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Was Your Social Security Number In Last Week’s Massive Data Breach? Find Out (Maria)
The author writes, “Last week’s staggering data breach at National Public Data put personal data, including the Social Security numbers, of billions of Americans in the hands of cybercriminals. The breach occurred late last year and the company acknowledged on its website last week that there were ‘potential leaks of certain data in April 2024 and summer 2024.’ … Curious about whether you were affected? Here’s how to find out.”
How Close Are the Planet’s Climate Tipping Points? (Laura)
The authors write, “Right now, every moment of every day, we humans are reconfiguring Earth’s climate bit by bit. Hotter summers and wetter storms. Higher seas and fiercer wildfires. The steady, upward turn of the dial on a host of threats to our homes, our societies and the environment around us. We might also be changing the climate in an even bigger way. For the past two decades, scientists have been raising alarms about great systems in the natural world that warming, caused by carbon emissions, might be pushing toward collapse. These systems are so vast that they can stay somewhat in balance even as temperatures rise. But only to a point.”
Another Study Shows Bail Reform Doesn’t Lead to Crime Surge (Dana)
From The American Prospect: “The first nationwide study of the causal effects of bail reform on crime trends definitively discredits the narrative that limiting cash bail leads to spikes in the crime rate. The study by the Brennan Center for Justice also shows that the significant rise in crime and violent offenses in 2020 was not because of bail reform, and was instead likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting social disruption, including declining mental and community health, local budget cuts, sudden job losses, and fear among the public, which caused many more people to buy and carry guns. FBI data has shown a historic drop in the rates of violent offenses around the country since last year, although Americans remain quite concerned about crime.”
North Korea To Reopen for Tourism After Five Years (Sean)
The authors write, “North Korea will reopen one city to foreign tourists in December after nearly five years of border closures due to the Covid pandemic, according to tour operators. At least two China-based operators announced that tourists will soon be allowed to visit the mountainous northern city of Samjiyon. Reclusive North Korea sealed itself off at the start of the pandemic in early 2020, and started to scale back restrictions only in the middle of last year.”
NASA Has Some Bad News for Its Stranded Astronauts (Mili)
From Time: “You wouldn’t get on a plane if your probability of not making it home alive was 1 in 270. Those odds, however, are what NASA considers an acceptable LOC — or loss of crew — projection for a 210-day stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Beating that mortal math was very much on the minds of NASA officials at an Aug. 14 press conference during which they discussed the agency’s efforts to ensure the survival of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the two astronauts currently stranded aboard the ISS.”
Joe Rogan Says He Supports RFK Jr: ‘Much More Reasonable and Intelligent’ (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Podcaster Joe Rogan praised independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and blasted Democrats and Republicans during an episode of his podcast. Rogan, who has over 12 million X followers and hosts ‘The Joe Rogan Experience,’ accused Democrats and Republicans of misleading voters. … He said that he’s a fan of Kennedy, who Rogan claimed is the only candidate that ‘makes sense’ to him. ‘He’s the only one – he doesn’t attack people, he attacks actions and ideas, but he’s much more reasonable and intelligent… He’s a legitimate guy,’ Rogan said.”
Very Ordinary Men: Elon Musk and the Court Biographer (Bethany)
From The Point: “I know that I’m supposed to hate Elon Musk; I was asked to review his biography because I’m the kind of person who can be relied upon to hate Elon Musk. Because of his terrible politics, or his hideous wealth. Or simply as a matter of taste. But despite everything, I find it very hard to hate the man. I can’t summon the energy; it all feels too much like a sideshow. Elon Musk barely exists. He’s just the name we’ve given to a certain mass delusion. I can tell you who I do hate, though. After nearly seven hundred pages of warm dribble, I started to really, really hate Elon Musk’s biographer, Walter Isaacson. The questions the book had me asking weren’t to do with billionaires, or power, or our destiny in the stars. Instead, I was wondering: What is a book, exactly? What are people doing when they read? Might banning a few books actually be a good idea?”
What’s Going On in Footnote 3? (Al)
From Lawfare: “In retrospect, the most consequential part of the oral argument in Trump v. United States — or ‘the presidential immunity case’ — took place early in what became a marathon hearing. Chief Justice John Roberts posed what seemed like a skeptical hypothetical to Donald Trump’s lawyer, a man named D. John Sauer. ‘Well, what if you have — let’s say the official act is appointing ambassadors, and the president appoints a particular individual to a country, but it’s in exchange for a bribe. Somebody says, I’ll give you a million dollars if I’m made the ambassador to whatever. How do you analyze that?’ … In practical terms, the matter is important because it might — and we must stress might — open up a loophole in the Court’s opinion that Special Counsel Jack Smith could exploit on remand to one degree or another.”
