Monday Morning Breakfast For The Brain

Good morning Deplorables, that smell of smoke in the air today is the stench of Obamastan.

Twitter And Social Media Are A Cancer On Our Civic Life. They Don’t Deserve Protection

Via The Federalist

The debate about whether social media companies should have protection from liability misses a larger question about their role in American society.

There’s nothing like a row between Twitter and President Trump to turn everyone into an expert on 47 U.S. Code § 230, a heretofore obscure section of federal law that deals with liability protections for companies like Twitter.

Go on social media right now and you’re bound to find friends, neighbors, and colleagues opining on federal statutes and citing old Supreme Court cases to bolster their arguments that we have to do this or that right now to save the internet or protect free speech.

So let me just say up front, I am not an expert on Section 230 or on federal liability law generally. I don’t have a strong opinion on exactly how the law should be reformed or what the mechanisms of a successful reform might be, nor do I think there aren’t real trade-offs to consider here.

But I don’t need to be an expert in liability law to know this: social media are corrosive to our civic life, and social media companies like Twitter are largely unaccountable for their actions in that regard. Without question, Twitter and Facebook and YouTube have harmed democratic life in America, eroded our civic values, and exacerbated divisions and distrust between citizens. If they all disappeared tomorrow, the country would be better off.

Consider for a moment the disconnect between what social media promised us and what we actually got. The big idea was that making everyone more connected virtually would bring us closer together in reality, that a digital commons would increase empathy and build real community.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg made this sentiment a kind of mantra. When he took his company public in 2012, he was clear about the social mission behind the enterprise. “We are extending people’s capacity to build and maintain relationships,” he wrote, adding that, “Facebook exists to make the world more open and connected, and not just to build a company.”

It hasn’t worked out that way, or at least not quite in the way Zuckerberg meant. The world is undoubtedly more open and connected thanks to Facebook and Twitter, but it is not more sanguine or tolerant or kind. Connectedness through social media has not made us more empathetic or willing to change our minds, and it has not brought us closer together.

Just the opposite, in fact. Even setting aside the online ugliness of the 2016 election, is there any conflict or tension in American society that isn’t made worse by social media? Sure, there are rare exceptions—sometimes people do nice things for each other, sometimes people use these platforms to reunite with long lost family members or friends. But the dominant emotion of social media is anger, the default tone is caustic, and the overall effect is division.

Read the entire article HERE.

Bill Gates’ Web of Dark Money and Influence – Part 2: The COVID-19 Operation

Via The Last American Vagabond

Before we dive into the current COVID-19 crisis, a bit more background on Gates is needed. In the last piece we discussed the history of the Gates Foundation’s investments. What is important to note is that by using the Foundation as the front organization, Gates can donate and influence hospitals, universities, media, governments, and health organizations. The Foundation clearly has the ability to shape the decisions made by some of the institutions they fund, including when these decisions go against the desires of the masses they claim to be helping.

For example, in 2017 Independent Science News released a report detailing how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation paid PR firm Emerging Ag $1.6 million to “recruit a covert coalition of academics to manipulate a UN decision-making process over gene drives.” Emails released by Freedom of Information Act Request reveal that the Gates’ recruitment effort was part of a plan to “fight back against gene drive moratorium proponents.” Gene drives are a controversial genetic extinction technology promoted as a way to eliminate mosquitoes with malaria, agricultural pests, and invasive species.

At the 2016 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, 179 international organizations called for a UN moratorium on gene drives. The opponents of this technology also circulated a letter, “A Call for Conservation with a Conscience: No Place for Gene Drives in Conservation,” signed by 30 environmental leaders who called for a “halt to all proposals for the use of gene drive technologies, but especially in conservation.” The Gates Foundation is heavily invested in gene driving technology and was not happy to see a diverse and unified push-back against gene driving. The Foundation hired Emerging Ag — who have their own web of connections to Big Pharma and Big Ag — to shut down the opponents of gene driving. Emerging Ag was successful and the moratorium was shot down.

Coincidentally, in 2016, the US National Academy of Sciences released a report on gene driving which was co-funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. DARPA is also invested in gene drive research. As The Guardian noted after the release of the NAS report:

“The same US defense research agency (DARPA) who paid for the NAS study have made it known that they are going all-in on gene drive research and development of ‘robust’ synthetic organisms. There is good reason to be worried.”

Moreover, Jim Thomas of the ETC Group, which monitors the impact of emerging technologies and corporate strategies on biodiversity, agriculture and human rights, told ISN that he believes gene drives are potential biological weapons that could have a “disastrous” impact on human life and food security. “The fact that gene drive development is now being primarily funded and structured by the US military raises alarming questions about this entire field,” he stated.

Independent Science News also noted:

“This is also not the first time that the Gates Foundation has used academics to influence public and private opinion on genetic engineering technologies, as witnessed by its funding of the Cornell Alliance for Science.”

The private emails obtained by Independent Science News add to the mountains of evidence detailing how Gates is able to pressure organizations to carry out his interests, and that of his foundation.

Read the entire article HERE.

Trump Goes On Offense: Makes Decisive Move Against Domestic Terrorism

By Chris Donaldson/Trending Politics

President Trump has made a major move to go on the offensive against the anarchists behind riots in multiple U.S. cities and by doing so, has brought the war on terror home to combat our enemies.

In a Sunday morning tweet that will have Democrats and the media screaming in agony, Trump announced that the United States will officially designate the ultra-violent leftist hate group ANTIFA as a terrorist organization.

According to the POTUS:

“The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.”

While Trump did not provide any further details, it is a key moment in history coming at a time when America is under attack by those who hate us for our freedoms and are determined to destroy us from within.

The announcement comes the day after Attorney General William Barr delivered a statement that protests against the killing of black Minneapolis citizen George Floyd by a rogue cop were hijacked by organized elements working across state lines.

According to AG Barr:

“Groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate and violent agenda. In many places, it appears the violence is planned, organized, and driven by anarchic and far-left extremist groups using antifa-like tactics, many of whom travel from outside the state to promote the violence.”

The Justice Department also released a statement that those who are crossing state lines to instigate violence would be dealt with harshly.

The official labeling of ANTIFA as a terrorist organization has long been called for by those who have been horrified at the violence perpetrated by the black-clad goon who are not only the American version of Hitler’s infamous Brown Shirts but also serve as a paramilitary arm of the Democratic party.

The official designation will provide law enforcement with the appropriate tools to go on the offensive against this dangerous anti-American entity including surveillance, the ability to track financial support and to use appropriate measures developed during the war on al Qaeda and ISIS.

According to the State Department’s official website:

Terrorist Designations and State Sponsors of Terrorism

Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)

Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) are foreign organizations that are designated by the Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended. FTO designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business.

Executive Order 13224

Executive Order 13224 gives the U.S. Government a powerful tool to impede terrorist funding and is part of our national commitment to lead the international effort to bring a halt to the evil of terrorist activity. In general terms, the Order provides a means by which to disrupt the financial support network for terrorists and terrorist organizations by authorizing the U.S. government to designate and block the assets of foreign individuals and entities that commit, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.

In addition to dismantling ANTIFA domestically, the designation would allow for the feds to determine whether the organization has received funding from foreign adversaries seeking to use them as proxies.

It’s a good thing that Barack Obama never followed through on his promises to close down the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, it may be time to expand it.

Check out daily articles by Chris at Trending Politics HERE.

Is Violence Necessary to Suppress Violence of Antifa?

Via Lew Rockwell.com

…we know already that there is an organized group of vandals inside America that wants to destroy the republic and the country by means of violence. Because they’ve made their position known years ago and because they’ve acted violently before in places like Portland, it’s a good bet that they are almost surely inciting and causing violent destruction throughout the country. This group is antifa. They are violent anarchists, and they should be destroyed. It will be very surprising if we find that antifa hasn’t been exploiting the bad situations caused by government failures of many kinds, including the lockdown fiasco.

One expects videos to be analyzed and other evidence to build up that shows antifa’s participation. They may even take credit and boast about it. We’ll see.
Antifa’s agenda has been evident for years. The need for its suppression was evident years ago.

When and if evidence surfaces of other collections of people or individuals acting as vandals, then they too should be treated with whatever level of violence it takes to stop them and end their violent activities for good.

Only violence and the threat of violence can suppress such unlawful violence as that of antifa and violent rioters who have no knowledge of antifa or participation in it. Self-defense is essential or else the thugs and/or thuggery take over.

Antifa needs to be singled out because of its past known activities and professed agenda to cause mayhem and to destroy whatever it can.

No government can exist without keeping order. This is its main purpose, according to Hobbes; and his analysis best describes the situation we face. Therefore, unless governments ramp up their own violence against instigators like antifa, they will be failing in their fundamental mission; and these government failures will return us to a multitude in some version of the Hobbesian state of nature. No one knows what that would look like, but it would be very bad, as one can well imagine, until local peoples united and violently suppressed offenders against the peace. But this process would involve disruption of everyone’s lives for an indeterminate period. It is far better to suppress the agitators through existing governments and do it now.

The good people who are against such outrageous violent rioting are already demanding far more violent government action against the perpetrators. And they want it now. Just read the comments underneath videos of the rioting.

The reason why antifa or like violent instigators and vandals could gain in strength and determination is that governments have so far failed to suppress them

Read the entire article HERE.

Ominous Convergence

By James Howard Kuntzler/Clusterfuck Nation

And so, with the unjust killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the quest for cosmic justice resumes — that is, the justice that settles all the scores of racial grievance for all time, which, of course, is unlikely to be satisfied by any means. Mr. Floyd was killed by police officer Derek Chauvin who knelt on Mr. Floyd’s neck for eight minutes with the full force of his weight while three other officers stupidly stood by watching and failed to intervene until Mr. Floyd was dead.

This time, there was no ambiguity in the killing, unlike the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, that sparked a season of riots. Video from a bystander’s phone shows Officer Chauvin stupidly killing Mr. Floyd. The four policemen have reportedly been fired (NBC News), but no one has been charged yet. Two days of protests and nighttime riots have commenced in that city and are now spreading to cities around the country. With Memorial Day in the rearview mirror, you might say, as the old song goes, that summer’s here and the time is right for fighting in the streets.

It appears that the Progressive Left is all for letting it rip. Their chief signaling device, The New York Times, ran this headline today: “National Guard Called as Minneapolis Erupts in Solidarity for George Floyd.”

That sounds to me a bit like a stamp-of-approval for a lawlessly violent response to an act of official stupidity. Is The Times in solidarity with the mayhem? Which raises some questions: how much rioting, looting, and arson will be enough to satisfy that sense of solidarity in the quest for justice? Three nights? Three weeks? Three months? Will it cease if and when Officer Chauvin is charged with murder or manslaughter? How much rioting, looting, and arson will the authorities in other cities allow to rip before they move to forcefully stop it? Does all this disorder amplify itself in a feedback loop as it plays out?

Those would be tough questions in ordinary times, but we’re in an extraordinary convergence of crises that includes an unresolved Covid-19 pandemic, an unprecedented economic collapse, and the furious after-effects of a failed political coup that steeped the nation in delusion, institutional breakdown, and factional enmity. Black America is not the only group in the land that has an axe to grind.

For instance, with over 30-million suddenly unemployed, facing bankruptcy one way or another, maybe even eviction and hunger, and tens of thousands of small businesses failing, what will be the public mood if the stock markets keep shooting up and up and up, as they’ve been doing for a month? Those rising share values, which enrich a tiny percentage of the public, are a direct result of the Federal Reserve inflating the national debt by “printing” money-from-thin-air. It comes in the form of bonds, the interest on which ultimately has to be paid by taxpayers. Many will not fail to notice that it smells like a scam. Will the economically floundering public revolt against it? Will they take to the streets and start burning down things other than police stations and AutoZones?

Could all that intersect with black street violence in cities across the land? A hint was suggested in cable TV video of rioters on the streets in Minneapolis hoisting a sign that said “kill all white people!” The Progressive Left has indulged and excused sentiments like that for years. (Remember New York Times editorial board hire, Sarah Jeong, tweeting “#CancelWhitePeople” and “dumbass fucking white people”?) What if those maledictions are acted out? Does the Left, including the Democratic Party, want to ignite a race war in America on top of a second great depression in a plague year?

Once cycles of violence are set in motion, they are very difficult to stop.

Read the entire article and all of the author’s great work HERE.

Pair of Brooklyn lawyers including Ivy League corporate attorney charged in Molotov cocktail attack on NYPD cruiser

Via The New York Daily News

Two Brooklyn lawyers, including an Ivy League graduate corporate attorney, are facing federal charges over accusations they tossed a Molotov cocktail into an NYPD vehicle early Saturday morning during a protest over the police killing of George Floyd.

Colinford Mattis, 32, a corporate lawyer and member of Community Board 5 in East New York, was charged along with fellow attorney Urooj Rahman with the attempted attack on an empty police cruiser parked outside the 88th Precinct station house in Fort Greene.

“This is shocking news to me,” Andre Mitchell, president of Community Board 5 told the Daily News. “The allegation does surprise me because that doesn’t sound like him.”

The super of Rahman’s building called her “an angel” who recently lost her legal job.

“I can’t believe it. I’m stunned,” said George Raleigh, the super of Rahman’s building in Bay Ridge. “This kid? She’s an angel.”

Mayor de Blasio Sunday blamed outside “anarchist” for the violence that erupted in New York over the weekend. But Mattis is a corporate lawyer with Times Square law firm Pryor Cashman.

Authorities say Rahman, 31, tossed a bottle filled with gasoline through a broken window into the cruiser just before 1 am Saturday but the Molotov cocktail failed to ignite. Rahman jumped into a van driven by Mattis and they sped off, court papers allege.

The attempted torching was captured by video surveillance cameras outside the precinct stationhouse on DeKalb Ave., according to court papers.

Read the entire article HERE.

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