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WTF? Our gov't can't find the skill set to construct a decent firewall?
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“Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx -
The best firewalls and security won't stop an idiot user from putting any network at risk...Shut the fuck up Donny!Comment
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Truthfully it was more sophisticated than a phishing operation. Well, maybe it'll turn out an employee at SolarWinds opened something he shouldn't have. At any rate, they were able to attach code to software updates SolarWinds sent out between March and June and have gotten inside god knows how many systems, govt and private. Someone on CNBC this morning said the Russians likely had to prioritize what they could steal because it's looking like they had access to a massive amount of info.Comment
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Didn't sound overly sophisticated to me...and I'm in the industry...not so much on the security side but corporate IT Support...sounds like more employee fuck up related than a security weakness...as most hacks are...Shut the fuck up Donny!Comment
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In fairness yeah it depends how they compromised SolarWinds. What's scary is it apparently took 6-9 months to catch them. If it's true the govt only found out recently.Originally posted by THE_WIZARD_ View PostComment
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Beggars can't be choosers but everything about the Moderna vaccine seems preferable to the Pfizer one. Easier to transport and store, slightly more effective preventing sickness, and sounds like it's highly effective at preventing asymptomatic infection too.Comment
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IT'S RUSSIA AGAIN!!!
It's a good thing that no other country has hackers.Comment
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The mysterious hacked user was obviously PDJT.Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.Comment
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A reasonable guess. Somehow I feel like it wouldn't take a herculean effort to get him to click on a link and enter his network password.Originally posted by iam416 View PostComment
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The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are functionally identical. As DSL points out, the storage requirements for each vaccine are different but not that different. Both need refrigeration and each have slightly differing protocols for removal from refrigeration and delivery to the arm. Accommodation for both have been worked out in advance.
Pfizer’s product must be stored at minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit if storage is long term ( > 30d) to remain effective. This temperature requires special freezers usually found in research labs and hospitals. In contrast, Moderna’s vaccine mRNA1273 can be stored long term at 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit and can last nearly 30 days in a standard fridge. The major storage differences between two similarly structured vaccines may be because of how the vaccines’ synthetic mRNA is packaged or the refrigeration conditions may have to do with how the mRNA was manufactured and stabilized.
No worries. I'm reading hospitals and academic medical centers designated as receiving and distribution centers for the Pfizer vaccine already have the freezers needed to effectively store Pfizer’s vaccine because they used them to store lab diagnostic materials and biologic samples. So, not that big of a deal. Other facilities have been identified and appropriate refrigeration is already in place.
What's truly remarkable is that so far, transportation and distribution has been carried out flawlessly and you can bet the press will be the first to find out about and report the dire consequences of any transportation or distribution glitches. If this continues as seamlessly as it appears to have been planed and so far executed, we should start seeing deaths and probably hospitalizations tick down within 45-60d. Keep in mind, those two data points are a direct indicator of disease burden and vaccine effect on it.
No vaccine expert has said the virus will stop spreading. New case numbers will possibly plateau but I can see a scenario where these continue to rise and the press will be all over this claiming the vaccine does not seem to be having the intended effect - CONTEXT will again be key. Nevertheless, if cases do rise or don't drop on a local or regional basis, state and local governments will continue to incorrectly over-react keeping unnecessary and useless restrictions and mitigation measures in place such measures offering little in the way of PH benefits.
Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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I'm not sure if I should be enthused or worried about this: The FDA just approved an OTC SARS-CoV-2 antigen test called Ellume COVID-19. It is intended for home use. Can't go out and buy one yet but these will be available in January. It does offer an approach that allays some of my concerns about misuse. The at home test protocol involves the use of a smart phone APP that apparently requires the APP to interpret the results and then reports those results anonymously to a data base that PH officials can access. So, you get negative and positive test data but it isn't clear to me a positive result will prompt a call from local PH officials and contact tracing, or if you can be tracked. That's a squishy privacy issue but it seems to me that if you download the APP to your smart phone, you can be tracked. From a PH perspective, I don't have a problem with tracking people who are positive. Its exploitation of the data base and any tracking feature by bad guys that is concerning.
Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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Right-Wing Embrace Of Conspiracy Is 'Mass Radicalization,' Experts Warn
HANNAH ALLAM
The Million MAGA March drew thousands of President Trump's supporters, including members of far-right groups such as the Proud Boys, Patriot Front and others, to Washington, D.C., last month.
Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The widespread embrace of conspiracy and disinformation amounts to a "mass radicalization" of Americans, and increases the risk of right-wing violence, veteran security officials and terrorism researchers warn.
At conferences, in op-eds and at agency meetings, domestic terrorism analysts are raising concern about the security implications of millions of conservatives buying into baseless right-wing claims. They say the line between mainstream and fringe is vanishing, with conspiracy-minded Republicans now marching alongside armed extremists at rallies across the country. Disparate factions on the right are coalescing into one side, analysts say, self-proclaimed "real Americans" who are cocooned in their own news outlets, their own social media networks and, ultimately, their own "truth."
"This tent that used to be sort of 'far-right extremists' has gotten a lot broader. To me, a former counterterrorism official, that's a radicalization process," said Mary McCord, a former federal prosecutor who oversaw terrorism cases and who's now a law professor at Georgetown University.
McCord was speaking at a recent online conference, Millions of Conversations, an organization aimed at reducing polarization. Along with McCord, several other former officials who served in senior national security roles said the mass embrace of bogus information poses a serious national security concern for the incoming Biden administration.
Weekend protest
They added that there's no easy foil for a right-wing propaganda effort that amplifies fears and grievances on a nonstop loop. Those beliefs already have inspired political violence at protests over lockdowns and racial injustice. Political conspiracies drew thousands to last weekend's pro-Trump rally, after which the Proud Boys and other violent extremist groups wreaked havoc in downtown Washington, D.C.
"Breaking through that echo chamber is critical or else we'll see more violence," said Elizabeth Neumann, who in April resigned her post leading the Department of Homeland Security office that oversees responses to violent extremism.
While it's impossible to pin down the scope of such beliefs, analysts say, the numbers are staggering if even a fraction of President Trump's more than 74 million voters support bogus claims that say, for example, the election was rigged, the coronavirus is a hoax, and liberals are hatching a socialist takeover.
Traffic numbers for right-wing outlets and livestreams suggest the support extends well beyond the margins. Recent polls also signal the spread: One survey found that around 77% of Trump supporters believe that Joe Biden won the election as a result of fraud despite no evidence to support that claim.
At the online conference, participants characterized the shift as a mass radicalization. Neumann said the issue keeps her up at night worrying about where the country is heading. She talked about family members who've gone down the right-wing rabbit hole of disinformation. She said conversations with them require patience and negotiation, such as laying out her conditions for coronavirus safety protocols at family gatherings.
Neumann said it's hard to imagine what it would take to replicate those tough conversations on a national scale, given the power and reach of conservative media.
"I am wrestling with: How do I help people that have, unbeknownst to them, they've become radicalized in their thought? They hold views they didn't hold 10 years ago because all they listen to is that conservative infotainment," Neumann said. "Unless we help them break the deception, we cannot operate with 30% of the country holding the extreme views that they do."
Show of force
Jason Dempsey, a military analyst and former Army officer on the panel, said too many people are turning to force as a response to fears over political divisions, whether through the military and law enforcement, or the formation of local armed groups. The election-rigging rhetoric only ups the ante as Democrats are painted no longer just as fellow citizens with different views but as enemies who must be vanquished.
"There are no easy answers, even if they're carrying guns and wearing body armor," Dempsey said. "We've got to get past that and be wary of the idea of militarism that doesn't lead to a common conception of service, but leads to the kind of tribalism where we have to protect ourselves and our families by force against those we disagree with."
On the conference call, the analysts agreed that the leftist fringe also is hardening and promoting its own conspiracies. But they said there's simply no equivalency with the right in terms of the volume of disinformation and conspiracy, or in its connections to violent acts.
"There is a monetization of outrage on both sides," Neumann said, "but in particular the conservative infotainment sector makes money off of that outrage."
On the topic of solutions, the panelists floated ideas about education, media literacy, trusted mediators. But they added there's little chance of progress until Trump, a superspreader of conspiracies and disinformation, is out of the White House.
"Leadership matters," said Kori Schake, who was a senior adviser in the State Department, Defense Department and the National Security Council. "It really matters that the president of the United States is an arsonist of radicalization. And it will really help when that is no longer the case."
Entrenched polarization
The online conference wrapped up the way many such discussions do: without a clear solution, at least in the near-term. The same what-do-we-do conversations are happening in political circles, among researchers and at tech companies.
Nobody expects polarization – or its spinoff, radicalization – to go away when Trump is out of office. It's now a fixture of the American political landscape, part of an international trend toward right-wing populism, said Arie Kruglanski, a University of Maryland professor who's written extensively about radicalization. He said the erosion of trust in public institutions leaves ample room for disinformation to take root.
"We don't trust the government. We don't trust the Congress. We don't trust the Supreme Court. We don't trust now the science. We don't trust medicine. We don't trust the media for sure," Kruglanski said. "So who do we trust? Well, we trust our tribe. We trust conspiracy theories that tell us what we want to hear."
Kruglanski said revolutions and wars throughout history offer examples of how quickly extremism can go mainstream.
"Every large political movement started at one point as a small fringe minority," he said. "And when it catches on, it can engulf the whole society. So, you know, the danger is there."
I feel like I am watching the destruction of our democracy while my neighbors and friends cheer it onComment
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LolDan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.Comment
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"Every large political movement started at one point as a small fringe minority," he said. "And when it catches on, it can engulf the whole society. So, you know, the danger is there."
Ain’t that the fuckin’ truth...
#mostlypeacefulComment
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BLM has threatened to burn down "white" communities. ("Next, we burn Howell"... sound familiar?)
What do they expect "white" extremists to do? Ignore the threat?
That pic looks like an advertisement for Call of Duty.
"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, .. I'd worn them for weeks, and they needed the air"Comment
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