Another Word For It Patrick Durusau on Topic Maps and Semantic Diversity

December 30, 2016

Data Science, Protests and the Washington Metro – Feasibility

Filed under: Data Science,Politics,Protests — Patrick Durusau @ 4:54 pm

Steven Nelson writes of plans to block DC traffic:

…
Protest plans often are overambitious and it’s unclear if there will be enough bodies or sacrificial vehicles to block roadways, or people willing to risk arrest by doing so, though Carrefour says the group has coordinated housing for a large number of out-of-town visitors and believes preliminary signs point to massive turnout.
….(Anti-Trump Activists Plan Road-Blocking ‘Clusterf–k’ for Inauguration)

Looking at a map of the ninety-one (91) Metro rail stations, you may feel discouragement at Steven’s question of “enough bodies or sacrificial vehicles to block roadways….”

www-wmata-com-rail-stations-460

(Screenshot of map from https://www.wmata.com/schedules/maps/, Rail maps selected, 30 December 2016.)

Steve’s question and data science

Steven’s question is a good one and it’s one data science and public data can address.

For a feel of the larger problem of blockading all 91 Metro Rail stations, download and view/print this color map of Metro stations from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

For every station where you don’t see:

metro-parking-460

you will need to move protesters to those locations. As you already know, moving protesters in a coordinated way is a logistical and resource intensive task.

Just so you know, there are forty-three (43) stations with no parking lots.

Data insight: If you look at the Metro Rail map: color map of Metro stations, you will notice that all the stations with parking are located at the outer stations of the Metro.

That’s no accident. The Metro Rail system is designed to move people into and out of the city, which of necessity means, if you block access to the stations with parking lots, you have substantially impeded access into the city.

Armed with that insight, the total of Metro Rail stations to be blocked drops to thirty-eight (38). Not a great number but less than half of the starting 91.

Blocking 38 Metro Rail Stations Still Sounds Like A Lot

You’re right.

Blocking all 38 Metro Rail stations with parking lots is a protest organizer’s pipe dream.

It’s in keeping with seeing themselves as proclaiming “Peace! Land! Bread!” to huddled masses.

Data science and public data won’t help block all 38 stations but it can help with strategic selection of stations based on your resources.

Earlier this year, Dan Malouff posted: All 91 Metro stations, ranked by ridership.

If you put that data into a spreadsheet, eliminate the 43 stations with no parking lots, you can then sort the parking lot stations by their daily ridership.

Moreover, you can keep a running total of the riders in order to calculate the percentage of Metro Rail riders blocked (assuming 100% blockage) as you progress down the list of stations.

The total daily ridership for those stations is 183,535.

You can review my numbers and calculations with a copy of Metro-Rail-Ridership-Station-Percentage.xls

Strategic Choice of Metro Rail Stations

Consider this excerpt from the spreadsheet:

Station Avg. # Count % of Total.
Silver Spring 12269 12269 6.68%
Shady Grove 11732 24001 13.08%
Vienna 10005 34006 18.53%
Fort Totten 7543 41549 22.64%
Wiehle 7306 48855 26.62%
New Carrollton 7209 56064 30.55%
Huntington 7002 63066 34.36%
Franconia-Springfield 6821 69887 38.08%
Anacostia 6799 76686 41.78%
Glenmont 5881 82567 44.99%
Greenbelt 5738 88305 48.11%
Rhode Island Avenue 5727 94032 51.23%
Branch Avenue 5449 99481 54.20%
Takoma 5329 104810 57.11%
Grosvenor 5206 110016 59.94%

The average ridership as reported by Dan Malouff in All 91 Metro stations, ranked by ridership comes to: 652,183. Of course, that includes people who rode from one station to transfer to another one. (I’m investigating ways/data to separate those out.)

As you can see, blocking only the first four stations Silver Spring, Shady Grove, Vienna and Fort Totten, is almost 23% of the traffic from stations with parking lots. It’s not quite 10% of the total ridership on a day but certainly noticeable.

The other important point to notice is that with public data and data science, the problem has been reduced from 91 potential stations to 4.

A reduction of more than an order of magnitude.

Not a bad payoff for using public data and data science.

That’s all I have for you now, but I can promise that deeper analysis of metro DC public data sets reveals event locations that impact both the “beltway” as well as Metro Rail lines.

More on that and maps for the top five (5) locations, a little over 25% of the stations with parking traffic, next week!

If you can’t make it to #DisruptJ20 protests, want to protest early or want to support research on data science and protests, consider a donation.

Disclaimer: I am exploring the potential of data science for planning protests. What you choose to do or not to do and when, is entirely up to you.

December 29, 2016

Flashing/Mooning Data Collection Worksheet Instructions

Filed under: Data Collection,Politics,Protests — Patrick Durusau @ 4:56 pm

President-elect Trump’s inauguration will be like no other. To assist with collecting data on flashing/mooning of Donald Trump on January 20, 2017, I created:

Trump Inauguration 2017: Flashing/Mooning Worksheet Instructions

It captures:

  1. Location
  2. Time Period
  3. Flash/Moon Count
  4. Gender (M/F) Count (if known)

I’ve tried to keep it simple because at most locations, it will be hard to open your eyes not see flashing/mooning.

You’ve seen photo-flashes are almost stroboscopic? That’s close the anticipated rate of flashing/mooning at the Trump inauguration.

The Trump inauguration may turn into an informal competition between rival blocks of flashing/mooning.

Without flashing/mooning data, how can Bob Costas do color commentary at the 2021 inauguration?

Let’s help Bob out and collect that flashing/mooning data in 2017!

Thanks! Please circulate the worksheet and references to this post.

December 28, 2016

Blockading Washington – #DisruptJ20 – Unusual Tactic – Nudity

Filed under: Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 5:47 pm

Among the more unusual reports of blockading traffic is this report from Tampa, Florida.

Surveillance shows naked man’s rampage on Dale Mabry.

A total of ten police cars responded and traffic was interrupted.

The current prediction for Washington, D.C. on 20 January 2017 is:

Low: 14 to 24F

High: 34 to 44F

If you use nudity to disrupt traffic, have a warm coat nearby.

Tweet a pic with an estimate of how many cars you stopped. 😉

@patrickDurusau

If traffic jamming with nudity isn’t your thing, more serious suggestions to follow using data science to enable effective protesting.

December 27, 2016

AnonUK Radio

Filed under: Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 9:04 pm

AnonUK Radio

From the webpage:

Welcome to AnonUK Radio. Social media and citizen journalism is arguably how the majority of people discover their news these days. We hope this site provides all the information you need to keep up with the Radio, current operations both globally and in the UK, get involved with protests both online and offline.

Every day at 21 GMT, 9 PM BST, 4 PM EST.

Enjoy!

December 25, 2016

A people’s history of the United States [A Working Class Winter Is Coming]

Filed under: Government,History,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 8:34 pm

A people’s history of the United States by Howard Zinn.

From the webpage:

The full text of Howard Zinn’s superb people’s history of the United States, spanning over 500 years from Columbus’s “discovery” of America in 1492 to the Clinton presidency in 1996.

I think this is the first edition text (1980), which has been updated and can be purchased here.

Be sure to visit/use (either personally or for teaching): Teaching A People’s History:

…
Its goal is to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. The empowering potential of studying U.S. history is often lost in a textbook-driven trivial pursuit of names and dates. People’s history materials and pedagogy emphasize the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history. Students learn that history is made not by a few heroic individuals, but instead by people’s choices and actions, thereby also learning that their own choices and actions matter.
…

Buy the book, share it and the website as widely as possible.

A working class winter is coming.

December 24, 2016

Russian Comfort Food For Clinton Supporters

Filed under: Cybersecurity,Hillary Clinton,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 9:20 pm

Just in time for Christmas, CrowdStrike published:

Use of Fancy Bear Android Malware in Tracking of Ukranian Field Artillery Units

Anti-Russian Propaganda

The cover art reminds me of the “Better Dead than Red” propaganda from deep inside the Cold War.

crowdstrike-fancy-bear-460

Compare that with an anti-communist poster from 1953:

1953-poster-6241f-460

Anonymous, [ANTI-COMMUNIST POSTER SHOWING RUSSIAN SOLDIER AND JOSEPH STALIN STANDING OVER GRAVES IN FOREGROUND; CANNONS AND PEOPLE MARCHING TO SIBERIA IN BACKGROUND] (1953) courtesy of Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-117876].

Notice any similarities? Sixty-three years separate those two images and yet the person who produced the second one would immediately recognize the first one. And vice versa.

Apparently, July Woodruff, who interviewed Dmitri Alperovitch, co- founder of CrowdStrike, and Thomas Rid, a professor at King’s College London for Security company releases new evidence of Russian role in DNC hack (PBS Fake News Hour), didn’t bother to look at the cover of the report covered by her “interview.”

Not commenting on Judy’s age but noting the resemblance to 1950’s and 1960’s anti-communist propaganda would be obvious to anyone in her graduating class.

Evidence or Rather the Lack of Evidence

Leaving aside Judy’s complete failure to notice this is anti-Russian propaganda by its cover, let’s compare the “evidence” Judy discusses with Alperovich:

[Judy Woodruff]

Dmitri Alperovitch, let me start with you. What is this new information?

DMITRI ALPEROVITCH, CrowdStrike: Well, this is an interesting case we’ve uncovered actually all the way in Ukraine where Ukraine artillerymen were targeted by the same hackers who were called Fancy Bear, that targeted the DNC, but this time, they were targeting their cell phones to understand their location so that the Russian military and Russian artillery forces can actually target them in the open battle.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, this is Russian military intelligence who got hold of information about the weapons, in essence, that the Ukrainian military was using, and was able to change it through malware?

DMITRI ALPEROVITCH: Yes, essentially, one Ukraine officer built this app for his Android phone that he gave out to his fellow officers to control the settings for the artillery pieces that they were using, and the Russians actually hacked that application, put their malware in it and that malware reported back the location of the person using the phone.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And so, what’s the connection between that and what happened to the Democratic National Committee?

DMITRI ALPEROVITCH: Well, the interesting is that it was the same variant of the same malicious code that we have seen at the DNC. This was a phone version. What we saw at the DNC was personal computers, but essentially, it was the same source used by this actor that we call Fancy Bear.

And when you think about, well, who would be interested in targeting Ukraine artillerymen in eastern Ukraine who has interest in hacking the Democratic Party, Russia government comes to find, but specifically, Russian military that would have operational over forces in the Ukraine and would target these artillerymen.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, just quickly, in the sense, these are like cyber fingerprints? Is that what we’re talking about?

DMITRI ALPEROVITCH: Essentially the DNA of this malicious code that matches to the DNA that we saw at the DNC.

That may sound compelling, at least until you read the Crowdstrike report. Which unlike Judy/PBS, I include a link for you to review it for yourself: Use of Fancy Bear Android Malware in Tracking of Ukranian Field Artillery Units.

The report consists of a series of un-numbered pages, but in order:

Coverpage: (the anti-Russian artwork)

Key Points: Conclusions without evidence (1 page)

Background: Repetition of conclusions (1 page)

Timelines: No real relationship to the question of malware (2 pages)

Timeline of Events: Start of prose that might contain “evidence” (6 pages)

OK, let’s take:

the Russians actually hacked that application, put their malware in it and that malware reported back the location of the person using the phone.

as an example.

Contrary to his confidence in the interview, page 7 of the report says:

…
Crowdstrike has discovered indications that as early as 2015 FANCY BEAR likely developed X-Agent applications for the iOS environment, targeting “jailbroken” Apple mobile devices. The use of the X-Agent implant in the original Попр-Д30.apk application appears to be the first observed case of FANCY BEAR malware developed for the Android mobile platform. On 21 December 2014 the malicious variant of the Android application was first observed in limited public distribution on a Russian language, Ukrainian military forum. A late 2014 public release would place the development timeframe for this implant sometime between late-April 2013 and early December 2014.
…

I’m sorry, but do you see any evidence in “…indications…” and/or “likely developed…?”

It’s a different way of restating what you saw in the Key Points and Background, but otherwise, it’s simply repetition of Crowdstrike’s conclusions.

That’s ok if you already agree with Crowdstrike’s conclusions, I suppose, but it should be deeply unsatisfying for a news reporter.

Judy Woodruff should have said:

Imagined question from Woodruff:

I understand your report says Fancy Bear is connected with this malware but you don’t state any facts on which you base that conclusion. Is there another report our listeners can review for those details?

If you see that question in the transcript ping me. I missed it.

What About Calling the NSA?

If Woodruff had even a passing acquaintance with Clifford Stoll’s Cuckoo’s Egg (tracing a hacker from a Berkeley computer to a home in Germany), she could have asked:

Thirty years ago, Clifford Stoll wrote in the Cuckoo’s Egg about the tracking of a hacker from a computer in Berkeley to his home in Germany. Crowdstrike claims to have caught the hackers “red handed”.

The internet has grown more complicated in thirty years and tracking more difficult. Why didn’t Crowdstrike ask for help from the NSA in tracking those hackers?

I didn’t see that question being asked. Did you?

Tracking internet traffic is beyond the means of Crowdstrike, but several nation states are rumored to be sifting backbone traffic every day.

Factual Confusion and Catastrophe at Crowdsrike

The most appalling part of the Crowdstrike report is its admixture of alleged fact, speculation and wishful thinking.

Consider its assessment of the spread and effectiveness of the alleged malware (without more evidence, I would not even concede that it exists):

  1. CrowdStrike assesses that Попр-Д30.apk was potentially used through 2016 by at least one artillery unit operating in eastern Ukraine. (page 6)

  2. Open-source reporting indicates losses of almost 50% of equipment in the last 2 years of conflict amongst Ukrainian artillery forces and over 80% of D-30 howitzers were lost, far more than any other piece of Ukrainian artillery (page 8)

  3. A malware-infected Попр-Д30.apk application probably could not have provided all the necessary data required to directly facilitate the types of tactical strikes that occurred between July and August 2014. (page 8)

  4. The X-Agent Android variant does not exhibit a destructive function and does not interfere with the function of the original Попр-Д30.apk application. Therefore, CrowdStrike Intelligence has assessed that the likely role of this malware is strategic in nature. (page 9)

  5. Additionally, a study provided by the International Institute of Strategic Studies determined that the weapons platform bearing the highest losses between 2013 and 2016 was the D-30 towed howitzer.11 It is possible that the deployment of this malware infected application may have contributed to the high-loss nature of this platform. (page 9)

Judy Woodruff and her listeners don’t have to be military experts to realize that the claim of “one artillery unit” (#1) is hard to reconcile with the loss of “over 80% of D-30 howitzers” (#2) Nor do the claims of the malware being of “strategic” value, (#3, #4), work well with the “high-loss” described in #5.

The so-called “report” by Crowdstrike is a repetition of conclusions drawn on evidence (alleged to exist), the nature and scope of which is concealed from the reader.

Conclusion

However badly Clinton supporters want to believe in Russian hacking of the DNC, this report offers nothing of the kind. It creates the illusion of evidence that deceives only those already primed to accept its conclusions.

Unless and until Crowdstrike releases real evidence, logs, malware (including prior malware and how it was obtained), etc., this must be filed under “fake news.”

December 21, 2016

On the Moral Cowardice of Politicians

Filed under: Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 5:49 pm

Trump posse browbeats Hill Republicans by Rachel Bade.

From the post:

…
Since the election, numerous congressional Republicans have refused to publicly weigh in on any Trump proposal at odds with Republican orthodoxy, from his border wall to his massive infrastructure package. The most common reason, stated repeatedly but always privately: They’re afraid of being attacked by Breitbart or other big-name Trump supporters.

“Nobody wants to go first,” said Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), who received nasty phone calls, letters and tweets after he penned an August op-ed in The New York Times, calling on Trump to release his tax returns. “People are naturally reticent to be the first out of the block for fear of Sean Hannity, for fear of Breitbart, for fear of local folks.”

An editor at Breitbart, formerly run by senior Trump adviser Steve Bannon, said that fear is well-founded.

“If any politician in either party veers from what the voters clearly voted for in a landslide election … we stand at the ready to call them out on it and hold them accountable,” the person said.
…

I wasn’t aware that members of Congress (US) were elected solely by Sean Hannity, Breitbart, or a very small number of “local folks.”

Re-visit my post on Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda.

You too can make your elected representatives/senators afraid, sore afraid.

It takes time, effort and sustained effort, but you can teach them to fear your organization as much as any other.

Don’t bemoan the moral cowardice of your political leadership, capitalize on it to further your demands and agenda.

How to Help Trump

Filed under: Government,Language,Marketing,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 3:42 pm

How to Help Trump by George Lakoff.

From the post:

Without knowing it, many Democrats, progressives and members of the news media help Donald Trump every day. The way they help him is simple: they spread his message.

Think about it: every time Trump issues a mean tweet or utters a shocking statement, millions of people begin to obsess over his words. Reporters make it the top headline. Cable TV panels talk about it for hours. Horrified Democrats and progressives share the stories online, making sure to repeat the nastiest statements in order to refute them. While this response is understandable, it works in favor of Trump.

When you repeat Trump, you help Trump. You do this by spreading his message wide and far.
…

I know Lakoff from his Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind.

I haven’t read any of his “political” books but would buy them sight unseen on the strength of Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things.

Lakoff promises a series of posts using effective framing to “…expose and undermine Trump’s propaganda.”

Whether you want to help expose Trump or use framing to promote your own produce or agenda, start following Lakoff today!

December 20, 2016

EFF then (2008) and now (2016)

Filed under: Electronic Frontier Foundation,Government,Politics,Privacy — Patrick Durusau @ 7:56 pm

The EFF has published a full page ad in Wired, addressing the tech industry, saying:

Your threat model has just changed.

EFF’s full-page Wired ad: Dear tech, delete your logs before it’s too late.

Rather remarkable change in just eight years.

Although I can’t show you the EFF’s “amusing” video described in Wired as follows:

THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER Foundation is feeling a little jolly these days.

As part of its latest donor campaign, it’s created a brief, albeit humorous animated video espousing why it needs your cash.

Among other things, the video highlights the group’s fight for electronic rights, including its lawsuit challenging President Bush’s warrantless eavesdropping on Americans.

The lawsuit prompted Congress to immunize telecoms that freely gave your private data to the Bush administration — without warrants. (The EFF is now challenging that immunity legislation, which was supported by President-elect Barack Obama.)

What’s more, the EFF video, released Wednesday, reviews the group’s quest for fair use of copyrighted works, working electronic voting machines, and how it foiled wrongly issued patents.

It’s not on the EFF site, not available from the Wayback Machine, but it sounds very different from the once in a lifetime fund raising opportunity presented by President-elect Trump.

President Obama could have ended all of the surveillance apparatus that was in place when he took office. Dismantled it entirely. So that Trump would be starting over from scratch.

But no, the EFF has spent the last eight years working within the system in firm but polite disagreement.

The result of which is President-elect Trump has at his disposal a surveillance system second to none.

The question isn’t whether we should have more transparency for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court but to strike at its very reason for existence. The charade of international terrorism.

Have you ever heard the EFF argue that toddlers kill more Americans every year than terrorists? Or any of the other statistics that demonstrate the absurdity of US investment in stopping a non-problem?

If you are serious about stopping surveillance then we need to strike at its rationale for existence.

Tolerance of surveillance, the EFF position, is a guarantee that surveillance will continue.

PS: Cory Doctorow attempts to make the case that President-elect Trump will do worse than President Obama. It’s possible but considering what Obama has done, it’s too close to call at this point. (You do realize we already have databases of Muslims, yes? So playing the “Trump says he will build a database of Muslims” card, yes, he said that, is deceptive. It already exists.)

I agree we are in danger from the incoming administration but it’s a factual issue whether it will be any worse than the present one.

The distance between said and actual policy can be quite large. Recalling that Obama promised to close our illegal detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Yet, eight years later a number of them remain there still.

December 18, 2016

Clinton/Trump Political Maps – Strategy for 2020

Filed under: Mapping,Maps,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 5:24 pm

A pair of maps posted by OnlMaps captures the essence of Clinton’s loss to Trump (no, it didn’t have anything to do with Russian hackers):

clinton-map

trump-map

I did not re-scale these images so either one enlarges to 1200 x 714 (Clinton) 653 (Trump). Very impressive on a large screen.

Democrats should take note:

Despite having hundreds of position papers (yawn), the candidate with “well-reasoned and detailed proposals” lost to the candidate promising voters a pig in a poke, with no real likelihood of delivery of either.

If the choice is between boring voters into apathy and winning the presidency, I don’t find that a hard choice at all.

Do you?

The Biggest Fake News…

Filed under: Censorship,Free Speech,Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 5:06 pm

Naval Ravikant tweeted:

The biggest fake news is that the “fake news” debate is about anything other than censorship.

Any story/report/discussion/debate over “fake news,” should start with the observation that regulation, filtering, tagging, etc., of “fake news” is a form of censorship.

Press advocates of regulation, filtering, tagging “fake news” until they admit advocating censorship.

The only acceptable answer to censorship is NO. Well, perhaps Hell NO! but you get the idea.

Fight Censorship – Expand Content Flow! Censor Overflow!

Filed under: Censorship,Free Speech,Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 2:17 pm

Facebook, Twitter and others have undertaken demented and pernicious censorship campaigns. Depending upon your politics and preferences, some of their rationales may or may not be compelling to you.

All censorship solutions fail to honor the fundamental right of all users to choose to listen/view or not, whatever content they choose. Instead, these censors seek to impose their choices on everyone.

I’m indifferent to the motivations of censors, some of which I would find personally compelling. The fact remains that users and only users should exercise the right of choice over the content they consume. I would not interfere with that right, even to further my own views on appropriate content.

Having said all that, you no doubt have noticed that your freedom to consume the content of your choice are being rapidly curtailed by the aforementioned censors and others.

One practical defense against these censorious vermin is to explode the flow of content. Producing a condition I call “censor overflow.”

Radio.Garden (which I posted on yesterday) is one source of new content.

Here are some others:

Australian Live Radio Some 268 “proper” radio stations (no internet only) from Australia.

InternetRadio As of today, 39,539 internet radio stations. Even more intriguing is the capability to create your own radio station. Servers are in London and the US so you will need to self-censor or find concealment for your station if you want to be edgy.

Listenlive.edu Over 4000 “proper” radio stations from across Europe.

Live-Radio.net Another “proper” radio station listing but this time with worldwide coverage.

RadioGuide.fm A focus on online radio stations from around the world, now numbering more than 3000 stations.

Radio Station World A wider worldwide listing which expressly includes:

RadioStationWorld is an informational directory dealing with the radio broadcasters worldwide. We depend on many people around the world to help us keep the RadioStationWorld listings up to date. (And much thanks to those that take some time to help keep information up-to-date!) Some of the features you will find on our site include listings of local radio stations on the web, radio station that offer streaming webcast services, and in depth listings of local radio broadcast stations including digital radio throughout North America. Also featured are national and regional broadcast networks, shortwave radio, satellite radio, hospital radio, cable radio, closed circuit/campus radio and radio service providers, as well as a growing list of links to sites that deal with the radio broadcasting industry. Enjoy RadioStationWorld, we hope you find this site useful to whatever your needs are, but remember, we do depend on people like yourself to help update in an ever changing broadcast industry. [Correction: The shortwave radio broadcast listing ahs been withdrawn and the provided link points to a dead resource.]

TuneIn Radio

TuneIn enables people to discover, follow and listen to what’s most important to them — from sports, to news, to music, to talk. TuneIn provides listeners access to over 100,000 real radio stations and more than four million podcasts streaming from every continent.(emphasis in original)

For the sake of completeness, avoid the List of Internet radio stations at Wikipedia. It is too outdated to be anything other than a waste of time.

Contribute content, writing, sound, music, videos, graphics, images, anything that can bring us closer to a state of censor overload!

No promises that censors will tire and go away, after all, censors have been censoring since Plato’s Republic.

But, we have more opportunities to bury censors in a tidal wave of content.

Which will be almost as enjoyable as the content in which we bury them.

December 16, 2016

Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda

Filed under: Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 5:57 pm

Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda

From page one:

Donald Trump is the biggest popular vote loser in history to ever to call himself President-Elect. In spite of the fact that he has no mandate, he will attempt to use his congressional majority to reshape America in his own racist, authoritarian, and corrupt image. If progressives are going to stop this, we must stand indivisibly opposed to Trump and the members of Congress who would do his bidding. Together, we have the power to resist – and we have the power to win.

We know this because we’ve seen it before. The authors of this guide are former congressional staffers who witnessed the rise of the Tea Party. We saw these activists take on a popular president with a mandate for change and a supermajority in Congress. We saw them organize locally and convince their own members of Congress to reject President Obama’s agenda. Their ideas were wrong, cruel, and tinged with racism – and they won.

We believe that protecting our values and neighbors will require mounting a similar resistance to the Trump agenda — but a resistance built on the values of inclusion, tolerance, and fairness. Trump is not popular. He does not have a mandate. He does not have large congressional margins. If a small minority in the Tea Party can stop President Barack Obama, then we the majority can stop a petty tyrant named Trump.

To this end, the following chapters offer a step-by-step guide for individuals, groups, and organizations looking to replicate the Tea Party’s success in getting Congress to listen to a small, vocal, dedicated group of constituents. The guide is intended to be equally useful for stiffening Democratic spines and weakening pro-Trump Republican resolve.

We believe that the next four years depend on citizens across the country standing indivisible against the Trump agenda. We believe that buying into false promises or accepting partial concessions will only further empower Trump to victimize our fellow citizens. We hope that this guide will provide those who share that belief useful tools to make Congress listen.

Some twenty-two (22) pages following that cover page that outline the basics of creating effective grass-roots influence on a member of congress (MoC).

If you can agree to follow this guide to what MoCs care about:

moc-460

then the advice is this guide will help you be effective.

If you say “yes, but …” to any of those points, you need to go distract someone else from their worthy cause.

Overall I think this guide is golden and remarkably honest:

…
As discussed in the second chapter, we strongly recommend focusing on defense against the Trump agenda rather than developing an entire alternative policy agenda. This is time-intensive, divisive, and, quite frankly, a distraction, since there is zero chance that we as progressives will get to put our agenda into action at the federal level in the next four years. (emphasis in original)
…

Democrats know all there is to know about creating divisions in the party and then losing.

Your suggestions for data science and/or research aspects of this guide?

Tailgating @DisruptJ20

Filed under: Government,Politics,Protests — Patrick Durusau @ 10:57 am

As an improvement to my musings in How To Brick A School Bus, Data Science Helps Park It (Part 2), have you considered tailgating on the Washington DC Beltway on January 20, 2017?

fox5dc-map-460

Joe Cahn, The Commissioner of tailgating, has numerous tips, recipes and suggestions at Tailgating.com, saying on the homepage:

I look forward to sharing our common ideas of tailgating food, family, country, and hopefully meeting you whether it be at a concert, NASCAR race, or the Super Bowl as I travel the parking lots researching and cataloging my annual travels of your favorite sporting event. Whether it be a media tour or just sitting in a hot tube in front of the stadium the commissioner of tailgating wants to bring you the fan all the LATEST TAILGATING TRENDS, WHERE FANS CAN COME TOGETHER TO SHARE, FIND, AND LEARN ABOUT TAIGATING FROM THE COMMISHIONER OF TAILGATING while I continue with my celebration of winners. How about those Black Hawks winning their 3rd Stanly Cup, any photo’s you can share? I’d like you to submit them, and I’ll get them posted right away. Did you say Triple Crown Winner, share your story, send a photo, take my poll and enjoy the one thing we all have in common tailgating the last great American Social.

Combine protesting with the all-American social tradition of tailgating on the Beltway January 20, 2017.

Tailgating requires more cooperation by a group of drivers, plus buses carrying protesters, to create entirely blocked areas for protesters to disembark and tailgaters to setup their grills, tables, etc. Safety of your tailgaters and protesters being a primary concern.

Once you have established a tailgating/protest area, invite other drivers join. Live music is too much to ask but you could use generators and sound equipment.

Sports teams talk about their tailgate parties, you have the opportunity to create the most dispersed tailgate party in the history of tailgate parties!

Weather

As of today, WeatherTAB is predicting for January 20, 2017, a 20% chance of rain/snow, high temperature 34 to 44 F, low temperature 14 to 24 F, no wind predictions.

Take appropriate cold weather precautions, dress in layers, use buses as warming stations, etc. Post on social media to get advice from Redskins fans on tailgating in cold weather.

Timing

The inauguration proper is set to begin around NOON, EST so if you are going to impede traffic flow with out of gas cars and tailgating parties, best to start 8:30 – 9:00 AM to have the maximum impact on attendance. Much earlier than that and you may be cleared away, although that effort will further impede traffic flow as well.

Misc.

Did you know that potential protesters are the biggest concern of inauguration planners? I kid you not: Inaugural planners’ biggest concern: Protesters.

You have already set a world record and the event is thirty-five (35) days out!

The details on street closures don’t appear until about ten days before the inauguration but I will post links new inauguration data as it appears.

PS: Be sure to ask for comfortable cold weather clothing as holiday presents. You will be needing it.

neveragain.tech [Or at least not any further]

Filed under: Data Science,Ethics,Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 9:55 am

neveragain.tech [Or at least not any further]

Write a list of things you would never do. Because it is possible that in the next year, you will do them. —Sarah Kendzior [1]

We, the undersigned, are employees of tech organizations and companies based in the United States. We are engineers, designers, business executives, and others whose jobs include managing or processing data about people. We are choosing to stand in solidarity with Muslim Americans, immigrants, and all people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by the incoming administration’s proposed data collection policies. We refuse to build a database of people based on their Constitutionally-protected religious beliefs. We refuse to facilitate mass deportations of people the government believes to be undesirable.

We have educated ourselves on the history of threats like these, and on the roles that technology and technologists played in carrying them out. We see how IBM collaborated to digitize and streamline the Holocaust, contributing to the deaths of six million Jews and millions of others. We recall the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. We recognize that mass deportations precipitated the very atrocity the word genocide was created to describe: the murder of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey. We acknowledge that genocides are not merely a relic of the distant past—among others, Tutsi Rwandans and Bosnian Muslims have been victims in our lifetimes.

Today we stand together to say: not on our watch, and never again.

…

I signed up but FYI, the databases we are pledging to not build, already exist.

The US Census Bureau collects information on race, religion and national origin.

The Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012 (131st Edition) Section 1. Population confirms the Census Bureau has this data:

…

Population tables are grouped by category as follows:

  • Ancestry, Language Spoken At Home
  • Elderly, Racial And Hispanic Origin Population Profiles
  • Estimates And Projections By Age, Sex, Race/Ethnicity
  • Estimates And Projections–States, Metropolitan Areas, Cities
  • Households, Families, Group Quarters
  • Marital status And Living Arrangements
  • Migration
  • National Estimates And Projections
  • Native And Foreign-Born Populations
  • Religion

…

To be fair, the privacy principles of the Census Bureau state:

Respectful Treatment of Respondents: Are our efforts reasonable and did we treat you with respect?

…

    …

  • We promise to ensure that any collection of sensitive information from children and other sensitive populations does not violate federal protections for research participants and is done only when it benefits the public good.

…

Disclosure: I like the US Census Bureau. Left to their own devices, I don’t have any reasonable fear of their mis-using the data in question.

But that’s the question isn’t it? Will the US Census Bureau be left to its own policies and traditions?

I view the various “proposed data collection policies” of the incoming administrations as intentional distractions. While everyone is focused on Trump’s Theater of the Absurd, appointments and policies at the US Census Bureau, may achieve the same ends.

Sign the pledge yes, but use FOIA requests, personal contacts with Census staff, etc., to keep track of the use of dangerous data at the Census Bureau and elsewhere.

Instructions for adding your name to the pledge are found at: https://github.com/neveragaindottech/neveragaindottech.github.io/.

Assume Census Bureau staff are committed to their privacy and appropriate use policies. A friendly approach will be far more productive than a confrontational or suspicious one. Let’s work with them to maintain their agency’s long history of data security.

December 15, 2016

One-Off Email Hacks?

Filed under: Cybersecurity,Government,Politics,Security — Patrick Durusau @ 10:56 am

A tweet I saw this morning asked:

If the DNC/RNC/campaigns were hacked, doesn’t that mean that Russia probably has all of our personal political info? @paix120

While obtaining the files gathered by the DNC, RNC, etc. on voters would require direct hacks, there’s an unfortunate impression that hacking emails requires a direct hack of an account.

Something along the lines of the hacker in War Games, only multiplied:

wargames_460

But if I am interested in compromising/embarrassing emails, why on earth would I go to that much trouble?

Consider the following network map as illustrative only:

network3-460

Whether it is the DNC, RNC or some other group, you need only secure an appropriate location upstream and harvest their network traffic.

If you don’t have a privileged place on the appropriate network, you haven’t offered enough money.

quote-everything-in-life-has-a-price-on-it-460

If you represent a nation-state or multi-national corporation, have you considered purchasing one or more networks and/or ISPs?

One-off email hack tales distract from the larger issue that un-encrypted email is always insecure.

So, yes, if you are using unencrypted email then anyone and everyone has access to your email.

Without the necessity of hacking your email account.

PS: I can gather links on the well known story of assembling networks packets if you are really interested. It has been told at length and better than I can by others.

December 14, 2016

How To Brick A School Bus, Data Science Helps Park It (Part 2)

Filed under: Data Science,Government,Politics,Protests — Patrick Durusau @ 8:20 pm

Immediate reactions to How To Brick A School Bus, Data Science Helps Park It (Part 1) include:

  • Blocking a public street with a bricked school bus is a crime.
  • Publicly committing a crime isn’t on your bucket list.
  • School buses are expensive.
  • Turning over a school bus is dangerous.

All true and all likely to diminish any enthusiasm for participation.

Bright yellow school buses bricked and blocking transportation routes attract the press like flies to …, well, you know, but may not be your best option.

Alternatives to a Bricked School Bus

Despite the government denying your right to assemble near the inauguration on January 20, 2017 in Washington, D.C., what other rights could lead to a newsworthy result?

You have the right to travel, although the Supreme Court has differed on the constitutional basis for that right. (Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, 14th Admendment, page 1834, footnote 21).

You also have the right to be inattentive, which I suspect is secured 9th Amendment:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

If we put the right to travel together with the right to be inattentive (or negligent), then it stands to reason that your car could run out of gas on the highways normally used to attend an inauguration.

Moreover, we know from past cases, that drivers have not been held to be negligent simply for running out of gas, even at the White House.

Where to Run Out of Gas?

Interesting question and the one that originally had me reaching for historic traffic data.

It does exist, yearly summaries (Virginia), Inrix (Washington, DC), Traffic Volume Maps (District Department of Transportation), and others.

But we don’t want to be like the data scientist who used GPS and satellite data to investigate why you can’t get a taxi in Singapore when it rains. Starting Data Analysis with Assumptions Crunching large amounts of data discovered that taxis in Singapore stop moving when it rains.

Interesting observation but not the answer to the original question. Asking a local taxi driver, it was discovered that draconian traffic liability laws are the reason taxi drivers pull over when it rains. Not a “big data” question at all.

What Do We Know About DC Metro Traffic Congestion?

Let’s review what is commonly known about DC metro traffic congestion:

D.C. tops list of nation’s worst traffic gridlock (2015), Study ranks D.C. traffic 2nd-worst in U.S. (2016), DC Commuters Abandon Metro, Making Already Horrible Traffic Even Worse (metro repairs make traffic far worse).

At the outset, we know that motor vehicle traffic is a chaotic system, so small changes, such as addition impediment of traffic flow by cars running out of gas, can have large effects. Especially on a system that teeters on the edge of gridlock every day.

The loss of Metro usage has a cascading impact on metro traffic (from above). Which means blockage of access to Metro stations will exacerbate the impact of blockages on the highway system.

Time and expense could be spent on overly precise positioning of out-of-gas cars, but a two part directive is just as effective if not more so:

  • Go to Metro stations ingresses.
  • Go to any location on traffic map that is not red.

Here’s a sample traffic map that has traffic cameras:

fox5dc-map-460

From Fox5 DC but it is just one of many.

The use of existing traffic maps removes the need to construct the same and enable chaotic participation, which means you quite innocently ran out of gas and did not at any time contact and/or conspire with others to run out of gas.

Conspiracy is a crime and you should always avoid committing crimes.

General Comments

You may be wondering if authorities being aware of a theoretical discussion of people running out of gas will provoke effective counter measures?

I don’t think so and here’s why: What would be the logical response of an authority? Position more tow trucks? Setup temporary refueling stations?

Do you think the press will be interested in those changes? Such that not only do you have the additional friction of the additional equipment but the press buzzing about asking about the changes?

An authorities best strategy would be to do nothing at all but that advice is rarely taken. At the very best, local authorities will make transportation even more fragile in anticipation someone might run out of gas.

The numbers I hear tossed about as additional visitors, some activities are expecting more than 100,000 (Women’s March on Washington), so even random participation in running out of gas should have a significant impact.

What if they held the inauguration to empty bleachers?

Data Science Traditionalists – Don’t Re-invent the Wheel

Nudging a chaotic traffic system into gridlock, for hours if not more than a day, may not strike you as traditional data science.

Perhaps not but please don’t re-invent the wheel.

If you want to be more precise, perhaps to block particular activities or locations, let me direct you to the Howard University Transportation Safety Data Center.

They have the Traffic Count Database System (TCDS). Two screen shots that don’t do it justice:

tdc1-460

tdc2-460

From their guide to the system:

The Traffic Count Database System (TCDS) module is a powerful tool for the traffic engineer or planner to organize an agency’s traffic count data. It allows you to upload data from a traffic counter; view graphs, lists and reports of historic traffic count data; search for count data using either the database or the Google map; and print or export data to your desktop.

This guide is for users who are new to the TCDS system. It will provide you with the tools to carry out many common tasks. Any features not discussed in this guide are considered advanced features. If you have further questions, feel free to explore the online help guide or to contact the staff at MS2 for assistance.

I have referred to the inauguration of president-elect Donald J. Trump but the same lessons are applicable, with local modifications, to many other locations.

PS: Nothing should be construed as approval and/or encouragement that you break local laws in any venue. Those vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and what are acceptable risks and consequences are entirely your decision.

If you do run out of gas in or near Washington, DC on January 20, 2017, be polite to first-responders, including police officers. If you don’t realize your real enemies lie elsewhere, then you too have false class consciousness.

If you are tail-gating on the “Beltway,” offer responders a soft drink (they are on duty) and a hot dog.

Be Undemocratic – Think For Other People – Courtesy of Slate

Filed under: Bias,Censorship,Free Speech,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 9:20 am

Feeling down? Left out of the “big boys” internet censor game by the likes of Facebook and Twitter?

Dry your eyes! Slate has ridden to your rescue!

Will Oremus writes in: Only You Can Stop the Spread of Fake News:

…
Slate has created a new tool for internet users to identify, debunk, and—most importantly—combat the proliferation of bogus stories. Conceived and built by Slate developers, with input and oversight from Slate editors, it’s a Chrome browser extension called This Is Fake, and you can download and install it for free either on its home page or in the Chrome web store. The point isn’t just to flag fake news; you probably already know it when you see it. It’s to remind you that, anytime you see fake news in your feed, you have an opportunity to interrupt its viral transmission, both within your network and beyond.
…

I’m glad Slate is taking the credit/blame for This is Fake.

Can you name a more undemocratic position than assuming your fellow voters are incapable of making intelligent choices about the news they consume.

Well, everybody but you and your friends. Right?

Thanks for your offer to help Slate, but no thanks.

December 13, 2016

The Twitterverse of Donald Trump, in 26,234 Tweets

Filed under: Politics,Tweets,Twitter — Patrick Durusau @ 7:35 pm

The Twitterverse of Donald Trump, in 26,234 Tweets by Lam Thuy Vo.

From the post:

…
We wanted to get a better idea of where President-elect Donald Trump gets his information. So we analyzed everything he has tweeted since he launched his campaign to take a look at the links he has shared and the news sources they came from.
…

Step-by-step guide to the software and analysis Trump’s tweets!

Excellent!

Follow: @lamthuyvo.

Which public figure’s tweets are you going to track/analyze?

December 12, 2016

Who Enabled Russian “Interference” With Election? (Facts, Yes, Facts)

Filed under: Cybersecurity,Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 9:10 pm

I ask: “Who Assisted With Russian “Interference” With Election?,” because even if the DNC was hacked at the instigation of some Russian government agency, that doesn’t equal interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Russian hackers can’t vote in the United States, with the possible exception of Chicago, so the initial hack had no impact on the election.

Following the alleged Russian hack, the files were transferred to Wikileaks. At the time Julian Assange, editorin-chief of Wikileaks was residing in the Embassy of Ecuador, London. Julian and friends can’t vote in the United States either, again excepting for Chicago.

Up to this point, there is exactly zero impact on the 2016 US presidential election.

Even Snopes concedes it is only unproven that Hillary Clinton wants to assassinate Julian Assange, so it isn’t difficult to imagine hard feelings on the part of Julian.

Wikileaks has a long history of being equally difficult for all governments that needs no elaboration here. If you doubt that, you haven’t spent any time at the Wikileaks site. Take a day or so to satisfy yourself on that score and return to this post.

In any event, with great fanfare and general disappointment with each release, Wikileaks trickled out the Podesta emails. John Podesta was Clinton’s campaign manager.

I saw the emails as did many others but still not in numbers that would constitute “interference” with an election.

So, where did the Russian “interference” come from?

Did the New York Times Enable Russian “Interference”?

If you run this query:

http://api.nytimes.com/svc/search/v2/articlesearch.json?fq=body: (%22Clinton%22AND%22Wikileaks%22)&begin_date=20160901
&end_date=20161107&api-key=

with your own New York Times article API key, you will get (in part):

{“response”:{“meta”:{“hits”:252,”time”:56,”offset”:0},

In English: Between September 1, 2016 and November 7, 2016, both “Clinton” and “Wikileaks” occurred in 252 separate articles appearing in the New York Times.

Over 68 days there were more than 4.5 articles per day in the New York Times on Hillary Clinton and Wikileaks.

Did The Guardian Enable Russian “Interference”?

If you run this query:

https://content.guardianapis.com/search?q=clinton%20AND%20wikileaks&from-date=2016-09-01&to-date=2016-11-07&api-key=

with your own Guardian API key, you will get (in part):

{“response”:{“status”:”ok”,”userTier”:”developer”,”total”:123,”startIndex”:1,

In English: Between September 1, 2016 and November 7, 2016, both “Clinton” and “Wikileaks” occurred in 123 separate times in The Guardian.

Over 68 days there were approximately 1.8 articles per day in The Guardian on Hillary Clinton and Wikileaks.

Enabling “Interference”

Let’s be clear, I chose the New York Times and The Guardian in part because they have public APIs but also to illustrate the absurdity of the claims of “interference” in an election by the Russians.

The chain of “inference” runs something along the lines of:

  • Looks like Russian work (no fact/evidence)
  • Wikileaks is a Russian operative (facially false)
  • One or more of the editors of the New York Times are Russian sleeper agents (also facially false)

I included the line about New York Times editors because the emails didn’t spread themselves from the Wikileaks servers did they?

Summary

To find Russian “interference” with the 2016 US presidential election you have to believe that Wikileaks, the New York Times, and The Guardian (and others) all acted in furtherance of a plan hatched by imaginary Russian hackers to release some of the dullest emails since the first email (1971).

You can believe that based on specious assurances from known liars (Clapper comes to mind) but I’m passing.

Congressional hearings should include every news source and commentator that repeated the Clinton/Wikileaks story so they can be sifted for “Russian” influence and fellow travelers.

“We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin.

How To Defeat Grumpy Bear Email Leaks

Filed under: Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 4:10 pm

Grumpy Bear, a/k/a, Russia, is alleged to have interfered with the 2016 US presidential election.

russian-bear-460

I say “alleged” because the “evidence,” if you want to call it that, consists of “looks like,” “similar to,” and similar comparisons, to yet unrevealed evidence.

Being mindful that the FBI, one of the supporters of the Russian interference rumor mill, had to get special Windows software written to separate husband and wife emails.

…
Forensic computer experts developed new software to “de-dupe” the contents, weeding out duplicate emails. With a warrant in the FBI’s possession, agents can read Weiner’s emails and determine if any of the messages are relevant to Mrs. Clinton’s server.
…

The CIA has the technical chops to make an assessment but you have to assume they aren’t aping the FBI from published news reports. The Department of Homeland Security echoes that opinion, but the CIA + FBI + DHS = one opinion. With no facts being given.

Whatever conclusion you reach on the involvement or non-involvement of Grumpy Bear, Hillary Clinton had the ability to end the email “crisis” at the time of her own choosing.

The simple solution was to release all of her unclassified emails and those of her campaign staff. Not just John Podesta‘s but all of them.

For good measure, I would have thrown Bill Clinton‘s in as well. Give the press a target other than Hillary.

After the initial shock of transparency wore off, the press would quickly discover there’s nothing there and move along. Something else, perhaps legitimate campaign issues, would have been at the top of the news.

Don’t repeat Clinton’s mistake and allow a leak, that has already happened, become an albatross around your neck.

December 10, 2016

The Koch Brothers are Attacking Libraries – FYI – Funding Appeal

Filed under: Funding,Library,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 11:09 am

EveryLibrary has a funding appeal you need to seriously consider.

The Koch Brothers are Attacking Libraries

From the post:

We are continuing to see the Koch Brothers Super PAC, Americans for Prosperity go after libraries. This last election cycle was the fifth clear example of their involvement in the agenda to defund libraries. We need your help to fight back. When the Koch Brothers and AFP puts out an anti-tax and anti-library attack, they do it with direct mail and robocalls – and they always do it late in the campaign. We need the resources to confront these anti-tax forces before they can start in the next town. Help us stop them with a one time donation today or a $5-10 monthly donation.
… (emphasis in original)

I won’t repeat the crimes committed against libraries by the Koch Brothers and their Super PAC, Americans for Prosperity, here, they are too sickening. The EveryLibrary post has a sub-set of their offenses described.

Be sure to check out the EveryLibrary site and their journal, The Political Librarian.

From their What We Do page:

EveryLibrary is the first and only national organization dedicated to building voter support for libraries. We are chartered “to promote public, school, and college libraries, including by advocating in support of public funding for libraries and building public awareness of public funding initiatives”. Our primary work is to support local public libraries when they have a referendum or measure on the ballot. We do this in three ways: by training library staff, trustees, and volunteers to plan and run effective Information Only campaigns; by assisting local Vote Yes committees on planning and executing Get Out the Vote work for their library’s measure; and by speaking directly to the public about the value and relevance of libraries and librarians. Our focus on activating voters on Election Day is unique in the library advocacy ecosystem. This is reflected in the training and coaching we do for campaigns.
…

If you have ever fantasized about saving the Library at Alexandria or opposing the sack of Rome by the Vandals and the Visigoths, now is your chance to do more than fantasize.

Libraries are islands of knowledge under siege by the modern analogues of the barbarians that plunged the world into centuries of darkness.

Will you piss and moan on Facebook, Twitter, etc. about the crumbling defenses of libraries or will you take your place on the ramparts?

Yes?

December 9, 2016

Data Science and Protests During the Age of Trump [How To Brick A School Bus…]

Filed under: Censorship,Data Science,Government,Politics,Protests — Patrick Durusau @ 3:48 pm

Pre-inauguration suppression of free speech/protests is underway for the Trump regime. (CNN link as subject identifier for Donald J. Trump, even though it fails to mention he looks like a cheeto in a suit.)

Women’s March on Washington barred from Lincoln Memorial by Amber Jamieson and Jessica Glenza.

From the post:

…
For the thousands hoping to echo the civil rights and anti-Vietnam rallies at Lincoln Memorial by joining the women’s march on Washington the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration: time to readjust your expectations.

The Women’s March won’t be held at the Lincoln Memorial.

That’s because the National Park Service, on behalf of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, filed documents securing large swaths of the national mall and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration festivities. None of these spots will be open for protesters.

The NPS filed a “massive omnibus blocking permit” for many of Washington DC’s most famous political locations for days and weeks before and after the inauguration on 20 January, said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a constitutional rights litigator and the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.
…



I contacted Amber Jamieson for more details on the permits and she forwarded two links (thanks Amber!):

Press Conference: Mass Protests Will Go Forward During Inauguration, which had the second link she forwarded:

PresidentialInauguralCommittee12052016.pdf, the permit requests made by the National Park Service on behalf of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Start with where protests are “permitted” to see what has been lost.

A grim read but 36 CFR 7.96 says in part:

…
3 (i) White House area. No permit may be issued authorizing demonstrations in the White House area, except for the White House sidewalk, Lafayette Park and the Ellipse. No permit may be issued authorizing special events, except for the Ellipse, and except for annual commemorative wreath-laying ceremonies relating to the statutes in Lafayette Park.
…
(emphasis added, material hosted by the Legal Information Institute (LII))

Summary: In White House area, protesters have only three places for permits to protest:

  • White House sidewalk
  • Lafayette Park
  • Ellipse

White House sidewalk / Lafayette Park (except North-East Quadrant) – Application 16-0289

Dates:

Set-up dates starting 11/1/2016 6:00 am ending 1/19/2017
Activity dates starting 1/20/2017 ending 1/20/2017
Break-down dates starting 1/21/2017 ending 3/1/2017 11:59 pm

Closes:

…
All of Lafayette Park except for its northeast quadrant pursuant to 36 CFR 7.96 (g)(4)(iii)(A). The initial areas of Lafayette Park and the White House Sidewalk that will be needed for construction set-up, and which will to be closed to ensure public safety, is detailed in the attached map. The attached map depicts the center portion of the White House Sidewalk as well as a portion of the southern oval of Lafayette Park. The other remaining areas in Lafayette Park and the White House Sidewalk that will be needed for construction set-up, will be closed as construction set-up progresses into these other areas, which will also then be delineated by fencing and sign age to ensure public safety.
…

Two of the three possible protest sites in the White House closed by Application 16-0289.

Ellipse – Application 17-0001

Dates:

Set-up dates starting 01/6/2017 6:00 am ending 1/19/2017
Activity dates starting 1/20/2017 ending 1/20/2017
Break-down dates starting 1/21/2017 ending 2/17/2017 11:59 pm

These dates are at variance with those for the White House sidewalk and Lafayette Park (shorter).

Closes:

Ellipse, a fitty-two acre park, as depicted by Google Maps:

ellipse-460

Plans for the Ellipse?

…
Purpose of Activity: In connection with the Presidential Inaugural Ceremonies, this application is for use of the Ellipse by PIC, in the event that PIC seeks its use for Inaugural ceremonies and any necessary staging, which is expected to be:

A) In the event that PIC seeks the use of the Ellipse for pre- and/or post- Inaugural ceremonies, the area will be used for staging the event(s), staging of media to cover and/or broadcast the event, and if possible for ticketed and/or public viewing; and/or ­

B) In the event that PIC seeks the use of the Ellipse for the Inaugural ceremony and Inaugural parade staging, the area will be used to stage the various parade elements, for media to cover and/or broadcast the event, and if possible for ticketed and/or public viewing.
…

The PIC has no plans to use the Ellipse but has reserved it no doubt to deny its use to others.

Those two applications close three out of three protest sites in the White House area. The PIC went even further to reach out and close off other potential protest sites.

Other permits granted to the PIC include:

Misc. Areas – Application 16-0357

Ten (10) misc. areas identified by attached maps for PIC activities.

Arguably legitimate since the camp followers, sycophants and purveyors of “false news” need somewhere to be during the festivities.

National Mall -> Trump Mall – Application 17-0002

The National Mall will become Trump Mall for the following dates:

Set-up dates starting 01/6/2017 6:00 am ending 1/19/2017
Activity dates starting 1/20/2017 ending 1/20/2017
Break-down dates starting 1/21/2017 ending 1/30/2017 11:59 pm

Closes:

…
Plan for Proposed Activity: Consistent with NPS regulations at 36 CFR 7.96{g)(4)(iii)(C), this application seeks, in connection with the Presidential Inaugural Ceremonies, the area of the National Mall between 14th – 4th Streets, for the exclusive use of the Joint Task Force Headquarters (JTFHQ) on Inaugural Day for the assembly, staging, security and weather protection of the pre-Inaugural parade components and floats on Inaugural Day between 14th – 7th Streets. It also includes the placement of jumbotrons and sound towers by the Architect of the Capitol or the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies so that the Inaugural Ceremony may be observed by the Joint Congressional Committee’s ticketed standing room ticket holders between 4th – 3rd streets and the general public, which will be located on the National Mall between 7th – 4th Streets. Further, a 150-foot by 200-foot area on the National Mall just east of 7th Street, will be for the exclusive use of the Presidential Inaugural Committee for television and radio media broadcasts on Inaugural Day.
…

In the plans thus far, no mention of the main card or where the ring plus cage will be erected on Trump Mall. (that’s sarcasm, not “fake news”)

Most Other Places – Application 17-0003

If you read 36 CFR 7.96 carefully, you noticed there are places always prohibited to protesters:

…
(ii) Other park areas. Demonstrations and special events are not allowed in the following other park areas:

(A) The Washington Monument, which means the area enclosed within the inner circle that surrounds the Monument’s base, except for the official annual commemorative Washington birthday ceremony.

(B) The Lincoln Memorial, which means that portion of the park area which is on the same level or above the base of the large marble columns surrounding the structure, and the single series of marble stairs immediately adjacent to and below that level, except for the official annual commemorative Lincoln birthday ceremony.

(C) The Jefferson Memorial, which means the circular portion of the Jefferson Memorial enclosed by the outermost series of columns, and all portions on the same levels or above the base of these columns, except for the official annual commemorative Jefferson birthday ceremony.

(D) The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, except for official annual Memorial Day and Veterans Day commemorative ceremonies.
…

What about places just outside the already restricted areas?

Dates:

Set-up dates starting 01/6/2017 6:00 am ending 1/19/2017
Activity dates starting 1/20/2017 ending 1/20/2017
Break-down dates starting 1/21/2017 ending 2/10/2017 11:59 pm

Closes:

…
The Lincoln Memorial area, as more fully detailed as the park area bordered by 23rd Street, Daniel French Drive and Independence Avenue, Henry Bacon Drive and Constitution Avenue, Constitution Avenue between 15th & 23rd Streets, Constitution Gardens to include Area #5 outside of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial restricted area, the Lincoln Memorial outside of its restricted area, the Lincoln Memorial Plaza and Reflecting Pool Area, JFK Hockey Field, park area west of Lincoln Memorial between French Drive, Henry Bacon Drive, Parking Lots A, Band C, East and West Potomac Park, Memorial Bridge, Memorial Circle and Memorial Drive, the World War II Memorial. The Washington Monument Grounds as more fully depicted as the park area bounded by 14th & 15th Streets and Madison Drive and Independence Avenue.
…

Not to use but to prevent its use by others:

…
Purpose of Activity: In connection with the Presidential Inaugural Ceremonies, this application is for use of the Lincoln Memorial areas and Washington Monument grounds by PIC, in the event that PIC seeks its use for the Inaugural related ceremonies and any necessary staging, which is expected to be:

A) In the event that PIC seeks the use of the Lincoln Memorial areas for a pre-and/or post Inaugural ceremonies, the area will be used for staging the event(s), staging of media to cover and/or broadcast the event, and for ticketed and/or public viewing.

B) In the event that PIC seeks to use the Washington Monument grounds for a public overflow area to view the Inaugural ceremony and/ or parade, the area will be used for the public who will observe the activities through prepositioned jumbotrons and sound towers.
…

Next Steps

For your amusement, all five applications contain the following question answered No:

Do you have any reason to believe or any information indicating that any individual, group or organization might seek to disrupt the activity for which this application is submitted?

I would venture to say someone hasn’t been listening. 😉

Among the data science questions raised by this background information are:

  • How best to represent these no free speech and/or no free assembly zones on a map?
  • What data sets do you need to make protesters effective under these restrictions?
  • What questions would you ask of those data sets?
  • How to decide between viral/spontaneous action versus publicly known but lawful conduct, up until the point it becomes unlawful?

If you use any of this information, please credit Amber Jamieson, Jessica Glenza and the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund as the primary sources.

See further news from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund at: Your Right of Resistance.

Tune in next Monday for: How To Brick A School Bus, Data Science Helps Park It.

PS: “The White House Sidewalk is the sidewalk between East and West Executive Avenues, on the south side Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.” From OMB Control No. 1024-0021 – Application for a Permit to Conduct a Demonstration or Special Event in Park Areas and a Waiver of Numerical Limitations on Demonstrations for White House Sidewalk and/or Lafayette Park

November 29, 2016

Trump, Twitter and Bullying The Press

Filed under: Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 9:23 am

Jay Smooth tweeted yesterday:

Keep in mind the purpose of this clown show: the President-Elect of the United States is using twitter to single out & bully a journalist.

Attaching an image that contained tweets 5 through 8 from the following list:

  1. “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”
  2. “I thought that @CNN would get better after they failed so badly in their support of Hillary Clinton however, since election, they are worse!”
  3. “The Great State of Michigan was just certified as a Trump WIN giving all of our MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN supporters another victory – 306!”
  4. “@CNN is so embarrassed by their total (100%) support of Hillary Clinton, and yet her loss in a landslide, that they don’t know what to do.”
  5. “@sdcritic: @HighonHillcrest @jeffzeleny @CNN There is NO QUESTION THAT #voterfraud did take place, and in favor of #CorruptHillary !”
  6. “@FiIibuster: @jeffzeleny Pathetic – you have no sufficient evidence that Donald Trump did not suffer from voter fraud, shame! Bad reporter.”
  7. ‘”@JoeBowman12: @jeffzeleny just another generic CNN part time wannabe journalist !” @CNN still doesn’t get it. They will never learn!’
  8. “@HighonHillcrest: @jeffzeleny what PROOF do u have DonaldTrump did not suffer from millions of FRAUD votes? Journalist? Do your job! @CNN”
  9. “Just met with General Petraeus–was very impressed!”
  10. “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal.”

Can Trump bully @jeffzeleny if Jeff and the press aren’t listening?

Jeff filters @realDonaldTrump excluding any tweets with @jeffzeleny and subscribes to a similar filter for all journalists twitter handles.

His feed from @realDonaldTrump now reads:

  1. “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”
  2. “I thought that @CNN would get better after they failed so badly in their support of Hillary Clinton however, since election, they are worse!”
  3. “The Great State of Michigan was just certified as a Trump WIN giving all of our MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN supporters another victory – 306!”
  4. “@CNN is so embarrassed by their total (100%) support of Hillary Clinton, and yet her loss in a landslide, that they don’t know what to do.”
  5. “Just met with General Petraeus–was very impressed!”
  6. “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal.”

Trump’s tweets still contain enough material for a stand up routine by a comic or the front page of a news paper.

On the other hand, shareable user filters starve Trump (and other bullies) of the ability to be bullies.

Why isn’t Twitter doing something as dead simple as user filters than can be shared?

You would have to ask Twitter that question, I certainly don’t know.

November 27, 2016

False News: Trump and the Emoluments Clause

Filed under: Journalism,News,Politics,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 10:07 pm

Numerous false news accounts are circulating about president-elect Trump and the Emoluments Clause.

The story line is that Trump must divest himself of numerous businesses to avoid violating the “Emoluments Clause” of the U.S. Constitution. But when you read the Emoluments Clause:

Clause 8. No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

that conclusion is far from clear.

Why would it say: “…without the Consent of Congress….”

That question was answered in 1871 and sheds light on the issue of today:

In 1871 the Attorney General of the United States ruled that: “A minister of the United States abroad is not prohibited by the Constitution from rendering a friendly service to a foreign power, even that of negotiating a treaty for it, provided he does not become an officer of that power . . . but the acceptance of a formal commission, as minister plenipotentiary, creates an official relation between the individual thus commissioned and the government which in this way accredits him as its representative,” which is prohibited by this clause of the Constitution. 2013

ftnt: 2013 13 Ops. Atty. Gen. 538 (1871).

All of that is from: Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov | Library of Congress, in particular: https://www.congress.gov/content/conan/pdf/GPO-CONAN-REV-2016-9-2.pdf.

If you read the Emoluments Clause to prohibit Trump from representing another government, unless Congress consents, it makes sense as written.

Those falsely claiming that Trump must divest himself of his business interests and/or put them in a blind trust under the Emoluments Clause, Lawrence Tribe comes to mind, are thinking of a tradition of presidents using blind trusts.

But tradition doesn’t amend the Constitution.

Any story saying that the Emoluments Clause compels president-elect Trump to either divest himself of assets and/or use a blind trust are false.

PS: I have admired Prof. Lawrence Tribe’s work for years and am saddened that he is willing to sully his reputation in this way.

November 23, 2016

Taping Donald, Melania, Mike and others

Filed under: Cybersecurity,Government,Politics,Security — Patrick Durusau @ 4:23 pm

Just in time for a new adminstration, Great. Now even your headphones can spy on you by Andy Greenberg.

From the post:

CAUTIOUS COMPUTER USERS put a piece of tape over their webcam. Truly paranoid ones worry about their devices’ microphones—some even crack open their computers and phones to disable or remove those audio components so they can’t be hijacked by hackers. Now one group of Israeli researchers has taken that game of spy-versus-spy paranoia a step further, with malware that converts your headphones into makeshift microphones that can slyly record your conversations.

Researchers at Israel’s Ben Gurion University have created a piece of proof-of-concept code they call “Speake(a)r,” designed to demonstrate how determined hackers could find a way to surreptitiously hijack a computer to record audio even when the device’s microphones have been entirely removed or disabled. The experimental malware instead repurposes the speakers in earbuds or headphones to use them as microphones, converting the vibrations in air into electromagnetic signals to clearly capture audio from across a room.

“People don’t think about this privacy vulnerability,” says Mordechai Guri, the research lead of Ben Gurion’s Cyber Security Research Labs. “Even if you remove your computer’s microphone, if you use headphones you can be recorded.”

…

But the Ben Gurion researchers took that hack a step further. Their malware uses a little-known feature of RealTek audio codec chips to silently “retask” the computer’s output channel as an input channel, allowing the malware to record audio even when the headphones remain connected into an output-only jack and don’t even have a microphone channel on their plug. The researchers say the RealTek chips are so common that the attack works on practically any desktop computer, whether it runs Windows or MacOS, and most laptops, too. RealTek didn’t immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment on the Ben Gurion researchers’ work. “This is the real vulnerability,” says Guri. “It’s what makes almost every computer today vulnerable to this type of attack.”
…

(emphasis in original)

Wired doesn’t give up any more details but that should be enough to get you started.

You must search for RealTek audio codec datasheets. RealTek wants a signed NDA from a development partner before you can access the datasheets.

Among numerous others, I know for a fact that datasheets on ALC655, ALC662, ALC888, ALC1150, and ALC5631Q are freely available online.

You will have to replicate the hack but then:

  1. Choose your targets for taping
  2. Obtain their TV/music preferences from Amazon, etc.
  3. License new content (would not want to upset the RIAA) for web streaming
  4. Offer your target the “latest” TV/music by (name) for free 30 day trial

For the nosy non-hacker, expect to see “hacked” earphones for sale on the Dark Web.

Perhaps even in time for holiday shopping!

Warning:Hacking or buying hacked headphones is a violation of any number of federal, state and local laws, depending on your jurisdiction.

PS: I am curious if the mic in cellphones is subject to a similar hack.

Perhaps this is the dawning of the age of transparency. 😉

November 21, 2016

MuckRock Needs Volunteers (9 states in particular)

Filed under: FOIA,Government,Politics,Transparency — Patrick Durusau @ 2:02 pm

MuckRock needs your help to keep filing in all 50 states by Beryl Lipton.

From the post:

Election time excitement got you feeling a little more patriotic than usual? Looking for a way to help but not sure you have the time? Well, MuckRock is looking for a few good people to do a big service requiring little effort: serve as our resident proxies.

…

A few states have put up barriers at their borders, limiting required disclosure and response to requests to only residents. One more thing added to the regular rigamarole of requesting public records, it’s huge block to comparative studies and useful, outside accountability.

This is where you come in.

proxymap-460

We’re looking for volunteers in the ten states that can whip out their residency requirements whenever they get the chance:

  • Alabama
  • Arkansas
  • Georgia
  • Missouri
  • Montana.
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • Tennessee
  • Virginia

As a MuckRock proxy requester, you’ll serve as the in-state request representative, allowing requests to be submitted in your name and enabling others to continue to demand accountability. In exchange, you’ll get your own Professional MuckRock account – 20 requests a month and all that comes with them – and the gratitude of the transparency community.

Interested in helping the cause? Let us know at info@muckrock.com, or via the from below.

…

Despite my view that government disclosures are previously undisclosed government lies, I have volunteered for this project.

Depending on where you reside, you should too and/or contribute to support MuckRock.

November 20, 2016

How to get started with Data Science using R

Filed under: Politics,Programming,R — Patrick Durusau @ 5:40 pm

How to get started with Data Science using R by Karthik Bharadwaj.

From the post:

R being the lingua franca of data science and is one of the popular language choices to learn data science. Once the choice is made, often beginners find themselves lost in finding out the learning path and end up with a signboard as below.

In this blog post I would like to lay out a clear structural approach to learning R for data science. This will help you to quickly get started in your data science journey with R.
…

You won’t find anything you don’t already know but this is a great short post to pass onto others.

Point out R skills will help them expose and/or conceal government corruption.

Refining The Dakota Access Pipeline Target List

Filed under: #DAPL,Data Mining,Government,Politics — Patrick Durusau @ 3:56 pm

I mentioned in Exploding the Dakota Access Pipeline Target List that while listing of the banks financing Dakota Access Pipeline is great, banks and other legal entities are owned, operated and act through people. People, who unlike abstract legal entities, are subject to the persuasion of other people.

Unfortunately, almost all discussions of #DAPL focus on the on-site brutality towards Native Americans and/or the corporations involved in the project.

The protesters deserve our support but resisting local pawns (read police) may change the route of the pipeline, but it won’t stop the pipeline.

To stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, there are only two options:

  1. Influence investors to abandon the project
  2. Make the project prohibitively expensive

In terms of #1, you have to strike through the corporate veil to reach the people who own and direct the affairs of the corporation.

“Piercing the corporate veil” is legal terminology but I mean it as in knowing the named and located individuals are making decisions for a corporation and the named and located individuals who are its owners.

A legal fiction, such as a corporation, cannot feel public pressure, distress, social ostracism, etc., all things that people are subject to suffering.

Even so, persuasion can only be brought to bear on named and located individuals.

News reports giving only corporate names and not individual owners/agents creates a boil of obfuscation.

A boil of obfuscation that needs lancing. Shall we?

To get us off on a common starting point, here are some resources I will be reviewing/using:

Corporate Research Project

The Corporate Research Project assists community, environmental and labor organizations in researching companies and industries. Our focus is on identifying information that can be used to advance corporate accountability campaigns. [Sponsors Dirt Diggers Digest]

Dirt Diggers Digest

chronicling corporate misbehavior (and how to research it) [blog]

LittleSis

LittleSis* is a free database of who-knows-who at the heights of business and government.

* opposite of Big Brother

OpenCorporates


The largest open database of companies in the world [115,419,017 companies]

Revealing the World of Private Companies by Sheila Coronel

Coronel’s blog post has numerous resources and links.

She also points out that the United States is a top secrecy destination:

…
A top secrecy jurisdiction is the United States, which doesn’t collect the names of shareholders of private companies and is unsurprisingly one of the most favored nations for hiding illicit wealth. (See, for example, this Reuters report on shell companies in Wyoming.) As Senator Carl Levin says, “It takes more information to obtain a driver’s license or open a U.S. bank account than it does to form a U.S. corporation.” Levin has introduced a bill that would end the formation of companies for unidentified persons, but that is unlikely to pass Congress.
…

If we picked one of the non-U.S. sponsors of the #DAPL, we might get lucky and hit a transparent or semi-transparent jurisdiction.

Let’s start with a semi-tough case, a U.S. corporation but a publicly traded one, Wells Fargo.

Where would you go next?

November 12, 2016

Preventing Another Trump – Censor Facebook To Protect “Dumb” Voters

Filed under: Censorship,Free Speech,Government,Journalism,News,Politics,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 9:01 pm

Facebook can no longer be ‘I didn’t do it’ boy of global media by Emily Bell.

…
Barack Obama called out the fake news problem directly at a rally in Michigan on the eve of the election: “And people, if they just repeat attacks enough, and outright lies over and over again, as long as it’s on Facebook and people can see it, as long as it’s on social media, people start believing it….And it creates this dust cloud of nonsense.”

Yesterday, Zuckerberg disputed this, saying that “the idea that fake news on Facebook… influenced the election…is a pretty crazy idea” and defending the “diversity” of information Facebook users see. Adam Mosseri, the company’s VP of Product Development, said Facebook must work on “improving our ability to detect misinformation.” This line is part of Zuckerberg’s familiar but increasingly unconvincing narrative that Facebook is not a media company, but a tech company. Given the shock of Trump’s victory and the universal finger-pointing at Facebook as a key player in the election, it is clear that Zuckerberg is rapidly losing that argument.

In fact, Facebook, now the most influential and powerful publisher in the world, is becoming the “I didn’t do it” boy of global media. Clinton supporters and Trump detractors are searching for reasons why a candidate who lied so frequently and so flagrantly could have made it to the highest office in the land. News organizations, particularly cable news, are shouldering part of the blame for failing to report these lies for what they were. But a largely hidden sphere of propagandistic pages that target and populate the outer reaches of political Facebook are arguably even more responsible.
…

You can tell Bell has had several cups of the Obama kool-aid by her uncritical acceptance of Barack Obama’s groundless attacks on “…fake news problem….”

Does Bell examine the incidence of “fake news” in other elections?

No.

Does Bell specify which particular “fake news” stories should have been corrected?

No.

Does Bell explain why voters can’t distinguish “fake news” from truthful news?

No.

Does Bell explain why mainstream media is better than voters at detecting “fake news?”

No.

Does Bell explain why she should be the judge over reporting during the 2016 Presidential election?

No.

Does Bell explain why she and Obama consider voters to be dumber than themselves?

No.

Do I think Bell or anyone else should be censoring Facebook for “false news?”

No.

How about you?

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