Puppet MastersS


Attention

How Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Google silence and crush dissent

Stomped
© Police State USA
Insidious is the word

Even if you don't use Twitter or Facebook, you need to know this. If you disagree with big-government intrusion and rampant corruption, these dirty tricks are working against you, though you may never have sent one tweet or opened a facebook account. They're stopping the thousands who agree with you from meeting, organising, helping each other, and generally clawing back power from the deep state. We've known about Google bias for years, but there are so many other ways to suppress a good idea. Twitter employee admits they target conservatives, and shadowban them:

Daniel Greenfield:
How do you know you've been shadowbanned? You may be tweeting, but you're no longer being heard. You wonder if maybe people just aren't interested in what you have to say.

But they might be interested. Twitter just isn't interested in letting them read your messages.

Shadowbanning is the censorship that social media companies do in the shadows. It's cowardly and dishonest. And it's how the big firms get away with covertly censoring conservatives.

"The idea of a shadow ban is that you ban someone but they don't know they've been banned, because they keep posting and no one sees their content," Abhinav Vadrevu, a former Twitter employee, explains in Project Veritas' undercover investigation of the company.

"They just think that no one is engaging with their content, when in reality, no one is seeing it."
Twitter employees are so closeted (and selected) they have no idea that real people may even be patriots who talk about guns, flags, or the cross. Algorithms pick up these words, and "delete accounts that twitter employees think are bots. " Some Social Justice Warriors (SJW's) may never have met an outspoken patriot.

Eiffel Tower

Emmanuel Macron: The modern master of the diplomatic gesture?

macron
© Antonio Masiello/Getty ImagesEmmanuel Macron in Italy last week, where he promised to sign a ‘Quirinal Treaty’.
Ever since the Norman era, the fine art of the meaningful gift has been at the heart of statecraft.

Historically, they have ranged from a menagerie of exotic animals to fabulous jewels, but Emmanuel Macron - by first offering the Chinese a horse called Vesuvius, and now offering the British the loan of the Bayeux tapestry - has revealed himself this month as the modern master of the diplomatic gesture.

Most contemporary diplomatic gifts reveal more vulgarity than thought. Saudi Arabia's King Salman gave the former US president Barack Obama a silver-toned letter opener and pen priced at $56,729 (£41,000), while the president of Argentina brought the first family a black electric bicycle worth $1,499 and two signed Lionel Messi shirts worth $1,700.

Other modern diplomatic gifts have come cheaper; in 2009, the then US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, presented the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, with a large red "reset button" to represent a reboot in relations - except that the Russian word emblazoned on the button did not translate as "reset" but "overcharge".

Others are just best forgotten: Gordon Brown went home with a DVD box set hastily bought from the local store by Obama's novice aides.

Macron, by contrast, operates through loftier symbols. His official portrait is laden with more signals than a Renaissance court portrait; Donald Trump was invited to Bastille Day celebrations last year to see the military might of France and, by implication, the European contribution to Nato; and Macron chose to make his big speech on the refounding of European sovereignty in Greece in front of the Acropolis, the birthplace of democracy.

Comment: Macron might want to consider how to apply his fancy approach to the utter lack of civilized diplomacy with Russia:


Pistol

Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic assassinated: Proof that Serbia's Kosovo policy has failed

Oliver Ivanovic
Oliver Ivanovic
Translated by Svetlana Maksovic from the original at Ruskline.ru

One of the leading Serbian politicians from Kosovo and Metohija, Oliver Ivanovic, was killed this week outside his party's premises in Kosovska Mitrovica. According to official information, the killer shot the politician multiple times in the back, with bullets fired from a gun with a silencer, clearly indicating that the murder was a professional hit-job.

Oliver Ivanovic had been in prison for a long time after he was sentenced for his alleged role in committing war crimes (an Albanian accusation), and was convicted by a court in the illegal state of Kosovo. Later, on appeal, a retrial was ordered, and Ivanovic was released for home detention. Ivanovic was arrested on the eve of the second round of elections in Kosovska Mitrovica, when he was a favorite candidate for mayor.

Comment: See also: Kosovo: Murder of key Serb politician halts Belgrade-Tristina talks

Serbia needs dialog on the folly of EU integration rather than Kosovo independence


Cross

Report says Middle East Christians facing grave danger

mural of christ
© Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse/Getty
Egypt, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian territories are amongst the most dangerous places on earth for Christians, according to a new report.

Although Christians claim the area as their Biblical heartland alongside Israel, persecution and discrimination, especially in the past 15 years, means they now constitute no more than three to four per cent per cent of the region's population, down from 20 per cent a century ago.

Hard-line Islamic views and state-sanctioned "religio-ethnic cleansing"are the key drivers behind the Christian genocide.

Just 12 months ago, the Islamic State branch that operates in and around Egypt designated the northern African country's Christian minority their "favorite prey" in a 20-minute propaganda video.

Now the latest report released by the British Christian charity group Open Doors, an organization that monitors ill-treated Christians worldwide, reveals Egyptian Christians in particular are found to suffer in "various ways" such as pressure to convert to Islam, severe restrictions on building places of worship and congregating, and outright violence.

Comment:


Bulb

Betsy DeVos: Common Core is dead at Dept. of Education

betsy devos
© AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos gave a far-ranging speech today in Washington at an American Enterprise Institute conference, "Bush-Obama School Reform: Lessons Learned."

She announced the death of Common Core, at least in her federal agency.

DeVos also decried the federal government's initiatives to improve education. "We saw two presidents from different political parties and philosophies take two different approaches. Federally mandated assessments. Federal money. Federal standards. All originated in Washington, and none solved the problem. Too many of America's students are still unprepared," she said.

Megaphone

Tulsi Gabbard: Funding regime change wars and arming terrorists with taxpayer dollars must end

black hawk helicopters
© U.S. ArmySix UH-60L Black Hawk and two CH-47F Chinook helicopters, simultaneously launch a daytime mission from Multinational Base Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan
In a shot across the bows of the US regime change hawks, the congresswoman from Hawaii has implored her fellow legislators to vote to end foreign entanglements. Few, however, seem willing to heed the call.

Gabbard, who served a 12-month tour in Iraq as a field medic, called on her fellow lawmakers to rally behind the 'Stop Arming Terrorists Act,' which she submitted to Congress early last year.

"The practice of spending taxpayer dollars to fund counterproductive regime change wars must end," she tweeted. "It is long overdue we pass the Stop Arming Terrorists Act to prevent terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda or state sponsors like Saudi Arabia from receiving cash, weapons, or intelligence."

Vader

Tillerson touts "new strategy", same as old strategy, of staying in Syria long-term and removing Assad from power

tillerson
© Justin Sullivan / Getty Images North America / AFP / AFPUS Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (R) with predecessor Condoleezza Rice
Echoing previous administrations, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the "new" strategy in Syria will involve a long-term American military presence and regime change in order to secure US interests.

Speaking at Stanford University's Hoover Institution Wednesday, Tillerson sought to distance President Donald Trump's policy in Syria from former President Barack Obama's approach.

"We cannot make the same mistakes that were made in 2011, when a premature departure from Iraq allowed Al-Qaeda in Iraq to survive and eventually morph into ISIS," Tillerson said.

Instead, he said, the US now intends to maintain an open-ended military presence in Syria, and that the American mission in the country will be "conditions based."

Comment: Sounds like Tillerson got his talking points straight from Netanyahu's speechwriter. The Trump Admin. is clearly carrying Israel's water.


Chess

Details of Bannon's testimony to Mueller remain 'top secret'

Steve Bannon
© Mark Kauzlarich / ReutersFormer White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon is being questioned as part of the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, but few details of his testimony have been made public.

Bannon reportedly struck a deal to testify before the staff of special counsel Robert Mueller, after the House Intelligence Committee slapped him with a subpoena over his refusal to answer a number of questions, claiming executive privilege.

This is the second subpoena issued to Bannon following a reported summons from a Mueller-impaneled grand jury.

Comment: Further reading:


War Whore

Russophobic Clint Watts warns 'RT threatens to indoctrinate dumb people worldwide'

Clint Watts
© AFPClint Watts, senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute Program on National Security
Low-educated people worldwide be warned, Kremlin agents are trying to seduce you through social media, says a Washington pundit invited to a Senate hearing about social networks and extremism.

On Wednesday, officials from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube spoke before the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee to explain what the social media platforms were doing to "combat the spread of extremist propaganda" on the internet. Committee chairman, Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), titled the session, "Is Big Tech doing enough?"

One would imagine, therefore, that the committee's focus would be on details of policies and practices shared by Facebook's Monika Bickert, YouTube's Juniper Downs, or Twitter's Carlos Monje. Instead, the hearing was dominated by Clint Watts, a serial fabulist who sees "Russian influence" in every tweet, post or video.

Comment: The full transcript of this charade is available here, but one especially hilarious part reads:
Criminals, terrorists and authoritarians see the Internet and social media as a cost effective open doorway into the very heart of their adversaries. Authoritarians worldwide now recognize the power of the Kremlin's social media manipulation and if left unchecked, will copy and deploy Russia's playbook against their enemies. Lesser-educated populations around the world predominately arriving in cyberspace via mobile phones will be particularly vulnerable to the social media manipulation of terrorists and authoritarians.
Ah yes, that nefarious 'Russian playbook' which led who-knows-who to purchase a small amount of ads about politics, hobbies, and dogs. And it's experts like Watts who, in the face of all reason, argue that this nothing-burger is a declaration of war:
But the NYT still finds "experts" who believe in the "Russian influence" nonsense and find the most stupid reasons to justify their claims:

Clinton Watts, a former F.B.I. agent now at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, said Russia had been entrepreneurial in trying to develop diverse channels of influence. Some, like the dogs page, may have been created without a specific goal and held in reserve for future use.

Puppy pictures for "future use"?

Nonsense.

Lunacy!
Russia!!


Rocket

Russia's new deep sea torpedo carrying 100-megaton nuclear warhead renders USA's 'Prompt Global Strike' strategy useless

submarine
Russia works to neutralise the USA's Prompt Global Strike strategy. The Pentagon has admitted that Russia has an unmanned submarine capable of carrying a powerful nuclear munition.

To destroy an enemy in 48 hours, the United States pays first priority to high-precision weapons - hypersonic shells fired from surface vessels. In addition, the strategy involves the use of the nuclear triad shooting non-nuclear projectiles. However, before anything can be made, aircraft will have to take off and gain altitude. There are effective anti-aircraft and air defence complexes against ICBMs, whereas submarines appear to be most invulnerable. A recent report from the Pentagon, published on January 14, says that Russia works to develop its undersea fleet.

Advantages of the submarine fleet

Submarines can strike targets when approaching enemy's sea borders, and one does not have to maintain costly aircraft carriers and military bases for the purpose. Medium-range sea-based missiles are exempt from the INF Treaty. The launch of Caliber cruise missiles from the water area of the Caspian Sea on terrorists in Syria showed the effectiveness of such weapons to the whole world. To crown it all, Americans and Europeans periodically detect Russian submarines off their coasts, but they are unable to track them.

Comment: If the US military weren't so corrupt and had actually put the money to good use, they might have been able to keep up. See also: