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The Shrinking Horizon
Steyn Online ^ | 18 Nov 2025 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 11/19/2025 6:32:00 AM PST by Rummyfan

Apparently, some twenty-five per cent of the Internet was inaccessible for much of the day - including (depending where you were) significant parts of the Steyn empire. Get used to it. A few years hence, "surfing the net" is going to be like switching on your kitchen light in Baghdad outside the Green Zone. This will be because China and other hostile powers will enjoy messing with us just to probe our strengths and weaknesses. But it will also be because the west's own governments will appreciate the advantages of a more conditional Internet. Let us say that, oh, multiple schoolgirls get stabbed in Southport or Dublin. Or another couple of French schoolteachers are beheaded by their students. Or two German Christmas markets get mown down on the same day. Just in case some intemperate Lucy Connolly types are tempted to weigh in, would it not be in everyone's interest for social media to be mysteriously afflicted by a Distributed Denial of Service?

~Speaking of Mrs Connolly, Starmer's political prisoner is now out of gaol. So Nigel Farage had planned to fly her to Washington to speak to members of Congress about the death of free speech in the United Kingdom.

But that's off. Even though Lucy Connolly has served the sentence imposed by Birmingham Crown Court, I learn from the indispensable Conservative Woman website that the poor woman has since been placed under MAPPA - "Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements". If you're wondering what that means, well, let us go to the UK government's own sodding website. The purpose of MAPPA is to "assess and manage the risks posed by sexual and violent offenders".

I was not hitherto aware that Mrs Connolly was a "sexual and violent offender"...

(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: internet; steyn

1 posted on 11/19/2025 6:32:00 AM PST by Rummyfan
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To: Rummyfan

2 posted on 11/19/2025 6:33:54 AM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: Magnum44

“I was in the pool!”


3 posted on 11/19/2025 6:34:51 AM PST by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Rummyfan

Bkmk


4 posted on 11/19/2025 6:36:48 AM PST by sauropod
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To: Rummyfan

I got around this CLoudflare issue by logging in to a Washington DC node on the ExpressVPN menu. IT was clearly a no-go coming in through my usual Atlanta node.


5 posted on 11/19/2025 6:37:11 AM PST by Blueflag (To not carry is to choose to be defenseless.)
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To: Rummyfan

Do self driving cars still work when the internet goes down?


6 posted on 11/19/2025 6:37:38 AM PST by Texas Eagle ("Throw me to the wolves and I'll return leading the pack"- Donald J. Trump)
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To: dfwgator

Like a frightened turtle...


7 posted on 11/19/2025 6:45:08 AM PST by Rummyfan (Ok In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support lthe civilized man.👨 so t tv)
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To: Texas Eagle

Do self driving cars still work when the internet goes down?


Does Bitcoin and electron “ money” still work with an electricity grid crash? Or an Internet crash? Or a computer hack? Or a “ lost” password?

Isn’t “ technology” great? It is, until suddenly it isn’t.


8 posted on 11/19/2025 6:54:30 AM PST by delta7
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To: Blueflag

“Cloudflare says that an hours-long global outage that knocked off several major websites earlier Tuesday was caused by a configuration file that unexpectedly got too big.”

“What they’re saying: Cloudflare spokesperson Jackie Dutton said the outage was caused by a “configuration file that is automatically generated to manage threat traffic.”

This is typical - nobody says ‘what will happen if?” It’s all automated, nothing can go wrong.


9 posted on 11/19/2025 6:55:09 AM PST by proxy_user
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To: Rummyfan

I don’t read Mark Steyn’s articles very often. He is well informed, but his writing style laden with satire is not always for me. Even still. I have always liked Mark as a personality.
It’s good to know he’s still writing at all.
Hasn’t he been quite ill for the last few years?


10 posted on 11/19/2025 7:21:40 AM PST by lee martell
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To: Texas Eagle

Good question. I think a lot of the technology is independent of the internet.

I’ve relied on Apple maps for direction while driving. Sometimes there’s no signal. That is awkward to scary.


11 posted on 11/19/2025 7:45:17 AM PST by ChessExpert (Infidels of the world unite against the evil that is Islam.)
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To: lee martell
Hasn’t he been quite ill for the last few years?

Yes, he has had and is still having serious heart problems.

12 posted on 11/19/2025 8:01:34 AM PST by Rummyfan (Ok In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support lthe civilized man.👨 so t tv)
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To: lee martell

Steyn went through a long and harrowing lawfare ordeal launched by the climate nazis, led by Michael Mann. Steyn eventually prevailed, but the prolonged stress of malicious litigation ruined his health.


13 posted on 11/19/2025 8:18:46 AM PST by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative. )
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To: Rummyfan

“...China and other hostile powers will enjoy messing with us...”

Why, they can get information from us with it running. Look at Hilary’s personal server she was using putting sensitive information on it. Never know who might be listening and she was stupid enough not to care.

wy69


14 posted on 11/19/2025 8:36:53 AM PST by whitney69 (")
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To: hinckley buzzard

Shock + deep worry can certainly wear a person down from within.

My small related experience with that is when the IRS ‘stole’ my paycheck and then some many years ago. Since then, I learned to slightly overpay my taxes. It was all legal and there was nothing I could do about it but twiddle my thumbs. I don’t ever want to go through that again.


15 posted on 11/19/2025 8:38:03 AM PST by lee martell
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To: Texas Eagle

Probably not and that is why they want them. Also, they can commandeer it upon demand and deposit you anywhere they want. They is the deep state.


16 posted on 11/19/2025 9:38:07 AM PST by Resolute Conservative
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