The Swedish climate activist said the annual gathering in the Swiss resort was dominated by people who are at the core of the crisis, investing in fossil fuels.

"the number has since jumped after Loudoun County added one additional school Tuesday and Prince William County added two schools"

The post At Least 16 Virginia Schools Allegedly Withheld Merit Awards From Students first appeared on Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion.

Video footage shows Israeli police briefly stopped Jordanian ambassador to coordinate his Temple Mount tour. 

The post Jordan Stages “Diplomatic Incident” Over Temple Mount, Claims Envoy Stopped From Visiting The Holy Site first appeared on Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion.

"The committee also proposed wiping out all debts associated with educational, personal, credit card and payday loans for black households."

The post San Francisco Reparations Panel Now Recommending $5 Million for Each Black Resident first appeared on Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion.

The Swedish climate activist was taking part in a demonstration against the destruction of a village to make way for the mine’s expansion.

The move by the Guangzhou-based carmaker to lower prices by as much as 13 per cent comes less than two weeks after rival Tesla made its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles more affordable.

YEP. MOST RECYCLING HURTS THE ENVIRONMENT: It’s Wish-Cycling, Not Recycling.

And that’s if anyone wants the materials and they don’t end up in the landfill.

No it’s not. It’s not even for the Barley Mill address. It was the exact amount of his quarterly rent for his previous office at House of Sweden. Trust me, there are better minds working on this and it’s a fact. — Truth Ninja (@TruthNinja316) January 16, 2023   This story was going viral yesterday […]

Don't focus on the headlines in the investigations into classified documents held by Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Focus on the details.

Charles Thaxton asked whether the scientific evidence we’ve gained since Darwin truly supports the evolutionist's ideas.

OH: Hunter Biden Was Paying Joe Biden Almost $50,000 Per Month In “Rent” to Live At His House.

An organization of female athletes sent a letter Thursday to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, demanding that the NCAA reverse its policy of allowing male athletes who identify as women to compete on women’s teams, or face legal action.

A group of current and former collegiate and professional female athletes also protested Thursday outside the NCAA convention in San Antonio, after the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, or ICONS, sent the letter.

Democrats and the administration of President Joe Biden have argued that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bars discrimination on the basis of “sex” in college athletics, mandates that schools must allow males who claim to identify as female to compete in women’s sports.

Marshi Smith, a co-founder of ICONS who became a six-time All-American in 2005 by winning the NCAA championship in the 100 backstroke, told The Daily Signal that she and her allies are advocating “the original intent of Title IX” against Biden’s attempt to undermine it by redefining “sex” as gender identity.

“We are advocating for the original intent of Title IX as written 50 years ago that ensures women are not discriminated against on the basis of sex,” Smith said in an email statement. “The Biden administration’s efforts to equate sex with gender identity undermine all sex-based protections for women.”

Current NCAA policy “deems female athletes undeserving of rules that protect fair competition in their sport’s category,” Smith argued. “Women have and will continue to lose podium awards, relay spots, accolades, and more if we don’t demand equal opportunities to succeed now.”

“We cannot rob our daughters of the chance to be champions in this generation or the next,” she concluded.

Two attorneys, Lauren Adams Bone and Candice Jackson, wrote the demand letter on behalf of ICONS.

“We write as attorneys on behalf of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), a network of current and former collegiate and professional women athletes and their families, to put you on official notice that your practice of allowing male athletes on women’s teams constitutes illegal discrimination against women on the basis of sex,” the lawyers wrote. “We hereby demand that you take direct and immediate action to establish rules to keep women’s collegiate sports female.”

The lawyers argue that “in the world of college sports, it is impossible to provide equal opportunities for both sexes (as required by Title IX) without female-only teams. Yet the NCAA implements and perpetuates a policy of allowing male athletes on women’s teams, even as sports governing bodies and federal courts increasingly reject these unjust and inequitable policies that exclude young women from their own teams.”

Current NCAA volleyball player Macy Petty, also an ambassador with Young Women for America, spoke at the San Antonio protest along with Smith.

“I am one of the thousands of female athletes the NCAA has turned its back on in the name of ‘inclusion,’” Petty said. “The NCAA has forsaken our safety and opportunity to compete on an equal playing field to cater to the desire of a few.”

Petty recounted her own personal sacrifices to excel in sports. “I was that girl in high school who never got to go to prom, was constantly traveling to volleyball tournaments, and had to sacrifice a lot of my social life to compete and get recruited,” she said. “I represent the thousands of women who have worked their whole life to achieve the dream of playing volleyball with a scholarship.”

The NCAA’s policy had a concrete impact on Petty. She recalled a volleyball game that was attended by “dozens” of scouts and was “one of the few opportunities you have to make your mark.” Unfortunately, a biological male was playing on the other team.

“He was so tall, with a vertical leap that made us look silly,” she said. “There was no way for us to stop him. He took the game over—and wooed the scouts.”

Doreen Denny, a senior adviser at Concerned Women for America, also spoke at the rally.

Turning to the NCAA, Denny declared, “Shame on you for exalting males in women’s sports at the expense of female athletes.”

“Shame on you for discriminating against women in favor of men who claim our identity,” she added. “Shame on you for denying the truth of what a woman is and exploiting and excluding us in our own sports.”

Many noteworthy female athletes attended the rally in San Antonio, including Riley Gaines, a former two-time NCAA All-American swimmer who tied for fifth place against Lia Thomas, the University of Pennsylvania swimmer who represents himself to be female and won the NCAA Division I Championship last March.

Those attending the rally also included Adriana McLamb, a former NCAA volleyball player from Florida International University and current Team Florida All Star coach; Kim Jones, a former All-American tennis player, mother of an Ivy League swimmer, and co-founder of ICONS; Blake Allen, a Vermont high school volleyball player who had to compete and share a locker room with a male who claimed to identify as female; and Nancy Hogshead-Makar, a three-time Olympic champion and silver medalist and CEO of Champion Women.

On the other side of this issue, Iszak Henig, a biological female who identifies as a man, joined the men’s swimming team at Yale after concluding last year’s season as an All-American swimmer on the women’s team. Henig has taken hormones for eight months. In a November meet, she finished—predictably, some might argue—in 79th place out of 83 swimmers.

The NCAA did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.

The post Female Athletes Threaten Legal Action If NCAA Continues to Let Males Compete in Women’s Sports appeared first on The Daily Signal.

For many years on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Justice Clarence Thomas visited an influential teacher, Sister Mary Virgilius Reidy.

Listen to This Article

A new thread today in the #TwitterFiles is about a fake news story from early 2018:

Remember this one? Russian bots and trolls were blamed by virtually every major news organization in the country for amplifying the hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo. The files contain a mass of emails from executives blowing up this ridiculous story, once and for all.

The #ReleaseTheMemo scandal was one of the more shameful episodes in the recent history of our media, but taken seriously by all but one or two mainstream editors at the time. All citing the same dubious source — the Hamilton 68 “dashboard” trumpeted by former FBI counterintelligence official and current MSNBC contributor Clint Watts — they insisted Russians deployed Twitter bot-armies to whip up cyber-support for Republican congressmann Devin Nunes. Nunes had just released a classified memo alleging Democrats and the FBI used the infamous paid oppositional research dossier of ex-spy Christopher Steele to obtain secret FISA surveillance authority on Trump-connected figures like Carter Page, amid other improprieties.

We now know Twitter internally found no evidence, as in zero, that Russians were anywhere near this story.

“I just reviewed the accounts that posted the first 50 tweets with #releasethememo,” wrote a piqued Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth, in all other respects as loyal a Democratic partisan as can be imagined. “None of them show any signs of affiliation to Russia.”

“These hashtags are organic,” said a second.

“Not seeing it,” said a third.

This is a constant theme in the files. In addition to revelations about FBI censorship, shadow-banning, Pentagon use of fake accounts, and suppression of true information about issues like Covid-19, the Twitter emails regularly expose the wide delta between what we were told about foreign threats, and what a major platform seeing the raw data knew. (In this case, for instance, the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag reportedly originated with @TracyBeanz, the clearly American editor of UncoverDC). Even within the heavily partisan culture at Twitter, the regular “Russia, Russia, Russia” claims by politicians and media in self-serving pursuit of headlines caused eyes to roll.

“Members,” said one Twitter executive, “look foolish if they cry ‘Russia’ every time something happens on social media.”

We have a lot of problems in this country, and there are serious arguments to be had between blue and red about all sorts of issues, from immigration to the wealth gap to abortion and race. But the country is currently paralyzed by distrust of media that runs so deep that it prevents real dialogue, and that situation can’t be resolved until the corporate press swallows its pride and admits the clock has finally run out on its seven years of loony Russia conspiracies.

It’s over, you nitwits. It’s time to stow the Mueller votive candles, cop to the coverage pileup created by years of errors, and start the reconciliation process.

You’ll be tempted to shout, “But Trump, Stop the Steal, QAnon — Derp!” Don’t do it. Don’t be the Japanese soldier still clutching a bayonet to defend the forgotten atoll in 1960. Forget Trump: you need to clean your own house first. Expunging the years of absurd deceptions has to happen, if media companies ever want wide audiences to trust them again, and that starts with admitting the obvious screwups — like this case.

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GM, Ford, and Google join forces to scale up 'virtual power plants'

Breanne Deppisch

January 10, 12:12 PM January 10, 12:12 PM Video Embed

Major companies, including GM, Ford, Google, and solar energy producers, announced Tuesday that they would work together on a new project to establish standards for scaling up virtual power plants in the United States, an effort to help ease loads on the nation's electric grid during periods of peak demand.

The virtual power plants pool together thousands of decentralized energy management sources, such as electric vehicle batteries or electric heaters controlled by smart thermostats, to help grids remain supplied during periods of peak demand.

As part of the new Virtual Power Plant Partnership, also known as VP3, companies will also seek to promote policies that utilize the virtual power plant system.

RUSSIA'S WAR HAS MOBILIZED $500 BILLION IN CLEAN ENERGY SPENDING

The effort will be overseen by the nonprofit group RMI.

RMI estimates that the virtual power plants can reduce peak U.S. energy demand by 60 gigawatts by the year 2030 — and, by 2050, over 200 GW.

"Virtual power plants will enable grid planners and grid operators to [better manage] growing electricity demand from vehicles, from buildings and from industry, and make sure that the grid can stay reliable even in the face of ongoing extreme weather challenges and aging physical infrastructure," Mark Dyson, the managing director of RMI’S carbon-free electricity program, told Reuters.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Tesla has launched similar efforts in California, Texas, Australia, and, most recently, Japan.

Its facilities consist of distributed Tesla powerwalls, organized for grid management, that allow households to get incentives for releasing solar-generated power during times of greater demand.

© 2023 Washington Examiner

The Chinese app poses no greater risk of either surveillance or influence operations than other social media platforms, according to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

There are four easy, logical rules that make walking a smooth and seamless process.

A 38-year-old retired NASA satellite is about to fall from the sky.NASA said Friday the chance of wreckage falling on anybody is "very low." Most of the 5,400-pound (2,450-kilogram) satellite will burn up upon reentry, according to NASA. But some pieces are expected to...

Kevin McCarthy has lost six votes so far. But any potential replacement would face the same problems.

It is the first step towards establishing the capacity to make at least 5 million metric tons by the end of the decade to help India reduce emissions and become a major exporter.

File a class action against federal agents seeking an injunction against social-media censorship efforts.

Yikes.

The post House NeverKevins Defy Trump first appeared on Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion.

Government ID now required to access online pornography in Louisiana

Christopher Hutton

January 03, 01:32 PM January 03, 01:38 PM Video Embed

Louisiana residents now have to submit proof of their age to access pornographic websites, thanks to a law that went into effect on Jan. 1.

The state implemented a law on Sunday that will require residents to submit evidence of a government-provided ID to confirm their age before being allowed to access websites where the content is 33% or more pornographic. The state is the first to implement such age restrictions, although other states have passed similar laws, and some Republicans have introduced legislation that would implement such rules on a federal level.

“Pornography is destroying our children and they’re getting unlimited access to it on the internet, and so if the pornography companies aren’t going to be responsible, I thought we need to go ahead and hold them accountable,” argued the bill sponsor, Republican state Rep. Laurie Schlegel.

GOOGLE RELEASES FREE SOFTWARE FOR SMALLER WEBSITES TO MODERATE TERRORIST CONTENT

Some users reported that they were prompted by pornography websites such as PornHub to verify their age via the state website LA Wallet before being allowed to access the website. There will be other ways to verify a user's age, although those involved with the project claim that the software does not save any critical identifying information, such as date of birth or location.

Some lawmakers are considering similar restrictions on a federal level. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) proposed a law requiring age verification for accessing pornography websites.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law in September that would require age verification for younger users to access certain social media platforms. The proposal was slammed by tech lobbying groups, which called it unconstitutional and invasive.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Regulators in the United Kingdom have been attempting to strengthen restrictions on access to pornography. The Information Commissioner's Office announced in September that it was reversing its position on the Children's Code and Age Appropriate Design Code and would take additional action to restrict and regulate children's access to pornographic content.

© 2023 Washington Examiner

For the good stuff regarding my meeting with Trump, start reading around Page 135. It will become clear why the J6 committee came up Dick-O’-Hand on Trump. Every word I told was true.

Hacker claims to steal personal data of 400 million Twitter users

Grant Gross

December 30, 03:00 AM December 30, 03:00 AM Video Embed

A hacker has claimed to have stolen the personal data of 400 million Twitter users, giving the social media platform even more headaches after its rocky takeover by Elon Musk.

The hacker has offered to sell the data back to Twitter to help it avoid a huge fine from European authorities. “Your best option to avoid paying $276 million in GDPR breach fines like Facebook did (due to 533m users being scraped) is to buy this data exclusively,” the hacker wrote on a hacking forum.

ELON MUSK SAYS HE'LL STEP DOWN AS TWITTER CEO WHEN HE FINDS 'SOMEONE FOOLISH ENOUGH TO TAKE THE JOB'

If Twitter buys the data back, it will prevent users from phishing attacks, doxxing, and other criminal activity, and it will prevent users from losing trust in the company, the hacker wrote.

The hacker released records of about 1,000 Twitter users, including billionaire Mark Cuban, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Donald Trump Jr., in an attempt to prove his claims. He claimed to have obtained the personal data in early 2022.

Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comments on the supposed breach. However, some cybersecurity experts said the hacker’s claims appear to be at least partially credible. In part because of the release of user information.

“The 400 million, however, may be inflated, as threat actors are known to inflate the damage that they have done to extract more money,” Greg Kelley, CTO at digital forensics provider Vestige, told the Washington Examiner. “The time it would take to validate that number of stolen records would take too long for a company to investigate in time.”

Twitter has had data leaks in the past, giving this new claim some credibility, added Lou Steinberg, founder and managing partner of the cybersecurity research lab and incubator CTM Insights. Some researchers have compared the data in this breach with prior Twitter breaches and found data that haven’t been disclosed previously, “making this more likely to be a new incident,” Steinberg told the Washington Examiner.

However, the hacker’s claim that Twitter can avoid GDPR fines by paying the ransom is less credible, he noted. “Uber was fined under GDPR despite paying a ransom, which they characterized as a bug bounty, and despite making the attacker sign an NDA,” Steinberg said. “GDPR has disclosure requirements to both regulators and end users, in addition to demanding that reasonable steps be taken to protect data. It's certainly conceivable that Twitter could be sanctioned even if they pay.”

Kelley urged Twitter users to change their passwords and enable two-factor authentication for accessing their accounts. Twitter users should ignore emails or texts with links to check some information related to their accounts because these links are often phishing attempts, he added.

“Consider any security question that involves personal data that you use on another site to have been compromised,” he added. “Also, be on the lookout for phishing attempts using fake accounts or weaponizing your personal information. It will likely take weeks, however, to weaponize the data for phishing and other uses, but it will come.”

Steinberg agreed that phishing attacks are the biggest danger for Twitter users. “Twitter users should be extra suspicious of links in emails and texts, claims that they have won a prize or owe money, etc.,” he said.

Meanwhile, Steinberg urged Twitter to be transparent about the data loss, if it actually happened, and work to fix any problems the breach exposed.

“Seal the leaks, or your ship will sink,” he said. “Easier said than done, but a comprehensive review of all public-facing APIs is in order.”

The company should also look to add new data exfiltration detection services, he suggested. “It should be hard to extract that much data without setting off an alarm somewhere. It's like carrying a grand piano out of a house, something should be making noise.”

Musk’s takeover of Twitter has hit several speed bumps after the billionaire laid off thousands of employees and banned several journalists from Twitter who have reported on him. The new claim of a data breach won’t help a company trying to put its best foot forward, some observers said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“If a large part of the security operations team was recently let go, there might have been an opportunity to better detect the incident,” Steinberg said. “That said, it's very likely that both the vulnerability and maybe the incident predates Elon's ownership, so hard to blame him for that.”

However, the breach creates a “headache” related to Twitter’s reputation, and it’s a potential hit to a company that Musk has claimed is burning cash, he added. Some advertisers have pulled away from Twitter after Musk changed the platform’s moderation rules, and “it remains to be seen if this will cause user loss that further impacts ad revenue.”

© 2023 Washington Examiner

The former president will most likely be charged with crimes by the government he seeks to head again. What happens after that is anyone's guess.

Yet another smartphone side-channel attack: “EarSpy: Spying Caller Speech and Identity through Tiny Vibrations of Smartphone Ear Speakers“:

Abstract: Eavesdropping from the user’s smartphone is a well-known threat to the user’s safety and privacy. Existing studies show that loudspeaker reverberation can inject speech into motion sensor readings, leading to speech eavesdropping. While more devastating attacks on ear speakers, which produce much smaller scale vibrations, were believed impossible to eavesdrop with zero-permission motion sensors. In this work, we revisit this important line of reach. We explore recent trends in smartphone manufacturers that include extra/powerful speakers in place of small ear speakers, and demonstrate the feasibility of using motion sensors to capture such tiny speech vibrations. We investigate the impacts of these new ear speakers on built-in motion sensors and examine the potential to elicit private speech information from the minute vibrations. Our designed system EarSpy can successfully detect word regions, time, and frequency domain features and generate a spectrogram for each word region. We train and test the extracted data using classical machine learning algorithms and convolutional neural networks. We found up to 98.66% accuracy in gender detection, 92.6% detection in speaker detection, and 56.42% detection in digit detection (which is 5X more significant than the random selection (10%)). Our result unveils the potential threat of eavesdropping on phone conversations from ear speakers using motion sensors.

It’s not great, but it’s an impressive start.

MAYBE GETTING RID OF THE ROLLING BLACKOUTS WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA, TOO: Massive Electric Semi Truck Subsidies.