November 22, 2021

Advice wanted. Should I go with my wife to her anti-vax unmasked nephew and girlfriend this holiday?

My wife and I are both higher risk for severe covid symptoms and in late 50s. We just had booster shots, literally today. My wife is going to visit her nephew and girlfriend for Thanksgiving, then we are going on to some vaccinated friends. She expects me to go to both events. I am uncomfortable with going tp the nephew. I don't have any problems with him, just don't want to be exposed to the risk of covid. My wife says I am mean to suggest I won't go. I would appreciate your advice.

November 7, 2021

Trump basically accuses Alec Baldwin of murdering 'Rust' Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Trump said on Christ Stigall's radio show on Thursday, "In my opinion, he had something to do with it, but if nothing else, how do you take a gun, whether it's loaded or not loaded, how do you take a gun, point it at somebody that's not even in the movie, and just point it at this person and pull the trigger, and now she's dead."

SNIP

"Even if it was loaded, and, you know, that's a weird thing, maybe he loaded it," he said. "Who would put a gun, 'Here, Alec, here's your gun,' 'Oh, good,' lift it up, point it at a person, and pull the trigger, and, 'Oh, man, a bullet came out,' she's dead. So there's something wrong with him, he's a sick guy."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/trump-accuses-alec-baldwin-of-purposely-shooting-rust-cinematographer-halyna-hutchins/ar-AAQmRgY?ocid=BingNewsSearch

November 2, 2021

Joe Manchin (owner of his own coal company) was a headliner at a secretive coal CEOs' confab

PROOF MANCHIN PUTS HIMSELF FIRST


Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a key foil of Democratic plans to fight climate change, was a top speaker at a recent secretive confab of coal company executives.

Manchin’s role was revealed when the event program and a video touting the “Coal and Investment Leadership Forum” in September was unearthed by an investigative journalist for Documented. The three-day, invitation-only event was held in Virginia at the luxe Olde Farm golf resort, owned by Jim McGlothlin, a founding partner of the United Coal Co., Documented reported Monday.

Those attending — which included coal and energy CEOs and other top executives and bankers, according to an event roster — had to pony up $7,000, plus lodging expenses, according to a website’s information on the gathering, which was tracked by Documented.

SNIP

Meanwhile, according to his financial disclosures, Manchin last year earned at least $490,000 from his co-ownership of Enersystems, a coal company he founded. (His Senate salary is $174,000). He owns as much as $5 million in stock in the company.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-manchin-coal-forum-headline-speaker-climate-change_n_61804b14e4b059d0bfc19fc4

November 1, 2021

Trump's new social media site could be a cesspool of hate and a haven for terrorists and extremists

My title above is the logical conclusion of this article:

Donald Trump's Truth Social is headed for 'embarrassing' failures, Daily Beast report says

Adam Hadley, the director of Tech Against Terrorism, a company that works with smaller social media platforms to police terrorist content, warned that Truth Social could struggle to find the resources to remove extremist content.

"You can be swarmed very easily by terrorist use," Hadley told the Daily Beast. "There's no easy solution. You need people to be making difficult decisions about content and before you even do that, you need to know what your policy is and you need a press and PR capability to deal with media responses."

Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the Daily Beast that Truth Social not only risks falling behind on moderation but that it might struggle to comply with external regulations.

Insider previously reported that the Software Freedom Conservancy had accused Truth Social of ripping off code and violating a software licensing agreement, potentially opening it up to litigation or the need to rebuild the platform.

"It does not sound like [Truth Social has] a compliance team. It does not sound like there are lawyers on staff, or anybody even doing the basic due diligence in the same way it doesn't sound like they have anybody doing the most basic security engineering," Galperin said.

Galperin's assessment of Truth Social's future did not paint a rosy picture for the social media network. "I imagine a series of embarrassing security and policy failures followed by a very boring fizzle," she told the Daily Beast. "I don't imagine any of these sites are going to replace any of the tech giants anytime soon."

More here:

https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-truth-social-is-headed-for-embarrassing-failures-experts-2021-10