Our picksRe-branding doomsday preparations; battlefield nuclear reactors; rise of YouTube’s reactionary right, and more

‘It’s not crazy’: Colorado woman hopes to re-brand doomsday preparation movement (Elise Schmelzer, The Denver Post)
Yes, there was a zombie defense van with a bloody plastic skeleton on its windshield.

U.S. urged to rapidly prepare for electromagnetic pulse attack (Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon)
World War II-style Manhattan Project needed for electric infrastructure protection

President loosens secretive restraints on ordering cyberattacks (David Sanger, New York Times)
The author, a national security correspondent for the news outlet, writes: “President Trump has authorized new, classified orders for the Pentagon’s cyberwarriors to conduct offensive attacks against adversaries more freely and frequently … [John] Bolton rewrote a draft of the [cyber] strategy … in April. Many of his remarks … focused on a secret order … that appears to give far more latitude for the newly elevated United States Cyber Command to act with minimal consultation from a number of other government agencies. … It is not clear whether Mr. Trump must still approve every major offensive online operation … Much of the strategy that was made public … strongly echoes similar documents issued by Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush. ‘Russia, Iran and North Korea conducted reckless cyberattacks that harmed American and international businesses and our allies and partners without paying costs likely to deter future cyberaggression,’ the strategy read. … Bolton, whose concepts of deterrence were formed in the Cold War, is likely to discover what his predecessors learned: Almost every strategy that worked in deterring nuclear attacks does not fit the digital era … The government has grown more skilled at attributing the source of a cyberattack, but the process remains lengthy. By the time a conclusion is reached, it is often too late to mount a successful counterstrike.”

Forensic finder exploring Windows calls attention to mail pile (Nancy Owano, Tech Xplore)
Is Windows storing your email? Not the most comforting thought, as we recover from the Facebook user data headlines earlier this year. Nonetheless, storing of email grabbed the attention of Joel Hruska, ExtremeTech, and other tech watchers recently when they learned of a disturbing discovery by Jeremy Skeggs.

Build small nuclear reactors for battlefield power (Andy Erickson, Defense One)
Los Alamos engineers are working on a tiny, steel-encased core regulated by physics, not pumps.

Trump administration seeks to limit access to U.S. for immigrants who use or are likely to use public assistance (Nick Miroff, Washington Post)
The proposed changes amount to a broad expansion of the government’s ability to deny visas or residency to immigrants if they or members of their household benefit from programs like Medicaid Part D or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Those motherf**kers are dead Meat’: Far-right militia threatens Muslims on leaked audio (Kelly Weill, Daily Beast)
Members of the radical Texas Patriot Network talked about attacking people outside a Houston Islamic convention and boasted of links to law enforcement, leaked audio reveals.

The rise of YouTube’s reactionary right (Ezra Klein, Vox)
How demographic change and YouTube’s algorithms are building a new right.