“America’s Highest Earners and their Taxes Revealed”
“In an era of widening gaps between the rich and everyone else, ProPublica’s analysis shows that the U.S. tax system is making inequality worse.”
Regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia)
Southcentral Wisconsin, USA
2020 7/24 _F2A3843aaa3
“Glenn Greenwald: The Censorship Campaign Against Western Criticism of NATO’s Ukraine Policy Is Extreme
Preventing populations from asking who benefits from a protracted proxy war, and who pays the price, is paramount. A closed propaganda system achieves that.”
“No matter one’s views on Russia, Ukraine, the U.S. and the war, it should be deeply alarming to watch such a concerted, united campaign on the part of the most powerful public and private entities to stomp out any and all dissent, while so aggressively demonizing what little manages to slip by. No matter how smart or critically minded or sophisticated we fancy ourselves to be, none of us is immune to official propaganda campaigns, studied and perfected over decades. Nor is any of us immune to the pressures of group-think and herd behavior and hive minds: these are embedded in our psyches and thus easily exploitable.”
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“Cloudalists: Our New Cloud-based Ruling Class – Project Syndicate op-ed”
Romeu Peitinho:
“Some food for thought beyond the Ukraine media blitz.
"At the beginning of this change was free-to-air commercial television. The programming itself could not be commodified, so it was used to attract viewers’ attention before selling it to advertisers. Programs’ sponsors used their access to people’s attention to do something audacious: harness emotions (which had escaped commodification) to the task of deepening… commodification.
The essence of the advertiser’s job was captured in a line spoken by Don Draper, the fictional protagonist in the television serial Mad Men, set in the advertising industry of the 1960s. Coaching his protégé, Peggy, on how to think about the Hershey chocolate bar their firm was peddling, Draper caught the spirit of the times:
“You don’t buy a Hershey bar for a couple of ounces of chocolate. You buy it to recapture the feeling of being loved that you knew when your dad bought you one for mowing the lawn.”
The mass commercialization of nostalgia to which Draper alludes marked a turning point for capitalism. Draper put his finger on a fundamental mutation in its DNA. Efficiently manufacturing things that people wanted was no longer enough. People’s desires were themselves a product requiring skillful manufacture.
No sooner was the fledgling internet taken over by conglomerates determined to commodify it than the principles of advertising morphed into algorithmic systems permitting person-specific targeting, something television could not support. At first, algorithms (such as those used by Google, Amazon, and Netflix) identified clusters of users with similar search patterns and preferences, grouping them together to complete their searches, suggest books, or recommend films. The breakthrough came when the algorithms ceased to be passive.
Once algorithms could evaluate their own performance in real time, they began to behave like agents, monitoring and reacting to the outcomes of their own actions. They were affected by the way they affected people. Before we knew it, the task of instilling desires in our soul was taken from Don and Peggy and given to Alexa and Siri. Those who question how real the threat of artificial intelligence (AI) is to white collar jobs should ask themselves: What exactly does Alexa do?
Ostensibly, Alexa is a home-based mechanical servant that we can command to switch off the lights, order milk, remind us to call our mothers, and so on. Of course, Alexa is just the front end of a gigantic AI cloud-based network that millions of users train several billion times every minute. As we chat on the phone, or move and do things about the house, it learns our preferences and habits. As it gets to know us, it develops an uncanny ability to surprise us with good recommendations and ideas that intrigue us. Before we realize it, the system has acquired substantial powers to guide our choices – effectively to command us.
With cloud-based Alexa-like devices or apps in the role once occupied by Don Draper, we find ourselves in the most dialectical of infinite regresses: We train the algorithm to train us to serve the interests of its owners. The more we do this, the faster the algorithm learns how to help us train it to command us. As a result, the owners of this algorithmic cloud-based command capital deserve a term to distinguish them from traditional capitalists"”
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Abby Martin:
“Abby Martin: How the media manufactures ‘bloodlust’ for war”
“From the moment Russian troops invaded Ukraine the entire corporate media apparatus in the US moved to 24-7 coverage, filling airwaves with talking heads relentlessly beating the drums of war. Combined with Big Tech’s sophisticated means for silencing and punishing dissenting voices, the increasingly hostile and propaganda-filled discourse that is taking shape today is eerily reminiscent of the “Russiagate” fervor and the cultural hysteria that permeated the post-9/11 years. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with longtime journalist and activist Abby Martin about how the media’s manufactured “bloodlust” for war makes us all less safe and how we must use independent media to advance the cause of peace.”
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“Opinion: The pernicious myth of a Caucasian race”
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“Inflation in U.S. has risen 8.5% over past year; quickest pace in 40 years”
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“Pentagon looks to vastly expand weapons for Ukraine
Ukrainian officials also met recently with the maker of Reaper and Predator drones, a company official said”
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“They Actually Admitted They're Lying To You! [News + Comedy]”
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“Wall Street Bonuses Soar by 20%, Nearly 5 times the increase in US Average Weekly earnings.
If the minimum wage had increased as much as Wall Street bonuses since 1985, it would be worth $61.75 today.”
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Peter Carter:
“AMERICA IN PROLONGED SEVERE DROUGHT Past 6 months of North America drought (at today's 1.2C) showing annual drought at 1.5C (IPCC AR6 WG1)”
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“NASA scientist arrested after chaining himself to Chase Bank as part of global climate protests”
“#ScientistsRebellion #ScientistsWarning #EmergencyMode
#NASA #climatescientist, Peter Kalmus, arrested after chaining himself to #ChaseBank as part of global #climate protests
Peter Kalmus, who studies biological systems and #climatechange at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, spoke to a crowd that assembled shortly after another protestor helped Kalmus chain himself to the handle of the bank's glass door. The event was livestreamed on Facebook. Please share this post. Let's make this viral. #ClicktivismMatters. Get the word out and send your likes and hearts to Peter Kalmus for making this sacrifice for us all and the biosphere today. Please share this post. Let's get the word out and make it viral. This is one of the first and biggest actions in the #USA for this kind of activism by scientists. They need your support!
Scientists are getting arrested! Is anyone paying attention?! #DontLookUp!
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Sharing is caring! Let's make this news more viral than #TheSlapHeardAroundTheWorld!”
2020 7/24 _F2A3843aaa2
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