Friday, June 19, 2020

Best VPN services: As China attacks India literally and Australia cyberally

 
 But the truth is that it is only by believing in God that we can ever criticise the Government. Once abolish the God, and the Government becomes the God.
— G.K. Chesterton, who died in 1936

Those who created this country chose freedom. With all of its dangers. And do you know the riskiest part of that choice they made? They actually believed that we could be trusted to make up our own minds in the whirl of differing ideas. That we could be trusted to remain free, even when there were very, very seductive voices - taking advantage of our freedom of speech - who were trying to turn this country into the kind of place where the government could tell you what you can and cannot do.
— Nat Hentoff, born in 1925 A year after June








In a clip from a TV advertisement for the SDP-Liberal Alliance, John Cleese entertainingly talks about the benefits of extremism.

The biggest advantage of extremism is that it makes you feel good — because it provides you with enemies. Let me explain. The great thing about having enemies is that you can pretend that all the badness in the whole world is in your enemies and all the goodness in the whole world is in you.

Even if you don’t believe that moderate politics is the way forward (and I wonder if anyone does anymore), you can appreciate the truth that having external enemies can prevent you from discovering and addressing your views and practices that are harming others and that you need to work on.


Best VPN services: Reviews and buying advice - PC World: “Choosing the right virtual private network (VPN) service is no simple task. A VPN should keep your internet usage private and secure, but not every service handles your data in the same way. Just look at the critiques of notable computer security experts and online pundits to understand the challenge. Even supposed experts in the field can turn out to be frauds. Rest assured, we’ve done the legwork to determine if a VPN service has a history of good or bad behavior. In order to win our seal of approval, the service has to protect online privacy; allow you to keep anonymity; offer a good variety of locations from which to direct your traffic; offer fast, reliable performance; and provide an easy-to-use interface. Scroll to the bottom of this article to learn more about VPNs and what to look for one choosing one…”

BRANCH STACKING SCANDAL FALLOUT CONTINUES As The Age reports, former Victorian premier Steve Bracks and federal frontbencher Jenny Macklin have been appointed administrators of Victorian Labor until January 31, 2021, after Premier Dan Andrews called on the national executive...

Time For A Federal ICAC?

Cyber-attack Australia: sophisticated attacks from ‘state-based actor’, PM says

Security experts say China, Russia and North Korea are the only countries that fit Australian prime minister Scott Morrison’s description of culprit

A wide range of political and private sector organisations in Australia have come under cyber-attack carried out by a “sophisticated state-based cyber actor”, the Australian government has revealed.

Scott Morrison disclosed the far-reaching attacks at a media conference in Canberra on Friday, while his defence minister declared that malicious cyber activity was “increasing in frequency, scale, in sophistication and in its impact”.

The government is not saying which country it believes to be responsible, except to say it is “a state-based actor, with very significant capabilities”.

The prime minister declined to respond to a specific question about whether it was China, after months of tensions in its relationship with Australia, but security experts later said they believed it, Russia and North Korea were the only countries that fell within Morrison’s description.










Using census data (which she acknowledges can be imperfect in capturing the full range of people’s identities), data scientist/artist Mona Chalabi created a drawing of 100 people who are representative of NYC’s population for a NY Times opinion piece on inequality and coronavirus.

100 New Yorkers

Chalabi writes on Instagram:

When you think about who is most affected by Covid-19, you need to consider inequalities in housing, in access to healthcare, in wealth. And so much of that ends up consistently affecting people of color. You could think of it as overlapping circles in a Venn diagram. Or, you could look at these 100 people.


“The real point about Communists,” wrote Vivian Gornick decades ago, is that they “were like everybody else, only more so.” Her point is finally Sinking in  

JUST DON’T MENTION THE CULTURE WAR: Fawlty Towers’ “The Germans” episode to be reinstated by UKTV.

Oceania has never been at war with Basil Fawlty.

Earlier: John Cleese Slams Removal of Fawlty TowersEpisode From Streaming Site.

And from Steve: Cancel Culture Comes for John Cleese and ‘Fawlty Towers.’

Steve’s article is just for our VIP Gold members; please the discount code LOYALTY if you’ve been thinking of becoming a supporter



Illegal online casinos boom during COVID-19 lockdown

  • by Patrick Hatch

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