Today's News (2020/1/16)
Jan. 16th, 2020 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdUS Government-funded Android phones come preinstalled with unremovable malware
Phones were sold to low-income people under the FCC's Lifeline Assistance program.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/01/us-government-funded-android-phones-come-preinstalled-with-unremovable-malware/
An Android phone subsidized by the US government for low-income users comes preinstalled with malware that can't be removed without making the device cease to work, researchers reported on Thursday.
The UMX U686CL is provided by Virgin Mobile's Assurance Wireless program. Assurance Wireless is an offshoot of the Lifeline Assistance program, a Federal Communications Commissions plan that makes free or government-subsidized phones service available to millions of low-income families. The program is often referred to as the Obama Phone because it expanded in 2008, when President Barack Obama took office. The UMX U686CL runs Android and is available for $35 to qualifying users.
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Bill from Missouri's Rep Ben Baker threatens librarians with prison sentences for allowing minors to read books banned by town committees
https://boingboing.net/2020/01/16/lock-her-up-2.html
Under Missouri House Bill 2044 -- the "Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act" -- each town will elect a committee of five local people (librarians are not permitted to serve) who will take local submission for books to ban. If they choose to ban a book, any librarian who allows a minor to check out or read that book will face up to a year in prison, and their libraries will be de-funded.
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[oh
now they're opening a probe
just not the one 45 wanted xD ]
Ukraine opens probe into possible surveillance of U.S. Ambassador Yovanovitch
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/ukraine-opens-probe-into-possible-surveillance-of-u-s-ambassador-yovanovitch/
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https://twitter.com/CaseyExplosion/status/1217782757260251138
Anti-trans hate group "LGB Alliance" received £44,000 from its crowdfunding campaign. What are they doing with that? Making weird anti-trans propaganda songs it seems.
Gosh, these groups seem flush with more money than they know what to do with. Where's it all coming from?
[Link to Pink News UK story:
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/15/anti-trans-lgb-alliance-pop-single-stand-up-bekka-bright-grammy-awards-2020/
]
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https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1217801744098439174
Charlotte Clymer [HRC]
Any day now, the Supreme Court could very well rule that LGBTQ people’s employment is not protected under existing civil rights laws.
Meanwhile:
via CNN:
Chief Justice John Roberts asked if using 'OK Boomer' constituted unlawful age discrimination https://cnn.it/2FQ7n8A
-----
Aaron Rupar
twitter.com/atrupar
[VIDEO]
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1217844073685561344
NANCY PELOSI: "Under other circumstances, if somebody like Parnas came forward, and there was... reason to believe some of that was factual, there would be a special prosecutor appointed. Does anybody think that the rogue attorney general is going to appoint a special prosecutor? No, because he's implicated in all of this. This is an example of all of the president's henchmen, and I hope that [GOP] senators do not become part of the president's henchmen."
-----
Senate resolution to limit Trump’s military authority on Iran has enough GOP votes to pass, key Democrats say
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/senate-resolution-to-limit-trumps-military-authority-on-iran-has-enough-gop-votes-to-pass-key-democrats-say/2020/01/14/33684f50-3706-11ea-bb7b-265f4554af6d_story.html
The Senate is poised to formally counter President Trump’s ability to initiate further military action against Iran, as four Republicans now say they will vote with Democrats to pass a resolution invoking Congress’s war powers.
“Congress cannot be sidelined on these important decisions,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who on Tuesday declared her support for the measure. She joins Sens. Todd C. Young (R-Ind.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and all 47 Democrats. A vote could come as soon as next week.
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Press statement regarding GAO Decision B-331564, Office of Management and Budget--Withholding of Ukraine Security Assistance
https://www.gao.gov/about/press-center/press-releases/press-statement-b-331564-omb-ukraine.htm
The following is a statement from Thomas H. Armstrong, Esq., General Counsel, U.S. Government Accountability Office, regarding a legal decision issued on January 16, 2020:
“Today, GAO issued a legal decision concluding that the Office of Management and Budget violated the law when it withheld approximately $214 million appropriated to DOD for security assistance to Ukraine. The President has narrow, limited authority to withhold appropriations under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. OMB told GAO that it withheld the funds to ensure that they were not spent “in a manner that could conflict with the President’s foreign policy.” The law does not permit OMB to withhold funds for policy reasons.” The full decision can be found here: https://www.gao.gov/products/B-331564
For additional information please contact Jacques Arsenault in GAO’s Office of Public Affairs at 202-512-4612.
-----
Expert: Georgia election server showed signs of tampering
https://apnews.com/39dad9d39a7533efe06e0774615a6d05
BOSTON (AP) — A computer security expert says he found that a forensic image of the election server central to a legal battle over the integrity of Georgia elections showed signs that the original server was hacked.
The server was left exposed to the open internet for at least six months, a problem the same expert discovered in August 2016. It was subsequently wiped clean in mid-2017 with no notice, just days after election integrity activists filed a lawsuit seeking an overhaul of what they called the state’s unreliable and negligently run election system.
...
Logan Lamb, a security expert for the plaintiffs, said in an affidavit filed in Atlanta federal court on Thursday that he found evidence suggesting the server was compromised in December 2014. Lamb said the evidence suggests an attacker exploited a bug that provided full control of the server.
Lamb also said he determined that computer logs — which would have been critical to understanding what might have been altered on or stolen from the server — only go back to Nov. 10, 2016 — two days after Donald Trump was elected U.S. president. Two years later, Brian Kemp won the Georgia governor’s race by a narrow margin over Democrat Stacey Abrams.
Kemp oversaw Georgia’s elections during both races as secretary of state. Election administration was handled at Kennesaw State University by an outfit that Kemp’s office dismantled after the server-wiping incident.
Additionally, Lamb found evidence that election-related files were deleted from the server on March 2, 2017, just after a colleague of his alerted KSU officials that the election server remained vulnerable to hackers.
It was Lamb who initially alerted Merle King, director of the elections center at KSU, in August 2016 of a gaping security hole that left the server vulnerable to tampering.
The fact that the access logs were deleted suggests possible foul play, Lamb wrote.
“I can think of no legitimate reason why records from that critical period of time should have been deleted,” he said in his sworn statement.
-----
11 US troops injured in Iran missile strikes on Iraqi bases: report
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/478713-11-us-troops-injured-in-iran-missile-strikes-on-iraqi-bases-report
Eleven U.S. troops were injured in the Iranian missile strike on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops earlier this month launched in retaliation for the killing of a top general.
Defense One reported Thursday that the U.S. service members were airlifted to Kuwait and Germany where they received treatment for traumatic brain injuries and underwent further tests.
“Out of an abundance of caution, some service members were transported from Al Asad Air Base, Iraq to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, others were sent to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, for follow-on screening,” Col. Myles Caggins, a spokesman for U.S. military command in Baghdad, told the news outlet.
“When deemed fit for duty, the service members are expected to return to Iraq following screening. The health and welfare of our personnel is a top priority and we will not discuss any individual’s medical status," the statement continued.
Phones were sold to low-income people under the FCC's Lifeline Assistance program.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/01/us-government-funded-android-phones-come-preinstalled-with-unremovable-malware/
An Android phone subsidized by the US government for low-income users comes preinstalled with malware that can't be removed without making the device cease to work, researchers reported on Thursday.
The UMX U686CL is provided by Virgin Mobile's Assurance Wireless program. Assurance Wireless is an offshoot of the Lifeline Assistance program, a Federal Communications Commissions plan that makes free or government-subsidized phones service available to millions of low-income families. The program is often referred to as the Obama Phone because it expanded in 2008, when President Barack Obama took office. The UMX U686CL runs Android and is available for $35 to qualifying users.
-----
Bill from Missouri's Rep Ben Baker threatens librarians with prison sentences for allowing minors to read books banned by town committees
https://boingboing.net/2020/01/16/lock-her-up-2.html
Under Missouri House Bill 2044 -- the "Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act" -- each town will elect a committee of five local people (librarians are not permitted to serve) who will take local submission for books to ban. If they choose to ban a book, any librarian who allows a minor to check out or read that book will face up to a year in prison, and their libraries will be de-funded.
-----
[oh
now they're opening a probe
just not the one 45 wanted xD ]
Ukraine opens probe into possible surveillance of U.S. Ambassador Yovanovitch
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/ukraine-opens-probe-into-possible-surveillance-of-u-s-ambassador-yovanovitch/
-----
https://twitter.com/CaseyExplosion/status/1217782757260251138
Anti-trans hate group "LGB Alliance" received £44,000 from its crowdfunding campaign. What are they doing with that? Making weird anti-trans propaganda songs it seems.
Gosh, these groups seem flush with more money than they know what to do with. Where's it all coming from?
[Link to Pink News UK story:
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/15/anti-trans-lgb-alliance-pop-single-stand-up-bekka-bright-grammy-awards-2020/
]
----
https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1217801744098439174
Charlotte Clymer [HRC]
Any day now, the Supreme Court could very well rule that LGBTQ people’s employment is not protected under existing civil rights laws.
Meanwhile:
via CNN:
Chief Justice John Roberts asked if using 'OK Boomer' constituted unlawful age discrimination https://cnn.it/2FQ7n8A
-----
Aaron Rupar
twitter.com/atrupar
[VIDEO]
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1217844073685561344
NANCY PELOSI: "Under other circumstances, if somebody like Parnas came forward, and there was... reason to believe some of that was factual, there would be a special prosecutor appointed. Does anybody think that the rogue attorney general is going to appoint a special prosecutor? No, because he's implicated in all of this. This is an example of all of the president's henchmen, and I hope that [GOP] senators do not become part of the president's henchmen."
-----
Senate resolution to limit Trump’s military authority on Iran has enough GOP votes to pass, key Democrats say
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/senate-resolution-to-limit-trumps-military-authority-on-iran-has-enough-gop-votes-to-pass-key-democrats-say/2020/01/14/33684f50-3706-11ea-bb7b-265f4554af6d_story.html
The Senate is poised to formally counter President Trump’s ability to initiate further military action against Iran, as four Republicans now say they will vote with Democrats to pass a resolution invoking Congress’s war powers.
“Congress cannot be sidelined on these important decisions,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who on Tuesday declared her support for the measure. She joins Sens. Todd C. Young (R-Ind.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and all 47 Democrats. A vote could come as soon as next week.
-----
Press statement regarding GAO Decision B-331564, Office of Management and Budget--Withholding of Ukraine Security Assistance
https://www.gao.gov/about/press-center/press-releases/press-statement-b-331564-omb-ukraine.htm
The following is a statement from Thomas H. Armstrong, Esq., General Counsel, U.S. Government Accountability Office, regarding a legal decision issued on January 16, 2020:
“Today, GAO issued a legal decision concluding that the Office of Management and Budget violated the law when it withheld approximately $214 million appropriated to DOD for security assistance to Ukraine. The President has narrow, limited authority to withhold appropriations under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. OMB told GAO that it withheld the funds to ensure that they were not spent “in a manner that could conflict with the President’s foreign policy.” The law does not permit OMB to withhold funds for policy reasons.” The full decision can be found here: https://www.gao.gov/products/B-331564
For additional information please contact Jacques Arsenault in GAO’s Office of Public Affairs at 202-512-4612.
-----
Expert: Georgia election server showed signs of tampering
https://apnews.com/39dad9d39a7533efe06e0774615a6d05
BOSTON (AP) — A computer security expert says he found that a forensic image of the election server central to a legal battle over the integrity of Georgia elections showed signs that the original server was hacked.
The server was left exposed to the open internet for at least six months, a problem the same expert discovered in August 2016. It was subsequently wiped clean in mid-2017 with no notice, just days after election integrity activists filed a lawsuit seeking an overhaul of what they called the state’s unreliable and negligently run election system.
...
Logan Lamb, a security expert for the plaintiffs, said in an affidavit filed in Atlanta federal court on Thursday that he found evidence suggesting the server was compromised in December 2014. Lamb said the evidence suggests an attacker exploited a bug that provided full control of the server.
Lamb also said he determined that computer logs — which would have been critical to understanding what might have been altered on or stolen from the server — only go back to Nov. 10, 2016 — two days after Donald Trump was elected U.S. president. Two years later, Brian Kemp won the Georgia governor’s race by a narrow margin over Democrat Stacey Abrams.
Kemp oversaw Georgia’s elections during both races as secretary of state. Election administration was handled at Kennesaw State University by an outfit that Kemp’s office dismantled after the server-wiping incident.
Additionally, Lamb found evidence that election-related files were deleted from the server on March 2, 2017, just after a colleague of his alerted KSU officials that the election server remained vulnerable to hackers.
It was Lamb who initially alerted Merle King, director of the elections center at KSU, in August 2016 of a gaping security hole that left the server vulnerable to tampering.
The fact that the access logs were deleted suggests possible foul play, Lamb wrote.
“I can think of no legitimate reason why records from that critical period of time should have been deleted,” he said in his sworn statement.
-----
11 US troops injured in Iran missile strikes on Iraqi bases: report
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/478713-11-us-troops-injured-in-iran-missile-strikes-on-iraqi-bases-report
Eleven U.S. troops were injured in the Iranian missile strike on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops earlier this month launched in retaliation for the killing of a top general.
Defense One reported Thursday that the U.S. service members were airlifted to Kuwait and Germany where they received treatment for traumatic brain injuries and underwent further tests.
“Out of an abundance of caution, some service members were transported from Al Asad Air Base, Iraq to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, others were sent to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, for follow-on screening,” Col. Myles Caggins, a spokesman for U.S. military command in Baghdad, told the news outlet.
“When deemed fit for duty, the service members are expected to return to Iraq following screening. The health and welfare of our personnel is a top priority and we will not discuss any individual’s medical status," the statement continued.
