Monthly Archives: March 2018

Zuckerberg Scrambles To Calm Facebook Employees, by Tyler Durden

Posted on March 25, 2018 | 1 comment

So far, Facebook has done a miserable job explaining its privacy policies and practices to the public or its employees, perhaps because such polices are so apparently lax. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

Following a horrendous week of damage control through a choreographed game of MSM softball, Mark Zuckerberg is now trying to calm down Facebook employees in the wake of a massive data harvesting scandal.

A March 18 exposé by The Guardian detailing how 28-year-old programmer Christopher Wylie “made Steve Bannon’s psychological warfare tool” missed its intended Trump-linked target and landed squarely on Facebook’s doorstep, after revelations that Facebook’s Orwellian data collection combined with sloppy oversight of what apps and their creators do with your data has resulted in disturbing violations of privacy.

What’s more – Facebook was helping the Obama Campaign target voters using harvested data, similar to what Cambridge Analytica was doing. Obama’s former campaign director admitted over Twitter that Facebook not only knew of the campaign’s data harvesting to “suck out the whole social graph,” but that they “didn’t stop us once they realized that was what we were doing.”

And WikiLeaked emails released during the 2016 election revealed that Facebook COO Cheryl Sandberg really wanted “Hillary to win badly,” after Hillary came over to Sandberg’s house and was “magical with her kids.”

Adding more fuel to the fire is the fact that one of the psychologists who created the data-harvesting app which gathered information on over 50 million Facebook users before selling it to Cambridge Analytica and others works for Facebook.

The co-director of a company that harvested data from tens of millions of Facebook users before selling it to the controversial data analytics firms Cambridge Analytica is currently working for the tech giant as an in-house psychologist.

Joseph Chancellor was one of two founding directors of Global Science Research (GSR), the company that harvested Facebook data using a personality app under the guise of academic research and later shared the data with Cambridge Analytica. –The Guardian

To continue reading: Zuckerberg Scrambles To Calm Facebook Employees

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He Said That? 3/24/18

Posted on March 24, 2018 | 1 comment

From Albert Einstein (1879–1955), German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics):

I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.

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So is the “Trade War” Crushing Stocks? by Wolf Richter

Posted on March 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

Wolf Richter says the “trade war” may not have been the cause of the stock market’s drop. He might want to follow up on that thesis and check out Robert Prechter’s large body of work. From Wolf Richter at wolfsreet.com:

Bull markets climb a wall of worry. What the heck happened?

OK, it was an ugly week. Facebook (FB) dropped 14% and lost $75 billion in market cap. It’s down 10% year-to-date. It’s currently trying to dig itself deeper into its self-inflicted debacle. It wasn’t just Facebook. Alphabet (GOOG) dropped 10% in the week and is down 2.4% year-to-date. This was a broad selloff.

The S&P 500 index dropped nearly 6% for the week and 9.9% from the peak on January 26. It’s down 3.2% year-to-date. At 2,588, it’s just 7 points above the low point on February 8, which is begging to be taken out on Monday. This drop is big enough to show up on a long-term chart, but given the nine-year 320% rally, why would anyone be surprised?

The Dow dropped 5.7% for the week. It’s down 11.6% from the peak on January 26, and down nearly 5% year-to-date. It carved out a new low in this down-cycle.

The Nasdaq dropped 6.5% for the week, and 7.8% from its peak on March 12, but is still up 1.3% for the year.

When stocks soared no matter what, it was because they were “climbing a wall of worry,” which is, as it was ceaselessly pointed out, what bull markets do. Bad news was good news. It didn’t matter what happened. The worse the news was, the more stocks would climb. Falling earnings and revenues no problem. Geopolitical nightmare scenarios no problem. Trump’s promises during the campaign and after the election to fix the trade imbalances in the US were just as well communicated as his promises to cut taxes. From the day Trump was elected until its peak on January 26, the S&P 500 soared 30%.

To continue reading: So is the “Trade War” Crushing Stocks?

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If This Is “Representation” Give Me Rebellion, by Justin O. Smith

Posted on March 24, 2018 | 2 comments

The $1.3 Trillion spending bill President Trump just signed is both a financial and political travesty. From Justin O. Smith at theburningplatform.com:

As I listen to President Trump on his action of signing the current Omnibus bill, I am left with no other conclusion than he is really not as strong a leader as many seem to believe him to be. He signed this terrible $1.3 trillion bill for all the wrong reasons and lamented its exclusion of terrible other items, like DACA, but nowhere did he castigate these do-nothing “leaders” for adding a bad gun control act called “NICS”; this Omnibus bill is all smoke and mirrors and the 33 miles of added funding for border fencing is just that – a fence [barely], not a wall.

This bill continues to fund Planned Parenthood too. — Oh — And Sanctuary Cities Too. Really? What happened to all Trump’s talk about “defunding” sanctuary cities?

And how many more times are we going to provide border wall funding only to see a lesser plan offered and implemented for less money and the appropriated money simply disappear? Into someone’s pockets? Especially now that we see this bill provides funding to secure the borders of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Trump should have refused to sign this bill and let the chips fall where they may, but he’s terrible when it comes to policy on funding government and many other items. If Trump had not signed the bill, any government shutdown would not have stopped the military from functioning. Since the military is considered an “essential” function, i.e. halting its operations could result in fatalities or impede national security, it will continue to operate regardless of whether or not the government shuts down; military spending would have been addressed soon enough, once Congress returned with a cleaner bill.

Whose side is the GOP really on and when are they going to start keeping their promises? This is not REPRESENTATION. THIS Is A PERPETUAL CON GAME BEING RUN ON THE U.S. TAXPAYER AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

To continue reading: If This Is “Representation” Give Me Rebellion

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“Pinging” Us, by Eric Peters

Posted on March 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

Governments don’t just announce one day that you no longer have any of your freedoms. They’re much more subtle, taking it away in a series of barely perceptible steps. From Eric Peters at theburningplatform.com:

It’s said the best way to corral a feral hog is by steps.

The first step is to put out a bucket full of feed and just let the hog eat. He gets used to the bucket appearing, full of food, at a given spot and at a given time. So he shows up at the given spot and time.

The next step is to put up a piece of fence. Just one piece. Behind the bucket of food. The hog is slightly suspicious, at first. He approaches the bucket warily. But he soon accepts the presence of the section of fence and goes on eating, ignoring the fence section behind the bucket.

After some time has passed, put up a second piece of fence, at a 90 degree angle to the first section. The hog will be alarmed by this and may not come to the bucket for awhile – and when he does, he will be cautious and on high alert. But – as before – he sees he can still come and go freely.

And there is food and he is hungry.

He grows used to the piece of fence to his left.

After giving him time to adjust, put up a third piece of fence, on the opposite side – also at a 90 degree angle to the original section behind the feed bucket.

By now, the hog has become accustomed to these appearance and – so long as he can come and go and there is food – he puts up with it, ignores the strange things appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

You know the rest. The last piece of fence corrals your hog – who is now your pig. It’s time for sausages.

Just so driver’s licenses.

To continue reading: “Pinging” Us

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Government, Privacy, Surveillance

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Do Brits Understand Irony? from The Burning Platform

Posted on March 24, 2018 | 1 comment

https://www.theburningplatform.com/2018/03/24/do-brits-understand-irony/

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Government, Privacy, Surveillance

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Illegal Wars: The New American Way, by Danny Sjursen

Posted on March 24, 2018 | 1 comment

No doubt about it, most of the wars the US is currently fighting are unconstitutional. From Danny Sjursen at  truthdig.com:

A U.S. Army soldier patrols with Afghans in the village of Yawez in Afghanistan in 2010. (U.S. Army / CC BY 2.0)

[T]he President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons. …
—S.J. Res. 23 (107th): Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), Sept. 18, 2001

The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary … in order to … defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq. …
—H. J. Res 114 (107th): Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq, Oct. 18, 2002

It’s all so obvious to a detached observer. Nonetheless, it remains unspoken. The United States of America is waging several wars with dubious legal sanction in domestic or international law.

The U.S. military stands astride the Greater Mideast region on behalf of an increasingly rogue-like regime in Washington, D.C. Worse still, this isn’t a Donald Trump problem, per se. No, three successive administrations—Democratic and Republican—have widened the scope of a global “war” on a tactic (terror), on the basis of two at best vague, and at worst extralegal, congressional authorizations for the use of force (AUMF). Indeed, the U.S. is veritably addicted to waging undeclared, unwinnable wars with unconvincing legal sanction.

Despite 17 years of fighting, dying and killing, there have been no specific declarations of war. Instead, one president after another, and hundreds of derelict-in-their-duty congress members, have simply decided on their own that a vague resolution, rubber-stamped while the rubble in New York was still smoking, authorizes each and every conflict in which America’s soldiers—and many more civilians—continue to die. This AUMF authorized the president to kill or capture those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks, but, well, few of America’s current adversaries had anything to do with that.

To continue reading: Illegal Wars: The New American Way

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Posted in Government, History, Law, Military, War

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10 Social Media Networks to Use Instead of Facebook, by Jake Anderson

Posted on March 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here’s a nifty list for anyone who wants to unhook from the Facebook octopus, communicate with friends and relatives, and preserve their privacy. From Jake Anderson at theantimedia.org:

The salient facts of the new Cambridge Analytica scandal are bad, and the optics are even worse for Facebook, which is already facing multiple battles both in legal courts and the court of public opinion. But this really is just the spilled pot of a long-boiling problem: growing discomfort within our citizen-consumer class over predatory data mining and the unaccountable shadow agencies and corporations being given access to our private lives via social networks. Big Brother has been privatized, and it may turn out to be far more dangerous than anything George Orwell predicted.

Typically, Facebook has been able to duck, dodge, juke, and jive its way out of such entanglements because of the sheer ubiquity of social media in our daily lives, the market value of the company, and its ability to manipulate public opinion. But this time is different. The company hit the politicized buzzsaw of the 2016 election, which is still grinding and sparking from accusations concerning the use of Facebook to spread propaganda (which in reality, of course, is nothing new). In other words, “Facebook’ is appearing in more and more paragraphs containing “Russia,” and in today’s climate, that is worse than a decade of privacy violations.

In Facebook’s meteoric rise, it flew too close to Trump on the wings of pilfered data.

With the #DeleteFacebook hashtag trending on social media and the Big Five — Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook — growing more untrustworthy by the day, we may soon see a sea change in public sentiment toward another relevant trend with incredible momentum: peer-to-peer, blockchain-based tech apps; tools that do not harvest user data and are not part of a monopolistic predator class of Silicon Valley tech elites hobnobbing with Washington policymakers. The masses may finally be ready to adopt the ethos of decentralized social media in their lives.

To continue reading: 10 Social Media Networks to Use Instead of Facebook

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UK: Islamization Full Speed Ahead, by Judith Bergman

Posted on March 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

A British citizen would probably get thrown in jail for reposting this article. From Judith Bergman at gatestoneinstitute.org:

  • This is how Islamization occurs and is made permanent: Other schools will think carefully of the risks before they even attempt to “limit the Islamization process”.
  • It is virtually impossible for “Islamophobia” to be “underreported” in London. The UK is nothing, if not clinically obsessed with “Islamophobia”. In 2016, London mayor Sadiq Khan’s Office for Policing and Crime announced it was spending £1.7 million taxpayer money policing speech online.
  • British police have even been taking lessons about Islam and “Islamophobia” from radical Islamist groups such as Mend. One of the most active Mend figures, Azad Ali, has said that he has “love” for Anwar Al-Awlaki, an influential US-born Islamic terrorist, who was killed by a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011.

The UK is accelerating its Islamization at an ever-increasing speed. The desire of the British establishment to submit to Islam appears to be overwhelming.

In a recent report, the Henry Jackson society exposed how the UK used taxpayer funds to support Islamist charities working against British society to the tune of more than six million pounds in 2017 alone. According to the report, “As the case studies in this report are illustrative rather than comprehensive, it is likely that this sum represents only the tip of the iceberg”. The report concludes, “Until more comprehensive action is taken, a network of Islamist extremists operating in the UK will continue to use charities and taxpayer money to fund the spread of divisive, illiberal and intolerant views within our communities”.

Among the charities detailed in the report, are several Islamic charities involved in dawa [outreach, proselytization], such as the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA), as well as several charities connected to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, such as the Muslim Charities Forum (MCF) and Islamic Relief.

To continue reading: UK: Islamization Full Speed Ahead

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Collapse, Government, Religion

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Breaching the Public Trust – Facebook is the Beginning, by Tom Luongo

Posted on March 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

People may be tiring of being the social media companies’ “product.” From Tom Luongo at tomluongo.me:

Last night I was chatting with a friend while waiting for my daughter. She told me her phone now informs her when her bills are due.  Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but it is when you realize that she never told her phone to do that.

Her phone is scanning her emails and letting her know her when her electric bill is due.

I told her Google likely pushed down an update which she agreed to without realizing it (or getting the opportunity to opt-out of) which authorized them to not only scan her inbox but set up alerts for her.

She was angry about it, and rightfully so.

This is why I don’t use any of the Google apps on my Android phone.  Outlook for email, Opera for my browser.  Office for my productivity apps.  It was a conscious choice.  I moved to Android under protest because Microsoft willfully destroyed Windows Phone.

I know it’s not much better, but at least Microsoft appreciates my business, now, for the first time in their miserable existence.

And I wasn’t willing to shell out $600+ for a comparable iPhone.  Pennywise and pound-foolish, I know, but no one’s perfect.

As a hardware-savvy guy I know when software is over-burdening hardware and why.

And I can tell you the data harvesting on my phone was so out of control by Facebook and Google that it became nigh unusable on wake-up.  Upwards of a minute or two would go by before the phone was usable because so much data was being harvested off it before it would deign to allow me to use it.

I will switch to the iPhone when I can justify the money.

Once I deleted Facebook and all its crap from my phone, it miraculously became almost functional again.  I could answer calls as they came in.  I could reply to texts and approve blog comments/pingbacks.

I will never reinstall Facebook on any device I own.

 

To continue reading: Breaching the Public Trust – Facebook is the Beginning

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