Barbara 🇺🇦 @babs_at_masto@qoto.org

Wired has been killing it lately on covering what may well be the biggest security breach this country has ever seen. They obtained an email sent by an intelligence team within the U.S. Treasury Department that referred to Musk's actions to unilaterally slash and burn government agencies as "the single greatest insider threat risk" they have ever faced.

"There is ongoing litigation, congressional legislation, and widespread protests relating to DOGE’s access to Treasury and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service,” the email reads, per the tech-focused outlet. "If DOGE members have any access to payment systems, we recommend suspending that access immediately and conducting a comprehensive review of all actions they may have taken on these systems."

"There is reporting at other federal agencies indicating that DOGE members have performed unauthorized changes and locked civil servants out of the sensitive systems they gained access to,” the ‘Recommendations’ portion of the email continues. “We further recommend that DOGE members be placed under insider threat monitoring and alerting after their access to payment systems is revoked. Continued access to any payment systems by DOGE members, even “read only,” likely poses the single greatest insider threat risk the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced.”

https://www.wired.com/story/treasury-bfs-doge-insider-threat

https://archive.ph/q26im

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports the warning came from a Treasury threat center run by the govt contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. The Post reports that late Friday, Booz Allen said it had “removed” a subcontractor who wrote the warning and would seek to retract or amend it. “The draft report was prepared by a subcontractor to Booz Allen and contained unauthorized personal opinions that are not factual or consistent with our standards,” company spokesperson Jessica Klenk said. Booz Allen won more than $1 billion in multiyear U.S. government contracts last year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/07/doge-treasury-payments-system-warning/

https://archive.ph/lJ3oi

I've started posting on LinkedIn all the unconstitutional shit Trump and Musk are doing to undermine the security and integrity of our government. Mainly because that crowd needs to hear it most. It's incredible how many people in the infosec space are still defending the actions of DOGE and its dear leader(s). And they're not all crypto bros and AI peddlers; we're talking about people in some pretty important roles, tech-wise.

But at least when they reply with the inevitable "stay in your lane" or "I used to like you when you stayed out of politics," they are on record as complicit and totally okay with what is going on.

French newspaper Le Monde has decided to stop sharing content on Xitter where they have 11m followers. This lengthy editorial explains their ethical decision.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2025/01/20/fighting-for-facts-in-the-era-of-trump-and-musk_6737224_23.html

#LeMonde #Twitter #Musk

Are you wondering why #TikTok says it's back, when in fact the law that shut it down is still in effect?

Trump can't nullify a law with an executive order, no matter what he says. Starting tomorrow, he's going to pretend that he can. He's going to pretend he has the power of a despot. But he only does if we let him.

The world is drowning in plastic.

Experts say we need to stop making so much. But the plastics industry is peddling a "solution" that works like magic.

Don't be fooled.

(Published June 2024)
https://propub.li/4eYp8RR

#News #Plastic #Environment #Sustainability #Recycling

#Russia is ready to carry out cyber attacks on the UK and other allies in a bid to weaken support for #Ukraine, acc to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden, whose role includes responsibility for natsec. In this latest warning he'll say the Kremlin could target British businesses and leave millions without power.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceqxezer7nqo

The #plastics industry has heralded a type of #chemical #recycling it claims could replace new shopping bags and candy wrappers with recycled ones — but not much is being recycled at all, and this method won’t curb the #plastic crisis.

#News #Video #Environment #EPA #Business #Oil #Chemicals #Government

https://youtu.be/06wOoPngOwM?feature=shared

A lesson for journalists, scientists and really anybody who cares about #climatechange:
Using terms like
“Climate crisis”
“Climate emergency”
or
“Climate justice”
doesn’t increase people’s sense of urgency, willingness to support climate-friendly policies or willingness to act.
https://theconversation.com/if-you-want-americans-to-pay-attention-to-climate-change-just-call-it-climate-change-235002

BREAKING - Joe Biden proposes 3 major Supreme Court reforms

1) 18 year term limit
2) binding and enforceable ethics code
3) constitutional amendment stating that ex-presidents do NOT have immunity

Wonderful news — and then let’s add 4 more justices and a maximum age of 75

"Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy but by sophisticated networks relying on kleptocratic financial structures, a complex of security services — military, paramilitary, police — and experts in surveillance, propaganda, and disinformation.”
https://on.ft.com/3WRLWfT

My point here is that if you hate hate hate something Harris has done or said, ask yourself whether you're willing to help put a fascist in the White House by punishing her for that single transgression.

I beg you to see the bigger picture.

“What percentage of the American population has @realdonaldtrump sexually assaulted?”

-- JD Vance tweet, October 2016*

* since deleted, because Vance is a craven bootlicking flip-flopper

JD Vance, who previously said Trump could be "America's Hitler" has agreed to serve as VP for America's Hitler.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/15/who-is-jd-vance-what-to-know-about-trump-possible-vice-running-mate/74364451007/

Violent language invites violence.

Such language changes brains and can result in real world consequences.

The power of violent language far exceeds mere words.

And no one has done more to inject violent language into our politics than Donald Trump.

Analysis with @gilduran at the FrameLab Newsletter
https://www.theframelab.org/donald-trump-language-of-violence/

When a wild orangutan in Sumatra suffered a facial wound, he did something that caught the attention of the scientists around him:
He chewed the leaves of a liana vine, a plant not normally eaten by apes. Over several days, he carefully applied the juice to its wound, then covered it with a paste of chewed-up liana.
The tropical plant he selected has antibacterial and antioxidant properties and alleviates pain, fever, bleeding and inflammation.
https://theconversation.com/animals-self-medicate-with-plants-behavior-people-have-observed-and-emulated-for-millennia-229768
#science #health

“The forest welcomed us with all its beauty. In a region where winter is a far longer season than elsewhere, spring, summer, and autumn have about half a year left to share between the three of them. So, they each have to rush their seasonal rituals faster than elsewhere.”

https://theplanet.substack.com/p/how-weekly-walks-in-nature-help-me

This smells like a real story. The headline says “mystery fundraising firm,” but there’s no evidence of a fundraising firm. There is a Delaware LLC, apparently a ghost or a shell—no address except a post-office box—that has received $3.1 million in Trump campaign cash.

Where did the money go then? Into thin air?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/mystery-fundraising-firm-takes-millions-trump-campaign-rcna156755

Rows of lace patterns left behind at the abandoned Scranton Lace Company in Scranton, PA. These huge sheets were essentially punchcard code that told the machinery how to produce the desired pattern. See the rest of the photos and read the history on Abandoned America: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/scranton-lace-factory