Facebook is Built on Anger, and They Know It

Parker Davis September 27, 2021

The social media platform that wears its moral supremacism on its sleeve, Facebook, has a problem living up to its own moral supremacist standards, which is more often than not when dealing with moral supremacists in general.

The Wall Street Journal has conducted a study that shows that Facebook is LITERALLY relying on the emotion of anger as its best marketing tool. It’s what sells and what builds. Anger is the energy that Facebook must sustain and cultivate if it hopes to continue its unquenchable desire for more. If it wants to gain members, grow revenues, and everyone does, it seems, then it must continue to make hundreds of millions of people angry every day to do so.

But hey, at least they”re not racist or bigoted, though.

Facebook knowingly makes people angry and have worse body image, Wall Street Journal report finds

From www.vox.com
2021-09-21 13:00:00

Excerpt:

Reading the findings from the Wall Street Journal’s massive, three-part investigation into Facebook — that the platform makes people angry and depressed, and that the company exempts a huge class of VIP users from its rules regarding harassment and incitement of violence — my reaction was: Well, obviously.

Anyone who spends a decent amount of time online knows what happens when you shove a bunch of strangers into the same place. We replicate existing power dynamics, we form groups, we troll, we project our biases, we yell until only the most extreme voices are the ones that get heard. We expect the companies that own these platforms to fix it, but nobody can agree on how.

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EU Picks France Over America in Submarine Conflict

Mark Clouse September 27, 2021

After the United States essentially negated a multimillion dollar deal with France and Australia when it gifted Australia better submarines than the ones Australia was set to buy, the EU has take the side of France in the affair ,who remains a disgruntled broker.

The mere choice of taking a public side by the EU is news in and of itself, but choosing France over America while doing so is a pretty strong message that Europe no longer wishes to mostly reflect American foreign policy.

This most likely is the fruit of a perception from Europe that America no longer represents the fundamental economic power of the world anymore. With China, and even India, rising in economic signficance, opportunities for economic winfall are increasingly no more overwhelmingly American.

EU backs France in submarine dispute, asking: Is America back?

From www.reuters.com
2021-09-21 12:21:00

Excerpt:

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 20 (Reuters) – European Union foreign ministers expressed support and solidarity with France on Monday during a meeting in New York to discuss Australia’s scrapping of a $40 billion submarine order with Paris in favor of a U.S. and British deal.

Speaking after the closed-door meeting on the sidelines annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “more cooperation, more coordination, less fragmentation” was needed to achieve a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific region where China is the major rising power.

Australia said last week it would cancel an order for conventional submarines from France and instead build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with U.S. and British technology after striking a security partnership with those countries under the name AUKUS. read more

“Certainly, we were caught by surprise by this announcement,” Borrell said.

The decision enraged France and earlier on Monday in New York French Foreign…

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US Treasury to Prosecute Crypto Exchanges that Allow Ransomware Hackers to Get Paid

If You Pay Hackers, You Could Go to Jail

Ivo Fysic September 27, 2021

It seems the US Treasury Department is about to put its own government agencies between a rock and a hard place as they vow to attempt to shut off the methods by with ransomware hackers get paid. These hackers break into computer networks, taking them hostage, until the agency targeted pays them, throughy cryptocurrency exchanges. They mostly target governmment agencies because these groups have magic sources to money and the agencies simply must pay because they need that data fundamentally to perform their duties.

Now, with Treasury cutting off the method of payment, will this end the ransomware attacks or will it create a black market for government agencies to continue to pay the ransomware hackers as they have little choice but to do so? If so, will Treasury find itself prosecuting municipal managers for finding a way to pay the hackers through exchanges that might not be under US Treasury jurisdiction? I am betting that the latter will happen and the people in government who find themselves targeted will most likely choose expediency over cost, as governments are most often wont to do.

Treasury Department will sanction crypto exchanges that help channel payments to hackers

From www.washingtonpost.com
2021-09-21 17:06:06
Gerrit De Vynck
Excerpt:

The U.S. government is stepping up its efforts to disrupt the infrastructure hackers use to make money from breaking into and holding hostage computer networks, announcing sanctions against one virtual currency exchange and warning U.S. companies it could be legally risky for them to pay off hackers that hit their systems.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions Tuesday against Suex, an exchange that lets people buy and sell virtual currencies with regular credit cards, according to its website. The government said as much as 40 percent of known transactions run by Suex were criminal. Other exchanges could be hit with sanctions, too.

“We are going to continue to look at the ecosystem and look for actors that are taking similar actions,” Anne Neuberger, the White House’s deputy national security adviser on cybersecurity, said during a call with reporters.

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The Left Are Being Played Fools By The Authoritarian Right

Bill Collier September 27, 2021

Leftists who are willing to use authoritarianism, beware! The ruling class playing you and pushing your buttons to make you feel so hateful toward all non-leftists aren’t actually on your side. You are just a battering ram meant to clear the decks and pave the way for totalitarianism. When this is acheived, all your alt-gendered rainbow wokism and social justice hyperbole will be tossed and you will find the new Caesar you ushered in is actually quite right-wing.

Caesar knows that all this unnatural behavior and the destruction of the birth rate caused when most young people in their prime are identifying as some form of alt-gendered experimental, theoretical, fantasy of human sexuality and gender will eventually lead to a collapse even they cannot escape the consequences of.

Basically, the ruling class are right-wing authoritarians using your wokism and cancel culture authoritarianism to distrupt society and pave the way for Caesar. You are focused on things that are non-essential to the survival of a civilization and even if you temporarily acheive your goals, you will find that Caesar will toss you like garbage into the dumpster fire that is the history of a dying civilization.

You can choose, and you should choose, your own sociocultural norms and reality in free association with fellow travelers. In a free and pluralistic society, you don’t need anyone’s approval to live as you choose, but neither are you owed their approval.

Your own desire to be free and to not be treated as “less than” is admirable and we support it. But your insistence that we be canceled because we find your choices to be unhealthy, which only means we won’t make them or applaud them, is immoral because it is authoritarian. What is more, you are setting up an authoritarian framework that, once built, will betray you even though you and your cancel culture screeching made it possible.

US, 14 Others Conduct Military Drills in Ukraine

Mark Clouse September 22, 2021

In a show of force and solidarity directed at Russia in support of Ukraine, 15 nations, including the United States, are conducting drills in the Ukraine, with Ukrainian troops, in an operation called Rapid Trident 21.

Multinational military exercise Rapid Trident 21 begins in Ukraine

From www.army-technology.com
2021-09-21 15:18:53
Aninda Chakraborty
Excerpt:

A multinational military exercise called Rapid Trident 21 has commenced in Ukraine with an opening ceremony at Central City Stadium near the city of Yavoriv.

Around 6,000 troops from 15 nations, including 4,000 soldiers from Ukraine, will participate in this annual training exercise.

The military drill will primarily seek to boost combat readiness, defence capabilities and interoperability among the forces.

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63 African Penguins Killed by Cape Honeybees

Ivo Fysic September 22, 2021

A swarm of Cape honeybees in South Africa attacked a colony of penguins, stinging them in their eyes. The assault left over 60 penguine dead. The penguins in question are African penguins.

Dozens of endangered penguins killed after being stung in the eyes by swarming honeybees

From www.livescience.com
2021-09-21 13:02:12

Excerpt

In a bizarre incident, 64 endangered African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) have been killed in South Africa after being stung in and around their eyes by Cape honeybees (Apis mellifera capensis).

Rangers from the South African National Parks organization (SANParks) discovered 63 of the 64 dead penguins among a colony near Cape Town in Table Mountain National Park on Friday, Sept. 17. African penguins are a protected species in South Africa and are currently listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, with around 42,000 mature individuals globally.

“The deaths occurred suddenly sometime between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning,” SANParks said in a Facebook post. “No external physical injuries were observed on any of the birds.”

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Digital Communication Revolution Through New Optical Amplifier

Paul Collier September 22, 2021

The backbone of internet communication is built on the power of optical communication. From Wikipedia:

Optical communication, also known as optical telecommunication, is communication at a distance using light to carry information. It can be performed visually or by using electronic devices.

Scientists at the Photonics Laboratory at Chalmers University, Sweden, have developed a new type of optical amplifier that could dramatically increase the capacity, while decreasing the energy demand and noise distortion, of the best that optical commication currently has to offer.

Additionallly, this breakthrough could reduce the size of these amplifiers to millimeters in size.

A new optical amplifier could revolutionize optical communication

From www.techexplorist.com
2021-09-21 12:38:50
Amit Malewar
Excerpt:

….Along with offering high performance, this new amplifier is compact enough to integrate into a chip just millimeters in size. Most importantly, it does not generate excess noise.

Ping Zhao, Postdoc at the Photonics Laboratory at Chalmers, said, “We have developed the world’s first optical amplifier that significantly enhances the range, sensitivity, and performance of optical communication, that does not generate any excess noise – and is also compact enough to be of practical use.”

“The light amplification in the project is based on a principle known as the Kerr effect, which so far is the only known approach that amplifies light without causing significant excess noise. The principle has been demonstrated before, but never in such a compact format– previous versions were too bulky to be useful.”

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GOP Governors Want Showdown with Biden over Border

Freedomist Editor September 21, 2021

Republican Governors From 26 States Demand Meeting With Biden Over Border Crisis

From l egalinsurrection.com
2021-09-21 13:00:26
Mike LaChance
Excerpt:

When you look at the border now, particularly the situation in Del Rio, Texas, the word crisis doesn’t even do it justice. What was once an immigration crisis is now a full blown humanitarian disaster.

Biden and Harris are completely missing in action, and Democrats who shrieked about ‘kids in cages’ under Trump are curiously silent.

Now a group of 26 Republican governors are demanding a meeting with Biden. They want answers and a plan of action. So do millions of Americans.

Jessica Chasmar reports at FOX News:

26 governors demand Biden meeting over border crisis

More than two dozen Republican governors are demanding a meeting with President Biden to address securing America’s borders, saying the illegal immigration surge under the current administration has created an “international humanitarian crisis.”

A letter released Monday signed by 26 Republican governors, including Doug Ducey of Arizona, Ron DeSantis of Florida, and Greg Abbott of Texas, asks Biden to…

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Mass Shooting in Russian University Leaves 8 Dead

Mark Clouse September 21, 2021

Perm State University Shooting Leaves at Least Eight Dead

From www.thedailybeast.com
2021-09-21 16:34:14

Excerpt:

A gunman who killed at least eight people on a university campus in Russia Monday morning has reportedly been identified as a student. According to AP, the gunman was injured when he was detained at Perm State University, and Russia’s TASS news agency reported that he’s enrolled as a student at the school. The university said in a statement that the unidentified gunman used a non-lethal weapon that appeared to have been modified to fire live ammunition. TASS reported that some students and staff were seen leaping from windows to escape the gunfire, and there are between six to 14 wounded people. Perm is about 700 miles east of Moscow and the university is home to 12,000 students.

Read it at AP

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General Milley Open to Future Taliban Alliance with US

Freedomist Editor September 21, 2021

In the near future, in the name of fighting Terrorism, America could find herself working as an ally with the Taliban on some operations that target the type of Islamo-Fascist groups that this particular Islamo-Fascist group might not like. This isn’t a speculation, this is something offered as a possibility by none other than General Milley himself, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Working with the Devil? The Potential for U.S.-Taliban Cooperation Against the Islamic State in Afghanistan

From warontherocks.com
2021-09-16 07:55:13
Jonathan Schroden
Excerpt:

…. Should the United States cooperate with the Taliban in order to counter the Islamic State in Afghanistan? When asked about prospects for that during a Sept. 1 press conference, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded, “It’s possible.” Given the 20-year U.S. war against the Taliban, Milley’s remarks made news and came as a shock to some observers.

In fact, the United States has already worked with the Taliban on several occasions in pursuit of common interests, and Milley’s comment makes clear U.S. officials are seriously thinking through the possibility of doing so again. A review of the pros and cons of future U.S.-Taliban cooperation against the Islamic State in Afghanistan shows that while there may be operational advantages for both sides,

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