Nobody Cares: PRS

[Dakota Tebaldi]

One Nation, Tracked

An anonymous informant slipped the Times an enormous and frightening trove of cell phone location data, but it didn't come from Apple or Google.

The data reviewed by Times Opinion didn’t come from a telecom or giant tech company, nor did it come from a governmental surveillance operation. It originated from a location data company, one of dozens quietly collecting precise movements using software slipped onto mobile phone apps. You’ve probably never heard of most of the companies — and yet to anyone who has access to this data, your life is an open book. They can see the places you go every moment of the day, whom you meet with or spend the night with, where you pray, whether you visit a methadone clinic, a psychiatrist’s office or a massage parlor.

The Times and other news organizations have reported on smartphone tracking in the past. But never with a data set so large. Even still, this file represents just a small slice of what’s collected and sold every day by the location tracking industry — surveillance so omnipresent in our digital lives that it now seems impossible for anyone to avoid.

It doesn’t take much imagination to conjure the powers such always-on surveillance can provide an authoritarian regime like China’s. Within America’s own representative democracy, citizens would surely rise up in outrage if the government attempted to mandate that every person above the age of 12 carry a tracking device that revealed their location 24 hours a day. Yet, in the decade since Apple’s App Store was created, Americans have, app by app, consented to just such a system run by private companies. Now, as the decade ends, tens of millions of Americans, including many children, find themselves carrying spies in their pockets during the day and leaving them beside their beds at night — even though the corporations that control their data are far less accountable than the government would be.

“The seduction of these consumer products is so powerful that it blinds us to the possibility that there is another way to get the benefits of the technology without the invasion of privacy. But there is,” said William Staples, founding director of the Surveillance Studies Research Center at the University of Kansas.

You need to read this article, even if you already "know" about mobile phone tracking. Most people, even ones who are conscientious about turning off their location data, still leave it on for something. A weather app maybe, or a local news app. These apps say they're not saving or using your location information for anything beyond whatever is necessary to deliver the service the app is intended to provide, and insist that the data is anonymous. But they are lying, all of them; hiding the lies behind legalese. They are telling Technically The Truth - the best kind of truth - it's Technically True that your name isn't attached to the location data. But then,

Consider your daily commute: Would any other smartphone travel directly between your house and your office every day?

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I hope you mean that you cannot eliminate it -and I agree (though it's still very good to try). But it can be fixed, it's a lot worse than it was just 40, 50 years ago which means it's possible to fix -which means it can be better again.

We need to make things better for as many people as we can, and work to minimize economic inequality to the greatest degree possible.

We can't "fix" economic inequality any more than we can "fix" weather patterns, at least only indirectly by trying to mitigate global heating.

Economic inequality is a product of the world economic system, which is the environment in which we live.

What we can do, as you suggest, is to try to ameliorate, as best we can, many of the consequences of this inequality.

The way you frame this conversation still seems to side-step the issue of institutionalized racism and sexism that are separate from the financial mechanisms that we all use. Yes, there will always be income inequality, but when employers systematically pay women less than men, for the same job, this not an unavoidable consequence of capitalism. This is prejudice, pure and simple.

When someone applies for a mortgage and they are turned down specifically because they are black, or they are steered away from specific neighborhoods, this prejudicial repression is not directly related to the financial system. The system is being used by the racists to punish minorities or keep them at a distance, in contradiction to market forces that would usually demand than anyone with the appropriate funds can buy the house they can afford.

That blatant discrimination needs to be called out loudly, clearly, repeatedly to counter the erroneous, racist view that minorities need "extra help" to prosper in an otherwise level playing field. It's not just that they've fallen behind, it's that they keep getting pushed back at the same time that they're falling behind due to the all the other times they've been pushed back. They're not just suffering from a one-time disadvantage that is gathering interest.

"Specific targeted programs" aren't going to help the situation as much as they "should" while racism and misogyny are still active forces. That racism needs to be acknowledged as an issue to itself, separate from systemic economic inequalities.

Yes, and it's precisely because of things like institutional racism that I say relying on economic measures alone, in the hope of causing the tide to rise, will do little good.

In the case of racial discrimination in the provision of mortgages and so on, I would think that non-economic measures like rigorously enforced anti-discrimination laws would be one of the main areas on which to concentrate, together with mandatory monitoring and review by statutory financial regulators and anti-discrimination agencies.

 

[Han Held]

Yes, and it's precisely because of things like institutional racism that I say relying on economic measures alone, in the hope of causing the tide to rise, will do little good.

During the process of fixing income inequality, institutional racism will have to be addressed. The idea that you have to pick on or the other is primarily false choice intended to get people to put off dealing with income inequality.

It isn't as simple as "oh, smash the banks and let people loot the safes" -almost every part of our institutions are rotten and corrupt -financially, morally. Fixing (and yes, this can be fixed) institutional racism, institutional misogyny and all of the other rot has to be a part of the solution.

It can't be just one or just the other -that's an unnecessary choice that leads us to fixing neither. The process has to involve bailing everyone out and scrubbing the rot -the racism, the police abuse and lack of accountability, the misogyny -the you-name-it institutional problems.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

During the process of fixing income inequality, institutional racism will have to be addressed. The idea that you have to pick on or the other is primarily false choice intended to get people to put off dealing with income inequality.

It isn't as simple as "oh, smash the banks and let people loot the safes" -almost every part of our institutions are rotten and corrupt -financially, morally. Fixing (and yes, this can be fixed) institutional racism, institutional misogyny and all of the other rot has to be a part of the solution.

It can't be just one or just the other -that's an unnecessary choice that leads us to fixing neither. The process has to involve bailing everyone out and scrubbing the rot -the racism, the police abuse and lack of accountability, the misogyny -the you-name-it institutional problems.

And all this has to be accomplished piece by piece.

I would say that, quite apart from being far easier and quicker to implement than economic measures, effective and rigorously enforced anti-discrimination laws, with onerous penalties for breaking them and with active enforcement agencies, are a necessary prerequisite if economic reforms are going to do any lasting good.

 

[Free]

HORRIBLE!

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Looks kinda soylent.

Mystery liquid gushing from freeway wall on I-696 backs up traffic, closes lane

The right lane closure of I-696 in Madison Heights is expected to continue into Friday night as authorities keep motorists away from mystery liquid.

www.freep.com

 

[Lady Darnk Juniorette]

HORRIBLE!

Well they don't even halve to hide it now.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

HORRIBLE!

Whoever came up with that sign are probably related to the ones who came up with this one:

 

[Han Held]

HORRIBLE!

They can fit twice as many in the same building's height
they say it's alright...

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

HORRIBLE!

PLOT TWIST - they mean it exactly how it sounds

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Parents of Harry Dunn say they will chase US woman 'to Washington if we have to'

Vow comes as Dominic Raab meets with American ambassador and urges him: 'do the right thing'

www.independent.co.uk

Anne Sacoolas refuses to return to face Harry Dunn charges

Potential 14-year term for killing 19-year-old is ‘not proportionate’, says US woman’s lawyer

www.theguardian.com

A statement from the lawyer for Anne Sacoolas came after the Crown Prosecution Service announced it was bringing charges over Dunn’s death in August. Amy Jeffress said the potential 14-year sentence was “not proportionate” for what was “a terrible but unintentional accident”.

[....]

This was an accident, and a criminal prosecution with a potential penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment is simply not a proportionate response.”

Ms Jeffress seriously misstates the position, I fear, in two different ways.

First, a 14-year sentence (the maximum penalty available) would indeed be disproportionate in this case, which is why no judge would dream of imposing it (and why the Court of Appeal would immediately reduce it to something more sensible.

However, it's certainly true that a brief custodial sentence -- assuming a contested trial, something like 2 years, with automatic release on licence (parole) at the halfway point -- for causing death by dangerous driving would be almost inevitable.

Second, while it may well be her client's position that this was "a terrible but unintentional accident," that's not what she's charged with.

The charge is "Causing death by dangerous driving," and to obtain a conviction for this offence, the prosecution must persuade the jury so that they are sure that

the standard of driving falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver and it would be obvious to a competent and careful driver that driving in that way would be dangerous.

Road Traffic - Charging | The Crown Prosecution Service

www.cps.gov.uk

It may well be that a jury would not take much convincing that driving on the wrong side of the road is obviously dangerous, but she's certainly not charged simply with having an accident while driving; the allegation is that she caused his death not by a momentary lapse of concentration or some fortuitous accident but by driving at speed for some distance on the wrong side of the road.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

This is one way in which I want candidates to directly address concerns of women. Her campaign isn't likely to be able to fulfill these promises as I just don't see her going the whole way (unless she somehow gets picked for the VP slot), but this is direct talk about her plans regarding safeguarding women's rights to control their body and domestic violence.

ETA: Forgot to give the link:
Amy Klobuchar: 'I will reverse Trump abortion policies in the first 100 days'

Klobuchar, the senator from Minnesota who is creeping up in the polls in the vital first-to-vote state of Iowa, laid out aggressive steps she would take to shore up reproductive rights were she to win the Democratic nomination and defeat Trump.

In an interview with the Guardian she said she would immediately reverse key Trump funding cuts for family planning and overturn the domestic and international “gag rules” that make it more difficult to access abortion information and services. She would also make abortion rights a key issue in making judicial appointments.

“In the first 100 days I will remove Trump’s ‘gag rules’, which I can do with no need of congressional involvement,” she said. “I will reverse funding decisions right away, and make sure that we only nominate judges for confirmation who are consistent with the law” of Roe v Wade.

Though she has positioned herself as a moderate in the mold of Biden, she has staked bold stances on women’s issues. She has led efforts to close the so-called “boyfriend loophole” that allows people who domestically abuse their dating partners to acquire guns and sponsored legislation to combat sexual harassment in Congress.

To protect reproductive rights against such state-based attacks, she said that a Klobuchar administration would take up a policy pioneered by Kamala Harris to require any local measures on abortion to be approved in advance by the federal justice department. Such “pre-clearance” would be modeled on the system that operated until 2013 against voter suppression.

She would also try to avoid any damage done to reproductive rights by the conservative majority on the US supreme court by codifying Roe v Wade, the court’s landmark 1973 ruling that declared abortion to be constitutionally protected. “We don’t know what the supreme court will do, so we have to safeguard a woman’s right to choose” by legislating through Congress, she said.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Looks kinda soylent.

Mystery liquid gushing from freeway wall on I-696 backs up traffic, closes lane

The right lane closure of I-696 in Madison Heights is expected to continue into Friday night as authorities keep motorists away from mystery liquid.

www.freep.com

Hexavalent chromium

The spill of the chemical Hexavelent Chromium was discovered about 2:30 p.m. Friday and has drawn the response from representatives from federal, state and local governmental agencies for a clean-up operation. A haz-mat team was put into operation.

The leak came from a commercial building on 10 Mile Road, MSP says. The chemical went from the building’s basement, into the ground and made it into drain which empties onto eastbound I-696.

“The Environmental Protection Agency indicated that once the chemical came up thru the drain, it froze into a yellow blob,” says MSP Metro Detroit in a Tweet. “The plan to dispose of the chemical is to bring in a type of excavator, scoop up the frozen waste, and place it into a safe container.”

“Our first duty is to protect our local water and we stand ready to assist our federal and state partners to contain this material,” Miller said in a news release. “The federal EPA and state EGLE (Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy) as well as the Madison Heights Fire Department are on site and my staff is in close communication with them to ensure that this material is captured before it can migrate to the lake."

Hexavalent chromium can be many colors, but chromium oxide is exactly that yellow-green color.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Train Derails into Potomac River Near Harpers Ferry

A freight train crossing the Potomac River near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, derailed early Saturday morning, causing two cars to plummet into the water.

Seven cars derailed on the bridge, wiping out a section of a footbridge that's part of the famous Appalachian Trail. It appears no one was on the bridge at the time and no injuries were reported.


The train was headed east over the Winchester and Potomac Railroad Bridge between Harpers Ferry and Maryland about 2:30 a.m., train operator CSX said.

The empty grain cars derailed into the water and on the West Virginia shoreline, but the locomotive stayed on the tracks, CSX said.

Maryland State Police, Washington County fire, Loudoun County fire, the National Park Service and other agencies responded about 3:30 a.m.


CSX said there were no hazardous materials on board and the company will work to clean up and restore the area quickly. The cause of the derailment is under investigation.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

I think this is satire?

Boomerica

Boomerica. 153 likes. This page is for us wh o want to TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK from the libral SNOWFLAKE millennialls who are DESTROYING AMERICA WITH THERE SOCALISM!!!!

www.facebook.com

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Train Derails into Potomac River Near Harpers Ferry

Trainwreck aside, that's a beautiful shot.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

This is a very strange story:

Missing children considered 'endangered' after police link disappearance to death of librarian

Police are searching for two missing children who may be "endangered" after their disappearance was linked to the death of a 49-year-old school librarian.

abcnews.go.com

Tamara Daybell was a 49-year-old elementary school librarian in Idaho who was found dead at home in her bed this past October. It was originally thought that she died in her sleep of natural causes, but police have recently apparently found reason to suspect otherwise and her death is being investigated now.

Only a couple of weeks after Daybell died, her husband Chad married another woman - Lori Vallow, the mother of two children who have since been declared missing by the police. That's an important detail - they are being investigated as missing by police, but they were never reported missing by their parents:

On Nov. 26, police attempted to conduct a welfare check on Joshua, who was adopted by Vallow and has special needs, after extended family reported that they were concerned because they hadn't been able to speak with him since September.

When investigators spoke with Vallow and Chad Daybell, they indicated Joshua was staying with a family friend in Arizona, but authorities later learned that Joshua was not staying with that friend, police said.

The next day, police executed search warrants associated with Vallow in an attempt to locate Joshua and found that Vallow and Chad Daybell had "abruptly vacated their residence and left Rexburg," according to the release. Police then requested assistance from the FBI to find Joshua.

A further investigation determined that the couple did not have Joshua with them when they left town, police said.

I do not have a good feeling about this family.