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What
by Ryan Carboni 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

I don't understand our legal system anymore. Is this malum prohibitum versus malum in se? Has our legal system become based on reacting on what the facts show instead of what the law mandates or allows? It doesn't matter, many politicians have law degrees and clearly have nothing to show for it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/30/senate-will-likely-acquit… "They will find themselves having to argue the law rather than argue the facts."

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Assange "fails in bid to delay extradition battle with US"
by Greg Newby 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

Spotted in Fox news online, but it looks like this is also on the AP wire https://www.foxnews.com/world/wikileaks-julian-assange-appears-in-court Meanwhile, it appears Chelsea Manning is still in jail in Alexandria, for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury investigation against Assange: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning The Fox article: WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange fails in bid to delay extradition battle with US Greg Norman By Greg Norman | Fox News Will Julian Assange be extradited to the US? The Department of Justice charges WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 18-count superseding indictment; Catherine Herridge reports. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange came up short Monday in a bid to delay his extradition to the United States to face espionage charges. Assange, who appeared with his legal team at the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, failed to convince District Judge Vanessa Baraitser that a delay in the already slow-moving case was justified, The Associated Press reported. Assange, who hasn’t been seen in public for several months since his dramatic arrest inside Britain's Ecuadorian embassy, appeared with his silvery-gray hair slicked back and wore a blue sweater and blue sport coat for the hearing. At one point, he defiantly raised a fist to acknowledge supporters who jammed the public gallery in the courtroom. The U.S. is seeking to bring Assange overseas to face espionage charges. The full hearing to decide his extradition is still set for a five-day period in late February, with brief interim hearings in November and December. A court artist sketch showing Julian Assange facing District Judge Vanessa Baraitser at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, on Monday. A court artist sketch showing Julian Assange facing District Judge Vanessa Baraitser at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, on Monday. (AP/Elizabeth Cook) After the judge turned down the bid for a three-month delay, Assange said he didn't understand the events in court. He said the case is not "equitable" because the U.S. government has "unlimited resources" while he doesn't have easy access to his lawyers or to documents needed to prepare for his battle against extradition due to his confinement in Belmarsh Prison, on the outskirts of London. "They have all the advantages," the 48-year-old Assange said. U.S. authorities accuse Assange of scheming with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password that provided access to classified material on a government computer. Assange's lawyer, Mark Summers, told the judge more time was needed to prepare his client's defense because the case has many facets -- including the very rare use of espionage charges against a journalist, as Assange defines himself -- and requires a "mammoth" amount of planning and preparation. "Our case will be that this is a political attempt to signal to journalists the consequences of publishing information," he said. "It is legally unprecedented." Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange demonstrate outside Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. (AP) Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange demonstrate outside Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. (AP) BRITISH COURT SETS 2020 DATE FOR ASSANGE EXTRADITION HEARING Summers also accused the U.S. of illegal actions during its investigation, including illegally spying on Assange while he was inside the Ecuadorian Embassy seeking refuge. "The American state has been actively engaged in intruding into privileged discussions between Mr. Assange and his lawyers in the embassy, also unlawful copying of their telephones and computers [and] hooded men breaking into offices," he said. Summers did not provide evidence of these claims, which likely would be part of Assange's defense against extradition when the full hearing is held next year. Summers said the initial case against Assange was prepared during the administration of former President Barack Obama in 2010 but wasn't acted on until Donald Trump assumed the presidency. He said it represents the administration's aggressive attitude toward whistleblowers. Attorney James Lewis, representing the U.S., opposed any delay to the proceeding. The public gallery was jammed with Assange supporters, including former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, and outside the courthouse, some chanted demanding Assange be freed while others carried placards calling for his release. The judge said the full hearing will be heard at Belmarsh Court, which is adjacent to the prison where Assange is being held. She said this would be easier for Assange to attend and contains more room for the media. Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid had signed an order in June allowing Assange to be extradited.

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Government hacking report shows variety may give Android an advantage | Android Central
by jim bell 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

https://www.androidcentral.com/government-hacking-report-shows-variety-may-…

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Techno-idiocy
by Punk-Stasi 2.0 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

"So whole-hearted is the modern faith in technological idols that (despite all the lessons of mechanized warfare) it is impossible to discover in the popular thinking of our time any trace of the ancient and profoundly realistic doctrine of hubris and inevitable nemesis. There is a very general belief that, where gadgets are concerned, we can get something for nothing can enjoy all the advantages of an elaborate, top-heavy and constantly advancing technology without having to pay for them by any compensating disadvantages." a. huxley

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If the government is to regulate AI, who is going to regulate the government? | Android Central
by jim bell 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

https://www.androidcentral.com/if-government-regulate-ai-who-going-regulate…

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Researchers Create Particle Accelerator on a Chip
by Steven Schear 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

https://medium.com/@extremetech/researchers-create-particle-accelerator-on-…

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Haunted by Cybersects
by Razer 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

For the record I differ with the author about their statement the "Children of God" was a "Christian sex cult", or related to the vastly wealthy Congressional Prayer Breakfast-sponsoring "The Family". "Oddly enough, Heaven’s Gate—the cult that became infamous in the 1990s—funded itself through web design, via a front company called Higher Source. Indeed, the web was an integral part of the cult, leading cultural theorist Paul Virilio to deem it a “cybersect,” a religious fringe movement marked by an extensive use of the internet to congregate or proselytize. The Heaven’s Gate website, like the Space Jam website, is a primo example of ’90s web-iana. It has the quintessential starry background—a common feature of Geocities-era websites, but particularly poignant when used on the page of a UFO death cult. A “RED ALERT” gif zooms in and out above the proclamation “HALE-BOPP brings closure to: Heaven’s Gate”—referring to the mass suicide committed by members in order to (they believed) evacuate the earth and exit their “physical vehicles” (bodies) by hitching a ride on a spaceship trailing behind the passing comet Hale-Bopp, which made its closest approach to earth on March 22, 1997. The Heaven’s Gate website is lovingly maintained (including, as of 2016, the answering of email inquiries) by two remaining members of the cult, who believe that those who traveled to the “Next Level” (another plane of existence reminiscent of heaven) in 1997 will return to earth, offering passage to anyone who wants to join them. Taking a deep dive on the Heaven’s Gate website is difficult. During the many times throughout the years that I’ve remembered its existence, I could never muster up the courage to click through the links on the home page. It was too surreal, too close to death; a more superstitious person might say the website feels haunted, and probing it would be like disturbing a graveyard. Part of me was irrationally worried that what I would find inside there would make sense to me, that I would get sucked into the world of Do and Ti (the monikers of Heaven’s Gate’s founders) unironically. One thing, however, causes me, and others, to persevere deeper into this dark corner of the web: the need to understand why these people did what they did. Why would they commit mass suicide in tracksuits and Nike Decades? One page, titled “Our Position Against Suicide,” is particularly chilling; the last paragraph becomes a tool to justify mass death: “The true meaning of ‘suicide’ is to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered.” The Heaven’s Gate website led me to wonder about the web presence of the other notorious cults that captured the public imagination in the 1990s. While some millenarian sects like the Branch Davidians lack a web presence, two others—the infamous Christian sex cult Children of God (now called The Family International or TFI) and Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese group responsible for the 1995 Tokyo sarin gas attacks—both continue to exist (unlike Heaven’s Gate), albeit as reformed or reorganized groups, and both continue to have web presences. All of these websites are equally displaced in internet-time." Continued: https://thebaffler.com/kate-takes/haunted-by-cybersects-wagner

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Psychonauts Tripping to Santa Cruz, Oakland, Denver
by grarpamp 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

https://abcnews.go.com/US/santa-cruz-decriminalizes-psychedelic-mushrooms/s… https://abcnews.go.com/Health/johns-hopkins-university-announces-center-psy… http://www.decrimca.org/ "cultures around the world have long respected entheogenic plants and fungi for providing healing, knowledge, creativity and spiritual connection with nature" "acknowledging the impact that the war on drugs has had on communities while at the same time giving people the liberty to choose how to address their medical needs, providing a potent tool to address issues like PTSD, addiction, and depression" Who got dibs on rayz 1968 pink couch...

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Facialized: The Art of Decepticon Resistance
by grarpamp 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

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The Verge: Google’s US antitrust worries could be entering a more serious phase
by jim bell 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

The Verge: Google’s US antitrust worries could be entering a more serious phase. https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/27/21083341/google-antitrust-state-investig…

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