Category U. S. Social change movement

May 4 2022

Musk Goes Full Galt, Challenges Woke Activists Who Pressure Corporations with Sunlight


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 3, 2022 | Sundance 

CTH has been watching carefully for several weeks; looking, reading and observing the expressed priorities of Elon Musk in an effort to evaluate his free speech intents and purposes.  After careful and cautious consideration, I can now say Elon Musk is the closest thing to John Galt in our lifetime.

Today, Mr. Musk drew attention to one of the central cancers. Musk is highlighting the strategy leftists use to target corporations, demand they withdraw advertising dollars, and force them into compliance against any unapproved platform designated by the woke mob.

[CNN Story Here – MMfA Letter Here – Elon Musk Tweet Link Here]

David Brock’s Media Matters for America (MMFA) has organized an activist campaign against companies who advertise on Twitter. [SEE LETTER HERE]  Their intent is to assemble all of the radical activist groups, directly target any company who would advertise on Twitter and by extension force woke compliance by the social media platform Musk is purchasing.

The letter urges advertisers to make their next ad deals with Twitter contingent on changes to platform policy under Mr Musk.  However, Musk is pushing back against the effort by asking, “who funds these organizations that want to control your access to information? Let’s investigate.” He then goes on to tweet, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

(CNN) – Some of the nation’s biggest brands including Coca-Cola (CCEP), Disney (DIS) and Kraft (KHC) are facing calls to boycott Twitter if the company’s soon-to-be owner, billionaire Elon Musk, rolls back content moderation policies limiting hate speech and election misinformation.

In a letter sent to brands Tuesday ahead of the 2022 NewFronts digital advertising conference, more than two dozen civil society groups said marketers should secure commitments from Twitter to retain its most critical policies, including on civic integrity and hateful conduct, and threaten to withdraw funding if Twitter does not comply.

“As top advertisers on Twitter (TWTR), your brand risks association with a platform amplifying hate, extremism, health misinformation, and conspiracy theorists,” the letter said, adding: “Your ad dollars can either fund Musk’s vanity project or hold him to account.” (read more)

Musk has advocated for increased transparency on the mechanisms and algorithms within the Twitter platform, in order to gain public trust.  Everyone knows that Twitter management manipulates the platform based on ideology.  Even the original creator of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, has admitted the political preferences within the company are directly connected to the control mechanisms that have been built within it.

One of the key tell-tale sentences in the MMFA led letter is this:

“Consider the implications of full-scale public visibility into Twitter’s algorithm”..

The left-wing organizations and activist groups are worried about what public disclosure of the Twitter censorship and control mechanisms might mean. As a result of their fear, their strategy is to ask advertising corporations to pressure Elon Musk into keeping the background engineering hidden from review.  There is no incentive for Musk to do that as a private company, except this type of blackmail effort.

The need for control is a reaction to fear.  MMfA and their allies fear a free, open and uncontrolled information platform; and they fear that people will discover just how much has been done to tilt the discussion in their favor by controlling and silencing their opposition.

I can appreciate that Musk is taking the issues of free communication seriously. He is dealing with challenges of incredible consequence, he yet he carries on that battle with a light spirit and does not take himself seriously.  That is a remarkably valuable skillset.

If the full purchase deal can be finalized, Musk will take the company private. However, Musk has also reportedly shared that after a few years of private ownership, he would be willing to make the company a public offering again. Per the Wall Street Journal, “Mr. Musk said he plans to stage an initial public offering of Twitter in as little as three years of buying it, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal is expected to close later this year, subject to conditions including the approval of Twitter shareholders and regulators, the company has said.

[READ THE LETTER HERE]

May 3 2022

The Declaration for the Future of the Internet


Armstrong Economics Blog/BigTech Re-Posted May 3, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

The internet has become the main source of social interaction, entertainment, and media. Almost everything we do is tied to the internet, which was once a free space. Governments across the world are now attempting to control the world wide web. In fact, the US, EU, and 32 other nations have announced a “Declaration for the Future of the Internet.”

The declaration claims to promote “interconnected communications” and “democracy, peace, the rule of law, sustainable development, and the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” They would like to make the internet accessible to everyone, and while this may sound good and well on the surface, the motive behind this declaration is to give governments full control over the internet.

The fine print reads:

“Over the last two decades, however, we have witnessed serious challenges to this vision emerge. Access to the open Internet is limited by some authoritarian governments and online platforms and digital tools are increasingly used to repress freedom of expression and deny other human rights and fundamental freedoms. State-sponsored or condoned malicious behavior is on the rise, including the spread of disinformation and cybercrimes such as ransomware, affecting the security and the resilience of critical infrastructure while holding at risk vital public and private assets.”

“Disinformation” is the new hot-button word for government censorship. Uncoincidentally, this declaration comes the same week that US President Biden arranged a “Disinformation Governance Board” with members who solely support his agenda and are willing to hide his lies. “Disinformation” allows governments to determine what is factual.

“Online platforms have enabled an increase in the spread of illegal or harmful content that can threaten the safety of individuals and contribute to radicalization and violence. Disinformation and foreign malign activity is used to sow division and conflict between individuals or groups in society, undermining respect for and protection of human rights and democratic institutions.”

Governments across the globe are on board with the Great Reset, and censoring society’s main medium of connectivity will provide them with the power to dumb down the masses and track the opposition. Countries that openly censor their internet such as Russia and China have not signed this declaration, as they do not care if their censorship is packaged in a nice collaborative declaration with other nations. At least the internet users in those nations are aware that what they read online is censored. The truth will always exist, but it will be harder to find it in the future.

May 2 2022

Sunday Talks, Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas Says DHS Prepared to Facilitate Import of 500,000 Illegal Aliens Per Month


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 1, 2022 | sundance 

Skipping past the discussion of the DHS “disinformation board,”….. While appearing on an ironically named CNN broadcast “The State of Our Union”, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tells John King’s ex-wife, that for several months (“since Sept 2021″) DHS has been preparing to start handling and processing 18,000 illegal aliens per day (540,000/mo) as soon as CDC Title 42 is lifted.

If DHS estimates are accurate, between now and the November mid-term election, DHS will import an additional 3,000,000 illegal aliens from various nations around the world, through the U.S-Mexico border.

Cumulatively, this arrival estimate will put the number of illegal aliens arriving in the United States during Joe Biden’s first two years in office somewhere north of 10 million people. For scale, that’s an imported group of illegal aliens three times the size of the population of Mississippi.  WATCH:

If his own estimates are correct, in combination with prior arrivals, the aggregate number of illegal aliens will easily exceed 50 million by the end of the year; more than twice the population of Pennsylvania and Ohio combined.  Illegal aliens living in the U.S. will exceed 15% of the total population.

Approximately one-third of the United States workforce will be illegal aliens.

What do you think that scale of illegal labor does to wages?

18,000/day equals 540,000/mo.

Apr 27 2022

Antidepressant Prescription Sales Spike


Armstrong Economics Blog/medicine Re-Posted Apr 27, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

A SingleCare Team study revealed the majority of the US population takes some form of a prescription pill. The insurance agency found that the number of people reliant on prescriptions significantly rose after the pandemic. In fact, medications for mental health issues are on the rise. The company reported a 70% increase in prescriptions for the antidepressant Lexapro, a 31% increase in Zoloft, a 21% increase in Trazadone, a 20% increase in Prozac, and a 16% increase in Adderall. The agency noted that the American Psychological Association reported an uptick in individuals self-medicating illegally with opioids as well.

Currently, around 66% of adults in the US are reliant on Big Pharma. Canada is in a similar situation, albeit with lower prescription costs, with 65% of their adult population on prescription medicine. In contrast, only 26% of adults in the UK and 35% of adults in Australia are reliant on medications.

Why are people in the US and Canada more likely to take prescription medication? One could argue the US population is not as healthy as other nations due to obesity and limited walkable cities, but that does not account for the large disparity. One big reason is marketing – but that does not apply in Canada. Only in the US do you see commercials and billboards promising a pill to cure the woes of life. It is not common practice in other countries for people to ask their doctor for a specific medicine.

This all comes down to business and corporate profits. The average American takes FOUR different pills each day. So over 131 million Americans are reliant on at least one medication. Citizens in the US spend more than any nation on prescription drugs, with the average consumer spending $1,229. Canadians spend around $879.

In addition to the billions Big Pharma made on COVID-related drugs and vaccines, they have also profited from COVID restrictions deteriorating the public’s mental health. In mid-June 2020, when many restrictions began to ease, SingleCare reported a 50% increase in antidepressant medication. The same increase was reported during the third week of March when lockdowns began. “Between the concern over job loss, isolation, and general anxiety, this growing trend in antidepressants over the past few months may well be due to the pandemic’s impact on mental health,” Ramzi Yacoub, Pharm.D., the chief pharmacy officer at SingleCare stated. Insurance and pharmaceutical companies believe the need for prescription drugs will only continue. Thanks to COVID, antidepressants are now the most prescribed medication in the US and the second-most prescribed medication in Canada.

Apr 27 2022

Ukraine’s New Deal


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Apr 26, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Apr 27 2022

Solid Take from Glenn Greenwald on Elon Musk Motives and Purchase of Twitter


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 26, 2022 

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson previewed a discussion with Glenn Greenwald that will appear in full tomorrow on Fox Nation.  In this segment {Direct Rumble Link Here} Greenwald gives his perspective on the motives of Elon Musk purchasing Twitter.

Greenwald does a good job encapsulating the essential support most feel for the Musk effort.  There are many people still uncertain about how this will all roll out, and Musk has been favorable to Big Govt in his two most famous endeavors, Tesla and SpaceX.   Elon Musk’s phase of pushing back against speech and internet control is more recent, and as a result has left many people wondering about it.

As Greenwald notes, there really isn’t a downside for people who are trying to break the totalitarian and monopoly control systems on the internet.  The upside benefits to on-line freedom, debate, discussion and the first real effort to stop internet censorship are well worth supporting.  Greenwald eloquently puts an appropriate context to the battle.  WATCH:

Apr 27 2022

The Media Meltdown Over the Possibility of Free Speech Twitter is Very Revealing, Meanwhile Twitter Employees Fear Loss of Censorship Mechanisms and Leaked Audio of Twitter Executive Reaction


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 26, 2022 | Sundance 

Perhaps no media paragraph more perfectly encapsulates the issues around the Twitter debate than this one from New York Times writer Shira Ovide:

…”The 2016 U.S. presidential election and the Brexit vote that same year gave Silicon Valley executives, U.S. elected officials and the public a peek into what can go wrong when social media companies opt not to wade too deeply into what people say on their sites.”… (link)

In essence, that would be the quiet part said out loud and matter-of-factly.  If people are allowed freedom of communication, they end up doing things without our approval.

That paragraph perfectly encapsulates the reason why so many media and leftists are having mental breakdowns.

Elon Musk has the audacity to purchase one, just one, social media platform with the intent to allow Americans the freedom to speak to each other freely, without limit and control.  That is the expressed risk the Democrats, media and leftists in every institution are enraged about.

As Fox News highlighted, “several Twitter employees expressed serious concerns and fear over Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the company including a prominent worry that Musk would undo censorship mechanisms they had worked to implement over the years.”  It’s all about control.  We are living in a cyber version of Poland circa early 1980’s.

The solidarity movement results in millions of Polish citizens taking to the streets, looking around and suddenly realizing there are more of us than them.  That is what the collective left is now desperate to avoid, and they will do anything to stop people from seeing the scope of the control effort they have deployed in order to carry out their agenda.  Those are the stakes at play.

During yesterday’s phone call between Twitter executives and employees at the company, the leaders within the company talked about the issues at hand.  A leaked copy a short segment of the discussion was made available by Project Veritas today.  WATCH:

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All of this collective apoplexy and anxiety is a reflection of fear.  The need for control is a reaction to deep internal fear.

Notice they keep using the words “safety”, as if being exposed to alternate perspectives is something that threatens safety.

Elon Musk is correct, “the extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all.”

(Source)

I can only imagine what “years of censorship mechanisms” means inside the technology systems created by the Twitter regulators.

This gets more interesting by the day….

Apr 27 2022

Goya CEO Bob Unanu Discusses Food Production, Security and Sustainability from Field to Fork


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 26, 2022 | Sundance 

Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanu appeared on Fox Business earlier today in order to give a bigger picture review of the current status of food production. Unanu does a good job outlining how the interconnected systems from field to fork impact consumers.  The Goya CEO appropriately outlines what is happening and what the consequences are from Biden energy policy.  It’s a good interview.

Unanu does not push food alarmism and accurately states the U.S. food production system will ensure that food is available for U.S. consumers to purchase, albeit at higher prices.  The people most at risk from food insecurity are developing countries who rely on exports of food products generated by efficient, productive and exceptional farming operations in North America that feed the world.

For U.S. consumers it is the massive increases in energy and transportation costs that are driving up food prices, putting the issue of food insecurity into the correct context of food affordability.   WATCH:

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Consumers can offset the price impacts by shopping closer to the field, the origin of the food purchases needed.  Shopping for fresh food products at farmers markets avoids feeling the impact of shipping and transportation costs, and it helps the local economy.  If you are near areas with farm production in the United States consider the financial value of skipping the convenience of the supermarket in favor of shopping closer to the field.

In the field to fork food supply and distribution system, the closer you can get to the field for purchases the less costs you will encounter.  Obviously, for many people this may not be possible.  However, for others it might be time to evaluate the cost of convenience.

Apr 27 2022

60 Tons of Ground Beef Recalled


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 26, 2022 | Sundance

Recalls are not uncommon in the modern food industry.  As consumers have shifted toward convenience and increasingly done less food processing in their own kitchens, the opportunity for foodborne illness has expanded.  One familiar example would be using bagged, previously processed, salad mixes instead of doing the raw chopping, cleaning and rinsing at home. [The risk is listeria (pink mold) or E.Coli]

A few days ago, when talking about the uptick in industrial accidents, CTH noted, “another downstream consequence could be an uptick in food recalls as an outcome of increased bacteria within the food processing equipment, because the break-down-time, sanitation and hygiene might be impacted by excessive operational run times. 

There’s a myriad of issues from any industrial operation that goes from ordinary capacity to seriously over-stressed maximum capacity… and then remains in the emergency phase for months.”…

Now today: – “Approximately 120,872 pounds of ground beef products have been recalled due to possible E. coli contamination.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) website, Lakeside Refrigerated Services, of Swedesboro, N.J., announced Monday that it is recalling the beef after the problem was discovered during routine testing of imported products produced from Feb. 1 through April 8. (read more)

E.coli comes from bacteria in feces.  Sometimes during cattle processing the blade can rupture the internal organs and feces can contaminate the meat.  It’s not uncommon.

E.coli bacteria can also be found in row crops.  However that usually comes from inadequate personal hygiene of the field workers (I will not detail, tmi).

Bottom line: clean and sanitize raw food (salads, veg,) before eating, and cook all meat proteins to an internal minimum temperature of 145° to kill any foodborne bacteria before consumption.

Even when/if E.coli bacteria is present in meat (not uncommon), it does not survive cooking temperatures above 145°.

When most people have a bout of foodborne illness, commonly referred to as food poisoning, the focus is usually on the beef, pork or chicken as the culprit.  However, most foodborne illnesses are caused by vegetables, not protein, because they are consumed raw. Spouts and leaf items are common bacteria carriers, but the least understood risk is actually from potatoes.

Potatoes should always be washed if cooked with the peel (ie baked), because the external soiled bacteria can transfer into the center when pierced with a fork as frequently done as people prep/test during cooking.  Bacteria can transfer from the exterior of a potato into the center where a nice warm moist environment exists, perfect for growth.

Just an fyi, handle/cook potatoes as you would handle/cook meat.  [USDA Recall Sheet Here]

Apr 27 2022

U.S. Media Reacting to Elon Musk Purchasing Twitter


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 26, 2022 

Many of the media responses to Elon Musk purchasing the Twitter social media platform are epic.  However, a couple from yesterday stand out insofar as they are incredibly revealing about the current state of the leftists in media.

Every intellectually honest American admits the Big Tech social media platforms were supporting Joe Biden in the 2020 election.  Uncontested empirical examples include, but are not limited to: (1) Facebook and Instagram owner Mark Zuckerberg spent $500 million to support ballot harvesting efforts; (2) Twitter and Facebook banned and blocked any discussion of the Hunter Biden laptop story; and (3) Google executives openly admitted using their search engine ranking system to promote the Biden campaign over Trump.  Those are just three uncontested references -amid a sea of many more- that showcase a small part of their 2020 bias.

With that in mind, consider this from MSNBC. {Direct Rumble Link}  WATCH:

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CNN’s media pundit Brian Stelter also had a rather humorous take showcasing the bubble of isolation that must encompass his own life.

In this soundbite {Direct Rumble Link}, Brian Stelter admits he has never been invited to a party where ordinary people gather to enjoy each other in the spirit of fellowship without any rules, regulations and boundaries.  WATCH:

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