September 2022 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Spy vs Spy: China Infesting and Spying on Countries for Years
by grarpamp 16 Sep '22

16 Sep '22

Locals in North Dakota Oppose Massive Corn Mill Project by Chinese Company GRAND FORKS, North Dakota—One by one, residents opposed to a corn mill investment by a Chinese company with reputed ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through its chairman, got up to chastise the mayor and city council of Grand Forks, North Dakota. “You guys are the scariest people I know. You are willing to endanger this city, the people, the country, and this nation,” said Dennis Kadlec, an outspoken critic of … [View More]the project. He believes city officials have ignored residents’ concerns over the project and the flag they serve. “This is a republic. Please treat it as such,” Kadlec said. Epoch Times Photo Jodi Carlson is lead organizer of the Concerned Citizens for Fufeng Project, a non-partisan grass roots group that opposes the increases presence of Chinese-owned businesses in Grand Forks, N.D. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) Kadlec’s accusations of inaction and secrecy on the part of city officials seemed to resonate with other concerned citizens at the city council meeting on Sept. 6. The group views the corn mill as a potential Chinese spying operation and a threat to the environment and municipal resources. Some residents see divisions over the project worsening in a close-knit agricultural community of 56,000, where sugar beets and wheat—not corn—are king. The city of Grand Forks is not a significant producer of corn, either, straddling the Minnesota border about 75 miles south of Canada, where winter temperatures can drop to well below zero. So the question arises: why would a Chinese company build a corn mill in Grand Forks when harvest volumes are so low? Critics who fear Chinese espionage say one needs to look no further than Grand Forks Air Force Base, about 12 miles away. The base stores and tests the military’s sensitive drone, satellite, and surveillance technology. However, city officials supporting the corn mill see the project as an economic opportunity too good to pass up. As the most significant single capital investment in the city’s history, it promises 230 permanent high-paying jobs, higher corn prices for regional growers, and other long-term benefits. Fufeng USA, the American subsidiary of Fufeng Group, wants to build on 370 acres it acquired that would add millions in sales and property tax revenues and improve city infrastructure. The “wet corn” mill would employ thousands of workers during construction and, in operation, extract ingredients used to produce animal feed products for sale in the domestic market. Epoch Times Photo The proposed construction site for a multi-million dollar corn mill includes 370 acres of former agricultural land on the outskirts of the city of Grand Forks, N.D. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) At least on paper, the project looks and sounds good. What doesn’t sit well with project opponents is the parent company, Fufeng Group, which is based in Shandong Province in China. The company has reputed links with the CCP through its chairman and controlling shareholder, Li Xuechun. Many residents opposed to the corn mill also feel the city has been translucent in moving the project along, voting to annex land without proper notice to business abutters to sell to Fufeng USA. Some residents have felt so neglected by the local powers that Jodi Carlson and several others recently formed the Concerned Citizens of Fufeng Project in Grand Forks. The public group has nearly 3,000 followers on Facebook and vehemently opposes the corn mill project. Group meetings have become “very contentious,” Carlson told The Epoch Times, “primarily because we’re just tired. The city council continues to say they’ve answered our questions and haven’t. We still have a lot of questions.” One question is what Fufeng USA plans to do with 250 acres not listed in the development plan, Carlson said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen with that. We think we have a right [to know], especially since it’s a foreign interest. We don’t think [the city council] vetted it properly. We have a lot of concerns.” Two U.S. Senators representing North Dakota have raised alarm bells over potential national security issues surrounding the Fufeng USA project amid building tensions between the United States and China over Taiwan. City officials reportedly vowed to stop the project should China invade Taiwan. Epoch Times Photo Frank Matejcek, a retired farmer and resident of Falconer Township bordering Grand Forks, N.D., says a proposed corn mill by a Chinese company would use nearly as much water as the city consumes in a day—more than 6 million gallons. Matejcek is a member of a concerned citizens’ group which opposes the project. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) On July 14, Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, requesting a full review to address military security concerns. As a result, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency panel overseen by the Treasury Department in business matters involving national security, has stepped in to review the project proposal. Grand Forks city officials announced the land deal with Fufeng in November 2021 and approved the development agreement in July. The city then changed the land designation to an industrial zone from agricultural to allow the project to go forward under federal law. “We don’t want [the mill]. We don’t want it here in Grand Forks,” said Concerned Citizens group member Frank Matejcek, a retired farmer who lives next door in rural Falconer Township, population 140, where the city of Grand Forks annexed some 40 businesses. “We don’t want it because of the pollution. We don’t want it because of water usage. We don’t want it because of the communist connection with China. [But] the communist connection with China isn’t the only thing,” Matejcek told The Epoch Times. Some residents are concerned the mill will drain limited municipal resources. In its current design, the corn mill would draw roughly the same amount of water—more than 6 million gallons—from the Red River that the city consumes daily. “What’s it going to be in a couple of years? We had to ration water last year” during a drought, Matejcek said. “These city officials claim that the town will die if we don’t do this project. That’s a bunch of [garbage]. We’ve got plenty of agriculture. There is the North Dakota mill—North Dakota Mill and Elevator—the biggest flour mill in the world.” Al Nieuwsma, the owner of Al’s Diesel Injection and a Falconer Township resident, said the city annexed his business property to make way for the corn mill project. Epoch Times Photo The first RQ-4 Global Hawk arrives to Grand Forks Air Force Base May 26, 2011. (Tech. Sgt. Johnny Saldivar/U.S. Air Force) He said he now pays the city of Grand Forks property taxes six times what he previously paid the township, including municipal fees. He considers the Fufeng project “a bad deal” all around. “It’s a bad deal for the city. It’s a bad deal for our community right here,” Nieuwsma said. “And it’s going to be terrible for the overall community. “I wouldn’t put anything past China. But for me—right here—it’s too close. The pollution—the stink, the traffic, the [depletion of] resources—terrible,” Nieuwsma told The Epoch Times. “I’ll tell you what, it should never have happened. If I had known more about this [project] earlier, I would have done more to prevent it from happening.” Concerned Citizens group member Sheila Spicer said she doesn’t want to see any Chinese company doing business in the community. “I do not want [Fufeng USA] in our town—I don’t want them in our country. For one, I do not want a Chinese communist company here. You’ve got to be smart enough to know that. Water pollution—you name it. There are tons of reasons,” Spicer told The Epoch Times. The CFIUS review looks to be the final hurdle Fufeng has to overcome to begin construction in 2024 or 2025 at a total projected cost of about $350 million. Epoch Times Photo Another sign spells out the concerns many residents have over a proposed corn mill in Grand Forks, N.D. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) The question is whether CFIUS has the legal authority to perform the review. The law firm representing Fufeng believes the land acquisition through annexation does not amount to a business purchase. Therefore, it does not fall under CFIUS’s legal jurisdiction for review. Still, the CFIUS review could take months to complete if the committee moves forward. In the meantime, CFIUS requested more time and information from Fufeng before deciding whether to conduct the review. Despite the delay, most of the Grand Forks City County voted approval on Sept. 6 for various projects relating to a stormwater pond and water main construction design along three main highways. At the meeting, Carlson and several other citizen group members criticized city officials openly for their alleged lack of transparency. “We hear lies about the equipment, the water—lies about a lot of stuff. When does the truth start?” Carlson asked the council. Kadlec accused council members of choosing a “godless entity” to further large-scale business interests. “When you’re godless, you’re godless. When you’re godless, you don’t have that much knowledge or wisdom,” Kadlec said. Addressing the seven-member council, Michael Coachman shared how one city official accused him of “undermining the republic” for asking questions about the project. Epoch Times Photo The city of Grand Forks, N.D., sits near the Minnesota border about 75 south of Canada. Many residents feel the city grows too little corn to justify the presence of a corn mill by a Chinese company in the city. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) “How am I threatening the republic? I’m asking questions dealing with the Constitution,” Coachman said. “Everything I am doing is based on what you are doing.” Another concerned citizen, who asked to remain anonymous, said she fears military surveillance by the Chinese government using Fufeng as a shell company. “I’m afraid of them accessing our infrastructure on all levels. The development agreement gives them access to our water, power, air, and roads. They’re giving them access to everything.” While “always nice for a city to make more money,” she told The Epoch Times, “we are not hurting in the city.” “There’s a misallocation of resources,” she said. “The problem with the city is not that they don’t have money; it’s the mismanagement of it. Corn doesn’t grow here. Sugar beets grow here. There’s a little corn, but it’s not ideal conditions.” In an Oct. 27, 2021, email to North Dakota Gov. Doug Bergum, a Republican, Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski expressed “great news” that Fufeng Group had selected Grand Forks as its North American location. Before finalizing a development agreement, however, Bochenski advised in the letter to “keep the information out of the public, for the time being, we need to finalize the details.” Ward 2 city councilor Rebecca Osowski told The Epoch Times she agreed that the land annexation took place without proper notice and that the project lacks transparency. Epoch Times Photo Grand Forks Air Force Base is located about 12 miles from the city of Grand Forks, N.D. Residents have organized to oppose a corn mill investment by a Chinese company with reputed ties to the Chinese Communist Party through its company chairman. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) “I am against the project and do not vote to support the infrastructure items until things have been settled,” Osowski said. The six other city council members did not respond to a request for comment. In an email to The Epoch Times, Bochenski, a Republican, acknowledged public opposition to the project based on environmental concerns, questions regarding annexation, and the “overall deterioration of the relationship between the U.S. and China over Taiwan. “The city council and I have shared similar concerns and set forth a development agreement to study these concerns, which has been ongoing for 10 months,” Bochenski said. “The city requested Fufeng to voluntarily submit [to] the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews national security concerns.” CFIUS’s findings should come in the next few months, and only design work can take place before then, “which is at the financial risk of Fufeng,” the mayor added. Bochenski said the former land owners requested the annexation of land, which followed the requirements set forth by the state of North Dakota. “As to the unfounded personal attacks, that is the nature of politics these days, unfortunately,” Bochenski said. Epoch Times Photo Jodi Carlson of the Concerned Citizens for Fufeng Project addresses the Grand Forks City Council on Sept. 6. Carlson and several others attended the meeting to express their concerns over potential spying and pollution by a Chinese company with reputed ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The company plans to build a corn mill on the fringes of the city on 370 acres. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) At the Urban Stampede coffee shop in downtown Grand Forks, Jim and Rex were having a friendly game of backgammon and talking about local affairs. “Everybody spies on everyone else,” said Jim, a self-described capitalist who isn’t worried about the proposed corn mill owned by a Chinese company. “I mean, the Russians are spying on us. The Chinese are spying on us. Everybody is spying on everybody so that I wouldn’t worry about that,” he told The Epoch Times. The upshot is that the corn mill would “help bring manufacturing jobs to the area and process the corn to a usable product,” he said. Despite much consternation over the project’s alleged lack of transparency, Rex said, “this has been one of the most transparent things [and] the city council has done a good job explaining what they’re doing every step along the way. “As long as you read the newspaper and follow the [city] website—if you don’t know what’s going on, it’s your fault.” [View Less]

1 0

Cryptocurrency: Greenpeace Libtards Hired by GovBankSoc Anti's to Screech and Lie About Bitcoin Energy
by grarpamp 16 Sep '22

16 Sep '22

Screeching Lying Agents-of-Anti's Expose and Electrocute themselves... Greenpeace Intensifies Campaign Against Bitcoin Following Ethereum's Merge True https://www.michael.com/en/resources/bitcoin-mining-and-the-environment https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2022.07.19-BMC-… https://batcoinz.com/ https://twitter.com/DSBatten False https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/greenpeace-intensifies-campaign-agains… https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/climate-groups-… [View More]to-bitcoin-cut-the-… https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/greenpeace-seeks-to-change-bitcoin-code In addition to a $1 million ad budget, climate groups want to influence institutions such as Fidelity and BlackRock to push Bitcoin to switch from PoW to PoS. Greenpeace and the Environmental Working Group have launched a $1 million smear campaign against Bitcoin following Ethereum's Merge to PoS. The campaign has a petition urging Fidelity, BlackRock and others to move Bitcoin away from PoW. Opponents of Bitcoin need to understand how it actually works. Greenpeace and the Environmental Working Group have intensified their attack against Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) with a $1 million ad campaign, per a press release. The climate groups are pushing for institutions such as Fidelity, BlackRock, Block and PayPal to influence the Bitcoin protocol. The group's intentions are to have these institutions somehow help change the consensus mechanism from PoW to proof-of-stake (PoS). The intensification of an attack that began in March with the launch of the “Change The Code, Not The Climate” campaign follows today’s completion of the Merge, an event which changed the consensus mechanism of Ethereum from PoW to PoS. “Ethereum has shown it's possible to switch to an energy-efficient protocol with far less climate, air and water pollution,” said Michael Brune, director of the Change the Code, Not the Climate campaign. However, one could argue that these climate groups are missing something very important about Bitcoin. Not only is PoW the true innovation and core to the successful functioning of Bitcoin, this would not be the first occurrence of institutional and corporate pressure to change the Bitcoin protocol. Accordingly, the Block Size Wars saw many institutions arguing for larger block sizes on the blockchain which would have led to the centralization of nodes on the network, thereby lessening the distributed network we see today. Attempts to centralize the network ultimately failed as the decentralized network stood strong and an upgrade known as SegWit allowed for necessary upgrades to block sizes without centralizing the infrastructure of Bitcoin. Furthermore, climate-based criticism of Bitcoin is becoming more debunked by the day. In fact, yesterday the executive chairman for pro-Bitcoin software analytics firm MicroStrategy published a paper refuting many common accusations. 1. Bitcoin Energy Utilization: Bitcoin runs on stranded, excess energy, generated at the edge of the grid, in places where there is no other demand, at times when no one else needs the electricity. Retail & commercial consumers of electricity in major population areas pay 5-10x more per kwH (10-20 cents per kwH) than bitcoin miners, who should be thought of as wholesale consumers of energy (normally budgeting 2-3 cents per kwH). The world produces more energy than it needs, and approximately a third of this energy is wasted. The last 15 basis points of energy power the entire Bitcoin Network - this is the least valued, cheapest margin of energy left after 99.85% of the energy in the world is allocated to other uses. 2. Bitcoin vs. Other Industries: Bitcoin mining is the most efficient, cleanest industrial use of electricity, and is improving its energy efficiency at the fastest rate across any major industry. Our metrics show ~59.5% of energy for bitcoin mining comes from sustainable sources and energy efficiency improved 46% YoY. No other industry comes close (consider planes, trains, automobiles, healthcare, banking, construction, precious metals, etc.). The bitcoin network keeps getting more energy efficient because of the relentless improvement in the semiconductors (SHA-256 ASICs) that power the bitcoin mining centers, combined with the halving of bitcoin mining rewards every four years that is built into the protocol. This results in a consistent 18-36% improvement year after year in energy efficiency. More details on this are included in the BMC Presentation. 3. Bitcoin Value Creation & Energy Intensity: Approximately $4-5 billion in electricity is used to power & secure a network that is worth $420 billion as of today, and settles $12 billion per day ($4 trillion per year). The value of the output is 100x the cost of the energy input. This makes Bitcoin far less energy intensive than Google, Netflix, or Facebook, and 1-2 orders of magnitude less energy intensive than traditional 20th century industries like airlines, logistics, retail, hospitality, & agriculture. 4. Bitcoin vs. Other Cryptos: The only proven technique for creating a digital commodity is Proof of Work (bitcoin mining) deployed in a fair, equitable fashion (i.e. no pre-mine, no ICO, no controlling foundation, no primary software development team, no series of forced hard fork upgrades that materially change the monetary protocol). If we remove the dedicated hardware (SHA-256 ASICs) and the dedicated energy that powers those mining rigs, we are left with a network secured by proprietary software running on generic computers. That places all security & control of the network in the hands of a small group of software developers, who must create virtual machines doing virtual work with virtual energy in a virtual world to create virtual security. All attempts to date have resulted in a digital asset that meets the definition of an investment contract (i.e. digital security, not digital commodity). They all pass the Howie test and therefore look more like equities than commodities. Regulators & legal experts have noted on many occasions that Proof of Stake networks are likely securities, not commodities, and we can expect them to be treated as such over time. PoS Crypto Securities may be appropriate for certain applications, but they are not suitable to serve as global, open, fair money or a global open settlement network. Therefore, it makes no sense to compare Proof of Stake networks to Bitcoin. The creation of a digital commodity without an issuer that serves as “digital gold” is an innovation (we have accomplished this only once in the history of the world with Bitcoin). The creation of a digital security or digital coupon on a shared database is utterly ordinary (it has been done 20,000 times in the crypto world, and 100,000+ times in the traditional world). 5. Bitcoin & Carbon Emissions: 99.92% of carbon emissions in the world are due to industrial uses of energy other than bitcoin mining. Bitcoin mining is neither the problem nor the solution to the challenge of reducing carbon emissions. It is in fact a rounding error and would hardly be noticed if it were not for the competitive guerrilla marketing activities of other crypto promoters & lobbyists that seek to focus negative attention on Proof of Work mining in order to distract regulators, politicians, & the general public from the inconvenient truth that Proof of Stake crypto assets are generally unregistered securities trading on unregulated exchanges to the detriment of the retail investing public. 6. Bitcoin & Environmental Benefits: There is an increasing awareness that Bitcoin is quite beneficial to the environment because it can be deployed to monetize stranded natural gas or methane gas energy sources. Methane gas emissions' curtailment is particularly compelling and Dan Batten (https://batcoinz.com/) has written some impressive papers on this subject. It has also become clear that energy grids that rely primarily on sustainable power sources like wind, hydro, & solar can be unreliable at times due to lack of water, sunlight, or wind. In this case, they need to be paired with a large electricity consumer like a bitcoin miner in order to develop grid resilience & finance the buildout of additional capacity necessary to responsibly power major industrial/population centers. The recent example of major Bitcoin energy curtailment on the ERCOT grid in Texas is an example of the benefits of bitcoin mining to sustainable power providers. No other industrial energy consumer is so well suited to monetize excess power as well as curtail flexibly during periods of energy shortfall & production volatility. 7. Bitcoin & Global Energy: Bitcoin maximalists believe that Bitcoin is an instrument of economic empowerment for 8 billion people around the world. This is supported by the ability of a bitcoin miner to monetize any power source, anywhere, anytime, at any scale. Bitcoin mining can bring a clean, profitable and modern industry that generates hard currency to a remote location in the developing world, connected only via satellite link. All that is needed is some excess electricity generated from a waterfall, geothermal source, or miscellaneous excess energy deposit. Google, Netflix, and Apple won’t be setting up data centers in Central Africa that export services to their wealthy western clients anytime soon due to constraints on bandwidth, privacy, & requirements for consistent power flow, but bitcoin miners are not hampered by these constraints. They can utilize erratic power supplies with low bandwidth in remote locations and generate valuable bitcoin without prejudice, just as if they were in a suburb of NYC, LA, or SF. Even now, Bitcoin miners are everywhere and will continue to spread (though Africa, Asia, South America, etc.) wherever there is excess energy and anyone with aspirations for a better life. Bitcoin is an egalitarian financial asset offering financial inclusion to all, and bitcoin mining is an egalitarian technology industry offering commercial inclusion to anyone with the energy & engineering capability to operate a mining center. [View Less]

1 0

Fwd: LibrePlanet 2023: Let's chart the course together! Submit your session by November 2
by Baffo 32 15 Sep '22

15 Sep '22

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Free Software Foundation <info(a)fsf.org> Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2022 02:29:41 -0400 Subject: LibrePlanet 2023: Let's chart the course together! Submit your session by November 2 To: Karl Semich <baffo32(a)gmail.com> *Please consider adding <info(a)fsf.org> to your address book, which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box.* *Read and share online: <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2023-lets-… [View More]

2 1

Fwd: Quick on the Draw: Line Adjustment and Draw Behavior in Failing Banks
by Gunnar Larson 15 Sep '22

15 Sep '22

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: FDIC Subscriptions <subscriptions(a)subscriptions.fdic.gov> Date: Wed, Sep 14, 2022, 10:13 AM Subject: Quick on the Draw: Line Adjustment and Draw Behavior in Failing Banks To: <g(a)xny.io> [image: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)] <https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDAsInVy…> Working Paper | September 14, 2022 *Quick on the Draw: Line Adjustment and Draw Behavior in * *Failing … [View More]

1 0

JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Flunk a Test Measuring their Support for American Democracy
by Gunnar Larson 15 Sep '22

15 Sep '22

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2022/09/jpmorgan-chase-morgan-stanley-and-we… The nonpartisan watchdog group, Accountable.US <https://accountable.us/about/>, has released the results of an investigation into how committed to democracy the 100 largest corporations in America are. The corporations were graded on support for voting rights, the electoral process, and American democracy. The results were provided in an interactive resource called the American Democracy Scorecard <https://… [View More]

1 0

xNY.io WhitePaper — xNY.io
by Gunnar Larson 15 Sep '22

15 Sep '22

https://xny.io/whitepaper Being extremely clear and transparent, xNY.io's business models emphasize taking advantage of our competitors who have designed global regulatory abtrigatre frameworks at the expense of customers. Our simple strategy rests in the fact that virtual currency has cross-border utilities. CryptoBank’s strategy innovates beyond New York bank's misemploying Manhattan Island as a walled garden for bad HR management camps while wrongfully profiting off of the back of the most … [View More]

1 0

The Association Between Geographic Location & Anxiety and Depression in Transgender Individuals
by professor rat 14 Sep '22

14 Sep '22

A part of Transgender Health Editor-in-Chief: Robert Garofalo, MD, MPH https://www.liebertpub.com/toc/trgh/1/1 Reposts not HIV denial

1 0

Fuck Dana White and that Jackass Joe he Rogan on
by professor rat 14 Sep '22

14 Sep '22

The UFC sucks arse - bit like Gramps tries to here https://anarchistnews.org/content/leftists-breaking-right%E2%80%99s-chokeho… Reposts not roundhouse

1 0

The Mob Museum in Downtown Las Vegas - About - Executive Bios
by professor rat 14 Sep '22

14 Sep '22

Ace Rothstein : Four reels, sevens across on three $15,000 jackpots. Do you have any idea what the odds are? Don Ward : Shoot, it's gotta be in the millions, maybe more. Ace Rothstein : Three fuckin' jackpots in 20 minutes? Why didn't you pull the machines? Why didn't you call me? Don Ward : Well, it happened so quick, 3 guys won; I didn't have a chance... Ace Rothstein : [interrupts] You didn't see the scam? You didn't see what … [View More]

1 0

Mark Zuckerberg is ‘continuing to derail’ Facebook, says Harvard expert: ‘He’s really lost his way’
by professor rat 14 Sep '22

14 Sep '22

For my 2c he dropped the ball on DIEM which could have been a global UBI by now " ITS FREE AND ALWAYS WILL BE! " The internet way is to profit by giving things away - something Harvard Business School will never understand. https://stiffs.com/celebrity/markzuckerberg

1 0