Category: Freedom Related

Freedom: the right to be left alone

Firenze Sage: You have no secrets … [Twitter, Facebook, social media]

Everything you post on social media –Facebook & Twitter etc — can be used against you

Everything you post  on social media can and may  be used against you.

In their undercover investigation, James O’Keefe and other Project Veritas reporters secretly recorded Twitter employees as they allegedly revealed the extent the platform surveils users.

“Everything you send is stored on my server. You can’t [delete it], it’s already on my server now,” declared Direct Messaging Engineer Panay Singh. “So all your sex messages and your, like, dick pics are on my server now. All your illegitimate wives, and, like, all the girls you’ve been fucking around with, they are on my server now.”

“I’m going to send it to your wife, she’s gonna use it in your divorce,” he joked. “So what happens is, like, when you write stuff or when you post pictures online, they never go away. Like, they’re always on there… Even after you send them, people are, like, analyzing them, to see what you’re interested in, to see what you’re talking about, and they sell that data… Everything. Anything you post online.”

Mihai Florea, a software engineer at the company, corroborated Singh’s claims.

“That’s how we make most of our money,” he explained. “You’re basically paying for the right to use our website with your data basically, and it’s the same on every free website.

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Firenze Sage:  Assume everything you write is useful blackmail material.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=four+more+obama+years

 

 

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Freedom from Google’s censorship of ideas? PragerU hopes so … See PragerU’s video on War on Boys…

Google censors ideas it dislikes – which include videos put out by PragerU.

Infringing on free speech seems to be a growth business. The latest twist comes in complaints that Google and its YouTube subsidiary—which thoroughly dominate public circulation of videos on the Internet—are arbitrarily and unfairly making it harder for viewers to find and experience some viewpoints than others.

Educational charities like PragerU have recently gotten good at producing short videos that educate the public on policy and current-affairs issues. Many of PragerU’s five-minute productions—on topics like “Why Did America Fight the Korean War?,” “Is the Death Penalty Ever Moral?,” “What’s Wrong With E-Cigarettes?,” and “Are the Police Racist?”—have been viewed a million or more times online. Since its inception as a 501c3 producer, PragerU videos have been watched a total of 998 million times, and 70 percent of viewers say they have changed their mind on an important issue after taking in PragerU content.

 

Now PragerU has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Ninth Circuit federal court, alleging that the nonprofit’s content has been discriminated against since Summer 2016 because of its (center-right) political identity. The plaintiff says this happens in two ways.

“Demonetizing” a video means that Google won’t place ads on your video’s viewing page, resulting in loss of the revenue stream that other videos enjoy. Google says it does this because content is too extreme, hateful, graphic, or controversial.

“Restricting” a video prevents it from appearing on the computers of families, libraries, schools, universities, and employers that have turned on Google’s “Restricted Mode” setting to block nudity, profanity, gratuitous violence, and other unsafe content.

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Aptos Psychologist: Sign up for PragerU’s videos?  Tell Google to ‘stuff it’?  Yes – let’s protect freedom of speech …

 

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Firenze Sage: French say no macho attack… [French actress Catherine Denenve deplores wave of MeToo “denunciations”]

Catherine Deneuve, French actress deplores the #MeToo denunciations of men

An open letter from French artists, performers and academics  deplores the recent  wave of  American  #MeToo denunciations.

France’s most revered actress Catherine Deneuve hit out Tuesday at a new “puritanism” sparked by sexual harassment scandals, declaring that men should be “free to hit on” women.

She was one of around 100 French women writers, performers and academics who wrote an open letter deploring the wave of “denunciations” that has followed claims that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein raped and sexually assaulted women over decades.

They claimed that the “witch-hunt” that has followed threatens sexual freedom.

“Rape is a crime, but trying to seduce someone, even persistently or cack-handedly, is not — nor is men being gentlemanly a macho attack,” said the letter published in the daily Le Monde.

“Men have been punished summarily, forced out of their jobs when all they did was touch someone’s knee or try to steal a kiss,” said the letter, which was also signed by Catherine Millet, author of the hugely explicit 2002 bestseller “The Sexual Life of Catherine M.”.

Men had been dragged through the mud, they argued, for “talking about intimate subjects during professional dinners or for sending sexually-charged messages to women who did not return their attentions.”

The letter attacked feminist social media campaigns like #MeToo and its French equivalent #Balancetonporc (Call out your pig) for unleashing this “puritanical… wave of purification.

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Firenze Sage:   At last,  some can tell the difference between courtship and rape.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=four+more+obama+years

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Salvadorans living in the U.S. are as American as apple pie? Learning English?

Are Salvadorans as American a apple pie? Have they assimilated? Learned English?

What’s the first thing to do when moving to a new country?  Learn the language? Yes.    So, how well have Salvadorans done — those who have moved to the U.S. –  in terms of learning English?

What do we know about Salvadorans living  here in the U.S.?  Roughly a third live in California, the majority in southern California with pockets in San Francisco, Oakland and other cities in northern CA.

Somewhat less than half  of Salvadorans (42%) have lived in the U.S. for more than 20  years.

Salvadorans are slow to learn English.  Two-thirds of Salvadorans living in the U.S. are “Spanish dominant”.  About a half are considered  ‘proficient’ in English. Only 3% are “English dominant”.

Salvadorans do not self-identify as “American”.  Only 12% of Salvadorans living in the U.S. identify as “American”.  In comparison, about  a quarter of all Hispanics  – which includes Salvadorans – (23%) self-identify as “American”.

Salvadorans get jobs at about the same rate as native born Americans.  And they marry at about the same rate.  They do have more out of wedlock children  — 44% of women age 15 to 44 who had a child in the last 12 months was born out of wedlock.

Roughly 60% of  immigrants from Central America are in the U.S. illegally and roughly 50%  are on some form of welfare. 

Salvadorans living in the U.S.  are considerably less educated.  Only 8% of those age 25+ have a college education compared to 30 percent of native born Americans.  The ‘good news’ is that Salvadorans born in the U.S. achieve a 22% rate of college education.

comment by Aptos Psychologist Cameron Jackson:

Will all the thousands of Salvadorans actually be deported?  Commit a crime, get deported seems to be the current rule.  

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com

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Get it in writing! [tear down your tree house says city]

 

tree house must be torn down says city

Supreme Court is last chance for a couple who built a tree house after told in a phone call that they did not need a permit.   Then the city weighed in and said that they needed a permit to build a tree house. Many thousands of dollars later the couple appeals to the Supreme Court for redress.

If told no, that the tree house must be torn down, the couple must  now get a permit to tear it down. Ironic?

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#Me too …. movement: What women say privately …

#metoo

What  women say privately about  the  #Me too…movement differs considerably from what’s said in public.  So says an opinion piece published by the New York Times recently.

Aptos Psychologist:  Seems like the #Me Too …. encourages young woman to view themselves as frail victims?  Let’s raise kids (boys and girls) to view themselves as strong and capable.

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Remove Russian spyware [Kaspersky] from your personal computer? USA removes all Kaspersky products from government computers …

 

Kaspersky Labs removed from all USA government products. Is your computer safe?

Kaspersky Labs no longer operates on any USA government computers.  Is it on your personal computer?  There are various ways to remove if you choose to.   Here’s one link to remove Kaspersky. 

From the Wall Street Journal re Kaspersky products:

During hearings on the matter on Capitol Hill, “I thought the most damning example” came from intelligence-community representatives, she said in an interview. “When each of them got asked would you put Kaspersky on your own personal computer and the answer was no, that’s a pretty strong message that maybe we should be taking a look at this.”

In September, the DHS banned Kaspersky products from government computers, instructing agencies to remove any Kaspersky software and report back on where it was found. The public statement accompanying the ban reads like a declassified version of the intelligence community’s suspicion regarding Kaspersky:

“The risk that the Russian government, whether acting on its own or in collaboration with Kaspersky, could capitalize on access provided by Kaspersky products to compromise federal information and information systems directly implicates U.S. national security.”

Kaspersky says the DHS ban has had a “severe adverse effect” on its commercial operations in the U.S., with retailers removing its products from shelves and an unprecedented number of product returns. All the focus on collusion and interference by Russia put the spotlight on what the USA can do — and what we as citizens can do — to protect ourselves.

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Aptos Psychologist Cameron Jackson:   It says it all when ‘those in the know’ refuse to put  anti-virus  / internet protection products by Kaspersky  Labs on their own personal computer.  All the focus on collusion and interference by Russia put the spotlight on what the USA can do — and what we as citizens can do — to protect ourselves.

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com
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Want lower premiums, more choice & freedom from Obama-Care rules? Trump’s proposed rule lets individuals & small businesses freedom from ACA

Trump's health care reform
Trump’s proposed health care rule offers relief from high premiums and freedom to choose

Whew!  Trump offers relief from Obama-Care’s many requirements   and high premiums.   Trump’s health care proposal  [The Wall Street Journal, Friday, Jan 5, 2018] offers  millions of self-employed and small businesses freedom to purchase  health insurance plans that don’t comply with Obama’s  Affordable Care Act.

Time to speak up and say what you think.  The new rule will be published Friday in the Federal Register and undergo a 60 day comment period.

The Trump administration also plans to release a proposal to pave the way for more short-term health policies with fewer benefits.

The proposal was praised by the National Restaurant Association and the National Retail Association as a way for small  businesses to have the same bargaining power as large companies, leveling the playing field.  Self-employed people who don’t get subsidies also heralded the proposed changes in rules.

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Aptos Psychologist Cameron Jackson:  Getting rid of the requirement that all Americans must purchase health insurance — which is part of the recent legislation that reduces taxes for 80% of Americans — that was a huge step towards more choice.  This proposal means that mom’s working from home as sole proprietors can get health care for themselves and their  family. Whew. 

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com

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So how many noncitizens get removed from Santa Cruz County & San Francisco voter rolls?

 

How many noncitizens vote in CA sanctuary cities such as Santa Cruz and San Francisco?

Do noncitizens vote in California? How many?   Are they removed from the voting rolls?   Are there more noncitizens voting in certain areas such as  sanctuary cities, i.e. San Francisco and Santa Cruz CA?

Non-citizens  do vote   — according to investigations by Public Interest Legal Foundation — in Texas, Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Public Interest Legal Foundation has built a record case studies uncovering noncitizen voter registration and voting in a growing number of states.

  • In October 2016, PILF found noncitizens registered to vote in Philadelphia. Half of those voted in at least one election.
  • In May 2017, PILF found 5,556 voters removed by the Commonwealth of Virginia as “non-citizens”. Roughly 33% voted. This research followed an initial October 2016 sampling that yielded 1,000 noncitizens.
  • In September 2017, PILF found 1,069 noncitizens within New Jersey’s voter registration system.
  • In October 2017, PILF testified before the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee on the matter of noncitizen voting in the state and encouraged an official review to identify more ineligible voters. Testimony was taken again by the PA Senate State Government Committee in December 2017.
  • In December 2017, PILF put the State of Pennsylvania on notice for failing to release records related to noncitizens removed from the voter rolls. Litigation can commence as early as January 2018.

Comment by Aptos Psychologist Cameron Jackson:  It certainly seems likely that noncitizens vote in California, a state  which makes it relatively  easy for noncitizens to get driver’s licenses and access to many government services.  Maybe it’s time to find out how good the integrity is of our CA voting rolls? CA’s Secretary of State has not been willing to provide information  concerning the integrity of the voter registration system.     

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com
 

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