Escaping Censorship

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and others are censoring more and more of what is posted. It is their platforms, which are privately owned, so they have a right to do that. I don’t have to like it. I can go elsewhere. But, where?

Here is an alternative.

Many people remain terrified of Covid-19 and think everyone needs to hide. They insist everyone wear a mask, distance, and scrub everything anyone touches with bleach/chlorine.

It is no surprise when media is suppressing the opinion of all those doctors, epidemiologist, researchers, and statisticians that disagree. CoVid-19 is worse than the typical seasonal flu… for OLD PEOPLE. For almost 100% of everyone else a common cold is worse than CoVid. But, you’ll never learn that from the corporate media. The American CDC says masks and handwashing are NOT substantial preventatives for influenza. But, you won’t hear that from politicians or the corporate media.

Where does one go to find out this stuff?

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Politics: Surveillance

Why is it even important… and why should I care? I’ll get to the why…

Spy vs Spy

Spy vs Spy

Recently the Dems and GOP have been fussing about what is or isn’t spying. It doesn’t take exceptional intelligence to figure which side has staked their position in the debate in the Land of Dumb… Is it spying or surveillance? That seems to be the crux of the debate.

SPY ∙ verb

  • work for a government or other organization by secretly collecting information about enemies or competitors.
  • observe (someone) furtively.
  • discern or make out, especially by careful observation.

SURVEILLANCE ∙ noun

  • close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal.

Is there really a difference? Is any difference enough to matter? If not, then what is at play?
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The New Green Deal

WARNING – You are going to have to do some thinking…

The New Green Deal (H-Res 109 – Feb 7, 2019) is the lifesaving plan of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), US Representative – Democrat. She cares about the planet, is tots smart, and has a plan. Obviously with something this important you have to read her words. Trusting Nancy Pelosi, US House of Representatives Majority Leader – Democrat or Mitchell McConnell Jr, Senate Majority Leader – Republican probably isn’t wise and listening to both might be confusing. So, you can find copies of the document in Various places.

Alexandria_Ocasio-Cortez - US Representative NY - D
Alexandria_Ocasio-Cortez – US Representative NY – D

On the Democrat supporting websites (NPR etc.) there were FAQ’s. Those have mostly been taken down. There are places where you can still find them. They are disappearing. You, however, can find commentaries that explain advantages and disadvantages of the ‘deal’. You can make assumptions about why those supporting the ‘deal’ would be taking down their FAQ’s.

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Philosophy Day 6440

Too close...

Too close…

“I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.”
― Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) Founder of the Tuskegee Institute, a black school in Alabama devoted to training teachers.

In a recent post in the Second Life Forum a person stated 10-15% of the residents ‘obviously’ have less than average intelligence. Which of course there is no way to objectively measure. One would have to test all residents. The Lab is not going to give out contact information for all the users. Thus, for practical purposes: it is impossible to know.

So, what was that person actually doing? And what might you think about the speaker’s level of intelligence?

Another pointed out the statistical FACT that it would have to be 50%… which is applying broad generalized stats to small specific groups. Something reasonably educated people know doesn’t work.

There is the probability that the population of SL would be similar to the RL world population. However, we know Internet access and a computer are required to access and participate in the Second Life community. That certainly would skew the numbers based on economic status and geographic location. I could keep adding factors to suggest how the stats are skewed and in which direction. It would still leave us guessing and dealing with opinion.

It is the sayings of those people we admire for various reasons that we often use as a measure of intelligence or wisdom and allow to shape our thinking. From the combined wisdom and knowledge humans have aquired we can build our personal knowledge and beliefs. It is then my belief it is no longer intelligence or the lack of which I see in others, but their level of ignorance being different than mine.

 

The War on Free Speech Escalating

This week I think the war on free speech is escalating. I read Drudge Report each morning. It tells me what mainstream media will be talking about tomorrow or the next day. Today it leads with 7 articles about attacks on free speech.

For those unfamiliar with the Drudge Report, it is a ‘news aggregator’. Very seldom does Mr. Drudge actually include any of his writing in the Report. So, it is like Feedly, Newsify, gReader, and other aggregators.

Image – Drudge Report is popular. The stats are approaching 1 billion page views per month.

Today it points to articles from; CNN, NYT, WaPo, The Sun (UK), Mirror (UK), Whimn (AU), The Hill, CBS Sacramento, Rolling Stone, Reuters, Yahoo News, Bloomberg, NBC, Daily Star (UK), Space.com, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Zero Hedge (considered a conspiracy site), AP News, Axios, Politico, FNC, SF Gate, and that is just a partial list from today.

Drudge Page Hits – 8/7/2018

A number of sources proclaim Drudge Report as extreme right-wing. If you read the list above, you’ll wonder how that is possible. Blue is Left and Red is Right. Uncolored text is center or unknown. My list is taken from today’s Report and I took them as I found them. I skipped some like The Smoking Gun because I don’t recall ever seeing them in the Report and didn’t consider them representative. Those I listed I see almost every day.

The Report’s stories are pointed to without comment. Other than a modified headline which leaves little, if any, room for spin. So, Drudge Report bias, if it exists, can only come from their selection of articles. The significant majority of articles are from Left and Center-Left sources. So, it is the Left claiming one pointing to their words is extreme right-wing? Really!?!  Continue reading

Facebook and Free Speech, Done?

Facebook has abandoned the ideas of free speech and diversity of thought. We know that from a recent speech given at a publishing and technology conference by Campbell Brown, Facebook official. He announced FB would be censoring news based on its internal biases.

Would they really do that? What might they decide to censor? Well, measured usage statics from numerous sites and sources show they already are and what they are censoring. Thinking is, FB is just getting started.

All Hail the King

All Hail the King

A good report on what is happening data-wise is on the hardest hit site, The Gateway Pundit’s coverage Zuckerberg’s Announcement.

The new media site The Outline started the reporting on the impact of Facebook’s changes. Once people started realizing how pervasive the impact is the excitement started. Continue reading

Politics: The Memo is Released

In America, we have an aversion to government intrusion into our lives and business. Our basic idea is each human is a free sovereign answering only to a higher supernatural power and we Americans join in a political union to form a government that serves the people, not rules, and laws we all agree to live under. This necessitates a need for our government to be transparent and open to investigation by its citizens.

The nature of humans to have diverse agendas and beliefs complicates the process. A need to protect information from those that would use it to harm us or use it to abuse others for personal gain and yet remain an open and free society greatly complicates the government process. Thus, a complicated weave of laws controlling a government run by our elected representatives is supposed to strive to keep us safe and abide by our, the people’s, decisions and will.

Our system has designated selected people to exercise the investigative and overwatch duties. The Memo is the result of these duties and oversight. The information is now being released to the public for all citizens, and the world, to read. Continue reading

Happy New Year 2018

Wish you all the best for this year… may you find gorgeous shoes on sale everywhere you go, may the lovers in your life treat you as royalty, may the chocolate you eat not add pounds…

Happy New Year 2018

Happy New Year 2018

There are many sources of fake news and abusive people being revealed. Politicians of all parties are revealing themselves as members of the establishment party. More and more often it is the Establishment against the people. THEY are interested in power and control. We struggle to stay free.

For 2018 you will need a variety of news sources to be able to see the chess game of propaganda in play. Every October outrageous allegations are made. October is the time for them because it leaves no times for court cases to determine facts before the election. The American ideal of innocent until proven guilty is systematically being destroyed and allegations are decided in the court of public opinion. Continue reading