Abolish the filibuster
so Democrats can deliver
for America.
Danger in Plain Sight: The Risk of Triggering a Contingent Election in 2024
In a presidential election, third-party success could lead to a constitutional crisis. In 2024, it’s a real possibility.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/danger-in-plain-sight-the-risk-of-triggering-a-contingent-election-in-2024
With Eisenhower renaming, Army’s 100+ years honoring Confederates ends
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2023/10/27/with-eisenhower-renaming-armys-100-years-honoring-confederates-ends/
Smart home’ warning: Major study exposes alarming security threats – Study Finds
https://studyfinds.org/smart-homes-security-threats/
Google loses fight to hide 2021 money pit: $26B in default contracts
CEO Sundar Pichai testifies Monday as Google mounts its defense.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/10/google-paid-26b-for-default-contracts-in-2021-google-exec-testified/
Using Tails is not a crime!
In 2009, in a similar wave of repression, we created Tails precisely to avoid activists getting in trouble merely because of how they used computers.
In 2023, not much has changed. It’s saddening and enraging that digital privacy and safety are rapidly getting out of reach. Tails’s mission as important now, if not more, as it was 15 years ago.
Tails has a cool, new domain: tails.net
After 14 years of using a subdomain of boum.org , we finally found a new home that will be easier for everybody to remember and type. Tails will become easier to find by the people who need it the most.
The tails.boum.org domain will continue working for some time.
Caesars paid ransom after cyberattack
Oh — that’s not all. Caesars was hacked, too. The also-hotel and casino giant confirmed Bloomberg’s scoop in an SEC filing that it had been hacked some weeks earlier and its customer loyalty database — including driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers — was stolen. Unlike the MGM incident, Caesars appeared to be hit by a data-exfiltrating extortion attack, where the hackers stole customer data and threatened to publish it if a ransom wasn’t paid. The WSJ ($) reports that Caesars did pay about half of the $30 million demanded by the hackers to prevent the disclosure of stolen data. Scattered Spider, though, denied involvement with Caesars, despite sourcing to the contrary. But then again, cyber-crims will say anything if they think it’ll get them paid.
https://www.wsj.com/business/hospitality/caesars-paid-ransom-after-suffering-cyberattack-7792c7f0
Hackers claim MGM cyberattack as outage drags on
Some casinos were hacked. First up, hotel and casino giant MGM pulled much of its infrastructure offline after a cyberattack, hobbling the company’s, well, everything: ATM cash dispensers were down, slot machines were unavailable, guests couldn’t charge anything to their rooms or use their digital door keys. Scattered Spider (aka UNC3944) took credit for the hack, saying: “If you have money we want it,” but saying little on motive. That came to the ire of ALPHV, the ransomware gang for which Scattered Spider is said to be a subgroup, which issued a lengthy statement complaining about the press and, it seems, its own inability to handle its affiliates or infrastructure. FTC’s Lina Khan, who was staying at the hotel, was caught up in the hack. MGM staff asked Khan to write their credit card number on a piece of paper. (Spare a thought for the hotel worker in this shituation — not a typo). We don’t yet know what data was accessed or exfiltrated, if any, but the aftermath will likely drag on for some time.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/14/mgm-cyberattack-outage-scattered-spider/
Cameras, cops and paranoia: How Amazon’s surveillance network alters L.A. neighborhoods
https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2023-10-11/cameras-cops-and-paranoia-how-amazons-surveillance-network-alters-l-a-neighborhoods
Hacking the High School Grading System
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/opinion/teachers-grades-students-parents.html
What’s not helping? The policies many school districts are adopting that make it nearly impossible for low-performing students to fail — they have a grading floor under them, they know it, and that allows them to game the system.
Several teachers whom I spoke with or who responded to my questionnaire mentioned policies stating that students cannot get lower than a 50 percent on any assignment, even if the work was never done, in some cases. A teacher from Chapel Hill, N.C., who filled in the questionnaire’s “name” field with “No, no, no,” said the 50 percent floor and “NO attendance enforcement” leads to a scenario where “we get students who skip over 100 days, have a 50 percent, complete a couple of assignments to tip over into 59.5 percent and then pass.”
It’s a basic math hack. If a student needs two-thirds of the points — over 65% — to pass, then they have to do two-thirds of the work. But if doing zero work results in a 50% grade, then they only have to do a little bit of work to get over the pass line.
Education Voters PA @EdVotersPA
How much funding are charter school tuition payments draining out of your school district? Find out on our website! We have 500 school district fact sheets that detail how much your community pays for cyber charter school tuition:
https://edvoterspa.org/school-district-facts-sheets/
Spanish Church sexual abuse affected 200,000 children, commission finds
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67238572
Mike Johnson’s Wife Runs Counseling Service That Compares Being Gay To Bestiality, Incest
The newly elected Republican House speaker and his wife, Kelly, have long intertwined their political and business lives.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-johnson-wife-homosexuality-bestiality-incest_n_653abfb6e4b00110fef0462e
America has a revenue problem. Blame George W. Bush and Donald Trump. Even though the national debt is rising, spending can’t be blamed.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/us-economy-trump-bush-tax-cuts-deficit-rcna122322
America is back: DETROIT (AP) — General Motors and the United Auto Workers reach a tentative contract agreement, according to AP source.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67238572
Some Jewish American peace activists pay a personal price for backing ceasefire
https://www.wamc.org/2023-10-27/some-jewish-american-peace-activists-pay-a-personal-price-for-backing-ceasefire
Jonathan Swan @jonathanvswan
My great great grandfather died in the Odessa pogrom of 1905 and other family members fled. These scenes from Makhachkala are chilling – as is the hatred of Jews, and desire for the erasure of Israel, on vivid display, in ways large and small, across America right now.
Steve Rosenberg @BBCSteveR
In the late 1890s my great grandparents left the Russian empire because of pogroms. What happened yesterday in Makhachkala – a mob storming the airport to hunt for Jews, the mob checking passports as they looked for Israelis – this brought the 1890s into 2023.
Edward Luce @EdwardGLuce
For those who missed it: Speaker Mike ‘end-of-days’ Johnson is doing Putin’s bidding in the House and detaching Ukraine aid from Israel bill. Putin is Iran’s best friend and an ally of Hamas.
RIGHT WING WATCH
Perkins and Johnson go way back.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/alliance-defense-fund-to-launch-law-school-aimed-at-creating-liberal-chaser-attorneys/
Johnson was the first Dean of the proposed Pressler “christian” law school (named after a judge now facing sex abuse allegations). Perkins quoted as saying the school is designed to graduate “liberal chasers”
American ISIS
NAR is the new KKK, a group dedicated to violating citizens’ constitutional rights under the false guise of religious supremacy
“They believe and propagate extreme theologies that provide a mandate for Christians to take over society, and they have become increasingly influential in Republican politics in the past eight years.”
Another member of the NAR is antivax “Demon Sperm” grifter Stella Immanuel. This appearance with Mike Flynn music video
Speaker Johnson took control of a 14 year old kid through Young Life Ministries.
YLM is being sued: “Young Life Accused of Ignoring or Covering Up Allegations of Sexual Misconduct”
At least 8 members of YLM staff are criminally charged with sexual abuse.
Mike Johnson’s Campaign Contributions From Company Tied to Russia https://www.newsweek.com/house-speaker-mike-johnson-donations-russia-butina-1838501
Speaker Mike Johnson:
➡️ Believes same-sex relationships should be a crime
➡️ Supports a national abortion ban
➡️ Strategized with Trump to overturn the 2020 election
Mike Johnson is well-connected to the NAR, which produces false “prophets” like Julie Green seen here just before the mid-terms larping as God & predicting a “cleansing.” She threatens a long list of people: “Woe to you… you will see judgement on you & judgement on your family.”
Johnson is also backed by some of the nation’s most prominent corporations
Other corporate backers of Mike Johnson:
@Meta publicly champions LGBTQ rights, pays for its employees’ abortion-related travel, and froze donations to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election
But Meta has donated 4K to Johnson’s campaigns, including 2K on Sept 23, 2023
@Microsoft enthusiastically backs LGBTQ rights, describes abortion as “critical health care,” & forcefully rejected the legislators who voted to overturn the 2020 election
But Microsoft has donated $8,500 to Johnson’s campaigns, including a $2,500 donation on June 28, 2023
@ATT(21K)
@Boeing(10K)
@CapitalOne(1K)
@GetSpectrum(20K)
@Chevron(21.5K)
@CoxEnterprises(22K)
@KochIndustries(30.5K)
@nardotrealtor(19K)
@Verizon(4K)
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