Russian hackers breach power grids, water processing plants, and air transportation facilities all over the United States.

Courtesy of Bloomberg:  

Russian hackers are conducting a broad assault on the U.S. electric grid, water processing plants, air transportation facilities and other targets in rolling attacks on some of the country’s most sensitive infrastructure, U.S. government officials said Thursday. 

The announcement was the first official confirmation that Russian hackers have taken aim at facilities on which hundreds of millions of Americans depend for basic services. Bloomberg News reported in July that Russian hackers had breached more than a dozen power plants in seven states, an aggressive campaign that has since expanded to dozens of states, according to a person familiar with the investigation. 

"Since at least March 2016, Russian government cyber actors" have targeted "government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors," including those of energy, nuclear, water and aviation, according to an alert issued Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

Critical manufacturing sectors and commercial facilities also have been targeted by the ongoing "multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors." 

Cyber-attacks are "literally happening hundreds of thousands of times a day," Energy Secretary Rick Perry told lawmakers during a hearing Thursday. "The warfare that goes on in the cyberspace is real, it’s serious, and we must lead the world."

In other reporting it was made clear that the Russians had gained control over some of these facilities, and could turn off power to millions of Americans or interfere in air travel at will.

This means that the Russians can render us helpless with a literal flip of the switch.

No phone, no internet, no lights, no nothing.

And while all this was going on the Trump Administration did NOTHING to protect us.

But hey they finally moved on those old sanctions to punish the Russians for interfering in the 2916 elections.

Courtesy of CNN:

The Trump administration announced Thursday it is enacting new sanctions on Russia, including individuals indicted last month by special counsel Robert Mueller, in a sweeping new effort to punish Moscow for its attempts to interfere in the 2016 US election. 

In enacting the sanctions, the administration is finally meeting a congressional mandate to impose measures punishing Moscow for its cyber intrusion. The delay had led to questions over President Donald Trump's willingness to punish Moscow. The new measures, however delayed, amount to the most stringent punishment yet by Trump for Russia's election interference.

This is the very definition of "A day late, and a dollar short." 

By doing nothing for over a year the administration empowered the Russians to keep right on hacking into our systems and now they have gained control over our communications, air travel, and security. 

I have felt we were fucked before, but this is a whole new level of fucked.

Governor of Washington signs order to let the autonomous automobiles drive without human chaperones.

Courtesy of The Drive:  

Washington governor Jay Inslee signed an order Wednesday that could allow self-driving car tests to begin in the state in just under two months and without a human monitoring from the driver's seat, his office announced in a blog post the same day. 

The order gives self-driving car companies the ability to send applications to the state's Department of Licensing for self-driving car pilot program tests on public roads. In the governor's blog post and in the official order, it states that around 94 percent of all motor vehicle crashes are caused by driver error, and officials believe the use of autonomous cars could have a powerful impact on that. 

Additionally, the governor's order brings a handful of state agencies together that will work with the approved self-driving companies and craft future legislation based on the upcoming trials. 

Inslee showed that has pretty much absolute trust in the tech when compared to the capabilities of human drivers, according to a statement obtained by The Seattle Times. 

“One thing I know about radar, it doesn’t drive drunk, it doesn’t drive distracted,” Inslee said, according to The Seattle Times. “We humans are really good at a lot of things, driving cars isn’t necessarily one of them compared to the automated processes that are digital and foolproof. I just have huge confidence in the safety aspects of this.”

Autonomous automobiles is one of my favorite things to cover outside politics and religion, probably because it is both terrifying and awesome at the same time.

It is also inevitable.

Just like fear of drowning did not keep us land bound, and fear of flying did not stop the airline industry, our fear of giving up control to machines will not stop the coming of autonomous automobiles.

We already rely on machines to remember our phone numbers, fly our planes, and answer all of our questions, so how is this really any different?

I for one can hardly wait to let Google take the wheel and allow me to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Conservative fake news sites have a new target, Elon Musk.

Courtesy of Quartz:

Many of the attacks on Musk begin with something factual: His businesses were built, legally, with the help of billions in government contracts and incentives for renewable energy and space transport. But they go on to accuse Musk of fraud and wasting taxpayer dollars; some compare him to a convicted felon. At least three conservative sites have run negative pieces about Musk—by a nonexistent writer named “Shepard Stewart”—that include “Elon Musk Continues to Blow Up Taxpayer Money With Falcon 9” and “Elon Musk: Faux Free Marketeer and National Disgrace.” Two later retracted the stories. 

“There’s a very obvious precedent” for this, says Sam Jaffe, managing director of Cairn Energy Research Advisors. “That’s Hillary Clinton.” 

Jaffe says that whoever is behind the attacks is aiming at Musk personally because they fear he could go into politics. He cited the allegations of fraud (emails) and negligence (Benghazi) levied at Clinton during the presidential campaign, charges that cemented the public’s perception of her as shady. “It’s the exact same thing as Musk. There’s a portion of the political spectrum that is scared to death of Musk as politician. They see him as a threat. They’re starting that process.”

Jesus these people are disgusting.

But hey if they can derail a juggernaut like Hillary Clinton, and we let them get away with it, then why wouldn't they go after somebody who may present a future challenge like Elon Musk?

And believe me, he really could be an unstoppable political force in a couple of years.

Millennials LOVE the guy, including my daughter who thinks he walks on water and that he is the future of America's progress with renewable energy, transportation, and space exploration.

Hopefully after what we saw with this last election her generation is going to be much more careful as to where they get their information.

Mitt Romney, he'd let America fail. Update!

I don't think Romney is going to have much luck fighting back against the perception that if he were elected President, Americans, who are NOT millionaires or corporations, are essentially on their own.

Remember this is the man who believes corporations are people, and introduced a tax plan that was a gift to the very wealthy, and would cut spending by taking away funds that benefit the poor and middle class in America:

He proposed cutting individual marginal income tax rates by 20 percent; reducing the corporate tax rate to 25 percent, from 35 percent; eliminating capital gains taxes for people with incomes below $200,000; abolishing the alternative minimum tax and the estate tax; indexing the eligibility age for Medicare to longevity; allowing private insurers to compete with Medicare; eliminating the Affordable Care Act, Obama's health care law; and reducing federal spending to 20 percent of the national economy by making "hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts," including to programs like Amtrak and Planned Parenthood.

So reducing the corporate tax to 25 percent,  raising the age that the elderly receive medicare, and taking away funds from, or eliminating altogether, programs that provide medical assistance and transportation to those who otherwise cannot afford it.

Yeah that is exactly who Americans should place in office.

Update: And the Romney gaffes keep right on rolling in.

Asked by the AP reporter if he follows NASCAR, Romney responded, "Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans. But I have some great friends who are NASCAR team owners."

Yep a real man of the people. Assuming of course that corporations really ARE people.