In 2018, comedian and actor Aziz Ansari was accused of pressuring a date into sexual acts. His new Netflix standup special, Right Now, doesn’t address whether his behavior was as blameworthy as many people thought. He seems unsure himself of how culpable he is, but he makes it clear that he isn’t thrilled by the possibility that he may have made a woman feel used.
The special isn’t just about dealing with online fallout over personal behavior. It has good jokes, such as when he mulls over what reinstating the draft might be like with “today’s people.” (“Uh, I can’t go to war. I just started this company. We make eco-friendly shoes out of cashews. They’re called cashoes!”). It also taps into relatable feelings: our collective yearning to give proper consideration to groups who have been wronged in the past and our lack of moral consensus on “cancel culture.”
When Ansari thanks the audience for coming, he says that such thanks were perfunctory in the past but that he actually means it this time: “It means the world to me, because I saw the world where I don’t ever get to do this again and it almost felt like I died.” Burned by excesses of #MeToo, he acknowledges his much-debated sins with grace, never stooping to bitterness.
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Warner asks “Have these people ever been to that great, centrally directed communist utopia China, now adding to the world’s carbon footprint at a rate unprecedented in the history of humanity?”
Labour also wants to spend £250bn on loft insulation, double glazing and renewable, low-carbon technologies in all the UK’s 27 million homes at an average cost of £9,300 per house.
After blasting the absurd nature of those ideas, Warner then offers his own set of nonsensical ideas.
Decarbonization Perfectly Feasible
“Decarbonisation of the UK economy is perfectly feasible, but it has to be done in a market driven way by removing hidden hydrocarbon subsidies and the imposition of revenue neutral carbon taxes, backed by carbon tariffs to prevent rival economies undercutting UK producers,” said Warner.
Got that?
Carbon tariffs on China and carbon taxes on those who utilize carbon will allegedly make decarbonization “perfectly feasible”.
In a way, Warner’s idea is far worse. This is why:
Whereas few would be stupid enough to actually try to decarbonize by 2030 or spend $51 to $93 trillion to save the world from sure destruction in 10 years, many people would be stupid enough to try Warner’s non-market-driven, nonsensical proposal.
An Indonesian man named Mukhlis was recently caned in public in Aceh province, receiving 28 strikes after being caught having sex with a married woman. Mukhlis (many Indonesians use just one name) is a member of the Aceh Ulema Council, which lobbied the provincial government to enact Islamic sharia law and advises it in implementing that law. That law mandates public caning for adultery.
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WeWork Warns European Staff Of Coming Job Cuts, Forced To Put Global Expansion On Hold
The WeWork travesty continues to unfold in grand fashion. The company, slated just weeks ago as a potential IPO candidate at a valuation of more than $40 billion, has seen its valuation plunge to well under $10 billion and has had its corpse only temporarily resuscitated by a bailout from SoftBank.
As the company slashes jobs and restructures to try and avoid what seems like an almost foregone conclusion of eventual bankruptcy, its “cost cutting” measures are kicking in overseas. The company has put its plans for global expansion on hold and has notified its workers in Europe that job cuts are on the way, according to Bloomberg. WeWork is also currently rethinking some of its prime overseas leases.
The company’s employees in Europe, Middle East and Africa will all have “consultations” this week with the company. The number of job cuts and the potential timing has yet to be decided.
WeWork commented: “WeWork is in conversation with employees in EMEA as we make changes to our operating model and workforce in light of our refocused strategy. Leadership has been diligent in its decision making, and we are committed to treating our colleagues fairly and with respect.”
The company is also rethinking its expansion plans for London and its plans to proceed with about 28 office deals in its second largest market. The deals that are under review are at “varying stages” and the number of leases that the company will take on remains up in the air.
The company is also considering surrendering part of its recently signed lease of four floors – about 60,000 square feet – near Hong Kong’s business district. The company had entered into a 9 year lease in August for the floors in the Hopewell Centre in Wan Chai.
Recall, yesterday, SoftBank beefed their earnings report, posting a $6.5 billion operating loss, mostly as a result of writing down many of its “investments”, including WeWork. It was SoftBank’s first quarterly loss in 14 years.
An Indonesian man named Mukhlis was recently caned in public in Aceh province, receiving 28 strikes after being caught having sex with a married woman. Mukhlis (many Indonesians use just one name) is a member of the Aceh Ulema Council, which lobbied the provincial government to enact Islamic sharia law and advises it in implementing that law. That law mandates public caning for adultery.
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A trendy ‘urban farm’ in London is serving up burgers made from live worms, claiming that they are tastier than beef burgers and will help save the planet.
Horizon, an insect farm in London, produces thousands of worms and crickets for its customers to eat.
It claims to use leftover food from local businesses to feed the insects, including Mealworms, and says that the worms only require 10% of the land used for beef, and produce far less CO2.
‘Experimental chef’ Tiziana Di Costanzo, the founder of the ‘farm’, says that the insects have a ‘nutty to earthy flavour’, and claims that she can produce enough worms to feed her family with just bran and used vegetable peel.
“Let them crawl into your menu once, and you’ll be hooked! Costanzo said, adding that “Once you get past the ‘yuck effect’, you’ll find that they actually taste really good.”
“We are hoping to scale up the operation to a production of 100kg per week in the next 6 months, all of this with zero waste” Costanzo added.
The craze for eating insects stems from UN guidelines that “promote insects as a sustainable high-protein food.”
The London insect farm is holding events to teach people how to cook with worms and crickets. Dishes include the afore mentioned burger, as well as cricket bruschetta, curry and coriander mealworm fritters, crispy chocolate mealworm cupcakes and cinnamon and raisin insect biscuits.
Luxembourg Is The Worst Country In Europe For Car Theft
Eurostat has released new data showing the number of car thefts across the European Union between 2015 and 2017.
Statista’s Niall McCarthy details that 697,000 car thefts were recorded yearly by the police during that period, a 29 percent reduction compared to the 983,000 vehicles stolen annually between 2008 and 2010.
On average over 2015 to 2017, Luxembourg had the highest number of police-recorded car thefts in the EU – 328 per 100,000 of its inhabitants.
It was followed by Greece (269) and Italy (257). Denmark has the lowest level of car theft in the EU with just 4 vehicles stolen per 100,000 inhabitants during the above period.
The fallout from the disastrous election results in Thuringia for the major Germany political parties continues unabated.
Sputnik is reporting this morning that local members of Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have officially petitioned the party to allow them to negotiate with the local chapter of Alternative for Germany (AfD) in coalition talks.
Here’s the relevant part from the site Talking Europe that mentions what happening in Thuringia:
But last week, the deputy caucus leader for the CDU in the state legislature in Thuringia said the party should not rule out working with the AfD.
And this week a group of seventeen CDU officials in the state put out an open letter arguing that their party should not refuse talks with any “democratically elected parties.”
Among the signers are city council members, officials of local CDU committees, and one state legislator.
CDU policy is not going to change because of an open letter put out by a small group of very low-level officials. The national leadership vehemently rejected these officials’ open letter.
But these seventeen dissenters represent some unknown larger number of CDU members and voters who might leave the party over this issue.
Whereas in 2014, Die Linke could form a government with the SPD and the Greens, today they cannot, falling 4 seats short of a majority, and the Greens barely beat the 5% threshold for representation. Had they not the coalition calculus would be unsolvable.
It is just as bad for Merkel and the CDU as they categorically refuse to ally with AfD in any capacity. So, there is no easy path to a government in Thuringia. The path is just as bad in Brandenburg which voted in September.
In both cases massive cartel-style coalitions will be needed, four parties, to cobble together a majority because all have refused to entreat with AfD.
What all of this implies is that Merkel and the CDU are more than willing to work with either the Social Democrats (SPD) or the Greens in forming coalitions but not any of the more Euroskeptic parties like AfD and Die Linke (The Left).
Because, in fact, Merkel has been working with both parties for years at both in the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. Think of the Bundestag as the House of Commons, which proposes legislation and the Bundesrat as the House of Lords which ratifies it.
As was pointed out to me by German political observers the game Merkel has been playing by working with the SPD in the Bundestag only works if she keeps the Greens in the Bundsrat happy.
But because of the nature of the Bundesrat where state delegation must vote as a block up until Thuringia the Greens held veto power over 37 out of 69 seats there and could stop all legislation cold.
But those four seats now will likely go to someone else and this defection by CDU party members in Thuringia threatens a constitutional crisis in Germany if AfD make it into the Bundesrat.
So what’s important here is that with these three state elections over the past two months the makeup of the Bundesrat will shift dramatically. And this is the truly dangerous development for Merkel.
Brandenburg still doesn’t have a government and the results there imply that the CDU, SPD and Greens (Jamaica coalition) get together to circle the wagons and form a coalition to offset the total loss that is Thuringia. Both Brandenburg and Saxony could do this.
So, if Merkel has any political pull left with the SPD and is willing to give every concession to the Greens they ask for this is what will happen to stop a loss of majority in the Bundesrat.
Because if they don’t come to that conclusion, there is the further problem of the CDU/Green coalition in Hesse collapsing because they rule with a one-seat majority. But AfD has challenged the apportionment there and could gain a seat, taking down the Hessian government.
That’s five seats in the Bundesrat that Merkel et.al. would have to make up.
This forces Jamaica coalitions in Saxony (+4 seats) and Brandenburg (+4 seats) to offset losses to AfD in Hesse (-5 seats) and Thuringia (-4 seats) to maintain net loss of one seat to the Green veto and maintain control at 36 seats.
Either way Merkel is still at the mercy of the Greens who can erode what’s left of her power base even more than it was before.
I have no idea how likely this all is, but looking at the situation this is the only math that makes sense here. Merkel failed to put together a Jamaica coalition in 2017 after the national election.
The Greens will likely push for all they can get, which, by the looks of Merkel’s newly-adopted energy policy is enough to plunge Germany into 2nd world status in the next 20 years.
Next,there is the lengths to which the party leadership of the SPD are willing to go to keep things as they are. The party congress in December may decide that radical change is needed and force an overthrow of Merkel as a price for keeping the coalition intact until the next scheduled general election in 2021.
Lastly, there is the reality that after hitting a low point earlier this year, AfD is beginning to rise in the national polling, back towards 15%.
Again, they need to be a broad solutions-based alternative, not just the Anti-Merkel party to breach the 16% Chasm and become a real political force nationally.
A collapse of the ruling coalition or infighting at the state level to protect the Bundesrat should only fuel more discontent with politics as usual.
So too will continued contraction of the German economy thanks to Merkel’s unwillingness to put Germany first ahead of her political career and the demands of the European Union.
And don’t think French President Emmanuel Macron is not watching all of this and rubbing his hands together with glee.
Germany is in real trouble politically as the people sense its leadership is no longer fit for the job. The only thing holding things together on the surface is sclerotic party bosses and their unwillingness to shift with the times.
The more deals Merkel makes with the Greens to maintain power the more she will alienate her own party faithful, like those 17 upstarts in Thuringia.
That shift may be forced upon them sooner than anyone wants to admit.
In an age of prosecutions for thought crimes, pre-crime deterrence programs, and government agencies that operate like organized crime syndicates, there is a new kind of tyranny being imposed on those who dare to expose the crimes of the Deep State, whose reach has gone global.
The Deep State has embarked on a ruthless, take-no-prisoners, all-out assault on truth-tellers.
Activists, journalists and whistleblowers alike are being terrorized, traumatized, tortured and subjected to the fear-inducing, mind-altering, soul-destroying, smash-your-face-in tactics employed by the superpowers-that-be.
Included among the leaked Manning material were the Collateral Murder video (April 2010), the Afghanistan war logs (July 2010), the Iraq war logs (October 2010), a quarter of a million diplomatic cables (November 2010), and the Guantánamo files (April 2011).
The Collateral Murder leak included gunsight video footage from two U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopters engaged in a series of air-to-ground attacks while air crew laughed at some of the casualties. Among the casualties were two Reuters correspondents who were gunned down after their cameras were mistaken for weapons and a driver who stopped to help one of the journalists. The driver’s two children, who happened to be in the van at the time it was fired upon by U.S. forces, suffered serious injuries.
This is morally wrong.
It shouldn’t matter which nation is responsible for these atrocities: there is no defense for such evil perpetrated in the name of profit margins and war profiteering.
In true Orwellian fashion, however, the government would have us believe that it is Assange and Manning who are the real criminals for daring to expose the war machine’s seedy underbelly.
Whatever is being done to Assange behind those prison walls—psychological torture, forced drugging, prolonged isolation, intimidation, surveillance—it’s wearing him down.
In court appearances, the 48-year-old Assange appears disoriented, haggard and zombie-like.
Federal judge Anthony J. Trenga of the Eastern District of Virginia also fined Manning $500 for every day she remained in custody after 30 days, and $1,000 for every day she remains in custody after 60 days, a chilling—and financially crippling—example of the government’s heavy-handed efforts to weaponize fines and jail terms as a means of forcing dissidents to fall in line.
This is how the police state deals with those who challenge its chokehold on power.
Make no mistake: the government is waging war on journalists and whistleblowers for disclosing information relating to government misconduct that is within the public’s right to know.
Yet while this targeted campaign—aided, abetted and advanced by the Deep State’s international alliances—is unfolding during President Trump’s watch, it began with the Obama Administration’s decision to revive the antiquated, hundred-year-old Espionage Act, which was intended to punish government spies, and instead use it to prosecute government whistleblowers.
Unfortunately, the Trump Administration has not merely continued the Obama Administration’s attack on whistleblowers. It has injected this war on truth-tellers and truth-seekers with steroids and let it loose on the First Amendment.
In May 2019, Trump’s Justice Department issued a sweeping new “superseding” secret indictment of Assange—hinged on the Espionage Act—that empowers the government to determine what counts as legitimate journalism and criminalize the rest, not to mention giving “the government license to criminally punish journalists it does not like, based on antipathy, vague standards, and subjective judgments.”
Noting that the indictment signaled grave dangers for freedom of the press in general, media lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., warned, “The indictment would criminalize the encouragement of leaks of newsworthy classified information, criminalize the acceptance of such information, and criminalize publication of it.”
Boutrous continues:
[I]t doesn’t matter whether you think Assange is a journalist, or whether WikiLeaks is a news organization. The theory that animates the indictment targets the very essence of journalistic activity: the gathering and dissemination of information that the government wants to keep secret. You don’t have to like Assange or endorse what he and WikiLeaks have done over the years to recognize that this indictment sets an ominous precedent and threatens basic First Amendment values…. With only modest tweaking, the very same theory could be invoked to prosecute journalists for the very same crimes being alleged against Assange, simply for doing their jobs of scrutinizing the government and reporting the news to the American people.
We desperately need greater scrutiny and transparency, not less.
Indeed, transparency is one of those things the shadow government fears the most. Why? Because it might arouse the distracted American populace to actually exercise their rights and resist the tyranny that is inexorably asphyxiating their freedoms.
This need to shed light on government actions—to make the obscure, least transparent reaches of government accessible and accountable—was a common theme for Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who famously coined the phrase, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
Light is the only thing that can sweeten our political atmosphere—light thrown upon every detail of administration in the departments; light diffused through every policy; light blazed full upon every feature of legislation; light that can penetrate every recess or corner in which any intrigue might hide; light that will open up to view the innermost chambers of government, drive away all darkness from the treasury vaults; illuminate foreign correspondence; explore national dockyards; search out the obscurities of Indian affairs; display the workings of justice; exhibit the management of the army; play upon the sails of the navy; and follow the distribution of the mails.
Of course, transparency is futile without a populace that is informed, engaged and prepared to hold the government accountable to abiding by the rule of law.
After all, we’re citizens, not subjects. For those who don’t fully understand the distinction between the two and why transparency is so vital to a healthy constitutional government, Manning explains it well:
Manning goes on to suggest that the U.S. “needs legislation to protect the public’s right to free speech and a free press, to protect it from the actions of the executive branch and to promote the integrity and transparency of the US government.”
Technically, we’ve already got such legislation on the books: the First Amendment.
The First Amendment gives the citizenry the right to speak freely, protest peacefully, expose government wrongdoing, and criticize the government without fear of arrest, isolation or any of the other punishments that have been meted out to whistleblowers such as Edwards Snowden, Assange and Manning.
The challenge is holding the government accountable to obeying the law.
Almost 50 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in United States v. Washington Post Co. to block the Nixon Administration’s attempts to use claims of national security to prevent The Washington Post and The New York Times from publishing secret Pentagon papers on how America went to war in Vietnam.
As Justice William O. Douglas remarked on the ruling, “The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.”
Almost 50 years later, with Assange being cast as the poster boy for treason, we’re witnessing yet another showdown, which pits the people’s right to know about government misconduct against the might of the military industrial complex.
Yet this isn’t merely about whether whistleblowers and journalists are part of a protected class under the Constitution. It’s a debate over how long “we the people” will remain a protected class under the Constitution.
Following the current downward trajectory, it won’t be long before anyone who believes in holding the government accountable is labeled an “extremist,” is relegated to an underclass that doesn’t fit in, must be watched all the time, and is rounded up when the government deems it necessary.
Eventually, we will all be potential suspects, terrorists and lawbreakers in the eyes of the government
Partisan politics have no place in this debate: Americans of all stripes would do well to remember that those who question the motives of government provide a necessary counterpoint to those who would blindly follow where politicians choose to lead.
We don’t have to agree with every criticism of the government, but we must defend the rights of all individuals to speak freely without fear of punishment or threat of banishment.
Never forget: what the architects of the police state want are submissive, compliant, cooperative, obedient, meek citizens who don’t talk back, don’t challenge government authority, don’t speak out against government misconduct, and don’t step out of line.
What the First Amendment protects—and a healthy constitutional republic requires—are citizens who routinely exercise their right to speak truth to power.
Be warned: this quintessential freedom won’t be much good to anyone if the government makes good on its promise to make an example of Assange as a warning to other journalists intent on helping whistleblowers disclose government corruption.
Once again, we find ourselves reliving George Orwell’s 1984, which portrayed in chilling detail how totalitarian governments employ the power of language to manipulate the masses.
In Orwell’s dystopian vision of the future, Big Brother does away with all undesirable and unnecessary words and meanings, even going so far as to routinely rewrite history and punish “thoughtcrimes.”
Much like today’s social media censors and pre-crime police departments, Orwell’s Thought Police serve as the eyes and ears of Big Brother, while the other government agencies peddle in economic affairs (rationing and starvation), law and order (torture and brainwashing), and news, entertainment, education and art (propaganda).
Orwell’s Big Brother relies on Newspeak to eliminate undesirable words, strip such words as remained of unorthodox meanings and make independent, non-government-approved thought altogether unnecessary.
Where we stand now is at the juncture of OldSpeak (where words have meanings, and ideas can be dangerous) and Newspeak (where only that which is “safe” and “accepted” by the majority is permitted). The power elite has made their intentions clear: they will pursue and prosecute any and all words, thoughts and expressions that challenge their authority.
This is the final link in the police state chain.
Having been reduced to a cowering citizenry—mute in the face of elected officials who refuse to represent us, helpless in the face of police brutality, powerless in the face of militarized tactics and technology that treat us like enemy combatants on a battlefield, and naked in the face of government surveillance that sees and hears all—our backs are to the walls.
From this point on, we have only two options: go down fighting, or capitulate and betray our loved ones, our friends and ourselves by insisting that, as a brainwashed Winston Smith does at the end of Orwell’s 1984, yes, 2+2 does equal 5.
As George Orwell recognized, “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Putin Touts Laser Systems & Futuristic Arms To Be Deployed By Military
Perhaps trying to keep up with the Pentagon’s own developing ‘Laser Weapon System’ program, President Vladimir Putin this week touted that Russia is out front in terms of the next futuristic arms race, including “Hypersonic, laser and other state-of-the-art weapon systems”.
At a meeting of military commanders at the Kremlin on Wednesday, Putin boasted that“Hypersonic, laser and other state-of-the-art weapon systems, which no other country possesses, will be put in service,” but also added that such advanced technology is “no excuse for Russia to threaten anybody”.
File image of a Lockheed Martin Laser weapon system.
“On the contrary, we are ready to do everything in our power to promote the disarmament process in view of our latest weapon systems, which are developed with the sole purpose of guaranteeing security in the face of growing threats we face,” Putin explained.
The comments come after multiple statements out of both Washington and Moscow over the past two years hyping each’s ‘hypersonic weapons’ research and capabilities.
However, as US state-funded Voice of America noted mockingly, “Hardly a day goes by now without some announcement from the Kremlin of a test firing of this or that new missile, a military exercise here or there or the launching of a new warship or development of a fresh weapon system.”
The US Marine Corps has of late reportedly beenfield testing a new laser weapon system designed to blast enemy drones out of the sky. Silent, invisible and precise — the new Compact Laser Weapons System (CLaWS) is said to be a directed energy weapon approved by the Pentagon for use by combat personnel.
Within the past half-decade the Pentagon has developed a powerful ship-mounted Laser weapon system capable of downing projectiles flying nearby.
Both the US and Russian navies are already in possession of ship-mounted laser devices believed capable of shooting drones or other small aircraft from the sky.
However, some defense tech analysis reports have questioned the ultimate power and effectiveness of experimental laser weapons, which require an immense amount of energy to power.
