Plus, it’s game over for noncompetes, farmers quit spraying around,
people get a vote on progressive measures, and climate change measures
score big bucks.
Blinken
pays respects in Vietnam after death of Communist Party leader
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
HANOI, Vietnam — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited
Vietnam on Saturday to pay his respects following the death of Communist
Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, underlining warmer ties between the
countries a half-century since they fought a brutal war.
Blinken arrived in Hanoi late Saturday after attending a regional
summit in Laos and visited the family home of Trong, a Marxist-Leninist
ideologue who as party chief was Vietnam’s most powerful figure for 13
years and who died last week at 80.
Trong’s “bamboo diplomacy” trod a delicate balancing act between
rival superpowers the United States and Communist neighbor China,
helping to elevate Vietnam’s ties with both of its two biggest trade
partners.
Blinken greeted Trong’s family before lighting an incense stick in
front of a shrine displaying the general secretary’s photo. He then
stood for a moment with his hands clasped in a show of respect.
He wrote a page-long message in a condolence book and, during
conversations with Trong’s family, conveyed the condolences of President
Joe Biden.
Trong’s two-day state funeral, which ended Friday, drew more than
250,000 Vietnamese mourners in ceremonies in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and
his home in Dong Anh on the outskirts of the capital, state media
reported.
Blinken’s brief visit comes at a sensitive time for U.S.-Vietnam
relations, which have improved of late given shared concerns about
China’s growing regional clout and interest from U.S. investors in a
country with an economy that grew an average 5.8% annually during
Trong’s time in office.
During a visit by Biden to Hanoi last year, the U.S. and Vietnam
upgraded ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, and U.S.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has promoted Vietnam as a
“friend-shoring” destination to shift U.S. supply chains away from
China.
On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department is set to announce whether to
upgrade Vietnam to market economy status, something Hanoi has long
sought.
The upgrade is opposed by U.S. steelmakers, Gulf Coast shrimpers,
honey farmers and members of the U.S. Congress representing them, but
backed by retailers and some other business groups.
After visiting Trong’s home, Blinken also met Vietnam’s president, To
Lam, the former internal security agency chief who has assumed Trong’s
duties, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Blinken told Lam Trong was a “visionary leader” who built a lasting
bridge between the two countries and showed the world they could move
forward despite their difficult past.
In his meeting with the prime minister, Blinken said one of the
highlights of the Biden administration was its elevation of its
strategic ties with Hanoi.
Mailbag:
Metrics for Pac-12 expansion candidates, the CFP’s future, USC’s QB
matchups, ASU’s expenditures, Foster’s remarks and more
date: 2024-07-27, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Hotline mailbag publishes weekly. Send questions to
pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com and include ‘mailbag’ in the subject
line. Or hit me on Twitter/X: @WilnerHotline Please note: Some
questions have been edited for clarity and brevity. Should the Pac-12
use athletic department budgets as a metric for the reverse merger with
the Mountain West? Were budgets or media […]
Southeast
Asia’s top diplomats condemn Myanmar violence
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
VIENTIANE, Laos — Southeast Asia’s top diplomats on Saturday
condemned violence in Myanmar’s ongoing civil war and urged for
“practical” means to defuse rising tensions in the South China Sea
during the last of the three-day regional talks with allies that
included the United States, Russia and China.
Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith of Laos, which currently chairs
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, hailed dialogue
partners for “frank, candid and constructive exchanges” on key issues
revolving around regional security.
The weekend talks in the Laotian capital were dominated by the
increasingly violent and destabilizing civil war in ASEAN-member Myanmar
as well as maritime disputes of some of the bloc members with China,
which have led to direct confrontations that many worry could lead to
broader conflict.
In a joint statement issued at the end of the talks, the bloc said
there’s an urgent need to address the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar and
called for “all relevant parties in Myanmar to ensure the safe and
transparent delivery of humanitarian assistance, to the people in
Myanmar without discrimination.”
“We strongly condemned the continued acts of violence against
civilians and public facilities and called for immediate cessation, and
urged all parties involved to take concrete action to immediately halt
indiscriminate violence,” it said.
The army in Myanmar ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi
in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that
sought a return to democratic rule, leading to increasing violence and a
humanitarian crisis.
Thailand, which shares long borders with Myanmar, said it was given
ASEAN backing to play a wider role there, including in providing
humanitarian assistance, in which it’s already heavily involved. It also
said more peace talks have been proposed to include additional
stakeholders, especially Myanmar’s neighbors Thailand, China and
India.
More than 5,400 people have been killed in the fighting in Myanmar
and the military government has arrested more than 27,000 since the
coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
There are now more than 3 million displaced people in the country, with
the numbers growing daily as fighting intensifies between the military
and Myanmar’s multiple ethnic militias as well as the so-called people’s
defense forces of military opponents.
ASEAN has been pushing a “five-point consensus” for peace, but the
military leadership in Myanmar has so far ignored the plan, raising
questions about the bloc’s efficiency and credibility. The peace plan
calls for the immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar, a dialogue
among all concerned parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy,
provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels, and a visit to
Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all concerned parties.
South China Sea
The meetings also served to highlight rivalries in the region as the
U.S. and China look to expand their influence there. U.S. Secretary of
State Antony Blinken met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Vientiane
on Saturday after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held direct
talks with Wang on Thursday. Washington’s two biggest rivals, Moscow and
Beijing, have grown closer over the past two years, prompting deep
concerns about their combined global influence.
Regarding tensions in the South China Sea, ASEAN said it maintains
its position on the freedom of navigation over the sea and urged a full
implementation of a South China Sea code of conduct, which the bloc has
been working on with China for some time.
ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei have
conflicts with China over its claim of sovereignty over virtually all of
the South China Sea, one of the world’s most crucial waterways for
shipping. Indonesia has also expressed concern about what it sees as
Beijing’s encroachment on its exclusive economic zone.
ASEAN foreign ministers also welcomed “practical measures that could
reduce tensions and the risk of accidents, misunderstandings, and
miscalculation,” in an apparent reference to a rare deal between the
Philippines and China that aims to end their confrontations, establish a
mutually acceptable arrangement for the disputed area without conceding
each other’s territorial claims.
Prior to the deal, tensions between the Philippines and China
escalated for months, with China’s coast guard and other forces using
powerful water cannons and dangerous blocking maneuvers to prevent food
and other supplies from reaching Filipino navy personnel.
On Saturday, the Philippines said it was able to make a supply trip
to the disputed area without having to confront Beijing’s forces, the
first such trip since the deal was reached a week ago. Blinken applauded
it as a success in his opening remarks at the meeting with ASEAN foreign
ministers, while calling China’s past actions against the Philippines —
a U.S. treaty partner — “escalatory and unlawful.”
The United States and its allies have regularly conducted military
exercises and patrols in the area to assert their “free and open
Indo-Pacific” policy — including the right to navigate in international
waters — which has drawn criticism from China.
Wang said in his meeting with Philippines Secretary of Foreign
Affairs Enrique Manalo on Friday that the deployment of a U.S.
intermediate-range missile system in the Philippines would create
regional tension and trigger an arms race, according to a statement from
the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Harris
freshens economic message as Trump goes after her on inflation
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — All of the sudden it’s Kamala Harris ’ economy — a major
opportunity as well as a possible risk for the likely Democratic
presidential nominee.
Shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden left the race a week ago,
Harris began to craft her own narrative around the economy by putting an
emphasis on ending child poverty, promoting labor unions, reducing the
costs of health and childcare and protecting “dignity” in
retirement.
Not once in speeches in Wisconsin, Indiana or Texas did she mention
the word “inflation” — the overwhelming economic challenge that has
dogged Biden’s administration and forced him in remarks to consistently
acknowledge voters’ pain as they cope with higher grocery, gasoline,
housing and auto expenses.
Harris is putting a bigger priority on what she says could be
ahead.
“In our vision of the future, we see a place where every person has
the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead — a future where no
child has to grow up in poverty, where every senior can retire with
dignity and where every worker has the freedom to join a union,” Harris
told the American Federation of Teachers on Thursday.
But Republicans have moved quickly to try to blame Harris for the
inflation that until recently they pinned on Biden. They are emphasizing
the cumulative impact of high prices under the Democratic
administration.
Labor Department data show that consumer prices are up 19.2% since
Biden took office, while average hourly earnings have risen 16.9%.
GOP leaders are openly saying Harris contributed to the inflation
without specifying how she managed to do so other than by being vice
president.
“Vice President Harris owns this administration’s record,” said
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. “Her
fingerprints are all over the past four years of failure.”
Past and current officials who worked with Harris said in interviews
that there is an expectation that criticism on inflation will not stick
to her because for many voters she represents a fresh voice after nearly
eight years with either Republican Donald Trump or Biden in the Oval
Office.
Now it’s time for Harris to spell out her own policy positions on
economic matters.
Some of those officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because
they were not authorized to publicly discuss political matters, said
Harris is likely to stay in line with Biden’s 2025 budget proposal and
its plan to increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from the 21% set by
Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul.
Her emergence as the Democratic nominee has overlapped with positive
economic news.
The Commerce Department said Thursday that the economy grew at an
annual pace of 2.8% in the second quarter. On Friday, it reported that
the personal consumption expenditures measure of inflation eased to an
annual 2.5%, with financial markets now expecting a Federal Reserve
interest rate cut in September.
Those who have known Harris for years said her work as a prosecutor
in California caused a sense of fairness to be at the core of her
economic policy ideas.
“She’s a capitalist at heart — she wants businesses to do well,” said
Yasmin Nelson, a former senior adviser to Harris. “But she recognizes
that the scales have been tipped toward them during the Trump
administration. In her view, she wants to even the playing field.”
Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, are focused on
portraying Harris as more liberal than Biden, suggesting that the former
California senator would further restrict the use of fossil fuels in
favor of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources.
Trump, at a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, called Harris “the
most incompetent and far left vice president in American history.”
Vance went after her policies in a Friday interview on Megyn Kelly’s
SiriusXM program.
“We cannot let people who are going to destroy the American
manufacturing and energy economy take over the reins of power,” Vance
said. “It’s going to be a lot worse when you get somebody who’s even
more liberal than Biden in there.”
The Trump campaign has quickly revived Harris’ statements from her
short-lived run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. She
said on CNN at the time that she favored banning plastic straws,
offshore oil drilling and the use of fracking for oil and natural gas, a
controversial stance in the swing state of Pennsylvania.
Republican lawmakers also say that Harris would raise taxes, which is
what Biden’s 2025 budget plan would do for only wealthier households and
corporations.
The Harris campaign said that she does not support a fracking ban.
During the 2020 vice presidential debate, she stressed multiple times
that Biden would not end fracking.
The Energy Information Administration shows that natural gas and oil
production have increased to record levels during Biden’s presidency
after a pandemic driven dip. But the Biden administration’s policies are
more restrictive than what the GOP wants.
The bigger risk for Harris might be how the persistence of inflation
shapes voters’ views of the economy. Many economic models used by
financial firms to analyze the election are based on the incumbent’s
party, not the candidate herself in this case.
The consultancy Oxford Economics said in an analysis Monday that the
odds favored Trump. The forecast is based on models that use economic
data. It does not necessarily account for social issues such as abortion
and gun control that Democrats say will help them in the election.
The analysis stressed there is a high degree of uncertainty and noted
that a lot could happen in the months ahead, although it is fairly
straightforward in concluding that inflation is still a drag for the
vice president.
“I doubt that Harris will significantly change how swing voters think
of the economy,” said Bernard Yaros, an economist at Oxford Economics.
“She still carries that same baggage of presiding over the high
inflation of 2021 and 2022. Like Biden, her approval took a hit during
that inflation surge.”
Trump
will return to Minnesota to try to swing blue state
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
ST. CLOUD, Minnesota — Donald Trump is taking his campaign back to
Minnesota, a state that has favored Democrats but that the former
president thinks could be in his reach this year.
Trump is set to hold a rally Saturday night in St. Cloud, Minnesota,
this time bringing along his running mate, JD Vance, and the expectation
Trump will face Vice President Kamala Harris in November instead of
President Joe Biden. He plans to speak at a bitcoin conference in
Nashville, Tennessee, earlier in the day.
In May, Trump headlined a GOP fundraiser in St. Paul, where he
boasted he could win the state and made explicit appeals to the iron
mining range in northeast Minnesota, where he hopes a heavy population
of blue-collar and union workers will shift to Republicans after years
of being solidly Democratic.
That’s also a group of potential voters Trump’s campaign has seen
Vance, an Ohio senator, as being particularly helpful in trying to
reach, with his own roots in a Midwestern Rust Belt city.
Appeal to Midwesterners and union workers is something that has also
helped Minnesota Governor Tim Walz land on the list of about a dozen
Democrats who are being vetted to potentially be Harris’ running
mate.
Minnesota is a state where Trump in 2016 was 1.5 percentage points
shy of defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton. But four years later, Joe
Biden expanded the Democratic win, defeating Trump by more than 7
percentage points.
But the Republican former president has been bullish on the
state.
In a memo last month to the campaign and the Republican National
Committee, Trump’s political director, James Blair, called Minnesota a
battleground where Trump compared favorably to Biden, their opponent at
the time, and said the campaign was hiring staff there and in the
process of opening eight offices in the state.
The campaign didn’t clarify Friday whether those eight offices were
open.
Earlier this month, Republican congressional candidate Tayler Rahm
dropped out of his primary race and began serving as a senior adviser to
Trump’s campaign in the state.
“The Biden/Harris Administration has been so disastrous, and
Democrats are in such disarray, that not only is President Trump leading
in every traditional battleground state, but longtime blue states such
as Minnesota, Virginia and New Jersey are in play,” Karoline Leavitt,
the national press secretary for Trump’s campaign, said in a
statement.
Lexi Byler, the Harris campaign’s communications director in
Minnesota, said Trump and Vance are “wildly out of step with
Minnesotans’ values, and the state is not going to be won by a
Republican presidential candidate this year.
“Democrats are fired up and taking nothing for granted, with a
powerful, well-organized, coordinated campaign and thousands of
volunteers ready to elect Kamala Harris to continue fighting for them,”
she said in a statement.
While Trump is set to give the keynote address at the bitcoin
conference, he was not always a fan of cryptocurrencies, writing on
social media in 2019 that their “value is highly volatile and based on
thin air.”
But he has embraced the digital currency in recent years. In May, his
campaign began accepting donations in cryptocurrency.
Top
US Olympic official reassures sports they are welcome in US
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
PARIS — U.S. Olympic and Paralympic chief Gene Sykes reassured
worried sports officials that they need not fear being investigated by
American law enforcement when in the United States but conceded there
was nothing he could do if they were.
The influential Association of Summer Olympic International
Federations, or ASOIF, expressed their concerns at bringing events to
the United States after World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki
was subpoenaed by the U.S. government to testify in an investigation
into how 23 Chinese swimmers escaped punishment after testing positive
and allowed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.
A U.S. House of Representatives committee in May called on the
Department of Justice to launch inquiries ahead of this year’s Paris
Olympics, which got underway Friday.
“They [federations] have asked questions, and I’ve also provided
reassurance,” Sykes told Reuters. “We’ll have many events going forward,
and I expect those events to go well, and I expect people to travel to
the United States without incident.
“I can’t control anything that the FBI does, but honestly, it’s a
small issue … relative to the magnitude of people who are going to come
to the U.S. for events that are important to them, and the reassurance
comes from the evidence of how many people actually enjoy the
hospitality of the U.S.”
It may be a small issue for Sykes, but for ASOIF members it has
become a major concern. Images of members of soccer’s world governing
body FIFA being arrested on U.S. corruption charges as they exited a
Zurich hotel in 2015 have not been forgotten and is not a scene the
ASOIF or the International Olympic Committee would like to see repeated
with their members.
With the U.S. preparing to host the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles,
several test events are being planned for the Olympic venues.
ASOIF said in a statement that U.S. investigations may lead
federations to consider the risks of allocating future competitions over
doubts about the safety of athletes and officials.
ASOIF concerns center around the Rodchenkov Act legislation.
The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act passed in 2020 is named after Grigory
Rodchenkov, who led Russia’s state doping program before turning
whistleblower. The act allows criminal charges to be brought against
those found to have committed anti-doping rule violations.
The legislation extends U.S. law enforcement jurisdiction to any
international sporting competitions that involve American athletes or
have financial connections to the United States.
“The Rodchenkov Act was passed over four years ago, we’ve had
literally hundreds of international sporting events since then, with
athletes who have come to the United States and team officials and
others without incident,” said Sykes, who was elected an International
Olympic Committee member on Wednesday.
“We want to reassure people who come to the United States that they
will be treated with respect, and they’ll be welcome,” he said. “I think
we have a very, very good record.”
Blinken
chides China’s ‘escalating actions’ at sea, around Taiwan
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
VIENTIANE, LAOS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized
Beijing’s “escalating and unlawful actions” in the South China Sea at a
summit on Saturday, where his Russian counterpart said Washington has
stoked anxiety in its plan for a nuclear deterrence with ally Seoul for
the Korean peninsula.
Blinken singled out China over its coast guard’s hostile actions
against U.S. defense treaty ally the Philippines in the South China Sea,
but he also lauded the two countries for their diplomacy after Manila
completed a resupply mission earlier on Saturday to troops at a disputed
shoal, unimpeded by China.
Blinken was attending the security-focused ASEAN Regional Forum on
Saturday alongside diplomats of major powers that included Russia,
India, China, Australia, Japan and the European Union, which included
discussions on the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, North Korea’s nuclear
ambitions and tension in the South China Sea.
The Philippines’ small troop presence on a grounded former U.S. navy
ship at the Second Thomas Shoal has for years angered China, which has
clashed repeatedly with the Philippines over its resupply missions,
causing regional concern about an escalation that could potentially lead
to U.S. intervention.
The two sides this week reached an arrangement over how to conduct
those missions.
“We are pleased to take note of the successful resupply today of the
Second Thomas Shoal,” Blinken told foreign ministers of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, the host of the meetings in
Laos.
“We applaud that and hope and expect to see that it continues going
forward.”
Blinken held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the
sidelines of the gathering, in their sixth meeting since June 2023, when
Blinken’s visit to Beijing marked an improvement in strained ties
between the world’s two biggest economies.
Blinken discussed Taiwan with Wang and concerns about Beijing’s
recent “provocative actions,” included a simulated blockade during the
inauguration of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, a senior U.S. State
Department official said.
They agreed to continue progress on military-to-military ties, the
official said, adding Blinken also discussed Beijing’s support for
Russia’s defense industrial base and warned of further U.S. action
against Chinese firms, but received no commitment from Wang.
China’s foreign ministry had no immediate statement on the
meeting.
Korean peninsula
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the forum
said guidelines on the operation of U.S. nuclear assets on the Korean
peninsula, officially aimed at establishing an integrated deterrence to
North Korean threats, were adding to regional security concerns.
“So far we can’t even get an explanation of what this means, but
there is no doubt that it causes additional anxiety,” Russia’s state-run
RIA news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.
“They are actively inflaming the atmosphere around the Korean
peninsula, militarizing their presence there and conducting exercises
that are frankly aimed at being ready for military action,” he said,
according to Interfax.
War in Gaza
Blinken said earlier the United States was “working intensely every
single day” to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza and find a path to more
enduring peace and security.
His remarks followed those of Retno Marsudi, the foreign minister of
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, who said the need
for sustainable peace was urgent.
Retno also said international law should be applied to all, a veiled
reference to recent decisions by two international courts over Israeli’s
Gaza offensives.
“We cannot continue closing our eyes to see the dire humanitarian
situation in Gaza,” Retno said.
The fighting has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza since
Israel launched its incursion, according to Palestinian health
authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and
noncombatants.
Israeli officials estimate that 14,000 fighters from militant groups,
including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or captured, out of
an estimated force of more than 25,000 at the start of the war, which
began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing
1,200 people and abducting 250 others, according to Israeli tallies.
Myanmar fighting
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Myanmar’s military
rulers to take a different path and end an intensifying civil war,
pressing the generals to abide by their commitment to follow ASEAN’s
peace plan.
The conflict pits Myanmar’s well-equipped military against a loose
alliance of ethnic minority rebel groups and an armed resistance
movement that has been gaining ground and testing the generals’ ability
to govern.
The junta largely ignored the peace effort, and ASEAN has hit a wall
as all sides refuse to enter dialogue.
“We see the instability, the insecurity, the deaths, the pain that is
being caused by the conflict,” Wong told reporters. “My message from
Australia to the regime is, this is not sustainable for you or for your
people.”
An estimated 2.6 million people have been displaced by fighting. The
junta has been condemned for its air strikes on civilian areas and
accused of atrocities, which it has dismissed as Western
disinformation.
ASEAN issued a communique on Saturday stressing it was united behind
its peace plan and condemned violence against civilians, urging all
sides in Myanmar to end hostilities and start dialogue.
ASEAN also welcomed unspecified practical measures to reduce tension
in the South China Sea and prevent accidents and miscalculations, while
urging all parties to halt actions that could complicate and escalate
disputes.
Does a
US president have the power to destroy democracy?
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
In the U.S. presidential campaign, Democrats say former President
Donald Trump will destroy democratic institutions if he’s reelected in
November. But Trump’s Republican Party says it is Democrats who are
thwarting democracy by pressuring President Joe Biden to quit the race
after party primary elections were over. VOA’s Dora Mekouar explores
whether any one president really has the power to destroy democracy.
The
secret to better weather forecasts may be a dash of AI
date: 2024-07-27, updated: 2024-07-27, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Google adds machine learning to climate models for ‘faster forecasts’
Climate and weather modeling has long been a staple of high-performance
computing, but as meteorologists look to improve the speed and
resolution of forecasts, machine learning is increasingly finding its
way into the mix.…
Rural
hospitals built during baby boom now face baby bust
date: 2024-07-27, from: San Jose Mercury News
Fewer than half of rural U.S. hospitals offer labor and delivery
services. In some areas, births have dropped by three-quarters since the
baby boom’s peak.
From
doom scrolling to ‘hope scrolling,’ Kamala Harris supporters are
re-energized
date: 2024-07-27, from: San Jose Mercury News
Harris’s entrance into the race has not only rebooted grassroots
organizations that languished over the past few years, but has motivated
scores of Bay Area Democrats – and Harris’s old friends – to mobilize
their resources and open their wallets.
Welcome to NASA Aeronautics’ live update page with news about NASA
events and other festivities taking place throughout the week at EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh 2024, which we simply call Oshkosh. Terminal 1:
Sustainable Aviation Saturday, July 27 at 11 a.m. EDT Inside the NASA
Pavilion, our aeronautics research is organized into four “terminals,”
where Oshkosh […]
By The Signal Editorial Board The leadership crisis continues at College
of the Canyons. On the morning of July 19, acting Chancellor David
Andrus conducted a meeting with members of […]
Blinken
criticizes China’s ‘escalating actions’ at sea ahead of Wang
meeting
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
VIENTIANE, Laos — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, shortly
before meeting his Chinese counterpart on Saturday, urged Southeast
Asian countries to help address challenges including Beijing’s
“escalating and unlawful actions” in the South China Sea.
Blinken also called the civil war in Myanmar “heartbreaking” and
stressed to foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, or ASEAN, the need to work together to tackle issues such as
the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine and North Korea’s missile
programs.
Although Blinken singled out China over its actions against U.S.
defense ally the Philippines in the South China Sea, he lauded both
countries for their diplomacy hours after Manila completed a resupply
mission to troops in an area also claimed by Beijing.
The troop presence has for years angered China, which has clashed
repeatedly with the Philippines over Manila’s missions to troops on a
navy ship grounded at the Second Thomas Shoal, causing regional concern
about an escalation.
The two sides this week reached an arrangement over how to conduct
those missions.
“We are pleased to take note of the successful resupply today of the
Second Thomas shoal, which is the product of an agreement reached
between the Philippines and China,” Blinken told ASEAN counterparts.
“We applaud that and hope and expect to see that it continues going
forward.”
Gaza situation ‘dire’
Blinken will hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi after
Saturday’s security-focused ASEAN Regional Forum in Laos, which will be
attended by top diplomats of major powers including Russia, Australia,
Japan, the European Union, Britain and others.
Blinken also said the United States was “working intensely every
single day” to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza and find a path to more
enduring peace and security.
His remarks follow those of Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno
Marsudi, who said the need for sustainable peace was urgent. “We cannot
continue closing our eyes to see the dire humanitarian situation in
Gaza,” she said.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Myanmar’s military
rulers to take a different path and end an intensifying civil war,
pressing the generals to abide by their commitment to follow ASEAN’s
five-point consensus peace plan.
The conflict pits Myanmar’s well-equipped military against a loose
alliance of ethnic minority rebel groups and an armed resistance
movement that has been gaining ground and testing the generals’ ability
to govern.
The junta has largely ignored the ASEAN-promoted peace effort, and
the 10-member bloc, of which Myanmar is a member, has hit a wall as all
sides refuse to enter into dialogue.
“We see the instability, the insecurity, the deaths, the pain that is
being caused by the conflict,” Wong told reporters.
“Fundamentally, my message from Australia to the regime is this is
not sustainable for you or for your people. And we would urge them to
take a different path and to reflect the five-point consensus that ASEAN
has put in place,” Wong said.
An estimated 2.6 million people have been displaced by fighting. The
junta has been condemned for excessive force in its air strikes on
civilian areas and accused of atrocities, which it has dismissed as
Western disinformation.
The Time
Ranger | Nooners, Vandals, & an Epic Rainstorm
date: 2024-07-27, from: The Signal
Misters and ma’ams, wishing you a boffo and top-tiered western pre-dawn
to all y’all, dear saddlepals. C’mon. Hop into something that looks
remotely cowboyish (valuable bonus points will be deducted […]
@Dave Winer’s
linkblog (date: 2024-07-27, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
[Trump] added: “Vote early. Vote absentee. Vote on Election Day. I
don’t care how, but you have to get out and vote… we’ll have it fixed so
good you’re not going to have to vote.”
Jason
Gibbs | Reflecting on Principles of the Republic
date: 2024-07-27, from: The Signal
The American republic was conceived from a vision transcending personal
and partisan interests. The Founding Fathers, cognizant of the dangers
posed by concentrated power, meticulously crafted a system of checks […]
As we get older, one fear is not passing the driver’s test at the
Department of Motor Vehicles. Our quality of life depends on hopping
into our car for groceries, […]
Puerto
Rico bans discrimination against those who wear Afros, other styles
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s governor on Wednesday signed a
law that prohibits discrimination against people wearing Afros, curls,
locs, twists, braids and other hairstyles in the racially diverse U.S.
territory.
The move was celebrated by those who had long demanded explicit
protection related to work, housing, education and public services.
“It’s a victory for generations to come,” Welmo Romero Joseph, a
community facilitator with the nonprofit Taller Salud, said in an
interview.
The organization is one of several that had been pushing for the law,
with Romero noting it sends a strong message that “you can reach
positions of power without having to change your identity.”
While Puerto Rico’s laws and constitution protect against
discrimination, along with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, a
precedent was set in 2016 when a U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed a
discrimination lawsuit and ruled that an employer’s no-dreadlock policy
in Alabama did not violate Title VII.
Earlier this year, legislators in the U.S. territory held a public
hearing on the issue, with several Puerto Ricans sharing examples of how
they were discriminated against, including job offers conditional on
haircuts.
It’s a familiar story to Romero, who recalled how a high school
principal ordered him to cut his flat top.
“It was a source of pride,” he said of that hairstyle. “I was a 4.0
student. What did that have to do with my hair?”
With a population of 3.2 million, Puerto Rico has more than 1.6
million people who identify as being of two or more races, with nearly
230,000 identifying solely as Black, according to the U.S. Census.
“Unfortunately, people identified as black or Afro descendant in
Puerto Rico still face derogatory treatment, deprivation of
opportunities, marginalization, exclusion and all kinds of
discrimination,” the law signed Wednesday states.
While Romero praised the law, he warned that measures are needed to
ensure it’s followed.
On the U.S. mainland, at least two dozen states have approved
versions of the CROWN Act, which aims to ban race-based hair
discrimination and stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for
Natural Hair.”
Among those states is Texas, where a Black high school student was
suspended after school officials said his dreadlocks fell below his
eyebrows and ear lobes, violating the dress code.
A March report from the Economic Policy Institute found that not all
states have amended their education codes to protect public and private
high school students, and that some states have allowed certain
exceptions to the CROWN Act.
A federal version was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in
2022, but it failed in the Senate. In May, Democratic lawmakers
reintroduced the legislation.
Judge’s
ruling temporarily allows for unlicensed Native Hawaiian midwifery
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
HONOLULU — A Hawaii judge has temporarily blocked the state from
enforcing a law requiring the licensing of practitioners and teachers of
traditional Native Hawaiian midwifery while a lawsuit seeking to
overturn the statute wends its way through the courts.
Lawmakers enacted the midwife licensure law, which asserted that the
“improper practice of midwifery poses a significant risk of harm to the
mother or newborn, and may result in death,” in 2019. Violations are
punishable by up to a year in jail, plus thousands of dollars in
criminal and civil fines.
The measure requires anyone who provides “assessment, monitoring, and
care” during pregnancy, labor, childbirth and the postpartum period to
be licensed.
A group of women sued, arguing that a wide range of people, including
midwives, doulas, lactation consultants and even family and friends of
the new mother would be subject to penalties and criminal liability.
Their complaint also said the law threatens the plaintiffs’ ability
to serve women who seek traditional Native Hawaiian births.
Judge Shirley Kawamura issued a ruling late Tuesday afternoon barring
the state from “enforcing, threatening to enforce or applying any
penalties to those who practice, teach, and learn traditional Native
Hawaiian healing practices of prenatal, maternal and child care.”
Plaintiffs testified during a four-day hearing last month that the
law forces them to get licensed through costly out-of-state programs
that don’t align with Hawaiian culture.
Ki’inaniokalani Kahoʻohanohano testified that a lack of Native
Hawaiian midwives when she prepared to give birth for the first time in
2003 inspired her to eventually become one herself. She described how
she spent years helping to deliver as many as three babies a month,
receiving them in a traditional cloth made of woven bark and uttering
sacred chants as she welcomed them into the world.
The law constitutes a deprivation of Native Hawaiian customary
rights, which are protected by the Hawaii constitution, Kawamura’s
ruling said, and the “public interest weighs heavily towards protecting
Native Hawaiian customs and traditions that are at risk of
extinction.”
The dispute is the latest in a long debate about how and whether
Hawaii should regulate the practice of traditional healing arts that
date to well before the islands became the 50th state in 1959. Those
healing practices were banished or severely restricted for much of the
20th century, but the Hawaiian Indigenous rights movement of the 1970s
renewed interest in them.
The state eventually adopted a system under which councils versed in
Native Hawaiian healing certify traditional practitioners, though the
plaintiffs in the lawsuit say their efforts to form such a council for
midwifery have failed.
The judge also noted in her ruling that the preliminary injunction is
granted until there is a council that can recognize traditional Hawaiian
birthing practitioners.
“This ruling means that traditional Native Hawaiian midwives can once
again care for families, including those who choose home births, who
can’t travel long distances, or who don’t feel safe or seen in other
medical environments,” plaintiff and midwife trainee Makalani
Franco-Francis said in a statement Wednesday. “We are now free to use
our own community wisdom to care for one another without fear of
prosecution.”
She testified last month how she learned customary practices from
Kahoʻohanohano, including cultural protocols for a placenta, such as
burying it to connect a newborn to its ancestral lands.
The judge found, however, that the state’s regulation of midwifery
more broadly speaking is “reasonably necessary to protect the health,
safety, and welfare of mothers and their newborns.”
The ruling doesn’t block the law as it pertains to unlicensed
midwives who do not focus on Hawaiian birthing practices, said Hillary
Schneller, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which
represents the women. “That is a gap that this order doesn’t
address.”
The case is expected to continue to trial to determine whether the
law should be permanently blocked.
The state attorney general’s office said in an email Wednesday that
it was still reviewing the decision.
US
claims TikTok collected user views on issues like abortion, gun
control
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — In a fresh broadside against one of the world’s most
popular technology companies, the Justice Department late Friday accused
TikTok of harnessing the capability to gather bulk information on users
based on views on divisive social issues like gun control, abortion and
religion.
Government lawyers wrote in a brief filed to the federal appeals
court in Washington that TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company
ByteDance used an internal web-suite system called Lark to enable TikTok
employees to speak directly with ByteDance engineers in China.
TikTok employees used Lark to send sensitive data about U.S. users,
information that has wound up being stored on Chinese servers and
accessible to ByteDance employees in China, federal officials said.
One of Lark’s internal search tools, the filing states, permits
ByteDance and TikTok employees in the U.S. and China to gather
information on users’ content or expressions, including views on
sensitive topics, such as abortion or religion. Last year, The Wall
Street Journal reported TikTok had tracked users who watched LGBTQ
content through a dashboard the company said it had since deleted.
The new court documents represent the government’s first major
defense in a consequential legal battle over the future of the popular
social media platform, which is used by more than 170 million Americans.
Under a law signed by President Joe Biden in April, the company could
face a ban in a few months if it doesn’t break ties with ByteDance.
The measure was passed with bipartisan support after lawmakers and
administration officials expressed concerns that Chinese authorities
could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or sway public opinion
towards Beijing’s interests by manipulating the algorithm that populates
users’ feeds.
The Justice Department warned, in stark terms, of the potential for
what it called “covert content manipulation” by the Chinese government,
saying the algorithm could be designed to shape content that users
receive.
“By directing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate that
algorithm; China could for example further its existing malign influence
operations and amplify its efforts to undermine trust in our democracy
and exacerbate social divisions,” the brief states.
The concern, they said, is more than theoretical, alleging that
TikTok and ByteDance employees are known to engage in a practice called
“heating” in which certain videos are promoted in order to receive a
certain number of views. While this capability enables TikTok to curate
popular content and disseminate it more widely, U.S. officials posit it
can also be used for nefarious purposes.
Justice Department officials are asking the court to allow a
classified version of its legal brief, which won’t be accessible to the
two companies.
Nothing in the redacted brief “changes the fact that the Constitution
is on our side,” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a
statement.
“The TikTok ban would silence 170 million Americans’ voices,
violating the 1st Amendment,” Haurek said. “As we’ve said before, the
government has never put forth proof of its claims, including when
Congress passed this unconstitutional law. Today, once again, the
government is taking this unprecedented step while hiding behind secret
information. We remain confident we will prevail in court.”
In the redacted version of the court documents, the Justice
Department said another tool triggered the suppression of content based
on the use of certain words. Certain policies of the tool applied to
ByteDance users in China, where the company operates a similar app
called Douyin that follows Beijing’s strict censorship rules.
But Justice Department officials said other policies may have been
applied to TikTok users outside of China. TikTok was investigating the
existence of these policies and whether they had ever been used in the
U.S. in, or around, 2022, officials said.
The government points to the Lark data transfers to explain why
federal officials do not believe that Project Texas, TikTok’s $1.5
billion mitigation plan to store U.S. user data on servers owned and
maintained by the tech giant Oracle, is sufficient to guard against
national security concerns.
In its legal challenge against the law, TikTok has heavily leaned on
arguments that the potential ban violates the First Amendment because it
bars the app from continued speech unless it attracts a new owner
through a complex divestment process. It has also argued divestment
would change the speech on the platform because a new social platform
would lack the algorithm that has driven its success.
In its response, the Justice Department argued TikTok has not raised
any valid free speech claims, saying the law addresses national security
concerns without targeting protected speech, and argues that China and
ByteDance, as foreign entities, aren’t shielded by the First
Amendment.
TikTok has also argued the U.S. law discriminates on viewpoints,
citing statements from some lawmakers critical of what they viewed as an
anti-Israel tilt on the platform during its war in Gaza.
Justice Department officials disputes that argument, saying the law
at issue reflects their ongoing concern that China could weaponize
technology against U.S. national security, a fear they say is made worse
by demands that companies under Beijing’s control turn over sensitive
data to the government. They say TikTok, under its current operating
structure, is required to be responsive to those demands.
Oral arguments in the case is scheduled for September.
US
promises $240 million to improve fish hatcheries, protect tribal
rights
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
BOISE, Idaho — The U.S. government will invest $240 million in salmon
and steelhead hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest to boost declining
fish populations and support the treaty-protected fishing rights of
Native American tribes, officials announced Thursday.
The departments of Commerce and the Interior said there will be an
initial $54 million for hatchery maintenance and modernization made
available to 27 tribes in the region, which includes Oregon, Washington,
Idaho and Alaska.
The hatcheries “produce the salmon that tribes need to live,” said
Jennifer Quan, the regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries West Coast
Region. “We are talking about food for the tribes and supporting their
culture and their spirituality.”
Some of the facilities are on the brink of failure, Quan said, with a
backlog of deferred maintenance that has a cost estimated at more than
$1 billion.
“For instance, the roof of the Makah Tribe’s Stony Creek facility is
literally a tarp. The Lummi Nation Skookum Hatchery is the only hatchery
that raises spring Chinook salmon native to the recovery of our Puget
Sound Chinook Salmon,” and it is falling down, Quan said.
Lisa Wilson, secretary of the Lummi Indian Business Council, said
salmon are as important as the air they breathe, their health and their
way of life. She thanked everyone involved in securing “this historic
funding.”
“Hatchery fish are Treaty fish and play a vital role in the survival
of our natural-origin populations while also providing salmon for our
subsistence and ceremonies,” she said in a statement. “If it weren’t for
the hatcheries and the Tribes, nobody would be fishing.”
The Columbia River Basin was once the world’s greatest
salmon-producing river system, with at least 16 stocks of salmon and
steelhead. Today, four are extinct and seven are listed under the
Endangered Species Act. Salmon are a key part of the ecosystem, and
another endangered Northwest species, a population of killer whales,
depend on Chinook salmon for food.
Salmon are born in rivers and migrate long distances downstream to
the ocean, where they spend most of their adult lives. They then make
the difficult trip back upstream to their birthplace to spawn and
die.
Columbia Basin dams have played a major part in devastating the wild
fish runs, cutting off access to upstream habitat, slowing the water and
sometimes allowing it to warm to temperatures that are fatal for
fish.
For decades, state, federal and tribal governments have tried to
supplement declining fish populations by building hatcheries to breed
and hatch salmon that are later released into the wild. But multiple
studies have shown that hatchery programs frequently have negative
impacts on wild fish, in part by reducing genetic diversity and by
increasing competition for food.
Quan acknowledged the hatcheries “come with risks” but said they can
be managed to produce additional fish for harvest and even to help
restore populations while minimizing risks to wild fish.
“Hatcheries have been around for a long time, and we’ve seen the
damage that they can do,” Quan said.
Still the programs have gone through a course correction in recent
years, following genetic management plans and the principles established
by scientific review groups, she said. “We are in a different place
now.”
It will take habitat restoration, improved water quality, adjustments
to harvest and other steps if salmon are going to recover, but so far
society has not been willing to make the needed changes for that to
happen, she said. Add in the impacts of climate change, and the calculus
of bad and good hatchery impacts changes further.
“We need to start having a conversation about hatcheries and how they
are going to be an important adaptation tool for us moving forward,”
Quan said.
Greg Ruggerone, a salmon research scientist with Natural Resources
Consultants Inc. in Seattle, said the key is to determine how to better
harvest hatchery salmon from rivers without harming the wild salmon that
are making the same trek to spawning grounds. Robust harvests of
hatchery fish will help ensure that the federal government is meeting
its treaty obligations to the tribes, while reducing competition for
wild fish, Ruggerone said.
“A big purpose of the hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest is to
provide for harvest — especially harvest for the tribes — so there is a
big opportunity if we can figure out how to harvest without harming wild
salmon,” Ruggerone said.
Every hatchery in the Columbia River basin was built to mitigate the
effects of the hydropower dams built in the region, said Becky Johnson,
the production division director for the Nez Perce Tribe’s Department of
Fisheries Resource Management.
Most were built in the 1960s, 1970s or earlier, she said.
“I’m super excited about this opportunity. Tribal and non-tribal
people benefit from them — more salmon coming back to the basin means
more salmon for everyone,” Johnson said. “It’s critical that we have
fish and that the tribal people have food. Tribal members will tell you
they’re fighting hard to continue to hang on to fish, and they’re never
going to stop that fight.”
Building
a vision: Van Hook’s tenure at COC results in elevation of college,
state
date: 2024-07-27, from: The Signal
When Dianne Van Hook officially became chancellor of College of the
Canyons on July 1, 1988, she became just the fourth leader of the
college and the first woman to […]
“England’s former chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, has said
there is no safe level of alcohol intake. A major study published in
2018 supported the view. It found that alcohol led to 2.8 million deaths
in 2016 and was the leading risk factor for premature death and
disability in 15- to 49-year-olds. Among the over 50s, about 27% of
global cancer deaths in women and 19% in men were linked to their
drinking habits.”
This is important: older studies which suggested that there are some
health benefits from light drinking are wrong, and the harms of alcohol
have been understated. It’s bad for you, end of story, and the alcohol
industry has used similar techniques and arguments to the tobacco
industry in order to cover that fact.
And the outcomes may be really bad:
“Last year, a major study of more than half a million Chinese men linked
alcohol to more than 60 diseases, including liver cirrhosis, stroke,
several gastrointestinal cancers, gout, cataracts and gastric ulcers.”
It’s disappointing news for people like me who enjoy a drink from time
to time - but it’s better to know than not. There’s a real trade-off to
those glasses of wine.
Blinken
arrives in Laos, set for talks with Chinese foreign minister
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
Vientiane, Laos — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived
early Saturday in Laos, where he will attend a regional meeting and hold
talks with his Chinese counterpart, part of a multination Asia visit
aimed at reinforcing ties with regional allies in the face of an
increasingly assertive Beijing.
The top U.S. diplomat is due to meet China’s Wang Yi on the sidelines
of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers meeting
being held in Vientiane.
Blinken has prioritized promoting a “free and open” Asia-Pacific
region – a thinly veiled criticism of China’s regional economic,
strategic and territorial ambitions.
During a series of ASEAN meetings, “the secretary’s conversations
will continue to build upon the unprecedented deepening and expansion of
U.S.-ASEAN ties,” the State Department said in a statement shortly
before Blinken touched down in Vientiane.
This is Blinken’s 18th visit to Asia since taking office more than
three years ago, reflecting the fierce competition between Washington
and Beijing in the region.
He notably arrived two days after the foreign ministers of China and
Russia met with those from the 10-nation ASEAN bloc – and each other –
on the sidelines of the summit.
Wang and Blinken would “exchange views on issues of common concern,”
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday.
Blinken is expected to “discuss the importance of adherence to
international law in the South China Sea” at the ASEAN talks, according
to the U.S. State Department.
FBI
says Trump struck by bullet during assassination attempt
date: 2024-07-27, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Nearly two weeks after Donald Trump’s near
assassination, the FBI confirmed Friday that it was indeed a bullet that
struck the former president’s ear, moving to clear up conflicting
accounts about what caused his injuries after a gunman opened fire at a
Pennsylvania rally.
“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether
whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased
subject’s rifle,” the agency said in a statement.
The FBI statement marked the most definitive law enforcement account
of Trump’s injuries and followed ambiguous comments earlier in the week
from Director Christopher Wray that appeared to cast doubt on whether
Trump had been hit by a bullet.
Wray’s comment drew fury from Trump and his allies and further stoked
conspiracy theories that have flourished on both sides of the political
aisle amid a lack of information following the July 13 attack.
Until now, federal law enforcement agents involved in the
investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had repeatedly
refused to provide information about what caused Trump’s injuries.
Trump’s campaign has also declined to release medical records from the
hospital where he was first treated or to make the doctors there
available for questions.
Updates have instead come either from Trump himself or from Trump’s
former White House doctor, Ronny Jackson, a staunch ally who now
represents Texas in Congress. Though Jackson has been treating Trump
since the night of the attack, he has come under considerable scrutiny
and is not Trump’s primary care physician.
The FBI’s apparent reluctance to immediately vouch for the former
president’s version of events — along with the ire he and some
supporters have directed at the bureau in the shooting’s aftermath — has
raised fresh tension between the Republican nominee and the nation’s
premier federal law enforcement agency, which he could soon exert
control over again.
Questions persist
Questions about the extent and nature of Trump’s wound began
immediately after the attack, as his campaign and law enforcement
officials declined to answer questions about his condition or the
treatment he received after he narrowly escaped an attempted
assassination by a gunman with a high-powered rifle.
Those questions have persisted despite photos showing the trace of a
projectile speeding past Trump’s head, photographs that show Trump’s
teleprompter glass intact after the shooting, and the account Trump
himself gave in a Truth Social post within hours of the shooting saying
he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right
ear.”
“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a
whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through
the skin,” he wrote.
Days later, in a speech accepting the nomination at the Republican
National Convention in Milwaukee, Trump described the scene in detail,
while wearing a large, white, gauze bandage over his right ear.
“I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really,
really hard, on my right ear. I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It
can only be a bullet,’” he said.
But the first medical account of Trump’s condition didn’t come until
a full week after the shooting, when Jackson released his first letter
last Saturday evening. In that letter, he said the bullet that struck
Trump had “produced a 2-cm-wide wound that extended down to the
cartilaginous surface of the ear.” He also revealed that Trump had
received a CT scan at the hospital.
But federal law enforcement involved in the investigation, including
the FBI and Secret Service, had declined to confirm that account. And
Wray’s testimony offered apparently conflicting answers on the
issue.
“There’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel
that hit his ear,” Wray testified, before he seemed to suggest it was
indeed a bullet.
“I don’t know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the
grazing, could have also landed somewhere else,” he said.
FBI clarification
The following day, the FBI sought to clarify matters with a statement
affirming that the shooting was an “attempted assassination of former
President Trump which resulted in his injury, as well as the death of a
heroic father and the injuries of several other victims.” The FBI also
said Thursday that its Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine
bullet fragments and other evidence from the scene.
Jackson, who has been treating the former president since the night
of the July 13 shooting, told The Associated Press on Thursday that any
suggestion Trump’s ear was bloodied by anything other than a bullet was
reckless.
In his letter Friday, Jackson insisted “there is absolutely no
evidence” Trump was struck by anything other than a bullet and said it
was “wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.”
He wrote that at Butler Memorial Hospital, where the GOP nominee was
rushed after the shooting, he was evaluated and treated for a “Gunshot
Wound to the Right Ear.”
The FBI declined to comment on the Jackson letters.
Asked if the campaign would release those hospital records or allow
the doctors who treated him there to speak, Trump campaign spokesperson
Steven Cheung blasted the media for asking.
Faces
of the SCV: Santa Clarita native keeps big-band music alive
date: 2024-07-27, from: The Signal
As a kid, Newhall resident David Weston would ride his bike from his
home in the old Bonelli tract of Saugus all the way to Newhall to spend
the afternoon […]
Trump
vows to return to site of assassination attempt; Obamas endorse
Harris
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Friday
he will return to the Pennsylvania town where he narrowly survived an
assassination attempt, while Vice President Kamala Harris capped her
weeklong bid to become the Democratic presidential nominee with former
president Barack Obama’s endorsement.
“I WILL BE GOING BACK TO BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, FOR A BIG AND
BEAUTIFUL RALLY,” former president Trump wrote on his Truth Social site,
without providing details on when or where the rally would take
place.
Harris, the first Black woman and first Asian American to serve as
vice president, swiftly consolidated Democratic support after President
Joe Biden tapped her to succeed him Sunday. A handful of public opinion
polls this week have shown her beginning to narrow Trump’s lead.
A Friday Wall Street Journal poll showed Trump holding 49% support to
Harris’ 47% support, with a margin of error of three percentage points.
A poll by the newspaper earlier this month had shown Trump leading Biden
48% to 42%.
‘Couldn’t be prouder to endorse you’
Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, endorsed Harris on Friday,
adding their names to a parade of prominent Democrats who coalesced
behind Harris’ White House bid after Biden, 81, ended his reelection
campaign under pressure from the party.
“We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you
and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into
the Oval Office,” Obama told Harris in a phone call posted in an online
video by the campaign.
‘We’re gonna have some fun with this’
Smiling as she spoke into a cellphone, Harris expressed her gratitude
for the endorsement and their long friendship.
“Thank you both. It means so much. And we’re gonna have some fun with
this, too,” said Harris, who would also be the nation’s first female
president if she prevails in the November 5 election.
Barack Obama, the first Black U.S. president, and Michelle Obama
remain among the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, almost
eight years after he left office. A Reuters/Ipsos poll early this month
showed that 55% of Americans — and 94% of Democrats — viewed Michelle
Obama favorably, higher approval than Harris’ 37% nationally and 81%
within the party.
The endorsement could help boost support and fundraising for Harris’
campaign, and it signals Obama is likely to get on the campaign trail
for Harris.
Sidewalk
Poetry 2025 Submissions Now Being Accepted
date: 2024-07-26, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita is now accepting short poem entries for the
Sidewalk Poetry Project from residents and individuals with connections
or ties to Santa Clarita
Santa
Clarita scribe takes step in the ‘write’ direction
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
If the Green Bay Packers lost the Super Bowl, he’d stay home in
Cedarburg, Wisconsin. But if they won, he’d move over 2,000 miles away
to Los Angeles in pursuit […]
US
sanctions DRC rebel groups for violence, human rights abuses
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
nairobi, kenya — The U.S. government has sanctioned three rebel
leaders accused of fomenting political instability, conflicts and
civilian displacement in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets
Control on Thursday imposed sanctions on Corneille Nangaa, leader of the
Congo River Alliance, a rebel group accused of seeking to overthrow the
government and driving political instability in the DRC. Nangaa was
previously targeted with sanctions in 2019.
Washington also sanctioned Bertrand Bisimwa, the leader of the March
23 movement rebel group, for destabilization and human rights
violations. Charles Sematama, deputy military leader of another rebel
group, Twirwaneho, was also sanctioned.
‘They are standing with them’
Great Lakes region political researcher and analyst Ntanyoma
Rukumbuzi said the United States is trying to show it cares about the
DRC and wants to punish those who want to create instability in the
central African nation.
“The U.S. wants to convince the Congolese, the general audience, that
they are standing with them and paying attention to what is happening in
the DRC,” said Rukumbuzi. “They can still do something to push or force
the rebel groups to stop fighting. As you can see, some of these
sanctions seem to disregard and overlook the entire complexity of the
violence in eastern DRC.”
In a statement, the U.S. government said the action it is taking
reinforces its commitment to hold accountable those who seek to
perpetuate instability, violence and harm to civilians to achieve their
political goals.
The M23 as a group is also under U.S. sanctions. For several years,
it has been fighting the Congolese army and other rebel groups in the
east of the country. According to United Nations estimates, more than
7.2 million Congolese are displaced due to conflicts.
Oliver Baniboneba, a Congolese refugee living in Uganda, said U.S.
sanctions won’t end the suffering of the Congolese.
There is a country with money that is supporting Nangaa, said
Baniboneba. “It will continue to fund him, and the killing goes on,” he
said.
High hopes for sanctions
The Congolese government has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23
rebel group, a claim denied by Kigali. Rukumbuzi also said the sanctions
won’t stop the operations of the rebel groups.
“They have been fighting for several reasons,” said Rukumbuzi. “There
are different individuals and groups who have something to fight for. It
may disturb them and try to understand and possibly try to dispatch
roles to different individuals, but this won’t stop the rebels from
fighting.”
The U.S. hopes the sanctions against the leaders and groups will
change their violent ways and persuade them to find a peaceful means to
address their grievances instead of killing and displacing innocent
people from their homes.
Skid
Row cooling stations inadequate to protect unhoused people from heat
illness
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The LAist
Unsheltered people in Skid Row lack sufficient access to water and
shade, and advocates say they need dozens more climate stations to
address the need.
The
bizarre secrets I found investigating corrupt Winamp skins
date: 2024-07-26, from: OS News
In January of 2021 I was exploring the corpus of Skins I collected
for the Winamp Skin Museum and found some that seemed corrupted, so I
decided to explore them. Winamp skins are actually just zip files with a
different file extension, so I tried extracting their files to see what
I could find. This ended up leading me down a series of wild rabbit
holes. ↫ Jordan Eldredge I’m not going to spoil any of this.
This blog post is a guide explaining how to setup a full-featured
email server on OpenBSD 7.5. It was commissioned by a customer of my
consultancy who wanted it to be published on my blog. Setting up a
modern email stack that does not appear as a spam platform to the world
can be a daunting task, the guide will cover what you need for a secure,
functional and low maintenance email system. ↫ Solène Rapenne If you
ever wanted to set up and run your own email server, this is a great way
to do it. Solène, an OpenBSD developer, will help you through setting up
IMAP, POP, and Webmail, an SMTP server with server-to-server encryption
and hidden personal information, every possible measure to make sure
your server is regarded as legitimate, and all the usual firewall and
anti-spam stuff you are definitely going to need. Taking back email from
Google – or even Proton, which is now doing both machine learning and
Bitcoin, of all things – is probably one of the most daunting tasks for
anyone willing to cut ties with as much of big tech as possible. Not
only is there the technical barrier, there’s also the fact that the
major email providers, like Gmail or whatever Microsoft offers these
days, are trying their darnest to make self-hosting email as cumbersome
as possible by trying to label everything you send as spam or downright
malicious. It’s definitely not an easy task, but at least with guides
like this there’s some set of easy steps to follow to get there.
Aug. 9-11:
‘Fringe of the Woods Festival’ in Frazier Park
date: 2024-07-26, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Returning for a fourth year, the “Fringe of the Woods Festival” will
again be held Aug. 9-11 at the Mile High Theater in Lake of the
Woods/Frazier Park.
A trailer fire that broke out on Friday afternoon left commuters in
traffic on the 24000 block of West Copper Hill Drive in Valencia.
Firefighters with the Los Angeles County […]
Court
records: Deputy bitten; woman taken to Olive View after disturbance
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
A Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputy was attacked while
trying to perform a welfare check on a mentally ill woman during a
disturbance call at a Newhall gas station […]
No,
really, please ban Chinese DJI drones from America’s skies, senators are
urged
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Previous outlawing attempt flew off, will this one stick the landing?
US senators have been asked again to consider banning the use of drones
made by Chinese manufacturer DJI in American airspace after a previous
attempt to outlaw the machines was dropped.…
A one day IndieWebCamp Portland 2024 is planned for August 25th, the day
after the XOXO conference and festival, pending confirmation of a venue!
If you’re in Portland and have a suggested venue please get in touch via
the IndieWeb chat!
88x31 pixels was a very popular button image size in the 1990s,
especially among freewheeling and independent sites created on services
like GeoCities, and there are IndieWeb 88x31 buttons you may use.
Created by Tantek.com on Friday and edited 12 more times
Pavement
Rehab to Begin on Phelps Road Monday, July 29
date: 2024-07-26, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The project is part of the city’s ongoing effort to maintain and improve
the city’s road network by restoring and resurfacing the existing
pavement to prevent further damage and extend its lifespan.
Kamala
Harris’ $7M support from LinkedIn founder comes with a request: Fire
Lina Khan
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-27, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
FTC boss must be doing something right if folks will pay to get her
binned
LinkedIn cofounder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman was quick to
express support for Kamala Harris’ bid for the US presidency this year
after incumbent Joe Biden stepped aside, and now the reason has become
clear: He’s hoping she’ll fire FTC boss and Big Tech arch-critic Lina
Khan.…
Windows 11
File Explorer is adding Android phone support
date: 2024-07-26, from: Liliputing
It’s possible to connect most Android phones to a PC with a USB cable
and treat the phone as a USB mass storage device if you want to drag and
drop files between devices or make other changes. Soon you may not need
the USB cable. Microsoft has begun rolling out an update that lets […]
In
The Field: Tracking Rare Plants in the El Dorado National Forest
date: 2024-07-26, from: California Native Plants Society
CNPS volunteers and staff collected data and seeds for rare plants
regrowing after the Caldor and Mosquito fires, highlighting the
importance of tracking these species for conservation and ecosystem
recovery.
“Flipboard has worked with local papers and websites since its
inception. Now, as part of the gradual federation of our platform, we’re
bringing some of those publications to the fediverse.”
Flipboard turns the fediverse on for a whopping 64 US-based local and
regional publications. This is big news - if you’ll pardon the pun - and
an enormous step forward for bringing journalism onto the fediverse. I
love how easy Flipboard has made it.
I also really like this approach:
“To learn more about what fedi folks actually want when it comes to
local outlets, we simply asked them. They told us the specific
publications they’d like to see, and voted in a poll on the region they
were most interested in. (The Midwest, it turns out!)”
Asking people is always the best approach. And as I’ve learned, the
fediverse is full of highly-engaged, well-informed people who are hungry
for great journalism.
Video
game actors strike because they fear an attack of the AI clones
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
You wouldn’t download a performer
Actors are back on strike for an entirely unsurprising reason: Studios
aren’t willing to give video game actors enough protection from
artificial intelligence. …
The Val Verde Historical Society will host Back to Val Verde for Val
Verde’s 100! on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 11 a.m. This all day picnic and
celebration will feature food, music, games and raffles.
This
high school has produced Olympians for every Summer Games since
1952
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The LAist
Water polo player Max Irving and track athlete Rachel Glenn are among
the more than 30 Olympians that have graduated from Wilson High School
in Long Beach.
iCloud
Private Relay Down: Here’s How to Turn It Off to Avoid Connectivity
Problems
date: 2024-07-26, from: TidBITS blog
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay traffic anonymization service is down for
some users, causing various connectivity problems in Safari and other
apps. If you’re experiencing problems, turn off iCloud Private Relay
temporarily.
Can you help us identify these thieves? The Santa Clarita Valley
Sheriff’s Station is seeking the public’s help in identifying two grand
theft suspects. On June 22 two suspects stole a white 2019 Toyota Tacoma
tailgate from a vehicle in Valencia.
Three
NASA Interns Expand Classroom Access to NASA Data
date: 2024-07-26, from: NASA breaking news
This summer, NASA welcomed interns with professional teaching
experience to help make the agency’s data more interactive and
accessible in the classroom. Their efforts are an important step in
fostering the education and curiosity of the Artemis Generation of
students who will shape the future workforce. Diane Ripollone: Making
Activities Accessible for Low-Vision Students A […]
The city of Santa Clarita and DrinkPAK! are seeking talented creators
for Maker’s Marketplace, a curated shopping experience at the city’s
largest holiday event, Light Up Main Street
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image treats viewers to a
wonderfully detailed snapshot of the spiral galaxy NGC 3430 that lies
100 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo Minor.
Several other galaxies, located relatively nearby to this one, are just
beyond the frame of this image; one is close enough that gravitational
interaction is driving […]
Introduction Last time, I blogged on the massive IT outage created by
CrowdStrike. Since then CrowdStrike has released their postmortem of
what went wrong. Also hackers have been disassembling the CrowdStrike
code to analyze how it works. Keep in mind that estimates of the
damage to the economy of this outage are around 5.4 billion,
[…]
CrowdStrike
meets Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong will
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
And boy, did last Friday’s Windows fiasco ever prove that yet again
Opinion CrowdStrike’s recent Windows debacle will
surely earn a prominent place in the annals of epic tech failures. On
July 19, the cybersecurity giant accomplished what legions of hackers
could only dream of – bringing millions of Windows systems worldwide to
their knees with a single botched update.…
SCV
Sheriff’s Foundation Celebrates Gloria Mercado-Fortine
date: 2024-07-26, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Outgoing Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Foundation President Gloria
Mercdo-Fortine recently received high praise for her tenure as president
of the foundation for the past four years.
Lemon Squeezy Team (via Hacker News): In 2020, when the world gave us
lemons, we decided to make lemonade. We imagined a world where selling
digital products would be as simple as opening a lemonade stand. We
dreamed of a platform that would take the pain out of selling globally.
Tax headaches, fraud prevention, handling […]
Marco.B: Today we are introducing the most extensive app redesign
ever, creating an unprecedented streaming experience that allows
listeners to organize their favorite playlists, stations, albums and
more from over 100 services on one customizable Home screen. The new
Home screen provides faster access to Sonos system controls with one
easy swipe up, making tab […]
Sean Hollister: Last May, I told you how HP’s bestselling printer can
lock you to the company’s own subscription ink for life, with no way to
cancel, with its dastardly HP Plus scheme. But HP has decided to remove
those shackles from future laser printers, at least. Christopher Harper
(via Slashdot): HP has finally been […]
What’s new in SwiftData: SwiftData makes it easy to add persistence
to your app with its expressive, declarative API. Learn about
refinements to SwiftData, including compound uniqueness constraints,
faster queries with #Index, queries in Xcode previews, and rich
predicate expressions. Join us to explore how you can use all of these
features to express richer […]
Here we are at the end of July and preparations for the fall season
are already underway at most of our member schools. As is the case most
every year, school administration and athletic faculty should be aware
and ready to immediately implement the rule changes enacted the previous
year
Taco-Shaped
Creature Had a ‘Major Edge’ in Evolution—and 30 Pairs of Spiny Legs
date: 2024-07-26, from: Smithsonian Magazine
This shrimp-like arthropod was among the first to have a mandible,
and it used a complex feeding mechanism during the Cambrian explosion,
according to a new study
SpaceX
Falcon 9 set for comeback after upper-stage failure
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Cracked line blamed for leak
SpaceX aims to resume launching the Falcon 9 rocket tomorrow after the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) agreed to let the company return
to flight operations.…
Someone on Reddit was asking about the Bluecurve theme on Red Hat
Linux.
Back then, Red Hat Linux only offered KDE and GNOME, I
think. The great thing about Bluecurve was that they looked the
same and both of them had the Red Hat look.
Not any more. In recent years I’ve tried GNOME, Xfce, MATE, KDE,
Cinnamon, and LXQt on Fedora.
They all look different. They may have some wallpaper
in common but that’s it. In any of them, there’s no way you can glance
from across a room (meaning, too far away to read any text or see any
logos) and go "oh, yeah, that’s Fedora."
And on openSUSE, I tried all of them plus LXDE and IceWM. Same thing.
Wallpaper at best.
Same on Ubuntu: I regularly try all the main flavours,
as I
did here and they all look different. MATE makes an effort, Unity
has some of the wallpapers, but that’s about it.
If a vendor or project has one corporate brand and one corporate look,
usually, time and money and effort went into it. Into logos, colours,
tints, gradients, wallpaper, all that stuff.
It seems to me that the least the maintainers of different desktop
flavours or spins could do is adopt the official theme and make
their remixes look like they are the same OS from the same vendor.
I like Xfce. Its themes aren’t great. Many, most, make window borders so
thin you can’t grab them to resize. Budgie is OK and looks colourful,
but Ubuntu Budgie does not look like Ubuntu.
Kubuntu looks like Fedora KDE looks like Debian with KDE looks like
anything with KDE, and to my eyes, KDE’s themes are horrible, as they
have been since KDE 1 – yes I used 1.0, and liked it – and only
3rd party distro vendor themes ever made KDE look good.
Only 2 of them, really: Red Hat Linux with Bluecurve, and Corel LinuxOS
and Xandros.
Everyone else’s KDE skins are horrible. All of them. It’s one reason I
can’t use KDE now. It almost hurts my eyes. (Same goes for TDE BTW.) It
is nasty.
Branding matters. Distros all ignore it now. They shouldn’t.
And someone somewhere should bring back Bluecurve, or failing that, port
GNOME’s Adwaita to all the other desktops. I can’t stand GNOME but its
themes and appearance are the best distro in the West. (Some of the
Chinese ones like Deepin and Kylin are beautiful, but everyone’s afraid
they’re full of spyware for the Chinese Communist Party… and they might
be right.)
Tiny
Kawaii mod puts a portable Nintendo Wii on a keychain
date: 2024-07-26, from: Liliputing
A team of Nintendo Wii modders have spent the past year creating a
scaled-down version of the classic console that’s so small it literally
fits on a keychain. The Kawaii measures just 60mm square and 16mm thick.
At the heart of the build is the Omega trim, a modding process that
reduces the size of […]
Weekend Read, our app for reading scripts on your phone, features a
new curated collection of screenplays each week. This week, we look at
the series nominated across all categories at the upcoming 76th Emmy
Awards. (In some cases, we’re using the pilot, so you don’t worry about
spoilers for later seasons.) Our collection includes: […] The post
Featured
Friday: Emmy Nominees first appeared on
John August.
US
defers removal of some Lebanese, citing Israel-Hezbollah tensions
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
washington — The United States is deferring the removal of certain
Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden said on Friday,
citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between
Israel and Hezbollah.
The deferred designation, which lasts 18 months, allows Lebanese
citizens to remain in the country with the right to work, according to a
memorandum Biden sent to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly
deteriorated due to tensions between Hezbollah and Israel,” Biden said
in the memo.
“While I remain focused on de-escalating the situation and improving
humanitarian conditions, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I
am directing the deferral of removal of certain Lebanese nationals who
are present in the United States.”
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced
a “support front” with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas
attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering
Israel’s military assault in Gaza.
The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more
than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to
levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen
since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.
On the Israeli side, 10 Israeli civilians, a foreign agricultural
worker and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Tens of thousands have
been evacuated from both sides of the border.
Hezbollah is an Iran-backed militant group and the most powerful
military and political force in Lebanon.
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes
thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together.
This week, we discuss winning awards, sim swapping dumpster fires, and
push notifications for infants.
NASA
Returns to Arctic Studying Summer Sea Ice Melt
date: 2024-07-26, from: NASA breaking news
What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic, and a new NASA
mission is helping improve data modeling and increasing our
understanding of Earth’s rapidly changing climate. Changing ice, ocean,
and atmospheric conditions in the northernmost part of Earth have a
large impact on the entire planet. That’s because the Arctic region acts
[…]
Intel
nabs Micron exec to oversee foundry business ambitions
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Memory veteran to help Gelsinger and co with longstanding
internal/external contract manufacturing plans
Intel is set to hire an executive from memory chipmaker Micron to head
its foundry biz as the company pursues its strategy of turning its
former internal manufacturing operations into a money-spinning concern.…
Happy
Sysadmin Day, the Bitlocker keys are in a bowl on top of the fridge
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Vote below for the best way to celebrate our underappreciated heroes
Seven days after CrowdStrike’s bad update took down Windows-based
computers around the world, System Administrator Appreciation Day has
arrived. And what lovely gifts did your employer spoil you with today?
Shares in the company? A brand new Cybertruck? A USB stick?…
<p>Sitting here, doing nothing. Dog’s panting, but he’s enjoying the freshness of the forest. Birds are chirping, as they should.</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:hello@manuelmoreale.com">Email me</a> ::
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<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/supporters">See my awesome supporters</a> ::
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AMD
Ryzen 7 8745H is “Hawk Point” chip without a Ryzen AI NPU
date: 2024-07-26, from: Liliputing
AMD, like most chip makers, is banking so hard on AI being the next big
thing that the company upended its naming conventions and decided to
call its newest laptop processors Ryzen AI 300 series chips thanks to
their integrated neural processing units (NPUs) capable of delivering up
to 50 TOPS of AI performance. But […]
Here’s what I want to see from every technology-driven product team:
Do you know your user? Not “this is the industry we’re
targeting” or “this is for everyone!”, but who, specifically,
are you thinking of? What is their life like? Why is this important to
them? What is the problem that they have? How do you know that
this is their problem?
Have you solved their problem? What is the outcome of
using your product for that user? How does it meaningfully make life
better for them — not ideologically or conceptually, but actually, in
the context of their day-to-day? How do you know that you’re
solving their problem? (How have you tested it? Who did you ask?)
Why are you the team to solve it? What makes you think
your team has the skills, life experiences, and kinship with your user
that will make you successful? How are you making sure you
don’t have blind spots? Can you build it?
Is this product sustainable for the user? If you’re
successful, what does their life — and the life of their community —
look like? Are you removing equity or agency from them? Can they step
away? How do you know what the downsides of your product might be for
them, and how are you avoiding them?
Is this product sustainable for you? If you’re building
something good, how are you making sure you can keep doing it, while
ensuring you have the answers to all of the above? Are you excited
enough about it to keep going when times get tough? Is there enough
money?
In other words, I don’t want to see ideology or conceptual ideas first
and foremost. I want to see that a team knows the people they’re solving
a problem for, and has taken steps to make sure that they’re
actually solving that problem, rather than building something
and hoping for the best.
This is particularly true for efforts that are trying to push
the web or internet forward in some technological way. These are
important efforts, but understanding concretely how a real person will
benefit — again, not ideologically, but in their day-to-day lives — is
non-optional.
The way to get there is through speaking to people — a lot. You need to
identify which assumptions you’re making and validate them. You
absolutely can’t get through this by being the smartest person in the
room or winging it; you are never absolved from doing the real work of
understanding and working with the people you’re trying to help. Speak
to your users; speak to experts; do your research; avoid just making
stuff up.
It’s not about being smart, or building something that you’re excited
about. It’s about being of service to real people, doing it well, and
setting yourself up for long-term success.
The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics are slated to get underway
today in Paris. And while artificial intelligence isn’t competing (yet),
it is playing a role in scoring, crowd control and security, and even
finding talent. Also on the show: Inflation inches closer toward the
Federal Reserve’s target in June, and California’s Supreme Court deals a
blow to efforts by gig workers to be classified as employees with
certain benefits.
Boeing
Starliner crew get their ISS sleepover extended
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Bosses regret talking up mission duration as Capsule’s lifetime extended
to 90 days
The crew of the Boeing Starliner will spend the summer aboard the
International Space Station (ISS) as NASA and Boeing refused to set a
return date for the craft.…
“Vivian Jenna Wilson, the transgender daughter of Elon Musk, said
Thursday in her first interview that he was an absent father who was
cruel to her as a child for being queer and feminine.”
“They save lives. Let’s not get that twisted. They definitely allowed me
to thrive.”
That’s really the kicker with Musk’s current nonsense. Lives
are at stake, and while his rhetoric might soothe whatever it
is inside him that is hurt by his child disowning him for being a bigot,
taking it to the national policy stage and endangering vulnerable
communities is far from okay.
It’s also a wild distraction when the valuations of his companies are at
risk. Privately, investors and partners have to be up in arms: this is
not what he needs to be concentrating on. In effect, one of the world’s
richest men is having such a public personality crisis that it’s putting
the well-being of both a very vulnerable group and his wealthy
backers at risk.
The
Smell of Human Stress Leads Dogs to Make More Pessimistic Decisions,
Study Suggests
date: 2024-07-26, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Canines that smelled the sweat of anxious people were less likely to
approach a bowl that might have contained food, indicating humans’
emotions can affect dogs’ behavior
Progress
discloses second critical flaw in Telerik Report Server in as many
months
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
These are the kinds of bugs APTs thrive on, just ask the Feds
Progress Software’s latest security advisory warns customers about the
second critical vulnerability targeting its Telerik Report Server in as
many months.…
Elon
Musk’s trans daughter says dad ‘relentlessly harassed’ her for her
femininity and queerness
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
In an interview with NBC News and in a series of Threads posts,
Vivian Jenna Wilson also excoriated the Tesla and SpaceX founder for
being ‘narcissistic’ and ‘uncaring.’
The CrowdStrike mess points out just how close some developers get to
the kernel—and efforts to lock things down will help highlight the
tension between security and user choice.
‘A
moose hit me’ and other ways people damage their gizmos
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
The wild world of wrecking our tech
Have you ever bitten your phone, or thrown it in anger? How about broken
it in a collision with a moose? These are just some of the ways in which
people have damaged their digital devices, according to a survey.…
Barack
and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris, giving her expected but
crucial support
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
Harris, who has known the Obamas since before his election in 2008,
thanked them for their friendship and said she looks forward to “getting
there, being on the road” with them in the three-month blitz before
Election Day on Nov. 5.
Wildfire
Season Is Already Devastating North America
date: 2024-07-26, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Eastern Bolivia declared an
extreme weather state of emergency through the end of the year • The
Chinese province of Fujian has recorded 1.6 feet of rain since Wednesday
• Rain in Paris is threatening to make for a soggy Olympics opening
ceremony.
THE TOP FIVE
Huge wildfires burn in Canada, California, Oregon
Massive wildfires are burning in western states and in Canada, sending
plumes of smoke fanning out across the U.S. Triple-digit heat has fueled
the fire conditions, but some cooler weather is expected over the
weekend.
California’s Park Fire: The 165,000-acre inferno is
located in Butte and Tehama counties in northern California. It ignited
on Wednesday and exploded quickly to become the state’s
largest
wildfire of the year, burning an area equivalent to 50 football
fields a minute. As of this morning the fire was 3% contained. A suspect
has been arrested and is accused of starting the fire when he pushed a
burning car into a gully. The state’s acreage burned so far is roughly
twice
the average for this time of year.
Oregon’s Durkee Fire: Located near the Oregon-Idaho
border, this is currently the
largest
active fire in the U.S., covering 270,000 acres. A lightning strike
is thought to have sparked the blaze on July 17. High winds, extreme
heat, and dry conditions have fanned the flames. Air quality alerts are
in place for eastern Oregon. Denver and Chicago also experienced a dip
in air quality.
Canada’s Jasper Wildfire Complex: Wildfires engulfed
the tourist town of Jasper in the Alberta province, leaving half the
town in ruins. Roughly 89,000 acres have burned and 25,000 people were
forced to evacuate. Rain and cooler weather brought some relief last
night. So far
5.7
million acres have burned in Canada this year, surpassing the annual
average.
While North America burns, parts of Asia are seeing
unprecedented rainfall and flooding. Typhoon Gaemi lashed China, Taiwan,
and the Philippines this week, killing at least 21 people and capsizing
an oil tanker. Researchers say climate change is altering rainfall
patterns globally, resulting in less frequent but much stronger
typhoons. A new
study
published in the journal Science concluded that about
75% of the world’s land area has seen more extreme swings between wet
and dry conditions. “This is going to increase as global warming
continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods,” the
researchers said.
NOAA chooses 19 projects for IRA funding to boost coastal climate
resilience
The Biden administration today
announced
the 19 projects that are slated to receive part of $575 million in
funding through NOAA’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge to boost
coastal climate resilience. The projects are located across 15 states.
Some of the largest grants are going to
Alaska
($78.9 million),
Washington
state ($75.6 million), and
New
Jersey ($72.5 million). NOAA said the program received 870
applications, making it “one of the most popular Inflation Reduction Act
programs.”
Here’s
the full list of projects.
Minneapolis is getting a solar cell factory
Plans are
underway
to build a solar cell factory in Minneapolis. The project is a joint
venture between Canadian solar panel maker Heliene and India’s solar
cell maker Premier Energies. It’ll produce an annual aggregate capacity
of 1 GW N-Type cells. “This is great news for the U.S.,”
wrote
Michelle Lewis at Electrek, “as there is currently a
shortage of U.S. solar cell manufacturing capacity.” It’s good news,
too, for solar panel makers that need American-made cells in order to
qualify for new subsidies. Heliene credited the Inflation Reduction
Act’s tax credits for spurring its decision to invest in U.S. solar.
Climate protesters seek to disrupt flights across Europe
About 140 flights out of Germany’s busiest airport were
canceled
yesterday because climate activists glued themselves to the runway. The
protest is part of a larger coordinated movement between climate groups
across Europe to disrupt airport activity and
call
for an international agreement to phase out fossil fuels. Airports
in Finland, Spain, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, and the U.K. have also
been targeted in recent days. The months of June through August mark
Europe’s busiest travel season.
UN chief calls for urgent action against extreme heat
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres
issued
an urgent call yesterday for global action to protect people and
economies from the growing threat of extreme heat. The message included
four imperatives: protecting the most world’s vulnerable populations by
expanding access to low-carbon cooling technologies, protecting workers
with better workplace heat regulations, strengthening resilience through
climate action plans, and phasing out fossil fuels. This week saw the
hottest-ever recorded global average temperature. “The message is clear:
the heat is on,” Guterres said. “Extreme heat is having an extreme
impact on people and planet. The world must rise to the challenge of
rising temperatures.” In the U.S., extreme heat kills more people every
year than all other extreme weather events combined.
THE KICKER
“The Green New Deal may not have been signed into law in its pure
form, but it did what its advocates hoped: It captured the conversation
around climate and was adopted to a great extent by an entire political
party. And much of what it sought has found its way into law and policy.
So while Trump may call it a scam, it looks a lot like a triumph.”
–Paul
Waldman writing for Heatmap.
LA
city planners hear from a chorus of Angelenos wanting more housing in
single-family neighborhoods
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The LAist
City officials plan to leave single-family zones out of their
blueprint for hundreds of thousands of new homes. Many residents are
urging them to reverse course.
A new study from researchers at Harvard’s Opportunity Insights and the
Census Bureau finds that children have a better chance at moving up the
economic ladder if most of the adults they interact with are employed
— not just in the household but beyond. We’ll delve in. Plus, the Biden
White House still has lots on its economic plate before a new president
comes to power in six months.
Google
DeepMind’s latest models kinda sorta take silver at Math Olympiad
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Sure, it took three days to do what teenaged brainiacs do in nine hours
– but who’s counting?
Researchers at Google DeepMind claim they’ve developed a pair of AI
models capable of taking home a silver medal in the International
Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) – although not within the allotted time
limit.…
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image treats viewers to a
wonderfully detailed snapshot of the spiral galaxy NGC 3430 that lies
100 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo Minor.
Several other galaxies, located relatively nearby to this one, are just
beyond the frame of this image; one is close enough that gravitational
interaction […]
<p>This is the 48th edition of <em>People and Blogs</em>, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Daniel Miller and his blog, <a href="https://www.daniel.industries">daniel.industries</a></p>
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Ko-Fi.
Let’s start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?
I am originally from Pennsylvania, went to school in Arizona, and ended
up in Dallas, Texas by way of Florida, Washington DC, and Bosnia and
Herzegovina. I studied Psychology and planned on pursuing graduate
studies in organizational psychology, but ended up in software fairly
quickly, within about a year of graduating. I was a developer for over a
decade, and then a CTO for almost another decade. I’m currently looking
for an opportunity where I can provide value to a business doing good in
the world.
I used to make music but haven’t done much of that for about 10 years. I
ride my bicycle as often as possible, usually a few times a week. And I
write on my blog!
What’s the story behind your blog?
I’ve always been interested in the ideas around Personal Knowledge
Management, so when I first saw Blogger and started blogging in 2001 I
thought of it as a public notebook. It still serves that purpose. It was
originally danielsjourney.com (still have the domain). I eventually
changed to daniel.industries.
My peak readership was during the blogging boom of the 2000s, which
coincided with my move to Bosnia, which people seemed to be interested
in.
What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?
I use Notion for “capture” and have about 18 ideas in there. I have
additional less-formed ideas tagged in my Logseq notes. I have 19 posts
in a drafts folder with another 516 stashed in there from private
writing websites I participated in years ago. In theory, I will someday
get the good ones imported into the canonical notebook, but at this
rate, it might never happen.
I try to write and publish in one sitting, otherwise the post might
never get finished. I’m not afraid of editing a post after I’ve
published it, though. It’s my history, I can rewrite it if I want.
I also have writing
(for stories and articles) and
music sections on the
site. I plan on adding a “projects” page as well.
The blog currently has
3417 posts. I posted much more early on (2001-2008), before Twitter and
(some) maturity that came with age and experience…and I had a lot more
time for it back then.
Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the
physical space influences your creativity?
It’s less about my physical environment and more about my mental and
emotional environment. The other reason I’ve blogged less in the last 14
years is that my life allows for less quiet time for thinking. I will
have good ideas and make interesting connections while riding my bike,
or in the shower, or right before falling asleep, but as my life has
become more full with family and responsibilities, I find not many of
those ideas make it onto a page anywhere (yet alone become coherent
enough to go on the website).
A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech
stack?
I use Jekyll with a Ruby Rakefile I
brought with me from back when I used a gem called “Octopress” (which
has been abandoned), which adds quality-of-life command line tools for
managing posts, building, and publishing. I’ve also written a “backlink”
plugin for Jekyll (see
Really
Basic Backlinks in Jekyll).
While I have used Jekyll for over 10 years, before that I used Blogger,
Moveable Type, WordPress, LiveJournal, and multiple versions of my own
PHP CMS system (see
SWIM
Stock-take Part 2). But I’ve been a static site generator person for
a long time. I think 11ty is probably better at this point, but so far I
haven’t felt the need to move off Jekyll.
I’ve hosted on DreamHost since forever. I’ve had my domains with Hover
for a long time.
Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do
anything differently?
Static site generators seem to be all the rage these days, for good
reason. Having everything as a flat file you can manage via source
control and easily move around, search, mass update from your text
editor of choice…it’s better than having everything locked into a
database in the cloud (or even on your computer), even if the product
allows for easy exports. See
Web
Artifact Permanence.
Financial question since the Web is obsessed with money: how much does
it cost to run your blog? Is it just a cost, or does it generate some
revenue? And what’s your position on people monetising personal blogs?
The hosting is somewhere between $100-200 per year (I was kept at a
lower price for a while, and I think that is over soon). I could host on
GitHub or similar for free, but I have a handful of sites I host on
DreamHost, so it is just easier to manage them all in one place.
I was bullish on tools that would allow individual artists to monetize
their work without the need for middlemen, I even ran a nonprofit from
2003-2005 (see
Goodbye
Integration Research Dot Org) that was working on exactly that
problem. I was excited when
Jack Conte first
talked about Patreon at XOXO (I was there in person–and it is still
a good talk). Now we’re there, and Patreon has to enshittify to appease
investors, and Substack has to harbor fascists and pop modals in my face
all the time, and I’m not so sure about the entire idea. I think it is
better to just have something you can sell. It’s hard. I think if you
don’t have to monetize your online work, that’s better. There
are too many pseudo-intellectual influencers out there, and too few
Kottkes, Popovas, or
Westenbergs.
Those of us just hanging out in our digital living rooms on the cozy web
are doing ok without having to perform for our audience.
Keeping a personal blog in 2017 feels relatively futile. But while
everyone else is storing throwing their stories, artifacts,
thoughts, and meanings into the stream for others to consume on their
phones while taking a dump or bored at lunch or while consuming some
other media entirely, those of us who store our work on actual
domains do it for ourselves–and our legacy. And while permalinks
may–and do–rot faster than last week’s bananas, the content is still
here.
Creating content on the internet and actually owning all of that content
and retaining complete control over that content is still one of the
most culturally radical things one can do. Sure, the marketers of the
world will tell you you’re wasting your time, but that is only if your
horizon for meaningful impact in the world has shortened to the amount
of time a news story remains in your social network feed.
Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out?
And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?
…rapid-fire style, for the sake of time: Tim Bray, Rands in Repose,
Robin Rendle, Robin Sloan, Surfing Complexity, John Cutler, Uses This,
Tom Critchlow, Ribbonfarm.
Final question: is there anything you want to share with us?
Saner.ai is a writing/PKM-focused AI
tool that actually works and is being actively developed.
Omnivore is a free and OSS read
later (and RSS reader) app.
Huffduffer lets you create a
custom podcast feed for yourself from any audio file on the internet.
Mike Riddell
was an author from New Zealand who passed two years ago. Seeing his play
Jerusalem, Jerusalem performed live was one of the greatest
artistic experiences of my life.
This was the 48th edition of People and Blogs. Hope you enjoyed
this interview with Daniel. Make sure to
follow his blog
(RSS) and get in
touch with him if you have any questions.
Awesome supporters
You can support this series on
Ko-Fi and all supporters
will be listed here as well as on the
official site of the
newsletter.
suggest a person to
interview next. I’m especially interested in people and blogs outside
the tech/web bubble.
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
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From the BBC World Service: Just as the Olympics are getting
underway in Paris, the French train network has been hit by arson
attacks, causing major delays and disruption. The incident will put even
more focus on security at the games, which is already extremely tight.
Then, we’ll look at how AI is being used to help make athletes’ lives
easier and scoring more accurate at this year’s Games.
“They’ve spent trillions of dollars on things having to do with the
Green New Scam. It’s a scam,” said Donald Trump in his recent convention
speech. His running mate J.D. Vance echoed the sentiment, saying in his
speech that the country needs “a leader who rejects Joe Biden and Kamala
Harris’s Green New Scam.”
To get the reference, you would have had to understand that they were
talking about the Green New Deal — which most Americans probably recall
dimly,
if
at all — and have some sense of both what was in it and why you
shouldn’t like it. Neither Trump nor Vance explained or elaborated; it
was one of many attacks at the Republican convention that brought cheers
from the delegates but were likely all but incomprehensible to voters
who aren’t deeply versed in conservative memes and boogeymen.
But here’s the irony. The Green New Deal never made the transition from
a general statement of goals to a concrete and comprehensive policy
plan. It wasn’t enacted through Congress. And today, most Democrats,
even those who supported it in the past, seldom mention it by name. Yet
without too many people noticing, the Green New Deal has been enormously
successful.
From the beginning, it was envisioned as both a set of policy objectives
and a public relations campaign, starting with the name. By invoking
Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, its advocates intended to communicate
three essential messages. First, climate change is an urgent crisis on
the scale of the Great Depression, one that demands a government
response without delay. Second, the plan itself is hugely ambitious,
seeking to marshal vast resources across multiple federal agencies to
confront the problem. And third, the programs it envisions would be as
transformative and lasting in their effects as those of the New Deal,
putting millions to work, creating economic security, and providing
direct benefits to Americans’ lives.
But the plan itself was not really a plan at all.
The
legislation filed in 2019 by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and
Sen. Ed Markey is a mere 14 pages long. It articulates five goals:
1. Achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions 2. Creating millions of high-wage jobs 3. Investing in sustainable infrastructure 4. Securing clean air and water, climate and community
resiliency, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable
environment 5. Promoting environmental justice
The rest of the document name-checks a variety of areas where future
programs will be targeted (manufacturing, housing, transportation,
agriculture, etc.) and principles those programs should embody (support
for unions, community involvement, opposition to corporate monopolies).
In the years since, Ocasio-Cortez and Markey, along with other
advocates, have attached the Green New Deal name to other, more detailed
proposals (e.g. the
Green
New Deal for Public Housing Act).
So not only does the Green New Deal remain somewhat abstract and
hypothetical, most Democrats don’t even bring it up anymore. Which is
why it sounds so absurd when Republicans attack it as though it were an
enacted law; every time the crumbling Texas energy grid fails, foes of
the clean energy transition
rush
to Fox News to say the Green New Deal is the culprit.
If you wanted to be generous, you could say the Republican critics are
not lying, just using the phrase “Green New Deal” — or in Trump and
Vance’s formulation, “Green New Scam” — as a shorthand to refer to any
and all efforts to address climate change. In that sense, they might
actually be on to something.
To understand why, we should go back to the Green New Deal’s high point
as a topic of political debate: the 2020 Democratic presidential primary
campaign. Most of the two dozen Democrats running for the nomination
supported
it, and many — including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker,
Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, and
Kamala
Harris — were cosponsors of the legislation. When Joe Biden
released
his first campaign climate plan in 2019, it read, “Biden believes the
Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges
we face.” A year later he put out
an
updated plan that backed away from the Green New Deal moniker
but won praise from climate advocates for its ambition, including
pledges to spend $2 trillion and reduce carbon emissions from power
plants to zero by 2035.
That change foreshadowed where most elected officials in the Democratic
Party would move: Most of them wound up setting aside the Green New Deal
name, but they adopted its policy goals. What was
originally thought by many to be a pie-in-the-sky idea advanced by those
on the left edge of the party became something almost any Democrat with
serious ambitions has to be on board with, however they might describe
it. Democratic senators and governors may not all agree on every
particular, but they have come around to the Green New Deal’s
fundamental approach:
aggressive,
ambitious government action on climate, with the emphasis on
carrots rather than sticks to produce tangible benefits the public will
support.
And just as Green New Deal advocates hoped, Democrats have not allowed
Republicans to sucker them into endless arguments about cost. When
Republicans make preposterous claims (for instance,
that
it will cost $100 trillion to implement all the plan’s
profligate schemes), Democrats tend to dismiss it and move on, accepting
that climate action entails investing money up front, and that it’s
worth it.
As for Biden, as he heads toward the end of his presidency he’s gotten
lots of deserved praise for his commitment and achievements in
addressing climate. While this might not be the way he would describe
it, there’s no question that between the Inflation Reduction Act, the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the efforts of agencies
including the EPA and Department of Energy, he has made progress on all
five of the Green New Deal’s goals.
Net-zero emission targets?
Check.
Focus on well-paid green jobs?
Check.
Sustainable infrastructure?
Check.
Clean air and water?
Check.
Environmental justice?
Check.
One might question whether the steps his administration has taken in
these areas have been effective or sufficient, but no one can say Biden
hasn’t pursued the Green New Deal’s objectives.
The Green New Deal may not have been signed into law in its pure form,
but it did what its advocates hoped: It captured the conversation around
climate and was adopted to a great extent by an entire political party.
And much of what it sought has found its way into law
and policy. So while Trump may call it a scam, it looks a lot like a
triumph.
Shuttle
Columbia’s near-miss: Why we should always expect the unexpected in
space
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
The eventful launch of STS-93 and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Twenty-five years ago, Space Shuttle Columbia launched the Chandra X-ray
observatory and nearly ended in catastrophe. As the then-ascent flight
director John Shannon observed: “Yikes. We don’t need another one of
those.”…
Former US
diplomat and author Martin Indyk dies at 73
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
NORWICH, Conn. — Veteran diplomat Martin S. Indyk, an author and
leader at prominent U.S. think tanks who devoted years to finding a path
toward peace in the Middle East, died Thursday. He was 73.
His wife, Gahl Hodges Burt, confirmed in a phone call that he died
from complications of esophageal cancer at the couple’s home in New
Fairfield, Connecticut.
The Council on Foreign Relations, where Indyk had been a
distinguished fellow in U.S. and Middle East diplomacy since 2018,
called him a “rare, trusted voice within an otherwise polarized debate
on U.S. policy toward the Middle East.”
A native of Australia, Indyk served as U.S. ambassador to Israel from
1995 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2001. He was special envoy for the
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations during former President Barack Obama’s
administration, from 2013 to 2014.
When he resigned in 2014 to join The Brookings Institution think tank
in Washington, it had symbolized the latest failed effort by the U.S. to
forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. He continued as Obama’s special
adviser on Mideast peace issues.
“Ambassador Indyk has invested decades of his extraordinary career to
the mission of helping Israelis and Palestinians achieve a lasting
peace. It’s the cause of Martin’s career, and I’m grateful for the
wisdom and insight he’s brought to our collective efforts,”
then-Secretary of State John Kerry said at the time, in a statement.
In a May 22 social media post on X, amid the continuing war in Gaza,
Indyk urged Israelis to “wake up,” warning them their government “is
leading you into greater isolation and ruin” after a proposed peace deal
was rejected. Indyk also called out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu in June on X, accusing him of playing “the martyr in a crisis
he manufactured,” after Netanyahu accused the U.S. of withholding
weapons that Israel needed.
“Israel is at war on four fronts: with Hamas in Gaza; with Houthis in
Yemen; with Hezbollah in Lebanon; and with Iran overseeing the
operations,” Indyk wrote on June 19. “What does Netanyahu do? Attack the
United States based on a lie that he made up! The Speaker and Leader
should withdraw his invitation to address Congress until he recants and
apologizes.”
Indyk also served as special assistant to former President Bill
Clinton and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs at the
National Security Council from 1993 to 1995. He served as assistant
secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in the U.S. Department of
State from 1997 to 2000.
Besides serving at Brookings and the Council on Foreign Relations,
Indyk worked at the Center for Middle East Policy and was the founding
executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Indyk’s successor at the Washington Institute called him “a true
American success story.”
“A native of Australia, he came to Washington to have an impact on
the making of American Middle East Policy and that he surely did – as
pioneering scholar, insightful analyst and remarkably effective policy
entrepreneur,” Robert Satloff said. “He was a visionary who not only
founded an organization based on the idea that wise public policy is
rooted in sound research, he embodied it.”
Indyk wrote or co-wrote multiple books, including Innocent Abroad: An
Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East and
Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East
Diplomacy, which was published in 2021.
Rockets
launched at bases hosting US troops in Iraq and Syria
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
Baghdad — Several rockets were launched Thursday and Friday against
bases hosting troops from the U.S.-led anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq
and Syria, security officials and a war monitor said.
Such attacks were frequent early in the war between Israel and Hamas
Palestinian militants in Gaza but since then have largely halted.
“Four rockets fell in the vicinity” of Ain al-Assad base in Anbar
province, an Iraqi security source said.
Another security official said an attack occurred with “a drone and
three rockets” that fell close to the base perimeter.
A United States official said initial reports indicated that
projectiles landed outside the base without causing injuries or damage
to the base.
All sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not
authorized to speak to the media.
At least one rocket also fell near a base of the coalition in the
Conoco gas field in Deir Ezzor province of eastern Syria, according to
the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
The Observatory said a blast was heard in the area but there were no
immediate reports of casualties.
The rocket was fired from “zones under the control of pro-Iranian
militia” groups, said the monitor, which relies on sources inside
Syria.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.
Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq have largely halted similar attacks
on U.S.-backed troops in recent months.
The latest attack come after a security meeting this week between
Iraqi and U.S. officials in Washington on the future of the
international anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq. Iran-backed groups have
demanded a withdrawal.
The U.S. Defense Department said Wednesday “the delegations reached
an understanding on the concept for a new phase of the bilateral
security relationship.”
This would include “cooperation through liaison officers, training,
and traditional security cooperation programs.”
On July 16, two drones were launched against Ain al-Assad base, with
one exploding inside without causing injuries or damage. A senior
security official in Baghdad said at the time he believed the attack was
meant to “embarrass” the Iraqi government before the security
meeting.
For more than three months, as regional tensions soared over the
Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, United States troops were targeted by rockets
and drones more than 175 times in the Middle East, mainly in Iraq and
Syria.
The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-backed
groups, claimed the majority of the attacks, saying they were in
solidarity with Gaza Palestinians.
In January, a drone strike blamed on those groups killed three U.S.
soldiers in a base in Jordan. In retaliation, U.S. forces launched
dozens of strikes against Tehran-backed fighters.
Since then, attacks against U.S. troops have largely halted.
Baghdad has sought to defuse tensions, engaging in talks with
Washington on the future of the U.S.-led coalition’s mission in
Iraq.
The U.S. military has around 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria
with the international coalition.
The coalition was deployed to Iraq at the government’s request in
2014 to help combat the Islamic State group, which had taken over vast
swathes of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Islamic State remnants still carry out attacks and ambushes in both
countries.
ATLANTA — Former President Barack Obama and former first lady
Michelle Obama have endorsed Kamala Harris in her White House bid,
giving the vice president the expected but still crucial backing of the
nation’s two most popular Democrats.
The endorsement, announced Friday morning in a video showing Harris
accepting a joint phone call from the former first couple, comes as
Harris continues to build momentum as the party’s likely nominee after
President Joe Biden’s decision to end his reelection bid and endorse his
second-in-command against Republican nominee and former President Donald
Trump.
It also highlights the friendship and potentially historic link
between the nation’s first Black president and the first woman, first
Black woman and first person of Asian descent to serve as vice
president, who is now vying to break those same barriers at the
presidential rank.
“We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you
and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the
Oval Office,” the former president told Harris, who is shown taking the
call as she walks backstage at an event, trailed by a Secret Service
agent.
Said Michelle Obama, “I can’t have this phone call without saying to
my girl, Kamala, I am proud of you.
“This is going to be historic,” she added.
Harris, who has known the Obamas since before his election in 2008,
thanked them for their friendship and said she looks forward to “getting
there, being on the road” with them in the three-month blitz before
Election Day on November 5.
“We’re gonna have some fun with this too, aren’t we?” Harris
said.
The Obamas are perhaps the last major party figures to endorse Harris
formally — a reflection of the former president’s desire to remain, at
least publicly, a party elder operating above the fray. The Obamas
remain prodigious fundraising draws and popular surrogates at large
campaign events for Democratic candidates.
According to an Associated Press survey, Harris already has secured
the public support of a majority of delegates to the Democratic National
Convention, which begins August 19 in Chicago. The Democratic National
Committee expects to hold a virtual nominating vote that would, by
August 7, make Harris and a yet-to-be-named running mate the official
Democratic ticket.
Biden endorsed Harris within an hour of announcing his decision last
Sunday to end his campaign amid widespread concern about the 81-year-old
president’s ability to defeat Trump. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem
Jeffries, House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn, former President Bill Clinton
and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed in the days
after.
The Obamas, however, trod carefully as Harris secured the delegate
commitments, made the rounds among core Democratic constituencies and
raised more than $120 million. The public caution tracks how the former
president handled the weeks between Biden’s debate debacle against Trump
and the president’s eventual decision to end his campaign: Obama was a
certain presence in the party’s maneuvers, but he operated quietly.
Barack Obama’s initial statement after Biden’s announcement did not
mention Harris. Instead, he spoke generically about coming up with a
nominee to succeed Biden: “I have extraordinary confidence that the
leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an
outstanding nominee emerges,” the former president wrote.
Both Obamas campaigned separately for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and
Biden in 2020, including large rallies on the closing weekends before
Election Day. They delivered key speeches at the Democrats’ convention
in 2020, a virtual event because of the coronavirus pandemic. The former
president’s speech was especially notable because he unveiled a
full-throated attack on Trump as a threat to democracy, an argument that
endures as part of Harris’ campaign.
John
Boston | Serial Killers and Returning Shopping Carts
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
A relative years ago shared that “… the fundamental unit of humanity is
insanity.” I find no chink in her argument. People are nuts. This is
good for me because […]
I am proud to have served the city of Santa Clarita for more than two
decades as a council member and four-time mayor. During this time, I
worked closely with […]
Lois Eisenberg
| A Great Man Makes a Hard Decision
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
“Way to go, Patriot Brandon” in making the decision to withdraw from the
2024 election race. It takes a great man to make a hard decision and you
have done […]
Tom Purcell
| America Needs a Better Line of … Baloney
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
What a bunch of BS. BS is all over television, blogs, podcasts and
newspapers these days. It’s spouted by politicians and pitched by
product spokesmen. Modern life is manufacturing an […]
Carl
Kanowsky | The Collective Napa Valley Barrel Tasting
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
Since its beginning in 1981, the Napa Wine Auction (in its various
iterations) has raised and invested more than $230 million toward
helping the Napa Valley community address some of […]
Customer
bricked a phone – and threatened to brick techie’s face with it
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
There’s a difference between a warranty and insurance. In this story the
latter could fight back
On Call Friday is the day the working week goes to die
for most people – unless, like many a Reg reader, they’re on
call to provide tech support at all hours. Which is why we use this day
to celebrate those hardy souls with a fresh instalment of On Call – the
reader-contributed column that celebrates survival in the face of
stupidity, mendacity, and substandard manners.…
Study
shock! AI hinders productivity and makes working worse
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Management drank the Kool Aid but staff can’t cope with new demands
Bosses expect artificial intelligence software to improve productivity,
but workers say the tool does the opposite, according to a survey by
find-a-workplace research org the Upwork Research Institute, a limb of
talent-finding platform Upwork.…
Reading Time: 36minutes Hi everyone! Hi!
Can…can we all please stop talking about the US election for a bit,
please? There’s ages left and you’re not going to be able to keep this
level of discourse up for another three months, unless he really DOES
fcuk his couch. Tell you what, let me distract you with something
different,…
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Pick a hot market – AI, quantum, chips, 6G – and the pair have a plan to
work on it together
The UK and India agreed on Wednesday to a broad “Technology Security
Initiative” that will see the two nations collaborate in ways it’s hoped
will unlock investment.…
Omnissa,
VMware’s old end-user biz, emerges with promise of ‘AI-infused
autonomous workspace’
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
We think this means easier-to-administer virtual desktops with extra
shiny
Omnissa, the newly independent business created by Broadcom’s spinoff of
VMWare’s end-user compute arm, has proclaimed it will become a source of
“AI-infused autonomous workspaces”.…
US
arrests cartel leaders ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and son of ‘El Chapo’
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico’s
Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of another infamous
cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas on Thursday,
the U.S. Justice Department said.
A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaquín
“El Chapo” Guzmán, Zambada is one of the most notorious drug traffickers
in the world and known for running the cartel’s smuggling operations
while keeping a lower profile.
A Mexican federal official told The Associated Press that Zambada and
Guzmán López arrived in the United States on a private plane and turned
themselves in to authorities. The official spoke on the condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized discuss the matter.
The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for
information leading to the capture of Zambada, who eluded authorities
for decades.
Zambada and Guzmán López oversaw the trafficking of “tens of
thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related
violence,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said, adding that now they will
“face justice in the United States.”
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced,
and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel
leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities
is held accountable,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a
statement.
Mexican authorities didn’t immediately comment on the arrests.
U.S. officials have been seeking Zambada’s capture for years, and he
has been charged in a number of U.S. cases. He was charged in February
in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring to manufacture and
distribute the synthetic opioid. Prosecutors said he was continuing to
lead the Sinaloa cartel, “one of the most violent and powerful drug
trafficking organizations in the world.”
Zambada, one of the longest-surviving capos in Mexico, was considered
the cartel’s strategist, more involved in day-to-day operations than his
flashier and better-known boss, “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was sentenced to
life in prison in the U.S. in 2019 and is the father of Guzmán
López.
Zambada is an old-fashioned capo in an era of younger kingpins known
for their flamboyant lifestyles of club-hopping and brutal tactics of
beheading, dismembering and even skinning their rivals. While Zambada
has fought those who challenged him, he is known for concentrating on
the business side of trafficking and avoiding gruesome cartel violence
that would draw attention.
In an April 2010 interview with the Mexican magazine Proceso, he
acknowledged that he lived in constant fear of going to prison and would
contemplate suicide rather than be captured.
“I’m terrified of being incarcerated,” Zambada said. “I’d like to
think that, yes, I would kill myself.”
The interview was surprising for a kingpin known for keeping his head
down, but he gave strict instructions on where and when the encounter
would take place, and the article gave no hint of his whereabouts.
Zambada reputedly won the loyalty of locals in his home state of
Sinaloa and neighboring Durango through his largess, sponsoring local
farmers and distributing money and beer in his birthplace of El
Alamo.
Although little is known about Zambada’s early life, he is believed
to have gotten his start as an enforcer in the 1970s.
By the early 1990s, he was a major player in the Juarez cartel,
transporting tons of cocaine and marijuana.
Zambada started gaining the trust of Colombian traffickers,
allegiances that helped him come out on top in the cartel world of
ever-shifting alliances. Eventually he became so powerful that he broke
off from the Juarez cartel, but still managed to keep strong ties with
the gang and avoided a turf war. He also developed a partnership with
“El Chapo” Guzman that would take him to the top of the Sinaloa
Cartel.
Zambada’s detention follows some important arrests of other Sinaloa
cartel figures, including one of his sons and another son of “El Chapo”
Guzmán, Ovidio Guzmán López. Zambada’s son pleaded guilty in U.S.
federal court in San Diego in 2021 to being a leader in the Sinaloa
cartel.
In recent years, Guzman’s sons have led a faction of the cartel known
as the little Chapos, or “Chapitos” that has been identified as a main
exporter of fentanyl to the U.S. market.
They were seen as more violent and flamboyant than Zambada. Their
security chief was arrested by Mexican authorities in November.
Ovidio Guzmán López was arrested and extradited to the U.S. last
year. He pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago in
September.
Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the DEA, said
Zambada’s arrest is important but unlikely to have much impact on the
flow of drugs to the U.S. Joaquín Guzmán López was the least influential
of the four sons who made up the Chapitos, Vigil said.
“This is a great blow for the rule of law, but is it going to have an
impact on the cartel? I don’t think so,” Vigil said.
“It’s not going to have a dent on the drug trade because somebody
from within the cartel is going to replace him,” Vigil said.
US
presidential election energizes fast-growing Indian American
community
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
washington — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ meteoric rise to the
top of the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket has energized many
Indian Americans, raising the fast-growing community’s political profile
and sparking widespread excitement.
Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, appears set to become
the first female presidential nominee of color after President Joe Biden
dropped out of the race on Sunday. But the fervor isn’t solely about her
nomination.
Many Indian Americans, regardless of political leanings, are equally
electrified to see other notable figures of Indian descent in the
national spotlight: Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice presidential
nominee J.D. Vance, as well as former presidential candidates Nikki
Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy.
“I’m very proud that Indian Americans are making it on every stage,”
said Shaker Narasimhan, chair and founder of AAPI Victory Fund, a super
PAC focused on mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Islander voters and
supporting Democratic candidates.
Narasimhan recalled being on a call with about 130 people when news
broke that Biden had dropped his presidential bid and endorsed
Harris.
“Everything lit up, literally: the chats, the DMs, the phones,”
Narasimhan said. “But it was all with excitement, not wonderment, like,
‘Wow.’ It was like, ‘Oh my God, let’s go,’ This is just the opportunity
of a lifetime, as far as I’m concerned, for us to show our muscles.”
The enthusiasm cuts across the political spectrum. Priti
Pandya-Patel, co-founder of the New Jersey Republican Party’s South Asia
Coalition, said the community is buzzing about the prospect of Usha
Vance becoming the country’s first Indian American second lady.
“I think it’s just a proud moment to see our community actually being
out there and being noticed,” Pandya-Patel said. “I think that is
definitely getting our Indian community very excited.”
5 million in US
Indian Americans are one of the fastest-growing immigrant
communities, surging more than tenfold since the early 1990s.
Today, there are roughly 5 million people of Indian descent living in
the United States, making them the largest Asian ethnic group and the
second-largest immigrant group after Mexicans.
While Indian Americans vote Democratic more than any other Asian
group, roughly 20% identify as Republican.
The Indian American community has traditionally been perceived as
politically less active than some other ethnic groups. However, there
are indications of growing political engagement within the
community.
A recent survey of Asian Americans, including those of Indian
descent, found that 90% intended to vote in the November election even
though 42% had not been contacted by either party or candidate.
The Asian American Voter Survey, of nearly 2,500 voters, was
conducted between April 4 to May 26 by several Asian American
groups.
“So that suggests a potential gap in engagement,” said Suhag Shukla,
co-founder and executive director of the non-partisan Hindu American
Foundation.
Shukla said the election presents a “tremendous opportunity” for the
Indian American community as well as the two major political
parties.
“I think Indian Americans need to recognize their power, especially
because many of us do live in either purple states or purple districts,”
Shukla said in an interview with VOA, referring to battleground states
in the U.S. presidential election. “On the flip side, I think that it’s
a real opportunity for the parties to do not just a checkmark or a
checkbox-type outreach, but genuine outreach. Have town halls. Have
listening sessions.”
Spokespeople for the Harris and Trump campaigns did not respond to
questions about their community outreach efforts.
Both campaigns mobilize voters through grassroots organizations.
Deepa Sharma, deputy director of South Asians for Harris and a
delegate to next month’s Democratic National Convention, said her group
is “working closely with people on the ground who will knock on doors,
will do phone bank and outreach to this community.”
Indian Americans comprise less than 1% of U.S. registered voters,
according to a 2020 study by the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace. But almost one-third live in closely contested battleground
states such as Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
That puts them in a position to sway the outcome of the November
election, said Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American
Impact, a progressive group.
“The South Asian American population far exceeds the margin of
victory in the closest elections in these states,” Patel said.
Voter turnout steadily climbing
In 2020, the Biden-Harris ticket carried more than 70% of the Indian
American vote, according to Patel, adding that support for Harris is
likely to edge higher this year.
“She has drawn considerable support from the South Asian American
community because she has consistently shown up and fought for our
values, fought for our issues,” Patel said.
Earlier this year, Harris spoke at Indian American Impact’s “Desis
Decide” summit, where she credited Indian Americans and Asian Americans
with helping to get two Democratic senators elected in 2020 and
2021.
Patel said voter turnout among South Asian Americans has been
steadily climbing in recent years. In 2020, for example, more than 70%
of registered South Asian American voters turned out to vote in
Pennsylvania, he said.
“I think they’re going to be instrumental in delivering the White
House this November,” Patel said.
Similar predictions by groups such as Muslim Americans have sometimes
failed to materialize.
But Narasimhan said turnout could be boosted with the right voter
mobilization strategy, adding that voter education is key.
“Just because you’re a citizen doesn’t mean you can vote, you have to
register,” Narasimhan said. “Teaching people the basic rudimentaries of
what’s early voting, what’s absentee balloting, what’s going to the
polls, navigating the system is critical, and we have to do that basic
education.”
On the Republican side, activists are betting that Trump’s close ties
to India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi will translate
into votes for the former president.
“Trump has been friendly to India and that makes a big difference,”
Pandya-Patel, the Republican activist in New Jersey, said.
Whether Indian American support for Trump is rising remains
unclear.
In the recent Asian American Voter Survey, 29% of Indian Americans
said they intended to vote for Trump, largely unchanged from four years
ago.
Trump has called Modi a “true friend.” In 2019, he and Modi addressed
a joint rally in Houston, Texas, that attracted more than 50,000 people,
many supporters of the Indian prime minister. At the “Howdy, Modi!”
rally, Trump called Modi “one of America’s greatest, most devoted and
most loyal friends.”
Pandya-Patel said the rally boosted Indian American support for
Trump, whose friendship with Modi, she added, is a key reason many
Indian Americans back him.
Shukla of the Hindu American Foundation said there is a perception
among some Indian Americans that the Democratic Party is not “a
Hindu-friendly party.”
That may partly explain a recent “shift” in Indian American party
affiliation, she said.
In the Asian American Voter Survey, the number of Indians who
identify as Democrats fell from 54% in 2020 to 47% in 2024, while those
identifying with the Republican Party rose from 16% to 21%.
Anang Mittal, a Virginia-based commentator who previously worked for
House Speaker Mike Johnson, said the apparent shift reflects less a “sea
change” than shifting political attitudes.
“I think the country as a whole is sort of shifting towards
Republicans because of the larger issues that are plaguing this
election,” Mittal said.
Netanyahu’s
speech to Congress seen as unlikely to shift US policy on Israel-Hamas
war
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday to
Congress highlighted US partisan divisions on his conduct of the war
against the Hamas terror group, and some of his differences with
President Joe Biden on how best to secure Israel’s future. VOA’s Michael
Lipin looks at how Netanyahu’s address and Biden’s decision last weekend
not to run for reelection may affect US policy on the Israel-Hamas war
in the coming months.
Biden,
Netanyahu meet to discuss Gaza war and cease-fire talks
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met separately
with Israel’s leader Thursday at the White House — as a sensitive moment
in the Gaza conflict collided with an unprecedented moment in American
politics. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also plans to meet on Friday
with former President Donald Trump. VOA White House correspondent Anita
Powell reports from Washington.
Assault
with a deadly weapon reported at golf course
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
Law enforcement responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon
at Vista Valencia Golf Course on Thursday night, according to the Santa
Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “A male […]
White House — The Biden administration is hopeful over a deal to
reach a cease-fire and free hostages held in Gaza, where war has raged
for more than nine months after Hamas’ stunning October 7 attack on
Israel.
VOA spoke to John Kirby, White House national security spokesperson,
about the deal and more, in this interview with VOA’s White House
Correspondent Begum Ersoz on Thursday.
The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
VOA: Does the administration accept a cease-fire deal only with phase
one, that does not guarantee any way forward for the other phases of the
deal? What stands in the way of a deal? And what are the sticking
points?
KIRBY: The whole purpose of the proposal is that you get to phase
one, you get a six-week ceasefire, get some hostages out and you begin
the negotiations on phase two. That’s the whole purpose of this
proposal. What we want to do is to get to phase one, get the six weeks
started. …I will not get into the details and negotiate in public. But
we believe the gaps are narrow enough, that with compromise and
leadership on both sides could be closed.
VOA: Is the administration concerned that Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu might be using this visit to the U.S. to bolster his
own domestic political standing?
KIRBY: I think it’s important that the American people had a chance
to hear directly from the prime minister with comments [before the U.S.
Congress] on Capitol Hill. And we obviously look forward to any
opportunity we have, including the one today, to sit down and discuss
these issues in a private setting. We also believe it was important that
the prime minister hear directly from the families of the American
hostages and understand their anxiety, their fear, their desire to get
their loved ones home. I won’t speak for the domestic considerations of
the prime minister, that’s for him to speak to, but it’s pretty clear
that the Israeli people also want to see those hostages returned. They
want their loved ones back too.
VOA: Netanyahu also had talks with Vice President Kamala Harris. As
the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party, to what extent she
will follow the same trajectory as the Biden administration?
KIRBY: I’m not going to speculate about the future. Those are the
questions for the vice president. Because what I can tell you, without
question, is that she has been a full partner in the pursuit of the
policies that this administration has made clear are important to us
with respect to the Middle East and the war in Gaza. She has been a full
partner and had conversations with Israeli counterparts on her own.
She’s been involved in virtually every conversation that the president
has had with the prime minister.
VOA: Some NATO officials express concerns about an arms race with the
axis of Russia-China-Iran-North Korea – and some say it has already
helped Russia reconstitute its forces and capabilities more quickly. How
potent is the Russian-Chinese-Iranian-North Korean axis? And do you see
their cooperation expanding?
KIRBY: We have certainly watched with concern the burgeoning defense
relationships between Russia and China and between Russia and North
Korea. The way that it’s manifested itself, particularly in Ukraine –
Chinese companies now providing components for some Russian systems
North Koreans providing artillery shells and ballistic missiles.
Obviously, that’s of concern to us. And we have and will continue to
take the appropriate action to make sure these countries are held
accountable for what they’re doing in terms of supporting the war in
Ukraine.
VOA: The Taliban claim Afghanistan is a victim of the destructive
activities of groups with operations in neighboring countries and in the
region. They warn that if the world neglects this, it could face a
dangerous outcome. Does the U.S. perceive or sense any potential threat
from Afghanistan?
KIRBY: First of all, we don’t recognize the Taliban as the governing
authority of Afghanistan. They made some commitments when they took over
Kabul. They have not met those commitments. If they want legitimacy on
the world stage, if they want to be taken seriously, they need to start
making good on some of those commitments. They do have internal security
issues, particularly an ongoing terrorist threat inside Afghanistan. And
that is something that they’re going to have to reconcile with. But the
idea of playing victim here after they forcibly took over governance in
Afghanistan rings pretty hollow to the international community.
VOA: During the NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
said that the approach of Western allies fuel the fire in the war in
Ukraine instead of bringing about peace. Any reaction to that?
KIRBY: All I can tell you is that everything that President Biden has
been doing since the beginning of this illegal aggression by Russia and
unprovoked war has been to put Mr. Zelenskyy and Ukrainians in the best
position possible, a position of strength, so that if and when they’re
ready to negotiate an end to this war, they can do it, knowing they’ve
been supported by the United States and the international community. We
all want to see this war end. And it’s worth reminding people that the
war could end tomorrow if Putin did the right thing and got his troops
the hell out of Ukraine. So we make no apologies, none, whatsoever about
what we’re trying to do to make sure that Ukraine can find a way to end
this war on terms that are acceptable to them.
North
Korean chap charged for attacks on US hospitals, military, NASA – and
even China
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Microsoft, Mandiant, weigh in with info about methods used by Andariel
gang alleged to have made many, many, heists
The US Department of Justice on Thursday charged a North Korean national
over a series of ransomware attacks on stateside hospitals and
healthcare providers, US defense companies, NASA, and even a Chinese
target.…
We’ve refreshed the Playdate Shop
website, and there are some new goods to check out, including Playdate
stickers and iron-on patches. Have a look-see!
Malware
crew Stargazers Goblin used 3,000 GitHub accounts to make bank
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
May even have targeted other malware gangs, and infosec researchers
Infosec researchers have discovered a network of over three thousand
malicious GitHub accounts used to spread malware, targeting groups
including gamers, malware researchers, and even other threat actors who
themselves seek to spread malware.…
Local
officials react to Newsom order on homeless encampments
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows cities to enforce a
ban on homeless encampments, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order
for how agencies should address them. The […]
CrowdStrike
update blunder may cost world billions – and insurance ain’t covering it
all
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
We offer this formula instead: RND(100.0)*(10^9)
The cost of CrowdStrike’s apocalyptic Falcon update that brought down
millions of Windows computers last week may be in the billions of
dollars, and insurance isn’t covering most of that.…
COC
contract for construction of CTE center ‘under review’
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
A little more than a year ago, College of the Canyons reached an
agreement with Intertex to build out a nearly $20 million center for
career technical education. On Wednesday, […]
His younger brother, a Vietnam veteran, couldn’t talk about the war
unless he was “stinking drunk,” Juan Blanco said. Only then would all
the pain come pouring out. So many […]
The Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation announced
earlier this month that Jey Wagner stepped down from his role as
president and CEO effective July 8,
State’s
Top Court Rules Ride-Share Drivers to Remain Independent
Contractors
date: 2024-07-26, from: SCV New (TV Station)
(CN) — The California Supreme Court on Thursday rebuffed a
union-backed challenge to the voter-approved law that exempts app-based
drivers working for companies such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash from being
classified as employees rather than independent contractors under the
state’s labor code
FBI officials said there have been no arrests yet in their joint
investigation into a June 21 bank robbery in Acton. The investigation
is an active one and FBI agents, […]
Thanks to all the people who pitched in with bug reports, suggestions
and patches! Keep it coming!
About pgmetrics
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can collect 350+ metrics from a running PostgreSQL server and display it
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The
Park Fire burns in
California.