#Israel Web Hosting

[mariacallous]

The New York Times once dubbed the Princeton professor Robert George, who has guided Republican elites for decades, “the reigning brain of the Christian right.” Last year, he issued a stark warning to his ideological allies. “Each time we think the horrific virus of anti-Semitism has been extirpated, it reappears,” he wrote in May 2023. “A plea to my fellow Catholics—especially Catholic young people: Stay a million miles from this evil. Do not let it infect your thinking.” When I spoke with George that summer, he likened his sense of foreboding to that of Heinrich Heine, the 19th-century German poet who prophesied the rise of Nazism in 1834.

Some 15 months later, the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson welcomed a man named Darryl Cooper onto his web-based show and introduced him to millions of followers as “the best and most honest popular historian in the United States.” The two proceeded to discuss how Adolf Hitler might have gotten a bad rap and why British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was “the chief villain of the Second World War.”

Hitler tried “to broadcast a call for peace directly to the British people” and wanted to “work with the other powers to reach an acceptable solution to the Jewish problem,” Cooper elaborated in a social-media post. “He was ignored.” Why the Jews should have been considered a “problem” in the first place—and what a satisfactory “solution” to their inconvenient existence might be—was not addressed.

Some Republican politicians spoke out against Carlson’s conversation with Cooper, and many historians, including conservative ones, debunked its Holocaust revisionism. But Carlson is no fringe figure. His show ranks as one of the top podcasts in the United States; videos of its episodes rack up millions of views. He has the ear of Donald Trump and spoke during prime time at the 2024 Republican National Convention. His anti-Jewish provocations are not a personal idiosyncrasy but the latest expression of an insurgent force on the American right—one that began to swell when Trump first declared his candidacy for president and that has come to challenge the identity of the conservative movement itself.

Anti-Semitism has always existed on the political extremes, but it began to migrate into the mainstream of the Republican coalition during the Trump administration. At first, the prejudice took the guise of protest.

In 2019, hecklers pursued the Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw—a popular former Navy SEAL from Texas—across a tour of college campuses, posing leading questions to him about Jews and Israel, and insinuating that the Jewish state was behind the 9/11 attacks. The activists called themselves “Groypers” and were led by a young white supremacist named Nick Fuentes, an internet personality who had defended racial segregation, denied the Holocaust, and participated in the 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where marchers chanted, “Jews will not replace us.”

The slogan referred to a far-right fantasy known as the “Great Replacement,” according to which Jews are plotting to flood the country with Black and brown migrants in order to displace the white race. That belief animated Robert Bowers, who perpetrated the largest massacre of Jews on American soil at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 after sharing rants about the Great Replacement on social media. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the gunman wrote in his final post, “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people … Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

Less than three years later, Carlson sanitized that same conspiracy theory on his top-rated cable-news show. “They’re trying to change the population of the United States,” the Fox host declared, “and they hate it when you say that because it’s true, but that’s exactly what they’re doing.” Like many before him, Carlson maintained plausible deniability by affirming an anti-Semitic accusation without explicitly naming Jews as culprits. He could rely on members of his audience to fill in the blanks.

Carlson and Fuentes weren’t the only ones who recognized the rising appeal of anti-Semitism on the right. On January 6, 2021, an influencer named Elijah Schaffer joined thousands of Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol, posting live from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. Eighteen months later, Schaffer publicly polled his hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers: “Do you believe Jews disproportionately control the world institutions, banks, & are waging war on white, western society?” Social-media polls are not scientific, so the fact that more than 70 percent of respondents said some version of “yes” matters less than the fact that 94,000 people participated in the survey. Schaffer correctly gauged that this subject was something that his audience wanted to discuss, and certainly not something that would hurt his career.

With little fanfare, the tide had turned in favor of those advancing anti-Semitic arguments. In 2019, Fuentes and his faction were disrupting Republican politicians like Crenshaw. By 2022, Fuentes was shaking hands onstage with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. In 2019, the Groyper activists were picketing events held by Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization founded by the activist Charlie Kirk. By 2024, Turning Point was employing—and periodically firing and denouncing—anti-Semitic influencers who appeared at conventions run by Fuentes. “The Zionist Jews controlling our planet are all pedophiles who have no regard for the sanctity of human life and purity,” one of the organization’s ambassadors posted before she was dismissed.

In 2020, Carlson’s lead writer, Blake Neff, was compelled to resign after he was exposed as a regular contributor to a racist internet forum. Today, he produces Kirk’s podcast and recently reported alongside him at the Republican National Convention. “Why does Turning Point USA keep pushing anti-Semitism?” asked Erick Erickson, the longtime conservative radio host and activist, last October. The answer: Because that’s what a growing portion of the audience wants.

“When I began my career in 2017,” Fuentes wrote in May 2023, “I was considered radioactive in the American Right for my White Identitarian, race realist, ‘Jewish aware,’ counter-Zionist, authoritarian, traditional Catholic views … In 2023, on almost every count, our previously radioactive views are pounding on the door of the political mainstream.” Fuentes is a congenital liar, but a year after this triumphalist pronouncement, his basic point is hard to dispute. Little by little, the extreme has become mainstream—especially since October 7.

Last December, Tucker Carlson joined the popular anti-establishment podcast Breaking Points to discuss the Gaza conflict and accused a prominent Jewish political personality of disloyalty to the nation. “They don’t care about the country at all,” he told the host, “but I do … because I’m from here, my family’s been here hundreds of years, I plan to stay here. Like, I’m shocked by how little they care about the country, including the person you mentioned. And I can’t imagine how someone like that could get an audience of people who claim to care about America, because he doesn’t, obviously.”

The twist: “He” was not some far-left activist who had called America an irredeemably racist regime. Carlson was referring to Ben Shapiro, arguably the most visible Jewish conservative in America, and insinuating that despite his decades of paeans to American exceptionalism, Shapiro was a foreign implant secretly serving Israeli interests. The podcast host did not object to Carlson’s remarks.

The war in Gaza has placed Jews and their role in American politics under a microscope. Much has been written about how the conflict has divided the left and led to a spike in anti-Semitism in progressive spaces, but less attention has been paid to the similar shake-up on the right, where events in the Middle East have forced previously subterranean tensions to the surface. Today, the Republican Party’s establishment says that it stands with Israel and against anti-Semitism, but that stance is under attack by a new wave of insurgents with a very different agenda.

Since October 7, in addition to slurring Shapiro, Carlson has hosted a parade of anti-Jewish guests on his show. One was Candace Owens, the far-right podcaster known for her defenses of another anti-Jewish agitator, Kanye “Ye” West. Owens had already clashed with her employer—the conservative outlet The Daily Wire, co-founded by Shapiro—over her seeming indifference to anti-Semitism. But after the Hamas assault, she began making explicit what had previously been implicit—including liking a social-media post that accused a rabbi of being “drunk on Christian blood,” a reference to the medieval blood libel. The Daily Wire severed ties with her soon after. But this did not remotely curb her appeal.

Today, Owens can be found fulminating on her YouTube channel (2.4 million subscribers) or X feed (5.6 million followers) about how a devil-worshipping Jewish cult controls the world, and how Israel was complicit in the 9/11 attacks and killed President John F. Kennedy. Owens has also jumped aboard the Reich-Rehabilitation Express. “What is it about Hitler? Why is he the most evil?” she asked in July. “The first thing people would say is: ‘Well, an ethnic cleansing almost took place.’ And now I offer back: ‘You mean like we actually did to the Germans.’”

“Many Americans are learning that WW2 history is not as black and white as we were taught and some details were purposefully omitted from our textbooks,” she wrote after Carlson’s Holocaust conversation came under fire. The post received 15,000 likes.

Donald Trump’s entry into Republican politics intensified several forces that have contributed to the rise of anti-Semitism on the American right. One was populism, which pits the common people against a corrupt elite. Populists play on discontents that reflect genuine failures of the establishment, but their approach also readily maps onto the ancient anti-Semitic canard that clandestine string-pulling Jews are the source of society’s problems. Once people become convinced that the world is oppressed by an invisible hand, they often conclude that the hand belongs to an invisible Jew.

Another such force is isolationism, or the desire to extricate the United States from foreign entanglements, following decades of debacles in the Middle East. But like the original America First Committee, which sought to keep the country out of World War II, today’s isolationists often conceive of Jews as either rootless cosmopolitans undermining national cohesion or dual loyalists subverting the national interest in service of their own. In this regard, the Tucker Carlsons of 2024 resemble the reactionary activists of the 1930s, such as the aviator Charles Lindbergh, who infamously accused Jewish leaders of acting “for reasons which are not American,” and warned of “their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government.”

Populism and isolationism have legitimate expressions, but preventing them from descending into anti-Semitism requires leaders willing to restrain their movement’s worst instincts. Today’s right has fewer by the day. Trump fundamentally refuses to repudiate anyone who supports him, and by devolving power from traditional Republican elites and institutions to a diffuse array of online influencers, the former president has ensured that no one is in a position to corral the right’s excesses, even if someone wanted to.

As one conservative columnist put it to me in August 2023, “What you’re actually worried about is not Trump being Hitler. What you’re worried about is Trump incentivizing anti-Semites,” to the point where “a generation from now, you’ve got Karl Lueger,” the anti-Jewish mayor of Vienna who inspired Hitler, “and two generations from now, you do have something like that.” The accelerant that is social-media discourse, together with a war that brings Jews to the center of political attention, could shorten that timeline.

For now, the biggest obstacle to anti-Semitism’s ascent on the right is the Republican rank and file’s general commitment to Israel, which causes them to recoil when people like Owens rant about how the Jewish state is run by a cabal of satanic pedophiles. Even conservatives like Trump’s running mate, J. D. Vance, a neo-isolationist who opposes foreign aid to Ukraine, are careful to affirm their continued support for Israel, in deference to the party base.

But this residual Zionism shields only Israeli Jews from abuse, not American ones—and it certainly does not protect the large majority of American Jews who vote for Democrats. This is why Trump suffers no consequences in his own coalition when he rails against “liberal Jews” who “voted to destroy America.” But such vilification won’t end there. As hard-core anti-Israel activists who have engaged in anti-Semitism against American Jews have demonstrated, most people who hate one swath of the world’s Jews eventually turn on the rest. “If I don’t win this election,” Trump said last week, “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.”

More than populism and isolationism, the force that unites the right’s anti-Semites and explains why they have been slowly winning the war for the future of conservatism is conspiracism. To see its power in practice, one need only examine the social-media posts of Elon Musk, which serve as a window into the mindset of the insurgent right and its receptivity to anti-Semitism.

Over the past year, the world’s richest man has repeatedly shared anti-Jewish propaganda on X, only to walk it back following criticism from more traditional conservative quarters. In November, Musk affirmed the Great Replacement theory, replying to a white nationalist who expressed it with these words: “You have said the actual truth.” After a furious backlash, the magnate recanted, saying, “It might be literally the worst and dumbest post I’ve ever done.” Musk subsequently met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accompanied Ben Shapiro on a trip to Auschwitz, but the lesson didn’t quite take. Earlier this month, he shared Carlson’s discussion of Holocaust revisionism with the approbation: “Very interesting. Worth watching.” Once again under fire, he deleted the tweet and apologized, saying he’d listened to only part of the interview.

But this lesson is also unlikely to stick, because like many on the new right, Musk is in thrall to a worldview that makes him particularly susceptible to anti-Jewish ideas. Last September, not long before Musk declared the “actual truth” of the Great Replacement, he participated in a public exchange with a group of rabbis, activists, and Jewish conservatives. The discussion was intended as an intervention to inoculate Musk against anti-Semitism, but early on, he said something that showed why the cause was likely lost before the conversation even began. “I think,” Musk cracked, “we’re running out of conspiracy theories that didn’t turn out to be true.”

The popularity of such sentiments among contemporary conservatives explains why the likes of Carlson and Owens have been gaining ground and old-guard conservatives such as Shapiro and Erickson have been losing it. Simply put, as Trump and his allies have coopted the conservative movement, it has become defined by a fundamental distrust of authority and institutions, and a concurrent embrace of conspiracy theories about elite cabals. And the more conspiratorial thinking becomes commonplace on the right, the more inevitable that its partisans will land on one of the oldest conspiracies of them all.

Conspiratorial thinking is neither new to American politics nor confined to one end of the ideological spectrum. But Trump has made foundational what was once marginal. Beginning with birtherism and culminating in election denialism, he turned anti-establishment conspiracism into a litmus test for attaining political power, compelling Republicans to either sign on to his claims of 2020 fraud or be exiled to irrelevance.

The fundamental fault line in the conservative coalition became whether someone was willing to buy into ever more elaborate fantasies. The result was to elevate those with flexible approaches to facts, such as Carlson and Owens, who were predisposed to say and do anything—no matter how hypocritical or absurd—to obtain influence. Once opened, this conspiratorial box could not be closed. After all, a movement that legitimizes crackpot schemes about rigged voting machines and microchipped vaccines cannot simply turn around and draw the line at the Jews.

For mercenary opportunists like Carlson, this moment holds incredible promise. But for Republicans with principles—those who know who won the 2020 election, or who was the bad guy in World War II, and can’t bring themselves to say otherwise—it’s a time of profound peril. And for Jews, the targets of one of the world’s deadliest conspiracy theories, such developments are even more forboding.

“It is now incumbent on all decent people, and especially those on the right, to demand that Carlson no longer be treated as a mainstream figure,” Jonathan Tobin, the pro-Trump conservative editor of the Jewish News Syndicate, wrote after Carlson’s World War II episode. “He must be put in his place, and condemned by Trump and Vance.”

Anti-Semitism’s ultimate victory in GOP politics is not assured. Musk did delete his tweets, Owens was fired, and some Republicans did condemn Carlson’s Holocaust segment. But beseeching Trump and his camp to intervene here mistakes the cause for the cure.

Three days after Carlson posted his Hitler apologetics, Vance shrugged off the controversy and recorded an interview with him, and this past Saturday, the two men yukked it up onstage at a political event in Pennsylvania before an audience of thousands. Such coziness should not surprise, given that Carlson was reportedly instrumental in securing the VP slot for the Ohio senator. Asked earlier if he took issue with Carlson’s decision to air the Holocaust revisionism, Vance retorted, “The fundamental idea here is Republicans believe not in censorship; we believe in free speech and debate.” He conveniently declined to use his own speech to debate Carlson’s.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lisa Needham at Public Notice:

You’re forgiven for forgetting about TikTok for the last couple of days, what with the horrorshow avalanche of executive orders and gleeful deployment of Nazi salutes (plural!) from the world’s richest man. Nonetheless, TikTok is ostensibly banned in the United States as Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly voted only nine months ago to outlaw the app unless its parent company, ByteDance, agreed to sell it. The US Supreme Court even upheld the law just last week. However, TikTok lives, thanks to the whims of Donald Trump, the same person who, in August 2020, issued an executive order giving ByteDance 45 days to sell the app or see it banned. Trump has been extremely transparent that he flip-flopped on TikTok because the app helped him win the election last year, in part because it became a hotbed for criticism of Biden’s support for Israel. “We won young people and I think that's a big credit to TikTok,” Trump told Newsmax earlier this month (even though he in fact lost the youth vote). “So I'm not opposed to TikTok ... I had a very good experience with TikTok." Lost in the current discourse about TikTok is an important conversation about whether it violates the First Amendment to ban a social media app based on national security concerns about its Chinese-owned parent company. Also lost is a debate about whether it’s fair to single out TikTok over worries about user privacy, data harvesting, and manipulative algorithms when such issues are common to all social media platforms. There’s also a discussion to be had about whether singling out TikTok is racist — though there’s a good argument it is. Instead, what’s happening here is the creeping oligarchy of companies and capital aligning around an authoritarian president, with everyone fully aware that sucking up to Trump personally, ideally along with staggering sums of cash, is the only way to evade scrutiny.

[...]

The art of the deal

To be scrupulously fair to Trump, he isn’t the only person who reversed course on TikTok. Once it was clear that the public opposed the ban and that the Supreme Court might not step in to save legislators from themselves, the Biden administration spent last week trying to figure out how to keep TikTok alive. Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Markey introduced legislation to delay by 270 days the initial January 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold, despite having voted for the ban in the first place. The problem these efforts faced, however, is that TikTok wasn’t interested in working with the Biden administration or Senate Democrats to fix the problem. And why would they be, when Democrats are hobbled by a persistent inclination to actually follow laws rather than treat everything as an episode of The Apprentice, where flattering Trump as a master dealmaker is all that matters?

It’s exactly the latter approach that TikTok took. The ban required Google and Apple to remove it from their app stores or face steep fines for each user who downloaded the app. What it did not do, however, was penalize anyone who already had the app on their phone or accessed TikTok on the web. So the real financial peril would initially fall on Google and Apple if they kept the app available. After the Supreme Court decision last week, the Biden administration suggested it would not penalize those companies for continuing to host the app, a move TikTok said didn’t provide them enough “necessary clarity and assurance,” and they would therefore shut down in the United States on January 19. Thus began the public kayfabe of TikTok pretending that only Trump could fix it, knowing full well that he would happily go along. So the app went abruptly, ostentatiously dark on the evening of the January 18, only to pop back up some 12 hours later on January 19 with a gushing message to Trump: “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”

One might note, of course, that Trump was not president on January 19. One might also note that what Trump did promise — basically, that he would not enforce a law passed by Congress, signed by the president, and upheld by the Supreme Court — is not functionally any different than what Biden or Markey were trying to offer, albeit without a demand the company show them personal fealty. But if TikTok had simply left the lights on for those 12 hours and waited for the incoming administration to decide how to enforce the ban, it would have missed the opportunity to let Trump be the savior who brought the app back from the dead. And the one thing social media companies have learned about Trump is that their success will rise and fall with his impulses.

When social media platforms let Trump and his hangers-on say and do whatever they like, he loves them. Once X was purchased by president-unelect Elon Musk, it became transformed into a MAGA megaphone and no longer faces scrutiny from Trump. That’s a change from January 2021, when Trump complained that then-Twitter was “not about FREE SPEECH” after it banned his account following the insurrection. Though Meta didn’t change hands, it still transformed — or more accurately, perhaps, deformed — to meet the new Trump era. CEO Mark Zuckerberg got rid of third-party fact-checking on Facebook, calling it “politically biased,” and revised its hateful speech policy to explicitly allow for attacks on trans people. Zuckerberg donated $1 million to the inauguration, went to church with Trump Monday morning, and hosted a reception Monday night. For the inauguration itself, Zuckerberg, along with Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Google head Sundar Pichai, was basically in the front row. Nothing says “incipient oligarchy” like an inauguration dominated by the richest men in the world, private citizens all.

TikTok’s cozying up to Donald Trump is a bad thing.

[xhxhxhx]

Today, the Supreme Court handed down opinions in TikTok Inc. v. Garland, No. 24-656, slip op. (U.S. Jan. 17, 2025), sustaining the federal law banning the social media platform.

For my own sake, I tried to figure out what the law says and does, bracketing the First Amendment issues.

I.

The federal law at issue is the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, Pub. L. No. 118-50, div. H, 138 Stat. 955. It's a division of an April 2024 appropriations bill, a bundle that came with aid for Israel and Ukraine.

The Act targets "foreign adversary controlled applications," which it defines, in part, as applications operated by ByteDance, TikTok, their subsidiaries or successors, or any entity they own or control. § 2(g)(3)(A), 138 Stat. at 958.

The Act's prohibitions address app stores and web hosts. They're the ones who have to deny support to "foreign adversary controlled applications," and keep them off their platforms.

The Act makes it unlawful "to distribute, maintain, or update" the app by providing either (A) "a marketplace" through which users in the United States "may access, maintain, or update" the application, or (B) "internet hosting services" that enable "distribution, maintenance, or updating" for users in the United States. § 2(a)(1).

These prohibitions are only applicable to the territory of the United States and those within it. They address "carrying out, within the land or maritime borders of the United States," acts for "users within the land or maritime borders of the United States."

The territorial language, "the land and maritime borders of the United States," is not defined within the Act. Nor is it defined anywhere else in the U.S. Code. It's only used once. 6 U.S.C. § 124h(e).

That said, deducing "the land and maritime borders of the United States" should be fairly straightforward for someone familiar with the relevant boundary treaties and law of the sea, as understood by the political branches. It's just not something I understand.

II.

The Act targets "foreign adversary controlled applications," which it defines, in part, as applications operated by ByteDance, TikTok, their subsidiaries or successors, or any entity they own or control. § 2(g)(3)(A), 138 Stat. at 958.

The Act extends to covered companies "controlled by a foreign adversary," following a public notice and a public report to Congress, § 2(g)(3)(B), but ByteDance and TikTok are the only persons identified by name.

The language seems broad. But "controlled by foreign adversary" is fairly narrow. It means persons domiciled in "foreign adversary countries," entities they have a 20 percent stake in, and persons subject to their direction or control. § 2(g)(1). That's it.

The term "foreign adversary country" is defined obliquely, § 2(4), by reference to a military minerals procurement rule, 10 U.S.C. § 4872, but it only covers four countries, specified by name: North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran. 10 U.S.C. § 4872(d)(2).

The President could, in other words, ban applications operated by persons domiciled in North Korea, China, Russia, or Iran, or entities in which such persons have a 20 percent stake, or entities subject to their direction or control.

It doesn't sweep much further than that.

III.

The "foreign adversary country" limitation means the Act isn't an unconstrained delegation to the President.

It's not like the President's authority to "suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate." 8 U.S.C. § 1182(f); Exec. Order No. 13,769, 82 Fed. Reg. 8977 (Jan. 27, 2017).

Nor is it like the President's authority to restrict entry from countries "designated by the Secretary of State," or "designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security." 8 U.S.C. § 1187(a)(12); Exec. Order No. 13,780, § 1(b)(i), 82 Fed. Reg. 13209 (March 6, 2017).

Nor is it like the President's claimed authority to bar "any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd.," Exec. Order No. 13,942, § 1(a), 85 Fed. Reg. 48637 (Aug. 6, 2020), a claim that proved wanting. TikTok Inc. v. Trump, 507 F. Supp. 3d 92 (D.D.C. 2020); Marland v. Trump, 498 F. Supp. 3d 625 (E.D. Pa. 2020).

The Act is, mercifully, is more constrained than that.

[dertaglichedan]

Major pro-Israel conference in Texas canceled over ‘threats from violent Jihadists’

A massive pro-Israel conference in Texas has been canceled over “threats from violent Jihadists” — even after changing venues over security concerns, organizers said.

The Israel Summit, scheduled for next Monday through Wednesday in Dallas, switched locations due to “indirect and direct threats made by American, pro-Hamas, Jihadist groups, who issued calls to ‘target’ the Israel Summit,” the organizers said in a statement.

But anti-Israel activists outed the new venue and planned to protest the event, according to Luke Hilton from the Israel Guys, which was co-hosting the event.

“This is America in 2025,” former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who was one of the slated speakers for the event, wrote on X. AFP via Getty Images

“Honestly, it feels like it’s no longer safe for Jews and Christians who support Israel to do so publicly,” he said.

He said law enforcement uncovered other threats on the dark web to “target” the event — which was set to host some 1,000 attendees.

“After the two Israeli embassy staffers were murdered in Washington, DC, two weeks ago and then last week people were firebombed in Colorado, to me and to all the rest of us on our team, the word ‘targeting’ — that’s a call to violence,” Hilton said.

The three-day summit is run by pro-Israel Christian organizations and was expected to feature former US officials, members of the Israeli government and survivors of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack.

Ten days before the Israel Summit was set to kick off, Dallas authorities said the threat level had been elevated, said Josiah Hilton, also of Israel Guys, according to Jewish New Syndicate.

That forced the event’s organizers to come up with “a mandatory security plan with a substantial budget estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” leaving them to find a new location.

They then found a “new and significantly safer location just north of Dallas” with “top-tier private security, with additional support from local law enforcement and coordination with the Texas governor’s office.”

[cosmotropic]

Hey all

My website is currently down

See, I made it with Wix and guess who just got added to the BDS list? Yes, the official one from BDSmovement.net

It doesnt call for a boycott but wants us to put pressure on them for their connections with Israel, and I cant think of a better way than not paying them for this current month. Its a personal decision, but I urge you all to keep in mind the over 3000 dead children in Palestine, killed by Netanyahu's soldiers, funded by America, as you consider who you use for your web hosting services.

I might rebuild my squarespace site instead, but honestly i dont have much to update (because my computer is still out of commission). So for now i'm just living without a website.

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

6th December >> Mass Readings (USA)

Wednesday, First Week of Advent 

or

Saint Nicholas, Bishop.

Wednesday, First Week of Advent 

(Liturgical Colour: Violet: B (2))

First Reading Isaiah 25:6-10a The Lord invites us to his feast and will wipe away the tears from all faces.

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, The web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces; The reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.On that day it will be said:

“Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!” For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

R/ I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose; Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.

R/ I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side With your rod and your staff that give me courage.

R/ I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

R/ I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.

R/ I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Gospel Acclamation Isaiah 33:22

Alleluia, alleluia. Behold, the Lord comes to save his people; blessed are those prepared to meet him. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Matthew 15:29-37 Jesus heals many and multiplies the bread.

At that time: Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Israel.

Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way.” The disciples said to him, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?” Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

------------------------

Saint Nicholas, Bishop 

(Liturgical Colour: White: B (2))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Wednesday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading Isaiah 6:1-8 Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?

In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!” they cried, one to the other. “All the earth is filled with his glory!” At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it and said, “See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!”

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 40:2 and 4, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

I have waited, waited for the LORD, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry. And he put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God.

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not; then said I, “Behold I come.”

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, To do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!”

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Your justice I kept not hid within my heart; your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of; I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth in the vast assembly.

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Gospel Acclamation Luke 4:18

Alleluia, alleluia. The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Luke 10:1-9 The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.

The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[controlledchaosetc]

ok but that's just completely false. you realize that's not why, right?

Let me start off by saying: THIS IS NOT ME SUPPORTING WHAT THEY ARE DOING. THIS IS NOT ME SUPPORTING TIKTOK EITHER. THIS IS NOT ME SUPPORTING THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT. THIS IS NOT ME SUPPORTING ISRAEL OR BEING ANTI-PALESTINE. I fully fucking understand the nuance, and I don't want to be misconstrued right out of the gate.

With that out of the way, this has EVERYTHING to do with a fear of China and the Chinese government, and leaning more towards sinophobia than ANYTHING to do with Palestine.

Tiktok is owned by ByteDance, which is a primarily Chinese company. This is the first time any sort of Chinese app (or any international app for that matter) has truly gained such a HUGE foothold in the US. Over 100 million people use Tiktok in the US alone, which is big big numbers for a tech product from a country that whose previous largest social media tech products were specifically for their own national market (due to needing to split national and international products into 2 to comply with government censorship laws, and most international products not getting near the level of success Tiktok is enjoying. I'm also not mentioning Tencent and their gaming stakes here, talking solely about social media platforms). Now, the Chinese government has a small share of ByteDance (they DO NOT OWN IT TO BE CLEAR), and it is centered in Beijing. Because a Chinese company is collecting vast amounts of user data (to be clear again, every social media company does this), this is what has gotten US lawmakers worried that a perceived enemy has data and some level of influence on the American people.

This is possible, but let's be clear how fucking crazy it is that they're targeting Tiktok before dealing with, ya know, the homegrown companies that have provably shaped our elections and rage-fueled algorithmic pushes helped radicalize people for Q-Anon. It's only been US companies collecting international data, but now that it's China, everyone's clutching their goddamn pearls.

The widespread collection of personal data and ability to influence people is BAD, but it's not because it's China doing it, it's BAD IN GENERAL.

What the bill, called "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications" (which lol lmao), does is this, according to NBC News (bc I can't do a better job saying it than what they said):

The bill, dubbed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, would create a process for the president — through the FBI and intelligence agencies — to identify certain social media applications under the control of foreign adversaries, like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, as national security threats. Once an app was deemed a risk, it would be banned from online app stores and web-hosting services unless it severed ties with entities under control of the foreign adversary within 180 days of the designation.

Basically, if the bill passes, Tiktok will be deemed a "national security risk", and be forced to be sold (probably to an American company) or be banned from access. This is SOLELY targeting Tiktok, hence the label of it being a Tiktok ban, but important to highlight what it does outside of that.

WHAT IT DOESN'T DO IS WHAT THE MEME SAYS. It may be from the previous time this happened, but that's not what's happening this time.

Now, ByteDance doesn't fucking want this to happen because it's their crown jewel. The Chinese government doesn't want this to happen because Tiktok has made ByteDance one of the largest companies for China economically. All in all, they aren't going to fucking sell.

TL;DR: The US government is passing a law to effectively ban Tiktok unless ByteDance, it's parent company, sells it. This is because of worries that China will somehow influence the American people, which, while theoretically possible, is functionally similar to what American social media companies already do in some capacity, and based on a lot of fearmongering because oooooo China's spooky and scaryyyyy. It does NOT DO WHAT THE MEME SAYS. It has NOTHING TO DO WITH PALESTINE.

If I need to elaborate on anything, I will. There's a fuck-ton of nuance to have with all of this, and it's hard to give that in just this post. But goddamn don't spread blatant misinformation.

With all that being said: Free Palestine.

[mariacallous]

As the Israel-Hamas war escalated this week, WIRED looked at the conditions that contributed to Israel's intelligence failures ahead of Hamas' initial attack last Saturday, as well as the hacktivism and digital mayhem that has subsequently sprung up around the kinetic war. The situation has led to a torrent of misinformation across global discourse, particularly on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), where fake photos, old videos, and video game footage have exploded on an unprecedented scale. 

X’s Trust and Safety team claims it has been working to address the situation, but company CEO Elon Musk has been “posting through it,” sharing conspiracies and engaging with QAnon discourse on the platform. The chaotic situation on X has been difficult for the average user to keep up with. In one case, a graphic Hamas video that Donald Trump Jr. shared on the platform actually turned out to be legitimate, even though it seemed at first look like it might have been part of the broader deluge of misinformation. And beyond just X, rumors of a “Global Day of Jihad” on Friday unleashed a dangerous wave of disinformation across digital platforms—one that threatened to cross into real-world violence.

With the trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in full swing this week, WIRED took a deep look at the day someone stole hundreds of millions of dollars from the ill-fated cryptocurrency exchange as it was declaring bankruptcy. And new evidence released by researchers this week indicates that the stolen FTX funds went through a chain of intermediaries that eventually led to Russia-linked money launderers.

As chaos in the United States House of Representatives continues over Republicans' inability to deal with far-right hardliners and elect a new speaker, WIRED reported that Republican Party leaders have imposed cell phone bans in an attempt to keep backroom dealmaking under wraps. The United Nations' top internet governance body may host its next two annual meetings in countries known for repressive digital policies and abusive information control, which risks normalizing internet censorship. And white supremacist “active clubs” are gaining traction in part through communication on the messaging app Telegram.

Meanwhile, Google announced this week that it will make the more secure password replacement known as passkeys the default login option for its personal account holders as part of the company's efforts to promote adoption of the technology. And a new internet protocol vulnerability known as “HTTP/2 Rapid Reset” impacts virtually every web server around the world and will take years to stamp out, exposing some sites and digital services to denial of service attacks long-term.

And there's more. Each week we round up the security and privacy news that we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

Vietnam Used Predator Spyware to Target US Congress

Notorious high-end commercial spyware like Pegasus and Predator has been used over the past decade to target human rights activists, protesters, and journalists. But a foreign nation using it to target the smartphones of US members of Congress represents a rare and brazen new appearance of those notorious tools. On Monday The Washington Post, along with a consortium of more than a dozen international media outlets, revealed that the Vietnamese government used that Predator spyware, distributed by the surveillance firms Cytrox and Intellexa, to target at least four members of Congress—representative Michael McCaul and senators Chris Murphy, John Hoeven, and Gary Peters—as well as Asia-focused experts at US think tanks and several journalists that include CNN’s lead national security reporter, Jim Sciutto.

In the hacking campaign, those individuals were targeted in replies on X (formerly known as Twitter) that included links to websites that would have infected their iOS or Android phones with the Predator spyware. That tactic appears to have been both reckless and unsuccessful: Anyone else who saw the tweets and clicked on the link would have been infected too, and the highly public nature of that infection attempt helped researchers and reporters to analyze the scope and targeting of the campaign. The attempted espionage was timed to US government meetings with Vietnamese officials, and it appears to have been aimed at understanding US intentions in the meeting, particularly related to relations with China.

The media consortium, along with security researchers from Amnesty International and Google’s Threat Analysis Group, were able to show Vietnam’s connection to the Predator hacking campaign through documents they obtained that detail the Vietnamese government’s contract with Intellexa in 2020, and later an extension of the deal to allow the use of the Predator software. The internal documents went so far as to capture the response of Intellexa’s founder, Israeli former military hacker turned entrepreneur Tal Dilian, when the deal was announced: “Wooow!!!!” Vietnam’s government would later target French officials with Predator before this year’s campaign targeting US congressmen.

Hamas Raised Millions in Crypto Ahead of Attacks

Despite efforts by Israel and other nations to cut off funding to Hamas in recent years, the group raised millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency before the past weekend’s attack that killed more than a thousand Israelis. An analysis by The Wall Street Journal found that Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah had collectively raised hundreds of millions in crypto over the past several years, with $41 million going to Hamas specifically. Given that the Journal learned of that funding in part through Israeli seizures of crypto accounts, however, it’s not clear how much of that money was frozen or seized versus how much might have actually been successfully laundered or liquidated by Hamas and other groups. 

In response to the weekend’s attacks, the Israeli government and the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, both announced that a new round of Hamas crypto accounts had been frozen. Though crypto has helped Hamas and other groups move funds across borders, its traceability on blockchains has presented a challenge for designated terrorist groups. In 2021, for instance, Hamas asked its supporters to stop making donations via cryptocurrency, due to the ease of tracking those transactions and unmasking contributors.

Exxon Used Hacked Documents to Counter State Investigations

Last year, Reuters reporters Chris Bing and Raphael Satter published an investigation into Aviram Azari, an Israeli private investigator who is accused of using mercenary hackers to gather intelligence on the critics of major corporations involved in lawsuits against them. 

Now, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, where Azari has been convicted on criminal charges, have filed a sentencing memo that notes that activists’ communications stolen by Azari’s hackers were later used by Exxon in the company’s attempts to head off investigations and lawsuits by state attorneys general. The memo still doesn’t name Exxon as Azari’s client, but it implicitly suggests a link between the company and Azari: Prosecutors point in their memo to leaks of climate activists’ private emails to media, which were later cited by Exxon in their responses to state attorney generals as evidence of underhanded tactics by activists as they tried to prove that Exxon knew and covered up the role of fossil fuels in climate change. A Massachusetts lawsuit against Exxon that resulted from the state’s investigation is ongoing.

Magecart Cybercrime Crew Skims Cards With New 404 Trick

Internet giant Akamai warned this week that the infamous Magecart hacker crew, long focused on credit card fraud, has developed a clever new technique for spoofing credit card payment fields. The hackers managed to hide their malicious scripts in the 404 “page not found” error pages of ecommerce sites, then trigger those pages to load a spoofed payment field that impersonates a checkout page to steal credit card information. “The idea of manipulating the default 404 error page of a targeted website can offer Magecart actors various creative options for improved hiding and evasion,” warned Akamai researcher Roman Lvovsky. Akamai noted that the technique was used on the website of significant brands in the food and retail industries but declined to name them.

[un-mediaseminar-blog]

The 2024 United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East was held on 1 November at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

This event, hosted by the Department of Global Communications (DGC), brought together journalists, media professionals, scholars and diplomats from Israel, the State of Palestine, Switzerland, and other parts of the world to examine two very pertinent themes: “Freedom of the Press and Safety of Journalists in a Time of War” and “Behind the Headlines of Gaza: Media Challenges and Perspectives.”

The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva Ms. Tatiana Valovaya opened the seminar, along with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, Ms. Melissa Fleming, and Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, H.E. Dr. Riyad Mansour.

Ms. Fleming, who also moderated the first session, read out a message of the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, addressed to the seminar participants.

Official hashtag: #UNMediaSeminar

Seminar Programme | Participant Bios

UN Web TV:

Opening & Session One | Freedom of the Press and Safety of Journalists in a Time of War

Session Two & Closing | Behind the Headlines of Gaza: Media Challenges and Perspectives

[yourreddancer]

Today in Politics, Bulletin 66, 2/7/25

Ron Filipkowski

Feb 8

… DOGE staffer Edward Coristine was fired by Path Network in 2022 (a company known for hiring former hackers), for leaking confidential information to a competitor. Bloomberg is reporting that they have a letter from Path stating: “Edward has been terminated for leaking internal information to competitors. This is unacceptable and there is zero tolerance for this.”

… Bloomberg: “Several of Coristine’s online peers and former co-workers said they were surprised that the teenage friend they knew has been brought into one of the most high-profile teams in the Trump Admin. His 2022 dismissal and the circumstances surrounding it add to questions about how he arrived in this new job with Musk’s DOGE, and how he’ll handle the sensitive government information that comes with it.

… Coristine went by the online moniker “Big Balls”.

… Wired reported that “Big Balls” has founded 5 companies since he turned 16, including Tesla.Sexy LLC, a company managing multiple web domains. One of his domains hosted "Helfie," an AI bot marketed to Discord users in Russia. Always a connection to Russia with these guys.

… Sen. Ron Wyden to Bloomberg: “Giving Musk's goon squad access to systems that control payments to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other key federal programs is a national security nightmare. Every hour new disturbing details emerge to prove that these guys have no business anywhere close to sensitive information or critical networks.”

… A second DOGE staffer, Marko Elez, who was granted access to the Treasury’s “top-secret” payment system that controls social security and tax distributions, was fired yesterday by the Trump White House after they learned about a series of racist statements he made online recently, which were reported by the WSJ. Some of these statements:

“You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity.”

“Normalize Indian hate.”

“Just for the record, I was a racist before it was cool.”

“I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth.”

… But after the firing was announced by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Emperor Elon Musk started an online campaign to get Elez hired back. He said that poor Elez may have made “inappropriate statements” but he’s just a kid, and posted a poll on X asking that he be brought back.

… JD Vance then chimed in, saying he thought the DOGE racist that his own Admin just fired should be rehired: “Here’s my view: I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life. We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever. So I say bring him back. If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that.”

… Elez is 25 years old.

… So basically since a journalist was the one who revealed that his guy is a racist piece of shit, Vance says he has to be hired back at the highest levels of government because they can’t let the media win.

… Rep. Ro Khannna to Vance: “Are you going to tell him to apologize for saying ‘Normalize Indian hate’ before this rehire? Just asking for the sake of both of our kids.”

… Then at a joint presser with the Japanese PM, Trump was told that Vance posted online that he wanted the fired DOGE employee hired back and was asked his position: “I don’t know anything about the particulars, but if the VP said that, lets bring him back.”

… Musk then announced on X that his fired racist employee was back. Back controlling whether Social Security or Medicare payments are made. And lots of other things. Comforting.

… White nationalist Andrew Torba, who is the CEO of the right-wing social media platform Gab: “We live in a culture where you can make ‘racist’ posts online and not get fired now. Deal with it. This won at the ballot box.”

… Acting DC US Attorney Ed Martin then sent another letter to Musk assuring him that he will protect his team of DOGE racists and hackers from the mean libs who are tormenting them: “We will investigate them and we will chase them to the end of the Earth to hold them accountable. We will not rest or cease in this. Noone is above the law. I am proud that we have been able to assist local law enforcement in protecting the DOGE workers.”

‘Noone’ is not my typo. That’s how the US Attorney wrote it in his letter.

… WaPo reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is appointing a third Musk DOGE member, Tom Krause, to a senior position in the department overseeing the nation’s payment systems. Once again, this was not announced to the public and was told to WaPo by inside sources in the Treasury. They are trying to hide everything they do. Even their identities.

… Krause was previously instructed by Musk to order career non-partisan Acting Secretary David Lebryk to cut off payments to USAID. When Lebryk refused because there was no legal authority, he was then forced to resign. Now Krause has Lebryk’s former position. Krause, and by proxy Musk, will now have control over the Treasury system responsible for disbursing more than $5 trillion in annual payments, including for Social Security, Medicare, tax refunds and thousands of other things.

… Fox Contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier: “I have colleagues who are really upset right now. They are concerned that funding for the research that they are doing is going to be cut off. We do a lot of valuable research in the cancer community. I can empathize with these Democrats right now. Change is hard, but it’s for the greater good.”

… Trump was asked if he had any reaction to the new Time cover which showed Elon Musk sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Trump looked visibly agitated. Then said: “No. Is Time magazine still in business? I didn't even know that.”

… He knows it very well, because Trump just praised Time in December, saying it was “a great honor” to be on their cover as Man of the Year.

… Trump continued to get questions about Elon Musk, and continued to get more annoyed: “Is there anything you've told Elon Musk he cannot touch?” Trump: “Well, we haven't discussed that much.”

When it starts to sink in that a big chunk of the American public thinks Musk is really in charge and he is just a doddering old fool, there will be hell to pay. He’s fighting it right now, but the more it keeps getting brought up to him the better.

… Then the next reporter: “Will you put Elon Musk up on the podium for us to ask him some questions? Trump, now fuming that these questions are not about him: “Sure. He's not shy. Elon is not shy.”

… Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba was obviously given a very accurate briefing about how to handle Trump to get whatever you want out of the US. He opened up their joint press conference today with this: “I was so excited to see someone who is such a celebrity on TV, to see him in person. On TV, he is frightening and he has a very strong personality. But when I met with him, he was very sincere and very powerful and with a strong will for the US.”

… The guy laid it on pretty thick, but Trump didn’t seem to mind.

… Ellen Weintraub, Chair of the Federal Election Commission, is refusing to leave her position despite being fired by Trump: “Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner and Chair. There’s a legal way to replace FEC commissioners — this isn’t it.” Weintraub was appointed to a six-year term in 2002.

… Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY): “This onslaught against the FEC, when that agency is currently reviewing complaints against the President, reeks of corruption.”

… Bloomberg: “6 commissioners run the FEC, with no more than 3 from a single party allowed to serve at one time. Weintraub, a Democrat, voted to investigate the president over allegations involving violation of rules barring coordination between his campaign and allied Super PACs and matters regarding accusations that Russia tried to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.”

… NBC is reporting that Casey DeSantis is now seriously considering running for Governor of FL in 2026. One source: “I have heard donors have been urging her to run, and while it’s not something she has wanted to do, they are causing her to at least stop and listen.” Another source: “It is a real possibility.”

… Casey last May: “When people talk about me running for governor, I think it speaks highly about the governor himself. I think when people see me, it is because they are so happy about everything that this governor has done for the state of Florida. When people start talking about ‘Oh, you know, you should run,’ that’s because Gov. DeSantis is a rock star and that’s because people are so proud of everything that he’s done for this state.”

… I packed up, left FL, and moved to Maine. But maybe everyone else is happy.

… The Hill reports that Justice Sotomayor just gave her first public remarks since the election at an event in KY: “If we as a court go so much further ahead of people, our legitimacy is going to be questioned. I think the immunity case is one of those situations. I don’t think that Americans have accepted that anyone should be above the law in America. Our equality as people was the foundation of our society and of our constitution. I think my court would probably gather more public support if it went a little more slowly in undoing precedent.”

… Andrew Cuomo is leading substantially in the latest Emerson College/PIX11/The Hill poll for NYC Mayor at 33%. Eric Adams is second with 10% percent, and former City Comptroller Scott Stringer - 8%. Cuomo hasn’t formally announced he is running, but he is expected to soon.

… Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded to Trump’s statement about Gaza and his threat to “obliterate” Iran if they try to assassinate him: "The Americans sit, redrawing the map of the world — but only on paper, as it has no basis in reality. They make statements about us, express opinions and issue threats. If they threaten us, we will threaten them in return. If they act on their threats, we will act on ours. If they violate the security of our nation, we will, without a doubt, respond in kind."

… Harris County (TX) DA just arrested Andrew Taake for an outstanding warrant for online solicitation of sex with a minor. Taaka was incarcerated for unrelated crimes he committed on J6, but when Trump pardoned him he was released from prison despite the active warrant. “Before Taake’s release from custody, a member of our HCSO Fugitive Warrants Div requested that fed authorities hold him, due to his pending warrant in Harris County. The Bureau of Prisons informed HCDAO they needed a certified warrant to prevent Taake’s release. A clerk faxed a copy of that warrant on 1/15/25, but Taake was released 5 days later, in accordance with President Trump’s Pardon order.”

… But they just tracked him down and got him. All the best people.

… Reporter Roger Sollenberger: “Trump nominee Kash Patel disclosed he’s receiving $1-5 million in shares of a Cayman Islands holding company directly tied to a Chinese corporation the Senate and a pro-Trump nonprofit accuse of ‘slave labor.’ Patel says he won’t divest. Patel’s disclosure says that his shares in the company—Elite Depot Ltd—would begin vesting Feb. 1, two days after his Senate confirmation hearing, will continue to vest through November, and that he won't back out.”

… But wait, there’s more: “But Patel appears to have lied about or misrepresented the company on his disclosure, claiming under penalty of perjury it was a ‘fashion management company.’ But it filed as an ‘equity holding company’ in the Cayman Islands. Equity in what, you ask? Patel got millions in equity from this company as payment for being a ‘consultant,’ according to his financial disclosure. Not salary, and apparently no retainer. For doing just 8 months of work. We have no idea what he did.”

… Sen. Chris Murphy: “So, the incoming FBI Director worked for 8 months as a fashion consultant to a shadowy Cayman holding company connected to a Chinese Communist Party slave labor manufacturer and he gets up to $5m in fees (for 8 months of work! wow!) that only vest after his nomination. WTF.”

… Fox is reporting tonight that Democrats on House Appropriations Committee have sent a letter to SecDef Hegseth asking him why he has just requested $137,297 for home repairs/paint for a government residence, especially since DOGE is cutting spending across the entire government.

… Trump added WaPo columnist Eugene Robinson to his USAID conspiracies, while calling for him to be fired: “Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post is INCOMPETENT! So sad to see him trying to justify the waste, fraud, and corruption at USAID with his pathetic Radical Left SPIN. He should be fired immediately!!!”

… Fox reported the back story behind 30 Democratic Representatives going down to the Dept of Education Building today. Wednesday night, 96 members of Congress wrote a letter to Acting Education Secretary Denise Carter requesting a meeting. They were ignored. So members showed up today and tried to go inside the building, but they locked the doors.

… Republicans in the House and Senate continue to fight with each other over budget negotiations. The Senate has released Lindsey Graham’s bill, which packages some of Republicans’ biggest immediate priorities like funding for deportations. But the House and Mike Johnson continue to ask for more time so Trump’s entire agenda can be put in one huge package.

… Senate Majority Leader John Thune said they are ready to go and aren’t waiting for Weak Mike Johnson to get his children in line: “The American people gave President Trump a mandate to deliver on his key priorities: securing the border, rebuilding our defense, and unleashing American energy. The time to act is now, and Senate Republicans are ready to roll.”

… Despite the fact that the Senate is ready, Johnson told Fox he still isn’t: “There won’t be any details announced until the end of the weekend. Possibly not until Monday.”

… Bloomberg reports that AG Pam Bondi has dismantled the DOJ's foreign bribery unit’s ability to investigate and monitor foreign interference in our elections. The unit is now only able to investigate cases involving drugs or trafficking under Bondi’s new directive.

… Bradley Hope reports that Bondi also just eliminated DOJ’s Kleptocracy Initiative, which seized Russian oligarchs' yachts, planes and real estate pursuant to sanctions. Hope: “The units recovered billions in stolen assets since 2010. But here's the real story: Sources say a key objective is gaining control of a multi-billion dollar forfeiture fund - money seized from corrupt officials that was meant to be returned to victim countries. Where's that money headed? Bondi's memo cryptically mentions ‘other law enforcement purposes.’ Multiple sources say this means funding new detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay and Texas.

… Former DOJ national security prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky told Bloomberg: “Taken together, these changes are an invitation to foreign actors to interfere in American affairs. Even worse, it’s an invitation to Americans to help them do it.”

… A very reliable Univ of Michigan consumer sentiment survey shows inflation expectations from consumers is spiking since last month because of Trump’s tariff threats: "About one-third of consumers spontaneously mentioned tariffs, up from 27% last month and less than 2% prior to the election. This is only the 5th time in 14 years we have seen such a large one-month rise in year ahead inflation expectations."

… Essentially conceding the lawsuits filed by FBI employees, at least for now, DOJ has agreed not to release the list of names of FBI agents to the public who were involved in J6 investigations. Their agreement states that if they decide to release it, they must give two days' advanced notice so the agents can return to court to contest it before it goes out.

… Trump was asked today about his plan for the US to take Gaza: “It’s been very well received. Basically the United States would view it as a real estate transaction.”

… Meanwhile, Trump said he is interested in getting his hands on Ukraine’s commodities in exchange for further aid: "One of the things we're looking at with President Zelenskyy is having the security of their assets. They have assets underground. Rare early and other things. But primarily rare earth. Really, we want security, because as you know, Europe is putting up much less money than us."

… That is Elon Musk talking. Trump is speaking, but he’s saying what Musk wants.

… Marge Greene said on the 'Politically Georgia' podcast that she is thinking about making a run either for Governor of GA or for Senate against Jon Ossoff in 2026: “Of course I’m considering all possibilities. No decisions have been made, but I would be telling a lie if I didn’t say I wasn’t considering it.”

… NPR in SF reports that the FCC is now investigating local SF station KCBS for its coverage of recent ICE raids. Deportation Czar Tom Homan has accused them of intentionally “tipping off” migrants on when their agents are in the area for an operation.

… Trump-appointed FCC Chair Brendan Carr told Fox said he opened the investigation after KCBS shared the live locations and vehicle descriptions of immigration officials: “We have sent a letter of inquiry, a formal investigation into that matter, and they have just a matter of days left to respond to that inquiry and explain how this could possibly be consistent with their public interest obligations.”

… David Loy, Legal Director for the First Amendment Coalition, told NPR: “Law enforcement operations, immigration or otherwise, are matters of public interest. People generally have the right to report this on social media and in print and so on. So it’s very troubling because it’s possible the FCC is potentially being weaponized to crack down on reporting that the administration simply just doesn’t like.”

… Loy said it thinks this is being done to deter other news organizations from reporting anything critical about the Trump Admin: “It’s an intimidating exercise. The process is the punishment. Even if charges are never filed, people have to look over their shoulder to wonder, is the government going to come after me because I report something that the government doesn’t like me to say?”

… What is also happening here is that both Tom Homan and Donald Trump promised deportation numbers would be exponentially higher than they have been so far. A lot of ICE raids they set up for photo ops, where they expected to round up big numbers of people, didn’t pan out and they looked like fools. So they continue to blame local officials and media.

…Sen. John Kennedy was asked on Fox about his push to add a work requirement for Medicaid recipients: “For some people, the best way to get back on your feet is to get off your ass.”

… Rep. Mike Lawler joked about her fellow Republican Nancy Mace: “Nancy Mace has gone so far off the deep end she makes Marjorie Greene look like Susan Collins.”

… Mace wasn’t amused: “Thanks, Mike. You are totally clueless when it comes to women’s issues. Clueless.”

… Trump announced that he is bringing back plastic straws: “I will be signing an Executive Order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don’t work. BACK TO PLASTIC!”

… This is something very personal to him. He would be lost without his straws. Don’t tell Fox host Jesse Watters, though. He says only Beta males use straws.

… Trump announced that Paula White-Cain will lead his new White House Faith Office, White-Cain is a member of the New Apostolic Reformation movement, which seeks to overthrow the U.S. government and replace it with a Christian theocracy led by so-called "apostolic pastors."

… She often speaks in tongues while on stage. It actually freaks me out a little when she gets on a roll.

… White-Cain has repeatedly said Trump was chosen by God. In a speech on J6, 2021 in DC, she said, "Let every demonic network that is aligned itself against the purpose, against the calling of President Trump, let it be broken, let it be torn down in the name of Jesus."

… New Apostolic Reformation leaders view Trump as an agent of chaos sent from God to disrupt American government long enough for the apostolic pastors to take over American society and create a Christian nationalist theocracy.

… Many evangelicals were not thrilled with the pick. Jon Root, a Christian activist who worked for Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA: “I’m hearing from a credible source that Trump is well aware that Paula White has been trending all day on X and that the response to him appointing her the head of the Faith Office is receiving a TON of negative backlash. Pray that Trump receives wise, Biblical counsel and does the right thing by firing and disassociating from her. False teachers should be nowhere near the WH and should never be in a highly-regarded position of advising him on matters of the Christian faith.”

… Cain is also married to Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain, who has been in a legal dispute with guitarist Neil Schon for years over Paula gaining access to the band’s bank account and finances, and for Cain performing the band’s music at Mar-a-Lago. Schon is not a fan of Trump.

… This was a letter from Schon’s attorneys to Paula in 2023: “We demand that you immediately cease and desist and refrain in the future from inserting yourself in any business of the band and any legal entities used by the band as this contradicts the existing agreement between Mr. Schon and Mr. Cain.”

[pinkleafsheep]

Essentially it's a MASSIVE musical event in Europe that pits bands and musicians from different countries against each other, all with very out there practical effects, but it's not just European countries taking part. This is mostly because there's some complex web of broadcasting rights, that let's Australia and Israel participate.

However, they've in the past banned countries for the acts of their government. Best example is Russia, who were banned from the competition in 2022 due to the invasion on Ukraine. However, Israel is allowed to participate despite their own invasion on a debatably larger scale. The reason given was "to stay non-political", but this is just false, and contradicts their stance on Russia.

Hence the boycott, it's letting Israel play propaganda to a stage of millions, and a boycott is a fucking MASSIVE deal. I can't stress enough how popular this event is in Europe. It's in the ball park of the superbowl. This will hurt them and it will hurt them hard. Several countries like Ireland and the hosts of the year Sweden are arguing they should pull out entirely and are under pressure to do so.

Free Palestine, fuck Eurovision.

the bds movement has officially called for a boycott of eurovision 2024.

[iam-the-wild]

Im seeing conspiracy theories that are giving trump way too much credit and focusing on the problem being because of him alone and not from the whole US government.

Trump tried to ban TikTok his first term. He failed.

Bidens the one who was in office when a TikTok ban was put into a bill providing aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Congress passed the bill that Biden signed.

Both democrats and republicans voted to ban TikTok in a bill providing aid to fund genocide.

The timing is convenient for trump, but he did not ban TikTok when Biden was in office.

Do you possibly see the connection that they would ban an app that educated massive amount of people about the reality of what Israel was doing while providing aid for them to commit genocide?

Dont give trump all the credit for a government that's always been shitty

The government as a whole decided this, TikTok is a business that wants to make money and it's going for the person that's offering it right now.

Also for people talking about 2 separate images going around that are notices from TikTok. The first image is the one they sent out letting people know the ban was happening, the second is the message that you get when the app was banned.

Last point, the app shut down today because Biden and the justice department never made a clear statement that they would actually refuse to enforce the ban. The ban had a very expensive fine if the government decided to enforce it and no business is going to take that high of a risk. All Biden and the white house said was they would leave the law up to trump. Is there a possibility that TikTok shut down early so it could be saved by trump so that they could make a deal with him? It's possible, but this is trump taking advantage of a shitty situation and businesses doing what they will under capitalism, but trump did not create the situation he's taking advantage of.

" Web-hosting providers must cut ties with the platform or be subject to fines of $5,000 for each user that can still access the service, a penalty that can easily add up to billions of dollars."

[catolinewsdailyreadings]

Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

Readings of Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Reading 1

IS 25:6-10A

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, The web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces; The reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.

On that day it will be said: "Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!" For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6

R. / I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose; Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul. R. / I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

He guides me in right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side With your rod and your staff that give me courage.  R. / I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. R. / I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come. R. / I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Gospel

MT 15:29-37

At that time: Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there.  Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others.  They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.  The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole,  the lame walking,  and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Israel.

Jesus summoned his disciples and said, "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat.  I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way."  The disciples said to him, "Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  "Seven," they replied, "and a few fish."  He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.  Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.  They all ate and were satisfied.  They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.

[musicgoon]

Book Review: Land of My Sojourn

Have you been burned out by the church? In Land of My Sojourn, Mike Cosper powerfully unveils the landscape of a faith that has been both lost and found. It invites readers to reflect on their own spiritual journeys, offering both a cautionary tale and a message of hope for those in the midst of their own struggles with faith.

Drawing from his personal journey as one of the founding pastors of Sojourn Church in Louisville, Kentucky, Cosper tells a story that is deeply personal yet profoundly relatable for anyone who has spent time in evangelical culture over the past two decades. This is not an easy book to read—not because of its length, which is just 150 pages, but because of its raw and weighty content. Cosper chronicles the rise and fall of his own church, and in doing so, he reveals much about his own life, struggles, and the painful unraveling of his faith.

Honest, Tragic, and Full of Grace

Cosper weaves together biblical stories of Peter, Elijah, and Jesus with his own experiences, often drawing parallels between the physical landscapes of Israel and the emotional terrain of his spiritual journey. Cosper does not shy away from calling out sin, but he also has the humility to acknowledge his own shortcomings and failures along the way. He references figures like Dante and Driscoll (Cosper is also the host of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast), adding layers of reflection and insight into his narrative. The book is honest, tragic, and yet full of grace.

Land of My Sojourn serves as a balm for anyone walking through the wilderness of broken faith and unfulfilled dreams. It offers hope for those who feel disillusioned, and it provides a lighthouse of warning for church leaders and congregants who find themselves caught up in toxic church cultures. And it is a brave telling so that you will know the truth (John 8:31-32).

I received a media copy of Land of My Sojourn and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.

[enterprisewired]

10 Best Website Builders for Small Businesses: Find the Perfect Fit for Your Online Success

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Source – linkedin.com

The first big hurdle for any small-scale business is getting noticed in the digital world. Now, to take your services in the digital world you need a professional website explaining everything to your customers. Building a website on your own takes a lot of time and hiring a professional web developer can be expensive. But did you know there are some website builders designed especially for small businesses that are affordable, easy to use, and require less technical skills? 

If you’re someone looking to build a business and take your services online check out these 10 best website builders for small businesses. 

Here are 10 best website builders for small businesses.

1. Wix

Wix tops the list of best website builders for small businesses. It was founded in 2006 in Tel Aviv, Israel, by Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami, and Giora Kaplan. It quickly gained popularity among the best website builders due to its drag-and-drop interface, allowing users to create websites without coding skills. As of the 2024 report, Wix has over 240 million registered users globally with more than 4.5 million paying customers.Ease of UseDrag and drop tools work hereTemplatesVariety of customizable designsFeaturesApps, SEO tools, online store optionsSupport24-hour support availablePricingBasic plan is available for FREEPremium plans start at $14/month

2. WordPress.org

3. Squarespace

Squarespace comes at the third position on the list of best website builders for small businesses. In 2004, Anthony Casalena founded it as a blog-hosting service. Later on, it converted into a full-fledged website builder, offering beautiful designs and a user-friendly interface. As of 2024 report, it has over 4 million paying customers. Ease of UseUser-friendly with drag and drop optionTemplatesAvailable in stylish and professional designFeaturesE-commerce, SEO, and bloggingSupport24-hour support availablePricingStarts at $16/month

4. GoDaddy

GoDaddy comes at the fourth position on the list of best website builders for small businesses. In 1997, Bob Parsons founded it as a domain registrar and a web hosting company. Later on, it expanded into website building with its GoDaddy website builder. Today, as of the 2024 report GoDaddy has over 21 million customers and manages over 84 million domain names. It is more popular for its domain name features than as a website builder. Ease of UseSimple and easy to useTemplatesVariety of designsFeaturesDomain, email, website security, and online store Support24-hour support availablePricingStarts at $6.99/month

5. Weebly

6. HostGator

HostGator comes at the sixth position on the list of best website builders for small businesses. In 2002, Brent Oxley founded it at Florida Atlantic University. Initially, it was focused on web hosting later on developed as a website builder. According to the 2024 report, HostGator hosts over 2 million websites and serves seven hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide. Ease of UseEco-friendlyTemplatesAvailable in various designsFeaturesDomain, hosting, and online storeSupport24-hour support availablePricingStarts at $3.99/month for hosting

7. IONOS

IONOS comes at the seventh position on the list of best website builders for small businesses. In 1988 Ralph Dommermuth founded it as 1&1 Internet in Germany. IONOS is one of the oldest web hosting companies in the world offering a variety of digital services, one is website building. As of 2024 report, it has over 8 million customers globally and 12 million domain names. Numbers say it is popular more for domain names than website building.Ease of UseEco-friendlyTemplatesContains Industry specific designsFeaturesHosting, domain, and e-commerceSupport24-hour support availablePricingStarts at low price of $1/month

8. Webnode

9. Yola

Yola comes at the ninth position on the list of best website builders for small businesses. In 2007, Vinny Lingham founded it as a SynthaSite before rebranding it to Yola. According to the 2024 report, it has helped over 12 million users to build their websites. Ease of UseSimple drag and drop option availableTemplatesContains basic design templatesFeaturesE-commerce and SEOSupportEmail support availablePricingBasic plan is FREEPaid plan starts at $4.16/month

10. GetResponse

GetResponse ranks last on the list of best website builders for small businesses. In 1998, Simon Grabowski founded it as an email marketing platform. Later on, in 2022 it converted into an all-in-one marketing platform that includes a website builder, landing pages, and automation tools. According to the 2024 report, GetResponse has over 350,000 customers across 183 countries in the world. Ease of UseUsed for email marketing but includes website builderTemplatesLimited designs availableFeaturesEmail marketing and landing pagesSupport24-hour support availablePricingStarts at $15/month for emailWebsite builder charges extra

Conclusion

Building a strong online presence is important for small businesses today. Based on ease of use and priorities of the users, the above list has been made. Now according to your need choose the one from the list of best website builders for small businesses that suit your services. Be careful while choosing the templates and designing, one single mistake can drop your customer reach. Remember, your website is the face of your business – make it great! 

[voxxvindictae]

Update on Op:Monoxide

The following information will go up on my site soon, but I felt that it was worth having here, as several discoveries have recently been made.

The Canary Mission website is likely currently hosted on a server owned by fixweb, a French hosting provider. IP geolocation (in general) is not accurate enough to get an exact location of the server, but it is accurate enough to tell me that the server is somewhere in Paris, France, and uses Scaleway SAS as an ISP.

On and related to the fixweb network are several domains and IP addresses that are connected in some way to the Canary Mission:

1. beta.canarymission.org

The URL beta.canarymission.org resolves to an IP in the fixweb range. Furthermore, that IP redirects to the main site (using HTTP code 302) when accessed through a browser via port 80 (HTTP), but not when accessed by port 443 (HTTPS). This indicates that port 443 is likely being used to communicate with either the CloudFlare reverse HTTP proxy (possibly in California) or the web application firewall (in the NY/NJ area). It also tells me that the server is configured to refuse connections on port 443 that don’t come from certain servers (whether that’s the WAF or the Reverse proxy is still unknown).

While investigating this a few months ago, the IP didn’t redirect to the main site as far as I knew. But it still resolved to the beta domain. The redirect occurred only after a major change had been made to their site layout, indicating that the development version of the site is hosted on the machine corresponding to the IP. This is significant, because most people try to keep their code in one place, so it’s likely the production version of the site is in the fixweb network too, but is only accessible through the reverse proxy and/or the WAF.

2. media90.canarymission.org

media90.canarymission.org resolves to an IP owned by fixweb, indicating that their CDN (content delivery network) exists on their servers but is not behind the proxy. This further confirms my suspicions that the Canary Mission switched their host from Israel (likely under Kamatera’s hosting services) to France, so they could abuse the GDPR to redact the contact information of the site maintainers.

3. canary.fixweb.net

The domain canary.fixweb.net exists. Not much to say about this one, I think the conclusions write themselves.

4. thingdust.io

This isn’t directly related to the fixweb domain (as far as I’m aware), but I found three other domains through an automated OSINT search:

canarymission.cust.dev.thingdust.io

canarymission.cust.disrec.thingdust.io

canarymission.reservd.disrec.thingdust.io

Noticing a pattern in these URLs, I also attempted to access canarymission.cust.prod.thingdust.io: the host was up (I think), but it wasn’t configured to serve any resources.

Upon researching thingdust, I found that they’re a company in Switzerland that specializes in IoT-enabled workplace monitoring. This is one of those companies that makes those sensors that some people would find under their desks that track workplace occupancy. If the resources on those servers were publicly accessible, we could use the sensor network’s web view to obtain the floor plan of the building the Canary Mission team operates from.

More to come as secrets reveal themselves.