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Submission + - Judge in Boeing Deferred Prosecution case finds DEI against public interest (arstechnica.com)

seeker writes: In a Texas court Federal Judge has rejected a criminal plea deal between the Government and Boeing on several points.

The one catching the most attention is the Judge objecting to DEI requirements on the selection of a Monitor, stating in part "The plea agreement requires the parties to consider race when hiring the independent monitor," O'Connor wrote in his decision. "In a case of this magnitude, it is in the utmost interest of justice that the public is confident this monitor selection is done based solely on competency."

But there were other significant issues: the deal was a cozy one, where Boeing was not obligated to follow the monitor's recommendations, and the monitor reported to the FAA, which the Judge found had already failed to effectively oversee Boeing.

Submission + - Russia adds plane bombs to its grey zone warfare (wsj.com)

seeker writes: Russia has been credited with assassination and attempted assassination using chemical weapons in the UK and with the assassination of US resident and former Russian citizen media czar Mikhail Lesin

More recently it was found to be plotting to assassinate the CEO of Reinmetal, the German arms maker.

Now it has upped it game: incendiaries on commercial aircraft.

Comment Re:A great human being but a poor President.... (Score 2) 221

Carter's best work was after his presidency, such as Habitat for Humanity.

As a President which I saw first hand he:
- created an economy later called Stagflation which strangled the US economy
- that led to a cycle of staggering inflation and high interest rates
- was defeatist in the competition with the USSR
- generally appeased opponents of any flavor: USSR, OPEC, Panama, communist funded European nuclear freeze groups to mention a few
- his weakness as a leader led to the Iran hostage crisis: they were confident he had weak-knees for real conflict

He was on course to lose or continue the Cold War. He was probably the first US President to oversee regression on supporting democracy globally. He weakness on Iran specifically is still playing out today: Islamist's globally found a country to fund their evil.

So I rate him pretty low as a President. Losing / perpetuating the cold war would have been a continuing dangerous nightmare. And Iran is fighting a war by proxy, and now sending ballistic missiles into Israel. These are critical pieces of his legacy.

Comment Already demonstrated through a natural experiment (Score 1) 288

What is proposed is injecting SiO2 into the stratosphere. Unlike SiO2 in the troposphere, it will not come down quickly, nor will it trigger massive acid rain.

We know that it will work because we have seen multiple natural experiments demonstrating it: Mt. St. Helens and El Chichón (https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scientificamerican.com%2Farticle%2Fhow-do-volcanoes-affect-w%2F , search for El Chichón) both produced global cooling, but as the SAM article explains, the smaller El Chichón produced a much larger global cooling effect. And this is even with the Gigatons of CO2 injected by the volcanos.

It is telling that the first argument some make against this is 'moral hazard'. That they think they can impress their morality on others is telling. But maybe they actually don't want to solve the problem but instead have some larger societal agenda?

What we have right now is a bunch of scientists studying the problem, not engineers solving it. If you really believe we are cooking ourselves, then I would think you would appreciate pulling the shades a bit as we de-carbonize the energy supply.

Comment TikTok's expiration is past due. (Score 1) 96

It is way past time our elected leaders defended our interests. Whether is it the notorious technology transfers China has required to do business there, its banning every major Western social media platform, and now communication platforms such as What'sApp, Telegram and Signal, or it directly subsidizing the export of Fentanyl or its components on a global scale, our leaders have been meek and weak.

Banning or forcing the sale TikTok, manifestly under the CCP's thumb is just one of many steps that need to be taken.

This is not a 1A issue as previously discussed on /.: TikTok is a propaganda platform controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Anyone who thinks otherwise trusts the CCP more than the United States. The CCP affords NO 1A rights to people under its control,

Comment Re:TikTok is indeed Fentanyl (Score 1) 90

Because I think the average /. reader is well aware of the plight of the Uyghurs and can use a search engine.

Duck Duck Go search "bbc uyghur report".
Third link, title "Who are the Uyghurs and why is China being accused of genocide? " https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-asia-china-22278037.
Fifth link, title "'Their goal is to destroy everyone': Uighur camp detainees allege ... " https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-asia-china-55794071

The last contains leads with "2 February 2021. By Matthew Hill, David Campanale and Joel Gunter,BBC News. Women in China's "re-education" camps for Uighurs have been systematically raped, sexually abused, and tortured ..."

China's government established control of the internet to monitor and censor their citizen's communications. They established a surveillance state to monitor and control their citizen's movements. They actively subjugate minority cultures within their own borders. They extinguished the freedoms of Hong Kong, where just a few years ago their citizens were flying American flags hoping we would help them.

Why would we as a people want the Chinese government in any form to have any influence over us?

Comment Re:TikTok is indeed Fentanyl (Score 2) 90

There are no shortage of megaphones available: YouTube, X, IG, FB are just a few. Or buy ad time if you really care. Or self-publish on SubStack or Medium or....

The possibilities are endless. TikTok, somewhat uniquely, is controlled and actively manipulated by a known authoritarian state actor.

This is not a 1A issue. No one is denying the megaphone, and to be clear the proposal is to force the sale of TikTok, not eliminate it.

Comment TikTok is indeed Fentanyl (Score 3, Interesting) 90

I think is crazy we have to have this discussion: the principles are just so clear.

ByteDance and therefore TikTok are by Chinese law subject to the control of the Chinese Government aka the Chinese Communist Party . That same government is ethnic cleansing both Tibet (remember when Hollywood cared about Tibet?) and the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang province. They have erected large prison systems to imprison and 'educate' large numbers of Uyghurs, some say over a million. Some are raped, some are tortured, some just never come home. You can check the BBC for details on that. And yet the TikTok apologists look away. And oh yes the Chinese are exporting Fentanyl or its component chemicals to the US and Mexico, where it feeds death, murder and mayhem, maybe as a retribution for the Opium Wars, maybe just another asymmetric warfare campaign being waged by the Chinese government.

This is not a First Amendment issue: the Chinese government does not have 1st amendment rights here. And through the famous TikTok algorithm, it implicitly editorializes the content presented to TikTok users. Would you allow the US Government the same editorial privilege? TikTok defenders, all of them, are choosing to trust the motivations of the Chinese government over the US.

Where there not many other platforms for users to communicate basically the same way you would still not have an argument. But that is not the case.

TikTok is a propaganda platform, despite the large measure of entertainment content. TikTok defenders have their heads in the sand. Maybe they should go to China, where TikTok, X and many other platforms are not available and try there to freely express their non-existent 1st amendment rights.

Comment The FDA was wrong (Score 2) 350

Ivermectin is a widely proscribed drug for humans. The WHO describes it as an essential medicine, and its discovery led to a Nobel Prize (https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FIvermectin).

Whether it is effective on COVID is not clear. You can find studies that say it is unclear (https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nejm.org%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1056%2FNEJMoa2115869) or that it is effective for early cases (https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2F33278625%2F). Given the now admitted hostile actions of the FDA, I am sure there are studies saying it is not effective particularly for late stage cases.

It is very common for a single drug to have multiple applications, this is why off-label prescriptions exist

The FDA wrongly characterized Ivermectin and wrongly satirized it's use in at a time when the CDC had bungled COVID testing and the FDA was acting in an overtly political manner.

The FDA chose to take it's medicine like a child: whining that it did not want to.

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