Why It's Good To Push Politicians To Do The Right Thing (Even When They Probably Won't)
"You don't push politicians to do the right thing because you think they will, you do it to show everyone else that they
https://t.co/Lrxznn7kbh
Why They're Denying You Healthcare And Financial Support During A Pandemic
— Caitlin Johnstone \u23f3 (@caitoz) December 20, 2020
"If wealth were more evenly distributed in the most powerful nation on earth, there'd be no ruling class to ensure the domination of the globe-spanning empire."https://t.co/0o5YjLLgQS
This is why so much of the battle is happening on the front of propaganda, censorship, and press freedoms.
More from Caitlin Johnstone ⏳
So We're Already At The 'Chinese Super Soldiers' Part Of The Propaganda Campaign
"Truth, as they say, is the first casualty in war. With its emphasis on global narrative control in lieu of conventional military tactics, this is doubly true of cold
"What we know is that the nation’s top intelligence official says that the US has evidence that China is conducting biological experiments on its soldiers to enhance their capabilities," said CIA asset and reporter Ken Dilanian on a recent MSNBC
"Picture super strong commandos who can operate on three hours' sleep, or a sniper who can see twice as far as a normal person."
~ CIA stooge Dilanian
Dilanian was referring to a claim made in a freakish screed of cold war smut recently published in the Wall Street Journal by US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe titled "China Is National Security Threat No. 1".
https://t.co/zdsuhRw2YR
The piece includes an illustration of a red serpent shaped like the Great Wall squeezing the world in its coils, much like the globe-strangling tentacled beasts traditionally used in propaganda to drum up fears of communists and Jews taking over the world.
"Truth, as they say, is the first casualty in war. With its emphasis on global narrative control in lieu of conventional military tactics, this is doubly true of cold
"What we know is that the nation’s top intelligence official says that the US has evidence that China is conducting biological experiments on its soldiers to enhance their capabilities," said CIA asset and reporter Ken Dilanian on a recent MSNBC
"Picture super strong commandos who can operate on three hours' sleep, or a sniper who can see twice as far as a normal person."
~ CIA stooge Dilanian
Dilanian was referring to a claim made in a freakish screed of cold war smut recently published in the Wall Street Journal by US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe titled "China Is National Security Threat No. 1".
https://t.co/zdsuhRw2YR
The piece includes an illustration of a red serpent shaped like the Great Wall squeezing the world in its coils, much like the globe-strangling tentacled beasts traditionally used in propaganda to drum up fears of communists and Jews taking over the world.
Yet Another Major Escalation In Establishment Internet Censorship
"YouTube, whose corporate owner Google is arguably the most powerful company on earth, is now deleting user videos which claim the US election was
YouTube's official statement on its decision to do this is very revealing, not so much for what it says as for what it does not
At no point does the video publishing platform attempt to argue that it is removing these videos because they jeopardize anyone's health or safety, as it did when it began deleting videos deemed to be spreading misinformation about Covid-19.
"YouTube, whose corporate owner Google is arguably the most powerful company on earth, is now deleting user videos which claim the US election was
YouTube's official statement on its decision to do this is very revealing, not so much for what it says as for what it does not
2/ Yesterday was the safe harbor deadline. Now that enough states certified their Presidential election results, we\u2019ll remove any content published today (or anytime after) that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the 2020 U.S. Presidential election outcome.
— YouTubeInsider (@YouTubeInsider) December 9, 2020
At no point does the video publishing platform attempt to argue that it is removing these videos because they jeopardize anyone's health or safety, as it did when it began deleting videos deemed to be spreading misinformation about Covid-19.
The Two Faces Of The US Empire
"The empire needs both faces. Without the murder face, it could not exist as an empire. Without the grinning face, the public would never consent to the murder
The Biden inauguration event is going to be a star-studded celebration spanning an unprecedented five days, a giddy orgy of excitement at a murderous oligarchic empire having a new face behind the front desk after promising wealthy donors that nothing will fundamentally change.
This comes at a time when Americans are now reporting that they trust corporations more than they trust their own government or
when pundits are gleefully proclaiming in The New York Times that “CEOs have become the fourth branch of government” as they pressure the entire political system to smoothly install
when the leading contender for the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division is an Obama holdover who went from the administration to working for both Amazon and
"The empire needs both faces. Without the murder face, it could not exist as an empire. Without the grinning face, the public would never consent to the murder
The Biden inauguration event is going to be a star-studded celebration spanning an unprecedented five days, a giddy orgy of excitement at a murderous oligarchic empire having a new face behind the front desk after promising wealthy donors that nothing will fundamentally change.
This comes at a time when Americans are now reporting that they trust corporations more than they trust their own government or
when pundits are gleefully proclaiming in The New York Times that “CEOs have become the fourth branch of government” as they pressure the entire political system to smoothly install
\u201cCEOs have become the fourth branch of government,\u201d said Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to hold the country together.\u201d https://t.co/V8x34qbhlh
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) January 15, 2021
when the leading contender for the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division is an Obama holdover who went from the administration to working for both Amazon and
The Prospect and The Intercept have learned that Renata Hesse, a former Obama Justice Department official who then went on to work for Google and Amazon, is a leading contender to head up the DoJ Antitrust Division.
— David Dayen (@ddayen) January 15, 2021
The Washington Post Can't Stop Babbling About Russians 'Hacking Our Minds'
"The dawn of political insight comes when you realize that propaganda is not just something that is done by other nations to other
The Washington Post has published another article warning its readers that the Russians are "hacking our minds", this one authored by CNN's Fareed
The article about "the Russian model" of propaganda where "people get convinced when they hear the same message many times from a variety of sources, no matter how biased."
Which is funny, since WaPo has been repeating this same ridiculous
Just two months ago the Washington Post editorial board published an article which opens with the line "Russia and other adversaries may not need to hack the election if they can hack something else: our minds."
Zakaria's piece builds on this already established theme by parroting the still completely evidence-free claim that Russia was responsible for the far-reaching cyber intrusion into the IT company
"The dawn of political insight comes when you realize that propaganda is not just something that is done by other nations to other
The Washington Post has published another article warning its readers that the Russians are "hacking our minds", this one authored by CNN's Fareed
The problem is not just that Russia has hacked America\u2019s computer systems. It seems to have hacked our minds.
— Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) December 18, 2020
My latest column: https://t.co/iVFK7u2F4o
The article about "the Russian model" of propaganda where "people get convinced when they hear the same message many times from a variety of sources, no matter how biased."
Which is funny, since WaPo has been repeating this same ridiculous
"Russia and other adversaries may not need to hack the election if they can hack something else: our minds."
— Caitlin Johnstone \u23f3 (@caitoz) October 4, 2020
From The Washington Post. Democracy Dies in Darkness. pic.twitter.com/RkURiogRUc
Just two months ago the Washington Post editorial board published an article which opens with the line "Russia and other adversaries may not need to hack the election if they can hack something else: our minds."
Zakaria's piece builds on this already established theme by parroting the still completely evidence-free claim that Russia was responsible for the far-reaching cyber intrusion into the IT company
More from Politics
"3 million people are estimated not to have official photo ID, with ethnic minorities more at risk". They will "have to contact their council to confirm their ID if they want to vote"
This is shameful legislation, that does nothing to tackle the problems with UK elections.THREAD
There is no evidence in-person voter fraud is a problem, and it wd be near-impossible to organise on an effective scale. Campaign finance violations, digital disinformation & manipulation of postal voting are bigger issues, but these are crimes of the powerful, not the powerless.
In a democracy, anything that makes it harder to vote - in particular, anything that disadvantages one group of voters - should face an extremely high bar. Compulsory voter ID takes a hammer to 3 million legitimate voters (disproportionately poor & BAME) to crack an imaginary nut
If the government is concerned about the purity of elections, it should reflect on its own conduct. In 2019 it circulated doctored news footage of an opponent, disguised its twitter feed as a fake fact-checking site, and ran adverts so dishonest that even Facebook took them down.
Britain's electoral law largely predates the internet. There is little serious regulation of online campaigning or the cash that pays for it. That allows unscrupulous campaigners to ignore much of the legal framework erected since the C19th to guard against electoral misconduct.
This is shameful legislation, that does nothing to tackle the problems with UK elections.THREAD
Millions of people do not have photo ID. By forcing through mandatory voter-ID the government risk disenfranchising millions of legitimate voters. https://t.co/y0Upzof2FI
— Electoral Reform Society (@electoralreform) February 17, 2021
There is no evidence in-person voter fraud is a problem, and it wd be near-impossible to organise on an effective scale. Campaign finance violations, digital disinformation & manipulation of postal voting are bigger issues, but these are crimes of the powerful, not the powerless.
In a democracy, anything that makes it harder to vote - in particular, anything that disadvantages one group of voters - should face an extremely high bar. Compulsory voter ID takes a hammer to 3 million legitimate voters (disproportionately poor & BAME) to crack an imaginary nut
If the government is concerned about the purity of elections, it should reflect on its own conduct. In 2019 it circulated doctored news footage of an opponent, disguised its twitter feed as a fake fact-checking site, and ran adverts so dishonest that even Facebook took them down.
Britain's electoral law largely predates the internet. There is little serious regulation of online campaigning or the cash that pays for it. That allows unscrupulous campaigners to ignore much of the legal framework erected since the C19th to guard against electoral misconduct.
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1/ Some initial thoughts on personal moats:
Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.
Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
I'm increasingly interested in the idea of "personal moats" in the context of careers.
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
Moats should be:
- Hard to learn and hard to do (but perhaps easier for you)
- Skills that are rare and valuable
- Legible
- Compounding over time
- Unique to your own talents & interests https://t.co/bB3k1YcH5b
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
People talk about \u201cpassive income\u201d a lot but not about \u201cpassive social capital\u201d or \u201cpassive networking\u201d or \u201cpassive knowledge gaining\u201d but that\u2019s what you can architect if you have a thing and it grows over time without intensive constant effort to sustain it
— Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) November 22, 2018
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
Things that look like moats but likely aren\u2019t or may fade:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
- Proprietary networks
- Being something other than one of the best at any tournament style-game
- Many "awards"
- Twitter followers or general reach without "respect"
- Anything that depends on information asymmetry https://t.co/abjxesVIh9
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.
