Society's ChildS


Vader

Why we are sleepwalking into tyranny

Bryce Buchanan
American Thinker
Sun, 12 Nov 2023 07:49 UTC
eye of tyranny
The world is heading quite rapidly toward tyranny. We are in a revolutionary period that will dramatically change civilization. Few people understand the gravity of our situation. Here are some of the reasons why the majority of people seem oblivious to the danger. These psychological shortcomings explain why we are sleepwalking into tyranny.

The Normalcy Bias "is a cognitive bias that occurs in times of crisis, leading us to disregard any signs or warnings that we are in danger. ... Normalcy bias is a defense mechanism that lulls us into thinking life will just continue as it always has." It is a reassuring presumption that things will get better, or, at least things will not take a dramatic change for the worse.

But steady progress is not the way the world works. History is a story of the rise and fall of civilizations. Tyranny, poverty, and servitude are the normal state of mankind, and it would not be difficult at all to return to that state. The pattern of history is that humans make some progress, and then evil men do evil things and stupid men do stupid things, and the civilization crumbles. The normalcy bias can stop people from seeing this.
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HAL9000

LexisNexis contract with US Customs and Border Protection is 'mass surveillance in hyperdrive'

Sam Biddle
The Intercept
Thu, 16 Nov 2023 17:42 UTC
Customs and Border Protection
© AP Photo / Eric Gay
The popular data broker LexisNexis began selling face recognition services and personal location data to U.S. Customs and Border Protection late last year, according to contract documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

According to the documents, obtained by the advocacy group Just Futures Law and shared with The Intercept, LexisNexis Risk Solutions began selling surveillance tools to the border enforcement agency in December 2022. The $15.9 million contract includes a broad menu of powerful tools for locating individuals throughout the United States using a vast array of personal data, much of it obtained and used without judicial oversight.

Through LexisNexis, CBP investigators gained a convenient place to centralize, analyze, and search various databases containing enormous volumes of intimate personal information, both public and proprietary.

"This contract is mass surveillance in hyperdrive," Julie Mao, an attorney and co-founder of Just Futures Law, told The Intercept. "It's frightening that a rogue agency such as CBP has access to so many powerful technologies at the click of the button. Unfortunately, this is what LexisNexis appears now to be selling to thousands of police forces across the country. It's now become a one-stop shop for accessing a range of invasive surveillance tools."

Comment: So they have all this surveillance tech to 'protect the border' yet 1.2 million illegal migrants "got away" from authorities. What exactly are they using it for then? Seems like they just keep piling in.

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Eye 1

As the UK's only headteacher to question vaccinating and masking children I was investigated by counter-terrorism agencies

Mike Fairclough
The Daily Sceptic
Thu, 16 Nov 2023 09:00 UTC
Mike Fairclough
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was the only serving U.K. headteacher or school principal (out of over 20,000) to have publicly questioned lockdowns, masking kids and the Covid vaccine rollout to children. Many other headteachers privately agreed with my stance but told me they were too scared to speak out. A culture of censorship and self-censorship appears to have stifled open debate.

I used to feel like I was the golden boy of primary school education after creating an unorthodox curriculum at West Rise Junior School in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Alongside the usual lessons, I provided an engaging rural curriculum that you would never expect in a state school. I leased 120 acres of marshland opposite my school, the site of a former Bronze Age settlement. The children learned how to build fires and how to whittle wood with knives to make arrows. They learned to safely shoot 4:10 shotguns and how to skin rabbits and pluck pigeons. They tended beehives, sheep and even looked after our own herd of water buffalo.

I won the admiration of my peers, and in 2015, the Times Educational Supplement Primary School of the Year award. Dame Judith Hackitt, Chairman of the Health and Safety Executive, said more school headteachers should be following my example. This was because I was giving my pupils real, hands-on educational experiences.

I enjoyed very positive relationships with my staff and my employer but everything changed after I began to question the Government's pandemic response and its impact on children.
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Attention

Cars block FedEx semi while dozens pillage packages, leave boxes scattered everywhere

Nicholas McEntyre
New York Post
Thu, 16 Nov 2023 22:56 UTC
fedex robbery memphis
© FOX13 MemphisThe FedEx truck was blocked in by multiple cars on a Memphis road on the evening of Nov. 11.
A FedEx tractor-trailer was blocked by several cars in a Memphis, Tennessee, intersection before dozens of people pillaged the back of the truck for packages, leaving boxes discarded all over the road during the brazen weekend theft.

Video from the scene shows multiple people running through parked cars in the road toward the FedEx truck as the driver attempts to escape the ravagers who are carrying their loot.

Multiple men allegedly used an unknown tool to open the safety latch on the truck's sealed back doors and took numerous packages, the driver said, according to multiple local reports.

When police officers arrived, multiple vehicles were seen recklessly speeding away Saturday night, the Memphis Police Department said, according to Fox13 Memphis.

The large-scale theft happened at Mallory and Riverport in the South Memphis neighborhood of the city.

One resident says she is fed up with the crime taking place in the area of Saturday's theft.

"My thing is somebody's gonna end up getting killed," Vivica Shumpert told WHBQ. "And the citizens that are paying taxes, we should have some more security, better security for the people who are paying property taxes and who want to live safely and quietly."
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No Entry

Roger Waters barred from South American hotels over Israeli pressure - media


RT
Thu, 16 Nov 2023 22:11 UTC
Roger Waters
© Getty Images / Isabel InfantesRoger Waters
Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters was denied hotel rooms in the capitals of Argentina and Uruguay due to allegations of antisemitism from Uruguay's 'Israeli lobby', local media reported on Wednesday.

Waters attempted to book hotel rooms in two Buenos Aires hotels for his 'This Is Not a Drill' tour later this month, but reservations at both were canceled, he told Argentinian newspaper Pagina 12. The Faena Hotel claimed they were "undergoing refurbishment," while the Alvear Hotel first approved Waters' booking for ten rooms, then canceled it, he explained.

Hotels in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, also rejected Waters while declining to furnish an explanation, the musician said, complaining that he was unable to attend a dinner date with the country's former president, Jose Mujica, due to being "canceled" by the Israeli lobby.

Comment: See also:

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Book 2

American students abandoning foreign languages - report


RT
Thu, 16 Nov 2023 21:53 UTC
Sproul Plaza, University of California, Berkeley
© AP / Eric RisbergFILE PHOTO. Students walk through Sproul Plaza on the University of California, Berkeley campus on March 29, 2022
US college students are increasingly forgoing foreign language courses, reducing enrollment in such classes to the lowest levels in more than two decades, a new report has revealed.

Enrollment in language courses other than English at US colleges and universities tumbled by nearly 17% between 2016 and 2021, led by declines in German and French courses, the Modern Language Association (MLA) said in a report released on Wednesday. The drop was the largest on record and left enrollment in such courses at around 1.18 million, its lowest since 1998.

Foreign language study has been in decline on American campuses since enrollment peaked at nearly 1.7 million in 2009, sliding nearly 30% as colleges focus more on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs. At the same time, schools have trimmed non-STEM programs.

Comment: What a shame considering the benefits:

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Snakes in Suits

US Congressman spent campaign funds on OnlyFans - report


RT
Thu, 16 Nov 2023 21:30 UTC
George Santos
© Getty Images / Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesU.S. Rep. George Santos (R-NY) walks through the crowd gathered outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump will arrive later in the day for his arraignment on April 4, 2023 in New York City
US Republican lawmaker George Santos illegally used campaign funds for personal expenses like OnlyFans subscriptions and Botox treatments, a congressional ethics committee has claimed.

Under-fire New York Congressman Santos was arrested in May on various charges of wire fraud, money laundering and lying to Congress - and last month received another indictment, adding additional charges linked to identity theft and a scheme linked to his campaign for re-election.

The House Ethics Committee said on Thursday that it has uncovered "substantial evidence of potential violations of federal criminal law," adding that it was referring the matter to the Justice Department.

"In light of the ongoing criminal investigation into Representative Santos and the ISC's (Investigative Subcommittee) findings of additional uncharged and unlawful conduct by Representative Santos, the ISC recommended that the committee immediately refer these allegations to the Department of Justice," the report said.

Comment: This isn't really surprising considering his past. See also:

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NPC

'Woke' NSA diversity guide leaked - Daily Wire


RT
Thu, 16 Nov 2023 20:40 UTC
US Cyber Command, NSA, National Security Agency, Central Security Service
© AFP / Getty Images / Chip SomodevillaFILE PHOTO: The seals of the US Cyber Command, the National Security Agency and the Central Security Service are seen at their headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, March 13, 2015.
The US National Security Agency (NSA) has compiled a list of hundreds of "social justice" terms for employees, including references to "white privilege" and "Critical Race Theory," according to the Daily Wire, which obtained a leaked copy of the document.

The 34-page dictionary was created by the spy organization last year but only revealed on Wednesday. In an introductory passage, the NSA describes the document as a "starting point for engaging in open and honest conversation" and a "tool meant to build a shared language of understanding."

"The following is a glossary of terms and language commonly used in dialogue regarding diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice to be used as a reference," it says.

The dictionary contains a long list of terms related to racism, sexuality and other politically and socially charged topics, including "white supremacy," "queer theory" and "racial equity." The Daily Wire accused the NSA of endorsing "blatantly left-wing views on race and sex," noting that the glossary favorably cites the work of controversial academics popular on the political left.

Comment: As if there needed to be yet another reason to dismantle the NSA. Here's the document itself:

READ IT: NSA's Full Glo... by Daily Wire Investigations Team


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Pistol

The number of military suicides dipped in 2022 as the Pentagon works on new prevention programs

Lolita C. Baldor
The Hill
Thu, 26 Oct 2023 10:55 UTC
pentagon
© Pablo Martinez Monsivais/File/APThe Pentagon
The number of suicides among U.S. military members and their families dipped slightly in 2022, compared with the previous year, as the Defense Department tries to build prevention and treatment programs to address what has been a steadily growing problem over the past decade, The Associated Press has learned.

While the total number of deaths decreased overall, suicides among active-duty troops went up slightly, fueled by significant spikes in the Marine Corps and the Air Force. And because the active-duty force is smaller now, the rate of suicides per 100,000 service members inched up, according to U.S. officials.

The officials said the suicide rate for the National Guard and the Reserve decreased a bit. The relatively stable numbers across the force come on the heels of a sharp drop in suicides in the Air Force, the Marines and the Navy from 2020 to 2021, and a similar decline for Army soldiers in the first six months of 2022.
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Mr. Potato

Israel's comically bad disinfo proves they're losing the PR war

Marc Owen Jones
Daily Beast
Wed, 15 Nov 2023 04:30 UTC
israel propaganda
© Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters
From a fake nurse to a phony list of hostage guards, Israel's disinformation efforts are becoming increasingly wild just as they lose control of the Gaza war narrative.

Israel's official Arabic account affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a selfie video of a Palestinian nurse condemning Hamas for taking over al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip on Nov. 11.

But some things about the video didn't add up.

Everything about it smacked of high school theater — from the botched accent that sounded like it was straight out of an Israeli soap opera to the perfectly scripted IDF talking points rolling off her tongue.

Comment: See also:

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