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● 06.25.23

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● Links 25/06/2023: Godot Community Poll, More Discussion About RHEL

Posted in News Roundup at 10:46 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Desktop/Laptop

=> ↺ The Financial Reasons Companies Should Be Using Linux

• Research shows that many organisations view cost savings as one of the advantages of using open-source operating systems like Linux. Many web developers worldwide, including cybersecurity personnel and network engineers, prefer to use Linux. It is open source, so its source code is readily available. Unlike Microsoft Windows, users of Linux no longer need to purchase any license to use it.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ KDE Videos ☛ Akademy 2023 Interview: Kdenlive contributors Jean-Baptiste Mardelle and Eugen Mohr

• Kdenlive contributors Jean-Baptiste Mardelle and Eugen Mohr tell us how Kdenlive started out, the hurdles it had to overcome over its 20-year history, and how each of them got involved in the project.

Applications

=> ↺ Volker Krause ☛ Shared locations in NeoChat

• With KDE Itinerary gaining the option to share locations via the Matrix protocol, we had to make sure KDE’s own Matrix client NeoChat can actually properly handle this as well.

=> ↺ Ghacks ☛ iVentoy: boot and install operating systems on multiple machines over the network

• The developer of the multi-boot tool Ventoy has released a new utility called iVentoy.

=> ↺ Linux Links ☛ Alternatives to popular CLI tools: ssh

• This article spotlights alternative tools to ssh, an OpenSSH remote login client.

=> ↺ Barry Kauler ☛ BluePup send-file fixed

• Federico reported this. I verified, started BluePup from a terminal, paired with my phone, then attempted to send a file tothe phone. On the terminal got this:

• That file is supposed to be in the ‘gnome-bluetooth3′ package, compiled in OpenEmbedded. However, I found that the developers have changed the recipe, so that it no longer installs ‘bluetooth-sendto’.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ OSTechNix ☛ How To List Or Check All Installed Linux Kernels From Commandline

• Linux Kernel is the core component of a GNU/Linux operating system. Developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991, it is a free, open-source, monolithic, modular, and multitasking Unix-like kernel. In Linux, it is possible to install multiple kernels on a single system. Have you ever wondered how many Linux kernels are installed on your Linux box? In this tutorial, we will explore how to check and view all installed Linux kernels, including their versions, from the command line in different Linux operating systems.

=> ↺ Idiomdrottning ☛ Trailing slashes on rsync paths

• The reason I bring this up is that I was taught that with rsync I should just be mindful of the traling slashes matching or not. But that’s not right. It’s the first path’s last character that matters. The dest path’s last character doesn’t seem to matter.

=> ↺ Data Swamp ☛ Ban scanners IPs from OpenSMTP logs

• If you are an OpenBSD running an OpenSMTP email server, you may want to ban IPs used by bots trying to bruteforce logins. OpenBSD doesn’t have fail2ban available in packages, and sshguard isn’t extensible enough to support the multiline log format used by OpenSMTP.

• Here is a short script that looks for authentication failures in /var/mail/maillog and will add the IPs into the PF table bot after too many failed login.

=> ↺ Terence Eden ☛ Style your WordPress Atom feed

• I recently read Darek Kay’s excellent post about styling RSS feeds and wanted to do something similar.

• So, here’s my simple guide to styling your WordPress blog’s RSS / Atom theme. The end result is that if someone clicks on a link to your feed, they see something nicely formatted, like this: [...]

=> ↺ ID Root ☛ How To Install Nginx on Debian 12

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Nginx on Debian 12. For those of you who didn’t know, Nginx, a powerful and high-performance web server, can significantly enhance your website’s speed, scalability, and overall performance. By installing Nginx on Debian 12, you can harness its advanced features and leverage its efficiency.

=> ↺ How to Count Files in Linux Directory?

• If you are a System Administrator or a Server Administrator, you are constantly observing the files on the system. This includes managing and maintaining the files and sorting and counting them. This post will act as a guide and show you all the different ways that you can use to count files in a linux directory. The main command in most methods will be the wc command which will be combined with other commands and tools to count the number of files in a Linux Directory.

=> ↺ Using Airflow to Run Spark on Kubernetes

• Here’s how to set up a Spark application on Kubernetes using the Airflow scheduler for data-intensive workloads.

=> ↺ How to install Java 8/11 on Amazon Linux 2023

• Here we go through the commands available to install Java 11 or 8 on Amazon Linux 2023 for production or business applications in your cloud infrastructure. Java is available through the Amazon 2023 repositories as Corretto.

=> ↺ Linux Capable ☛ How to Install TeamViewer on Linux Mint 21/20

• This guide is tailored to demonstrate how to install TeamViewer on Linux Mint 21 as well as its older supported release, Linux Mint 20. TeamViewer is a powerful remote access and control tool that has carved a niche for itself in the realm of remote support and online meetings.

=> ↺ The New Stack ☛ Get up to Speed with Containers Very Quickly with DockSTARTer

• I’m on a constant hunt for applications that help ease the complexity of Docker container deployments.

=> ↺ Scan LAN and get Windows host names

• $ nmap -sn --system-dns 192.168.0.1-253

=> ↺ Chrome for Linux: A Comprehensive Guide – Nigeria News June 24, 2023

• If you are a Linux user and are looking for a web browser that works seamlessly with your operating system, Chrome for Linux is a great option. In this article, we will explore everything you need to know about Chrome on Linux, its features, installation process, and some common troubleshooting tips.

Games

=> ↺ Godot Engine ☛ Godot community poll 2023

• It’s this time of the year! Godot Community Poll 2023 is now out!

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ New Intel Arc Driver Delivers 11% Gaming Boost in Linux

• Intel Arc Linux graphics driver with Mesa 23.2 code tweak delivers 11% faster gaming in CS:GO.

=> ↺ BattleBit devs to add FACEIT Anti-cheat alienating Linux – Steam Deck users

• BattleBit Remastered is an updated version of the popular online multiplayer game, BattleBit. It brings enhanced graphics, improved gameplay mechanics, and additional content to provide a more immersive and exciting experience. But it appears some users’ time is limited as devs plan to add FACEIT anti-cheat, alienating Linux and Steam Deck users.

• For now, though, players engage in intense battles, teaming up with friends or competing against others in various game modes, utilizing a wide range of weapons and tactics to claim victory.

Distributions and Operating Systems

Fedora Family / IBM

=> ↺ Joe Brockmeier ☛ [Former Red Hatter] Joe Brockmeier: Red Hat and the Clone Wars

• It’s been an exciting week for people who care about Linux distributions, FOSS licensing, FOSS distribution, FOSS business models, and the future of open source in general. Red Hat’s announcement that CentOS Stream will be the sole repo for public RHEL-related source code releases has generated a lot of chatter and exposed a lot of misconceptions about what the GPL requires and doesn’t.

• Sadly for you, dear reader, I have a lot of thoughts on this topic and plan to tackle them in stages here on the blog. Going to start with some really common misconceptions / questions and answers as I understand them. Note that I am not a lawyer, and I no longer work at Red Hat. If you see something inaccurate, please feel free to comment and I’ll make any warranted corrections.

• No. The GPL requires distributors to provide source code to those entities it has provided the GPL’ed software to, but no one else is entitled to those changes, not even the original authors.

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ IBM-owned Red Hat cracks down on access to RHEL source code

• McGrath offered the following explanation for the announcement: “Before CentOS Stream, Red Hat pushed public sources for RHEL to git.centos.org. When the CentOS Project shifted to centre on CentOS Stream, we maintained these repositories even though CentOS Linux was no longer being built downstream of RHEL.

• “The engagement around CentOS Stream, the engineering levels of investment, and the new priorities we’re addressing for customers and partners now make maintaining separate, redundant, repositories inefficient. The latest source code will still be available via CentOS Stream.”

• Given that CentOS Stream is upstream of RHEL, they will be exactly the same only for a brief period after a release of RHEL leads to synchronisation of their code.

• Red Hat’s community distribution, Fedora, is upstream of CentOS Stream which means that it will be even less likely to have the latest packages and bug fixes.

=> ↺ STH ☛ IBM Red Hat Puts RHEL Source Behind Paywall

• This week, IBM Red Hat made a big move. This is one of those moves, that, at the same time, our readers should have been prepared for. Red Hat moved RHEL source code behind its paywall for subscribers. This has huge implications for Alma Linux, Rocky Linux, and others seeming to leave only CentOS Stream, a testing release, as an avenue for IBM Red Hat’s source code. One thing is clear, IBM Red Hat does not want folks running anything in its ecosystem unless they are paying customers.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Et Tu, Red Hat? | Hackaday

• Sounds innocuous, but what’s really going on here? Let’s have a look at the Red Hat family: RHEL, CentOS, and Fedora.

• RHEL is the enterprise Linux distribution that is Red Hat’s bread and butter. Fedora is RHEL’s upstream distribution, where changes happen fast and things occasionally break. CentOS started off as a community repackaging of RHEL, as allowed under the GPL and other Open Source licenses, for people who liked the stability but didn’t need the software support that you’re paying for when you buy RHEL.

• Red Hat took over the reigns of CentOS back in 2014, and then imposed the transition to CentOS Stream in 2020, to some consternation. This placed CentOS Stream between the upstream Fedora, and the downstream RHEL. Some people missed the stability of the old CentOS, and in response a handful of efforts spun up to fill the gap, like Alma Linux and Rocky Linux. These projects took the source from git.centos.org, and rebuilt them into usable community operating systems, staying closer to RHEL in the process.

=> ↺ EIN Presswire ☛ Seamless Linux Upgrade Solution for RHEL 7 and CentOS 7: Project78 by Linux Belgium

• Linux Belgium Proudly Launches Upgrade-as-a-Service for RHEL7 and CentOS 7: Project78

• Linux Belgium BV, a leader in providing enterprise-level Linux solutions, today proudly announced the launch of their trailblazing Upgrade-as-a-Service (UaaS) product, ‘Project78′. Released exactly one year and one week ahead of the End of Life (EOL) date for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (RHEL 7) and CentOS 7, set for 30th June 2024, Project78 is designed to resolve the major challenges that businesses face when performing sizeable operating system upgrades in intricate, enterprise environments.

=> ↺ Fedora Project ☛ Fedora Community Blog: CPE Weekly Update – Week 25 2023

• This is a weekly report from the CPE (Community Platform Engineering) Team. If you have any questions or feedback, please respond to this report or contact us on #redhat-cpe channel on libera.chat.

• We provide you both an infographic and text version of the weekly report. If you just want to quickly look at what we did, just look at the infographic. If you are interested in more in-depth details look below the infographic.

• Week: 19 June – 23 June 2023

Debian Family

=> ↺ Sparky GNU/Linux ☛ Pulsar [Ed: Killed by Microsoft, but not dead.]

• There is a new application available for Sparkers: Pulsar What is Pulsar? A Community-led Hyper-Hackable Text Editor, Forked from Atom, built on Electron. Designed to be deeply customizable, but still approachable using the default configuration.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Linux Gizmos ☛ uCOM board features i.MX93 System-on-Chip

• The iMX93 uCOM is an ultra compact board featuring two ARM Cortex A55 processors along the Ethos-U65 neural processing unit for cost-effective ML applications. The device is an advanced application processor module designed to cater to the needs of various industries, including industrial automation, smart city, communication gateways, robotics, etc.

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ Using Link.ONE all-in-one LPWAN development kit with ChipStark, Node-Red, InfluxDB, and Grafana

• RAKwireless has sent us a review sample of the WisTrio Link.ONE all-in-one LPWAN IoT development kit with support for LTE-M, NB-IoT, and LoRaWAN connectivity and programmable with the Arduino IDE.

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ PiccoloBASIC – A BASIC interpreter for the Raspberry Pi Pico board

• I don’t think the language is still used in practical applications, but we can still see some BASIC projects pop up from time to time such as a BASIC interpreter for the Arduino Zero boards. Gary Sims, owner of the Gary Explains YouTube channel, has now ported a BASIC interpreter to the Raspberry Pi Pico>

=> ↺ peppe8o ☛ OpenMediaVault and Raspberry PI: NAS Installation and Setup

• This tutorial will show you how to create a NAS (Network Attached Storage) with OpenMediaVault and Raspberry PI. What is OpenMediaVault OpenMediaVault is an open-source

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Raspberry Pi Pico Gets Basic Interpreter Called PiccoloBASIC

• There’s nothing quite like old-school computing. Thanks to maker and developer Gary Explains, you can relive the classic coding experience of the 80s and 90s with this Raspberry Pi Pico Basic interpreter. The project is called PiccoloBASIC, enabling users to program simple projects using the [BASIC] programming language.

=> ↺ Raspberry Pi ☛ Superior stargazing with the PiFinder

• The self-contained design means you don’t need to fiddle around with laptops or tablets to read information gathered by separate sky-gazing photography rigs.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ FPGA Plays Tic-Tac-Toe

• As computers get more and more powerful and artificial intelligence algorithms improve, few games remain where the best humans can reliably beat their electronic counterparts. In chess this barrier was passed in 2005 with the last human win against a computer, and recently humans lost to computers at go. Simpler games like tic-tac-toe have been solved for all possible positions for a while now, so even a simple computer will always win or tie the game. But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing left to learn about these games as [Hayden] demonstrates with this tic-tac-toe game built entirely on an FPGA.

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Raspberry Pi Zero Powers Game Boy Advance Retro Pie Handheld

• Cheat_Steve10 is using a Raspberry Pi Zero to power his Retro Pie setup and housed everything inside of a Game Boy Advance.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ A 32-Bit RISC-V CPU Core In 600 Lines Of C

• If you have ever wanted to implement a RISC-V CPU core in about 600 lines of C, you’re in luck! [mnurzia]’s rv project does exactly that, providing a simple two-function API.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ An Open Source Firmware For Cheap Geiger Counters

• It is a time-honored tradition: buy some cheap piece of gear and rewrite the firmware to make it work better. [Gissio] managed to do just that for a cheap FS2011 Geiger counter. Apparently, the firmware will also work with some similar Chinese models, too.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Retro-Inspired Computer Case Hosts Mechanical Keyboard

• During the time in the 1980s when the personal computer was gaining steam as a household fixture, plenty of models shipped with the keyboard built in to the machine itself. This helped reduce costs, lower the physical footprint of the device, and arguably improved aesthetics. But as technology progressed, this type of design fell by the wayside as computers became more modular and configurable. That’s not to say there aren’t any benefits to building a computer like this, though. [jit] is here to show off this Amiga-inspired computer with its own modern built-in mechanical keyboard.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

=> ↺ Bloonface ☛ Why did the #TwitterMigration fail?

• I’ve been using fediverse stuff (Mastodon and, most recently, Calckey – I’m just going to use “Mastodon” as shorthand here, purists can bite me) for over a year now, and have been doing so full time for about six months, following Elon Musk buying Twitter (since on principle, I decline to give Elon Musk money or attention.) This latter part coincided with the “November 2022 influx”, when lots of new people joined Mastodon for similar reasons. A lot of that influx has not stuck around. Everyone is very aware at this point that active user numbers have dropped off a cliff.

• [...]

• In the wake of November 2022, however, a good number of existing users absolutely made it clear that they did not want mainstream adoption; or if they did, they wanted it on their terms and their terms only. It should only include people who matched their specific ideological niche, and completely failing to 100% match the existing norms of the network as it existed then was grounds for banishment.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ 10 Open-source Tax Management Solutions

• Tax management software is a type of software solution designed to help businesses and individuals manage their tax-related tasks. Tax management software can help automate the process of filing taxes, managing tax documents, and tracking tax-related expenses.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Free/Libre/Open Source And Giving Back

• 3D printing YouTuber [Thomas Sanladerer] made a fairly contentious claim in a video about the state of open source hardware and software: namely that it’s not viable “anymore”. You can watch his video for more nuance, but the basic claim is that there are so many firms who are reaping the benefits of open designs and code that the people who are actually doing the work can’t afford to make a living anymore.

SaaS/Back End/Databases

=> ↺ PostgreSQL ☛ PGDay UK 2023 – Call for Sponsors & Call for Papers

• PGDay UK 2023 will take place in London on September 12th at the Hallam Conference Centre in Marylebone!

• Our Call for Papers and Call for Sponsors are now open.

• We are accepting proposals for talks in English. Each session will last 50 minutes, and may be on any topic related to PostgreSQL. The submission deadline is July 21st, 2023 23:59:59 BST. Selected speakers will be notified before August 8th, 2023.

=> ↺ PostgreSQL ☛ Citus Con: An Event for Postgres 2023—It’s a wrap!

• Citus Con: An Event for Postgres 2023 is a free and virtual developer event that took place Apr 18-19, 2023—and we owe a huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the second annual Citus Con—from the attendees to the 40 amazing speakers. We trust you had fun and learned a lot.

• Keynote: Big Opportunities in Small Data was delivered by Simon Willison, creator of Datasette & co-creator of Django

• Keynote: The Distributed PostgreSQL problem & how Citus solves it Marco Slot, lead architect of the Citus database

• All 37 Postgres talks from Citus Con are now online for you to watch: 2 keynotes, 16 Postgres deep dives, 6 Citus engineering & 4 Citus customer talks, 2 ecosystem talks, 2 Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL talks, and 5 Azure Database for PostgreSQL talks.

Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

=> ↺ LibreOffice Marketing Activities – Annual Report 2022

• In 2022, the marketing team continued the deployment of the Strategic Marketing Plan, without overlooking ongoing activities to promote LibreOffice and support the efforts of native language communities…

Licensing / Legal

=> ↺ [Repeat] Software Freedom Conservancy ☛ A Comprehensive Analysis of the GPL Issues With the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Business Model

• This article was originally published primarily as a response to IBM’s Red Hat’s change to no longer publish complete, corresponding source (CCS) for RHEL and the prior discontinuation of CentOS Linux (which are related events, as described below). We hope that this will serve as a comprehensive document that discusses the history of Red Hat’s RHEL business model, the related source code provisioning, and the GPL compliance issues with RHEL.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Xe’s Blog ☛ Time is not a synchronization primitive

• Programming is so complicated. I know this is an example of the nostalgia paradox in action, but it easily feels like everything has gotten so much more complicated over the course of my career. One of the biggest things that is really complicated is the fact that working with other people is always super complicated.

• One of the axioms you end up working with is “assume best intent”. This has sometimes been used as a dog-whistle to defend pathological behavior; but really there is a good idea at the core of this: everyone is really trying to do the best that they can given their limited time and energy and it’s usually better to start from the position of “the system that allowed this failure to happen is the thing that must be fixed”.

• However, we work with other people and this can result in things that can troll you on accident. One of the biggest sources of friction is when people end up creating tests that can fail for no reason. To make this even more fun, this will end up breaking people’s trust in CI systems. This lack of trust trains people that it’s okay for CI to fail because sometimes it’s not your fault. This leads to hacks like the flaky attribute on python where it will ignore test failures. Or even worse, it trains people to merge broken code to main because they’re trained that sometimes CI just fails but everything is okay.

• Today I want to talk about one of the most common ways that I see things fall apart. This has caused tests, production-load-bearing bash scripts, and normal application code to be unresponsive at best and randomly break at worst. It’s when people use time as a synchronization mechanism.

=> ↺ Rlang ☛ Weighted versus unweighted percentiles by @ellis2013nz

• I was surprised to find (well actually, I had discovered this before, so really should say to be “reminded”) that there doesn’t seem to be a weighted version of dplyr’s percent_rank() function in dplyr or other R packages. There are several packages with functions that will estimate quantiles from weighted data, but if you want to then turn the original vector of continuous variables into percentiles you need to take those quantiles and cut the original variable using them as breaks.

• I started by making my own convenience function to do this. To calculate the breaks, I am using the wtd.quantile function from Mark Hancock’s reldist package, which was notably faster than its competition (more on this later).

=> ↺ Fernando Borretti ☛ Test Autodiscovery is a Silver Bullet

• I tend to write a lot more tests in Rust than in OCaml. Why? Not because Rust is so unsafe it needs more tests. Rust and OCaml are at roughly equivalent levels of safety. It’s because of ergonomics.

• The cargo developers have done enough work that the entire process for writing and running a unit test in Rust, from scratch, is: [...]

=> ↺ Matt Rickard ☛ Clear, Simple, and Wrong

• Knowing when hacks can be tolerated is a skill in itself. Taking shortcuts with clear, simple, and wrong solutions at every corner leads to untenably shaky foundations. But even the most hardcore programs have clear, simple, and wrong solutions.

=> ↺ 37signals LLC ☛ Rails World sold out less than 45 minutes

• To have all of this come together, with Rails World, with the Rails Foundation, in the year we’ll celebrate the 20th anniversary of the framework, is just icing on the birthday cake. This is an exciting time to be part of the Ruby on Rails ecosystem.

=> ↺ Rlang ☛ How to break up colour variable in sjPlot into equally-sized bins

• Whereas the direction of main effects can be interpreted from the sign of the estimate, the interpretation of interaction effects often requires plots. This task is facilitated by the R package sjPlot (Lüdecke, 2022). For instance, using the plot_model function, I plotted the interaction between two continuous variables.

=> ↺ Rose Hudson: GSoC status report 3

• API design is kinda tricky.

• wlroots is designed to be very very modular. It’s clear from the readme:

Python

=> ↺ TecAdmin ☛ Python Program to Check Palindrome Number

• A Palindrome is a sequence that reads the same backward as forward. In the context of number theory, a palindromic number or numeral palindrome is a number that remains the same when its digits are reversed.

=> ↺ TecAdmin ☛ How to Create an Admin User in Django

• Django, a high-level Python Web framework, promotes rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. Developed by experienced developers, it takes care of much of the hassle of web development, so you can focus on writing your app without needing to reinvent the wheel.

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ The Voice Of GPS

• Tuning into a GPS satellite is nothing new. Your phone and your car probably do that multiple times a day. But [dereksgc] has been listening to GPS voice traffic. The traffic originates from COSPAS-SARSAT, which is a decades-old international cooperative of 45 nations and agencies that operates a worldwide search and rescue program. You can watch a video about it below.

Leftovers

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ 88 Temples, 750 Miles, Untold Gifts: Japan’s Shikoku Pilgrimage

• A famed route on the smallest of Japan’s four main islands offers breathtaking views and an array of lessons on history, culture and generosity.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ House GOP Uses Spending Bills to Pick Partisan Policy Fights

• Republicans are tucking dozens of policy mandates into government funding bills, in an effort to use their majority to force politically charged votes.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ What Happens When You Get So Influential That You’re Bored by Your Own Aesthetic?

• In search of a refresh, Athena Calderone, the queen of muted Brooklyn interiors, is moving to Manhattan. She almost went broke renovating the townhouse that cemented her place in the interiors world.

=> ↺ Brad Taunt ☛ Blogging for 7 Years

• My first public article was posted on June 28th 2016. That was seven years ago.

• In that time, quite a lot has changed in my life both personally and professionally. So, I figured it would be interesting to reflect on these years and document it for my own personal records. My hope is that this is something I could start doing every 5 or 10 years (if I can keep going that long!). This way, my blog also serves as a “time capsule” or museum of the past…

=> ↺ Tedium ☛ A Splash of Impatience

• Today in Tedium: It can feel weird to talk about modern computers without mentioning a key annoyance of using them. We never really talk about splash screens, but they’re always there. Many programs take a second to load—especially complicated ones like video editors or AAA games. So, we’ve come to accept that little pause that comes with loading them. We don’t like it, but we have to live with it. But why is this the convention? Where did it come from? And why is it so prevalent in many PC and mobile programs? Today’s Tedium considers the cultural legacy of splash screens, loading screens, and other types of time-delaying visual components. You may be looking at one right now. — Ernie @ Tedium

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ RIP Jim Brown, Hero and Monster

• The Angry Sports Star Who Was a Milestone Between Jack Johnson and Brittney Griner

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Try Listening to Your Literature

• Audiobooks are less demanding—and maybe that’s a good thing.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Douglass

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ News diary 26 June – 2 July: Kevin Spacey sex assault trial starts, new constituency maps revealed

• A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Jardin de la Lituanie – a piece of Lithuania in the middle of Paris

• Jardin de la Lituanie – the Lithuanian Garden – in the 17th arrondissement of Paris carries symbolism for Lithuania not just because of its name but also because of its location.

Science

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ New Study Bolsters Room-Temperature Superconductor Claim

• A team of researchers verified a key measurement from a study earlier this year that had faced doubts from other scientists.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Study reveals AI may transform the way we understand emotion

• An emotion identification technology created by scholars at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) might benefit people with neurodiverse diseases such as autism.

• Traditionally, emotion recognition has been a challenging and complex area of study.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Horses Used to Have Toes. What Happened to Them?

• The story can finally be told.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Why Figuring Out if It’s Anxiety, ADHD, or Both Matters

• And how to do it.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Strange Objects Found at The Galactic Center Are Like Nothing Else in The Milky Way

• Weird things happen near black holes…

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Physicists Discover a New State of Matter Hidden in The Quantum World

• A new secret is revealed.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ A Daily Multivitamin May Help Your Memory, But Only if You’re in This Age Group

• And only in a small way.

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ Harvard behavior scientist who studied honesty accused of fabricating data: report

• Prominent Harvard behavioral scientist Francesca Gino who undertook studies about honesty is under fire for allegedly fabricating papers that she worked on, according to a report.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Some Babies Are Born With ‘Tails’, But Not For The Reason You Might Think

• It isn’t a remnant of our ancestors.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Can These 7 Things Keep Mosquitoes Away From You? Here’s What The Science Says.

• Go. Away.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Rise of The Sleep Divorce: Do Humans Actually Sleep Better Alone?

• “We realized that we both sleep better apart.”

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ No, You Didn’t Imagine It: That Wolf Really Did Recognize Your Voice

• They’re listening.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Scientists Just Figured Out How This Deadly Superbug Hides Inside Us

• The jig is up.

Education

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ They gather, they read quietly, they leave: Indonesia’s silent book club aims to encourage reading

• Attendance for the monthly sessions averages about 30 people, with a mix of new faces as well as regulars.

Hardware

=> ↺ Ruben Schade ☛ Typing on my new Gateron North Pole 2.0 keyboard

• I’ve used mechanical keyboards for years, but this is the first one I’ve built from scratch. NovelKeys had a steep discount on their blue NK87 Entry Edition kit, so I figured why not! With the dual tone keycaps, I love how the colours harken back to my original blueberry iMac, and PCs of yore.

=> ↺ John Paul Wohlscheid ☛ BYTE Interview with the Creators of the Macintosh from 1984

• Jobs: What turns on Andy and Burrell and Chris and Bill and Larry and everyone else here is building something really inexpensive so that everyone can afford it. It’s not very many years ago that most of us in this room couldn’t have afforded a $5000 computer. We realized that we could build a supercheap computer that would run Bill Atkinson’s amazing Quickdraw and have a mouse on it— in essence, build a really cheap implementation of Lisa’s technology that would use some of that software technology. That’s when the Macintosh as we know it was started.

• Hertzfeld: That was around January of 1981.

=> ↺ Ruben Schade ☛ When does retrocomputing begin?

• My dear friend and fellow Baltic state fan Michael Dexter ran a fun poll that ended yesterday, with the options of end-of-life date, five years, ten years, twenty years, and never, stay current! I put myself down for twenty years, which turned out to be the most popular answer.

• @dexter: When does #RetroComputing begin?

• It may shock some of you that I have a couple of theories of my own!

• I’d say retrocompting visibly starts when devices fetch more on eBay than at retail. This follows what I dub the bathtub curve of computing, where a new device loses value as it becomes outdated, before becoming collectable. This is why a Commodore Plus/4 or a Sun SPARCstation is retro, but my smashed T550 is e-waste.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Robodog Goes Free Thanks To Unofficial SDK

• What’s better than a pretty nice legged robot? One with an alternate SDK version that opens up expensive features, of course. The author didn’t like that the original SDK only came as pre-compiled binaries restricted to the most expensive models, so rolled up their sleeves and started writing a new one.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Ventbots Are Fans Of HVAC And Home Automation

• [WJCarpenter] had a common HVAC problem; not all the rooms got to a comfortable temperature when the heater was working to warm up their home. As often happens with HVAC systems, the rooms farthest from the heat source and/or with less insulation needed a boost of heat in the winter and cooling in the summer too. While [WJCarpenter] is a self-reported software person, not a hardware person, you will enjoy going along on the journey to build some very capable vent boosters that require a mix of each.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Electronic Earrings Are PCB Art You Can Wear

• If there’s one area of the human anatomy we rarely try to draw the eye, it’s the ears. Nonetheless, [DIY GUY Chris] has developed some LED earrings that should do exactly that.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ IKEA Hack – Kvart Into Mic Stand

• While audiophiles might spend gazillions of hours finely honing a microphone stand that isolates their equipment from the trials and perturbations of the world, most of us who use a microphone don’t need anything so elaborate. Hackaday contributing editor [Jenny List] hacked together some thrift store finds into a snazzy adjustable mic setup as you can see in the video below the break.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Ecological System Dynamics For Computing

• Some of you may remember that the ship’s computer on Star Trek: Voyager contained bioneural gel packs. Researchers have taken us one step closer to a biocomputing future with a study on the potential of ecological systems for computing.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Gumball Coaster Is 3D-Printed Candy Fun

• Marble runs are fun enough on their own, but what if you could eat the marbles? Gumballs are the satisfying answer to that question. To that end, [Adrian Seeley] whipped up a system for producing gumball runs programmatically for entertainment and candy dispensing purposes.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Japan Gets Ready to Dump Nuclear Water Into the Ocean

• The test run of the discharge facility is expected to finish on June 26. The nuclear wastewater release seems to have entered the countdown.

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ Transplant Patients Face Risk of Chagas from Unscreened Organ Donors

• When a ringing phone woke Bob Naedele on his 64th birthday, the caller offered the best gift imaginable: Newark Beth Israel Medical Center had a heart for him. A heart attack had left Naedele, a former police detective, with grave cardiac damage, and he had spent the last 2 1/2 years on the transplant waiting list.

• Naedele’s family usually celebrated birthdays with dinner and a cake. But on that day in May of 2018, Bob and his wife of 43 years, Cheryl, instead started calling their children to let them know that they were heading to the hospital. The cake would have to wait.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ The Century Long War on Cannabis Is a War on Science

• Harvard physician Peter Grinspoon fights back against years of war on youth and communities of color.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Upcycling movement: How US chefs transform waste into meals

• Chefs are turning wasted food into high-quality dishes – from ice cream to pizza. The upcycling movement, which aims to address the problem of food waste in the United States, is growing in popularity as consumers are increasingly environmentally conscious.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court finds federal government not obligated to secure Navajo Tribe water access under treaty

• The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an 1868 peace treaty between the US government and the Navajo Tribe does not require the government to secure water access for the tribe.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ VA denied Black veterans health benefits more often than white vets, data shows

• The Department of Veterans Affairs was more likely to deny disability health benefits to Black veterans than their white counterparts, according to a new government data analysis.

• By the numbers: In fiscal year 2023, 84.8% of Black veterans who applied for physical or mental health benefits were granted assistance, compared to 89.4% of white veterans, the VA found.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ 3M to pay $10.3B for leaking ‘forever chemicals’ into water systems

• Chemical manufacturer 3M has agreed to pay $10.3 billion to settle lawsuits over the contamination of many public drinking water systems with harmful compounds. Known as “forever chemicals,” PFAS don’t degrade and have been linked to health problems.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Losing Your Y Chromosome Could Have Drastic Health Consequences

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Heart disease hits Malaysians at younger age as cholesterol issues go undiagnosed

• The average age of a Malaysian who suffers a heart attack is 58, compared with Singapore’s 68.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ US intelligence split on Covid-19 origins, but has no evidence it was created in Chinese lab

• The head of US intelligence said Friday that there was no evidence that the Covid-19 virus was created in the Chinese government’s Wuhan research lab.

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ Pro basketball player who previously blamed COVID vaccine for rare heart condition dies of heart attack

• Professional Dominican basketball player Óscar Cabrera Adames died this week after an apparent heart attack while he was possibly undergoing a stress test.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Health Benefits for U.S. Veterans From Pacific Nations Get Step Closer

• Citizens of three Pacific Island nations, eligible to serve in the U.S. military, have faced a Catch-22 in gaining access to certain benefits. That may change soon.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ Overcoming Impostor Syndrome

• Regulate your emotions and model your behavior on someone more psychologically stable and less driven by megalomania than you, like Elon Musk.

Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ A Chess AI In Only 4K Of Memory

• The first computer to ever beat a reigning chess world champion didn’t do so until 1996 when a supercomputer built by IBM beat Garry Kasparov. But anyone who wasn’t a chess Grandmaster could have been getting beaten by chess programs as early as 1979 when Atari released one of the first ever commercially-available chess video games for the Atari 2600. The game was called Video Chess and despite some quirky gameplay it is quite impressive that it was able to run on the limited Atari hardware at all as [Oscar] demonstrates.

=> ↺ Neowin ☛ Leaked poll shows employees don’t consider Microsoft as ‘top place’ to work [Ed: This Microsoft-friendly site belittles the crisis; there's a morale fiasco]

• According to a leaked internal poll, Microsoft employees have expressed concerns regarding the current leadership within the company. The poll, which marks a significant drop in employee confidence compared to the previous year, sheds light on the challenges faced by Microsoft’s workforce.

• Earlier this year, CEO Satya Nadella announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs by the end of Q3 2023. Alongside the layoffs, Microsoft also revealed that employees would not receive a pay raise this year, citing tough economic conditions.

• The leaked poll results highlight declining employee sentiment toward working at Microsoft. When asked whether operating at the company was a good idea, 69% of respondents responded negatively, representing a 3% increase from the previous year. In 2021, 73% of employees considered it a great opportunity to work at Microsoft.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ N.D. Texas Bankruptcy Court (Not Just a Single Judge) Issues Order Related to Use of AI-Generated Filings

• From In re: Pleadings Using Generative Artificial Intelligence, Gen. Order No. 2023-03, issued Wednesday by Chief Judge Stacey G. C. Jernigan: If any portion of a pleading or other paper filed on the Court’s docket has been drafted utilizing generative artificial intelligence, including but not limited to [...]

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ A.I. Beach + Vibes-Based R.T.O. + the ‘Black Mirror’ Quamputer

• Generative artificial intelligence can increasingly do the work of creatives — so why aren’t we seeing more A.I. ads and A.I. actors?

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Lawyers Who Used ChatGPT In Lieu Of Research Must Pay $5k, Alert Other Judges

• The lawyers who ridiculously did not check the citations ChatGPT gave them, and when called on it, doubled down with having ChatGPT make up the matching opinions, have now been sanctioned: they have to pay $5k. That may seem light, but with all of the details, it kinda makes sense.

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Google bug bounties inch closer to Microsoft’s payouts

• Bug hunters who found security holes in Google — and also responsibly disclosed details of those flaws to the Chocolate Factory — earned more than $12 million in bounty rewards in 2022, marking a record year for the corporation’s Vulnerability Reward Programs (VRPs) in terms of payouts and number of vulnerabilities found and fixed.

Security

=> ↺ Trend Micro ☛ An Overview of the Different Versions of the Trigona Ransomware [Ed: This is primarily a Windows issue]

• The Trigona ransomware is a relatively new ransomware family that began activities around late October 2022 — although samples of it existed as early as June 2022. Since then, Trigona’s operators have remained highly active, and in fact have been continuously updating their ransomware binaries. By April 2023, Trigona began targeting compromised MSSQL servers by stealing credentials via brute force methods. In May 2023, we found a Linux version of Trigona that shared similarities with its Windows counterpart.

=> ↺ InfoSecurity Magazine ☛ OpenSSH Trojan Campaign Targets IoT and Linux Systems [Ed: The issue here is neither SSH nor Linux. This is Microsoft and another company openly defaming OpenSSH and Linux, which they claim to be working with. The issue here is bad passwords.]

=> ↺ InfoSecurity Magazine ☛ OpenSSH Trojan Campaign Targets IoT and Linux Systems [Ed: The issue here is neither SSH nor Linux. This is Microsoft and another company openly defaming OpenSSH and Linux, which they claim to be working with. The issue here is bad passwords.]

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ MOVEit breach also impacted major pension systems and insurers [Ed: Windows TCO]

• The third-party vendor involved was PBI Research Services + Berwyn Group, who notified these clients on June 4 and June 6. CalPer’s notification can be found on CalPer’s website.

• The insurance sector was also affected by the MOVEit breach. Bill Toulas reports that a third PBI Research Services + BerwynGroup client, Genworth Financial, is a life insurance provider in Virginia affected by the MOVEit breach. They reported that between 2.5 and 2.7 million insurance members or employees were affected.

=> ↺ Cloudbooklet ☛ Linux systems Hacked with OpenSSH Malware [Ed: Helping Microsoft spread anti-SSH and anti-Linux FUD]

• Discover the implications of OpenSSH Malware on Linux systems. Learn about the security risks and the importance of proactive measures to safeguard against unauthorized access.

=> ↺ Gothamist ☛ Another data breach at NYC schools exposes student and staff information [Ed: Windows TCO]

• The New York City Department of Education estimates that the personal data of some 45,000 students was compromised as part of a breach involving the file transfer software MOVEit.

• Officials said the compromised data includes social security numbers, birth dates and certain student evaluations, though the specific types of data breached varies per student. Employees’ information was also affected, officials said, but they did not identify how many staff members were involved. No education department data has been published as a result of the breach so far, officials said, and the department will begin notifying those affected this summer.

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ Four senior residences in Pennsylvania disclose a data security breach in April

• Four senior residences have disclosed that they were the victims of a network intrusion in April that may have compromised residents’ personal and protected health information.

=> ↺ Yahoo News ☛ Former Highmark employee accused of misusing customer info to steal money from their health savings accounts

• Allegheny County District Attorney’s office charged Zakayah Scott who worked remotely from South Carolina for Highmark Health.

• Authorities said Scott had access to customers’ personal information including birthdays, addresses and phone numbers.

• They said she called Highmark’s customer service department, claiming to be one of the victims, change their password to their health savings account, log in, then withdrew and transferred money. The amount stolen totals more than $50,000

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ Prosecution of tracing agent for illegally obtaining personal information

• An enforcement action and prosecution was announced by the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office this week:

• A former tracing agent pleaded guilty and was fined for illegally obtaining personal information to check if customers of a high street bank could repay their debts.

• Michael Isaacs, 80, from Epsom, Surrey was the sole director of Datasearch Services Limited (DSS). DSS is a tracing agent company, previously used by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to locate people who owed money to RBS and to determine their assets and ability to repay the debts.

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ Four Nigerian Nationals Extradited To The United States To Face Charges In Wire Fraud And Identity Theft Conspiracy

• On June 22, United States Attorney Roger Handberg announced the successful extraditions of Akinola Taylor of the United Kingdom, Olayemi Adafin of the United Kingdom, Olakunle Oyebanjo of the United Kingdom, and Kazeem Olanrewaju Runsewe of Sweden. These individuals have been charged in the Middle District of Florida with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, filing false claims with the United States, theft of public money or property, and aggravated identity theft. Taylor, Adafin, and Runsewe were arrested on November 30, 2022, and Oyebanjo was arrested on December 2, 2022. Taylor, Adafin, and Oyebanjo were apprehended in London, United Kingdom at the request of the United States, and Runswewe was apprehended in Malmo, Sweden at the request of the United States. In connection with the arrests, foreign authorities conducted searches of the residences of Taylor and Runsewe. These individuals first appeared in the Middle District of Florida in May and June 2023. Another related defendant, Ogunlana Oluwarotimi of Texas, was arrested in Texas in January 2023 and is currently pending trial.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ Email Spam with Attachment Modiloader, (Sat, Jun 24th)

• This week (2023-06-21) I found 2 emails attachment in quarantine that had different text with the same attachment. The first one had an Office 365 indicating the admin had setup a custom rule to block the message and could not be delivered to the recipients and what to do to fix it.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Biden Denounces Abortion Bans, Warning That Privacy Is Next

• The president sought to galvanize supporters a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade as Democrats hope the issue helps them win next year’s elections.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ New York City Business Owners Aren’t Happy About Facial Recognition Ban Prompted By New York City Business Owner

• Things are getting heated in the city that never sleeps stops bitching. Private business owners don’t much care for the city telling them how to run their business, even when said business involves perhaps careless use of problematic tech.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Afghanistan war crimes: investigating the generals is the only way to end cover-up calls

• Australia’s military leaders need to be held to account for command failures in Afghanistan. It’s no surprise that calls of a cover-up are growing louder, writes defence whistleblower David McBride. 

• When The Australian’s Greg Sheridan agrees with Jacqui Lambie you know you are witnessing a seismic shift. Or, at very least, something that’s been hiding in plain sight and is finally being fully revealed.

=> ↺ Bertrand Meyer ☛ The “NATO expansion” canard

• It is obvious to all who is aggressive and who is aggressed. Shame on those who insinuate otherwise.

=> ↺ ANF News ☛ An ISIS woman with two children handed over to Denmark

• This is the fourth repatriation mission of ISIS members that Denmark’s government has carried out so far. The woman was taken into custody immediately after arriving in her country of origin, as she has a case pending against her for sponsoring terrorism and being in a war zone. Her children are in the custody of the Danish authorities.

=> ↺ Soldier succumbs to injuries following clash with PKK in Iraq’s Kurdistan region

• The contracted soldier was wounded on June 15 during the “Operation Claw-Lock.”

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Kenyan President William Ruto: ‘There are already signs of genocide in Sudan’

• In an interview with FRANCE 24 on the sidelines of the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, Kenya President William Ruto said the world’s multinational financial architecture needs to be “fixed”. He also reacted to the ongoing conflict in Sudan, saying “there are already signs of genocide”. More than 2,000 people have been killed there since fighting broke out on April 15.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Australian government sanctions three MH17 culprits

• Three men involved in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 have been sanctioned by the Australian government.

• The government has been working with the Netherlands and European Union to co-ordinate sanctions on the trio convicted by the District Court of The Hague in November 2022 for their contribution to the downing of MH17 and the murder of all 298 people on board, including 38 Australian citizens or residents.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Killing of Sikh Leader Raises Fears in British Columbia

• Members of the Sikh community in Surrey believe that Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the president of a local temple, was killed because of his political views.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Series of knife attacks underscores mental health shortcomings in ‘happy Hong Kong’

• After a brutal knife attack killed two women at a mall in Diamond Hill this month, Hong Kong police held a press conference which spelt out the shockingly indiscriminate nature of the assault.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ US aircraft carrier arrives in Vietnam

• This is the third visit by a US aircraft carrier to Vietnam since 2018.

=> ↺ Defence Web ☛ Botswana, Namibia launch Hanganee II joint exercise

• Namibia and Botswana have kicked off the joint military exercise Hanganee II, which is being held in Namibia. The exercise, under the theme Enhancing Joint Cooperation, runs from 15 to 30 June in Gobabis, Namibia. The official opening took place this week in the Omaheke Region in east/central Namibia.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Junta jet attack kills man in Myanmar’s Kayah state

• The bombing raid also injured 2 children.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Vietnam to prosecute 84 for alleged involvement in Dak Lak attacks

• Authorities blamed vague ‘organizations or individuals from overseas.’

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ How NATO Blends Aircraft From 25 Nations

• The alliance’s “Air Defender” exercises, the largest in its history, have focused on communications, particularly on synchronizing multiple encryption systems.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Serbian army commander urges NATO to increase protections to minority Serbs in Kosovo

• Serbian army commander, General Milan Mojsilovic, is urging NATO peacekeepers to increase efforts to protect minority Serbs who are in Kosovo. The call for protection follows the failure of peacekeeping negotiations between the EU, Serbia and Kosovo.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Serb Official Accuses Kosovo Police Of ‘Planting’ Weapons In Restive North

• Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian government office for Kosovo, has accused Kosovar authorities of planting weapons found during a raid in the north, where tensions have been running high, on June 23.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Overview of the approved constitutional changes in Mali

• Mali’s constitution was revised in a referendum on Friday, with an overwhelming 97 percent of voters supporting the changes. This marks a significant stride towards the ruling junta’s objective of reinstating civilian rule. The amended constitution grants more power to the president, fueling speculation about Colonel Assimi Goita, the junta’s leader, potentially running for president.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ US Army officer who helped Lithuania join NATO and sings about post-Soviet Baltics

• When the US Army pilot William Carl Buyan first visited Lithuania soon after it regained independence from the Soviet Union, he could hardly imagine that he would forever be linked to this faraway country. But this is where he met “the love of his life”, developed businesses, and is now happily spending his retirement.

War in Ukraine

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Latvian figures give their take on unfolding Russian coup attempt

• Several prominent Latvian figures offered their opinions about the significance and likely course of events in Russia amid some extraordinary happenings across the eastern border Sunday.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ‘They thought the risk was nil’ Prigozhin’s armed insurrection caught Kremlin officials off guard. Meduza’s sources say that by all appearances, attempts to negotiate have failed. — Meduza

• Vladimir Putin’s administration is pervaded with a fear that, within just a few hours, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group forces might not be far from Moscow, and that combat would then break out near the capital. Two sources close to the administration have shared what’s happening in the Kremlin with Meduza’s special correspondent Andrey Pertsev.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Latvia’s eastern border under enhanced control

• Latvia’s eastern border is under tightened control due to the Russian paramilitary Wagner group’s rebellion in Russia, the Prime Minister of Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš (New Unity) said on Twitter June 24.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Putin is losing control of Russia

• Most analysts have argued that Putin’s control in Russia was rock solid. That Prigozhin got this far suggests otherwise.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Why Putin Let Prigozhin Go

• The real “higher goal” of the deal was not what a Kremlin spokesperson suggested.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Wagner forces reverse course, Prigozhin to move to Belarus

• The Kremlin says Mr. Prigozhin, who led the Wagner group in a short-lived rebellion, will move to Belarus and not face prosecution.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ‘We’re faced with a betrayal’ Vladimir Putin addressed the country, promising harsh measures for Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner insurgents — Meduza

• Vladimir Putin gave an emergency address on Saturday morning, stating his position on Yevgeny Prigozhin’s professed “march of justice,” which appears to be a developing armed coup. The full text of the president’s address has been posted on the official Kremlin website. We have translated it.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Russian War Report Special Edition: Prigozhin and Wagner forces mutiny against Moscow

• A special edition of the Russian War Report on Wagner Group’s mutiny against the Russian military and occupation of Rostov.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Wagner group quits Russia’s territory after mercenary rebellion u-turn

• Russian paramilitary Wagner group pulled its fighters and equipment from Rostov-on-Don, where they had seized the military headquarters, said the regional governor, after the mercenaries’ chief Evgueni Prigozhin announced to go to Belarus and not face charges, after calling off his troops’ advance on Moscow.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ US, allies consult but tread carefully as Russia crisis unfolds

• The United States and its allies held close consultations but publicly stayed on the sidelines Saturday as officials waited to see how the armed revolt by longtime Kremlin insider Yevgeny Prigozhin and his private Wagner army would play out.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Wagner chief leaves Russia for Belarus following Minsk-brokered deal

• Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said Saturday that a contingent of his fighters who advanced towards Moscow in what he described as a rebellion against Russian military leaders would turn back to avoid bloodshed, de-escalating a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power. In a deal brokered by Minsk, Prigozhin will move to Belarus and Wagner fighters who took part in the advance will not be punished, the Kremlin said.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Wagner forces halt march to Moscow

• Wagner troops abruptly reversed course after advancing through southern Russia toward Moscow on Saturday, bringing an apparent end to an acute civil crisis that had boiled over between the mercenary forces and the Kremlin.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Russian regional authorities announce lockdowns, roadblocks as mercenary forces advance toward Moscow

• Multiple Russian regions declared strict security measures on Saturday as Wagner forces continued their advance toward Moscow.>

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Wagner Group Rebellion a Deadly Threat, President Putin Says [Ed: How propaganda apparatus of Kremlin covers (in English) the Wagner situation]

• “We are fighting for the life and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence…”

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Putin accuses mercenary chief Prigozhin of treason as Wagner troops claim southern city

• Russian president Vladimir Putin accused mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin of treason on Saturday as the latter’s forces claimed the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Unrest in Russia poses no direct threat to Lithuania – PM

• Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė says that the situation on Lithuania’s borders is being closely monitored due to events in Russia.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Putin Allows Prigozhin To Leave For Belarus After Mercenary Chief Halts Drive Toward Moscow

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to allow powerful mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to go free and leave for Belarus after a tense 24 hours that handed the Kremlin leader the biggest threat to his more than two-decade hold on power and sparked fears of a possible bloody civil war.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russians Snap Up Overseas Plane Tickets As Mercenaries Head Toward Moscow

• Russians snapped up plane tickets to leave the country this weekend as mercenaries from the Wagner Group head toward Moscow, the capital, in a possible power grab.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ EU Opens Crisis Center Over Turmoil In Russia

• The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, says the bloc has activated its crisis center over the turmoil in Russia.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russia’s Voronezh Regional Governor Confirms Oil Depot Fire

• Aleksander Gusev, the governor of Russia’s Voronezh region, says more than 100 firefighters are working to put out a burning fuel tank at an oil depot.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ EU Introduces 11th Package Of Sanctions Against Russia

• Since the EU members were concerned that this could complicate the EU’s relations with the rest of the world.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ The Coup Is Over, but Putin Is in Trouble

• The Wagner Group’s chief may have lost spectacularly, but Russia’s dictator suffered a huge political blow.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Prigozhin Planned This

• In its timing, design, and execution, the Wagner chief’s threatened coup bears the hallmarks of a well-prepared operation.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ The Wagner Group Is a Crisis of Putin’s Own Making

• For a decade, the Russian President outsourced his military ambitions to the mercenary force and its pugnacious leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin—then they turned against him.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Russia Slides Into Civil War

• Is Putin facing his Czar Nicholas II moment?

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Why Coups Fail

• Yevgeny Prigozhin didn’t have to mass an unassailable force on the Kremlin, but he did have to make his victory appear inevitable.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Rebellion: Putin’s Weakness Unmasked

• How Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion exposed the Russian President.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ FM Valtonen: Russia situation not currently a threat to Finland

• Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen meets EU counterparts on Monday.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ Compliments to the Chef: Prigozhin’s Trouble Looks like Civil War [UPDATE-1]

• Russia’s FSB filed charges against Putin’s chef, Yevgeny Prigozhin for incitement of attacks on the state. Meanwhile, Prigozhin appears to be hunting down Russia’s defense minister in response to an attack on Wagner group personnel by Russia. Is it a coup attempt or the start of a civil war?

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Wagner troops advance on Moscow as Putin vows to stop ‘rebellion’

• Russian mercenary troops press toward Moscow in a rebellion that President Vladimir Putin called a ‘betrayal.’

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ U.S. Knew Prigozhin Was Preparing to Take Military Action Against Russia

• The information was considered both solid and alarming because of the possibility that a major nuclear-armed rival of the United States could descend into chaos.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Putin Embraced Turmoil. Now It Is Rattling His Leadership.

• For more than two decades, the system helped President Vladimir V. Putin secure his unrivaled authority, ensuring that he personally held the keys to wealth and influence in modern Russia.

=> ↺ Erdoğan calls Putin to express support in face of Wagner uprising

• The president has expressed his “full support for the steps taken by the Russian leadership,” the Kremlin has said.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ What’s Happening in Russia? What We Know About Wagner’s Military Revolt

• A powerful mercenary chief sent his forces on the move against the Russian military establishment, raising tensions in the country to a level not seen in decades.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Crisis in Russia

• A Russian mercenary leader claimed he controls a military headquarters in southern Russia, and Vladimir Putin vowed to take action.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ An attempted military coup, in photos: Prigozhin’s Wagner Group took control of Rostov-on-Don, but stopped short of Moscow — Meduza

• On the evening of June 23, mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin reported that Wagner Group would be leading a “march of justice” toward Moscow. This decision came after a long period of conflict with Russia’s Defense Ministry, and, according to Prigozhin, due to the Defense Ministry allegedly launching a missile attack against his fighters at a “rear base” (this has not been confirmed). Overnight, Wagner Group captured Rostov-on-Don and then proceeded on past Voronezh. The Russian army occasionally resisted, and there were reports of losses. On June 24, just after 8:30 p.m. Moscow time, Prigozhin abruptly announced that Wagner forces would stand down and retreat to their field camps. The following photos show Wagner Group fighters en route to Moscow, before Prigozhin called off the coup.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Map: Tracking Wagner Military Convoys in Russia

• Wagner’s leader announced that his troops marching on Moscow would “turn around.”

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Timeline: What Led to the Standoff Between Russia and Prigozhin

• The leader of the Wagner mercenary group had kept a low profile for years, only acknowledging his force’s existence in September of last year.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ‘Mom, come out — the civil war has begun’ Meduza’s Russian readers react to Yevgeny Prigzohin’s insurrection — Meduza

• Yevgeny Prigozhin’s paramilitary fighters have captured Rostov-on-Don — and they don’t intend to stop there. Nobody knows how Russia’s next few days will unfold; the beginning of Prigozhin’s insurrection came as a complete surprise to everyone, from Vladimir Putin and Russian propagandists to independent observers. Meduza asked its Russian readers to tell us how they see the situation. We’re publishing translations of some of the most interesting responses below.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ As Putin’s Partner, Prigozhin Was Always Willing to Do the Dirty Work

• Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the mercenary leader of the Wagner Group, had earned the trust of Vladimir V. Putin. Then he staged a mutiny that rattled the Kremlin.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Short-Lived Mutiny in Russia Sheds Light on Putin’s Hold on Power

• The armed standoff on the road to Moscow, brief as it was, represented the most dramatic struggle for power in Russia in decades.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Kremlin drops charges against Wagner boss who led uprising

• Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin will leave Russia for Belarus and criminal charges against him for organizing a rebellion against Moscow will be dropped, the Kremlin said late Saturday, after a deal was reached that saw the mercenary group halt its advance toward the Russian capital.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Security situation in Russia still ‘evolving’: Wong

• Australia is working with its global allies and keeping an eye on Russia following extraordinary scenes involving a mercenary group crucial to its war against Ukraine.

• “Australia is closely monitoring developments in Russia,” Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said on Sunday.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Ukraine’s offensive amid Wagner rebellion Despite Prigozhin’s claims of major Russian losses, the reality appears to be a modest Ukrainian advance. Meduza shares an updated combat map. — Meduza

• Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Meduza has adopted a consistent antiwar position, holding Russia responsible for its military aggression and atrocities. As part of this commitment, we regularly update an interactive map that documents combat operations in Ukraine and the damage inflicted by Russia’s invasion forces. Our map is based exclusively on previously published open-source photos and videos, most of them posted by eyewitnesses on social media. We collect reports already available publicly and determine their geolocation markers, adding only the photos and videos that clear this process.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Rebel Wagner Forces, Threatening Moscow, Abruptly Stand Down

• The mercenary group had seized the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, the center of Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine, posing a grave threat to President Vladimir Putin’s government.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ‘There’s nobody on earth who can stop them’ What Wagner Group veterans have to say about Yevgeny Prigozhin’s armed rebellion — Meduza

• Yevgeny Prigozhin withdrew nearly all of Wagner Group’s fighters from Ukraine in preparation for his mutiny.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Prigozhin’s aborted rebellion Meduza’s interactive map shows how far Wagner Group got during its advance on Moscow — Meduza

• Over the course of a little more than 24 hours, Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that Wagner Group would leave its positions on the front in Ukraine and head toward Moscow on a “justice march.” Within hours, Wagner fighters had crossed into Russia and occupied the city of Rostov-on-Don, facing no opposition. After reportedly shooting down several Russian helicopters and an airplane, and coming within a few hundred miles of Moscow, Prigozhin announced that his convoys would turn around and retreat to their field camps. Here’s an interactive map of how far the “justice march” got and the convoy’s encounters with the Russian military on their way to Moscow.

=> ↺ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Russian mercenary group revolt against Moscow fizzles but exposes vulnerabilities

• The greatest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power has fizzled out after the rebellious mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow agreed to go into exile and sounded the retreat. The brief revolt exposed vulnerabilities among Russian government forces, with Wagner Group soldiers able to move with armored vehicles into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and advance toward Moscow. Under the deal announced Saturday by the Kremlin, Wagner Group’s leader will go to neighboring Belarus, which has supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Charges against him of mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped, and the Russian government said it would not prosecute Wagner fighters who took part.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Can Ukraine Fight as Well on Offense?

• Last year, the nation’s military prowess impressed the world. But reclaiming territory presents new challenges.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Wagner Chief Prigozhin Calls Off March To Moscow, Easing Tensions

• Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russian mercenary group Wagner, said he told his forces to immediately halt their advance on Moscow and return to their bases in Ukraine as fear gripped the country about a potential deadly power struggle.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Germany To Supply 45 More Gepard Tanks To Ukraine

• Germany intends to provide Ukraine with 45 more Gepard, or Cheetah, anti-aircraft tanks by the end of the year in its defensive struggle against Russia.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Activists Come Out In Support Of Students, Tell Iranian Leaders ‘There’s No Going Back’

• A number of Iranian activists and rights group have come out in support of protesting students at Tehran’s University of Art, warning them against increasing enforcement of dress codes, especially head scarves for women, across the country.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Kyiv Says F-16 Training For Ukrainian Pilots Could Start In July

• Ukraine’s defense minister said an international program to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets could begin next month.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russian Missile Attacks On Ukrainian Cities Kill Three, Injure More Than A Dozen

• Three people were killed and more than a dozen injured in Ukraine after Russia fired missiles overnight into several cities.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner boss leading an armed rebellion in Russia

• The head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said overnight he had taken control of the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don as part of an attempt to oust Russia’s defence minister. The 62-year-old’s open challenge to Moscow’s military comes after months of growing tensions over the conduct of the war in Ukraine.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Prigozhin walks away. Where does his halted mutiny leave Putin?

• Atlantic Council experts share their insights on what happened with the Wagner Group founder’s halted mutiny and what it says about the stability of Putin’s regime and the war in Ukraine.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Experts react: What Russia’s Wagner Group rebellion means for Putin, Ukraine, China, and more

• How did Prigozhin’s rebellion get as far as it did? And how will its aftermath affect Putin’s hold on power and the war in Ukraine?

=> ↺ Off Guardian ☛ UPDATED: An attempted coup in Russia?

• Update – “coup” aborted, Progozhin leaves Russia for Belarus, will not be prosecuted [jump] The breaking news from Russia today is that Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder and leader of the Wagner mercenary group, has “declared war on Russia’s military leadership”. Allegedly, Wagner units have started moving eastwards from Ukraine toward Moscow, taking the city of Rostov-on-Don. …

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Live Updates | Armed rebellion by Russian mercenary chief

• The Kremlin says the head of the private Russian military company Wagner will move to neighboring Belarus as part of deal to defuse rebellion tensions and the criminal case against him will be closed. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s troops who joined him in the uprising will not face prosecution and those who did not will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry. After the deal was reached Saturday, Prigozhin ordered his troops to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to field camps in Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian troops. Russian media reported that several helicopters and a military communications plane were downed by Wagner troops during the short-lived uprising.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Russia says Wagner Group’s leader will move to Belarus after his rebellious march challenged Putin

• Russia says the head of a private military company who staged a short-lived rebellion will move to Belarus and not face prosecution as part of deal to defuse a crisis that posed a challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s government. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also says fighters who took part in Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion will not be prosecuted, while those who did not will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry. The deal was struck Saturday in negotiations with the president of Belarus. Prigozhin said afterward that he was ordering his troops to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to field camps in Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian troops.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ The Dissenter ☛ Unauthorized Disclosure: John Kiriakou

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ John Kiriakou: The Godfather of Whistleblowers

• When the author blew the whistle on the C.I.A.’s torture program in 2007, Daniel Ellsberg called to congratulate him and say he had friends at his side. Years later, at a red-carpet event in Hollywood, the “most dangerous man in America” showed what he meant.

=> ↺ American Oversight ☛ News Roundup: Durham Hearing, John Eastman’s Disciplinary Proceedings, and One Year Since Dobbs

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Interesting Public Records Act Case

• From Silverman v. Ariz. Health Care Cost Containment Sys., decided Thursday by the Arizona Court of Appeals (in an opinion by Chief Judge Kent E. Cattani, joined by Judge Cynthia J. Bailey and Vice Chief Judge David B. Gass): This public records case presents a narrow issue of potentially broad import. Arizona law does not…

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ “The Palestine Laboratory”: Antony Loewenstein on How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation

• We speak with journalist and author Antony Loewenstein about his new book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. Loewenstein explains that Israel’s military-industrial complex has used the Occupied Palestinian Territories for decades as a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance technology that it then exports around the world for profit. “You find in over 130 countries across the globe in the last decades, Israel has sold … a range of tools of occupation and repression that have initially been tested in Palestine on Palestinians,” Loewenstein says.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ UN human rights chief condemns West Bank violence between Israel and Palestine

• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called Friday for an “immediate end” to violence in the West Bank amid rising tensions between Israel and Palestine.

Environment

=> ↺ Futurism ☛ Climate Change Could Cause Himalayan Glaciers to Shrink By a Shocking Amount

• The Himalayas are going to look quite different once a large chunk of its glaciers melts away in less than 80 years — if climate change continues like a runaway train, a global group of scientists and researchers warn in a new alarming report.

• As much as 80 percent of glaciers could vanish by the year 2100 if global temperatures rise by four degrees Celsius.

=> ↺ NL Times ☛ “Emergency bell for the climate” will sound in multiple bell towers across the country

• Grandparents for Climate read a statement calling on the government, businesses, farmers, and citizens to take action to accelerate sustainability. “We wish all grandchildren a livable and sustainable earth,” the group said.

=> ↺ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Tropical Storm Cindy forms behind Bret in an early and aggressive start to Atlantic hurricane season

• Tropical Storm Cindy has formed behind Tropical Storm Bret. Forecasters say it’s the first time there are two storms in the tropical Atlantic in June since record keeping began. The historic event signals an early and aggressive start to the Atlantic hurricane season that began on June 1. Its peak usually runs from mid-August to mid-October. Forecasters blamed unusually high sea temperatures for the rare development. Cindy is expected to remain a tropical storm as it heads northeast into open waters. Officials say Bret damaged homes on some islands. Four people are missing after their catamaran sank near Martinique. Bret is now over open waters.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ The Pacific Northwest’s Deadly 2021 Heat Wave Fuels a New Lawsuit Against Big Oil

• Multnomah County’s suit is one of the first to seek damages related to a specific weather event.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ To Reduce Air Pollution, London’s ULEZ Is Expanding Despite Opposition

• The city’s Ultra Low Emission Zone, which imposes a daily charge on the most-polluting vehicles, is expanding despite some resistance.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Extreme floods and heat in China ravage farms and kill animals

• It underscored the risks that climate shocks pose to President Xi’s push for China to become more self-reliant in its food supply.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ China’s Extreme Floods and Heat Ravage Farms and Kill Animals

• China’s leader has made it a national priority to ensure the country can feed its large population. But weather shocks have disrupted wheat harvests and threatened pig and fish farming.

=> ↺ Mexico News Daily ☛ Summer is here and the world’s on fire

• With Mexico in the grip of extreme temperatures, Sarah DeVries reflects on the issues facing the country during this prolonged heat wave.

=> ↺ Report Back from the Global Greens Congress

• I attended the Global Greens Congress in Incheon, South Korea, as an informal observer intending to interact with and learn from Greens around the world. Leading up to the Congress, I was asked by Tim Hollo, director of the Green Institute, the think tank of the Australian Green Party, to make presentation on Grassroots Democracy to a session on “Power and Grassroots Democracy,” where I made the case that Greens should stand for institutionalizing a confederal grassroots democracy based on citizen assemblies.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Global warming increases CO2 emissions from soil bacteria: Research

• The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration is a main driver of global warming, with soil sources accounting for an estimated one-fifth of atmospheric CO2. This is due in part to the activities of microbes such as bacteria, fungus, and other microorganisms that degrade organic stuff in the soil using oxygen, such as dead plant materials. CO2 is discharged into the atmosphere during this process. Scientists call this process heterotrophic soil respiration.

Energy/Transportation

Axios ☛ The politics (and economics) of Biden’s battery policyBiden administraion officials are taking a kitchen sink approach to boosting production of electric vehicle batteries and components — and the effects could be political as well as economic.Catch up fast: The Energy Department on Thursday conditionally approved $9.2 billion in loans for a joint battery manufacturing venture between Ford and South Korea’s SK On.It will help finance two factories in Kentucky and one in Tennessee to supply Ford and Lincoln-branded EVs.

=> ↺ Ruben Schade ☛ Energy retailer of last resort?

• What happens when you privatise power distribution? You raise prices for one, because you’ve introduced for-profit companies between you and a natural monopoly. But what happens when those middle men go out of business, or decide they no longer want to supply you?

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ The Super Connector Who Built Sam Bankman-Fried’s Celebrity World

• Michael Kives, a former Hollywood agent, connected FTX’s founder to Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Bill Clinton and others. His firm got $700 million in exchange, a lawsuit claims.

=> ↺ Interesting Engineering ☛ Porsche is developing an exclusive electric sports boat

• This is according to a press release by the carmaker published on Saturday.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Extreme Travel Is Inspiring New Types of Insurance

• Some offer evacuations and others provide coverage for accidental death or injury to cater to the growing adventure tourism market.

=> ↺ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ What the Titanic submersible saga and the Greek migrant shipwreck say about our reactions to tragedy

• One grabbed unrelenting, moment-to-moment attention. One was watched and discussed as another sad, but routine, news story.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Canada is investigating why the Titanic-bound submersible imploded

• The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says it is investigating into the loss of the Titan submersible and has been speaking with those who traveled on Titan’s mothership, the Polar Prince. The development comes as U.S. and Canadian authorities began the process of probing the cause of the underwater implosion. The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday a formal inquiry has not yet been launched because maritime agencies are still busy searching the area where the vessel fell apart. It was not entirely clear who would have the authority to lead the complex investigation.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Titanic sub crew: Who were the five people on board the vessel?

• The submersible that went missing during a tourist expedition to the Titanic imploded near the wreckage, killing all five people on board, the US Coast Guard said Thursday, bringing a grim end to a massive international search for the vessel.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Canada begins investigation into Titanic-bound submersible implosion

• The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Saturday that it’s conducting an investigation into the loss of the Titan submersible and has been speaking with those who traveled on Titan’s mothership, the Polar Prince.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Polar Prince, Ship That Launched Titan Submersible, Returns to Newfoundland

• Investigators boarded the Polar Prince, which docked at the Atlantic headquarters of the Canadian Coast Guard, looking for answers.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Paul-Henri Nargeolet, France’s ‘Mr Titanic’, hailed after submersible implosion

• A French submarine operator and daredevil deep-sea explorer dubbed “Mr Titanic”, who died onboard a submersible visiting the wreck of the mythic ship, was hailed on Friday as having helped advance mankind’s understanding of the “unknown world”.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Submersible Expert Raised Safety Concerns After 2019 Trip on Titan Sub

• After hearing a loud cracking sound during the dive, the expert, Karl Stanley, emailed OceanGate’s C.E.O., Stockton Rush, to urge him to hold off on future trips.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Stockton Rush, OceanGate CEO, Pushed to Expand Submersible Travel Despite Concerns

• After his early astronaut dreams were cut short, Stockton Rush was determined to open up underwater exploration and saw his company as the “SpaceX for the ocean.”

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Most fatal accidents due to fatigue occur during the summer

• According to recent data from traffic accident investigation boards, fatal accidents caused by driver fatigue are most common during the summer months. Half of these accidents occur during daylight hours. Over the course of ten years from 2012 to 2021, driver fatigue is estimated to have been a contributing factor in one out of every five fatal accidents. Furthermore, 37% of the fatigued drivers involved in accidents were under the influence of alcohol.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Pedestrian deaths reach 40-year high

• Pedestrian deaths in the U.S. are the highest they’ve been in 40 years, in part because Americans are buying bigger cars that are more likely to kill cyclists or pedestrians in a crash.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Grab Malaysia reinstates rider involved in petrol pump spat after users threaten to boycott app

• The rider allegedly confronted two Singaporeans after he saw them trying to fill a barrel with petrol.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia looking to increase locations selling unsubsidised petrol in Johor, other states to foreigners

• Foreigners are barred from purchasing unsubsidised petrol, a controlled item, in Malaysia.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Asia heatwaves put renewable power fleet to the test

• India and China have turned to coal-fired power plants as backup to address higher power demand.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Ford Explorer recall prompts Transportation Department investigation

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating a Ford Motor Co. recall of more than a quarter-million Explorer SUVs in the U.S. The probe comes after the administration received complaints about repairs intended to prevent the vehicles from unexpectedly rolling away even while placed in park. The problem, ascribed to fractures of a rear axle mounting bolt that could lead the drive shaft to disconnect, was addressed with a software update designed to apply the electronic parking brake if the drive shaft failed, the agency said. But two Explorer owners complained their vehicles behaved erratically following the repair.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ How Do Kwon, a Crypto Fugitive, Upended the Politics of Montenegro

• Only days before an election in Montenegro, a letter from Do Kwon, the fugitive founder of the Luna digital coin, claimed that crypto “friends” had provided campaign funding to a leading candidate.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Freight train carrying hot asphalt, molten sulfur plunges into Yellowstone River as bridge fails

• A bridge that crosses the Yellowstone River in Montana collapsed, plunging a freight train carrying hot asphalt and molten sulfur into the rushing water below. No injuries were reported. Officials shut down drinking water intakes downstream while they evaluated the danger from the accident Saturday morning. Railroad crews were at the scene near the town of Columbus, about 40 miles west of Billings. The river was swollen with recent heavy rains although it is unclear whether that contributed to the bridge collapse. The Yellowstone saw record flooding in 2022 that caused extensive damage to Yellowstone National Park and adjacent towns in Montana.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ The Case Against Travel

• It turns us into the worst version of ourselves while convincing us that we’re at our best.

• [...]

• “A tourist is a temporarily leisured person who voluntarily visits a place away from home for the purpose of experiencing a change.” This definition is taken from the opening of “Hosts and Guests,” the classic academic volume on the anthropology of tourism. The last phrase is crucial: touristic travel exists for the sake of change. But what, exactly, gets changed? Here is a telling observation from the concluding chapter of the same book: “Tourists are less likely to borrow from their hosts than their hosts are from them, thus precipitating a chain of change in the host community.” We go to experience a change, but end up inflicting change on others.

• [...]

• Tourism is marked by its locomotive character. “I went to France.” O.K., but what did you do there? “I went to the Louvre.” O.K., but what did you do there? “I went to see the ‘Mona Lisa.’ ” That is, before quickly moving on: apparently, many people spend just fifteen seconds looking at the “Mona Lisa.” It’s locomotion all the way down.

• [...]

• Second, a couple from Iowa driving around Mexico. They are enjoying the trip, but are a bit dissatisfied by the usual sights. They get lost, drive for hours on a rocky mountain road, and eventually, “in a tiny valley not even marked on the map,” stumble upon a village celebrating a religious festival. Watching the villagers dance, the tourists finally have “an authentic sight, a sight which is charming, quaint, picturesque, unspoiled.” Yet they still feel some dissatisfaction. Back home in Iowa, they gush about the experience to an ethnologist friend: You should have been there! You must come back with us! When the ethnologist does, in fact, return with them, “the couple do not watch the goings-on; instead they watch the ethnologist! Their highest hope is that their friend should find the dance interesting.” They need him to “certify their experience as genuine.”

• [...]

• Travel is fun, so it is not mysterious that we like it. What is mysterious is why we imbue it with a vast significance, an aura of virtue. If a vacation is merely the pursuit of unchanging change, an embrace of nothing, why insist on its meaning?

• [...]

• Socrates said that philosophy is a preparation for death. For everyone else, there’s travel.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ ‘Time to deliver’ on battery supply chain promises

• Nickel is a vital material for electric car batteries, which makes it an obvious item for a list of priority minerals.

• And yet nickel is still awaiting the official stamp of approval as being critical enough to be added to the list.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Consumer watchdog rules electricity contract price rises should be capped

• Last winter saw many consumers sign contracts priced at relatively high levels.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan’s chaotic traffic a ‘living hell’ for pedestrians

• Pedestrians are fed up, especially in the wake of several high-profile traffic fatalities in recent months.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 11 hospitalised as Cathay Pacific flight aborts take-off at Hong Kong Int’l Airport

• 11 passengers were hospitalised after a Cathay Pacific flight to Los Angeles carrying 283 passengers aborted its take-off at Hong Kong’s international airport at 12:58 a.m. on Saturday. Flight CX880, which was also carrying 17 crew members, experienced a “technical issue,” according to the airline. Citing police, RTHK reported that one of the plane’s tyres […]

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Off Guardian ☛ No one is crowing now

• It is the first time the crows did not come in the morning. Under the red sun and yellow skies. In the forty years I have been here it was the first morning I did not hear their loud impatience.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Funding provided to 16 projects nationwide for the control of invasive species

• Funding has been allocated to 16 projects aimed at combating invasive species in Finland. The total amount of funding available is approximately 60,000 euros. The grant application was specifically targeted towards efforts to control invasive species and cover associated costs.

• Invasive species, such as giant hogweed and giant knotweed, can grow to significant sizes and quickly dominate their surrounding environment.

=> ↺ IDA ☛ Advocacy Through Light Sensitivity: Chloe Everhart

• Each month DarkSky International features a dark sky advocate from the worldwide network of volunteers who are working to protect the night in a feature called ‘Monthly Star.’

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Watch Rare Burmese Peacock Turtles Hatching

• Local conservationists at Indawgyi Lake captured the first known videos of rare Burmese peacock turtles hatching.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Neglected Thai elephant prepares for jumbo flight home from Sri Lanka

• Thailand demanded the animal back amid allegations it was tortured and neglected while housed at a Buddhist temple.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Former Sri Lanka president Rajapaksa accused of obstructing mass grave investigations

• Four Sri Lanka activist organizations accused former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday of obstructing police investigations into mass graves discovered in an area where he served as a military officer during a Marxist rebellion in 1989.

Overpopulation

=> ↺ Futurism ☛ We Pumped So Much Water Out of the Ground That We Tilted the Earth, Researchers Suggest

• For their model, the researchers considered that humans had pumped a whopping 2,150 gigatons of water from the ground between 1993 and 2010 which led to six millimeters of sea level rise, something that scientists had previously estimated.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Thailand’s low birth rate affecting enrolments at Thai universities: Educationist

• Universities might struggle to survive in the next five years if they do not adapt.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ How the Conservative Movement Sees Birth Control Today

• At the heart of the conservative position on birth control is whether contraception is a positive right or a personal choice.

Finance

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ New CEO for PwC as it offloads government consultancy

• A new CEO has been parachuted in to run the embattled consultancy firm PwC Australia, which is offloading its money-making government consultancy business for $1.

• Acting CEO Kristin Stubbins has been turfed after seven weeks and will be replaced by the parent’s Singapore-based global clients and industries leader Kevin Burrowes.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ As Lord Mayor, a 22-Year-Old Vaulted From Public Housing Into London’s Elite

• Hamza Taouzzale became the first Muslim and youngest ever Lord Mayor of Westminster, a ceremonial post that outranks many of the capital’s most powerful and privileged.

=> ↺ RTE ☛ Statement by the RTÉ Board – June 23, 2023

• The RTÉ Board confirms that Dee Forbes, the Director General was suspended from her employment on Wednesday 21 June 2023. There are processes on-going and RTÉ must be mindful of its legal responsibilities and the rights of individuals. RTÉ will not be commenting further on this issue at this time.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Experts warn inheritance tax removal could increase tax on some inheritances

• Someone selling their inheritance could be forced to pay more tax if inheritance tax was abolished and replaced by capital income tax, according to the Taxpayers’ Association of Finland.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Ford’s EV war chest is being built out of job cuts and federal loans

• Ford’s electric vehicle (EV) business’ balance sheet is in dire need of balancing.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ For Some NBA Draftees Who Overcame Adversity, Making the Transition to Fame and Fortune Is No Slam Dunk

• Through the draft, newly-minted NBA players may skyrocket into an astronomically higher tax bracket overnight. But just because they’ve become instant millionaires doesn’t mean they’re going to easily transition into lives of prosperity.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ UK junior doctors announce 5 day strike action for July

• Junior doctors in England announced plans to strike for five days in July on Friday, which has been described by their union as being the “longest single period of industrial action” in the history of the state-run National Health Service (NHS).

=> ↺ Off Guardian ☛ Jesus and the Sleeping Disciples

• Shouldn’t we not rest until every man, woman, and child alive on earth has a roof over his or her head and food to eat and clean water to drink? Wasn’t that what Jesus was getting at? At the very least? But no, that has never even been close to happening.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Don’t Let Culture Wars Weaken the Financial System [Ed: Koch-bribed site moans that "officials are pushing pension funds to divest from fossil fuels"]

• In California, officials are pushing pension funds to divest from fossil fuels, firearms manufacturers, and tobacco companies. Red states are retaliating. This is madness.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Former Malaysian PM Muhyiddin takes govt to task over pricier goods, weak ringgit

• He said that there had not been any concrete effort made by the government to control prices of goods.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Gen Z enters the housing market, despite economic difficulties

• America’s youngest generation is taking on mortgages despite steep economic hurdles, including pandemic graduations and student loan debt.

• Why it matters: The outlook for Gen Z isn’t unlike that of millennials, a group that now includes more homeowners than renters.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Making economy 770 tons lighter – Lithuania moves to phase out 1 and 2 cent coins

• Maintaining the coins costs 4 million a year and most drop out of circulation after just one transaction.

=> ↺ Mexico News Daily ☛ Will nearshoring live up to its hype for the Mexican economy?

• It’s the latest business buzzword in Mexico, but how much will the country reap economic rewards from the shifts in global supply chains?

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ With record unemployment, China’s youth confront bleak job market

• Rather than celebrating finishing university, this summer Chinese graduates shared photos of themselves theatrically throwing their degrees into bins, underscoring the bleak outlook as youth unemployment sits at a record high.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Pace of inflation slowdown major drawcard this week

• Inflation will be in the spotlight this week as consumers continue to be hit by the rising cost of goods and services despite some recent signs of an easing in economic growth.

• The Reserve Bank of Australia – which is nine days away from its next interest rate decision – has been eyeballing the consumer price index for signs of any slowing in upward pressures on prices as it considers whether to hike again.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Getting rich during China’s boom – then fleeing as prospects darken

• ‘Things had gotten so bad in China,’ says one former CEO now in Florida.

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Scalpers Flip RTX 40 Series Founders Edition GPUs For Fat Profits In China

• Chinese publication ITHome reports Nvidia’s recently launched GeForce RTX 40-series Founders Edition graphics cards have ended up in the hands of scalpers.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ The Paradox at the Grocery Store

• What people really need is less choice, not more.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ India Times ☛ EU, Meta agree to July stress test on EU online content rules

• Meta and the European Union (EU) have agreed on a stress test in July on the EU’s online content rules, following EU industry chief Thierry Breton’s demand that the social media platform act immediately over Meta’s content targeting children.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Social Media Has Collapsed Good Debate

• As debates shifted from in-person events to ones delivered primarily through electronic media, they evolved to serve specific formats. Television is an action medium, and so production is focused on constant dance-and-pivot camera and dialogue work that doesn’t linger on anything too long. Audiences have been conditioned to crave brevity and visual excitement, and good debaters understand the nuances of the medium in ways that have permanently altered audience expectations and debate prep, the kinds of changes that have altered how audiences receive information in new channels such as streaming video or podcasts.

• A particular media type influences how messages are created and perceived. Research suggests that the same message in a photo will be processed more emotionally than text, because our brains deal with images and words differently. Messages in audio take on different characteristics when TV adds visual layers. One can win a debate on substance but lose it in the public consciousness if the message is incongruent with the audience’s medium-specific expectations.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Chris Hedges on Cornel West 2024, RFK Jr., Green Party Strategy

• By Briahna Joy Gray / YouTube Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges rejoins the podcast to talk about his relationship with the Cornel West 2024 campaign, ballot access, strategy, RFK Jr. & more. Also, the nurses and teachers unions’ endorsement of Joe Biden, the problem of business unionism, & whether RFK Jr. is accurately representing […]

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ It’s Not Possible to ‘Win’ an Argument With Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

• You can’t win a debate against someone who disregards facts.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Cambodia’s National Assembly Amends Election Law

• “…people wishing to stand for future elections, they must go to vote”

=> ↺ India Times ☛ Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman offer support for EU regulation of AI

• Technology company executives Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman expressed support for government oversight of artificial intelligence after discussions with European Commission Thierry Breton.

• The commissioner said Friday that he and Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., were “aligned” on the EU’s regulation of artificial intelligence, which is now in final negotiations. They agreed on the bloc’s risk-based approach and to measures like watermarking, Breton said.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Arnon Milchan, the Mogul Testifying Against Israel’s Netanyahu

• Arnon Milchan, the movie mogul, billionaire spy and old friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, is about to testify at the Israeli prime minister’s corruption trial.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Vivek Ramaswamy Is ‘a Hint of the Future’: Our Writers on His Candidacy

• A weak candidacy but serious ideological development on the right.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Guatemala Votes for President, but Candidates Are Excluded

• Guatemala’s first round of elections on Sunday is as much about who’s not on the ballot as who is, after courts barred leading candidates from running.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ As Guatemalans vote, what is undermining their faith in democracy?

• Guatemala votes for its next president this weekend, but many favorite candidates aren’t on the ballot.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Ceremony at Thai cave to mark 5th anniversary of rescue mission

• The ceremony included the offering of alms to 39 monks and prayers for those who participated in the rescue mission.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Greek Youths, Shaped by Debt Crisis, Plan to Vote for Stability

• Many children of Greece’s traumatic years of economic collapse have opted for pragmatism over radicalism and say they will back a conservative on Sunday.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Sierra Leone’s Election: What to Know and Latest News

• In Saturday’s vote, President Julius Maada Bio is seeking a second five-year term to pursue an ambitious if unfulfilled education initiative, while the country is facing a crippling economic crisis.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Sierra Leone releases opposition protestors from custody ahead of election

• The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sierra Leone released 35 political prisoners from custody Friday on the eve of a high-stakes national election. The country’s fifth election since the end of its civil war in 2002 has sparked wide-spread unrest and prompted calls for peace from the international community.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ INTERVIEW: ‘We must blame those who created this nightmare’

• Myanmar’s shadow health minister details efforts to secure aid for the opposition during a US visit.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Greece votes in second round of general elections with conservative premier favourite

• Greek voters head to the polls again Sunday in an election where conservative front-runner Kyriakos Mitsotakis is seeking a second term and an absolute parliamentary majority to form a “stable government”.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Violence in the West Bank persists with Israeli, Palestinian attacks

• Violence in the occupied West Bank persisted Saturday with Israelis attacking Palestinian residents and a Palestinian shooter killed by Israeli forces at a checkpoint, officials on both sides said.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Japan’s ‘evaporated’: Why do some people choose to disappear?

• Every year, around 90,000 people are reported missing in Japan. Most of them are found or return home, but thousands of others simply vanish. It seems they don’t want to be found. There is even a Japanese word for the phenomenon: “johatsu”, or evaporation. Many make meticulous plans for their disappearance and cut all ties with their families to build new lives elsewhere. But why do they do it? And where do they end up? Our reporters spoke to investigators, experts and left-behind families to try to shed light on Japan’s “evaporated” people.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ The Meaning of Hunter Biden

• It isn’t about presidential corruption but a determined parent battling his son’s addiction with unconditional love.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ The Post-Racial Republicans

• One of the core beliefs that binds the modern GOP coalition is rejection of the idea that minorities and women face structural bias in American society.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Trump Highlights Abortion Supreme Court Decision at Faith and Freedom Conference

• Former President Donald J. Trump told an evangelical gathering that no president had done more for Christians than he did.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ The Approach to Classification in Trump’s Stolen Document Case

• DOJ is approaching the Trump stolen document case in a way that makes Trump responsible if the trial happens during primary season.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ Can Anybody Stop Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican Primary?

• Even as the former President has a commanding poll lead in a splintered field, one veteran G.O.P. consultant argues that it’s too early to coronate him.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Prosecutors Seek to Delay Trump Documents Trial to December

• The special counsel argued that the August date set by the judge did not allow enough time to deal with the complications of classified evidence, but still proposed a relatively speedy timetable.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Former Trump Campaign Official in Talks to Cooperate in Jan. 6 Inquiry

• The office of the special counsel is negotiating with Michael Roman, who was closely involved in the efforts to create slates of pro-Trump electors in states won in 2020 by Joseph R. Biden Jr.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Trump, the Worst Boss You’ve Ever Had

• He believes the presidency belongs to him. It’s a dangerous assumption rooted in the habits and pathologies of the business world.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Pakistan hits out at US, India after Biden-Modi meeting

• Both leaders called on Pakistan to ensure its territory was not used as a base for militant attacks.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Democracy and Reality

• We are covering Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.S., the implosion of the missing submersible and the N.B.A. draft.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ India Is Not Modi, We Once Said. I Wish I Still Believed It.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s complicity in the violence against India’s Muslims is the easy part of this story. The hard part is what has happened to our community.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Modi’s Visits Abroad Help to Build His Image in India

• For an audience in India, the prime minister is linking his diplomatic reception abroad, and himself, to the country’s growing importance on the world stage.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ More people from India are travelling abroad, particularly to the US

• For the first five months of 2023, travel from India to the US exceeded pre-pandemic volumes.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ IRS Whistleblowers Allege Misconduct of Biden Investigation in Congressional Testimony

• As the Hunter Biden tax investigation progresses, its scope and complexity continue to deepen in regard to President Biden’s potential involvement.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ A prototype for China-West teamwork

• Patience has paid off in a debt deal for Zambia that sets a precedent for China’s cooperation on global financial governance.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Arab nations praise China’s Uyghur policies: Society is ‘harmonious,’ religion free

• Muslim-majority nations reject Uyghurs in favor of national interests.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Dismissing tensions, US Pres. Joe Biden expects to see China’s Xi despite ‘dictators’ jab

• US President Joe Biden voiced confidence Thursday that he would meet Xi Jinping soon, as he refused to back down after angering Beijing by likening the Chinese leader to “dictators.”

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Still a great power competition?

• The brief but high-stakes meeting this week between US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Chinese leader Xi Jinping resolved little.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Australian PM visit to China to be locked in at ‘appropriate time’

• PM Anthony Albanese stressed the importance of bilateral trade.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ A Wild, Conspiratorial, Fantastical View of World Politics: Might It Be True?

• The modus operandi of the Deep State is to prepare the ground for destruction of any nation deemed a threat and to neutralize those individuals, foreign and domestic, considered a danger to the Controllers’ agenda.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Australians can vote on facts, not fear, on voice: PM

• Australians shouldn’t listen to scare campaigns when considering how to vote in a referendum to enshrine an Indigenous voice in the Constitution, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.

• Despite recent polling showing reduced support for the proposal, the federal government is on track to hold the referendum in the last quarter of 2023.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Why Eric Adams Issued His Second-Ever Veto Over Housing Bills

• Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, immediately criticized the veto and said that the Council had enough votes to override it.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ The Fourteenth Amendment

• Both the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 were passed in the 38th session of Congress.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Say Gay, to a Floridope

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ 14,000 England voters denied participation under new ID rules

• Almost 14,000 English voters were denied a chance to participate in local elections across England, according to research by the Electoral Commission, updated on Friday. The report found that this was a result of a new voter ID policy.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ [Repeat] Hong Kong Free Press ☛ ‘Salute’: Hong Kong police, officials launch accounts on Chinese social media platforms

• Hong Kong police have opened an account on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform similar to Instagram, after the city’s security chief and chief secretary earlier launched accounts on the same platform.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Who owns the Daily Mail?

• The Daily Mail, under DMGT, has been under the control of the same family since its launch 126 years ago.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Gannett ☛ An Iowa meteorologist’s climate change coverage led to a death threat. He’s now resigning.

• The message was interpreted as a death threat given its apparent reference to a California man who was charged with attempted murder for showing up with a gun and other weapons near the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh earlier that month.

• Gloninger is far from the only one in the journalism industry in the United States and across the world who has experienced threats of some sort. And some of the hatred has even become deadly.

• In 2022, 67 journalists and media members were killed globally — an increase of 50% from 2021 and the highest number recorded since 2018, according to a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which has tracked journalist killings since 1992. In the United States, Jeff German, a veteran investigative reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, was stabbed to death at his Las Vegas home in September allegedly by an elected official who the reporter had published investigative articles about.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ How Christian Groups Helped Parents Pull Books From Some Pennsylvania School Libraries

• They were being removed under a new book-challenge policy enacted last July by the Republican majority on the school district’s board of directors after a series of grueling public meetings that have divided the wealthy district north of Philadelphia. Under the policy, a parent can challenge a book in a school library if it depicts implied or actual nudity or “sexual acts” and a committee of district staff then reviews it.

• Pulling the two books, both reviled by conservatives around the country, was another hyper-local victory in a broader national effort nurtured by Christian conservative groups to expand parents’ direct control over what school staff can share with their children, particularly on matters of sex, identity and race. Liberal groups say the effort amounts to censorship and even bigotry, with disproportionate harm to LGBT students and those in other minority groups.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Librarians train to defend intellectual freedom and fight book bans at Chicago conference

• Book bans and how to fight them is a major focus of the this year’s ALA’s conference. “The world’s largest library event” provides training and education for library professionals, according to the conference website. Librarians may attend sessions, like the one Gregory spoke at, aimed at helping them confidently counter book challenges, fight legislative censorship and ensure the freedom to read.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Malaysia to take legal actions against Meta for failure to remove ‘undesirable’ posts

• The Malaysian government announced on Friday that it would take legal action against Facebook parent company Meta for its failure to remove “harmful” content relating to race and religion.

• The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the public body regulating communications and multimedia in Malaysia, published an official statement on its website with resentments. It mentioned that “despite repeated requests from MCMC, Meta has failed to take sufficient action to address the issue of undesirable content on its platform.” MCMC said responses had been received from Facebook’s parent company, yet the Malaysian administration does not accept the “sluggish and unsatisfactory” reactions.

=> ↺ SCMP ☛ Facebook parent Meta faces Malaysia legal action for not removing harmful content

• The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said the company failed to remove content related to race, royalty and religion despite repeated requests

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Challenge to Georgia BDS Law Loses on Qualified Immunity Grounds

• The Eleventh Circuit therefore avoids deciding whether such laws are constitutional.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Massachusetts District Attorney Sued for Refusing To Release Names of Problem Cops

• Massachusetts reformed its notoriously bad public records laws in 2020, but reporters are still fighting to get the police misconduct files they’re legally entitled to.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ No Absolute Privilege for Accuser’s Allegations in College Disciplinary Proceedings; #TheyLied Libel Lawsuit

• alleging the accuser lied in the proceedings can thus go forward, holds the Connecticut Supreme Court

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Biden Would Need His Pound of Flesh From Assange

• The U.S. president would not likely move on the case without some face-saving measure to ward off pressure from the C.I.A. and his own party, writes Joe Lauria.

=> ↺ BIA Net ☛ Court orders release of Kurdish journalist Beritan Canözer

• In the past year, dozens of individuals working for Kurdish media outlets have been subjected to house raids and detained on “terrorism”-related charges. Currently, more than 20 of them are remanded in custody.

=> ↺ [Repeat] BIA Net ☛ Journalist Sezgin Kartal released after 160 days

• “Throughout my career as a journalist, I have never written articles endorsing any organization. If I were a member of such an organization, it would have been impossible for me to reside at the same address for 14 years, travel freely, and stay in hotels. Despite my non-membership, I have been detained for six months. I request my release”, he said.

=> ↺ Court orders release of Kurdish journalist Beritan Canözer

• The journalist was remanded in custody following her detention in late April.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Supreme Court Narrows the Right to Confront One’s Accuser in Joint Trials

• In a murder-for-hire conspiracy trial, the majority allowed a defendant’s confession implicating a co-defendant to be used, with limitations.

=> ↺ ACLU ☛ A Year Without Roe

• On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court issued its infamous opinion overturning the nearly 50-year-old landmark case of Roe v. Wade, which established a federal constitutional right to abortion. The court’s shameful decision triggered a cascade of abortion bans in states across the country, as anti-abortion politicians rushed to introduce bills pushing access to essential health care out of reach or blocking it entirely.

• This devastating blow to civil rights and bodily autonomy. For some, the impact was immediate: appointments at some clinics were canceled, patients seeking care were forced to travel across state lines, and others had to carry pregnancies that endangered their health. For others, the impact took shape over the course of the last year, triggering career shifts, changing education plans, and questioning life plans.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Abortion still divides the US one year after Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade

• The historic US Supreme Court about face on abortion a year ago has created a nightmare for women seeking the procedure, a legal morass for the courts and a challenge for the Republican Party.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Abortions are down 3% one year after the end of Roe v. Wade

• Nationwide, legal abortions have fallen about 3% in the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and the ruling’s aftershocks are still reverberating through American health care, politics and culture.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ An Abortion Clinic One Year Later

• After the fall of Roe v. Wade, North Dakota’s Red River Women’s Clinic moved two miles away, into Minnesota and a new political reality.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ North Dakota’s Only Abortion Clinic Leaves the State

• Emily Witt looks at how the Dobbs decision forced a clinic to move across state lines. Plus, Alex Ross on the legendary film composer John Williams.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong lodges appeal against teen cleared of 2019 unlawful assembly charge at top court

• The Hong Kong government has appealed to the city’s top court after a teenager was cleared of an unlawful assembly charge linked to a protest in 2019. Mak Wing-wa, who was 16 at the time of his arrest, appeared before a five-judge panel at the Court of Final Appeal on Friday.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Biden signs executive order designed to protect access to contraception

• US President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday designed to strengthen and protect access to contraception. Biden signed the order nearly one year after the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the landmark reproductive rights case Roe v. Wade.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Dobbs Could Be Reversed if We Start Now

• It won’t be easy, and it probably won’t be quick. But there needs to be a plan in place.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ One year after Dobbs, US abortion landscape transformed

• Last year’s Supreme Court ruling in the Dobbs case eliminated a nearly 50-year-old federal right to abortion. The impact on women of childbearing age has been profound.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Abortion Any Time Isn’t Just a Rallying Cry—It’s True Reproductive Freedom

• In November 2022, Anne Angus and her husband packed their two Australian shepherds in their car and drove about 10 hours from Montana to Colorado for an abortion. Not two months had passed since Angus had quit her job to be a stay-at-home mom. But her 20-week anatomy scan showed some concerning results, and she was referred to Children’s Hospital Colorado, in Denver, for follow-up testing. She had to wait three weeks for that appointment.1

• After giving her a battery of tests, the care team at Children’s Hospital Colorado told her that the baby would have prune belly syndrome, a rare condition that is sometimes rapidly fatal, sometimes not, but always medically complex. She would need to move to Denver a month before her due date and stay there for as long as it took to get through multiple rounds of surgery on the baby, which would almost certainly include kidney transplants and other major surgeries, with no clear prognosis. “I felt like even then they were laying out the best-case scenario,” Angus said. No one on the care team presented abortion as an option—and because it wasn’t brought up, she didn’t ask about it. “It felt like it would be a taboo, shameful thing to ask these professionals who are telling me how I can save my baby,” she said.2

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ DOJ Releases Report On Minneapolis PD, Says It’s No Surprise This Problematic Cop Shop Produced A Murderer

• Any investigative report of any police department in the United States composed by the DOJ’s Civil Rights division can be described as “scathing.” Bad cops doing bad things trigger these investigations, which invariably find evidence of biased policing, excessive force deployment, and a general disregard — if not actual disdain — for the people these departments are supposed to be serving.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Arizona Governor Strips Prosecutors of Power to Enforce Abortion Ban

• Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, says she is doing what she can to protect abortion rights in a state with a 15-week ban on the procedure.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Is There Any Twinge of Regret Among the Anti-Abortion Justices?

• A year later, the consequences for women have been alarming.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ One Year After the Fall of Roe v. Wade, Abortion Care Has Become a Patchwork of Confusing State Laws

• In states with changing abortion laws and legal challenges to new laws, physicians are uncertain of what procedures

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ One year later, the Supreme Court’s abortion decision is both scorned and praised

• Activists and politicians are praising and protesting the Supreme Court ruling from exactly one year ago, which led to massive changes in abortion access nationwide. Rallies were held Saturday in Washington and across the U.S. After years of calling for change, it’s now anti-abortion groups who are praising the status quo, saying the end of Roe v. Wade has “saved countless lives.” Abortion rights advocates are angry and upset about what they say is interference in medical decisions between a woman and her doctor. Most GOP-controlled states have already imposed bans, including 14 at every stage of pregnancy.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ We Need a New Body Politics

• The constitutional right to an abortion officially ended one year ago, on June 24, 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But for many in the United States, the promises supposedly offered by Roe had never been kept. In 1970, three years before the Roe decision, the first nationwide abortion restriction took effect, preventing organizations that received federal grants under the newly created Title X family planning program, which provides affordable contraception and reproductive health care to people with low incomes, from using those funds for abortion services. And every year since 1976, Congress has attached the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of Medicaid funds for abortion, to the federal budget. State legislators, often backed by the Supreme Court, imposed so many obstacles on abortion care during the 2010s that it had become practically inaccessible in dozens of states long before the Dobbs ruling.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Exclusive: House conservatives challenge their leaders on abortion

• The Republican Study Committee is pushing House GOP leadership for a vote on the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act (H.R. 7), Axios has learned.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ The Conviction of Justyna Wydrzyńska

• Warsaw—On March 14, Justyna Wydrzyńska arrived for her final day of court dressed in a magenta pantsuit, an orange blouse, and a gold necklace that read “Mife/Miso,” a reference to the two drugs used for medication abortion. As she got out of the car and began walking down the sidewalk, a cheer went up from the crowd of demonstrators who had turned out to support her.1

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Saudi Arabia Wants Tourists. It Didn’t Expect Christians.

• In a fluid new age for the conservative Islamic kingdom, evangelicals have become some of its most enthusiastic visitors.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Eugenics, Environmental Ruin, and Surveillance: The Story of Silicon Valley

• In the opening pages of his magisterial Bay Area history, Imperial San Francisco, historian Gray Brechin presents his book as an attempt “to answer the question raised by the kind of cities we build today: Are they worth it?” It’s a deceptively simple question, and it reemerges when we discuss San Francisco and its discontents.

=> ↺ ACLU ☛ Mississippi Student Wins Fight to Wear Tribal Regalia at Graduation

• Earlier this year, Merissa Wilson stood before the school board of the Pearl Public School District in Mississippi to make a small but crucial request: that the board permit her daughter, Zuri, to wear an eagle feather on her graduation cap and be wrapped in a traditional star quilt by her family after exiting the commencement stage. As enrolled members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, these Native American traditions are an integral part of the family’s cultural and spiritual heritage.

• Although the burden shouldn’t be on students and their families to educate their educators about these traditions, Merissa thought the meeting went well and was hopeful that the school board would approve her request. A few weeks later, however, the board members informed her and Zuri that they would not relent from the district’s strict graduation dress code. But that was not the end of the story.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Supreme Court Rejects ‘Extraordinarily Unusual’ Case Against Biden’s Deportation Policy

• Today’s decision “is narrow and simply maintains the longstanding jurisprudential status quo,” wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh for the majority.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Supreme Court allows Biden policy on deportations to stand

• The Supreme Court voted 8-1 to allow a Biden policy on deporting only those immigrants who pose the greatest public safety risk to take effect.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court rules that law criminalizing encouragement of illegal immigration is constitutional

• The US Supreme Court ruled Friday in US v. Hansen that 8 U.S.C. §1324(a)(1)(A)(iv), a federal law that criminalizes the encouragement of illegal immigration, does not violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Malaysia charges 4 Thai nationals with trafficking offenses relating to 2015 Wang Kelian case

• Deputy National Police Chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn told state news on Friday that four Thai individuals have been extradited to Malaysia and were charged with trafficking and smuggling individuals from Myanmar.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Spain ombudsman to investigate migrant deaths off the North African coast

• The Spanish Ombudsman initiated an ex offcio action on Friday in relation to a rubber boat carrying migrants capsized 40 miles off the coast of Morocco on June 21st. The rubber boat was carrying 60 people, including children, heading to the Canary Islands and resulted in the death of more than 30 migrants.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Biden’s Asylum Policy Continues Tradition of US Cruelty to Haitians

• Biden has recycled some of Trump’s racist asylum policies.

=> ↺ Spiegel ☛ Europe’s New Asylum Policy: “The First Thing They Do Is Imprison You”

• The European Union has finally reached a compromise on asylum policy, with the main goal that of cutting the number of refugees who make it to the Continent. Can it work? And what has become of the right to asylum?

=> ↺ Spiegel ☛ The Sinking of a Refugee Ship: Serious Accusations Leveled at the Greek Coast Guard

• More than 600 migrants are believed to have perished in the June 14 shipwreck off the Greek coast, including women and children. What caused the ship to capsize, and who is to blame?

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court rules states lack constitutional standing in key immigration case

• The US Supreme Court ruled Friday in US v. Texas that Texas and Louisiana do not have constitutional standing to sue the federal government over a 2021 Homeland Security Memorandum that focuses immigration enforcement actions on non-citizens who are suspected of terrorism, committed serious crimes or are caught at the border entering illegally.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Supreme Court Revives Biden Immigration Guidelines

• The guidelines, setting priorities for which unauthorized immigrants should be detained, were blocked by a federal judge in Texas.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ A Boat With 50 Migrants Near Malta Calls for Urgent Rescue

• “We have just been contacted by the 50 people in distress… Water is entering the boat… We urge all relevant authorities: Don’t let them drown!,” Alarm Phone said.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Titan Submersible and Greek Migrant Crisis: Tragedies Reveal Inequities in World Attention

• Many see harsh realities about class and ethnicity in the attention paid to the Titan submersible and the halfhearted attempts to aid a ship before it sank, killing hundreds of migrants. But there are other factors.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Mediterranean Migrant Shipwreck Reveals Cost of Cruel European Asylum Policies

• Eighty-one people have been confirmed dead, but roughly 500 more likely drowned when the ship sank, locked below decks.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Making Sense of Arizona v. Navajo Nation

• Justice Gorsuch’s conservative colleagues now ignore him in Indian cases.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Supreme Court’s Sidestep Leaves Native Kids Without Answers

• While intended to keep Native families together, the ICWA subjects American Indian children to a lower level of protection than is enjoyed by non-Native kids.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Police Let Their K-9 Maul on the Wrong Guy. They Arrested Him Anyway.

• According to WCPO, a local news station, body camera footage of the incident shows that officers handcuffed Davis and demanded he identify himself. In the footage, Davis repeatedly gives officers his name, social security number, as well as his photo ID, proving that he was not the person in the protection order. Nonetheless, police kept Davis handcuffed for 37 minutes.

• “Try to scoot your butt straight over so you don’t get blood all over the car,” one officer told Davis as he directed him to get inside the police vehicle. “Try to keep that arm off the seat.”

• Eventually, police took Davis to a local hospital where he was treated and released. Notably, according to WCPO, Covington’s police report of the incident did not mention that Davis was attacked by a K-9 or that he was handcuffed.

• “Had it not been for the body-worn camera footage, we would not have any idea of the atrocity that occurred there,” Anita Washington, Davis’ attorney, told WCPO.

=> ↺ BIA Net ☛ Controversial release of Quran course staff in ‘child torture’ case in Erzurum

• The trial, which involved the physical abuse of 14 boys under the care of the Children and Women’s Association in Erzurum, had led to charges of “torturing a child” against the director and staff member, who were also responsible for teaching and assigning cleaning tasks to the children. The case was heard at the Erzurum Heavy Penal Court.

=> ↺ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Lunds & Byerlys workers authorize strike if necessary

• “Today, our coworkers demonstrated the power that comes from standing together against company intimidation.”

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Labor shows ambition on political donations reform. But influence of big money untamed

• An influential parliamentary committee has handed down its first major report into electoral reform. But, as Zacharias Szumer reports, there’s still a long way to go.

• For almost a year, the Albanese Labor government has been signalling its intentions to reform donations laws. This past week, Labor moved one step closer to realising those promises with the release of a committee report the party has long said would form the basis of any legislation. 

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ PM challenges Voice poll, says ‘yes’ case still strong

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed polling showing support for the Indigenous voice to parliament appears to be ebbing, saying the surveys are continually fluctuating.

• Backing for the ‘yes’ vote has fallen to 46 per cent, from 51 per cent in February, a JWS Research poll published on Friday found.

=> ↺ Heavy Penal Court releases the police officers in the investigation on torture of child

• Diyarbakır bar association reminded that the Lice Penal Court of First Instance ruled before that it did not have jurisdiction over the case since the acts were in the scope of “torture.”

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Supreme Court Rules Red States Lack Standing to Challenge Biden Immigration Enforcement Guidelines

• The 8-1 decision is a major win for Biden and executive enforcement discretion. I think the Court got the right result, but for the wrong reasons.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Supreme Court rebuffs GOP challenge to Biden’s immigration policies

• The Supreme Court on Friday threw out a GOP-led challenge to one of the Biden administration’s key immigration policies — a major victory for the White House.

• Why it matters: The ruling is a win for the Biden administration on immigration and may signal that Republicans will have a harder time trying to block other policies as well.

• Details: The Biden administration announced in 2021 that, rather than attempting to arrest and deport everyone who has entered the U.S. illegally, it would prioritize people who were suspected of terrorism or violent crime.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Kazakh Activist Detained On Illegal Drugs Charges His Supporters Call Trumped-Up

• Kazakh activist Malik Akhmetqaliev has been detained in the northern city of Kokshetau on charges of illegal drugs possession, which his supporters call retaliation for his frequent criticism of the activities of authorities.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Hunter Biden’s Prison-Free Plea Should Be Available to Everybody

• If it’s not a sweetheart deal, everyone else deserves the same leniency.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Garland Pushes Back at GOP Claims of Bias in Hunter Biden Investigation

• The attorney general denied assertions that he had interfered with the case and blocked a prosecutor from lodging more charges.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Freedom or Martyrdom: Walid Daqqah’s Fate Is in Our Hands

• The Palestinian Youth Movement calls on the international community to demand the immediate release of Walid Daqqah and expose the illegal nature of his imprisonment.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Jailed Kazakh Journalist Sent To Pretrial Detention Instead Of Being Released

• Kazakh journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim has been sent to pretrial detention for at least two months on a new charge instead of being released as expected after serving out a 25-day jail term on a charge of violating regulations for public gatherings last month.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Two Members Of Kyrgyz Group On Trial Over Protest Against Border Deal Transferred To House Arrest

• Two members of a Kyrgyz group who went on trial on June 22 for protesting against a border deal with Uzbekistan have been transferred to house arrest.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Poland Deports Tajik Man, Despite ECHR’s Request Not To Do So

• Poland has deported Tajik national Sorbon Abdurahimzoda to Dushanbe despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) forbidding the move, Abdurahimzoda’s lawyer, Bogumil Zygmont, told RFE/RL on June 23.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Fleeing Vietnam, human rights lawyers arrive in U.S. following police summons

• Friends back home react to their departure with mixed feelings.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Cambodia approves election law amendment aimed at preventing boycott of July 23 vote

• Move prohibits those who don’t vote from running in future elections.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ US whistleblower alleges federal investigators slow-walked Hunter Biden investigation

• A US congressional committee released testimony Thursday from whistleblowers within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), suggesting that federal officials slow-walked an investigation into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. >

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Hollywood Directors Ratify Their Contract

• The vote prevented the doomsday scenario of three major Hollywood unions striking simultaneously. The actors’ union is still negotiating.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Vice UK staff cancel strike after redundancy terms improve

• Press Gazette understands 23 jobs at Vice are at risk of redundancy.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ ProPublica: US Supreme Court justice Alito failed to disclose luxury fishing trip

• ProPublica reported Tuesday that US Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito accepted and failed to disclose a 2008 luxury fishing trip with Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire who—in the time since—has had business before the court at least ten times.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Matchmaker Leonard Leo Helps Unite Billionaires With Supreme Court Justices

• Although he sits on the highest court in the land, Samuel Alito is an injudicious justice, famously given to penning ill-tempered decisions and cranky obiter dicta that offer ample evidence of a festering mind cankered with culture-war grievances. On Tuesday, Alito’s legendary cussedness became self-destructive, when he took the bizarre step of offering free advertising for a forthcoming article questioning his ethics.1

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Restaurant Hired ‘Priest’ to ‘Get the Sins Out’ of Confessing Workers

• The sins in question included being late for work and having “bad intentions” towards management.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Reddit’s Chief Says He Wants It to ‘Grow Up.’ Will Its Community Let It?

• As the social media site matures, its users and moderators have made their displeasure about corporate changes known, putting the company into a bind.

=> ↺ Ruben Schade ☛ The radio station with less talk

• A local coffee shop I love pipes FM radio through their speakers. It’s an interesting system; rather than decoding a digital stream from a packet-switched network, it encodes a signal using frequency modulation broadcast from a tower in your area. You don’t need Internet access, nor do you have to pay access fees.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Broadband ISP Customer Satisfaction Ranked Second Worst, Above Only Gas Stations

• We’ve noted for years how the steady, mindless consolidation by telecom monopolies has resulted in patchy broadband access, slow speeds, and high prices. But another longstanding trademark of the industry has been its abysmal customer service, created by mindless growth and a subsequent refusal to scale customer service to match.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ 5G Was An Over-Hyped Dud. Prepare For Nobody To Learn Absolutely Anything From The Experience

• We’ve noted for several years how the “race to 5G” was largely just hype by telecoms and hardware vendors eager to sell more gear and justify high U.S. mobile data prices. While 5G does provide faster, more resilient, and lower latency networks, it’s more of an evolution than a revolution.

Monopolies

=> ↺ [Repeat] New York Times ☛ Microsoft Says It Could Abandon Activision Deal if Judge Delays It

• The F.T.C. is asking Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley for a preliminary injunction, which would bar Microsoft from completing the deal before the F.T.C. had the chance to argue the case in its internal court.

• The clash is broadly seen as a test of whether recent efforts to more aggressively curb the power of tech giants around the world will succeed. Lina Khan, the chair of the F.T.C., has argued that big tech companies have vast influence over online commerce and communication, allowing them to engage in anticompetitive practices that harm consumers.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Rishi Sunak warned tech giants could ‘leverage resources to obstruct and delay’ Digital Markets Bill regime

• A coalition of publishing and tech organisations said the CMA must be able to “move quickly”.

Patents

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Mexico imposes 50% tariff on white corn imports amid trade dispute with U.S. and Canada [Ed: GMO backlash. Cancer and patents now wanted by the Mexicans.]

• Mexico is imposing a 50% tariff on white corn imports, a move the Mexican president says is intended to boost national production and prevent imports of genetically modified corn. The move Saturday is the latest in a trade dispute over GM corn between Mexico and its North American trade partners, Canada and the United States. Both the United States and Canada have said that Mexico’s fear of the dangers of genetically modified corn is “not grounded in science.” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he is not afraid of controversy and insists that only domestic white corn should be used for human consumption.

Copyrights

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ Sharing Your Credit Card With a Shady Pirate IPTV Service Isn’t a Brilliant Idea

• Pirate IPTV services have transformed into a billion-dollar industry in recent years. It is a highly profitable business that, at the upper echelon, appears to be well organized. However, research from the Digital Citizens Alliance shows that handing over credit card details to unknown parties also has its drawbacks, including ‘surprise’ charges.

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