Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Police reform and abortion measures return to Gov Baker

The Boston Globe has the following:

"The Massachusetts House on Tuesday approved a revised version of a sweeping policing bill, making it all but certain the state will soon enact legislation that emerged after protests over police misconduct and the death of George Floyd gripped Massachusetts and beyond.

The legislation would create for the first time a system for certifying police officers in Massachusetts and give a new civilian-led panel the ability to revoke their licenses for a range of misconduct.

A raft of revisions sought by Governor Charlie Baker, and ultimately accepted by lawmakers in both the House and Senate, included loosening proposed limits on the use of facial recognition and eliminating language that underpinned new standards on officers’ use of force. Baker also successfully pushed to keep oversight of training under his administration and police-dominated committee."

From CommonWealth Magazine:

THE LEGISLATURE sent bills dealing with police reform and abortion back to Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday and began work on compromise health care legislation that requires insurers to permanently reimburse for behavioral telehealth at the rates they’d pay for the same care in-person.

The House joined the Senate in passing police reform legislation that includes amendments sought by Baker on police training and the use of facial recognition software. Baker, who had threatened a veto if the Legislature declined to compromise on those two issues, has indicated he will sign the bill containing the modified language into law.

On abortion, however, both branches rejected amendments sought by the governor and sent the bill back to him as originally drafted. Baker can sign the abortion measure into law, allow it to become law without his signature, or veto the bill and challenge the Legislature to override him. An override would require a two-thirds vote, which was the margin on earlier abortion votes in the House but just barely.
Continue reading the article online  https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health-care/lawmakers-send-police-reform-abortion-measures-to-governor/

 

Inside the deal: "There was still one important person to persuade: the president"

From the New York Times:
"A week before Thanksgiving, a small group of moderate senators gathered in the spacious living room of Senator Lisa Murkowski’s home on Capitol Hill to embark on what they considered an urgent assignment.

They were there — eating Tuscan takeout as they sat socially distanced, with the windows open to let the cold air circulate as a coronavirus precaution — to talk about how to get the Senate, polarized and paralyzed on nearly every issue, working again.

They were also determined to find a way to deliver a more immediate kind of relief, brainstorming how to break a monthslong partisan stalemate over providing a new round of federal aid to millions of Americans and businesses buckling under the economic weight of the coronavirus pandemic."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/us/politics/stimulus-deal-congress.html

And given the late news that the President is signaling that he would not to sign the bill as drafted after saying he would, we wait. That doesn't take away from the story. The story on how to broker a deal via compromise and collaboration still is a good message on what works for rational folks.
 

The ECDC December Newsletter is now posted


The ECDC December Newsletter is now posted!
You can view it here: https://t.co/30K2YTYarx

@FranklinPSNews @FranklinMatters @TOFranklinMA @FrkPublicLib @MassEarlyEdCare @MASchoolsK12
https://twitter.com/FranklinECDC/status/1341407351602089984?s=03


The ECDC December Newsletter is now posted
The ECDC December Newsletter is now posted

FHS Panther Hockey: Schedule for Winter Season 2020-2021


"Not the normal amount of games but so grateful to have what we have.  Our 2020-2021 Varsity hockey schedule! @PanthersJvPuck @FHSSports @MassHSHockey @HNIBonline"
Schedule image: https://t.co/czU8DRZBdw
 
FHS Panther Hockey: Schedule for Winter Season 2020-2021
FHS Panther Hockey: Schedule for Winter Season 2020-2021

Franklin, MA: 1880 to 1889 (video)

Joe Landry provides this video about the history of Franklin, MA from 1880 to 1889. 

Direct video link: https://youtu.be/KHNGUCBBDjU 

Spear Phishing hits authors with books about to be published

"Earlier this month, the book industry website Publishers Marketplace announced that Little, Brown would be publishing “Re-Entry,” a novel by James Hannaham about a transgender woman paroled from a men’s prison. The book would be edited by Ben George.

Two days later, Mr. Hannaham got an email from Mr. George, asking him to send the latest draft of his manuscript. The email came to an address on Mr. Hannaham’s website that he rarely uses, so he opened up his usual account, attached the document, typed in Mr. George’s email address and a little note, and hit send.

“Then Ben called me,” Mr. Hannaham said, “to say, ‘That wasn’t me.’”
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

Cyber security: inside the hack of a journalist; extent of US Government penetration not known

From The Guardian: inside the hack of a journalist
"A series of abusive text messages sent to an Al Jazeera investigative programme were the first crumbs that eventually led to the discovery of an unprecedented hacking operation against dozens of staff from the Qatar-based media network, according to one of the journalists who was targeted.

Researchers at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto claimed on Sunday that the UAE and Saudi Arabia used spyware sold by an Israeli private intelligence company to access the phones of at least 36 journalists, producers and executives from Al Jazeera, as well as that of a London-based reporter with the Al Araby network.

Traces of the cyber-attack were unearthed in July when a phone used by an Al Jazeera programme, The Tip of the Iceberg, exhibited suspicious network activity that was undetectable to its users."
Continue reading the article online
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/dec/22/revealed-how-abusive-texts-led-to-discovery-of-hacking-of-al-jazeera

From the New York Times: extent of US Government penetration not known
"The Russian hackers who penetrated United States government agencies broke into the email system used by the Treasury Department’s most senior leadership, a Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee said on Monday, the first detail of how deeply Moscow burrowed into the Trump administration’s networks.

In a statement after a briefing for committee staff members, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, who has often been among the sharpest critics of the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies, said that the Treasury Department had acknowledged that “the agency suffered a serious breach, beginning in July, the full depth of which isn’t known.”
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
 
From the New York Times:
"President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. accused President Trump on Tuesday of “irrational downplaying” of the widespread hack of the federal government and American industries, saying that the current administration was denying him intelligence and warning Russia that he would not allow the intrusion to “go unanswered” after he takes office.

“This assault happened on Donald Trump’s watch when he wasn’t watching,” Mr. Biden said at a news conference in Delaware. “It is still his responsibility as president to defend American interests for the next four weeks, but rest assured that even if he does not take it seriously, I will.”

The direct critique was a remarkable departure from tradition, in which incoming presidents are careful about not second-guessing the actions of the incumbent. But Mr. Trump’s refusal to recognize Mr. Biden’s election victory, and his effort to subvert the results, has clearly poisoned elements of the transition process."
 Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
 
These articles add to the listing of "what we know and don't know" about the cyber attack