Puppet MastersS


Laptop

Everything Google knows about you: An insider's account of the dark side of search engine marketing

google home matrix
© Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesGoogle marketers like me are closing the gap between your offline and online worlds—and crushing your soul in the process.
When lazy journalists are pessimistic about Amazon's Alexa or Google Home, they say stuff like: "Even Orwell couldn't have predicted that we'd willingly bring Big Brother into our own homes."

What they fail to mention is our willingness to exchange privacy for convenience didn't start with the advent of virtual assistants. It started in the early 2000s, when people-in return for having access to Google products and seeing more relevant ads-allowed Google to have all their data.

Today, Google provides marketers like me with so much of your personal data that we can infer more about you from it than from any camera or microphone.

Comment: See also:


Snakes in Suits

Mueller's investigation is missing just one thing - a crime

Trumpmueller
© media.salon.comPresident Trump • SC Mueller
A baby born when Robert Mueller started his investigation would be talking by now. But would she have anything to say?

We last looked at what Mueller had publicly-and what he didn't have-some 10 months ago, and I remained skeptical that the Trump campaign had in any way colluded with Russia. It's worth another look now, but first let's give away the ending (spoiler alert!): there is still no real evidence of, well, much of anything significant about Russiagate. One thing that is clear is that the investigation seems to be ending. Mueller's office has reportedly even told various defense lawyers that it is "tying up loose ends." The moment to wrap things up is politically right as well: the Democrats will soon take control of the House; time to hand this all off to them.

Jet4

Russian bombers stalked by Norwegian F-16 jets during official flight to Venezuela

Tu-160 strategic bomber
© Sputnik / Maxim TumanovTu-160 strategic bomber
Two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers, and an N-124 transport and an Il-62 plane have carried out a 10,000-kilometer flight from Russia to Venezuela, being shadowed by Norwegian F16s along the way, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The flight of the Russian air group was conducted over the Atlantic Ocean, the Barents Sea, the Sea of Norway and the Caribbean Sea. "During some parts of the route, the Tu-160 bombers were escorted by the F16s of the Norwegian Air Force," the ministry said.

Moscow pointed out that the impressive journey was performed "in strict accordance with the international regulations on the use of airspace."

Comment: It could be their paranoidal or belligerent nature that would have them stalking Russian planes like that. Either way, neither Russia nor the host country could perceive these actions as anything but unsettling, and it just goes to show how arrogant the perpetrators are thinking that international norms of conduct don't apply to them: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Israeli-French Deception Downs Russian Spy Plane Off Syria, US Escalates 'Regime Change' Against Iran


NPC

Ocasio-Cortez 'blasts' lobbyists at congressional orientation event

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is criticizing the presence of lobbyists at a traditional bipartisan orientation program for newly elected congressional lawmakers.

"Our 'bipartisan' Congressional orientation is cohosted by a corporate lobbyist group. Other members have quietly expressed to me their concern that this wasn't told to us in advance," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Thursday. "Lobbyists are here. Goldman Sachs is here. Where's labor? Activists? Frontline community leaders?"

Ocasio-Cortez is in Cambridge, Mass., for the Program for Newly Elected Members of Congress. The program, which started in 1972, is hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics in collaboration with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Congressional Institute.

Eye 1

Israeli troops raid Palestinian news agency firing tear gas while searching for drive-by shooting footage

IDF troops
© AFP / Abbas MomaniIDF troops in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli troops have raided the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, which says the soldiers fired tear gas inside the building and locked journalists in a single room as they were looking for CCTV footage.

"Dozens of heavily armed Israeli soldiers" have made it inside the WAFA headquarters in Ramallah in the occupied West bank on Monday, the agency said.

The IDF fired tears gas inside the building "causing suffocation and difficulty in breathing" among the staff, it added.

The journalists were ordered to stay in a single room as the Israeli troops entered the server room and went through the agency's security footage.

They withdrew after around an hour, taking copies of videos from the CCTV cameras with them, WAFA said.

Comment: A drive by shooting is much more reflective of the Israeli military mindset and capabilities, a bit like their raid on the TV station, dropping tear gas as they went. One can expect the footage will be all over the Israeli news if the findings support their position, if, however, its revealed to be the work of Israeli's, and their seizure was a way to cover up their crimes, then it will never see the light of day. Also check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Identity Politics on Steroids: How Zionism Outdoes Them All


Arrow Down

Down the Drain! Trump backs record $750 billion defense budget request to Congress, says US official

  • U.S. President Donald Trump has backed plans to request $750 billion from Congress for defense spending next year, a U.S. official said on Sunday, signaling a Pentagon spending hike at a time of potential belt-tightening elsewhere in the government.
  • A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had discussed the budget with Trump in recent days and outlined the risks of flat defense spending.
U.S. President Donald Trump
© Drew Angerer /Getty Images
Donald Trump has backed plans to request $750 billion from Congress for defense spending next year, a U.S. official said on Sunday, signaling a Pentagon spending hike at a time of potential belt-tightening elsewhere in the government.

Trump, faced with a budget deficit at a six-year high, told his Cabinet earlier this year to come up with proposals to cut spending by their agencies by 5 percent, but he suggested the military would be largely spared.

The $750 billion would be even more than the $733 billion request that the Pentagon had been expected to make for fiscal year 2020. It is also well above a $700 billion figure Trump cited in October.

Star of David

Israeli double standards: No compensation for Gaza doctor over children's killing

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is coordinating with Hungary over revisionist Holocaust museum
moaning Palestinians parents 2009
© AFPSome 1,300 Palestinians were killed during the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict
An Israeli court ruled that the defence ministry did not owe anything to a Gaza doctor after three of his children were killed in their home by Israeli tank fire during an attack on the small blockaded enclave a decade ago, Kikar Shabbat reported.

Izz al-Din Abu al-Aish became one of the faces of Palestinian suffering during Israel's 2008-9 assault on the besieged Gaza Strip, when three of his daughters and a niece were killed at the exact moment he was giving an interview to Israeli television on 16 January 2009

Георгиевская ленточка

Best of the Web: The reasons why Russia won't invade the Ukraine, the Baltic statelets - or anywhere else for that matter

saint petersburg, russia
Saint Petersburg, Russia
The AngloZionist propaganda machine is constantly warning us that Russia is about to invade some country. The list of candidates for invasion is long and ranges from Norway to the Ukraine and includes the Baltic statelets, Poland and even countries further West. Of course, we are also told that NATO and the US are here to prevent that. Well, thank God for them, right?

But what is conspicuously missing from this narrative is a discussion of the possible Russian motives for such a military move. Typically, we are merely told that Russia has broken the European post-Cold War order and borders by "annexing" Crimea and by sending military forces into the Donbass. Anybody with an IQ at room temperature or above by now realizes that both of these claims are total bunk. The ones who indeed broke the post-Cold War international order and borders were the NATO member states when they used military force, in complete illegality, to break-up Yugoslavia. As for the people of Crimea, they had the opportunity to vote about their future in a referendum, very much unlike the inhabitants of Kosovo which had no such opportunity. As for the 08.08.08 war, even the Europeans who eventually, and very reluctantly, agreed that it was, in fact, Saakashvili who started this conflict, not Russia.

But let's set all this aside and assume that the Russian leaders would not hesitate to use military force again if it was to their advantage. Let's assume that, yes, the Russians are up to no good and that they might well try to bite-off some other piece of land somewhere in Europe.

Such an assumption would immediately raise a crucial question: why would the Russians want to do that?

Comment: For those who dangerously, irrationally and ignorantly continue to spread the accusation that is the subject of this article, we can conclude that for many of them - stirring the pot or risking all-out-war with Russia through their respective places in political life - has become something of a pathological raison d'etre or purpose in life. In short, they have become expert at 'creating an enemy' for lack of anything intrinsically positive in them that would impel them to live and act with a semblance of humanity. Such is the pervasive culture of Western politics at this time in Washington, London and elsewhere at this time.


Clipboard

'I can't breathe': Released transcript shows Jamal Khashoggi's last words before he was killed in Saudi consulate

security camera image shows Khashoggi
A security camera image shows Khashoggi entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
"I can't breathe." These were the final words uttered by Jamal Khashoggi after he was set upon by a Saudi hit squad at the country's consulate in Istanbul, according to a source briefed on the investigation into the killing of the Washington Post columnist.

The source, who has read a translated transcript of an audio recording of Khashoggi's painful last moments, said it was clear that the killing on October 2 was no botched rendition attempt, but the execution of a premeditated plan to murder the journalist.

During the course of the gruesome scene, the source describes Khashoggi struggling against a group of people determined to kill him.

"I can't breathe," Khashoggi says.

"I can't breathe."

"I can't breathe."

The transcript notes the sounds of Khashoggi's body being dismembered by a saw, as the alleged perpetrators are advised to listen to music to block out the sound.

Network

Trust in Western leaders is failing on both sides of the pond - and with good reason

yellow vests
I've been warning for a while now that we are pushing towards an inflection point in history. With each passing week it feels like events are accelerating as change to the status quo is everywhere.

In Europe, the EU leadership and Theresa May are so desperate to stop Brexit they can't stop lying about everything. In one day we have May's government found in contempt of Parliament for not releasing the full legal advice of her Brexit deal and the European Court of Justice pronounce that the U.K. can unilaterally cancel Brexit if they want to.

They are this desperate because there is a real probability of May's horrific deal not getting the thumbs up from parliament. That said, the arm-twisting behind the scenes is likely epic as one by one May's remaining cabinet members come out in favor of the deal because they see they have no other option.

At the same time France is literally on fire thanks to a good ol' fashioned tax revolt, which reviled, unprepared and arrogant President Emmanuel Macron cannot fathom. Macron's handling of these protests has been abysmal, displaying a level of contempt for the French people so profound he may wind up more hated in the end than Theresa May.

Both of these odious people make no bones about their real loyalties and the more they talk, the more they try to sell their latest betrayal of national interests for Brussels' the more the intensity of the hatred of them increases.

Comment: Unlike France however, the US has, for many years now, been preparing for 'the worst kind of chaos'. And when it finally does hit, it'll make what we're seeing now with the yellow vests look like a Sunday picnic.