System Update, episode 487
Source: System Update
“Trump Promises More Weapons for Ukraine; Trump Again Accuses Dems of Fabricating Epstein File.” (07/15/25)
Yes, College Students Can’t Read Good
Source: Persuasion
by Elan Kluger
“If you sit on Dartmouth’s large outdoor common ground — ‘the Green’ — with a book, it will be assumed that you are reading for class. And even to do class readings for many people is too strenuous. I have glanced over in class at laptop screens opened to ChatGPT. Students proceed to read aloud from the AI output to earn their participation credit. Professors have told me about having to decrease the amount of pages they assign per week, but, even then, some students just cannot be bothered. One can ascribe this change to cellphones …. But it is worth considering that perhaps worries about attention spans are overstated. Serious reading has always been a fringe activity. And, besides, two hour podcasts and three hour movies seem to have become standard fare. It is not the inability to read, it is the missing inclination.” (07/15/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/yes-college-students-cant-read-good
Europol-coordinated global operation takes down pro-Russian cybercrime network
Source: SFGate
“A coordinated international operation has hit the infrastructure of a pro-Russian cybercrime network linked to a string of denial of service attacks targeting Ukraine and its allies, the European Union’s police agency Europol announced Wednesday. Codenamed Eastwood, the operation targeted the so-called NoName057(16) group, which was identified last month by Dutch authorities as being behind a series of denial-of-service attacks on several municipalities and organizations linked to a NATO summit in the Netherlands. Europol said that the cybercrime network also was involved in attacks in Sweden, Germany and Switzerland. The police agency said the international operation ‘led to the disruption of an attack-infrastructure consisting of over one hundred computer systems worldwide, while a major part of the group’s central server infrastructure was taken offline.'” (07/16/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/europol-led-global-operation-takes-down-20772083.php
Trump Watch, 07/15/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Has the Deep State Absorbed Trump?” (07/15/25)
My 46 Years Contempt of Congress
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“Plenty of members of Congress have denounced me and my articles but I never lost any sleep over their wailing. I realized long ago that, as Thomas Paine wrote in 1776, ‘the trade of governing has always been monopolized by … the most rascally individuals of mankind.’ Unfortunately, the mental and moral defects of our legislative class have become far more ruinous to America since my first published scoff.” (07/15/25)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2025/07/15/my-46-years-contempt-of-congress/
The Battle for the Future of Farmwork
Source: In These Times
by Joseph Bullington
“The jail where they have taken his wife is very cold and very far away. In the weeks since immigration agents pulled her off the work bus, she has been in jail and he has kept working at the vegetable farm where they worked together. She calls him from a detention center in another state and tells him about the cold, how the prisoners complain about the cold but the guards do nothing. She has fallen into un hueco now, he says — a hollow, a hole, a gray area. His name is not Carlos, but he doesn’t want his real name published because he doesn’t want to be taken.” (07/15/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/farmworkers-unions-ufw-upstate-ny-ice-raids-deportations-h2a
France: Bayrou proposes scrapping national holidays and freezing spending to cut deficit
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“French Prime Minister François Bayrou has proposed a broad spending freeze for next year and scrapping two national holidays, putting his political survival on the line to narrow the deficit. In a press conference on Tuesday, Bayrou unveiled the outline of a 2026 fiscal package of €44bn in tax rises and spending cuts, including curbs to pensions and social welfare benefits and a not yet defined ‘solidarity contribution’ from the wealthy. … Only defence spending has been spared amid rising threats from Russia. President Emmanuel Macron instructed Bayrou to put through a roughly 10 per cent increase for the military in the next two budget cycles, or about €6.5bn. Many of the proposed measures have come under fire from leftist and far-right opposition parties. They are already threatening to topple the government over what they call an austerity budget that would hit poor people, workers and retirees.” (07/16/25)
Fountainhead Forum, episode 327
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Daniel McCarthy on Elon Musk ending his partnership with Donald Trump.” (07/15/25)
Big Law Is Finally Getting its Act Together and Fighting Trump’s Attacks
Source: The UnPopulist
by Paul RosenZweig
“Big Law has finally entered the fight against Donald Trump. It’s about time. Since retaking office, Trump has waged a comprehensive campaign to erode the independence of the American legal profession by bending it to his will. So far, he’s been partially successful: Nine major law firms have cravenly caved to Trump’s attack, surrendering without firing a shot, while four braver law firms have fought and won. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of firms have crouched in the corner, hoping that Trump will turn his attention elsewhere.” (07/15/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/big-law-is-finally-getting-its-act
Palestine: Twenty die in Gaza aid stampede, 41 murdered by Israeli troops
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“An Israeli-backed American organization that runs an aid program in the Gaza Strip said Wednesday 20 Palestinians were killed near a distribution site. This comes as Israeli strikes killed 41 others, including 11 children, according to hospital officials. The Gaza Humanitarian Fund said 19 people were trampled in a stampede and one person was fatally stabbed in the violence near a distribution hub in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The group, which rarely acknowledges trouble at its distribution sites, accused Hamas of fomenting panic and spreading misinformation that led to the violence, though it provided no evidence to support the claim. … Israeli strikes killed 22 people in northern Gaza, including 11 children, and 19 people in the city of Khan Younis.” (07/16/25)