Thursday, July 09, 2020

Joe Versus the Cable Networks - Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat


“Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.” Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle Continue reading Almanac: Dodie Smith on depression at About Last Night.... Read more


The remote British village that built one of the fastest internet networks in the UK

SMALL AND LITHE: Unlike much of rural England, Clapham boasts one of the best internet connections in the country – and the locals built it themselves.


  • "The Taxpayer First Act (TFA) remains concerned that it has not properly implemented a provision directing it to establish a single point of contact for identity theft victims"

Putting Taxpayers First, Improving Taxpayer Service, and Supporting the Development of a Comprehensive Customer Service Strategy and Related Plans to Implement the Taxpayer First Act


Huawei’s window of opportunity closes: how geopolitics triumphed over technology

GEOPOL 2020: Huawei was inevitably going to find it difficult to please an increasingly nationalistic Chinese leadership while not alarming nervous governments in Western capitals.


HMM:  China Imposes Limits on Large Transactions After Bank Runs. “The People’s Bank of China this month kicked off a pilot plan in Hebei province that would require retail and business clients to pre-report any large withdrawals or deposits, according to a statement. The two-year program will be expanded to Zhejiang and Shenzhen in October, encompassing more than 70 million people. 


COMMUNIST FRONT CORPORATION: TikTok Banned in US? SecState Pompeo Says We’re ‘Looking At’ It.



Never pay the ransomware, always make backups:

01
JUL 20 

Ransomware Gangs Don’t Need PR Help

We’ve seen an ugly trend recently of tech news storiesand cybersecurity firms trumpeting claims of ransomware attacks on companies large and small, apparently based on little more than the say-so of the ransomware gangs themselves. Such coverage is potentially quite harmful and plays deftly into the hands of organized crime.

Often the rationale behind couching these events as newsworthy is that the attacks involve publicly traded companies or recognizable brands, and that investors and the public have a right to know. But absent any additional information from the victim company or their partners who may be affected by the attack, these kinds of stories and blog posts look a great deal like ambulance chasing and sensationalism.


A Brisbane man has been granted bail on a tainted property charge after a routine traffic stop unearthed $4.35 million of cash in his car.

Police said Simon Andrew Cross, 37, was driving along the Pacific Motorway at Eight Mile Plains on Tuesday morning when he was pulled over.


A Brisbane man has been granted bail on a tainted property charge after a routine traffic stop unearthed $4.35 million of cash in his car.

Police said Simon Andrew Cross, 37, was driving along the Pacific Motorway at Eight Mile Plains on Tuesday morning when he was pulled over.



Top 1000 program - what attracts our attention guide
Assistant Commissioner Rajitha Srikhanta talks about our guide to what attracts our attention and how businesses in our Top 1000 program can improve their assurance ratings.

ICIJ: Attacks on press freedom across the world continued last week – with reporters in our network being challenged in Malaysia and Panama.

Our Malaysian member Steven Gan, editor of Malaysiakini, faces jail time and fines at a trial set to begin next week. Gan stands charged with contempt of court for five comments, left on the outlet’s website by readers, that were allegedly critical of the country’s judiciary. 

Meanwhile, in Panama our partner and leading newspaper La Prensa has had $1.13 million worth of assets frozen. The decision is in connection with an eight-year-old legal challenge from former president Ernesto Pérez Balladares. No conviction has been made against La Prensa in this case. Follow Mary Triny Zea for all the latest.

The entire ICIJ family stands with our colleagues, as they fight for justice. Journalism is not a crime! Here are this week’s stories:

SUPPORTED BY SCIENCE

For so long women have complained about fatigue, memory loss, joint and muscle pain – and claimed it was connected with their breast implants. But the existence of breast implant illness has been dismissed as scientifically unproven. Now, a new study for 750 women found that – within 30 days of having the implant removed – the patients had significant relief. Published in a leading plastic surgery journal, the author says the data “speaks for itself.

TAX TEAR UP

First it was Senegal, now Zambia is ripping up its tax treaty with Mauritius in hope of a better deal. As Mauritius Leaks exposed, the island nation has become known for lopsided tax deals, shell companies with no employees and organizations created, in part, to avoid paying taxes. A senior Zambian official told us the treaty was “not balanced or fair.” Tax experts say this move shows treaties can be renegotiated to generate more benefits for each nation.

GLENCORE PROBE

Mining giant Glencore is under investigation in Switzerland for its “failure to have the organizational measures in place to prevent alleged corruption” in the Democractic Republic of Congo. The company was already under investigation in the United Kingdom and United States over its compliance with money-laundering and other laws. In 2017, Paradise Papers revealed Glencore’s operations in the DRC and its close ties with Appleby, the offshore law firm at the heart of the leak.


How Google Docs became the social media of the resistance - MIT Technology Review – “Facebook and Twitter might have the bells and whistles, but the word processing software’s simplicity and accessibility have made it a winning tool… In just the last week, Google Docs has emerged as a way to share everything from lists of books on racism to templates for letters to family members and representativesto lists of funds and resources that are accepting donations. Shared Google Docs that anyone can view and anyone can edit, anonymously, have become a valuable tool for grassroots organizing during both the coronavirus pandemic and the police brutality protests sweeping the US. It’s not the first time. In fact, activists and campaigners have been using the word processing software for years as a more efficient and accessible protest tool than either Facebook or Twitter…”


Joe Versus the Cable Networks

Though CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News carried Biden’s latest speech, the campaign has been frustrated when other events go uncovered. “The burden is on the…