Wednesday Morning Breakfast For The Brain

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FBI Deploys Creepy “Sentiment Analysis” Tools To Screen National Guard For Pro-Trump Sympathies

Via Revolver News

A recent Revolver News investigative piece coined the term “Counter-American Intelligence” to describe the systematic counter-intelligence operation to cleanse the entire national security state of any thought-criminal MAGA employees who may not agree with the Globalist American Empire’s agenda.

Like clockwork, fresh off the heels of a bill that would deny security clearances to so-called “conspiracy theorists” (read: Trump supporters), Senator Duckworth suggested that the DOD monitor the social media habits of its employees for “extremist views.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Monday suggested that the Pentagon find a way to examine the social media habits of incoming and existing service members who show tendencies toward extremist views.

“It’s not a new thing, but I will tell you that I have seen over the last probably two decades this growing radicalization of a portion within the military. And I think part of it too comes with social media consumption,” Duckworth, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, said at The Hill’s Future of Defense Summit. [The Hill]

In particular, the FBI uses the powerful “Babel Street” social media panopticon software. Such network surveillance tools allow citizens’ affiliations with online narratives or subcultures to be quickly assessed and databased at scale:

Along with bragging about the high-profile clients they have like the FBI, the military’s Special Operations Command, and the Australian Attorney General’s Office, they include a list of the exact capabilities, explaining the depth and efficacy of Babel Street’s software.

Babel X has access to over 25 social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, and to Twitter’s firehose… Babel X can also surveil millions of URL’s including the deep web. The software can instantly translate over 200 languages, and can set up geo-fences around areas of special interest, and has highly customizable filtering options including for hashtags, emojis, handles, names, and keywords. Users can also filter for numerical sequences like credit card or social security numbers.

Babel Street’s filtering options are extremely precise, and allow for the user to screen for dates, times, data type, language, and—interestingly enough—sentiment. Their website includes a short paragraph on this sentiment aspect which claims that they “possess the most sophisticated sentiment analysis tool on the market. Derived from collaboration with top university linguistic programs, Babel Street boasts the ability to evaluate sentiment in 19 languages—far exceeding the capacity of any other competitor. [VICE]

Read the entire article HERE.

Biden’s Vaccine Passport Plan Is A ‘Dystopian Nightmare’ Cloaked In COVID Safety-Speak

Via The Federalist

While the Biden administration is reportedly coordinating with corporations to develop a so-called “vaccine passport” for Americans to prove they have received the COVID-19 vaccine, there are clear privacy risks external to the dubious constitutionality of such a project.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the idea of vaccine passports in a Monday press conference, noting that the plan would have “huge privacy implications.” DeSantis also said he would take executive action through emergency function, in addition to urging the GOP Florida Legislature to propose a bill banning vaccine passports.

Albert Fox Cahn, an attorney and founder of the Urban Justice Center’s Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, wrote in Wired in early March that government-funded vaccine passports “could turn into a dystopian nightmare for millions.”

“A very appealing vision for some could turn into a dystopian nightmare for millions,” said Cahn. “For vaccine passports, this all means reason for caution. Yes, maybe it is time to update those yellow pieces of cardboard with something more secure, but that is a far cry from creating another permanent layer of surveillance infrastructure.”

The report from the Washington Post that the White House is developing a vaccine passport with the help of corporations comes after the state of New York said it plans to roll out an “excelsior pass” on April 2 that forces residents in New York City to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test or vaccination documentation to gain access to entertainment and arts venues.

According to the International Air Transport Association, 17 airlines have registered to participate in a COVID-19 test or vaccination proof program for people flying. The “Travel Pass” is being sponsored by governments worldwide, as well as corporations. IBM likewise introduced a “Digital Health Pass” that is blockchain-reliant, and Microsoft, Mayo Clinic, and more than 225 companies have pledged to use an app being produced by the Vaccination Credential Initiative.

Read the entire article HERE.

COVID Tracking Apps Have Eerie Echoes of Chinese Surveillance System

Via The Washington Free Beacon

President Joe Biden’s COVID team appears to have entertained an electronic test-and-trace program pioneered by the University of Illinois that would have let businesses deny service to patrons based on their health data, a PowerPoint presentation obtained by the Washington Free Beacon shows. The program has eerie echoes of China’s surveillance system, which uses data from citizens’ phones to impose quarantines.

A PowerPoint produced by the school suggests scaling up the university’s intrusive contact tracing system for use across the United States. Its file name, “2020-12-14 Shield Biden Covid Team,” indicates that it was presented to the Biden team in December, amid an ongoing search for solutions to a seemingly insoluble problem: how to stop the virus without stopping the economy? The presentation proffered an answer.

The school’s system uses a mobile app that records test results and Bluetooth data to determine who has been exposed to the virus—and “links building access” on campus to that information. Local businesses have also embraced it, making entry conditional on a “safe status” reading from the app.

The system resembles the one being used in China, where a mandatory app gives each user a “health status”—green, yellow, or red—that dictates access to public spaces. The University of Illinois app likewise divides users into three categories: “yellow” if they’ve recently tested negative, “orange” if they’ve potentially been exposed, and “red” if they’ve recently tested positive. Only students with a yellow status may enter buildings.

The proposal would amount to a more extreme version of the “vaccine passports” being rolled out by airlines and some U.S. cities, which are already causing controversy. Those passports, such as New York’s “Excelsior” app, indicate whether an individual has tested negative or been vaccinated, but not whether they’ve been exposed to the virus based on tracking data. They collect less information and use a less granular classification scheme than the University of Illinois app, meaning they pose relatively fewer risks to civil liberties.

Read the entire article HERE.

Man’s skin ‘peeled off’ in rare reaction to Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine

Via The New York Post

A Virginia man suffered a rare reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine that caused a painful rash to spread across his entire body and skin to peel off, doctors said.

Richard Terrell, 74, of Goochland began suffering strange symptoms four days after receiving the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, news station WRIC reported.

“I began to feel a little discomfort in my armpit and then a few days later I began to get an itchy rash, and then after that I began to swell and my skin turned red,” Terrell told the outlet.

But soon the rash covered his entire body, Terrell said.

“It all just happened so fast. My skin peeled off,” Terrell told the outlet.

“It was stinging, burning and itching. Whenever I bent my arms or legs, like the inside of my knee, it was very painful where the skin was swollen and was rubbing against itself,” he continued.

Read the entire article HERE.

Sesame Street Introduces ‘Todd’, A White Male Muppet Who Is Blamed For Everything

Via The Babylon Bee

QUEENS, NY—In a courageous new episode of Sesame Street, the puppets teach kids about social justice by introducing a new character, Todd– a white male puppet who is blamed for everything wrong in the world.

Minutes into the episode, Todd is introducing himself to the other puppets and a prescriptively diverse cast of guest children, when he is confronted by Grover about Todd’s culpability regarding a distant ancestor who fought for the Confederacy.

Later on, Todd works alongside the puppet Abby Cadabby to stock the shelves of Hooper’s store with Goya beans. His accidental revelation that he gets paid 30% more than her leads to Abby singing a tearful rendition of ‘Workforce Woes.’

The episode’s final sketch portrays Todd selling cookies without the requisite health warning labels, forcing Cookie Monster into obesity and skyrocketing healthcare costs.

In an upcoming episode entitled “R is for Racism”, Todd appears in multiple educational scenarios– including a math teacher forcing minority puppets to learn 2 + 2 = 4, and an ignorant puppet who thinks some cops might be good.

In a particularly jarring sketch, Todd is caught teaching kids to face life’s unfairness with hard work, self-sacrifice, and hope for the future.

Check out all of the Bee’s takes on a world gone made HERE.

Be sure to stop by at Def-Con News to get our morning started off right.