No new coronavirus cases in Australia on Saturday
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Kim Jong-un: fragile and under pressure but he won’t give up
The Observer The North Korean leader’s surprise freeze of his nuclear programme is less a genuine move than a diplomatic manoeuvre,...
Saturday, 31 October 2020
New top story on Hacker News: Everything you need to know about windsocks
Everything you need to know about windsocks
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New top story on Hacker News: BCON20 – Blender Conference: Together Apart
BCON20 – Blender Conference: Together Apart
8 by DonHopkins | 1 comments on Hacker News.
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Joe Biden has finally disclosed who is raising him big money just days before Election Day
Joe Biden released the list of his general-election fundraisers after 90 million people had already voted. | Photo by Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Biden has been sharply breaking from precedent, only releasing the names after 90 million people have already voted.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden finally disclosed the roster of his biggest fundraisers on Saturday, unveiling the names of the 820 people who have helped him build a big-money juggernaut.
The list includes Biden surrogates like former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA); Hollywood filmmakers like Lee Daniels and Jeffrey Katzenberg; Silicon Valley billionaires like Reid Hoffman and Ron Conway. The campaign did not specify how much these people raised for Biden efforts beyond that it was more than $100,000.
The release on a Saturday evening came at the last possible moment: Election Day is on Tuesday, and more than 90 million people have already voted, having done so without clarity on who his largest fundraisers are or what influence they may have had on his candidacy. Biden’s last-minute disclosure was a sharp departure from precedent in the Democratic Party, whose presidential candidates have regularly disclosed their so-called “bundlers” in a nod to transparency.
And that’s why campaign-finance reformers had grown concerned that Biden had not yet followed his predecessors Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s lead in releasing his bundlers for the general election.
Biden’s campaign had declined to answer inquiries about their bundlers until last week, when it told The New York Times that it would release their names by the end of October (which ended Saturday.) Both Obama and Clinton released updates on the list of people helping them raise big money at consistent intervals; Biden’s only prior update came on a Friday evening just after Christmas in 2019 during the Democratic primary with about 230 names, before his bundling operation beefed up in earnest.
“Congratulations on clearing an artificially low bar they set for themselves that defeats the entire purpose of transparency — allowing voters to know who is funding the campaigns asking for their support before casting their ballots,” said Tyson Brody, a Democratic operative who worked for Bernie Sanders and backs Biden, but is critical of the influence of large campaign contributors.
It makes strategic sense that the Biden campaign would not to draw attention to the bundlers who have helped him turn a lagging fundraising operation into a surprising powerhouse. Biden has worked to position himself as the candidate with the interest of the working and middle classes in mind, giving himself the nickname “Middle-Class Joe,” and casting the general election “as a campaign between Scranton and Park Avenue.”
And so, the Biden campaign has tried to draw focus to its small-dollar, online fundraising operation, rather than the celebrities, Silicon Valley billionaires, and Wall Street executives whose support undercuts some of the campaign’s messaging. That’s an especially important task for Biden given that many of these characters are prone to draw the scorn of the left, which is already skeptical of Biden and wants to see big campaign contributors play a smaller role in politics.
And the Trump campaign hasn’t been in much of a place to argue for transparency. Trump hasn’t released any information about his own bundlers at all.
So there’s been limited scrutiny. The upshot of that is that the 90 million people who have already cast ballots ended up voting with incomplete information about the people who helped the campaigns raise the money that may have influenced those very votes.
The debate over bundler disclosure reflects a key campaign question of the Trump era: Should Trump’s own tactics set the standard for his Democratic rivals? Or should Democrats — who claim to prioritize reducing the role of money in politics — aspire to a higher, or at least the pre-Trump, standard?
Campaigns are only legally required to disclose bundlers who are registered lobbyists — everything else is voluntary. Trump and his most immediate GOP predecessor at the top of the ticket, Mitt Romney, declined to share any additional information. But prior to their campaigns, there had been a bipartisan tradition of at least offering some information in order to help voters understand who carried unofficial influence in their campaign; that was done by both John McCain and George W. Bush, who pioneered the modern bundling system and made being a bundler into something of a bragging right.
Bundlers do the often painstaking work of soliciting their networks for high-dollar campaign contributions: inviting their business associates to campaign events, making introductions to campaign staffers, and recruiting more bundlers to serve alongside them. Bundling can often end up be fiercely competitive, with campaigns closely tracking how much individuals have raised and bundlers sometimes finding themselves in competition for positions on leaderboards.
Although Biden released just a single tier of information on the amounts that his bundlers raised, the campaign privately has six different levels of membership for its finance committee: ranging from a “Protector” who helps the campaign raise $50,000 to a “Biden Victory Partner” who brings home $2.5 million, according to a campaign document seen by Recode. Mementos that Biden has sent that top level of bundler include a gold-and-blue pin.
The Biden campaign sends out these buttons to the bundlers who have raised over $2.5 million for his bid.
— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) October 26, 2020
A reminder of how the Joe Biden big-money machine works. pic.twitter.com/GRIYE0Otsl
Despite his preference to talk about his low-dollar fundraising operation, Biden has built an impressive big-money machine.
from Vox - All https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/10/31/21542871/joe-biden-bundler-release-transparency
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How Latino Grassroots Organizers Are Fighting to Lift Biden in Florida
Half of the community’s eligible voters haven’t cast their ballots yet. The work done by volunteers could prove decisive.
from Everything https://www.newyorker.com/news/campaign-chronicles/how-latino-grassroots-organizers-are-fighting-to-lift-biden-in-florida
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from Everything https://www.newyorker.com/news/campaign-chronicles/how-latino-grassroots-organizers-are-fighting-to-lift-biden-in-florida
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Unhinged Trump supporters harass the Biden campaign bus in viral clip
When people say Donald Trump is doing his level best to foment violence and unrest, this is what they're talking about.
The costume-heavy revelry of Halloween Twitter was disrupted on Saturday when an alarming clip surfaced showing what appears to be a caravan of Trump supporters chasing the Biden campaign bus on a highway in Texas. It's a frightening scene.
In a series of incidents that apparently unfolded on Friday throughout the day, Trump supporters made a dangerous public nuisance of themselves as the Biden campaign progressed through central Texas. At least one event was canceled as a result. Read more...
More about Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Culture, Politics, and Web Culturefrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/biden-campaign-bus-texas-trump-train/
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This adorable micro sewing machine is ideal for beginners
TL;DR: Let the DIY projects begin with a 301 Multifunctional Electric Micro Sewing Machine for $89.95, a 25% savings as of Oct. 31.
For novice sewers, fancy features on a sewing machine can be more of a hindrance than a help. They'll want something minimal and super easy to operate, like the 301 Multifunctional Electric Micro Sewing Machine.
Great for beginners who aren't quite sure what type of sewing they're into yet, the 301 Micro Sewing Machine is simple to operate, has very few buttons, and supports circular sewing on the cuff or pocket of trousers. It's great for sewing insoles, jeans, curtains, bags, and more. Read more...
More about Diy, Sewing, Mashable Shopping, Tech, and Consumer Techfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/shopping/oct-31-301-electric-micro-sewing-machine/
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Get over 65 courses on cybersecurity for just $30
TL;DR: Dip a toe into cybersecurity with the Master Cyber Security 65+ Course Certification bundle for $29.99, a 98% savings as of Oct. 31.
If you want to learn more about the cybersecurity field, the Master Cyber Security 65+ Course Certification Bundle can help you get your foot in the door.
Developed by LearnNow (LNO), an online learning platform for IT and software development skills, this collection includes over 65 lessons to equip you with the cybersecurity skills that matter most today — CompTIA, CISSP, OWASP, CISM, and more.
From OWASP and penetration testing to CompTIA Security+, CISSP, CISA, CISM, and security for AWS and Azure, it will teach you the most relevant concepts that can help you advance in the field. You'll get a mixture of both beginner and advanced courses, as well as pre- and post text exams to fortify your learning. Read more...
More about Cybersecurity, Online Learning, Mashable Shopping, Tech, and Consumer Techfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/shopping/oct-31-master-cyber-security-certification-bundle/
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6 pairs of Sony headphones on sale this weekend
If you're on the hunt for a new pair of headphones but are counting the days until Black Friday deals come pouring in, we have good news: Some great deals are already here.
We've rounded up six pairs of Sony headphones on sale this weekend. Whether you're looking for earbuds for daily workouts or headphones for Netflix binge-watching, there's probably a pair here for you.
Take your pick from these options, which are on sale as of Oct. 31. (Note: Some of these deals are "open box," which typically means they've been removed from the box before, but not used.)
Sony Extra Bass On-Ear Headphones
These extra-bass headphones have ultra-comfortable ear pads. They also come with a cable with an in-line remote and microphone, allowing you to take hands-free calls. They are typically $80, but you can grab a pair on sale for $24.95 for a limited time. Read more...
More about Sony, Headphones, Mashable Shopping, Tech, and Consumer Techfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/shopping/oct-31-sony-headphones-sale/
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12 cool drones for photography and more — including some on sale
To snap the photo of your dreams, you might have to get creative. You know, like climbing to the roof, flying over a cityscape, or scaling buildings.
Oh, you're not Spider-Man? No problem. Just get a drone.
Here are 12 drones on sale as of Oct. 31, including drones designed specifically for photography, micro drones, and drones suitable for beginners. Check them out below.
E88 Four-Axis High-Definition Aerial Photography Drone
The E88 Four-Axis High-Definition Aerial Photography Drone is both lightweight and durable. Plus, with the one-key return function, it'll fly back to you easily without stressing you out. This drone is on sale for 21% off for a limited time, making it just $59.95. Read more...
More about Drones, Mashable Shopping, Tech, and Consumer Techfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/shopping/oct-31-drones/
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Friday, 30 October 2020
How Tesla super fans get the add-ons they can't get from Elon Musk
As soon as Arizona fitness coach Torrey Penn bought his new Tesla Model Y online this September he knew what extras he would need for his new ride — and it didn't involve an extra $10,000 Full Self-Driving advanced driving package with automatic steering, braking, and turning while on any road.
Instead Penn, 43, left Tesla.com and headed to Amazon and eBay, where he quickly found what he wanted: a Tesla key card ring to open and start his new electric vehicle. He bought it on eBay for $99 as a replacement for an ill-fitting wedding band. The ring arrived last weekend and he immediately programmed it. Now he can put his hand near the front door and the car unlocks and starts, even if he doesn't have his connected smartphone or key card on him. (Instead of traditional car keys, Teslas have key cards, like a hotel.) Read more...
More about Tesla, Tech, Elon Musk, and Transportationfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/tesla-store-fan-products/
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Facebook temporarily pauses awful feature it will reinstate post election
Don't worry, militia members will have to wait until after Election Day to be algorithmically pointed to Facebook groups of like-minded individuals.
At Wednesday's Senate hearing on (at least in theory) Section 230, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg let slip a slight behind-the-scenes change his company has taken in the lead up to Nov. 3. Specifically, Zuckerberg offhandedly mentioned that Facebook has temporarily stopped recommending political issue Facebook groups to its users.
Of course, Facebook intends to spin this presumably dangerous — or, at the very least, worrisome — recommendation feature right back up again after the election. So reports BuzzFeed News, which was able to confirm that the new policy is only temporary. Read more...
More about Facebook, Election 2020, Tech, and Social Media Companiesfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/facebook-temporarily-pauses-political-group-recommendations-until-post-election/
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New top story on Hacker News: Software licensing and my opposition to copyleft
Software licensing and my opposition to copyleft
21 by todsacerdoti | 3 comments on Hacker News.
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Thursday, 29 October 2020
YouTuber attacked by flying cheese fondue in spectacular viral video
YouTuber Tasty Hoon has gone viral with his latest mukbang video, in which his attempt at a cheese fondue went incredibly, hilariously wrong. At least it still seemed to taste good.
In the eight-minute clip uploaded on Wednesday and shared over 42,000 times on Twitter, the South Korean YouTuber prepared to enjoy a delicious-looking meal of fried chicken and cheese. It's a common food combination, and many YouTubers before him have pulled it off without incident.
Tasty Hoon's downfall, however, was that he attempted to liven up his video by putting the cheese in a fountain. It sounds like an inspired idea — cheese fondue fountains are absolutely a thing, and it would add an interesting visual element to his mise en scene. Unfortunately his cheese wasn't quite liquid enough, and the situation quickly got messy. Read more...
More about Food, Cheese, Tasty Food, Tasty Videos, and Mukbangfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/video/tasty-hoon-mukbang-cheese-fountain/
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A special surprise from Kim Kardashian West. A Twitter meme. About holograms of dads.
It was just earlier this week that Kim Kardashian West gave us a new Twitter meme: users riffing on her tasteless tweets about "surprising [her] closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where [they] could pretend things were normal."
Now the reality star has bestowed upon us a fresh set of memeable tweets that are just as wild as her first, though for a completely different reason.
"For my birthday, Kanye got me the most thoughtful gift of a lifetime," Kardashian West wrote on Thursday, a shockingly normal sentence considering what follows. "A special surprise from heaven. A hologram of my dad." Read more...
More about Memes, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian West, Holograms, and Culturefrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/kim-kardashian-kanye-west-hologram-meme/
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Kim Kardashian's birthday present from Kanye was this nightmarish hologram of her dead dad
If you have ever lost a loved one, you'll know that grief is an unending process — a hole in your heart and life that can never be filled, a bittersweet love forever within you with nowhere to go, a lifetime of cherished moments trapped in amber.
So we don't want to judge Kim Kardashian too harshly for this, but... good lord.
For my birthday, Kanye got me the most thoughtful gift of a lifetime. A special surprise from heaven. A hologram of my dad. ✨🤍 It is so lifelike! We watched it over and over, filled with emotionpic.twitter.com/jD6pHo17KC
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) October 29, 2020 Read more...
from Mashable https://mashable.com/article/kim-kardashian-dad-hologram-kanye-present/
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New top story on Hacker News: Greatest Vacuum Tubes You’ve Never Heard Of
Greatest Vacuum Tubes You’ve Never Heard Of
4 by sohkamyung | 0 comments on Hacker News.
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Denialism, Dishonesty, Deflection: The Final Days of the Trump Campaign Have It All
The President is ending his reëlection bid with scandals that call into question the legitimacy of next week’s vote.
from Everything https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/self-dealing-denialism-dishonesty-deflection-the-final-days-of-the-trump-campaign-have-it-all
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from Everything https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/self-dealing-denialism-dishonesty-deflection-the-final-days-of-the-trump-campaign-have-it-all
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YouTube guided meditation video views skyrocket during pandemic
We're all trying to cope with this year.
During Google parent company Alphabet's earnings call Thursday, CEO Sundar Pichai noted that YouTube views for guided meditation videos went up 40 percent on the streaming platform since mid-March.
We all know what triggered that. As social distancing and new work-from-home routines settled into place throughout the U.S. this year, many apparently turned to YouTube as a relaxation source. There were also more than 1 billion views for Do-It-Yourself face mask tutorials on the site.
signs of the COVID era, according to $GOOG earnings call: guided meditation video views on YouTube are up 40% and DIY face mask tutorials have been viewed more than 1bn times
— Kari Paul (@kari_paul) October 29, 2020 Read more...
from Mashable https://mashable.com/article/youtube-guided-meditation-views-increase-pandemic/
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'He's gone full Hodor': Seth Meyers roasts Trump for whining about COVID still being a thing
"Trump is once again trying to warp reality," said Seth Meyers in Wednesday night's A Closer Look segment. "Thirty-seven states are seeing spikes in coronavirus cases, which are up 39 percent across the country. We're seeing new records for daily cases, deaths are up 13 percent, hospitals in hotspots are overwhelmed — like in El Paso, where there's been a 300 percent increase in hospitalization since the start of October. But the president has been insisting that despite what you can see with your own eyes, everything is fine. And he's been whining that the media won't stop talking about the deadly virus killing hundreds of Americans every day." Read more...
More about Supreme Court, Late Night With Seth Meyers, Trump Coronavirus, Culture, and Politicsfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/video/seth-meyers-trump-covid-complaining-supreme-court/
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Wednesday, 28 October 2020
New top story on Hacker News: How to walk upright and stop living in a cave
How to walk upright and stop living in a cave
11 by taylorlunt | 2 comments on Hacker News.
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5 fact-checks from the Senate’s hearing on social media
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifying remotely before the Senate on October 28. | Michael Reynolds/Getty Images
We took a closer look at the unproven claims lawmakers made about Facebook, Google, and Twitter.
Six days ahead of a historic presidential election whose outcome is expected to shape the future of US democracy and as Congress delays passing a new economic stimulus deal to aid millions of unemployed Americans affected by the ongoing pandemic, the Senate spent more than three hours talking about something else: how social media companies handle controversial speech on the internet.
Wednesday’s hearing was supposed to focus on nuanced reforms to a landmark internet law — Section 230 — which shields tech companies from being sued for content users post on their platforms. Both Democrats and Republicans have been calling for years to reform this law, arguing that it is outdated considering how large and powerful these tech giants have become. That’s why the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation subpoenaed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to face questioning.
But instead of talking about reforming the actual law, most Republican Senators — with notable exceptions such as Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) — used their time to press the CEOs about specific content moderation decisions that have been controversial with Republicans. Namely, Twitter blocking an unverified story in the New York Post making damning accusations about Hunter Biden earlier this month, or why the company fact-checks Trump more often than Iran’s or the Chinese Communist Party’s leaders.
Some Democrats at the hearing — and many outside observers — have written off the hearing as political theater orchestrated by conservatives days ahead of the election to intimidate these companies so they avoid fact-checking Trump or conservative disinformation campaigns.
But Republicans argued that allegations of bias are critical and valid, and that they need to be swiftly addressed.
Many Senators used assumptions and cherry-picked evidence to try to prove their points. And in response, the tech CEOs effectively skirted more serious discussions about their actual shortcomings in content moderation.
Here are the fact-checks on the five most head-scratching claims senators — and tech CEOs — made at the hearing.
1) Though Republicans say social media companies are broadly censoring conservative speech, the evidence doesn’t support the claim.
Many conservative lawmakers, encouraged by President Trump, have long alleged that tech companies are censoring Republicans on social media. And today’s hearing was no exception.
Citing social media companies’ handling of the Hunter Biden New York Post story, as well as Google’s threats to ban conservative news website the Federalist over allegedly racist content, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) said in his opening remarks: “These recent incidents are only the latest in a long trail of censorship and suppression of conservative voices on the internet.”
While it’s true that Twitter and Facebook have made some controversial and at times questionable decisions to limit false or unverified speech by conservative politicians and news outlets (Twitter reversed its stance on blocking the Hunter Biden story, Facebook did not), these are individual examples.
On the whole, data shows that conservative content thrives on social media. Conservative pundits like Dan Bongino and Ben Shapiro consistently rank among the most shared news sources on Facebook based on the company’s data aggregation tool, CrowdTangle. And despite all the hoopla about Twitter’s alleged censoring of Trump, the president still uses the platform every day to reach tens of millions more followers than Joe Biden does.
In fact, Trump himself has repeatedly stated that, without social media, he wouldn’t be able to “get the word out” to the people.
Republican senators asked why tech companies haven’t fact-checked high-profile Democratic leaders like Biden as much as they have Trump, but they ignored the very obvious answer: that Trump, unlike Biden, has more frequently promoted false and misleading statements on social media. If Biden were to attack mail-in voting or the basic science behind Covid-19, as Trump has, he would likely face the same kind of moderation.
To Republicans’ credit, an underlying tension here is that many people who work at tech companies lean liberal (more on that later). And, back in 2016, Gizmodo reported that those political beliefs sometimes trickled into low-level employee content moderation decisions via the disastrous “Facebook Trending” section. But a lot has changed since then (for one, Facebook has done away with that its trending section entirely). If anything, the evidence now seems to suggest that Facebook has adjusted in the other direction to please Republicans and fend off claims of anti-conservative bias. According to recent reporting from BuzzFeed News, NBC News, and the Wall Street Journal, the company has at times overridden its fact-checking system and tweaked its algorithms to favor conservative publications over liberal ones like Mother Jones.
2) Ted Cruz claimed social media companies are the biggest threat to free speech in the US. That’s not at all clear.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) came in hot to the hearing, announcing his intent to grill Dorsey in a wrestling-match style flyer he (ironically) tweeted out the night before the session, all in the name of defending free speech on the internet.
TOMORROW
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) October 27, 2020
10am ET / 9am CT
Livestream will be available here --> https://t.co/Gl9mQQkvd8#StopTheCensorship pic.twitter.com/1Pu9OYFV5v
“The three witnesses we have before the committee today collectively pose the single biggest threat to free speech in America and the greatest threat we have to free and fair elections,” Cruz said, speaking about Dorsey, Zuckerberg, and Pichai.
Cruz is entitled to his opinion, of course, but it’s not at all objectively clear that the biggest threat to free speech or election integrity in this country is when Facebook, Twitter, or Google fact-check politicians like Trump.
In fact, if you asked this same question of leading free speech advocates and human rights organizations, many would say a bigger concern is Trump’s sustained and increasingly vitriolic attacks on the free press since his first day in office. If social media companies do pose a threat to free speech, they say, it has less to do with how they handle conservative voices and more do with the extremist hate speech that spreads on their platforms, and which has a chilling effect on women, minorities, and other marginalized groups by shutting them out of online public discourse.
It’s true that social media companies now rival governments in the scope of their power and influence, and free speech defenders of all political persuasions demand that these companies provide more transparency and accountability about what content they do and don’t allow.
But for Cruz and some of his Republican colleagues to support free speech only when it suits their political needs (in an extreme example of this, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) denounced Google for allegedly censoring Republicans while simultaneously calling for the company to fire a rank-and-file employee who publicly criticized her) is a hypocritical one at best.
3) Dorsey told Cruz that Twitter doesn’t impact elections. It does.
Despite Cruz’s largely theatrical political showboating, he did get into one important exchange with Dorsey that highlighted an issue originating with the tech platforms themselves: their refusal to acknowledge that they are more than just neutral platforms.
At one point, Cruz asked Dorsey whether Twitter has influence over the elections, and Dorsey said no.
Cruz retorted, “If you do not believe you have the power to influence elections, why do you block anything?”
Dorsey’s response was that Twitter blocks content to reduce harassment and make everyone feel included on its platform. Facebook and Google have similarly asserted that they aim to be neutral platforms for people to communicate, with exceptions to protect their users from harm. But that’s just part of the picture.
The reality is that Twitter, Facebook, Google, and every other social media platform make decisions every day about what kind of political speech is and isn’t allowed on their platforms. Moreover, the algorithms underpinning these platforms dictate which topics go viral and reach the masses instantly, and which ones get seen by a much smaller number of people. And because these sites are the main way tens of millions of Americans primarily consume their daily news, what is and isn’t allowed on them can of course impact how someone votes in an election.
The fact that Dorsey — as well as Zuckerberg and Pichai — wouldn’t admit this basic fact was telling of tech CEOs’ lack of candor about the political power they’ve amassed through their companies.
4) Senators suggested tech companies’ liberal employee majorities are a problem. But that’s neither illegal nor the government’s job to police.
First of all, let’s be clear that most tech employees at Google, Twitter, and Facebook lean liberal. That’s reflective of the demographics where these companies are based and the skills they hire for: largely college-educated workers in major urban areas like San Francisco, New York, and Seattle.
In Wednesday’s hearing, several Republican Senators questioned tech CEOs about the political makeup of their workforce as if there was something shameful about this.
The insinuation is that because these companies have a liberal-leaning workforce that they as a default are stifling conservative speech.
But as we mentioned earlier, there isn’t any real proof of that systematic suppression. And even if there were, the solution wouldn’t necessarily be to mandate that everyone who works for Facebook or Twitter pass some kind of political litmus test.
Congress has a dark history of blacklisting citizens from gainful employment due to their political beliefs. While it’s fair to question the unparalleled political power of tech companies and try to regulate that problem, it’s dangerous for lawmakers to misleadingly frame the issues at hand as being connected to employees’ personal politics.
5) Senators kept pronouncing Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s name incorrectly. It’s pronounced “Pitch-eye.”
Senators across the aisle repeatedly butchered the name of Google CEO Sundar Pichai. The soft-spoken Pichai, who was born and raised in India and worked his way up at the search giant from a product manager to its chief executive, refrained from correcting his questioners.
The fact that members of Congress were mispronouncing the name of one of the most important business leaders in the US was an embarrassing slip many observers immediately noted on Twitter. Especially as it was Pichai’s third time being questioned in front of Congress.
And while getting Pichai’s name right is a less important point in the scope of the broader issues at stake around social media, it’s not insignificant, either. In recent months, Trump and some Republican lawmakers have repeatedly mocked Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris over the pronunciation of her name. It seems more likely that in this case, senators were botching Pichai’s name out of ignorance rather than malice. But as BuzzFeed News pointed out, Congress hasn’t had any trouble pronouncing other hard-to-pronounce names in the past. In the year 2020, there’s really no excuse for elected officials not to at least try and correctly pronounce the name of a global tech titan.
Millions turn to Vox each month to understand what’s happening in the news, from the coronavirus crisis to a racial reckoning to what is, quite possibly, the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower you through understanding. But our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources. Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers, your support will be a critical part of sustaining our resource-intensive work. If you have already contributed, thank you. If you haven’t, please consider helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world: Contribute today from as little as $3.
from Vox - All https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/28/21538767/senate-social-media-hearing-section-230-twitter-google-facebook-dorsey-pichai-zuckerberg-censorship
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Tuesday, 27 October 2020
New 'Magic: The Gathering' Commander Legends cards give the gift of salamanders
Magic: The Gathering's upcoming Commander Legends expansion isn’t like other sets. While most of the game’s expansions are designed to work with traditional two-player gameplay formats, the 361 new cards arriving in November have Magic’s four-player Commander format in mind.
“[F]our players means that just trying to go after one player quickly isn’t an effective way to win,” senior game designer Gavin Verhey told Mashable via email. “You have to play the long game, and think about how you can use your resources to fight off three opponents… ‘I’ll attack Gavin instead of you if you don’t attack me next turn… deal?’ is the kind of thing you hear plenty of.” Read more...
More about Card Games, Magic The Gathering, Wizards Of The Coast, Mtg, and Entertainmentfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/magic-gathering-commander-legends-reveal-amphin/
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New top story on Hacker News: OnlyFans Faces Allegations of Fraud, Theft
OnlyFans Faces Allegations of Fraud, Theft
41 by AndrewBissell | 13 comments on Hacker News.
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What is Shudder? Everything you need to know about the horror streaming platform.
When it comes to TV and movies, we are most definitely in the age of the streaming service.
In the past year alone, we've seen the arrival of HBO Max, Peacock, and Quibi, while late 2019 brought the launch of giants Disney+ and Apple TV+.
In the background, meanwhile, there's been another platform steadily picking up steam: Shudder.
Although it was founded back in 2015, the AMC-owned horror, thriller, and suspense service has been growing ever since — spreading from the U.S. to Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, and recently passing the one million subscriber mark.
Mashable spoke to Shudder's General Manager, Craig Engler, to find out more about the streaming platform, what it offers, and what its plans are for the future. Read more...
More about Horror, Horror Movies, Shudder, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Showsfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/what-is-shudder-horror-streaming-service/
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Big Tech readies itself for two very distinct grillings at Senate hearing
Get ready for some Senate questioning whiplash.
On Wednesday morning, the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, and Google will once again log into a video chat service and make performative shows of supplicating themselves before our elected officials.
However, unlike July's antitrust hearing, this time Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai will have to answer for the presumed excesses permitted by Section 230 — but just what exactly those excesses may be will depend very much on whether it's a Republican or Democrat asking the questions.
The hearing, titled "Does Section 230's Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior?," seems like, at first glance, a straightforward investigation into a provision of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Of course, that assumes anyone can agree on what, precisely, the "bad behavior" in question really is. Therein lies the problem. Read more...
More about Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Section 230, Tech, and Big Tech Companiesfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/senate-hearing-section-230-reform-facebook-google-twitter/
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Monday, 26 October 2020
This stacked cybersecurity bundle includes 22 online courses for under £50
TL;DR: The Complete InfoSec & Business Continuity Bundle is on sale for £45.22 as of Oct. 27, saving you 99% on list price.
The internet is a scary place. Now that people spend more time online than ever, the world wide web has become even more dangerous. Cybercrime is alarmingly rampant, costing companies billions and compromising the privacy of millions of individuals. It is not surprising that organisations of all sizes are tripping over themselves to hire cybersecurity experts to protect their networks from digital threats.
If you want to take advantage of this demand and explore a career in cybersecurity, the Complete 2020 Cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking Bundle offers training in practically every corner of the industry. Boasting 22 courses put together by iCollege, this bundle will arm you with essential skills and prep you to earn the certifications you need to find success in the IT industry. Read more...
More about Cybersecurity, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Uk, Uk Deals, and Techfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/uk/shopping/oct-27-information-security-and-business-continuity-bundle-sale/
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New top story on Hacker News: How Apple Is Organized for Innovation
How Apple Is Organized for Innovation
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New top story on Hacker News: Using NLP to enable flatter organizations
Using NLP to enable flatter organizations
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5 by neophocion | 3 comments on Hacker News.
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The radical implications of the Supreme Court’s new ruling on Wisconsin mail-in ballots
President Donald Trump greets Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch as Supreme Justice Brett Kavanaugh looks on ahead of the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 04, 2020 in Washington, DC. | Mario Tama/Getty Images
The Supreme Court’s new decision on Wisconsin mail-in ballots threatens a century of voting rights law.
The Supreme Court just handed down an order in Democratic National Committee v. Wisconsin State Legislature determining that a lower federal court should not have extended the deadline for Wisconsin voters to cast ballots by mail.
The ruling, which was decided by a 5-3 vote along party lines, is not especially surprising. The lower court determined that an extension was necessary to ensure that voters could cast their ballot during a pandemic, but the Court has repeatedly emphasized that federal courts should defer to state officials’ decisions about how to adapt to the pandemic. Monday night’s order in Democratic National Committee is consistent with those prior decisions urging deference.
What is surprising, however, is two concurring opinions by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, each of which takes aim at one of the most foundational principles of American constitutional law: the rule that the Supreme Court of the United States has the final word on questions of federal law but the highest court in each state has the final word on questions of state law.
This division of power is implicit in our very system of government. As the Supreme Court has explained, the states and the federal government coexist in a system of “dual sovereignty.” Both the federal government and the states have an independent power to make their own law, to enforce it, and to decide how their own law shall apply to individual cases.
If the Supreme Court of the United States had the power to overrule a state supreme court on a question of state law, this entire system of dual sovereignty would break down. It would mean that all state law would ultimately be subservient to the will of nine federal judges.
Nevertheless, in Democratic National Committee, both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh lash out at this very basic rule, that state supreme courts have the final say in how to interpret their state’s law, suggesting that this rule does not apply to most elections.
They also sent a loud signal, just eight days before a presidential election, that long-settled rules governing elections may now be unsettled. Republican election lawyers are undoubtedly salivating, and thinking of new attacks on voting rights that they can launch in the next week.
A potentially seismic reinterpretation of American election law
As Gorsuch notes in his concurring opinion, which is joined by Kavanaugh, the Constitution provides that “the Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” A separate constitutional provision provides that “each State shall appoint” members of the Electoral College “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,”
According to Gorsuch, the key word in these constitutional provisions is “Legislature.” He claims that the word “Legislature” must be read in a hyper-literal way. “The Constitution provides that state legislatures — not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials — bear primary responsibility for setting election rules,” he writes.
The implications of this view are breathtaking. Just last week, the Supreme Court split 4-4 on whether to overturn a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that also would have allowed some mailed-in ballots that arrive after Election Day to be counted. Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were among the dissenters, though because there were no written opinions, neither explained why they would have thrown out the state supreme court’s decision.
We now know why. Based on Gorsuch’s reasoning in Democratic National Committee, it’s clear that both he and Kavanaugh believe the Supreme Court of the United States may overrule a state supreme court, at least when the federal justices disagree with the state supreme court’s approach to election law.
That is, simply put, not how the balance of power between federal and state courts works. It’s not how it has ever worked.
Nor is it correct that the word “legislature” should be read in the hyper-literal way Gorsuch suggests. For more than a century, the Supreme Court has understood the word “legislature,” as it is used in the relevant constitutional provisions, to refer to whatever the valid lawmaking process is within that state. As the Court held most recently in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (2015), the word “legislature” should be read “in accordance with the State’s prescriptions for lawmaking, which may include the referendum and the Governor’s veto.”
But Gorsuch’s opinion suggests that this longstanding rule may soon be gone (again, as he put it, “state legislatures — not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials — bear primary responsibility for setting election rules”). State supreme courts may lose their power to enforce state constitutions that protect voting rights. State governors may lose their power to veto election laws, which would be a truly astonishing development when you consider that every state needs to draw new legislative maps in 2021, and many states have Republican legislatures and Democratic governors.
The return of Bush v. Gore
Kavanaugh, for what it’s worth, takes a slightly more moderate approach in his concurring opinion. The Supreme Court of the United States, he writes in a footnote to that opinion, may overrule a state supreme court when the state court defies “the clearly expressed intent of the legislature” in a case involving state election law.
Just how “clear” must a state court’s alleged mistake be? The answer to that is unclear. But it is clear that Kavanaugh rejects the longstanding rule that he and his fellow federal justices must always defer to state supreme courts on questions of state law.
That position could also have profound implications. In 2018, for example, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down gerrymandered maps drawn by the GOP-controlled state legislature. Kavanaugh’s position would allow the Republican-controlled Supreme Court of the United States to overrule such a decision.
Kavanaugh also lifts much of his reasoning from a disreputable source. Before today, the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore (2000), which effectively handed the presidency to George W. Bush, had only been cited once in a Supreme Court opinion — and that one citation appeared in a footnote to a dissenting opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, which was joined by no other justice.
But Kavanaugh quotes heavily from Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s concurring opinion in Bush, which also embraced an excessively literal approach to the word “legislature.” It appears that Bush v. Gore, arguably the most partisan decision in the Court’s history — and one that Kavanaugh helped litigate — is back in favor with key members of the Court.
It’s worth noting that the decision in Democratic National Committee was handed down literally as the Senate was voting to confirm incoming Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a staunch conservative who during her confirmation hearings would not commit to recusing herself from cases involving the 2020 election.
That means that last week’s decision allowing a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to stand could be very short-lived. That decision, after all, was 4-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts voting with the Court’s three liberals. With Barrett, the Court’s right flank may well be getting a fifth vote to toss out the state supreme court’s decision — and to order an unknown number of ballots tossed out in the process.
It’s unclear what immediate impact the decision in Democratic National Committee will have on the upcoming election. Last April, about 79,000 ballots arrived late during Wisconsin’s primary election but were counted anyway due to a lower court decision. The Supreme Court’s decision in Democratic National Committee will prevent similarly late ballots from being counted during the 2020 general election. The deadline for Wisconsin mail-in ballots to arrive is 8 pm on Election Day.
Though 79,000 ballots could easily swing an election, that’s only if it is close (in 2016, Trump won the state by a razor-thin margin of some 22,000 votes). A large enough margin could minimize the impact of the Court’s decision, and voters can ensure that their vote is counted by voting early enough.
But while this decision may not change the result of the 2020 election, its impact is still likely to be felt for years or even decades — assuming that Republicans retain their 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court. American election law has entered a chaotic new world, one where even the most basic rules are seemingly up for grabs. And the Supreme Court just sent a fairly clear signal that it may be about to light one of the most well-established rules on fire.
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from Vox - All https://www.vox.com/2020/10/26/21535503/supreme-court-wisconsin-democratic-national-committee-neil-gorsuch-brett-kavanaugh-bush-v-gore
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