Monday Morning Breakfast For The Brain

Good morning Deplorables, it’s Monday again!

Your Phone Is Spying On You: Companies Are Generating Secret “Surveillance Scores” Based On That Data

Via Zero Hedge

Nothing that you do on your phone is private.  In this day and age, most of us have become extremely dependent on our phones, and most Americans never even realize that these extremely sophisticated little devices are gathering mountains of information on each one of us.

Your phone knows what you look like, it knows the sound of your voice, it knows where you have been, it knows where you have shopped, it knows your Internet searches and it knows what you like to do in your free time.  In fact, your phone literally knows thousands of things about you, and all of that information is bought and sold every single day without you knowing.

And as you will see below, there are lots of companies out there that use information collected from our phones to create secret “surveillance scores” that are used for a whole host of alarming purposes.

It is really important to understand that your phone is a surveillance device.  The reason why the advertisements on your phone seem so perfectly tailored for you is because of all the information that your phone has gathered on you previously.

To this day, many people are still amazed when they see an ad pop up for something that they were just talking with a friend about, but that doesn’t happen by accident.  The following comes from Fox News…

Perhaps you’ve been talking to a friend about an island vacation, when suddenly deals for the Maldives or Hawaii pop up on your Facebook feed. Or you are talking to your co-worker about yard renovations when advertisements for lawnmowers litter your Twitter, or maybe you were talking about why you stopped drinking and a random sponsored article about the growing trend of “elective sobriety” is suddenly in front of your eyes.

Industry experts insist that our phones are not actively “eavesdropping” on us, but they do admit that our phones are “actually spying on us” in other ways…

“It’s easy to feel like our phone is spying on us. It is actually spying on us, but it is not eavesdropping,” Alex Hamerstone, Government, Risk and Compliance practice lead at information technology security firm, TrustedSec, told Fox News via email. “The reason why we see ads pop up that seem to be correlated to the exact thing we were just talking about is because technology and marketing companies gather extensive amounts of personal and behavioral data on us, but it’s not from eavesdropping — it’s from surfing the web, shopping, posting on social media, and other things people do online.”

Most Americans have come to accept targeted ads as a part of life, but what most people don’t realize is that the information our phones gather is being used for far more intrusive purposes.

“Surveillance scores” are being created, and these “surveillance scores” seem quite similar to the “social credit scores” that China has been compiling since 2014.

In China, if you do good things like paying your taxes or taking a parent to the doctor, your social credit score will go up.

But there are also lots of things that will cause your social credit score to go down…

It aims to punish for transgressions that can include membership in or support for the Falun Gong or Tibetan Buddhism, failure to pay debts, excessive video gaming, criticizing the government, late payments, failing to sweep the sidewalk in front of your store or house, smoking or playing loud music on trains, jaywalking, and other actions deemed illegal or unacceptable by the Chinese government.

And if your social credit score gets too low, the consequences can be quite dramatic…

Punishments can be harsh, including bans on leaving the country, using public transportation, checking into hotels, hiring for high-visibility jobs, or acceptance of children to private schools. It can also result in slower internet connections and social stigmatization in the form of registration on a public blacklist.

Here in the United States, private companies are doing something very similar.  Information collected from our phones is being used to create secret “surveillance scores”, and selling those scores has become very big business.  The following comes from the Houston Chronicle…

Operating in the shadows of the online marketplace, specialized tech companies you’ve likely never heard of are tapping vast troves of our personal data to generate secret “surveillance scores” – digital mug shots of millions of Americans – that supposedly predict our future behavior. The firms sell their scoring services to major businesses across the U.S. economy.

And just like China’s system, high scores come with rewards and low scores come with punishments.

For example, your scores can determine whether or not someone will rent a property to you, whether or not you will be hired for a job, and even how long you will have to wait for customer service…

CoreLogic and TransUnion say that scores they peddle to landlords can predict whether a potential tenant will pay the rent on time, be able to “absorb rent increases,” or break a lease. Large employers use HireVue, a firm that generates an “employability” score about candidates by analyzing “tens of thousands of factors,” including a person’s facial expressions and voice intonations. Other employers use Cornerstone’s score, which considers where a job prospect lives and which web browser they use to judge how successful they will be at a job.

Brand-name retailers purchase “risk scores” from Retail Equation to help make judgments about whether consumers commit fraud when they return goods for refunds. Players in the gig economy use outside firms such as Sift to score consumers’ “overall trustworthiness.” Wireless customers predicted to be less profitable are sometimes forced to endure longer customer service hold times.

To me, all of this is extremely creepy.

Eventually, it may get to a point where you are basically a societal outcast if you are not willing to conform to a particular set of politically-correct standards, values and behaviors.

You may not get thrown in jail the moment you do something “unacceptable”, but your phone will be watching you every step of the way.

Read the entire article HERE.

Shipments of 20,000+ Fake US Driver’s Licenses From China Intercepted at Chicago Airport

Via Big League Politics

For use in election fraud?

Customs authorities have intercepted more than a 1,000 individual shipments containing almost 20,000 fraudulent driver’s licenses at Chicago O’Hare Airport this year alone.

19,888 fake US driver’s licenses have been caught in smuggling busts at the airport, distributed throughout 1,513 fraudulent shipments.

Fox 5 New York is reporting that the fake ID’s are coming from mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the UK.

“These counterfeit driver’s licenses can lead to disastrous consequences,” Customs and Border Patrol’s Ralph Piccirilli said in a statement. “Criminal organizations use these counterfeit IDs to avoid attracting attention to their illegal activities.”

Customs officials have described the fake Chinese ID’s as extremely realistic and well-made, stating that the barcode on the fake documents passes electronic verification checks.

If this many fake ID’s are coming in at one airport alone, there’s a significant possibility that many more fake documents are being smuggled into the country at other airports. It’s entirely unclear what these ID’s are being used for- most of the bars that underage college kids would enter to drink alcohol in are closed. There’s a very real possibility the Chinese-made fake ID’s could be an integral part of an election fraud operation. Even the most strict voter ID states such as Arizona accept a driver’s license as proof of voter registration and eligibility.

Customs officers stationed at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport are reporting that they’ve busted more than 2,000 fake ID’s since 2019, describing a surge in the smuggling of fake driver’s licenses.

Read the entire article HERE.

Political correctness reaches space: NASA bans cosmic names like Eskimo, Siamese

Via Just The News

The diversity and inclusion movement has left the galaxy, literally.

NASA this week announced it was banning the names Eskimo and Siamese for use in describing cosmic entities as part of an “ongoing reevaluation of the names by which we refer to astronomical objects.”

“It has become clear that certain cosmic nicknames are not only insensitive, but can be actively harmful,” the space agency declared. “NASA is examining its use of unofficial terminology for cosmic objects as part of its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

The first big names changes were announced Wednesday.

A Sun-like star that is blowing off its outer layers at the end of its life that was previously known as the “Eskimo Nebula” will now just be known by its alphanumerical ID NGC 2392, NASA said.

“Eskimo is widely viewed as a colonial term with a racist history, imposed on the indigenous people of Arctic regions. Most official documents have moved away from its use,” the agency’s press release said.

Likewise, two spiral galaxies found in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster that previously were known as the Siamese Twins Galaxy will now simply be referred to as NGC4567 and NGC 4568, it added.

“These nicknames and terms may have historical or culture connotations that are objectionable or unwelcoming, and NASA is strongly committed to addressing them,” said Stephen T. Shih, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Diversity and Equal Opportunity. “Science depends on diverse contributions, and benefits everyone, so this means we must make it inclusive.”

Read the entire article HERE.

NYC moms fleeing Upper West Side amid crime and chaos

Via The New York Post

Start spreadin’ the news, they’re leavin’ today!

However, the people packing their bags are not coming to New York City — they’re fleeing it for good.

Due to increasingly squalid conditions on the Upper West Side, including two new homeless shelters packed with junkies and registered sex offenders, longtime dwellers are departing the Big Apple with no plans to ever return.

One of the Escape from New Yorkers is Elizabeth Carr, one of the area’s most vocal leaders in combatting mounting crime in the well-heeled hood. She was an administrator of the Facebook group “NYC Moms for Safer Streets,” and the face of a public-safety movement that has attracted thousands to demand better policing and city services.

“In the best of times, NYC is a hard place to live,” said Carr. “Now you have all this other stuff. It’s a question for families. … to have to see a guy masturbating on the corner or explain to my kids while I’m buying diapers at Duane Reade why this guy wearing no shoes is collapsed on the floor and they’re doing CPR on him.”

She said she started planning to move before the COVID crisis and recent neighborhood developments, but officially put down stakes Sunday in North Carolina with her finance husband and three kids under 7.

“We reached our New York expiration date,” the former nonprofit exec, who’d lived on the UWS since 2007, told The Post from her new home 600 miles away. “Things weren’t heading in the right direction. What we’re seeing now isn’t at all surprising.”

Read the entire article HERE.

Girl Slaughtered After Her Alleged Rapist Was Released From Jail Over COVID Concerns

Via The Federalist

An alleged rapist killed his accuser after being released from jail over concerns he and his lawyers would contract coronavirus.

According to the Washington Post, Ibrahim Bouaichi hunted and killed his accuser, Karla Dominguez, after being released from jail because of concerns the Wuhan coronavirus would put Bouaichi and his lawyers at risk of falling ill. Bouaichi was indicted on charges of rape, strangulation, and abduction after Dominguez, a native of Venezuela, told law enforcement in Alexandria, Va., that he sexually assaulted her in October.

Eleven days after his indictment, Bouaichi turned himself into authorities, and a judge ordered him to be held without bond. Bouaichi’s lawyers requested bond, arguing their client could not be safe from the Wuhan virus because it was “impossible” to provide adequate social distancing and other safety measures behind bars. The men added that the arrangement also put them at risk, explaining that lawyers seeking a contact visit would “also expose themselves to contaminated air and surfaces.”

Jail spokeswoman Amy Bertsch pointed out that the jail implemented increased cleaning and health screening in early March “and there were no cases of covid-19 at the jail during their client’s incarceration.”

Despite objections from an Alexandria prosecutor and Virginia law that states those charged with certain violent crimes like rape are presumed to be a danger and not eligible for bond, Bouaichi’s lawyers successfully argued that he be released on a $25,000 bond. Bouaichi was released with the condition that he only leave his Maryland home, where he lives with his parents, to meet with lawyers or pretrial services officials.

On July 29, Alexandria police say Bouaichi returned to Alexandria and shot and killed Dominguez outside her apartment in the city’s West End. Alexandria police said they received a report of gunshots on July 29, at 6:20 am. Authorities found Dominguez outside her apartment, dead with multiple wounds on her upper body.

Police issued a video news release asking for the public’s help in locating Bouaichi. A week later, on Wednesday morning, federal marshals and Alexandria police sighted Bouaichi and pursued him in a car chase that ended in Bouaichi’s car crashing. Authorities found Bouaichi in the wreck with an allegedly self-inflicted gunshot wound. On Friday, Bouaichi was listed in critical condition at a Virginia hospital.

Read the entire article HERE.

Are you wearing your mask? Because public health officials in Colorado are watching you to find out

Via The Colorado Sun

They really are watching you.

From their cars and trucks, parked in the lots of King Soopers, Whole Foods and the corner store, they are staring out their vehicle windows as you shop. But these guys — volunteers from the public health department — are only interested in what’s on your face.

Mask or no mask.

It’s a simple tally mark, a “quick and dirty” assessment not meant for serious scientific scrutiny.

But thanks to the reconnaissance, Tri-County Health Department has weekly data going back to April about the percentage of people in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties who are putting on face coverings when they go out in public. The surveys ranged from a low of 56% of people observed in Adams County the week of July 5, to a high of 96% seen in Douglas County last week.

So far, the health department hasn’t dug into the data deeply enough to figure out whether a weekly dip in mask-wearing correlates with increasing cases of coronavirus one or two weeks later, but Tri-County at least has the data to do that work at some point, said Brian Hlavacek, Tri-County’s environmental health director.

The public health department, one of the largest in the state, is among the few that is conducting mask surveys. Each week since April 26, volunteers have been out in their parked cars recording the data.

They do not go in the stores, and they don’t talk to people. They just count masks, Hlavacek said. Volunteers spend 30 minutes at each location, completing about five to 10 surveys in a day.

“It’s meant to be a quick and dirty assessment of what’s going on,” he said. “It’s not super sophisticated, but it helps in understanding the landscape.”

Read the entire article HERE.

Metro Nashville Council Member Wants People Not Wearing a Mask to Be Charged with Murder or Attempted Murder

Via The Tennesee Star

Nashville Metro Councilwoman Sharon Hurt attended a special joint meeting of the Public Safety and Health committee recently where she seemed to make the case that a violation of the city’s mask mandate should carry with it a heavy penalty up to and including murder or attempted murder.

Here is the transcript of  her remarks:

Sharon W. Hurt: Thank you so much. My question goes back to legislation. And I don’t know if Mike Jameson can be the one to answer the question. But my concern is, you know I’ve worked for an organization that if they pass a virus then they are tried for murder or attempted murder if they are not told.

And this person who may very well pass this virus that’s out in the air because they are not wearing a mask is basically doing the same thing to someone who contracts it and dies from it. It seems to me that we have been more reactive as opposed to pro-active and a little too late too little. So my thing is that maybe there should be legislation.

Stronger legislation. I don’t know if Mike Jameson can speak to it. But maybe there needs to be stronger legislation to say that if you do not wear a mask and you subject exposure of this virus to someone else then there will be some stronger penalty as it is in other viruses that are exposed.

Mike Jameson: Thank you, councilwoman Hurt. Officers do have the discretion that if they encounter someone who is frequently violated the mask ordinance to take the conduct of that individual at hand and issue other citations for other criminal violations including, for example, disorderly conduct or even potentially assault.

You may have read about the episode where there was allegedly un-intentional coughing by someone into the face of another. The restraint we have is that the council does not have the opportunity on its own to create criminal legislation. That is a state creature.

We’re warranted by state law to apply criminal applications to violations. Just for example, as the state law allows us to apply to say Class C misdemeanors to health director ordered violations. But in terms of creating new code or class of criminal offenses that is a creature of state law.

Moderator: Thank you, Mr. Jameson. Do you have anything further councilwoman Hurt?

Hurt: No. I was afraid that that was going to be the answer. I guess that’s the whole point of asking for something to be done as early as the council was pushing. You know, it seems that it wasn’t taken as seriously as it should have been. And thus we are in the situation we are in right now.

Moderator: Thank you, councilwoman Hurt.

Read the entire article HERE.

Food Prices Rise To Dangerous Levels As “A Second Wave Of Layoffs” Hits The U.S. Economy

Via TMIN

You may have noticed that food prices have started to go up very aggressively.  I repeatedly warned my readers that this is precisely what would happen, and more price increases are on the way.  Fear of COVID-19 has sparked a tremendous amount of extra demand as Americans have feverishly stocked up their pantries, and at the same time the virus has made it very difficult for the major food companies to keep up.  Over the past several months we have seen a large number of food production facilities close down temporarily, food supply chains have been thrown into a state of chaos, and grocery stores have found it increasingly difficult to keep their shelves full.  Many years ago I remember sitting in an Econ 101 class as a very young college student, and one of the things that I learned was that prices are going to rise when supply goes down and demand goes up.  So it was inevitable that grocery store prices would become more painful, and the latest numbers that have been released by the BEA are definitely quite alarming…

According to data released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, almost all kinds of food have seen an increase in its price since February. Beef and veal prices are up a staggering 20.2% since before the pandemic, while other staples like eggs (10.4%), poultry (8.6%) and pork (8.5%) have also seen significant increases.

If prices keep going up like this, a lot of American families are going to have to start cutting beef out of their diets simply because they cannot afford it anymore.

And of course these price increases are coming at a really bad time, because we are in the midst of a historic economic downturn.  When an Oregon woman named Bella Flores recently took her monthly trip to the grocery store, she was shocked by how much prices have gone up…

Medford resident Bella Flores says she felt the shock when she recently went to the store to pick up her monthly items.

“It kept going up, $50 and then $69, I’m like oh crap man it’s a lot,” she said.

Actually, if I could get out of the grocery store with a bill of only 69 dollars I would be jumping for joy.

These days, it seems like you can’t even get a full cart of groceries for under 200 dollars where I live.

Sadly, more price increases are on the way.  Demand is going to remain high, and many food companies will continue to operate at reduced levels.  For example, just consider what the CEO of Tyson Foods recently had to say…

During a recent call with analysts discussing third-quarter financial results, Tyson (TSN) CEO Noel White said that some of the company’s facilities “continue to operate at decreased production levels.”

With food prices already at such elevated levels, the Federal Reserve has decided that now is a perfect time to jack up inflation even more.  The following comes from a CNBC article entitled “The Fed is expected to make a major commitment to ramping up inflation soon”…

In the next few months, the Federal Reserve will be solidifying a policy outline that would commit it to low rates for years as it pursues an agenda of higher inflation and a return to the full employment picture that vanished as the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Recent statements from Fed officials and analysis from market veterans and economists point to a move to “average inflation” targeting in which inflation above the central bank’s usual 2% target would be tolerated and even desired.

Isn’t that wonderful?

You can almost always count on the Federal Reserve to do the wrong thing.

Meanwhile, Fox Business is reporting that a “second wave of layoffs” has now hit the economy…

A second wave of layoffs is hitting American workers during a surge in coronavirus cases nationwide, and a Congressional stalemate over stimulus relief, according to a new survey by Cornell University and RIWI.

The researchers conducted the survey between July 23 and Aug. 1, and found that 31% of workers who had been placed back on payrolls after initially being laid off have now been laid off for a second time. Additionally, 26% of rehired workers say they’ve been told that they may be laid off again.

Those numbers are absolutely staggering.

We already knew that millions upon millions of the jobs that were originally lost are never coming back, and now we are learning that millions of the jobs that were actually regained are being lost again.

So what this means is that at the exact same time that food prices are skyrocketing, countless Americans find themselves out of work and no longer have paychecks coming in.

What a nightmare.

Read the entire article HERE.

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