DEAR NETHAPPENINGS READERS
If you haven’t downloaded Signal to your computer or phone, do it today. I’ve been using Signal for years to protect my privacy and have recommended this to all my friends, family and others who need the service. https://signal.org
Meredith Whittaker @mer__edith
PSA: if you take or edit photos of crowds or strangers with Signal, you can use our face blur tool to quickly hide people’s biometric face data.
You can then export the photo from Signal if you want to post it publicly.
More on this feature here:
Blur tools for Signal
moxie0 on 03 Jun 2020
https://signal.org/blog/blur-tools/
1969: The first message sent over ARPANET was from Leonard Kleinrock’s UCLA computer, sent by student programmer Charley Kline at 10:30 PM to the second node at Stanford Research Institute’s computer in Menlo Park, California. The message was simply “Lo.” But not on purpose!
Back when he was teaching at MIT, Gary Gensler said it didn’t make sense that there was a #Bitcoin futures ETF but not a spot ETF. His SEC job was to stall it out as long as he could.
Hedy Lamarr
Born as Hedwig Eva Marie Kiesler in Vienna in 1914, she was the only daughter of an upper-class family. Despite being raised as a Christian, both her parents were born Jewish.
Lamarr was an actress and also a scientist and co-patented spread-spectrum technology during World War II to prevent the Nazis from jamming navy torpedoes. However, her invention was rejected and wouldn’t be implemented until the Cold War in 1962. The technology would eventually be used in developing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology.
Hedy Lamarr’s memorial in Vienna. The 88 rods are for the frequencies in her patented Spread Spectrum invention.
The balls are information packets encoded on those frequencies.
If you stand in the right spot, you can see her face.
https://twitter.com/DigAdvice/status/1718109035696910341/photo/1
Chaplin and Einstein were both deeply committed to using their fame to promote social justice and peace.
When Albert Einstein met Charlie Chaplin in 1931, Einstein said, “What I admire most about your art is its universality. You do not say a word, and yet the world understands you.” “It’s true.” Replied Chaplin, “But your fame is even greater. The world admires you, when no one understands you.”
‘Why Biden Administration’s prosecution of Julian Assange is a serious mistake’
‘Politicians and laypeople alike should remember that the press serves the citizens, not the government’ [Jan 2022] #FreeAssange
Today the Identity Project submitted our comments to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on the TSA’s proposed rules for “mobile driver’s licenses”.
The term “mobile driver’s license” is highly misleading. The model Electronic Credential Act drafted by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) to authorize the issuance of these digital credentials and installation (“provisioning”) of government-provided identification and tracking apps on individual’s smartphones provides that, “The Electronic Credential Holder shall be required to have their Physical Credential on their person while operating a motor vehicle.”
So the purpose of “mobile driver’s licenses” isn’t actually licensing of motor vehicle operators, as one might naively assume from the name. Rather, the purpose of the “mobile drivers license” scheme is to create a national digital ID, according to standards controlled by the TSA, AAMVA, and other private parties, to be issued by state motor vehicle agencies but intended for use as an all-purpose government identifier linked to a smartphone and used for purposes unrelated to motor vehicles.
BREAKING: Dual Victories for CA Delete Act & Right to Repair Act
Californians: your right to repair is now law. Thanks to an advocacy coalition led by CALPIRG (California Public Interest Research Groups), individuals and independent repair shops will have more access to the materials and information they need to fix their electronics and appliances. This follows a wave of encouraging right to repair laws across the U.S.!
How to see the hidden text messages Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan blacked out
Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan attempted to block public view of more than 1,400 texts he traded with a Michigan lawyer tied to data breaches in four states. He blacked out texts, but The Arizona Republic was able to digitally remove his redactions and view the messages. Texts, however, reveal Trump’s allies and lawyers were involved in nearly every facet of the “audit.” The texts showed that Logan was enlisted as part of a coordinated effort to overturn election results in several swing states, including Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
This is the link to the reading room: https://web.tresorit.com/l/XMN4J#pqSHHqcq_c_eP90cdWcdSg.
It contains tens of thousands of documents within various folders, dated from when the submissions were made. Not all can be unredacted.
Robert Reich @RBReich
Pfizer is nearly tripling the price of the life saving drug Paxlovid to $1,390.Meanwhile, the company raked in $31 billion in profits last year and paid its CEO $33 million. Corporate greed at its worst.
BusinessWeek cover story, August 13, 1979
“The Death of Equities – How inflation is destroying the stock market”
IN 2022 Right Wing Domestic Terrorists committed 100% of extremism tied murders. With the death of the rightwing Maine mass murderer a reminder that domestic terrorism is not a both sides problem it’s a republican problem.
Frightening. It’s as if we’re living in The Handmaid’s Tale.
“Speaker Johnson really does provide a near-perfect example of all the different elements of Christian nationalism,” said Andrew Whitehead, a sociologist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.”
“X is tilting right” is a very WaPo way to say Elmo turned this website into a Nazi psyops cannon.
@elonmusk is such a rank, terrified coward that he has shadowbanned me and many others who have the temerity to tell the truth.
GIFT ARTICLE
Mrs. Betty Bowers @BettyBowers
Jack Smith isn’t prosecuting Donald J. Trump to stop Trump from running for president.
Donald J. Trump is running for president to stop Jack Smith from prosecuting him.
Clarence Thomas ruled against student loan debt— as a Supreme Court Justice; he was recently implicated in a Senate panel’s investigation regarding his stance on student debt relief. The committee discovered that Thomas had a significant loan, amounting to $267,230, forgiven by a close associate who happens to be a healthcare executive. This executive, Anthony Welters, had previously lent Thomas the funds, which were used by the Justice to acquire a lavish recreational vehicle.
Anita Hill spoke about his UNETHICAL conduct in addition to his sexual harassment. Yet he was confirmed. In Bush v. Gore, Scalia’s son’s office represented Bush. SCOTUS is corrupt. Thomas is a symptom of its blatant corruption. The Supreme Court has lost any credibility. Clarence Thomas is a criminal who needs to be removed from the highest court of the land.
So Mike Johnson adopted his 14 year old “black son” when he was 25 and unmarried.
Matt Gaetz adopted a 14 year old Cuban immigrant named “Nestor” when he was 30 and unmarried.
Both are powerful Republicans now in the House. What the hell is going on here?
ProPublica @propublica
The shift in recent years to pay doctors electronically for medical claims has facilitated the growth of “middlemen” payment processors. How these players managed to create this lucrative niche has never previously been reported — until now.
https://propublica.org/article/why-doctors-spend-millions-on-fees-could-be-spent-on-health-care
A lack of testing data and government guidance led many to avoid the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy, unwittingly increasing their chances of a stillbirth. Seven days before the stillbirth, the mother had tested positive for COVID-19. Odronic wondered if the virus could explain the damage to the placenta. In the world of placenta pathology, a new affliction is unusual, especially one so dramatic in presentation and so devastating in effect.
Shai Goldman @shaig Oct 28, 2023
https://twitter.com/shaig/status/1718280824083120425
2005 : Israel handed FULL control of Gaza to Palestinians.
What Gaza could have been? another Tel-Aviv. Could have had tourism, high tech, higher learning , industry, beautiful beach towns, their own electricity, internet, water and energy.
What did Gaza turn into? They voted in Hamas after Israel pulled out. The Hamas charter specifically states that their mission is to destroy Israel & the Jewish people.
Once Hamas came into power , they started attacking Israel, Israel had to protect itself and setting blockades.
Egypt , which shares a border with Gaza has done the same . They don’t want the violence of Hamas spilling into their country.
Once Hamas leaders are disarmed , imprisoned , tunnel destroyed, missiles destroyed. Palestinians will need to find a leader who believes in democracy and peace. Gaza can be turned into something beautiful but not with Hamas and terror as their mission.
Given the massacre of Jewish civilians & 229 people abducted on Oct 7 by Palestinian Hamas , the Israeli military will not rest until Hamas is fully disarmed & disbanded.
@Michael_Gilead
I’ve always wanted an immediate ceasefire in every round of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in the last 20 years. However, like almost the entirety of the Israeli left, we think that a ceasefire is not an option. If you are interested, here’s why:
https://twitter.com/Michael_Gilead/status/1718202377428185476