[Media] [Social]
Why Printers Add Secret Tracking Dots
by Chris Baraniuk
Posted October 21, 2020
They’re almost invisible but contain a hidden code – and their presence on a leaked document has sparked speculation about their usefulness to FBI investigators.
On 3 June, 2017, FBI agents arrived at the house of government contractor Reality Leigh Winner in Augusta, Georgia. They had spent the last two days investigating a top secret classified document that had allegedly been leaked to the press. In order to track down Winner, agents claim they had carefully studied copies of the document provided by online news site The Intercept and noticed creases suggesting that the pages had been printed and “hand-carried out of a secured space”.
In an affidavit, the FBI alleges that Winner admitted printing the National Security Agency (NSA) report and sending it to The Intercept. Shortly after a story about the leak was published, charges against Winner were made public. More…
The Election Has Already Been Hijacked and the Winner Decided: ‘We the People’ Lose
[Politics] [Social]
The Election Has Already Been Hijacked and the Winner Decided: ‘We the People’ Lose
By John W. Whitehead
Posted October 20, 2020
“Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.” ― Herbert Marcuse
Republicans and Democrats alike fear that the other party will attempt to hijack this election. President Trump is convinced that mail-in ballots are a scam except in Florida, where it’s safe to vote by mail because of its “great Republican governor.”
The FBI is worried about foreign hackers continuing to target and exploit vulnerabilities in the nation’s electoral system, sowing distrust about the parties, the process and the outcome.
I, on the other hand, am not overly worried: after all, the voting booths have already been hijacked by a political elite comprised of Republicans and Democrats who are determined to retain power at all costs.
The outcome is a foregone conclusion: the Deep State will win and “we the people” will lose. More…
Have you considered sending a message by voting “outside the box” by supporting a third party instead of the left or right wing of the Money Party?
A DARPA-Funded Implantable Biochip to Detect COVID-19 Could Hit Markets by 2021
[Social]
A DARPA-Funded Implantable Biochip to Detect COVID-19 Could Hit Markets by 2021
by Raul Diego
Posted October 19, 2020
An experimental new vaccine developed jointly with the US government claims to be able to change human DNA and could be deployed as early as next year through a DARPA-funded, injectable biochip.
The most significant scientific discovery since gravity has been hiding in plain sight for nearly a decade and its destructive potential to humanity is so enormous that the biggest war machine on the planet immediately deployed its vast resources to possess and control it, financing its research and development through agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and HHS’ BARDA.
Once firmly implanted inside the body, human cells are at the mercy of any mRNA program delivered via this substrate, unleashing a nightmare of possibilities. More…
How Mystics Manage Isolation
[Spiritual]
How Mystics Manage Isolation
by William Bloom
Posted October 18, 2020
Isolation can be a recipe for anxiety and depression. Left alone people may wither.
But what about hermits and mystic loners who enjoy solitude? What is their secret?
Mystics have always had a simple answer. They experience companionship in nature. From a grain of sand, the touch of air on their skin, out to the infinity of the cosmos, mystics sense a connectedness with all that is. They also sense an invisible and benevolent presence.
Yet mystics are not cut off from cruelty and suffering. In fact, because of their deep connection with the wonder and energy of life, they can meet pain with courage, compassion and dignity. More…
Corruption Is Now Our Way of Life
[Politics] [Social]
Corruption Is Now Our Way of Life
by Charles Hugh Smith
Posted October 17, 2020
Systemic corruption and the implosion of the social contract have consequences: It’s called collapse.
Social and economic decay is so glacial that only those few who remember an earlier set-point are equipped to even notice the decline. That’s the position we find ourselves in today.
Many Americans will discount the systemic corruption that characterizes the American way of life because they’ve known nothing but systemic corruption. They’ve habituated to it because they have no memory of a time when looting wasn’t legalized and maximizing self-enrichment by any means available wasn’t the unwritten law of the land.
When JP Morgan Chase engaged in fraud and was fined a wrist-slap $1 billion, nobody went to prison because nobody ever goes to prison for corporate fraud and criminal collusion: JPMorgan to pay almost $1 billion fine to resolve U.S. investigation into trading practices.
Simply put, corruption is cost-free in America because most of it is legal. And whatever is still illegal is never applied to the elites and insiders, except (as per Communist regime corruption) for a rare show trial where an example is made of an egregious fall-guy (think Bernie Madoff: whistleblowers’ repeated attempts to expose the fraud to regulators were blown off for years. It was only when Madoff ripped off wealthy and powerful insiders did he go down.) More…
12 Steps to Create Your Own Pandemic Or How to Turn a Harmless Virus into Boundless Profits for You and Your Friends
[Social]
12 Steps to Create Your Own Pandemic Or How to Turn a Harmless Virus into Boundless Profits for You and Your Friends
by Nils Nilsen
Posted October 16, 2020
Imagine that you had the resources and influence sufficient to create a global pandemic, what would you need to do? How would you get started? And how best to turn it to your advantage and boost your profits? We have the answers right here. A simple 12 step plan.
Find some vague criteria for what constitutes the symptoms that you want people to look for. Anything subjective that a lot of people can identify with is ideal. Let us take memory problems and/or confusion + a few common ones from the Covid list. Tiredness, aches and pains are common and subjective enough. (For covid19 the symptoms are: fever, dry cough, tiredness. Less common symptoms: aches and pains, sore throat, diarrhoea, loss of taste or smell, a rash, or discolouration of fingers or toes)
It would be a good idea to take something that is very common in old people so that we can use death from old age as proof of the lethality of the new virus. More…
The Bill for America’s $50 Trillion Gluttony of Inequality Is Overdue
[Economic] [Media]
The Bill for America’s $50 Trillion Gluttony of Inequality Is Overdue
by Charles Hugh Smith
Posted October 15, 2020
Do you hear the pathetic bleating of America’s billionaires and their army of toadies? If not, you soon will, for a remarkable report has been released that documents the $50 trillion in earnings that’s been transferred to the Financial Aristocracy from the bottom 90% of American households in the past 45 years.
Longtime readers know I’ve reported on the astounding increase in America’s economic inequality for the past 15 years, and addressed the eventual banquet of consequences this imbalanced, destabilizing state of affairs will serve up.
But with few exceptions, the corporate media has ignored this fundamental reality of American life, and blown off the consequences as easily ignored speculation by marginalized bloggers and commentators. (“Would somebody please shadow-ban these sites going on and on about soaring inequality? Thank you, Facebook, Google and Twitter–we’ll return the favor directly.”)
The extreme rarity of paragraphs like these in the corporate media cannot be over-emphasized. The corporate media has carried water for the billionaires and America’s Financial Aristocracy for decades. (No surprise, given that the vast majority of America’s media / social media is owned by the billionaires and Financial Aristocracy. Why bite the hand that feeds you, especially when the risk of losing your career is so high?) More…
Three Interactive Tools for Understanding Police Surveillance
[Community] [Social]
Three Interactive Tools for Understanding Police Surveillance
By Dave Maass
Posted October 14, 2020
As law enforcement and government surveillance technology continues to become more and more advanced, it has also become harder for everyday people to avoid. Law enforcement agencies all over the United States are using body-worn cameras, automated license plate readers, drones, and much more—all of which threat people’s right to privacy. But it’s often difficult for people to even become aware of what technology is being used where they live.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has three interactive tools that help you learn about the new technologies being deployed around the United States and how they impact you: the Atlas of Surveillance, Spot the Surveillance, and Who Has Your Face?
The Atlas of Surveillance is a database and map that will help you understand the magnitude of surveillance at the national level, as well as what kind of technology is used locally where you live.
If you drove past an automated license plate reader, would you know what it looks like? Ever look closely at the electronic devices carried by police officers? Most of the time, people might not even notice when they’ve walked into the frame of surveillance technology. More…
The God of Silence Speaks Up
[Spiritual]
The God of Silence Speaks Up
By Katherine LaGrave
Posted October 13, 2020
Gordon Hempton has spent the past 30 years warning people about the consequences of the disappearance of natural quiet on Earth, which he calls a “solar-powered jukebox.” And now that the world is a little less noisy, he’s asking us, once again, to listen.
By the time you finish reading the end of this sentence, you will most likely have been interrupted by a sound—some scrape, some snarl, a click, clock, clack. A plane may buzz overhead. A microwave may beep, or your phone may ring. That damn doorbell. That damn dishwasher. How do I know this? Because Gordon Hempton says so. How does Gordon Hempton know this? Because for the past 37 years, the acoustic ecologist has been thinking about noise and listening and doing what some may think unthinkable, unimportant in a world with climate change and animal extinction and a planet that keeps getting hotter: trying to save quiet. By now, you may be wondering why you should care. Hempton, for his part, is so glad you asked. More…
The Global Police State Is Swiftly Rising
[Social]
The Global Police State Is Swiftly Rising
BY Brandon Smith
Posted October 12, 2020
Regardless of lockdown measures, infection rates continue to climb in many nations, thereby justifying EVEN LONGER or more frequent lockdowns. This creates an endless cycle of economic instability which the public cannot endure, and many people are beginning to wonder what purpose of the pandemic restrictions serve? It’s obviously not to slow the virus and save lives as an effective vaccine is unlikely to be developed in time for the lockdowns to matter. But, if you wanted to quickly implement a totalitarian system, then using a global health threat as justification might be the ticket.
The problem for the establishment will be this: How can they keep the tyranny going once they have it? Ultimately, for a totalitarian system to work it NEEDS a large portion of the public to support it on principle. The public has to believe that the loss of their liberties is necessary to their survival for the long term. 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
______________________________
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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