Saturday, October 13, 2018

Internet Censorship Just Took An Unprecedented Leap Forward, And Hardly Anyone Noticed

ORIGINAL LINK

While most indie media was focused on debating the way people talk about Kanye West and the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an unprecedented escalation in internet censorship took place which threatens everything we all care about. It received frighteningly little attention.

After a massive purge of hundreds of politically oriented pages and personal accounts for “inauthentic behavior”, Facebook rightly received a fair amount of criticism for the nebulous and hotly disputed basis for that action. What received relatively little attention was the far more ominous step which was taken next: within hours of being purged from Facebook, multiple anti-establishment alternative media sites had their accounts completely removed from Twitter as well.

As of this writing I am aware of three large alternative media outlets which were expelled from both platforms at almost the same time: Anti-Media, the Free Thought Project, and Police the Police, all of whom had millions of followers on Facebook. Both the Editor-in-Chief of Anti-Media and its Chief Creative Officer were also banned by Twitter, and are being kept from having any new accounts on that site as well.

“I unfortunately always felt the day would come when alternative media would be scrubbed from major social media sites,” Anti-Media’s Chief Creative Officer S.M. Gibson said in a statement to me. “Because of that I prepared by having backup accounts years ago. The fact that those accounts, as well as 3 accounts from individuals associated with Anti-Media were banned without warning and without any reason offered by either platform makes me believe this purge was certainly orchestrated by someone. Who that is I have no idea, but this attack on information was much more concise and methodical in silencing truth than most realize or is being reported.”

UPDATE on the massive Purge of 800 dissident voices happening in the U.S. Banned from Facebook yesterday: -Antimedia -FreeThoughtProject -PoliceThePolice -Minds social media Suspended from Twitter: -Antimedia + editors -FreeThoughtProject + editors -PoliceThePolice + editors

 — @LeeCamp

It is now clear that there is either (A) some degree of communication/coordination between Twitter and Facebook about their respective censorship practices, or (B) information being given to both Twitter and Facebook by another party regarding targets for censorship. Either way, it means that there is now some some mechanism in place linking the censorship of dissident voices across multiple platforms. We are beginning to see smaller anti-establishment alternative media outlets cut off from their audiences by the same sort of coordinated cross-platform silencing we first witnessed with Alex Jones in August.

This is about as acute a threat to our ability to network and share information with each other as anything you could possibly imagine. If new media outlets are beginning to silence dissident voices together in unison, that means we can see entire alternative media outlets not just partially silenced but thoroughly silenced, their ability to grow their audiences and get information out to heavily populated parts of the internet completely crippled.

This is huge, this is dangerous, and this is being under-reported. When I was removed from Twitter in August for “abusing” John McCain, there was a large and outraged uproar on Twitter, and my account was quickly restored with an apology. The phenomenon of multiple high-profile alternative media outlets suddenly being silenced in unison by the two biggest social media platforms should be generating more outrage than some ornery Australian blogger losing her Twitter account, not less. People should be legitimately freaked out by this, because it affects us all.

@caitoz @InmanAlex Is this a private entity?

 — @DanielLMcAdams

Any time you try to talk about how internet censorship threatens our ability to get the jackboot of oligarchy off our necks you’ll always get some guy in your face who’s read one Ayn Rand book and thinks he knows everything, saying things like “Facebook is a private company! It can do whatever it wants!” Is it now? Has not Facebook been inviting US government-funded groups to help regulate its operations, vowing on the Senate floor to do more to facilitate the interests of the US government, deleting accounts at the direction of the US and Israeli governments, and handing the guidance of its censorship behavior over to the Atlantic Council, which receives funding from the US government, the EU, NATO and Gulf states? How “private” is that? Facebook is a deeply government-entrenched corporation, and Facebook censorship is just what government censorship looks like in a corporatist system of government.

Speaking of the Atlantic Council, it recently published a very interesting 21-page document about a US military conference detailing, in present tense, how Silicon Valley tech giants are being used to nullify the threat that the new media landscape poses to the US power establishment.

Of this document, World Socialist Website writes the following:

Enter the social media companies. The best mechanism for suppressing oppositional viewpoints and promoting pro-government narratives is the private sector, in particular “technology giants, including Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter,” which can “determine what people see and do not see.”
Watts adds, “Fortunately, shifts in the policies of social media platforms such as Facebook have had significant impact on the type and quality of the content that is broadcast.”
The private sector, therefore, must do the dirty work of the government, because government propaganda is viewed with suspicion by the population. “Business and the private sector may not naturally understand the role they play in combating disinformation, but theirs is one of the most important…. In the West at least, they have been thrust into a central role due to the general public’s increased trust in them as institutions.”

A securocrat's vision for state censorship (as channeled through the Atlantic Council) https://t.co/0vBzkZT1WU

 — @JulianAssange

The best way to deal with a manipulative sociopath is to point and make a lot of noise every time they do something weird and creepy. The more you let them abuse you in private, the more they can rope you in and get you playing along with their sick agendas. If you notice them doing something weird, the best way to nullify all the tools in their wicked little toolbox is to point and yell “Hey! What are you doing?? Why are you doing that? That’s weird!” Get people looking, because such beasts can’t advance their manipulations with a lot of critical eyes on them.

Propaganda and censorship operates very much the same way. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of the Streisand effect, I encourage you to begin to acquaint yourself with it. Named for an incident in which Barbara Streisand attempted to suppress online photographs of her Malibu residence and thereby inadvertently drew far more attention to them, the Streisand effect describes the way attempts to hide and censor information can be used to draw more attention to it if the coverup attracts the interest of the public eye. Every censor needs to prevent this from happening in order to do their job effectively; if it looks like removing something from public view would draw more attention to it, then they cannot practice censorship in that case.

So let’s Streisand this thing up, hey? Let’s make a big angry noise about this new cross-platform escalation in internet censorship, and let’s make a big angry noise any time anyone makes a move to silence dissident political speech in the new media environment. Manipulators can only function in darkness, so let’s never give them any. Anything they try, we need to make a ton of noise about it. That by itself would be throwing an enormous stumbling block in their path while we find new ways to clear a path for more and more networking and information sharing. These bastards have controlled the narrative for too long.

_________________________

Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal,buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.

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You Can Kick The Can Down The Road, But Reality Will Catch Up With You Eventually

ORIGINAL LINK

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Nobody can defy the laws of economics forever.  Whether it is an individual, a company or the nation as a whole, reality always catches up with everyone eventually.

For years, I have been warning that Sears was eventually going to zero, but of course it didn’t happen immediately.  Sears CEO Eddie Lampert kept convincing investors to pour more money into his beleaguered money pit, and so the can kept getting kicked down the road.  It takes a great con man to be able to pull off what Eddie Lampert was able to pull off, and we should all be in awe at the level of skill that he has displayed.  But all good cons eventually come to an end, and now the retailer that was once the largest in world history is coming to an end. 

According to multiple media reports, a Sears bankruptcy filing is imminent.  For a while there it looked like it would be a Chapter 7 filing which would mean immediate liquidation for Sears.  But it appears that Lampert will be able secure enough funding to give Sears a little bit of breathing space.  A Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing will allow most of the stores to stay open through the holidays and will give Sears more time to sell off more assets.

I can’t even imagine who would be dumb enough to hand Lampert more money at this point, and this is yet another example that shows that the old saying “a sucker is born every minute” is definitely true.

And we are not talking about a small amount of money.  According to USA Today, Sears is going to need between 300 and 500 million dollars just to keep operating through the holidays…

It is trying to secure $300 million to $500 million to continue functioning through the holidays, keeping a winnowed number of locations open, says the person familiar with what is being considered. As of an Aug. 4 public filing, Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, still had 506 Sears stores and 360 Kmart locations.

If the bankruptcy filing occurs, it is likely the beginning of what has been the long, drawn-out ending to one of the most renowned sagas in retail.

Lampert is going to be burning up the phones all weekend, because Sears needs cash immediately for a 134 million dollar debt payment that is due on Monday

Now, Sears is facing a critical Monday deadline to make a $134 million debt payment. Reports this week by the Wall Street Journal and CNBC said Sears had begun consulting with advisers to prepare a possible bankruptcy filing.

Just like our current stock market bubble, it is absolutely amazing that Sears has survived for as long as it has.

The truth is that Sears should have been put out of its misery long ago, but the can just kept getting kicked down the road.  But now the cash is gone and the debts have become overwhelming.

At this point, Sears has been missing payments to important vendors and has been making preparations for the upcoming bankruptcy filing for weeks

Three companies that sell items at Sears told Reuters this week that Sears had missed payments to them over the past few weeks. One of Sears’ major shareholders recently dumped a chunk of his stock for pennies on his original investment. The company added a new director this week who is familiar with bankruptcies and restructuring.

And reports are swirling that the company is talking to advisers and banks in preparation for a bankruptcy filing. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sears has hired M-III Partners, a boutique advisory firm specializing in seeing companies through bankruptcies and restructuring, The company is also talking to lenders about providing it with debtor-in-possession financing, CNBC reported. That kind of loan is used by companies that file for bankruptcy to fund operations during the process. Usually, funding is secured well before the final days.

Many of the company’s lenders had been pushing for an immediate Chapter 7 liquidation.  They wanted the bleeding to stop so that they could recover what they could while there was still something to grab.

But Eddie Lampert seems determined to stretch this thing out for as long as possible, and so it appears that a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing will happen instead.

It is easy to mock Sears, but the truth that America as a whole is on the exact same trajectory.

In my article that lists 101 reasons why the Federal Reserve should be shut down, I explain the absolute insanity of our current debt-based financial system.  Our system is literally designed to create as much debt as possible, and that is precisely what has been happening since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913.

If you add up all forms of debt in the United States (government, business, consumer, etc.), it comes to a grand total of more than 68 trillion dollars.  Other than hyper-inflating our currency into oblivion, there is no possible way that all of that debt will ever be repaid.  Under our current system, the only viable choice is to “extend and pretend”, and that is what we have been doing for decades.

But just like with Sears, economic reality is catching up with us, and time is rapidly running out for America.

From time to time, I get accused of being “too negative”, but the truth is that myself and others like me have been pleading with the American people to consider alternative solutions for many years.  In my latest book, I strongly advocate for the elimination of the Federal Reserve system and the establishment of a new financial system and a new currency that are not based on exponential debt growth.  In addition to writing thousands of articles, I have traveled and spoken to groups about these issues extensively, and I have done countless radio and television interviews.

But voices like mine have not been embraced on a widespread basis, and instead the American people seem to want the status quo.

So the can will keep getting kicked down the road until everything collapses.

Ultimately, what we are facing is the greatest economic depression that the United States has ever seen.  I really like how Charles Hugh Smith made this point as he wrapped up his most recent article

Everywhere we look in the U.S. economy, we see sky-high fixed costs. Investors who overpaid for commercial real estate will default once their business tenants close down, homeowners who overpaid will default once one of the household’s primary jobholders loses his/her job, state and local governments that have feasted on a decade of rising tax revenues will suddenly face staggering deficits as tax revenues crater–the list of those with high fixed costs and no wiggle room other than bankruptcy is essentially endless in America.

Here’s the difference between a recession and a depression: you can’t get blood from a stone, or make an insolvent entity solvent with more debt. Losses will have to taken, and nose-bleed fixed-costs will have to be slashed; reality will eventually have to be dealt with.

But everyone will resist this process because high fixed costs are the gravy train everyone depends on. Slashing fixed costs destroys the income needed to support asset valuations which are the collateral for the stupendous mountains of debt that define the U.S. economy. Once that debt is written down, the entire financial system collapses.

It didn’t have to be this way.

America could have chosen another path, but it didn’t.

So now we are steamrolling toward a date with destiny, and the people of this country will soon receive a very harsh lesson about economic reality.



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Another Day, Another Ban: Facebook Unpublishes ‘Occupy London’ Page - Sputnik International

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201808171067255773-Facebook-Unpublishes-Occupy-London/

EXCLUSIVE: Meet the Reporters Whose Pages Were Shut Down By Facebook - Sputnik International

https://sputniknews.com/us/201810121068814924-Reporters-Pages-Shut-Down-By-Facebook/

Bolsonaro Leads In Brazil Election; Journalists Snipe At Him By Attacking Gab | Blog Posts | VDARE.com

https://vdare.com/posts/bolsonaro-leads-in-brazil-election-journalists-snipe-at-him-by-attacking-gab

Bolsonaro Leads In Brazil Election; Journalists Snipe At Him By Attacking Gab | Blog Posts | VDARE.com

https://vdare.com/posts/bolsonaro-leads-in-brazil-election-journalists-snipe-at-him-by-attacking-gab

New York Times Serves as Facebook's Mouthpiece in Purge of Independent Media - Sputnik International

https://sputniknews.com/us/201810131068844753-Major-Media-Lockstep-Facebook-Purge/

Google Vs. Trump: "The Good Censor" On Collision Course With The Patriot President

ORIGINAL LINK

Authored by 'Washington Watcher' via VDare.com,

The leaked internal Google briefing “The Good Censor” [PDF] has received suspiciously little attention from the Main Stream Media, but it represents the crassest statement yet of the Tech oligopolies’ intention to impose Silicon Valley Political Correctness on the U.S.

As American Thinker Editor Thomas Lifson puts it:

“I congratulate Breitbart.com for the scoop, and I urge everyone -I am looking at you, President Trump and Congress - to read and ponder the fate of the Republic unless this company is defanged, most likely by antitrust action, but possibly also via civil courts.” [Stunning 85-page Google memo 'The Good Censor' leaked to BreitbartOctober 10, 2018]

What are Trump’s options? He’s certainly thinking about the issue.

The Washington Post reported recently that the White House was backing off a proposed executive order that would have required federal agencies to “investigate and/or prosecute” tech giants for bias. Administration officials told WaPo:

“Although the White House is concerned about the conduct of online platforms and their impact on society, this document is not the result of an official White House policymaking process.” [White House distances itself from reports that Trump could target Facebook, Google and Twitter with a new executive order, by Tony Romm and Josh Dawsey, September 22, 2018]

WaPo reported Trump has demanded an executive order on this matter for some time, but all of the drafts have been deemed “unworkable.” Sources tell the Watcher that the fallout from the leak deterred the President but he still considers the issue a top priority for his base and he wants it addressed.

Of course, first, we have to shoot down True Conservative notions that it’s not the government’s job to resolve tech censorship. Dogmatic Conservatism Incers insist the free market will magically fix the problem and government intervention would somehow be worse than suppression of right-wing views. Some—such as The Weekly Standard’sJonathan Last—have even celebrated this censorship as a necessary measure against “repugnant” voices. [The Case for Banning Alex JonesAugust 8, 2018]

All of these opinions are absolutely ridiculous and predicated on the notion that Big Tech won’t go after “respectable” conservatives, which isn’t even the case. PragerU, a mainstream conservative outlet, has been censored numerous times by Facebook and YouTube, in spite of its painfully respectable brand. And others will soon face the same treatment once the T ech Totalitarians realize they can continue this malfeasance with impunity. [Facebook Censors PragerU Videos And Shadow Bans Posts, by Kyle Perisec, The Daily Caller, August 17, 2018]

The “free market” can’t do anything about it. Google has cornered over 92 percent of the search engine market—a higher market share percentage than Standard Oil at its peak. Big Tech has made sure that Gab, a free speech alternative to Twitter, is barredfrom ever posing a serious challenge. And no one wants to use a “conservative” Facebook. [Hate speech crackdown spreads to behind-the-scenes tech, by Tony Romm and Elizabeth Dwoskin, Washington Post, August 10, 2018]

Big Tech has manipulated the free market to benefit its own interests and power. Tech execs know they don’t have to worry about conservative competition putting an end to their malpractices.

That leaves only one serious alternative: government intervention.

It is in America’s interest for this to happen. The public forums and printing presses of our day are Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. If you are barred from these platforms, you are effectively eliminated from the public square. Big Tech wants to ensure right-wing viewpoints are consigned to the dustbin and no one has the freedom to share those views in public.

This is where Donald Trump can step in and halt these disturbing efforts.

Here are the two things the President can do without issuing an executive order.

1. Continue Calling Out Tech Censorship

Something as basic as Trump tweeting out criticism of Facebook and Google is actually remarkably effective. Tech giants are worried sick the President may target the industry and are wary of doing anything radical enough to draw his ire.

Corporate executives are cowards. They live in fear of bad publicity. It’s why so many companies cave to Leftist pressure campaigns—no corporation wants to be branded as inadequately “woke.”

This tactic hasn’t been as effective for conservative activists, but the President of the United States is a different matter. One tweet from him can impact market shares, inspire support for government regulation, inspire dozens of segments on cable news, and encourage congressional scrutiny. Big Tech does not want this.

In the past, they actually have taken steps placate conservative complaints. One such example is Facebook laying off the Leftist journalists who ran its Trending section over criticism it was too biased against conservative news sources. [Facebook Lays Off Journalists From 'Trending Topics,' Replaces With Algorithm, by Leif Walcutt, Forbes,August 26, 2016]

The power of the tweet is a strong weapon for Trump in his fight against tech censorship. Putting constant pressure on these companies to safeguard free speech increases the chances they will do so. Sources tell the Watcher that the Trump campaign plans to make this issue a central part of its agenda, as evidenced by campaign manager Brad Parscale’s op-eds and tweets [Big Tech is becoming Big BrotherWashington Examiner, August 16, 2018]

What we need is for Trump to tweet and talk about this on a weekly basis. He should call out Google and Facebook for their pernicious practices at every rally. He should tweet out stories showcasing their bias every time one is published. The pressure must be relentless and constant until these platforms decide to take up reform on their own.

If that fails or is insufficient, there is one direct action Trump can take:

2. Target Section 230

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is a sacred privilege for social media companies. This law protects Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms from liability over the material published on their websites. One of the reasons these services are granted this privilege is the Congressional finding, embodied in legislation, that they “offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse.” [47 U.S. Code § 230 - Protection for private blocking and screening of offensive material] In contrast, newspapers are subject to libel actions over Letters to the Editor, because they are assumed to have exercised editorial judgement in publishing them.

Since it is highly questionable these platforms provide politically diverse forums anymore, it is arguably time for Congress to revisit Section 230. Not only is Big Tech’s censorship violating its spirit, so is their shifting claims on not being publishers. Indeed, Facebook’s lawyers have already paradoxically claimed that in some circumstances the company is a publisher, undermining the mega-platform’s numerous public claims that it is not a publisher. [Is Facebook a publisher? In public it says no, but in court it says yes, by Sam Levin, Guardian, July 2, 2018]

Both Google and Twitter have also undermined their own claims not to be publishers in litigation, according to court documents provided to the Watcher. Google claimed in its legal defense against PragerU’s lawsuit over censorship that it can exercise “editorial control and judgment” as a publisher. Twitter argued in court that it was similar to the New York Times and must have “exercise of editorial control and judgment” over the content it publishes.

Congress has an obligation to investigate these companies over their apparent Section 230 violations, and Trump should encourage them to do so. Nothing will terrify Big Tech more than having the President cheer on stripping them of their Section 230 protection.

Legislation amending Section 230 to explicitly state these companies may not engage in political discrimination would protect free expression for years to come.

All Trump has to do is suggest the idea to allies like House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to get this done.

Regardless of whether legislation would pass, it would be guaranteed to inspire serious reform in Silicon Valley. Every tech company would be desperate to prove it doesn’t censor conservatives and patriots and feel a chill at the prospect of suppressing popular right-wing views. Taking away Section 230 protection would make a serious dent on their businesses. They would want to do everything possible to keep it.

Even though we may not see an Executive Order to tackle tech censorship this year, we shouldn’t lose heart. Trump isn’t going to forget about this issue and he will see more headlines on the dastardly behavior of tech giants. We just need him to speak out more on this problem and press Congress to do something about it.



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Friday, October 12, 2018

Facebook Purges Over 800 Accounts With Millions Of Followers; Prominent Conservatives Vanish | Zero Hedge

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-11/facebook-purges-over-800-accounts-millions-followers-including-conservative-meme

BBC chief: 'fake news' label erodes confidence in journalism | Media | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/oct/08/bbc-chief-fake-news-label-erodes-confidence-in-journalism

Mainstream media maligned: 10 examples of blatant bias - Washington Times

https://amp.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/8/mainstream-media-maligned-10-examples-blatant-bias/

Why The Coordinated Alternative Media Purge Should Terrify Everyone

ORIGINAL LINK

Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,

Yesterday, the alternative media purge was boldly advanced in a coordinated effort to silence people who dissent from establishment views.

It’s just one more step toward a monopoly on information by those who hate freedom. At this rate, they’ll soon have unquestioned access to the minds of more than 2 billion people. And this should terrify everyone who wants to be free to question the status quo and to seek a wide range of information.

Hundreds of alternative media site administrators logged onto Facebook to discover that their accounts had been removed. Soon after, many of these sites and their writers found that their Twitter accounts had also been suspended.

Popular pages like The AntiMedia (2.1 million fans), The Free Thought Project (3.1 million fans), Press for Truth (350K fans),  Police the Police (1.9 million fans), Cop Block (1.7 million fans), and Punk Rock Libertarians (125K fans) are just a few of the ones which were unpublished.

Why were these alternative media accounts removed?

The reason given doesn’t really add up.

Facebook told the LA Times that these pages had violated the company’s spam policies.

“Today, we’re removing 559 Pages and 251 accounts that have consistently broken our rules against spam and coordinated inauthentic behavior,” the company said in a blog post. “People will only share on Facebook if they feel safe and trust the connections they make here.” (source)

But this isn’t actually what their spam policy says. Here’s the policy.

We work hard to limit the spread of commercial spam to prevent false advertising, fraud, and security breaches, all of which detract from people’s ability to share and connect. We do not allow people to use misleading or inaccurate information to collect likes, followers, or shares.

Do Not:

  • Artificially increase distribution for financial gain

  • Create or use fake accounts or compromise other people’s accounts to

  • Impersonate or pretend to be a business, organization, public figure, or private individual

  • Attempt to create connections, create content, or message people

  • Restrict access to content by requiring people to like, share, or recommend before viewing

  • Encourage likes, shares, or clicks under false pretenses

  • Maliciously use login credentials or personally identifiable information by:

  • Attempting to gather or share login credentials or personally identifiable information

  • Using another person’s login credentials or personally identifiable information

  • Promise non-existent Facebook features

(source)

The Washington Post originally said that these pages were purged for “pushing political messages for profit” as you can see by their URL:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/11/facebook-purged-over-accounts-pages-pushing-political-messages-profit/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fa1a364488b3

But of course, since they too push political messages for profit (waaah, Trump!) as do all the other corporate media outlets out there, they changed their headline to “Facebook purged over 800 U.S. accounts and pages for pushing political spam.”

The fact that many of these accounts were also suspended by Twitter shortly thereafter should tell you that this is a coordinated effort to silence large swaths of the population.

Of course, the best coverage of this is from…Russia.

Sputnik News contacted many of the alternative journalists who were purged to get their take on what happened. You may recall that basically every blogger outside the establishment media was accused of being secretly Russian during the 2016 election by the Washington Post, so perhaps actual Russians have a vested interest in the truth coming out on this topic.

My friend John Vibes is an amazing person who contributes to The Free Thought Project. He said:

This signifies a re-consolidation of the media. Cable news media controlled the narrative for most of modern history, but the internet has lowered that barrier to entry and allowed the average person to become the media themselves. This obviously took market share and influence away from the traditional media, and it has allowed for a more diverse public conversation. Now it seems the platforms that have monopolized the industry are favoring mainstream sources and silencing alternative voices. So now, instead of allowing more people to have a voice, these platforms are creating an atmosphere where only powerful media organizations are welcome, just as we had on cable news.

People think that we are just providing an activist spin on the news, but they don’t see the families struggling to have their voice heard. For example, when someone is shot by police, mainstream media sources often just republish the press release from the police department, without presenting the victim’s side of the story. We give the victims and their families a voice, which is essential to keep power in check. This also goes for bigger issues like foreign policy as well; multiple full-scale invasions of Syria have been prevented because of information that the alternative media made viral. (source)

Nicholas Bernabe of The AntiMedia is another alternative journalist I consider a friend and support wholeheartedly. He’s worked tirelessly to be a voice of truth in a world of lies. He told Sputnik:

Our approach generally is to cover stories and angles that corporate media underreport or misreport and to amplify activist and anti-war voices and stories. All of our content is professionally fact-checked and edited.

I got into this line of work because I felt there was a need for media that challenged mainstream assumptions and biases in politics. I wanted to shed light on corruption and wrongdoing against oppressed peoples and cover the harsh truth about American foreign policy.

Over the last 28 days, we reached 7,088,000 people on Facebook.

The timing of this purge is rather dubious in my view, coming shortly before the midterm elections. This could be an attempt by Facebook itself to affect the outcome of the coming elections. The Twitter suspension caught me by surprise. I can only speculate that these suspensions were a coordinated effort to stifle our message ahead of the coming elections. (source)

Remember, this is coordinated, across multiple platforms.

Remember when this happened to Alex Jones?

Back in September, an assault was led by YouTube, Google, and Facebook against Alex Jones of Infowars fame. All of his accounts were shut down in quick succession, followed by his credit card processing companies and his newsletter service providers. I wrote at the time, “Alex Jones is just the beginning of this purge. It’s going to get much worse.”

Meanwhile, other dissenting voices were being silenced on social media with limited reach and “shadow banning.”

Infowars is a massive profit machine. But what happens when similar attacks are launched on smaller alternative media outlets? It hits us right in the wallet. And if they’re hit hard enough, they’ll cease to be able to function.

Jones has a lot of money so this may not be the end of him, but for most website owners, this would be the absolute end of our ability to do business. And to be able to bring the information we bring, we do have to run our websites as businesses. It’s far more expensive than most people realize to run a site. I know that my own operating costs every month are more than $2000. A site as big as Jones’s would be many times that amount. When all your avenues of monetization are cut off, it wouldn’t be hard for a site – and the dissent and information they share – to cease to exist. (source)

This is not just about Facebook or Twitter. It’s about the ability to find dissenting information, period. Google is in on it too. A leaked document from Google supported the idea of censorship.

Another Google document has found its way into the public domain, this time through Breitbart. The news publication reports that an 85-page briefing entitled “The Good Censor,” advises tech companies to “police tone instead of content” and to not “take sides” when censoring users…

Google might continue to shift with the times – changing its stance on how much or how little it censors (due to public, governmental or commercial pressures). If it does, acknowledgment of what this shift in position means for users and for Google is essential. Shifting blindly or silently in one direction or another rightly incites users’ fury…

The Google “internal research” even quotes outside experts like George Soros who express justification of censorship in non-U.S. markets, noting that Google should police “tone instead of content” and “censor everyone equally,” as Breitbart put it. (source)

There are 2 trillion Google searches per day. PER. DAY.

That should give you an idea of the power of something like Google. Combine it with billions of Facebook and Twitter users and you can easily see the influence wielded here. This is where free thought goes to die.

Ron Paul reminds us that truth is treason.

Ron Paul, former senator and the libertarian voice of reason, said when Jones was purged:

“You get accused of treasonous activity and treasonous speech because in an empire of lies the truth is treason,” Paul told the Russia-based news outlet. “Challenging the status quo is what they can’t stand and it unnerves them, so they have to silence people.”

“Some of us tell the truth about our government, they call us treasonous and say we’re speaking out of line and they’d like to punish us, and I think that’s part of what’s happening with social media,” Paul told RT, adding that he hopes anti-government or anti-war voices can eliminate their “dependency” on the current social media platforms.

“I’m just hoping that technology can stay ahead of it all and that we can have real alternatives to the dependency on Twitter and other companies that have been working hand in glove with the government,” Paul added. (source)

Here’s a video from last month with Dr. Paul’s thoughts about the social media purge. In it, he reminds us that Facebook is a private entity so they do have every right to remove the pages they wish. The danger – and the area in which this treads on the First Amendment – is their direct ties to the government.

This affects everyone.

If you’re reading this and you shrug because you, personally, don’t have a Twitter or Facebook account, you’re missing the bigger point.

Consider the fact that the “population” of Facebook is bigger than the populations of the US, China, and Brazil combined.

That’s how many people will now only receive one side of the story on things like war, politics, guns, and current events. People will believe what they’re told because there is no alternative information presented. There are no questions asked. It’s literally the textbook definition of brainwashing.

Definition of brainwashing

1a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas

2persuasion by propaganda or salesmanship (source)

(Here’s an article from Psychology Today that discusses how Facebook is, in fact, brainwashing people for profit.)

Social media is a massive source of information and influence today. If the information is rigged by entities that support socialism, gun control, and the end of privacy, we’re doomed. 2.2 billion active users will be bombarded with these messages without any real option for the other side of the story.

So regardless of whether you, personally, participate, this will color popular sentiment to a massive degree. It will grow the cognitive dissonance that assures people of things like “the government is your friend” and that “you don’t need to protect yourself, the police will take care of you.”

People who hate freedom will get unfettered access to the minds of 2 billion people. That should scare the crap out of you.

What can you do about the alternative media purge?

It’s possible but unlikely that social pressure on Facebook and Twitter will push the outlets into restoring the accounts of these alternative media networks. But even if they are restored, I suspect their reach will dwindle even further.

Here are a few things you can do:

  • Subscribe to the newsletters of websites you enjoy. Don’t count on seeing their work on social media. (You can subscribe to my newsletter here, incidentally.)

  • Support them financially if you can. Many sites have Patreon accounts or donate buttons

  • Bookmark them and visit regularly – if they have ads, your visits help them to make the money they need to stay afloat.

  • Share their articles on your own social media accounts. If they can’t get their work out there, we can help.

  • Join alternative social media outlets like Gab and MeWe.

The truth is getting harder and harder to find. You’re going to have to dig for it.

We’re watching the biggest campaign against freedom of speech and thought that has ever occurred in our part of the world.

The alternative media purge is just the beginning. And we should all be very concerned.



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Armstrong: Independent Audit Exposes The Fraud In Global Warming Data

ORIGINAL LINK

Authored by Martin Armstrong via ArmstrongEconomics.com,

An independent audit of the key temperature dataset that is being used by climate models has exposed more than 70 problems with the data which render it “unfit for global studies.” 

Problems include zero degree temperatures in the Caribbean, 82 degree C temperatures in Colombia and ship-based recordings taken 100km inland.

The audit has concluded that the studies are deliberately exaggerating temperatures to support a theory of global warming utilizing global averages that are far less certain than what is being forecast.

The audit has revealed that “that climate models have been tuned to match incorrect data, which would render incorrect their predictions of future temperatures and estimates of the human influence of temperatures.” Furthermore, the Paris Climate Agreement adopted 1850-1899 averages as “indicative” of pre-industrial temperatures is “fatally flawed.” The entire Paris Climate Agreement has an agenda to eliminate effectively the advancement of society and attempt to reset the clock to the pre-Industrial Revolution. This entire theory that before the Industrial Revolution, our planet’s atmosphere was somehow pristine and uncontaminated by human-made pollutants has been also proven to be completely bogus. 

Bubbles trapped in Greenland’s ice has revealed that we began emitting greenhouse gases at least 2,000 years ago. The Romans even constructed the first aqueduct was built in 312 BC because there was a serious problem with water pollution. Seneca (c 4BC-65AD), the adviser to Nero, wrote in 61AD: “No sooner had I left behind the oppressive atmosphere of the city [Rome] and that reek of smoking cookers which pour out, along with clouds of ashes, all the poisonous fumes they’ve accumulated in their interiors whenever they’re started up, than I noticed the change in my condition.”

This new audit argues even the most simple basic quality checks had not been done on the HadCRUT4 data which is managed by the UK Met Office Hadley Centre and the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. The audit exposed that estimates were made of the uncertainties arising from thermometer accuracy, homogenization, sampling grid boxes with a finite number of measurements available, large-scale biases such as urbanization and estimation of regional averages with non-complete global measurement coverage.

The audit has exposed the dishonesty in this entire scheme and it appears to be directed at the goal of reducing the population. Anomalies it has identified include at St Kitts in the Caribbean, the average temperature for December 1981 was zero degrees, normally it’s 26C. For three months in 1978, one place in Colombia reported an 82 degrees Celsius average – hotter than the hottest day on Earth. Then in Romania, one September the average temperature was reported as minus 46°C, which has never happened. The data showed that supposedly ships would report ocean temperatures from places up to 100km inland. The paper also points out that the most serious flaws identified was the shortage of data. For the first two years, from 1850 onwards, the only land-based reporting station in the Southern Hemisphere was in Indonesia. Then there were ship observations at the time but Australian records had not started until 1855 in Melbourne, behind Auckland which started in 1853. This data appears to have been just made up.

According to the HadCRUT4 calculation of coverage, it was almost 1950 before there was data from even half of the Southern Hemisphere was available. Yet they claim global warming has taken hold for 100 years prior. Then the Paris Climate Agreement takes the HadCRUT4 average from 1850 to 1899 as an “indicative” temperature or pre-Industrial Revolution. There is absolutely no possible way the data set being used to support all this Global Warming is even valid for any forecast.



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Thursday, October 11, 2018

Anti-Media Shut Down by Facebook and Twitter

ORIGINAL LINK
Anti-Media Facebook(CJ Opinion) — Facebook has purged more dissident political media pages today, this time under the pretense of protecting its users from “inauthentic activity”. In a statement co-authored by Facebook Head of Cybersecurity Nathaniel Gleicher (who also happens to be the former White House National Security Council Director of Cybersecurity Policy), the massive social media platform explained that it has removed “559 Pages […]

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Conservative Facebook Employee Who Wrote Memo On "Intolerant" Liberals Quits

ORIGINAL LINK

A Facebook engineer whose controversial memo on the company's "political monoculture" that is "intolerant" of conservatives, had quit his job according to Business Insider

Engineer Brian Amerige sent an internal message to co-workers on Wednesday, writing:

"These problems can be solved — just not by me, not any more, at least. I care too deeply about our role in supporting free expression and intellectual diversity to even whole-heartedly attempt the product stuff anymore, and that's how I know it's time to go."

Brian Amerige

Amerige goes on to say that he is starting a company with a friend "at the intersection of applied philosophy (epistemology, specifically) and technology." 

In August, Amerige - who identifies politically as an objectivist - came under fire for an internal memo denouncing the Silicon Valley's "intolerant" culture. "We are a political monoculture that's intolerant of different views ... we claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attack — often in mobs — anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology," he wrote. 

His memo led to the creation of "FB'ers for Political Diversity," a group of hundreds of conservative employees who came together to protest the company's liberal bias. Posters promoting the group began to appear across the company's campus, while debates over Facebook's political bias have broken out between employees. 

There have also previously been some incidents in which Facebook employees have refused to work with or talk to certain colleagues because of their political beliefs, an employee previously told Business Insider. -Busines Insider

Friday will be Amerige's last day, according to his message. 

"I've been thinking about this for almost a year, and though a certain leak delayed me a bit, I know it's time for me to move on," he wrote.

"I'm not leaving because 'it's time for something new.'" -Busines Insider

Amerige wrote: "I'm leaving because I'm burnt out on Facebook, our strategy, our culture, and our product. Strategically, we've taken a stance on how to balance offensive and hateful speech with free expression. We've accepted the inevitability of government regulation. And we've refused to defend ourselves in the press. Our policy strategy is pragmatism — not clear, implementable long-term principles — and our PR strategy is appeasement — not morally earned pride and self-defense."

He added: "While I remain as in love as ever with our mission and my colleague's nearly-always good intentions, I disagree too strongly with where we're heading on these issues to watch what happens next. These issues hang over my head each morning, and I don't want to spend all of my time fighting about them."

The largely liberal Silicon Valley has drawn harsh criticism over allegations of political bias and punishment of conservative views. 

In July 2017, Google found itself at the centre of a political firestorm after engineer James Damore wrote an internal post decrying what he characterised as "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber," in which he attacked the company's diversity efforts. (Amerige has been described as "Facebook's aspiring James Damore.") Some conservatives also allege that social media firms are deliberately silencing and censoring non-liberal voices on their platforms. -Busines Insider

Here's Amerige on having personal values: 



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'THE GOOD CENSOR': Leaked Google Briefing Admits Abandonment of Free Speech for 'Safety And Civility' | Breitbart

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/10/09/the-good-censor-leaked-google-briefing-admits-abandonment-of-free-speech-for-safety-and-civility/

The Catholic church’s grim history of ignoring priestly pedophilia – and silencing would-be whistleblowers

ORIGINAL LINK

Widespread public shock followed the recent release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report that identified more than 1,000 child victims of clergy sexual abuse. In fact, as I know through my research, the Vatican and its American bishops have known about the problem of priestly pedophilia since at least the 1950s. And the Church has consistently silenced would-be whistleblowers from within its own ranks.In the memory of many Americans, the only comparable scandal was in Massachusetts, where, in 2002, the ...

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Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Google Lied About "Dragonfly" China Censorship Project According To Leaked Transcript

ORIGINAL LINK

According to a leaked transcript, Google lied to the media regarding their secretive Chinese search engine, according to The Intercept.

The project, code-named Dragonfly, would blacklist phrases like "human rights," "student protest," and "Nobel Prize," and has resulted in at least seven Google employees quitting for ethical reasons. Other employees have circulated a letter recognizing a "code yellow" emergency, suggesting that the Dragonfly initiative violates Google's ethical code, which states that the company will not build or deploy technologies "whose purpose contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights," according to The Intercept

The project has also drawn criticism from human rights groups, congressional legislators and Vice President Mike Pence - who called on the search engine giant to "immediately end development of the Dragonfly app that will strengthen the Communist Party’s censorship and compromise the privacy of Chinese customers."

Google, meanwhile, lied in their attempts to downplay the project

In late September, longtime Google exec and search engine chief Ben Gomes told BBC News: "Right now, all we’ve done is some exploration," adding "but since we don’t have any plans to launch something, there’s nothing much I can say about it."

That answer, according to one Google source, was "bullshit" according to The Intercept, which published a leaked transcript from a July 18 meeting that tells a completely different story

You have taken on something extremely important to the company,” Gomes declared, according to a transcript of his comments obtained by The Intercept. “I have to admit it has been a difficult journey. But I do think a very important and worthwhile one. And I wish ourselves the best of luck in actually reaching our destination as soon as possible.” -The Intercept

Gomes said he hoped the censored Chinese search engine could be launched between six and nine months, but it could be sooner. "This is a world none of us have ever lived in before," he said. "So I feel like we shouldn’t put too much definite into the timeline."

In September, Google executive Keith Enright told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that project Dragonfly exists, however he said "we are not close to launching a product in China," though he refused to elaborate, claiming that he was "not clear on the contours of what is in scope or out of scope for that project."

Gomes’s remarks to staff, which can be read in full below, highlight the stark contrast between Google’s public and private statements about Dragonfly. The secretive project has been underway since spring 2017 — and has involved about 300 employees, the majority of whom have worked full-time on the plan. It was far beyond an “exploration,” and the plan to launch it was well-developed, as some of Google’s own employees have themselves highlighted in recent weeks, despite the company’s efforts to suppress such information. -The Intercept

Gomes's comments also explain why Google is interested in returning to China after making a big deal about leaving the communist country in 2010 because they "could no longer continue censoring our results" over free speech and security concerns. 

In explaining to staff why the work on Dragonfly was “extremely important,” Gomes referenced the sheer size of the Chinese market, saying “we are talking about the next billion users” for Google. He also called China “the most interesting market in the world today.” “By virtue of working on this,” Gomes added, “you will act as a window onto this world of innovation that we are otherwise blind to.” -The Intercept

In other words, Google is compromising its ethical commitment for money. 

Ben Gomes Addresses Google Staff Working on Dragonfly, July 18, 2018:

"I think this has been a long haul for many of you, I just want to acknowledge that first of all. Many of you have started working on this a while back. It’s not been easy working on a project with no obvious outcome. Thank you for that. In doing so you have taken on something extremely important to the company — our basic mission of serving all of the world’s users. Along the way, I think there are many benefits that come to us that are auxiliary, not just from the direct work, but from all of the auxiliary things of working in China.

There are two ways in which I think about Google. One of them is technology and the other one is product and serving users. So from the point of view of serving users, there is no question — we are talking about the next billion users. But actually I was looking at it, there’s like 5 billion adults in the world, so why are we thinking about the next billion users? Well, some of them are not enabled, internet-enabled, and so on. And of the people who are internet-enabled, a huge fraction of the ones we are missing out are in China.

And so the opportunity there is — all of you will know this, but — it’s clearly the biggest opportunity to serve more people that we have. And if you take our mission seriously, that’s where our key focus should be. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Many of these things are not easy, and you all know this now from personal experience. Also given the political climate. The future is very unpredictable. Six to nine months [to launch]. But we couldn’t have predicted the last three days of politics, let alone the last year of politics, [or] the last two or three years of politics. So we just don’t know what the future holds in some ways. We have to be focused on what we want to enable, and then when the opening happens we are ready for it.

And you guys have been working in that capacity and it’s not easy. We are working with you to make sure your careers are not affected by this. The difficult part is to maintain motivation on such a long haul. But that’s true of many difficult and worthwhile journeys. To maintain that motivation along the way, so that when you do reach that goal, it’s all the sweeter. I also want to say — I didn’t expect we’d be able to make the changes from a search perspective that we’ve been able to. So I think there’s a slide on this? There are improvements, and I thought that because we didn’t have all the signals from China, I thought we may make marginal progress and we’ll do our best. But you guys … this is really pretty amazing to me that we made this much progress. … When you begin to pay attention to things, things really do get a lot better, and the coverage, the improvements the team has made, I am so grateful for the work you have put in.

The second part of what I think we do that is the value of going into China, is that China I think is one of the most interesting markets, arguably the most interesting market in the world today. Just by virtue of being there and paying attention to the Chinese market, we will learn things, because in many ways China was leading the world in some kinds of innovation. We need to understand what is happening there in order to inspire us. It’s not just a one-way street. China will teach us things that we don’t know. And the people, as you work on this, both in the Chinese offices and elsewhere, paying attention to the things that are happening there is incredibly valuable for us as Google, potentially not just in China, but somewhere else entirely.

Everybody is aware of some of the key models, business models, that have changed in China. But I am sure there are more, other innovations we are not aware of today. And by virtue of working on this, you will act as a window onto this world of innovation that we are otherwise blind to. So overall I just want to thank you guys for all the work you have put in. I ask for your patience for continuing on this for a while longer. And I have to admit it has been a difficult journey. But I do think a very important and worthwhile one. And I wish ourselves the best of luck in actually reaching our destination as soon as possible.

While we are saying it’s going to be six and nine months [to launch], the world is a very dynamic place. A few weeks back, nobody would have predicted that the U.S. president would blame the U.S. for issues with Russia, and the Russian foreign ministry would respond [on] Twitter saying, “We agree.” And so the good or bad thing about this is, he’s shaken things up so much that things can radically change quickly. So at some level, at our scale, we need to maintain that optionality, in case suddenly the world changes or he decides his new best friend is [Chinese President] Xi Jinping. This is a world none of us have ever lived in before. So I feel like we shouldn’t put too much definite into the timeline too.

All I am saying, we have built a set of hacks and we have kept them. If there is a way to sort of freeze some of it, so it can be brought off the shelf and quickly deployed while we are dripping it all out, and changing it, we should take the long-term view. The pace of the world is changing. There is a huge binary difference between being launched and not launched. And so we want to be careful that we don’t miss that window if it ever comes."



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Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Hillary Clinton says Trump remarks at Kavanaugh swearing-in undermine Supreme Court - CNNPolitics

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/09/politics/hillary-clinton-brett-kavanaugh/index.html

12 Fake News Stories from the Mainstream Media

https://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2016/11/22/12-fake-news-stories-from-the-mainstream-media/amp/

Mainstream media maligned: 10 examples of blatant bias - Washington Times

https://amp.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/8/mainstream-media-maligned-10-examples-blatant-bias/

Astronaut Scott Kelly attacked for quoting Winston Churchill - BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45789819

Why Is The Media Warning A Recession Is Expected “By The End Of 2020” That Will Be “Worse Than The Great Depression”?

ORIGINAL LINK

The mood of the mainstream media is really starting to shift dramatically.  At one time they seemed determined to convince all of us that happy days were here again for the U.S. economy, but now some mainstream news outlets are openly warning that the next recession will be “worse than the Great Depression”.  Do they really believe that this is true, or is there some other purpose behind their bold headlines?  Of course it isn’t exactly difficult to predict that another recession is coming, because the U.S. economy has experienced recession after recession ever since the Federal Reserve was first established in 1913.  But the phrase “worse than the Great Depression” implies that what we will soon be facing will be the worst economic downturn in all of U.S. history.  That is a very bold statement to make, and it should not be done lightly.

That is why I have been absolutely astounded by some of the mainstream headlines that I have been seeing lately.  For example, the following comes from a New York Post article entitled “Next crash will be ‘worse than the Great Depression’: experts”

“We think the major economies are on the cusp of this turning into the worst recession we have seen in 10 years,” said Murray Gunn, head of global research at Elliott Wave International.

And in a note, he added: “Should the [US] economy start to shrink, and our analysis suggests that it will, the high nominal levels of debt will instantly become a very big issue.”

And here is an excerpt from an article posted on MSN entitled “Experts warn the next recession will be ‘worse than the Great Depression’ and predict it will hit US within two years as $247 trillion global debt outdoes 2008”

The next recession could put the 2008 financial crash to shame if two experts’ predictions about the worldwide debt of $247 trillion are correct.

Expected to hit the United States within the next two years, the impact has been compared to the severe worldwide economic crisis which started 1929 and last until 1939.

It is particularly interesting that the author of the last article chose to use the phrase “within the next two years”.

That strongly implies that the U.S. economy will have plunged into the next recession before the next presidential election takes place.

Other mainstream outlets are using similar language.  For example, the following comes from a Bloomberg article entitled “Two-thirds of U.S. business economists see recession by end of 2020”

Two-thirds of business economists in the U.S. expect a recession to begin by the end of 2020, while a plurality of respondents say trade policy is the greatest risk to the expansion, according to a new survey.

About 10 percent see the next contraction starting in 2019, 56 percent say 2020 and 33 percent said 2021 or later, according to the Aug. 28-Sept. 17 poll of 51 forecasters issued by the National Association for Business Economics on Monday.

Those are stunning numbers.

If they are correct, and I have no reason to doubt them, that means that 66 percent of mainstream economists believe that the next recession will strike in either 2019 or 2020.

Of course those that follow my work on a regular basis already know that there are a multitude of signs that indicate that the U.S. economy is already slowing down.

I wanted to share another one of those signs with you today.  For years, the real estate market in Manhattan was red hot, but now we just witnessed “the fourth straight quarter of double-digit declines”

Total real estate sales in Manhattan fell 11 percent in the third quarter compared with a year ago, marking the fourth straight quarter of double-digit declines, according to new data from Douglas Elliman Real Estate and Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants. It was also the first time since the financial crisis that resales of existing apartments fell for four straight quarters.

Prices fell, inventory jumped and discounts were higher and more common. Real estate brokers say the Manhattan real estate market is suffering from an oversupply of luxury units, a decline in foreign buyers and changes in the tax law that make it more expensive to own property in high-tax states.

At this point, the housing market in New York City has become “a buyer’s market”, and there are no signs that things are going to turn around any time soon…

“Offers 20 percent and 25 percent below asking prices began to flow in, a phenomenon last seen in 2009,” wrote Warburg Realty founder and CEO Frederick W. Peters in the report, which surveys real estate conditions around the city.

Warburg’s report dovetails with separate data showing a definitive cooling in New York’s housing market. The number of homes for sale in the city recently hit a record, according to StreetEasy data, amid fewer sales transactions. Meanwhile, September’s report from real estate firm MNS showed Manhattan apartment rental prices — the most expensive in the city — on the decline.

Of course this is not just happening in New York City.  Home sellers all over the nation are slashing their prices at the fastest rate that we have seen in at least eight years.

In order for people to be able to afford to buy expensive homes, they need good jobs, and more good jobs just keep getting shipped out of the country.

For example, Verizon just announced that they will be shipping thousands of information technology jobs to India

Earlier this week, Verizon confirmed that it offered a voluntary severance package (VSP) to about 44,000 employees and that it will transfer over 2,500 IT staff – some rumors suggest the figure to be closer to 5,000 employees – to India-based Infosys as part of a $700 million outsourcing deal.

The layoffs and transfers will impact more than 30% of Verizon’s 153,100-employee workforce – as of the end of June – and are part of a 4-year plan to save the largest U.S. wireless carrier $10 billion by 2021.

If you get angry when you read such stories, that is good, because they should make you angry.

The middle class in America is being systematically eviscerated, and the U.S. economy is steadily being hollowed out.

And now the mainstream media is boldly pronouncing that the next recession will arrive within the next two years, and many are suggesting that it will be even more painful than the last one…

About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

The Last Days Warrior Summit is the premier online event of 2018 for Christians, Conservatives and Patriots.  It is a premium-members only international event that will empower and equip you with the knowledge and tools that you need as global events begin to escalate dramatically.  The speaker list includes Michael Snyder, Mike Adams, Dave Daubenmire, Ray Gano, Dr. Daniel Daves, Gary Kah, Justus Knight, Doug Krieger, Lyn Leahz, Laura Maxwell and many more. Full summit access will begin on October 25th, and if you would like to register for this unprecedented event you can do so right here.

The post Why Is The Media Warning A Recession Is Expected “By The End Of 2020” That Will Be “Worse Than The Great Depression”? appeared first on The Economic Collapse.



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Pope Francis: Divisive Devil Responsible For Catholic Pedophile Epidemic

ORIGINAL LINK

Pope Francis - who stands accused of covering up widespread sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, says that the devil is trying to divide and attack the organization. So apparently all of the child rape isn't the priests' fault, since the devil apparently made them do it.

"(The Church must be) saved from the attacks of the malign one, the great accuser and at the same time be made ever more aware of its guilt, its mistakes, and abuses committed in the present and the past," said Francis in a September 29 message. 

Francis, who has made clear that he believes the devil to be real, suggested that Catholics worldwide pray every day in the month of October to stave off the Devil and his pedophile-encouraging ways. 

"We should not think of the devil as a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure of speech or an idea. This mistake would lead us to let down our guard, to grow careless and end up more vulnerable.

"I renew the invitation to everyone to pray the Rosary every day of the month of October ending it with the antiphon 'Under Your protection' and the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, to repel the attacks of the devil who wants to divide the Church," said Francis, who described the devil as "the great accuser." 

The prayer reads:

"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls."

Perhaps the power of 1.2 billion praying Catholics October will be enough to overcome the Devil's influence over the preying priests. 

Francis' description of Satan as "the great accuser" has rubbed one of the pope's adversaries the wrong way - Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Vatican's former ambassador to Washington D.C. 

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former Apostolic Nuncio to United States.

In an 11-page statement published on Aug. 26, Viganò launched an unprecedented broadside by a Church insider against the pope and a long list of Vatican and U.S. Church officials.

He accused Francis of knowing about sexual misconduct by a former U.S. cardinal with male adult seminarians but not doing anything about it.

Viganò, concluding that his former boss had singled him out as the devil in disguise, complained in his next statement that Francis “compared me to the great accuser, Satan, who sows scandal and division in the Church, though without ever uttering my name”. -Reuters

Archbishop Viganò then said in his written statement that Pope Francis “continued to cover” for McCarrick and not only did he “not take into account the sanctions that Pope Benedict had imposed on him” but also made McCarrick “his trusted counselor.”  Vigano said that the former archbishop of Washington advised the Pope to appoint a number of bishops in the United States, including Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago and Joseph Tobin of Newark.

CBS News spoke by telephone to Viganò, who confirmed he wrote the statement and said he was speaking out now "to combat the grave situation in the church, to protect the church and also to stop future abuse." He told CBS News producer Anna Matranga that he had no agenda and was stating facts.

Viganò, who retired in 2016 at age 75, described an exchange with Francis on June 23, 2013, shortly after he became pope, about Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., who resigned last month over claims he sexually abused seminary students and an altar boy.

Viganò writes that he told Francis about the allegations: "Holy Father, I don't know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation for Bishops there is a dossier this thick about him. He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance."

Viganò then said that the pope did not respond to the statement, and McCarrick continued in his role as a public figure for the church.

"Pope Francis has repeatedly asked for total transparency in the Church. He must honestly state when he first learned about the crimes committed by McCarrick, who abused his authority with seminarians and priests. In any case, the Pope learned about it from me on June 23, 2013 and continued to cover him."

On Sunday, a top Vatican official attacked Viganò in an open letter, accusing him of mountingh a "political frame job devoid of real foundation," while refuting the accusations against Pope Francis point by point. 

Francis, meanwhile, has refused to confirm or deny Viganò's accusations. 



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Netflix Is Responsible For 15% Of Global Internet Traffic

ORIGINAL LINK

A new report by Sandvine has revealed the web applications responsible for the world's most downstream traffic...

Infographic: Netflix is Responsible for 15% of Global Internet Traffic | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

Underlining the popularity of streaming services, Statista's Martin Armstrong points out that Netflix accounts for the most megabytes with 15 percent.

Youtube isn't too far behind with 11.4 percent.

Further back but still with a significant share, Amazon Prime Video is responsible for 3.9 percent.

Interestingly, the biggest streamers vary notably across geographic region...

The question is - where does Porn fit into all this?



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Monday, October 8, 2018

1-in-4 military sex-assault claims false

ORIGINAL LINK

shredded_evidence

Historically, experts have assumed around 8 percent of rape or sexual assault allegations are false.

But a new compilation of statistics based on actual cases in the U.S. military found as many as 26 percent of allegations are false.

The issue has been in the headlines in recent weeks because of Christine Ford’s claim that now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when both were in their high school 36 years ago.

In a 50-48 vote to confirm Kavanaugh, only one Democrat supported him.

“We are very fortunate that the waves of bizarre accusations against Brett Kavanaugh did not kill his nomination to the Supreme Court,” said Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness. “But the verbal assault could have worked to achieve that result.”

Her organization has looked at actual numbers of reported military sexual assault cases over recent years.

The military, which was ordered by Barack Obama to address the problem of sexual assault, notes in its 2017 report two categories of claims, those “Insufficient Evidence of Any Offense to Prosecute” and “Allegations unfounded by Command/Legal Review.”

The report explains the categories do not include instances in which the victim declined to participate in a prosecution or the statute of limitations had expired.

The total in those two categories, among all military reports of sexual assault, was 13 percent in 2009, peaking at 26 percent in 2016. In 2017, the claims were down slightly to 23 percent.

“When the allegations in an unrestricted report are investigated, one possible outcome is that the evidence discovered by the investigators demonstrates that the accused person did not commit the offense,” the report says.

“Another possible outcome is that evidence shows that a crime did not occur. When either of these situations occurs, the allegations” are “determined to be unfounded.”

“This information is important because it is not anecdotal; it is extracted from official DoD reports focusing on the behavior of young men and women who live under rules meant to encourage personal discipline,” Donnelly told WND.

A Washington Times report by Rowan Scarborough on the topic explained other studies have found up to 40 percent of sexual assault charges are false.

“There is no shortage of politicians, victims’ advocates and news articles claiming that the nationwide false report for rape and sexual assault is almost nonexistent, presenting a figure of around 2 percent,” Brent Turvey, a criminologist, told the Times.

“This figure is not only inaccurate, but also it has no basis in reality. Reporting it publicly as a valid frequency rate with any empirical basis is either scientifically negligent or fraudulent.”

Donnelly told the Times, “It appears that die-hard opponents of Kavanaugh have invented a narrative to imply that false accusations hardly ever happen.

“You see where they are going with this,” she continued. “Any man who doubts Ford is hostile to women experiencing abuse, who make accusations truthfully 90 to 98 percent of the time. This is why hard data from the Pentagon, which shows rates of false accusations averaging 18 percent in annual reports since 2009, is important.”

There were three women who accused Kavanaugh. Claims by Ford and Deborah Ramirez were investigated, but purported witnesses didn’t back their stories.

“A third charge, Julie Swetnick’s accusation of gang rape, was deemed not credible by Republicans and wasn’t on the FBI interview list,” the Times said.

The new military emphasis on tracking sex crimes comes from an order from Obama.

“The statistics on unfounded cases are contained in an appendix of 3,567 cases last year. Of those, 729 cases were dropped because of ‘insufficient evidence’ that a crime was committed,” the Times reported.

“Another 79 were deemed ‘unfounded’ at the command/legal review level. The total — 808 — represents 23 percent of all cases that year.”



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