BACK TO SCHOOL: College students are safest on campus. “On campus, students followed safety rules and avoided infection. Students living off campus and going to off-campus parties were less careful, putting themselves and others at risk.”

THEY KNOW WHEN YOU’VE BEEN NAUGHTY: Capella Space’s new satellite can see into your house at any time.

(UPDATED, see below)

An unconventional new satellite from Capella Space can do the unthinkable: peer right into your bedroom and snap high-resolution pictures at any time. If that sounds pretty creepy to you… yeah, we’re right there with you.

The Capella-2 satellite is unlike any hunk of metal currently orbiting the Earth, thanks to the ludicrously high resolution of its onboard cameras. And Capella has launched it with an unconventional service to match: the government or private customers can request a picture of anything on the planet at any time.

Right now there’s just one Capella-2 satellite roaming around in the atmosphere, so that functionality is somewhat limited. Capella plans to launch six additional satellites with similar capabilities in the next year.

The Capella-2 is certainly an enormous leap forward in space-based photography; it will surely usher in more of a race for this type of technology. The satellite is also a massive privacy risk — and one that lies outside any policy framework we have around surveillance.

If I were President, I’d be tempted to order Space Force to shoot it down.

UPDATE (Charlie): The story now has a correction:

Correction: A previous version of this article stated in error that the satellite can see into buildings. It cannot. The post has been updated to reflect this.

The signal they’re using is 9.6GHz, and most all houses are opaque at that frequency. So it can’t really see into your house, and your sex life is safe from satellites. That doesn’t mean it’s not a privacy concern, though — it can see your property, your car, people going into and out of your house.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: If Lockdowns Work Why Is California a Global COVID-19 Hotspot? “How in the hell is California a COVID nightmare when the state has been one of the most draconian with lockdowns and mask rules? I mean, haven’t they been doing all of the things that are supposed to keep the virus at bay over there?”

ALTERNATELY, GOVERNMENT COULD TRY TAKING ITS BOOT OFF THE ECONOMY’S THROAT: Former Goldman CFO Marty Chavez Calls For Universal Basic Income ‘To Stave Off Revolution.’

BETTER STOCK UP THOSE WELCOME WAGONS: Everybody In California Is Moving to Texas.

THEY’LL TURN US ALL INTO BEGGARS ‘CAUSE THEY’RE EASIER TO PLEASE: Coronavirus Lockdowns Throw Additional 8 Million Americans Into Poverty.

DEAD LIKE A ZOMBIE OR A VAMPIRE: Trump’s peace deals mean the anti-Israel boycott movement is dead. “Last week, Morocco became the fourth Arab state — after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan — to strike a peace deal with Israel. The US-brokered Abraham Accords will almost certainly be remembered as Team Trump’s greatest foreign achievement. Among the as-yet-unappreciated benefits: The accords will utterly delegitimize those in the West who seek to delegitimize Israel, not least the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction the Jewish state.”

HEINLEIN’S CRAZY YEARS (CONT’D): Now a MEDICAL JOURNAL Wants to Get Rid of Sex on Birth Certificates.

BRYAN PRESTON: The COVID Vaccine Messaging Is Just Getting More Confusing. “Is it just me, or is the messaging on the COVID vaccines more than a little off? Here’s NBC medical analyst Dr. Vin Gupta either contradicting himself, moving the goalposts again, or just saying the vaccine can’t be trusted yet but he’s getting it anyway to virtue-signal to us unwashed commoners.”

TODAY AT 3:30PM EASTERN: VIP Gold Live Chat with Kruiser, Preston, VodkaPundit.

Hot takes, cold drinks.

FLASHBACK: Joe Biden Mocked His Wife for Wanting to be Called ‘Doctor.’

ANDY NGO: Portland lets Antifa win big — again.

Soon after last week’s raid on the occupied house, some 100 Antifa comrades mobilized through social media to retake the space. “There is an active call for numbers, defensive gear and supplies and change of clothes,” tweeted Antifa group Youth Liberation Front.

Within a few hours, the entire street was blocked off with stolen fencing, wood and junk taken from nearby homes. Some brought in power tools to reinforce the barriers. The militants laid out piles of rocks, metal spikes and glass bottles at strategic points to act as supply points for projectile weapons. They lined the road with impromptu “booby traps” — upward-facing nail strips, caltrops and more.

Portland police officers tried to shut down the RHAZ early on, but they were attacked and chased away. Their police cruisers were smashed up; they didn’t return.

“Those present at the barricades should leave it behind, put down your weapons and allow the neighborhood to return to peace and order,” Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell asked the militants, who ignored his polite request.

To protect their autonomous zone, the militants had their own team of roving “security,” like at CHAZ. They openly carried rifles and pistols. Neighborhood families felt terrorized; some have left.

Read the whole thing.

IMPRESSIVE: Amazon’s answer to SpaceX Starlink delivers 400Mbps in prototype phase.

To reduce production costs, Amazon said it must “decrease the size, weight, and complexity” of the antenna. But this is difficult with Ka-band equipment, which needs “more physical separation between transmit and receive antennas to cover its wide frequency range,” Amazon said. “For this reason, legacy Ka-band antennas place the transmit antenna and receive antenna next to one another, requiring a larger surface area and increasing production costs.”

Amazon said its solution is to use “tiny antenna element structures to overlay one over the other. This has never been accomplished in the Ka-band… Our design uses a combination of digital and analog components to electronically steer Ka-band beams toward satellites passing overhead.” This method let Amazon create a “single aperture phased array antenna that measures 12 inches in diameter, making it three times smaller and proportionately lighter than legacy antenna designs,” the company said.

That’s some nifty engineering.

NO. WHO urges families to wear masks at Christmas, says gatherings ‘should be held outside if possible.

GEORGIA RUNOFF: Jon Ossoff Blatantly Lies About Perdue’s Record on COVID-19 Stimulus Checks.

HIGHER EDUCATION: Rutgers journalism prof claims ‘language matters,’ then compares ‘death cult’ GOP to ‘fecal matter.

I’M GLAD IT ISN’T JUST US: China’s Shandong aircraft carrier completes sea trial but no word on basic combat readiness. “The first built-in-China aircraft carrier has completed a third sea trial but needs more time to reach combat readiness, with the coronavirus pandemic taking a toll on testing schedules, according to military observers.”

IN AUSTIN? YES, IN AUSTIN: Jimmy Flannigan Goes Down In Flames. “A tiny glimmer of hope in Austin’s winter of discontent: Liberal city councilman Jimmy Flannigan was defeated by Mackenzie Kelly.”

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: Another Hypocrite #DefundThePolice Supporter, Another 911 Call to the Police.

Insanity Wrap needs to know: What do you call someone who votes to #DefundThePolice but then dials 911 to report a crime that they want to legalize?

Answer: You call her Lisa Herbold, and of course she has a seat on the Seattle City Council.

Before we get to the sordid details, a quick preview of today’s Wrap.

• Steve Schmidt, practicing Democrat, is more wrong than you’ll ever know
• Now it’s disgraced former congresscritter Katie Hill demanding “you f-kers” show more unity
• Paris government hires too many women, gets fined

Bonus sanity: Governor DeSantis promises no more restaurant shutdowns.

And so much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

FACT CHECK: Did KKK-Style ‘Hate Groups’ Receive $4M in PPP Funds?

BY THE NUMBERS: Florida Is Open, New York Is Closed, And The Latter Has More COVID Deaths.

It’s also worth noting that Florida has more people than New York does, and a much higher percentage of the population (21.0% in FL vs 16.9% in NY) in the most-vulnerable 65-and-over age cohort.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: AI Just Controlled a Military Plane for the First Time Ever.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Trump Can Be a Social Media Kingmaker if Twitter Bans Him. “Twitter would stupid to get rid of Trump, of course. He’s the greatest free advertising the platform has ever had. They’ve been in the advanced stages of Trump Derangement Syndrome over there for a long time though, and we know those afflicted with it don’t make good choices.”

BIG TECH ON BIG TECH: Facebook criticizes Apple’s iOS privacy changes with full-page newspaper ads. “Developers will need to ask iOS 14 users for permission to gather data and track them across mobile apps and websites on an iPhone and iPad soon. Apple had planned to implement these changes with the initial iOS 14 release in September, but delayed enforcing them until early next year. These changes will impact Facebook’s ad business, and in particular its ad network for developers and businesses, as end users are more likely to opt out of tracking prompts.”

Actually, in the just-released iOS 14.3, end-users must opt in to app tracking.

Apps can’t even ask for permission to use tracking unless this new switch is set to on, and it’s set to off by default.

Apple’s motivation might be less about consumer privacy than it is about denying revenue to Facebook, but they have enhanced consumer privacy.

GIVE THANKS: After Weeks Of Holier Than Thou Howling, The ‘Thanksgiving Surge’ Is A No Show.

“We haven’t seen something significant to talk about now,” Illinois Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “We’ll see for sure in this coming week … We’ll keep our fingers crossed that maybe we’re not going to see a big bump.”

Ezike was one of many public health officials who cautioned Americans to skip out on family gatherings, noting that the celebrations could actually be super spreader events, according to the report. The average new detected infections was declining prior to Thanksgiving but rose a bit afterwards. However, it has since been on the decline, according to the Chicago Tribune.

I’m still trying to figure out how curfews are supposed to prevent transmission.