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A New Phone Scanner That Detects Spyware Has Already Found 7 Pegasus Infections (Maria)
The author writes, “In recent years, commercial spyware has been deployed by more actors against a wider range of victims, but the prevailing narrative has still been that the malware is used in targeted attacks against an extremely small number of people. At the same time, though, it has been difficult to check devices for infection. … On Tuesday, the mobile device security firm iVerify is publishing findings from a spyware detection feature it launched in May. Of 2,500 device scans that the company’s customers elected to submit for inspection, seven revealed infections by the notorious NSO Group malware known as Pegasus.”
What Donald Trump Owes to George Soros (Sean)
From Coda: “Steve Bannon, a high priest of the far right movement that put Trump in the White House, says Soros gave him the model to follow.”
Almost 120 Countries Vowed to Triple Renewables by 2030 — How Is It Going? (Laura)
The author writes, “Almost 120 countries came together in Dubai last year at the Cop28 climate talks to pledge one of the most ambitious green energy targets in the history of the UN climate talks. The plan put forward was to triple the world’s renewable energy and double its energy efficiency by the end of the decade in an attempt to cut the world’s reliance on fossil fuels. It was an ‘ambitious yet achievable goal,’ according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which could play a pivotal role in cutting the world’s emissions to keep global heating in check. But in a year, the world’s progress has struggled to keep up with the pace required to meet these goals.”
The Invisible Man (Dana)
From Esquire: “3:00 a.m., parked in a public lot across the street from the town beach in Westerly, Rhode Island. Just woke up, sleep evasive. It’s my first week out here. I pour an iced coffee from my cooler. I’m walking around the front of the Toyota I’m now living in when a car pulls into the lot, comes toward me. I see only headlights illuminating my fatigue and the red plastic party cup in my hand. Must be a cop. Someone gets out and approaches. It is a cop, young. I’m not afraid, exactly, but I’m also not yet used to being homeless.”
Federal Court Rules Idaho Can Enforce So-Called ‘Abortion Trafficking’ Law (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Nearly two years after it was first proposed by Republican lawmakers, an Idaho law that, as one rights advocate said, essentially ‘traps’ people in the state to stop them from getting abortion care, was permitted to go into effect on Monday after a federal appeals court ruling. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Idaho can prohibit people from ‘harboring or transporting’ a minor who needs to leave the state to obtain an abortion, which is still legal in the surrounding states of Oregon, Washington, and Montana. The law, originally proposed as House Bill 242, makes the so-called crime of ‘abortion trafficking’ punishable by two to five years in prison, even if the pregnant person obtains an abortion in a state where the procedure is legal.”
Inside Your Body, Aging Unfolds at Remarkably Different Rates (Russ)
The author writes, “Recently, scientists at Stanford University began to wonder why identical lab mice, bred with the same DNA and brought up in identical conditions, wound up so different in their old age. Some mice could ace cognitive tests and race around on their running wheels. Others would forget simple tasks and hobble from place to place. Genetically, they remained indistinguishable, but their twilight years could hardly have been more distinct. The scientists’ attempts to untangle what was going on inside these mice is redefining how we think about aging. It has opened up a new area of research into what scientists are calling ‘organ aging,’ which looks at how different parts of our bodies seem to start aging earlier than others, affecting what diseases we develop and how long we live.”
Trump’s Biggest Fans Turn Against Him for Funniest Reason (Reader Jim)
From The New Republic: “MAGA loyalists are getting frustrated with some of their fearless leader’s own Cabinet picks. President-elect Donald Trump announced in a statement on Truth Social Friday that he’d be nominating physician and Fox News medical correspondent Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to surgeon general. … It isn’t just Nesheiwat drawing the ire of online MAGA. Even Pam Bondi, one of Trump’s former impeachment attorneys nominated to replace Matt Gaetz as attorney general, isn’t satisfying the right-wing faithful.”
