By DronetekPolitics
FIRST THEY WILL TAKE OUR GUNS AND AFTER PUT US IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS – McCarthyism 101: Actors demand ‘blacklist’ of Trump supporters in Hollywood
Entertainment industry figures could soon find themselves on a “blacklist” of President Donald Trump supporters if Will & Grace co-stars Debra Messing and Eric McCormack have their way. Have we reached peak neo-McCarthyism?
The pair are demanding that the Hollywood Reporter prints a full list of attendees for an upcoming Trump fundraiser in Beverly Hills – an appeal which has drawn natural comparisons to the late Sen. Joe McCarthy’s efforts in the 1950s to rid Hollywood of “Communist sympathizers.”
The difference is, this time the calls for a political blacklist are coming from the Hollywood left itself.
McCormack was the first to request a list of “everyone attending” the upcoming Beverly Hills fundraiser, “so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna (sic) work with.” Messing soon joined in, tweeting that the “public has a right to know” who is supporting Trump.
The public does indeed have a “right to know” who a political candidate’s donors are – particularly when those donors are rich and powerful. This is exactly why campaign finance information is made publicly available online. Few would argue against this kind of transparency in a democracy, because voters are entitled to know how their elected officials are being influenced on policy matters.
McCarthyism 2.0: Real skill of US ‘disinformation experts’ is spreading disinformation
The motivation behind Messing and McCormack’s blacklist, however, is entirely different and even sinister. They are not concerned that Hollywood celebrities might be influencing Trump on policy. It’s far simpler than that: They want those who disagree with their politics to be publicly shamed and punished for it.
Responding to criticism, Messing tweeted that she would be“happy to be listed”when she attends a political fundraiser. Why wouldn’t Trump supporters feel the same? she asked.
Perhaps because of people like you, Debra, who advocate for those people to be targeted for public harassment, intimidation and shaming while demanding professional repercussions for their political views.
If voters aren’t happy with their favorite celebrity’s political leanings, they are absolutely free to abstain from viewing their movies, listening to their music or reading their books etc. That’s the risk public figures take when they make their political views public.
The difference is, when Messing and McCormack contribute to the candidates of their choosing, no one demands that they are placed on a list to make it easier for their industry colleagues to avoid working with them.
The Trump blacklist is reminiscent of ‘Red Channels’ – a 1950s pamphlet on “communist influence in radio and television” that listed 150 industry figures whose loyalties to the US were questioned because of their leftist political beliefs. Red Channels was published in the right-wing Counterattack journal, the purpose of which was to “expose” the alleged communists to the wider public.
Messing and McCormack’s crusade is empty activism emblematic of the ‘Resistance’ celebrities. It requires no courage or effort to “expose” Trump supporters in Hollywood on Twitter. It does not help to produce political change – and serves purely as an egoic exercise for those who crave public approval and pats on the back from their colleagues.
Messing has become known for lobbing ad hominem Twitter attacks at those who fall foul of her own political agenda in a craven effort to fit in with the Hollywood crowd.
She has been one of those leading the attacks against fellow actress Susan Sarandon since 2016, delusionally attempting to pin blame on the vocal Bernie Sanders supporter for Hillary Clinton’s defeat. Messing’s disturbing obsession with Sarandon indicates she is more interested in grandstanding and condemning others for wrongthink than she is in engaging in substantial, impactful activism.
If ‘Resistance’ Hollywood was really interested in fighting Trump on the issues, they wouldn’t waste their time on vindictive witch hunts and personal vendettas, designed to plump up their own profiles.
There is a big difference between political donors having their names publicly available online in the appropriate context and actually demanding an industry blacklist with the express purpose of damaging careers and reputations.
That is the very definition of McCarthyism.
REPORT: Tech Elite Building ‘Social Credit’ System Masters of The Universe to Track Everything You Do Zuckerscore: Points Control Your Freedom?
By Allum Bokhari
Fast Company has caught on to what Breitbart News has been highlighting for some time: that the Big Tech Masters of the Universe are developing systems to monitor and regulate personal behavior that closely resemble China’s totalitarian “social credit” system.
The “social credit” system assigns all Chinese citizens a “social credit score.” A citizen’s score drops if he engages in a range of disfavored activities, ranging from littering to supporting political dissidents.
Citizens whose score drops low enough can find themselves subject to strict punishment, including bans from the use of public transport, exclusion from top jobs, and prohibitions on their children attending top-rated schools.
This may sound alien and Orwellian, but as Fast Company notes, Silicon Valley is bringing a version of this grim reality to America.
Many Westerners are disturbed by what they read about China’s social credit system. But such systems, it turns out, are not unique to China. A parallel system is developing in the United States, in part as the result of Silicon Valley and technology-industry user policies, and in part by surveillance of social media activity by private companies.
The articles goes on to note a range of ways in which western citizens are being systematically rated, and in some cases excluded, by corporate America. These include insurance companies scanning the social media feeds of applicants, an app called “PatronScan,” that logs the face and name of troublesome bar and restaurant clientele, and the growing tendency of services like Airbnb, Uber, and WhatsApp to ban users for arbitrary reasons.
The comparison to China’s social credit system is similar to the one this reporter made on Breitbart News Daily in June:
In China, they have what’s called a “social credit system” — in which, if you engage in behavior that the regime doesn’t like, they’ll assign you a score, and when it drops below a certain point, they’ll exclude you from certain basic services, like transportation, they might not let your kids go to good schools — all sorts of basic services, they’ll cut you off from.
We have a corporate version of this already evolving. So if you don’t do the things that Facebook approves of, they’re going to cut you off from their platform, which is now essential for maintaining a social network, building a business, running for office. We rely on Facebook and other social media platforms for so many things. Uber and Lyft will also ban you now — they’ve started to ban people for political viewpoints, so you think China is the only one that’s going to cut you off from transportation for having the wrong opinions — well, Western corporations are now doing that, too. Airbnb, Amazon, they’re all doing it.
One other comparison from the Fast Company article deserves note — the Chinese communist government’s partnership with tech platforms like Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. Far from aiding dissidents, Chinese social media companies like Weibo and WeChat aid and abet the government in the persecution of its citizens.
That too, has eerie parallels with the West, where social media platforms have become a means of extra-judicial censorship for politicians. Because America has the First Amendment, politicians can’t pass laws suppressing speech or punishing dissidents against the established order — but they can, and frequently do, bully tech companies into doing their dirty work for them.
(JUST IN TIME FOR THE 2020 ELECTIONS) – Facebook hiring editors to pick stories for ‘News Tab’, that didn’t work out well last time
Facebook will hire a “small team” of journalists to select featured content for its much-hyped ‘News Tab’ section, which the platform will begin testing across its US user base later this year.
What could go awry with human editors in charge? Facebook should know, since the company was forced to fire its last team of human content-pickers over revelations of bias against conservative viewpoints.
The platform said Tuesday that the new team — which will likely be fewer than 10 employees at the beginning — will choose the content for the ‘Top News’ section of the News Tab. Stories found in the other sections will be chosen by algorithms and determined by specific user interests, the New York Times reported.
‘Trending’ no more: Facebook removing controversial news feature
Facebook said it made the decision to go after human curators after discussions with publishers convinced them that algorithms would not be capable of “news judgement” the way real journalists would and that it would take too long to train an algorithm to that level.
But there are pitfalls to consider with human editors, too. Facebook ditched its ‘Trending Topics’ section last year after being plagued by accusations that it was politically biased and amplified “fake news.”
An explosive Gizmodo story put the spotlight on Trending Topics in 2016, revealing that human editors, independently contracted by Facebook, were asked to suppress conservative news and even stories about Facebook itself.
The contractors were also told to artificially “inject” preferred stories into the trending module, even if they were not trending organically. Rather than relying on algorithms (as it claimed), Facebook was acting like a traditional news organization and reflecting the personal biases of its employees.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Facebook is planning to pay publishers “millions of dollars” to include their content in its News Tab.
A source told Digiday that the new batch of curators will be given the option to include that content in the Top News section, but they will not be obliged to. The new hires will be full-time employees, unlike the contractors used for the doomed Trending Topics section.
As Facebook rolls out the News Tab, users will no doubt be waiting to see if it has learned its lesson after the last debacle.
READ MORE: Google is censoring political content? *Gasp!* Who knew?
CIA WHISTLEBLOWER WARNS: FEDERAL RESERVE IS ‘OUT TO GET PRESIDENT TRUMP’
Central bank will ‘manipulate 2020 election and make any recession look like Trump’s fault and not the Fed’s fault,’ says Kevin Shipp.
AUGUST 19, 2019
The Federal Reserve has been using its central bank powers in an attempt to tank the economy to blame President Trump and manipulate the 2020 election outcome, according to CIA whistleblower Kevin Shipp.
“He [Trump] has got the Fed shaking in their boots. When the Fed gags its board of directors and its members, that is not good,” Shipp said on “USA Watchdog” with Greg Hunter on Saturday.
“Something not good is going on. Perhaps they are bringing the interest rates down to zero. Perhaps it’s the fact we are entering into, not only U.S., but a global recession. So, they have put the lid on any comments coming out, and I think they have done it for a reason that is concerning…”
“Trump is at war with the Fed, and the Fed has put a lid on all its people. It’s a gag order to keep its people from talking about what the Fed plans to do,” he continued.
“I think it is tied to an upcoming global recession, and we may see quantitative easing (money printing) rates go to zero, and they don’t want the President or the public to know what they are about to do,” Shipp added.
The Fed’s attempts to ruin Trump are obvious given how it behaved during Obama’s presidency, such as its excessive money-printing policies and holding interest rates at 0% for most of Obama’s tenure.
“So, it is apparent the Fed waited until Trump was elected to start hammering and pounding on the economy, which apparently they did not want to do under Obama,” Shipp said. “Can you raise the suspicion that the Fed is against Trump or that the Fed is trying to take the credit for the economy away from Trump? I think that appears to be entirely possible…”
“Trump has said it exactly right, it’s a war between Trump and the Federal Reserve, which, of course, is not federal and it has no reserves…
Shipp said that Trump is aware of the Fed’s moves and is correctly planning to shift blame to the Fed for any economic correction or collapse because it is the progenitor of America’s boom/bust cycles.
“In my view, I think that Trump is convinced that the Fed is going to try to destroy the advances in the economy to make 2020 less possible for re-election and actually manipulate the political landscape,” Shipp said.
“I think Trump is clearly and wisely aware of what they are doing…I think Trump thinks the Fed is going to manipulate the 2020 election and make any recession look like Trump’s fault and not the Fed’s fault.”
“God bless Donald Trump because he is the first President to call out the Fed like he is doing,” Shipp added. “Trump has been right all along.”
Trump called out the “very selfish” Fed on Monday, saying they should lower interest rates back down because the dollar is so strong thats it’s actually weakening the global economy.
Illinois Senator Forced to Apologize After Simulated Murder of President Trump at His Fundraiser
Democratic state senator Martin Sandoval represents the city of Chicago.
By Shane Trejo
Illinois state senator Martin Sandoval was forced to apologize after a violent display occurred at his fundraiser where his supporters performed a brutal mock assassination of President Donald Trump.
A political fundraiser for @SenatorSandoval simulates an assassination attempt against a mock @realDonaldTrump deck… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…—
Mark Maxwell (@MarkMaxwellTV) August 17, 2019
The fundraiser took place at the Klein Creek Golf Club where donors donated at least $250 to Sandoval in order to attend. The photos were leaked over Facebook, and Sandoval is pictured posing with the man who held the fake weapon and conducted the mock assassination. It is unknown whether Sandoval was aware of the violent display that took place at his event.
“The incident that took place is unacceptable,” he said. “I don’t condone violence toward the President or anyone else. I apologize that something like this happened at my event.”
Top officials of the Democrat and Republican parties in Illinois are speaking out against the display as well.
“As our nation grapples with the epidemic of gun violence, purposely pointing a fake gun at anyone is insensitive and wrong,” Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker said. “I condemn actions like the ones displayed in the pictures because they lack the civility our politics demands.”
“The tragedies in El Paso and Gilroy have demonstrated how hate-filled political rhetoric can fuel violence,” said Maura Possley, who works as the spokesperson for Illinois Democrats. “These images are unacceptable and dangerous. The place to make our voices heard against Trump is at the ballot box.”
“The apology from Sen. Sandoval for the detestable pictures from his event depicting an assassination of President Trump is too little, too late,” Illinois GOP Chairman Tim Schneider said through a spokesman.
‘We are moving into a new, controlled society worse than old totalitarianism’ – Zizek on Google leak
Modern censorship is more dangerous than open totalitarianism, it being concealed and incorporated in our daily routine, says Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, commenting on the insider leak detailing Google’s news blacklist.
The intellectual told RT he’s not advocating for online anarchy, comparing it to snuff movies in hardcore pornography – some regulation should be in place to block harmful content on the internet, he says. But hiding political motives for suppressing voices online is what worries Zizek the most.
“We all know we have to censor things at some level, but the main rule for me is that the process should be transparent. Not in the way – I’m talking about the developed West – it is done now, when all of a sudden somebody is prohibited and you are not even allowed to debate it,” Zizek explains. The “false choice” between politically correct censorship and radical liberalism is a trap, he believes.
This week, conservative transparency group Project Veritas published documents it received from an ex-Google employee. The documents appeared to confirm that Google can boost or de-rank news sources based on a seemingly biased set of internal rules. Calling the practices “dark and nefarious” the whistleblower, Zachary Vorhies, also leaked a doc detailing Google’s “blacklist” that lists nearly 500 websites, including both conservative and leftist media outlets.
Zizek believes the Big Tech’s practice of blacklists and shadow bans could prove an opportunity for right-wing activists to show themselves as a group fighting establishment politics and targeted for their opposition. The philosopher thinks this tactic will actually backfire against liberals by giving “the new populist right a position where they can say: you see, we’re the true alternative, we’re the true oppressed.”
Google is likely not the only tech megacorporation with a tight grip on their users’ digital menu, Zizek argues – but “the process isn’t some kind of a dark plot,” rather an inconspicuous slide “into a new, controlled society.”
What’s terrifying about it is that we don’t even experience it as something controlled. We just use social media, buy things, go to a doctor – and all the data about us is out there. But those are the things that we perceive as our freedom. So what we perceive as freedom becomes the very way we are controlled.
One doesn’t know anymore “if there is secret police following you or somebody reading your letters,” and this in Zizek’s mind is what differentiates it from the totalitarianism of the past. Modern control is hidden and undeclared, Zizek says.
IS THERE A HIDDEN POLITICAL AGENDA? THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS SUDDENLY FULL OF STORIES ABOUT THE COMING RECESSION
For those on the left that would like to see Trump voted out in 2020, the timing of the next recession will be key
AUGUST 16, 2019
All of a sudden, it seems like the mainstream media just can’t stop talking about “the coming recession”.
If you go to Google News and type in the word “recession”, you will literally get dozens of articles from the last couple of days with “recession” in the headline. And of course it is true that there are signs of global economic trouble all around us, and I have been documenting them on my website all throughout 2019. So we don’t want to criticize the mainstream media when they actually decide to tell the truth, because a recession is definitely coming, but could it be possible that there is also a hidden political agenda at work? The economy is generally regarded to be one of the bright spots for President Trump, and political operatives on the left clearly understand that a major economic downturn now would spell almost certain doom for Trump’s chances of winning the 2020 election. And when mainstream reporters talk about the possibility of a recession as we approach the next election, many of them almost seem gleeful as they describe how it could hurt Trump politically. Ultimately, when things start to really get bad it is inevitable that the mainstream media will place the blame directly at the feet of Trump. It is easy to imagine a narrative along the lines of “Trump’s handling of the economy has plunged the nation into a recession” being relentlessly pounded into the heads of American voters over the next year. And if the end result is Trump being voted out of office, more than 90 percent of those that work for the big news companies will be just fine with that.
This week, we have seen an absolute explosion in the number of stories about the possibility of an imminent recession. The following are just a few of the stories I came across while doing research earlier today…
–A global recession may be coming a lot sooner than anyone thought
–Recession watch: 6 financial moves to make when the economy slows down
–Trump 2020 can’t afford a recession
–The recession question we should be asking isn’t ‘when’ but ‘how bad?’
–Recession fears explained in one simple sentence
–Recession ahead? Dow, stocks tank on fears that bond market signals a downturn
–Recession indicator with perfect track record flashing red
–Recession signs are flashing, but Americans are still shopping at Walmart
–Worried about a recession? Don’t panic, but be prepared
Of course many of these stories were sparked by a major event that we just witnessed on Wall Street. The following comes from Fox Business…
Yes, it is possible that the yield curve could be wrong this time, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
And the economic news that is coming in from all over the world just continues to confirm that conditions are deteriorating. On Thursday, we learned that U.S. manufacturing has slumped back into contraction territory, and earlier this week we got some really troubling news from Germany and China…
So it isn’t as if the mainstream media is being dishonest with us in this case. Global economic activity is most definitely slowing down, and many believe that things will get much worse during the second half of this year.
And a global economic slowdown would be terrible news for the Trump campaign, because their entire narrative depends on President Trump making the economy great again. A substantial percentage of American voters are convinced that since he is a billionaire, Trump must really understand the economy very well. And according to a CNN poll from earlier this year, the performance of the economy is one of the main reasons for his current level of support…
But if the U.S. economy plunges into a painful recession, the game completely changes.
For those on the left that would like to see Trump voted out in 2020, the timing of the next recession will be key. If the next recession doesn’t begin until the second half of 2020, there may not be enough economic pain before November to swing the election in the favor of the Democratic candidate. So what the left really needs is for a recession to begin during the second half of 2019 or the first half of 2020 so that Americans are really suffering by the time election day rolls around.
I know that is a very sick way to think, but these are the sorts of conversations that these people actually have. For example, on his own television show Bill Maher publicly stated that a recession would be “worth it” if Trump is voted out in 2020. As we approach the next election, many on the left will be so desperate to see Trump gone that they will be willing to pay just about any price to see that happen.
And to be honest, the U.S. economy is definitely way overdue for a major downturn, and so it is only prudent to get prepared for rough times ahead. At this point, even USA Today is providing us with “recession survival tips”…
That is actually really good advice.
Now is a time to cut costs, get out of debt and build up your emergency fund.
The coming year promises to be quite chaotic, and those that hate President Trump are likely to pull out all the stops in an all-out attempt to get him voted out in 2020.
VIDEO: RESIDENTS HARASS, THROW OBJECTS AT PHILLY POLICE LEAVING SCENE OF SHOOTOUT
One woman pushes a cop and calls him a “bitch ass ni**a.”
AUGUST 15, 2019
After a wild standoff and shootout that left six cops wounded in Philadelphia, residents pelted objects and shouted obscenities at some of the officers involved.
Video footage shows officers leaving the scene of the shootout, only to be physically confronted, laughed at and verbally abused by onlookers.
Bear in mind that the suspect, 36-year-old Maurice Hill, had a lengthy history of gun convictions, was being served a warrant related to a drug offense and could easily have killed some of the cops involved.
The officers were heckled and laughed at as they walked through the crowd, with one woman pushing a cop and calling him a “bitch ass ni**a.”
Some residents even tried to physically confront and scuffle with the officers.
According to Philadelphia’s KYW-TV reporter Alexandria Hoff, the harassment also took place during exchange of gunfire with the suspect.
“I mentioned this at 10 and since I was harassed during that live shot, I’ll mention it here, too,” Hoff said on Twitter. “A major moment of disappointment this evening was watching a crowd of people taunt police officers, laughing and yelling at them in the midst of the gunfire.”
After more than five hours of gunfire, a SWAT team managed to get two officers and three hostages out of the building which Hill was holed up safely.
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