“I
fixed a 6-year-old .deb installation bug in Ubuntu MATE and
Xubuntu”
date: 2024-07-10, from: OS News
I love a good bug hunting story, and this one is right up there as a
great one. Way back in 2018, Doug Brown discovered that after installing
Ubuntu MATE 18.04, if he launched Firefox from the icon in the default
panel arrangement to install Chrome from the official Chrome website,
the process was broken. After downloading the .deb and double-clicking
it, GDebi would appear, but after clicking “Install”, nothing happened.
What was supposed to happen is that after clicking “Install”, an
authentication dialog should appear where you enter your root password,
courtesy of gksu. However, this dialog did not appear, and without
thinking too much of it, Brown shrugged and just installed the
downloaded Chrome .deb through the terminal, which worked just fine.
While he didn’t look any deeper into the cause of the issue, he did note
that as the years and new Ubuntu releases progressed, the bug would
still be there, all the way up until the most recent release. Finally,
2.5 years ago, he decided to dive into the bug. It turned out there were
lots of reports about this issue, but nobody stepped up to fix it. While
workarounds were made available through wrapper scripts, and deeper
investigations into the cause revealed helpful information. The actual
error message was a doozy: “Refusing to render service to dead parents”,
which is quite metal and a little disturbing. In summary, the problem
was that GDebi was using execv() to replace itself with an instance of
pkexec, which was intended to bring up an authentication dialog and then
allow GDebi to run as a superuser. pkexec didn’t like this arrangement,
because it wants to have a parent process other than init. Alkis
mentioned that you could recreate the problematic scenario in a terminal
window by running gdebi-gtk with setsid to run it in a new session. ↫
Doug Brown Backing up a few steps, if the name “gksu” rings a bell for
you, you might have already figured out where the problem most likely
originated from. Right around that time, 2018, Ubuntu switched to using
PolicyKit instead, and gksu was removed from Ubuntu. GDebi was patched
to work with PolicyKit instead, and this was what introduced the actual
bug. Sadly, despite having a clear idea of the origin of the bug, as
well as where to look to actually fix it, nobody picked it up. It sat
there for years, causing problems for users, without a fix in sight.
Brown was motivated enough to fix it, submitted the patch, but after
receiving word it would be looked at within a few days, he never heard
anything back for years, not helped by the fact that GDebi has long been
unmaintained. It wasn’t until very recently that he decided to go back
again, and this time, after filling out additional information required
for a patch for an unmaintained package, it was picked up, and will
become available in the next Ubuntu release (and will most likely be
backported, too). Brown further explains why it took so long for the bug
to be definitely fixed. Not only is GDebi unmaintained, the bug also
only manifested itself when launching Firefox from the panel icon – it
did not manifest when launching Firefox from the MATE menu, so a lot of
people never experienced it. On top of that, as we all sadly know,
Ubuntu replaced the Firefox .deb package with the SNAP version, which
also doesn’t trigger the bug. It’s a long story for sure, but a very
interesting one. It shows how sometimes, the stars just align to make
sure a bug does not get fixed, even if everyone involved knows how to
fix it, and even if fixes have been submitted. Sometimes, things just
compound to cause a bug to fall through the cracks.
For
immigrants, Biden offers some protections; Trump, mass deportations
date: 2024-07-10, from: VOA News USA
U.S. presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump differ
sharply on immigration. Both sparred over immigration at their first
presidential debate. VOA’s immigration correspondent Aline Barros has
the story.
Microsoft
exits OpenAI’s boardroom to sidestep regulatory scrutiny
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Redmond ‘confident in the company’s direction’ says withdrawal letter
Microsoft is giving up its non-voting observer seat on OpenAI’s board,
citing progress in the company’s direction - yet fear of regulatory
scrutiny no doubt also played some part in the decision-making process.…
30
Years Ago: STS-65, the Second International Microgravity Lab
Mission
date: 2024-07-10, from: NASA breaking news
On July 8, 1994, space shuttle Columbia took to the skies on its 17th
trip into space, on the second International Microgravity Laboratory
(IML-2) mission. Six space agencies sponsored 82 life and microgravity
science experiments. The seven-person crew consisted of Commander Robert
D. Cabana, Pilot James D. Halsell, Payload Commander Richard J. Hieb,
Mission Specialists […]
A major regional bank has agreed to resolve claims that it harmed
thousands of customers by opening fake accounts, and charging for
unnecessary insurance tied to car and truck loans. Fifth Third Bank will
pay millions of dollars and is labeling these “legacy issues.” We’ll
unpack. Then, we’ll also do some bond and stock markets Powell-parsing,
and visit a Danish town where Novo Nordisk is racing to boost
weight-loss drug production.
Photos:
Unveiling of the new Contra Costa County Administration Building in
Martinez
date: 2024-07-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
According to the county, it’s the first government building in the
world to achieve the Total Resource Use and Efficiency certification.
TRUE is a zero-waste certification used to cut the carbon footprint and
help support public health.
July 1 BATTERY: 10:43 a.m. in the 500 block of West Hacienda Avenue.
A man hit the victim in the face approximately four times with a closed
fist, ripped her shirt and bit her on the knee. The victim did not have
any visible marks or a complaint of pain. The man was booked. DUI:
[…]
3
members of BBC journalist’s family killed in suspected crossbow
attack
date: 2024-07-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
A manhunt is underway in north London for a man suspected of being
armed with a crossbow after three women – the wife and two daughters of
a BBC journalist – were killed.
Coming
of Age during Wartime in Sudan: A Conversation with Omnia Mustafa
date: 2024-07-10, from: Care
<p>Omina Mustafa and Khadijah Abdurqhman discuss Mustafa’s experience of race and racialization as an African Arab person from northern Sudan, and the atrocities being committed against the people of Darfur and western Sudan.</p>
ROUGOL to see
Visions of the Impossible – 15th July
date: 2024-07-10, from: RiscOS Story
They’ll see things you people wouldn’t believe. The RISC OS User
Group of London (ROUGOL) next meets up on Monday, 15th July, and this
month they’ll be hallucinating. No, wait, I meant they’ll have Nathan
Atkinson from Visions of the Impossible as their guest speaker. Visions
of the Impossible (or VotI) were a programming group active in the
1990s, and brought a number of titles to the RISC OS platform, including
games, demos, and utilities. One of their more well known games was
Sunburst, a game in which you may…
The next meeting of Bristol RISC OS Users (BRU) will take place on
Thursday, 11th September. The group meets on an informal basis for a
chat over a meal, a drink and bite to eat, so there is usually no set
topic or formal speaker; it’s usually a case of discussing the latest
RISC OS news and developments, and often beyond into the wider world.
However, sometimes members might bring along their own latest projects –
or problems – for the group to look at. If you live in or…
A new version of StreetFix has been released by Kevin Wells. The
software provides a means for RISC OS users to report and check upon
local issues, such as damaged street furniture, potholes in the road,
and so on – all from within an application on the RISC OS desktop,
rather than via a web browser. The updated application now stands at
version 1.08, and the two changes Kevin has highlighted with this
release are the addition of Australia as a country in which the software
can be used, and…
An
Oakland-bound Southwest jet that did a ‘Dutch roll’ was parked outside
during severe storm
date: 2024-07-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Dutch roll is a swaying, rhythmic combination of yaw, or the tail
sliding sideways, and the wingtips rocking up and down. The Southwest
jet experienced the movement at 34,000 feet and again after descending
to 32,000 feet while flying from Phoenix to Oakland.
Malware
that is ‘not ransomware’ wormed its way through Fujitsu Japan’s
systems
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Company says data exfiltration was extremely difficult to detect
Fujitsu Japan says an unspecified “advanced” malware strain was to blame
for a March data theft, insisting the strain was “not ransomware”, yet
it hasn’t revealed how many individuals are affected.…
US
veteran killed in Ukraine finally laid to rest in California
date: 2024-07-10, from: VOA News USA
American soldier Jericho Magallon went to fight in Ukraine in March
2022. He was killed in September near Bakhmut. In late June, his body
was brought back home to California for a funeral. VOA Russian Service
spoke with his mother and siblings about his life in this story narrated
by Anna Rice. Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetian.
A small group of scientists on the biofilm mitigation team at NASA’s
Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama, study solutions to combat
fast-growing colonies of bacteria or fungi, known as biofilm, for future
space missions. Biofilm occurs when a cluster of bacteria or fungi
generates a slimy matrix of “extracellular polymeric substances” to
protect itself […]
“We’re real people who have rent to pay and mouths to feed. We make $300
per month from donations from our self-hosted users. It would take us
more than ten years of donations to pay one month of salary for our
small team. If we cannot capture the economic value of our work, the
project will become unsustainable and die.”
It’s more than a little painful to see new open source businesses
re-learn what I and other open source founders have learned over time.
I’m fully in support of Plausible moving to AGPL and introducing a
Contributor License Agreement, but I don’t believe this will be enough.
Indeed, Plausible is moving to “open core” and privatizing some of the
more lucrative features:
“We’re also keeping some of the newly released business and enterprise
features (funnels and ecommerce revenue metrics at the time of being)
exclusive to the business plan subscribers on our Plausible Analytics
managed hosting.”
What’s particularly interesting to me is that they’re maintaining source
availability for these features - it’s just that they’re not going to be
released under an open source license.
Open source purists might complain, but I believe it’s better for the
project to exist at all and use licensing that allows for sustainability
rather than to maintain open source purity and find that the developers
can’t sustain themselves. I’d love for these things to be compatible,
but so far, I don’t believe that they are.
Microsoft
tries to clear the air with mountains of CO2 credits
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
‘Supply chains still powered by coal and gas’ scoffs Greenpeace
Microsoft has inked a contract with Occidental Petroleum to buy 500,000
metric tons of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) “credits” over six years to
support its overall carbon strategy. The move follows a dramatic rise in
Microsoft’s CO2 emissions due to datacenter construction.…
The Ticketmaster hack has got a lot, lot worse. We also talk about
how scalpers have teamed up with hackers, and then the continued sale of
netflow data to the U.S. government.
Current conditions: Extreme heat in Southern
California is causing cars to break down on the highway • Flooding in
northeastern India killed nine rare one-horned rhinos • Residents in
Mount Vernon, Indiana, are waking up to debris and devastation from a
violent tornado spawned by the remnants of Hurricane Beryl.
THE TOP FIVE
Microsoft and Oxy agree to largest-ever DAC credits deal
Tech giant Microsoft has agreed to the
“single
largest purchase” of direct air capture carbon credits,
buying
500,000 metric tons of credits from Occidental Petroleum’s (aka Oxy)
1PointFive DAC subsidiary. The deal is worth hundreds of millions of
dollars and will help Microsoft confront its growing emissions problem
as demand for energy-intensive artificial intelligence grows.
Microsoft’s emissions
grew
by 30% in 2023 compared to 2020. Google’s emissions are also rising, up
13% last year compared to the year before. Both companies pin the blame
on the growth of AI. As Bloomberg noted, DAC “is
expensive, energy-intensive and not yet proven at industrial scale.”
Occidental clinched a
similar
(but smaller) deal with Amazon last year.
New FEMA rule will improve infrastructure flood resilience
The Biden administration yesterday
finalized
a rule aimed at protecting federal infrastructure from flooding
exacerbated by climate change. The federal flood risk management
standard, first proposed in 2015, will require public structures funded
by FEMA be built above the projected flood level for their location, or
be moved to a different location entirely. The hope is to “put a stop to
the cycle of response and recovery, and rinse and repeat,”
said
Deanne Criswell, the FEMA administrator. FEMA will cover the cost of
implementing the changes. The rule will come into effect on September 9.
Texas power outages persist as temperatures rise
Frustration is growing in Texas, where nearly 2 million people are still
without power after Hurricane Beryl tore through the state Monday as a
category 1 storm. The power outages mean many residents are without
access to air conditioning as a heat wave pushes temperatures into the
90s. At least 16 hospitals were relying on generators to keep the lights
on yesterday,
according
toThe Associated Press. Making matters worse,
flooding from the storm caused a
“domestic
wastewater” spill in downtown Houston, where residents were told to
boil water before consuming it. A
report
published in April found that power outages from extreme weather events
are rising in the U.S., with Texas being the worst-affected state.
New
analysis
from the American Clean Power Association found that U.S. offshore wind
capacity will fall short of President Biden’s goal of 30 gigawatts by
2030. There are currently 56 GW of capacity under development across 37
leases, the report finds, but just 14 GW will be deployed by 2030.
However, things will speed up quickly, and it’ll take just three years
for capacity to hit 30 GW in 2033, and another two to hit 40 GW in 2035.
Climate change-denying senator James Inhofe dies
Former Republican senator James Inhofe,
“the
capital’s most vociferous denier of climate change,” died Tuesday at
age 89. Inhofe served five terms in the Senate starting in the 1990s
before retiring in January last year. He began vocally downplaying
scientific evidence of climate change in 2003. His campaigns received
generous donations from fossil fuel interests. In 2012, Inhofe authored
a book called The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming
Conspiracy Threatens Your Future. In a 2015 stunt, he brought
a snowball into the Senate in an attempt to prove that man-made global
warming was not real. He opposed efforts to cap greenhouse gas emissions
and once called the Environmental Protection Agency a “Gestapo
bureaucracy.” He later went on to play a key role in transforming the
EPA under former President Trump.
The
late Sen. Inhofe during his 2015 snowball
stunt.YouTube/C-SPAN
THE KICKER
Global temperatures
seem
to be falling slightly now, after more than a year of unrelenting
new record monthly highs.
“Barely six months into the job, the mayor of Athens’s top priority is
simple: ensuring that the people of Greece’s capital – mainland Europe’s
hottest metropolis – survive the summer. After a June that was the
hottest on record, the city has already witnessed record-breaking
temperatures and wildfires.”
We’re deeply into the climate crisis at this point; a major city having
to make major changes in order to “survive the summer” is just another
example.
When you get into the detail, it’s terrifying - particularly considering
that we’re still only at the foothills of where the crisis will lead us:
“It’s not a matter of lifestyle, or improving the quality of life; it’s
about survival when 23% of the green lung around Athens has in recent
years been destroyed by fires. It’s vital we have more trees, more
air-conditioned community centres and more water stations on our streets
and squares.”
Over time, we’re going to see mass migrations and real, sustained
changes to the way people live. We’re also going to see a great deal of
suffering. These are things we’ve been warned about for many decades,
but the stories are transitioning from projections from climate experts
to being the news headlines.
The onus is on the international community to respond to the crisis with
robust energy, but we’ve been waiting for decades for this to really
happen. Instead we get carbon trading schemes and economic deals that
don’t cut to the core of the problem.
There’s an individual responsibility, too. These days that
responsibility goes beyond making sensible choices about our own energy
use (although most of us don’t) and extends to voting, taking to the
streets, and making it clear to our leaders that continued inaction is
not acceptable.
If there isn’t change, wars will be fought over this. In a certain
light, they already are.
How
NeWS became yesterday’s news in the window system wars
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
X co-designer David Rosenthal looks back at why his other project failed
A couple of weeks after its anniversary, one of the original engineers
behind X has explored why it succeeded where rivals – one of which he
co-developed – failed.…
“Newsletter platform and Substack rival Ghost announced earlier this
year that it would join the fediverse, the open social network of
interconnected servers that includes apps like Mastodon, Pixelfed,
PeerTube, Flipboard and, more recently, Instagram Threads, among others.
Now, it has made good on that promise — with its own newsletter as a
start.”
Ghost’s reader will certainly be augmented by other, standalone readers
that work a bit like Apple News. Its fediverse publishing capabilities
will be followed by other content management systems. Notably,
Automattic has been working on fediverse integration, for example, and
Flipboard has been doing amazing work in this area.
I’m also convinced there’s room for another fediverse-compatible social
network that handles both long and short-form content in a similar way
to Substack’s articles and Notes. If someone else doesn’t build that, I
will.
Campus
protests over Israel often target endowments. Community college students
find other ways to make noise
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The LAist
While universities nationwide have made headlines this year for
student protests of Israel’s war in Gaza, local community college
students haven’t seen the same attention.
“Voucher advocates, backed by a handful of billionaire funders, are on
the march to bring more red and purple states into the fold for “school
choice,” their preferred terminology for vouchers. And again and again,
they are running up against rural Republicans like Warner, who are
joining forces with Democratic lawmakers in a rare bipartisan alliance.
That is, it’s the reddest regions of these red and purple states that
are putting up some of the strongest resistance to the conservative
assault on public schools.”
This is heartening to see: a bipartisan push against the school voucher
system. Public schools are important social infrastructure that deserve
significantly more investment rather than having funds siphoned away to
support exclusive institutions. A free market for schools is not the way
- and clearly, the communities who would be most affected by a voucher
system see this too.
This also feels like one of those rare moments where some Republicans
are actively practicing old-school conservatism: the kind that isn’t
drawn from The Handmaid’s Tale. That’s nice to see, and I’d
love to see more of it.
“[Republican Representative] Greene believes vouchers will harm his
district. It has a couple of small private schools in it or just outside
it — with student bodies that are starkly more white than the district’s
public schools — but the majority of his constituents rely on the public
schools, and he worries that vouchers will leave less money for them.”
Would you work weekends? Make a longer commute? Even take a pay cut?
While unemployment isn’t high by historic standards, it is higher than
it was last summer. A new survey outlines the sacrifices some workers
are willing to make to avoid getting the axe. Plus, a new platform
elevates Black country artists, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell hinted that
the central bank may be getting closer to cutting rates.
View the Gateway space station’s first pressurized module, HALO
(Habitation and Logistics Outpost), illuminated in stunning detail.
Learn more about its role in supporting Artemis missions.
date: 2024-07-10, from: National Archives, Pieces of History blog
As the 2024 Summer Olympics approaches, we’re having an
#ArchivesHashtagParty: #ArchivesGoForGold! Join us on Friday, July 12,
2024, to celebrate all achievers, from Olympic champions to unsung
heroes. Use #ArchivesGoForGold and tag @USNatArchives on Instagram and X. The
2024 Summer Olympics is taking place from July 26 to August 11, 2024, in
Paris, France. Today’s …
Continue
reading U.S. Servicemembers at the 1984
Olympic Games
From the BBC World Service: A union representing workers at
South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics has called on its
30,000 members to go on strike indefinitely as part of its campaign for
better pay and benefits. Plus, NATO members are holding a three-day
summit to mark the organization’s 75th birthday — and the focus is on
Ukraine. Then, we visit the Danish town where Novo Nordisk, maker of
weight-loss drug Ozempic, is based.
When Adam Roe hits the accelerator and sends his vintage Land Rover
flying past a Porsche, he likes to imagine what the other driver must be
thinking.
While Roe’s ride looks the part of a restored Land Rover Series II, an
off-roading, unbreakable icon from the late 1950s, the secret is what’s
under the skin. Whereas the original bruiser produced about 45 total
horsepower, Roe says, the “restomod” created by his company, ZeroLabs,
is a fully electric vehicle with 600 horses — more than enough to catch
a sports car by surprise.
Being a classic car enthusiast doesn’t have to mean burning fossil fuels
anymore. ZeroLabs is part of a small but growing community of startup
companies and DIYers who are transforming some of the most beloved
vehicles of automotive history into zero-emissions EVs. The next time
you see a beautifully restored boxy Chevy Blazer rolling down the
highway, it might just be battery-powered.
Patrick Mackey has been turning vintage Mazda Miatas into electric cars
for more than a decade. Back in the 2000s, he wanted a fun but fully
electric car like the original Tesla Roadster, but couldn’t afford what
Elon Musk was asking. When he looked around at the kind of cars the
DIY-inclined were hacking into EVs, he thought about small rides like
the Toyota Yaris and Honda De La Soul. But it was the classic Miata —
derided by muscle-heads as too wimpy, but beloved by car enthusiasts who
recognize its compact greatness — that became the obvious choice.
“The Miatas have a great reputation for handling,” Mackey says. “They
sold a ton of ’em, so there’s a lot of ’em out there and you can get one
for a reasonable price.” Despite its small stature, the Miata was a
sturdy car, with thick frame rails that are strong enough to hold a
hefty EV battery back. (Mazda itself won’t be selling you an
electric
Miata until 2026, by the way.)
Initially, Mackey and his colleagues considered building their own EV
conversions and selling them directly to people, like ZeroLabs does, or
making kits to sell that would contain all the parts a person would need
to turn a gas-powered Miata into an electric one. But the steel parts
weighed a ton and wouldn’t fit inside one another for shipping,
rendering the idea impractical.
Instead, Mackey’s
EV
Miata website offers all the plans and fabrication documents a
home mechanic would need to take on the job. It’s up to the builder to
source the off-the-shelf electrical components to do the job, or,
perhaps, to salvage them from a wrecked EV as many DIYers do now, he
says.
Courtesy
of EV-Miata.com
A surprising amount of the original Miata parts can survive the
transformation. “You would keep the transmission and everything behind
it, so that part of the powertrain you keep. You’d replace the motor
with an adapter plate to connect the motor up to it. Then there’s the
battery pack and the controller and all those E components come into
play. But in that case, the majority of the car is there. If you are
going racing, or you’re looking for something with higher performance,
you could remove the transmission and then do a direct drive and have
two or three motors that are driving the rear wheels.” Or, he says, some
people are doing what’s called a stack replacement. They get a Nissan
Leaf’s entire subframe, containing the axles and transmission and
motors, and swap that into their EV conversion so it’s running on all
Leaf parts.
Car restoration has always been a money pit of a hobby. EV conversion is
no different — you do it for love, not because it’s cheaper than just
buying an electric car. Mackey says the EV Miata project probably costs
about $22,000 now, not counting the cost of buying an old Mazda nor the
sweat equity required to build it.
Nevertheless, plenty of people with the proper mechanical chops take on
the challenge. At Caltech, where I work (and where lots of people are
electrical engineers), there’s a vintage Porsche often plugged in next
to me that was clearly hacked into an electric. With enough cash, you
could buy a
kit
to convert just about any classic car into an EV.
And the DIY EV is just one end of the spectrum. On the far side lies
fully realized conversions like those by ZeroLabs, which specializes in
not just electrifying, but modernizing Ford Broncos and other beloved
SUVs of yore.
Courtesy
of ZeroLabs.
“A restoration is to say, hey, we’re going to put this back to the
original condition exactly as it would’ve been, which means no
Bluetooth, no three-point seat belts. You got to use radial tires, you
got to put on whitewalls. You got to use period-correct paint and AM
radio and [an] ashtray. That’s a restoration. That’s not what we’re
doing.”
Roe was inspired by a backcountry snowboarding trip when the engine on
his old Bronco cut out, a problem that plagued the old SUVs. As it
coasted silently, he fell in love with the idea of a classic car without
all the noise. “You could hear the winds, you could hear the tires,
you’re in your classic, but you’re also kind of with nature versus being
hidden by this loud rumbly loud noise engine with your stereo,” he says.
In place of their original bare-bones interiors, ZeroLab’s reimagined EV
trucks and SUVs have all the tech features of a modern vehicle. “We
looked at everything that needs to be done for a modern car: How do we
think about steering, how do we think about brakes, communication,
upgradeability, and charging rates? All of that has changed, and so
simply electrifying that car isn’t really enough.”
Their creations aren’t for the faint of wallet. The fully realized
ZeroLabs first-generation
Bronco
starts at nearly $300,000. But it seems there are plenty of wealthy
buyers looking for a boxy, retro, or just plain eccentric electric car
that doesn’t look anything like the production EVs now rolling off the
assembly line. Roe exudes optimism that EV restomods will have their
Tesla moment within the next couple of years — and the EVs that are old
on the outside and new on the inside will be the next big thing.
Ransomware
crews investing in custom data stealing malware
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
BlackByte, LockBit among the criminals using bespoke tools
As ransomware crews increasingly shift beyond just encrypting victims’
files and demanding a payment to unlock them, instead swiping sensitive
info straight away, some of the more mature crime organizations are
developing custom malware for their data theft.…
Glass
rain, supersonic winds, and Eau de Rotten Egg – just another day on HD
189733 b
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Sounds better than a British summer
At the time of year when thoughts naturally turn to a much-earned
vacation, news arrives of a planet with temperatures of 920°C (1,688°F),
raining glass blown horizontal by 5,000 mph (8,047 kph) winds, and the
constant smell of rotten eggs.…
What
the Supreme Court’s Rulings Mean for Climate Change
date: 2024-07-10, from: Heatmap News
Jesse is on vacation until August, so this is a special, Rob-only
summer episode of Shift Key.
Over the past few weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has profoundly changed
how the federal government does its day-to-day work. In a series of
landmark rulings, the high court sharply curtailed the ability of
government agencies — including the Environmental Protection Agency — to
write and enforce rules and regulations.
That will change how the federal government oversees the products we
buy, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. But it could also alter
how the government regulates heat-trapping greenhouse gas pollution.
But how, exactly, will these new rulings affect climate law? And is
there an upside to the deregulatory revolution? This week, Rob holds a
roundtable with two environmental law experts about what the high
court’s rulings mean for America’s decarbonization project — and whether
the court just inadvertently made the country’s already burdensome
permitting process even worse. They are Jody Freeman, a Harvard law
professor and former Obama administration lawyer, and Nicholas Bagley, a
University of Michigan law professor.
This episode of Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding
executive editor of Heatmap.
Subscribe to “Shift Key” and find this episode on
Apple
Podcasts,
Spotify,
Amazon,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also add
the
show’s RSS feed to your podcast app to follow us directly.
Here is an excerpt from our conversation:
Nicholas Bagley: I was working at the court and working
for Justice Stevens when Massachusetts v. EPA was
decided, and you know, even at the time, the level of frustration and
even anger from the conservative justices — it was a 5-4 decision — was
pretty intense. And since that time, of course, the conservatives have
really consolidated their authority on the court.
And there
are a lot of cases after Mass v. EPA that accept the
principle that EPA can regulate greenhouse gases while still finding
ways to push back on agency efforts to do so. And so, is Mass v.
EPA going to be overruled? Well, the court doesn’t tend to
like to overrule statutory holdings. Once the Supreme Court has said
statute means X, it gives that determination a very
high degree of precedential effect, even more so than in the
constitutional context. The theory is that if Congress doesn’t like what
we said, Congress can always fix it. In the constitutional context, we
actually have to be a little bit more flexible because Congress can’t
just fix any mistakes that we might make. So there’s a kind of super
stare decisis, is what they call it, a super
precedential effect of that decision.
And so far, the court
hasn’t decided to kind of go after that interpretation, and I’m not sure
they will. And I’m not sure they need to [with] all of these different
doctrinal outs that they’ve got: the major questions doctrine,
we’re going to interpret your statute differently,
we’re going to strike it down on arbitrary and capricious
grounds, it gives them all the tools they need to push back on
EPA without actually taking the big, bold, and splashy step of
overruling Mass v. EPA.
Jody
Freeman: You can see all these cases as revenge for
Mass v. EPA, a sort of reaction to Mass v.
EPA in a funny way. I mean, to be sure, if the court currently
constituted were to have to rule on that case, they would never have
decided that the Clean Air Act authorizes regulation of greenhouse gas.
So they’re fighting a rearguard action in all the ways Nick
suggested.
This Supreme Court appears to be, as one scholar
said, a sort of anti-novelty court. That is, agencies shouldn’t do new
things, Congress should have to pass new statutes for that to happen.
And it’s a really disabling notion because Congress passes broad
statutes that say things like “protect the public health with an
adequate margin of safety.” They give the agency broad authority to,
say, protect workers against grave dangers in the workplace without
necessarily defining what “grave danger” could mean, or what “public
health protection” could mean, because they expect the agencies to
develop their view over time, depending on what science says and what
technology makes available and so on.
And this court seems
to be opposed to evolution, right? To progress and letting agencies
adapt over time. And in that sense, I think they’re a kind of small-C
conservative court, in the sense that change is bad, and certainly
regulatory change is bad unless Congress itself authorizes agencies anew
to do something. And that, in and of itself, is, if not anti-regulatory,
it’s hostile to any kind of innovation or adaptation by the federal
bureaucracy.
This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by …
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Babel
fish? We’re getting there. Reg reviews the Timekettle X1 AI Interpreter
Hub
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
A handy standalone translator, but you’ll need deep pockets, both
figuratively and literally, if you want one
Review One of the more useful applications of AI
technology is translation and interpreting. The Timekettle X1 AI
Interpreter hub attempts to move things forward with a pleasing
industrial design.…
Big
Tech’s eventual response to my LLM-crasher bug report was dire
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Fixes have been made, it appears, but disclosure or discussion is
invisible
Column Found a bug? It turns out that reporting it
with a story in The Register works remarkably well … mostly.
After publication of my “Kryptonite” article about a prompt that crashes
many AI chatbots, I began to get a steady stream of emails from readers
– many times the total of all reader emails I’d received in the previous
decade.…
ViperSoftX
variant spotted abusing .NET runtime to disguise data theft
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Freeware AutoIt also used to hide entire PowerShell environments in
scripts
A rapidly-changing infostealer malware known as ViperSoftX has evolved
to become more dangerous, according to security researchers at threat
detection vendor Trellix.…
Poll
Shows Deep Ambivalence About City of Santa Barbara’s Direction
date: 2024-07-10, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
A recent survey on the proposed sales-tax measure for November’s ballot
shows more than half of respondents think city is headed down the “wrong
track.”
Accenture
buys Indian chip design firm to expand semiconductor smarts
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
450 Excelmax Technologies employees to get new badges
Global professional services company Accenture on Monday announced the
acquisition of India-based semiconductor design services provider
Excelmax Technologies.…
RADIUS
networking protocol blasted into submission through MD5-based flaw
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
If someone can do a little MITM’ing and hash cracking, they can log in
with no valid password needed
Cybersecurity experts at universities and Big Tech have disclosed a
vulnerability in a common client-server networking protocol that allows
snoops to potentially bypass user authentication via man-in-the-middle
(MITM) attacks.…
US-built
pier will be put back in Gaza for several days to move aid, then
permanently removed
date: 2024-07-10, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The pier built by the U.S. military to bring
humanitarian aid to Gaza will be reinstalled Wednesday to be used for
several days, but then the plan is to pull it out permanently, several
U.S. officials said. It would deal the final blow to a project long
plagued by bad weather, security uncertainties and difficulties getting
food into the hands of starving Palestinians.
The officials said the goal is to clear whatever aid has piled up in
Cyprus and on the floating dock offshore and get it to the secure area
on the beach in Gaza. Once that has been done, the Army will dismantle
the pier and depart. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity
because final details are still being worked out.
Officials had hoped the pier would provide a critical flow of aid to
starving residents in Gaza as the nine-month-long war drags on. But
while more than 8.6 million kilograms of food has gotten into Gaza via
the pier, the project has been hampered by persistent heavy seas and
stalled deliveries due to ongoing security threats as Israeli troops
continue their offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
The decision comes as Israeli troops make another push deeper into
Gaza City, which Hamas says could threaten long-running negotiations
over a cease-fire and hostage release, after the two sides had appeared
to have narrowed the gaps in recent days.
U.S. troops removed the pier on June 28 because of bad weather and
moved it to the port of Ashdod in Israel. But distribution of the aid
had already stopped due to security concerns.
The United Nations suspended deliveries from the pier on June 9, a
day after the Israeli military used the area around it for airlifts
after a hostage rescue that killed more than 270 Palestinians. U.S. and
Israeli officials said no part of the pier itself was used in the raid,
but U.N. officials said any perception in Gaza that the project was used
may endanger their aid work.
As a result, aid brought through the pier into the secure area on the
beach piled up for days while talks continued between the U.N. and
Israel. More recently, the World Food Program hired a contractor to move
the aid from the beach to prevent the food and other supplies from
spoiling.
The Pentagon said all along that the pier was only a temporary
project, designed to prod Israel into opening and allowing aid to flow
better through land routes — which are far more productive than the
U.S.-led sea route.
And the weather now is projected only to get worse.
The pier was damaged by high winds and heavy seas on May 25, just a
bit more than a week after it began operating, and was removed for
repairs. It was reconnected on June 7, but removed again due to bad
weather on June 14. It was put back days later, but heavy seas again
forced its removal on June 28.
Biden
launches NATO summit with sober warning about global threats
date: 2024-07-10, from: VOA News USA
U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday welcomed NATO leaders and
heralded the alliance’s 75th anniversary while making the case for peace
through strength amid the largest challenge to peace Europe has faced in
decades. Other administration officials made similar arguments for
bolstering defense to fight global threats. VOA White House
correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington
Supes
Vote to Place County Government Reform on Ballot
date: 2024-07-10, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion on
Tuesday, July 9 introduced by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice
Hahn to reform Los Angeles County government by expanding the board to
nine supervisors and to establish an office of County Executive to be
elected directly by voters
US
judge’s security shoots man during attempted carjacking, say
authorities
date: 2024-07-10, from: VOA News USA
washington — A member of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s
security detail shot an armed man during an attempted carjacking in the
early morning hours, according to court documents.
It happened as two deputy U.S. Marshals were on duty in a government
car in Washington about 1 a.m. on July 5. They were confronted by a man
who got out of a silver minivan and pointed a gun at one of them through
the driver’s side window, according to a criminal complaint. The car was
unmarked, but the pair were dressed in U.S. Marshals shirts.
The deputy pulled out his department-issued gun and shot the man
about four times, hitting him in the mouth. He then gave the man first
aid while the minivan drove away, charges state. The suspect was
hospitalized and placed under arrest on suspicion of attempted
carjacking and resisting officers.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals confirmed the deputies were part
of the detail protecting Supreme Court justices. The deputies were
stationed near Sotomayor’s home.
Sotomayor was not directly mentioned in court documents and there is
no indication she was the target of the attack.
It comes after a string of high-profile carjackings in the nation’s
capital last year. Other victims included a diplomat from the United
Arab Emirates and U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas. Secret
Service agents protecting President Joe Biden’s granddaughter also
opened fire after three people tried to break into an unmarked Secret
Service vehicle last year. No one was struck.
The overall number of carjackings is on the decline so far this year,
according to police data.
Russian
election meddlers hurting Biden, helping Trump, US intelligence
warns
date: 2024-07-10, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Russia is turning to a familiar playbook in its attempt
to sway the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, looking
for ways to boost the candidacy of former President Donald Trump by
disparaging the campaign of incumbent President Joe Biden, according to
American intelligence officials.
A new assessment of threats to the November election, shared Tuesday,
does not mention either candidate by name. But an intelligence official
told reporters that the Kremlin view of the U.S. political landscape has
not changed from previous election cycles.
“We have not observed a shift in Russia’s preferences for the
presidential race from past elections,” the official told reporters,
agreeing to discuss the intelligence only on the condition of
anonymity.
The official said that preference has been further cemented by “the
role the U.S. is playing with regard to Ukraine and broader policy
toward Russia.”
The caution from U.S. intelligence officials comes nearly four years
after it issued a similar warning about the 2020 presidential elections,
which pitted then-President Trump against Biden.
Moscow was using “a range of measures to primarily denigrate former
Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia
‘establishment,’” William Evanina, the then-head of the U.S. National
Counterintelligence and Security Center, said at the time.
“Some Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President
Trump’s candidacy on social media and Russian television,” he
added.
A declassified post-election assessment, released in March 2021,
reaffirmed the initial findings. Russian President Vladimir Putin
authorized “influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s
candidacy and the Democratic Party” while offering support for Trump,
the report said.
U.S. intelligence officials said they have been in contact with both
presidential campaigns and the candidates but declined to share what
sort of information may have been shared.
Trump pushback
The Trump campaign Tuesday rejected the U.S. intelligence assessment
as backward.
“Vladimir Putin endorsed Joe Biden for President because he knows
Biden is weak and can easily be bullied, as evidenced by Putin’s
years-long invasion of Ukraine,” national press secretary Karoline
Leavitt told VOA in an email.
“When President Trump was in the Oval Office, Russia and all of
America’s adversaries were deterred, because they feared how the United
States would respond,” she said.
“The only people in America who don’t see this clear contrast between
Biden’s ineffective weakness versus Trump’s effective peace through
strength approach are the left-wing stenographers in the mainstream
media who write false narratives about Donald Trump for a living,” she
added.
The Biden campaign has so far not responded to questions from VOA
about the new U.S. assessment.
Russian sophistication
Russian officials also have not yet responded to requests for comment
on the latest allegations, which accuse the Kremlin of using a “whole of
government” approach to see Trump and other American candidates
perceived as favorable to Moscow win in November.
“Moscow is using a variety of approaches to bolster its messaging and
lend an air of authenticity to its efforts,” the U.S. intelligence
official said. “This includes outsourcing its efforts to commercial
firms to hide its hand and laundering narratives through influential
U.S. voices.”
Russia’s efforts also appear focused on targeting U.S. voters in
so-called swing states, states most likely to impact the outcome of the
presidential election, officials said.
Some of those efforts have already come to light.
Russia and AI
Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the seizure
of two internet domains and of another 968 accounts on the X social
media platform, part of what officials described an artificial
intelligence-driven venture by Russian intelligence and Russia’s
state-run RT news network.
A Justice Department statement said Russian intelligence and RT used
specific AI software to create authentic-looking social media accounts
to mimic U.S. individuals, “which the operators then used to promote
messages in support of Russian government objectives.”
A joint advisory, issued simultaneously by the U.S., Canada and the
Netherlands, warned Russia was in the process of expanding the AI-fueled
influence operation to other social media platforms.
The U.S. intelligence official who spoke to reporters Tuesday
described such use of AI as a “malign influence accelerant,” and warned
the technology had already been deployed, likely by China, in the run-up
to Taiwan’s elections this past January.
China waiting
For now, though, U.S. intelligence officials see few indications
Beijing is seeking to interfere in U.S. elections, as it did in 2020 and
2022.
China “sees little gain in choosing between two parties that are
perceived as both seeking to contain Beijing,” said the U.S.
intelligence official, noting things could change.
“The PRC is seeking to expand its ability to collect and monitor data
on U.S. social media platforms, probably to better understand and
eventually manipulate public opinion,” the official said. “In addition,
we are watching for whether China might seek to influence select
down-ballot races as it did in the 2022 midterm elections.”
The Chinese Embassy in Washington, which has denied previous U.S.
allegations, responded by calling the U.S. “the biggest disseminator of
disinformation.”
“China has no intention and will not interfere in the US election,
and we hope that the US side will not make an issue of China in the
election,” spokesperson Liu Pengyu told VOA in an email.
‘Chaos agent’
The new U.S. election threat assessment warns that in addition to
concerns about Russia and China, there is growing evidence Iran is
seeking to play the role of a “chaos agent” in the upcoming U.S.
vote.
“Iran seeks to stoke social divisions and undermine confidence in
U.S. democratic institutions around the elections,” according to an
unclassified version of the assessment.
It also warned that Tehran “has demonstrated a long-standing interest
in exploiting U.S. political and societal tensions through various
means, including social media.”
As an example, officials Tuesday pointed to newly declassified
intelligence showing Iran trying to exploit pro-Gaza protests across the
U.S.
“We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as
activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing
financial support to protesters,” said National Intelligence Director
Avril Haines.
Haines cautioned, though, that Americans who interacted with the
Iranian actors “may not be aware that they are interacting with or
receiving support from a foreign government.”
Iranian officials have not yet responded to VOA’s request for
comment.
Critical
Windows licensing bugs – plus two others under attack – top Patch
Tuesday
date: 2024-07-10, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Citrix, SAP also deserve your attention – because miscreants are already
thinking about Exploit Wednesday
Patch Tuesday Clear your Microsoft system
administrator’s diary: The bundle of fixes in Redmond’s July Patch
Tuesday is a doozy, with at least two bugs under active exploitation.…
Pentagon — Ukraine is receiving five additional air defense systems
to protect its sovereign territory, including three additional Patriot
batteries from the United States, Germany and Romania.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced the five systems as NATO members
commemorated the 75th anniversary of the alliance during a summit in
Washington.
Allies marked the anniversary at Mellon Auditorium, the site of the
original signing of the North Atlantic treaty that established the
defensive bloc in 1949.
Topping the summit agenda is support for Ukraine’s battle against
Russia’s illegal invasion.
The Netherlands and other partners are donating Patriot components to
build a fourth Patriot battery, while Italy is donating an additional
SAMP-T system, according to a joint statement Tuesday by the leaders of
the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NATO members in April
that Ukraine needed a minimum of seven Patriot or other high-end air
defense systems to counter Russian air strikes.
NATO allies say they are coordinating closely with Kyiv to make these
systems available as soon as possible. They also said they are working
to make another announcement about additional strategic air defense
systems for Ukraine later this year.
“Not even our support for Ukraine has been a given,” NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday. “The reality is there
are no cost-free options with an aggressive Russia as a neighbor. There
are no risk-free options in a war, and remember, the biggest cost and
the greatest risk will be if Russia wins in Ukraine.”
Since the U.S. Congress approved new aid for Ukraine following months
of delays, the United States has provided Ukraine with hundreds of
millions of dollars in equipment pulled from U.S. stockpiles, including
the additional Patriot battery announced Tuesday and multiple rounds of
long-range missiles known as ATACMS, two U.S. officials told VOA.
The ATACMS have a range of up to 300 kilometers (about 185 miles) and
nearly double the striking distance of Ukraine’s missiles.
In addition, the U.S. has provided billions of dollars of funding for
Kyiv’s long-term defense needs, including last week’s $2.2 billion
Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package that is being used to
purchase interceptors for NASAMS (medium-range ground-based air defense
system) and Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine.
USPS
to raise postage stamp prices by 7.8% beginning Sunday
date: 2024-07-10, from: The Signal
By Naveen Athrappully Contributing Writer The U.S. Postal Service is
scheduled to raise the price of stamps for a second time this year by
the end of this weekend, with the […]
Los Angeles County is home to more than 10 million residents, with five
supervisors overseeing the most populous county in the country. That
means each supervisor represents approximately 2 million […]
Embattled
Biden rallies congressional Democratic support
date: 2024-07-10, from: VOA News USA
U.S. lawmakers returned to the nation’s capital this week for the
first time since President Joe Biden’s debate against presumptive
presidential Republican nominee Donald Trump in June. Katherine Gypson
reports on calls from Capitol Hill for Biden to step aside. Kim Lewis
contributed to this report.
Ora2Pg
Support - Chatbot and Converter, have been Released !
date: 2024-07-10, from: PostgreSQL News
Toronto, Canada - July 7th, 2024
Ora2Pg Chatbot and Converter
Ora2Pg is the most advanced database migration tool, for migrating
Oracle databases to PostgreSQL. Ora2Pg supports migrations from MySQL to
PostgreSQL and lately supported SQL Server to PostgreSQL.
HexaCluster announces the Ora2Pg Support that includes an Ora2Pg Chatbot
and Ora2Pg Converter.
Start a Chat session and ask your questions about Ora2Pg and Database
Migrations.
If you are not satisfied, click on “Continue with an Expert”. You will
now switch to “Expert mode”.
Once you are in the “Expert mode”, a Migration Specialist from
HexaCluster will review and respond back to your request.
Ora2Pg Converter
Sign Up for free
Supports Unlimited conversions of Oracle schema to PostgreSQL. Just
paste the Oracle DDL/Syntax and click on Convert, to generate PostgreSQL
DDL/syntax.
Click on “Connect with an Expert” for Experts Assistance on incorrect or
unsatisfied conversions.Links & Credits
This project is created and maintained by HexaCluster Corp.
PGroonga is a PostgreSQL
extension that makes PostgreSQL fast full text search platform for all
languages! It’s released under PostgreSQL license.
There are some PostgreSQL extensions that improves full text search
feature of PostgreSQL such as
pg_trgm^1.
pg_trgm doesn’t support languages that use non-alphanumerics characters
such as Japanese and Chinese.
PGroonga supports all languages, provides rich full text search related
features and is very fast. Because PGroonga uses
Groonga^2 that is a full-fledged full
text search engine as backend.
See the following benchmark results for performance:
Benchmark result for PGroonga, textsearch and pg_trgm with English
Wikipedia
https://pgroonga.github.io/reference/pgroonga-versus-textsearch-and-pg-trgm.html
Benchmark result for PGroonga and pg_bigm with Japanese Wikipedia
https://pgroonga.github.io/reference/pgroonga-versus-pg-bigm.html
PGroonga also supports JSON search. You can use each value for
condition. You can also perform full text search against all texts in
JSON like textsearch in PostgreSQL.
Changes
Here are highlights in PGroonga 3.2.1:
Added support for WAL resource manager
Added support for downgrading by using ALTER EXTENSION …
UPDATE
You can use PGroonga without full text search knowledge. You just create
an index and puts a condition into WHERE:
CREATE INDEX index_name ON table USING pgroonga (column);
SELECT * FROM table WHERE column &@~ 'PostgreSQL';
You can also use LIKE to use PGroonga. PGroonga provides a feature that
performs LIKE with index. LIKE with PGroonga index is faster than LIKE
without index. It means that you can improve performance without
changing your application that uses the following SQL:
SELECT * FROM table WHERE column LIKE '%PostgreSQL%';
Are you interested in PGroonga? Please
install^4 and try
tutorial^5. You can
know all PGroonga features.
You can install PGroonga easily. Because PGroonga provides packages for
major platforms. There are binaries for Windows.
Purdue
Pharma secures litigation freeze after US Supreme Court ruling
date: 2024-07-09, from: VOA News USA
New York — Purdue Pharma on Tuesday received U.S. court approval for
a 60-day freeze on lawsuits against its owners — members of the wealthy
Sackler family — in its first court appearance since a landmark U.S.
Supreme Court ruling upended its bankruptcy settlement.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane granted an injunction at a court
hearing in White Plains, New York, saying that a litigation cease-fire
will give Purdue a chance to renegotiate a comprehensive settlement of
lawsuits alleging that its painkiller OxyContin spurred an opioid
addiction crisis in the U.S.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 27 that Purdue Pharma’s
bankruptcy settlement cannot shield the Sacklers, who did not file for
bankruptcy themselves, over their role in the nation’s deadly opioid
epidemic.
The ruling sent Purdue back to the drawing board after nearly five
years in bankruptcy and imperils billions of dollars in funding that the
company and the Sacklers had promised to pay toward addressing the harms
from the crisis.
Lawsuits against Purdue and Sackler family members by state and local
governments, as well as by individual plaintiffs, have accused them of
fueling the opioid crisis through deceptive marketing of its pain
medication. The company pleaded guilty to misbranding and fraud charges
related to its marketing of OxyContin in 2007 and 2020.
Purdue’s bankruptcy has stopped the opioid lawsuits from proceeding
against the Stamford, Connecticut-based drugmaker since 2019, and Purdue
has extended that legal protection to the Sacklers, as well.
Purdue’s attorney, Marshall Huebner, said the company will engage in
“a high-speed, high-stakes mediation” with the Sacklers, state and local
governments and other stakeholders. Protecting the Sacklers during a
“modest” 60-day negotiating period will give Purdue a real chance to
negotiate a new bankruptcy settlement and put money toward stopping
opioid overdoses and treating addiction, Huebner said.
“Every single day of delay continues to come at a tragic, tragic
cost,” Huebner said.
Several stakeholders expressed hope for a settlement but said
mediation should not be extended beyond the 60-day schedule proposed by
Purdue.
“It is essential to all parties in this case that we bring this
five-year Chapter 11 case to a conclusion,” said Kenneth Eckstein, an
attorney representing a coalition of state and local governments.
During the hearing, Lane also appointed two mediators to aid
settlement talks, including retired bankruptcy judge Shelley Chapman,
who brokered a previous deal under which the Sacklers agreed to pay up
to $6 billion to settle the opioid lawsuits. Eric Green will serve as
the other mediator.
If mediation fails, Purdue has said a court-appointed committee
representing its creditors should be allowed to sue the Sacklers over
claims they drained more thabn $11 billion from the company and that
their conduct made Purdue liable for other lawsuits.
The Sacklers have said the creditors’ proposed litigation is
counterproductive and based on “factual errors.” Members of the family
have denied wrongdoing and would fiercely oppose any litigation if the
settlement talks break down, their attorneys said.
“No one is assured of a recovery in this court or any other court,”
said Gerard Uzzi, an attorney representing members of the Sackler
family.
Purdue’s previous bankruptcy settlement was supported by attorneys
general from all 50 states, local governments and most of the individual
opioid victims who voted on it.
But it has also had detractors such as Carrie McGaha, who has had
repeated overdoses and said Tuesday that individuals have been placed at
the “bottom of the heap” throughout Purdue’s bankruptcy.
California State Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo has announced that five
bills in her legislative package have advanced onto the Senate floor.
Additionally, one bill is now on the Governor’s desk awaiting a
signature
A pair of Santa Clarita baseball products were announced as MLB
All-Stars this week. Dodgers’ pitcher Tyler Glasnow was set to make his
All-Star Game debut this upcoming week at […]
FBI,
cyber-cops zap ~1K Russian AI disinfo Twitter bots
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
RT News snarks back after it’s accused of building social nyet-work for
Kremlin
The FBI and cybersecurity agencies in Canada and the Netherlands say
they have taken down an almost 1,000-strong Twitter bot farm set up by
Russian state-run RT News that used generative AI to spread
disinformation to Americans and others.…
A
Beloved Tech Blog Is Now Publishing AI Articles Under the Names of Its
Old Human Staff
date: 2024-07-09, from: 404 Media Group
TUAW, a site that was shut down 10 years ago, was sold to a private
equity firm, then to a company in Hong Kong, and has now stolen its old
workers’ identities and is running their old work through AI
summarizers.
US
accuses Iran of seeking to exploit American Gaza protests
date: 2024-07-09, from: VOA News USA
washington — The U.S. intelligence chief on Tuesday accused Iran of
egging on protests inside the United States against the Gaza war,
including by paying demonstrators.
Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, stressed she was
not alleging that Americans taking to the streets against Israel or U.S.
policy were insincere or doing Iran’s bidding, but said Tehran was
stepping up efforts.
“In recent weeks, Iranian government actors have sought to
opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war
in Gaza, using a playbook we’ve seen other actors use over the years,”
Haines said in a statement.
“We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as
activists online, seeking to encourage protests and even providing
financial support to protesters,” she said.
“The freedom to express diverse views, when done peacefully, is
essential to our democracy, but it is also important to warn of foreign
actors who seek to exploit our debate for their own purposes,” she
said.
Iran’s clerical state supports Palestinian militants Hamas, whose
massive attack on Israel on October 7 has triggered a relentless Israeli
offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Iranian state-backed media seized on pro-Palestinian protests that
swept U.S. campuses and accused the United States of hypocrisy in the
crackdowns on some of the demonstrations.
Iran, an arch-nemesis of the United States since the 1979 Islamic
revolution toppled the pro-Western shah, has faced frequent charges of
trying to target dissident voices in the West.
The United States has repeatedly condemned what it calls
disinformation campaigns by China and especially Russia, including
through deceptive social media posts.
The Department of Transportation in cooperation with Security Paving
has announced a long-term lane closure on Northbound Interstate 5
starting the night of Wednesday, July
Board
of Trustees extends and amends President Folt’s contract
date: 2024-07-09, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The Board finalized the decision before the end of President Carol
Folt’s first term, a University spokesperson confirmed to the Daily
Trojan on Tuesday afternoon. The spokesperson declined to provide
further details about the length of the extension or the nature of the
amendments to Folt’s contract.
Spectacular
4th Annual Hueneme Beach “Show and Shine Car Show” Fundraiser Spotlights
Cars and Community to Support Local Police Explorers Program
date: 2024-07-09, from: Port Hueneme
Download Press Release Contact: Letitia Austin Public and Gov’t
Relations Manager Laustin@Portofh.org [Port Hueneme, CA – July 9,
2024] — The 4th annual Hueneme Beach “Show and Shine Car…
Google
extends Linux kernel support to keep Android devices secure for
longer
date: 2024-07-09, from: OS News
Android, like many other operating systems, uses the open-source
Linux kernel. There are several different types of Linux kernel
releases, but the type that’s most important to Android is the long-term
support (LTS) one, as they’re updated regularly with important bug fixes
and security patches. Starting in 2017, the support lifetime of LTS
releases of Linux was extended from two years to six years, but early
last year, this extension was reversed. Fortunately, Google has
announced that moving forward, they’ll support their own LTS kernel
releases for four years. Here’s why that’s important for the security of
Android devices. ↫ Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority I fully support
the Linux kernel maintainers dropping the LTS window from six to two
years. The only places where such old kernels were being used were
embedded devices and things like smartphones vendors refused to update
to newer Android releases, and it makes no sense for kernel maintainers
to be worrying about that sort of stuff. If an OEM wants to keep using
such outdated kernels, the burden should be on that OEM to support that
kernel, or to update affected devices to a newer, supported kernel. It
seems Google, probably wisely, realised that most OEMs weren’t going to
properly upgrade their devices and the kernels that run on them, and as
such, the search giant decided to simply create their own LTS releases
instead, which will be supported for four years. Google already
maintains various Android-specific Linux kernel branches anyway, so it
fits right into their existing development model for the Android Linux
kernel. Some of the more popular OEMs, like Google itself or Samsung,
have promised longer support life cycles for new Android versions on
their devices, so even with this new Android-specific LTS policy,
there’s still going to be cases where an OEM will have to perform a
kernel upgrade where they didn’t have to before with the six year LTS
policy. I wonder if this is going to impact any support promises made in
recent years.
US
voters say they will consider economy when choosing between Biden and
Trump
date: 2024-07-09, from: VOA News USA
new orleans, louisiana — “The economy controls everything,” said
South Carolina sales executive Chris Stinson. “Hands down it’s what I’m
most concerned about, and that’s what I’ll be thinking about when I vote
this November.”
Stinson isn’t alone.
American voters are prioritizing the health of their wallets and
pocketbooks with less than four months to go before Election Day.
A CNN poll last week showed that 36% of respondents said the economy
is the most important issue in deciding how to vote. “Protecting
democracy” ranked second.
“Who do I trust with the economy?” Stinson wondered aloud. “I’m
undecided. Democrats seem proud to be anti-business, and pro-regulation,
but [presumptive Republican nominee and former president Donald] Trump
got us started down this path of devastating inflation when he
introduced all that COVID stimulus.”
“What I know is all of these other issues Democrats like to talk
about —things like hurting white men like me by adding regulations
wherever they can — people don’t care about the health of the oceans or
which gender uses which bathroom when they’re unemployed and can’t find
a job,” Stinson told VOA.
That economic anxiety comes despite cooling inflation, a
scorching-hot stock market, and a better-than-expected monthly jobs
report showing American employers added 206,000 jobs in June.
Yet persisting economic concerns seem likely to impact this year’s
presidential election. In a June survey by PBS News/NPR/Marist, 54% of
registered voters polled said they believed Trump would best handle the
economy, not President Joe Biden (45%).
Alabama Democratic voter Collins Pettaway said the economy “will play
a major role in this election, as it so often does, and I have the
utmost confidence President Biden will continue to manage the economy
effectively, just like he did leading us out of the unprecedented
pandemic and wrecked economy he inherited in his first term.” ”
An anxious nation
A Pew Research Center poll from mid-May showed that only 23% of U.S.
adults believe the economy is in excellent or good shape, down from 28%
at the beginning of the year.
That change is mostly the result of Democratic voters, whose
collective opinion has slipped to 37% — down seven percentage points
since January.
“It’s impossible to deny the effects of inflation,” Carl Fink, a
Democratic voter and father of three in New Orleans, Louisiana, told
VOA. “Groceries, car insurance, entertainment — they’re all so much more
expensive these days. But none of that compares to how much the cost of
child care and a good school has increased in the four years since our
first child was born. It’s so much tougher now.”
Just last week, the Federal Reserve reported to Congress that
“inflation eased notably last year and has shown modest further progress
so far this year.” The Fed says it’s just a matter of time before the
pace of price increases settles back to where it was before the COVID-19
crisis.
But for many Americans who have suffered the fastest price increases
since the early 1980s, talk of slowing inflation doesn’t improve their
current financial situation.
“The economy is the key factor in this election because citizens like
me can no longer afford what was once considered the basics of living in
America,” said George Barisich, a fisherman and Republican voter from
Chalmette, Louisiana.
“Every supply house, fuel dock, icehouse, mechanic,” he continued,
“everything related to the fishing industry, and every other industry —
they’re all going out of business. Diesel and gas prices have
skyrocketed. I can’t make any money.”
“At least Trump is a businessman,” Barisich said. “I think he’ll be
able to help us out.”
Looking through partisan glasses
In a period of increased partisanship, Cleveland State University
associate professor of political science David Stack said voters
cherry-pick economic indicators that best align with their political
sentiments rather than with overall economic health.
“If you’re a Democrat, you point to the lowered unemployment rate and
the rising stock market and you say, ‘Look at how Biden fixed Trump’s
mess. He should be president,’” Stack told VOA. “But if you’re a
Republican, you point to the rate of inflation and say, ‘See how Biden
is screwing up the economy? Trump did better, so Trump should be
president.’”
Stack said most Republicans believe the high unemployment rate at the
end of Trump’s term was the result of the pandemic lockdown, whereas
Democrats believe the stimulus package during COVID-19 resulted in a
predictable spike in inflation.
What it means for November
Shane Finkelstein, a Democratic voter from New Orleans who lost his
business during the pandemic and has now found work after two years of
unemployment, said he is pleased with Biden on the economy.
“It’s one of the most important issues we face, and I think it’s also
where Biden has done his strongest job,” Finkelstein said. “Inflation is
a big problem, but it’s also usually the reflection of a strong economy.
The reason it has been more intense this time is because of supply and
demand issues during and post COVID.”
Maryland voter Nick Merson said he hopes other issues — such as gun
control and access to abortion — will power Biden to a second term, even
if the economy cannot.
“I think in any other election, current views around inflation and
the economy would result in an easy win for Republicans,” Merson told
VOA. “But Republicans also have the most toxic candidate in
history.
“We don’t have a great one, either, but this election matters too
much to sit out.”
Among them, Byron Jourdan, Senior Director, Product Management of
Mozilla, under the Reddit username ComprehensiveDoor643 revealed that
Mozilla plans to support Firefox on Windows 7 for longer. When asked
separately about whether it also included Windows 8 and 8.1 too, Jourdan
added that it was certainly the plan, though for how long the extended
support would last was still undecided. ↫ Sayan Sen at Neowin Excellent
move by Mozilla. I doubt there’s that many new features and frameworks
in Windows 10 or 11 that are absolutely essential to Firefox working
properly, so assuming it can gracefully disable any possible Windows
10/11-exclusive features, it should be entirely possible to use Firefox
as an up-to-date, secure, and capable browser on Windows 7/8.x. Windows
7 and 8.x users still make up about 2.7% of Windows users worldwide, and
with Windows’ popularity, that probably still translates to millions and
millions of people. Making sure these people have access to a safe and
secure browser is a huge boon, and I’m very happy Mozilla is going to
keep supporting these platforms as best they can, at least for now. For
those of us who already consider especially Windows 7 a retrocomputing
platform – I sure do – this is also great news, as any retro box or VM
we load up with it will also get a modern browser. Just excellent news
all around.
No more boot
loader: please use the kernel instead
date: 2024-07-09, from: OS News
Most people are familiar with GRUB, a powerful, flexible,
fully-featured bootloader that is used on multiple architectures
(x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le OpenFirmware). Although GRUB is quite
versatile and capable, its features create complexity that is difficult
to maintain, and that both duplicate and lag behind the Linux kernel
while also creating numerous security holes. On the other hand, the
Linux kernel, which has a large developer base, benefits from fast
feature development, quick responses to vulnerabilities and greater
overall scrutiny. We (Red Hat boot loader engineering) will present our
solution to this problem, which is to use the Linux kernel as its own
bootloader. Loaded by the EFI stub on UEFI, and packed into a unified
kernel image (UKI), the kernel, initramfs, and kernel command line,
contain everything they need to reach the final boot target. All
necessary drivers, filesystem support, and networking are already built
in and code duplication is avoided. ↫ Marta Lewandowska I’m not a fan of
GRUB. It’s too much of a single point of failure, and since I’m not
going to be dual-booting anything anyway I’d much rather use something
that isn’t as complex as GRUB. Systemd-boot is an option, but switching
over from GRUB to systemd-boot, while possible on my distribution of
choice, Fedora, is not officially supported and there’s no guarantee it
will keep working from one release to the next. The proposed solution
here seems like another option, and it may even be a better option –
I’ll leave that to the experts to discuss. It seems like to me that the
ideal we should be striving for is to have booting the operating system
become the sole responsibility of the EUFI firmware, which usually
already contains the ability to load any operating system that supports
UEFI without explicitly installing a bootloader. It’d be great if you
could set your UEFI firmware to just always load its boot menu, instead
of hiding it behind a function key or whatever. We made UEFI more
capable to address the various problems and limitations inherent in
BIOS. Why are we still forcing UEFI to pretend it still has the same
limitations?
America’s
new Sentinel nukes mushroom 81% in cost. Pentagon says it’s all
good
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-10, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Minuteman replacement to hit $141B as officials promise good ol’
‘restructure’
The price tag for the Pentagon’s next-generation nuclear-tipped Sentinel
ICBMs has ballooned by 81 percent in less than four years, triggering a
Congressionally-mandated justify-or-die review.…
July
16-17: Caltrans to Airlift Wire Mesh to Protect Slope Near Golden Valley
Road
date: 2024-07-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The California Department of Transportation advises the public that a
helicopter will be used in a highway project on State Route 14, the
Antelope Valley Freeway, on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 16-
Hundreds
of deaths, thousands of injuries, billions of dollars: The cost of
extreme heat in California
date: 2024-07-09, from: The Signal
By Levi Sumagaysay CalMatters Writer A blistering California heat wave
over the past week and through the Fourth of July holiday has been
topped off by some of the hottest temperatures […]
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: RAND blog
The United States and the United Kingdom have long shared a “special
relationship” which has endured through major conflicts and geopolitical
challenges. Despite occasional strains, the bond has generally
strengthened over time. If carefully maintained, it will continue to
promote peace and prosperity in Europe and beyond.
Standout Hart High School varsity baseball alum Tyler Glasnow has
been named as one of six Los Angeles Dodgers who have earned a berth in
the 2024 MLB All-Star Game to be held Tuesday, July 16 at Globe Life
Field in Arlington, Texas. Glasnow, a pitcher who joined the Dodgers in
the off season, will be making his All-Star debut.
NASA joined the self-designated “party with a purpose” to let
participants in the 30th ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans know
there is space for everybody at the space agency. NASA representatives
from the agency’s Headquarters in Washington participated in a panel
conversation about Black women in the aerospace industry and diversity
in science, […]
Former
US Senator Inhofe, defense hawk and climate change skeptic, dies at
89
date: 2024-07-09, from: VOA News USA
OKLAHOMA CITY, oklahoma — Former Senator Jim Inhofe, a conservative
known for his strong support of defense spending and his denial that
human activity is responsible for the bulk of climate change, has died.
He was 89.
Inhofe, a powerful fixture in Oklahoma politics for more than six
decades, died Tuesday morning after suffering a stroke during the July
Fourth holiday, his family said in a statement.
Inhofe, a Republican who underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery in
2013 before being elected to a fourth term, was elected to a fifth
Senate term in 2020, before stepping down in early 2023.
‘The greatest hoax’
Inhofe frequently criticized the mainstream science that human
activity contributed to changes in the Earth’s climate, once calling it
“the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”
In February 2015, with temperatures in the nation’s capital below
freezing, Inhofe brought a snowball on to the Senate floor. He tossed it
before claiming that environmentalists focus attention on global warming
as it kept getting cold.
As Oklahoma’s senior U.S. senator, Inhofe was a staunch supporter of
the state’s five military installations and a vocal fan of congressional
earmarks. The Army veteran and licensed pilot, who would fly himself to
and from Washington, secured the federal money to fund local road and
bridge projects, and criticized House Republicans who wanted a one-year
moratorium on such pet projects in 2010.
“Defeating an earmark doesn’t save a nickel,” Inhofe told the
Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce that August. “It merely means that
within the budget process, it goes right back to the bureaucracy.”
He was a strong backer of President Donald Trump, who praised him for
his “incredible support of our #MAGA agenda” while endorsing the
senator’s 2020 reelection bid. During the Trump administration, Inhofe
served as chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee following the
death of Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona.
Closer to home, Inhofe helped secure millions of dollars to clean up
a former mining hub in northeast Oklahoma that spent decades on the
Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund list. In a massive buyout
program, the federal government purchased homes and businesses within
the 104-square-kilometer region of Tar Creek, where children
consistently tested for dangerous levels of lead in their blood.
Republican U.S. Representative Frank Lucas, the senior member of the
Oklahoma congressional delegation, called Inhofe a true public
servant.
“His long career in the United States House and Senate serves as a
testament to his strong moral compass and innate desire to better his
home state,” Lucas said in a statement
In 2021, Inhofe defied some in his party by voting to certify
Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, saying that
to do otherwise would be a violation of his oath of office to support
and defend the Constitution. He voted against convicting Trump at both
of his impeachment trials.
Worked in business, public service
Born James Mountain Inhofe on Nov. 17, 1934, in Des Moines, Iowa,
Inhofe grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and received a bachelor’s degree in
economics from the University of Tulsa in 1959. He served in the Army
between 1956 and 1958 and was a businessman for three decades.
He was elected to the state House in 1966 and two years later to the
state Senate, where he remained during unsuccessful runs for governor in
1974 and for the U.S. House in 1976. He then won three terms as Tulsa
mayor starting in 1978.
Inhofe went on to win two terms in the U.S. House in the 1980s,
before throwing his hat into a bitter U.S. Senate race when longtime
Senator David Boren resigned in 1994 to become president of the
University of Oklahoma. Inhofe beat then-U.S. Representive Dave McCurdy
in a special election to serve the final two years of Boren’s term and
was reelected five times.
Boren, a Democrat, said he and Inhofe worked together in a bipartisan
manner when both were in the state Legislature. He later defeated Inhofe
in a race for governor.
“While we ran against each other for governor, we were opponents but
never enemies and remained friends,” Boren said in a statement. “I hope
we can rebuild that spirit in American politics.”
Frequent flyer
Inhofe was a commercial-rated pilot and flight instructor with more
than 50 years of flying experience.
He made an emergency landing in Claremore in 1999, after his plane
lost a propeller, an incident later blamed on an installation error. In
2006, his plane spun out of control upon landing in Tulsa; he and an
aide escaped injury, though the plane was badly damaged.
In 2010, Inhofe landed his small plane on a closed runway at a rural
South Texas airport while flying himself and others to South Padre
Island. Runway workers scrambled, and Inhofe agreed to complete a
remedial training program rather than face possible legal action.
He later sponsored legislation that expanded the rights of pilots
when dealing with Federal Aviation Administration disciplinary
proceedings.
Inhofe is survived by his wife, Kay, three children and several
grandchildren. A son, Dr. Perry Dyson Inhofe II, died in November 2013,
at the age of 51, when the twin-engine aircraft he was flying crashed a
few miles north of Tulsa International Airport.
United
Airlines plane loses wheel during takeoff from LAX, lands safely in
Denver
date: 2024-07-09, from: The Signal
By Aldgra Fredly Contributing Writer A United Airlines Boeing 757-200
plane lost a wheel from its landing gear while taking off from Los
Angeles International Airport on Monday but managed to […]
Body of
American recovered 22 years after avalanche in Peru
date: 2024-07-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Police in the Ancash region told The Associated Press they found the
body of William Stampfl on Friday near a camp 5,200 meters (17,060 feet)
above sea level. The 58-year-old Stampfl had been trying to climb the
6,768-meter Mount Huascaran.
Tim Hardwick: According to Apple, research shows that motion sickness
is commonly caused by a sensory conflict between what a person sees and
what they feel, which can prevent some users from comfortably using
iPhone or iPad while riding in a moving vehicle. Vehicle Motion Cues are
designed to avoid this sensory conflict with the […]
Casper Kessels (April 2024, via Hacker News): The first version of
CarPlay has been available since 2016 and has been a major success. For
car industry standards, it was adopted quickly and by almost every
carmaker. But since then, the car industry has been changing while the
design and functionality of CarPlay have mostly stayed […]
Jérôme Segura (via Ric Ford): On June 24, we observed a new campaign
distributing a stealer targeting Mac users via malicious Google ads for
the Arc browser. This is the second time in the past couple of months
where we see Arc being used as a lure, certainly a sign of its
popularity. It was […]
Lawrence Abrams (via Hacker News): Cybercriminals are abusing Stack
Overflow in an interesting approach to spreading malware—answering
users’ questions by promoting a malicious PyPi package that installs
Windows information-stealing malware.[…]This PyPi package is named
‘pytoileur’ and was uploaded by threat actors to the PyPi repository
over the weekend, claiming it was an API management tool. […]
Prince
Harry and ESPN getting desired ‘eyeballs’ with Pat Tillman award
controversy
date: 2024-07-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
While critics accuse Harry of desperately needing ‘attention,’
executives at ESPN and Disney reportedly hope that the prince’s Pat
Tillman Award controversy will draw ‘insane’ ratings for Thursday
night’s ESPYS.
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: RAND blog
Leaders at AI companies claim they have a laser focus on ensuring
that their products are safe. But these claims are undercut when
insiders paint a familiar picture of a culture of negligence and secrecy
that dismisses warnings and hides evidence about unsafe practices. So
what can these companies do differently?
The Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation has
announced that Jey Wagner has stepped down from his role as President
and CEO effective Monday, July
Hurricane Beryl, ahem, barreled into America’s Gulf Coast as a
Category 1 storm, and whenever something like that happens the entire
global energy industry holds its breath. The Gulf of Mexico is not just
a frequent target and breeding ground for massive storms, it is also one
of America’s — and the world’s — most important energy hubs. Texas and
Louisiana contains giant oil and gas fields, and the region is home to
about
half
of the United States’ refining capacity.
At least so far, the oil and refining industry appears to have largely
dodged Beryl’s worst effects. The storm made landfall in Matagorda, a
coastal town between Galveston and Corpus Christi, both of which are
major centers for the refinery industry. Only one refinery, the Phillips
66 facility in Sweeny, Texas, was in the storm’s cone,
according
to TACenergy, a petroleum products distributor. Phillips 66 did
not respond to a request to comment,
but
Reuters reported that the Sweeny facility as well as
its refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana were powered and operating.
Crude oil prices have seen next to no obvious volatility, rising to
$83.88 a barrel on July 3 and since settling around $82.84.
Electricity consumers, however, were not so lucky. As
many as
2.7
million Texanslost
power, and some 2.3 million are currently experiencing outages
according to
PowerOutage.us. In
Arkansas and Louisiana, about 35,000 electric customers are without
power. ERCOT, the energy market for about 90% of Texas, described the
current outages as “local in nature and not an ERCOT grid reliability
issue,” indicating that the problem is with distribution and
transmission, not
supply
and demand.
The heavily industrialized Gulf Coast would seem to be a perfect spot to
build out offshore wind infrastructure, but the regular hurricane-force
winds in the region are
holding
it back. The Department of the Interior has successfully
auctioned off
just
one lease for wind development off of Lake Charles, Louisiana near
the Texas border. The next auction will include sites along the Texas
coast closer to Houston and Bay City, Texas, and thus
closer
to where Beryl made landfall.
Beryl is now a tropical depression, working its way
up
the Great Plains and the Midwest, bringing along with it heavy
rains and strong winds. Power generators may be off the hook in Texas,
but the situation there does not bode well for our ability to get
electricity to households and businesses reliably in a world of
stronger
storms.
“For a Category 1 hurricane to result in over a million customer outages
in its immediate aftermath demonstrates that there is plenty of need for
the resiliency hardening investments,” Wei Du, a consultant at PA
Consulting Group and former Con Edison analyst, told me.
As
bird flu spreads on dairy farms, an ‘abysmal’ few workers are
tested
date: 2024-07-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
The CDC and USDA have advised dairy farms to monitor for the virus in
cattle and humans, but testing remains voluntary, except for herds
moving across state lines.
Hopkins
researchers launch writing contest to learn about how the brain
processes stories
date: 2024-07-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
A Johns Hopkins University research team is asking for the public’s
help in mapping the specific areas of the brain that kick into high gear
when we read a novel or buy movie tickets.
While America has been distracted by its suddenly-very-real upcoming
election, two other important political stories have been unfolding
across the pond. The results of last week’s parliamentary votes in
France and the United Kingdom have the power to sway global climate
policy — and they might even contain lessons for the U.S. about the rise
(or fall) of the far-right.
What happened in France?
In June, French President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections, and the
far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen was widely expected
to achieve a majority in the country’s 577-seat National Assembly.
Instead, the New Popular Front, a hastily-formed alliance between the
hard left, Greens, and Socialists, came out on top in a runoff, followed
by the centrist Ensemble (which includes Macron’s Renaissance party) and
the National Rally in a distant third. Because no party won the 289
seats needed to gain control of the chamber, the left and center now
have to form a coalition government, which means ideological compromise
— something that’s distinctly un-French. “We’re not the Germans, we’re
not the Spanish, we’re not the Italians — we don’t do coalitions,” one
French political commentator
toldSky News.
What did the National Rally want for climate?
Climate change wasn’t a big theme, but the National Rally’s proposals
certainly had experts nervous. The party tapped into
simmering
discontent among some demographics —
farmers,
in particular — who feel unfairly burdened by new regulations in
service of the European Union’s ambitious agenda, known as the
Green
Deal, including a goal to cut the bloc’s net greenhouse gas
emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. If it had
won, the party planned to dismantle France’s energy efficiency rules,
roll back a 2035 ban on new gas-powered cars, block new wind farms, do
away with low-emission zones, and transform electricity trade. France is
already the EU’s third biggest emitter, and the EU as a whole is
responsible for
about
9% of global CO2 emissions, although
emissions
have been falling, especially in the energy sector.
So is European climate policy safe?
As the dust settles in France, the biggest danger to climate policy now
is stalemate. The lackluster results for the far right are no doubt a
relief to the climate conscious. “We have avoided a catastrophe,” Alain
Fischer, president of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris,
toldNature. The winning NFP, for its part, backs the Green
Deal’s emissions targets and wants France to become “the European leader
in renewable energies” through offshore wind power and the development
of hydroelectric power. It also calls for the “creation of an
international court for climate and environmental justice.” But the next
several months are likely to be chaotic as the parties tussle over what
the government should look like, and there is no deadline for these
decisions to be made. The leadership limbo could bring political
paralysis at a time when the EU is just
getting
its bearings following bloc-wide parliamentary elections —
which, by the way, saw the Greens lose seats in lots of places. In
response, the non-profit Climate Group put out a
statement
calling for the French government to “commit to safeguarding the EU
Green Deal and ensuring a sustainable future for the continent.” The
good news is that a
large
majority of EU voters want to see more climate action.
What about in the U.K.?
The Labour Party won the general election in a landslide, bringing an
end to 14 years of Conservative Party rule. During his tenure, former
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
watered
down key net-zero strategies, delayed a ban on new combustion
engine vehicles, scrapped energy efficiency standards, and approved a
large new oil field in the North Sea. His party also pulled
low-emission
zones into the culture wars in a desperate attempt to win over
voters. None of this played to his advantage.
According
to Desmog, two-thirds of the Conservative members of Parliament
who were anti-net zero lost their seats, including the former energy
secretary. “With a clear mandate for climate action,”
wrote
climate change think tank E3G, “all eyes are now on Labour to deliver.”
What does Labour want to do on climate?
New Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to turn the U.K. into a
“clean energy superpower” by doubling onshore wind, tripling solar
power, and quadrupling offshore wind by 2030. He also plans to upgrade
the grid to speed the rollout of clean energy projects, while at the
same time denying new licenses for oil and gas exploration in the North
Sea. He wants to establish a publicly owned clean energy firm and
decarbonize the power sector by 2030. And he plans to reinstate the 2030
ban on new gas cars. The goals are lofty, and meeting them will
“extensive change across every sector of the economy,”
wrote
Carbon Brief. But Labour seems to be wasting little time. Days after
taking power, the new government scrapped a ban on onshore wind farms
that had been in place since 2015 and which the new Chancellor of the
Exchequer Rachel Reeves called “absurd.”
Can the U.K. be a global climate leader?
The U.K. accounts for about
1%
of global greenhouse gas emissions. That might be paltry
compared to, say, the U.S.
(13.5%)
or China
(32%),
but it has a chance now to use its global influence and proximity to
Europe to keep the needle moving in the right direction. That goes
especially if it is nudged by the Green party, which surprised everyone
by quadrupling its number of seats in Parliament (albeit to just four).
As The New York Timesnoted,
Britain is where the industrial revolution began, so “the speed and
scale of Britain’s energy transition is likely to be closely watched by
other industrialized countries and emerging economies alike.”
Are there lessons in either of these elections for the U.S.?
What’s clear from both of these cases is that people really care about
climate policy and are willing to vote with that in mind. That can swing
either way, though, depending on the particular set of policies and how
they affect the electorate. As extreme weather intensifies, however, it
may become more difficult for far-right parties to minimize the
significance of climate change. “We need to recognize that extreme
weather is politicizing people against this climate denial,”
said
Paul Dickinson, founder of CDP, an emissions disclosure platform, and
co-host of the podcast Outrage + Optimism. “It is the
Achilles heel of the extreme right that they’re opposed to the realities
of extreme weather. That’s how I think if we’re organized and
disciplined, we will defeat them.”
<p>The sound of wind blowing through the trees and the wild grass has to be one of the most relaxing sounds existing in nature.</p>
Add to that a great view of the mountains and a lovely summer sunset and
you have the best possible set for an evening walk.
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:hello@manuelmoreale.com">Email me</a> ::
<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/guestbook">Sign my guestbook</a> ::
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Marylebone Cricket Club, one of cricket’s august organizations,
recently organized World Cricket Connects, a symposium about the future
of a sport that — like so many things — finds itself caught between
tradition and tomorrow. Test cricket, the traditional form of the game,
is giving way to an onslaught of franchises offering up T20 cricket,
…
NASA
Invites Media to 65th Birthday Celebration for Iconic Logo
date: 2024-07-09, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s logo turns 65 on Monday, July 15, and media are invited to its
birthday celebration in Cleveland, the city where the iconic symbol was
designed. To mark the logo’s birthday, NASA’s Glenn Research Center in
Cleveland will host a series of activities celebrating the city’s
connection to one of the most recognized logos in […]
New
York City targets hundreds of illegal marijuana stores
date: 2024-07-09, from: VOA News USA
New York City officials are contending with a surge of illegal
marijuana shops that have appeared on nearly every corner of the Big
Apple due to cannabis legalization. Aron Ranen reports.
Green
Santa Clarita Issues Plastic Free July Challenge
date: 2024-07-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Green Santa Clarita urges residents to take the Plastic Free July
Challenge. Plastic Free July is a global movement that encourages
millions of people to be part of the solution to plastic pollution.
Reducing the use of single-use plastics means reducing litter that
pollutes the land and waterways and also reducing waste that ultimately
ends up in the landfill.
NASA’s Glenn Research Center staff traveled to Michigan for the
Selfridge Air National Guard Base air show, open house, and STEAM Expo,
June 8 and 9. NASA’s Journey to Tomorrow, a 53-foot traveling exhibit,
was a popular feature that showcased exploration in air and space.
Additionally, experts from NASA’s Fission Surface Power project shared
information on […]
The International and Space Law Practice Group (ISLPG) is responsible
for providing legal advice and counsel regarding international matters
at Headquarters and all NASA Centers. Some of the legal issues for which
ISLPG is responsible include: international law, including space law;
domestic law which may impact NASA’s international cooperation; issues
involving the United Nations or […]
Rainbow
Alliance Advisory Group Showcases NASA at Pride Event in Downtown
Cleveland
date: 2024-07-09, from: NASA breaking news
For the second year in a row, NASA Glenn Research Center’s Rainbow
Alliance Advisory Group (RAAG), with support from additional Glenn
employees, marched in Cleveland’s “Pride in the CLE” festival on June
1. This year, they widened their presence by staffing an exhibit booth,
which showcased NASA and inclusion in the workplace. Throughout the
day, […]
NASA Glenn Research Center’s Office of STEM Engagement provided a
multi-faceted orientation—including a welcome from Center Director
Dr. Jimmy Kenyon—for 151 student interns (on-site and virtually) last
month. This summer, student interns from across the United States and
U.S. territories will gain practical experience while working with
scientists, engineers, and individuals from many other professions.
[…]
The
Ticketmaster Hack Is Becoming a Logistical Nightmare for Fans and
Brokers
date: 2024-07-09, from: 404 Media Group
The latest dump includes ticket data, which means fans’ tickets can
be stolen if Ticketmaster doesn’t reissue them. “This is really really
really really bad,” one broker told 404 Media.
Microsoft
ad subsidiary Xandr accused of violating GDPR
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Access, deletion requests go ignored, and consumer profiles contradict
themselves, complaint alleges
Updated Microsoft’s advertising subsidiary is the
target of a complaint from EU privacy advocates accusing it of “highly
intrusive data processing” as well as breaking several General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules.…
The headline news: there is now an inexpensive (but quite acceptably
produced) paperback of Introducing Category Theory. Amazon-only to
minimize cost, ISBN 978-1916906396: US $14.99, UK £10.99, DE €14.82, IT
€14.40, etc. I’m very sure this could be improved in all kinds of ways.
As I say at the end of the Preface, the current […]
Celebrate
the Heliophysics Big Year with Free Heliophysics and Math Webinars from
NASA HEAT
date: 2024-07-09, from: NASA breaking news
The Heliophysics Big Year (HBY) is a global celebration of the Sun’s
influence on Earth and the entire solar system. It began with the
Annular Solar Eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023, continued through the Total
Solar Eclipse on Apr. 8, 2024, and will conclude with Parker Solar
Probe’s closest approach to the Sun in December […]
Spectral
Energies developed a NASA SBIR/STTR-Funded Tech that Could Change the
Way We Fly
date: 2024-07-09, from: NASA breaking news
Editor Note: Article written by Nicholas Mercurio With $20 million in
commercial sales and $15 million in sales to government agencies,
minority-owned small business Spectral Energies, based in Beavercreek,
Ohio, has found a customer base for its pulse-burst laser systems. NASA
has played a significant role in developing the technology through the
Small Business Innovation […]
ePic is a single SD card combining both the official RISC OS Pi release plus a
huge bundle of
commercial applications (previously called NutPi) totalling almost £600,
had they each been bought individually.
Backscatter
brainwave could make IoT comms even more energy efficient
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
How does sub-0.6 mW sound?
Boffins in South Korea claim to have developed an energy-efficient
system for low-power Internet of Things (IoT) applications that uses
“backscattering” to harvest energy from a wireless signal for its
communications.…
@Miguel de
Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-07-09, from: Miguel de Icaza
Mastondon feed)
This video shows:
The new Xcode-inspired debugger pad - organizationally, I like it
more - Bits of Codea-inspired keyboard assistant - The old
text editor (shown here as a tool to assist the port) - The new
text editor - The game running side-by-side on a separate iOS Scene
(hopefully we can run in a dedicated monitor) - the new iOS
provided emulation controls that are mapped to regular controller input.
And as you can see, still a lot of polish needed before this can be
shipped
John and Craig welcome Aline Brosh McKenna to look at what writers
mean by a “voice,” and how it develops. Some screenwriters’ voice
develops long before their craft, leading people to label them as
“promising” even though the scripts themselves are a mess. Other writers
get all the technical stuff right from the start, but […] The post
How
screenwriters find their voice (Encore) first appeared on
John August.
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: RAND blog
At this week’s summit, NATO celebrates 75 years of the most effective
defensive alliance in modern history. The summit will have a complex
Russian agenda. The alliance is challenged to come up with new
approaches to deal with Moscow’s rogue behavior and an international
order that is becoming more complex and less stable.
On
Sudan and the Interminable Catastrophe: A Conversation with Bedour
Alagraa
date: 2024-07-09, from: Care
<p>Bedour Alagraa in conversation with J Khadijah Abdurahman about the history, present, and future of Sudan and its diaspora in the wake of the one year anniversary of the war.</p>
My availability has opened up for a handful of consulting engagements in
addition to my regular work as Senior Director of Technology at
ProPublica.
I’ve founded two startups (both
based on open-source technology communities that I also founded). I’ve
been a CTO, led product, and invested in early-stage startup ventures.
I’ve also taught venture and product design to teams that include
startups, top-tier educational institutions, and local newsrooms. My
products have been used by social movements and Fortune 500 companies.
I would love to help you to move faster and make stronger
technology decisions.
Here are some ways I might be helpful to you:
A Sounding Board
I can be your technology and product sounding board for your products
and how your product or engineering team is run. I offer regular
check-ins, or I can be available on an ad hoc, as-needed basis.
I’ll help you solve problems and coach you through getting to enduring
solutions and productive work cultures. In the process, you’ll avoid
common pitfalls, take advantage of a new but experienced set of eyes on
your problems, and have someone in your corner when you need.
Accelerated Technology Product Sprints
Do you need to quickly evaluate a product idea or a way to solve
problems for a customer you’ve identified? Do you need to identify that
customer or market?
I can lead you through a short design sprint, either remotely or in
person. At the end of it, you’ll have a stronger idea of your user and
customer, learned tools for quickly running experiments and making
progress, and identified and evaluated the core hypotheses that your
product rests upon.
You’ll iterate and get to market faster, increase your product’s
chance of success, and build practices in your team to help you move
faster long after we’ve finished working together.
Technical Evaluation and Advice
Are you wondering how a technology (perhaps AI or the fediverse) might
be used in your business? Do you have an idea in mind that needs to be
feasibility-tested?
I’ll learn about your product and business and report on how you can
leverage available technology with the time, team, and resources you
have.
You’ll more quickly understand what you can build, what’s
technically possible, and where the technology opportunities are for
your existing business.
Deck Review
Are you presenting a strategy to your board or managers? Are you a
startup going out to raise money?
I can give you actionable feedback to help you build your deck and tell
a more robust story that has a better chance of getting you to the
outcome you’re looking for.
You’ll tell a stronger story, make a deeper emotional impact on
your audience, and learn how to tell compelling stories in the
future.
Courses
Any of the above can be provided as workshops for your larger course.
They are available both in-person and remotely.
After last month’s Supreme Court ruling, a judge weighs whether to allow
lawsuits against Sackler family members. Plus, waiting on word from
Jerome Powell and the Fed, and what happens when an online DNA test
kicks up complicated history.
Federal
Reserve’s Powell says US making ‘modest’ progress on inflation
date: 2024-07-09, from: VOA News USA
Washington — The U.S. Federal Reserve is making “modest” progress in
its inflation fight, the head of the U.S. central bank told lawmakers
Tuesday, on the first of two days of testimony in Congress.
When prices surged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fed
responded by hiking interest rates to a two-decade high as it attempts
to cool down the U.S. economy and return inflation to its long-term
target of two percent.
Inflation has eased significantly since it peaked in 2022, but
progress stalled in the first quarter of this year, effectively putting
the Fed’s fight on pause.
The data in the second quarter has been more encouraging, prompting
some cautious optimism from some policymakers in recent weeks.
Speaking in Washington on Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told
lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee that the most recent readings
“have shown some modest further progress” since the first quarter of the
year.
“More good data would strengthen our confidence that inflation is
moving sustainably toward two percent,” he added, according to prepared
remarks.
The Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates again when it meets
to set interest rates later this month, but could begin cutting rates in
September.
Futures traders have assigned a probability of more than 75% that the
Fed will make its first rate cut by September.
HP
to discontinue online-only e-series LaserJet amid user gripes
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Printers were locked into HP+ cloud service, which is also getting the
chop
HP is discontinuing its e-series LaserJet printers due to customer
complaints, along with the HP+ and the “Instant Ink” toner subscription
services tied to the hardware.…
Evolve
Bank & Trust confirms LockBit stole 7.6 million people’s data
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Making cyberattack among the largest ever recorded in finance industry
Evolve Bank & Trust says the data of more than 7.6 million customers
was stolen during the LockBit break-in in late May, per a fresh filing
with Maine’s attorney general.…
From
Polar Peaks to Celestial Heights: Christy Hansen’s Unique Path to
Leading NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program
date: 2024-07-09, from: NASA breaking news
Christy Hansen’s journey with NASA spans more than two decades and is
marked by roles that have shaped her into a leader in space exploration.
Now serving on a six-month rotation as the deputy manager for NASA’s
CLDP (Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program) at Johnson Space
Center in Houston, she brings 25 years of […]
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has bought access to
netflow data. The tool covers more than 90 percent of the world’s
internet data and can trace activity through virtual private
networks.
Jonathan
Kraut | Misconceptions on the Nine Commandments
date: 2024-07-09, from: The Signal
The Louisiana Republican Legislature recently passed a bill, signed by
their governor, ordering a poster of the “Ten Commandments” to be placed
in every K-12 classroom in that state. If […]
In a revealing article from June 19, The Signal highlighted a concerning
statistic: nearly one-fifth of College of the Canyons employees feel
unwelcome at their institution. This story, titled “Survey: […]
Tesla
parental controls keep teenage lead feet in check
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Because trusting your kid with 300 horsepower should come with a curfew
If you owned a Tesla, would you let your kid drive it? The electric
vehicle marque seems to think you might with the addition of “Parental
Controls” in a July update.…
Dan
Walters | Highway Opposition Qualifies as Ridiculous
date: 2024-07-09, from: The Signal
Some things are just so ridiculous that they demand critical attention.
One of them is the opposition from environmental groups to widening
Interstate 80 between Sacramento and Davis. For years, […]
Transformation
chief leaves Asda amid Walmart divorce IT projects
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
After 28 years’ service, Mark Simpson departs ‘by mutual agreement’
The UK’s third-largest supermarket chain, Asda, has parted company with
its digital transformation chief amid delays in separating IT systems
from former owner Walmart, the US retail giant.…
After
latest homeless count, officials cheered progress. But for many unhoused
Latinos little has changed
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The LAist
The results of the recent homeless count showed fewer unhoused people
sleeping outdoors in L.A. But for unhoused Latinos, the region’s largest
unhoused population, finding solutions remains a challenge.
Military spending and aid for Ukraine are high on the agenda at this
week’s NATO summit; Americans added more than $11 billion to consumer
debt in May; and a practical look at newly-implemented guidelines from
the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
Current conditions: Some Greek islands are
resorting to desalinating sea water for tourists this summer as
reservoirs run dry • Tokyo residents have been warned to avoid physical
activity due to a risk of heatstroke • It will be 98 degrees Fahrenheit
today in Washington, D.C., where Biden is hosting a NATO summit.
THE TOP FIVE
Oil giant invests big in internal combustion engines
The world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco, recently invested €740
million (about $800 million) in taking a 10% stake in a company that
makes internal combustion engines (ICEs), the Financial Timesreported,
signalling that the oil giant believes these engines aren’t going
anywhere anytime soon. The investment in Horse Powertrain is based on a
calculation that “as the industry stops designing and developing its own
combustion engines, it will start buying them from third parties,” the
FT wrote. Aramco’s executive vice president, Yasser
Mufti, told the paper he thinks ICEs will see “significant improvements”
over the coming years that will make them more sustainable, but didn’t
specify what those improvements might be. ICEs, of course, run on fossil
fuels and spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Saudi Aramco last
year bought lubricant brand Valvoline, which will supply all Horse
engines with products. As the FT noted, “the venture’s
success will depend on whether other carmakers are willing to put their
trust in a company born out of their rivals.”
Weakened Beryl spawns tornadoes as it moves north
At least
seven
people are dead and
more
than 2 million remain without power in Texas after Hurricane Beryl
made landfall on the state’s Gulf Coast yesterday. Officials are
assessing the economic damage, but large parts of Houston are flooded,
with water levels
exceeding
10 inches. The streets are littered with branches and downed power
lines, and first responders have been dispatched to help stranded
residents. Temperatures are climbing in the area, posing even more risk
to people without power.
A
stranded vehicle on a flooded road in Houston.
Brandon
Bell/Getty Images
The storm system has been downgraded to a tropical depression but is
expected to
bring
heavy rain and tornado conditions to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri,
and parts of southern Illinois and Indiana as it tracks northeast this
week. Already more than 110 tornado warnings were issued overnight
across in eastern Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, which is “the most
tornado warnings issued in the U.S. in a single July day since records
began in 1986,”
according
to weather analyst Colin McCarthy.
NYC bridge temporarily closed because of extreme heat
The Third Avenue Bridge in New York City was
temporarily
closed yesterday after sweltering temperatures caused its steel to
expand. The 126-year-old bridge, which serves as an artery between the
Bronx and Manhattan, swings opened to accommodate water traffic in the
Harlem River. Temperatures reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit in the city
yesterday, and after the bridge opened, it wouldn’t close. Authorities
tried to cool the structure by spraying water on it. Eventually the
bridge reopened a few hours later. Yesterday was the hottest day of the
year so far in NYC, and the heat wave will last through the week.
House tees up votes on efficiency standards for household appliances
House Republicans are
expected
to vote today on two bills aimed at curbing the Department of
Energy’s authority to set efficiency standards for home appliances. H.R.
7637, known as the “Refrigerator Freedom Act,” and H.R. 7700, aka the
“Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act,” would “prohibit the
Secretary of Energy from prescribing or enforcing energy conservation
standards” that “are not cost-effective or technologically feasible.”
The DOE
finalized
efficiency standards for several appliances over the last few
months, aiming to improve their performance, cut greenhouse gas
emissions, and save consumers money. It estimated the standards will
save Americans $33 billion on utility bills over 30 years. Republican
lawmakers claim the new rules will increase the costs of appliances, but
others say the savings on utility bills would more than make up for any
short-term increase in sticker prices.
Most
of the energy consumed by homes and commercial buildings goes toward
powering appliances.
Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:
Colombia sees deforestation drop
Deforestation in Colombia dropped by 36% last year to a
23-year low,
according
to the nation’s environment ministry. The government credits its
program of paying farmers to conserve nature, as well as peace talks
with guerilla groups. But those peace talks have reached a stalemate,
and deforestation has increased in 2024. “It’s really good news … but we
definitely cannot say that the battle is won,” Environment Minister
Susana Muhamad
said.
THE KICKER
“Each push alert marks the distance we’re closing between the
previous range of normal activity and the future that scientists warned
us of.”
–Zoë
Schlanger writing in The Atlantic about how we’ll
watch the climate crisis unfold through emergency push alerts on our
phones.
Users
rage as Microsoft announces retirement of Office 365 connectors within
Teams
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Expletives fly as admins deal with recommendation to move to Power
Automate workflows
Microsoft has thrown some enterprises into a spin after confirming that,
with only a few months’ notice, Office 365 connectors within Teams will
be cut.…
Facilitating
Good Decision Making: Context, Scope, and Timeframe
date: 2024-07-09, from: Accidentally in Code
Someone asked me about my management philosophy recently, and after I
stopped panicking (I wrote a book, I should have a philosphy… how do you
summarize 400 pages and 2 years of your life in one sentence) I came up
with: “My job is to make it easier for people to make good decisions.”
What […]
From the BBC World Service: India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is in
Russia to “deepen ties” between the two countries on Mr. Modi’s first
trip to Russia since the beginning of its war Ukraine. China’s biggest
electric carmaker — and Tesla’s big rival — BYD has reached a deal to
build a $1 billion manufacturing plant in Turkey. And Sweden marks 50
years of paid parental leave for couples to share.
Houthi
rebels are operating their own GuardZoo spyware
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Fairly ‘low budget’, unsophisticated malware, say researchers, but it
can collect the same data as Pegasus
Interview When it comes to surveillance malware,
sophisticated spyware with complex capabilities tends to hog the
limelight – for example NSO Group’s Pegasus, which is sold to
established governments. But it’s actually less polished kit that you’ve
never heard of, like GuardZoo – developed and used by Houthi rebels in
Yemen – that dominates the space.…
Raspberry
Pi OS airs out some fresh options for the summer
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Why go outside in the sunshine when you could play with tiny computers
in a darkened room?
Perhaps hoping to mark independence from x86 PCs, there’s a new July 4th
release of the official Raspberry Pi OS, although it remains coy of
giving a version number.…
If Donald Trump moves back to Washington, D.C., in January 2025, he
won’t arrive alone. Though Trump’s first term was marked by
a
messy transition and bouts of
political
incompetence, Republican operatives have spent the past four
years
putting
together a plan to hit the ground running if or when he returns
— as well as a list of
friendly
names for plum positions in the would-be Trump administration.
Many additional Republicans have quietly (and, often,
not so quietly) spent the past few years auditioning
for these top roles, typically by signaling their willingness to
continue
dismantling
the regulatory and administrative states.
While
nearly
all positions in a Trump cabinet have at least some ability to
limit or eliminate climate progress, here are some names circulating for
the most influential departments.
The Department of Energy
The past is prologue when it comes to a future Trump administration,
making Dan Brouillette an easy guess to head of the
Department of Energy: His reappointment would mark a return to the post
he left during the presidential transition in 2021.
But Secretary of Energy is nothing if not a competitive position, and
Brouillette isn’t treating it like he’s a shoo-in, either. Since 2023,
he’s served as the president and CEO of the Edison Electric Institute, a
trade association for electric utilities that has taken
a
more tepid stance on climate policies during his tenure. He’s
also spent plenty of time going on TV and
speaking
to the press against Biden’s (since overturned)
pause
in approving new export facilities for liquified natural gas — an
industry
he
has history with but that falls well outside his purview EEI.
The effect is more a performance for Trump than it is any sort of
service for his organization’s members. Brouillette has also repeatedly
insisted
that the Trump administration won’t gut the Inflation Reduction Act, an
oddly blasé attitude about legislation that has significantly
benefited
the utilities EEI represents.
Bernard McNamee, the author of the Department of Energy
section of Project 2025, is another top choice for the DOE. One of the
“most
overtly political” people to ever be appointed to the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, in the words of E&E
News, McNamee has
said
that fossil fuels are “key to our prosperity” and that the renewable
push amounts to “tyranny.” His chapter of Project 2025 calls for — among
other things — closing the renewable energy offices at the DOE,
eliminating energy efficiency standards for appliances, and refocusing
the three National Labs run by DOE on “national security issues.”
If Trump doesn’t pick Doug Burgum for vice president,
there is a strong chance there could be a home for him at the DOE
instead. Many see the governor of North Dakota as a
frontrunner
for Energy Secretary, suspicions Burgum has reinforced by cozying up to
Trump as a political surrogate, even
warming
up crowds at the candidate’s political rallies. While Burgum
“at
times [could] seem environmentally conscious” during his
gubernatorial tenure, he’s recently shifted to more familiar Republican
talking points on the oil and gas industry and reportedly helped connect
Trump to would-be donors in the fossil fuel sectors, according to
reporting by The New York Times. He has also
informally advised the Trump campaign on energy policy.
There might also be a high-ranking position in the DOE for Texas oil and
fracking magnate Harold Hamm, who was
reportedly
a finalist for the position back in 2016. Hamm, a conservative
megadonor,
briefly
broke with Trump during the Republican primary but has since
returned to
fundraise
for his campaign. Trump prizes loyalty, however, which is why
Secretary Hamm might be more of a longshot; Hamm may return to being an
informal advisor for the administration instead.
The Department of the Interior
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem seems
pretty
solidly off the VP shortlist after making national headlines for
admitting in her memoir that she killed a puppy, but she may yet fill a
role in the administration that is less in the public spotlight.
Interior wouldn’t be so far-fetched: Noem played an active part in
slashing environmental protections in her state — something that
ought
to endear her to Trump — and she worked closely with Trump’s
Secretary of the Interior to explore returning controversial
firework
shows to Mount Rushmore. In South Dakota, Noem also
rolled
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources into the Department
of Agriculture and has been
actively
hostile to the build-out of renewable energy, going so far as to
refuse
to apply for IRA grant money — an action that signals her
uncompromising commitment to the party’s political message to anyone
watching.
If not Noem, it’s possible David Bernhardt could return
to the position he held under the first Trump administration. He’s used
his time out of national politics to promote
better
swamp management (that’s the metaphorical swamp, not literal
swamps, such as the critical
beachfront-adjacent
wetlands he limited protections for while in office) and
to
push Trump’s plan to reinstate Schedule F — which will make it
easier to fire employees that aren’t deemed loyal enough to the
administration — declaring that his own agency had been
“overwhelmingly
liberal” during his tenure. Bernhardt has adopted
skepticism
of career civil servants as something of a pet cause,
publishing a 2023 book called You Report to Me: Accountability
for the Failing Administrative State and
filing
an amicus brief to the Supreme Court earlier this year that
argued, “One would be naïve not to understand how policy drives the
‘science’ at an agency.”
Those familiar with Bernhardt’s thinking, though, see the former
secretary as angling for a more ambitious post in a future Trump
administration, such as director of the Office of Management and Budget.
An OMB appointment would potentially put Bernhardt on a collision course
with
Russ
Vought, another Schedule F proponent, which means that if the
former Interior secretary’s apparent angling for a new office doesn’t
pan out, he may end up back in a more familiar role.
Trump’s former ambassador to Portugal, George Glass,
has also been floated in the Interior conversation. An Oregon
businessman, Glass fits the bill as a Westerner — since 1949, just one
Interior secretary has not been a resident or native of a state west of
the Mississippi. He also sees eye-to-eye with Trump
as
a China hawk, and while he doesn’t have much of a climate
record, he has been a steady donor whose loyalty could be rewarded again
with a plum administrative position.
The Department of Agriculture
While the Department of Agriculture doesn’t have the same levers to pull
as Interior or Energy, the USDA nevertheless
oversees
one of the most
significant
sources of planet-warming emissions in the United States. While
the Biden administration’s USDA has explicitly pursued an “equitable and
climate-smart food and agriculture economy,” the Heritage Foundation
instead wants the agency to “play a limited role” that doesn’t “hinder
food production or otherwise undermine efforts to meet consumer demand.”
J. D. Vance has emerged as one candidate to get that
job done. The Hillbilly Elegy
author-turned-Ohio-senator previously invested in an
agriculture
startup and has taken a particular interest in
the
farm bill, while at the same time boasts a
0%
lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters. Vance’s
name has also been
in
the hat for VP, and he’s certainly
done
his best to remain in Trump’s good graces, which could land him
a secretary post if he doesn’t ultimately make the cut as a running
mate.
There might be a better case, though, that this department ends up in
the hands of Sid Miller. Currently serving as the Texas
Agriculture Commissioner, Miller was
reportedly
on the shortlist for the position back in 2016. He has blamed
weather-related power outages in his state on renewable intermittency,
at one time
writing,
“to heck with green energy or climate change.” Miller is something of a
firebrand,
however, alienating even some within his own party, and he could
struggle to garner the bipartisan support that will likely be necessary
to win confirmation.
The Environmental Protection Agency
Though Trump initially avoided answering a question about the climate
during the first presidential debate, he had
talking
points ready thanks to Andrew Wheeler, his
former head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Trump seemingly
referred
to Wheeler as one of “my top environmental people,” suggesting that in
addition to being an informal adviser to the campaign, Wheeler and his
work at the EPA remain in high regard with Trump himself. While in the
previous administration, Wheeler notably
helped
to roll back over 100 clean air, water, and environmental
regulations.
Wheeler himself
has
been cagey about whether he’s auditioning for another Trump
position, though — this spring, he joined the Holland & Hart law
firm as a partner focused on federal affairs. If Wheeler decides to stay
in the private sector, Trump might turn instead to Mandy
Gunasekara, one of the
primary
architects of the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on
climate change and the author of the especially concerning Project 2025
chapter on the EPA.
Gunasekara has bolstered the case for herself by describing how she
would curtail the EPA’s powers, eliminate its enforcement office, and
“update the 2009 endangerment finding” that greenhouse gases
are
a threat to public health and the environment — science that has
been used as the backbone for the EPA’s climate change regulations for
years. Gunasekara has also
said
that while she believes in human-caused climate change, planetary
warming is “overstated” and
erroneously
claimed that scientific data shows “a mild and manageable climate change
in the future.” That rhetoric puts her right
in
sync with her potential future boss.
<p>I know, I know. You’re tired of hearing me ranting about The Browser Company and their Arc “browser”. I’m also tired of reading about them but I keep stumbling on news about this silly company and I can’t help myself from yelling at the screen. They aired a commercial on TV the other day, clearly a reasonable thing to do when you have a product with no revenues and no business model. And not happy with that, they released a YouTube video with the CEO explaining the ideas “hidden” in the commercial and that tells you how good at marketing these people are. If you need to release an almost 5-minute video to explain the meaning of a stupid 1-minute ad you probably need a better marketing department.</p>
Anyway, leaving aside the pointlessness of this whole thing what
prompted me to write this post were some of the things the CEO said in
the video explainer which are so profoundly stupid that I find them
offensive. If you are an ARC user you should be offended too because he
must think you’re all a bunch of idiots.
He said in the video that there were three questions he wanted to ask:
What is this internet we want to live within?
What if the web were truly made for you?
What are we here for?
What is this internet we want to live within? What do we want to create
for ourselves?
Just to make it clear, what this company is allegedly making is a
browser. It’s in their fucking name: The Browser Company. They’re not
making a new internet. They’re not creating anything. As I wrote before,
they’re not even making an actual browser like the awesome people at
Ladybird. They’re building a wrapper
around Chrome. This makes the CEO rant about browser monoculture even
more hilarious since by doing that they’re part of the problem.
In the video, he tries to argue that Silicon Valley companies are driven
by efficiency, you type something in Google and he gives you an answer
but there are times when you don’t want an answer, you want to get
access to the best set of results because you’re after experiences and
serendipity and a bunch of other complete nonsense. He asked, “Do we
even believe in a single answer?“. The answer is no Josh. No, we don’t.
This is why all search engines have a SERP. No search engine gives you
one answer.
A lot of other times something just seems really interesting to you and
you want to go wide and deep and be surprised there are a lot of other
things we might want to optimise for when we’re designing this new
internet
Designing this new internet? You’re not designing a new internet. You’re
using some algorithm to decide for me which 6 or 8 results I should be
seeing. In doing that you’re worse than Google.
The second thing is what would it look like if truly the web was made
for you?
I’m gonna ask you a question Josh: how can you make a web for me without
profiling me? I’ll wait for an answer the same way I’m still waiting to
hear back from your support team on that ticket I opened months ago
where I was asking how to prevent your stupid ARC Search from accessing
my sites.
You asked “What does the personal web, the personal internet look like”
and there are various ways to tackle this question but it certainly
doesn’t look like a generated ARC Search result page that is the same
for everyone. You said the web doesn’t feel personal because we all see
the same stuff and yet you showed a screenshot of your stupid ARC Search
pulling in results from Reddit and Trip Advisor. Again, if you’re
reading this and you’re an ARC user, they must think you’re a complete
idiot to believe all this stuff.
As for the final question, what are we here for and why am I looking at
this video, well Josh, I work in tech. I code websites, I care about the
web. Especially the independent, personal one. The one you’re ranting
about but probably don’t care about at all. I also have to care about
your stupid browser because even though it’s Chrome sometimes it has
bugs that aren’t present on Chrome and so I have to test on it. I’d love
to not care about your browser and your stupid ARC Search but I have to
because this is the world I live in. My email is public if you want to
get in touch. You probably won’t because why would you, you have nothing
to gain from a private exchange after all.
<hr>
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Eldorado
ransomware-as-a-service gang targets Linux, Windows systems
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
US orgs bear the brunt of attacks by probably-Russian crew
A ransomware-as-a-service operation dubbed “Eldorado” that encrypts
files on both Linux and Windows machines has infected at least 16
organizations – primarily in the US – as of June.…
Founder
of Indian ride-share biz Ola calls for 70-hour work week
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
‘A generation will have to do penance’ says Bhavish Aggarwal
Indian tech entrepreneur Bhavish Aggarwal – founder of Ola Cabs, Ole
Electric and AI unicorn Ola Krutrim – doubled down on support for
70-hour work weeks during an interview posted last Sunday.…
Victim
phones in gunshot near Canyon Country liquor store
date: 2024-07-09, from: The Signal
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies are investigating a
report of a gunshot victim who called in his own injury, according to
station officials. “The initial call was (8:41 p.m.),” […]
@Miguel de
Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-07-09, from: Miguel de Icaza
Mastondon feed)
Also, heavily borrowing the style from FinalCut Pro for their inspector.
My original attempt on the left, the one where I start to use fonts,
spacing and bubbles from FinalCutPro styled on the right - still a work
in progress, but it already feels better:
@Miguel de
Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-07-09, from: Miguel de Icaza
Mastondon feed)
I loved the FinalCut Pro UI elements for entering rotation data. One
neat feature is that in addition to the swipe to choose an angle, if you
long-press the dial goes into high-precision input mode.
China’s
APT40 gang is ready to attack vulns within hours or days of public
release
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Lax patching and vulnerable small biz kit make life easy for Beijing’s
secret-stealers
Law enforcement agencies from eight nations, led by Australia, have
issued an advisory that details the tradecraft used by China-aligned
threat actor APT40 – aka Kryptonite Panda, GINGHAM TYPHOON, Leviathan
and Bronze Mohawk – and found it prioritizes developing exploits for
newly found vulnerabilities and can target them within hours.…
NATO
alliance meets under cloud over President Biden’s future
date: 2024-07-09, from: VOA News USA
President Joe Biden welcomes members of the newly enlarged NATO
alliance this week for a summit aimed at planning for Ukraine’s future
defense — and, some observers say, “Trump-proofing” it if Biden loses
the November poll amid growing doubts over his future. VOA White House
correspondent Anita Powell reports from the White House.
Playoffs and the Western Conference title were well in hand, but that
didn’t deter the Blue Heat from bringing the intensity in Sunday’s home
win over Los Angeles Soccer Club. […]
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials are hoping some
attention on a man who’s been victimizing a shop owner for months will
help them identify and arrest the suspect who’s […]
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials arrested a man Sunday
night after a brief pursuit in Newhall, officials said Monday. Deputies
observed a man driving his car recklessly, weaving in […]
Castaic
school district’s stance on landfill to be discussed
date: 2024-07-09, from: The Signal
The Castaic Union School District on Thursday could officially take a
stance against the Chiquita Canyon Landfill after more than a year of
residents complaining about the odors emanating from […]
Academic scholarships, big plays and bragging rights were all up for
grabs on Saturday at the fourth annual Tyler Skaggs Foundation All-Star
baseball game. Eight local stars took the field […]
Van Hook’s
evaluation at COC to span a fourth meeting
date: 2024-07-09, from: The Signal
Another Santa Clarita Community College District board of trustees
meeting will begin with a closed session regarding the board’s
evaluation of Chancellor Dianne Van Hook’s performance. The board,
which oversees […]
China’s
Moore Threads adds support for 10K GPU clusters
date: 2024-07-09, updated: 2024-07-09, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Chinese slinger’s kit still no match for Nvidia’s sanction-evading cards
Chinese GPU vendor Moore Threads says its datacenter-focused AI systems
can now support clusters of up to 10,000 accelerators – a tenfold
increase from tech it offered last year.…
American
mountaineer found mummified in Peru 22 years after vanishing
date: 2024-07-09, from: VOA News USA
LIMA, Peru — The preserved body of an American mountaineer — who
disappeared 22 years ago while scaling a snowy peak in Peru — has been
found after being exposed by climate change-induced ice melt, police
said Monday.
William Stampfl was reported missing in June 2002, aged 59, when an
avalanche buried his climbing party on the mountain Huascaran, which
stands more than 6,700 meters (22,000 feet) high. Search and rescue
efforts were fruitless.
Peruvian police said his remains were finally exposed by ice melt on
the Cordillera Blanca range of the Andes.
Stampfl’s body, as well as his clothes, harness and boots had been
well-preserved by the cold, according to images distributed by the
police.
His passport was found among his possessions in good condition,
allowing police to identify the body.
The mountains of northeastern Peru, home to snowy peaks such as
Huascaran and Cashan, are a favorite with mountaineers from around the
world.
In May, the body of an Israeli hiker was found there nearly a month
after he disappeared.
And last month, an experienced Italian mountaineer was found dead
after he fell while trying to scale another Andean peak.
Searing
heat grips parts of US, causes deaths in the West
date: 2024-07-09, from: VOA News USA
death valley, california — A searing heat wave gripped large parts of
the United States on Monday, with record daily high temperatures in
Oregon suspected to have caused four deaths in the Portland area
following a motorcyclist’s death in dangerous heat over the weekend in
Death Valley, California.
More than 146 million people around the U.S. were under heat alerts
Monday, especially in the Western states. California, Nevada, Arizona,
Oregon, Washington and Idaho on Monday were under an excessive heat
warning, the National Weather Service’s highest alert, while parts of
the East Coast as well as Alabama and Mississippi were under heat
advisories.
The early U.S. heat wave came as the global temperature in June
reached record warmth for the 13th straight month and marked the 12th
straight month that the world was 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees
Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, the European climate
service Copernicus said.
Dozens of locations in the West and Pacific Northwest tied or broke
previous heat records over the weekend and are expected to keep doing so
into the week.
In Oregon’s Multnomah County, home to Portland, the medical examiner
is investigating four suspected heat-related deaths recorded Friday,
Saturday and Sunday, officials said. Three of the deaths involved county
residents who were 64, 75 and 84 years old, county officials said in an
email. Heat also was suspected in the death of a 33-year-old man
transported to a Portland hospital from outside the county.
Portland broke daily record temperatures Friday, Saturday and Sunday
and was on track to do so again on Monday with a forecast high of 102
degrees Fahrenheit (38.9 Celsius), National Weather Service
meteorologist Hannah Chandler-Cooley said. High temperatures were
expected in Portland through Tuesday evening.
“We are looking at the potential for breaking more records,” she
said.
The temperatures aren’t expected to reach as high as they did during
a similar heat wave in the Pacific Northwest in 2021, which killed an
estimated 600 people across Oregon, Washington and western Canada. But
the duration could be problematic because many homes in the region lack
air conditioning. Round-the-clock hot weather keeps people from cooling
off sufficiently at night, and the issue is compounded in urban areas
where concrete and pavement store heat.
Heat illness and injury are cumulative and can build over the course
of a day or days, officials warn. In San Jose, California, a homeless
man died last week from apparent heat-related causes, Mayor Matt Mahan
reported on the social platform X, calling it “an avoidable tragedy.”
San Jose police said the man’s body had no obvious signs of foul
play.
In eastern California’s sizzling desert, a high temperature of 128 F
(53.3 C) was recorded Saturday and Sunday at Death Valley National Park,
where a visitor, who was not identified, died Saturday from heat
exposure. Another person was hospitalized, officials said.
They were among six motorcyclists riding through the Badwater Basin
area in scorching weather, the park said in a statement. The other four
were treated at the scene. Emergency medical helicopters were unable to
respond because the aircraft cannot generally fly safely over 120 F
(48.8 C), officials said.
More extreme highs are in the near-term forecast, with a high of
around 127 F (52.7 C) expected in Death Valley on Monday, and possibly
130 F (54.4 C) around midweek.
The largest national park outside Alaska, Death Valley is considered
one of the most extreme environments in the world and is among the
hottest during the summer. The hottest temperature ever officially
recorded on Earth was 134 F (56.67 C) in July 1913 in Death Valley,
though some experts dispute that measurement and say the real record was
130 F (54.4 C), recorded there in July 2021.
“While this is a very exciting time to experience potential
world-record-setting temperatures in Death Valley, we encourage visitors
to choose their activities carefully, avoiding prolonged periods of time
outside an air-conditioned vehicle or building when temperatures are
this high,” park Superintendent Mike Reynolds said.
Across the desert in Nevada, Las Vegas set a record high of 120 F
(48.8 C) Sunday and was forecast to hit a record high of 115 F (46.1 C)
Monday. The National Weather Service forecast a high of 117 F (47.2 C)
in Phoenix.
People flocked Monday to the beaches around Lake Tahoe, especially
Sand Harbor State Park, where the record high of 92 (33.3) set Sunday
smashed the old record of 88 (31.1 ) set in 2014. For the fifth
consecutive day, Sand Harbor closed its gates within 90 minutes of
opening at 8 a.m. because it had reached capacity.
“It’s definitely hotter than we are used to,” Nevada State Parks
spokesperson Tyler Kerver said.
Last year, The Master’s University alum Emily Curtis (’09) published
a book titled “Hope in the Mourning: A Hope-Filled Guide Through Grief,”
which contains both first-hand testimonies of suffering and biblical
wisdom for navigating such trials
Ocean
Water Warning Continues for L.A. County Beaches
date: 2024-07-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health cautions residents
who are planning to visit the following Los Angeles County beaches to
avoid swimming, surfing and playing in ocean waters due to bacterial
levels exceeding health standards when last tested
US
not expecting policy change from Iran under new president
date: 2024-07-09, from: VOA News USA
washington — The United States said Monday that it did not expect
policy changes from Iran after voters elected reformist candidate Masoud
Pezeshkian, and downplayed chances to resume dialogue.
“We have no expectation that this election will lead to a fundamental
change in Iran’s direction or its policies,” State Department
spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
Miller said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was expected to
call the shots in Iran, an adversary of the United States since the 1979
Islamic revolution.
“Obviously, if the new president had the authority to make steps to
curtail Iran’s nuclear program, to stop funding terrorism, to stop
destabilizing activities in the region, those would be steps that we
would welcome,” Miller said.
“But needless to say, we don’t have any expectation that that’s
what’s likely to ensue.”
Asked if the United States was at least willing to reopen diplomacy
with Iran after Pezeshkian’s election, Miller said: “We have always said
that diplomacy is the most effective way to achieve an effective,
sustainable solution with regard to Iran’s nuclear program.”
But at the White House, National Security Council spokesperson John
Kirby, asked if the United States was ready to resume nuclear talks with
Iran, said emphatically, “No.”
“We’ll see what this guy wants to get done, but we are not expecting
any changes in Iranian behavior,” Kirby said.
President Joe Biden took office in 2021 with hopes of returning to a
2015 nuclear deal with Iran that was negotiated under former President
Barack Obama and ended by his successor, Donald Trump, who imposed
sweeping sanctions on Iran.
But talks, negotiated through the European Union, broke down in part
over a dispute about the extent to which the United States would remove
sanctions on Iran.
Relations have deteriorated further since the October 7 attack on
U.S. ally Israel by Hamas, which receives support from Iran.
The
late Sen. Inhofe during his 2015 snowball
stunt.
Courtesy
of EV-Miata.com
Courtesy
of ZeroLabs.
A
stranded vehicle on a flooded road in Houston.
Brandon
Bell/Getty Images
