Category Archives: Profiteering

With Hillary Clinton, We’ve Seen This Witchhunt Before | Dame Magazine

With Hillary Clinton, We’ve Seen This Witchhunt BeforeWe’ve seen unprecedented level of murderous vitriol spewed at the Democratic presidential candidate. But it’s just another chapter in a long history of demonizing women seeking power.

Source: With Hillary Clinton, We’ve Seen This Witchhunt Before | Dame Magazine

Donald Trump May Have Private Server to Communicate Exclusively With Russia – from one puppet to his puppeteer – How am I doing, boss?

Now computer scientists have unearthed evidence that Trump may have also maintained a private server for exclusive communication with a Russian bank.  Slate’s Franklin Foer conducted a painstaking investigation into the means by which scientists uncovered this data and the extent to which it may be linked to the 2016 election. Currently, sufficient evidence does not exist to bring forth allegations. What evidence does exist, however, is impossible to brush aside.In brief, an anonymous scientist referred to as Tea Leaves discovered that one server registered to the Trump Organization and two registered to Alfa Bank have been in communication. The Trump Organization server was created in 2009 for marketing purposes, but it no longer seems to engage in high levels of traffic. In fact, it has become apparent that these servers exclusively exchanged information with one another — that is to say, there were no communications with other entities.“These organizations are communicating in a way designed to block other people out,” computer scientist L. Jean Camp told Slate. Alfa Bank, helmed by Mikhail Fridman and Pyotyr Aven, does have dealings in the United States. LetterOne, one of the bank’s holding companies, invested $200 million in Uber this year and intends to commit $3 billion to United States health care. And by all accounts, Alfa Bank has not involved itself in shady business; it has even received an award for “Corporate Citizenship.” That said, Fridman and Aven do belong to Putin’s inner circle, albeit the perimeter. And Alfa Bank’s international success has, in the eyes of the Russian government, revealed the country’s business prowess and made it seem a more competitive contender.The relationship between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank also seems connected to—or at least influenced by—the election. As scientists began to monitor activity between the servers, they noticed a trend. “At election-related moments, the traffic peaked,” explained Camp. For instance, during both party conventions, there was considerably more communication.

Source: Donald Trump May Have Private Server to Communicate Exclusively With Russia

Some Donald Trump Voters Warn of Revolution if Hillary Clinton Wins – The New York Times {Keep track of these KKK AMER-ISIS fools-that want to return to Oklahoma city bombing tactics}

Jared Halbrook, 25, of Green Bay, Wis., said that if Mr. Trump lost to Hillary Clinton, which he worried would happen through a stolen election, it could lead to “another Revolutionary War.”“People are going to march on the capitols,” said Mr. Halbrook, who works at a call center. “They’re going to do whatever needs to be done to get her out of office, because she does not belong there.”

Source: Some Donald Trump Voters Warn of Revolution if Hillary Clinton Wins – The New York Times

Study finds wrong antibiotics often given for common infections | CIDRAP

Convenience and perception

Although the study does not explore the reasons providers are so frequently veering from the recommended treatments, both Hicks and Hyun have some ideas.Hicks said the simplest explanation may be the convenience factor. For example, azithromycin is a once-a-day drug, while some of the first-line drugs need to be taken twice or even three times a day. But Hicks believes there’s also a perception, shared by both provider and patient, that broader may be better, and that using drugs that cover more bacteria makes it less likely that something could be missed.Hyun suggests there’s also a social dynamic going between patients and doctors, where patient expectations—and how doctors perceive those expectations—are playing a role in antibiotic prescribing. “Physicians and providers feel, a lot of the time, that patients walk into their office with a certain level of expectation for antibiotics,” Hyun said.And that, along with the patient’s previous experience, can have an impact on antibiotic selection. So if a patient has previously received a broad-spectrum antibiotic and it worked well, they’ll probably ask for that same antibiotic again. “That can influence the prescriber,” Hyun said.

Source: Study finds wrong antibiotics often given for common infections | CIDRAP

Donald Trump’s Defiance Is Seen as ‘Colossal Mistake’ That Threatens U.S. Image – The New York Times – For his ego, he is willing to sell out the US!

“What many if not most foreigners admire about us, about the United States, is the durability of our democracy and the fact that we alternate power,” Mr. Burns said. “It’s how we are fundamentally different from Russia and China, and it gives us an enormous advantage.”Mr. Burns, who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton for president, called Mr. Trump’s remarks a flagrant violation of American democratic traditions. “I don’t think we’ve had a serious national leader say that since the Confederate leaders of 1860 who refused to accept the election of Lincoln,” he said.William M. Daley, a former White House chief of staff who was the chairman of Al Gore’s campaign during the 2000 standoff in Florida, said Mr. Trump seemed indifferent to the possibility that his words might weaken trust in the American government, at home and overseas.Mr. Daley said the Gore team had been cautious not to say anything during the Florida recount that might cripple the next president’s legitimacy, to the point that other Democrats criticized them for being overly cautious. Mr. Trump, he said, was taking the opposite approach.“He really has no appreciation for our history, which most of the world looks at with great admiration, as opposed to some banana republic,” Mr. Daley said. On election night, Mr. Daley said, “he could be tweeting at 3 in the morning and trying to undercut the new administration coming in.”

Source: Donald Trump’s Defiance Is Seen as ‘Colossal Mistake’ That Threatens U.S. Image – The New York Times

Inside Donald Trump’s echo chamber of conspiracies, grievances and vitriol – The Washington Post

In the presidential campaign’s home stretch, Donald Trump is fully inhabiting his own echo chamber. The Republican nominee has turned inward, increasingly isolated from the country’s mainstream and leaders of his own party, and determined to rouse his most fervent supporters with dire warnings that their populist movement could fall prey to dark and collusive forces.This is a campaign right out of Breitbart, the incendiary conservative website run until recently by Stephen K. Bannon, now the Trump campaign’s chief executive — and it is an act of retaliation.A turbulent few weeks punctuated by allegations of sexual harassment have left Trump trailing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in nearly every swing state. Trump’s gamble is that igniting his army of working-class whites could do more to put him in contention than any sort of broad, tempered appeal to undecided voters.The execution has been volatile. Since announcing last week that “the shackles have been taken off me,” Trump, bolstered by allies on talk radio and social media, has been creating an alternate reality — one full of innuendo about Clinton, tirades about the unfair news media and prophecies of Trump’s imminent triumph.Donald Trump’s long list of conspiracy theories Play Video2:52Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump believes there’s a global conspiracy to stop him from becoming president – but it’s not the first time he’s pushed unfounded theories. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)The candidate once omnipresent across the “mainstream media” these days largely limits his interviews to the safe harbor of the opinion shows on Fox News, and most of them are with Sean Hannity, a Trump supporter and informal counselor.[Trump says groping allegations are part of a global conspiracy to help Clinton]Many Republicans see the Trump campaign’s latest incarnation as a mirror into the psyche of their party’s restive base: pulsating with grievance and vitriol, unmoored from conservative orthodoxy, and deeply suspicious of the fast-changing culture and the consequences of globalization.

Source: Inside Donald Trump’s echo chamber of conspiracies, grievances and vitriol – The Washington Post

Trump Accuses Clinton of Guiding Global Elite Against U.S. Working Class – The New York Times – Translation: German-American Trump uses anti-semitic code words and themes to gain advantage

“Mr. Trump focused on the very issues and themes that obsess conspiratorial anti-Semites: They believe that there is an elite group of Jews who control the media, the government, and banking, and who are trying to destroy white America,” he said. “They also believe that most of Hillary Clinton’s donors are Jewish.”The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Others drew a more direct comparison between Mr. Trump’s words and those of anti-Semites.In the speech, Mr. Trump also accused the “Clinton machine” of wielding control over the news media, as well.“The most powerful weapon deployed by the Clintons is the corporate media, the press,” he said to jeers from the audience.While the allegations were aimed at Mrs. Clinton, who is a Methodist, Jews have long been accused of conspiring to control institutions like banks and the media in order to amass wealth and power.In 1931, for example, the author A. N. Field described the creation of the American Federal Reserve as the moment the “German-Jew engine of control” enslaved the United States, according to the Anti-Defamation League. That conspiracy theory has survived the ensuing decades and, even today, such anti-Semitic beliefs remain prevalent around the world, according to A.D.L. polling.In West Palm Beach on Thursday, reporters covering Mr. Trump returned to a table reserved for the press to find a sign bearing a swastika and the word “MEDIA” scrawled on it, Jim Acosta, a senior CNN White House correspondent, reported.

Source: Trump Accuses Clinton of Guiding Global Elite Against U.S. Working Class – The New York Times

Google’s Decision To Sponsor Visa Of Anti-Gay Kenyan Activist Creates Internal Conflict: SFist

Ezekiel Mutua is the head of the Kenyan film classification board, and in that capacity has repeatedly condemned homosexuality and worked to ban music and film that depict it. “Kenya must not allow people to become the Sodom and Gomorrah through psychological drive from such content,” he told Mamba Online in reference to a cover of the Macklemore song “Same Love” which addressed the queer community in Kenya.In a country where homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in prison Mutua’s words carry weight, and the KFCB outlawed the music video in question.

Source: Google’s Decision To Sponsor Visa Of Anti-Gay Kenyan Activist Creates Internal Conflict: SFist

More Zika mosquitoes found in Miami Beach | CIDRAP – When will governments care more about health than tourist dollars?

Traps show mosquitoes still in Miami BeachDespite more than a month of ground and aerial spraying, officials in Florida reported that a trap in Miami Beach showed Aedes mosquitos harboring the Zika virus over the weekend. This was the sixth Zika-positive mosquito pool found in Miami Beach since Aug 19, and the first to show Zika-carrying bugs in the Mid-Beach neighborhood (the previous five mosquito pools were found in South Beach), according to the Miami Herald.The trap was located at 575 W. 49th street, near the La Gorce Golf Course. More than 64,000 Florida mosquitos have been tested for Zika virus since May; only the six pools in Miami Beach have tested positive for mosquitos carrying Zika virus.This was the first time health officials released the location of the traps as soon as samples tested positive, a move promoted by the Herald’s Sep 28 lawsuit that demanded the state release the location of traps that tested positive for Zika.The news comes after Florida Health, the state’s Department of Health, reported five more cases of locally acquired Zika virus on Sep 30 and nine more cases today. All nine cases were in Miami-Dade County; seven people had exposure in Miami Beach, and exposure in the other seven cases is currently under investigation.Also, Florida Health reported one more infection in an out-of-state resident who was exposed to Zika in Miami-Dade County and three new cases in those who traveled to both Miami-Dade County and countries where the virus is circulating, so exposure location can’t be definitively pinned down.The state now has recorded 133 local cases, 16 in out-of-state people, and 4 of undetermined exposure source.

Source: More Zika mosquitoes found in Miami Beach | CIDRAP

Facebook-Israel agreement could change face of social media – IFEX  – Money before people and freedom

The spectre of violent extremism is being used to repress legitimate dissent. In Israel, the agreement with Facebook appears to legitimize an Israeli policy that in recent months has resulted in an estimated 400 arrests of Palestinians—both in Israel and the Occupied Territories—for “incitement” in social media posts, primarily on Facebook. Posts have included acts as simple as writing a poem. States pressure private companies to engage in such agreements through shaming or “demonizing,” as well as threats of blocking, fines, or even imprisonment of company executives. They often justify this pressure by citing the companies’ own voluntary and proprietary terms of service and community standards, whose definitions of permissible speech are narrower than those encoded in their own constitutions or in the International Covenant on Civil Political Rights (ICCPR). For instance, the Israeli announcement of the agreement with Facebook came amid reports of “proposed legislation that seeks to force social networks to remove content that Israel considers to be incitement.” Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)—to which Israel is a party—permits states to limit an individual’s freedom of expression only under select circumstances, including to protect the rights or reputations of others, national security, public order, public health, or morals. These limits, however, must first meet a three-part test as defined by the ICCPR: the limits must (1) be defined by law, (2) have legitimate aim, and (3) be truly necessary. Not only does strong-arming a social media company to censor its users according to its own policies meet no such test, it also precludes real accountability of either the company or the government to its users or citizens. Israel is not alone; agreements between social media companies and the European Commission and government of Germany have made headlines and have been widely criticized by human and digital rights organizations. Nevertheless, social media companies also have an obligation to stand up to such pressuring and to make public when they are being asked to contravene the law.

Source: Facebook-Israel agreement could change face of social media – IFEX