Short Takes – 3-1-25

Congress Is Miraculously Headed Toward Another Stopgap Funding Bill — Or Predictably a Shutdown. NOTUS.org article. Pull quote: “Although appropriators have spent weeks negotiating a top-line funding number, talks have seemingly stalled out over Democratic demands for assurances that President Donald Trump will actually use the funds that Congress appropriates for their intended purposes. Since that’s a nonstarter for Republicans — why would Trump sign a law that hamstrings his own power? — the two parties are locked in a standoff with the clock winding down and a shutdown two weeks away.”

American business leaders are turning on Trump — fast. Semafor.com article. Article is more nuanced than title suggests. Pull quote: “CEO optimism is fading as Trump pushes ahead with trade restrictions, while business-friendly deregulation has yet to materialize. US consumer confidence in January recorded its biggest one-month decline since November 2023. The US stock market, long Trump’s preferred proxy for economic might, is lower than it was before his inauguration, trailing major indexes in Europe, China, Mexico, and Canada — all targets of the president’s planned tariffs.”

House and Senate Republicans Prepare for a Game of Reconciliation Hot Potato. NOTUS.com article. Pull quote: “House GOP leaders were only able to get the budget through the chamber by telling those members who are politically vulnerable that those Medicaid cuts won’t happen, even though they were also only able to adopt the budget because they told conservatives that those entitlement cuts were coming.”

Comparing Stealth Security Issues: PLC RUN Mode and Webcam LEDs. Forescout.com article. Pull quote: “It all depends on what’s behind the physical toggle switch. If there is an (electronic) signal directly into the PLC circuitry allowing for READ-only access to program memory, then the PLC is properly protected against unwanted changes. But suppose that the switch setting is just an input to the processor, where a piece of software is the sole guardian deciding to enforce READ-only access? Software can be hacked. a PLC well-protected against attackers? Just as the camera LED-light can be switched off, the mode switch could be ignored if malware decides to do so.”