vxbush 7/24/2023 5:57:30 AM

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Happy Monday, campers. I put small note in the Frontier for all the happy news. 

A topic that is crossing more eyeballs than usual is the Section 702 reauthorization process that is going on right now in Washington. The Intelligence Arm of the federal government wants it renewed before it expires at the end of the year, but PJMedia points out some of the big issues going on with these searches despite claims of fewer searches going on: 

 Even if the FBI and other spy agencies are cutting back on their searches of American citizens, it’s cold comfort when we consider the corruption that is deeply embedded in the Department of Justice. Here’s hoping that Congress will come to its senses and refuse to renew Section 702 — or at least demand major reforms before renewing it.

But Sundance has pointed out a bigger issue: 

The ODNI release only covers the compliance of the NSA and FBI (and the CIA and NCTC) to the FISA-702 rules.  The CIA and NCTC are foreign mission authority only, therefore they should never even be involved in searching American citizens.

...

Inspector General Michael Horowitz doesn’t just look at the FBI or NSA using the database; the OIG looks at the entire government and who has access to this NSA database to perform searches.  There is a massive disparity between the number of unauthorized searches conducted and self-reported by the NSA and FBI silos, when compared to the whole of government.  The FISA Court only hears about the NSA/FBI violations, not the unauthorized searches conducted outside the NSA/FBI by people who have access to this database.

...

As a result, the FISC opinion of the database compliance audit is only reached with a limited perspective on the totality of the violations taking place within government.

So there are still significant issues with the surveillance of Americans, and it feels like the government is playing a  shell game trying to keep people from recognizing this. 

Add in the tracking going on with license plate readers and AI applied to figuring out why you are driving where you are, and the surveillance state is just getting started. 

vxbush 7/24/2023 6:02:25 AM

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When it's obvious to a little child, it's time to go.

Was she prompted to say this? Staged? Who knows. Even it was, it's gotten so obvious that maybe someone will hear the truth from a child. Maybe.

vxbush 7/24/2023 6:03:42 AM

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Advocacy Group: Moderna Docs Cast ‘Serious Doubt’ on Vaccine’s Safety

Who all expected this? Raise your hands. 

JCM 7/24/2023 7:05:29 AM

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Seattle 7 people shot over the weekend....

Police Union fires a shot over the bow of the City Clowncil.

Seattle police staffing was reportedly down 50% during busy weekend, union says

They hot de-policing they wanted.

JCM 7/24/2023 7:06:39 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 3:

I'm Shocked! Shocked!

vxbush 7/24/2023 7:29:24 AM

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In #4 JCM said: They [g]ot [the] de-policing they wanted.

Slightly edited. Also something that anyone with two brain cells could have figured out. 

JCM 7/24/2023 7:32:01 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 6:

Thank you caffeine levels not yet at operational requirements.

doppelganglander 7/24/2023 8:17:20 AM

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Buzz, if you're around, I'm curious about your thoughts on Oppenheimer. I haven't seen it yet but I watched an excellent BBC documentary about him because I knew very little of his personal story. Or maybe you discussed it previously?

buzzsawmonkey 7/24/2023 8:34:25 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 8:

Well, I know a little, but not much.  I'll try and answer any questions you've got, and I can recommend John Dos Passos' sort-of-free-verse bio of him in his novel "Midcentury."

Occasional Reader 7/24/2023 9:01:40 AM

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Greetings from Amtrak.

BBC headline: “Unilever will let Russia employees be conscripted”

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66274358

Um… “let”?  

doppelganglander 7/24/2023 9:06:32 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 9:

I think the primary source for the film was American Prometheus. I want to read that and The Making of the Atomic Bomb. I'll add Dos Passos to the list.

I guess my main thought after watching the documentary is that he was probably on the spectrum, and he didn't fully realize that others were motivated by factors other than the good of humanity. 

buzzsawmonkey 7/24/2023 9:14:19 AM

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In #11 doppelganglander said: I guess my main thought after watching the documentary is that he was probably on the spectrum, and he didn't fully realize that others were motivated by factors other than the good of humanity. 

People had---have---all sorts of motivations.  Both my father and my uncle---both U of C physics students---helped build the world's first nuclear reactor.  My uncle later signed the petition for "international control of atomic energy" which some physicists supported following the dropping of the bombs on Japan; my father did not.   And, despite the fact that Teller gave my father his personal go-ahead to develop the tritium process which made the H-bomb possible, Dad always said (alas, without elaboration) that he thought Teller the most evil man he'd ever met.

buzzsawmonkey 7/24/2023 9:18:37 AM

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In #2 vxbush said: Even it was, it's gotten so obvious that maybe someone will hear the truth from a child. Maybe.

"The Emperor has no clothing on!"

Occasional Reader 7/24/2023 9:21:45 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 7/24/2023 9:27:25 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 14:

I'm sure that the new Oppenheimer film makes him out to be a martyr, just as that Dalton Trumbo film starring Bryan Cranston did for Trumbo.

doppelganglander 7/24/2023 9:32:25 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 12:

Teller absolutely gives me the creeps. I guess it's the eyebrows.

buzzsawmonkey 7/24/2023 9:40:12 AM

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In #16 doppelganglander said: Teller absolutely gives me the creeps. I guess it's the eyebrows.

Well, Dad never elaborated.  As I've probably related before, they were trying to build Teller's "Super-bomb"---i.e., the hydrogen bomb---with "deuterium," aka "heavy water," and it wasn't working.  So they said, "OK, deuterium isn't working; let's try tritium.  Oh, wait---we don't know how to make that."  Dad said to Teller, at a meeting held in the Museum of Science & Industry near the University of Chicago, "You want to make tritium?  I know how to make tritium," and Teller gave him the go-ahead.  

He created the process by which tritium could be produced, and held sole patent on it, for which he was paid $25 by the government, less tax withheld.  He and his lab partner went to Los Alamos to teach them how to do the process, but managed to offend the higher-ups sufficiently so that they said, "Thanks for the process, but because you're so obnoxious, we won't let you come to watch the test."

buzzsawmonkey 7/24/2023 9:49:36 AM

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Occasional Reader 7/24/2023 9:52:32 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 17:

“but because you're so obnoxious, ”

So, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree…

/kidding, kidding

Cool story. Btw.

buzzsawmonkey 7/24/2023 10:22:17 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 19:

He would have been 32 years old at the time---and able to do something that the Leading Lights of Physics couldn't do. It's understandable that he would have let his youthful pride & arrogance show---just as it's understandable that the higher-ups would react the way they did.  He, in return, said basically, "OK, fine; the heck with you---I'm going to a physics conference in Europe."  And it's probably a good thing, given that not being at the test meant he wasn't exposed to any loose radiation flying around. 

He had about 25/30 years of career thanks to his process; one of the byproducts of tritium hydrogen was the isotope Helium 3, and he spent many years exploring the properties of this previously-unknown isotope, many of them related to superconductivity.  The fact that "maglev" trains, which operate on superconductive principles, are possible at "room temperature" is largely due to his experiments relating to superconductivity at low temperatures.  One of his post-docs always said he should have gotten a Nobel, but I can't speak to that---at least he has a lab named after him at the Technion.

Occasional Reader 7/24/2023 11:17:00 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 20:

Could you please give me his full name (via Frontier, or e-mail)?  I’d love to read up about him.

vxbush 7/24/2023 11:37:50 AM

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In #10 Occasional Reader said: Um… “let”?  

I'm really getting the sense lately that companies are feeling like they are superior to countries. That doesn't seem like a good thing, as the WEF is not really the equivalent of the UN. 

vxbush 7/24/2023 11:42:37 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 20:

My dad wasn't into anything as high end as your dad, but he still contributed as an engineer on a couple of projects, and therefore I have kind of the same feeling you do about it. One of the little engineers who made the world a better place. 

doppelganglander 7/24/2023 11:52:23 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 17:

Brilliance and arrogance often go together  - that seems to have been Oppenheimer's problem too. How fascinating that your dad played a significant role in historic events.

Kosh's Shadow 7/24/2023 4:38:18 PM

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In #10 Occasional Reader said: BBC headline: “Unilever will let Russia employees be conscripted”

Unilever, the same company that only stopped Ben & Jerry's from boycotting Israel when they got bad press over it.

Screw the whole company. I avoid them when possible.