Month: October 2024

IST Saturday News Dump–19Oct24

Another weekend begins and another of my now famous news dumps.

Personal–Medical tests were not good but more is needed…..I feel a post coming on.

Local–Cooler temps have finally arrived in South Mississippi but they will stick around for only a few days and then back to the 80s…..still no rain we are going on 5 weeks with no moisture.

Now onto the meat of the post…..

We all have heard about the hackers that get into people’s bank accounts or those that get into the voting records…..but this is a hack that I do not understand….

Those robot vacuums are handy devices—until they allow strangers to watch your family, hurl racial slurs, and torment the dog. ABC News of Australia reports that hackers gained control of Chinese-made Ecovacs Deebot X2s in the homes of US customers. It’s not clear how many devices were compromised, but the outlet rounds up examples from Minnesota, Los Angeles, and El Paso, Texas.

  • In Minnesota, lawyer Daniel Swenson says what sounded like a teenage voice began yelling “f—ing n—–s” over and over in front of his family. A similar incident happened in El Paso. In Los Angeles, one of the devices began chasing the family dog—because the hackers gained control of the device’s camera and remote operations.

This hack may sound like a bunch of bored teens goofing around, but it demonstrates how easily hackers can gain access to people’s homes to spy through cameras and microphones, notes Gizmodo. “A lot of the time the intent of these intruders is just to be punks,” writes Tom Maxwell. “But you have to wonder how many times it happens and no one knows about it.”

Ecovacs denies its devices were to blame for any vulnerability, though ABC demonstrated six months ago how easily it could commandeer one of the company’s vacuums from afar and see through its camera inside a home. The latest hack may come down to a PIN code vulnerability. A four-digit code is needed to gain access to the device’s video feed, but the code “is not validated server-side—meaning anyone with the basic know-how of a tool like Chrome web inspector could bypass it,” per Gizmodo. Its takeaway: Before buying any kind of smart device for the home, put due diligence into checking the company’s security measures. And maybe stop using the same PIN code over and over.

Some people have too much time on their hands.

I have been writing about the great recycling con for years now……and now others are helping spread the word….

Consumers want something to be done about plastic pollution. Recycling is something. Therefore oil companies, manufacturers and retailers are doing it. The trouble is, many of these initiatives are muddle-headed, some fall way short of their promise and others are actively causing more environmental damage than they are preventing. 

Tesco’s recent travails are a case in point. In 2021, the supermarket set up bins in its stores in which customers could leave their difficult-to-recycle “soft plastics”, like the low density polyethylene from shopping bags and film lids. At the time the company boldly forecast it would “collect more than 1,000 tonnes a year” and planned to “recycle as much of this material as possible back into products and packaging sold in Tesco stores”.

However, according to a recent investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency and the pressure group Everyday Plastic, the vast majority of this waste ended up being incinerated rather than being recycled. ClientEarth, a non-government organisation that specialises in environmental law, says the results of the investigation show that supermarket soft plastic take-back schemes are misleading customers.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2024/10/14/myth-plastic-recycling-finally-unravelling/

I recycle every week and these reports make me wonder if I am doing the right thing…..

Looks like my grandmother was right yet again…..she always asaid the more color on your plate the better….

We’re told that we should eat the rainbow, choosing a diet filled with a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables. These nutrient-dense foods contain a range of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. But while we understand that phytochemicals keep us healthy, we might not understand why. 

Phytochemicals, also called phytonutrients, are substances found in fruits, vegetables, and grains that are part of a plant’s immune system, meant to keep it healthy and free of disease. And by keeping the plants healthy, they also serve to keep the person eating them healthy.

“Phytochemicals, which are found in the colorful parts of fruits and vegetables, are basically a plant’s defense system to protect them from oxidative damage. They also play that role in humans,” says Rachel E. Scherr, a dietitian and lecturer at San Francisco State University.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/its-important-to-eat-the-rainbow-how-phytochemicals-in-fruits-and-veggies/

This one is for all those lazy people and their lack of exercise….

Imagine a pill that could mimic the physical effects of running a 10k, without you moving a muscle—which is exactly what scientists in Denmark have developed. According to a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the drug called LaKe is shown to encourage ketones and lactate in animal studies. “We’ve developed a molecule that can mimic the body’s natural metabolic response to strenuous exercise and fasting,” Dr. Thomas Poulsen, a chemist at Aarhus University who led the research, said, via the New York Post. “In practice, the molecule brings the body into a metabolic state corresponding to running 10 kilometers at high speed on an empty stomach.” Here’s what to know about the pill.

https://bestlifeonline.com/exercise-pill-mimics-metabolism/

Finally….there is gambling apps and ads everywhere these days….even a chance to wager on the 2024 election….

The self-proclaimed “world’s largest prediction market” is going big on a Donald Trump win this election cycle, based on what the Wall Street Journal calls a “mystery $30 million wave of pro-Trump bets” that have proliferated in recent days. The paper reports that at the start of this month, bettors on the crypto-based, Peter Thiel-funded Polymarket had the former president and Vice President Kamala Harris in a dead heat, in terms of their respective chances of winning the 2024 election. As of Thursday, that had shifted significantly in Trump’s favor, with a 62% chance of winning to Harris’ 38% (Forbes explains what betting market numbers mean).

  • MAGA excitement: The news has fired up Trump world, with even Elon Musk gushing about the Polymarket arc. “Trump now leading Kamala by 3% in betting markets. More accurate than polls, as actual money is on the line,” he wrote on X on Oct. 6, though his site’s own Community Notes pointed out on his tweet that there’s “no evidence” betting markets are more accurate than polling, and that other betting markets have placed Harris ahead. (The Journal notes that “prediction markets have a mixed record of forecasting election results.”)
  • Just an illusion? The paper also reports that the recent surge could simply be a “mirage,” thanks to just four Polymarket accounts—Fredi9999, Theo4, PrincessCaro, and Michie—that are behind the $30 million infusion. Although it’s possible that someone is just really bullish on a Trump win and wants to take home some big bucks, some are suspicious that the bets could be “an influence campaign designed to fuel social-media buzz for the former president.” “If I were trying to manipulate a market, this is exactly how I would do it,” economist Rajiv Sethi tells the Journal.
  • Repercussions: One veteran investor says if there is manipulation involved, and the betting markets do keep putting Trump ahead, it could help boost his camp if he loses the election and tries to say the election was stolen from him. But it’s also “unclear whether that would help Trump by making him (look) successful, or energize Kamala supporters who are afraid that the markets are showing her as an underdog,” betting expert and American University history professor Laura Beers tells Newsweek.
  • Who’s behind the bets? There may not be four separate parties making those wagers, all funded via deposits from the Kraken crypto exchange. “There’s strong reason to believe they are the same entity,” Miguel Morel, CEO of blockchain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence, said after reviewing the accounts.

That does it for me on this Saturday…..I sincerely hope that everyone has a wonderful day and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Impotent Foreign Policy

Today is another round with the medical professionals….I learn my test results so I may not be in the best of mind to do much more writing today…..so this is a post from Gulf South Free Press……

US Foreign Policy–A F*cked Up Mess

I hope everyone has a good day and a safe day…..I shall return tomorrow.

I Read, I Write, You Know

Lego ergo scribo”

 

Is Harris Repeating Mistakes Of The Past?

To answer that question…I believe she is repeating past mistakes.

I listen to political ads and Harris seems to be targeting those ‘Never Trumpers’ but is that a good idea when people are struggling with this economy?

Kamala Harris’ decision to mention Alberto Gonzales being added to the list of Republicans who’ve thrown their support behind her rubbed Jeet Heer the wrong way. In a piece for the Nation, Heer writes that the reference to the former US attorney general at a Thursday town hall sponsored by Univision was a “tone-deaf” move—Gonzales has been out of the public eye for two decades and brings the phrase “torture memos” to mind. As far as ill-advised choices go, it was a minor one, but Heer sees a “broader” and more “distressing” pattern at play: In the waning days of her campaign, Harris is putting too much effort into trying to win over “Never Trump” Republicans. And he sees a parallel with the final weeks of Hillary Clinton’s run for the White House.

“One big reason Clinton lost in 2016 was that she neglected the working-class base of the party at the expense of trying to win [GOP] converts,” writes Heer. Fears are rising within the party that Harris is doing the same. And yet “unlike Hillary Clinton in 2016, Harris does have a genuine economic populist agenda.” For example, her proposal that Medicare cover in-home care for seniors and people with disabilities would, if enacted, be a revolutionary investment in caregiving. However, Harris’ campaign is bungling things by trying to court a pool of Republicans instead of focusing on this proposal and economic policy in general, according to Heer. Three weeks is barely enough time to change course. She must do it now. “Hitting hard on economic populism while there is still time to excite the base remains the best path to victory,” Heer writes.

Read the full column.

The working class always gets the shaft in recent elections…..it is always about some silly notion of ‘trickle down’ BS.

Less than a month and Harris is still not laser focused on making working stiffs lives better…..we have nothing but a slogan….’A New way Forward’.

Sorry but we are stuck in reverse.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine’s “Victory Plan”

Zelensky has issued what he calls his “victory plan”….

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday and unveiled his so-called “victory plan,” but there’s no sign any of Ukraine’s Western backers will support his proposals.

Zelensky’s plan includes five points and three classified sections that he did not make public. The plan is essentially a list of demands that Zelensky has been making of the US and NATO for months. He claimed that if the plan was implemented, Ukraine “may be able to end the war no later than next year.”

One point is for Ukraine to receive a formal invitation to join NATO, but there’s no sign the alliance will be willing to do that anytime in the near future, and Ukrainian neutrality will be a key Russian demand for any peace deal.

The plan calls for more air defenses and for NATO countries to help shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine, which would mean direct NATO involvement in the war. NATO countries have previously rejected Ukrainian requests to intercept Russian missiles and drones.

Another point in the plan calls for support for Ukraine to use NATO-provided missiles to launch long-range strikes inside Russia, an escalation that would risk nuclear war. So far, the US and the UK have rejected Zelensky’s repeated request for help with long-range strikes.

Ukrainian MP Oleksii Honcharenko, a member of the European Solidarity party, criticized Zelensky’s plan. “First of all, it’s not a plan. Plan means something with concrete steps,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “It’s kind of a wish list from Ukraine for our partners, how they can and should support us. And it doesn’t look realistic. We were waiting for some real serious conversation about the situation and the strategy, and this is not that.”

(antiwar.com)

Without any specifics this plan is just wishful thinking….and how will the US fit into this plan?

Is this just a ploy ahead of our election?

I mean the US is already sending $425 million weapons package for Ukraine. 

What happened to Zelensky’s ‘peace plan’?  what ‘plan’ is that?

More a thought than an actual plan….but here it is….

The Ukrainian government is considering options to end the war with Russia that would involve ceding territory, Der Spiegel reported on Sunday, citing a Ukrainian official.

The report said it was the first time since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 that the Ukrainian leadership has considered a deal that wouldn’t involve it getting back all of the territory Russian forces have captured since February 2022.

Under a peace deal that was on the table in March and April 2022, Russia would have withdrawn its forces back to pre-invasion lines. But that deal was discouraged by the US and other NATO countries, who urged the Ukrainians to fight.

And the war goes on.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those “Brain Flaws”

As we move closer to the actual day of our vote the media is still struggling with ways to report Trump and his minions….there have been many excuses for the acts and words of his adoring throngs…….the worse aggravation has been the media and all those damn polls.

The American people are being smothered by public opinion polls. Every day there seems to be some new poll expected to give precious insight into the presidential horse race that the news media is so obsessed with. As I try to decipher what these polls mean, I often find myself muttering, “Will someone please save me from this troublesome priest?”

In the aggregate, the polls now show that Kamala Harris is leading Donald Trump nationally in the popular vote. However, she and Trump are basically tied in the key battleground states. Focus groups and other data also show a very close race. This is because the American people are politically unsophisticated and are easily manipulated to believe things that are not true. Democracy, by design, is messy and the politically ill-informed have the same number of votes (one) as the politically savvy and engaged.

Contributing to the confusion is how the mainstream news media’s unhealthy obsession with polling has created a type of tunnel vision and myopia where other lenses — that would likely provide better insights — for understanding the Age of Trump and the larger democracy crisis have been mostly ignored. The Washington Post’s Jen Rubin recently summarized “five major media fails”: 

1. Ignoring Trump’s mental decline (until the last few weeks of the election). 2. Excess focus on meaningless polls. 3. Failure to engage historians and psychiatrists to provide context for Trump’s fascism and narcissism 4. Fixation on more details from Harris, demanding none from Trump 5. Consistent negative/inaccurate portrayal of the economy 6. Fueling Trump’s constant lies by asking Harris and others to respond.

In a recent essay at The American Prospect, Rick Perlstein echoes Rubin: “Even as the resources devoted to every other kind of journalism atrophied, poll-based political culture has overwhelmed us, crowding out all other ways of thinking about public life….The Washington Post’s polling director once said, ‘There’s something addictive about polls and poll numbers.’ He’s right. When we refer to ‘political junkies,’ polls are pretty much the junk.” 

There is also the empirical fact — a very inconvenient one for the news media and the political consultants and polling firms — that presidential public opinion polls have been wrong for many decades.

https://www.salon.com/2024/10/15/brain-flaws-understanding-maga-as-an-epidemic-disease/

The last sentence is the most compelling…..polls have been wrong for decades….and they are probably wrong this time around.

And that is the name of that tune!

Please make your decision from knowledge not some made up stats that is used to sell papers.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Send In The Troops

A few days ago it was announced that the US will send about 100 ‘advisers’ to Israel with a air defense system….

Pentagon officials announced Sunday that it will deliver an advanced missile defense system to Israel and send about 100 troops to operate it. The deployment is the first of US troops to Israel since its war against Hamas began with the attack a year ago on southern Israel. A Pentagon statement said President Biden directed that the ground-based Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system be sent, the New York Times reports. The announcement was made hours after Iran, which fired about 200 missiles at Israeli targets on Oct. 1, warned the US to keep its military personnel out of Israel, per the AP.

Asked Sunday what the reason is for sending the anti-missile system, per the Washington Post, Biden said only “To defend Israel.” The mobile system will add a layer of protection for cities and military sites from the sort of short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles Iran used in its strikes. Israel has not yet mounted a retaliatory attack. Anticipating the missile system announcement, Iran’s foreign minister made an indirect threat to the American forces. “The US has been delivering record amount of arms to Israel,” Abbas Araghchi posted on X. “It is now also putting lives of its troops at risk by deploying them to operate US missile systems in Israel.”

To deflect all the criticism the US has issued an ultimatum before the new system and troop[-s arrive in Israel….

The Biden administration, warning that humanitarian conditions for more than 2 million civilians in Gaza are “increasingly dire,” has given Israel a 30-day deadline to improve the situation. According to a letter seen by Axios, officials warned Israel that failure to allow more aid into Gaza could have “implications” including a halt to weapons transfers. State department spokesperson Matthew Miller confirmed Tuesday that the letter, signed by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, was genuine but said it was meant to be a private diplomatic communication, the Guardian reports.

The letter, dated Sunday, said Israel moved to increase the flow of aid in the spring but since then, deliveries have dropped more than 50%, with September seeing the lowest amount of aid delivered of any month in the past year, the Times of Israel reports. “To reverse the downward humanitarian trajectory and consistent with its assurances to us, Israel must—starting now and within 30 days—act on the following concrete measures,” Blinken and Austin wrote. They said Israel needs to allow at least 350 trucks of aid per day through checkpoints it controls, facilitate the delivery of aid through Jordan, and end the “isolation of northern Gaza,” where an Israel offensive is underway.

Blinken and Austin warned that under US law, military assistance to countries that impede delivery of humanitarian aid from the US can be blocked, the BBC reports. Miller said the administration hopes the warning will lead to “a dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance.”

This is just a showboat….the US has no intention of keeping the system away from Israel…..if they want to truly help the humanitarian crisis then stop arming the pricks that created the crisis….pretty simple….but we know that will not happen too much cash passing through the hands of Congress and the defense industry will not allow any disruption in their profits.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Show Me Your Papers!

Like something from some cinematic blockbusters chronicling the days of darkness when that statement was uttered when confronted by the state police.

Only thing this was uttered just recently in establishments across Ukraine…..

Ukrainian military recruitment officers raided restaurants, bars, and a concert hall in Kyiv, checking military registration documents and detaining men who were not in compliance, local media reported Saturday. Officers reportedly descended on Kyiv’s Palace of Sports after a concert Friday night by Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy. Video footage aired by media outlets appears to show officers stationed outside the doors of the concert hall intercepting men as they exit. In the footage, officers appear to be forcibly detaining some men, the AP reports. Checks were also conducted at Goodwine, an upscale shopping center, and Avalon, a popular restaurant.

It is unusual for such raids to take place in the capital, and the effort reflects Ukraine’s dire need for fresh recruits. All Ukrainian men age 25 to 60 are eligible for conscription, and men 18 to 60 are not allowed to leave the country. Reports said raids were also conducted in clubs and restaurants in other cities, including Kharkiv and Dnipro in eastern and central Ukraine. The mobilization drive has intensified this year. A new law came into effect this spring stipulating that those eligible for military service must put their information into an online system or face penalties.

Both sides are facing the issue of how to sustain their costly war of attrition—a conflict that started with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and that shows no signs of a resolution. Ukraine’s aim is to impair Russia’s ability to support its front-line units, especially in the eastern Donetsk region where the main Russian battlefield effort is stretching weary Ukrainian forces. Kyiv is still awaiting word from its Western partners on its repeated requests to use the long-range weapons they provide to hit targets on Russian soil.

Things are dragging on and the pool of recruits is dwindling so they must resort to the age old tactic of demanding papers to confirm you are there and counted.

Could this lack of recruits be the source of the new direction that Ukraine is considering?

The Ukrainian government is considering options to end the war with Russia that would involve ceding territory, Der Spiegel reported on Sunday, citing a Ukrainian official.

The report said it was the first time since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 that the Ukrainian leadership has considered a deal that wouldn’t involve it getting back all of the territory Russian forces have captured since February 2022.

Under a peace deal that was on the table in March and April 2022, Russia would have withdrawn its forces back to pre-invasion lines. But that deal was discouraged by the US and other NATO countries, who urged the Ukrainians to fight.

Over the past two years, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pushing a “peace formula” that calls for a full Russian withdrawal from Ukraine before peace talks can even happen, which is a non-starter for negotiations with Moscow.

“We believed that victory had to mean the unconditional surrender of Putin’s Russia,” the Ukrainian source told Der Spiegel. The official acknowledged that was not a realistic view, saying, “A deal must also be beneficial for Russia.”

The report comes as Russian forces continue to make gains in eastern Ukraine, which have become more rapid in recent months. Ukrainian forces still hold a small chunk of Russia’s Kursk Oblast, but Russian troops are slowly pushing them back.

(antiwar.com)

That consideration sounds familiar for some reason.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“A New Way Forward”

The media and most pundits are telling us that this election is an economic election….”are you better off today/”….sort of thing.

This is a look at the Dems and their promises of a better life.

In 2024 this is the tagline of the Dems and Harris…..personally I do not see this being new or forward moving…..basically it is the same rehash of the policies from Biden and a wealth of other Dems running for office.

But if you still need to have a bit of incentive then please her site and read what she is proposing…

Click to access Policy-Book-Economic-Opportunity.pdf

I do not see the ‘new way’….but then I am not the biggest fan of Democrats these days.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

The Polls Are In

Daily we see the media report on the polling numbers….Trump ahead by 2%…..then Harris ahead by 4….and then the two candidates are in a dead heat in some swing states….and on and on….

These polls are never very accurate they are at best a snapshot of the day that are taken or even worse they are not accurate because people will say anything to get off the phone.

I have never made my decision on who to vote for by poll numbers and neither should anyone else.

The commercials seem wall-to-wall, the media coverage is intense, and the pressure—not just on the presidential candidates—is building. And the nation has more than three weeks of this left. Ezra Klein suggests one way Americans can ease their stress is by ignoring the polls. They’re not going to tell us which candidate will win anyway, Klein writes in an opinion piece in the New York Times. The polls could be more accurate than they have been in the past couple of elections and still be off by 2 percentage points in battleground states. “That would be consistent with Harris winning every swing state,” Klein writes. “It would also be consistent with Trump winning every swing state.”

That’s not overstating the indecision in the Kamala Harris-Donald Trump race, Klein says, pointing out that Nate Silver’s model calls the most likely result “Harris sweeping all seven swing states. And the next most likely is Trump sweeping all seven.” Pollsters are taking steps to avoid the mistakes in previous elections, but there are problems with those measures, too. There are undecided voters even now, and there are voters who have decided but won’t cast ballots. Events that appear to be major losses or victories for Trump or Harris barely budge them in polls. America will have its answer soon, but Klein says it won’t come from the polls.

Klein’s column can be found here.

Please look over the candidate and vote for the one that best describes what you want for this country….polls are just numbers that can be tweaked to say whatever it is the pollsters want them to say…..so it depends on who is asking the questions.

Vote for the best person that will serve the US….not a bunch of worthless numbers and stats.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”