"Meanwhile in Sweden, only 5% wear masks. The authorities have never recommended them believing that they are a waste of time. Sweden has used a soft lockdown that avoided fines and mandates. And the media in lockdown countries has spent the months lambasting Sweden and warning the rest of the world not to use it as a model.
But Sweden isn’t alone. In Denmark hardly anyone wears masks. And in Norway, less than a sixth do."
"...heed the warnings of history and be very wary of Trojan Horses and enemies from within, as we alluded to previously regarding the spread of quasi-Bolshevism in the West and U.S."
Replying to the person stating I provided "false" info, which is all supported by links and sources!:
It’s always “conspiracy theory”...until it becomes “conspiracy fact” years later.
Read Google’s (or Apple’s, or Yahoo’s) denial of participation in PRISM. The statements are examples of “Lying by Omission.” Verizon actually shared documents/orders it received from NSA, astonishingly. If one understand the basics of law, the omissions and doublespeak deniability are the most revealing and damning:[1] [2]
* “We have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government—or any other government—direct access to our servers.”: The NSA is not “the U.S. government”; neither are the contract intel companies that have access to data as middleman for NSA.
* “...does not have direct access or a ‘back door’ to the information stored in our data centers.”: But Google does not deny “indirect” access or a ‘door’ – otherwise its crafty attorney would have stated “neither direct nor indirect” and certainly would not have narrowed the access point to only a “back door.” Doublespeak.
* Regarding giving data to the government upon request: “Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests are overly broad or don’t follow the correct process.” ‘Frequently pushes back’ – that’s laughable.
* “Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users’ data are false, period.” Perhaps the press stated ‘open-ended’ but that’s not what Edward Snowden stated or leaked in documents. The prism program is not about “open-ended” access.[2]
The similarity of statements by the legal teams of Google, Apple, and Yahoo leads one to believe they are adhering to NDAs and FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) restrictions about what they may say about PRISM or whether they ever heard of the program. So Apple, Yahoo, and Google all used doublespeak deniability in the carefully crafted legal pressers.
[6] A money paper trail: NSA paid the companies for compliance! (but these companies and their legal teams denied – and continue to deny – either having known about the PRISM program or making data accessible to the NSA and related contractors via said program): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/23/nsa-prism-cost...
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When in doubt, check your assumptions...because your assumptions are likely invalid.
If one wants to keep one's privacy and use desktop software, then I can recommend Ocular, which is developed by KDE (think Plasma for Linux): https://okular.kde.org
* It's cross platform (not just for Linux)
* Can read and markup/highlight: PDF, Postscript, DjVu, CHM, XPS, ePub and others.
I use it as an e-book reader for mostly books in PDF format. There are better e-book readers, but Ocular meets my needs of highlighting and taking notes in the PDF. Admittedly, Ocular seems to have some limitations with ePub files.
"The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers. The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment."
about Ruth Stout and her no-till garden & farming approach.
Admittedly, during her initial year of the garden, she tilled the plot. Subsequent years she used mulch cover (and perhaps some strategic cover crops).
I referenced PRISM in a comment to a recent Apple article on HN a couple of days ago. It triggered HN and Apple fans and the comment ultimately got shadow-banned by moderators.[1]
Anyway, it’s astonishing that so many people willfully continue to use products/services offered by the core companies that are members of PRISM surveillance. Members provide access to ALL user data/information to NSA et al. Here are some technology/telecom company members (and approx. date joined):
@desilentio pushed human development forward by informing the original commenter that its source, in this instance wikipedia, is flawed (to nobody's surprise).
There are many high-quality sources on the Internet and in books. No need to rely upon one source (wikipedia) that has a dubious reputation.
Nevertheless, @3pt14159, you do make a good point. So, please lead us lowly forum posters/readers to the best way to push human development forward and actually do as you are authoritatively telling others to do. Verify the veracity of the misinformation on wikipedia and submit an update(s). Glad you thought of this! Let us know when you finish this initial task.
Apple is more like a cult with totalitarian rule. Google is not too far behind.
Both track your every move/conversation and share ALL your data with government agencies via the PRISM surveillance program led by the NSA (Google joined PRISM in 2009; Apple in 2012).[1] These BigTech companies/PRISM members are beyond the law because they are defacto extensions of Big Brother Surveillance. If Apple were to make a PRISM break from membership, then it would likely receive lawsuits for tax evasion and monopoly behavior (antitrust). Understand the game?
Consider This About Apple:
• Apple uses offshore quasi-indentured-servant labor to bypass labor- and wage-laws;
• The rotten fruit evades the spirit of taxation by setting up shell companies in Ireland, tiny islands, Nevada, etc. to hoard billions of un-taxed dollars in these vehicles;
• The BigTech Global Company uses monopoly-like power to control its users behavior and even inserts forms of malware to make the OS perform slower and/or drain the battery to encourage users to upgrade their phone!
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Google, to its credit, still provides open source software of the Android OS for anyone to port and modify. It’s called Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Anyone who makes a modest effort can install AOSP on a non-apple device – even many older phones.
There are a myriad of open-source and partial open-source custom ROMs that are often built using AOSP, but not exclusively – Ubuntu Touch, Replicant, Resurrection Remix, PureOS, LineageOS, TizenOS, ParanoidAndroid, KaiOS, PostmarketOS, etc.[2]
One may simply flash a custom ROM on their used or new non-Apple device. Take 30 minutes to read instructions on any number of tech forums such as xda-developers.com, for one example. What you will realize is stable custom ROMS are more secure than native stock OS by Apple and Google. And, one may modify the custom ROMS as any lover of freedom chooses.
There are also devices coming to market that have kill switches that disable cellular tracking by PRISM, etc.: Purism’s Librem 5, Pine64's PinePhone, OpenPandora’s DragonBox, etc. And, these organizations are honorable and community-driven, either partly or entirely.
So, just because a lot of people won’t make the tiny effort to liberate themselves from evil (and continue to justify a “walled garden” implemented by said evil rotten fruit), doesn’t mean the small number of people who choose liberty over security should be sacrificed at the alter of evil.
No laws or regulations are necessary. Vote with your dollars and actions.