Short Takes – 8-14-23

FBI's Intimidating Visit on Discord Leak Story. SpyTalk.co article. Pull quote: “In a quirky rule going back decades, all federal employees are forbidden to download or even read classified documents, even though they have been widely published. Such has been the case since at least 2010, upon publication of the so-called Wikileaks diplomatic cables.  State Department employees were instructed "not to access the WikiLeaks site and download posted documents using an unclassified network, since these documents are still classified,” then-spokesman P.J. Crowley told The Huffington Post.” I have mentioned this policy on a number of occasions here.

The next big space business: satellite pictures of other satellites. DefenseOne.com article. Pull quote: “U.S. military officials have been sounding the alarm on strangely-behaving satellites ever since the 2014 launch of a Russian satellite that moved in a novel way and came very close to two Intelsat satellites. Russia has since launched satellites that can attack other satellites. And on the eve of its expanded invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia staged a coordinated (ground) attack against Ukraine’s satellite communications.”

Report: Data should drive debate on freight train lengths. FreightWaves.com article. Pull quote: ““Should any length restriction on freight trains be applied — though none is warranted from existing data — it should not be a fixed and general rule,” the report said. Rather, limits on train length “should be as narrowly tailored as possible to avoid imposing costs on railroads and their customers. For example, a train running through a densely populated and highly trafficked metropolitan area with numerous crossings is entirely different from a long-haul route that spans hundreds of miles with few or no crossings. Likewise, a train carrying mixed cargo in intermodal containers is vastly different from a single-commodity train of coal or one with certain hazardous materials.”” An increasingly contrarian view.

NASA must de-orbit the Space Station and say ‘dasvidaniya’ to Russia. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Today, world realities must trump bureaucratic delays. Russia is in Ukraine. Putin is not going to stop after Ukraine unless Russia suffers consequences. There is no time for more NASA studies or “ideating.” NASA has emergency evacuation procedures for the space station; we can be safely off the platform within a year if Congress takes the politically difficult decision to deorbit this Fall.” Another contrarian view.

GOP sees turnout disaster without Trump. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: ““If somehow he’s not the nominee, it will hurt turnout,” he said. “He’s got a unique coalition. He brings a lot of nontraditional voters to the Republican Party, and it will be difficult to win a state like Ohio” and other Midwestern states “if you lose all those Trump voters or make them disaffected voters, and they don’t show up.””

Georgia grand jury in Trump probe returns an indictment: live updates. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “She [former Trump White House aide Alyssa Farah Griffin] noted that the Georgia investigation is a state case, meaning Trump or another Republican would not be able to pardon him if he is convicted, nor could Trump pressure prosecutors to wrap up the case if he wins reelection next November.”

House GOP eyes short-term spending stopgap to avoid shutdown. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and 14 other Texas Republicans signed a letter last week pledging to vote against any bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security unless there are major changes to the U.S. border and [im]migration policy. That would be more than enough opposition in a slim GOP majority to require Democratic votes to pass a continuing resolution.”

 

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