No safe harbour in the pipes

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Iran-linked hackers target US water systems across at least twelve states, exposing years of cybersecurity neglect {NYT 5 August}

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/us/politics/water-supply-warnings.html?unlocked_article_code=1.3FA.g6Dt.niWaXpE7xVzo&smid=url-share

The EPA under President Biden sought to institute more stringent cybersecurity provisions, and Republican officials in numerous states blocked it from happening. Now cyberattacks on America’s water infrastructure are on the rise, and Iranian-affiliated hackers are suspected to be the culprits. FTA: 

In 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration proposed creating stronger cybersecurity guidelines to better safeguard the nation’s water supply from hackers.

The steps were modest, but necessary, officials said at the time: Many municipalities lacked even basic protections, and the computers that monitor and adjust water quality, including chemical-treatment levels, were easy-to-find targets for a would-be intruder.

The E.P.A. rescinded the order, however, after Republican-led states and industry groups sued to block its enforcement. They argued that the E.P.A. lacked authority for the move and that smaller, underfunded utilities would struggle to adopt the new standards.

The episode is just one of several in recent years in which efforts to bolster the cyberdefenses of America’s water systems were blocked despite repeated attacks that highlighted vulnerabilities. Just a little more than a month after the E.P.A. proposal was killed, a small town in western Pennsylvania disclosed that a hacking group tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps briefly took control of equipment used to adjust water pressure.

Now federal and state officials are racing to address an alarming, widespread assault on the nation’s water supply that they believe is also probably the work of Iranian hackers.

Last week, at least seven states, including Minnesota and Michigan, reported incidents to the F.B.I., and in some cases the hacks — or the response to them — degraded water operations. The tally of states reporting possible attacks to the F.B.I. is now at least a dozen, according to people familiar with the investigation. The F.B.I. has not disclosed the states publicly, but some have come forward to confirm activity.

At least 100 municipalities have detected recent malicious hacking efforts related to their water systems, though some of those may be unrelated incidents, the people said. Some security experts said the number of vulnerable systems nationwide could be far higher.

What y’all voted for, #Murica. This is the price the former United States now pays for the mass belligerence and willful ignorance exhibited by the dominant white working class and the political party to which they have pledged their allegiance. These jerks will never take a look in the mirror; whatever calamity should arise, and under whatever administration it should occur, culpability shall invariably be assigned elsewhere. I am thoroughly sick of both this horrid state of affairs and those Americans who have brought it into being. A ‘national divorce’ grows more appealing with each passing day, for I do not want these individuals — and their orange s**tbag president — lording over the rest of us a moment longer. They are literally dismantling this country on all fronts, all the while brandishing the flag and styling themselves ‘patriots’. One way or the other, this must end.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The plunder of Eden

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A crime against nature: the Trump regime moves to undo regulations that have protected endangered species for fifty years. {NYT 10 July}

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/climate/endangered-species-act-harm.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wlA.sROY.QiZOjeuzP9GG&smid=url-share

Some of the regulations currently in place may indeed be overly burdensome, and there was a time when I would have argued that certain revisions to the Endangered Species Act were warranted. Now, however, I am older and under no such illusions. The veil hath been lifted: human beings — particularly those motivated by profit — simply cannot be trusted. Private industry, despite its frequent proclamations to the contrary, cannot be relied upon to serve as a good steward of either the environment or the natural world.

Donald Trump and the individuals who comprise his dictatorial government cannot be trusted to protect nature. Indeed, many of them have repeatedly demonstrated all the qualities of cartoon villains and would probably relish the destruction of habitats and the extinction of entire species. Therefore, even if some regulations are overly burdensome, I am afraid they remain necessary for so long as human beings are fallen and sinful creatures.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Justice Clarence Thomas reversed his long-held position on ‘Chevron defense doctrine’ after his wife was bribed by a far-right special interest group

Diego Radzinschi/ALM

Do not let any of this go down the memory hole. Uncle Thomas and his friends on the high court represent at least as serious a threat to liberty as Trump, DeSantis, any Republican congressman, or any of the myriad of assorted nationalist populists compromising #Cult45. {The Lever 5/09}

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook. 

If only the British had maintained control of the colonies. 4th of July #Murica 2022: Mass shooting at parade in Illinois, the Supreme Court continues its assault on sanity, Russia claims control of key Ukrainian province, and COVID rises again

Another night of idiots who can't hear us over the sound of them exercising their 'freedom.' Bombs going off everywhere, the dog was about to have a heart attack. Upon many years of experience, reflection, and logical examination, this is a really stupid country on so many levels. This is a country for Darwinian bullies and psychopaths. Sorry, just not feeling this whole #Murica thing anymore.

Lynn Sweet/Chicago Sun-Times/AP

Mass shooting at 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois - Turn out the lights and end this s**t show already. (AP 7/04)

Lowlife scum identified as the person of interest in the Highland Park shooting ‘left a long trail of tributes to mass shootings and public killings on social media platforms’ - A real winner here. Performed as a white-boy rapper under the alias ‘Awake,’ and is the son of a failed mayoral candidate. (NBC News 7/04)

AP/Salon

GOP gubernatorial candidate in Illinois, not even hours after the mass shooting that has devastated his state and the nation: Let’s move on and celebrate - How do we ever reconcile with people of this mindset, which represents a good percentage of the country? We’re f**ked. Sorry, folks, we’re f**ked. {And I am sorry, I know the Raw Story site loads like crap and slows down any device one is using, I'm just too pissed to even try to find a better source at the moment. F**king bulls**t to all Hades.} (Raw Story 7/04)

Going back to Nixon’s ‘Southern Strategy,’ and accelerating greatly during Barack Obama’s presidency and the rise of Donald Trump, Republicans have appealed to confirmation biases to hoodwink millions of (mostly white, ‘working-class’) Americans into supporting their nation-killing, undemocratic policies. The Republican Party must now die; not in the way innocent victims of mass gun violence have, because we know that isn’t happening and the rest of us are not barbarians. No, because their individual consciences finally catch up with them. But, who are we kidding? They are going to sweep the mid-terms and win the presidency in 2024. We all know it, we all know most of our fellow citizens are awful people who would laugh while watching their neighbors being dragged off to death camps. We know the Democratic Party must really suck to have allowed things to progress to this dire stage, where attending a 4th of July parade - or, literally, any event or any place at all, even being in one’s own home - means risks being shot to death, and nobody is allowed to complain about it because ‘freedom.’

Very funny that #Cult45 proclaims to be so anti-socialist, yet they worship Trump with the same fervor as if he were Joseph Stalin, demanding the same of the rest of us. And they worship the United States itself as if it were the very (perverted) ideal the Soviet Union spent 70 years trying to impose upon its citizens. So, screw ‘em, because they’ve ruined the idea of patriotism in America. The flag has become nothing more than a fashion statement, courtesy of those jackasses who never stop bellowing about their ostensible love of country while s**ting on everything it is supposed to stand for. The Founding Fathers would never have fought had they known it would come to this (and, yes, I asked them.) #Murica

‘What accounts for the blithe dismissal of potentially cataclysmic threats?’ Sen. Mitt Romney calls out the American people for being in denial about the pathetic state of the republic - Says a return to Trump ‘would feed the sickness, probably rendering it incurable.’ Agreed, but he and the few remaining sane Republicans need to disavow themselves of any illusion that the GOP can be saved - or is worth saving - and declare themselves independents. (Mediate 7/04)

Fascist outlet Patriot Front demonstrates in Boston on Saturday, and there is violence - One {African-American} man is injured in an altercation with these white supremacist goons. (WCVB 7/03)

Supreme Court issues ruling limiting the EPA’s authority to regulate climate standards at power plants - For the longest time, I didn’t buy into climate change. Until, as with a lot of crap I used to believe, the reality couldn’t be denied any longer. Even now it’s not my area of expertise. Considering that this court is apparently trying to destroy the nation as it currently stands, what would be a few more carbon emissions into the environment? Once the right of women to drive is rescinded and two-thirds of the population have either been eliminated or have fled the country, there will be fewer cars on the road. Christofascists and their allies tend to hate cities, so destroying those should also help clean the air. Hmmm, perhaps the extreme right are onto something after all, and are not the anti-environmentalists they’re often mistaken for. Just as they defend freedom of speech by constantly belittling and threatening anyone with differing points of view. Just as how they support science by rejecting vaccines and facemasks in the middle of the largest global pandemic in over a century. Really, not too surprising that Fascists would love Mother Earth, in their own unique way. Hitler was quite the environmentalist by the standards of his time. (John Sutter, CNN 6/30)

Russia claims control over Luhansk province, Ukrainian forces withdraw from the pivotal city of Lysychansk - God willing, Ukraine will restore authority over its territory, and liberate the residents of these regions from Russian aggression. A setback, not a defeat. (AP 7/03)

Several people dead in mass shooting at Copenhagen shopping mall - America’s sickness is spreading. (AP 7/03)

‘Two Omicron subvariants are now causing more than half of new coronavirus infections in the United States—and both are very good at dodging antibodies in people who have been vaccinated and boosted, as well as in people who had a previous COVID-19 infection.’ (National Geographic 7/01)

Ohio: 14-year-old tiger dies at Columbus Zoo from pneumonia caused by COVID-19 - Rest in Peace, Jupiter. (WLWT 6/30)

USC and UCLA to the Big Ten? - What the f**k!? Geographically this is stupid, obviously, but at the highest levels of college sports geography is simply no longer a concern. No conspiracy theories needed: The SEC, Big Ten, and their broadcast partners (chiefly, ESPN) are boldly and deliberately consolidating their power and ensuring no other schools or conferences will ever again be competitive with them, on the field and off. The few remaining major powers outside those two conferences will be absorbed within the next few years, and we’ll never see even an ACC, Big 12, or Pac 12 school win another national championship.  Or if they do, it’ll be at a new level between FBS and FCS, as those three conferences and the five current mid-majors will be entirely frozen out of FBS (now only consisting of the SEC and Big Ten) and compelled to form their own, secondary division. We may even see FBS split into three, with ACC/Big 12/Pac 12 being the second division, and the current mid-majors being third division. FCS would now be Division IV, the current Division II becomes Division V, and the current Division III will become Division VI. All of this is so bloody ridiculous, and it’s part of what is slowly killing my interest in this sport. Even the pretense of these players being student-athletes is disappearing, (FanNation 6/30)

A little history on how musicians were routinely pressed into service by municipalities as first responders in medieval Europe. (Ted Gioia 7/02)

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