Compensating Those Sickened by Nuke Testing | Heat Kills Machines and Electronics | California, Florida Lead the Country in Climate Change Risks, and more

Proud Boy Convicted of Helping Spearhead Jan. 6 Attack Sentenced to 18 Years  (AP / VOA News)
A one-time leader in the Proud Boys far-right extremist group has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, tying the record for the longest sentence in the attack.
Ethan Nordean was one of several members convicted of spearheading an attack on the U.S. Capitol to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.
Nordean was “the undisputed leader on the ground on January 6,” said prosecutor Jason McCullough. Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence the Seattle-area chapter president to 27 years.
He was one of two Proud Boys sentenced Friday. Dominic Pezzola was convicted of smashing a window at the U.S. Capitol in the building’s first breach on January 6, 2021. As he walked out of the courtroom after being sentenced to 10 years in prison, Pezzola defiantly declared “Trump won!”
The highest ranking Proud Boy convicted after a monthslong trial earlier this year, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday.

California and Florida Grew Quickly on the Promise of Perfect Climates in the 1900s – Today, They Lead the Country in Climate Change Risks  (Henry Knight Lozano, The Conversion)
Images of orange groves and Spanish-themed hotels with palm tree gardens filled countless pamphlets and articles promoting Southern California and Florida in the late 19th century, promising escape from winter’s reach.
This vision of an “American Italy” captured hearts and imaginations across the U.S. In it, Florida and California promised a place in the sun for industrious Americans to live the good life, with the perfect climate.
But the very climates that made these semitropical playgrounds the American dream of the 20th century threaten to break their reputations in the 21st century.

Hezbollah Sanctions Case Highlights Frailties in the Art Market  (Julia Halperin and Graham Bowley, New York Times)
Earlier this year, a Lebanese art collector was accused of money laundering and violating terrorism-related sanctions in a federal indictment that focused attention on the reported beneficiary of some of his activities: the militant group Hezbollah.
The indictment led to headlines around the world. But less discussed has been the extent to which it detailed, with example after example, how the art market had, by the government’s accounting, played a significant role in Mr. Ahmad’s scheme.
More than a dozen galleries and artists had abetted what investigators characterized as Mr. Ahmad’s evasive tactics, the indictment asserted. Though the galleries or artists were not charged with wrongdoing, or accused of having knowingly helped Mr. Ahmad, the indictment depicted the art market as a ready vehicle for money laundering and sanctions evasion.

Neo-Nazi Groups Spew Hate Outside Disney World and Near Orlando, Officials Say(NBC News)
Groups of neo-Nazis and white supremacists spread antisemitic, white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ messages outside Disney World and in the nearby Orlando, Florida, area Saturday in the latest examples of rising antisemitism in the U.S., officials said. About 15 people wearing clothing and bearing flags emblazoned with Nazi insignia demonstrated outside the entrance to the Disney Springs shopping center, said the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which said deputies were dispatched around 10:40 a.m. According to the Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights organization dedicated to countering extremism, participants carried antisemitic, white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ flags and signs. The group consisted of members of the neo-Nazi groups Order of the Black Sun, Aryan Freedom Network and 14 First, a now disbanded group that has been absorbed into the National Socialist Movement, the largest neo-Nazi group in the U.S., according to the ADL.

Physicists Explain How Heat Kills Machines and Electronics  (Srinivas Garimella, Matthew T. Hughes, Scientific American / The Conversation)
Not only people need to stay cool, especially in a summer of record-breaking heat waves. Many machines, including cellphones, data centers, cars and airplanes, become less efficient and degrade more quickly in extreme heat. Machines generate their own heat, too, which can make hot temperatures around them even hotter.
We are engineering researchers who study how machines manage heat and ways to effectively recover and reuse heat that is otherwise wasted. There are several ways extreme heat affects machines.
No machine is perfectly efficient – all machines face some internal friction during operation. This friction causes machines to dissipate some heat, so the hotter it is outside, the hotter the machine will be.

3 Steps from OSINT to AI to Help Stem the Tide of Mass Shootings  (Johnmichael O’Hare, HSToday)
 From schools to concerts to malls, shooters have unleashed untold terror and violence upon communities, leaving people in grief and officials looking for ways to get ahead of a situation before it occurs. Often, there are warning signs ahead of these types of incidents.
The question is when these warning signs arise, what can be done? Currently, there is no standardized training in deep-diving social media. It takes years for an investigator to develop the necessary tradecraft needed to become good at it. They need an algorithm that helps speed up the process along with their tradecraft.
Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) technology is a viable solution for trained investigators to do that deeper dive into a person of interest. Many of these active shooters have an online presence, but investigators must go beyond the typical open web to the deep and dark web and other online forums where disaffected people might be influenced by various hate ideology or conspiracy theories.

Proud Boys Leaders Sentenced to Prison for Roles in Jan. 6 Capitol Breach  (DOJ)
Two former leaders of the Proud Boys organization were sentenced today on multiple felony charges related to their roles in the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes necessary to certify the 2020 presidential election.
Ethan Nordean, 32, of Auburn, Washington, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and 36 months of supervised release.
Dominic Pezzola, 45, of Rochester, New York, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 36 months of supervised release.
A jury convicted Nordean, Pezzola and three other co-defendants on May 4, of multiple felonies, including obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to prevent members of Congress or federal officers from discharging their duties before and during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Defendant Nordean was previously convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Chinese Gate-Crashers at U.S. Bases Spark Espionage Concerns  ((Gordon Lubold, Warren P. Strobel, and Aruna Viswanatha, Wall Street Journal)
Chinese nationals, sometimes posing as tourists, have accessed military bases and other sensitive sites in the U.S. as many as 100 times in recent years, according to U.S. officials, who describe the incidents as a potential espionage threat.