Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1096
March 19, 2018
Cambridge Analytica Ain’t Nuthin: Look Out For i360 and DataTrust
By Greg Palast
There are two dangers in the media howl over Trump’s computer gurus Cambridge Analytica, the data-driven psy-ops company founded by billionaire brown-shirts, the Mercer Family.
The story is that Cambridge Analytica, once directed by Steve Bannon, by shoplifting Facebook profiles to bend your brain, is some unique “bad apple” of the cyber world.
That’s a dangerously narrow view. In fact, the dark art of dynamic psychometric manipulation in politics was not pioneered by Cambridge Analytica for Trump, but by i360 Themis, the operation founded by… no points for guessing… the Brothers Koch.
Mark Swedlund, himself an expert in these tools, explained in the film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, that i360 dynamically tracks you on 1800 behaviors, or as Swedlund graphically puts it [see clip above],
“They know the last time you downloaded porn and
whether you ordered Chinese food before you voted.”
Swedlund adds his expert conclusion: “I think that’s creepy.”
The Koch operation and its competitor, DataTrust, use your credit card purchases, cable TV choices and other personal info — which is far more revealing about your inner life than the BS you put on your Facebook profile. Don’t trust DataTrust: This cyber-monster is operated by Karl Rove, “Bush’s Brain,” who is principally funded by Paul Singer, the far Right financier better known as The Vulture. . .
Source: Cambridge Analytica Ain’t Nuthin: Look Out For i360 and DataTrust
Black Activists Sue to End Surveillance
Two civil rights groups want an end to the surveillance of Black activists, including those associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as for an end to the FBI’s silence on a mysterious “Race paper.”
Several heavily redacted federal documents — released through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Color of Change and the Center for Constitutional Rights — detail extensive surveillance efforts by the FBI. One report reveals that the agency sent informants to track an activist during the 2014 BLM protests in Ferguson after Michael Brown‘s death. Federal agents also surveilled the homes and cars of people connected to the protests, according to the November 2014 emails and intelligence reports obtained by the civil rights groups and later provided to The Intercept.
Reportedly, the documents describe federal efforts to keep watch of activists of color that went beyond online intelligence gathering, including social media monitoring of protesters’ activities.
Also released as a result of the lawsuit were several Department of Homeland Security emails, which mentioned the existence of a document described as the “Race paper,” the subject of another lawsuit filed by the civil groups Monday. The paper may refer to a “framework for evaluating the alleged radicalization of black activists,” lawyers in the case said. . .
Trump Issues Bizarre Executive Order Banning Purchase of Venezuelan Cryptocurrency
Source: ZeroHedge
Cryptos are moving sharply lower in response to news that President Trump has issued an executive order banning the U.S. purchases of the “Petro”, the cryptocurrency which was infamously rolled out by the Venezuelan government; the order comes as part of a campaign to put more pressure on the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
As a reminder, one month ago Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro announced that the launch of his country’s oil-backed answer to Bitcoin, Petro, raised $735 million in its first day, despite warnings by the Treasury Department that investors should stay away.
In a tweet in February, the Venezuelan leader said that investors had promised 4.8 billion yuan, or $735 million in a pre-sale of Petro, the cryptocurrency Maduro hopes will help boost Venezuela’s ailing economy. Maduro has said that he hopes the Petro will help the country skirt Western sanctions, though the U.S. Treasury has warned that it won’t be that easy. In mid-January, the department told potential Petro investors that they could be subject to sanctions against Venezuela. . .
via Trump Issues Bizarre Executive Order Banning Purchases Of Venezuela’s Cryptocurrency
UK Scientists Refused Government Pressure To Say Nerve Agent Was Made By Russia
The British government continually re-uses the phrase “of a type developed by Russia” because its own scientists refuse government pressure to say the nerve agent was made by Russia.
Boris Johnson Attempt to Refute My Sources on Porton Down the Most Hilarious Fail
By Craig Murray
March 18, 2018 “Information Clearing House” – The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has issued a statement to refute my report fromwell-placed FCO sources that the British government continually re-uses the phrase “of a type developed by Russia” because its own scientists refused government pressure to say the nerve agent was made by Russia, and as getting even agreement to “of a type developed by” was bloody, the government has to stick to precisely that rather odd choice of phrase.
This is the official British Government statement:
“We have no idea what Mr Murray is referring to. The Prime Minister told MP’s on Monday that world leading experts at Porton Down had positively identified this chemical agent. It is clear that it is a military grade nerve agent of a type developed…
View original post 1,261 more words
March 18, 2018
Nearly 20% of Women Prisoners in Japan Are Seniors
Shoplifting has become something of a lifeline for Japan’s elderly population. As Bloomberg reports, nearly one in five women in prison is 65 or older. These elderly women commit minor crimes in order to escape poverty and solitude. Often, women are repeat offenders so that they can return to prison once they are released. To…
via Nearly 20% of women inmates in Japan’s prisons are seniors — Quartz
Salvation Army Opens Nonprofit Grocery Store in Baltimore to Combat Food Deserts
[image error]
by Nina Golgowski via huffingtonpost.com
The Salvation Army is adding healthy grocery shopping to its list of charitable endeavors. The nonprofit opened its first full-service grocery store in Baltimore on Wednesday in what it hopes will be the first of many stores to help combat the nation’s number of “food deserts,” which are disadvantaged neighborhoods lacking stores that sell fresh meats and produce.
DMG Foods, which is named after the organization’s promise of “doing the most good,” opened in northeast Baltimore with the goal of providing local residents with nutritious, low-cost food as well as nutrition guidance, meal planning and job training. “If this works, Baltimore wants us to open two or three more stores,” Maj. Gene A. Hogg, the Salvation Army’s Central Maryland area commander, told HuffPost on Monday.
Pipelinistan: Is the Novichok Psyops an Effort to Shut Down Nord Stream 2?
Politics, Power and Pipelines – Europe and Natural Gas
DW (2018)
Film Review
This documentary concerns Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, due for completion by the end of 2019. The EU, the UK and the US have been working hard to shut down Nord Stream 2, and various commentators believe the current Novichok psyops is an effort to pressure Germany to back out of their agreement with Gazprom.
The Nord Stream 2 project is a partnership between Russian state-owned Gazprom and five private energy companies from Britain, Germany, France and Netherlands. It will transport natural gas directly across the Baltic Sea to Germany. The existing Nord Stream 1 pipeline system transports Russian gas to western Europe mainly via Ukraine.
Since the 2014 US-sponsored coup in Ukraine, there has been considerable conflict between Russia and Ukraine over Nord Stream 1 – involving Ukraine’s non-payment of fuel charges, their failure to maintain the pipeline and illegal diversion of gas supplies. Russia totally shut down gas supplies to Ukraine in 2009 and 2014 for non-payment, resulting in very cold winters for Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary at the other end of the pipeline.*
Two prominent Germans are part of the Nord Stream 2 consortium, former German Chancellor and Social Democratic Party leader Gerhard Schroder and former Stasi member and Putin friend Mattias Warning. The latter serves as the company’s Managing Director.
Despite their determination to become more independent of Russian gas and oil, Poland and other Eastern European states are dismayed that Nord Stream 2 will bypass them. Ukraine is distraught because it stands to lose $2 billion annually in transit fees.
The EU is trying to stop Nord Stream 2 by claiming regulatory authority, **which Russia and German dispute, as both Nord Stream 1 and 2 are external pipelines.
The US also opposes the pipeline, as it prefers both EU countries to buy its more costly fracked LNG (liquified natural gas). They have threatened economic sanctions on countries that sign new energy agreements with Russia.
The US also opposed Nord Stream 1 (completed in 1973), fearing it might lead to a closer relationship between West Germany and Russia. Former German chancellor Willy Brandt strongly championed Nord Stream 1, over US objections. He believed trade and detente*** were a preferable strategy for bringing down the Iron Curtain. It now appears he was right.
The filmmakers raise legitimate concerns about Russia investing so heavily in yet more fossil fuel pipelines (Gazprom is also building a pipeline via Turkey to Italy and Greece) in a period when the planet urgently needs to end fossil fuel use altogether.
*On March 3, 2018, Russia announced it was ending fossil fuel contracts with Ukraine altogether, raising grave concerns for countries at the other end of the pipeline. See Russia’s Gazprom to Terminate Gas Contracts with Ukraine
**Detente is a cold war term referring to the easing of strained relations.
March 17, 2018
No longer ‘alternative’, mainstream renewables are pushing prices down #auspol #sapol #StopAdani
Australia’s surge in renewable energy production pushes down power prices.
No longer ‘alternative’, mainstream renewables are pushing prices down
Simon Holmes à CourtFri 16 Mar 2018 13.40 AEDT
On the first day of autumn tens of thousands of Victorians received a welcome surprise from their power company — their electricity bills were going down.
Prices were cut 5% because the retailer increased their investment in renewable energy.
This will likely come as a surprise to many.
Since the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and the energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, decided that bashing renewables would play well for them — perhaps more so in the party room than in the electorate — hardly a day goes by without claims that renewables have made our grid unreliable and have pushed prices sky high.
As we emerge from a hot summer without even one second of generation-related blackouts, the dissonance is high.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has demonstrated their ability to…
View original post 842 more words
Rand Paul Vows to Block Pompeo and Haspel Confirmations
Since confirmation requires a simple majority vote of the Senate, and Republicans only control 51 seats, Paul said his vote “may be enough,” but “it depends on the solidarity of the Democrats.”
Mar 15, 2018 by C. Mitchell Shaw
President Trump will face opposition in the Senate when it comes to the confirmation of his newest picks for secretary of state and CIA director. A large part of that opposition will come from Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who said Wednesday that he will work to “block” both Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel from being confirmed for those appointments.
The president announced Tuesday that with the firing of Rex Tillerson, he was nominating Pompeo to head the State Department. Since that would leave Pompeo’s current slot as CIA director empty, Trump also nominated Haspel to head the spy agency. Senator Paul said on Wednesday, “My announcement today is that I will oppose both Pompeo’s nomination and Haspel’s nomination,” adding, “I’m going to do everything I can to block them.”
As this writer reported previously, Haspel has a record of practicing torture. When she…
View original post 626 more words
The Most Revolutionary Act
- Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's profile
- 11 followers
