“Faith and reason are mutually reinforcing”

Speech from Clarence Thomas on imprimis.hillsdale.edu (Oct. 2019):

The construction of a college chapel, in particular, is a public declaration that faith and reason are mutually reinforcing.

……………

Beginning in the early 1900s, many elite private colleges and universities began to face questions about the continuing relevance of religious instruction on campus. These questions would have surprised the founders of those schools, many of which were created in part for the express purpose of providing religious instruction. But as time went on and as schools moved away from their religious roots, the relevance of religion to higher education was increasingly questioned, and campus chapels, in particular, came to be viewed as relics of a bygone era.

……………….

Our country was founded on the view that a correct understanding of the nature of God and the human person is critical to preserving the liberty that we so enjoy.

John Adams wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” He recognized that the preservation of liberty is not guaranteed. Without the guardrails supplied by religious conviction, popular sovereignty can devolve into mob rule, unmoored from any conception of objective truth.

As I think about our political culture today, I am reminded of Ronald Reagan’s warning that, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it on to them . . . [to] do the same.”

Each generation is responsible both to itself and to succeeding generations for preserving and promoting the blessings of liberty. Faith in God, more than anything else, fuels the strength of character and self-discipline needed to discharge ably that responsibility. [read more]

Artificial neurons developed to fight disease

From BBC.com (Dec. 3):

Scientists have made artificial nerve cells, paving the way for new ways to repair the human body.

The tiny "brain chips" behave like the real thing and could one day be used to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's.

A team from the University of Bath used a combination of maths, computation and chip design to come up with a way to replicate in circuit form what nerve cells (neurons) do naturally.

Neurons carry signals to and from the brain and the rest of the body.

Scientists are interested in replicating them, because of the potential that offers in treating diseases such as Alzheimer's, where neurons degenerate or die.

Prof Alain Nogaret, from Bath's department of physics, said the novelty of their research was to transfer the electrical properties of brain cells on to synthetic circuits made from silicon.

"Until now, neurons have been like black boxes, but we have managed to open the black box and peer inside," he said. "Our work is paradigm-changing because it provides a robust method to reproduce the electrical properties of real neurons in minute detail." [read more]

Nice.

Constitution 101 2019 Course Notes Part 2

In the period between the Revolutionary War and the Constitution, state governments were dominated by a strong legislature.

Paper money laws enacted in the states violated the property rights of creditors.

The Framers of the Constitution believed human nature was a mixture of good and bad.

The national government under the Articles of Confederation functioned like a diplomatic entity of loosely connected sovereign states.

The government under the Articles of Confederation was insufficient because it was incapable of protecting citizens from foreign threats, it failed to provide the conditions necessary for economic prosperity, and it failed to protect citizens from internal threats.

According to the Framers, the purpose of government is to secure the natural rights of its citizens.

In Federalist 9, Publius lists separation of powers, representation, and an independent judiciary as an improvement to the science of politics.

In Federalist 51, Publius argues that the system of separation of powers and checks and balances assumes that people in government will be ambitious.

The founders held that all persons have the right to possess and acquire property.

The security of a natural right may often conflict with the security of another.

According to the founders, clarity of ownership was fundamentally important to securing property rights.

The founders believed that government must secure the right to buy and sell, protect equal access to transportation and communication, and establish a system of sound currency in order to protect free markets.

The founders held that foreign commerce should benefit the interests and rights of American citizens.

Marriage and family law during the founding emphasized protecting and raising children.

Source: “Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution”

Revolution as a Mental Disease

From American Thinker.com (Nov. 26):

People are gradually getting used to living in an inverted world.  For the first time in our history, the upcoming elections are not about a better standard of living or more freedom.  They are about secular pietism, a collective devotion to an apparently noble cause, which leads to less affluence and freedom.

Illegal immigration has a negative impact on the labor market, especially low-income Americans, by keeping wages down.  Nevertheless, half of our fellow citizens believe that any action taken against illegals is tantamount to sending them to concentration camps.  Medicare for all would lead to long waiting times, with the problem being compound by the coverage provided to an undetermined number of illegals.  In a country where 85% of people have access to quality health care, this would represent a major downgrade.  Socialism is another major electoral theme, and rejecting it in an affluent society would normally be a matter of common sense.  However, part of the secular pietist mission is to fight inequality, even if that leads to worse living conditions for the majority, provided that the object of their envy is also harmed.

Young people are attracted to socialism not because of poverty or some knowledge derived from the Marxist theory, but simply because they see it as an antithesis to the existing system.  Finally, the esoteric doctrine of climate change", based on completely unquantifiable assertions, provides the political tool required to take over the key energy sector that enables control of the entire economy.

With common sense gone out the window, we have started our journey down the rabbit hole. In the absence of transcendence, the only morality that matters originates from the people holding power.  They determine what is good or evil, and ultimately, by controlling people's minds, they control reality.  In the virtual reality of psychological warfare and propaganda, nothing is self-evident.  Living in a parallel, ideological reality is a form of mental disease.  In this inverted world, socialism is good, and "hate" is associated with any diverging opinions.  The historical core of our civilization is gradually being replaced by an ideological narrative. [read more]

Other articles on socialism:

• Why We Must Defeat Socialism
• These 3 Countries Tried Socialism. Here’s What Happened.
• Socialism’s Past

Mexico’s New Tax Law Could Chill Its Economy, Hurt US Trade Relationship

From The Daily Signal.com (Nov. 21):

A new tax law approved last month by the political party of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador—which holds absolute control of the Mexican Congress—gives the government the right to seize land and assets without legal due process in certain tax evasion cases.

These new fiscal enforcement measures could damage Mexico’s economic freedom as well as its economic growth and its trade relations with the U.S.

Under U.S. federal statutes, tax evasion is a Class E felony, the lowest category of felonies—just above a Class A misdemeanor. By contrast, murder is a Class A felony in the United States, the highest category. Furthermore, prosecution of all federal crimes must be according to due process.

Opponents of the new Mexican law, however, assert that tax evasion has now been categorized as the equivalent of much higher felony classes, along with such grave infractions as organized crime, narcotics trafficking, corruption, and even homicide. 

In answer to a reporter’s question about those concerns at one of his daily morning press conferences, Lopez Obrador defended the new law by saying: “Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.”

Certainly, Lopez Obrador is right to fight against Mexico’s deeply rooted corruption, and tax evasion in the country is a well-known and long-standing problem.

But Mexican business leaders are deeply concerned by the authority the new law gives the government to suspend the presumption of innocence and seize assets prior to any legal due process. [read more]

Well, the new president is a socialist. What did you expect.

New border wall blocks 90% of illegal crossings, up from just 10%

From Washington Examiner.com (Mar. 9):

President Trump’s long-promised border wall is working.

The new chief of Border Patrol, which is under U.S. Customs and Border Protection, revealed that the parts of the new “wall system” are 90% “effective,” up from just 10% before it was built, replacing a ragtag of broken fencing.

“It changes everything,” said Chief Rodney Scott, of the 135-136 miles of new wall, roadways, and high-tech spyware. “There is a huge return on investment,” he added.

“This system is going to have a huge impact,” added Deputy Chief Raul Ortiz.

In the San Diego area, Scott said that the wall has essentially ended illegal crossings of humans and cars.

And, in an added benefit, it now requires 150 fewer border agents, a savings of $28 million in salaries and benefits, he said at a press briefing, his first since he and Ortiz took over CBP in January.

Plus, with a better border road, vehicles that once fell apart at 40,000-60,000 miles now last to 100,000 miles before they are auctioned off.

“There is return after return,” said Scott.

The wall is especially good at stopping trucks and cars, he said, because it takes too much time and effort to saw through several wall bollards needed to make an opening that is big enough to drive through.

“The border wall system all but stopped that completely,” he said. [read more]

That is good news.

Dick Morris: Chinese Sneaking into US, Evading Screening

From Western Journal.com (Mar. 11):

Kansas U.S. Senate candidate Republican Kris Kobach has charged that at least 12,000 Chinese nationals snuck into the U.S. last year, evading customs and health screening, a process that continues, he says, to this day.

Kobach, a Republican running for the vacant Senate seat in Kansas, is a widely respected authority on sealing our southern border and has, in fact, raised tens of millions to build a privately financed section of the wall, soon to be completed.

Kobach points to data that indicates an increase in apprehensions of Chinese nationals for illegally crossing in the Rio Grande Valley section of the Mexican border from 700 in 2018 to 1,300 last year.

Projecting to the entire length of the border, Kobach estimates that conservatively, 12,000 Chinese nationals are crossing illegally each year.

He notes that, even though China was the original source of the coronavirus, none of these immigrants had been screened for the disease. [read more]

This is why America should not have open boarders. It has no idea who has a deadly disease or not.

Other articles on the Coronavirus:

• What the Coronavirus Should Teach Us
• C. S. Lewis and the Coronavirus
• A Doctor Explains What You Need to Know About Coronavirus
• John Hopkins CORONAVIRUS RESOURCE CENTER
• New Tests Indicate Coronavirus can Survive in Air, on Surfaces
• 86% of people with coronavirus are walking around undetected, study says
• CDC Data Show Younger Adults Also End Up in Hospital From Coronavirus
• A warming light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel?
• Trump Clears Way to Use Malaria Drug Against COVID-19
• Human lab rats needed: Would you get infected with coronavirus for $4,500?
• BOMBSHELL REPORT: CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK MAY HAVE STARTED EARLIER THAN CHINA TOLD US
• The WHO Was Warned In December About The Coronavirus, Taiwan Says. The Organization Ignored The Warning.
• 4 Things to Know About Chinese Origins of Coronavirus
• Coronavirus burial pits so vast they’re visible from space
• Iranian Regime’s Reckless Disregard Made the Coronavirus Outbreak Worse
• Sound Policy Responses to the Economic Consequences of the Coronavirus
• The Great Coronavirus War Is Upon Us
• Churches on the Front Lines of Responding to Coronavirus
• In National Emergency, Trump Waives Regulations to Fight Coronavirus
• WATCH: TWO WOMEN DUKE IT OUT OVER TOILET PAPER AFTER CORONAVIRUS SCARE
• With Coronavirus, the Chinese Repeat the Soviets’ Chernobyl Failure
• MIT biologist slams 'fear mongering' by 'deep state'
• Coronavirus: China launches major disinformation offensive
• Coronavirus Fears Fed by Soviet-style Agitprop From Russia, China, and Iran
• Dick Morris: Coronavirus Under Control in China - At Last!
• Dick Morris: A New Donald Trump Is Emerging in Coronavirus Battle
• Chinese Official Suggests US Introduced Coronavirus to Wuhan, Says US ‘Owes Us an Explanation’

Constitution 101 2019 Course Notes Part 1

God appears four times in the Declaration of Independence. He appears as legislator, judge, executive, and Creator.

Aristotle explains that human beings make laws because of their ability to speak.

The Declaration of Independence argues that the king violated the principle of separation of powers, representation, and an independent judiciary.

In Federalist 63, Madison argues that the United States is the first purely representative government in history.

The Declaration of Independence establishes that all legitimate power stems from the people.

A doctrine of natural rights and natural law became widely known and discussed in the American colonies during the 1710s.

The founders' doctrine of human equality means that no one has the right to rule another without their consent.

The social compact describes an agreement that fellow citizens make with each other to form a government and accept the laws made by that government.

According to the founders, a government that is to secure the rights of individuals must secure the borders of the nation and create laws against crimes and equally enforce them.

The founders did not believe that, because natural rights are universal, it's the job of the United States to protect rights all over the world.

Source: “Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution”

Space travel barrier removed as docs freeze and revive human for first time

From The Daily Star.co.uk (Nov. 20):

Journeys to other star systems will forever be out of reach unless a massive breakthrough in physics makes faster-than-light travel a reality, or a breakthrough in medicine makes suspended animation possible.Now, at least, one of those things has happened.

Samuel Tisherman, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, is the leader of a team that has successfully put a human being in suspended animation.

Describing the successful operation as “a little surreal,” Professor Tisherman told New Scientist how he removed the patient’s blood and replaced with ice-cold saline solution.

The patient, technically dead at this point, was removed from the cooling system and taken to an operating theatre for a two-hour surgical procedure before having their blood restored and being warmed to the normal temperature of 37C.

Prof Tisherman says he will be producing a full account of the procedure in a scientific paper in the new year.

He says that his focus is on pausing life long enough to perform emergency surgery rather than sending astronauts on interstellar journeys. [read more]

Scientists are using MRI scans to reveal the physical makeup of our thoughts and feelings

From CBS News.com (Nov. 24):

Advances in neuroscience have shown that, on a physical level, our thoughts are actually a vast network of neurons firing all across our brains. So if that brain activity could be identified and analyzed, could our thoughts be decoded? Could our minds be read? Well, a team of scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh has spent more than a decade trying to do just that. We [60 Minutes TV show] started our reporting on their work 10 years ago, and what they've discovered since, has drawn us back.

In Carnegie Mellon's scanner room, two floors underground, a steady stream of research subjects come to have their brains and thoughts "read" in this MRI machine. It's a type of scanning called functional MRI, FMRI.

That looks at what's happening inside the brain as a person thinks.

Marcel Just: It's like being an astronomer when the first telescope is discovered, or being a biologist when the first microscope is-- is developed.

Neuroscientist Marcel Just says this technology has made it possible for the first time to see the physical makeup of our thoughts. 

…………..

One of Dr. Just's main questions was whether he could find patterns for abstract ideas, so he did a study asking people to think about forgiveness, gossip, spirituality. Could they be identifiable in the brain the way the screwdriver was?

Remarkably, the answer was yes. This was the activation pattern when people thought about spirituality. And this was gossip.

………………

One difference between the two was in areas of the brain scientists had already shown become active when we think about other people. Circled in blue. Those areas lit up bright red when subjects thought about gossip; not so much for spirituality.

In another study, Dr. Just tested whether patterns are the same when people think in different languages. They are. And he's asked acting students to conjure up emotions in the scanner to see if feelings have distinctive activation patterns too. [read more]

Kind of unnerving. A totalitarian system like China, N. Korea, and Iran would love this technology. They could figure out which citizen was a dissident or not.

New tech puts virtual sense of touch at our fingertips

From News.Yahoo.com (Nov. 20):

Paris (AFP) - Garrett Anderson has never known the pleasure of holding hands with both his children at the same time.

While deployed in Iraq with the US army in 2005, a bomb blast shot shrapnel through his right arm, severing it just below the elbow.

Today, the Illinois-based retired veteran wears a prosthetic which allows him to pick up objects and have basic mobility.

But it cannot duplicate the sense of touch.

A new second-skin "virtual reality" technology -- designed to work with both prosthetics and gaming applications -- may change that.

The system, developed by researchers at Northwestern University and described in the journal Nature, incorporates 32 individually programmable actuators -- a device that emits electric impulses or vibrations -- which are embedded into a pliable material made from silicone that adheres to the skin.

Controlled by a wireless touchscreen such as a smartphone or tablet, each actuator -- the size of a small coin -- vibrates to create the perception of touch. The user can control the pressure and the pattern of the sensation.

Anderson tried the system, integrated with his prosthetic. While wearing a patch on his skin, he could feel sensations from his prosthetic fingertips transmitted to his arm.

Over time, the brain converts that sensation to what researcher John Rogers describes as a "surrogate sense of feeling". [read more]

Congress Shouldn’t Get Paid Until It Does Its Job. Why This Bill Is a Great Step.

From The Daily Signal.com (Nov. 18):

Congress is likely to vote next week on its second continuing resolution of fiscal year 2020. Another continuing resolution will prevent a government shutdown, but there’s not much to celebrate.

The fact that a month-and-a-half into the new fiscal year none of the 12 annual appropriations bills have been enacted is a sign of how dysfunctional the congressional budget process is.

Thankfully, more members of Congress are taking notice of the breakdown in the budget process and are putting forth reforms to not only create a more efficient budget process, but one that is also more transparent and responsible.

Republican Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Ralph Norman of South Carolina on Nov. 14 introduced the Budget Process Enhancement Act. The bill would make two major changes to improve the current budget process.

First, it would remove the assumption that federal programs grow at the rate of inflation from the Congressional Budget Office’s baseline.

Next, it would institute a “no budget, no pay” policy: If Congress doesn’t adopt a budget resolution by April 15 of each fiscal year, lawmakers would receive no pay until it does.

The Budget Process Enhancement Act is a positive first step toward removing the bias in favor of higher spending from the baseline and eliminating an accounting gimmick used to skew the impact of budget decisions.

Including a “no budget, no pay” provision should encourage members of Congress to debate budget and appropriations bills in a timely manner.

Congress should continue to pursue reforms that will create a better functioning and more responsible budget process. [read more]

Hopefully the republicans will get the majority in Congress so they can pass this bill. The President will then probably sign it into law.

All the Evidence for Ukraine: The Scandal Explained

From Glenn Beck.com (Oct. 4):

One technique that magicians use for psychological misdirection is called the false solution. The goal is to distract the audience, to make them believe that they know what's really happening. All the while, the machinations of the actual trick are happening right in front of them, because "implanting an unlikely and unfamiliar idea in the mind can prevent participants from finding a more obvious one."

I [Glenn Beck] want to tell you a story of tremendous corruption, masked cleverly, using many of the same techniques that magicians have used for centuries. Only it's not a rabbit disappearing into a hat or a coin vanishing behind an ear. It's billions of dollars. Lost. Gone.

And the people responsible are the same people who have been so monstrously worked up about Trump's impeachment. The same people screaming about Trump's malfeasance with Ukraine are actually the ones misbehaving in Ukraine.

It's essentially an elevated, highly organized form of projection. Only instead of one person lashing out at the world, it's an entire political party, right up to the top. The very top. Barack Obama. It's right there on video.

Or how about the audio recording we uncovered, with Artem Sytnyk, Director of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine, openly admitting a connection between the DNC and Ukraine?

So far, the story told by the Democrats and the media has been about Trump and Ukraine. Every so often, you hear mention of Joe Biden's dubious history with the war-torn country.

………………………

Extract of Letter from Senator Chuck Grassley to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein:

According to news reports, during the 2016 presidential election, “Ukrainian government
officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump” and did so by “disseminat[ing]
documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the
matter…”1 Ukrainian officials also reportedly “helped Clinton’s allies research damaging
information on Trump and his advisers.”2 At the center of this plan was Alexandra Chalupa,
described by reports as a Ukrainian-American operative “who was consulting for the Democratic
National Committee” and reportedly met with Ukrainian officials during the presidential election for the express purpose of exposing alleged ties between then-candidate Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, and Russia.3

Extract of State Department report on Clinton emails:

It was APD's [Program Application Division] determination that the use of a private email system to conduct official business added an increased degree of risk of compromise as a private system lacks the network monitoring and intrusion detection capabilities of State Department networks. While the use of a private email system itself did not necessarily increase the likelihood of classified information being transmitted on unclassified systems, those incidents which then resulted in the presence of classified information upon it carried an increased risk of compromise or inadvertent disclosure.

Extract from Victor Shokin (former General Prosecutor of the Republic of Ukraine) statement:

Therefore, it is clear to me that certain US officials from President Obama's administration, in particular the US Vice-President Joe Biden, directly manipulated the leadership of Ukraine on false pretexts, in order to prevent DF [Dimitry Firtash] from returning to Ukraine, as they were about him  re-establishing public life there. [read more]

Flaw in popular ATMs allows criminals to steal cash and your data

From Komando.com (Nov. 12):

ATMs are supposed to be a safe, convenient way for people to access their money. At least, they are in theory — but hackers, as always, have other ideas.

A team of security researchers has discovered two critical security flaws in some of the most common ATMs in America. With a bit of malicious code, a hacker can easily steal all the cash from an ATM. Worse still, the second flaw gives total access to an ATM’s data — which means a hacker could siphon up the information of anyone who’s ever used it.

…………..

If you think you’re safe when you visit an ATM, think again. Here’s what you need to know about this dangerous ATM flaw before hackers are able to take advantage of it.

Bank ATMs let you “apply for a pwn”

According to new reports from Bloomberg, a pair of researchers from Red Balloon Security found a two critical security flaws in ATMs manufactured by Nautilus Hyosung America Inc. This company is the largest provider of ATMs in the United States, and their machines are found in most major banks.

The researchers found that with access to the same network as the ATM, they were able to hijack its system and completely take the machine over. These vulnerabilities allowed the researchers to bypass any security software, giving them them plenty of opportunity to wreak havoc.

One vulnerability is in the software that powers the ATM’s accessories — such as the cash dispenser, PIN pad and card reader. By cracking this exploit, the researchers found plenty of areas where malicious code could be injected. This would allow the hacker to theoretically empty the ATM of all its cash. [read more]

You’ll Be Surprised Who Is Trying to Empower the Deep State at EPA

From The Daily Signal.com (Nov. 15):

Some key House Republicans have chosen to support a Democratic bill called the Scientific Integrity Act. That nearly every House Democrat is a co-sponsor of the bill was apparently insufficient warning.

Recently passed out of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, the bill actually has nothing to do with what one would reasonably think of as “scientific integrity.” It does nothing to ensure that federal scientists conduct legitimate science.

Instead, the bill is aimed at empowering deep-state scientists for the duration of the Trump administration.

In a nutshell, the bill requires that federal agencies set up formalized grievance procedures for federal scientists who claim they are being silenced by senior bureaucrats and political appointees.

Under the bill, the filing of a grievance would start a process that not only disseminates the underlying “science” to the public regardless of its merits, but also guarantees dramatic headlines of censorship and persecution.

Such claims of censorship are not new, but they’ve been greatly exaggerated.

Followers of the climate wars will recall, for example, during the Bush administration when NASA gadfly James Hansen ludicrously claimed the Bush administration tried to silence him. The truth is that Hansen had been talking to anyone who would listen to him, without any government interference. [read more]

Stupid bill.

More articles on the deep state:

• How The Deep State "Justifies" Itself In America
• Deep State Agencies Issue Joint Statement Ahead of Super Tuesday Vote Warning Public to be Aware ‘Foreign Actors Are Trying to Shape Voter Perceptions’

Adam and Eve Are Possible

From Break Point.org:

An oft-repeated claim by skeptics is that geneticists have disproved the possibility of Adam and Eve. Because existing human genetic diversity is so great, there can be no original couple from whom all people are descended.

Or, that’s what we’re told.

Biology professor and author Dennis Venema summarizes this argument in his book, “Adam and the Genome.” In it, he claims that “every genetic analysis estimating ancestral population sizes has agreed that we descend from a population of thousands, not a single ancestral couple.”

An oft-repeated claim by skeptics is that geneticists have disproved the possibility of Adam and Eve. Because existing human genetic diversity is so great, there can be no original couple from whom all people are descended.

Or, that’s what we’re told.

Biology professor and author Dennis Venema summarizes this argument in his book, “Adam and the Genome.” In it, he claims that “every genetic analysis estimating ancestral population sizes has agreed that we descend from a population of thousands, not a single ancestral couple.”

Using accepted population growth and mutation rates, Gauger and Hössjer programmed a computer to start with a genetic Adam and Eve and replicate the known distribution of diversity in today’s human population. Their results, to put it simply, fly in the face of the much-touted consensus.

According to their model, a couple who shared some genetic markers could generate all the diversity we see today within about 2 million years—which Venema and others claim is impossible.

However, given two people who share no genetic markers—in other words, two people who weren’t born but were created with four unique sets of chromosomes—that time frame drops to a few hundred thousand, not millions, of years.

Writing at Evolution News, Gauger points out that further tweaks in the rates of population growth, structure, mortality, birth, and mutation could place that theoretical first couple even more recently in history.

In any case, the authors are careful to note that the point of their paper was not to date Adam and Eve, or even to prove from a genetic standpoint that they existed. Rather, they just wanted to demonstrate—contrary to the oft-repeated claim—that it is possible for all human beings to have descended from an original pair. [read more]

Interesting.

Another article about Genesis:

Scientists Admit: Snakes Once had Legs as Described in Book of Genesis

How Russian Hybrid Warfare Has Weaponized Disinformation

From The Daily Signal.com (Nov. 15):

KYIV, Ukraine—As the Russian shells and rockets rained down on them in the frontline town of Debaltseve in February 2015, Ukrainian troops began to receive curious, anonymous text messages on their cellphones.

“Your comrades nearby already left their positions, so you should leave yours as well,” one message read.

The messages also claimed that Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president at that time, as well as Ukrainian military commanders, had “betrayed” their soldiers.

The Ukrainian military later concluded that Russian military forces had taken over the local cellphone network with mobile jamming stations.

The text messages were part of a psychological operation against Ukrainian troops—not too different in its intent from dropping propaganda leaflets from airplanes, a psychological warfare technique that dates back to World War I as a way to demoralize troops.

“Fake news is a weapon,” my friend Viktor Kovalenko told me.

Kovalenko, who is a former journalist and a Ukrainian army combat veteran of the Debaltseve battle, added: “Via fake news, Russians wanted to defeat Ukrainians the same way … as by artillery and tanks.”

In Ukraine, Russian military forces have combined World War I and II era weapons and tactics—such as artillery bombardments, tank attacks, and trench warfare—with weapons unique to the 21st-century battlefield, such as cyberattacks and sophisticated social media propaganda campaigns.

……………….

Using cyberwarfare and an empire of weaponized propaganda, Russia has embarked on a hybrid war blitz against Western democracies. Looking back, it’s clear that Ukraine was the opening salvo of Russia’s ongoing war against that American-led, democratic world order.

Russia has used the war in Ukraine as a testing ground for both its modern conventional and hybrid warfare doctrines, providing a case study for the new kinds of security threats the U.S. and its Western allies can anticipate from Moscow. [read more]

Disinformation campaigns could come from China, N. Korea, and other rogue states too not just Russia. Just to focus on Russia is stupid.

A Political Glossary

Every field has its own special words and expressions, which others find hard to understand. Politics is no exception. For those who have difficulty understanding the strange way words are used by politicians and the media, here is a glossary translating political rhetoric into plain English:

"crisis": any situation you want to change
"bilingual": unable to speak English
"equal opportunity": preferential treatment
"non-judgmental": blaming society
"compassion": the use of tax money to buy votes
"insensitivity": objections to the use of tax money to buy votes
"simplistic": an argument you disagree with but can't answer
"rehabilitation": magic word said before releasing criminals
"demonstration": a riot by people you agree with
"mob violence": a riot by people you disagree with
"a matter of principle": a political controversy involving the convictions of liberals
"an emotional issue": a political controversy involving the convictions of conservatives
"funding": money from the government
"commitment": more money from the government
"docu-drama": a work of fiction about famous people
"autobiography": a work of fiction about yourself
"federal budget": a work of fiction about government spending
"people's republic": a place where you do what you are told or get shot [read more]

Source: Compassion Versus Guilt and Other Essays (1987) by Thomas Sowell.

Another column by Mr. Sowell: Political Glossary: Part III

A Media Guide For Distinguishing Conservatives From Alt-Right Lunatics [Satire]

From Daily Wire.com (Nov. 13):

There seems to be some confusion in the media about the difference between the Right and the Alt-Right. For instance, the Alt-Right is famously anti-Semitic and yet The New York Times, a former newspaper, has associated them with Orthodox Jew Ben Shapiro in such sentences as, “Ben Shapiro is Alt-Right, and if you believe that, we have a yarn about Trump colluding with the Russians you’re really going to love, you sucker.” I guess the New York Times isn’t even pretending anymore.

In any case, as a public service to the Times and other dishonest organs of misinformation strangling on their hatred of ordinary people’s freedom, here is a handy guide on how to distinguish between right-wingers, who believe in the noble concepts of liberty handed down to us by our forefathers, and Alt-Righters, who are sniggering little femboys spewing hatred on YouTube. It’s a subtle distinction but with a little help, even the New York Times might figure it out.

One. Real right-wingers come in all different skin colors and religions and no religion and various sexualities and also include a startling number of women who somehow manage to be extremely intelligent and also smoking hot, which is an amazing side benefit of the whole movement.

Alt-Righters have never been with a woman because they hate everybody who doesn’t look like them, and, I mean, look at them. [read more]

Coronavirus-infected Americans flown back to US on plane full of healthy people

From NY Post.com (Feb. 20):

The 14 coronavirus-stricken Americans evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan were flown back to the US on a plane full of healthy people against advice from the CDC, a report said Thursday.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials argued the 14 infected Diamond Princess passengers shouldn’t be flown back with the 300 or so virus-free people — but ultimately lost the battle to the US State Department, according to the Washington Post.

“It was like the worst nightmare,” an anonymous senior US official involved in the decision told the paper.

“Quite frankly, the alternative could have been pulling Grandma out in the pouring rain, and that would have been bad, too.”

Test results had found that the 14 passengers were infected prior to boarding planes to the US on Monday. [read more]

Yea, flying infected people with healthy people is crazy.

Physicists Can Finally Peek at Schrödinger's Cat Without Killing It Forever

From Live Science.com (Nov. 7):

There may be a way of sneaking a peak at Schrödinger's cat — the famous feline-based thought experiment that describes the mysterious behavior of subatomic particles — without permanently killing the (hypothetical) animal.

The unlucky, imaginary cat is simultaneously alive and dead inside a box, or exists in a superposition of "dead" and "alive" states, just as subatomic particles exist in a superposition of many states at once. But looking inside the box changes the state of the cat, which then becomes either alive or dead.

Now, however, a study published Oct. 1 in the New Journal of Physics describes a way to potentially peek at the cat without forcing it to live or die. In doing so, it advances scientists' understanding of one of the most fundamental paradoxes in physics.

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Hofmann and Kartik Patekar, who was a visiting undergraduate student at Hiroshima University at the time and is now at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, wondered if there was a way to look without "paying the price." They landed on a mathematical framework that separates the initial interaction (looking at the cat) from the readout (knowing whether it's alive or dead).

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Here's how they described their work in terms of Schrödinger's cat. Say the cat is still in the box, but rather than looking inside to determine whether the cat is alive or dead, you set up a camera outside the box that can somehow take a picture inside of it (for the sake of the thought experiment, ignore the fact that physical cameras don't actually work like that). Once the picture is taken, the camera has two kinds of information: how the cat changed as a result of the picture being taken (what the researchers call a quantum tag) and whether the cat is alive or dead after the interaction. None of that information has been lost yet. And depending on how you choose to "develop" the image, you retrieve one or the other piece of information.

Think of a coin flip, Hofmann told Live Science. You can choose to either know if a coin was flipped or if it's currently heads or tails. But you can't know both. What's more, if you know how a quantum system was changed, and if that change is reversible, then it's possible to restore its initial state. (In the case of the coin, you would flip it back.)

"You always have to disturb the system first, but sometimes you can undo it," Hofmann said. In terms of the cat, that would mean taking a picture, but instead of developing it to see the cat clearly, developing it in such a way as to restore the cat back to its dead-and-alive limbo state. [read more]

Popular Android phones can be tricked into snooping on their owners

From Tech Crunch.com (Nov. 8):

Security researchers have found several popular Android phones can be tricked into snooping on their owners by exploiting a weakness that gives accessories access to the phone’s underlying baseband software.

Attackers can use that access to trick vulnerable phones into giving up their unique identifiers, such as their IMEI and IMSI numbers, downgrade a target’s connection in order to intercept phone calls, forward calls to another phone or block all phone calls and internet access altogether.

The research, shared exclusively with TechCrunch, affects at least 10 popular Android devices, including Google’s Pixel 2, Huawei’s Nexus 6P and Samsung’s Galaxy S8+.

The vulnerabilities are found in the interface used to communicate with the baseband firmware, the software that allows the phone’s modem to communicate with the cell network, such as making phone calls or connecting to the internet. Given its importance, the baseband is typically off-limits from the rest of the device, including its apps, and often come with command blacklisting to prevent non-critical commands from running. But the researchers found that many Android phones inadvertently allow Bluetooth and USB accessories — like headphones and headsets — access to the baseband. By exploiting a vulnerable accessory, an attacker can run commands on a connected Android phone. [read more]