Why the Push Is on to Make Pandemic Life ‘Permanent’
[Politics] [Social]
Why the Push Is on to Make Pandemic Life ‘Permanent’
by Tom Mullen
Posted April 11, 2021
One year after Americans were ordered to close down society for “two weeks to flatten the curve,” Bloomberg columnist Andreas Kluth warned, “We Must Start Planning for a Permanent Pandemic.”
Because new variants of SARS-COV-2 are impervious to existing vaccines, says Kluth, and pharmaceutical companies will never be able to develop new vaccines fast enough to keep up, we will never be able to get “back to normal.”
“Get back to normal” means recovering the relative liberty we had in our already overregulated, pre-Covid lives. This is just the latest in a long series of crises that always seem to lead our wise rulers to the same conclusion: we just cannot afford freedom anymore.
Covid-19 certainly wasn’t the beginning. Americans were told “the world changed” after 9/11. Basic pillars of the American system, like the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, were too antiquated to deal with the “new threat of terrorism.” Warrantless surveillance of our phone, e-mail, and financial records and physical searches of our persons without probable cause of a crime became the norm. A few principled civil libertarians dissented, but the public largely complied without protest. More…
The Globalist Dilemma: How to Implement a 4th Industrial Revolution Without Losing Power
[Social]
The Globalist Dilemma: How to Implement a 4th Industrial Revolution Without Losing Power
by Joaquin Flores
Posted April 11, 2021
The sci-fi horror film we are now living in, being presented as the 4th Industrial Revolution, is only one possible outcome, and not a necessary one. However, the one being put forward in Klaus Schwab’s World Economic Forum, is what we see being implemented across the Western world in the aftermath of the collapse of NATO and the winding down of the globalists’ Trans-Atlantic banking establishment.
As we have previously established, the declining rate of profit has created an impasse in the logic of the speculative based finance economy, one which is in fact undermined by the rise of robotics, AI, and automation. Therefore, the ruling class as moved to transform itself from a financialist plutocracy into a technocratic oligarchy.
There inherent problem for these globalist elites is the fact that in history, massive changes to the organization of society have also been accompanied by big changes in who holds power, known also as Pareto’s “circulation of elites”, (but we will term ‘rotation’ for clarity).
Their version of the 4IR is based on a fallacious understanding of humanity and consciousness; premised within a demiurgic conception of power. Moreover, their efforts will fail for any number of practical reasons. More…
GrayKey iPhone unlocker poses serious security concerns
[Media]
GrayKey iPhone unlocker poses serious security concerns
by Thomas Reed
Posted April 10, 2021
Ever since the case of the San Bernadino shooter pitted Apple against the FBI over the unlocking of an iPhone, opinions have been split on providing backdoor access to the iPhone for law enforcement. Some felt that Apple was aiding and abetting a felony by refusing to create a special version of iOS with a backdoor for accessing the phone’s data. Others believed that it’s impossible to give backdoor access to law enforcement without threatening the security of law-abiding citizens.
In an interesting twist, the battle ended with the FBI dropping the case after finding a third party who could help. At the time, it was theorized that the third party was Cellebrite. Since then it has become known that Cellebrite— an Israeli company—does provide iPhone unlocking services to law enforcement agencies.
It’s also entirely possible, based on the history of the IP-Box, that Grayshift devices will end up being available to anyone who wants them and can find a way to purchase them, perhaps by being reverse-engineered and reproduced by an enterprising hacker, then sold for a couple hundred bucks on eBay. More…
European Plans for ‘Vaccine Passports’ Were in Place 20 Months Prior to the Pandemic.
[Politics] [Social]
European Plans for ‘Vaccine Passports’ Were in Place 20 Months Prior to the Pandemic. Coincidence?
By Paul Anthony Taylor
Posted April 10, 2021
With the world being told that so-called ‘vaccine passports’ will be required for all international travel in future, and in many countries even to enter shops, restaurants, bars, gyms, hotels, theatres, concerts and sports events, the impression we are being given is that the measure is a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic. In Europe, however, which hosts 8 of the top 10 pharmaceutical exporting countries, planning for vaccine passports began at least 20 months prior to the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. Apparently, the pandemic conveniently provided European politicians with the ‘excuse’ they needed to introduce the idea.
The ‘European Commission’ – the executive body of Europe – first published a proposal for vaccine passports on 26 April 2018. Buried deep in a document dealing with ‘Strengthened Cooperation against Vaccine Preventable Diseases’, the proposal was essentially ignored by the mainstream media.
A roadmap document issued in early 2019 subsequently set out specific plans for implementing the European Commission’s proposal. The primary action listed in the roadmap was to “examine the feasibility of developing a common vaccination card/passport” for European citizens that is “compatible with electronic immunization information systems and recognized for use across borders.” The plan aimed for a legislative proposal to be issued in Europe by 2022. More…
Big Brother Is Spying On You In Thousands Of Ways, And All Of That Info Now Goes Into Centralized “Fusion Systems”
[Justice] [Social]
Big Brother Is Spying On You In Thousands Of Ways, And All Of That Info Now Goes Into Centralized “Fusion Systems”
by Michael Snyder
Posted April 9, 2021
Big Brother is watching you. Sadly, most people don’t realize how extensive the surveillance grid has now become. As you drive to work or to school, license plate readers are systematically tracking where you travel. In major cities, thousands of highly advanced security cameras (many equipped with facial recognition technology) are monitoring your every move. If authorities detect that you are doing something suspicious, they can quickly pull up your criminal, financial and medical records. Of course if they want to dig deeper, your phone and your computer are constantly producing a treasure trove of surveillance data. Nothing that you do on either one of them is ever private.
In the past, compiling all of that information would take a great deal of time. But now tech giants such as Microsoft, Motorola, Cisco and Palantir are selling “fusion systems” to governments all over the planet. These “fusion systems” can instantly integrate surveillance data from thousands of different sources, and this has totally transformed how law enforcement is conducted in many of our largest cities. More…
Here’s How Easy It Is for Cops to Get Your Facebook Data
[Justice] [Media]
Here’s How Easy It Is for Cops to Get Your Facebook Data
by Ella Fassler
Posted April 8, 2021
Police can access everything from “pokes” to private Messenger data — and increasingly do. Although this sort of collaboration between Facebook and law enforcement is not common knowledge, the practice isn’t rare in the United States.
Over the last five years, U.S. government requests for Facebook data have more than tripled. In 2015, American police requested data from 56,620 separate accounts; 80,443 in 2016; 105,905 in 2017; 134,150 in 2018; and 164,782 in 2019. (Facebook provided law enforcement with data in 88% of cases in 2019, a 9% increase from 2013.)
By contrast, Canadian law enforcement requested data from just 4,901 accounts last year, and the practice is uncommon in Europe.
Since Facebook is oftentimes barred from informing users of law enforcement data requests because of the Stored Communications Act, a 1986 law that addresses disclosure of electronic communications, the full scope of activist targeting is impossible to know. More…
Who Wanted Pandemic Lockdowns?
[Politics] [Social]
Who Wanted Pandemic Lockdowns?
Jeffrey A. Tucker
Posted April 7, 2021
People of the future will look back at these 11 months and be very confused. How could virtually the entire world have thrown out settled practices of civil, economic, and cultural liberties for a virus that resisted every attempt to control it?
This virus is not Ebola and it has come nowhere near approaching the death rates associated with H1N1 of 1918. By some measures, it’s not been as deadly as 1957-58, a virus that came and went without much public attention at all. New pathogens are part of life, and there was and is nothing particularly unusual about this one.
That we will look back with astonishment at what has happened to the world is a near certainty. The folly! And people of the future will never stop asking that great question of why. The answer is finally unsatisfying. It was a massive screw up by people and groups who wanted to try something completely new, none of whom were willing to bear responsibility for the results. It will be up to the rest of us to pick up the pieces and get life on the right track again. More…
A DNA Database Containing Data From 23andMe and Ancestry Is Vulnerable to Attacks
[Social]
A DNA Database Containing Data From 23andMe and Ancestry Is Vulnerable to Attacks
by Emily Mullin
Posted April 6, 2021
By one estimate, more than 26 million people have mailed their saliva in a plastic tube to get their DNA analyzed by genetic testing companies like 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, and Family Tree DNA. And more than a million of them have also uploaded their genetic information to a popular third-party website called GEDmatch to see what DNA they have in common with others in the database.
Now, computer scientists at the University of Washington have revealed that using GEDmatch comes with serious security risks. In a paper posted this week, researchers demonstrated that it’s possible to extract genetic details of any individual in the database, leaving their data vulnerable to leaks or hacks. As more people take DNA tests and third-party genetic genealogy databases grow, the risk of new kinds of biological and cyber attacks also increases. In the wrong hands, a person’s genetic data can be used for discrimination or extortion, and the implications are even greater if entire databases are leaked. More…
Pipeline Company Issues Broad Subpoena to News Site That Covered Protests Against It
[Media] [Justice]
Pipeline Company Issues Broad Subpoena to News Site That Covered Protests Against It
by Alleen Brown and Sam Richards
Posted April 6, 2021
Last week, members of the nonprofit news organization Unicorn Riot received a subpoena from the pipeline giant Energy Transfer seeking a wide range of documents, including newsgathering materials that would identify sources. The subpoena is part of an aggressive, yearslong legal effort launched by Energy Transfer in the wake of the Standing Rock movement, when thousands of opponents of the corporation’s Dakota Access pipeline came to camps at the border of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in an attempt to stop pipeline construction and protect the tribe’s drinking water from contamination.
Through a series of expensive conspiracy lawsuits against a disparate range of actors, the pipeline company has sought to paint the Standing Rock movement as the product of a vast misinformation-driven conspiracy to damage Energy Transfer.
Now, as part of that effort, Energy Transfer is demanding Unicorn Riot turn over virtually any documents, video footage, audio, article drafts, and communications related to the firm and its pipeline. The subpoena also sought information about the nonprofit’s organizational structure, social media accounts, and names of employees, volunteers, and supporters. Niko Georgiades, who was among the Unicorn Riot reporters covering Standing Rock, was separately subpoenaed. More…
The “Unvaccinated” Question
[Politics] [Social]
The “Unvaccinated” Question
by CJ Hopkins
Posted April 5, 2021
So, the New Normals are discussing the Unvaccinated Question. What is to be done with us? No, not those who haven’t been “vaccinated” yet. Us. The “Covidiots.” The “Covid deniers.” The “science deniers.” The “reality deniers.” Those who refuse to get “vaccinated,” ever.
There is no place for us in New Normal society. The New Normals know this and so do we. To them, we are a suspicious, alien tribe of people. We do not share their ideological beliefs. We do not perform their loyalty rituals, or we do so only grudgingly, because they force us to do so. We traffic in arcane “conspiracy theories,” like “pre-March-2020 science,” “natural herd immunity,” “population-adjusted death rates,” “Sweden,” “Florida,” and other heresies.
They do not trust us. We are strangers among them. They suspect we feel superior to them. They believe we are conspiring against them, that we want to deceive them, confuse them, cheat them, pervert their culture, abuse their children, contaminate their precious bodily fluids, and perpetrate God knows what other horrors. More…
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Quotable Sayings
There is no chance, no destiny, no fate that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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You do not become a billionaire through labor. You become a billionaire through inheritance, corruption or economic rents – or, in most cases, some mixture of all three.
Grace Blakeley
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Mainstream American liberals think they’re clear-eyed because they can see the propaganda strings being pulled by Fox and Donald Trump, and mainstream American conservatives think they’re clear-eyed because they can see the propaganda strings being pulled by MSNBC and the Democrats, but the propaganda strings on both trace back to the same puppet master. And seeing that is just the beginning.
Caitlin Johnstone
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You alone are the judge of your worth and your goal is to discover infinite worth in yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Deepak Chopra
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It is obvious that the US government is destroying Assange to signal to journalists the consequences of publishing information. It is therefore also obvious that any journalist who fails to use whatever platform they have to speak out against Assange’s persecution has no intention of ever publishing anything that the US government doesn’t want published. Their silence on or support for what is being done to this man can and should be taken as an admission that they are nothing other than state propagandists.
Caitlin Johnstone
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It’s quite fitting that the – imperially pre-determined – judicial fate of Julian Assange is being played out in Britain, the home of George Orwell.
Pepe Escobar
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