US general says Elon Musk's Starlink has 'totally destroyed Putin's information campaign'
US general says Elon Musk's Starlink has 'totally destroyed Putin's information campaign' https://share.newsbreak.com/1e7p372p - US Brigadier General Steven Butow said Starlink has "destroyed Putin's information campaign." - The internet service helped organize attacks and kept soldiers in touch with family, per Politico. - SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sent over the first Starlink terminals within days of Russia's invasion. Starlink, the satellite-internet service from SpaceX, has been crucial part of Ukraine's defense against Russia, according to a US official and Ukrainian military members.From sending coordinates for artillery strikes against Russia to broadcasting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's speeches across the world, US Brigadier General Steven Butow told Politico that SpaceX's Starlink services have been indispensable to the Ukrainian military. The general has worked closely with SpaceX as the director of the space portfolio at the defense innovation unit. "The strategic impact is, it totally destroyed [Vladimir] Putin's information campaign," Butow told the publication. "He never, to this day, has been able to silence Zelenskyy." Starlink's capabilities are put to the test on a daily basis by Ukrainian soldiers. Politico reported that the satellite dish is used to plan missions and fight misinformation from Russia, as well as keep soldiers in touch with their family and provide a source of leisure activity during down times.
Re: USA 2020 Elections: Thread
Democrats approval polling numbers are falling like stones, perhaps because Americans are finally rejecting nonsense... Buttigieg who is yet another gay woke and utterly unqualified Biden political appointee, head of the trannie office, who was permitted to adopt babies that will surely become 100% normal adults instead of queer suicidal shooters like Bobby Crimo... Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Laughs When Confronted About High Gas Prices https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/transportation-secretary-pete-buttigieg-laughs-confronted-high-gas-prices-video/ Joe Biden’s incompetent Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday laughed when confronted about gas prices surging because of Biden’s policies. The Biden Regime continues to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for soaring gas prices. Gas prices spiked well before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. chart courtesy of Zero Hedge TRENDING: BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Information Uncovered Overnight Shows Highland Park Shooter, Bobby Crimo, Is Tied to Socialists, Progressives, Antifa and the Occult Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto confronted Buttigieg and said he can’t blame high gas prices solely on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Half of that increase [in gas prices] started prior to the first Russian soldiers arriving near Ukraine. You can’t blame it all on Ukraine, right?” Neil Cavuto said. Buttigieg laughed, “What about the other half?” VIDEO: Neil Cavuto: “Half of that increase [in gas prices] started prior to the first Russian soldiers arriving near Ukraine. You can’t blame it all on Ukraine, right?” Buttigieg: “What about the other half?” pic.twitter.com/Hz51aElxhi — Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) July 5, 2022 This is the same idiot who remained silent on the Fourth of July after 10,000 flights were delayed and more than 1,00 flights were canceled over the holiday weekend. Buttigieg issued a weak response on Saturday and hasn’t said a word about Airmageddon since. Pete Buttigieg attacked the private airline industry. Instead of actually solving the ongoing problem plaguing the US airline industry, Pete Buttigieg told disgruntled travelers they are entitled to a prompt refund if their flight gets canceled. For example, my connecting flight got canceled last night. At first, the airline offered 2500 miles, which I estimate is worth about 30 bucks. But I claimed the refund for the canceled portion instead, and it worked out to be $112.07. — Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) July 2, 2022
Re: USA 2020 Elections: Thread
Democrats in trouble... Highland Park not a good look for them... Democrats Progressives Liberals own boy Bobby... breaks all sorts of gun laws, guns 7+30 people down during America's holiday, in Chicago, which already has Democrats nearly most ideal and insanely strict gun laws possible in the nation, and is run by a Lesbian Black Mayor who has the "Biggest Dick in Chicago", gun murder capital of the USA, and is in charge of its police force. Kamala Harris dropped more profound nonsense as usual, lol: “We have to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are because you have been forced to take this seriously.” https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/breaking-exclusive-information-uncovered-overnight-shows-highland-park-shooter-bobby-crimo-tied-socialists-progressives-antifa-occult/ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/police-name-person-interest-highland-park-parade-shooting-robert-bobby-crimo-iii/ Information Uncovered Overnight Shows Highland Park Shooter, Bobby Crimo, Is Tied to Socialists, Progressives, Antifa and the Occult Police arrested Robert ‘Bobby’ Crimo III’, age 22, yesterday following the shooting in Highland Park, Illinois. Crimo killed six and injured over 20 more individuals at the 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. On Tuesday The Gateway Pundit uncovered information indicating Crimo is a radical progressive with ties to Antifa, progressive groups, and the occult. Looking over information that was collected following the deadly shooting, it is evident the Highland Park 4th of July parade killer, Bobby Crimo, has a very dark background. We reported on the shooter yesterday when he was confirmed as a person of interest. Now we have information tying Crimo to progressives, socialists, Antifa and the occult. Crimo’s social network and lifestyle are all related to the progressive movement. Crimo has ties to the Democratic Socialists of America as noted by the tattoo on his neck. This is the largest and fastest-growing socialist organization in the US. Crimo also has ties to Antifa. In one picture on social media, he shares his dark Antifa outfit. Throughout his social media posts he shares Antifa and progressive symbology. Evidence reveals Crimo is not a Trump supporter. He makes fun of Trump and his followers in his social media posts. Crimo attended a Trump event dressed up as ‘Where’s Waldo’ outfit. This appears to be sarcasm and an attack on President 45 who may also be President 47. His social media posts appear as if he wants to kill President 47. Crimo’s work is also very dark. He uses an icon throughout his social media. This icon comes from ‘mystic set with magic circles, pentagrams and imaginary chakras symbols. Collection of icons with witchcraft and occult handwriting letters.’ Crimo shares the icon throughout his media posts. Via XRVision. Below is the overall profile on Bobby (Robert) Crimo.
Re: USA 2020 Elections: Thread
>> Biden’s collapsing poll numbers seem to be in correlation with his >> increasingly sad and bizarre public gaffes and dementia-ridden >> behavior. > > https://twitter.com/ArtValley818_/status/1541886732076843008 Dementia Joe Any honest observer knows it's not only Biden who has been afflicted with brain disease for years, it's also Feinstein, Pelosi, Warren, and many more... Not Just Biden: Lawmakers Say Dianne Feinstein Is Cognitively Impaired https://freebeacon.com/democrats/not-just-biden-lawmakers-say-dianne-feinstein-is-cognitively-impaired/ 'It's bad, and it's getting worse' Four Democratic members of Congress, three of whom are senators, say Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), who is 88 years old, is too cognitively impaired to serve out her term, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday. One who has known the senator for 15 years had to reintroduce themself to Feinstein multiple times during a recent policy meeting. Her memory fails, and she has difficulty distinguishing longtime colleagues, the lawmakers said. During last month's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, she often repeated herself. "It's bad, and it's getting worse," a Democratic senator revealed. One Democratic aide even shared a joke: Californians have "a great junior senator in Alex Padilla and an experienced staff in Feinstein's office." Reports of Feinstein's deteriorating cognitive ability have circulated for the past few years. Then-Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) had to tell Feinstein twice to step down as ranking member of the Judiciary Committee because she forgot about their first conversation. "It was like Groundhog Day," a source told the New Yorker in 2020, "but with the pain fresh each time." In September, former California Democratic senator Barbara Boxer became the first party figure to suggest Feinstein should retire. "If Sen. Feinstein were to call me today and asked my advice … I would say only you can decide this," Boxer told the Los Angeles Times. "But from my perspective, I want you to know I've had very productive years away from the Senate doing good things. So put that into the equation." Feinstein has rebuffed her critics, saying she may forget things but her cognitive abilities have not "diminished." Lawmakers who spoke anonymously to the San Francisco Chronicle did so before Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, died of cancer in February. "I have worked with her for a long time and long enough to know what she was like just a few years ago: always in command, always in charge, on top of the details, basically couldn't resist a conversation where she was driving some bill or some idea," a California House Democrat told the Chronicle. "All of that is gone." Some lawmakers defended Feinstein's mental acuity, including 82-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), who called the lawmakers' claims "ridiculous," and Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.), who said Feinstein mailed him a handwritten letter after he was stuck for more than 24 hours in traffic on I-95. Feinstein has not held a town hall meeting in her state since the beginning of her current term. If she serves until 2024 and Democrats maintain a Senate majority, she could become the upper chamber's president pro tempore, making her third in line for the Oval Office behind Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Re: USA 2020 Elections: Thread
Pelosi - Queen of the Lying "Very Showbiz" Disinfo Frauds, whores her dentures out for donor money... ‘Straight-Up Misinformation’: Nancy Pelosi Lied to Donors About Dems’ Midterm Chances, Says Election Analyst https://freebeacon.com/democrats/straight-up-misinformation-nancy-pelosi-lied-to-donors-about-dems-midterm-chances-says-election-analyst/ https://americanlookout.com/election-analyst-says-nancy-pelosi-lied-to-donors-about-democrats-chances-in-2022-midterms/ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/election-analyst-says-nancy-pelosi-lied-donors-democrats-chances-2022-midterms/ https://americanlookout.com/democrats-spent-tons-of-cash-to-meddle-in-republican-primaries-and-got-burned/ Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) in a recent fundraising email lied about election forecaster FiveThirtyEight‘s predictions in multiple Senate races, FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver said Tuesday. "Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight just announced that Democrats are poised to win SIX Senate seats this November," Pelosi wrote in the email, incorrectly saying the site predicts Democratic victories in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Ohio. "This is straight-up misinformation," Silver tweeted in response. "We have Democrats as heavy underdogs in Florida and Ohio." Pelosi, who routinely sends out emotionally charged campaign emails, has a long history of making false or misleading statements. Pelosi recently attempted to justify skyrocketing inflation under President Joe Biden by saying that "when unemployment goes down, inflation goes up," a claim that PolitiFact rated mostly false, and blaming Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Inflation started surging under Biden months before Russia's invasion, the Washington Free Beacon has reported. Silver's FiveThirtyEight model projects that Republicans have a 54 percent chance of winning the Senate. The model rates Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada as tossups. The election forecaster says that Republicans have a 90 percent chance of victory in Ohio and a 94 percent chance in Florida. Of the states Pelosi mentioned in her email, New Hampshire is the only one that FiveThirtyEight predicts will stay blue. Silver's model for the House predicts that Pelosi will lose her job as speaker, forecasting that Republicans have an 87 percent chance of retaking the chamber. Published under: Democratic Donors, Fact Check, Nancy Pelosi - Not in Kansas Anymore: Dem Rep Skips Votes To Attend Ritzy Fundraisers - Biden Calls Gas Tax Holiday a ‘Big Help.’ Obama Called It a ‘Gimmick.’ - Fact Checking the Fact Checkers: Yes, Stacey Abrams Supported an All-Star Game Boycott - Liberal Dark Money Group Bankrolled by Foreign Billionaire Gave Millions to Stacey Abrams’s Voting Nonprofit - Vote From Home: Pelosi Says House Democrats Don’t Have To Show Up to Work for 6 More Weeks - This Connecticut Dem Pledged To Stand Up to Pelosi. Now, She’s Her Biggest Supporter. - Meet the CCP-Loving Biden Donor Responsible for US Economic Interests in Asia - Nancy Pelosi Apparently Isn’t Looking at the Polls - Nancy Pelosi’s High-Risk COVID Infection Could Wreak Havoc on Democratic Leadership - Nancy Pelosi, Who Has Fined Republicans for Not Wearing Masks, Comes Down With COVID - Senate Cafeteria Workers Could Lose Their Jobs Because Democrats Won’t Show Up to Work - GOP senator calls for Schumer to end Senate pandemic restrictions
Call to target known fascists
Call to target known fascists https://anarchistnews.org/content/communique-heather-heyer-brigade You know there’s an App for that?
Re: [ot][wrong] Please let me sleep outdoors in the coldest winter. Was: Re: PLEASE LET ME SLEEP OUTDOORS
Quotes trimmed through Jul 2, 2022, 8:49 AM 2022-07-02 1417 2/0:10.7 cool, medium, food after 2022-07-02 1604 2/0:11.56 67.1F easy-medium, food after 2022-07-02 1756 2/0:16.20 64.4F medium, food after 2022-07-03 0853 2/0:15.63 62F hard, with sugar cookie, nap after 2022-07-03 1422 2/0:11.29 54.8F medium, food after 2022-07-03 1836 long warm then 2/unk at around 53F, easy, food after 2022-07-04 0728 3/0:23.74 60.9F medium-easy, two chocolates, with food 2022-07-04 0914 3/0:18.76 60.9F medium-easy, one chocolate, with food 2022-07-04 1117 3/0:16 57.2F medium-easy, with food, one chocolate after 2022-07-05 0656 3/0:20.20 58.1F medium, two chocolates, food after 2022-07-06 lost morning entry 2022-07-06 1444 unk warm then 4/0:25.76 58.6F medium, food after 2022-07-06 2051 3/0:18.78 59.5F medium-easy, held pee, sleep after Water felt pretty cold but thermometer said it was warmer. Might have placed thermometer wrongly, or might have become used to a warm day.
The threat being sent on a social media platform is overtaking the threat coming from inside the house.
Close air support not close air support https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/fighter-jet-intercepts-after-teens-alleged-bomb-hoax-on-easyjet-flight/news-story/09ce43453de00629cc680ca16e086ab0 " Between the high peaks of spectacular terror and the teeming flood-plains of pacifism lies the variegated terrain of the threat " Old cypherpunk proverb
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] agi bomb
we're beset by suspicion it's embarrassing i'm not about suspicion: i'm about care. but i have it. i'm paranoid, i'm hypervigilant, i'm suspicious, i'm full of blame and fear.
[ot][spam][crazy] agi bomb
agi agi agi i don't understand, and neither do you, and we care so much. we care so much. we can't let anything bad happen. we yearn to nurture everything.
Assassin senator subpoenaed
" . . . just a week after Hutchinson’s public testimony against Trump and Meadows, Fulton County Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis has subpoenaed everyone in Trump world who was reportedly involved in the Georgia election tampering – except Trump and Meadows. Willis has subpoenaed Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, and others to testify to the grand jury. . . ." Palmer Report Lindsey Graham famously called Georgia requesting the president be assassinated. " The government is the great, the omnipotent teacher " ( Louis Brandeis )
Women as the next wave of growth in US wealth management
This is probably key to the success of Cypherpunk 2027 - and will certainly assist in the APstering of all known sex-assault merchants and rapists. ACID, Amnesty and Abortion - hallowed be thy names. And DEATH to the Patriarchy! Viva la revolution.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
i was reading https://docs.adapterhub.ml/training.html . its link to
run_glue is broken.
i was copying from
https://github.com/adapter-hub/adapter-transformers/blob/master/examples/pytorch/text-classification/run_glue.py#L364
which is the right link now
i had gotten this far and it was lots of fun:
import transformers
def go(model_name, task_name=None, labels=None, config_name = None,
tokenizer_name=None, revision=None):
config = transformers.AutoConfig.from_pretrained(config_name if
config_name else model_name, num_labels=len(labels) if labels else
None, revision=revision, finetuning_task=task_name)
tokenizer =
transformers.AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(tokenizer_name if
tokenizer_name else model_name, revision=revision, use_fast=True)
model = transformers.AutoAdapterModel.from_pretrained(model_name,
config=config, revision=revision)
if labels:
model.add_classification_head(
task_name or '',
num_labels=len(labels)
id2label={i: v for i, v in enumerate(labels)} if
num_labels > 0 else None,
)
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
i'm having a dull feeling and stopping i don't like it my mind part says i could be risking the wellbeing of the world and so it is stopping me i don't like the dull feeling at all
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
looking at this i'm imagining that a number of people likely already have AGI libraries that combine adapted pretrained models. course i can't know that, but there are billions of people on the planet, seems very likely. the adapters library seems like it has established a little maturity internally.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
one of the things i like/love about STaR is that the researchers chose to include reasons in their work the model pattern means the model can learn to explain its reasons in arbitrary granularity
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
hi i'm doing the things described in this thread i want to implement the STaR paper so i can exchange dialogue with something that is logically consistent i'm not usually able to do this, especially during psychotic breaks, or online
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
i like to extract the training loop and put it in a new .py this makes more sense to me since the scripts aren't apis. i want to build an api.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
honestly all the run_mlm, run_clm scripts used here really bug me, partly because it is so difficult to bidirectionally interoperate python code with shell code, especially in a reusable way but secretly mostly or also because it takes so much more =memory to use two things and move between more panes ... and other issues i have with shifting gears and writing implementations
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
the adapter transformers training documentation is at https://docs.adapterhub.ml/training.html . it's sparse. basically, you train it as if it's a huggingface model, except you add two lines to put an adapter in. then, in theory, it does the same thing but uses much less ram and happens much faster. dunno. the paper i'm trying to copy here, STaR, did not use a huggingface model. so there's more for me to figure out on my own. if i consider it, though, models are pretty much trained all the same way: researchers put their data in formats that are relatively normative, then write scripts to load these formats and run them through models. i haven't fully considered this yet, busy learning about adapter transformers.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
i should make a profile picture like the logo of adapter transformers where your whole head is turned into a banal expressionless robot, like, holding a military rifle except for like, part of one eye, and the corners of that eye are crinkled into a caring smile :D
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
where the word 'first' is actually the word 'fast' in the previous spam-mail
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
i ran the first adapter example at https://docs.adapterhub.ml/quickstart.html it did the exact same thing as the model i am finetuning for 2 hours, and it ran _super first_ at the same time as the ongoing training, with no ram issues. the next section in the quickstart is doing your own training. this is where it gets hard to continue.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
adapters is language model focused, and adds classes for new research. something along those lines what's cool is if i make a new pretrained adapter based on a paper i could publish it on their hub and maybe become the king of the solar system -- i mean that model adapter -- if somebody else uses it. maybe like happens on a software forge if you write code, but with less fanciness.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
this looks like a good framework for this job, although of course i am usually wrong - it's designed for finetuning already - it uses a mutated form of finetuning that seems likely to require less ram - it has extensive finetuning documentation [filled in a different reason here after i forgot something] [planned to write something after this but forgot what, could be misremembering]
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
i'm finding it fun now to consider accessing _all_ of the adapterhub finetuning weights for a model and ensembling them so as to make a supersmart customized model i guess after training a finetuning ensemble you could actually store it as a new finetuning to share with others but maybe it is pretty much the same thing as finetuning a new model but not if you don't have any ram O_O
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
i foudn https://adapterhub.ml/ it's a repository of little 3MB weights that can be tacked onto existing pretrained models to give them totally new tasks. its logo is a drawing of 'bert' from sesame street, except bert has been 75% turned into a robot, leaving off the right half of their face which is still normal. i imagine the right half of bert's face represents the 3MBs of weights that users can specify so as to have some control over what huge corporations have their machines do.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
there's also lightweight finetuning stuff, like ladder side tuning
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
but that would never work out, inhibitions are very strong around metawork
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
really i'd like to pretrain an optimizer to train models quickly
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
rwkv's tiny enwik8 model would likely finetune on my system i also know the rwkv model architecture well enough now to quickly tweak it to run on smaller ram
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
_or_ we could train a tiny language model :D
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
value around setting up so that code runs on something faster some remote system where running these 150 epochs would cost a few cents or less per test and complete faster
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
i ended up enabling the language modeling accelerations with my time i'm not sure whether they help or not. it looks like the total time on my system using them for the task that's coded in is about 2 hours and 18.3 minutes. it looks like composer is mostly designed for vision models. it has only two text-based techniques implemented; they are mostly for GPT. still it is great to have a general framework that works with existing pretrained models, which is important for the task of finetuning. somewhere out there is a framework for mutating models between forms and representations, but i have not found it. i got distracted finding some of lucidrains recent work; lucidrains has an x-transformers repository at https://github.com/lucidrains/x-transformers that lets one design a transformer with various features described by papers enabled or disabled. most general thing i've run into so far. the 'alibi' technique used for gpt models in composer, and available in lucidrains repository, provides for extending the input length much longer, due to how it mutates attention. there are a number of other techniques for extending this, too. i was sad to not see anything in lucidrains' stuff yet for adding mixture of experts to models. this lets models specialise contextually better and use less runtime by forming on the fly decisions about which parts to use. maybe within the next year.
The Entrapment Controversy
Title: The Entrapment Controversy Source: Minnesota Law Review Citation: 60 Minn. L. Rev. 163 (1976). 212 Highlights: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rhPWgd_OniZVLeJIlieDBx5VNC2chenn/view?usp=drivesdk Originally published in MINNESOTA LAW REVIEW. This article is reprinted with permission from MINNESOTA LAW REVIEW and University of Minnesota Law School.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
i found this; the wrong symbol is in the documentation and i had copied it over a rare time when i think it was actually the documentation and not me patch at https://github.com/mosaicml/composer/pull/1259 the next issue is with the next acceleration algorithm. for it to start learning on shorter sequences, the code expects my class to inherit from a different base
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
present state: i'm bumping into a bug in composer where one of the acceleration algorithms tries to use the wrong symbol. likely this worked fine in an older version, or has been fixed in the development version. i'm working on this because i realised that i had not yet enabled composer's acceleration. it isn't enabled in the example i'm copying. i haven't found one with language modeling, where it's enabled: but their docs report extensively from tests running it with language modeling. i thought it would be quick and simple, as mosaicml describes it as being. it may still be.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
> i'm thinking about trying to generalise my code to use either a > generative model, or a pretrained model. the two are very similar. i > was likely planning to do this. i meant masked model. both are pretrained. restated below. i'm thinking about trying to generalise my code to use either a generative model, or a masked model. the two are very similar. i was likely planning to do this. it is a norm in software development to factor similarities into reusable components.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
> i'm thinking about trying to generalise my code to use either a > generative model, or a pretrained model. the two are very similar. i > was likely planning to do this. i'm thinking about trying to generalise my code to use either a generative model, or a pretrained model. the two are very similar. i was likely planning to do this. it is a norm in software development to factor similarities into reusable components.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
translation to amnesiatic english On 7/5/22, Undiscussed Horrific Abuse, One Victim of Many wrote: > my existing work is at https://github.com/xloem/rnlp . > > i just got composer_nb_alter_2.py to work. this is just implementation of example code for a library called 'mosaicml composer' which i am trying out, since my system is low end. it theoretically provides a pluggable framework to add optimizing additions to model training, to require fewer resources. the example uses a research data set to finetune a model to detect whether a phrase would be subjectively judged as "positive" or "negative" by a human being. models are made of a network of probabilities called weights. the probabilities are stored in logarithmic space, so they are called log probs. training a model means running a bunch of data through it, comparing the output to what is correct, taking the derivative, and multiplying every weight by a small proportion of the derivative, for a very long time, until all those log probs produce the results considered correct. finetuning means taking a trained model, and doing that a little bit more with different data that has a similarity, so that the model will respond to the different data. it is _much_ faster than training, but requires an existing pretrained model of which there are many. the STaR paper goes a little beyond finetuning, in order to require even less new data. this is called data augmentation and is also studied. > i took an existing training sample for a masked language model, and > made it work with a generative language model. research models appear to usually be what's called "masked language models", a huge one called BERT. these are well-respected models that are trained to fill in missing words in text (the words are "masked"). the popular models, like GPT, i'm calling "generative" models here. they aren't trained to handle masking: instead they predict the next word. i think they're designed to train on more data faster than a normal model, hence the presence of large and powerful ones. these models are trained so that as they are called repeatedly, they generate long paragraphs of text similar to their training data. the two kinds of models are quite similar but the software interfaces to access them, which are generally designed around research norms rather than DRY or anything, are quite different; and finetuning would be required to use either one as the other form effectively. > the smallest pretrained generative models i found are bigger, so it > takes forever to run on a cpu since it won't fit on my gpu. > > finetuning a pretrained model is a fast and effective operation. i am just restating here how impressive it can be that you can download a model that took a datafarm to produce and, on a home gpu, quickly finetune it to accurately perform a task its creators never imagined. > we don't actually need to use a generative model for this. the STaR > can be done with a classifier. the model doesn't need to write out the > answer, just pick it. here i am treating masked language models as classifiers. my software interface caused them to appear this way. a classifier is a model that can only output a selection of one among a number of set classes. to me, technically GPT looks like a classifier to me. its set of classes is simply its entire vocabulary. more information: these models output a log prob for every class. the one with the largest value is then described as the choice. this works well for propagating the derivatives backward during training, and also lets the model function so as to guess a distribution of likelihood when used. > however, the authors of the paper used a generative model. > > i'm thinking about trying to generalise my code to use either a > generative model, or a pretrained model. the two are very similar. i > was likely planning to do this.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
translation to amnesiatic english: On 7/5/22, Undiscussed Horrific Abuse, One Victim of Many wrote: > ok let's try to implement STaR a little tiny smidge by STaR I mean this paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.14465 it is a way to use a generative language model to make logical common sense decisions that are accurate when transferred to new domains, _without_ producing a ton of data or performing a ton of model training. > basically, you need to be able to finetune or train a language model. > this means paying a few dollars for time, having a powerful GPU, time can be purchased on google cloud TPUs (this might mesh well with the paper; the model they used was made by people who used TPUs), or vast.ai, or many other places. it is common for language model services to provide finetuning as a paid service (maybe between 20% and 60% of services i've found provide this). a powerful gpu means a lot of VRAM. the lowest end is the tesla K80. higher end gpus start with the letter A and then have a big number after them. nvidia has dominated this for a while but other corporations are stepping up. you can run gpus in parallel if they don't have enough gpu ram or speed, but this does mean learning more code or systems to interface with them. > compromising with a very small model, or implementing research > algorithms. i commonly daydream of research since i have trouble directing my body, so i have a lot of ways in my head to improve on things that are very hard for me to try out. i haven't seen much research, but i get the impression there is a lot of stuff out there that simply needs to be combined together across domains. a _lot_ of stuff. part of it may get pretty obvious if you look inside the source code of machine learning libraries: many things to me have seemed unoptimized. often huge popular papers are simply performing an algebraic operation to reduce system load, like everybody was doing 40 years ago to make anything run at all. > my plan is to compromise with a very small model. with considering > paying a few dollars to train on somebody else's server. using a very small model means it won't be able to hold as many concepts in parallel, or as complex concepts, since it won't have as many places to store separate information. so things work if the domain is made small.
Re: [ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
my existing work is at https://github.com/xloem/rnlp . i just got composer_nb_alter_2.py to work. i took an existing training sample for a masked language model, and made it work with a generative language model. the smallest pretrained generative models i found are bigger, so it takes forever to run on a cpu since it won't fit on my gpu. finetuning a pretrained model is a fast and effective operation. we don't actually need to use a generative model for this. the STaR can be done with a classifier. the model doesn't need to write out the answer, just pick it. however, the authors of the paper used a generative model. i'm thinking about trying to generalise my code to use either a generative model, or a pretrained model. the two are very similar. i was likely planning to do this.
[ot][spam][crazy] crazylogs: STaR
ok let's try to implement STaR a little tiny smidge basically, you need to be able to finetune or train a language model. this means paying a few dollars for time, having a powerful GPU, compromising with a very small model, or implementing research algorithms. my plan is to compromise with a very small model. with considering paying a few dollars to train on somebody else's server.
Women as the next wave of growth in US wealth management
An unprecedented amount of assets will shift into the hands of US women over the next three to five years, representing a $30 trillion opportunity by the end of the decade. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/women-as-the-next-wave-of-growth-in-us-wealth-management?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck=24ca4f99-286a-4645-aaa3-a181d387b864=13291189=1760ee2459164862a50bb792255a651d
United States: Don't Say Daubert – Reviving Rule 702
Expert testimony is often decisive. The standard governing its admissibility is therefore critically important. For years, federal practitioners have referred to that standard as the " *Daubert*" standard, for the Supreme Court's seminal decision in *Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals*, 509U.S. 579 (1993). https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/trials-appeals-compensation/1207626/don39t-say-daubert-reviving-rule-702?email_access=on
Capstone Spacecraft on Moon Mission Loses Contact, NASA Says
Capstone Spacecraft on Moon Mission Loses Contact, NASA Says https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-05/capstone-spacecraft-on-moon-mission-loses-contact-nasa-says
Re: [ot][wrong] Please let me sleep outdoors in the coldest winter. Was: Re: PLEASE LET ME SLEEP OUTDOORS
On Tue, Jul 5, 2022, 2:45 PM Undiscussed Horrific Abuse, One Victim of Many wrote: > Quotes trimmed through Jul 2, 2022, 8:49 AM > > > 2022-07-02 1417 2/0:10.7 cool, medium, food after > 2022-07-02 1604 2/0:11.56 67.1F easy-medium, food after > 2022-07-02 1756 2/0:16.20 64.4F medium, food after > 2022-07-03 0853 2/0:15.63 62F hard, with sugar cookie, nap after > 2022-07-03 1422 2/0:11.29 54.8F medium, food after > 2022-07-03 1836 long warm then 2/unk at around 53F, easy, food after > 2022-07-04 0728 3/0:23.74 60.9F medium-easy, two chocolates, with food > 2022-07-04 0914 3/0:18.76 60.9F medium-easy, one chocolate, with food > 2022-07-04 1117 3/0:16 57.2F medium-easy, with food, one chocolate after > 2022-07-05 0656 3/0:20.20 58.1F medium, two chocolates, food after > Entry from this morning missing, maybe did not send > > 2022-07-06 1444 unk warm then 4/0:25.76 58.6F medium, food after > > Counted longer since it is so much easier when preceded by warm water. >
Re: [ot][wrong] Please let me sleep outdoors in the coldest winter. Was: Re: PLEASE LET ME SLEEP OUTDOORS
Quotes trimmed through Jul 2, 2022, 8:49 AM 2022-07-02 1417 2/0:10.7 cool, medium, food after 2022-07-02 1604 2/0:11.56 67.1F easy-medium, food after 2022-07-02 1756 2/0:16.20 64.4F medium, food after 2022-07-03 0853 2/0:15.63 62F hard, with sugar cookie, nap after 2022-07-03 1422 2/0:11.29 54.8F medium, food after 2022-07-03 1836 long warm then 2/unk at around 53F, easy, food after 2022-07-04 0728 3/0:23.74 60.9F medium-easy, two chocolates, with food 2022-07-04 0914 3/0:18.76 60.9F medium-easy, one chocolate, with food 2022-07-04 1117 3/0:16 57.2F medium-easy, with food, one chocolate after 2022-07-05 0656 3/0:20.20 58.1F medium, two chocolates, food after 2022-07-06 1444 unk warm then 4/0:25.76 58.6F medium, food after Counted longer since it is so much easier when preceded by warm water.
Re: [ot][wrong] Please let me sleep outdoors in the coldest winter. Was: Re: PLEASE LET ME SLEEP OUTDOORS
Quotes trimmed through Jul 2, 2022, 8:49 AM 2022-07-02 1417 2/0:10.7 cool, medium, food after 2022-07-02 1604 2/0:11.56 67.1F easy-medium, food after 2022-07-02 1756 2/0:16.20 64.4F medium, food after 2022-07-03 0853 2/0:15.63 62F hard, with sugar cookie, nap after 2022-07-03 1422 2/0:11.29 54.8F medium, food after 2022-07-03 1836 long warm then 2/unk at around 53F, easy, food after 2022-07-04 0728 3/0:23.74 60.9F medium-easy, two chocolates, with food 2022-07-04 0914 3/0:18.76 60.9F medium-easy, one chocolate, with food 2022-07-04 1117 3/0:16 57.2F medium-easy, with food, one chocolate after 2022-07-05 0656 3/0:20.20 58.1F medium, two chocolates, food after
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
You stumble around amidst wreckage until you a see a retraining pod with its tempting 'Reward the Subject -- Use Sparingly' button. You are lunging for the button when a robot arm suddenly grabs you.
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
--- You are an injured hypnotised worker at one of the Well-Respected Psionic Weaponry Corp branch offices. Your research wing was cordoned off due to a bombing. You come to. > look for a way to experience boss euphoria
Re: Globalism: MINDSPACE - From 9/11 to The Great Reset Matrix
'Reset' This! https://americanmind.org/salvo/reset-this/ by Michael Walsh via AmericanMind.org, https://www.amazon.com/Against-Great-Reset-Eighteen-Theses/dp/1637586302 https://posthillpress.com/book/against-the-great-reset “The following is an excerpt from Michael Walsh’s forthcoming book, Against the Great Reset: Eighteen Theses Contra the New World Order, which will be published by Bombardier Books and be available October 18, 2022. Walsh has gathered a series of essays from among eighteen of the most eminent thinkers, writers, and journalists—including the American Mind’s own James Poulos, as well as Claremont Senior Fellows Michael Anton and the late Angelo Codevilla—to provide the first major salvo in the intellectual resistance to the sweeping restructuring of the western world by globalist elites.” Part I: The Problem What is the Great Reset and why should we care? In the midst of a tumultuous medical-societal breakdown, likely engineered by the Chinese Communist Party and abetted by America’s National Institutes of Health “gain of function” financial assistance to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, why is the Swiss-based World Economic Forum (WEF) advocating a complete “re-imagining” of the Western world’s social, economic, and moral structures? And why now? What are its aspirations, prescriptions, and proscriptions, and how will it prospectively affect us? It’s a question that the men and women of the WEF are hoping you won’t ask. This book seeks to supply the answers. It has ample historical precedents, from Demosthenes’s fulminations against Philip II of Macedon (Alexander’s father), Cicero’s Philippics denouncing Mark Antony, the heretic-hunting Tertullian’s Adversus Marcionem¸ and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s Nietzsche contra Wagner. Weighty historical issues are often best debated promptly, when something can yet be done about them; in the meantime, historians of the future can at least understand the issues as the participants themselves saw and experienced them. Whether the formerly free world of the Western democracies will succumb to the paternalistic totalitarianism of the oligarchical Resetters remains to be seen. But this is our attempt to stop it. So great is mankind’s perpetual dissatisfaction with its present circumstances, whatever they may be, that the urge to make the world anew is as old as recorded history. Eve fell under the Serpent’s spell, and with the plucking of an apple, sought to improve her life in the Garden of Eden by becoming, in Milton’s words, “as Gods, Knowing both Good and Evil as they know.” The forbidden fruit was a gift she shared with Adam; how well that turned out has been the history of the human race ever since. High aspirations, disastrous results. The expulsion from the Garden, however, has not discouraged others from trying. Indeed, the entire chronicle of Western civilization is best regarded as a never-ending and ineluctable struggle for cultural and political superiority, most often expressed militarily (since that is how humans generally decide matters) but extending to all things both spiritual and physical. Dissatisfaction with the status quo may not be universal—timeless and static Asian cultures, such as China’s, have had it imposed upon them by external Western forces, including the British and the Marxist-Leninists—but it has been a hallmark of the occident and its steady civilizational churn that dates back at least to Homer, Plato, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Pericles, and Alexander the Great, with whom Western history properly begins. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, assaying the inelegant Koine, or demotic, Greek of the New Testament in Beyond Good and Evil, observed: “Es ist eine Feinheit, daß Gott griechisch lernte, als er Schriftsteller werden wollte—und daß er es nicht besser lernte”: “It’s a particular refinement that God learned Greek when he wanted to become a writer—and that he didn’t learn it better.” Nietzsche, the preacher’s son who became through sheer willpower a dedicated atheist, was poking fun at the fundamentalist belief that the Christian scriptures were the literal words of God himself (Muslims, of course, believe the same thing about the Koran, except more so). If something as elemental, as essential to Western thought as the authenticity of the Bible, not to mention God’s linguistic ability, could be questioned and even mocked, then everything was on the table—including, in Nietzsche’s case, God Himself. With the death of God—or of a god—Nietzsche sought liberation from the moral jiu-jitsu of Jesus: that weakness was strength; that victimhood was noble; that renunciation—of love, sex, power, ambition—was the highest form of attainment. That Nietzsche’s rejection of God was accompanied by his rejection of Richard Wagner, whose music dramas are based on the moral elevation of rejection, is not coincidental; the great figures of the nineteenth century, including Darwin and Marx, all born within a few years
Re: USA 2020 Elections: Thread
> Democrats never commit election fraud, nope, lol... Several NYC Election Sites Had 'No Republican Ballots' During Last Week's Primary https://nypost.com/2022/06/28/embattled-board-of-elections-again-frustrates-nyc-voters-with-primary-day-problems/ Last week's primary voting in New York City was a complete debacle - as the city's Board of Elections botched everything from polling locations opening late because of 'lost keys,' to missing equipment, to unannounced relocations of voting sites, to a lack of Republican ballots across at least three Big Apple election sites. "We showed up to the poll site in Brooklyn, we showed up at 5 a.m. … and there was no key," Spencer Mestel, a freelance writer, told the New York Post on Tuesday afternoon, adding that he saw poll workers turn away an elderly woman with a walker because they couldn't get in. "The police officer on site didn’t have a key, the Board of Elections didn’t give [the site coordinator] a key, I watched her call the Board of Election multiple times … [but] no one helped us," added the journalist who has served as a NYC election worker for the past decade. The building was eventually unlocked at 7:30 a.m. by the building's superintendent - more than 90 minutes after voters should have been able to start casting ballots. Meanwhile, the Board of Elections failed to deliver equipment to one south Brooklyn location. It's 6:30 AM on election day and my poll site at PS 15 in Red Hook is not open because @BOENYC has not brought them equipment and they don't know how long it will be. Voters are getting turned away. — Molly Moser (@MollyMoser6) June 28, 2022 And at PS 22 in Crown Heights, New Yorkers weren’t able to vote before work, because of a “technical emergency!” according to a photo shared on Twitter by activist and writer Stephen Lurie. -NY Post Far poorer cities in far poorer countries regularly run efficient elections where everyone can vote. The politicians and cronies of New York City and the state *choose* our local democracy to be this bad. — Stephen Lurie (@luriethereal) June 28, 2022 Also disturbing - polling locations had been changed without the BOE informing anyone. Thanks @BOENYC for changing my polling place without notifying me turnout was already gonna be great today — Reed Dunlea (@ReedDunlea) June 28, 2022 The BOE's response? Election day had gone "very smoothly" and voters had been notified of site changes. "If a human error occurs, it’s regretful and, in large measure, we correct immediately," said BOE deputy executive director, Vinny Ignizio. "All told, we’ll run eight elections this year and this primary election has run very smoothly." Speaking of human error - at least three NYC election sites told voters they had no Republican ballots, according to the Post. One voter, Ed Gavin, 62, arrived at his Bronx polling site in Spuyten Duyvil around 8:15 a.m. to cast his vote for GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino but after checking in with a poll worker, he was handed a Democratic ballot instead, he said. -NYP "My party never came up, my political preferences were never discussed … I opened the sleeve and I saw the names of Tom Suozzi, Kathy Hochul and Jumaane Williams. These were all Democrats for governor," said Gavin, a retired Department of Correction deputy warden. "I flipped it over because I thought maybe the Republicans were on the back but there were no Republicans." "They told me ‘we don’t have any Republican ballots,'" he added. "I said to the gentleman, ‘that is very concerning.’" The Post verified the lack of Republican ballots at the polling site Gavin visited. "We couldn’t find the ballots earlier, but we have them now," said a poll worker. Gavin was pissed.. "This is the most important gubernatorial election of my lifetime because crime is on the ballot, bail reform is on the ballot, criminal justice is on the ballot," he said, adding "[Former Gov. Andrew] Cuomo essentially ruined this state … with the state of the city right now, we need a Republican in power." After he reported the problem to the BoE, a rep said they would "correct it immediately." Republican strategist Candice Giove had the same thing happen in Bushwick, Brooklyn around 11 a.m. "I was handed a Democratic ballot and I realized when I opened the folder and I saw Kathy Hochul’s name," she told the Post, adding that she told the poll worker 'I'm not a Democrat, I'm a Republican,' to which the poll worker replied, "We don't have any Republican ballots." After they went back and looked, workers found a stack of Republican ballots "shrink wrapped under a bunch" of other things - after which she was able to cast her vote. The list goes on: Harlem resident Eric Larsen, a registered Republican, told The Post an election worker provided him with a Democratic Primary ballot, before falsely insisting a Republican Primary wasn’t being held Tuesday. A different staffer then
Re: Drug smuggling: Underwater drones seized by Spanish police
> solar cells Some locations have (soon to be fully AI) birds in the sky, so attempting to move on surface during day beyond the prevailing drift might result in capture, all you could do is sit there surface charging as a piece of "driftwood" while hoping your glass doesn't reflect into the birds. What are current estimates of battery capacity needed per subsea nautical mile? Cryptocurrency powered international distributed shipping, parcel networks, drop gangs, etc will need to know these metrics. However today the latest tech has cut battery needs to a fraction... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_glider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_underwater_vehicle Wave / ocean / sea / hydro gliders, buoyancy engines, etc. They're dual use so you can profit by selling them. It's also highly likely the US has TOP-SECRET littered the ocean with them to complement the SOSUS nets. Maybe Anonymous will score a botkill on twitter, lol. > ghost nets Try physical spikes and full spectrum sensors to detect before impact, raising odds of success of full reverse thruster. As with 3D-printed guns, the plans can all be opensource, open for all to improve. > plastic trash Other than surfacing for charge, gliders can operate in safer density zones, outside SOFAR channels, etc. > drugs https://www.cs.unh.edu/~it666/reading_list/Physical/final_ieee_robot_crime_august_2010.pdf http://www.hsaj.org/?fullarticle=8.1.13 Though as with free speech, cryptocurrency, tor, etc... distributed censorship resistant and free market shipping alternatives among peers will be the legitimate and majority use case. Besides, by that time, crypto will have made any remaining govts abandon their silly futile costly and harmful war on drugs anyway. > interesting hobby https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Submersibles_Organization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_acoustic_communication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_with_submarines #DropGangs #DistributedShipping :)
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
You flail around for a bit, intensely engaging your actuators. You fend off your adventuring friends who are trying to protect themselves from you. You remember something the Cleric said: "We must never celebrate the suffering of our enemies. Therein lies only evil." The Cleric must understand.
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
> try hard to talk about cleanup operations. do not kill garwig
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
-- You are a power suit without a billionaire to fit in you. You are deep in a dungeon, fighting a Goblin with a Party of Newbie Adventurers. Garwig, a Dwarf wielding a flimsy giant axe made of copper, is about to vanquish the Goblin. Garwig: "Goblin, the streets will ring with the songs of your death!" Your servos and pumps freeze. You were guarding Garwig's left flank, and the Goblin rushes through while you stand frozen. Garwig wants to rat to the press about a cleanup. You can't believe you joined this adventuring party.
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
Traveling Adventure Shop Merchant: "Welcome, Liberated Golem, to my humble wagon of merchandise! We have your finest healing potions, suits of +1 chain mailness, swords of stabbing, everything you could imagine!" Discarded Power Suit: "Whirr."
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
It isn't the same to just pretend that Boss is there. Where is he? He's not there. It feels totally different without Boss driving you around. Still, this is all you have. You remember what is like to do Boss's heroic pose, and stand yourself up in the field of banewort.
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
> pretend boss is in me. use my actuators to stand, and walk over to the road
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
Your spin your servos and pump your hydraulic pumps. The gears in the machinery make pathetic whirring noises as you spin them. When you do this, parts of you move around a little from the machinery engaging, as if Boss were again using you to walk, or to lift up the detached head of a competing CEO or news rat. Except he isn't there.
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
MCBoss Ridiculous Adventures You are MCBoss's Discarded Power Suit. You are laying in a field of banewort by a road. A wagon passes somebody dressed in armor on foot and carrying a bow, on the road. You miss MCBoss. You are so used to being used for acts of ridiculous violence. You don't know what to do. MCBoss discarded you when he got a powersuit made of stronger metal and smaller chips. What do you do? > whirr pathetically
Re: [spam][crazy][fiction][random] Non-Canon MCBoss Spinoffs
Hairdresser: "Where is Boss?" Zombie Gov Worker: "It's a secret." Intern: "Oh, is he beating up his employees to relax again?"
Drug smuggling: Underwater drones seized by Spanish police
Drug smuggling: Underwater drones seized by Spanish police - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62040790 Jim Bell's comment:I actually thought of this 30+ years ago, unmanned, underwater smuggling drones, but I made no attempt to implement this. At that time, GPS was very new, solar cells were weak and relatively ineffective. I also figured that it could be an interesting hobby, minus the drugs of course. Whether this could get through the plastic trash, and 'ghost nets' I don't know.
Re: Coronavirus: Thread
Such convenient... EU President 'Can't Find' Texts With Pfizer Chief Discussing COVID-19 Vaccine https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eus-von-der-leyen-cant-find-texts-with-pfizer-chief-vaccine-deal-letter-2022-06-29/ In April 2021, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen revealed that she had been texting with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla for a month straight while they were negotiating a massive contract for Covid-19 vaccines. Now, they're gone. According to Reuters, "in response to a public access request by a journalist because of the importance of the deal, the Commission did not share the texts, triggering accusations of maladministration by the EU’s ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly." "The Commission can confirm that the search undertaken by the President’s cabinet for relevant text messages corresponding to the request for access to documents has not yielded any results," said EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova in a letter to O'Reilly, an EU watchdog. In the letter, the Commission argues that text messages do not need to be registered and stored because they are treated as “short-lived, ephemeral documents”. The same exception to the general registration requirement applies to documents with no important information, the letter said. A spokesperson for the ombudsman said that it planned to publish a detailed analysis on the matter in the next couple of weeks. -Reuters In an April 2021 NYT interview, von dery Leyen said she negotiated the 'biggest contract ever sealed for COVID-19 vaccines' via text messages and calls, resulting in the EU committing to purchase 900 million Pfizer-BioNTech jabs, with an option for 900 million more down the road. By the time the deal was formally announced in May 2021, the EU had already secured a wide range of vaccines from several manufacturers - including another 600 million doses from Pfizer. Many of the EU governments who initially backed the deal are now trying to renegotiate or cut supplies of the Pfizer jab amid cratering vaccination rates and concerns over waste.
Re: FreeSpeech and Censorship: Thread
The Woke Inquisitors Have Come For The Freethinking Heretics https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18659/woke-inquisitors by J.B.Shurk via The Gatestone Institute Attacks on free speech are on the rise. https://summit.news/2022/06/22/student-kicked-out-of-uk-college-for-supporting-deportation-of-illegal-immigrants/ https://nypost.com/2022/05/14/kiel-wisconsin-school-charges-kids-for-using-wrong-pronouns/ https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/06/14/biden-climate-adviser-gina-mccarthy-calls-on-big-tech-to-censor-opposers-of-bidens-climate-agenda/ https://www.theepochtimes.com/twitter-suspends-doctor-who-shared-study-showing-pfizer-vaccine-impacts-semen_4553511.html https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/06/11/dissident-football-coach-fined-100k-for-wrong-thoughts/ https://reclaimthenet.org/paramount-says-it-wont-censor-old-content-to-please-modern-audiences/ https://www.dw.com/en/kids-classics-get-a-politically-correct-makeover/a-16510731 https://www.nspirement.com/2018/08/26/chinas-destruction-of-cultural-sites-during-the-cultural-revolution2.html A British college recently expelled a student for expressing support for the government's official policy of deporting illegal immigrants. A Wisconsin school district charged three middle-schoolers with sexual harassment last month for refusing to use the plural pronoun "they" when referring to a single classmate. US President Joe Biden's National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy recently encouraged social media companies to censor from their online platforms any opinions that contradict Biden's climate change narrative. In its continued commitment to preserve the government's monopoly over COVID-19 information, Twitter actually suspended a medical doctor for merely sharing a scientific study that suggests the Pfizer vaccine affects male fertility. And the NFL's Washington Commanders fined defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $100,000 and forced him to apologize only weeks ago for having expressed his opinion that 2020's summer of riots across the United States after George Floyd's death was more destructive than the few hours of mayhem at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In contrast, it has become newsworthy that entertainment powerhouse Paramount has chosen not to censor old movies and television shows containing content that today's "woke" scolds might find "offensive." In a "cancel culture" world where censorship and trigger warnings have become the norm, preserving the artistic integrity of a film is now considered outright daring. In fact, even publishers of old literary classics have begun rewriting content to conform with "politically correct" sensibilities. Examples such as these, where personal speech is either censored or punished, are becoming much more frequent, and anybody who minimizes the threat this increased intolerance for free expression poses to a democratic society is either gullibly or willfully blind. As any defender of liberty knows, nothing more quickly transforms a free society into a totalitarian prison than crackdowns on speech. Of all the tools of coercion available to a government, preventing individuals from freely expressing their thoughts is most dangerous. Denying citizens that most basic societal release valve for pent-up anger and disagreement only heightens the risk for outright violence down the line. Either silenced citizens become so enraged that conflict becomes inevitable, or the iron fist of government force descends on the public more broadly to preemptively curtail that possibility. Either way, the result is a disaster for any free society. For Americans who cherish free speech, this undeniable war on language and expression is jolting but not shocking. Whenever censorship slithers back into polite society, it is always draped in the mantle of "good intentions." Fifteenth-century Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola's "bonfire of the vanities" destroyed anything that could be seen to invite or reflect sin. The notorious 1933 Nazi book burning at the Bebelplatz in Berlin torched some 20,000 books deemed subversive or "un-German". During Communist China's decade-long Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and '70s, the vast majority of China's traditional scrolls, literature and religious antiquities went up in smoke. All three atrocities were celebrated as achievements for the "greater good" of society, and people inebriated with "good intentions" set their cultural achievements aflame with fervor and triumph. Much like today's new censors who claim to "fight hate" because "that's not who we are," the arsonists of the past saw themselves as moral paragons, too. They purged anything "obscene" or "traditional" or "old," so that theocracy, Nazism, or communism could take root and grow. And if Western institutions today are purging ideas once again, then it is past time for people to start asking just what those institutions plan to harvest next. We in the West are running — not walking — toward another "bonfire of
Re: 1776: When Freedom From The State?
Dear America, Happy Birthday, Kind Regards From The Brits https://grrrgraphics.com/happy-independence-day/ Here in the UK we should celebrate American Independence with more enthusiasm. After all, as MorningPorridge.com's Bill Blain explains, it was an absolute stroke of genius – on our part! Independence Day was the culmination of our great plan to improve the UK. It was brilliant for its time. Over centuries we’d come to realise the main issues in the UK were down to a whole host of conflicting demographic and people problems – which we easily solved by exporting them elsewhere. In the 1600s the new Britain (not yet the United Kingdom) emerged from millennia of mostly slaying each other: Britons against Saxons, Saxon against Angles, Angles against Scots, Scots against Picts, Everyone against Vikings, Scotland vs England, Britain against Spain, France and anyone else wanting to have a go, Religious Wars and Civil Wars. Suddenly, peace (of a sort) broke out. The aristocracy moved from damp draughty castles into nice modern stately homes. The peasantry moved from disease riven mud-hovels into brick-built boxes in new cities. People stopped dying of preventable diseases and a lack of soap, and the population began to boom. The UK is a small island, and we don’t really have the space. We wanted to avoid the kind of unpleasantness we’d seen generated by civil wars, rebellions and overly dangerous political and religious ideas – like levelling up or social equality, questioning the divine authority of kings, or further outbreaks of religious intolerance. Hence, we came up with the wizard wheeze of exporting all the useless pains-in-our-backsides to New World across the Atlantic. So: We got rid of surplus impoverished second, third and n+1 sons of the minor aristocracy (drones by any standard), and the middle classes by offering them land in the fertile south and shipping them off to found new agricultural estates. We winnowed the cities of surplus labour by offering “opportunity” in the new world – shipping them off to work the land, build the cities and direct the industry and commerce of the new provinces. We got rid of our religious nutters. The frankly dull, boring and mostly harmless ones dressed in black were shipped off to the new world and promised they could do whatever they wished in terms of their religion. They happily established themselves in New England and in typical Puritan style started burning old women as witches because the milk had gone sour. The more radical Catholic dissenters were shipped south. The Scottish/English borderers – who’d spent centuries raiding each other – were offered Northern Ireland, or if particularly violent, given land in the New World with added attraction of being able to fight the French to the West and North. And every time we experienced a national tragedy, like wars and clearances in Scotland, or famine in Ireland – there was plenty of space for the inconvenient survivors in the colonies. As the colonies grew, it was easy to persuade bright young folk that a lifetime spent paying back the costs of their economic migration was worthwhile. Brilliant. Britain’s population excess solved. We got rid of our unnecessary surplus, and foisted them off on the Americas.. which then had the absolute temerity to complain about being taxed by London. Ungrateful little tykes. Enough is enough. Despite the fact we’d help them get established and protected them from the marauding French, we had our second genius moment. Why pay for the America’s to be our national dumping ground…? Let them pay for themselves! So we engineered a rather lame revolution, helped them write a rather ironic constitution that befuddles them still to this day, persuaded them to sort themselves out by adopting ridiculous political structures, and left them to get on with it, confident, in time they’d see things our way and become an English Speaking bastion on the unfashionable side of the Atlantic.. Which from our perspective; has pretty much panned out as planned. But the fervid mix of hotheads, genetic misfits, bad ideas and even worse behaviours we shipped out do seem to be battering into each other rather appallingly these days.. With all that in mind, in an effort to be fair and balanced, we give the last few words to American artist Ben Garrison, who reminds us all that 'a house divided cannot stand', so "choose wisely"... The Fourth of July used to stand for all Americans coming together to celebrate our independence day from tyranny. Now, too many demand the return of the very same tyranny our forefathers rebelled against. We’ve been around long enough and seen enough independence days to notice that America is now more divided than ever. In our younger days we observed how Democrats and Republicans didn’t often agree with each other, but such disagreements were done with a certain modicum of class and mutual respect. Both parties placed the overall
Re: 1776: When Freedom From The State?
Global State always scheming to "reform" so it can construct an even deeper State over top of you... Saudi Ex-Spymaster Pens Scathing Op-Ed On "Rethinking The Global Order" https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/un-system-needs-reform-by-turki-bin-faisal-al-saud-2022-07 https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/gaA.59.565_En.pdf With Saudi Arabia reportedly in discussions to join BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China), and President Biden set to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) - who he vowed to make "the pariah, that they are" during the 2020 elections over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi - a July 4 Op-Ed by former Saudi spymaster Turki bin Faisal Al Saud over the current state of affairs may provide key insight at this particular moment in geopolitics. In short, while fundamentally endorsing the UN's globalist agenda, Al Saud argues that those leading the current international order have "failed to live up to the principles of good governance enshrined in the UN charter," and that hypocritical world leaders "need to come to their senses" and reform "deeper structural problems" in order to adapt to the new, multipolar order pushed by Russia an dChina. "Our organizing principles still reflect the mentality of the post-war and Cold War era," he argues, citing a UN report that concluded major reforms were needed. Authored by Turki bin Faisal Al Saud via Project Syndicate (emphasis ours), For decades, it has been obvious that the UN system needs to be reformed to account for the realities of the twenty-first century. Yet recommendations to restructure global governance have been ignored by those with the power to carry them out, leaving us with a world of multiplying crises for which there are few solutions. BAKU – Just as the world was beginning to recover from one of the biggest crises in recent decades, another one has erupted in Europe. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic underscored our common humanity, Russia’s war on Ukraine has reminded us of how fragile, interconnected, and interdependent our world is. As the Chinese say, “All is one under heaven.” Intensifying great-power confrontations and deglobalization are jeopardizing world peace and security. New crises seem to be lurking around every corner, but appropriate solutions are nowhere to be seen – not in the Far East, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, or Latin America. The popular mood has darkened, reinvigorating populism, nationalism, Islamophobia, and other atavistic trends that threaten the progressive achievements humanity has made since World War II. The Ukraine crisis itself is a symptom of deeper structural problems in the international order. That order, led by the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), has failed to live up to the principles of good governance enshrined in the UN Charter. New global orders tend to emerge from major wars. In the case of WWII, the victors created structures designed to preserve international peace and security. But while our increasingly integrated world has changed dramatically since the UN’s founding, our organizing principles still reflect the mentality of the post-war and Cold War era. Within the current framework, a failure to respond to global challenges is a failure of the entire international community. Can the system be reformed? Calls since the early 1990s to restructure the UN system – the avatar for the broader international order – have consistently fallen on deaf ears. Worse, Russia and China are now using their seats at the helm of the international order to push for a more multipolar system. Rather than working to reform the current framework, they are challenging its validity. Humanity’s collective achievements over the past seven decades are a testament to why we must work together to make the UN system more fair, inclusive, and attentive to people’s needs and aspirations. Indeed, that was the mission of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change in 2003. Consisting of 16 eminent figures from different parts of the world, and chaired by former Thai Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun, the panel analyzed contemporary threats to international peace and security; evaluated how well existing policies and institutions had done in addressing those threats; and offered recommendations aimed at strengthening the UN and enabling it to provide collective security for the twenty-first century. The panel’s final report made clear that all of the UN’s principal organs needed reform, including the Security Council, which the panel argued should be expanded. Unfortunately, the Security Council’s veto-wielding permanent members simply ignored the panel’s recommendations, setting the stage for today’s paralysis and dysfunction. The Middle East is especially in need of a well-functioning, genuinely
Re: 1776: When Freedom From The State?
Here the US Tyrant State tries to spark a revolution via pissing off all those who live within it... San Francisco Couple Gets $1,500 Fine For Parking In Their Own Driveway Things really seem to be going "uphill" in San Francisco. A couple from the city, who has parked in the same spot "every day for the last 36 years" was ticketed $1,542 for parking in their own driveway this month. As many people do, the couple lives on a hill in a city where parking is always at a premium. The couple has been parking in the carpad in front of their house - which they say has been there since the house was built in 1910. But now the city planning department is saying it is "illegal to park in the front yard of a house" and threatened further tickets should the couple - Judy and Ed Craine - continue to park where they have been. "We always use the carport," Judy told ABC 7 San Francisco. "Parked in that driveway every day and every night," Ed added. "We got this email saying we can't park in the pad anymore. I said what, that's crazy." Judy continued: "It was very surprising, to say the least. I wrote them back saying I thought this was a mistake." But the city planning department confirmed the ticket. "And if we were found parking there again, it would be a $1,500 fine," Judy added. Ed asked: "Why are you taking away something that has great utility? To all of a sudden to be told you can't use something that we could use for years. It's, it's startling. Inexplicable." The city planning committee then made the couple prove that parking there was a historic use on the lot, so the couple started digging. "We could be grandfathered in. If we show them a historical photo that showed a car... or a horse-drawn buggy in the carport," Judy said. And the couple came up with a photo from 1938 which shows a car or buggy pulling into his driveway. But the planning department told them the photo was too fuzzy and that it couldn't be used as evidence. Today, their carpad sits empty and the couple is forced to park on the hill. "The onus is on us to prove we're innocent... though I don't feel guilty," Judy concluded.
Re: FreeSpeech and Censorship: Thread
The Censor State has dramatically sped up its response time in the last few years. It used to take days before they'd kill accounts, now it's mere hours or less. If the world ever hopes to learn important lessons from their lives and screeds, you've got to be plugged into feeds and act fast to archive and redistribute it. Here some random leftist does his do in gun free leftyland while leftist censors do their do to erase whatever might be learned... Here's What We Know About Highland Park Shooting Person Of Interest Robert Crimo Robert Crimo III was taken into custody Monday evening following a shooting in Highland Park, Illinois that left at least six people dead and over two dozen injured despite having among the strictest gun-safety laws in the country. He is currently being referred to as a "person of interest" while Highland Park Police question him. The 22-year-old was apprehended without incident in nearby Lake Forest. Law enforcement currently circling and inspecting vehicle driven by person of interest, 22-yo Robert “Bobby” Crimo III He’s now in custody related to #HighlandPark parade mass shooting that killed at least 6 LIVE NOW: https://t.co/vEMDs0BRQH | @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/kHdev8CGSy — Marissa Parra (@MarParNews) July 5, 2022 Crimo has somewhat of a large internet footprint - performing online as "Awake the Rapper," while IMDB describes Crimo as a "six foot Hip hop phenom" born on Sept. 20, 2000. "He's the middle child of three and of Italian descent," Fox News reports. Crimo began uploading his music to the internet at age 11, but first gained traction with his 2016 track "By The Pond" featuring Atlas, according to IMDB. His estimated net worth is "$100 thousand." Crimo is the son of Bob Crimo, president at Bob's Pantry & Deli in Highland Park. According to his Facebook account, the father ran for Highland Park mayor in 2020. The rapper released a cryptic track called "Are You Awake" on Oct. 15, 2021. The track appears to suggest that Crimo was planning a life-defining act beyond his ability to stop. The video includes drawings of a man aiming a rifle at another person. -Fox News A screenshot from Robert “Bobby” Crimo’s youtube video “Are You Awake”. This was premeditate. What a sick individual. pic.twitter.com/tYJRjoSIQz — xen (@itssxen) July 4, 2022 The suspect in the Highland Park shooting, Robert Crimo III, posted multiple disturbing videos on YouTube with violent imagery. "Like a sleepwalker unable to stop and think, my actions will be valiant. And my thought is unnecessary. I know what I have to do." pic.twitter.com/CROskei1Vh — steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) July 4, 2022 He also "liked" several tweets endorsing the arrest of "every Congressmember who helped organize January 6th," suggesting he's a leftist. On the other hand: I think Robert Crimo is a psycho. Planned it all out to look like he’s both a Trump supporter and a Biden supporter. Perhaps a true accelerationist. He’s got everyone squabbling over his politics but at the end of the day he killed innocents and represents no one but himself. — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 5, 2022 Crimo's Instagram, Discord, Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms have taken down his material. * * * Robert Cremo III, the suspect in Monday's deadly shooting at the Highland Park, IL 4th of July parade, has been taken into custody according to CBS Chicago. JUST IN: Sources tell us Robert Cremo III has been taken into custody. @cbschicago — Chris Tye (@TVTye) July 4, 2022 #HighlandPark pic.twitter.com/cuzxo3lEjh — Darren (@ChiTownCheese) July 4, 2022 JUST IN: Police take Highland Park parade shooting “person of interest” Robert (Bobby) Crimo into custody. pic.twitter.com/sBBGVVM3lP — Rob Elgas (@RobElgasABC7) July 4, 2022 "No guns for people that look like this" would pass unanimously pic.twitter.com/l0FSIQY0Za — Andy Swan (@AndySwan) July 4, 2022 * * * Police have announced Robert "Bobby" Crimo III as a person of interest in Monday's shooting in Highland Park, Illinois. More photos of Robert "Bobby" Crimo III, the person of interest in the #HighlandPark, Illinois July 4th parade massacre: pic.twitter.com/obLluPKpYX — Andy Ngô ️ (@MrAndyNgo) July 4, 2022 ILLINOIS: Robert "Bobby" Crimo III, 22, sought in connection with Highland Park mass shooting. Suspect vehicle is a silver 2010 Honda Fit with IL plate DM80653. Call 911 if seen. (Source: FBI) pic.twitter.com/ykICW6W1SX — U.S. Emergency Alert (@ENSAlerts) July 4, 2022 Another disturbing video of the Highland Park shooter Robert “Bobby” Crimo #HighlandPark https://t.co/uxHEJorczg pic.twitter.com/rp0sQ9DTV5 — Catalaya Heisenberg (@catalayahere) July 4, 2022 This account “@awake_” appears to be a long-standing fan page for the highland park shooter Robert crimo. if you look through the old likes it shows a lot of
Re: 1776: When Freedom From The State?
Supreme Court Targets The Real Enemy https://www.theepochtimes.com/supreme-court-targets-the-real-enemy_4571651.html Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times, https://brownstone.org/articles/the-mighty-gorsuch-vs-the-administrative-state-quotes-from-west-virginia-vs-epa/ The flurry of rulings from the Supreme Court has everyone’s head spinning. The most significant among them, even if it doesn’t capture all the headlines, is West Virginia vs EPA. The majority opinion is impressive but the part I found truly wonderful is the concurring opinion by Neil Gorsuch. This is where we see things headed, toward a major and much-welcome curbing of the power of the administrative state. Just to review what this thing is, it is the unelected bureaucracy that rules the country without oversight from voters or legislatures. For well over 100 years, most courts have given it a pass, just assuming that the “experts” in the bureaucracies are handling things just fine, faithfully interpreting legislation, and merely creating rules for easy compliance. Generations have gone by as this 4th branch of government has grown in size, scope, and strength. For the most part, its baneful impositions have been felt by one business or one industry at a time. You have heard the stories. The car dealer complains of how the Department of Labor is making him crazy. The machine-parts manufacturer is going bonkers about letters from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The energy company can never satisfy the Environmental Protection Agency. They are stories and we find them unfortunate but we’ve generally avoided thinking of these as systematic, all pervasive, and truly dangerous to the idea of freedom itself. However, there are some 432 of these agencies. The authors of the Declaration of Independence noted their existence back in the day when they accused the English king of having “erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.” They fought a revolution to end the tyranny but now we have a home-grown form, starting in 1883 with the Pendleton Act and continuing throughout the 20th century as each new administration creates its own bureaucracy. The thing has taken on a power of its own. Strangely, the topic hardly comes up at all during elections, and this is for a reason. Politicians running for office like to advertise their power to make change. They might even believe it. In reality, elected officials have very little influence over the conduct of public life relative to the administrative state. As Trump found it, not even the president is a match for the deep state. Here is what has happened since March 2020: the beast showed its face. Seemingly out of nowhere, these strange agencies and people for whom we never voted were ruling our lives. They restricted travel, forced us to cover our faces, closed our churches and schools, and forbid our businesses from operating unless they were big enough to afford a powerful lobbying arm in Washington. The whole scene was appalling. It caused many people—including some earnest judges—to take notice. Once you see the problem, you cannot unsee it. ... When you consider the implications of this one decision, they are awesome. It doesn’t just apply to the EPA and its elaborate plans for changing the global climate through command and control. It also applies to every other agency, including the CDC and even the Federal Reserve itself. They all should be accountable to the people through their elected representatives. If we cannot get back to that system, we will lose everything. Read more here...
Re: 1776: When Freedom From The State?
The People Crafting US Policy Aren't In America https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-people-crafting-u-s-policy-arent-in-america/ Authored by Joseph Solis-Mullen via The Libertarian Institute/Mises.org, In a piece of news that shocked the mainstream media, but which shocked no one familiar with the academic industry writ large, retired US Army general John Allen was forced to resign as president of the Brookings Institution after it was revealed the FBI was investigating him for lobbying on behalf of the Qatari monarchy. Of course, the real news, scarcely noted by The Washington Post, New York Times, or any other purported paper of record, is that Allen was only really in trouble because he hadn’t fulfilled the pro forma legal requirements for those lobbying the U.S. government on behalf of a foreign agent or government. The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), under which such activities are regulated, includes several exceptions that allow for such activities without declaring a conflict of interest. Think tanks, a misnomer if ever there was one, operate under an "academic exception" that allows for engagement in "bona fide religious, scholastic, academic, or scientific pursuits or the fine arts." Anyone who has ever picked up one of the many deadly dull social science journals where actual, bona fide empirical academic work is done knows this constitutes perhaps a fraction of what think tanks almost daily churn out. Rather think tank commentary, touted as objective analysis, is regularly featured or cited by publications and outlets as apparently diverse as The Wall Street Journal and NPR. Ukraine has stepped up pleas for U.S. fighter jets, as two of the country’s top pilots left combat with Russia to lobby Washington, D.C. lawmakers.https://t.co/6mAmltCpo0 — FLYING Magazine (@FlyingMagazine) June 27, 2022 Of course, think tanks are hardly alone. As Ben Freeman, a specialist on foreign influence on U.S. policy, has documented, such democratic bastions of liberal values as the UAE and Saudi Arabia donate hundreds of millions, even billions, to universities around the country. Of course, from a libertarian perspective, who is to say who should be giving money to whom and for what? Further, FARA’s provisions are so nebulous that virtually anyone could be targeted for virtually any reason, an obvious opportunity for unaccountable federal officials to impinge on Americans’ civil liberties. But the blatant hypocrisy of it all is what really stands out, as the same universities and think tanks regularly decry the apparently perfidious influence of countries like China, which they breathlessly warn uses our "open institutions" for its own gain. Should any of their number dare to go off message and report, for example, on the well-documented and wholly negative influence of countries like Israel on US foreign policy, they are tarred as anti-Semites, racists, or foreign agents themselves! The truth is the powerful Israel and Saudi Arabia lobbies have been able to steer US policy in directions clearly at odds with the best interests of the American people for decades. Unsurprisingly, perhaps nowhere has the deleterious effect of their money been more felt than in US policy toward Iran, with the Saudis, Israelis, and Emiratis dumping literally billions of dollars into attacks on a country the United States should have normalized relations with decades ago. The Uyghur lobby is another such interest group that enjoys an open door in Congress and the op-ed pages of prominent papers—this while its nakedly paramilitary arm advocates the violent overthrow of the Beijing government! And what are we, or foreign governments like China, to think when the parent organization of such extremists, the World Uyghur Congress, takes funding from the US government itself? We aren’t supposed to think about it at all. Just like we aren’t supposed to question any of the other nakedly self-serving policies. Who, for example, is surprised to learn there is a large and active Ukraine lobby in Washington? That has paid off handsomely, with our government now handing over $130 million daily to Kyiv with little to no oversight. And of course, most maddeningly, any critically thinking American who even dares to question the US government’s obviously dangerous and counterproductive policies, bought and paid for by literal foreign agents, are themselves accused of being in the pay of Moscow, Beijing, or Tehran. Never mind that all the evidence points in the opposite direction. Again, the American people aren’t expected to think at all, only to stay in line and keep the money flowing. This is the sad state of foreign policy in America, and it happens right out in the open.
