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Newest round of anti-Russian sanctions will cost German economy billions with China ready to fill the void


RT
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 16:58 UTC
german flag
© Johannes Eisele / Reuters
Washington's latest round of sanctions targeting Russian business will cost the German economy billions of euros, according to estimates revealed by the Russian-German Foreign Trade Chamber (AHK).

"The recent sanctions of the US against Russia may cost the German economy billions of euros in years to come," the report said. "The German economy is facing losses of more than €100 million ($123 million) in the short term. The growing administrative costs due to additional inspections are an additional obstacle for German business."

According to the body's analysts, German companies working in Russia have close partnership relations with companies and individuals included in the latest US sanction list. They say that Russian automotive conglomerate GAZ Group, metallurgic and energy group Renova, global aluminum major RUSAL, as well as Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller, are key figures in German business deals in Russia.
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Eye 1

AI to police content and other revelations from Zuckerberg's Senate testimony


RT
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 16:46 UTC
zuckerberg congress

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in October.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent five hours testifying to the Senate, defending the social network from charges of aiding 'Russian meddling' and even revealing a few trade secrets in the process.

The marathon session on Tuesday involved members of the Senate Judiciary and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committees. While the internet trolled Zuckerberg for using a booster seat and his meme-able, grade-school bowl haircut, Facebook's stocks had their best day in two years, with a 4.5 percent surge after weeks of decline.

While Democrats seemed more concerned with passing new laws to regulate social media, Republicans asked pointed questions about Facebook's "policing" of content on the platform.
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Fireball

Well-rounded education? University sex week to feature strap-on anal sex workshop

Ema Gavrilovic
The College Fix
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 16:09 UTC
sex week ut
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is hosting "Sex Week" at which students will learn about a wide variety of sexual practices and topics, including a workshop dedicated to teaching students about "pegging," a sexual practice in which a woman anally penetrates a man with a strap-on dildo.

The class, titled "Butt Stuff 2.0: The Pegging," is one of among nearly 30 workshops and events taking place over the weeklong festival.

"Pegging is a sexual practice that's slowly gaining prominence in the cultural eye," states the event listing. "This event will attempt to clarify how to safely and healthily engage in the act, as well as demystify any misconceptions regarding anal sex."


Comment: "Slowly gaining prominence in the cultural eye"? Now that's wishful thinking.


The event, to be hosted by sexologist Dr. Lindsey Doe, "will address many facets of the subject, ranging from different positions to try and appropriate preparation tactics."

Doe, who is also moderating the events "Toys R Sex" and "Sucking D and Licking P," hosts her own YouTube channel titled "Sexplanations," featuring videos such as "Asphyxiation" and "Cross Cultural Intimacy." She did not respond to requests for comment from The College Fix.
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Red Flag

Veteran academics: Higher education has become 'profoundly unintellectual' and students 'can't think for themselves'

Jeremiah Poff
The College Fix
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 16:06 UTC
sex addiction
Today's college students are "situationally confused." They have no room in their schedules for "intellectual curiosity."

And their sexual promiscuity is practically the only part of their lives that their colleges refuse to police.

Two veteran academics who have diagnosed different plagues in modern higher education have little optimism for young people entering college for the foreseeable future, judging by their presentations to a conference this past weekend at Franciscan University of Steubenville, a conservative Catholic institution.

College students have no passions today and "aren't trained to pay attention to the things they feel connected to," former Yale English professor William Deresiewicz told the gathering on the "crisis" in American higher education at the Veritas Center for Public Ethics.

In fact, higher education has become "profoundly unintellectual" and student life has become about "accumulating gold stars," said Deresiewicz, who publicly disavowed Ivy League education several years after leaving Yale.
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Biohazard

Skripal poisoning serves as a red herring: Who is protecting whom?

Seth Ferris
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 15:49 UTC
skripal poisoning
© I-Images / Global Look Press / File
Forensic officers in Gillingham, Dorset,United Kingdom, where they removed a vehicle in the latest development following the Russian spy Sergei Skripal attack.
The poisoning of an alleged Russian double agent and his daughter in Salisbury, UK, has become a red herring for global consumption. Everyone is commenting on it, making jokes and apportioning blame. But what steps are being taken to protect other members of the UK population, or anyone else, from experiencing a similar fate?

No one wants to be struck down with a Novichok nerve agent. Obviously therefore the UK has to take action to prevent any more people from being exposed to it. One obvious first step would be to find out where it came from, and prevent it spreading any further from that place.

According to the UK government, the nerve agent could only have been manufactured in Russia. If Russia is the source, Russia has to stop making it or sending it elsewhere. If some Russians both imported and administered this nerve agent for criminal purposes, as the UK alleges, the UK needs to identify who those Russians were and how they did it.
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Pirates

Another ghastly performance! White Helmets again found 'treating' alleged chemical attack victims without protective gear


Sputnik
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 15:28 UTC
white helmets
The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, has published several clips and pictures, showing the alleged aftermath of the chemical attack in the city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta. The volunteers have reported a widespread suffocation in the area, which led to 42 deaths; the footage, posted on Twitter, shows the alleged victims, including babies in diapers, breathing through oxygen masks.


Comment: These White Helmet characters really need to do some work on their use of props. We get it. They've won an Oscar and now they think they're all that and a bag of potato chips. But how are they going to keep pulling the wool over everyone's eyes when they continue making clumsy mistakes like not wearing the appropriate costumes!?

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Sherlock

Investigators from European Commission raid Rupert Murdoch's Fox HQ in London


RT
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 15:50 UTC
rupert murdoch
© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
The British headquarters of Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox has been raided by investigators from the European Commission (EC) over possible breaches of antitrust rules.

The EC confirmed media reports on Tuesday that they carried out an "unannounced inspection" of the company over concerns that they may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels. The investigation is looking into companies active in the distribution of media rights linked to sports events in several member states, the EC confirmed.

Investigators gained access to the company's offices in Hammersmith, west London, which is home to the Fox Network TV channel business, and they seized a number of documents and computer records, according to The Daily Telegraph. The Fox Networks Group said they are fully cooperating with the inspection.
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Snakes in Suits

Lawsuit alleges late Saudi prince owed $110k for private porn shoots


RT
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 15:46 UTC
Saud al-Faisal
© Amr Dalsh / Reuters
Saud al-Faisal
A French court heard that Saudi Prince Saud al-Faisal had a penchant for commissioning private porn films. A producer claims that when he passed away in 2015, the Saudi left the company out of pocket to the tune of $110,000.

Prince Saud al-Faisal, who served as Saudi Arabia's foreign minister for 40 years until his death, was a regular visitor to the French capital, where he stayed in the lap of luxury.

Now SARL Atyla, a company producing pornographic films, is suing SCI 25 Avenue Bugeaud, a firm managed by al-Faisal's daughter, Lana. The company wants to be reimbursed for services allegedly rendered for the prince.
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Magnify

Zuckerberg reveals his thinking at Congressional hearing - leaves notes on table in open view of photographers

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 15:26 UTC
Zuckerberg testifies congress
It looks like Mark Zuckerberg just got an embarrassing taste of his own medicine.

The Facebook CEO must've been shaken up after being grilled by Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Ted Cruz yesterday just before taking the first of several breaks during yesterday's Odyssey-like Senate hearing, because he left a copy of his hearing notes on the table in plain view of press photographers, who were quick to "document" them.

While photographers only managed to photograph the top pages of Zuckerberg's lengthy memo, they provided insight into how Zuckerberg would've handled questions about whether Facebook should be broken up - which he was never asked, though Sen. Lindsey Graham came closest by asking Zuck if he felt Facebook had monopolistic power (Zuckerberg elicited chuckles by claiming "it doesn't feel that way to me" in response).
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Clipboard

Report: Cambridge Analytica pitched 'psychological profiling' services to multiple US campaigns


RT
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 09:00 UTC
FB Cambridge Analytica
© Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP
A laptop showing the Facebook logo is held alongside a Cambridge Analytica sign at the entrance to the building housing the offices of Cambridge Analytica, in central London .
Cambridge Analytica boasted about its possession of unique data in pitches to multiple Republican election campaigns after harvesting personal information from 87 million Facebook users, a new report reveals.

The data mining firm, which worked for President Donald Trump's campaign in 2016, pitched its "unique" data and "psychological profiling" abilities, which could be used to micro-target voters on Facebook, according to a Channel 4 News report.

According to the documents seen by Channel 4, Cambridge Analytica told prospective clients that its data had been successfully used by the North Carolina Republican Party, the conservative For America advocacy group and a number of Republican campaigns in Arkansas, North Carolina and New Hampshire, which were funded by the John Bolton Super PAC.

Comment: The truly crazy thing about all this is that it's actually coming as a surprise to people. It should be obvious by now that this type of data analysis is done constantly and is used to sell you everything from laundry soap to political candidates. The only thing mildly remarkable about the current 'scandal' is that Cambridge Analytica may have been using data they weren't supposed to use. And no one would be freaking out about this if it was used by the Hillary campaign.

See also:

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