16,000 People in L.A. Now Live in Cars, Vans and RVs
June 10th, 2019The largest regional daily newspaper in Southern California discusses the “success” of “safe parking” and entire families living in vehicles.
Via: Los Angeles Times:
Lot operators also would be required offer on-site case management and other services. And all of it must be done for less than $30 per car, per night — and ideally, less than $20, according to the homeless authority’s plan.
“The higher of the two funding levels is relatively similar to what we pay for a shelter bed,” said Heidi Marston, the authority’s chief program officer.
But a shelter bed sleeps one person, providers point out, while a car, van or RV often rolls up with a family in tow.
Related: L.A. Coliving: PodShare
United Technologies, Raytheon to Combine Into Defense Giant
June 10th, 2019Via: Bloomberg:
United Technologies Corp. agreed to buy Raytheon Co. in an all-stock deal, forming an aerospace and defense giant with $74 billion in sales in one of the industry’s biggest transactions ever.
The new entity will be called Raytheon Technologies Corp. when the deal closes in the first half of 2020, after United Technologies completes the separation of its Otis elevator and Carrier air-conditioner businesses, the companies said in a statement Sunday. While billed as a merger of equals, current United Technologies shareholders will own most of the combined company, which is expected to be worth well over $100 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
The combination “will define the future of aerospace and defense,” United Technologies Chief Executive Officer Greg Hayes said in the statement. The bigger company will combine United Technologies’ Pratt & Whitney F-35 fighter jet engines with Raytheon’s Patriot missile-defense products and expertise in areas such as radars, munitions and cybersecurity.
With Venezuela in Collapse, Towns Slip Into Primitive Isolation
June 10th, 2019With socialism like this, who needs EMP weapons?
Via: Reuters:
At the once-busy beach resort of Patanemo, tourism has evaporated over the last two years as Venezuela’s economic crisis has deepened and deteriorating cellphone service left visitors too afraid of robbery to brave the isolated roads.
Gone are the vendors who once walked the sands of the crescent-shaped beach hawking bathing suits and empanadas – a traditional savory pastry.
These days, its Caribbean shoreline flanked by forested hills receives a different type of visitor: people who walk 10 minutes from a nearby town carrying rice, plantains or bananas in hopes of exchanging them for the fishermen’s latest catch.
With bank notes made useless by hyperinflation, and no easy access to the debit card terminals widely used to conduct transactions in urban areas, residents of Patanemo rely mainly on barter.
It is just one of a growing number of rural towns slipping into isolation as Venezuela’s economy implodes amid a long-running political crisis.
From the peaks of the Andes to Venezuela’s sweltering southern savannahs, the collapse of basic services including power, telephone and internet has left many towns struggling to survive.
Hundreds of Thousands March in Hong Kong to Protest China Extradition Bill
June 9th, 2019Via: Reuters:
Hong Kong was plunged into a fresh political crisis on Sunday night after more than half a million people took to the streets to thwart a proposed extradition law that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China to face trial.
Organizers said the turnout outstripped a demonstration in 2003 when 500,000 hit the streets to challenge government plans for tighter national security laws.
Two Former GOP State Senators Found Dead in Oklahoma, Arkansas
June 9th, 2019Also: Commerce Department (Former NASA) Official Killed in Apparent Murder-Suicide:
An official for the U.S. Commerce Department died on Friday in what a preliminary investigation said was a murder-suicide involving her husband, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department reported on Friday.
According to police, officers conducted a welfare check at the couple’s home in Northwest D.C. on Friday. When they arrived they found a man, identified as 51-year-old Jason Rieff, with a handgun who appeared to fire a self-inflicted shot while they were on the scene. Authorities said they also found an unresponsive adult female identified as 45-year-old Lola Gulomova.
In their preliminary investigation, detectives from the Homicide Branch said the incident was “domestic in nature.” The couple had two children who weren’t present during the shooting, BNO News reported.
Rieff was pronounced dead after he was rushed to an area hospital. Gulomova has worked in a variety of public servant positions for the U.S. government. Originally from Tajikistan, she came to the United States where she eventually worked as NASA Deputy Russia Representative at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
Via: Bloomberg:
Two former Republican state senators were found dead in their respective homes in Oklahoma and Arkansas this week.
Jonathan Nichols, 53, who served in the Oklahoma Senate for 12 years, was discovered with fatal gunshot wounds in Norman on Wednesday. More than 400 miles to the east, former Arkansas state Senator Linda Collins-Smith was found dead at age 56 a day earlier in a possible homicide, according to NBC affiliate KARK. Police said the cases are under investigation.
John McAfee Teases 31TB Blob on Corrupt Officials Set to Dead Man’s Switch
June 9th, 2019Via: Twitter:
I've collected files on corruption in governments. For the first time, I'm naming names and specifics. I'll begin with a corrupt CIA agent and two Bahamian officials. Coming today. If I'm arrested or disappear, 31+ terrabytes of incriminating data will be released to the press.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 9, 2019
The Future Will Be Recorded, on Your Smart Speaker: Always-On Corporate Listening Devices, “Are Certainly Our Future”
June 9th, 2019Mmm hmm.
Via: Bloomberg:
Amazon’s patent application for an always-on feature for Alexa, its popular voice-activated personal assistant, has raised a lot of concern. “If you’re already freaked out by the privacy implications of smart speakers like Amazon’s Echo,” says Gizmodo, “we have some bad news.” A headline in ScienceAlert is even more direct: “Newly Released Amazon Patent Shows Just How Much Creepier Alexa Can Get.” You get the idea.
But the anxiety is much ado about nothing. An Alexa that’s always listening will likely prove more useful than an Alexa that isn’t; and, in any case, always-on devices are certainly our future.
Richard Dolan: Leaked UFO Notes on Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson
June 9th, 2019Document link: Imgur
If it was anyone else besides Richard Dolan, I wouldn’t post this here without much more vetting.
But it’s Richard Dolan.
So, if this turns out to be fake, let’s get it over with.
Via: Richard Dolan:
Low Probability of Having to Evacuate Edinburgh and Glasgow if Nuclear Power Plant Turned Back On
June 8th, 2019Via: Edinburgh Live:
The two reactors at Hunterston B nuclear power plant near Ardrossan are 43 years old – the oldest in Europe.
They’re already well beyond their operating lifetimes, which have twice been extended by EDF Energy, and they’re scheduled to close down for good in 2023.
However, there’s a serious safety fault in the reactors. The fault is known as keyway root-cracking: where the graphite moderator cores in the reactors develop cracks leading to instabilities that could lead to a major nuclear accident: which would lead to a large swathe of Scotland’s central belt having to be evacuated.
“In the very worst case the hot graphite core could become exposed to air and ignite leading to radioactive contamination of…the metropolitan areas of Glasgow and Edinburgh.”
The reactors have been closed since October 2018 as a result, but owners EDF Energy are currently making a case for turning them back on, with help from trade union GMB.
Although the probability of a meltdown is still low, the consequences could be incredibly severe. In such an event, both Glasgow and Edinburgh would need to be entirely evacuated due to radioactive contamination.
The Future Of School Safety Includes Round-The-Clock Surveillance Of Students
June 7th, 2019Via: TechDirt:
To go to school is to be surveilled, on campus and off. The average school hosts a number of cameras, and the average school administration is always looking for more ways to keep tabs on students, even after they’ve gone home.
The move towards pervasive surveillance of off-campus activities is generally justified with the meaningless assertion that if it stops one person from shooting up a school (or just shooting themselves), it’s all worth it. Two articles based on public records requests — both written by Benjamin Herold of Education Week — show there’s a surveillance state being built one school district at a time. (h/t Amelia Vance)
Documents obtained by Education Week via open-records requests show that over the past year, state agencies have discussed the possibility of sharing a breathtaking amount of data. That included more than 2.5 million records related to Floridians who received involuntary psychiatric examinations, records for over 9 million people placed in foster care, diagnosis and treatment records for substance abusers, unverified criminal reports of suspicious activity, reports on students who were bullied and harassed because of their race or sexual orientation, and more.
This database is currently on hold as education officials try to figure out how much of this incredibly sensitive info they can share with other agencies, much less collect in the first place. But once these details are ironed out, the rollout will continue, urged along by Governor Ron DeSantis, who has publicly expressed his frustration that schools aren’t placing students under round-the-clock surveillance quickly enough.
