April 2020 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Black Revival - Jesse Lee Peterson, interviewed by Jimmy Chang and overlord Azzmador - [PEACE]
by Zenaan Harkness 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

News. Firstly to warm the cockles and trigger the fuzzies, a Jesse Lee Peterson interview at everybody's favourite chan :) Funny tho, whilst the Groyper crowd are opening the floor, passing the mic, and generally having a lot of discussions and questions, the so-called "con"servatives are Shutting It Down! The Krypto Report Live: Azzmador and Jimmy Chang Interview Jesse Lee Peterson! http://dstormer6em3i4km.onion/the-krypto-report-live-azzmador-and-jimmy-cha… Not so fluffy: ISIS Bride Who Called for Drive-By Shootings Wants to Return to the US Because Life is Hard in Refugee Camp http://dstormer6em3i4km.onion/isis-bride-who-called-for-drive-by-shootings-… A little more fluffy: Angry Twitter Mob Complains About Target Only Putting Anti-Theft Stickers on Darker Shades of Makeup http://dstormer6em3i4km.onion/angry-twitter-mob-complains-about-target-only… Ilhan Omar accused of "Anti-Semitism" for daring to declare that some US politicians receive cash donations from the Israel lobby. OMG, like, how dare she? Antisemitism Accusations Launched Against Ilhan Omar After Anti-Bloomberg Tweet https://sputniknews.com/us/201911111077274546-antisemitism-accusations-laun… Harpies gone wild! The View, not - Gabbard and Don Jr rock the View, have a blast: Gabbard And Trump Jr. Change America's View Of 'The View' https://www.zerohedge.com/political/gabbard-and-trump-jr-change-americas-vi… https://tomluongo.me/2019/11/10/gabbard-and-trump-jr-change-americas-view-o… ... By confronting her accusers directly Gabbard showed everyone watching the difference between the caricature created by Clinton and her cronies on The View and the reality of her character. And that is the kind of narrative-breaking moment that sinks careers for some and defines them for others. Speaking of careers, like it or not, Donald Trump Jr. has a future in politics. He came onto The View, like Gabbard the day before, armed to the teeth and ready use everything at his disposal. He knows walking into that arena they aren’t going to fight fair, that they’ll fall back on the laziest of arguments, like Meghan McCain virtue signaling her false eyelashes off over “Gold Star Families” who are disrespected by President Trump’s private locker room conversation, while disgustingly wrapping herself in her dead father’s flag. And his comebacks and arguments were so strong that he had The View’s audience cheering for him. It forced Joy Behar to publicly scold her audience that her show wasn’t a MAGA rally. ... Trump Jr. in less than one seven-minute television segment ripped off their masks revealing the true depth of The View’s ugliness.

2 3

A snitch in time save nein - NZ gov "snitch" website crashes due to overload - [PEACE]
by Zenaan Harkness 20 Jul '20

20 Jul '20

Abhorrent, ingorant, dotile, self righteous, and self centred humans are on full display here, as they rush in a great clamour to snitch on their neighbours, crashing the New Zealand government website in a frenzy of "rule breaker" reporting: New Zealand Site Crashes as Locals Rush to Report Rule-Breaking Neighbors Amid Lockdown https://sputniknews.com/society/202003301078767438-new-zealand-site-crashes… New Zealanders are so eager to report others for breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules that the police website for reporting such cases crashed shortly after going live, local law enforcement officials revealed Monday. With New Zealand currently under a coronavirus lockdown, strict measures such as maintaining a distance of 2 meters from others have been imposed by authorities. Other restrictions include only allowing residents to leave their homes for essential reasons, i.e. for groceries or medical care. .. "We've had 4,200 reports of people believing others weren't complying," New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush is quoted as saying by AFP. "It shows how determined Kiwis [a nickname used to refer to people from New Zealand] are that everyone complies with us,” Bush added. .. “Not every one of these over 4,000 reports will result in a visit from police. For example, some are reports of people jogging or walking past. People are of course allowed to do this within their own neighbourhoods. We have been attending where there are large groups of people congregating,” an unidentified police spokesperson told the Guardian. According to Bush, at least three people in New Zealand have been detained for breaking the lockdown rules, one of whom remains in police custody. He also noted that campervans carrying tourists traveling throughout the country have been a sustained issue. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has also urged the public to report cases of people breaking lockdown measures. "Now is not the time to bend the rules. This is a time to stay at home and save lives," Ardern recently told reporters, according to AFP. .. The greatest problem the anarchist faces is his lack of will (or occasionally lack of ability) to handle the humans in front of him. The epic truth of sheeple's' true nature is often avoided in a self delusion of techno utopian/fascist "solutions". It is -not- more technology we need. How to inculcate sanity?

2 5

PPP Loans and Solving America's Pathetic Commercial Banks Problem - [MONEY] [PEACE] [NATIONALISM]
by Zenaan Harkness 20 Jul '20

20 Jul '20

(tl;dr: expand Fannie May and Freddie Mac to get this simple job done!) --- Education ---------------------------------- Nationalism - re-industrialization - rebuilding America - MAGA "Sane greed": the ultra wealthy collect, and often covet, wealth. Spending one's attention, energy and time collecting wealth, seems a little pointless if the store of that wealth (money, bonds, real estate, businesses, the entire economy) is unstable. A stable wealth pyramid absolutely requires stability on each layer: - The bottom layer, or real economy: small to medium businesses, households, food and basic survival for the majority. UBI can provide this to a limited extent, but overall stability of each layer of the pyramid, requires self sufficiency at each layer of the pyramid. Part analogy and part reality, we can say this is "vertical integration at the local level", but of course, vertical integration can apply all the way down to the family level (grow your own food, collect your own rainwater, build your own car if you're so inclined, etc). - The middle layer, also (mostly) the real economy, medium to large businesses, industry, manufacturing etc, the middle to upper middle class. Stability at this layer absolutely requires stability of businesses - from food and processing, to building, all types of manufacturing, and transport and energy of course. Stability in this context means nationalisation - tarriffs to financially protect local (/national) industry/manufacturing etc. Engineering the middle class lifestyle on a national level, means middle class self sufficiency - incomes, objects for purchase such as luxury transport, things to do such as travel, and supporting all this with commensurate incomes. This is vertical integration at the state and/or national level. And before you jump on "think of the starving brown children somewhere in Africa" shitwagon: EVERY country/nation that wants to do this, can do this, modulo the capacity, will and intention of their own people. "It is my job first to survive/thrive as an individual, then to care for my family, then community; I share with those further away from my immediate reality, according to my abundance and according to my will arising out of my personal choices." EVERY human has these same rights. Just not everyone has the same ability, nor intentions, nor aspirations - and that is nobodies fault, and no ones responsibility other than the individual himself. - The upper layer, hedge funds, banks, nation states, oligarchs. Stability at this layer is not possible over the long term without stability in the lower layers, since the financialized "economy" is inherently built on the real economy. --- Problem --------------------------------- So in the face of the financial/economic apocalypse arising from the global virus shut down, the North American government decided to issue a few hundred billion dollars in low interest loans, specifically to small and medium businesses, to help them weather this extended and extraordinarily financially challenging time. In the context of a purportedly democratic nation state government, so far so good. However, public companies (those that raise money on the stock exchange), who via trillions of dollars in "large business" loans (not to mention further trillions in Federal Reserve Bank financialization bailout funds) immediately gouged right into these funds: 13 Public Companies Agree To Return $170 Million In Small Business Coronavirus Stimulus; Others Are Keeping It https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/13-public-companies-agree-return-170-mi… At least 13 public companies have agreed to return coronavirus funds meant for small businesses after controversy erupted when the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ran out of funds, leaving many struggling business owners unable to make ends meet. .. The funds returned could provide roughly 825 loans, at the average loan size of $206,000 reported by the Small Business Administration. -Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-dozen-public-companies-give-back-160-million… .. Another public company has applied for roughly $123 million in loans, Ashford Inc., says they'll keep whatever they receive. To avoid a repeat, the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Treasury have revised the rules to restrict hedge funds and private-equity firms from accessing funds, though small casinos may still apply. ... and more to the point, banks have been shafting small businesses bigly, funding only about 6% of the small business "paycheck protection program" applications made: Of All The Banks That Shafted Small Businesses Out Of Coronavirus Relief, JPMorgan Takes The Cake https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/all-banks-shafted-small-businesses-out-… While JPMorgan provided loans to virtually all of their commercial banking customers who applied for coronavirus relief through the small business program, their business banking unit - which serves smaller firms - only funded around 6% of applications for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-22/jpmorgan-commercial-clie… Of t he bank's more than 300,000 small business customers who applied, only around 18,000 were funded according to the report. Meanwhile, around 5,500 of the bank's commercial banking customers - nearly all of them, received loans through the small business lending program. In total, JPMorgan originated a total of $14 billion in loans through the program. The data reveal that, in the race to get a loan in the first-come, first-served program, larger businesses had a leg up over smaller ones -- even when applying through the same bank. ... and some will remember the big banks balking at the 0.5% interest rate that Trump was asking to be given through this program to these small businesses, and by political pushing, got this rate DOUBLED to 1.0%: Wall Street Wins Again: Banks Force Treasury To Double Rate On Small Business Rescue Loan https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/hours-its-start-treasurys-small-busines… After we warned earlier that the SBA's $350BN Paycheck Protection Program, which is expected to be launched at midnight tonight and is meant to bailout America's small and medium business (<500 employees), may never even get off the ground because the proposed interest rate on the loan of 0.5% is too low lender banks (alongside with various other considerations as listed below) with JPM saying it “will most likely not be able to start accepting applications on Friday, April 3rd as we had hoped", in a press conference late on Thursday, Steven Mnuchin said that he will double the interest rate on the SBA loan from 0.50% to 1.00% in order to appease banks seeking higher interest rates to participate in the Treasury's bailout program and lend money to the same taxpayers who bailed them out 12 years ago. These are same banks, mind you, that just sold all $1.6 trillion in securities to the Fed to expand their balance sheets capacity in the past three weeks, and which also just benefited from the Fed's decision to remove Treasurys and deposits from the Fed's SLR test, freeing up another $1.6 trillion in liquidity. Furthermore, these loans are guaranteed by the federal government and don’t require collateral, and will be forgiven if funds are used for payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent and utility payments for two months and if businesses retain and rehire employees. So bank don't take any risk - why are they charging any interest at all, or rather why do they have any say in what the rate should be? ... So, the firetrucking American banks in the face of boatloads of cash, cringe at even providing small business loans at a low interest rate WHEN THE LOANS ARE 100% GOVERNMENT BACKED! There's plenty moral turpitude where that came from: Banks To Make Billions On Small Business Bailout https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/banks-make-billions-small-business-bail… .. Yet some may be "shocked" to learn that like in any government bailout package, the biggest winners here will not be America's vibrant small and medium business sector, which at best will get the bare minimum cash to fund 2.5 months of payroll (this assume the pandemic will be resolved by mid-June) but - drumroll - America's banks. As the FT reports overnight, banks stand to make billions by overseeing the distribution of these loans as they receive processing fees, paid by the federal government, for making the loans. The fees will vary with loan size: 5% for loans under $350,000, 3% for loans under $2MM, and 1% for loans greater than $2MM. The loans will not incur a capital charge. ... So at least some American commercial banks are f___ing disgraceful! --- Solution --------------------------------------------- Simple winning solution: Bypass the leeches! Expand the ambit/charter of Freddie Mac and Fannie May, that they be authorised to process and issue these loans! These two federal banks already have the retail outlets, loan application processing facilities, and most importantly, they have the history with many Americans - their customers - and so are able to readily issue such loans to many people. Problem solved, and JPM et al can go to hell for being such greedy and obstreperous banks!

1 1

[PSYCH] [IDEAS WAR] Jordan Peterson destroys (neo-) marxism in 3 minutes
by Zenaan Harkness 19 Jul '20

19 Jul '20

3 minute Jordan Peterson extract useful for anyone who does not yet grok the catastrophe that is marxism expressed in the 20th Century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p2QfjaSIUo How to shut up a marxist (Jordan Peterson speech) Create your world,

1 2

PCR: “It's open season on all White people” - WTC7 - co-ordinated hoaxes - White supremacist Israeli border walls - [PEACE]
by Zenaan Harkness 18 Jul '20

18 Jul '20

A little rambling, perhaps useful for forwarding to someone. Since border walls are White supremacist tools of oppression, that means Israeli's are White supremacists. Easy as 1, 2 and 3 :) Paul Craig Roberts Slams Dems & Western Media: "It's Open Season On All White People" https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-11/paul-craig-roberts-slams-dems-wes… https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2019/08/10/the-survival-of-the-fittest/ … Only White Supremacists kill people and build walls, unless they are Israelis, but we are not permitted to say anything about that. By law the US has borders that the law demands be enforced. If immigrants can simply walk across the border, why can’t they fly into the country or come by ships? What is the point of passport control? Indeed, what’s the point of passports? The concept of citizenship simply disappears. … If the US would simply stop overthrowing reformist governments in Latin America, the resources of those countries would be taken out of foreign hands and be put to work for the local people, which is what Venezuela is doing much to the chagrin of American oil companies. The last time Honduras elected a reformer, America’s first black president—Obama—overthrew him. Brazil’s Workers Party was destroyed with the US-orchestrated imprisonment of its leader, Lula da Silva, and removal from office of his successor. In their place Washington has installed a corrupt agent of the Americans. Oppression is applied to the supporters among the people of reformist politicians to ensure that voting ceases to put reformers in power. As General Smedley Butler said, “I was the enforcer in Latin America for the New York Banks and the United Fruit Company.” Perhaps it is poetic justice that the peoples whose resources are carted off to America decide to go with the resources. … The El Paso shooting has been turned not only into an attack on President Trump but also into an attack on white people. Suddenly the “Muslim terrorist threat” has disappeared. Its replacement is the domestic terrorist threat of “white supremacy.” The attack on whites is indiscriminate. The attack on Trump extends to all of the Americans who elected him—“Trump deplorables”—in Hillary’s words. All whites become “racists” and are covered in guilt. The anti-white propaganda is effective. Actress Rosanna Arquette said that her white skin makes her ashamed. The success in teaching emotionally and mentally weak white people to feel guilt is to make it easier for those who wish to displace them to run over them. And most definitely, the core white populations of the Western world are being overrun. As white populations have become too brainwashed and loaded with guilt to defend themselves, perhaps the Social Darwinists were correct after all. The fit survive, and white people are no longer among the fit. CNN former host Reza Aslan, now a professor at the University of California, tweeted: “The President is a white nationalist terror leader. His supporters—ALL OF THEM—are by definition white nationalist terror supporters. The MAGA hat is a KKK hood. And this evil, racist scourge must be eradicated from society.” ... For those who prefer RedIce, full Russian-blooded Lana Lokteff continues to deliver: How\ To\ Become\ An\ Empowered\ Female https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2K4gYzopYE I\ Quit.\ They\ Won. [Snowflake warning - disheartening...] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUNofrZnLDo And for your ultimate fix, no less than the daily stormer itself :) http://dstormer6em3i4km.onion/

10 63

how to background mutt external viewer applications
by Zenaan Harkness 04 Jul '20

04 Jul '20

A hint is here: http://www.guckes.net/Mutt/setup.html To make it work, do e.g. the following in $HOME/.mailcap as follows (the following is to be on one line): application/pdf; (mv %s %s-\; evince %s-\; rm -f %s-)& sleep 0.2s; test=test -n "$DISPLAY" Couple keys: - mv mutt's temp file to a new name, so mutt cannot delete the file from under the viewer's feet - do the mv, view and rm in a subshell, so that this mini process can be backgrounded - escape the semi colons in that are part of the viewer mailcap entry (ampersand does not need escaping) - rm the temp file (using its new name) after viewing is finished - sleep for a short bit after backgrounding the viewer, in the hope that your kernel will schedule the viewer to do its thing within that time - this time is a racy heuristic, so can fail of course The ideal solution would be another mailcap part of the line, or option, which specifies that the viewer should be backgrounded, so that this little dance does not have to be copied for every entry of interest - although a handful of such entries will likely capture the bulk of daily requirements...

1 1

Hillary Clinton Says Epstein Assassination Was To 'Manage Anxiety'
by Zig the N.g 02 Jul '20

02 Jul '20

Hillary Clinton Says Epstein Assassination Was To 'Manage Anxiety' March 7th, 2020 https://babylonbee.com/news/hillary-clinton-says-epstein-assassination-was-… CHAPPAQUA, NY—In a recent interview from her wine cellar this week, Hillary Clinton revealed some of her favorite methods for dealing with stress. "Being the president is an extremely stressful job," she told reporters. "Since I am the president, I have to deal with anxiety on a regular basis. One way to calm my nerves is with a good, old-fashioned assassination. Of course, I would never do such a thing, but If I did do something like, say, killing Jeffery Epstein, it would be a great way to cope with the demands of my very important job. Ok, I killed Epstein. I needed to do it to manage my anxieties. I feel bad about it. HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hillary bemoaned the fact that since she isn't allowed in the White House or situation room for some reason, she no longer has access to handy tools like drones or Treadstone super-soldiers. "Sometimes," she said, "I have to settle for watching that prison assassination scene from Breaking Bad over a bottle of wine! Can you imagine? HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Let it be known that The Babylon Bee proudly supports everything Hillary Clinton does and we are glad she is our president. She is a wonderful leader and we would never do anything to ever upset her in any way. We are also not suicidal. In Historic Compromise, Border Wall To Be Built Around Hollywood https://babylonbee.com/news/historic-compromise-border-wall-built-around-ho… Biden To Defy CDC Warning To Stop Touching Other People's Faces https://babylonbee.com/news/despite-cdc-warning-biden-cant-stop-touching-ot… [facey gropey Biden pics not attached] U.S.—As Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is constantly in crowds, health officials are greatly concerned that he will catch the coronavirus -- which would be especially bad for him as he’s very, very old. Despite these concerns, Biden just can’t follow one of the CDC’s main recommendations to avoid catching the disease: Stop putting your hands all over other people’s faces. “It’s just so hard,” Biden told the press. “I keep thinking to myself, ‘Don’t touch people’s faces. Don’t touch people’s faces.’ But the next thing I know, there are my hands rubbing all over some person I just walked into.” Staffers have tried a number of methods to help train Biden to stop the behavior, such as spraying him in the face with water whenever he starts touching someone. Nothing has worked so far, but his staffers are hopeful. “It’s just a habit he has to unlearn,” said Biden staffer Melanie Chapman. “We’ll just keep working until--” At that point, Chapman was interrupted by Biden putting his hands all over her face. “You’re doing it again!” Chapman informed him. “Oh no,” Biden said. “Well, is it okay if I just rub people’s shoulders?” “No, that is never okay,” Chapman told him. Opinion: If Americans Aren't Sexist, Then How Come They Refuse To Elect The Most Unlikable Women On The Planet? https://babylonbee.com/news/op-ed-if-people-wont-elect-the-most-unlikable-w… ... Yes, people often say they’re willing to vote for a woman. But if they won’t cast a vote for some of the most unlikable women on the entire planet, will they really vote for any women ever? ... In 2016, people had Hillary Clinton, someone so politically maladroit she barely seemed human, one of the most blatantly dishonest people anyone had ever seen, and someone people only ever heard of because of who her husband is. But she was a woman. And that just wasn’t good enough. And now we had Elizabeth Warren, an off-putting, nakedly political hack who lied about her heritage and has a bunch of unworkable plans with price tags beyond human comprehension. Though she may only be 1/1024th Native American, she is 99.9% woman. Still, people said they wanted more. Like, anything more. No. Instead, we must continue to elevate the most terrible women in this country until people finally elect one and prove they don’t hate women. This country can never, ever give in to sexism and put forward a female candidate people might actually like. Then the misogynists will win. Ode to Belzebub Biden tops local spelling bee with "gropeophile", whilst lauding The Bee's "Biden Shampoo" range https://babylonbee.com/news/garnier-fructis-introduces-the-biden-collection Warren drops out of her 1/2020th campaign https://babylonbee.com/news/other-candidates-beg-warren-not-to-endorse-them Paid mourners weep as Bloomberg exits primary https://babylonbee.com/news/paid-mourners-weep-as-bloomberg-exits-primary Corona beer fails to come up with catchy meme adverts to stem sales cliff drop https://mobile.twitter.com/B1GTRAIN/status/1233541966652231682/photo/1 Warren Returns To Tribe In Shame After Failing To Take Land Back From The Pale Faces https://babylonbee.com/news/warren-returns-to-tribe-in-shame-after-failing-…

1 3

ZFS encrypted HOME, krypt vols, combine /boot with / root, + rando snippets
by Zenaan Harkness 01 Jul '20

01 Jul '20

For those yet to leap into the cool clear waters of ZFS and Luks encrypted sparse ZFS files, or who need to combine /boot with / root if /boot has filled up or is insufficient for needs, the beginnings of some hints: https://github.com/zenaan/quick-fixes-ftfw Create your world,

2 4

[WAR] The ministry of truth: NATO liberation of Libya, 2011
by Zenaan Harkness 29 Jun '20

29 Jun '20

If the following were not true, we'd be incredulous that someone would propose such an unbelievable and lame movie plot. Sadly, this is what North America and NATO stand for. I Thought NATO “Liberated” Libya in 2011? http://journal-neo.org/2016/08/04/i-thought-nato-liberated-libya-in-2011/ “Operation Unified Protector is one of the most successful in NATO’s history… We have done this together for the people of Libya, so they can take their future firmly and safely into their own hands. Libyans have now liberated their country. And they have transformed the region. This is their victory” - Former NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, speaking in October, 2011. http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_80052.htm “In Libya, the death of Muammar al-Qaddafi showed that our role in protecting the Libyan people, and helping them break free from a tyrant, was the right thing to do” – US President, Barack Obama, speakingin October, 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-obama-foreignpolicy-idUSTRE79L0MH20111023 “I am proud to stand here on the soil of a free Tripoli and on behalf of the American people I congratulate Libya. This is Libya’s moment, this is Libya’s victory, the future belongs to you” – Former US Secretary of State and Democratic Nominee for President, Hillary Clinton, speaking in October, 2011. https://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/19/172519.html On August the 1st, US warplanes bombed Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) targets in the Libyan city of Sirte, almost exactly five years after Western imperialists declared NATO’s 2011 war in Libya a complete success. http://journal-neo.org/2015/10/17/nato-s-humanitarian-intervention-in-libya… These strikes are not the first conducted by the US in Libya this year, in a broader campaign that is officially aimed at defeating an enemy that the US had a major hand in creating in the first place (I’m sure the military-industrial complex isn’t complaining however). Peter Cook, the Pentagon’s Press Secretary, said in a statement released on the 1st of August in relation to the strikes that: http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/881794/… “Today, at the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), the United States military conducted precision air strikes [which is Orwellian/Pentagon-speak for dropping bombs (not uncommonly on civilians)] against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya… The U.S. stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya.” Wait a minute though, have I missed something? I thought Libya was “liberated” in 2011 and the country is now a beacon of ‘freedom and democracy’ for the Middle East and North Africa? Are the Libyan people not enjoying being “free from a tyrant;” similar to the liberty the Syrian people will experience if Assad the ‘tyrant’ is overthrown and the country is handed over to al-Qaeda? Since the future belonged to the Libyan people in 2011, is the country not a vibrant and prosperous democracy today? Is Libya not one of the major hubs of the Mediterranean, with trade booming and flocks of tourists travelling from across the world to sample the delights of the country – from the fascinating culture of the indigenous people to the stunning (I must admit) Roman ruins? I thought the standard of living for the average Libyan was much higher than it was before the tyrant was deposed? Is Libya not helping to build the African continent up to try and alleviate the millions of people who live in poverty? I thought the “most successful” campaign in NATO’s history meant that terrorism could not gain a foothold in the country, considering the Western alliance spends the majority of its time (after antagonising Russia that is) talking about fighting terrorism? I thought NATO’s love-bombs only hit the baddies, and never killed or maimed any civilians? Are the Libyan people not enjoying the fruits of another Western foreign policy success story? Are the Libyan people not enjoying the stability that always follows a Western war of aggression? I thought the Libyan “kinetic military action” was yet another triumphant imperial endeavour, just like Afghanistan, Iraq and the numerous other countries that were lucky to be the targets of Western ‘humanitarian’ forces? Steven MacMillan is an independent writer, researcher, geopolitical analyst and editor of The Analyst Report, http://www.theanalystreport.net/ especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”. http://journal-neo.org/

3 2

Personal Black Box?
by jim bell 23 Jun '20

23 Jun '20

A few weeks ago, I got done binge-watching every episode of NCIS, and am now up to Season 4 of Criminal Minds. Naturally, this induces a bit of what I'll call cinematic paranoia. In what seems to be a majority of episodes, a victim gets attacked, usually ends up dead, and the plucky investigators are stuck trying to figure out what happened. Naturally, they usually do, but only after about 45 minutes of high-tension showtime. It occurs to me that what people may need, for physical security, would be what might be called a "personal black box", analogous to an airplane flight recorder. Or, a civilian version of a cop's body-cam. Any modern smartphone would have the basics of such a device: A high-resolution camera, microphone, and a huge amount of storage. And a quick 911-call if necessary. The mere possession and use of such a device would probably deter the large majority of potential attackers. And even if it does not completely protect a given user, it would allow far more easy identification of the perpetrator. Parts of this, of course, are not a new idea. https://www.sparkfun.com/news/702 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/gadgets-and-gear/gadgets/your-ow… https://www.zdnet.com/article/fitbit-activity-data-as-evidence-in-court-wea… https://www.medgadget.com/2005/08/cpod_a_personal.html https://newatlas.com/australia-black-box-flight-recorder-soldiers/51267/ However, storage is not enough: In use, in some instances, an attacker would presumably be aware enough to take or break the device, so some sort of continuous or discontinuous upload of the data could be done, to be available no matter what else happens. Say, a frame per second when nothing seems to be happening, and a greater rate when triggered somehow. Could a heart-rate monitor be employed, sensed one axis of the phone's accelerometers? Or if the wearer falls down? Or if a sufficiently-loud noise is heard, etc. Or if a trigger-word is spoken a la Siri? Can the data transfer be made economical? Even an average of 1 megabit/second would be over one gigabyte during a 3 hour usage per day. That's substantially greater than most people currently use. One possibility is that the phone could upload the data to the cell phone company, where it could be "parked" for a few seconds or minutes. If nothing happens to the phone to cause a trigger (some sort of attack) the phone could instruct the cell phone company to abandon the data. Conversely, if a trigger occurs, the cell phone company would move 100% of the data to a backup system for later retrieval. Presumably, the cell phone company would offer discounted rates for such transfers, and only offer that service if the local service is sufficiently unloaded at that moment. Jim Bell

11 49