Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

New Facebook tool gives employers ability to suppress "unionize" in workplace chat

Lee Fanglee
The Intercept
Sat, 13 Jun 2020 17:23 UTC
facebook censorship
Facebook Workplace is currently used by major employers such as Walmart, which is notorious for its active efforts to suppress labor organizing. The application is also used by the Singapore government, Discovery Communications, Starbucks, and Campbell Soup Corporation.

The suggestion that Facebook is actively building tools designed to suppress labor organizing quickly caused a stir at the Menlo Park, California-based company. Facebook employees sparked a flurry of posts denouncing the feature, with several commenting in disbelief that the company would overtly pitch "unionize" as a topic to be blacklisted.

The following day, the company presentation was taken down. But on Thursday afternoon, after the presentation had been deleted, Karandeep Anand, a product manager for Facebook Workplace, weighed in on an internal company board. Anand apologized for the "unionize" example, noting that "censoring users is not the purpose of this feature and Workplace's ambition is to give everyone a voice, while maintaining a respectful work environment." He added that the "oversight" was likely "lack of context versus bad intent from anyone on the team."
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Mr. Potato

What a joke! Biden's biggest fear: 'This president is going to try to steal this election'

Rebecca Shabad and Marianna Sotomayor
NBC News
Thu, 11 Jun 2020 07:30 UTC
Joe Biden in Los Angeles on March 3, 2020.
© Melina Mara / The Washington Post via GettyJoe Biden in Los Angeles on March 3, 2020.
Joe Biden said Wednesday night that his greatest concern is whether everyone's votes will be counted in November as he warned that President Donald Trump may try to "steal" the presidential election.

In an interview on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," host Trevor Noah asked the former vice president what the plan is to ensure everyone has the opportunity to vote without being in a line that's six hours long, as many people in Georgia experienced during Tuesday's primary.


Comment: Biden made these ridiculous statements on a Comedy Central Tee Vee show - which is as symbolic as it is appropriate.


"It's my greatest concern, my single greatest concern. This president is going to try to steal this election," said Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.

Biden noted that the president has repeatedly cast doubt on the legitimacy of mail-in ballots even though Trump himself took advantage of the process to vote in Florida earlier this year.

Comment: Biden's statements and aspersions actually reflect the intentions of his party - to steal the presidential elections themselves. Everything Trump has been - and continues to be accused of in these regards - is in fact what the Dems have been, and continue to be guilty of, as they work to rig the election in their last ditch efforts to oust "Orange Man Bad!". And make not mistake, they are going ALL OUT to achieve this.

See also:

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Star of David

UAE envoy says Israel's annexation would 'upend' improving Arab ties

Samir Salama
Gulf News
Fri, 12 Jun 2020 16:46 UTC
Jewish colony
© AFPA Jewish colony in Occupied East Jerusalem
Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the US on Friday warned Israel against annexing the Jordan Valley and other parts of the occupied West Bank, saying the move would "upend" Israel's efforts to improve ties with Arab countries.

However, former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, dismissed arguments that Israel must maintain control of the Jordan Valley for security purposes as "nonsense."

Al Otaiba was among three Arab ambassadors who attended President Donald Trump's January unveiling of his Mideast plan, which allows Israel to annex around 30 per cent of the West Bank and was immediately rejected by the Palestinians.

In an editorial published by Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper, Al Otaiba warned that Israel's planned annexation — a process that could begin as soon as July 1 — would "ignite violence and rouse extremists."
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Mr. Potato

QAnon is about to get its first congresswoman

Chris Cillizza
CNN
Fri, 12 Jun 2020 13:38 UTC
QAnon sign
The Republican primary in Georgia's 14th district on Tuesday didn't draw much national attention. After all, it's an overwhelmingly Republican district that GOP Rep. Tom Graves had held easily for a decade in Congress before announcing his retirement last year.

But when all the votes were counted, it became clear that the 14th district was on the verge of making history: Electing the first openly pro-QAnon member of Congress in Marjorie Taylor Greene.

What, you ask, is QAnon? It's a broad-scale internet-based conspiracy theory begun in early 2017 that is based on a belief that there is a high-level government official -- "Q" -- who sprinkles clues on internet message boards like 4chan and 8chan about a massive "deep state" conspiracy (or series of conspiracies) at work in the country.

Comment: See also:

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Caesar

Boris Johnson says attacking statues is 'lying about our history' and protests have been 'hijacked by extremists'

Boris Johnson
Independent
Fri, 12 Jun 2020 00:00 UTC
Boris Johnson
We must not 'censor our past' says prime minister in defence of Churchill monument

Boris Johnson has said tearing down statues amounts to "lying about our history" and that it is "absurd and shameful" for a monument to Winston Churchill to be boarded up ahead of expected protests this weekend.

The prime minister said the wartime leader's statue in London's Parliament Square is "a permanent reminder of his achievement in saving this country - and the whole of Europe - from a fascist and racist tyranny".

"We cannot now try to edit or censor our past," he wrote in a string of tweets. "We cannot pretend to have a different history."

Mr Johnson added that the "only responsible action" was to stay away from planned anti-racism protests this weekend, which he claimed had been "hijacked by extremists" and would "end in deliberate and calculated violence".

Comment: Finally Boris Johnson would seem to be correct about something.

And others in UK politics have been voicing similar concerns:
Brexit Party Chairman Richard Tice has called for the protective hoarding around the Winston Churchill monument in London to be removed, despite fears of violence and potential vandalism at this weekend's protests.

Addressing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and London Mayor Sadiq Khan directly, Tice said "the woke warriors seem now to be winning over the United Kingdom," adding that "the greatest Briton" had now "disappeared."


[...]

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he had acted with the Met Police to secure several London landmarks, including the Cenotaph in Whitehall, which commemorates everyone who died during all the wars in which British citizens have fought. Khan has asked the public to remain at home over the weekend.

Conservative MPs Andrew Bridgen and Conor Burns decried the move, and Bridgen even called for both Khan and Scotland Yard Commissioner Cressida Dick to resign.




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Dollars

US resumes military aid to Ukraine with payment of $250 million following Pentagon approved 'reforms'


RFE/RL
Fri, 12 Jun 2020 01:05 UTC
Donetsk
A Ukrainian soldier in the town of Avdiyivka in the Donetsk region in November
The U.S. Defense Department has announced a resumption of millions of dollars in military assistance to Ukraine after it was frozen last year, putting it at the heart of the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

The Pentagon said $250 million will be released to assist with "training, equipment, and advisory efforts to strengthen Ukraine's capacity to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression."

A Pentagon statement says the aid reaffirms the long-standing defense relationship between the United States and Ukraine, adding that the country is "a critical partner on the front line of strategic competition with Russia."

Comment: US citizens are seeing their economy crumble along with their livelihoods meanwhile those in power are using what little capital the country has left to buy influence and interfere in foreign nations:

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Stormtrooper

The parallels between Minneapolis and Jerusalem are more than skin deep

Jonathan Cook
Middle East Eye
Thu, 11 Jun 2020 19:07 UTC
Israel US american police knee on neck
© Agence France-PressePalestinians demonstrate against police brutality and in support of US protesters over the death George Floyd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on 8 June, 2020
In a world of depleting resources and contracting economies, states are preparing for future uprisings by a growing underclass

It is hard to ignore the striking parallels between the recent scenes of police brutality in cities across the United States and decades of violence from Israel's security forces against Palestinians.

A video that went viral late last month of a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, killing a black man, George Floyd, by pressing a knee into his neck for nearly nine minutes has triggered a fortnight of mass protests across the US - and beyond.

The footage was the latest disturbing visual evidence of a US police culture that appears to treat Black Americans as an enemy - and a reminder that rogue police officers are all too rarely punished.
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Info

EU formally accepts UK will not seek extension to Brexit transition period

Tony Connelly
RTÉ
Fri, 12 Jun 2020 19:03 UTC
EU flag, UK flag, Union Jack, Flag of Europe
The EU formally accepted that the UK would not seek an extension to the transition period
The EU has formally accepted that the UK will not seek an extension to the Brexit transition period, which expires at the end of December.

Following a meeting of the Joint Committee, which brings together senior EU and UK figures to implement the Withdrawal Agreement, the vice president of the European Commission Maroc Sefcovic said there was now no longer any possibility for the transition to be extended.

While welcoming the UK's recent paper on how it would implement the Northern Ireland Protocol, Mr Sefcovic said there was still a lack of detail from the UK on its preparations.

UK cabinet office minister Michael Gove said on Twitter: "I formally confirmed the UK will not extend the transition period & the moment for extension has now passed. On 1 January 2021 we will take back control and regain our political & economic independence."

Asked about plans for the border in Ireland, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesperson said they are taking "a pragmatic and flexible approach" to try to help businesses in Northern Ireland adapt to the changes at the end of the transition period.
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Snakes in Suits

US senators float idea of refusing to pay back $1 trillion debt to China

Martha C. White
NBC
Fri, 12 Jun 2020 18:04 UTC
national debt
Analysts say the proposal would throw the entire U.S. financial system into disarray — especially amid a pandemic-driven recession and a massive increase in the national debt.
The recent intensification of President Donald Trump's hard line on China has included a wide-ranging grab bag of policies and proposals that touch on everything from student visas to soybean purchases. But the most explosive might be the suggestion floated by some right-wing lawmakers and commentators that the country could choose to default on some of the nearly $1.1 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds held by China.

The proposal alarms analysts, who say even entertaining the idea is dangerous in an economic environment characterized by a pandemic-driven recession and a massive increase in the national debt.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close Trump ally, said on Fox News, "They should be paying us, not us paying China," and expressed support for a suggestion from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., that the U.S. should cancel its sovereign debt held by China.

Comment: That the US needs to consider defaulting on its debts says a lot about the state of the US economy:

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Caesar

Syria and Caesar's Law: Who it targets and how will it affect President Assad?

Elijah J. Magnier
ejmagnier.com
Thu, 11 Jun 2020 00:00 UTC
Us/Syria flags
© Unknown
In mid-June, the US sanctions against Syria will escalate, with the enactment of "Caesar's Law", sanctions designed to "pursue individuals, groups, companies, and countries that deal with the Damascus government." This law - purportedly named after a Syrian army officer who smuggled out thousands of photos of torture by the Syrian army in prisons - is designed to prevent companies and countries from opening diplomatic channels with Syria, and to prevent them from contributing to reconstruction, investment, and the provision of spare parts for the energy and aviation sectors in Syria. The sanctions also affect the Syrian central bank, freezing the assets of individuals who deal with Syria and invalidating any visa to America. Who will abide by this law, and what are its consequences for Syria, Lebanon, and the countries that stand beside Syria?

Comment: Not all tricks up the US' sleeve are viable. They do, however, buffer the illogical and ineffective mindset that has consumed American politics for decades while prolonging the hegemonic delusions of 'right' through 'might'.

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