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Vegans damage endangered plants with their anti-meat graffiti in Avon Gorge, UK

Richard Spillett
Daily Mail
Thu, 07 Jun 2018 18:01 UTC
Vegan campaigners have been slammed for painting this message of a rock which has extremely rare plants living in its crevices

Vegan campaigners have been slammed for painting this message of a rock which has extremely rare plants living in its crevices
Environmentalists have accused vegans of killing endangered cress in a row over an anti-meat graffiti stunt.

Meat-free campaigners daubed the words 'Go Vegan' in huge letters on a rock face in the Avon Gorge near Bristol this week.

But the move has been slammed by conservation experts at the National Trust, who say the rock is home to rare plants, including rock cress, which may have been killed or damaged by the thick masonry paint.

The 'Go Vegan' message is clearly visible from across the gorge on Bridge Valley Road and appears to be either signed or a message to a 'Ned', 'Ryan' and 'Ash'.

The National Trust's local countryside manager Lisa Topham hit out at the irresponsible move.
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Eye 1

Police State: UK looking to give border police extra powers to stop, search and arrest anyone at an airport or border area


RT
Thu, 07 Jun 2018 16:42 UTC
uk police
© Paul Hackett / Reuters
UK border police could get extra powers to allow them to arrest suspected foreign agents if a new bill, in response to the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, is given parliamentary approval.

If the bill passes, police, immigration and customs officers would be able to stop, search and arrest anyone at an airport, seaport or border areas to establish if they are involved in "hostile activity".

The new powers, as part of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill, would "strengthen "police powers, according to Home Office officials, similar to those used against suspected terrorists.

The Home Office has introduced the new bill as a direct response to the Salisbury poisoning case. Home Secretary Sajid Javid has repeated the government's line that it's "highly likely" that the Russian state was behind the poisoning.
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Stock Down

Shares of Google parent, Alphabet fall amid reports that EU will hit company with up to $11B fine

Sara Salinas
CNBC
Wed, 06 Jun 2018 18:07 UTC
Sundar Pichai
© Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg
Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai.
Shares of Alphabet fell Wednesday following a report that European Union officials will hit the company with a "negative result" and a fine of up to $11 billion for abusing its dominance through the Android mobile operating system.

The ruling from EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager could come within weeks, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed sources. The exact penalty amount is unclear, but the commission has the authority to impose a fine of up to $11 billion.

Shares of Alphabet were down less than a percent immediately following the news after trading practically flat for much of the day.

It's one of three investigations launched by the EU into the U.S. tech giant, amid growing concerns around tech monopolies.


Comment: Day of reckoning: EU closes in on Google as it prepares second antitrust fine

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Star of David

Israeli forces beat, then shoot and kill Izz al-Din Tamimi, cousin of Ahed Tamimi during military raid on Nabi Saleh

Yuma Patel
Mondoweiss
Wed, 06 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
Izz al-Din Tamimi
© Ma'an News
Israeli forces have killed Ahed Tamimi's distant cousin, 21-year-old Izz al-Din Tamimi during confrontations that erupted following an Israeli military raid on the village.
Janna Jihad woke up to gunshots and commotion outside her window around 10 a.m Wednesday morning, a familiar sound in the central occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, home of imprisoned teenage activist Ahed Tamimi.

Israeli forces had just shot her distant cousin, 21-year-old Izz al-Din Tamimi, at least two times with live ammunition during confrontations that erupted following an Israeli military raid on the village.


Comment: Ahed Tamimi's village, Nabi Saleh, declared "closed military zone" by Israeli occupation


"They were just 10 meters from my bedroom window, in our garden. I saw someone who was injured and there was a lot of blood," Janna, a local teenage journalist, told Mondoweiss, added that she saw Tamimi with a bullet wound to the neck and chest.

"We tried to take him to the hospital but they [soldiers] were beating and kicking him, and wouldn't let us. They arrested him and took him into their military jeep, and then into the military tower in the village for more than half an hour."

According to Janna and her mother, Nawal, Izz Tamimi was left bleeding for over thirty minutes before an ambulance arrived and Israeli forces handed his body over to be evacuated to a hospital in Ramallah.

But by the time the ambulance arrived, he was dead.
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Calculator

Common Core's ideological 'groupthink' is paralyzing students' ability to progress in math

Jane Robbins
Townhall
Thu, 07 Jun 2018 16:11 UTC
young students
© Wikimedia
"A royal mess." This is how California middle-school math teacher Barry Garelick describes math education today, especially under the Common Core national standards. In his book, Math Education in the U.S.: Still Crazy After All These Years, and his presentations, Garelick punctures the progressivist/reform math balloon that has long loomed over American schools like the Hindenburg.

When studying for a teacher's certificate after retiring from his first career, Garelick found that education schools teach a progressivist "groupthink" about math. "Discovery learning" works best, he was taught, as students work collaboratively to puzzle out problems while teachers "facilitate" rather than teach. And as he learned later, Common Core reinforces this philosophy.

Garelick explains the difference between traditional and progressivist approaches to math instruction. With traditional math, the teacher uses direct instruction to present a logical sequence to the entire class, demonstrating the computations and then having the students practice them. Students memorize key facts and standard algorithms, thus freeing up working memory to tackle more advanced concepts, and master each step before proceeding.
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Take 2

Cybersecurity expert John McAfee plans to run for president in 2020 as part of agenda to 'best serve the crypto community'


RT
Thu, 07 Jun 2018 15:51 UTC
mcafee
© Luis Echeverria / Global Look Press
Cybersecurity guru and cryptocurrency enthusiast John McAfee has announced plans to run for the US presidency in 2020 as part of a broader agenda to "best serve the crypto community."

The founder of McAfee Antivirus Software said that he would set up his own political party if necessary, according to a tweet that was posted on Monday and has picked up over 750 comments and nearly 5,650 likes so far.

This would be McAfee's second attempt to run for the White House. Two years ago, the crypto enthusiast lost out to former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson in his bid to be the candidate for the Libertarian Party.

The 72-year-old tech entrepreneur has recently emerged as a distinguished advocate for digital currencies, including bitcoin, which have experienced swift growth in recent years while demonstrating extreme volatility. Last week, McAfee announced plans to create his own crypto-backed 'fiat' currency. The brand new bills are expected to be released for June 25.

At the same time, the antivirus software pioneer seems to be realistic about his chances, according to his tweet.

Apart from his career as a tech entrepreneur, McAfee hit the headlines in 2012 after he was declared a person of interest in a murder case in Belize, Central America. However, the businessman, who was neither arrested nor charged with the crime, left the country and moved to the US.
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Bad Guys

Germans outraged after authorities refuse to deport Islamist who planned 4 terrorist attacks


RT
Thu, 07 Jun 2018 15:43 UTC
Germany flag
© Hannibal Hanschke / Reuters
An Islamist who served time in a German prison for planning a terrorist attack is allowed to remain in the country after being released, prompting anger from politicians and police authorities.

Mohamed Abu Dhess, a Jordanian-born migrant, was planning to launch attacks in the early 2000s. "Everything is already prepared for the wedding, all I need is a bride," he said in one phone call intercepted by Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office. The wedding was the planned attack, and the bride was the target.

Dhess was arrested and in 2005 a court found him guilty of planning three bomb attacks on bars in Dusseldorf and on a Jewish community center in Berlin, according to Bild newspaper.
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Whistle

Snowden: 'People are still powerless, but now they're aware'

Ewen MacAskill, Alex Hern
The Guardian
Mon, 04 Jun 2018 13:00 UTC
Edward Snowden
© Lindsay Mills
Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden has no regrets five years on from leaking the biggest cache of top-secret documents in history. He is wanted by the US. He is in exile in Russia. But he is satisfied with the way his revelations of mass surveillance have rocked governments, intelligence agencies and major internet companies.

In a phone interview to mark the anniversary of the day the Guardian broke the story, he recalled the day his world - and that of many others around the globe - changed for good. He went to sleep in his Hong Kong hotel room and when he woke, the news that the National Security Agency had been vacuuming up the phone data of millions of Americans had been live for several hours.

Snowden knew at that moment his old life was over. "It was scary but it was liberating," he said. "There was a sense of finality. There was no going back."

What has happened in the five years since? He is one of the most famous fugitives in the world, the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary, a Hollywood movie, and at least a dozen books. The US and UK governments, on the basis of his revelations, have faced court challenges to surveillance laws. New legislation has been passed in both countries. The internet companies, responding to a public backlash over privacy, have made encryption commonplace.

Comment: The actions of the one can far-reachingly affect the actions of the many. The Snowden revelations were perhaps a pivotal point forcing many changes to the intelligence agencies and likewise, the marketplace. Did he just prod our awareness or was there, as some speculate, something more? See also:

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Cell Phone

You are not paranoid. Your phone IS listening to you

Sam Nichols
Vice
Mon, 04 Jun 2018 10:55 UTC
Phone listening 1
© Carla Adamo
A couple years ago, something strange happened. A friend and I were sitting at a bar, iPhones in pockets, discussing our recent trips in Japan and how we'd like to go back. The very next day, we both received pop-up ads on Facebook about cheap return flights to Tokyo. It seemed like just a spooky coincidence, but then everyone seems to have a story about their smartphone listening to them. So is this just paranoia, or are our smartphones actually listening?

According to Dr. Peter Hannay - The senior security consultant for cybersecurity firm Asterisk, and former lecturer and researcher at Edith Cowan University - the short answer is yes, but perhaps in a way that's not as diabolical as it sounds.

For your smartphone to actually pay attention and record your conversation, there needs to be a trigger, such as when you say "hey Siri" or "okay Google." In the absence of these triggers, any data you provide is only processed within your own phone. This might not seem a cause for alarm, but any third party applications you have on your phone-like Facebook for example - still have access to this "non-triggered" data. And whether or not they use this data is really up to them.

Comment: Although it may not at the moment, there is much potential for abuse. It's naïve to think it will only be limited to just advertising or just Facebook. See also:

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USA

Election reform: An issue in November

Ken Blackwell
Townhall
Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:01 UTC
Voteshredder
© Merlo Image/The Nation
For anyone committed to constitutional government, California looks like a lost cause. The political battle rages between the radical-extreme and moderate-extreme. People and businesses are being driven out of the state.

Yet at least one sensible candidate has picked up the banner of good government for November. Election law attorney Mark Meuser is running as a Republican for secretary of state. He promises to clean up election rolls and assure voter integrity.

That such a position is a controversial issue rather than conventional wisdom demonstrates the problem facing America. A survey of electoral integrity last year placed the U.S. only in the top third globally. In terms of public perception of electoral honesty, the U.S. was near the bottom internationally.

Domestically the Pew Research Center ranked California as number 49 in electoral integrity. Meuser pointed to the failure to maintain clean election rolls. Overall, 101 percent of California's citizens are registered to vote. Eleven counties have more people registered than eligible citizens. The rate is 138 percent in San Diego County and 144 percent in Los Angeles.

Comment: "...generally the Democratic Party is not interested in voter ID." - because it bolsters and benefits their party - a convenient blind eye.

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