Wednesday, August 17, 2016

IN THE BEGINNING...OF ISIS

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1. IN THE BEGINNING...OF ISIS

This looks to be an interesting series of reads from Foreign Policy on an insiders view of the creation of ISIS. "To this day, Abu Ahmad is a serving member in the organization, with unique insight into the group’s behavior and its history. Over the course of our more than 15 meetings with Abu Ahmad, we questioned him intensively about his knowledge of the jihadi group and his bona fides as one of the 'soldiers of the caliphate.' Over a period of 10 months, we spent more than 100 hours with him. He patiently answered our questions on everything from how he ended up with the Islamic State, how the organization is organized, and the identity of the European foreign fighters within the group." From FP - Present at the Creation

2. MR ROBOT

"If the leak is a genuine sample of NSA code - which, so far, researchers say is the case - then this month's season of information warfare has taken another bizarre turn. A penetration of an NSA tool of this kind would probably require the tools of hackers working on behalf of a nation-state." From FP - 'Shadow Brokers' Claim to be Selling NSA Malware, in What Could Be Historic Hack

3. “This is a big [expletive] deal.”

"One academic paper suggested that the Obamacare vote alone cost the Democrats roughly 25 House seats — the difference between a historic landslide and two more years in the majority. Any reasonable analysis must conclude that the political opportunity costs of Obamacare have been considerable. The other side of the legacy ledger — the human benefits — are only beginning to be measured." From WaPo - The political price of Obamacare

+ From NYT - Editorial: Obamacare Will Survive Aetna’s Retreat

4. UNFRIEND

About the only thing political posts on social media change is the number of people who unfriend you. "A staggering 94% of Republicans, 92% of Democrats, and 85% of independents on Facebook say they have never been swayed by a political post, according to Rantic, a firm that sells social media followers. The firm surveyed 10,000 Facebook users who self-identified as Republicans, Democrats, or independents, Wired reported." From Quartz - Your political Facebook posts aren’t changing how your friends think

5. EVEN THE LOSERS

"These other athletes never reach the podium. They perform against the odds and fail—sometimes dramatically. But driven by of a love of sport and country, they do it anyway, and in the process offer an inspiring reminder that some Olympians are—almost—just like us." From Quartz - Ode to the great heroism of Rio’s dad-bod, last-place Olympians


BOTTOM OF THE NEWS

- Koreans enjoy best mobile internet, and the Dutch spend most time on Wi-Fi, says OpenSignal

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