Site Catering to Online Criminals Seized by FBI

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Site Catering to Online Criminals Seized by FBI (Maria) 

The author writes, “RAMP — the predominantly Russian-language online bazaar that billed itself as the only place ransomware allowed’ — had its dark web and clear web sites seized by the FBI as the agency tries to combat the growing scourge threatening critical infrastructure and organizations around the world. Visits to both sites on Wednesday returned pages that said the FBI had taken control of the RAMP domains, which mirrored each other.”

The Instant Smear Campaign Against Border Patrol Shooting Victim Alex Pretti (Reader Jim)

From Wired: “Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said during a press conference on Saturday that information about what had led up to Pretti’s fatal confrontation was limited, but at a separate press conference, Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol commander overseeing federal operations in Minneapolis, claimed to have a full assessment of what had taken place. Bovino claimed Pretti had approached officers with a 9-mm handgun, resisted disarmament, and was shot in what he described as a clear act of self-defense. He claimed the man had two loaded magazines and lacked identification, and alleged that Pretti intended to ‘massacre law enforcement,’ while the Border Patrol agent who killed Pretti, he said, had extensive training. … Key portions of these claims are contradicted by publicly available evidence.”

Why Trump Won’t Stop Until Everything Is Destroyed (Sean)

From The Daily Beast: “President Donald Trump’s desire for drama is on a collision course with his self-destructive tendencies, his biographer says. Author Michael Wolff, co-host of the Inside Trump’s Head podcast, said that the president’s personality traits were on display this week when it came to negotiations over Greenland. Ultimately, Trump backed down from his demand that the US acquire the entire semi-autonomous island and from his threat to impose tariffs on several European nations until a deal was reached. ‘It’s always important to remember about Donald Trump that, along with everything else, he’s incredibly self-destructive,’ Wolff told co-host Joanna Coles. ‘He has made a monumental mess for himself… I think Greenland is a silver bullet pointed at his head, which maybe we’ll forget about, but I don’t think we’re going to forget about Minneapolis.’”

Extreme Heat Is Breaking Honey Bees’ Natural Cooling System (Mili)

The author writes, “Honey bees can normally keep their hives perfectly climate-controlled, but extreme heat can overwhelm their defenses. During a scorching Arizona summer, researchers found that high temperatures caused damaging temperature fluctuations inside hives, leading to population declines. Smaller colonies were hit hardest, experiencing the most severe swings. As global temperatures rise, heat waves could pose a growing threat to bees and the pollination they provide.”

The Superhuman President (Laura)

From New York Magazine: “When I arrived at the Oval Office in December to talk to Donald Trump about his health, the president was standing next to a couple of men clutching pieces of paper labeled TALKING POINTS. ‘These are two doctors,’ Trump told me before I could ask a question. ‘And by the way, I don’t know them, they’re not my best friends. They’re respected doctors that practice out of Walter Reed. And they happen to be taking care of me for anything — but I don’t need any taking care of because I’m in perfect health. I do purposely every year or less a physical, because I think the American people should know that the president is healthy so you don’t get a guy like the last one, who was the worst thing that ever happened to older people. Because I know people in their 90s that are 100 percent.’ … ‘Let’s sit for a couple of minutes,’ he said. ‘I hate to waste a lot of time on this, but if you’re going to write a bad story about my health, I’m going to sue the ass off of New York Magazine.’”

In a One-Act Play, a Man Chronicles His Own Dementia (Russ)

The author writes, “He props his smartphone against a pile of books and adjusts the settings so the screen won’t go dark. He sets a timer. Then he waits. Eyes closed, Samuel A. Simon traces his breath from his ankles up through his chest, checking in with each part of his 80-year-old body before he begins. A purple binder holding a play script rests in his hands; the opening lines come from memory. Midway through, he falters. ‘I’m getting all over the place,’ he mutters, flipping a page. He finds his spot, then continues. Simon was diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease in 2022. As his memory has grown less reliable, he has turned his experience with the disease into a one-man play, ‘Dementia Man, An Existential Journey,’ performing it publicly as a way to hold on to a sense of self.”

A Hidden Blob of Water Has Abruptly Reappeared in the Atlantic (Dana)

From Popular Mechanics: “Stare out into the grand expanse of the ocean, and it can truly seem endless. Although oceans appear vast and uniform, they’re actually a mixture of roiling layers and masses both connected and split apart by various currents, temperature changes, and salinity variations. One of these sections of ocean is what’s known as equatorial water, which forms along the equator and separates bodies to its north and south. For decades, scientists knew about equatorial waters in both the Pacific and Indian oceans—they had been detected through the collection of salinity and temperature data. However, a similar mass in the Atlantic remained ever elusive. This has been a particularly sticky problem for oceanologists, because it suggests that the Earth’s other equatorial oceans somehow behave differently than the Atlantic.”