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"positive thinking", a great tool for quelling dissent
by Zenaan Harkness 06 Nov '16

06 Nov '16

RSA ANIMATE: Smile or Die Acclaimed journalist, author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich explores the darker side of positive thinking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo Cute simple animation over a talk, ~10.5 minutes ~23MiB Enjoy :)

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General Michael Flynn; Loretta Lynch; James Comey; Donna Brazile; the deep state imploding?
by Zenaan Harkness 06 Nov '16

06 Nov '16

Wow. Generals. Revolving doors. Scalps. The Deep State imploding yet? Let's assume the USA "constitution" does not forbid barter :) General Michael Flynn blasts Hillary Clinton and her crimes: ‘I’m sick of it. She should step down’ http://theduran.com/general-michael-flynn-blasts-hillary-clinton-crimes-ame… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhCCLM6oqUo Wikileaks whistleblower revealed as deep state officials. Former deputy Assistant Secretary of State warns of Clinton coup d’etat http://theduran.com/wikileaks-whistleblowers-revealed-as-deep-state-officia… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov5kvWSz5LM " Attorney General Loretta Lynch seems to be in the pocket of the Clintons, intervening and obstructing FBI investigations into Hillary Clinton’s private server and e-mails at every turn. James Comey, who was on the board of directors at HSBC bank, a bank that gave $81 million to the Clinton Foundation, is also the current head of the FBI. " Donna Brazile tweets in desperation, “Please God, let this end soon” as CNN gives her the boot http://theduran.com/donna-brazile-tweets-desperation-please-god-let-end-soo… Clinton family henchman James Carville goes insane, says ‘KGB and Republicans’ are behind FBI investigation http://theduran.com/clinton-family-henchman-james-carville/ " James Carville tries to finger the ‘KGB’ over 10 times, followed by phrases such as ‘America’s democracy is under attack’… “The KGB is all over this election.” “This is an attempt to hijack an election.” - First, the KGB does not even exist, making Carville look like an complete nutcase every time he mentions the word ‘KGB’. - Second, not one US intelligence Agency has confirmed the Russian government or FSB was behind the hacking. " FBI says no connection between Donald Trump and Russia. Harry Reid goes full “McCarthy” http://theduran.com/fbi-says-no-connection-between-donald-trump-and-russia-… Perhaps here lies part of the answer: How Putin Derailed the West's Grand Project to Remake the World http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/01/how-putin-derailed-the-west/ " This is hard for ordinary people to understand. They can’t grasp why elite powerbrokers would want to transform functioning, stable countries into uninhabitable wastelands overrun by armed extremists, sectarian death squads and foreign-born terrorists. Nor can they understand what has been gained by Washington’s 15 year-long rampage across the Middle East and Central Asia that has turned a vast swathe of strategic territory into a terrorist breeding grounds? What is the purpose of all this? ... But the real escalation is expected to take place when Hillary Clinton becomes president in 2017. That’s when the US will directly engage Russia militarily, assuming that their tit-for-tat encounters will be contained within Syria’s borders. It’s a risky plan, but it’s the next logical step in this bloody fiasco. "

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Where Traditional DNA Testing Fails, Algorithms Take Over
by Cecilia Tanaka 05 Nov '16

05 Nov '16

"Where Traditional DNA Testing Fails, Algorithms Take Over Powerful software is solving more crimes and raising new questions about due process." https://www.propublica.org/article/where-traditional-dna-testing-fails-algo… It's fascinating, but pretty scary. Too many possibilities butterflying around, uh! :-/

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PapersPlease.org - "What's Wrong With Showing ID?"
by Zenaan Harkness 04 Nov '16

04 Nov '16

https://papersplease.org/id.html The Issue What's Wrong With Showing ID? "There are good people with bad papers; and bad people with good papers." - Bertolt Brecht What does an ID, any ID, do for security? The honest answer is 'not much'. If anything, relying on ID for security purposes actually makes things worse: a false sense of security fosters complacency. Showing ID only affects honest people. If you're dishonest, you can obtain false documents or steal the identity of an honest person. If a 19 year-old college student can get a fake ID to drink, why couldn't a bad person get one, too? And no matter how sophisticated the security embedded into the ID, wouldn't a well-financed terrorist be able to falsify that, too? The answer to both questions is obviously 'yes'. Honest people, on the other hand, go to Pro-Life rallies. Honest people go to Pro-Choice rallies, too. Honest people attend gun shows. Honest people protest the actions of the President of the United States. Honest people fly to political conventions. What if those with the power to put people on a 'no fly' list decided that they didn't like the reason for which you wanted to travel? The honest people wouldn't be going anywhere. Bad people, besides using fake IDs and stolen identities, can also make the system of checking IDs work in their favor. The Carnival Booth algorithm, as described by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, demonstrates that terrorists can probe an ID security system by sending a number of people on innocent trips through the system and noting who is flagged for extra searches and who isn't. They then send only those who the system doesn't flag on terrorist missions. Still, some Americans think that 'if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear'. Were the Founding Fathers criminals trying to protect themselves when they inserted the 4th and 5th amendments into the Bill of Rights? After all, nobody who hasn't done anything wrong needs to worry about being searched or being forced to testify against himself. Over the years, Americans have become accustomed to showing ID in any number of circumstances. Few have asked the question, 'Why?'. Showing ID during a private business transaction, like writing a check or using a credit card, is different than having to show ID to the government in order to travel. The custom of showing ID at airports came about in July of 1996, in the wake of the TWA flight 800 disaster. Faulty fuel tank insulation caused TWA 800 to explode over Long Island Sound. Before we knew that, there was concern that terrorists had blown up the plane. According to former terrorism czar Richard Clarke's book, the ID requirement was instituted as a temporary measure so that then-President Clinton had something to announce to the families of the victims when he met with them. After the 2001 World Trade Center bombings, the ID requirement became mandatory, as anyone who has flown since can testify. The Department of Homeland Security has attempted to institute programs predicated on the use of ID to improve air security. One such program, the Computer Assisted Passenger Profiling System II (CAPPS II) would have required every citizen to undergo a background check as a precondition to travel by commercial airline. CAPPS II depended on the presentation of government-issued photo ID in order to function. The information contained on the ID would have been cross-checked against a variety of public and private databases, and an individual threat assessment would be generated based on this information. The CAPPS II program was pronounced 'dead' in July of 2004, but the Department of Homeland Security is quietly continuing to work to produce a replacement system, now called "Secure Flight", that works similarly. Another program which depends on showing ID is the Watch List and No-Fly List. Airlines are issued these secret lists by the federal government and are required to request ID from their passengers in order to check them against the secret lists. This has resulted in countless citizens ( http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=15430&c=gilmorevsashcroft ) with names similar to bad people being harassed, arrested, or prevented from traveling by aircraft including every person named 'David Nelson'. Much has been done to make travel by air safer. Cockpit doors have been secured, pilots are armed, and Air Marshals patrol airplane cabins. Increased physical security at airports has dramatically increased the safety of our nation's skies. Above all, the mindset of the flying public has also changed: no longer will passengers remain passive in the event of a skyjacking. The demand for ID does nothing for security while making honest Americans less free. Every government that has imposed totalitarian rules told its populace that it was doing so to "uphold freedom" or "improve the security of the homeland" or "root out terrorists and subversives." These ends do not justify unconstitutional means. We uphold freedom by exercising it – not by restricting it. Using this country's transportation system to conduct a dragnet, using government secret lists of wanted people, degrades our freedom and makes people less inclined to voice their opinion for fear of ending up on these secret lists. While the present administration may have benevolent intentions to justify their actions, our future is imperiled by this wholly un-American activity.

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Re: [Cryptography] Happy birthday, NSA!
by grarpamp 04 Nov '16

04 Nov '16

On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 5:03 PM, J.M. Porup <jm(a)porup.com> wrote: > When will we celebrate their funeral, I wonder? When you end the secrets, secrecy, usurious motivations and permissions you granted to governors, politics and business.

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Iceland: Pirate Party Projected to Win Election
by Zenaan Harkness 02 Nov '16

02 Nov '16

Let's see what the day brings. "Any change is a good change" at this point, some might say :) Iceland’s Radical Pirate Party Projected to Win Election https://sputniknews.com/politics/201610291046863667-pirate-prty-iceland/

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[WAR] Terrorist State: Ukraine threatens to shoot down Belarusian civilian plane
by Zenaan Harkness 02 Nov '16

02 Nov '16

Just amazing (assuming it's true). Terrorist State: Ukraine threatens to shoot down Belarusian civilian plane http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/11/terrorist-state-ukraine-threatens-to.html November 1, 2016 - By Eduard Popov for Fort Russ - translated by J. Arnoldski " On November 1st, Sputnik Belarus published the scandalous transcript of talks between the crew of a Belavia Belarusian Airlines plane and Ukrainian dispatchers. On October 22nd, a civilian aircraft of Belavia Belarusian Airlines flew from the Zhulyany Airport near Kiev to Minsk. When the plane was 50 km away from the Belarusian border, the plane’s crew received a message from the Zhulyany airport’s dispatch service demanding that they immediately return to the point of departure. The dispatcher stated that, if the plane failed to comply with the demands, fighter jets would be sent. The Ukrainian dispatcher said: “For failure to comply, military aircraft will be sent up to intercept you.” "

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[USA] Hillary Clinton - on rigging elections - doing "the wrong thing at every turn"
by Zenaan Harkness 02 Nov '16

02 Nov '16

** Audio from 2006 emerges where Hillary Clinton wants to rig Palestinian elections ------------------------------------------------------------ hillary-palestinian-audio Hillary Clinton: 'We should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win' ** Hillary Clinton “has done the wrong thing at every goddamn turn” – Jimmy Dore goes nuclear on Hillary ------------------------------------------------------------ Hillary Clinton “has done the wrong thing at every goddamn turn” – Jimmy Dore goes nuclear on Hillary Filmmaker Michael Moore gave a speech describing why Donald Trump's promises appeal to working poor voters.

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Appelbaum, CDC, CCC
by Georgi Guninski 02 Nov '16

02 Nov '16

Appelbaum, CDC, CCC http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/open-source/73441-appelbaum-banned-f… Appelbaum banned from Debian events after sexual misconduct charges === Appelbaum has also been asked to leave other hacker groups like the Cult of the Dead Cow, Noisebridge, and will not be allowed to attend events organised by the hacker group Chaos Computer Club. === Are journos exaggerating at least for CCC?

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[PC] How to be inclusive by exluding use of the word "man"
by Zenaan Harkness 02 Nov '16

02 Nov '16

** Princeton University HR Department bans the word “man” from its vocabulary (http://theduran.com/princeton-university-hr-department-bans-the-word-man-fr…) ------------------------------------------------------------ By Alex Christoforou on Aug 20, 2016 04:38 pm princeton Perhaps by not using the word “man” the progressive left believe that men will simply vanish, and leave them to enjoy their neo-liberal wonderland. It will be interesting to see how exactly, after “men” have been vanquished, progressives will survive in a world where men no longer are a factor. It is good to see the academic elite at Princeton HR department enforcing rules that ignore the most basic principles of biology, evolution, and simple logic…in a building, classroom and univeristy built by men. Need we wonder why the United States is on the decline. John Cramer, Princeton’s director of media relations, said the guidelines are all about the need to… “reflect the university’s initiative of fostering an inclusive environment.” Inclusive environment by excluding the word “man”. Should we exclude the word “woman” as well? Of will that word be changed to “wo-person”. princeton-370x228 The College Fix reports… The relatively new policy (https://www.princeton.edu/hr/progserv/communications/inclusivelanguage.pdf) in effect at the Ivy League institution spells out the directive in a four-page memo that aims to make the department more gender inclusive. Instead of using “man,” employees are told to use words such as human beings, individuals or people. Other guidelines? Instead of “man and wife” use spouses or partners. Switch out “man made” with artificial, handmade or manufactured. Don’t use the verb “to man,” as in to work something, instead use to operate or to staff. Throw out workmanlike and replace it with skillful. The memo goes on to list a variety of occupations that typically include the word “man” in them and offers replacements: business person instead of businessman, firefighter instead of fireman, ancestors instead of forefathers, and so on. “Consistent with style guidelines issued by Princeton’s Office of Human Resources and Office of Communications, and as endorsed by the Institutional Equity Planning Group as a preferred University practice, HR has developed these gender inclusive style guidelines, to be utilized by all HR staff members in HR communications, policies, job descriptions, and job postings,” the memo states. In a statement to The College Fix, John Cramer, Princeton’s director of media relations, said the guidelines “reflect the university’s initiative of fostering an inclusive environment.” While Princeton’s language policy for its Offices of Communications and Human Resources, Princeton’s LGBT Center also offers a guide (http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56bbb7e4f8baf3d9ee6c5ed6/t/5740d623ab…) on various gender pronouns for those who identify as “transgender, genderqueer, and other gender-variant,” suggesting “ze, zie and hir,” “they and theirs,” and “Ey, em, eir and emself.” Many universities have also encouraged the campus community as a whole to use of gender neutral or gender inclusive language. Last year, the University of Tennessee’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion suggested (http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/23990/) students use the pronouns ze, xe, hir, hirs and zirs, along with others, for those who don’t identify with a particular biological sex. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Writing Center developed (http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/24261/) an exhaustive list of words that contain potentially biased or offensive implications, such as businessman, policeman, and even freshman, so that students might avoid using them in their writing. Such policies regarding gender language have concerned free speech advocates. Marquette University’s Writing Center wrote a policy (http://www.marquette.edu/wac/neutral/NeutralInclusiveLanguage.shtml) similar to UNC Chapel Hill’s, and it implies that those who do not abide by it may face consequences. “When you are writing about people in general, many of your professors will expect you to use ‘inclusive’ or ‘nonsexist’ language, that is, gender neutral language,” Marquette’s website states, adding that many people find non-neutered language “not only inaccurate but offensive.” Concerns about whether or not students would see their grades suffer for not following its guide in classwork and common speech caused Tennessee’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion to issue the following statement: “We recognize that most people prefer to use the pronouns he and she; we do not dictate speech. We do strive to be a diverse and inclusive campus and to ensure that everyone feels welcome, accepted, and respected.” Cramer clarified Princeton’s policy in a similar way, saying “these are guidelines issued by HR, developed in cooperation with Institutional Equity Planning Group for communication and job postings. Students are not mandated to follow this policy. Via: http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/28540/

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