Imagine if one of our allies in the world acquired a few thousand acres of land in the US. Then they brought in their military to this area and spent the next 14 years training and equipping a group like black lives matter or Antifa to overthrow our country? I imagine most Americans would be very upset with our “ally”.
Well, Israel has been training and equipping the Kurds in northern Iraq to do just that thing since 2003. An ally training another ally to fight another ally.
What’s really sad is that we’ve pretty much ignored that. The European press reported this in 2003. A few more reports since then.
Yesterday’s media reported that it’s moved on to a much bigger issue than mere rifles, machine guns and artillery. They are actually training them to fly F16s! Other than the sheer stupidity of the US allowing this, we are the ones who give F16s to Israel. Foreign military sales and arms proliferation laws are very clear on how the countries that get our equipment can use it. They specifically prohibit their being given to someone else.
The US (who never should have been in Syria) has declared that we’ve stopped the CIA from fighting in Syria. Are we allowing Israel to be our proxy to continue the war?…
Online censorship is a contentious subject for most people. Many very mistakenly make the argument that it’s an attack on the 1st Amendment. The 1st Amendment of course is a restriction on the Government, not on businesses. Businesses can and do censor speech and actions every day and should have every right to do so. It’s their business and their corporate reputation.
Obviously this censorship only applies to the workplace and folks who publicly identify with the corporation. A UPS driver can’t wear a Trump Hat or a Bernie sticker on their uniform or truck for example. A company can censor you from sending emails from a corporate account to a planned parenthood fundraiser. Most folks are ok with this.
Amazingly, when it comes to social media, people have very different ideas regarding your “right” to post something. Makes no sense to me. You get to use a company’s product for free but then complain if you don’t get to post something that the company has decided doesn’t fit their corporate model or what they perceive to be their corporate reputation.
For the social media companies, they are in the middle of a big dilemma. On the one hand, they built their companies on the notion of being a totally wide open opportunity for people to communicate and share ideas. Then they run into stock holders that want to pursue a social agenda. Then they have the “socially responsible” folks who want them to censor things that they find offensive (on both sides of the political spectrum). Then governments want them to censor things that governments find “dangerous”.
In an attempt to accomplish all of this, many have come up with a computer program that identifies “key phrases” of sorts that might fit all of these categories. It would impossible to review every post manually. Facebook alone sees over 300 MILLION pictures a day being posted. The computer solution is a good alternative. Of course sometimes the computer is wrong.
We all get excited and angry when something we like gets booted by the computer. The “boot” gets lots of attention. What gets little attention is when the computer ruling is overturned and the post being put up again. These companies have a very good system of allowing for appeals and posts get put back up regularly.
This site has lots of examples and shows how to appeal.…
As a general rule in America, if you have a blog/website that allows people to comment or otherwise post something, you can’t be sued for what they post. Makes sense in a way. If someone who owns a copywrited picture contacts you and proves that someone posted a copywrited picture on your site, you are supposed to take it down. Everyone is happy.
Well, the courts have just added a new dimension to this. If you are irresponsible and let anyone post anything without you moderating it, you are still in the clear. If you try to be responsible and moderate posts, the courts decided that you can be sued.
I’m completely in support of copy write law. People ought to be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. It would be difficult to enforce a copy write if you had to search every web site everyday to search for copy write violations.
With that said, what is the harm of an innocent post, particularly where the standard is that once you are notified, you take it down? We own a small business and understand the law regarding copy writes. One of the standards of enforcement is that you have to mark your product in some way to inform people that your item is protected by a registered copy write.
If there is no making on a picture being used on your blog, it seems to me that the owner of the picture has no expectation that his picture won’t be used on someone’s blog.
This ruling seems like an attempt to hamper the free exchange of ideas on the web.
…
Phishing. Phishing is the attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
We’ve all heard about it and sadly some of us fall for it every day. Well, there is a new way in which phishing is being used. For the most part phishing works in a random way. They send out a lot of posts and hope someone responds. Now they are targeting specific people and specific groups in an attempt to damage them.
In a somewhat humorous gesture, the computer geeks call this new method spearphishing and they are targeting internet freedom groups. The phishermen are incredibly persistent and clever, changing tactics and being creative in their tactics.
Clickbait is one of the more popular phishing methods and the headlines are tailored to what they believe you might be interested in. Political headlines that will please the left or the right are popular. If they think you hate Trump, you might see something like, “Porn star Jessica Drake claims Donald Trump offered her $10G, use of his private jet for sex,” If you love sensationalism, you might get, “Reality show mom wants to hire a hooker for her autistic son.”
So far, it’s not that difficult to prevent. The lesson here is that hackers are using their techniques to target specific groups and ideas. Learn and use readily available security measures as spelled out in this article.
…
In 1953, at the behest of the British and, more importantly, British Petroleum (BP) the US CIA mounted a coup to topple the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran. The main reason for the coup was because Iran wanted to exert more control over its oil exports and expel foreign corporate representatives.
We put the Shah into power. The Iranians eventually toppled the Shah and things have never been the same. The Shah had relied heavily on US support to maintain his power, so logically the hatred for the Shah that led to his demise also fell on the US also.
The US embassy hostage-taking by the Iranians led to a logical hatred of Iran by most Americans. Hatred that still exists.
Despite economic sanctions, the US really hasn’t been able to topple Iran’s government. Iran remains a significant player in the Middle East. We’re at a point in the world where even historical enemies recognize that talking beats killing. Iraq and Iran are talking.
Yet, we want to double down and maintain animosity. After 25 years of diplomacy at the end of a gun, we’ve forgotten that sometimes people will say no and that actions have consequences. …
The US involvement is Syria never made any sense from a pure “what is our National Interest” in spending money and risking American lives perspective. It just looked like meddling.
Over time, it became obvious that this was an effort on behalf of our allies Saudi Arabia and Israel. Imagine the alarms that should have gone off when Saudi Arabia and Israel agree on something, but obviously they didn’t.
Our military supported some groups and our CIA supported others and there were even times when both of these groups actively fought against each other. We’ve bombed civilians, dropped chemical weapons and other war efforts that most folks would find wrong. And again, for what national interest?
Well, in spite of our efforts, Syria with the help of Russia has won. Even Saudi Arabia concedes that this was a failed effort. President Trump publicly directed the CIA to stop their efforts in Syria.
Yet, our involvement continues. Our forces even took Russian soldiers hostage.
This one makes no sense and in light of the fact that Russia’s foreign aid support has been very popular with the Syrian people, just makes us look stupid.…
The Neos on both sides have pushed a policy of US antagonizing everyone for the past 25 years. Imagine the bully from high school who was never made to stop or to grow up. Now he’s the bully of the town.
In the discussion over whether the US will certify the Iran deal this month, most Americans don’t realize, or they forget, that the deal was between the US, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the EU and Iran! The Neos would have us believe that this was merely between the US and Iran, but in reality it was an International deal.
The other parties to this deal maintain that Iran is complying with the deal. Heck, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and our State Department say that Iran is complying.
The better question at this time is “what’s in the best interests of the United States” with this deal?
Short of an International condemnation of some breach on Iran’s part, if we breach this agreement, we will be seen as a country that doesn’t honor its word.
Why would any other country trust us again? Why would North Korea believe that we could be negotiated with? Would countries be unreasonable to develop and field more military assets to protect themselves in the light of America not honoring it’s word?
Neos are winning in the Swamp.…
16 years into the never ending wars, the US Army has decided that it would rather fight a war the old fashioned way in its new doctrine. The days of fighting the hordes on the plains of Fulda are fond memories for the senior folks, although there can’t be many active duty soldiers who served during the Cold War.
Huge armored columns, war reserves, Armies, Corps and Divisions are the future and past all at once! More than 2000 M1 tanks sit in the hot California desert boneyard, relics to the past.
The M1 tanks were quickly relegated to the ports in Iraq instead of being used. It’s high fuel consumption and 70 ton weight made it virtually impossible to use consistently and effectively.
But, now we’re getting new ones! 1000 of them at $20 million a piece! It’s only money of course.
This is money spent to appease the military industrial complex, but also feeds the Neo’s dream of starting another cold war.…
In 487 world, politics is always full of hypocrisy that reaches new levels of arrogance daily. We know that they want their bodyguards and walled communities for their personal protection, but don’t want you to be able to protect yourself.
The suppressor argument is reaching new levels of vitriol from the left. I personally doubt that the left really cares about suppressors and based on comments from their “leaders” even knows what they are. It’s merely a chance to piss off gun rights folks and raise money for their stupid faithful. Gabby Giffords and crew send out fund raising calls regularly to stop these “assassin” tools.
I wonder if the left will now protest the police departments that are getting suppressors. This is yet another example of hypocritical BS. …
Regular readers will know my feelings on this, but more importantly will come to the conclusion that this is highly likely to only take place in the fringes of the 487 world. Outside of the 487s people will go to work.
I’ve got to love the “thought” process behind choosing the date. “Almost exactly” 100 years after the Bolshevik revolution. I’m “almost exactly” wealthy and good looking!
I see a better reason for them choosing 4 November. It’s the official King Tut day. Maybe they can bring Victor Buono back from the grave. …
