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Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via caitlinjohnstone.com,

To stop the exacerbation of Trumpism, the talking heads are recommending internet censorship, regulations on media, new domestic terror laws, literally anything they can possibly think of except changing the conditions which gave rise to Trumpism.

The most imminent threat to US democracy is not Russia, nor fascist insurrectionists, but the fact that US democracy is entirely fictional.

Saying US democracy is being threatened is like saying Grinches are a critically endangered species.

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The previous president intervened in the primary to appoint his right-hand man as his chosen successor. That successor will be installed in a five-day, star-studded celebration surrounded by a sea of barbed wire and heavily armed soldiers. What “democracy” is under attack, exactly?

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No, the Capitol riot was not “karma” for America’s international coups and regime change interventions.

Karma would be the US actually reaping what it sows.

Karma would be the US government toppled and replaced with a foreign puppet regime, and millions of Americans killed.

Karma would be tens of millions of Americans displaced by widespread violence.

Karma would be the US becoming a failed state where people are again sold as slaves.

Karma would be nuclear bombs dropped on US cities.

Karma would be Americans starved to death by crushing sanctions.

Karma would be America’s forests soaked with Agent Orange.

Karma would be mass executions of Americans in sports stadiums.

Karma would be massacres of entire towns: men, women and children.

Karma would be foreign soldiers raping and killing civilians with impunity.

Karma would be foreign-backed extremists mutilating Americans to death and publicly displaying their corpses.

Karma for US interventionism would be for America to collapse and burn in chaos and torture.

That would be “karma”.

That would be the chickens coming home to roost.

I am not saying it would be a good thing if this happened. It most definitely would not.

I am saying the US must cease brutalizing the world.

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We now know for a fact that monopolistic Silicon Valley megacorporations can be pressured by the plutocrat-controlled political/media class to silence political factions online. Good thing there’s no way this can possibly go wrong.

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When you realize that corporations are America’s real government, the whole “it isn’t censorship if it’s a private company doing it” argument is seen for the joke that it is. It’s also completely specious, because the government is directly involved in the censorship.

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Soon social media will just be an app that sends everything you say to the FBI and gives you regular notifications that the government is your friend, and then everyone will finally be happy.

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Back before he was silenced Assange tweeted “The overwhelming majority of information is classified to protect political security, not national security.”

I think of this quote often.

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The mass media have earned every bit of the contempt the public has for them. Every little bit of it.

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Rightists suck at conspiracy analysis because their worldview requires an elite cabal planning and orchestrating all evil dynamics, whereas leftists understand that many (though not all) of those dynamics will unfold on their own in a system where human behavior is driven by profit-seeking. In situations where you are ideologically prohibited from blaming the obvious culprit capitalism, you’ll come up with all kinds of other wacky explanations.

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The best most reliable way to accurately predict what will happen in a given situation is to ignore whatever laws, trends and dynamics everyone else is pointing at and just assume the most powerful people will find a way to get whatever it is they want somehow. Doesn’t mean elites always win, and it certainly doesn’t mean we should stop fighting. It’s just the most reliable way to accurately guess what will happen in a given situation, if you’re into that sort of thing.

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Sectarian feuds in the online left always boil down to “the whole system is rigged against the people” lefties versus “we can work with the oligarchic empire to advance our interests” lefties.

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The US empire has two faces: the plastic smiling one based in Hollywood, and the blood-spattered one based in DC, Arlington and Langley. If you live in wealthy western nations you’re presented with the former. If you live in the Middle East or the Global South you get the latter.

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One of the weirdest things in my life these days is watching people enthusiastically arguing that they should receive less assistance from their government. Never until I began commenting on US politics was this ever a part of my life. The brainwashing there is out of this world.

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If a political party always succeeds at advancing sick agendas and always fails at advancing healthy agendas, it’s because it only exists to advance sick agendas.

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Victory for your revolutionary political goals won’t be a victory for the ego. If you are sincere about this, you want your marginalized viewpoint to become mainstream and mundane. You want your insight and understanding to become as common as grass. You can’t be in this for you.

A lot of revolutionary-minded types get a sense of coolness and specialness from their marginalized ideology. It makes them feel good to be uniquely right about things. But that attitude will actually get in the way if your goals are attained and your views become mainstream.

If you are sincere about this stuff and not just in it for egoic masturbation (many are), you can’t keep a lot of identity wrapped up in being the underdog, in being fringe and marginalized. Because the ultimate goal is to be the exact opposite.

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Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Poems For Rebels (you can also download a PDF for five bucks) or my old book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.

Data from TomTom has revealed the huge amount of time commuters in the UK‘s most congested cities spend stuck in traffic each year.

As Statista’s Martin Armstrong notes in the chart below, the Scottish capital has been named the worst city in the UK for this.

When compared to normal conditions, the average commuter in the city needs 32 percent longer to get to their destination during ‘rush hour’. London isn’t too much better, with 31 percent longer and the top-three is rounded off by Hull at 28 percent.

You will find more infographics at Statista

The figures are considerably lower than 2019 due to the effects on traffic volumes caused by Covid-19 lockdown measures.

Last year, Edinburgh was at the top of the ranking, but with 41 percent.

By Christopher Dembik, head of macro analysis at Saxo Bank

This is certainly the most important chart ahead of Thursday’s ECB meeting.

Initially developed by Hollo, Kremer and Lo Duca in 2012 in the midst of the euro area sovereign debt crisis, the ECB systemic risk indicator is based on fifteen financial stress measures and is used to track emerging market stress that could force the ECB to step in in the market. It is not a leading indicator, but it is very useful to assess the evolution of monetary policy in the euro area and judge the market impact of the latest policy moves.

What is particularly striking is that market stress is almost back to pre-crisis level following the latest ECB measures announced in December (increase in the PEPP envelope and extension by another nine months until at least the end of March 2022). After spiking to an annual peak at 0.34 in mid-March (which is still below levels reached in 2012), it has moved downward and is now almost back to where it was before the outbreak , around 0.07. In our view, this indicator perfectly summarizes how successful was the ECB to contain financial risk in 2020 and is a clear signal that no further monetary action is needed in the short term.

The muted market reaction to rising political risk in the euro area (with political crises in Italy and the Netherlands) constitutes further proof of the ECB’s success. Basically, this week’s meeting will mostly consist in another communication test for the ECB president Lagarde with two main points of interest: the evolution of the euro nominal effective exchange rate, which is getting growing attention by the Governing Council as revealed by the minutes of the December meeting, and the evolution of inflation that could temporarily move upwards due to higher commodity prices, base-effect in Q2 and supply-side bottlenecks that are particularly significant in Europe.

A strong euro (which mostly results from lower US dollar) and inflationary pressures should be regarded as transitionary by the ECB, therefore not resulting in further policy action.

From Olympic opening ceremonies to public safety, drone applications have come a long way.

In fact, as Visual Capitalist’s Iman Ghosh details below, their modern applications are set to almost double the total value of the commercial drone market from $22.5 billion to $42.8 billion between 2020-2025, at a 13.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

Naturally, such diverse and complex uses can go quickly awry if not monitored and regulated correctly by governments—yet in some cases, it’s because of governments that drones’ uses border on sinister.

This in-depth map from Surfshark explores the murky guidelines surrounding drone privacy laws around the world, and some case studies of how they’re used in every region.

How Are Drone Privacy Laws Classified?

According to the map researchers, drone and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) regulations typically fall into one of the following buckets:

1. Outright ban

2. Effective ban

3. Visual line of sight required
   Pilots need to be able to see the drones at all times, and must usually obtain a license or permit

4. Experimental visual line of sight
   Pilots can let the drone fly outside their field of vision e.g. during a race

5. Restrictions apply
   Drones need to be registered, and/or additional observers are required

6. Unrestricted
   When drones are flown around private property and airports, and under 500 feet (150 meters)

7. No drone-related legislation

Categories are assigned based on legislation as of October 2020.

Clearly, there is some overlap among these categories. They are highly dependent on judgment calls made by specific legal authorities, and change based on what a drone is being used for.

So How Are Drones Used Worldwide?

The myriad of drone uses are literally and metaphorically up in the air—while they originated in military needs, drone uses now range from hobbies such as aerial photography to supporting disaster relief.

The following regional maps show privacy laws in closer detail, while also highlighting interesting case studies on how drones are used.

North America

Click here for the high-resolution version of this graphic.

According to the latest drone numbers, 70.5% of registered U.S. drones are recreational, but these proportions may soon decline in favor of commercial uses. As of December 2020, civilian drones are allowed to fly over populated areas, a step towards fulfilling their potential in package delivery.

Meanwhile, countries like Mexico are beginning to rely on drones to combat crime, with good results. In the city of Ensenada, a single drone’s surveillance patrol resulted in a 10% drop in overall crime rates in 2018. Drones are increasingly being used to monitor illicit activity such as drug trafficking routes.

South America

Click here for the high-resolution version of this graphic.

Interestingly, the environmental applications of drones come into play in the Amazon rainforest. An indigenous tribe in Brazil is using drones to track levels of deforestation and forest fires—and presenting that data evidence to authorities to urge them to act.

Across the continent, drones are also in place to deliver everything from hospital supplies to life jackets in Chile and El Salvador.

Europe

Click here for the high-resolution version of this graphic.

The first unmanned, radio-controlled aircraft test flight occurred in the United Kingdom in 1917. The Kettering Aerial Target (or “The Bug”) carried 180 pounds of explosives and became the basis for modern missiles.

While Europe has some of the most liberal drone privacy laws today, that doesn’t mean they’re lenient. Even among countries that allow experimental visual lines of sight (such as Finland and Portugal), special permissions are required.

Middle East and Central Asia

Click here for the high-resolution version of this graphic.

The military applications of drones persist in this region. Iran was one of the first to use armed drones and continues to do so, while simultaneously banning their public use.

Neighboring Turkey also relies on kamikaze drones, augmented by AI and facial recognition, to strengthen border security.

Rest of Asia and Oceania

Click here for the high-resolution version of this graphic.

China-based DJI is the world’s largest drone manufacturer, dominating 70% of the global market. Across Asia, drones have been in use for mass surveillance, particularly in China. In recent times, drones also track compliance with strict COVID-19 guidelines in Malaysia and Singapore.

Meanwhile, in Japan, Nokia is testing out a drone network to provide a more rapid response to future natural disasters. The relief capabilities include disseminating more real-time updates and monitoring evacuation progress.

Africa

Click here for the high-resolution version of this graphic.

While many parts of Africa haven’t developed any drone-related laws yet, promising innovation is rearing its head. Medical drones are already saving lives in Rwanda, delivering supplies in as little as 15 minutes.

In the same vein, the pioneer African Drone and Data Academy (ADDA) opened in Malawi. The academy promotes drone usage for humanitarian and disaster preparedness, and aims to equip individuals with the relevant skills.

Towards Greater Heights?

As the uses of drones evolve over time, so will their legal status and the privacy concerns surrounding them. However, the adoption of any technology is always accompanied by a certain level of skepticism.

With drones, it remains to be seen whether they’ll mostly occupy the role of a friend or a foe for years to come—and that power lies only in the hands of those who remotely control them.

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

Factory workers in France have labeled social distancing ‘dog collars’ as an “attack on individual liberty” as employers are trying to make them wear the devices to enforce restrictions while working.

The alarm devices emit a noise and light up if workers get closer than two metres together, but have been slammed by a worker’s union for “infantilising” employees.

The alarms are scheduled to be introduced by hygiene company Essity, which wants it’s factory workers to wear them around their necks.

The CFDT union told AFP that it is “a system comparable to ones that try to dissuade dogs from barking.”

▶️ Une entreprise souhaite équiper ses salariés d’un boîtier qui sonne si deux personnes sont trop proches l’une de l’autre pic.twitter.com/1NDQ3yvqJ5

— RMC (@RMCinfo) January 14, 2021

Christine Duguet, a union representative from the CFDT, suggested that the devices will “finish in the rubbish bins or stay in a cupboard,” adding “This is complete nonsense.”

Duguet also expressed concerns that the company would attempt to keep the system in place as a ‘security measure’ even after the pandemic ends.

The device is manufactured by a Belgian company called Phi Data, which also offers a similar device that can be activated by the wearer if they feel someone comes too close to them.

Imagine that hell. Karens everywhere emitting bleeping blaring alarms if you dare to walk past them on the street.

Other similar devices have been developed by tech companies and researchers seeking to cash in on the pandemic panic:

There are also scores of videos on YouTube detailing how to make DIY versions of the devices:

This is not normal. What has happened to humans?

Where does this end up? Electronic collars that administer a shock if you break distancing restrictions?

Aside from the imprisonment of everyone inside pods, this weird technology is being embraced with the social distancing justification.

Amazon is reported to have experimented with such technology in their warehouses:

Amazon using new technology to enforce social distancing. Punishment for getting too close? pic.twitter.com/u2PaRzsI2o

— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) December 10, 2020

As we highlighted back in October, Hitachi has developed similar technology, which includes cartoon fish swimming around inside a bubble. When a person violates social distancing, the fish escape.

The promo video brags that the technology “can even be deployed inside elevators” and Hitachi is “hoping to get the technology commercialized quickly.”

Japanese tech firms step in to help prevent coronavirus infections pic.twitter.com/rBx53EcGhT

— NHK WORLD News (@NHKWORLD_News) October 12, 2020

Given that numerous prominent people are insisting that social distancing and other coronavirus restrictions are here to say, it’s perfectly feasible to imagine a near future in which this technology is widely adopted.

China is already linking coronavirus rules to its onerous social credit score system, in addition to using AI to discipline its slave labor workforce, so the idea that people could be publicly shamed or punished for getting too close to others is a very real possibility.

CCP has launched a new #SocialControl system called “civilization code,” that combines China’s coronavirus #HealthCode app with the “social credit system” which allows the #CCP to track and trace citizens with a tighter grip.

WATCH HERE 👉 https://t.co/AtA8xajdWM pic.twitter.com/OBuM5gHD5g

— Crossroads with Joshua Philipp (@crossroads_josh) September 9, 2020

On the same day that China published a much stronger than expected (if largely laughable as we first noted and Michael Pettis subsequently confirmed) GDP print, making China the only major economy to grow in the “year of covid”, China customs data showed that grains imports soared to record highs in 2020 after tight domestic corn supplies pushed prices to multi-year peaks, driving demand for cheaper imports.

China, the world’s top agricultural market, bought a record 11.3 million tonnes of imported corn last year, according to General Administration of Customs data, exceeding the annual quota – which was set at 7.2 million tonnes – for the first time.

China also imported a record 8.38 million tonnes of wheat, just shy of the max quota of 9.64 million tonnes.

According to Reuters, in 2019 China only used 67% of its annual quota for corn and one-third of its quota for wheat. China has accelerated buying of global grains in the past year due to healthy demand from a recovering pig sector, and a domestic shortfall in corn supplies.

The table below shows imports of China’s major agriculture products in December, according to data released on Monday. The data did not provide a breakdown on the origins of the imports. Data on soybean imports was released earlier this month.

This is happening as grains prices have exploded by over 60% in the past 6 months…

… prompting a very worried Albert Edwards to warn that a new and potentially much more violent “Arab Spring” revolutionary cascade could be imminent unless food prices stabilize and revert to much lower levels (see “Why Albert Edwards Is Starting To Panic About Soaring Food Prices“.)

By Zachary Stieber of Epoch Times

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating whether a woman seen in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office on Jan. 6 stole a computer or hard drive and planned to sell it to Russia. The claim was outlined in an affidavit filed in the case against Riley June Williams, a Pennsylvania woman who authorities said stormed the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.

In the days following the breach, a witness called the FBI’s tip line several times. The witness said he or she was a former romantic partner of Williams and saw Williams in video footage captured on Jan. 6.

NBC News: The FBI has charged Riley Williams with her role in the Capitol riot.

The FBI says she told a former partner that she intended to take a laptop / hard drive stolen from Pelosi’s office, ship it to Russia, where a friend would turn it over to the SVR — Russian intel. pic.twitter.com/OFW5LuABr2

— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) January 18, 2021

The caller (W1) also claimed to have spoken to friends of Williams who showed him or her a video of Williams taking a computer or hard drive from Pelosi’s office during the mayhem that day.

“W1 stated that WILLIAMS intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service,” Special Agent Jonathan Lund wrote in the court filing.

“According to W1, the transfer of the computer device to Russia fell through for unknown reasons and WILLIAMS still has the computer device or destroyed it. This matter remains under investigation.”

Pelosi’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Pelosi confirmed last week that a laptop was stolen from her office during the breach of the Capitol. The computer “was only used for presentations,” spokesman Drew Hammill said.

At least one other laptop was stolen from congressional offices on Jan. 6. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said a computer was taken from his office.

U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin told reporters in a recent briefing that people “were literally rifling through Pelosi’s office and stealing items, stealing materials, mail, and sometimes even personal mementos.”

The new affidavit was signed by a judge on Sunday.

Officials say Williams, 22, apparently fled. According to law enforcement officers in Harrisburg, Williams’s mother said her daughter packed a bag and left home, saying she’d be gone for a couple of weeks. Sometime after Jan. 6, Williams changed her phone number and deleted accounts on social media platforms, including Facebook, Reddit, and Parler.

Williams was charged with illegally entering the Capitol and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Williams didn’t have an attorney listed as of Monday morning.

As the CCP scrambles to ship tens of thousands of people out of Shinjiang into designated “quarantine centers” across Hebei province, Chinese authorities have confirmed 100+ new cases of COVID-19 for the sixth straight day on Monday as infections continue to rise in Hebei, the northeastern province surrounding Beijing, where an outbreak centered around the city of Shijiazhuang, only 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Beijing, has been festering for weeks.

Rising infection numbers in China are unsurprisingly triggering anxieties and international media coverage as the world prepares for the Lunar New Year holiday, the travel season that helped spread the virus around the world one year ago, when the CCP failed to stop citizens from Wuhan from traveling across the country, the region and the world.

So far this year, 457 new cases have been confirmed in the region, though Beijing has long been suspected of under-reporting the numbers.

Officials have been ratcheting up travel restrictions and other social distancing rules in cities across the region, with the new controls in the city of Gongzhuling in Jilin province, which has a population of about 1MM people, brings the total number of people under lockdown to more than 29MM.

In other related news, as more questions arise about the efficacy of some of the Chinese COVID vaccines, Hong Kong’s government-appointed vaccine advisory panel is seeking more data from the Norwegian and German governments on the reported deaths of elderly people after they received the Pfizer-BioNTech as fears about “adverse” health reactions.

Still, the panel recommended the shot for use in Hong Kong, though they  but would ask the government to stop administering it “as soon as we receive information that tips the balance ratio of risks and benefits”. The panel is also seeking more information on the deaths from Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical which is marketing the vaccine in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Circling back to the official tally, NHC Minister Ma Xiaowei said over the weekend that outbreaks in the northeast have come from travellers entering the country or contaminated frozen food imports. China is the only country to claim COVID-19 can be transmitted via cold chain imports, even though the WHO has downplaye