Se c’è un nome che nel 2025 continua a campeggiare con crescente insistenza nei report di incident response, nei feed di threat intelligence e nei blog degli analisti di cybersicurezza, è quello del gruppo Akira. Questo collettivo criminale, nato apparentemente dal nulla nel 2023, ha saputo in poco più di un anno scalare la gerarchia del ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), costruendo un’infrastruttura solida, sofisticata e altamente redditizia.

Secondo quanto emerso dall’ultima intelligence card pubblicata da Recorded Future, Akira non è solo uno dei tanti nomi della galassia ransomware: è oggi uno degli attori più attivi, persistenti e pericolosi in circolazione. E dietro al nome – che evoca anime e distopie futuristiche – si cela una realtà ben più concreta: attacchi su larga scala, vittime illustri, una capacità adattiva degna di un APT e, soprattutto, una strategia operativa letale.

Crescita esponenziale e allarmi nella threat landscape globale

Partiamo dai numeri, perché i numeri non mentono: negli ultimi 30 giorni sono stati registrati 4.506 riferimenti a cyber attacchi correlati al gruppo Akira. Un balzo del +151% rispetto al mese precedente.

Questi dati non solo testimoniano una crescita allarmante, ma raccontano una tendenza: Akira sta diventando il nuovo volto dell’estorsione digitale, sfruttando strumenti moderni e metodologie raffinate, spesso in sinergia con partner affiliati nel dark web.

Un’eredità tossica: da Conti a Akira

Le analisi condotte su larga scala rivelano che il gruppo Akira presenta forti similitudini a livello di codice con il defunto gruppo Conti, noto collettivo filo-russo smantellato nel 2022 dopo una massiccia fuga di dati interni. Gli sviluppatori di Akira, identificati anche con l’alias Storm-1567, sembrano aver ripreso parte del codice sorgente di Conti, adattandolo a nuove esigenze e, soprattutto, integrandolo in una catena di attacco compatibile sia con Windows che con ambienti Linux/ESXi.

La prima variante Windows è stata individuata nel marzo 2023, seguita da una versione per sistemi Linux nel luglio dello stesso anno, con target espliciti verso server VMware ESXi, tipici degli ambienti aziendali virtualizzati.

Akira Attack Chain: l’autopsia di un attacco perfetto

Ogni attacco Akira si articola in una sequenza operativa meticolosa, ben rappresentata nello schema seguente tratto dall’analisi Recorded Future:

1. Phishing email: l’entry point più classico, ma ancora straordinariamente efficace. Vengono utilizzate tecniche di social engineering avanzate, spesso mascherate da messaggi legittimi (ordini, fatture, documenti HR).
2. Commandline scripting: una volta ottenuto l’accesso, vengono eseguiti script tramite PowerShell o cmd per iniziare la fase di dropper.
3. Registry manipulation: modifiche mirate al registro di sistema per garantire persistenza e disabilitare componenti di sicurezza.
4. Disabling defenses: vengono disattivati antivirus, EDR e tool di monitoraggio. Akira non vuole resistenza.
5. Credential harvesting: dump di LSASS, uso di Mimikatz e brute force, anche offline.
6. Network scanning: strumenti come Advanced IP Scanner e Sharphound mappano la rete e i gruppi di sicurezza.
7. Lateral movement: sfruttamento di credenziali e strumenti di remote desktop come AnyDesk, RustDesk o tunnel via Cloudflare.
8. Data collection: raccolta massiva di file sensibili, documenti legali, database, mail e file di backup.
9. Exfiltration: esfiltrazione dei dati verso server controllati o via canali cifrati (SFTP, FTP, proxy).
10. Ransomware deployment: cifratura finale con algoritmo personalizzato, estensione “.akira”, e rilascio del file di riscatto.

Le tecniche MITRE ATT&CK utilizzate da Akira

La completezza tecnica dell’approccio di Akira è impressionante, come evidenziato nella mappa MITRE ATT&CK fornita da Recorded Future:

Tra i punti salienti:

• T1078 – Valid Accounts: uso di account compromessi.
• T1133 – External Remote Services: sfruttamento di RDP, VPN non sicure e VNC.
• T1190 – Exploit Public-Facing Application: uso di exploit noti come CVE-2021-21972 e CVE-2023-27532.
• T1566 – Spearphishing: sia tramite allegati che link.
• T1059.003 – Windows Command Shell: scripting malevolo.
• T1547.009 – Shortcut Modification: alterazione dei collegamenti di avvio.
• T1003.001 – LSASS Memory Dump: estrazione delle credenziali.
• T1041 – Exfiltration Over C2 Channel: esfiltrazione in tempo reale.

Vittime illustri, settori bersaglio, impatti devastanti

Tra le vittime documentate troviamo aziende del calibro di Nissan Motor, Panasonic, Hitachi Vantara, ma anche istituti scolastici come l’Edmonds School District e società nel settore legale e bancario. Nessuno è immune. Dalla PMI al colosso internazionale, l’unico denominatore comune è la vulnerabilità.

Akira dimostra di non discriminare per geografia o dimensioni, ma solo per potenziale di ricatto: più dati sensibili ha, più alto sarà il riscatto.

Considerazioni finali: il ransomware non è più un’eccezione, è un modello

L’operatività di Akira rappresenta la quintessenza del ransomware moderno: flessibile, modulare, basato su affiliate e infrastrutture dark web, capace di colpire con precisione chirurgica. Non si tratta più di un “evento malevolo” isolato, ma di una vera e propria industria criminale, con tanto di helpdesk, politiche di prezzo, SLAs di pagamento e persino “sconti” per chi collabora.

Cosa possiamo fare?

1. Abbandonare la reattività: il tempo della difesa passiva è finito. Serve threat hunting proattivo.
2. Investire nella formazione: le mail di phishing non si fermano da sole. Serve awareness.
3. Rafforzare gli endpoint: EDR, MFA, segmentazione e backup offline.
4. Fare intelligence: piattaforme come Recorded Future offrono visibilità e contesto, e dovrebbero far parte della routine operativa di ogni SOC.

In conclusione

Akira è il risultato di una perfetta alchimia criminale: codice solido, distribuzione capillare, obiettivi chiari. E come ogni virus ben costruito, si adatta, apprende, persiste.

L’unico antidoto? Essere un passo avanti. E per farlo, bisogna smettere di pensare come vittime e iniziare a ragionare come bersagli mobili consapevoli.

L'articolo Akira Ransomware Group: l’ascesa inarrestabile di un predatore digitale proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Un bug del software nel servizio VoLTE ha permesso di tracciare la posizione di decine di milioni di utenti della compagnia di telecomunicazioni britannica Virgin Media O2, tra cui i clienti di Giffgaff e Tesco Mobile, collegati alla stessa infrastruttura.

La vulnerabilità è passata inosservata finché non è stata scoperta dall’ingegnere Dan Williams, dopodiché le informazioni sono state trasmesse all’Information Security Office (ICO) del Regno Unito e all’ente regolatore delle comunicazioni Ofcom.

Il problema ha interessato tutti i dispositivi con le chiamate 4G abilitate. Chiunque disponga di una scheda SIM Virgin Media O2 potrebbe ottenere gli identificatori tecnici delle chiamate (prefissi e ID delle celle) e utilizzarli per determinare a quale stazione base era connesso l’abbonato chiamato. Nelle aree densamente popolate, dove le celle sono molto vicine, la precisione della geolocalizzazione potrebbe raggiungere fino a 100 metri quadrati.

Il ricercatore ha affermato di aver inviato una notifica all’operatore a marzo, ma di non aver ricevuto risposta fino a maggio, quando ha pubblicato un post sul blog. Ha espresso delusione per la risposta dell’azienda e ha sottolineato che la sua motivazione era la sicurezza, non il confronto con l’operatore.

Virgin Media O2 ha dichiarato di aver risolto rapidamente il problema dopo essere stata avvisata e che per intervenire era necessaria una formazione tecnica specialistica. Allo stesso tempo, l’operatore ha riconosciuto che la vulnerabilità potrebbe essere esistita fin dall’introduzione del software nel 2023, ma non ha indicato la durata esatta della sua validità.

L’azienda ha sottolineato che gli utenti non devono intraprendere alcuna azione e non è stata trovata alcuna prova che la vulnerabilità sia stata sfruttata al di fuori del blog tecnico dello specialista. I rappresentanti hanno aggiunto che non vi è stata alcuna compromissione della rete esterna e che tutte le informazioni sono disponibili solo all’interno dell’infrastruttura stessa.

Williams condusse un esperimento per dimostrare la portata della minaccia: con l’aiuto di un volontario, anche lui abbonato all’O2, riuscì a determinare la sua posizione approssimativa nel centro di Copenaghen. Ha affermato che disabilitare la funzione di chiamata 4G potrebbe eliminare il rischio, ma su alcuni dispositivi, tra cui l’iPhone, ciò non è possibile.

L’operatore Giffgaff, che utilizza anch’esso l’infrastruttura O2 di Virgin Media, ha rifiutato di rilasciare dichiarazioni. Tesco Mobile, i cui clienti potrebbero essere stati anch’essi colpiti, non ha fornito alcuna risposta alle domande.

L’Ofcom ha affermato che sta indagando sull’incidente e che sta chiedendo all’operatore spiegazioni sulle cause e le conseguenze del problema. L’ICO, da parte sua, ha dichiarato che, dopo aver valutato la situazione e le misure adottate, non intraprenderà ulteriori azioni.

L'articolo Scoperto un bug VoLTE: tracciati milioni di utenti O2, Giffgaff e Tesco Mobile proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

The AI effects we know these days were once preceded by CGI, and those were once preceded by true hand-built physical props. If that makes you think of Muppets, this video will change your mind. In a behind-the-scenes look with [Adam Savage], effects designer [Mark Setrakian] reveals the full animatronic glory of Mr. Wink’s mechanical fist from Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) – and this beast still flexes.

Most of this arm was actually made in 2003, when 3D printing was very different than what we think of today. Printed on a Stratasys Titan – think: large refrigerator-sized machine, expensive as sin – the parts were then hand-textured with a Dremel for that war-scarred, brutalist feel. This wasn’t just basic animatronics for set dressing. This was a fully actuated prop with servo-driven finger joints, a retractable chain weapon, and bevel-geared mechanisms that scream mechanical craftsmanship.

Each finger is individually designed. The chain reel: powered by a DeWalt drill motor and custom bevel gear assembly. Every department: sculptors, CAD modelers, machinists, contributed to this hybrid of analog and digital magic. Props like this are becoming unicorns.

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hackaday.com/2025/05/30/17-yea…

White LED bulbs are commonplace in households by now, mostly due to their low power usage and high reliability. Crank up the light output enough and you do however get high temperatures and corresponding interesting failure modes. An example is the one demonstrated by the [electronupdate] channel on YouTube with a Philips MR16 LED spot that had developed a distinct purple light output.
The crumbling phosphor coating on top of the now exposed UV LEDs. (Credit: electronupdate, YouTube)
After popping off the front to expose the PCB with the LED packages, the fault seemed to be due to the phosphor on one of the four LEDs flaking off, exposing the individual UV LEDs underneath. Generally, white LEDs are just UV LEDs that have a phosphor coating on top that converts this UV into broad band visible (white) or a specific wavelength, so this failure mode makes perfect sense.

After putting the PCB under a microscope and having a look at the failed and the other LED packages the crumbled phosphor on not just the one package became obvious, as the remaining three showed clear cracks in the phosphor coating. Whether due to the heat in these high-intensity spot lamps or just age, clearly over time these white LED packages become just UV LEDs. Ideally you could dab on some fresh phosphor, but likely the fix is to replace these LED packages every few years until the power supply in the bulb gives up the ghost.

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Thanks to [ludek111] for the tip.

hackaday.com/2025/05/30/white-…

Il 9 febbraio avevo cancellato l'account Facebook, il sistema mi aveva detto che per 30 giorni sarebbe stato solo disattivato e che l'eliminazione vera e propria sarebbe avvenuta solo 30 giorni dopo.

Siamo al 30 maggio e il mio account è ancora lì.

Stasera sono nuovamente entrato e ho rifatto la procedura, al termine della quale il sistema mi ha ancora una volta confermato che la mia richiesta di cancellazione era stata ricevuta, che l'account era stato programmato per l'eliminazione ma che per 30 giorni sarebbe stato solo disattivato, casomai avessi cambiato idea.

Qualcuno di voi è riuscito a cancellarsi per davvero?

Nel frattempo ho scritto al Garante per la Privacy segnalando il problema e chiedendo come fare per poter vedere rispettato il mio diritto ad essere rimosso da quel social network.

Ho visto il primo episodio di Adolescence.

Non avrei mai dovuto farlo.

Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

It’s now the 66th day that Rümeysa Öztürk is facing deportation by the United States government for writing an op-ed it didn’t like. More press freedom news below.

Risking free speech won’t protect kids

Federal agencies are transforming into the speech police under President Donald Trump. So why are some Democrats supporting the Kids Online Safety Act, a recently reintroduced bill that would authorize the MAGA-controlled Federal Trade Commission to enforce censorship?

As Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) senior advocacy adviser Caitlin Vogus wrote for The Boston Globe, there’s never an excuse for supporting censorship bills, but especially when the political loyalists at the FTC are sure to abuse any power they’re given to stifle news on disfavored topics. Read the op-ed here.

We’re ready to sue if Paramount executives sell out the press

We’ve written previously about how Trump’s frivolous complaint against Paramount Global over CBS News’ editing of an interview with Kamala Harris threatens the freedoms of other news outlets. Yesterday, Trump proved it by claiming his $20 billion damages demand is based on “mental anguish” due to the answer – which doesn’t even mention him. How’s that for a “snowflake”?

As we informed Paramount Global executives last week, we plan to file a shareholder derivative lawsuit if Paramount settles. We believe any settlement – let alone the eight figure range being discussed – would be an effort to launder bribe money through the courts and would damage Paramount irreparably.

Reports this week in the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere have noted that executives fear derivative liability if they settle. They should. Read more here.

Phone companies keep journalist surveillance secret

A letter by Sen. Ron Wyden about surveillance of senators’ phone lines has an important lesson for journalists, too: Be careful in selecting your phone carrier.

Wyden wrote his Senate colleagues revealing which wireless carriers inform customers about government surveillance requests (Cape, Google Fi, and US Mobile), and which don’t (AT&T, Boost Mobile, Charter/Spectrum, Comcast/Xfinity Mobile, T-Mobile, and Verizon). Read more here.

Fallout from silencing Voice of America

As a reporter on the press freedom beat, Liam Scott chronicled abuses against journalists for Voice of America. But now, Scott himself is part of the story.

In March, Trump signed an executive order gutting the United States Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA. Scott and his colleagues have been or are set to be terminated imminently, and the website hasn’t published a new story in months.

We spoke to Scott about his unique perspective on current threats to press freedom, as both a victim and a journalist covering them. We were joined by Jason Scott of Archive Team, who is working to preserve VOA’s content should it be taken offline. Read more and watch the webinar here.

Administration abuses secrecy rules

Lauren Harper, FPF’s Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy, joined MeidasTouch Network’s Legal AF podcast, “Court of History,” to explain how the Trump administration is abusing secrecy to control the news narrative — and how an FPF Freedom of Information Act win revealed the truth.

Harper was joined by University of Maryland professor Jason Baron in a wide-ranging discussion with co-hosts Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz. Watch the video podcast here.

Federal police reforms repealed

The same week the Justice Department announced it was dropping federal oversight programs and investigations into more than two dozen police departments, including in Minneapolis, the city held a remembrance marking five years since the murder of George Floyd by a local police officer.

Police abuses of protestors and journalists during the demonstrations that followed Floyd’s murder led to the now-abandoned reforms, including consent decrees in Minneapolis and Louisville dealing with how police should interact with journalists covering protests and their aftermaths. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a project of FPF, has more. Read the Tracker’s coverage here.

What we’re reading

Greene County policy barring staff from speaking to press ‘unconstitutional,’ experts say (The Daily Progress). Local government employees should be able to talk to the press. But in Greene County, Virginia, they can’t. We told The Daily Progress that the county policy is unconstitutional.

Journalist sues LA county, ex-LA county sheriff for criminally investigating her (The Dissenter). It’s good to see journalist Maya Lau stand up for journalists’ right to not be investigated and harassed for doing their jobs.

How to stand your ground, in three (not so easy) steps (American Crisis). Institutions shouldn’t cave to Trump’s threats. Thanks to Margaret Sullivan for citing our plans to sue if Paramount settles with Trump as an example on how to stand your ground.

FBI visits me over manifesto (Ken Klippenstein). Journalists’ sources and newsgathering are none of the FBI’s business. They don’t seriously think Klippenstein was some kind of conspirator — they just want to intimidate him and other journalists.

freedom.press/issues/risking-f…

As a reporter on the press freedom beat, Liam Scott chronicled abuses against journalists at home and abroad for Voice of America. But he was shocked when the experiences of those on the other side of the page became his own.

In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order suddenly gutting the United States Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA. Scott and hundreds of colleagues have been or are set to be terminated imminently, and the international news service’s website hasn’t published a new story in months.

To understand more about how Trump’s anti-press tactics threaten the independence of public-interest journalism and what comes next for press freedom in the U.S. and around the world, Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) hosted an online webinar May 23 with Scott and Archive Team Co-founder Jason Scott, who is working to preserve VOA’s content should it be taken offline.

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“After several years of covering press freedom issues, it still feels weird to be in the midst of a press freedom issue that is affecting me and my colleagues,” Liam Scott said. “There is actually a lot that is happening here that reminds me of what I’ve reported on in other countries.”

He also expressed significant concern for colleagues who are in the U.S. on visas. Without authorization to continue working here, they will be forced to return home to countries where austere rules about free speech can lead to jail time or worse, he cautioned.

“VOA has journalists now imprisoned in Myanmar, Vietnam, and Azerbaijan, and there are other journalists from Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia who are imprisoned in other countries around the world as well, just for doing their jobs,” Liam Scott said, referring to two other international news services long supported by the U.S. government. “So my immediate concern was if VOA and its sister outlets shut down, who is going to advocate for these reporters?”

Preserving VOA’s online content

While the fate of VOA’s employees hangs in the balance, so too does its website, a resource for readers who live in regions of censorship and can’t access this information anywhere else. Amid fears that the site and the reporting it hosts will vanish from the internet and leave behind thousands of stories, efforts are underway to preserve its contents.

Archive Team members, including Jason Scott, have created an “online footprint” of VOA’s website that contains over 400 gigabytes worth of stories. It’s paramount to ensure a replica of the site exists before its potential takedown, he said, because the work cannot be done retroactively.

“The conversation about whether or not to save something usually stops once it’s gone,” he added.

As a general rule of thumb, Jason Scott recommended that journalists keep multiple copies of their work in different locations, in the event they lose access to where their work is published.

Doing so is especially important in the current digital climate under the Trump administration, which has scrubbed countless federal webpages.

In that sense, said Jason Scott, it bears resemblance to a startup company.

“You move fast, you break things, you work it out later. If something can’t be explained to you in two seconds, get rid of it,” he added. This slash-and-burn approach, a Trump administration hallmark, can wreak havoc for preservation efforts because it evokes a digital “entropy” that can change data access on a dime, said Jason Scott.

While trawling internet data can be exhausting, so can reporting through censorship. Liam Scott, who has continued his work on the press freedom beat at outlets elsewhere, said it’s important “to not get fatigued” and to remember that threats and retaliation are often reactions to strong journalism, which underscores the need to protect the rights of those doing the work.

“Attacks on journalists are also attacks on the public,” he said. “Because when you’re attacking a journalist, you’re attacking the information that they’re trying to share with their audience — information that is so important for how we live our lives.”

Just as accountability is met with reprisal, archiving data is met with unpredictability. As the Archive Team compiles the work of countless VOA journalists who risked their lives to report the truth, Jason Scott said to remember that data preservation is an uphill battle. The power to decide what stays online often belongs to those with the most effective keys to the internet: powerful institutions like the government.

“Data is an incredible devil’s bargain,” he said. “Entropy is the house, and the house always wins.”

freedom.press/issues/silencing…

The following was a letter submitted by an anonymous Pirate supporter using the pseudonym “Forward Thoughts”, sharing critiques of “Uncle Sam”. This article is apart of the project “Message in a Bottle”, allowing supporters of the US Pirate Party to submit editorial articles to the United States Pirate Party website.

Uncle Sam, the personification of the federal government, is supposed to be a beacon of democracy and good fortune towards the will of the people right here in the United States of America. However, he has gotten too big for his britches since the beginning. History highlighting this goes as far back as Uncle Sam exerting his power from the Whiskey Rebellion to recently using the Enemy Alien Act of 1787 to deport immigrant dissenters speaking out against the genocide happening in Palestine.

Every state relies on his charity to a certain extent, some more than others. How can we rely on our government to provide for its people when it directly meddles and persistently goes against the will of its people by starting wars and cutting funds to social programs, sometimes it creates on its own volition?

In a way, the American people receive assistance from the suits and ties of Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., that assistance comes in the form of government regulations more so than it comes from funding assistance. Guns, voting, criminal penalties, taxes, immigration, etc. are always the hot button issues every politician or candidate running for office has on their agenda.

“I want to be controlled harder by my government” said no one ever.

In order to curtail exerting pragmatic force against the will of the people, there’s supposed to be a system our founding fathers put in place called “checks and balances.” How this works is there’s the executive branch consisting of the presidency and cabinet members, Congress which consists of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the Supreme Court which consists of 9 justices.

However, what happens when all 3 branches reciprocate the same political ideology as one another? Who’s gonna stop these corrupt politicians from filling the coffers of themselves and of their allies (the oligarchy) they’re in cahoots with? Now we’re faced with a constitutional crisis where all 3 branches need to be severed like an infected limb.

Get this: Uncle Sam can exert his power over the economy on a whim. Right now President Trump is putting his hand up Uncle Sam as a puppet and he’s levying taxes on Chinese imports and other countries around the world. In retaliation, other countries he’s levied tariffs on are levying retaliatory tariffs against our imports into their countries. Consequently, prices on goods and services are rising. Stocks on the stock market are plummeting.

History is repeating itself. Remember back in US history class (well, hopefully you were taught this in US history class) about the Great Depression at the very end of the 1920s? Part of the reason why the economy went into a spiral was because of then Congress’s tariffs on foreign imports. Consumers no longer were able to afford products, therefore companies losing profits, especially those in the manufacturing industry, laid off workers.

Granted it wasn’t as if President Hoover bypassed Congress to make the tariffs happen, but my point still stands on how tariffs cause unintentional side effects to our everyday lives.

Lesson learned: tariffs backfire immensely on the economy.

Then President Nixon back in 1969 wanted to defund TV program PBS, Public Broadcasting Service. The nonprofit network was created to provide educational programming in a non-commercialized manner. It has brought us shows such as Sesame Street, Arthur, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, just to name a few.

Speaking of Mr. Rogers, he testified before Congress and managed to avert budget cuts for the nationally renowned TV station. Fast forward to present day 2025 — Republicans in Congress and President Trump are trying to cut funds for PBS. History is repeating itself yet again. Will we have a savior of PBS like we did back in 1969?

Lesson to be learned: PBS really is made possible by viewers like you.

Even at the state level, funding can be granted and cut based on the current majority party’s and governor’s ideology of that time. Pennhurst State School & Hospital in Spring City, PA is one of many examples of state government apathetic to the welfare of its people, especially a vulnerable population.

Opened in 1908 and closed in 1987, Pennhurst State School & Hospital was a product of an era of eugenics where those deemed unfit to reproduce in the Caucasian gene pool were euthanized or removed from society. Marginalized groups such as the epileptic and the mentally disabled were housed here, but soon grew to orphans, physically disabled, etc. Within a few years Pennhurst became overcrowded and conditions became deplorable.

In 1968, Bill Baldini did a 5-part segment on the conditions at Pennhurst exposing its wretched standard of living and abuse residents faced. There was a public outcry after the segment aired. Conditions seldomly improved from there on out until its closure in 1987. Fortunately, these residents were moved to boarding homes.

Have you ever heard of a Kirkbride psychiatric hospital? They’re long-term psychiatric hospitals designed in a batwing fashion with emphasis on natural light and air circulation. However, lack of funding and mismanagement had led to conditions in a handful of these facilities to be anything but cheery. In fact, it is what can easily be described as wicked.

Trenton Psychiatric Hospital in Trenton, NJ, under the direction of Dr. Henry Cotton, extracted organs and teeth from patients. In spite of high mortality rates and disprovable claims of cure rates, this persisted at the behest of Dr. Cotton during his tenure.

Philly (Philadelphia) State Hospital at Byberry opened in 1907. Unlike Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and others similar to Trenton, it was not made using the Kirkbride blueprints. This didn’t make the hospital any less susceptible to daunting conditions such as overcrowding, barbaric experiments, abuse, and neglect.

Props are in order to a conscientious objector named Charlie Lord, who between 1945 and 1946 was so appalled by the conditions he took note of that he covertly took photos and leaked them to the press. In these photos, raw sewage and naked men lined the hallways of Byberry.

Lesson to be learned: these residents were at the mercy of state politicians apathetic to their basic needs. Moreover and lastly, psychiatric hospitals such as the Kirkbride hospitals and disabled residential facilities such as Pennhurst are archaic and stunt personal psychiatric growth in patients.

Most states’ systems are designed to where property taxes fund our public schools. Back in the late 1800s, public schools were a shining gem of what America could be. Nowadays in many communities, our schools are nothing more than shadows of their former selves, meeting the minimum standards set by the state for funding.

Gone are the days of home economics and industrial shop classes. It’s all about standardized testing mandated by the state capital and even Uncle Sam, which is basically modern day phrenology. There’s educators and politicians who’ll justify this inane waste of paper by saying it measures how schools are doing with educating their students.

Standardized testing can be summed up in four words, it’s this: elite stay in control.

Lesson to be learned: standardized testing is a disease on our education system designed to punish lower socioeconomic schools and to keep those at the higher end of the socioeconomic.

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Ju

2025-05-30 05:21:56

Questo è bello.
Storie di Verona: il brigante Falasco.

La torre Falasco è ancora in piedi, costruita in una specie di rientranza - coalo - in una delle molte falesie. Si vede facendo un po' di attenzione quando si risale la Valpantena, è sul lato a sinistra della valle venedo su da Verona.
Nell'articolo dice che s'è perso arrivandoci ma da quel che mi ricordo c'è una stradella abbastanza confortevole che porta su.

larena.it/rubriche/vi-cammino-…

La leggenda del Brigante Falasco. Bello e spietato, era il terrore della valle

I Balladoro, i Leonardi, i Tedeschi, gli Oliboni, i Benella di Laudi, i Rotari, i Padoani, gli Allegri… Perché dal passato riaffiorano... Scopri di più

^{Alessandro Anderloni (L'Arena)}