Category: TOXIC WHITENESS

Nine US states launch probe into whether Facebook broke antitrust rules

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Several state attorneys general united forces to investigate if the social media giant Facebook violated antitrust laws, hurting its users in the process.

The prosecutors will check whether Facebook “stifled competition and put users at risk,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James who is leading the probe.

Even the largest social media platform in the world must follow the law and respect consumers.

The attorneys general of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia are also taking part in the probe.

In recent years Facebook has greatly expanded its business ventures, acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp Messenger which unlike their parent company are growing fast.

Facebook allows massive data leaks with no rules in US to prevent it – expert to Boom Bust

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Meanwhile the social media behemoth is facing a litany of accusations for violating users’ privacy and misusing their data. In July, the Justice Department (DoJ) launched a probe into whether the big tech firms are complying with antitrust laws. The officials did not explicitly call out Mark Zuckerberg’s company but hinted that they will be going after the major players.

Congress also started an investigation into Facebook and other IT giants. The House Judiciary Committee head, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), voiced concern that “a handful” of companies have taken control over the vast sectors of online commerce and communications. The issue even came up in the 2020 presidential race with Democratic nomination hopefuls, like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, arguing that Facebook is too powerful and needs to be “broken up.”

Facebook, of course, denies it violated any antitrust rules, and said it is eager to work with lawmakers to come up with regulations to “protect” users.

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HEAD OF UN GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS SAYS ILLEGALLY ENTERING THE U.S. IS A RIGHT

Head of UN Global Communications Says Illegally Entering the U.S. is a Right

Follows Ilhan Omar’s call for UN to take control of US-Mexico border.

  – SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

The head of United Nations Global Communications says that it is a “right” for migrants to illegally enter the United States.

Writing on Facebook, Melissa Flemming asserted that, “the right to seek asylum is enshrined in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights & was made binding by the 1951 Refugee Convention.”

“It is never a crime to seek asylum in another country even if one enters a country irregularly,” she added.

As head of communications, Flemming, who is American, is also the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the same organization that Rep. Ilhan Omar advocated take control of the US-Mexico border last week.

“We should do what any other country does by dealing with this situation in a serious way,” Omar said during an immigration forum in south Minneapolis.

“So, we have to bring in the United Nations high commissioner on refugees, an agency that has the expertise and the training to handle massive flows of refugees humanely.”

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Pennsylvania Fire Company Shut Down After Refusing to Fire a Volunteer Firefighter Who Joined the Proud Boys

by Cassandra Fairbanks September 5, 2019

A fire company in Pennsylvania has been shut down for refusing to fire or accept the resignation of a volunteer firefighter who had started the process of joining the Proud Boys.

The Proud Boys, founded by comedian Gavin McInnes, is a diverse right-wing and pro-Trump social club for men.

Haverford Township announced in a statement on Wednesday saying that they are shutting down the Bon Air Fire Company “indefinitely” for failing to remove Bruce McClay Jr. as a volunteer.

“Given the fire company board’s failure to act, the township is compelled to take action,” the township said in a statement. “Effective by close of business Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, the Bon Air Fire Company has been relieved of duty indefinitely.”

Steve D’Emilio, Ward 1 commissioner in Haverford, told the Philadelphia Enquirer that the Proud Boys are a “hate group” so he clearly can’t be allowed to help save people from fires.

“Listen, they represent the township,” he said. “Even though they’re a volunteer group, they represent the township. And you can’t have someone who represents the township belonging to any hate groups. You can’t have it.”

The Enquirer reports:

“On Aug. 14, Burman’s letter states, he and the chief of police met with Bon Air officials to make them aware of the seriousness of the issue and urge them to address it. And on Aug. 15, the letter continues, Burman was told by Bon Air that McClay had tried to resign, but that the company declined to accept his resignation.

On Aug. 22, fire company officials told the township they ‘found no basis’ for dismissing the volunteer.

On the Bon Air website, McClay is listed as a lieutenant and vice president of the board of directors.”

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Big Tech & Big Brother meet at Facebook HQ to discuss how to ‘secure’ US elections

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Security teams for Facebook, Google, Twitter and Microsoft met with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence’s office to coordinate a strategy to secure the 2020 elections.

The tech platforms met with government officials at Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters on Wednesday, the company has confirmed, boasting that Big Tech and Big Brother have developed a “comprehensive strategy” to get control of previous election-related “vulnerabilities” while “analyzing and getting ahead of new threats.”

Facebook has scrambled to get in front of the 2020 election after being blamed for Trump’s 2016 electoral victory over merely allowing the “Russian trolls” to buy a bunch of ads, most of which appeared after the vote and had nothing to do with the election. But the company insisted last week it had tightened its rules for verifying purchasers of “political” ads, for real this time, after the 2018 contest showed they could still be duped into running obviously-fake ads “paid for by” the Islamic State terror group and Cambridge Analytica.

Big election business: Democratic candidates, even critical of Facebook, pour millions into platform

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Aside from the occasional purge of accounts accused of being linked to countries like Russia, Iran, and China on the US’ ever-lengthening enemies’ list, however, it’s hard to tell what exactly any platform has done to make itself immune to ‘manipulation’. Twitter banned state-owned media from buying ads on its platform last month, holding the move up as a victory against the dreaded “foreign meddling,” but its own founder’s account was hacked last week, suggesting it has bigger security issues than a few wrongthink-prone advertisers.

And Google’s potential to sway elections has been the subject of Senate hearings – yet the company has remained silent on addressing the problem, suggesting it doesn’t see it as a bug at all, but a feature. Subsidiary YouTube, meanwhile, conducted another round of deplatforming last month even while declaring it was an open platform for controversial ideas.

The electoral meeting of the minds came less than a week after the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) declared war on deepfakes and other potentially discord-sowing information, promising to neutralize all “malicious” content within four years – if not for this election, then certainly for the next.

Until then, there’s Microsoft’s ElectionGuard software, which the company announced in July it would provide to all the nation’s voting machines, free of charge, out of the goodness of its (and the Pentagon-owned contractor that helped develop the program’s) heart. And if Microsoft’s act of selfless charity doesn’t convince a district their democracy is worth protecting, there’s always Cyberdome, the election security nonprofit advised by half a dozen former intel agency heads who want what’s best for your vote (when they’re not authorizing torture or warrantless wiretapping).

Getting the DHS involved was a nice touch, too, after that agency was accused of attempting to hack electoral systems in multiple states thousands of times during the period surrounding the 2016 election. Unlike the “Russian hacking” allegations that remain unproven, multiple officials from Idaho, Georgia, Indiana, West Virginia, and Kentucky claim the agency attempted to access their systems after they opposed its efforts to “secure” those systems. After initially denying any involvement, the DHS claimed the attempted breach alarms were set off accidentally, during routine “legitimate work.”

 

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FIRST THEY WILL TAKE OUR GUNS AND AFTER PUT US IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS – San Francisco Supervisors Vote Unanimously to Designate NRA ‘Domestic Terrorist Organization’

by Joel B. Pollak

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to declare the National Rifle Association (NRA) a “domestic terrorist organization.”

The resolution claims that the NRA incites and arms those who would use guns in acts of mass terrorism driven by hatred. It reads, in part:

WHEREAS, Reported hate crimes have increased by double digits since 2015, and

WHEREAS, There are over 393,000,000 guns in the United States, which exceeds the country’s current total population, and

WHEREAS, Our elected representatives, including the President, have taken an oath swearing to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

…

WHEREAS, The United States Constitution specifically delineates that the country was founded to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and promote the general welfare …

WHEREAS, The National Rifle Association musters its considerable wealth and organizational strength to promote gun ownership and incite gun owners to acts of violence, and …

WHEREAS, The National Rifle Association through its advocacy has armed those individuals who would and have committed acts of terrorism; and

WHEREAS, All countries have violent and hateful people, but only in America do we give them ready access to assault weapons and large-capacity magazines thanks, in large part, to the National Rifle Association’s influence; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco intends to declare the National Rifle Association a domestic terrorist organization; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco should take every reasonable step to assess the financial and contractual relationships our vendors and contractors have with this domestic terrorist organization; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco should take every reasonable step to limit those entities who do business with the City and County of San Francisco from doing business with this domestic terrorist organization; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco should encourage all other jurisdictions, including other cities, states, and the federal government, to adopt similar positions.

Though the resolution mentions the U.S. Constitution, it fails to mention the Second Amendment.

Bay Area public radio station KQED points out that the resolution is toothless and has no practical effect.

Oakland-based Fox affiliate KTVU-2 quoted a statement by the NRA: “This ludicrous stunt by the Board of Supervisors is an effort to distract from the real problems facing San Francisco, such as rampant homelessness, drug abuse and skyrocketing petty crime, to name a few. The NRA will continue working to protect the constitutional rights of all freedom-loving Americans.”

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Woman shot dead after masked gunmen open fire on Swedish beach

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Several masked gunmen opened fire on a man and woman carrying a child near the popular beach resort of Ribersborg, Sweden. The woman has died and police are hunting for the perpetrators.

At approximately 10am local time, a gang of several masked attackers fired off between eight and ten shots, reportedly from multiple weapons, before fleeing the scene through the grounds of a nearby apartment building.

The woman was reportedly carrying the child when she was struck by a bullet in the unprovoked attack. She was taken to hospital for emergency treatment but later died of her wounds. The man they were with then went into shock.

According to Swedish media, one possible motive being explored by police is that the child’s father was the intended target of the attack. The man is said to have a criminal record in both Sweden and Denmark and has served time in prison previously.

UPS stops delivering to Swedish neighborhood as drivers get attacked in ‘no-go zone’ – report

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Ambulances and police were immediately dispatched to the scene and authorities established a security cordon around the area. Specialized police sniffer dogs are already on the trail of the perpetrators, according to police. The three victims were transported to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment.

“This is one of the most serious crimes there is, so we are deploying all of our resources to investigate it, and also sending officers to speak to people near the scene of the attack, who might be disturbed by what has happened,” Calle Persson from the Malmö police told The Local.

Malmo has developed a reputation as something of a crime hotspot in Sweden, with the UPS delivery service declaring several areas in the city as no-go zones. In 2018, the police even arranged a hand grenade amnesty to try and stem the violence carried out by rival gangs in the city. Malmo also featured in spate of arson attacks last year.

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New Jersey Awarded $3.8 Million in Financial Aid to Illegal Aliens

DACA-protester-DREAMers-deportations-ICE-illegal-immigration

By TOM CICCOTTA

A local news report revealed that the state of New Jersey awarded $3.8 million in financial aid to illegal immigrants during the 2018-2019 school year.

According to a report from NJ.com, the state of New Jersey gave $3.8 million in financial aid to 749 illegal immigrant students in the last academic year. More than a quarter of the funding went to 328 illegal immigrants that attend Rutgers University.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a law last year that allowed illegal immigrants to apply for financial aid. Prior to the signing, illegal immigrants were permitted to apply to pay in-state tuition at public universities but they were not eligible for financial aid.

Murphy, who supports the spending, hit back at Republican critics by arguing that giving financial aid to illegal immigrants is compatible with American values.

“I’d even invite any of those folks who have that attitude, beginning with our president, to come on into this room and allow me or any of us to say, ‘This is the United States of America,’” Murphy said at the time.

David J. Socolow, executive director of the state’s Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, defended the state’s decision to offer financial aid to illegal immigrants.

“This financial assistance offers these New Jersey students a life-changing opportunity,” Socolow said in a brief comment.“The successes of these first 513 students, who are now attending county colleges, state colleges and universities, and independent institutions around the state, will have a positive impact on countless additional lives.”

According to the report, there is currently no limit on the amount of illegal immigrant students that are permitted to receive financial aid from the state of New Jersey. State lawmakers forecast that they will spend approximately $5 million on financial aid for illegal immigrants each year.

 

 

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SWEDEN: PEPPER SPRAY SALES SURGE 90% AMIDST RAPE CONCERNS

Sweden: Pepper Spray Sales Surge 90% Amidst Rape Concerns

Sales have “officially exploded” this summer.

 – AUGUST 20, 2019

Sales of pepper spray in some areas of Sweden have surged as much as 90 per cent amidst concerns over the country’s rape problem.

According to a report by Swedish newspaper Expressen, the Kjell & Company retail chain announced that sales of the self-defense item have spiked 90 per cent in August compared to June.

The sales figures are being described as an “accelerating, increasing trend,” with manufacturer Plegium revealing sales have been rising for years but “officially exploded” this summer.

Another pepper spray company called Bodyguard also revealed that its sales had increased by 21 per cent despite stiff competition from market newcomers.

“The Swedish summer has been shaken by a series of assault rapes. The most notable events have taken place in Uppsala, where two completed rapes and two attempted rapes took place between August 3rd and 7th alone,” reports Expressen.

After a string of four sexual assaults and rapes in the span of five nights, Swedish police in numerous cities advised women to not walk alone at night and to go home early.

Figures released last year found that 58 per cent of convicted rapists and 85 per cent of all convicted assault rapists in Sweden were born outside of Europe.

In cases where the victim did not know the attacker, the proportion of foreign offenders was more than 80 per cent. Nearly 40 per cent of the convicted rapists are from the Middle East or from Africa, areas of the world from which Sweden has accepted large numbers of migrants in recent years.

A study by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet found that 88 per cent of gang rapists in the Scandinavian country over the last six years have had a migrant background.

Other figures show that migrants from Muslim-majority nations commit 84 per cent of “very violent” rapes in Sweden.

As we reported yesterday, robberies targeting children in Sweden have also hit a new record high, with young men with migrant backgrounds being blamed for the spike.

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