March 2020 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Re: The flip side of UBI/ Universal Basic Income - beware what you ask for - [MONEY]
by Zenaan Harkness 28 Apr '20

28 Apr '20

Exhibit #1 : As Trump Threatens Tehran Over Censorship, Facebook's Thought-Police Censor Pro-Iran Posts https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/trump-threatens-tehran-over-censorship… https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/while-trump-warns-tehran-of-censorsh… The hypocrisy is unbelievable. In order to comply with United States sanctions on Iran, Facebook’s thought police have taken to censorship on behalf of the government. At the same time, President Donald Trump warns Iran not to use censorship. ... “These massive Big Tech corporations are Thought Police for the US government: Facebook and Instagram are removing posts expressing support for Iran’s top general Soleimani,” journalist Ben Norton tweeted. “They say it’s to comply with US sanctions, but how do posts violate sanctions? –RT https://www.rt.com/news/478044-instagram-iran-trump-censorship/ ... ----- Forwarded message from Zenaan Harkness <zen(a)freedbms.net> ----- From: Zenaan Harkness <zen(a)freedbms.net> To: cypherpunks(a)lists.cpunks.org Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2020 21:46:06 +1100 Subject: The flip side of UBI/ Universal Basic Income - beware what you ask for - [MONEY] UBI, what could possibly go wrong? IOW, be (very) careful what you ask for ... Universal Basic Income: A Dream Come True For Despots https://www.zerohedge.com/political/universal-basic-income-dream-come-true-… ... “What do you think the potential disadvantages of the basic income would be, then?” [My neighbour] replies, “There aren’t any.” Trade-Offs Are Inescapable ... But the universal basic income seems unaffected. It’s going to cure poverty, eliminate stress, reduce crime, unleash entrepreneurship, emancipate women, save us from AI, and fight climate change. I’m not not exaggerating. I googled, and there are multiple articles claiming that, not only will the UBI save the economy from flatlining due to a lack of consumer demand by increasing consumption, but somehow also put a halt to global warming as well — contradictory as these two aims may seem. ... Trusting the World's Regimes to Do Good? Most people agree that politics is a dirty game and that political powers will inevitably be used to further the agenda of officeholders and their cronies. That said, despite being immersed in the current thinking regarding UBI for three years now, I have seen precious little worrying as to what the government — or a future government — might actually do once it has seized control over everyone’s purse strings. After all, these governments are composed of the same people who launched a permanent war in the Middle East, wasting trillions of dollars on destroying millions of lives. These governments bailed out the banks from the public purse and gave themselves raises after telling the rest of the nation we had to tighten our belts. They have robbed the young of the opportunity to own a home by sending house prices through the roof and mean to leave them a nation in ruinous debt. They continue locking away huge numbers of people for decades for victimless crimes, leaving their children to be raised single-handed. They created an oligopoly of higher education provision forcing generations into student debt that cannot be defaulted on, and healthcare systems that are so restrictive that people must pay inordinate sums to get care or are otherwise forced onto government waiting lists so long that many of their conditions are chronic or untreatable before they are seen to. Am I the only one who thinks these powers may be used for evil rather than good? China’s “Credit System” One such cautionary tale may be found in China. ... [ -------------- money quote --------------- ] Now a basic income guarantee may begin universal, but as the years wear on and it proves expensive to provide, it might be that corners have to be cut in order to ensure its continued fungibility. Hardly anyone will object to the UBI being withdrawn from criminals, for example. And then perhaps for antisocial behaviour. People may have their universal basic income docked for committing petty crimes like littering the street. A few might moan that this is the beginning of a government social engineering program, but to most people this will seem like a quite a sensible and reasonable measure. After all, we all “benefit” from the benevolence of society providing our roads and schools, and now our basic income. So if some choose to repay society in disrespect, with such vulgar behaviour as littering, throwing away the ends of cigarettes, spitting on the street, failing to remove their dog foul, or what have you, why should society continue to furnish them with the fullness of a basic income? Besides, if their basic income is docked for several months they are unlikely to repeat the crime — they will soon learn their lesson. It will save money on law enforcement, lengthy court trials, and prison sentences as well, all of which are costly. Clipping people’s basic income will soon seem the most sensible and appropriate response to many crimes and misdemeanours. People may be sanctioned for things like not sorting out their recycling. After all, the government provides garbage disposal for us, and the environment is at stake. Governments are already looking at sanctioning people for this kind of behaviour, so the step would not be much of a leap. These steps will simply be designed to acclimatize people to the idea of being “nudged” in the right direction before more radical measures are taken to use the UBI to shape their behaviour. ... In China people can have their social credit score docked for posting fake news online. We may, of course, ask, fake according to whom? After all, the Chinese government maintains that the Tienanmen Square Massacre of 1989 was “fake news” drummed up by the West to undermine the regime. Closer to home, the mainstream media was entirely complicit in selling the war on Iraq to the public, but I very much doubt we will see people being sanctioned for posting news from mainstream sources such as the BBC or MSNBC. Our leaders are above falsifying our historic records and sending embarrassing incidents down the memory hole for permanent deletion. The purse strings of the universal basic income also present a grave threat to freedom of speech. Anyone who has been following the “woke wars” on Twitter and other social media platforms will have heard of people receiving lifetime bans for tweeting things like “Men are never women.” Now whether you believe such a message is transphobic or otherwise, you may at least believe that someone has the right to tweet it, and be duly educated as to the wrongs of their action by other users. The universal basic income could easily become the new weapon to wield against those who hold unpopular opinions or those that are simply no longer politically correct. It will be first used to strike against unpopular groups such as racists, misogynists, homophobes, and bigots. Not many people will come to their defense when they lose their basic income for spreading hate. But one day you yourself may hold an unpopular opinion that is relatively benign. Maybe you will say that people shouldn’t have their basic income docked just because they say unpopular things on the internet. You will not just be slapped with a Twitter ban, you will potentially lose $1000 a month. ... The UBI will institutionalise the state as each of our patrons — and us as wards of the state. Once this relationship is established we will enter into a frightening era where the government is our provider and the UBI can easily be weaponized by our rulers to shape us into compliance. ----- End forwarded message -----

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the state of it all: "bankruptcy at every level .. some of you are not even entirely sure if you are male or female" - vitamins D + C - [PEACE] and [HEALTH]
by Zenaan Harkness 28 Apr '20

28 Apr '20

Although Western reality is simultaneously ("big word bad") nihilistic, cucked, sad, isolated, subservient and dominated (by debt at the very least), taking a simple assessment of our (inner) state is perhaps the first step. Terrified of COVID-19? Don’t Worry, Vegetables Can’t Get Respiratory Illnesses https://www.anti-empire.com/terrified-of-covid-19-dont-worry-vegetables-can… .. Everyone I know back in the US has gone full retard. People who were convinced 2 weeks ago that Trump is a Russian agent are now begging the government to control every aspect of their lives Just can’t even wrap my head around this one… .. And for all the liberal interventionists and neocons out there: Please do tell me how we need to spread democracy and “liberty” around the world, with bombs if need be, while you print up a certificate from a government website so you can leave your house. Bye, Bye Western Civilization. Sorry It Had to End This Way: A COVID-19 Sign-Off From Moscow Edward Slavsquat 1 hour ago 999 https://www.anti-empire.com/bye-bye-western-civilization-sorry-it-had-to-en… “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little safety, deserve neither and will lose both” — Ben Franklin MOSCOW – Despite the stubborn March cold, heroic young ladies in the Russian capital have already shortened (one might say improved) their skirts by at least 15 centimeters. Surely this should give us all confidence to carry on, even as the pillars of western civilization melt away like the last winter frost. What on earth happened, anyway? German state media reports that benevolent lockdowns have been imposed across the country, even while conceding that Germans have been extremely well-behaved – the alleged precondition for avoiding the indefinite suspension of basic privileges enjoyed even by their feudal ancestors. Of course, there were still a handful of outrageous acts of insubordination. Bavarian police dutifully sniffed out “isolated incidents of violations” such as “five youths celebrating a birthday party at a construction site”, and – prepare yourself – “a group of three people drinking around a bonfire.” These existential dangers to the German Volk were given “warnings” – for now. In France you need to print out a certificate from a government website to even show your face in public. Failure to produce the necessary documents permitting you to go outside results in a hefty fine. For now. Being homeless won’t exempt you from this decree, either. Because why should it? .. Fear and mindless acquiescence has gripped the western world, and there’s simply no going back. Cultural, political, spiritual and economic suicide are all around the corner. Maybe even a fun little war. (The Netherlands might be a notable exception in all this, but would you rather live in Mad Max Massachusetts or Holland? That’s a coin flip.) We will not bore you with the well-established realities of the COVID-19 “pandemic”: That according to the best available evidence, 99% of cases are minor and require no serious medical treatment of any kind. https://www.anti-empire.com/99-percent-of-covid-19-bug-cases-do-not-require… Or the criminally under-reported fact that an overwhelming percentage of coronavirus-attributed deaths occur in elderly people who were already suffering from non-trivial health issues, or that many of these reported deaths are likely not even due to the virus. Even the BBC had to quietly admit that many coronavirus victims – infirm old people – would have probably died anyway. That’s what infirm old people do best, after all. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51979654 Similarly, we can hardly be bothered to relay the huge number of fatalities, from an impressive range of seemingly benign ailments, which occur each and every year like clockwork. Did you know that 1.2 million children die annually from diarrhea? They’re brown or black and definitely poor, of course. There is simply no need for rational, data-driven analysis at this point. That ship has already sailed. Bon voyage, any semblance of reason. Just make sure you have your documents ready, in case you get boarded by the French coast guard. Myopic observers might conclude that western civilization was brought to its knees because in our current age of unapologetic self-pity and collective victimhood, it suddenly became really hip to identify as an Italian octogenarian, or a bloated American diabetic. This take is far too sympathetic, even if probably true. The regrettable truth is that western civilization – please understand we’re using this term in the most general and generous way possible – was dead-on-arrival when COVID-19 came knocking. Europeans and their hapless American offspring are bored, entirely without hope and completely exhausted. You could squeeze all 320 million Americans like lemons and you’d be lucky to find yourself with a shot glass-worth of confidence or vitality. .. There is bankruptcy at every level. Nothing solid is left to fall back on. Apparently some of you are not even entirely sure if you are male or female. This is not exactly a recipe for longevity, we’re very sorry to say. ... Still in fear of the dreaded China virus? Vitamin D and vitamin C: This Is What You Can Do to Protect Yourself From the Mild Threat That Is Covid-19 Coronavirus https://www.anti-empire.com/this-is-how-you-should-protect-yourself-from-th… .. First, recognize fear-driven decision making is counterproductive. Fear increases demand for vitamin C, so be aware of that. So do viruses or any infection. Be CONCERNED, not FEARFUL. Primary antidote Recognize these viral epidemics come in winter when vitamin D levels are low. As a fatty vitamin, your liver should have 3 months of vitamin D stored, but probably doesn’t. The viruses were always there but erupt when sunshine vitamin D blood serum levels are low. SO GO OUTSIDE, MIDDAY, AND GET SOME SUNSHINE ON YOUR SKIN to produce natural vitamin D. Expose arms, legs, face. Quarantines deprive people of sunshine vitamin D. Supplement with 8000 units vitamin D3 daily (kids 2000+ units); if ill – – > take 50,000 units vitamin D3 for 3-5 days; then 8000 units daily. This is not an overdose as physicians inject 300,000 units vitamin D for wintertime storage in your liver. High-risk individuals, in particular senior adults, need to initiate self-care & utilize vitamins & trace minerals. Up to a third of hospital workers now harbor coronavirus. So, patients who face hospitalization may be re-exposed to the pathogen. .. Sore throat is usually caused by Streptococcus bacteria which is acid secreting. So alkalinity kills it — salt water gargle. .. A Harvard professor says up 70% of the global population will be infected with coronavirus within the next year. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8085175/US-hospitals-prepare-96-MI… That is actually a positive because most will naturally develop antibodies. If one were to say 70% of the world just got vaccinated against coronavirus that would be considered a major achievement but if 70% were naturally immunized against coronavirus without a needle and syringe that would be considered a dire problem. Why? Modern medicine continues to talk out of two sides of its mouth. Put another way, 70-90% of the world may develop natural antibodies against coronavirus without problematic vaccines. .. Maybe only a few hundred Americans succumb to the flu each year. With coronavirus test kits giving false positive and false negative test results, are any numbers involving infection rates accurate at all? The Centers for Disease Control claims seasonal flu in 2018-19 caused 35.5 million infections, 490,600 hospitalizations and 34,200 deaths. These numbers are very specious. Even if valid, and among all who got the flu (35.5 million, only 9 in 10,000 would die — 34,200). But the CDC mixes flu deaths in with pneumonia deaths to frighten Americans to get vaccinated. Most of those 34,200 deaths were due to pneumonia. ... [many more stats] Did we mention $1 trillion intervention over the coming 6 months, on Friday? What we NOW mean is $4 trillion, IMMEDIATELY! Mnuchin: Fed To Make $4 Trillion In Business Loans, Send $3,000 Checks To Family Of Four https://www.zerohedge.com/political/mnuchin-fed-make-4-trillion-business-lo…

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Twitter executive responsible for the Middle East is UK Army soldier from the Information Warfare unit
by Razer 27 Apr '20

27 Apr '20

A Twitter executive, responsible for the Middle East, has been exposed as a British Army soldier active in the ‘information warfare’ unit, dedicated to propaganda, known as the 77th Brigade, an exclusive report by the U.K.-based Middle East Eye outlet has revealed. There are fresh questions over the relationship between social media companies and western security states after details emerged about Twitter’s high-level staff. Middle East Eye revealed that Twitter executive Gordon MacMillan is a member of the 77th Brigade of the U.K. military, which claims to have “the capability to compete in the war of narratives at the tactical level”. The revelations come amid recent controversies around Twitter banning accounts critical of U.S. foreign policy. In August almost 1,000 accounts that criticized ongoing protests in Hong Kong were banned from the platform. The 77th Brigade is an amalgamation of two existing British military units, the Media Operations Group and the 15 Psychological Operations Group. “In our 77 Brigade … we have got some remarkable talent when it comes to social media, production design," Army General Nick Carter said speaking of the mission of the brigade at a London think tank. "We also, though, need to continue to improve our ability to fight on this new battlefield, and I think it’s important that we build on the excellent foundation we’ve created for Information Warfare through our 77 Brigade which is now giving us the capability to compete in the war of narratives at the tactical level.” There are also concerns about the role Macmillan is playing in U.K. politics. Investigative journalist Kit Klarenberg found tweets that showed hostility towards Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has been critical of U.K. interventions in the Middle East, “Maybe I'm just being cynical/paranoid/worse. But @GordonMacMillan's tweets about Corbyn and Labour are universally negative and almost universally negative respectively,” Klarenberg commented in a tweet. Former soldier Joe Glenton, who was imprisoned following his refusal to return to another tour of duty in Afghanistan, and hit the headlines after attending an anti-war rally, also commented on the revelations saying “This is vital journalism. It adds to concerns I have had about the placement and role of 77 Brigade people in public life more generally." Both Twitter and the 77th Brigade claim that they do not have a formal link. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Twitter-Exec-Exposed-as-UK-Military-Off… Rr Sent from my Androgyne dee-vice with K-9 Mail

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TDS: World's #1 Weinstein Supporter - #FreeHarvey
by Zig the N.g 27 Apr '20

27 Apr '20

The Daily Stormer is now the world's #1 Harvey Weinstein supporter, calling for the ex Hollywood mogul to be freed. “A New Day” – Following Weinstein Lynching, Jew Lawyers Hail Coming Mass Rape Hoax Movement http://dstormer6em3i4km.onion/a-new-day-following-weinstein-lynching-jew-la… Andrew Anglin Daily Stormer February 26, 2020 #HarveyWeinsteinDidNothingWrong #FreeHarvey As I said on Tuesday, following the conviction of Harvey Weinstein for various rape hoaxes, heterosexual sex is now effectively illegal in America (if you’re a man). The message that has been sent to women is that they can now have any man they’ve ever had sex with in prison on a whim. Jew lawyers are celebrating the fact that the Weinstein conviction has redefined rape, redefined consent, redefined evidence and opens up an entire new world of rape hoaxing, as they prepare to bring the hammer down on the goyim. https://www.timesofisrael.com/weinstein-case-could-influence-other-sex-crim… : New York prosecutors are hailing Harvey Weinstein’s conviction as a pivotal moment that could change the way the legal system views a type of sexual assault case historically considered difficult to prove. Most of the women who testified against Weinstein stayed in contact with him — and sometimes had consensual sexual encounters with him — after alleged attacks. None promptly reported his crimes. There was little physical evidence to bolster their stories. The jury convicted anyway, finding the producer guilty of raping one woman in 2013 and sexually assaulting another in 2006. “This is a new day,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said after the verdict was announced. “Rape is rape whether the survivor reports within an hour, within a year or perhaps never. It’s rape despite the complicated dynamics of power and consent after an assault. It’s rape even if there is no physical evidence.” That is to say: it’s rape if she says it’s rape. And she can say it is rape for any reason. That is now the law. While the law recognizes that people can be assaulted by intimate partners in ongoing relationships, those cases have rarely been prosecuted in the past, because they’re difficult to prove, several trial lawyers said. The tide is starting to change, however, as prosecutors take more risks and juries become more aware of the complexities of human behavior. Now, they no longer have to be proven. Because “believe women.” “This case challenges our notions of what is force in a sexual relationship, what is lack of consent in a sexual relationship,” said Paul DerOhannesian, an Albany, New York, defense lawyer, former sex crimes prosecutor and author of a guide to sexual assault trials. He followed the trial coverage and found it telling that one of the first questions from the jury involved the legal definition of “consent” and “forcible compulsion.” … One of the first witnesses at trial was an expert on victim behavior, who testified that it isn’t unusual for sexual assault victims to continue communicating with their attackers. A decade ago, that type of expert testimony was rarely allowed. … Criminal defense attorney Richard Kaplan said the New York case could both empower women to come forward and embolden prosecutors to take on tough cases. “Now there is a roadmap on how you can win this kind of case,” he said, predicting more people would come forward. “There’s always the fear of coming forward, you know, going through a trial, getting beat up and humiliated and then not getting that verdict. Now that they see it can be done, I think more people will come forward and definitely empower the movement.” These Jews are just openly saying: “now we’re just going to start prosecuting you all – the floodgates are open, and it’s a free-for-all at this point.” Lawyer Carrie Goldberg represents Weinstein accuser Lucia Evans, whose complaint against him was initially part of the indictment, but Vance’s office ultimately dropped her allegations from the case. While Goldberg faults Vance for not sticking with her client, she said the conviction is a “watershed moment” — and a long time coming. “I hope that prosecutors, all over this country, and all over the world, look at this case and realize that rape trials can be won,” Goldberg said, “and that these aren’t just ‘he said, she said’ stories, but they’re actually crimes that are winnable and need to be brought.” So that’s where we are now. This is not me saying that all of the dynamics of rape-hoaxing have change – it is an army of Jew lawyers saying that the dynamics have changed, and that they’re going to do everything in their power to bring a whole new wave of these cases. There is going to be an entire new industry formed around it. They are going to set up charities to pay for the lawsuits of rape hoaxers. All of these Jew lawyers are going to take the cases for free. Women are going to be encouraged by organizations, the state, their therapists and church clergy to press charges and have men thrown in prison. In my expert advice, you should seriously consider not ever having sex in America ever again. We need to organize a strike. We men need to get together and simply say that we refuse to participate in this charade. We are human beings. Woman Hoaxes Rape After Her Boyfriend Finds Out About Affair http://dstormer6em3i4km.onion/woman-hoaxes-rape-after-her-boyfriend-finds-o… This is an outrage. You’re supposed to believe women. But we’re told this woman was lying, so we shouldn’t believe her? I only ever heard “believe women.” I never heard “check to see if what she is saying is true or not.” The fact that a woman is lying DOES NOT mean that we shouldn’t believe her. Navy Times: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2020/02/25/woman-pleads-guilty-to-… A Virginia woman who accused a sailor of raping her has now admitted the rape never occurred, according to a recent court filing and a U.S. Department of Justice statement. She accused him of the crime in case her “significant other” found out about their affair. ...

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"democracy" vs Monarchy - the Russian conversation
by Zenaan Harkness 18 Apr '20

18 Apr '20

Modern "democracy" makes its own extremely strong case against itself. "Monarchy" is just one form "benevolent dictatorship", when it works, but is anything but benevolent when it doesn't work. Hereditary monarchy consistently descends into something as bad as "democracy" is today. Personality cult worship is also a societal pathology. Putin actually did save Russia from total disintegration (to the great chagrin of Harvard's "economic shock therapy" oligarch creators) - and a significant percentage of the Russian population bemoans that Putin "did not go far enough" (in putting unethical oligarchs in jail for instance). Although the lie we've been fed for decades that "democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest" has lead many away from the path of critical thinking about our Western system and how it is used to dominate us, the truth is that this quotable quote contains an assumption at its core underlying that lie, which also leads people astray, "that government is something important, necessary". Mechanisms of conflict resolution are what's needed. Government is one form of conflict resolution, notwithstanding the tyranny of the majority/ the mob, the tyranny of the minority, and the usurpation of not only government, but any and every form of shared common delusion or collective concensus agreement - there are always problems to solve. And yes, we've never had a real anarchy, or a real libertarian or direct democracy. BUT, we have had "relatively benevolent" benevolent dictators - in the modern floss world, Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman and others, and throughout history, some of the rulers have been, from the point of view of their citizens, generally, and genuinely, benevolent - not the majority I presume, but certainly some. So benevolent dictatorship - if you truly have an actually benevolent dictator at the top - is one of the most constructive and functional societal arrangements, as long as the various forms of descent into tyranny are successfully guarded against - hereditary right does not make logical sense and history shows us it readily descends into tyranny (old Roman empire, many Monarchies). One could be cautiously hopeful that Russia will carry through with its excellent "democratic" threat of Etherium based public ledger, publicly auditable national voting, and even more to eventually put everything to the vote - a true direct democracy (as Malcolm always says, at least the people would have only their collective selves to blame, for every law and clause). Now although we in The West are supremely enlightened since 400 years and view the world eminently objectively from unassailable glass towers << COUGH >> << COUGH >>, with our deeply nuanced understanding and abiding and unconditional empathy for our Russian brothers <<...>>, we immediately understand not only why they (rightly I would say) view Putin as a benevolent dictator and somewhat of a saviour of all Russia and Christendom, but carry some not insignificant concern for the day, roughly 6.5 years from now, when Putin steps down from his benevolent dictator role. Our Russkie brethren have a significantly more vibrant public discussion (a bit unbalanced in some ways, and very different to what we see in the pathological Western MSM), and one which is naturally drawn from their very rich (as in interesting) past, thus the real and significant desire of a portion of the Russian population to return to Monarchy (see below). In a very real sense this shift is unstoppable, just as the Christian revival is unstoppable in Russia (they are STILL opening on average 3 new churches a day, day in, day out, and have for a few years now) - since as some (<cough>Razer<cough>) have utterly failed to grasp, that which you try to (or temporarily successfully) suppress, be it the Huwaite Nazis or the Russian Orthodox Churches, you do nothing but strengthen the backlash when it comes. The cycle (the resolution of the existential crisis sweeping the globe, both Eurasian and Western) is likely not back to Monarchy, as the path of the awareness and realisation of sovereignty in this reality has gone thusly: God/Creator -> Monarchs -> Man (the individual) -> _ _ _ _ The natural or cyclical progression is something other than "back to Kings and Queens" - the majority simply won't give up their dawning sovereignty, and so some other resolution is inevitable. Since vesting sovereignty in the individual, in Man, has actually yet to be really done, that is what must eventuate, notwithstanding the vehement and violent opposition from the oligarchs who rabidly continue to attempt to suppress the sovereignty of the vast majority of individuals in their unbalanced and relentless pursuit of "more power" which journey, of itself, can never conclude except by suppression of everyone except for a single individual - Atlas Shrugged must be read for those who fail to grasp this simple conclusion. In other words, we are still in the transition from the ultimate power of the Earthly Monarch, to vesting sovereignty in Man, the individual. The glorification of the individual, as seen so strongly in the West, carries its own psychoses and societal pathologies (also seen widely in the West), yet before a different journey can begin, we seem bound to play out the present one to its conclusion - and the struggle for sovereignty (its true vesting in the individual) is now a very small step away - technologically, direct democracy is almost trivial today, requiring nothing more than a little leadership and collective will in this direction, and Russia's Ethereum-based voting looks to be the first solid step on this journey. Don't worry though - the individual quest for meaning and significance shall continue, and once the extreme vesting of sovereignty in the individual is (shortly - over the next decade) attained, then discovery and pursuit of the next step in the evolution of mankind shall begin - seeking the deepest understandings and experiences within the nature of our existence, consciousness and its source, and the mystery of the matrix of this particular "reality" within which we find ourselves - for want of words, that search for the divine, for "the Creator", for "God" - but this time by "going within" rather than settling for the mediation of the priest, the imam, or the medicine man. Nikola Tesla (not Nickola) spoke/ wrote quite poignantly to the art (science?) of contemplation and its use in the pursuit of creativity, knowledge, and manifestation in reality - in some ways he was quite the modern exemplar of this journey. May you find that which Soul seeks for itself, ** Democracy Is Fraud! - We Need Monarchy! - Hugely Popular Russian Priest on Top TV Show ( Dmitry Smirnov) https://russia-insider.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fa2faf7034c3c3c413… ------------------------------------------------------------ by Mark Boden on Sun, Feb 25, 2018 Dmitry Smirnov is one of the best known priests in Russia and has a very large following. He is ubiquitous on television, radio, and YouTube, where his videos frequently get 100s of 1000s of views on his channel. (Russian only). He is a brilliant public speaker and excellent at debate, known for his sharp wit and quick comebacks. He is especially loved for his sermons, which are all on his YouTube channel, and is by far the most popular preacher in Russia. ** The Coming War to End All Wars https://russia-insider.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fa2faf7034c3c3c413… ------------------------------------------------------------ by Ed Curtin on Sun, Feb 25, 2018 “The compulsive hatred of Putin by many who have almost zero idea about Putin or Russian history is disproportionate to any rational analysis, but not surprising. Trump and Putin are like weird doppelgangers in the liberal imagination.” —John Steppling, “Trump, Putin, and Nikolas Cruz Walk into a Bar” ** If America Wasn’t America, the United States Would Be Bombing It https://russia-insider.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fa2faf7034c3c3c413… ------------------------------------------------------------ by Darius Shahtahmasebi on Sun, Feb 25, 2018 On January 8, 2018, former government advisor Edward Luttwak wrote an opinion piece for Foreign Policy titled “It’s Time to Bomb North Korea.” Luttwak’s thesis is relatively straightforward. There is a government out there that may very soon acquire nuclear-weapons capabilities, and this country cannot be trusted to responsibly handle such a stockpile. The responsibility to protect the world from a rogue nation cannot be argued with, and we understandably have a duty to ensure the future of humanity. ** The Guardian Is Right – Ghouta Is 'Syria’s Srebrenica' https://russia-insider.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fa2faf7034c3c3c413… ------------------------------------------------------------ by Catte on Sun, Feb 25, 2018 Simon Tisdall’s latest fact-lite, emotionally manipulative lament that the West isn’t doing enough to save the lovely terrorists in Syria makes one unintentionally accurate claim. “Eastern Ghouta,” he says “is turning into Syria’s Srebrenica.” We agree with him on this, but not for the reasons he offers in his article. Let’s remind ourselves about the real story of Srebrenica and the wider context of the break up of Yugoslavia. Srebrenica didn’t happen in a vacuum. It was part of the “civil war” that shattered the former Yugoslavia into warring regions. NATO supported the civil war and encouraged the secession of Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. It saw chaos in the region as advantageous to its interests.

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[MINISTRY] "This is a time to pull together, turn our minds off, and follow orders." - [PEACE]
by Zig the N.g 17 Apr '20

17 Apr '20

Looks like SOMEone got the "front running sedition" memo :) Ok, ok, The Z.g humbly accepts total elevation beyond all proportion for even the slightest pop-psych obviousness :D :D BTCes welcome muh fl.pper n.ppers :D This a nice little piece highlighting The Ministry's rules for acceptable discourse on present topics. Be warned, it has no trigger warning whatsoever, yet probably inherently demands one. So without giving a trigger warning (hint hint, wink wink) per se (nudge nudge), one might consider one's internal emotional consequences from reading an arguably mildly humorous take on the present discourse of the Lame Stream Media. Did I not mention the b.gger n.gger warning? This Glorified Bug Absolutely Warrants Whatever “Emergency Measures” Our Regimes Want to Impose on Us. OBEY https://www.anti-empire.com/this-glorified-bug-absolutely-warrants-whatever… Let’s try a little thought experiment. Just for fun. To pass the time while we’re indefinitely locked down inside our homes, compulsively checking the Covid-19 “active cases” and “total death” count, washing our hands every twenty minutes, and attempting not to touch our faces. Before we do, though, I want to make it clear that I believe this Covid-19 thing is real, and is probably the deadliest threat to humanity in the history of deadly threats to humanity. According to the data I’ve been seeing, it’s only a matter of days, or hours, until nearly everyone on earth is infected and is either dying in agony and alone or suffering mild, common cold-like symptoms, or absolutely no symptoms whatsoever. I feel that I need to state this clearly, before we do our thought experiment, because I don’t want anyone mistakenly thinking that I’m one of those probably Russian-backed Nazis who are going around saying, “it’s just the flu,” or who are spreading dangerous conspiracy theories about bio-weapons and martial law, or who are otherwise doubting or questioning the wisdom of locking down the entire world (and likely triggering a new Great Depression) on account of the discovery of some glorified bug. ...

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Fact-checkers have lost important digital tools — and will lose one more in September - Poynter
by jim bell 17 Apr '20

17 Apr '20

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2019/fact-checkers-have-lost-importan…

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Tracing COVID-19 cases with Google Timeline?
by jim bell 14 Apr '20

14 Apr '20

I am surprised that when I do a Google search for 'COVID-19 "google timeline" ', I see essentially no results. We all know now what COVID-19 (nCov, Coronavirus) is. From the reports I see, this virus has the unusual characteristic of being very contageous for up to periods of weeks prior to a person's feeling symptoms. That is presumably how a large fraction of a cruise ship became infected. This is quite ominous. If epidemiologists were to ask a patient, "tell us where and when you've been each minute over the last 15 days" the vast majority of these victims wouldn't have a prayer of providing that information. And even worse, finding the other people who were "in that AM/PM at 5:07-5:21 10 days ago" would be essentially impossible. Or potentially dozens of other involved locations, over those 15 days. Before one of you accuses me of "advocating" the use of Google Timeline to track potential cases of COVID-19 by means of Google Timeline, I don't need to "advocate" it. Rather, I simply point out that there are a lot of people out there scared of this virus, and probably be looking for a way to determine if their paths have crossed with a victim, even if that victim wasn't symptomatic for 1-2 weeks after the contact. So at some point, I think there will be discussion of this possibility. The data is already being collected, in all Android phones (is there an Apple equivalent?) In principle, if a new infectee is identified, it would be technically possible to work backwards, figure out where he has been over the relevant period, and find anybody who was close to him during a multi-week period. One reason this could be important is that there may be a drug which might reduce (or, hopefully, eliminate) a person's contageousness if it taken during this pre-symptomatic period. One possibility is an old anti-malarial drug, chloroquine, which I have mentioned before. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32074550 But if people only begin taking chloroquine when they begin exhibiting symptoms of this new flu, that means that they will be spreading that virus for as much as two weeks, or even more. In principle, hundreds of people could be infected, directly or indirectly, merely because there is no early warning. Suppose you receive a text or email notification that you were in a small store, 5 days ago, with a person who just developed symptoms of COVID-19. You MIGHT be infected. So, you MIGHT want to take a chloroquine pill. (The half-life of chloroquine is 45-55 days). Or some other pill that could assist if taken long before symptoms were likely to appear. Not only might you not get sick, maybe you'd be able to avoid transmitting the virus to many others. (My speculation...) And maybe you'll live, when you otherwise wouldn't. We Cypherpunks are SUPPOSED to be more concerned, than average, about the privacy and freedom implications of technologies. What I have described, above, might be handled in a completely-voluntary fashion. But, we want to ensure that this doesn't turn into a permanent form of tracking. So we should debate the implications of all this, ideally before everyone else is talking about it. I would be surprised if Google isn't already considering something like this. They have much of the data to do so. They might hesitate to announce such an idea, for fear that people would think this is some sort of generalized people-tracking system. Jim Bell

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Re: Libertarian Economic Logic (chart attached)
by Zenaan Harkness 11 Apr '20

11 Apr '20

On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 05:54:02PM +1000, jamesd(a)echeque.com wrote: > > > > And in case you missed it, there's 100s of sites these days such > > > > as http://opensourcemachinetools.org/wordpress/ > > > > Which don't tell you how to make a pencil. > > On 2019-09-23 09:33, Zenaan Harkness wrote: > > How many years was the interval between when RMS started his version > > of "the free software movement/ community" and now (now being a > > relevant point in time where we see an incredibly abundant cornucopia > > of all manner of computer software, in free forms available to all) ? > > Since that software was produced by handful of very smart people, that > irrelevant to question of whether you can make a pencil without a boss telling > you how to do it. > > You can make some gun parts with a threedee printer and software downloaded > from the internet, but some gun parts you cannot. And for a very long time, > no one could make those parts except existing large scale gun makers. > > And watching Ivan the Troll make those gun parts, it was absolutely obvious to > me that come civil war II, it is not going to be a large number of people > making full auto weapons in their home workshop. We are going to have to > conscript Ivan the Troll, and conscript a thousand people to do what he damn > well tells them to do. There's a principle there I do agree with. The benevolent dictator, the individual with capacity - call it creative intuitive or inherent or something. I am well aware that those of capacity ("any relevant level of capacity" perhaps?) cannot be duplicated in general. And yes, come civil war, very few will have the ability and capacity to create anything particularly useful, in a relevant time frame, to the defence of their family. I think calling "inherent intuitive ability in one or more areas" "a boss" leads to unfortunate descent of the conversation. One of the great problems of today is the Marxist indoctrination of many, when they go to college, and combined with the relative technological abundance and access to Wikipedia we have, a lot of "spoilt brats" think not only can they do anything, but that the world owes them everything and they ought not have to lift a finger to receive everthing, and this approach has gottem them a fair way in the "cotton wool parents" world we now live in. And come civil war, a few inherent but long buried facts will, usefully if painfully, expose themselves rather rudely to those who've been living such delusions. Anyway, there are those who are intent on building up the publicly accessible knowledge base on how to make things. Some will join them. Perhaps even someone who already knows how to make pencils, and perhaps few people will even be able to follow the instructions - perhaps none (though I doubt that - such a view smacks of ego hubris); timeframes though... I can't stop wondering about the Werner von Braun and NASA USA rocket building history though ... I usually prefer to have the discussion on the list by the way. Regards, Zenaan

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[MONEY] Risk Parity Funds Just Suffered The Biggest Loss In History - when hedge arbitrage breaks down - [PEACE]
by Zenaan Harkness 10 Apr '20

10 Apr '20

There are a few bell weathers starting to make the rounds, here's one: "X suffers Biggest Loss in History!" In this case, the X in the headline is "ALL risk parity funds" where risk parity funds are a type of hedge funds which apparently arbitrage stocks and aginst bonds. Risk Parity Funds Just Suffered The Biggest Loss In History https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/risk-parity-funds-just-suffered-biggest-l… When your fud-durr-durr-mentals are brokensaw - 'member the Fed' - your houses of cards built on those fundamentals will at some point come crashing down. You see there's a funny little thing with usury - the mathematical fundamental of this very Jewish banking system is exponential - forever growth or infinite growth (unlimited "economic expansion"). Now fictitious "assets" can in fact grow in unlimited numerical terms, but when "the real economy" is tied to fictious exponentially growing "financial assets", then there is a basic imbalance which must, inevitably, appear - one could say this is the ultimate arbitrage, between exponential maths and reality. One consequence of this rollercoaster of financial death is that every mechanism designed on this exponential (thus broken) system, must itself be in essence, an exponentially growing system - so hedge funds must grow exponentially, every tool of financialization will, eventually, demonstrate exponential growth (such as stock buy backs etc), and the real economy needs to also grow exponentially to prop all the financialization up - and this is in fact achieved with things like real estate and business price growth. (Those who are somewhat familiar with real estate from a lowly "investor" perspective, will be aware that there are expanding ripples of price inflation over time, which hit different geographic regions at different times (different years, sometimes different decades) - and once the "investor" crowd hits a new geographic area which was once relatively dormant (Australia's a big country ok), then the key growth metric is the time period for (real estate) price doubling - which is usually around the 6 to 8 years mark.) So, real estate doubling in price every X years? Yes, that's exponential "asset valuation increases" and real estate is a fundamental of "the real economy" which supports the house of fictious cards above it. But this exponential is gonna bite, because to support exponentially rising real estate prices, you need exponentially rising incomes to pay the interest rates. So one signal of the imbalances of all this coming to the fore is usurious interest rates plummeting. Is this a good thing? No, because a) this demonstrates we are in a fundamentally messed up money system, b) real estate prices are way out of whack with real (average person) incomes, c) real estate price inflation has itself caused a bunch of system imbalances, wealth divide etc., and surely other reasons still. Now, the summary and line punch: 0) our present money system is, mathematically, exponential; for the time being we are bound by this, and we see some of the effects of this quite starkly today 1) every aspect of our system must therefore also be exponential (in growth or decline); e.g. every "emergency intervention system" (such as QE) must also be eponential, that is, each QE (on average) must grow exponentially with respect to the previous intervention (corporate share buybacks are a pooman's (poor CEO's) intervention mechanism) 2) eventually the Fed's QE intervention must be larger than the entire market; in other words, at some point, if the goal is to sustain the system's existence, the Fed shall be mathematically bound, literally, to buy every asset everywhere, or the system will literally collapse if they fail to do so - i.e. to buy every bond (gov and corp), every business, every stock/share, every real estate title This is of course the basic mechanism of an exponential debt based system, and one can fairly say this is in fact the intention of this system - Atlas Shrugged - no matter who you are, how ethical, how successful, how well intentioned, how contributory to society at large, except that you are the owner of the system (i.e. the BIS - 'member the Fed), then you are Atlas, and you are targetted, and eventually, in order to merely survive financially, you will have to sell to the Fed/BIS. This is the nature, and intention, of "the Federal Reserve Banking system: your gibs, are mine!" Exponential Growth and the Legend of Paal Paysam http://www.singularitysymposium.com/exponential-growth.html The rice and the chessboard story – The power of exponential growth https://purposefocuscommitment.com/the-rice-and-the-chess-board-story/ There was once a king in India who was a big chess enthusiast and had the habit of challenging wise visitors to a game of chess. One day a traveling sage was challenged by the king. The sage having played this game all his life all the time with people all over the world gladly accepted the Kings challenge. To motivate his opponent the king offered any reward that the sage could name. The sage modestly asked just for a few grains of rice in the following manner: the king was to put a single grain of rice on the first chess square and double it on every consequent one. The king accepted the sage’s request. Having lost the game and being a man of his word the king ordered a bag of rice to be brought to the chessboard. Then he started placing rice grains according to the arrangement: 1 grain on the first square, 2 on the second, 4 on the third, 8 on the fourth and so on. Following the exponential growth of the rice payment, the king quickly realized that he was unable to fulfill his promise because on the twentieth square the king would have had to put 1,000,000 grains of rice. On the fortieth square, the king would have had to put 1,000,000,000 grains of rice. And, finally, on the sixty-fourth square, the king would have had to put more than 18,000,000,000,000,000,000 grains of rice which is equal to about 210 billion tons and is allegedly sufficient to cover the whole territory of India with a meter thick layer of rice. It was at that point that the sage told the king that he doesn’t have to pay the debt immediately but can do so over time. And so the sage became the wealthiest person in the world.

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