When The S*** Hits the Fan

Archives for February 2016

These Cops Are so Fed Up with Corruption They’re Suing Their Own Department

by

Derrick Broze
February 23, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Maricopa County, Arizona — On February 17, 20-year law enforcement veteran Charles Cornfield, as well as five other police officers, filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County Court against the the Arizona Board of Regents, former ASU Police Chief John Pickens, current Police Chief Michael Thompson, and 10 other ASU employees. Cornfield is supported by fellow officers Benjamin R. Flynn, Bernard Linser, Patrick Murphy, William J. O’Hayer, and Matthew V. Parker.

The officers claim ASU Police attempt to make the university seem more safe by misreporting crime statistics. Courthouse News reports:

“The officers claim they were ordered ‘to change crime statistics or otherwise falsify the crime statistics to make ASU appear safer, and supervisors directed employees to change crime classification to avoid the community from seeing the crime that occurred on or around the campus.’

“This ‘culture of corruption’ violates the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1990, (20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), and 34 C.F.R. 668.46), the officers say.”

The court filing also states that after the officers reported the corruption, they were investigated by internal affairs. They also allege they were harassed. The plaintiffs claim that former Police Chief Pickens suspected the officers were contributing to a local blog that details corruption in the ASU police department. In response, Pickens “singled them out for interrogations and demoted them, denied them promotions, defamed them with false reports, and/or fired them.”

Cornfield also filed a separate claim alleging he was targeted because he was older than 40. Cornfield says the department forced him into retirement “based on the harassment he felt with this incredibly dysfunctional group of people that are supposed to ‘serve and protect.’“
The officers claim the ASU Police Department is run by a clique of cronies that “discriminates against those who were felt to be threats.” The officers are seeking punitive damages for civil rights violations, civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, falsification of records, and age discrimination (on behalf of plaintiff Cornfield only).

Unfortunately, the law enforcement’s practices of altering crime statistics is likely fairly common. Police officers often want to make their police departments look strong and their cities safe, so they may under-report certain crimes and statistics that make the department look bad. On the flip side, a department’s officers might attempt to paint themselves as vulnerable — and therefore in need of funding — to properly handle crimes that might not even exist. This situation becomes even more problematic in light of the fact that the FBI relies upon “self-reporting” from police departments to compile its annual report on national crime statistics.

How can the federal government accurately analyze crime statistics if the departments are improperly reporting them in the first place? It cannot. This should make every member of the public weary of official government data regarding police abuse, corruption, and violent crimes. The people are no longer able to trust the “authorities” to be transparent and accountable, so it is up to each of us to educate ourselves about the corruption that surrounds us, and then take action against in whatever ways are most appropriate to our lifestyles and needs. Together we can turn the tide of police corruption and put the power back in the hands of the people.

This article (These Cops Are so Fed Up with Corruption They’re Suing Their Own Department) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Derrick Broze and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article at edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Facebook’s New Tool to Help You Prevent Your Friends from Committing Suicide

by

Michaela Whitton
February 23, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) United Kingdom — Over one billion people are active daily on Facebook, and as a result, the social networking giant is continually updating its products and services. The most recent attempt to expand resources available to users was rolled out last week in the U.K., with a feature that aims to reduce suicides.

Facebook Stats
— 1.04 billion daily active users on average in December 2015
— 934 million mobile daily active users on average in December 2015
— 1.59 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2015
— 1.44 billion mobile monthly active users as of December 31, 2015
— Approximately 83.6% daily active users are outside the U.S. and Canada

We are more open and connected to others online than ever before. By now, many of us have stumbled across troubling posts by friends that leave us unsure as to how to respond, if at all. Maybe it is someone we don’t feel we know well enough to intervene, or perhaps we debate whether to send a private message but simply ignore the cry for help and scroll past. Well, Facebook has taken the dilemma out of our hands.

Hoping to help reduce suicides, the social media platform’s new tool offers assistance to those who may be at risk of harming themselves. Launched last year in the U.S. and Australia, the opportunity to report suicidal content on Facebook has now been launched in the U.K.

Built in partnership with the Samaritans, the tool has been developed to encourage users to help friends they feel may be at risk, as well as offer support for friends and family. While Facebook encourages people to contact emergency services first if they are worried about friends, the tool is intended to flag posts with troubling content.

Suicidal posts will be prioritised by a round-the-clock team, and when friends flag a post they are concerned about, staff will assess the best way to proceed.

The next time the user logs into their account, they will receive a message saying “a friend thinks you might be going through something difficult and asked us to look at your recent post.” Those who Facebook feels are struggling to cope will then be offered options for support. As with most resources on the social networking site, the support options can be ignored, should the person wish.

Samaritans CEO Ruth Sutherland said:

“If people can start to talk about the unbearable pain that they’re facing, we can interrupt that journey towards suicide. Suicide is not inevitable, it is preventable. This tool plays a really vital role in achieving that.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article and need to talk to someone, visit samaritans.org or call 08457 90 90 90.

This article (Facebook’s New Tool to Help You Prevent Your Friends from Committing Suicide) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Michaela Whitton and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Here’s How We Got Here: A Short Primer On The History Of The Petrodollar

by

petrdollar2petrodollar

The information in this article will be a short synopsis of how the Petrodollar was created, in order to allow the readers to tie in an understanding to the bigger picture we face today.  We have all seen the volatility in the oil markets and the steady, daily decline in the BDI (Baltic Dry Index), both of which indicate the disease affecting the global economy.  That disease is almost terminal; the policies surrounding the Petrodollar and its influence are major contributing factors to the rapidly-deteriorating world economies that are on the brink of crashing.

Oil is the most important commodity from an economic perspective, and from the drilling of the first oil well in 1846 in Azerbaijan, formerly known as Baku, the world has embraced the search for and use of it.  Today oil is to be found in every facet of life, from the plastic spoon to the gasoline pump.  John D. Rockefeller built an oil refinery in Cleveland, Ohio in 1863 and subsequently formed Standard Oil of Ohio in 1870.  At its peak, the company controlled the market domestically, owning 90% of the U.S. oil industry until the company was broken up in 1911.  The Supreme Court had deemed it a monopoly, and it separated into smaller firms.

Shortly after World War II, the oil-rich governments around the world began to despise American control over their resources; therefore, the largest producers nationalized the oil fields and their own levels of domestic production.  Saudi Aramco formed in Saudi Arabia became the recognized leader of crude oil production in the world.  Then in 1949, U.S. domestic production of crude oil could no longer keep up with the country’s industrial demands.  For the first time, the U.S. became an importer of crude oil.

In July of 1944, the Bretton Woods Conference (officially the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference) took place in New Hampshire.  The conference lasted for almost a month, and 730 representatives from the 44 allied nations participated in it.  After the conference was concluded, the postwar global financial structure had been decided: gold had been fixed for delivery by the United States at $35 per ounce, and each signing member of the participants agreed on a fixed rate of exchange for currencies.

Meanwhile for the next several decades, the deficit in trade rose in the U.S., along with price inflation that began to erode the confidence in the American structure.  As a result, France withdrew its gold stored with the Federal Reserve in 1967.  Then in 1971, Nixon closed the door by removing the ability of any member nation to convert into gold.  The dollar (used as the world’s reserve currency) was still the reserve; however, it was completely fiat at this point.  At this time, President Nixon dispatched Kissinger to Saudi Arabia with a scheme that made extortionists pale in comparison.

The ruling House of Saud in Saudi Arabia was offered a deal by Kissinger with four parts.

  1. America’s military would guarantee protection of Saudi Arabia and her oilfields.
  2. The U.S. would also sell the Saudis any weapons needed.
  3. The U.S. would furthermore guarantee protection from Israel and the other countries of the region.
  4. Finally, the Saudi family was ensured that they would rule in perpetuity.

In return for such “magnanimous” services, the Saudi Arabians would make sure that all oil sales were done only in U.S. dollars.  In addition, the Saudis promised to take their profits and invest them in U.S. treasuries.

The gold would not be needed.  With all oil being sold in U.S. dollars, the other nations were obliged to build up a supply of dollars on the fixed currency exchange to buy the oil.  The Saudis signed on to this in 1974, and shortly thereafter in 1975, the other oil producing countries of OPEC followed suit.  You may notice there was roughly a three-year hiatus for the former, a four-year gap in the latter.

There was a fly in the ointment: The Yom Kippur war of 1973, in which these previously-hesitant nations realized that Israel was a threat to them.  Immediately following this conflict, OPEC raised its price of crude oil by 70% and then cut levels of production by 5%, taking oil from $3.00 per barrel to $12 per barrel virtually overnight.  The embargo lasted from October 1973 to March of 1974, before pressure from the Nixon administration and the threat of Israel and other potentially threatening nations took effect.

So in 1975, the world’s demand for oil was skyrocketing, and all sales were now conducted in U.S. dollars, placing the U.S. over all of the world’s economy for decades.  The underlying illness was the festering fiat currency and the accompanying paradigm shift that saw the decline in American domestic manufacturing and the reduction of our economy to one that was consumer-based, until we reached the point we are today.  In the next article we will examine where the Petrodollar stands as the world’s currency reserve, and cover actions and leading indicators that help to forecast what will be coming down the pike.

Jeremiah Johnson is the Nom de plume of a retired Green Beret of the United States Army Special Forces (Airborne).  Mr. Johnson is also a Gunsmith, a Certified Master Herbalist, a Montana Master Food Preserver, and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s SERE school (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape).  He lives in a cabin in the mountains of Western Montana with his wife and three cats. You can follow Jeremiah’s regular writings at SHTFplan.com.

This article may be republished or excerpted with proper attribution to the author and a link to www.SHTFplan.com.

Also Read:

Forced Economic Free Fall the Precursor to Collapse: “The World Is About To Enter A Global Depression Unlike Anything Seen Before”

The Trigger: If This Ever Happens You Know You’re Days Away From Nuclear War

Collision Course: As Obama Weakens America, The Russians And Chinese Prepare

Jeremiah Johnson’s Green Beret Survival Guides

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Sacred Native American Lands Could Become Nuclear Waste Dump

by

Derrick Broze
February 22, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Nye County, Nevada — During the 1970s and 80s, a large movement of antinuclear and anti-war activists protested the growing acceptance of nuclear power and the possibility of an impending global nuclear war. The protesters were not only concerned with the Cold War breaking down into a hot war, but also with the dangers that nuclear technology presented to the environment and the health of the public.

When nuclear power is used to provide electricity or create nuclear weapons, a radioactive byproduct known as spent nuclear fuel is created. Disposing of this waste requires a very difficult and dangerous process. To deal with concerns over storing nuclear material, Congress passed the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982, which tasked the Department of Energy (DOE) with finding a place to build and operate a geologic repository, or underground nuclear waste disposal facility.

One of the proposed waste sites was the Yucca Mountain, located 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.The DOE’s plan is to tunnel into the Yucca Mountain and store the radioactive waste for thousands of years until the material is no longer harmful. This plan, known as the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, enjoyed the support of President George W. Bush, but was opposed by Native communities, anti-nuclear activists, and officials in Nevada. The opposition continued after President Obama was elected.

MintPress News reports:

“In 2009, environmental and anti-nuclear organizations, including Beyond Nuclear, Greenpeace, Center for Health, Environment & Justice, and the International Society for Ecology, sent a letter to President Barack Obama calling the selection of the Yucca Mountain site ‘a purely political decision.’ They argued that it has been been evident since 1992 that the site ‘could not meet the EPA’s general radiation protection standard for repositories.’”

Obama also opted to end funding for the project in 2009, setting off an ongoing legal battle. In August 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve or reject the DOE application for the proposed waste storage site at Yucca Mountain.

Vernon Lee, a Southern Paiute with the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians, says the dangers associated with storage of nuclear waste are disproportionately foisted upon Native communities. Lee has lived on the Moapa River Reservation, located about three hours from the planned Yucca Mountain Waste Repository, since 1973.

“There are multiple problems. Moving the waste is a problem. High risk, unnecessary risk. If the company is ever going to benefit from nuclear power they should process it and store it themselves. Stop shipping it across the country and exposing the population to a potential disaster,” he told MintPress.

Unfortunately, Native communities in the region are not new to this type of exposure to radiation. From 1951 to 1992, the U.S. government used a 1,300-square mile patch of land known as the Nevada Test Site for nuclear weapons testing. 928 American and 19 British nuclear tests were conducted at the Nevada Test Site. Although no official tests have been conducted to examine the health effects on the Paiute and the Shoshone, the communities believe the radiation has affected their health — and the health of the land.

“We hope that that [radiation] went up in the air and blew over us,” Vernon Lee told MintPress. “We know that we got some because we are just east of the testing, but we hope we got less.”

The DOE is currently accepting public comment from communities, states, tribes, and other stakeholders regarding how to establish a nuclear waste repository with respect to the community. The DOE says it aims “to establish an integrated waste management system to transport, store, and dispose of commercial spent nuclear fuel and high level defense radioactive waste.” The public comment period ends on June 15, and the DOE and Nuclear Regulatory Commission will likely issue statements shortly after.

Ian Zaparte, representative of the Western Shoshone government, says the NRC and the DOE are ignoring the possibilities for danger in the area.

“There are 26 faults, seven cinder cone volcanoes, 90 percent of the mountain is saturated with 10 percent water,” Zaparte told MintPress. “If you heat the rock, it will release that water. If the water comes up and corrodes the canisters, it will take whatever is in storage and bring it into the water and into the valley.”

However, Ian Zaparte takes his criticism of the project even further. He believes the actions taken by the U.S. government constitute acts of genocide against the Western Shoshone and other tribal nations who have been subject to the effects of nuclear testing and power. He is determined to fight for his people’s way of life and the land that his ancestors fought for.

“We have a deliberate act by the United States to systematically dismantle my living life ways for the profit of the nuclear industry and the benefit of the United States,” Zaparte said. “At the worst, this is genocide under the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.”

This article (Sacred Native American Lands Could Become Nuclear Waste Dump) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Derrick Broze and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article at edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Unstoppable Gas Leaks in Texas Even Worse than California’s, Media Silent

by

Claire Bernish
February 22, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Texas — After the mammoth methane gas leak that spewed uncontrollably from a damaged well in California’s Aliso Canyon was finally capped last week, residents of nearby Porter Ranch began trepidatiously returning to their homes. Lingering doubts over whether Southern California Gas Company will continue using the underground storage field have left many wondering if concerns for their safety are being considered at all — particularly considering the company has, so far, only been charged with misdemeanor violations.

All told, the Aliso Canyon leak thrust an estimated 96,000 metric tons of potent methane — not to mention benzene, nitrogen oxides, and other noxious substances — into the atmosphere over a period of months. So vast was the impact of the leak, it has been likened in impactful scope to BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

California, however, isn’t the only state dealing with mammoth methane leakage.

Texas is dealing with a comparable disaster that has been overlooked by officials and the media, in part, because the state’s methane emanates from a powerful industry’s infrastructure. According to the Texas Observer’s Naveena Sadasivam:

“Every hour, natural gas facilities in North Texas’ Barnett Shale region emit thousands of tons of methane — a greenhouse gas at least 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide — and a slate of noxious pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and benzene.

“The Aliso Canyon leak was big. The Barnett leaks, combined, are even bigger.”

At its peak, the SoCal Gas leak emitted 58,000 kilograms of methane per hour. By comparison, researchers with universities in Colorado and Michigan, partnering with the Environmental Defense Fund, estimate around 60,000 kilograms are spewed every hour by over 25,000 natural gas wells in operation on the Barnett Shale — with the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex at the center. This amounts to around 544,000 tons of methane every year. But contrary to the magnitude of the Aliso Canyon event, emissions caused by oil and gas extraction from the Barnett Shale — and a second large formation, Eagle Ford Shale — won’t cease as long as hydraulic fracturing remains the boon it has been to the fossil fuel industry.

An eight-month long study of Eagle Ford by the Center for Public Integrity, the Weather Channel, and InsideClimate News found “a system that does more to protect the industry than the public.”

Due to a scarcity of air quality monitoring stations, with only five permanent monitors to cover Eagle Ford’s nearly 20,000 square miles, state officials simply don’t know the extent of pollutants in the air. Many facilities are permitted to police themselves, and aren’t required to submit those findings. Not that regulators would have an easy time enforcing a reporting mandate, as the “Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which regulates most air emissions, doesn’t even know some of these facilities exist.”

David Sterling, chair of the University of North Texas Health Science Center, told InsideClimate News, “As much as I would like to believe that industry can police itself, history has shown that that has not worked without sufficient oversight.” With TCEQ’s budget having fallen 34 percent between 2010 and 2014, it’s virtually impossible to imagine such oversight increasing in the future.

There is a dearth of accountability for lawbreakers in Texas’ oil and gas industry. As the study discovered, in a period of nearly two years beginning in January 2010, 284 complaints against the industry — and “164 documented violations” — led to just two non-punitive fines, the larger of which was a mere $14,250.

Though alarming, that gap in accountability isn’t a surprise.

“Texas officials tasked with overseeing the industry are often its strongest defenders,” stated the study. “The Texas Railroad Commission, which issues drilling permits and regulates all other aspects of oil and gas production, is controlled by three elected commissioners who accepted more than $2 million in campaign contributions from the industry during the 2012 election cycle, according to data from the National Institute on Money in State Politics.”

Texas lawmakers are often personally tied to the industry, as “nearly one in four state legislators, or his or her spouse, has a financial interest in at least one energy company active in the Eagle Ford,” according to an analysis of personal financial forms by CPI cited by the study.

Residents located in the two Texas shale production regions experience many similar symptoms to those in Porter Ranch near Aliso Canyon, such as nosebleeds, dizziness, nausea, and various respiratory ailments. Those symptoms could be due to any number of pollutants and toxins. As the study described:

“Chemicals released during oil and gas extraction include hydrogen sulfide, a deadly gas found in abundance in Eagle Ford wells; volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene, a known carcinogen; sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, which irritate the lungs; and other harmful substances such as carbon monoxide and carbon disulfide. VOCs also mix with nitrogen oxides emitted from field equipment to create ozone, a major respiratory hazard.

“Studies show that, depending on the concentration and length of exposure, these chemicals can cause a range of ailments, from minor headaches to neurological damage and cancer. People in the Eagle Ford face an added risk: hydrogen sulfide, also known as H2S or sour gas, a naturally occurring component of crude oil and natural gas that lurks underground.”

Texas’ shale facilities are responsible for 8 percent of the nation’s methane emissions, already; but the combination of faulty equipment and lack of monitoring sites mean occasional large methane releases from wells — called “super-emitters” — won’t necessarily be noticed immediately.

“If one well was a super-emitter the day we measured them, it could change the next day,” explained Daniel Zavala-Araiza, lead researcher of a 2015 Barnett Shale methane study by the Environmental Defense Fund, in the Observer. “It’s not just about finding a handful of sites. You need to be looking continuously to keep finding the ones that are malfunctioning … If you don’t have frequent monitoring, there’s no way you’re going to know when one of these super-emitters begins spewing.”

In fact, a recent study by Harvard University points the finger at the United States as the cause of an enormous spike in global methane emissions over the past decade, accounting for 30 – 60 percent of all “human-caused atmospheric emissions.”

“I believe the U.S. probably is responsible for this much of an increase in global methane emissions,” said Roger Howarth, a methane researcher at Cornell University, who is unaffiliated with the Harvard study, the Guardian reported. “And, the increase almost certainly must be coming from the fracking and from the increase in use of natural gas.”

Texas residents unfortunate enough to find their homes positioned near oil or gas facilities aren’t left with much recourse to combat the state’s infamous industry. Shale gas production more than doubled between 2009 and 2014, though it has slowed slightly with the recent glut. As InsideClimate News reported, state Representative Harvey Hilderbran tellingly asserted to a media panel in 2014:

“I believe if you’re anti-oil and gas, you’re anti-Texas.”

This article (Unstoppable Gas Leaks in Texas Even Worse than California’s, Media Silent) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

The Video Game that Made Elon Musk Question Whether Our Reality is a Simulation

by

Jake Anderson
February 22, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) In June, a team of programmers will release a ground-breaking new video game called No Man’s Sky, which uses artificial intelligence and procedural generation to self-create an entire cosmos full of planets. Running off 600,000 lines of code, the game creates an artificial galaxy populated by 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 unique planets that you can travel to and explore.

Though this artificial universe is realistic down to the dimensions of a blade of grass, faster than light-speed travel is available in order for players to bridge the unfathomable distances between stars.

Chief architect Sean Murray says No Man’s Sky is different than most games because the landscapes and distances aren’t faked. While most space-based games utilize a skybox that simply rotates between different modalities, No Man’s Sky is virtually limitless and employs real physics.

“With [our game],” Murray said in an interview with The Atlantic, “when you’re on a planet, you can see as far as the curvature of that planet. If you walked for years, you could walk all the way around it, arriving back exactly where you started. Our day to night cycle is happening because the planet is rotating on its axis as it spins around the sun. There is real physics to that. We have people that will fly down from a space station onto a planet and when they fly back up, the station isn’t there anymore; the planet has rotated. People have filed that as a bug.”

Even the animals on the game’s planets have unique behavioral profiles, created with a “procedural distortion of archetypes” that requires a sequence of algorithms categorized as a “computerized pseudo-randomness generator.”

The game’s Artificial Intelligence programmer, Charlie Tangora, says,

“Certain animals have an affinity for some objects over others which is part of giving them personality and individual style. They have friends and best friends too. It’s just a label on a bit of code—but another creature of the same type nearby is potentially their friend. They ask their friends telepathically where they’re going so they can coordinate.”

Playable characters include astronauts separated from each other by millions of light years. According to The Guardian:

“The overarching goal for players is to head toward the centre of the universe. This common destination will increase the chance that people will encounter one another on their journey (even if the game sells millions of copies, when your playground consists of 18 quintillion planets, a single encounter is statistically unlikely).”

This presents a degree of existentialism to the game, as it does not shy away from the mind-numbing vastness. Rather, it embodies and celebrates the wonders of the universe, even imitating fractal geometry in an homage to the repeating patterns found at every level of existence.

“If you look at a leaf very closely,” Murray explained, “there is a main stock running through the center with little tributaries radiating out. Farther away, you’ll see a similar pattern in the branches of the trees. You’ll see it if you look at the landscape, as streams feed into larger rivers. And, farther still—there are similar patterns in a galaxy.”

The similarities between the real cosmos and the game cosmos presented by No Man’s Sky have actually provoked philosophers and scientists to ask whether a simulation like this, or perhaps one even more vast, could also be a repeating pattern in the universe.

To discuss this as it relates to the game, writer Roc Morin interviewed philosopher Nick Bostrom, the Director of the Future of Humanity Institute and the author of the now legendary “Simulation Theory,” a controversial paper that has garnered a cult following in the last several decades. The Simulation Theory hypothesizes that since advanced civilizations throughout the universe are almost certain to have created vast numbers of cosmic simulations, statistically speaking it is quite possible that we are living in one — that in fact, our universe and our reality exist within a computer simulation created by an extraterrestrial or future humans (or posthuman AI).

Bostrom’s paper starts with the following abstract:

“This paper argues that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage; (2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation.”

In other words, the Matrix.

Incredibly, in recent years, scientists have actually sought to prove the Simulation Theory, running experimental computer tests that look for anomalies in the laws of physics. In a piece for The Ghost Diaries, I wrote about a team of German physicists using lattice quantum thermodynamics to try to discover whether there is an underlying grid to the space/time continuum in our universe. Though they have only recreated a tiny corner of the known universe, a few femtometers across, they have simulated the hypothetical lattice and are now looking for matching physical limitations.

One well-known constraint involves high energy particles. It turns out our universe does in fact have a physical limitation that is not fully understood. It is known as the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin or GZK cut off. And this limitation is eerily similar to what physicists predict would exist in a simulated universe.

Additionally, in the last couple of years, theoretical physicist S. James Gate has discovered something rather extraordinary in his String Theory research. Essentially, deep inside the equations we use to describe our universe, Gate has found computer code. And not just any code, but extremely peculiar self-dual linear binary error-correcting block code. That’s right, error correcting 1’s and 0’s wound up tightly in the quantum core of our universe.

Remarking on the incredible verisimilitude of No Man’s Sky, Murray recalls a query by none other than the creator of Tesla and SpaceX.

“Elon Musk questioned me about this. He asked, ‘What are the chances that we’re living in a simulation?’ ”

Murray’s answer:

“Even if it is a simulation, it’s a good simulation, so we shouldn’t question it. I’m working on my dream game, for instance. I’m more happy than I am sad. Whoever is running the simulation must be smarter than I am, and since they’ve created a nice one, then presumably they are benevolent and want good things for me.”

Of course, the game isn’t 100% realistic, as Murray did take some creative liberties. For example, he defied Newtonian physics by allowing for closer moon orbits (presumably to facilitate more cinematic landscapes featuring giant skyward moons). He also had his programmers reconfigure the periodic table to allow for varying atmospheric and particle light diffraction. The purpose: so that some planets could have green skies.

Being the God of a simulated universe does have its perks.

This article (The Video Game that Made Elon Musk Question Whether Our Reality is a Simulation) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Jake Anderson and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Is Britain About To Declare Independence from the European Union?

by

Michaela Whitton
February 22, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) United Kingdom — Much like the relentless media coverage of the U.S. presidential race, the British media is already awash with the political posturing and in-fighting that was to be expected in the run up to the E.U. referendum. Still four months away, the vote on whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of, or leave the European Union, is scheduled for June 23. Is it any wonder that the public are dismayed when terms like “Brexit” and “Bremain” are being bandied about as sensible words.

Ask people in the street and many are confused as to what the being in E.U. has actually done for Britain. Others wonder what has it done to it. As usual, it’s almost impossible to ascertain what the practical issues are, beneath the propaganda and distraction of what appears to be rapidly becoming a civil war — not only between political parties, but within them.

Why is a referendum being held?

Shortly after Britain joined the E.U. — or the Common Market as it was then called — a referendum was held and the country voted to stay in. Since then, the public and politicians have called for another vote, claiming that the E.U. has changed so much in 40 years since many more countries have joined, and the institution has exercised more control. After initially resisting the calls, David Cameron changed his mind in 2013.

Who wants to leave?

Since September, the race has been fairly evenly split with latest opinion polls showing 51% wish to remain in the EU 51%, 49% want to leave. The U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), which won the European elections, campaigns for Britain’s exit from the E.U. In addition, about half of Conservative MPs, including five cabinet ministers, several Labour MPs, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are in favour of leaving.

Why do they want to leave?

Many believe that the E.U. imposes too many rules and charges billions of pounds in membership fees for little in return. They want Britain to take full control of its borders and reduce the number of people entering for work. They also object to the idea of “ever closer union” and the ultimate goal to create a “United States of Europe.”

Who wants to stay?

David Cameron and sixteen of his cabinet back staying in. The Conservative Party has pledged to be neutral in the campaign, while the Labour Party, Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru, and the Liberal Democrats are in favour of staying in.

Why do they want to stay?

Some believe that Britain gets a boost from E.U. membership . They claim it makes selling things to other E.U. countries easier and that the flow of immigrants fuels economic growth and helps pay for public services. The ‘ins’ also believe that Britain’s status in the world would be damaged by leaving and that the country is more secure as part of the bloc.

Who’s saying what?

A number of campaigners and union leaders wrote a letter to the Guardian calling the E.U. a “profoundly anti-democratic institution” and claiming that it is irreversibly committed to privatisation, welfare cuts, low wages, and the erosion of trade union rights. The letter stated: “We stand for a positive vision of a future Europe based on democracy, social justice and ecological sustainability, not the profit-making interests of a tiny elite. For these reasons we are committed to pressing for a vote to leave the E.U. in the forthcoming referendum on U.K. membership.”

Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has said that many Scots would object to being taken out of the E.U. against their will. She added that a second Scottish independence referendum would almost certainly be triggered if the U.K. votes to leave the E.U. but Scotland does not.

Caroline Lucas Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion said the end of David Cameron’s marathon twenty-five hour negotiations last week must mark “an end of men in grey suits shouting at each other” and added “The distraction of the negotiations is now over and the real debate can begin. Every single vote is equal in this referendum – and it’s crucial that this conversation is taken out from behind closed doors and into our communities.”

In an opinion piece for the Guardian, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Cameron’s recent negotiations of“overblown tinkering.’’ Corbyn agrees that the E.U. needs reform but said Labour will be campaigning to stay in, as he said: “It’s because being part of Europe has brought Britain investment, jobs and protection for workers, consumers and the environment. We are convinced that the EU is a vital framework for European trade and international cooperation in the 21st century, and that a vote to remain in Europe is in the best interests of our people.”

London Mayor Boris Johnson released a statement on Sunday night siding with the exit campaign: “I will be advocating Vote Leave – or whatever the team is called, I understand there are a lot of them – because I want a better deal for the people of this country, to save them money and to take control. That is really what this is all about.” Despite the buffoon-like vagueness of his claims, the revelations caused shockwaves through currency markets on Monday with the pound hitting its lowest point against the U.S. dollar in seven years.

Stomach-churning photos of Nigel Farage and George Galloway at a rally for the Grassroots Out campaign last week no doubt boosted numbers for the Remain camp while prompting some hilarious tweets.

This article (Is Britain About To Declare Independence from the European Union?) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Michaela Whitton and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

The World Is Hoarding Gold: “This Was Just A Taste Of What’s To Come”

by

gold-hoard

Earlier this month, as retail investors lost confidence in the global economy and broader stock markets, an air of panic began to set in. Reports indicate the lines were literally forming around the block at gold stores throughout London and elsewhere. It was, by all accounts, the very scenario one might expect in an environment where trust in government and central banks has been eroded.

But it’s only the beginning, explains Auryn Resources executive chairman Ivan Bebek in an interview with SGT Report, as nation states and large investors are trying to get their hands on gold as fast as they can:

Before any big move in gold we have always seen extreme volatility or volatility pick up. This was just a taste of what’s to come in the next few years… We’ll look back at this and be reflecting on how minimal this move was compared to what’s going to happen as we go forward…

It’s a smart money trend… they can see where their countries are going… where the world economy is going… it’s surprising how late they are to the party… late to a very small door to get a bit of gold that’s out there… it’s going to be a remarkable reaction when that all comes to fruition. They’re just positioning themselves for what’s to come and that’s what they have to do. And getting back into the gold trade, the gold business and hoarding gold… they’re doing that because they see a very big gold market coming ahead like the rest of us.

Full Video Interview:

(Watch At Youtube)

And while there is most certainly big money moving into gold ahead of negative interest rates, a potential ban on high denomination cash bills and the global calamity to come, Bebek highlights the fact that retail investors haven’t yet begun to get involved on any meaningful scale. Many remain committed to the view of mainstream financial pundits and entrenched analysts talking their books, so they’re going to hold on to their more traditional investments until such time that they see everyone else panic. And when that inevitable rush to the exit door comes they’ll be looking to shift their capital into safe haven assets, along with the rest of the herd.

But just as there will be only one exit door for the mob trying to sell, there will also be a small entrance way for those looking to protect themselves with gold:

When you took the 2011 gold run to $1900… and you took the market cap of all the gold companies in the world… they would have fit into one big tech company on the NASDAQ. That’s how small the world gold investing market is.

So, when you look at the size and scope of the money that can come into the gold market… the door on the way out and the door on the way in… it’s really small.

…

This is the start of the turn and it’s a very small door, meaning there are very few gold investments to make. In a few years there will be hundreds of gold companies like ourselves, or even thousands like there were before.

But that first wave is where all the money is made. You can go back to 2002 – 2004 and you look at the first wave and you look at what happens when gold starts to move… what happens to gold equities… the 100%, 200%, 1000%, and 10,000%  returns… those all can happen from this point forward.

It’ll be the place to put your money. At the same time, the early few years will be where most of the money is made percentage-wise.

What we saw in London a couple of weeks ago was a microcosm of what’s to come. Though there remain those like former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who say central banks and governments buy gold not because it’s money but because it’s tradition, that narrative, says Bebek, has fallen apart:

Five or six years ago they got onto that page, but now they can no longer say it. When you have China, Germany, Europe and all these world economies believing that it’s not a tradition… that they need to own it as a currency… it doesn’t matter what they say because the demand is so big worldwide… actions are bigger than words… the world is hoarding gold… they’re starting to go long gold… so that defeats the whole argument they have been making.

We know for a fact that the smart money including major global players like George Soros and Carl Icahn are gobbling up all the gold they can get their hands on. When the rush for the exit in global equities starts – and you better believe it will – there will be an equally panicked rush into safe haven assets.

We literally saw how small the door was as people lined up to get their hands on physical gold. Now imagine, as Auryn Resources’ Ivan Bebek noted, what that line will look like on a global scale and what it will do to gold prices.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Using This Phone Passcode Strategy Will Take The FBI 127 Years To Crack Your Encrypted Data

by

Note To Readers: This report is based on the assumption that Apple is on the up-and-up about their refusal to create backdoor tools for the FBI. As we know, however, intelligence agencies are experts at disinformation, so for all we know it is possible that backdoors already exist and what we have witnessed this week insofar as the encryption debate is concerned could be a psy-op designed to convince the public that their encryption is unhackable by government agencies. From a security perspective, we must assume that no electronic device is safe from prying eyes, as most theories on these matters are based on publicly known technologies and do not take into account top secret developments with quantum computing or advanced DARPA initiatives. 

secure-passcode2

secure-passcode

Earlier this week Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote an open letter to the American public about the FBI’s attempts to compel the company to crack the iPhone of the San Bernadino Jihad attackers, saying that such a tool for the government is too dangerous to create. Google, Facebook and Twitter have now joined Apple in the phone encryption battle.

As explained by The Intercept, here’s a brief overview of what the FBI wants Apple to do:

The most obvious way to try and crack into your iPhone, and what the FBI is trying to do in the San Bernardino case, is to simply run through every possible passcode until the correct one is discovered and the phone is unlocked. This is known as a “brute force” attack.

…

One obstacle to testing all possible passcodes is that the iPhone intentionally slows down after you guess wrong a few times. An attacker can try four incorrect passcodes before she’s forced to wait one minute. If she continues to guess wrong, the time delay increases to five minutes, 15 minutes, and finally one hour. There’s even a setting to erase all data on the iPhone after 10 wrong guesses.

…

This is where the FBI’s requested backdoor comes into play. The FBI is demanding that Apple create a special version of the iPhone’s operating system, iOS, that removes the time delays and ignores the data erasure setting. The FBI could install this malicious software on the San Bernardino killer’s iPhone, brute force the passcode, unlock the phone, and access all of its data. And that process could hypothetically be repeated on anyone else’s iPhone.

The problem the FBI has is that the iPhone and other phones out there require a time-delay between passcode entries. Moreover, when a series of wrong passcodes is entered the delay is extended to as much as one hour, so even the fastest computer on the planet is rendered impotent while it waits for this delay to reset.

So the FBI is stuck using your iPhone to test passcodes. And it turns out that your iPhone is kind of slow at that: iPhones intentionally encrypt data in such a way that they must spend about 80 milliseconds doing the math needed to test a passcode, according to Apple. That limits them to testing 12.5 passcode guesses per second, which means that guessing a six-digit passcode would take, at most, just over 22 hours.

A six-digit passcode can be unlocked by the FBI in roughly a day. But according to the math behind the security feature, adding just 5 more digits could make hacking the phone in your lifetime almost impossible with current computing technologies (we’ll save quantum computing concepts for another time):

What if you use a longer passcode? Here’s how long the FBI would need:

  • seven-digit passcodes will take up to 9.2 days, and on average 4.6 days, to crack
  • eight-digit passcodes will take up to three months, and on average 46 days, to crack
  • nine-digit passcodes will take up to 2.5 years, and on average 1.2 years, to crack
  • 10-digit passcodes will take up to 25 years, and on average 12.6 years, to crack
  • 11-digit passcodes will take up to 253 years, and on average 127 years, to crack
  • 12-digit passcodes will take up to 2,536 years, and on average 1,268 years, to crack
  • 13-digit passcodes will take up to 25,367 years, and on average 12,683 years, to crack

As The Intercept notes, remembering a totally random 11-digit passcode may seem like a daunting task, but anyone who was around before cell phone contact lists probably had at least five to ten different phone numbers memorized for family and close friends. This is essentially the same thing.

As a side note, using your phone’s fingerprint scanner as the primary mechanism for security is not sufficient.

First, a determined hacker, especially a state-sponsored one, could easily find a way to get your fingerprint, just as was done to Germany’s Minister of Defence in 2014 when hackers used internet photos of her hand to re-create her fingerprint. Second, and perhaps more importantly, a Virginia court has ruled you can be forced by police to unlock a phone or computer with your fingerprint – but not your password:

A Virginia state trial court held that a suspect “cannot be compelled [by the police] to produce his passcode to access his smartphone but he can be compelled to produce his fingerprint to do the same.”

….

Judge Frucci ruled that phone passwords were entitled to protection under the Fifth Amendment’s promise that no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.”He stressed that the password existed only in the defendant’s mind, and thus compelling the defendant to provide a passcode constituted a testimonial communication. The Fifth Amendment protects against such compulsion.

We live in a brave new world, and while you may think you have nothing to hide, keep in mind that with the literal millions of laws on the books in the United States the average American commits three felonies per day. Thus, if a law enforcement agency were to target you, they would most certainly find evidence of wrong doing and you can be assured that your phone will be one of the first pieces of evidence they will target.

Also Read:

“Too Dangerous to Create”: Apple Defies FBI Order to Build Backdoor Software To Unlock Any iPhone

New “Geo Fence” Technology Lets DHS, FBI and Apple Command Your Phone’s Camera and Microphone

Hackers Cause Blackout For First Time In History

What Is The Best Method Of Rebellion Against Tyranny?

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Sheriff Blocks Feds From Harassing Raw Milk Farmer: “Stem the Tide of Federal Overreach”

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sheriff-vs-FDA

While many are still reeling from the outrageous shooting of LaVoy Finicum, and the aftermath of the Oregon standoff and arrest of patriots linked to it, there are other battles against the feds taking place across the country.

Much less attention was paid to Sheriff Brad Rogers, of Elkhart County in Indiana, who just successfully concluded his own showdown with federal officials from the FDA. The scenario was quite different, but the principals involved strike a similar chord – burdensome overreach and tyranny on the part of the federal government and its swarm of agents.

As activists have seen in many other cases, the FDA has gone after raw milk farmers and raw food proponents with frightening force – carrying out SWAT raids, trumped up arrests and destruction of food – all with no valid reason, and plenty of appearance of outright harassment.

Sheriff Rogers investigated a complaint from a constituent farmer and found that he sided with his case – there was no justified cause for invasive inspections happening repeatedly since 2011 every couple of weeks.

Basically, they were just looking for a reason to shut the farmer down, and Rogers put a stop to it.

Off The Grid News reports on this inspiring development, and its implications for a winning strategy against what is going on in this country:

Federal agents subjected a farmer to harassment and warrantless searches simply for producing raw milk, but a county sheriff took the farmer’s side and blocked federal agents from the property – and the sheriff is now speaking out.

The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) took the actions four years ago simply because the farmer was providing raw milk to an organic food co-op. The story is receiving renewed coverage because the Indiana sheriff, Elkhart County’s Brad Rogers, wrote a 600-word explanation for a local newspaper as part of his “Ask The Sheriff” series. Off The Grid News previously reported on the dispute.

[…]

“Specifically, the FDA was inspecting his farm without a warrant as much as every two weeks,” Rogers wrote. “Typical inspections occur annually. The Department of Justice (DOJ) had subpoenaed him for a grand jury in Michigan in which he was to bring his production documents. The Feds wanted to make this farmer an example.

“My research,” Rogers added, “concluded that no one was getting sick from this distribution of this raw milk. It appeared to be harassment by the FDA and the DOJ, and making unconstitutional searches, in my opinion. The farmer told me that he no longer wished to cooperate with the inspections of his property.”

Reportedly, Sheriff Rogers than wrote to the Department of Justice and informed them of the actions he would take if federal inspectors did not have a signed warrant based upon probable cause over which to conduct their searches:

“I understand that you have made recent requests to (the farmer) for documents and to appear before a grand jury, and he has had a number of inspections and attempted inspections on his farm within Elkhart County. This is notice that any further attempts to inspect this farm without a warrant signed by a judge, based on probable cause, will result in federal inspectors’ removal or arrest for trespassing by my officers or I. In addition, if any further action is taken by the federal government on (the farmer), while he is in Elkhart County, I will expect that you or federal authorities contact my office prior to such action. I will expect you to forward this information to your federal associates, including the FDA.”

Shortly after the email was sent, the farmer received a certified letter from the DOJ that said his grand jury subpoena had been cancelled. No federal inspectors have visited the farm since 2011.

[…]

“Your local elected officials … can stem the tide of federal overreach if they apply just a little backbone in supporting and defending the Constitution. Expect it! Demand it!,” Rogers wrote. “Some bloggers and natural food writers have hailed me as a hero. I’m no hero. I’m just doing my job.

The public is waking up to the tyranny of countless federal agencies with little or no transparency and enough red tape to take over everything. Many law enforcement officials are waking up, too, and there are many great examples of them standing up for the Constitution and the rights of the people.

The actions taken by Sheriff Rogers are not only legal and right, but they are what the people should expect from their local (and especially elected) officials.

This same sheriff made news a few months ago when he vowed that he would ignore any gun control executive order:

Sheriffs just happen to be the most powerful and independent locally elected official, and can be a bulwark for resistance to federal encroachment.

If they can be stopped here, they can be stopped elsewhere, too, and freedom can return to the lives of Americans.

The feds cannot take over if the people educate themselves and stand up – peacefully, but with a firm defensive posture – and take no guff from a bully.

Read more:

Texas Police Chief Warns Obama That Gun Control Will “Cause A Revolution… You’re Not Our Potentate, Sir”

New Legislation Targets FDA Raids: “We Have Too Many Armed Federal Agencies and We Need to Put an End to This”

Outrage: Government Forces Private Citizens to Pour Bleach on Home-Grown Organic Food *Video*

Feds Preparing “Multi-Agency” Action In Oregon As Patriot Militia Says They Are “Willing To Kill And Be Killed”

Gov SWAT Teams Target “Rugged Individuals” Who Grow Their Own Food, Produce Their Own Electricity

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Warning: You May Be Next: 400,000 People Just Had Their Pensions Cut By 50%: “Going to Happen To The Rest Of Pensions in the United States”

by

piggybank-breaks

In 2014 a new Federal law made it possible for pension funds to cut benefits for their recipients. Much to the protest of pensioners, the government and numerous unions supporting the change cited pension plans that were in imminent danger of collapse, saying that the only way to save the funds was to cut benefits to potentially millions of recipients. Six months later, the U.S. Supreme Court took things a step further when they opined that the government has the right to fully seize 401(k) and pension funds that were being poorly managed.

Of course, most Americans were either not paying attention or completely ignored the ramifications of the new rules set forth by their government because, well, anyone who talks about the potential for a collapse of pension funds or the economy is, as President Barack Obama so eloquently noted in his recent State of the Union Speech, “peddling fiction.”

Except in October of last year the canary in the coal mine fell over and died when Illinois announced that the State was posting pension payments because it ran out of money.

Fast forward a few more months and things have been taken to the next level. The Central State pension fund in Kansas became the first such fund to take advantage of the 2014 law as 400,000 Americans who depend on their monthly pension income to pay for such things as their mortgage, groceries and medical expenses saw an average of $1,400 per month sliced of their monthly benefits.

Dale Dorsey isn’t happy.

After working 33 years, he’s facing a 55% cut to his pension benefits, a blow which he says will “cripple” his family and imperil the livelihood of his two children, one of whom is in the fourth grade and one of whom is just entering high school.

Dorsey attended a town hall meeting in Kansas City on Tuesday where retirees turned out for a discussion on “massive” pension cuts proposed by the Central States Pension Fund, which covers 400,000 participants, and which will almost certainly go broke within the next decade.

“A controversial 2014 law allowed the pension to propose [deep] cuts, many of them by half or more, as a way to perhaps save the fund,” The Kansas City Star wrote earlier this week adding that “two much smaller pensions also have sought similar relief under the law, and still more pensions are significantly underfunded.”

And if you think this is the end of it, consider the words of long time teamster member Jay Perry who says the writing is on the wal:

“What’s happening to us is a microcosm of what’s going to happen to the rest of the pensions in the United States”

It was all fun and games during the boom times when governments and companies promised pensioners exorbitant retirements based on an unlimited growth rate model. Now reality is setting in.

And keep in mind that this is just the first part of the coming retirement fund destruction. As we noted above, the Supreme Court ruling gives the government the “right” to step in and seize these underperforming funds.

So, the first step is to give pension funds the ability to cut benefits, which we are seeing now and will continue to see going forward as funds all over the country struggle to keep the benefits flowing. Next, the government will identify these funds as under-performing and mismanaged, at which point they will outright seize the entire industry just as they did with health care.

The pain is coming, America. You’d better be prepared to deal with the fallout.

Also Read:

13 Urgent Reports To Help You Collapse-Proof Your Life

Prepare For Economic Collapse And Other Disasters: The Prepper’s Blueprint

New Federal Law Targets Retirement Benefit Cuts: “We Thought Our Pension Was Secure”

Coming for Your Funds: Supremes “Justify Seizure of Pension Funds to PROTECT Pensioners”

Peter Schiff Warns: “The Whole Economy Has Imploded… Collapse Is Coming”

7 Jobs That Are Going to Survive the Next Economic Crash

Mark Levin: Government Is “Simulating the Collapse of Our Financial System, the Collapse of Our Society and the Potential for Widespread Violence”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

This Is The Collapse: Discount Grocery Store Serving Poor Cleaned Out: “Bargain-Hungry Shoppers Emptied the Shelves”

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Belarus Crisis

This article was written by Michaela Whitton and originally published at The Anti-Media.org.

Editor’s Comment: This story isn’t quite what you might think at first if you just scanned over it, but it still demonstrates an alarming trend:  namely, just how desperate so many have become.

Basically, it amounts to riot-prone and often struggling people fighting over bargain-basement junk food after it was put on sale. But what does this level of reaction say about society and the level of economic crisis the world has reached? Basically, that almost anything can make things come unhinged.

If people are reacting this strongly over undercutting food prices, it suggests how much food insecurity exists, and how difficult it has become for most to pay the bills. Food banks have been overwhelmed nearly everywhere. In fact, this grocery chain found the problem to be big enough to create this cheap food marketing niche – which will now need to rethink its business strategy. What happens when the food isn’t just cheap, but unavailable? Multiplied against the whole environment of economic stress, there is every reason to think things are practically just falling apart.

Grocery Store Forced to Review Trading Rules After Shelves Go Empty

by Michaela Whitton

London’s new EasyFoodstore has been forced to review its trading rules after it had to close temporarily when bargain-hungry shoppers emptied the shelves. The mega-discount food store is the latest venture of EasyJet entrepreneur, Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

The millionaire businessman was inspired by the idea after seeing the widespread use of food banks in Britain. “This is another way the Easy brand can serve the less well-off,” the budget airline owner said.

Easy on the wallet

With a weekly shop for a family of four costing just £15.75, it’s no surprise the store rapidly became a victim of its own success. After a promotional offer charging just 25p for everyday food items generated so much publicity, hundreds of bargain-hunters cleared the shelves and the store had no choice but to close until it was able to re-stock.

The recently opened food shop in Park Royal, north-west London, carries a basic range of 76 cheap and cheerful items including pizza, tea, coffee and tinned goods. It has been quickly forced to bring in a 10 item purchasing limit to deter its competition from stockpiling products.

In her brilliant opinion piece for the Guardian, Joanna Blythman says the EasyFoodstore is in a different league from the “no frills” food shopping that she claims is now such a familiar feature of the British retail scene. She adds that poverty is a money problem, not a food problem, and won’t be cured by artificially “cheap,” nutritionally impoverished, lowest-common-denominator food.

“Surely no society on earth can ultimately afford food this cheap? If we factor in the hidden costs to society, from grave public health issues to climate change, it most certainly doesn’t constitute a bargain,” she said.

The predictions are that EasyFoodstore products are to rise from 25p to 50p after February. However, with Foodbank use in austerity Britain at record levels, is it any wonder that rationing is required?

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Rich Tech Guy Wants ‘Riff Raff’ Off the Streets: “I Shouldn’t Have to See Despair of Homeless”

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Detroit Area Economy Worsens As Big Three Automakers Face Dire Crisis

It has long been a debate as to whether social reformers should fight to end poverty, or simply rid the world of poor people.

Many elitists have dreamed of depopulating the hopeless and destitute, or found realistic ways of sending them to forgotten places. But most of these kinds of people stopped publicly saying such things many decades ago.

But with an ever-widening wealth gap, and many failed policies, the homeless and the poor are growing in size and represent the tip of the iceberg for tens of millions of people who are beyond struggling in this country.

Now, a software entrepreneur in San Francisco has made waves across the Internet after writing an open letter calling on the mayor and police chief to effectively sweep the homeless populations and “riff raff” off the streets. As CBS San Francisco:

A San Francisco tech entrepreneur’s lament over homeless and drug-addicted “riff raff” plaguing his adopted city has earned him some international notoriety as a tone-deaf tech bro.

Justin Keller, described on his LinkedIn profile as the founder of server software firm Command.io, published what he called an open letter to Mayor Ed Lee and Police Chief Greg Suhr. In it, Keller described how encounters with homeless people ruined his recent get-togethers with his parents and girlfriend.

[Keller wrote]

The city needs to tackle this problem head on, it can no longer ignore it and let people do whatever they want in the city. I don’t have a magic solution… It is a very difficult and complex situation, but somehow during Super Bowl, almost all of the homeless and riff raff seem to up and vanish. I’m willing to bet that was not a coincidence. Money and political pressure can make change. So it is time to start making progress, or we as citizens will make a change in leadership and elect new officials who can.

I know people are frustrated about gentrification happening in the city, but the reality is, we live in a free market society. The wealthy working people have earned their right to live in the city. They went out, got an education, work hard, and earned it. I shouldn’t have to worry about being accosted. I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless people to and from my way to work every day.

San Francisco’s burgeoning tech industry has been blamed for skyrocketing rents and exacerbating an already intractable homeless problem.

Indeed, it is this Bay Area tech bubble that has increased home and rental prices so much, that some have gone so far as to rent out a tent on AirBNB for an outrageous $1,000/month in a guy’s backyard that offers bathroom access and a good commute route to work.

Tech entrepreneur Justin Keller became the latest social media target for blowback, after expressing the sensitivity of the “Affluenza” teen – a rich kids whose lawyers used his disaffected feelings for the struggles of ordinary people as a defense in the drunk driving killing of four, for which he showed no remorse.

Moreover, Keller has become another sign of the times – of the great divide that is splitting America economically down the middle, and casting aside the have-nots systematically, and without regard.

As his letter mentioned, this is exactly what happened in the area during Super Bowl 50, which had game day on February 7. The Guardian reports:

“They chase us out like cattle,” the 62-year-old Stagg said, as his hangouts disappeared under metal bandstands and banners heralding Super Bowl 50. “We’re not allowed to be here when the rich people come around? I don’t believe in that.”

Angering Stagg were comments made last summer by San Francisco’s mayor, Ed Lee, when asked what he planned to do about the highly visible homeless problem come the Super Bowl.

“They are going to have to leave,” Lee said of those sleeping along the city’s Embarcadero. […] “It’s just a further example of the inequity in the city,” said supervisor Jane Kim.

It is hardly a problem of just San Francisco, or the West Coast. Gov. Andrew Cuomo came under fire in New York for ordering the homeless to be forced into shelters and picked up off the streets during freezing weather.

One gets the sense that this is just the beginning. The strong arm tactics being used to remove homeless people from the streets to clear out the blight are just the visible part of a subtle movement to “deal with” less fortunate people… mostly getting them out of the way, out of sight, and minimizing the presence of their struggle.

The rich are not only concentrating their wealth, but the rest of the country is getting shafted in the process, as a predatory brand of finance destroys opportunity, ships jobs offshore and uses currency as a weapon to undermine the many. Will the media take up their struggle, or will they do what they always have done – and read the teleprompter script as the focus shifts to other distractions, and great stagnation and malaise takes over the land.

Read more:

No Housing Bubble? Man Rents out Tent for $1000 a Month in CA

Nowhere to Go: 85% of College Graduates Will Return Home Jobless

“Affluenza” Teen — Who Got Away After Killing 4 with the “Rich, Spoiled Brat Defense” — Dodges Probation

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

As Banks Seek Monopoly Over Economy, “Cash Is Being Gradually Taken Away”

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emergency-cash

There is a war on for the extermination of cash.

It is the ultimate monopoly game, but there are those who are willing to put up a fight to keep cash in the game.

The powers that be on Wall Street and in the central banks are aiming to eliminate paper money in large part to continue “sustaining and even intensifying the central banks’ nightmarish experiment with negative interest rates” – a doubly dangerous effort for economic

And banks stand to have all the control as digital transactions flow through their institutions, closely monitored and accumulating fees, penalties and charges that enrich the banks and hold customers hostage.

As Europe moves to take the 500 Euro note out of circulation, former Treasury Secretary and enabler of past crises, has called for an end to the Benjamins – the celebrated $100 note of outlaws, gangsters and all those who would oppose the new world economic order.

As Wolf Street notes:

Those motives include sustaining and even intensifying the central banks’ nightmarish experiment with negative interest rates, increasing public dependence on big banks, destroying the last vestiges of personal financial freedom and anonymity, expanding government surveillance of and control over the economy, and in the case of credit card companies and fintech firms, doing away with their biggest competitor, physical currency.

The powers that want to kill off cash already have vital technological and generational trends firmly on their side, as a result of which cash’s days as a commonly used payment method may well be numbered anyway. They also have the added bonus of widespread public ignorance, apathy, and disinterest.

[…]

“It would be fatal if citizens got the impression that cash is gradually taken away from them”: Bundesbank President Weidman.

As Don Quijones argues – the countries that have been quickest to adopt cashless societies in Scandanavia tend to be very well adjusted and relatively trusting of their governments.

By contrast, Americans, developing countries, and even Germany and Japan have less trust in their government, and will likely put up a fight against attempt to disarm cash:

All too often we hear about the countries in Europe and elsewhere that are furthest along the path toward a completely cashless existence — countries with high levels of public trust in public institutions such as Denmark, Sweden, Australia and Singapore. By contrast, we hardly ever hear about countries where public trust is low in government and financial institutions and physical cash is still revered. They include many of the nations of the Global South as well as two of the world’s biggest, most advanced economies, Germany and Japan.

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“Cash allows us to remain anonymous during day-to-day transactions. In a constitutional democracy, that is a freedom that has to be defended,” tweeted the Green MP Konstantin von Notz. Even the head of the Bunderbank, Jens Weidmann, criticized the government’s proposals, telling Bild (emphasis added): “It would be fatal if citizens got the impression that cash is being gradually taken away from them.”

The right to a free exchange medium has been understated in Constitutional debates, as well as outlook to the global future, though gold and silver is mentioned in Article I Section 10.

But the going rate towards the use of credit/debit, phone apps and other digital payments strips away the fundamental free exchange of currency that historically come with physical currency.

Instead, it grants something pretty close to a monopoly for the handful of banks and online entities like PayPal who will operate the systems, decide the fees and surcharges, and freeze accounts for behaviors that could include things like trying to sell a firearm on a platform that has a policy against it.

Cash transactions (as well as those made with gold and silver or historically utilized mediums) are practically anonymous, rather than scrutinized and available as evidence to creditors, competitors, prosecutors or those with an agenda.

It will also make it harder for small businesses, who stand to be forced out of cash-only operations and onto the reservation of digital payments, where they will have to comply and qualify for status.

If cash dies, they will control authorization, they will hold nearly all the power.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com