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Israeli soldiers shot bound Palestinian teen because live fire is their only language

Posted by M. C. on April 26, 2019

https://outline.com/RUT7aN

Gideon Levy

If he were a settler teen, he would be chasing the soldiers away, throwing stones and cursing at them. The story would be over. But the 15-year-old Hajajeh is a Palestinian teen

Two photographs tell the whole story, of about 2,000 words. In the first you see the Israeli commando soldier, armed and protected from head to toe, his face hidden, standing above a hooded mass. The obscure sight is Palestinian teen Osama Hajajeh from Tuqu village, 15 and a half years old, who was arrested a short while beforehand by Israeli soldiers in an ambush. The teen’s hands are tied behind his back, his eyes are covered with a piece of flannel, he is kneeling under orders on the ground, his face down, his back bent over as a soldier from an elite unit of the Israeli Defense Forces points a sophisticated sniper’s rifle at him.

This is the grotesque face of military action. All the training, all the equipment, all the prestige of a commando unit lead to a school boy, blindfolded and bound. A commando soldier facing a punk from Tuqu. That’s the booty. The Israeli military’s daily picture of victory.

The suspicion: the youth from Tuqu threw stones at passing vehicles. If he were a settler teen, he would be chasing the soldiers away, throwing stones and cursing at them. The story would be over. But Hajajeh is a Palestinian teen. The main street leading to his village has been blocked lately, and not long ago a woman from his village was killed in a hit and run by an Israeli vehicle. His village decided to protest. The stone is his protest. The occupier is his enemy.

The second photograph is much more grotesque than the first. Read the rest of this entry »

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Facebook’s Hire of Patriot Act Co-Author Raises Questions on Company’s Commitment to Privacy

Posted by M. C. on April 26, 2019

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/24/facebooks-hire-patriot-act-co-author-raises-questions-companys-commitment-privacy

Facebook’s Hire of Patriot Act Co-Author Raises Questions on Company’s Commitment to Privacy

“What could go wrong?”

Sometimes I feel like, somebody's watching me.

Sometimes I feel like, somebody’s watching me. (Image: Flickr)

Social media giant Facebook made a major hire Monday, bringing on lawyer Jennifer Newstead as the company’s general counsel—a move that generated criticism due to Newstead’s work two decades ago drafting the Patriot Act.

The company announced the hire by citing Newstead’s extensive work in government. Most recently, Newstead acted as the legal adviser for the State Department.

During her time in the Bush administration, Newstead was known for being the “day to day manager of the Patriot Act in Congress,” according to torture memo author John Yoo.

“Jennifer is a seasoned leader whose global perspective and experience will help us fulfill our mission,” Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said in a statement.

Newstead referred to Facebook’s role in the public discourse in a statement released by the company.

“Facebook’s products play an important role in societies around the world,” said Newstead. “I am looking forward to working with the team and outside experts and regulators on a range of legal issues as we seek to uphold our responsibilities and shared values.”

Newstead’s history in government, though, triggered criticism of Facebook for putting her in a position of power—especially in light of recent comments from the company’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg that emphasized a more secure and private experience for users.

The Observer, in a report on the hire, took a skeptical view of Newstead’s past as far as it related to tech.

Ironically, the newly minted Facebook chief lawyer has made a career out of helping the government gain access to private citizens’ data in the name of security. Perhaps the most notable of Newstead’s work is helping draft and present Congress with the Patriot Act, a post-9/11 bill that helped the Bush administration utilize Americans’ phone and internet records.

Thus, as technologist Ashkan Soltani pointed out to Politico, the hire of Newstead is incompatible with the company’s public pivot to privacy.

“It’s almost as if we’re living in some bizarro world where the company does exactly the opposite of what Zuckerberg states publicly,” said Soltani.

Fight For the Future deputy director Evan Greer mused about how Newstead’s hiring fits into an ostensibly different privacy culture at Facebook.

“I can’t help but wonder how all the ‘privacy advocates’ that Facebook has been hiring lately are going to feel about working with a LITERAL AUTHOR OF THE PATRIOT ACT as their general counsel,” Greer tweeted.

Writer Jonah Blank put the hire in perspective, implying that Newstead’s addition to the Facebook team was not the best move.

“How has #Facebook responded to charges that it violates its users’ privacy, fuels ethnic/racial/religious tension, and may have helped #Russia interfere with the 2016 US election?” asked Blank.

“By hiring Trump appointee as its general counsel.”

“What could go wrong?” producer Evan Shapiro asked sarcastically.

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Assange’s Imprisonment Reveals Even More Corruption Than WikiLeaks Did – Caitlin Johnstone

Posted by M. C. on April 26, 2019

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/04/25/assanges-imprisonment-reveals-even-more-corruption-than-wikileaks-did/

Assange’s Imprisonment Reveals Even More Corruption Than WikiLeaks Did

Consortium News has launched a new series titled “The Revelations of WikiLeaks”, geared toward helping readers come to a full appreciation of just how much useful information the outlet has made available to the world with its publications. Which is good, because there’s a whole lot of it. Understanding everything that WikiLeaks has done to shine light in areas that powerful people wish to keep dark makes it abundantly clear why powerful people would want to dedicate immense amounts of energy toward sabotaging it.

What’s even more interesting to me right now, though, is that if you think about it, the completely fraudulent arrest and imprisonment of Julian Assange arguably exposes more malfeasance by government and media powers than than what has been revealed in all WikiLeaks publications combined since its inception. And we can use that as a weapon in waking the world up to the dystopian manipulations of the powerful, in the same way we can use WikiLeaks publications.

Really, think about it. Thanks to WikiLeaks we know about a military cultural environment in the Iraq war that was toxic enough to give rise to US servicemen merrily gunning down civilians, including two Reuters war correspondents, while whooping and exchanging verbal high-fives. We know that the CIA cultivated a massive cyber-arsenal which enables them to spy through smartphones and smart TVs, remotely hijack vehicles, and forge digital fingerprints on cyber-intrusions to make it look to forensic investigators as though hackers from another nation was responsible, and that they lost control of this arsenal. We know about the DNC’s agenda to undermine Bernie Sanders during the primary in violation of its charter, that Hillary Clinton told a group of Goldman Sachs executives that she understood the need to have “a public position and a private position”, and that Obama’s cabinet was basically selected for him by a Citigroup executive. We know that and a whole lot more, information which mainstream and alternative media reports use to this very day when constructing analyses of what’s going on in the world.

Read the rest of this entry »

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“A government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.”

Posted by M. C. on April 25, 2019

Ayn Rand

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Corey Booker’s Reparations

Posted by M. C. on April 25, 2019

What about those of Chinese, native American, Irish, Jewish, European, Korean, SE Asian, Hispanic, Catholic heritage that had nothing to do with American slavery and/or are/were victims? Do they get a free pass? Will they get reparations?

Quakers were the first religious organization in the US to condemn slavery. Will they get let off the hook?

Slavery is old as time and remains active among many of our foreign “friends”. Go back far enough and everyone was treated badly by someone. Will you all get a crack at free money?

Answer – NO. Creating the façade of progress as an excuse to redistribute your money to get votes is the whole point.

One thing for sure: This will take A LOT of expensive government administration and nice new buildings.

Commissions and departments will be formed that will massively and unconstitutionally regulate and spend. Credit will be taken, pockets lined. Will anyone that really needs it benefit?

Will Corey Booker’s commission define what victory looks like? Victory is always the next increased budget away. Too many jobs and too much of someone else’s money is at stake.

The winners – Washington paper shufflers. The losers…

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REPARATIONS HAPPY HOUR – The Burning Platform

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Financial Blacklisting: YouTube Strips Ad Revenue from Second Amendment Activist Antonia Okafor

Posted by M. C. on April 25, 2019

Youtube-Keeping political correctness and snowflakes safe from the scourge of individual liberty and responsibility.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/04/24/financial-blacklisting-youtube-strips-ad-revenue-from-second-amendment-activist-antonia-okafor/

by Allum Bokhari

Conservative YouTuber and second amendment activist Antonia Okafor reports that her entire channel was stripped of advertising revenue by the Google-owned video platform after she uploaded an interview about self-defense with a fellow conservative.

“YouTube went straight to just demonetizing my ENTIRE channel today” wrote Okafor. “Just uploaded an episode where Nina Prevot, a Creole libertarian and I interviewed Amy Robbins about teaching young women to defend themselves.”…

Okafor is the CEO of EmPOWERed, an organization that teaches self-defense and second amendment rights to college-aged women around the country. The organization’s slogan is “gun rights are women’s rights.”

YouTube has yet to respond to Breitbart News’ inquiry about the status of Okafor’s channel.

Prominent conservatives took to Twitter shortly after the news to condemn YouTube’s decision.

“Blatant viewpoint suppression,” wrote Lila Rose, president of the pro-life group Live Action…

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gun_control3

 

 

 

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California May Ban Schools From Suspending Students For ‘Willful Defiance’

Posted by M. C. on April 25, 2019

Might as well just graduate them at grade 8. They won’t be learning much in daycare government school after that.

Bonus-they will be sure to vote progressive while wearing their Che Guevara shirt.

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2019/04/23/willful-defiance-bill-senate/

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The California State Senate voted to ban schools and principals from suspending students for “willful defiance” of teachers, staff, and administrators.

The Senate approved SB 419 Monday by a vote of 30-8. It moves to the Assembly next.

A similar bill was vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown last legislative session.

Under the new version (Senate Bill 419), students in grades 4-8 wouldn’t be suspended for disrupting school activities or willfully defying school authorities, including teachers and staff. The bill would also ban schools from suspending students in grades 9-12 for the same thing until January 1, 2025. The law would apply to both public and charter schools.

Existing law already prohibits schools from suspending children in grades K-3 for disrupting or willful defiance. Existing law also prevents schools from recommending the expulsion of students in all grades for disrupting or willful defiance.

Students could still be suspended or expelled for other acts, including threatening violence, bringing a weapon or drugs to school, or damaging school property. Teachers could also still be allowed to “suspend pupils from class for the day and the following day who disrupt school activities or otherwise willfully defied valid
authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties.”

As part of the new bill, superintendents or principals would be asked to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion that are “age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil’s specific misbehavior.”…

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safe space

 

 

 

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Saudi Arabia beheadings: Western Michigan-student-to-be executed

Posted by M. C. on April 25, 2019

The kingdom has executed more than 100 people in the first four months of 2019, and is on track to kill more than 300 this year, Reprieve posted on Twitter on Tuesday.

When they are not busy bombing schools and hospitals in Yemen or World Trade Centers.

Our best ME friend. Is Saudi Arabia worse than ISIS…or do I repeat myself?

https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2019/04/23/saudi-arabia-beheadings-executions-mujtaba-al-sweikat/3552679002/

,

A Saudi Arabian man who was arrested as a teenager as he was getting ready to fly to America to begin his studies at Western Michigan University was beheaded by the government Tuesday, according to a report from an official press agency.

Mujtaba al-Sweikat was 17 when he was detained at King Fahd International Airport in 2012. Earlier that year, Al-Sweikat allegedly attended a pro-democracy rally in the midst of the Arab Spring, which led to his arrest. He was intending to visit Western Michigan, where he had been accepted as a student, the university confirmed to the Free Press in 2017.

More than 35 people, including al-Sweikat, were listed on a release from the Saudi Press Agency, announcing the killings.

Sweikat was charged with armed disobedience against the king, as well as attacking, shooting and injuring security forces, civilians and passersby. He was also accused of destroying public property, causing chaos and disrupting the peace, by participating in a terrorist cell, to make and deliver Molotov cocktails.

During his time in custody, Sweikat was severely beaten all over his body, including the soles of his feet, and convicted on the basis of a confession extracted through torture, according to Reprieve, an international human rights group that has offices in New York and London and operates with partners around the world.

After his arrest, he was not allowed to contact anybody for three days, and his family were not allowed to visit him for three months, during which time he was kept in solitary confinement, according to Reprieve…

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healthcare

 

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Utilitarians – LewRockwell

Posted by M. C. on April 25, 2019

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/04/atilla-mert-sulker/where-utilitarians-go-wrong/

By

The freedom movement in America today can be divided into two main camps- deontological and utilitarian. The former tends to be in favor of the age old natural rights tradition, while the latter judges the effectiveness of the freedom movement in terms of how much prosperity it leads to. While it is rather easy to adopt the latter position, rooted in the argument that humans naturally tend to judge actions by their effectiveness in improving their own happiness, the utilitarian doctrine has its flaws, and one fundamental flaw in regards to the state.

I should first note that utilitarianism itself has nothing to say in regards to the state or the freedom movement. Cut and dried, utilitarianism is a moral doctrine that simply aims at the maximization of happiness. It says nothing as to how this can be achieved, and to what extent certain political frameworks maximize happiness. One could be an anarchist or a statist and still see that utilitarianism fits within their respective political framework.

Utilitarianism in a voluntaryist framework could certainly oppose the natural rights tradition in the following manner: Individuals will avoid committing crimes not because they fear that they will violate someone’s natural rights, but rather because they will come to realize that committing more crimes leads to an overall decrease in happiness. Thus they will support individualism and non-aggression on the basis that it will help increase overall happiness in society, not because they think that humans have certain inalienable rights. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ayn Rand’s Political Philosophy | Mises Institute

Posted by M. C. on April 25, 2019

Good article if one is of a philsophical bent.

Me…I have to open my Wikipedia before I start.

https://mises.org/power-market/ayn-rands-political-philosophy

David Gordon

Foundations of a Free Society: Reflections on Ayn Rand’s Political Philosophy. Gregory Salmieri and Robert Mayhew, Eds.  University of Pittsburgh Press. Xi + 460 pages.1

This excellent book mirrors in its choice of contributors the odd relationship between Ayn Rand and libertarianism. On the one hand, her own proposals for the political organization of society are a version of minimal state libertarianism, and her novels and essays have had an enormous impact on many libertarians. On the other hand, she not only denied she was a libertarian but denounced libertarianism in characteristically fierce fashion. The anarchist position of Murray Rothbard especially aroused her opposition.

Many of the contributors to the book are members of the “official” Objectivist organization of philosophers, the Ayn Rand Society, but others, including Matt Zwolinski, Peter Boettke, and Michael Huemer, are not Objectivists. The “official” Objectivists are more inclined than was Rand herself to acknowledge the similarity between her political thought and libertarianism, but, like her, they criticize libertarianism and denounce Rothbard’s anarchism.

In what follows, I shall address the criticisms of Rothbard’s anarchism, as these are likely to be of most interest to readers of mises.org. Before turning to this, though, I should like to examine the more general criticism of libertarianism raised by the Objectivists, as this has considerable philosophical value.

Given the manifest similarity between Rand’s political proposals and minimal state libertarianism, why are Objectivists so critical of libertarianism? One is tempted to ask them, “All right, you don’t like anarchism, but why isn’t support for a minimal state that has no power to tax and for laissez-faire capitalism enough for you? What more do you want?” Their answer is that non-Objectivist libertarianism lacks proper philosophical foundations. In the absence of these foundations, libertarians are unable adequately to support their political conclusions.

As an example, Darryl Wright, a philosophy professor at Harvey Mudd College and a rising star among Objectivist philosophers, criticizes Rothbard for not grounding his non-aggression principle in normative ethics. Although Rothbard accepted an ethics of natural law, he also held that political philosophy was autonomous, and this was his fatal error: “The source of the difficulties with Rothbard’s conception of aggression. . .lies in a particular way of understanding self-ownership, which in turn proceeds from Rothbard’s commitment to what I will call the autonomy of political philosophy. By this I mean the view that political philosophy should be independent of normative ethics—that is, independent of any substantive ethical theory applicable to the whole of one’s life.” (p.107). More generally, Wright says, “Since Rand’s approach to philosophy is holistic, a proper understanding of the[non-initiation of force] principle requires us to see how it grows out of her more fundamental positions in ethics and epistemology. . .” (p.16)…

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My Business Travail: My Harrowing Experience in "The Hindu ...

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