot with download instructions.

=> ↺ Elive 3.8.27 beta released

• The Elive Team is proud to announce the release of the beta version 3.8.27

• This new version includes…

Debian Family

=> ↺ Debian still having trouble with merged /usr

• The /usr merge idea was first raised in “The Case for the /usr Merge” by Lennart Poettering in 2012. It came out of the systemd community, but was not meant to be systemd-specific, though, as the comment thread on that LWN post indicates, the idea was controversial at least in part because of its association with systemd. At its core, it was a straightforward plan to move the files in /bin to /usr/bin, then make a symbolic link so that /bin would resolve to /usr/bin; the same would be done for the other top-level directories of interest (/sbin and /lib*).

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Linux Mint’s upcoming Upgrade tool makes upgrades a lot easier

• Linux Mint’s development team has been working on a new Upgrade tool for some time now. The new tool will make upgrades between major versions of the Linux distributions a lot easier for many of its users.

• New major versions of Linux Mint are released every two years. Each major version gets three point releases, and updates to one of the point releases are simple, as they don’t require use of the command line.

• Upgrades to new major version releases of Linux Mint are complex, as they take more time to perform and require use of the command line. The new Linux Mint Upgrade tool changes the major version upgrade process significantly.

Devices/Embedded

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Accessible Arduino Mouse Helps

• We enjoy access to cheap stuff because of the mass market for things like mice, keyboards, and cell phones. But if you need a device that doesn’t have mass appeal, you will have to pay a lot more if you can find it at all. However, with modern techniques like 3D printing and Arduino-like microcontrollers being cheap and simple to use, you now have the option to build that special one-of-a-kind device. Case in point: [Davy’s] mouse for people who have brain or nervous system disorders. This particular device is helping a 6-year-old who can’t manipulate a normal mouse.

=> ↺ Breaking PCBs for Science

• TL;DR: We did some testing to develop our own best practices for designing PCB breakaway tabs and published an industry white paper about it. You can download the white paper here or read on to hear about our test methods!

=> ↺ Best alternatives of Arduino IDE

• To program the Arduino there are a variety of coding platforms that are available in the market. The Arduino IDE is the platform that is mostly used by the beginner level programmers for coding the Arduino. Though the official IDE is available for free to download, do you know that there are other IDEs as well that you can use to code Arduino boards?. Well we have suggested some best alternatives for the Arduino IDE.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Web Browsers

=> ↺ Vivaldi 5.2 Adds a Reading List Panel & New Privacy Statistics Bar

• Vivaldi has been an excellent choice for users looking to get more out of their browsing experience.

• Even though it isn’t completely FOSS (UI is proprietary, the rest is open-source), it is a viable alternative for Linux users dabbling with multiple tabs and wanting more features in their arsenal.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Teaching optics through conspiracy theories

• Data types may contain secret information. Some of it can be extracted, some is hidden forever. We’re going to get to the bottom of this conspiracy.

=> ↺ String representations are not unique: learn to normalize!

• Though you should expect normalization to be efficient, it is unlikely to be computationally free. Thus you should not repeatedly normalize your strings, as I have done. Rather you should probably normalize the strings as they enter your system, so that each string is normalized only once.

• Normalization alone does not solve all of your problems, evidently. There are multiple complicated issues with internalization, but if you are at least aware of the normalization problem, many perplexing issues are easily explained.

=> ↺ How to Determine Size of an Array

• Array is a linear collection of elements. To calculate the size of array we can use sizeof() operator. With the help of sizeof() operator we can easily find out the size of an array. Except the sizeof() operator we can also use pointer to calculate the size of array.

=> ↺ Laravel Form Validation using Controller

• The form is an integral part of the Laravel project. The login form, registration form, and contact form are mainly used forms for the visitors of any web application. The user submits the data to the application by using the form. It is essential to check the data submitted by the user is genuine, and the valid user is submitting the data. The form data can be validated by using FormRequest class or the Laravel project controller method. Laravel form validation using the controller has been shown in this tutorial by creating a simple contact form.

C++

=> ↺ Isspace function C++

• You may have used many variables and functions while coding. Have you ever tried to use some functions to find out the total number of spaces used in between some variable values? If not, then you are extremely welcome in today’s tutorial guide. This article is all about the use of the isspace() function of the C++ language to find out if the specified value is space or not.

• Let’s make a fresh start to our article by producing a C++ file.

• We need Ubuntu’s shell to create a C++ document in Ubuntu’s home folder. To do that, open Ubuntu’s shell using “Ctrl+Alt+T” and use the “touch” instruction as shown below.

=> ↺ Implementation of Doubly Linked List C++

• A doubly Linked list is the structural concept in C++ that consists of 1 or more nodes. A single node must have three parts i.e., data, a reference towards the previous node, and the next upcoming node. The very first node is said to be the “head” node that is used to access the overall linked list. The very last node of a linked list always has the NULL value. If you are new to this concept and looking for authentic resources to get knowledge, then this guide is for you.

• Let’s start this article with the new C++ file creation. We have to create it using the terminal “touch” query. After the file creation, our next task is to open it and create some c++ code. For the opening, you can make use of any built-in editor of Ubuntu 20.04 like a text editor, vim editor, or Gnu nano editor. So, we are using the “nano” instruction on our shell to open the doubly.cc file in it.

=> ↺ While Loop Sum of Numbers C++

• You may have calculated the sum of numbers in mathematics many times while learning. The C++ language also supports the sum of numbers through various supported methods. One of those methods is the use of the “while” loop in different ways to calculate the sum. If you are looking for the use of the “while” loop to calculate the sum of numbers, then this article will be a plus in your learning process. So, let’s make a fresh start within Ubuntu 20.04 system and open its shell console by “Ctrl+Alt+T” shortcut. Go through each example within this article.

• Let’s create a new C++ file first. Ubuntu provides us with the “touch” instruction to make any type of file. Thus, we have been using it to generate a C++ file named “while.cc”. This file can be directly opened in the Gnu Nano editor from the shell terminal via “nano” instruction. If you don’t want to use nano editor, try opening the file explorer and moving towards the home folder or towards the folder where your file is located. Right-click on the newly created file and tap on the “Open file in Text editor” option to open it within the text editor to make code.

=> ↺ C++ modf

• Modf() is a built-in predefined function in C++ programming language. This function is used for mathematical calculations. All these functions are present in the header file of C++ math. h’. Mostly the variable ‘double’ is used for all the functions that are available in this library and also returns the double value as the result.

Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

=> ↺ That simple script is still someone’s bad day

• And, you know what, the worst part about this is that none of this knowledge should even apply. The fact we’re talking about shell scripts for something critical means that the battle for reliability was lost a long time ago.

Leftovers

=> ↺ The Five Hands of “The Slap Heard around the World”

• To be honest, I can see both sides of this highly non-frivolous issue: on the one hand, you don’t make light of the medical condition of another person’s spouse in front of a live TV audience of millions.  On the other hand—even though I understand Smith’s anger as a point of honor (and although he appeared to be enjoying the joke until his wife rolled her eyes)—violence is seldom the answer.

• That said, and on the third hand, although I am not categorically against punching the odd bully in the nose (and as a kid had seen it work wonders for playground morale), I don’t think Chris Rock was being a bully.  He was being a cheap-shot artist.  He was being a comedian in 2022, and we pay comedians good money to push the limits so that we can all talk about how indignant we are about it afterward.  Many, perhaps most, comedians these days are cheap-shot artists in one sense or another and have been for a long time (see Gilbert Gottfried, the late Norm MacDonald, Don Rickles, and everybody else).  Rock seemed to think that it was a dumb throwaway line, “a G.I. Jane joke.”  This has given rise to endless “how could he have not known?” queries.

=> ↺ Who Speaks for The World?

• Since World War II alone, these acts of aggression have included France’s colonial wars in Indochina and Algeria, Britain’s military intervention in the Middle East and Africa, the Soviet Union’s military conquest of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan, China’s invasions of Tibet and Vietnam, and America’s wars in Indochina, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

• Today, great power crimes against humanity, often driven by imperial arrogance and ambition, remain a plague upon the world

=> ↺ The Bad Aftertaste of the NCAA Men’s Tournament

• On Sunday night, the NCAA men’s basketball final epitomized March Madness, but perhaps not in the manner that the creators intended. The game itself was a classic: two college hoops blue bloods—the North Carolina Tar Heels and Kansas Jayhawks—squaring off, with Kansas engineering the biggest comeback in NCAA finals history and securing the 2022 national championship by a score of 72–69. The North Carolina team was particularly compelling. Under the leadership of first-year head coach Hubert Davis, they were in danger of not even making the tournament during a mercurial first part of the season. But they not only made it to the madness of March. They advanced to the finals by defeating archnemesis Duke, sending their legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski into retirement. And yet, despite all of this basketball nirvana, a stench remains from the North Carolina side that no one seems to want to discuss. Davis is so likable, the team was such a plucky underdog, and they came so incredibly close that all the media wants to do is cheer their effort and move on. But the odor lingers. As the game went on, it was difficult to not feel more and more uneasy with what was on display.

=> ↺ Right-Wing Supreme Court Justices ‘Just Further Poisoned Your Water’

• Environmental advocates and other critics of the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court were outraged Wednesday by a 5-4 decision reviving a Trump administration policy that undermines the power of states and tribes to protect water quality from energy infrastructure projects.

• “The Supreme Court’s aggressive move to revive a Trump-era rule shredding the Clean Water Act is so extreme that even Chief Justice John Roberts dissented.”

=> ↺ Opinion | How the Supreme Court Could Make Your Life More Dangerous

• Your life could get a lot more dangerous. Republican appointees on the Supreme Court seem poised to strip away basic safety standards for our workplaces, our food, our air and water. 

=> ↺ The Smearing of Ketanji Brown Jackson Will Haunt Democrats

• Is the political glass half-full this week, or half-empty? On the plus side, three Republican senators—Maine’s Susan Collins, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, and Utah’s Mitt Romney—announced that they will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, the first Black woman ever appointed. On the grim, even ghoulish side, we have Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-QAnon, spewing lies on Twitter in a thread that began: “Any Senator voting to confirm #KJB is pro-pedophile just like she is,” and concluded: “Murkowski, Collins, and Romney are pro-pedophile. They just voted for #KBJ.”

=> ↺ Ketanji Brown Jackson

=> ↺ Gemini Capsule in Greek

• So, that’s it. I’ve launched a separate section of my capsule which I’ll publish in Greek. It is pretty empty right now; I’ve only put there a few old poems I wrote because I didn’t want to have the ‘THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK’ kind of pages ;-).

=> ↺ Fudging Designers

• It sucks that Jeremy Crawford fudges and advocates fudging. That really goes to show how difficult DMing is in the trad framework. Not my jam.

• The existence of fudging frustrated me for a while because it forced me to come up with so many ways to be radically transparent to the dorks. Rolling openly, open tally of hitpoints etc. Sometimes showing parts from the module.

• But now that I have all those ways, those fudgy judges out there are no longer a problem for me. A problem for their own group? Maybe, but that’s not for me to decide.

• It does become kind of a problem when the main architect of the game builds it on the presuppostion of, and recommendation of, fudging. Imagine if boardgame designers would make games that only worked if you cheated. That’s messed up.

Science

=> ↺ A risible attack on the “priesthood” of “scientific gatekeeping”

• Longtime readers might remember a humorous (I hope) shtick that I used to employ from time to time when I encountered a fellow physician—or, worse, a fellow surgeon—spewing science denial. The vast majority of the time, back in those early heady days of this blog, what provoked this shtick was seeing a surgeon spew creationist nonsense denying the theory of evolution. So what was this shtick? In brief, I had a running gag that involved highly extravagant descriptions (based on old Looney Tunes) of how I wanted to hide my face behind a paper bag in sheer embarrassment over the antiscience antics of fellow physicians, particularly fellow surgeons. Over time, the gag evolved to my expressing a mock desire to hide my visage behind a metal Doctor Doom-style mask, again, over sheer embarrassment over the antiscience stylings of one of my colleagues. In most cases, it was evolution, because there are a depressingly large number of creationist physicians out there. (Anyone remember the creationist neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor?) I retired the shtick many years ago, but every so often a physician or surgeon seriously tempts me to resurrect it. Thus far, I’ve resisted, but I failed when I encountered an article in Reason by a fellow general surgeon entitled Against Scientific Gatekeeping. As if to goad me further into resurrecting the paper bag, its subtitle read: Science should be a profession, not a priesthood.

=> ↺ Whales Help Scientists Investigate The Mystery Of Menopause

• Menopause is the time of life when menstrual periods come to a halt, and a woman is no longer able to bear children. The most obvious cause of menopause is when the ovaries run out of eggs, though it can also be caused by a variety of other medical processes. While menopause is in many ways well-understood, the biological reason for menopause, or the way in which it evolved in humanity remains a mystery. The process was once thought to be virtually non-existent in the animal kingdom, raising further questions.

Education

=> ↺ Growing up in a city can harm your spatial skills – new research

• Like computer circuit boards, many American cities are organised in a grid. People flow through them in vast numbers. In our new study published in Nature, we reveal the city grid has a legacy. Designed to ease navigation, they can in turn lower the spatial skill of those who grow up in them.

=> ↺ Pandemic was a missed opportunity for science advocacy

• I was less surprised. We at the Science Media Centre (SMC) had noticed during the pandemic that some universities that were extremely proactive in research communications were missing in action. Many of those with whom we had worked closely during past health crises were struggling to prioritise the media’s demand for science.

Hardware

=> ↺ A Gaggle Of Boards Makes For An I2C Playground

• It’s not much of a stretch to assume that the majority of Hackaday readers are at least familiar with I2C. In fact, there’s an excellent chance that anyone who’s ever done more with an Arduino than blink the onboard LED has at one time or another used the serial communication protocol to talk to a sensor, display, or other external gadget. Of course, just because most of us have used it in a few projects doesn’t mean we truly understand it.

=> ↺ Hacking A Fuel Sensor Into A Portable Tank, Literally

• Regular readers of Hackaday will know that the projects we feature are generally of the high-tech variety. Microcontrollers, 3D printed parts, embedded Linux, lots of wires, that sort of thing. But that’s not to say we don’t appreciate the somewhat more visceral builds out there; after all, hacking is about creative problem solving and thinking outside the box, and none of that is limited to how complex the fix actually is.

=> ↺ Pong In Hardware… Virtually

• We are big fans of the Falstad circuit simulator. Sure, it isn’t perfect, but there’s nothing else like it when you want to whip up a simple circuit. But we were blown away when we saw a more or less complete hardware implementation of Pong in Falstad. No kidding. Starting with the original schematics, there are multiple pages that show each sub-circuit and even a playable subset that you can play the game in your browser.

=> ↺ Magnetic Hockey Game Uses A 555

• We love a good project here at Hackaday, particularly one that makes us want to pick it up and have a go at whatever it does for ourselves. And when we see such a project and find that it contains the One Chip To Rule Them All (otherwise known as the NE555 timer), our collective cup runneth over with joy. So [Andrew Fentem]’s magnetic hockey project certainly pushes all our buttons, as it’s a game superficially similar to an air hockey table in which a magnetic puck is accelerated by a handheld electronic bat.

=> ↺ Grid-Level Energy Storage And The Challenge Of Storing Energy Efficiently

• Although every electrical grid begins with the production of electricity, there are times when storing this power in some form instead of using it immediately is highly convenient. Today’s battery-powered gadgets are an obvious example of such time-shifting, but energy storage plays a major role on the grid itself, too, whether in electrochemical, mechanical or in some other form.

=> ↺ Alienware’s QD-OLED monitor sets a new standard for gaming displays

• But those will still be TVs, and this is a monitor. While this isn’t the first OLED targeted toward PC gamers, the AW3423DW is the kind of monitor that I have been waiting years for. I don’t want to have a tall TV on my desk, even if it is one of the “smaller” 42-inch LG C2 OLED TVs that are releasing this spring. The AW3423DW looks like a gaming monitor, with its immersive 1800R curve and 21:9 ultrawide (3440 x 1440) design. And, with a display capable of 175Hz refresh rate, it acts like one but has far better picture quality — and brightness — thanks to QD-OLED. At $1,299, Alienware’s pricing seems right on the money, coming in for less than next-gen TVs with many (but not all) of the same perks.

=> ↺ PSA – PC DualSense Users

• Controllers haven’t seen much change over the past decade or two. We’ve had the same set of buttons for a while now. Rumble and gyro have been a thing for a while too now. So everyone’s curiosity was piqued when reviewers began hailing Sony’s DualSense, the controller for the PlayStation 5, as the next-generation controller. Many reviewers went as far as to claim that this controller single-handedly gave the PS5 an edge over not just the XBox but the PC too.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Opinion | Poverty: The Pre-Condition Underlying Covid-19 Mortality

• In Hinds County, Miss., where nearly half of all residents are poor or low income, about 3 in 100 people have died of covid-19. Olivia Womack, a student at the University of Mississippi who grew up in Hinds County, has lost 20 members of her extended family to the coronavirus.

Integrity/Availability

Proprietary

=> ↺ Demand for cyber threat intel growing, White House official says

• Private sector companies are increasingly asking the federal government for cyber threat intelligence as they seek to shore up their defenses against growing online threats, a White House cyber official told lawmakers on Wednesday.

• Robert Knake, a U.S. official in charge of budget and policy at the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director, told a House Homeland Security subcommittee that companies are increasingly pushing for more data from government agencies.

=> ↺ The Original APT: Advanced Persistent Teenagers

• Many organizations are already struggling to combat cybersecurity threats from ransomware purveyors and state-sponsored hacking groups, both of which tend to take days or weeks to pivot from an opportunistic malware infection to a full blown data breach. But few organizations have a playbook for responding to the kinds of virtual “smash and grab” attacks we’ve seen recently from LAPSUS$, a juvenile data extortion group whose short-lived, low-tech and remarkably effective tactics have put some of the world’s biggest corporations on edge.

Security

=> ↺ Securing Your Accounts Is Difficult. This Is What You Should Know About Multi-Factor Authentication.

• One way to keep yourself more secure on the web is by using multi-factor authentication. While it might take you a few extra seconds to log in to your accounts with added security, it really is worth the hassle. 

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ You’re Still Being Tracked on the Internet, Just in a Different Way

• Now tracking has shifted to what is known as “first party” tracking. With this method, people are not being trailed from app to app or site to site. But companies are still gathering information on what people are doing on their specific site or app, with users’ consent. This kind of tracking, which companies have practiced for years, is growing.

• In other words, Google is accumulating data on its own users’ search queries, location data and contact information. Pinterest is doing the same with its users on its site and app, while TikTok is gathering information on the people who are on its app. The New York Times also does first-party tracking.

=> ↺ Patrick Breyer: „Data retention is dead. Stop trying to resurrect it!”

• The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled today in Luxembourg that general and indiscriminate data retention is inadmissible even for the purpose of combating serious crimes. MEP and civil rights activist Dr. Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) comments: [...]

=> ↺ Meta is reportedly making ‘Zuck Bucks’

• Zuck Bucks, seemingly named for Meta founder, chairman, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are “unlikely” to be a cryptocurrency. “Instead, Meta is leaning towards introducing in-app tokens that would be centrally controlled by the company, similar to those used in gaming apps such as the Robux currency in popular children’s game Roblox,” according to the FT. Roblox has built a huge business selling Robux, and Meta could try to emulate some of that success on its own platforms.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Jury Awards $14 Million To Anti-Police Brutality Protesters Who Were Brutalized By Colorado Police Officers

• Cops who thought they could just be cops and that would be enough to let them get way with excessive force deployment and other misconduct have just received a rude awakening. The public — which includes very carefully selected jury members — is sick of law enforcement’s shit.

=> ↺ Back from Kabul, Women’s Delegation Urges U.S. & Europe to Unfreeze Afghan Funds Amid Humanitarian Crisis

• Women in Afghanistan are protesting a number of gender-based restrictions from the Taliban, including an order in March to shut down public high schools for girls. In response, U.S. officials canceled talks with Taliban leaders in Doha, continuing to freeze billions in Afghan assets while Afghanistan spirals into economic catastrophe. We speak with Masuda Sultan and Medea Benjamin, two co-founders of Unfreeze Afghanistan, a coalition advocating for the release of funding for Afghan civilians. They recently visited Afghanistan as part of a U.S. women’s delegation and say the U.S. has a responsibility to alleviate the suffering there, which it had a major role in causing over two decades of war. “It seems that every time there is a showdown between the Taliban and the international community, it’s the Afghan people that suffer,” says Sultan. “We are now having a kind of economic warfare against the Afghan people,” adds Benjamin.

=> ↺ Washington Post Video Journalist Captures Ukrainian Stories as Russian Forces Leave Parts of Ukraine

• As the Russian assault on Ukraine continues, more videos are emerging that show evidence of Russian brutalities and possible war crimes, such as executions and torture. Russian officials have denied the accusations, calling them Ukrainian propaganda. We speak with Washington Post video journalist Jon Gerberg, who has been filing video reports from the war for the past six weeks, and see extended interviews from civilians he interviewed. As Russian forces retreat from Ukrainian cities, “we are pulling back the veil of the more active conflict that was keeping us as journalists from some of these areas,” says Gerberg. “This is a war that in over a month has had an unbelievable impact on both the men and women fighting it and the men and women who are stuck in the middle of it as civilians.”

=> ↺ How Kherson Was Occupied

• kherson, ukraine—Kherson was occupied by the Russian army on March 3. Initially, the city was encircled: Neighboring villages and the Chernobaevka airport were under the enemy’s military control. Then, the Russian troops entered the city. Translated by Finley Muratova.

=> ↺ House Votes to Hold Trump Aides Navarro, Scavino in Contempt of Congress

• The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to hold former Trump administration aides Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino Jr. in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas from the panel probing last year’s attack on the Capitol.

• “These men are trying to tear down American democracy.”

=> ↺ Amir Locke’s Family ‘Deeply Disappointed’ by No Charges for Officer Who Fatally Shot Him

• Criminal charges will not be filed against the Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed 22-year-old Amir Locke while the police department was executing a no-knock warrant, Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday.

• In a statement calling Locke the victim of a “tragedy” that “may not have occurred absent the no-knock warrant used in this case,” Freeman and Ellison said that “there is insufficient admissible evidence to file criminal charges in this case.”

=> ↺ Opinion | Win the War, Invest in Peace: That’s the Conversation We Need to Be Having

• In the middle of a brutal assault, it’s difficult to talk about demilitarization. And so, it was with trepidation that I recently convened a conversation about exactly that.

=> ↺ Colonialism’s Ledger

• Both within and outside the United States, it has become increasingly obvious that the need for wealth redistribution—“the issue that blocks the horizon,” as Frantz Fanon wrote in The Wretched of the Earth—is the central issue for any future era of progressive change. Wealth inequality has accelerated throughout the world over the past four decades in what many perceive as the triumph of neoliberalism: Individuals and nations are rewarded or punished according to their ability to accumulate wealth and participate in the financialization of all aspects of their existence.

=> ↺ Court Says Texas Drone Law Violates The First Amendment

• The Texas government has passed a law that places a lot of restrictions on those operating drones. The law (passed in 2013 and amended in 2015) also creates a cause of action for residents who feel their privacy has been violated by UAV operators. There’s a single carve out: one for researchers operating drones “on behalf of an institution of higher education.”

=> ↺ What Will It Take to Shrink the Pentagon’s Budget?

• I have a question for you: What would it take in today’s world for America’s military spending to go down? Here’s one admittedly farfetched scenario: Vladimir Putin loses his grip on power and Russia retrenches militarily while reaching out to normalize relations with the West. At the same time, China prudently decides to spend less on its military, pursuing economic power while abandoning any pretense to a militarized superpower status. Assuming such an unlikely scenario, with a “new cold war” nipped in the bud and the United States as the world’s unchallenged global hegemon, Pentagon spending would surely shrink, right?

=> ↺ Opinion | This New Global Nuclear Disorder Must Be Halted

=> ↺ Supporting Militarism Will Not Bring Justice, Only Death

• Let’s get something clear.  The government in Kyiv is not a progressive government, much less a revolutionary one.  Those liberals, leftists and anarchists who act as if it is are at best confused.  At worst, they are supporting the relentless expansion of the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.  In other words, the United States.  Is Russia’s invasion wrong on multiple levels?  Of course it is.  Was Washington’s multi-pronged pressure over the past couple decades to get Kyiv to join its side wrong on multiple levels?  Of course it was.

• Yes, Russia is the primary culprit in the current situation.  It should go back to its pre-invasion borders and accept that the good old days with the Tsar before the October revolution are never coming back, no matter what Alexander Dugin or Vladimir Putin believe.

=> ↺ ‘Most Dangerous Point in Human History’ Looming, Warns Noam Chomsky

• Far-right and authoritarian leaders in the U.S. and Russia are pushing the planet toward “the most dangerous point in human history,” renowned scholar Noam Chomsky said in an interview published by The New Statesman Wednesday, pointing to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the planetary emergency.

• Chomsky condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “criminal aggression” in Ukraine, where his forces have killed an estimated 1,430 civilians since their February 24 invasion according to the United Nations, and warned that the U.S. must help to negotiate peace to avoid nuclear war with Russia.

=> ↺ Why Reliable Death Tolls in Ukraine are Hard to Come By

• The Kremlin’s first statement on Russian military casualties in their invasion of Ukraine, on March 2, 2022, noted that 498soldiers had been killed and 1,597 wounded. And for weeks Russian media continued to suggest, without giving actual figures, that very low numbers of their soldiers have been killed and wounded in Ukraine.

• But on March 21, Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravdareported that 9,861 Russian troops have been killed and 16,153 wounded. The report only appeared for a short time before it was removed, and the pro-government newspaper said the numbers were not real but rather the result of a hack.

=> ↺ No Backup Plan: Half of Ukraine’s Renewable Energy Facilities at Risk of Destruction

• Ukraine was, said the Association, starting to make good inroads on renewable energy, with installed capacity “at 9.5 GW as of the beginning of 2022” and a “total investment in the industry [of] more than $ 12 billion”.

• But now, warns the agency, “Ukraine’s renewable energy facilities are also at high risk of total or partial destruction. 47% of the installed capacity of renewable energy power plants is located in the regions where active hostilities are taking place.”

=> ↺ A Deeply Remembered Family in a British Colony

• The Singh family was large. Jeswant had several siblings—as I recall, 7 brothers and 2 sisters. Each went by their nicknames—Jeswant was Googi, older than him was Bangsa, and older than both was Umber. I can’t remember the names of the older siblings. Only Jeswant’s real name was known to me.

• The oldest sibling, a male, who did well in school, was sent to study law in London. When he returned, he worked his way up in neighbouring Singapore to become a judge. The family, understandably, was immensely proud of him. They always regarded him as a totemic figure.

=> ↺ On Bucha and the Chechen Connection

• The latest developments: – What to make of the Bucha massacre evidence – Analysis of competing narratives, satellite imagery, etc. – The presence of Chechen fighters in the Kyiv suburbs – The Chechen War inside Ukraine – Kadyrov-Zelensky beef – Video testimony from Mariupol survivor and why it raises more questions than it answers

=> ↺ Images From Bucha Remind Us That War Photography Can Be Resistance

=> ↺ ‘Putin destroyed evidence of Nazi crimes’: Meduza talks to historian Gregory Aimaro-Parmut about the destruction of Chernihiv’s SBU archive

• On the second day of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the headquarters of the Chernihiv branch of the SBU, Ukraine’s Security Service, came under fire. The building was destroyed along with an archive containing some 13,000 documents. Historian Gregory Aimaro-Parmut frequently traveled to this archive from his home in Chicago, to conduct research on the Nazi occupation of Ukraine during World War II. At Chernihiv’s SBU archive, he was able to gather proof of crimes against the local population — and he even planned to move to Ukraine to continue his research. For Meduza, journalist Kirill Rukov interviewed Gregory Aimaro-Parmut about his family’s roots in Ukraine, his research, and his plans to return to Chernihiv.

=> ↺ ‘They breathed radioactive dust for a month’: The mayor of Chernobyl’s satellite town describes life under Russian occupation

• Slavutych is one of the youngest towns in Ukraine. It was purpose-built 35 years ago in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, to provide a new home for the nuclear power plant’s employees and their families. In the early days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces occupied the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, using it as a bridgehead for an advance on Kyiv. Slavutych, located 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and home to 25,000 people, found itself isolated. Nevertheless, the Russian troops who entered the town were met with civil resistance, with local residents staging a mass protest. After Russian forces retreated from the Kyiv region in early April, Slavutych came back under Ukrainian control. Speaking to Mediazona, Slavutych Mayor Yuri Fomichev described the month his town spent under Russian occupation. Meduza has translated the most striking excerpts from his account here. 

=> ↺ ‘Everyone at home thinks I work for the State Department’: Tens of thousands of Russians have fled to Turkey and Armenia. A new project seeks to ease their transition.

• As Russia has cracked down on dissent since invading Ukraine in late February, tens of thousands of people have fled the country. Many have left with less than a day’s notice, which means they often have no luggage, no money, and no idea where to spend the night when they arrive in a foreign country. Kovcheg (“The Ark”) is a new organization working to provide shelter and legal support to Russian emigrants in need. Meduza tells the story of how it came to be.

=> ↺ UN Nuclear Watchdog: Iran Moves Machines for Making Centrifuge Parts to Natanz

• Little is known about the Isfahan workshop. Diplomats have said it is slightly larger than the Karaj one. On Wednesday, the IAEA said Iran had moved all the equipment from Karaj to an unspecified location at Natanz, raising the question of whether it will increase output by using both Natanz and Isfahan.

=> ↺ IS captors used ‘sadistic’ torture methods, court hears

• The trial continues, with as many as 50 witnesses expected.

=> ↺ Ukraine war: temporary glitch or tipping point?

• Almost everyone reading these words hopes for a quick resolution to the war in Ukraine. But, with population growth straining global food systems, what might Russia’s aggression mean for global agricultural production and humanity’s ability to feed itself going forward?

=> ↺ Aunt Of Palestinian Terrorist Diaa Hamarsheh, Who Killed Five Israelis In Bnei Brak Shooting Spree: We Are Sad That He Is Gone, But We Are Happy That He Is A Martyr; Not Everyone Has This Kind Of Courage

• In a video that was posted on the Sanad News YouTube channel on March 30, 2022, Rim Hamarsheh, the aunt of Palestinian terrorist Diaa Hamarsheh, who on March 29 killed five Israelis in a shooting spree in Bnei Brak, Israel, said that the family is sad that he is gone but happy that he is a martyr. Asking Allah to be “pleased” with Hamarsheh, she praised his confidence during the attack, adding: “Not everyone possesses this kind of courage.” For more about Palestinian celebrations of the Bnei Brak shooting, see MEMRI TV Clips Nos. 9463, 9467, and 9470.

Environment

=> ↺ Dolly Parton urges people to be ‘mindful’ of how they’re treating the planet

• Dolly Parton is opening up on why her home in Tennessee is so special to her and sharing a message on the importance of protecting the planet.

• During a recent interview with National Geographic Travel’s Amy Alipio, the award-winning singer, who hails from Sevierville, Tennessee, around the Great Smoky Mountains, described the Smokies as “one of those special places that God put here for us to enjoy.”

=> ↺ Rebellious Climate Scientists Have Message for Humanity: ‘Mobilize, Mobilize, Mobilize’

• Amid a weeklong global civil disobedience campaign to demand climate action commensurate with mounting evidence about the need for swift decarbonization, Scientist Rebellion is highlighting specific gaps between what experts say is necessary and what governments allowed to be published in a summary of the United Nations’ latest climate assessment.

• “We need a billion climate activists…The time is now. We’ve waited far too long.”

=> ↺ Dems Join Climate Groups Outside Postal Service HQ to Demand Fleet Electrification

• Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday joined with labor leaders and climate action advocates outside the U.S. Postal Service headquarters, where they demanded that the Louis DeJoy-led agency rethink its plan to buy new gas-powered delivery trucks and instead commit to a union-made, electric fleet.

• “Postmaster DeJoy’s contract for thousands of gas-guzzling vehicles cannot go forward.”

=> ↺ WATCH LIVE: Big Oil Execs to Face Charges of Price-Gouging at House Hearing

• Top executives from some of the largest and most profitable oil and gas companies are expected to face tough questions Wednesday as they testify before a House subcommittee about price-gouging U.S. consumers even as their companies haul in record-setting profits.

• “They should be ashamed.”

=> ↺ ‘Horrifying’: Researchers Find Microplastics in Lungs of Living People

• Less than two weeks after scientists discovered microplastics in human blood, a team of researchers in the U.K. said Wednesday that the tiny particles have also been detected in people’s lungs.

• Researchers at the University of Hull and Hull York Medical School analyzed lung tissue from 13 people who were undergoing surgery and found microplastics (MPs) in 11 of the samples, including in tissue from the deepest part of the lungs—a discovery that alarmed the authors of the new study.

=> ↺ Bush, Crow, Sanders Bill Would Use Defense Production Act to Boost Clean Energy

• Sen. Bernie Sanders joined Democratic Reps. Cori Bush and Jason Crow on Wednesday in unveiling a bill that would leverage the Defense Production Act to ramp up renewable energy manufacturing in the U.S., a step the trio said would help fight the climate crisis and reduce the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels from Russia and Saudi Arabia.

• “Now more than ever, we need a Green New Deal, and this bill would be a significant step towards making that a reality.”

=> ↺ On-Going Environmental Degradation is No Joke

• For instance, there’s nothing to laugh about in a study recently released by the Environmental Integrity Project on the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. The report, published by “former EPA enforcement attorneys to advocate for effective enforcement of environmental laws” found “alarming results of water quality tests in all 50 states. More than 700,000 miles of waterways, about 51 percent of assessed river and stream miles, are impaired by pollution. That’s in addition to another 55 percent of lake acres and 26 percent of estuary miles.” The term “impaired” identifies lakes, rivers and streams that are too polluted to even meet minimum standards “for swimming and recreation, aquatic life, fish consumption or as drinking water sources.”

• While the statistics alone are shocking, what’s really worth questioning is the efficacy of laws that are often passed with great fanfare and promises of attaining goals that — as with the Clean Water Act — are never met. In truth, the minute the legislation is signed into law those who fall under the regulatory jurisdiction go to work weakening, obfuscating, and extending the science-based standards that would ensure sustainable clean water for the future.

Energy

=> ↺ Opinion | The Fossil Fuels Era Must End. Collective Transformation Must Start Now

• A transition to renewable energy that is both fast and fair is eminently possible. In the U.S. alone, we already have almost all the technologies we need for a 100 percent transition to clean energy by 2035, with much of that transition completed by 2030. With this existing technology, we could power every state and grid in the U.S. with clean, renewable, reliable energy. By now, it is widely understood that the obstacles we face are neither technical nor economic, but social and political. By invoking the Defense Production Act, the Biden administration is now poised to ensure a sustainable supply chain for the critical minerals we need to cut climate emissions, electrify our transportation sector and transition to clean energy. As we navigate what remains of this crucial, make-or-break decade of the 2020s, the administration must undertake every effort to ensure that in our transition to clean energy we do not shift the burden of energy production from one community to another.

=> ↺ The Sun’s Pro-Fracking Poll was Paid for by Climate Denial Group

• A poll in The Sun that claims 44 percent of the British public supports fracking was paid for by a climate science denial group, DeSmog can report. 

• The survey was published in The Sun this week (5 April) with the headline “FRACKING IS FINE: Nearly half of voters are in favour of lifting fracking ban” and referenced in the “Sun Says” editorial column. The story did not include any information about who was behind the poll.  

=> ↺ Suncor shifts focus to hydrogen and renewable fuel over wind and solar

• In a news release Monday, the Calgary-based company says it still intends to be net-zero emissions by 2050, but will accelerate progress towards that target by focusing on hydrogen and renewable fuels instead.

• Suncor says its strategy for hitting the 2050 goal is also focused on increasing shareholder returns.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Protect This Place: Kenya’s Kinangop Grasslands

Finance

=> ↺ Some Good News on Inflation in the Latest Jobs Report

=> ↺ Opinion | Why Should Progressives Embrace a 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights? Because They Already Do

• The media has failed to recognize the significance of progressive elected officials’ legislative proposals. Looking to redeem the nation’s promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, progressives have advanced bills in Congress that would cultivate a new economic social contract for America.  With the Democratic party facing potentially devastating losses in 2022 and 2024—and the majority of Americans yearning for progressive transformations—we need to make our political aspirations and projected initiatives powerfully clear.

=> ↺ GOP Threatens to Tank Covid Funding in Bid to Preserve Trump Immigration Policy

• Senate Republicans on Tuesday threatened to tank a new $10 billion coronavirus relief package unless Democrats allow a vote on an amendment to preserve Title 42, a Trump-era border expulsion policy that the Biden administration is moving to end after months of sustained pressure from immigrant rights groups.

• Late Tuesday, Republicans in the upper chamber blocked a procedural effort to begin consideration of the bipartisan Covid-19 aid measure, which includes money to help the U.S. purchase coronavirus test kits, therapeutics, and vaccines. Public health advocates have criticized the bill’s exclusion of funds to combat the pandemic globally.

=> ↺ ‘Next Step: Cancel It,’ Biden Urged After Extending Student Loan Repayment Pause

• Progressives on Wednesday welcomed the Biden administration’s decision to extend the moratorium on educational loan repayments through the end of August, while urging President Joe Biden to use his executive power to cancel all student debt.

• “Good move. Now cancel it all.”

=> ↺ Key Voting Bloc Has Swung 15 Points to GOP Since Manchin Killed Child Tax Credit

• A new survey released Wednesday shows that Democrats are losing electoral support among recipients of the expanded child tax credit, a monthly program that lapsed at the end of December after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin opposed an extension.

• “This isn’t just bad policy. It’s bad politics. If Democrats lose ground in the midterms, people like Manchin will be to blame.”

=> ↺ Opinion | Understanding Biden’s Billionaire Tax Proposal

• The Billionaires’ Minimum Income Tax included in the budget plan released by President Biden on March 28 would limit an unfair tax break for capital gains income and complement proposals the president has offered previously to limit other tax breaks for capital gains. The new proposal would be phased in for those with net worth between $100 million and $200 million, and the Biden administration estimates that the majority of the revenue would be collected from billionaires. It would ensure that these individuals pay income tax of at least 20 percent on their real income, including both traditional taxable income and unrealized capital gains that go untaxed under the current rules.

=> ↺ House Dems Rip Fossil Fuel Execs for Price Gouging Consumers

• Democratic lawmakers inside the halls of Congress and activists outside on Wednesday excoriated Big Oil executives for reaping record corporate profits by price gouging U.S. consumers.

• “These executives are far more interested in exploiting the pandemic and war in Ukraine to pad their bottom lines and make Americans pay on both ends.”

=> ↺ Help! My rising tide is lifting all those boats!

• I’m getting the vibe that MMT is falling out of vogue in Sweden and that interest rates are gonna be jacked up. Maybe we’ll know for sure in three weeks after the next Riksbank meeting. But they’re giving up on trying to stem inflation.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ ‘Someone Who Cared About Integrity Would Have Recused Himself’

• Janine Jackson interviewed Sarah Lipton-Lubet about the Clarence Thomas/Ginni Thomas conflicts for the April 22, 2022, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.

=> ↺ Congress Is Dragging Its Feet on Recognizing a Staffers’ Union

• Working on Capitol Hill can be grueling. Many of the staffers for some of the most powerful people in the world make poverty wages—barely enough to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Some junior congressional staffers rely on food stamps or have to take on second jobs and gig work to get by. They deal with abusive bosses, brutal hours, and demoralizing work environments, and they lack legal protections to organize and collectively bargain.

=> ↺ Joe Biden’s Democracy Gaffe

• In his State of the Union address, US President Joe Biden took the slicer to the world of politics and placed them into two tidy camps in a tradition that would have impressed the Bolshevik ideologue, Andrei Zhdanov.  “In the battle between democracy and autocracy, democracies are rising to the moment, and the world is clearly choosing the side of peace and security.”

• In this supposed morality tale and cartoon strip, the wicked Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin does battle with the heroic democracy that is Ukraine, all simplified into roles where virtue combats satanic vice.  There is no room for debate, for contrast, for history.  Awkward realities are never allowed to intrude.

=> ↺ Living With the Questions: Roosevelt Montás and the Tricky Thing about Liberal Education

• Just before Roosevelt turned 12, he, with his father and brother, came to New York to live with the rest of their family. Like millions of immigrants, they simply wanted a better life. But life was hard and Roosevelt’s father, finding the Yanqui zeitgeist unbearable, went back home. Roosevelt, devastated, nevertheless hung on to his father’s sense of politics, which told him that “there was a world out there to be understood; that I belonged in the conversation.”

• Roosevelt’s conversation can now be heard at Columbia University, where he is Senior Lecturer in American Studies and English. He is all about liberal education and the Western tradition of “great books,” and he loves teaching them to underserved immigrant high school kids who want to go to college. Because he feels liberal education is currently endangered, he’s just published his first book, Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation.

=> ↺ Working for Trump, Who Spouted COVID Misinformation, Was “Painful,” Fauci Says

=> ↺ Democrats Lost 12-Point Lead Among Child Tax Credit Recipients After It Expired

=> ↺ Biden Extends Student Loan Payment Pause, Erases Default Status for Millions

=> ↺ Two of the “Brains” Behind Trump’s Failing Social Media Company Abruptly Resign

=> ↺ Women’s Delegation Urges US and Europe to Unfreeze Afghan Funds Amid Crisis

=> ↺ LDS Church has Most Valuable Private Real Estate Portfolio in the US, Evidence Suggests

• In order to obtain the highest level of confidence in the integrity of the data, Truth & Transparency manually verified every property with a market value of at least $20 million and another 1,000 randomly selected samples from the remaining population.

=> ↺ Sanders, Bush Unveil Bill to Use the Defense Production Act to Fund Clean Energy

=> ↺ Biden’s 2023 Budget Could Have Made Child Care Free. Instead, It Boosts Police.

=> ↺ Betsy DeVos Is Joining Michigan’s Far Right Militants in a Devious Campaign

=> ↺ GOP Threatens to Hold COVID Funding Hostage to Preserve Trump Immigration Policy

Misinformation/Disinformation

=> ↺ Fox News Doctored Clips of Obama’s Visit to the White House to Make It Seem Like Biden Was Lost

• The only problem is that both clips were taken out of context. Biden does look a little confused in the first clip, but it’s only because he’s looking for someone, perhaps Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whom he brings up onstage to applause shortly after the conservative media cut ends. The second clip ends right before Biden gets Obama’s attention and introduces him to someone. Twitter user @acyn helpfully attached the full clips to the end of the Fox News segments lambasting the edited versions.

=> ↺ [Crackers]’ Fake Claims of Ukrainian Surrender Aren’t Fooling Anyone. So What’s Their Goal?

• And while there is no evidence that the misinformation campaign has had any discernible effect on the conflict, experts say the hackers’ intentions might not be to actually trick anyone. Instead, the hackers are most likely trying to erode confidence in Ukrainian institutions and show that the government and news media cannot be relied upon for information or to keep hackers out of their systems. The tactics mirror those used in other Russian disinformation campaigns, which have focused on fomenting divisions and cultural conflict.

• “You can build uncertainty, confusion and distrust,” said Ben Read, a director at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant. “It doesn’t need to stand up to a close reading to have some effect on the population; it erodes trust in all messages.”

=> ↺ Pinterest Applauded for Plan to Combat Climate Misinformation

• Amid fresh warnings from scientists about human-caused global heating, Pinterest was widely praised Wednesday for providing a model for tech giants by banning all climate misinformation across the social media platform.

• “We encourage others to take note of Pinterest’s efforts to reduce climate change disinformation.”

=> ↺ Pinterest bans climate misinformation from posts and ads.

• Pinterest will prohibit ads and posts that feature climate misinformation in its latest attempt to block harmful content on its virtual pinboard service, the company said on Wednesday.

• The ban includes any content that denies the existence or impacts of climate change, or denies that humans influence global warming and that the phenomenon is supported by scientific consensus. Inaccurate posts about natural disasters and extreme weather events will also be removed, as will misrepresentations of scientific data through omission or cherry-picking meant to erode trust in climate science.

=> ↺ What Does Elon Musk’s Twitter Look Like For Digital Marketers?

• The question now is this: What might the influence of Elon Musk mean for Twitter, and for the digital marketing landscape as a whole?

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ It’s Wrong For Politicians To Announce Plans To Punish Companies For Speech, No Matter Who Does It

• I feel like I keep needing to write this, but once again, no matter who does it and no matter which company they’re targeting, it’s wrong for politicians to promise to punish companies for their speech. For some reason, many people’s position on this point changes based on whether or not they like or dislike the politician, and whether or not they like or dislike the company. But it’s wrong.

=> ↺ DirecTV Ignores GOP Pressure, Kicks OAN Off Its Cable Lineup

• Back in January DirecTV announced it would be kicking the fantasy and conspiracy channel One America News (OAN) off of its satellite TV lineup, removing the biggest distribution avenue for the “news” channel.

=> ↺ Cancel Culture and Polarization in the Age of COVID: How To Agree To Disagree

=> ↺ Female seminary teacher killed by her students

• The accused students told police that a religious personality appeared in the dream of one of their relatives — a 13-year-old girl — and said the teacher had committed blasphemy, sources said.

=> ↺ Pak School Teacher Killed By Colleague, Students For “Blasphemy”: Police

• A teacher at an all-girls religious school was killed by a woman colleague and two students who accused her of blasphemy, Pakistan police said Wednesday, the latest murder in the country related to the hugely sensitive issue.

• Few issues in Pakistan are as galvanising as blasphemy, and even the slightest suggestion of an insult to Islam can supercharge protests and incite lynchings.

=> ↺ Teacher at Pak school killed for ‘blasphemy’ by colleague, pupils

• Police said two students and ateacher ambushed Safoora Bibi at the main gate of the school and attacked her with a knife and stick. “She died after her throat was slit,” a police official said. The main suspect is a colleague who planned the crime with two nieces studying at the Jamia Islamia Falahul Binaat school. The girls told police a relative had dreamt the dead woman “had committed blasphemy” against the Prophet, police said, adding they were probing if the main suspect, Umra Aman, had a personal grudge.

Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ WikiLeaks marks 12 years since release of Collateral Murder video

• It shows an attack by an American helicopter in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad which ends up in the death of a dozen people and two Reuters news staff.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ ‘A Non-Starter’: Critics Slam Amtrak Request for DHS Watchlist Screening of Passengers

• Civil liberties defenders sounded the alarm Wednesday after Amtrak asked the Transportation Safety Administration to start screening passengers against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s federal master terrorism watchlist.

• “From our decades of work on the watchlisting system, we know it’s a due process nightmare and prone to error.”

=> ↺ ‘Say It With Pride’: Pushback After Psaki Walks Back Biden Amazon Union Remarks

• Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressives on Wednesday applauded President Joe Biden’s words of support for Amazon workers—and rejected the White House’s attempt to temper the president’s statement, calling on the administration to proudly and unequivocally align itself with pro-worker efforts.

• In a speech to the North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), Biden spoke about the creation of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which is “dedicated to mobilizing the federal government’s policies, programs, and practices to empower workers to organize and successfully bargain with their employers.”

=> ↺ Trucking Companies Train You on the Job. Just Don’t Try to Quit.

• Each year, thousands of aspiring truck drivers sign up for training with some of the nation’s biggest freight haulers. But the training programs often fail to deliver the compensation and working conditions they promise. And drivers who quit early can be pursued by debt collectors and blacklisted by other companies in the industry, making it difficult for them to find a new job.

Monopolies

Copyrights

=> ↺ Everything or Nothing: The missing James Bond theme song

• So, the songs are perpetually stuck in rightsholder limbo. No one wants to renegotiate the contracts to make a few cents off streaming.

=> ↺ Ed Sheeran wins Shape of You copyright case and hits out at ‘baseless’ claims

• In a video on social media, he said there was now a culture “where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there’s no basis for the claim”.

• He added: “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry. There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music.

=> ↺ Ed Sheeran wins High Court copyright battle with Sami Switch over Shape Of You

• He claimed Sheeran’s lawyers brought the legal proceedings because PRS for Music – the industry body that collects and distributes royalties – had “frozen” payments for UK broadcast and performance income from Shape Of You.

=> ↺ Ed Sheeran wins High Court copyright battle with Sami Switch over hit song Shape Of You

• The judge found Sheeran had not even heard the “Oh Why” song before writing his own hit, ruling he did not deliberately or subconsciously steal from it.

=> ↺ Ed Sheeran wins copyright lawsuit in the UK

• He added: “The use of the first four notes of the rising minor pentatonic scale for the melody is so short, simple, commonplace and obvious in the context of the rest of the song that it is not credible that Sheeran sought out inspiration from other songs to come up with it.”

=> ↺ CC Global Summit Announcement

• Creative Commons is excited to announce plans to return to an in-person format for the next CC Global Summit, due to take place in September/October 2023.

=> ↺ Open Minds Podcast: Cory Doctorow, Science Fiction Author, Journalist and Tech Activist

=> ↺ Creative Commons 2021 State of the Commons Annual Report

• We are pleased to present the 2021 Creative Commons State of the Commons Annual Report. This report showcases last year’s 20th Anniversary activities and also highlights important innovations, achievements, collaborations, conversations, and partnerships.  

=> ↺ The Latest Threat to Independent Online Creators Is the Filter Mandate Bill

• This filter mandate bill would task the Copyright Office with designating technical measures (DTMs instead of STMs) that internet services must use to address copyright infringement. Both the Copyright Office proceeding and this bill have the potential to result in the same thing: more copyright filters.

• For those who make and share things online, be it through scripted and edited videos or livestreams, filters have routinely been a huge problem. Right now, the only silver lining has been that American law doesn’t require any service to have a filter. YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch use these tools voluntarily, to terrible effect, but they are not doing so under any legal requirement. That means that at least sometimes when they mess up, they can take whatever measures necessary to fix the problem.

• And they mess up a lot. Automated systems cannot tell the difference between lawful expression and infringement. YouTube’s system flagged static as copyrighted material five separate times. Facebook can’t tell the difference between different classical musicians playing public domain pieces. And Twitch has completely failed its users in its implementation of anything resembling copyright rules.

=> ↺ Vosburg V. Putney, Leg Amputations, And The Overly-Censorial DMCA Notice

• There was a case I remember reading in law school, about intentional torts, that stuck with me, for reasons that will probably be obvious once I tell you about it here.

=> ↺ Sky Tries to Remove ‘Pirate’ IPTV App “CucoTV” from GitHub

• UK media giant Sky has asked GitHub to remove the website and APK file of the popular IPTV application CucoTV. The developer platform responded by taking a CucoTV repository offline. However, the application’s main website, which is hosted on GitHub, remains up and running.

=> ↺ How LaLiga’s Anti-Piracy Tools Led To Two More Pirate IPTV Arrests

• Spain’s National Police report that two people have been arrested on suspicion of intellectual property offenses and other crimes related to the supply of pirate IPTV subscriptions. The investigation was launched in 2019 by Spanish football league LaLiga which, as we’ll explain today, has developed a formidable array of anti-piracy tools and services.

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