Video Analytics User Manuals Are a Guide to Dystopia
[Community] [Justice] [Media]
Video Analytics User Manuals Are a Guide to Dystopia
By Dave Maass and Matthew Guariglia
Posted December 31, 2020
A few years ago, when you saw a security camera, you may have thought that the video feed went to a VCR somewhere in a back office that could only be accessed when a crime occurs. Or maybe you imagined a sleepy guard who only paid half-attention, and only when they discovered a crime in progress. In the age of internet-connectivity, now it’s easy to imagine footage sitting on a server somewhere, with any image inaccessible except to someone willing to fast forward through hundreds of hours of footage.
That may be how it worked in 1990s heist movies, and it may be how a homeowner still sorts through their own home security camera footage. But that’s not how cameras operate in today’s security environment. Instead, advanced algorithms are watching every frame on every camera and documenting every person, animal, vehicle, and backpack as they move through physical space, and thus camera to camera, over an extended period of time. More…
America Is Marked by Health Emergency, Social Unrest
[Economic] [Social]
America Is Marked by Health Emergency, Social Unrest
By Bill Bonner
Posted December 30, 2020
You’ll remember our dictum: ‘When the money goes, everything goes.’ Huh? You wonder. What’s this got to do with money? Isn’t this just about racism and police brutality? In short, we wish.
The monetary foundation of the U.S. (the Federal Reserve balance sheet) began the century at only $674 billion. That is where it had gotten since the Fed was set up in 1913. Now, it is $7.1 trillion, and it’s headed to $10 trillion by the end of the year.
And now, every crisis, every calamity, and every disaster, caused by the feds themselves, will be met with more money-printing…and more war. The war on terror…the Mortgage Finance Crisis of ’08-’09…the war on COVID-19 …
Each time, the feds go back to doing the only thing they know how to do…the only thing that increases their power and enriches their friends — running the printing press. And each time, they make the situation worse. More…
75% of the $454 Billion CARES Act Money Never Went to the Fed; It Was Invested by a Mnuchin Slush Fund Called the ESF
[Economic] [Justice]
75% of the $454 Billion CARES Act Money Never Went to the Fed; It Was Invested by a Mnuchin Slush Fund Called the ESF
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Posted December 29, 2020
The CARES Act was signed into law on March 27. Congress earmarked $454 billion of that stimulus money to be distributed by the Treasury to the Federal Reserve to be used for emergency lending programs to save businesses and jobs during the pandemic and keep credit flowing to the U.S. economy. The catch was that the Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, would have to give his approval for each of the programs.
Since June, Wall Street On Parade has been reporting that $340 billion of the $454 billion that Mnuchin was instructed to turn over to the Fed was unaccounted for. We noted that 98,000 businesses had permanently closed in the U.S. while this money, intended for economic relief, went missing.
Wall Street On Parade has repeatedly asked the press office of the U.S. Treasury to explain this discrepancy. It has refused to answer our inquiries. More…
The Ruling Elite’s War on Truth
[Political] [Social]
The Ruling Elite’s War on Truth
by Chris Hedges
Posted December 28, 2020
Joe Biden’s victory instantly obliterated the Democratic Party’s longstanding charge that Russia was hijacking and compromising U.S. elections. The Biden victory, the Democratic Party leaders and their courtiers in the media now insist, is evidence that the democratic process is strong and untainted, that the system works. The elections ratified the will of the people.
Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani are vulgar and buffoonish, but they play the same slimy game as their Democratic opponents. The Republicans scapegoat the deep state, communists and now, bizarrely, Venezuela; the Democrats scapegoat Russia. The widening disconnect from reality by the ruling elite is intended to mask their complicity in the seizure of power by predatory global corporations and billionaires.
The two warring factions within the ruling elite, which fight primarily over the spoils of power while abjectly serving corporate interests, peddle alternative realities. If the deep state and Venezuelan socialists or Russia intelligence operatives are pulling the strings no one in power is accountable for the rage and alienation caused by the social inequality, the unassailability of corporate power, the legalized bribery that defines our political process, the endless wars, austerity and de-industrialization. More…
The Next Decade Could Be Even Worse
[Social]
The Next Decade Could Be Even Worse
by Graeme Wood
Posted December 27, 2020
Elite overproduction creates counter-elites, and counter-elites look for allies among the commoners. If commoners’ living standards slip—not relative to the elites, but relative to what they had before—they accept the overtures of the counter-elites and start oiling the axles of their tumbrels. Commoners’ lives grow worse, and the few who try to pull themselves onto the elite lifeboat are pushed back into the water by those already aboard.
The final trigger of impending collapse, Turchin says, tends to be state insolvency. At some point rising insecurity becomes expensive. The elites have to pacify unhappy citizens with handouts and freebies—and when these run out, they have to police dissent and oppress people. Eventually the state exhausts all short-term solutions, and what was heretofore a coherent civilization disintegrates. More…
Both Citigroup and JPMorgan Have Now Received Huge Fines for Crimes the Regulators Won’t Reveal
[Economic] [Justice]
Both Citigroup and JPMorgan Have Now Received Huge Fines for Crimes the Regulators Won’t Reveal
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Posted December 26, 2020
On October 7, the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced consent decrees with Citigroup, the third largest bank in the country. The OCC imposed a $400 million fine on Citigroup’s federally-insured commercial bank, Citibank, and stated in its Consent Order that it had “identified unsafe or unsound practices with respect to the Bank’s internal controls, including, among other things, an absence of clearly defined roles and responsibilities and noncompliance with multiple laws and regulations.”
But for the first time in more than 35 years of our reading these Consent Orders against Wall Street banks, the documents from both the OCC and Federal Reserve failed to specify exactly what crimes the bank had committed. We were so stunned by a $400 million fine for crimes that can’t be put in print or shared with the public, that we penned the headline: Citigroup Is Slapped with a $400 Million Fine for Doing Something So Bad It Can’t Be Spoken Out Loud. More…
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What Is the Spiritual Meaning of Winter Solstice and How to Embrace It?
[Spiritual]
What Is the Spiritual Meaning of Winter Solstice and How to Embrace It?
by Becky Storey
Posted December 25, 2020
At this time of year, the darkness seems to be unavoidable. For most of us, we start and end our days in the dark, even if we’re only on a 9-5 schedule. It’s no wonder that moods drop during the winter season.
The Winter Solstice, in fact, signifies the end of darkness and the slow hike to days of light. After this spiritual night, the number of daylight hours we see will grow longer. The spiritual meaning of winter solstice is in its symbolism for “darkness” and patiently waiting for “light”. The Winter Solstice signifies the final moments of peaceful solitude we might have before the busier season of Spring arrives.
We are encouraged during this time to enjoy the stillness while we have it. The spiritual meaning of Winter Solstice is based on beliefs we all already hold – it is the concept behind the phrase “it’s always darkest before the dawn”. More…
The Great Pretext … for Dystopia
[Politics] [Social]
The Great Pretext … for Dystopia
by Diana Johnstone
Posted December 24, 2020
I would describe the WEF as a combination capitalist consulting firm and gigantic lobby. The futuristic predictions are designed to guide investors into profitable areas in what Schwab calls “the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)” and then, as the areas are defined, to put pressure on governments to support such investments by way of subsidies, tax breaks, procurements, regulations and legislation. In short, the WEF is the lobby for new technologies, digital everything, artificial intelligence, transhumanism.
It is powerful today because it is operating in an environment of State Capitalism, where the role of the State (especially in the United States, less so in Europe) has been largely reduced to responding positively to the demands of such lobbies, especially the financial sector. Immunized by campaign donations from the obscure wishes of ordinary people, most of today’s politicians practically need the guidance of lobbies such as the WEF to tell them what to do. More…
The Language Toomey Inserted into the Stimulus Bill Enshrines a $681 Billion Trading Slush Fund for Mnuchin with the NY Fed
[Economic] [Political]
The Language Toomey Inserted into the Stimulus Bill Enshrines a $681 Billion Trading Slush Fund for Mnuchin with the NY Fed
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Posted December 23, 2020
The language that Republican Senator Pat Toomey inserted into the final stimulus bill (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021) appears below. It not only restricts the Federal Reserve’s ability to extend some of its current emergency lending programs that help small and medium size businesses and state and local governments beyond December 31 of this year (while leaving Wall Street bailout programs alive for at least another 90 days) but it also enshrines the autonomy of the U.S. Treasury Secretary to operate a massive slush fund – the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF).
Most Americans have never heard of the Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund. It was created in 1934 to provide support to the U.S. dollar during the Great Depression. The ESF has grown from $94.3 billion in assets prior to Trump taking office to a balance of $681 billion as of October 31, 2020. As recently as March 31, 2007, the ESF had assets of just $45.9 billion. More…
The Post Covid World, The WEF’s Diabolical Project: “Resetting the Future of Work Agenda” – After “The Great Reset”. A Horrifying Future
[Social]
The Post Covid World, The WEF’s Diabolical Project: “Resetting the Future of Work Agenda” – After “The Great Reset”. A Horrifying Future
By Peter Koenig
Posted December 23, 2020
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has just published (October 2020) a so-called White Paper, entitled “Resetting the Future of Work Agenda – in a Post-Covid World”.
This 31-page document reads like a blueprint on how to “execute” – because an execution (or implementation) would be – “Covid-19 – The Great Reset” (July 2020), by Klaus Schwab, founder and CEO (since the foundation of the WEF in 1974) and his associate Thierry Malleret.
They call “Resetting the Future” a White Paper, meaning it’s not quite a final version. It is a draft of sorts, a trial balloon, to measure people’s reactions. It reads indeed like an executioner’s tale. Many people may not read it – have no awareness of its existence. If they did, they would go up in arms and fight this latest totalitarian blueprint, offered to the world by the WEF.
It promises a horrifying future to some 80%-plus of the (surviving) population. George Orwell’s “1984” reads like a benign fantasy, as compared to what the WEF has in mind for humanity.
The time frame is ten years – by 2030 – the UN agenda 2021 – 2030 should be implemented. 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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