July 2020 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

ZeroWedgie vindicated ... again :D - [WHIMSICAL] [MONEY] [MINISCULE FINANCIAL FINES]
by Zig the N.g 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

> The West has some serious cleaning up to do. Things can be argued to be going relatively quickly - such huge shifts take time, and months is "short" tbh, so let's be grateful to those who are pulling their weight - thank you to you, weight pullers, bloody great weekend down under, sunshine an all :) Speaking of threats and intimidation, ZeroWedgie is vindicated once again after being legally threatened for their (accurate) free speech reporting of Citadel frontrunning their clients, on multiple occasions. As Citadel presciently pointed out in a number of intimidating legal "take down your tweet" letters, "'Frontrunning' is an industry term of art that refers to an illegal form of trading." Seems they know a lot about front running, snigger snort (but no gloating now): Citadel Fined For Frontrunning Of Client Orders After Threatening To Sue Zerohedge https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/citadel-fined-frontrunning-client-orders-… .. "ZeroHedge's statement obviously disparages the lawfulness and integrity of Mr. Griffin and Citadel Securites's business practices, and thus is defamatory per se.[sic]" "As you well know, "frontrunning" is an unethical and illegal trading practice." Needless to say, instead of engaging in a legal battle with the world's richest and most powerful trader and his army of lawyers, we decided to simply comply with their demand. That said, dear gentlemen from ClareLocke - we do know very well that frontrunning is an unethical and illegal trading practice. But we wonder: does your client know that? The reason why we ask is very simple. According to a Letter of Acceptance (No. 2014041859401), Waiver and Consent published by financial regulator FINRA, none other than Citadel Securities was censured and fined for engaging in - drumroll - "trading ahead of customer orders." https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/fda_documents/2014041859401%20Cit… Now we admit that our financial jargon is a bit rusty these days, but "trading ahead of customer orders" sounds awfully similar to another far more popular "term of art", one which we know very well: frontrunning! Jargon aside, some of the other highlighted words we are very familiar with, such as "hundreds of thousands"... and "559 instances" in which Citadel traded ahead of customer orders. Now, we may be getting a little ahead of ourselves here, but it was Citadel's own lawyers that informed us on more than one occasion that: "frontrunning" is an unethical and illegal trading practice." ... <snigger snigger, no more n.gger> [Of course citadel laughs all the way to the bank, with the fine equivalent to 0.7% of a painting Citadel's Ken Griffin recently bought ...] In any case: .. it appears that Citadel may indeed have engaged in some of what its own lawyers called "unethical and illegal" trading practice, especially since Citadel Securities' own General Counsel, Steve Luparello signed the Finra AWC: .. Well that's... awkward. .. In fact the only confusion we have at this moment is who is more ironically named: Citadel or Robinhood? For those who missed the memo, this is a good time to 'clean up your back yard' ...

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China's "legal diplomacy" in the face of decades of preferential treatment
by Zenaan Harkness 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

Chine has had WTO "developing nation" status for decades, has had the bulk of Western manufacturing literally shipped to China, and even under Obama spat in the face of the world: The Hague's 2016 Verdict Exposed Communist China's Predatory War On World Order https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hagues-2016-verdict-exposed-communis… Austin Bay via The Epoch Times, https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-hagues-2016-verdict-exposed-communist-chi… ..On July 12, 2016, The Hague’s international arbitral tribunal, relying on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea treaty (UNCLOS), issued a ruling supporting the Philippines’ claims that China had violated Filipino territory in the South China Sea by seizing islets and “sea features.” China had also plundered resources in the Philippines’ maritime Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Despite having signed the sea treaty (which meant accepting the arbitration process), the Chinese government callously ignored the verdict and disdained the court’s authority. UNCLOS codified the geophysical conditions and legal precedents establishing sovereign control of territorial waters and sovereign rights in the EEZ. It is an example of practical, peace-promoting diplomacy. China’s blunt rejection of the decision stunned the Filipino government and alerted other nations on the Pacific Rim. The Beijing regime not only broke a major treaty it had ratified but also openly maligned legal procedures created to promote peaceful resolution of international disputes. Beijing’s thuggish rebuke sent the message that Chinese whim backed by China’s enormous military and economic power determined sovereignty in the South China Sea. Chinese communist predatory behavior long predates 2016, but in retrospect, Beijing’s appalling reaction to the ruling clearly demonstrated the CCP could not be trusted to abide by even the most meticulously negotiated treaty. The CCP’s June 2020 decision to break the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 and impose its authoritarian laws on Hong Kong reinforced the ugly lesson that treaties with communist China do not protect smaller nations and territories from Chinese theft and absorption. ... The WTO still considers China a 'developing nation.' Here's the big problem with that https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/25/what-trump-gets-right-about-china-and-trade… ..China is still considered a developing nation by the WTO a status it received when it joined decades ago. ..There is no official WTO classification as to which countries are "developing." This status is self-selected, based on politics more than law or economics, and can be contested. It is a controversial point that usually stays buried beneath the surface, but occasionally flares up into minor controversy. Most Favored Nation Status: Pros and Cons https://www.thebalance.com/most-favored-nation-status-3305840 How It Lowers Your Shopping Bill Most-favored-nation (MFN) status is an economic position in which a country enjoys the best trade terms given by its trading partner. That means it receives the lowest tariffs, the fewest trade barriers, and the highest import quotas (or none at all). In other words, all MFN trade partners must be treated equally. .. In the U.S., it's more common to hear the term "permanent normal trade relations." This is simply another way to refer to a country with MFN status. .. All 164 members of the WTO receive most-favored-nation status. That means they all receive the same trade benefits as all other members. The only exceptions are developing countries, regional trade areas, and customs unions. Developing countries receive preferential treatment without having to return it, so their economies can grow. .. China's MFN Status The United States gave China permanent MFN status in 2001, the same year that China became a WTO member. U.S. companies wanted to sell to the largest population in the world. As China's GDP grew, they thought, so would its consumer spending. ...

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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?

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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!

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Cybersecurity is a Ponzi racket
by John Young 19 Jul '20

19 Jul '20

Wonder how long it will take to reveal cybersecurity is a Ponzi racket. Profits from commercial harvesting data of online users now exceeds the total funding of all the global spy agencies, with a healthy chunk of the steal bought by official spies and law enforcement which ignore the violation. Edu, orgs and NGOs part of the rotten racket.

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[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,

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Andrew Anlin fails to cognize the intentions of China, shills for globalism
by Zig the N.g 19 Jul '20

19 Jul '20

Andrew Anglin continues his globalist shilling rather than uniting the troops behind the nationalist, pro White fertility agenda. Anglin accepts our China virus "almost overlords" as preferable to men of his own kind. Anglin is a piss poor White supremacist who continues to complain about everything despite the obvious need to focus on next steps and the next dang job done. Anglin seems unwilling or unable to think beyond one single step of "OMG, those HK students should not protest, dey are so inferior, dey's not even know what a principle is". I guess Anglin is keen on hedging his health in a few years fo two dollah kidney "Mista Mista Angrin man, we gats cheap healty Falun Gook kidney for wealty White hero boy - you need soon soon, we cheap cheap". In Angrin mind, China gud boy, do nuttin wrong in work re-education camps, and the rest work for $2 dollah a day man, that so cheap, you buy buy very smart phone Mr Angrin man! I didn't want to say it, but young angry male mind might need a real, actual Tianenmen leak, not that tank man bullshit, but hails of bullets mowing down hundreds of students folled by blood soup, dozers and chlorine spray. Some folks are yet to comprehend the Pol Pot mind, they sinmply cannot fathom it. So don't give us that bullshit about "the famous Tank Man" - that was tha propaganda for White folks to feel comfy about China. Truth is rough sometimes, but sometimes it's needed. Wiki away muffas - it's all in the balance, we are in critical times, and this is a war of wills, a war of intentions. The consequences of the results of your/our collective choices shall strike as Thor's hammer for millenia. If there is no such material, then we need personal dicta, the eye witness accounts, the truth from our fellow Souls. Darkness Over Tibet muffas. Read it. Many DUMB bunkers are frome bygone eras, authorities still below us, fallen ones. Your voice counts. There is great testing - who stands on righteous principle, who cries for superficial, who does wrong by others when they could clear their slate, who pretends to sit on the fence as a MugWud bird, fooling no one but himself that he is "impartial" ... ... but in sitting, he still shits on one side of the fence. Now is a reckoning, and some are rising to this existential challenge, delivering some mighty fine consciousness raising work. Whether you meme the masses into a new overton window, deliver very naughty blue wakeups, or simply stand unshakable on a particular principle which you defend against a world gone mad, you are changing the our world. It's not a bad world, we should care for it, and for one another. Peace. Why is Freedom for Hong Kong Being Prioritized Over the Interests of the American People? http://dstormer6em3i4km.onion/why-is-freedom-for-hong-kong-being-prioritize…

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Counterinsurgency. It’s what’s for Portland.
by Bob Hettinga 19 Jul '20

19 Jul '20

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Algiers

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BlueLeaks: LE Fusion FBI... Massive Dump from Anonymous
by grarpamp 18 Jul '20

18 Jul '20

https://www.wired.com/story/blueleaks-anonymous-law-enforcement-hack/ infohash:cccaad8d8b856c9609137890d5802189d841ad2c primary infohash:ZTFK3DMLQVWJMCITPCINLABBRHMEDLJM RELEASE: #BlueLeaks (269 GB) Ten years of data from over 200 police departments, fusion centers and other law enforcement training and support resources. Among the hundreds of thousands of documents are police and FBI reports, bulletins, guides and more. It's been the better part of a decade since the hacktivist group Anonymous rampaged across the internet, stealing and leaking millions of secret files from dozens of US organizations. Now, amid the global protests following the killing of George Floyd, Anonymous is back—and it's returned with a dump of hundreds of gigabytes of law enforcement files and internal communications. BONUS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19Cq__S8uhI WOEIH EP227 Mark Passio: The Psychological State Of Police and Their Supporters

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Re: Political theory/ ideology - foundations
by Zenaan Harkness 18 Jul '20

18 Jul '20

> On Fri, Jul 17, 2020 at 07:18:48PM -0300, Punk-BatSoup-Stasi 2.0 wrote: > > On Fri, 17 Jul 2020 21:59:10 +0000 > > таракан <cryptoanalyzers(a)protonmail.com> wrote: > > > ... [ideology?] ... > > so going back to your comments on ideology, notice how cypherpunks are just technocrats whose main interest is 'technology', not freedom. > > > Freedom is a great foundation for any ideology worth embracing. > > We need (?may be) an antidote to gen-me's "yes, freedom is my right to live a 100% self centered nihilistic selfish existence", since when the majority of fertile females just ride the cock carousel, we end up with very low fertility and rapidly declining population (masking the oligarchy's infiniggimmigration). > > For a leg up on the ontological/epistemological foundations of any political theory, Dugin might be half a start to thought and/or discussion: > > Fourth Political Theory: shortest presentation > https://www.geopolitica.ru/en/article/fourth-political-theory-shortest-pres… > > [Heady, but a comprehensive overview to kick off with - only half way through here and had to take a break; resonating so far with the fundamental of the fact of "being" (sort of like existence, but more about meta awareness - reminds of the logical conclusion of the 'primary unit of authority' yet to meaningfully reach 'the individual' (in our politics at least)).] > > > > Fact: I exist. > > Fact: By virtue of my existence, I am with the right to continue to exist, the right to do those things necessary to perpetuate my existence (grow and hervest plants, farm animals, collect water, build shelter, travel, trade). > > Fact: I am with existence, awareness, intention, will, mind, body, spirit, emotions, desires, fears, abilities and surely more... > > Fact: I am with awareness to the degree that I am aware; awareness is an individual experience; the experience of awareness may be vastly different for different individuals. > > Fact: I am able to en-vision; by this capacity, with will and action, I may create, and I am with the right to create that which I choose to create. This is apropos, from another Dugin piece, could have been written by Juan :) : The War on Russia in Its Ideological Dimension https://www.geopolitica.ru/en/article/war-russia-its-ideological-dimension .. The only freedom of choice in the kingdom of global liberalism is that between Right liberalism, Left liberalism or radical liberalism, including far-Right liberalism, far-Left liberalism and extremely radical liberalism. As a consequence, liberalism has been installed as the operational system of Western civilization and of all other societies that find themselves in the zone of Western influence. It has become the common denominator for any politically correct discourse, and the distinguishing mark which determines who is accepted by mainstream politics and who is marginalized and rejected. Conventional wisdom itself became liberal. ...

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