Miscellaneous news items that don't warrant their own thread

[Ibanez]

You referring to SolarWinds? I'm sure FE has mitigated any potential threat that could come from that compromise - or are in the process of creating tools to ID when they're own tech is being used. I've worked with them and go to conferences where they are at - that company is on top of it. They're forward thinking. Maybe these tools are the stolen ones from the NSA - remember that in 2016?

I've been saying it for over 10 years (and repeatedly here) that the Russians are some of the most advanced, sophisticated nation-state sponsored hackers. Our leaders, all of them, going back to Obama have failed to protect us and defend us. Obama, Trump, Republicans and Democrats have utterly failed us. They've spent years practicing the very attacks we're seeing now. It's clear that the Ukraine is no-longer their cyber war proving grounds.

Hard to tell from the article, but it stated that FireEye was investigating a breach in their security when they discovered the SolarWinds issue.

Can't tell if that means FireEye was investigating the SolarWinds issue within their own network or found it looking at a different issue.

But yes, I was thinking about those NSA tools as well.

That's a good one - which investigation came first.

[BDKJMU]

Why can’t you take the entire system offline? We had pipelines long before the internet.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 021-05-09/

I'm betting you there are improved efficiencies and safety measures with the tech and being online. Ransomware and hacks like it weren't a thought when things like the electric grid of oil/gas pipelines were put online. But that isn't an excuse for not beefing up protection and staying ahead of the cyber criminals - ESPECIALLY when we know this is the sort of target they'll go after.

The fact that FireEye is involved makes me feel good about it - they're phenomenal.

It woukd seem to me that anything that is deemed critical infrastructure should not be connected to the net- and I think close to 1/2 the east coast fuel supply would count. If Colonial Pipeline was operated like a nuke plant, they woukdn’t be in the position they are in.

Critical safety and security systems at nuclear energy plants are isolated from the internet. They have no direct access to the web, nor do they have indirect access because they are not connected to the plants’ internal networks.

https://www.nei.org/resources/reports-b ... wer-plants

[Ibanez]

I'm betting you there are improved efficiencies and safety measures with the tech and being online. Ransomware and hacks like it weren't a thought when things like the electric grid of oil/gas pipelines were put online. But that isn't an excuse for not beefing up protection and staying ahead of the cyber criminals - ESPECIALLY when we know this is the sort of target they'll go after.

The fact that FireEye is involved makes me feel good about it - they're phenomenal.

It woukd seem to me that anything that is deemed critical infrastructure should not be connected to the net- and I think close to 1/2 the east coast fuel supply would count. If Colonial Pipeline was operated like a nuke plant, they woukdn’t be in the position they are in.

Critical safety and security systems at nuclear energy plants are isolated from the internet. They have no direct access to the web, nor do they have indirect access because they are not connected to the plants’ internal networks.

https://www.nei.org/resources/reports-b ... wer-plants

That's a very valid point. It would make sense that they are on some sort of SIPRNET of some kind due to them being critical. If the Oil and Gas industry is regulated like Banking is...there will be a ton of Regulators looking into this breach and coming up with MRAs and other corrective measures (and honestly, it'll most likely include controls that should've been in place already or strengthened.)

With critical infrastructure like this being in private hands, I expect to hear calls to begin nationalizing them or something to that effect.

I guess the 1980s called and the DID want their foreign policy back....

[GannonFan]

No reason to nationalize it, just keep it off the internet. Heck, my company doesn't permit equipment on the floor to connect to the internet. It's not really that hard to do that and still be able to maintain and run the equipment. Seems like a relatively easy fix.

[Ibanez]

No reason to nationalize it, just keep it off the internet. Heck, my company doesn't permit equipment on the floor to connect to the internet. It's not really that hard to do that and still be able to maintain and run the equipment. Seems like a relatively easy fix.

This is a democrat power grab. Shhhhhhh

[CID1990]

No reason to nationalize it, just keep it off the internet. Heck, my company doesn't permit equipment on the floor to connect to the internet. It's not really that hard to do that and still be able to maintain and run the equipment. Seems like a relatively easy fix.

The minute anybody starts talking about nationalizing anything related to the energy sector they are advocating that the executive branch should be able to control production

Just ponder that for a moment


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[GannonFan]

No reason to nationalize it, just keep it off the internet. Heck, my company doesn't permit equipment on the floor to connect to the internet. It's not really that hard to do that and still be able to maintain and run the equipment. Seems like a relatively easy fix.

The minute anybody starts talking about nationalizing anything related to the energy sector they are advocating that the executive branch should be able to control production

Just ponder that for a moment


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Nationalization is never the answer.

[∞∞∞]

To make it worse, now we're seeing the self-fulfilling prophecy of everyone panicking and filling up their tanks and cannisters and places running out of gas. This on top of the gas-trucker shortage because oil companies refuse to pay truckers well and they've gone elsewhere.

Americans are idiots.

[GannonFan]

To make it worse, now we're seeing the self-fulfilling prophecy of everyone panicking and filling up their tanks and cannisters and places running out of gas. This on top of the gas-trucker shortage because oil companies refuse to pay truckers well and they've gone elsewhere.

Americans are idiots.

Well, worker pay is just one piece of the puzzle, and it's a big puzzle. The need for truck drivers has been a problem for plenty of years before now, so this isn't a new problem. What's new in this one is that the pandemic closed a lot of the training schools and, for tanker trucks, the certification schools for those specific vehicles, so there hasn't been any influx of new drivers. Plus, like with other industries, the pandemic sped up the retirement or exit of older workers. But like I said, this is a years long problem - just like ditch diggers, we need truck drivers (across all of trucking, not just tankers) and people graduating college are not looking for truck driving jobs. Heck, even our environmental push to get rid of or stop new pipelines means that we just increase the traffic of trucks on the road and further exacerbates the driver shortage. There's a reason why automated trucks have been pursued with relative interest over the past few years.

[UNI88]

To make it worse, now we're seeing the self-fulfilling prophecy of everyone panicking and filling up their tanks and cannisters and places running out of gas. This on top of the gas-trucker shortage because oil companies refuse to pay truckers well and they've gone elsewhere.

Americans are idiots.

Well, worker pay is just one piece of the puzzle, and it's a big puzzle. The need for truck drivers has been a problem for plenty of years before now, so this isn't a new problem. What's new in this one is that the pandemic closed a lot of the training schools and, for tanker trucks, the certification schools for those specific vehicles, so there hasn't been any influx of new drivers. Plus, like with other industries, the pandemic sped up the retirement or exit of older workers. But like I said, this is a years long problem - just like ditch diggers, we need truck drivers (across all of trucking, not just tankers) and people graduating college are not looking for truck driving jobs. Heck, even our environmental push to get rid of or stop new pipelines means that we just increase the traffic of trucks on the road and further exacerbates the driver shortage. There's a reason why automated trucks have been pursued with relative interest over the past few years.

Nice summary of the issue without placing all of the blame on those greedy capitalists. What if Trip is right about Americans?

[GannonFan]

Well, worker pay is just one piece of the puzzle, and it's a big puzzle. The need for truck drivers has been a problem for plenty of years before now, so this isn't a new problem. What's new in this one is that the pandemic closed a lot of the training schools and, for tanker trucks, the certification schools for those specific vehicles, so there hasn't been any influx of new drivers. Plus, like with other industries, the pandemic sped up the retirement or exit of older workers. But like I said, this is a years long problem - just like ditch diggers, we need truck drivers (across all of trucking, not just tankers) and people graduating college are not looking for truck driving jobs. Heck, even our environmental push to get rid of or stop new pipelines means that we just increase the traffic of trucks on the road and further exacerbates the driver shortage. There's a reason why automated trucks have been pursued with relative interest over the past few years.

Nice summary of the issue without placing all of the blame on those greedy capitalists. What if Trip is right about Americans?

Oh, Trip's absolutely right about Americans being idiots, that's almost our national creed. But yes, blaming just truck driver wages misses the much bigger picture.

[kalm]

To make it worse, now we're seeing the self-fulfilling prophecy of everyone panicking and filling up their tanks and cannisters and places running out of gas. This on top of the gas-trucker shortage because oil companies refuse to pay truckers well and they've gone elsewhere.

Americans are idiots.

Well, worker pay is just one piece of the puzzle, and it's a big puzzle. The need for truck drivers has been a problem for plenty of years before now, so this isn't a new problem. What's new in this one is that the pandemic closed a lot of the training schools and, for tanker trucks, the certification schools for those specific vehicles, so there hasn't been any influx of new drivers. Plus, like with other industries, the pandemic sped up the retirement or exit of older workers. But like I said, this is a years long problem - just like ditch diggers, we need truck drivers (across all of trucking, not just tankers) and people graduating college are not looking for truck driving jobs. Heck, even our environmental push to get rid of or stop new pipelines means that we just increase the traffic of trucks on the road and further exacerbates the driver shortage. There's a reason why automated trucks have been pursued with relative interest over the past few years.

I want to be a truck driver when I grow up!

[UNI88]

Well, worker pay is just one piece of the puzzle, and it's a big puzzle. The need for truck drivers has been a problem for plenty of years before now, so this isn't a new problem. What's new in this one is that the pandemic closed a lot of the training schools and, for tanker trucks, the certification schools for those specific vehicles, so there hasn't been any influx of new drivers. Plus, like with other industries, the pandemic sped up the retirement or exit of older workers. But like I said, this is a years long problem - just like ditch diggers, we need truck drivers (across all of trucking, not just tankers) and people graduating college are not looking for truck driving jobs. Heck, even our environmental push to get rid of or stop new pipelines means that we just increase the traffic of trucks on the road and further exacerbates the driver shortage. There's a reason why automated trucks have been pursued with relative interest over the past few years.

I want to be a truck driver when I grow up!

In that case, you might want to look into a religion with reincarnation.

[89Hen]

I want to be a truck driver when I grow up!

I want to mow grass next life... riding only.

[kalm]

I want to be a truck driver when I grow up!

I want to mow grass next life... riding only.

Walk behind reel mowers are not a young man’s game. Give me senior tees and a triplex!

[UNI88]

The former Marine who holds Democrats’ Trumpiest district

“Politically, I don't think he gets enough credit,” said Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb, a friend of Golden’s who is also a swing-district Democrat and former Marine. “It seems that people only recognize his unique positions when they are the same as Republican positions ... They forget that we represent real physical places on the map that don’t line up perfectly to the paradigm of Democrats.”
...
“He seems to have a pretty good mix of being a fierce fighter for his district, while at the same time not being overly parochial,” said House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who has worked closely with Golden on the panel. “That might seem like a contradiction, but he’s got a better sense of what he actually needs.”

What the district needs now, Golden said, is an infrastructure reboot.

Though he’s encouraged by Biden’s early attempts at deal-making with GOP senators to help deliver cash that would be critical to his state’s highways, Golden acknowledges that Republicans are unlikely to agree on the thorniest details. "I'm actually more inclined to say, you know, we don't need bipartisanship on this," he said.

[kalm]

The former Marine who holds Democrats’ Trumpiest district

“Politically, I don't think he gets enough credit,” said Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb, a friend of Golden’s who is also a swing-district Democrat and former Marine. “It seems that people only recognize his unique positions when they are the same as Republican positions ... They forget that we represent real physical places on the map that don’t line up perfectly to the paradigm of Democrats.”
...
“He seems to have a pretty good mix of being a fierce fighter for his district, while at the same time not being overly parochial,” said House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who has worked closely with Golden on the panel. “That might seem like a contradiction, but he’s got a better sense of what he actually needs.”

What the district needs now, Golden said, is an infrastructure reboot.

Though he’s encouraged by Biden’s early attempts at deal-making with GOP senators to help deliver cash that would be critical to his state’s highways, Golden acknowledges that Republicans are unlikely to agree on the thorniest details. "I'm actually more inclined to say, you know, we don't need bipartisanship on this," he said.

Seems similar to Angus King who I like quite a bit.

[UNI88]

The former Marine who holds Democrats’ Trumpiest district

Seems similar to Angus King who I like quite a bit.

Understands his district but also understands that the rest of his country isn't like his district and more importantly, doesn't think that the rest of the country should be like his district.

[JohnStOnge]

The Toilet Paper syndrome: https://www.aol.com/finance/gas-drivers ... 30730.html

Gas outages are spreading across the Southeast as motorists rush to fill up their cars days after the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline temporarily shut down following a cyberattack.

Gas demand across the U.S. jumped nearly 20% week over week on Monday, with a more than a 40% increase in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

So, once again, the way react to something makes it worse.

As an aside, I saw the former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Chief Trump fired for telling the truth (Chris Krebs) interviewed about this on TV today. He said it was likely the kind of attack that could be stopped by something as simple as the thing where, after you type in a user ID and password, the system sends a code to your phone and you have to type it in. He said companies need to get on the ball.

[CID1990]

The Toilet Paper syndrome: https://www.aol.com/finance/gas-drivers ... 30730.html

Gas outages are spreading across the Southeast as motorists rush to fill up their cars days after the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline temporarily shut down following a cyberattack.

Gas demand across the U.S. jumped nearly 20% week over week on Monday, with a more than a 40% increase in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

So, once again, the way react to something makes it worse.

As an aside, I saw the former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Chief Trump fired for telling the truth (Chris Krebs) interviewed about this on TV today. He said it was likely the kind of attack that could be stopped by something as simple as the thing where, after you type in a user ID and password, the system sends a code to your phone and you have to type it in. He said companies need to get on the ball.

Don’t be a fucking moron

The way this is prevented is by keeping national infrastructure off of the “internet of things” grid (Russia and China have their own impenetrable systems)

and the secondary is to create a deterrent - like treating these attacks like the acts of war that they are

Or are you post modern neoliberal cunts not *really* serious about Russia and China?

(Don’t answer... that’s a rhetorical question and us normals already know how you lean)


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[Baldy]

Jim Crow moves to England.
Anxioisly waiting comments from.Stacey Abrams.

[∞∞∞]

Nice summary of the issue without placing all of the blame on those greedy capitalists. What if Trip is right about Americans?

Oh, Trip's absolutely right about Americans being idiots, that's almost our national creed. But yes, blaming just truck driver wages misses the much bigger picture.

Don't disagree with anything you said, but quite a number of corporations complain about a shortage of staff and shrug when you ask them about their training schemes and wages. It costs money to learn stuff and live. That is why you need to pay people a wage to train in things.

And companies that just shrug, hoping they can find trained staff anyway, are just setting themselves up for shortages sooner or later. Oil companies have been doing this for a while now...idiot short term managers hoping it happens later and on someone else’s time while they save a few dollars on the corporate balance sheet now. It's so prevalent throughout a ton of industries and even American society itself.

So if we're going to defend our economic system, we should at least acknowledge more people will become truckers if it was attractive. Can't blame anyone for not becoming one if there's better career options, and certainly can't blame truckers for going to better paying opportunities. That's how it should work in a capitalist society and it seems like American oil companies are uncompetitive.

Either that or let more immigrants in to fill the gaps.

(Losing 500k+ lives, probably closer to 900K+ in the pandemic didn't help either.)

Anyways, I was coming back home from a friend's last night and the lines were insane. This was at 10pm. Glad I take the train.

[kalm]

Oh, Trip's absolutely right about Americans being idiots, that's almost our national creed. But yes, blaming just truck driver wages misses the much bigger picture.

Don't disagree with anything you said, but quite a number of corporations complain about a shortage of staff and shrug when you ask them about their training schemes and wages. It costs money to learn stuff and live. That is why you need to pay people a wage to train in things.

And companies that just shrug, hoping they can find trained staff anyway, are just setting themselves up for shortages sooner or later. Oil companies have been doing this for a while now...idiot short term managers hoping it happens later and on someone else’s time while they save a few dollars on the corporate balance sheet now. It's so prevalent throughout a ton of industries and even American society itself.

So if we're going to defend our economic system, we should at least acknowledge more people will become truckers if it was attractive. Can't blame anyone for not becoming one if there's better career options, and certainly can't blame truckers for going to better paying opportunities. That's how it should work in a capitalist society and it seems like American oil companies are uncompetitive.

Either that or let more immigrants in to fill the gaps.

(Losing 500k+ lives, probably closer to 900K+ in the pandemic didn't help either.)

Anyways, I was coming back home from a friend's last night and the lines were insane. This was at 10pm. Glad I take the train.

Good post, Trippy!

[89Hen]

(Losing 500k+ lives, probably closer to 900K+ in the pandemic didn't help either.)

FWIW 450,000 of the 560,000 deaths were 65+.

[kalm]

(Losing 500k+ lives, probably closer to 900K+ in the pandemic didn't help either.)

FWIW 450,000 of the 560,000 deaths were 65+.

Wonder how that compares to other countries?

Still kind of irrelevant though as 65+ year olds are still needed. Also community spread, recovery, long haulers, etc.