Month: August 2018

Good News from the Last Place You Would Expect

No Comments

No. Really.

A blow for human decency in corrections was just struck by Texas prison system, literally the last place one would expect, where they have lowered the cost of inmate calls by 77%:

The Texas prison system on Friday voted to drastically slash the cost of inmate calls home by more than 75 percent with a new phone contract more favorable to inmates and their families.

Now, instead of paying an average of 26 cents per minute, prisoners will pay 6 cents per minute – no matter the destination of the call. Also, the limit on phone calls was increased from 20 minutes to 30 minutes.

“That is just fabulous, thank you so much – it means so much,” said Jennifer Erschabek of the Texas Inmate Families Association. “I’m speechless.”

The shift, which drew accolades from lawmakers and activists alike, comes amid national conversations about the price of prison phone calls. Last year, a federal court struck down an Obama-era Federal Communications Commission rule that would have capped the costs at 11 cents per minute.

Though that was seen as a blow to the hard-fought efforts of inmate advocates nationwide, Friday’s contract approval represented a win for advocates in the Lone Star State.

“This should have done it a long time ago,” said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. “I’ve raised hell for years about how they were gouging inmates and their families.”

Currently, a 15-minute call usually costs around $3.90, officials said at the Texas Board of Criminal Justice meeting.

Starting Sept. 1 when the new contract takes effect, a typical 15-minute call will cost just 90 cents.

The idea that the Texas correctional system would do something this humane truly boggles the mind.

Sarah Palin’s 2008 Running Mate Just Died

1 Comment

John McCain has died at age 81 of brain cancer.

There is an argument that one should not speak ill of the dead, but John McCain was a public figure, and his fans will no doubt use this as an opportunity to shape his legacy, so I feel that speaking the truth is essential at this juncture in any public forum except for his funeral or wake.

In my case, I will start with a list of positive things about his positive contributions to the public discourse and public policy in his time in American politics:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
That is all.

It’s Teach Your Daughter to Drink Day

No Comments

Tasting List Pictured

Today, the family went to an SCA demo at the Royal Rabbit Vinayards.

Because we were a part of the entertainment, we got to do a tasting, so I sat with Natalie (I had to drive) while she tasted small samples of about a half-dozen wines.

I talked to her about how to use her nose, how to let all of her tongue to taste the wine, and what sort of foods are good for different sorts of wines.

Nat turned 21 in June, so it was a perfectly legal, though somewhat surreal, child parent bonding.

I Simply Cannot Be to Cynical or Pessimistic Enough

No Comments

The latest trial balloon floated by the Trump administration is using federal grant money to put guns IN schools.

I cannot even………

When Congress created its academic support fund three years ago, lawmakers had in mind a pot of money that would increase student access to art and music, mental health and technology programs at the nation’s most impoverished schools.

But back-to-back school shootings this year and inquiries from the state of Texas have prompted the education secretary, Betsy DeVos, to examine whether to allow states to tap the school enrichment fund for another purpose: guns.

Such a move would reverse a longstanding position taken by the federal government that it should not pay to outfit schools with weaponry. It would also undermine efforts by Congress to restrict the use of federal funding on guns. As recently as March, Congress passed a school safety bill that allocated $50 million a year to local school districts, but expressly prohibited the use of the money for firearms.

But the Every Student Succeeds Act, signed into law in 2015, is silent on weapons purchases, and that omission would allow Ms. DeVos to use her discretion to approve or deny any state or district plans to use the enrichment grants under the measure for firearms and firearm training, unless Congress clarifies the law or bans such funding through legislative action.

The Every Student Succeeds Act is, “Silent on weapons purchases,” because no one in their wildest dreams believed that someone so clueless and so bat sh%$ insane would be running the Department of Education.

Well, This Has “Dystopia” Written All Over It

No Comments

There is now speculation that Facebook’s new trustworthiness ratings will legally make it a credit rating agency.

I’d sooner get rated by the Chinese Social Credit System:

Facebook, it seems, has developed a system of rating users trustworthiness. It’s not clear if this is just a system for internal use or if users’ trustworthiness scores are for sale to third parties, but if the latter, then would sure seem that Facebook is a Consumer Reporting Agency and subject to CRA provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

FCRA defines a CRA as

any person which, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties, and which uses any means or facility of interstate commerce for the purpose of preparing or furnishing consumer reports.


A consumer report is, in turn, defined as:

any written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer’s credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living which is used or expected to be used or collected in whole or in part for the purpose of serving as a factor in establishing the consumer’s eligibility for [credit, insurance, employment or government license].

Thus, if Facebook is selling information about a consumer’s general reputation—trustworthiness—to third parties that might reasonably be expected to use it for credit, insurance, or employment, it’s a CRA, and that means it’s subject to a host of regulatory requirements as well as civil liability, including statutory damages for willful noncompliance.

The author, Adam Levitin, clearly believes that this might subject Facebook to additional regulatory oversight as a CRA.

This ignores the fact that courts have ignored the text of the law to in order not apply this to similar entities.

Facebook sees a buck here, and the courts will not subject them to CRA regulation or potential liability, because in the USA, rich people do not have to follow the law.

The National Enquirer is Run by a Pecker

No Comments
Oh dear. The cover of tomorrow’s @NYDailyNews. pic.twitter.com/RI15NW95a6

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 24, 2018

I Love NY Daily News Headlines

I have heard a number of people suggest that the scandal rag is run by a pecker.

Little did know that this was literally true, and that the schmuck has been granted immunity by prosecutors, which means that he can be forced to testify before a grand jury:

Prosecutors reportedly granted immunity to David Pecker, the CEO of the company that publishes National Enquirer, as part of their investigation into President Trump‘s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen.

Pecker met with the prosecution to discuss Cohen’s involvement in Trump’s hush-money deals with women leading up to the 2016 presidential election, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Pecker has emerged as a central figure in the scandal involving the payments. CNN last month released audio of Trump and Cohen discussing payment to a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, in which Cohen apparently references Pecker, telling Trump that he needs “to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David.”

Dylan Howard, the chief content officer at American Media, the Enquirer’s publisher, will also not be criminally charged, according to the Journal. Neither the two men nor American Media responded to the newspaper’s request for comment.Pecker’s possible involvement in the payments first drew attention when The Wall Street Journal reported in November 2016 that the Enquirer had withheld a story about an alleged affair McDougal had with Trump.

The Enquirer reportedly paid McDougal $150,000 for a story about the alleged affair in 2006, but never published it.

Seriously, this is too absurd for a Blackadder series.

Quote of the Day

No Comments

It’s filled with white supremacists and sadists who understandably don’t think there are any limits on or accountability for their behavior. Burning (metaphorically) the whole thing to the ground is the only way.

—Atrios on ICE.

I’m not sure how, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has become a deeply and ineluctably evil organization.

I agree with Mr. Black:  You cannot fix this organization by making small changes around the periphery.

The DNC Could F%$# Up a Two Car Funeral

No Comments

Remember the attempted Russian hack of the DNC from about a week ago?

Well, never mind:

What the Democratic National Committee this week thought was an attempted hack of its valuable voter file turned out to be a security test organized by a state party, unbeknown to the national organization.

The committee on Tuesday alerted the FBI to a fake online portal it thought had been set up as an elaborate attempt to trick DNC staff into giving up their log-in credentials — through a hacking technique known as “phishing” — as a way to gain access to the party’s VoteBuilder database.

Late Wednesday night, DNC Chief Security Officer Bob Lord reversed course. “We, along with the partners who reported the [fake] site, now believe it was built by a third party as part of a simulated phishing test on VoteBuilder,” he said in a statement. 

………

The mix-up resulted from a state Democratic organization seeking to test employees’ ability to avoid falling prey to phishing attempts.

The test was conducted at the behest of the Michigan Democratic Party, using “white-hat” security personnel with the group DigiDems, who provided their services to create the mock site, a Democratic official said. The state party did not notify the national committee or NGP, the firm that hosts the voter database, the official said.

There is actually a deeper problem here:  The party apparatus in general, and the DNC have become completely dependent on overpriced (and under-performing) outside consultants, and as a result, they have no internal expertise to provide even a basic evaluation of potential problems.

Clearly, This Calls for a Market Based Solution

No Comments

Verizon throttled the accounts of the Santa Clara fire department at the heights of the Mendocino Complex Fire:

Verizon Wireless’ throttling of a fire department that uses its data services has been submitted as evidence in a lawsuit that seeks to reinstate federal net neutrality rules.

“County Fire has experienced throttling by its ISP, Verizon,” Santa Clara County Fire Chief Anthony Bowden wrote in a declaration. “This throttling has had a significant impact on our ability to provide emergency services. Verizon imposed these limitations despite being informed that throttling was actively impeding County Fire’s ability to provide crisis-response and essential emergency services.”

Bowden’s declaration was submitted in an addendum to a brief filed by 22 state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, Santa Clara County, Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District, and the California Public Utilities Commission. The government agencies are seeking to overturn the recent repeal of net neutrality rules in a lawsuit they filed against the Federal Communications Commission in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
………

Santa Clara Fire paid Verizon for “unlimited” data but suffered from heavy throttling until the department paid Verizon more, according to Bowden’s declaration and emails between the fire department and Verizon that were submitted as evidence.

The throttling recently affected “OES 5262,” a fire department vehicle that is “deployed to large incidents as a command and control resource” and is used to “track, organize, and prioritize routing of resources from around the state and country to the sites where they are most needed,” Bowden wrote.

“In the midst of our response to the Mendocino Complex Fire, County Fire discovered the data connection for OES 5262 was being throttled by Verizon, and data rates had been reduced to 1/200, or less, than the previous speeds,” Bowden wrote. “These reduced speeds severely interfered with the OES 5262’s ability to function effectively. My Information Technology staff communicated directly with Verizon via email about the throttling, requesting it be immediately lifted for public safety purposes.”

Verizon did not immediately restore full speeds to the device, however.

“Verizon representatives confirmed the throttling, but rather than restoring us to an essential data transfer speed, they indicated that County Fire would have to switch to a new data plan at more than twice the cost, and they would only remove throttling after we contacted the Department that handles billing and switched to the new data plan,” Bowden wrote.

………

Bowden argued that Verizon is likely to keep taking advantage of emergencies in order to push public safety agencies onto more expensive plans.

“In light of our experience, County Fire believes it is likely that Verizon will continue to use the exigent nature of public safety emergencies and catastrophic events to coerce public agencies into higher-cost plans, ultimately paying significantly more for mission-critical service—even if that means risking harm to public safety during negotiations,” Bowden wrote.

………

Santa Clara apparently switched to the $99.99 plan, more than doubling its bill. “While Verizon ultimately did lift the throttling, it was only after County Fire subscribed to a new, more expensive plan,” Bowden wrote in his declaration.

This is why even Republic ans oppose net neutrality repeal:  They know that the telcos and the cable companies are complete dicks.

Burn, Motherf%$#er, Burn

No Comments

The Director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Nick Lyon, has been charged with manslaughter for his role in the Flint water crisis:

A judge on Monday ordered Michigan’s top health official, Nick Lyon, to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter charges in two deaths linked to the Flint water crisis. Genesee District Judge David Goggins determined that there was probable cause that Lyon committed involuntary manslaughter against Robert Skidmore and John Snyder in 2015. The two men died during an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease, which researchers have connected to the devastating use of improperly treated water in Flint starting in 2014.

Lyon, the director of Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, is the highest-ranking official in the state to stand trial in connection with the catastrophe. An additional 14 current or former state and local officials have been criminally charged in connection with the water issues.

As Ars has reported previously, prosecutors allege that Lyon specifically had “willfully disregarded the deadly nature of the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak” and failed to warn the public in time to spare lives. He allegedly knew about the outbreak in early 2015 but waited until early 2016 to release a public advisory.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder was clearly involved in the obfuscation and I really hope that Lyon flips on him.

If not, I want him to go to jail for a very long time.

About F%$#ing Time

1 Comment
A bill has been submitted in the Senate to require paper ballots and routine audits.

Seriously, this is OpSec 101: If you are worried about people hacking your computers, use pencil and paper:

The Russians can’t hack paper.

On Tuesday, nine Senators introduced a bill that would require state and local governments to use paper ballots in an effort to secure elections from hackers. The bill would also require rigorous audits for all federal elections to ensure that results match the votes.

………

The Protecting American Votes and Elections Act of 2018 was drafted amid intense scrutiny of voting systems ahead of the mid-term elections in November. Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has elevated concern over the security of the country’s voting systems.

The senators said rigorous audits will ensure votes are legitimate. Currently, 22 states don’t require post-election audits, according to the release.

Using paper ballots will also save money, even when the costs of manpower to tally the votes is included, Wyden’s office said. “We believe paper ballots would be significantly less expensive than purchasing new insecure voting machines,” Wyden’s office said in an email.

All the bills sponsors are Democrats, probably because there are fewer opportunities for politically connected donors to get a sweetheart deal for a simple print job.

We Could Power All of Prague from the Rotational Momentum of Kafka’s Corpse

No Comments
A MEP wrote about how automated copyright tools would lead to removal and delisting by search engines and an automated filter had her article delisted:

Last week, Tim Cushing had a post about yet another out of control automated DMCA notifier, sending a ton of bogus notices to Google (most of which Google removed from its search engine index, since the sender, “Topple Track” from Symphonic Distribution was a part of Google’s “Trusted Copyright Program,” giving those notices more weight). The post listed many of the perfectly legitimate content that got removed from Google’s index because of that rogue automated filter, including an EFF page about a lawsuit, the official (authorized) pages of Beyonce and Bruno Mars, and a blog post about a lawsuit by Professor Eric Goldman.

But, seeing as we’re getting towards September when the EU Parliament will again be voting on the big Copyright Directive proposal there, including Article 13, which will require mandatory filters or other automated tools for preventing copyright infringement, I thought it was important to do a separate post calling out one of the other pages taken down by Symphonic Distribution’s out of control Topple Track. And that was that it got Google to de-index an article by Julia Reda, a member of the EU Parliament who has been leading the charge against the problematic provisions in the Copyright Directive proposal.

Specifically — and it would be hard to make this up if we tried — Topple Track’s automated filter got Google to de-index this blog post by Reda, in which she details the problems in Article 13 and how it will create mandatory censorship machines, that would likely lead to massive internet censorship of perfectly legitimate content. Let’s repeat that so it can sink in. An automated filter helped take down an article by a Member of the EU Parliament, explaining how a (still being debated) proposal would create automated filtering systems that would take down all sorts of legitimate content

Calling this Kafkaesque is a serious understatement.

NOT ON THE TABLE! NOT ON THE TABLE!

2 Comments
 NOT ON THE TABLE!
 NOT ON THE TABLE!
  

It looks like Nanci Pelosi is once again decided that there will be no impeachment, because that bit of political posturing worked so well for the whole f%$#ing world:

As Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, was pleading guilty in a federal court to campaign charges implicating the president, House Democratic leaders were on a conference call warning rank-and-file lawmakers: Don’t use the word “impeachment.”

Speaking to members back home in their districts, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team Tuesday cautioned lawmakers to frame Cohen’s plea deal as further evidence of a corrupt administration that needs a Democratic check in Congress, they said. Or, play up Hill Republicans’ apathy in the face of Trump’s endless scandals, they encouraged.

But be wary of impeachment, they insisted — it could backfire.

With 76 days to go until the midterm elections, Democratic leaders are adamant that they will not turn Nov. 6 into a litmus test for impeachment — even though Cohen accused Trump of directing him to break campaign-finance laws to win the presidency. Party leaders believe that’s the wrong hill to die on and the issue won’t register with voters. And most rank-and-file Democrats in both chambers are following that advice.

Seriously, it’s like they are TRYING to demotivate their base.

Cowardice and lack of vision are not political winners.

Boy Oh Boy, This Day Just Keeps on Giving

No Comments

Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and his wife have been charged with illegally diverting campaign funds to their personal use:

The Justice Department on Tuesday charged a Republican congressman and his wife with using more than $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for family vacations, theater tickets and other personal expenses.

Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (Calif.) and his wife, Margaret, were charged in a 47-page indictment that details how they allegedly used campaign money to live beyond their means, funding trips to Italy, Hawaii and other places, as well as school tuition, dental work and theater tickets. The Justice Department said in a news release that the couple also allegedly spent tens of thousands of dollars on more modest items, such as golf outings, video games and even home utilities.

Hunter’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He and his wife, who was paid $117,000 from the campaign for work between 2010 and 2017, are scheduled to be arraigned in court Thursday.………

………

The Justice Department alleged the couple falsely described their purchases in Federal Election Commission filings as “campaign travel,” “dinner with volunteers/contributors,” or by using other seemingly innocent descriptions. They allegedly described the payment of their family dental bills as a charitable contribution to “Smiles For Life,” and tickets to see “Riverdance” at the San Diego Civic Theater as “San Diego Civic Center for Republican Women Federated/Fundraising.”

The indictment also alleges that Hunter spent campaign funds on social outings with another congressman, who is identified only as “Congressman A.” In March 2010, for example, the indictment alleges that Hunter spent more than $120 at Birchmere Music Hall with that congressman and two others, and the next month, Hunter claimed a $256 reimbursement for driving his car on a trip to Virginia Beach with the same group.

He also spent $238 in December 2013 while watching a San Diego Chargers game at a Washington-area restaurant with another unnamed congressman, the indictment alleges.

The Justice Department said Hunter’s campaign treasurer made “repeated inquiries” about his purchases. The agency alleged in its indictment that the Hunters dismissed the treasurer’s concerns as “silly,” and Duncan Hunter said staffers were accusing campaign staff of disloyalty by “trying to create some kind of paper trail on me” when they raised concerns.

I wonder who is, “Congressman A” is.

It does seem that the Republican Party is going pear shaped lately.

There is No Such Thing as a Moderate Republican

No Comments

When push comes to shove, self proclaimed Republican moderates always find a way to vote with the party when it counts.

Case in point, Susin Collins (R-ME) who is now saying that Brett Kavanaugh can be expected to support Roe v. Wade, because he told her that it was “settled law”.

Seriously, just how f%$#ing stupid does Collins think we are?

A Republican senator whose vote could ensure the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh offered an upbeat assessment of their meeting Tuesday, highlighting the judge’s statement that the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion is “settled law.”

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), a centrist who supports abortion rights, appeared to be leaning toward backing President Trump’s nominee after a one-on-one session that lasted more than two hours. Collins said she would announce her decision after confirmation hearings next month.

Collins said Kavanaugh told her that he agreed with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who said during his 2005 confirmation hearing that Roe was “settled as a precedent of the court.” The landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision established a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy.

“He said that he agreed with what Justice Roberts said at his nomination hearing, in which he said it was settled law,” Collins told reporters. She praised her session with Kavanaugh as “excellent.”

She knows what she is doing, and she is lying through her teeth, and she has been for years.

Busy Day

No Comments

Eight. Eight Counts. pic.twitter.com/sowxIlGXu8

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) August 21, 2018

And the award for best tweet goes to………


And then there is this Doonesbury classic

Trumpsters have not had a good today.

First, Paul Manafort was convicted on 8 counts of fraud, with the jury deadlocking on the remaining 10 counts.  It still means that he is facing decades behind bars:

Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, was convicted on Tuesday in his financial fraud trial, bringing a dramatic end to a politically charged case that riveted the capital.

 The verdict was a victory for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, whose prosecutors introduced extensive evidence that Mr. Manafort hid millions of dollars in foreign accounts to evade taxes and lied to banks repeatedly to obtain millions of dollars in loans.

 Mr. Manafort was convicted of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining 10 counts, and the judge declared a mistrial on those charges.

………

Mr. Manafort faces a second criminal trial next month in Washington on seven other charges brought by the special counsel, including obstruction of justice, failure to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to launder money.

Bummer of a birth mark, Paul.

Meanwhile, former Trump lawyer, and fixer, Michael Cohen has pled guilty to campaign finance violations at the request as a yet unnamed candidate:

Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, made the extraordinary admission in court on Tuesday that Mr. Trump had directed him to arrange payments to two women during the 2016 campaign to keep them from speaking publicly about affairs they said they had with Mr. Trump.

 Mr. Cohen acknowledged the illegal payments while pleading guilty to breaking campaign finance laws and other charges, a litany of crimes that revealed both his shadowy involvement in Mr. Trump’s circle and his own corrupt business dealings.

 He told a judge in United States District Court in Manhattan that the payments to the women were made “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office.”

 “I participated in this conduct, which on my part took place in Manhattan, for the principal purpose of influencing the election” for president in 2016, Mr. Cohen said.

 The plea represented a pivotal moment in the investigation into the president, and the scene in the Manhattan courtroom was striking. Mr. Cohen, a longtime lawyer for Mr. Trump — and loyal confidant — described in plain-spoken language how Mr. Trump worked with him to cover up a potential sex scandal that Mr. Trump feared would endanger his rising candidacy.

The New York Times editorial board released an OP/ED titled, “All the President’s Crooks.”

I think that we shortly have a race to prosecutor by people trying to avoid jail time.

I really hope that Cohen flips.

This is almost too much schadenfreude.

ALIS is an Off Switch

2 Comments
Lockheed-Martin has tightly integrated its Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) into the F-35, and now nations that are taking deliveries are concerned about the massive volumes of data being sent back to servers in Fort Worth, Texas, and they are demanding that they gain control of this data:

Lockheed Martin received a $26.1 million contract to develop data transmission controls for foreign customers of the F-35 and its autonomic logistics information system (ALIS).

International development partners and foreign customers of the F-35 have expressed concern that ALIS, which manages and analyses the fighter’s systems, training and flight logs, would automatically transmit information back to Lockheed’s hub in Fort Worth, Texas, possibly giving the company and the USA insight into their military operations.

“This effort provides F-35 international partners the capability to review and block messages to prevent sovereign data loss,” says the contract notice online. “Additionally, the effort includes studies and recommendations to improve the security architecture of ALIS.”

Previously, international development partners and foreign customers of the F-35 had programmed short-term software patches for ALIS that allowed them to control what data was sent back to the USA.

The F-35 does not fly without ALIS after a few days without a deep access to the source code, which only LM and the DoD have.

It isn’t just a matter of the ALIS system being a massive security hole for our allies, it is an off switch.