

Politics
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
Big Tech spends billions to lobby against oversight, while capitalizing on publicly funded data and details of our private lives
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff is an eye-opening book, that everyone who loves freedom needs to heed. Here are snippets of reviews of the book:
This book explains the challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, and offers an extensive, highly detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called “surveillance capitalism,” and the quest by powerful corporations led by Leftist billionaires [think: Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Twitter] to predict and control us.
The heady optimism of the Internet’s early days is gone. Technologies that were meant to liberate us have deepened inequality and stoked divisions. Tech companies gather our information online and sell it to the highest bidder, whether government or retailer.
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The Profits Roll In
Profits now depend not only on predicting our behavior but modifying it too. How will this fusion of capitalism and the digital shape our values and define our future?
We are at a crossroads. We still have the power to decide what kind of world we want to live in, and what we decide now will shape the rest of the century.
Our choices: allow technology to enrich the few and impoverish the many, or harness it and distribute its benefits. The stark issue at hand is whether we will be the masters of information and machines or its slaves.
We Are Their Pawns
A review of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism from the Guardian observed that we are their pawns. Tech companies want to control every aspect of what we do, for profit. This bold, vital book identifies our new era of capitalism.
First intent on organizing all human knowledge, Google ended up controlling all access to it; we do the searching, and are searched in turn. Setting out merely to connect us, Facebook found itself in possession of our deepest secrets.
In seeking to survive commercially beyond their initial goals, these companies realized they were sitting on a new kind of asset: our “behavioral surplus”, the totality of information about our every thought, word and deed, which could be traded for profit in new markets based on predicting our every need – or producing it.
In a move of such audacity that it bears comparison to colonial conquests, the tech giants unilaterally declared that these previously untapped resources were theirs for the taking, and brushed aside every objection.
Above the Law
While insisting that their technology is too complex to be legislated, companies have poured billions into lobbying against oversight, while building empires on publicly funded data and the details of our private lives. They have repeatedly rejected established norms of societal responsibility and accountability.
What is crucially different about this new form of exploitation and exceptionalism, is that beyond merely strip-mining our intimate inner lives, is that the extraction is so grotesque, so creepy, it is almost impossible to see how anyone who thinks about, it lives with it – and yet we do.
The benefits of faster search results and turn-by-turn directions mask the deeper, destructive predations of “surveillance capitalism,” a force that is as profoundly undemocratic as it is exploitative….
Ignorance of surveillance capitalism is one of the central strategies of this regime, and yet the tide is turning: more and more people express their unease about the surveillance economy and, disturbed by the fractious, alienated, and trustless social sphere it generates, are seeking alternatives.
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Thanksgiving: that joyous time of the year when families get together, have a wonderful dinner, catch up on what everyone other is doing, give thanks for all that they have, and perhaps watch some football.
Up for the Challenge?
This Thanksgiving might prove to be a challenge for many people. For one, the cost of the turkey, the bird traditionally served, in some locals cost between 50% to 80% more than last year, and turkey was already expensive.
Among your relatives a few might be vegans or vegetarians. If you have a vegan enforcer in the family, this person will rail on and on against eating meat, and about how turkeys have lives just like we do.
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One of your vegan or vegetarian relatives might offer a discourse on how cranberries should be harvested a different way, the dangers of turkey stuffing, and the problem with vegetables that you might be serving, the risk of having too many starches – potatoes or rice – and the evils of wine, beer, and other alcoholic drinks.
Topics Worth Avoiding
The politics to consider abound. Since roughly half of the country votes Democrat and half votes Republican, the odds are overwhelming that you’re going to have somebody with opposing politics at the table. During Trump’s years as president, many families had to navigate around the topic of the presidency, prevailing policies. and so on.
Today, while there’s no question that Joe Biden is completely inane as leader, the same delicate navigation needs to occur. As miraculous as this might seem, some on the left actually approve of what Biden has been doing. Note: don’t be concerned about the Bidens going hungry. With all those under-the-table payment from Ukraine and China, they can EASILY afford a huge, expensive turkey with all of the trimmings.
If you can avoid discussing the eight million invaders illegally crossing our borders, rampant inflation, the U.S. Afghanistan withdrawal, the crisis in Israel and potential for World War III, drag time story hour for children, transgenderism, the bogus lawsuits against Donald Trump, the unending crimes of Hunter Biden, the payola to Joe Biden, FBI corruption, the historic unpopularity and ineptness of Kamala Harris, and about 30 or so other topics, your dinner should go smoothly. Enjoy!
A huge current wrinkle on the political scene is that recent surveys reveal at least one-quarter of Democrats actually approve of Hamas, atrocities and all, and side with Palestine on all issues large and small. They believe that Israel is an apartheid state and that Jews are today’s Nazis. Apparently they’ve never visited Israel and have no Jewish friends.
Depending on how many Democrats attend your Thanksgiving gathering, if it’s four or more, mathematically speaking you have a decent chance that one is a pro-Hamas Democrat. Wooo… Now, you really have to stay clear of current issues or your dinner table might be as inflamed verbally as the Middle East is with armaments.
Insufferable Stuffing
After everyone is stuffed with turkey, vegeburgers, or whatever the people who like rabbit food eat, you might sit in the den and turn on a football game. Quickly, you’ll have a stark reminder of how far political correctness has infected society.
If the Washington Commanders are playing, it’s hard to forget that they used to be called the Washington Redskins until the wokesters among us demanded that the name must be changed. Not so ironically, 90% of native Americans actually want the name Washington Redskins reinstalled, and currently are petitioning for it.
In baseball, the Cleveland Indians “had” to be renamed to the Cleveland Guardians. Potentially, there’s no end of this malarkey. Should the Minnesota Vikings change their name? After all, people from Scandinavia might object to the term “Vikings.” While we’re at it, consider college basketball. The Wake Forest University Demon Deacons are due for a name change, if you’re on the Left. So, too, the Duke University Blue Devils, the Arizona University Aztecs, and on and on.
Landmines to Side Step
With all these potential land mines to side step, and all the ways that otherwise pleasant conversations on a pleasant day could occur, you have to be on guard.
Nevertheless, I wish you and yours a happy Thanksgiving. May you survive the day, fully intact, and ready to have a decent Black Friday.
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Politics
Guinness World Record for U.S. Presidential Lies
Lies are sometimes necessary, but some are gross manipulations of reality
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In its non-stop attempt to portray Donald Trump as the most despicable person ever, the Left slanders him daily in ways unprecedented in American history. If Trump makes an exaggeration, which he is prone to do, he’s called a liar. In office, when Trump achieved anything of note, the Left cherry-picked minor aspects that could be criticized and elevated beyond their stature.
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Those on the Right recognize the deeper, universal truths that Trump espouses. Hence, they attend his rallies by the tens of thousands. Hardly anyone is eager to attend a Joe Biden rally. Why?
All Built on Lies
Joe Biden, beyond his word salad bumbling, is an incredible liar, covering for Barack Obama, his master. Virtually everything that Biden and his press secretary say is a lie. Unsurprisingly, public confidence in the presidency and today’s sycophant journalism is at an all-time low.
His agency heads consistently lie: Merrick Garland, Alejandro Mayorkas, Christopher Wray, Pete Buttigieg, and Antony Blinken, among many others. Take your pick.
The precedent for the Biden Administration’s lies is the administration of Barack Obama, for whom Biden served as vice president. Obama taught Biden the best of lying techniques.
To Lie and To Swerve
Lies are sometimes necessary, but some are gross manipulations of reality. A brief look at presidential lies since 1968 puts Obama’s lies in context.
LBJ said that none of our boys would die in foreign soil, and 54,000 Americans died in Vietnam. Nixon made many statements, most memorably, “I’m not a crook,” yet he sought to steal the private records of enemies and was exposed by the Watergate scandal.
George Bush senior said, “Read my lips, no new taxes.” Then in office, he raised taxes which, rolling over in his grave, he likely regrets. Bill Clinton told so many lies, you’d need a book to catalog them all. Among his most famous is “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”
George W. Bush, faultily advised, made concerning statements about Iraq. Barack Obama, Joe Biden’s handler, said he’d have the most transparent administration in history. Alas, his was the most secretive: spying on enemies, journalists, political opponents, and everyday American citizens.
The Grand Wizard of Big Lies
Obama touted that he’d restore trust in government. Instead, he opened the doors to the opposite. Obama said the stimulus will fund shovel-ready jobs. It did not. He said, “I am focused like a laser on creating jobs.” The jobs he created were low-wage and low-level. Obama told hardworking entrepreneurs, “You didn’t build that,” which offended business owners everywhere.
Obama weaponized federal agencies to persecute and prosecute Conservatives, so it was hardly a transparent administration. He insisted the IRS was not targeting anyone, but under his henchwoman, Lois Learner, the IRS targeted the Tea Party and Conservatives in general. Lerner’s department harassed, intimidated, and fined them, and diminished their impact on voters in the 2012 election.
Obama proclaimed that a spontaneous riot based on a movie sparked the attack on the Benghazi consulate, which he knew was completely untrue. The attack was well coordinated and planned in advance.
No Stopping Him
Obama announced that the public will have five days to review every bill which lands on his desk. Then, he hustled through some of the most expensive boondoggles in U.S. history. With the introduction of Obamacare, Obama said that you can keep your family doctor and that premiums will be lowered by $2,500. This was utterly false.
Obama stated that whistleblowers would be protected in his administration. Then, he offered no protection. Obama said we’ll get back every dime we use to rescue the banks and auto companies, with interest. This did not happen.
He emphasized that, if elected, he would end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan within nine months. He did not. He claimed he would close Guantanamo within six months. It did not happen. He claimed ignorance about the “fast and furious” gun-running scheme to arm Mexican drug cartels. He knew. Obama proclaimed that he would bridge the gap between black and white Americans. Actually, he increased it in ways that set racial relations back 50 years.
The Biggest Lie of All
The biggest lie that Obama ever uttered occurred on January 20th, 2009, when he said, “I, Barack Hussein Obama, pledge to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.” Twelve years later, Biden did the same.
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