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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a binary code in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a binary code in this illustration picture, April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic//File Photo

April 24, 2019

By Joseph Menn

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Technology firms should do more to connect people in positive ways and steer away from trends that have tended to exploit human weaknesses, ethicists told a meeting of Silicon Valley leaders on Tuesday.

Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin are the co-founders of the nonprofit Center for Humane Technology and the ones who prompted Apple and Google to nudge phone users toward reducing their screen time.

Now they want companies and regulators to focus on reversing what they called “human downgrading,” which they see as at the root of a dozen worsening problems, by reconsidering the design and financial incentives of their systems.

Before a hand-picked crowd of about 300 technologists, philanthropists and others concerned with issues such as internet addiction, political polarization, and the spread of misinformation on the web, Harris said Silicon Valley was too focused on making computers surpass human strengths, rather than worrying about how they already exploit human weaknesses.

If that is not reversed, he said, “that could be the end of human agency,” or free will.

Problems include the spread of hate speech and conspiracy theories, propelled by financial incentives to keep users engaged alongside the use of powerful artificial intelligence on platforms like Alphabet Inc’s YouTube, Harris said.

YouTube and other companies have said they are cracking down on extremist speech and have removed advertising revenue-sharing from some categories of content.

Active Facebook communities can be a force for good but they also aid the dissemination of false information, the campaigners said. For example, a vocal fringe that oppose vaccines, believing contrary to scientific evidence that they cause autism, has led to an uptick in diseases that were nearly eradicated.

Facebook said in March it would reduce the distribution of content from groups promoting vaccine hoaxes.

In an interview after his speech, Harris said that what he has called a race to the bottom of the brainstem – manipulation of human instincts and emotions – could be reversed.

For example, he said that Apple and Google could reward app developers who help users, or Facebook could suggest that someone showing signs of depression call a friend who had previously been supportive.

Tech personalities attending included Apple Inc co-founder Steve Wozniak, early Facebook funder turned critic Roger McNamee and MoveOn founders Joan Blades and Wes Boyd. Tech money is also backing the Center, including charitable funds started by founders of Hewlett Packard, EBay, and Craigslist.

The big companies, Harris said, “can change the incentives.”

(Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Rosalba O’Brien)

Source: OANN

Evangelical Pastor Ramón Rigal and his wife Ayda Expósito were both sentenced to prison after engaging in and promoting homeschooling in the communist country of Cuba.

Breitbart reports:

“Homeschooling is illegal in Cuba, as it is considered a “capitalist” practice and prevents the state from indoctrinating children in Marxist atheism in public schools. Rigal has been homeschooling his children for years, forcing him into consistent confrontations with the Castro regime, and began helping other Christian families homeschool following his arrest in 2017.”

Rigal and Expósito, who are from Guatemala, were detained last week over their refusal to send their children to government-run schools.

In two previous cases against the couple, journalist Yoe Suarez reported, “the prosecutor indicated that education at home is ‘not permitted in Cuba because it has a capitalist foundation’ and that only [the government] teachers are prepared ‘to instill socialist values’.”

On Monday, the judge presiding over their cases found them guilty of “illicit assembly and incitement to delinquency” for helping other families interested in homeschooling.

Cuban state security wouldn’t let friends or family attend the sentencing and they got violent with attorney and journalist Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces.

“They punched me in the mouth, my shirt is bloody, and I am detained here now, I don’t know why,” Quiñones told a Cuban reporter.

Before the couple was arrested, they were planning on leaving the country for a nation that respects their right to freely educate their children.

Watch Rigal explain his situation in the video below that was released days before his arrest.

The case took place amid rising tension in Cuba after the country adopted a new constitution earlier this year that was met with opposition from religious leaders who say it weakens protections for freedom of religion.

Source: InfoWars

Man holds laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture
A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration

April 23, 2019

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – In the wake of the Christchurch attack, New Zealand said on Wednesday that it would work with France to bring together countries and tech companies in an effort to stop social media from being used to promote terrorism and violent extremism, .

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement that she will co-chair a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on May 15 that will seek to have world leaders and CEOs of tech companies agree to a pledge, called the Christchurch Call, to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.

A lone gunman killed 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, while livestreaming the massacre on Facebook.

Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, has been charged with 50 counts of murder for the mass shooting.

“It’s critical that technology platforms like Facebook are not perverted as a tool for terrorism, and instead become part of a global solution to countering extremism,” Ardern said in the statement.

“This meeting presents an opportunity for an act of unity between governments and the tech companies,” she added.

The meeting will be held alongside the Tech for Humanity meeting of G7 digital ministers, of which France is the chair, and France’s separate Tech for Good summit, both on 15 May, the statement said.

Ardern will also meet with civil society leaders on May 14 to discuss the content of the call.

Facebook Inc, the world’s largest social network with 2.7 billion users, has faced criticism since the Christchurch attack that it failed to tackle extremism.

One of the main groups representing Muslims in France has said it was suing Facebook and YouTube, a unit of Alphabet’s Google, accusing them of inciting violence by allowing the streaming of the Christchurch massacre on their platforms.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said last month that the company was looking to place restrictions on who can go live on its platform based on certain criteria.

“Social media platforms can connect people in many very positive ways, and we all want this to continue,” said Ardern.

“But for too long, it has also been possible to use these platforms to incite extremist violence, and even to distribute images of that violence, as happened in Christchurch. This is what needs to change,” she said.

(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: OANN

President Trump would have been indicted by Special Counsel Mueller for obstruction of justice if he wasn’t President of the United States, according to Hillary Clinton.

“I think there is enough there that any other person who had engaged in those acts would certainly have been indicted,” she said during the Time 100 conference on Tuesday.

“But because of the rule in the Justice Department that you can’t indict a sitting president, the whole matter of obstruction was very directly sent to the Congress.”

Clinton went on to say that the Mueller report was only “the beginning,” because the Democrats in Congress are planning more investigations.

“I’m really of the mind that the Mueller report is part of the beginning,” she said. “It’s not the end. Because there’s still so much more that we should know and that we should act upon…And we’re a long way from knowing because we need to get the full report — the unredacted version.”

“If at that point they believe high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed, then I think it is the obligation of the Congress to put forward articles of impeachment,” she added.

The former First Lady’s reaction to Mueller’s “no collusion” findings is unsurprising given Trump’s remarks about investigating the investigators.

“Only high crimes and misdemeanors can lead to impeachment. There were no crimes by me (No Collusion, No Obstruction), so you can’t impeach,” he tweeted Monday.

“It was the Democrats that committed the crimes, not your Republican President! Tables are finally turning on the Witch Hunt!”


Twitter: Follow @WhiteIsTheFury

Democrats have been projecting obstruction onto President Trump, yet they are the ones responsible for obstructing the 2016 election. Alex Jones takes your calls on the days breaking news.

Source: InfoWars

FILE PHOTO: A woman stands in front of the logo of Snap Inc. on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) while waiting for Snap Inc. to post their IPO, in New York City
FILE PHOTO: A woman stands in front of the logo of Snap Inc. on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) while waiting for Snap Inc. to post their IPO, in New York City, NY, U.S. March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

April 23, 2019

(Reuters) – Snap Inc on Tuesday beat Wall Street targets for quarterly revenue as its photo-messaging app Snapchat added users for the first time in three quarters, backed by the popularity of its original shows and the launch of a new Android app.

The owner of Snapchat said the number of daily active users on the app rose to 190 million in the first quarter ended March 31 from 186 million three months earlier, but it was slightly down from 191 million from a year earlier.

The figure, widely watched by investors and advertisers, also beat analysts’ average estimate of 187.2 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

In an effort to increase the amount of time users spend on the app, Snap, which faces stiff competition from Facebook Inc’s Instagram, launched over 50 new shows in the reported quarter.

It also rebuilt its Android app, which had more bugs and a worse user experience than its iOS app. The targeting of Android users is a change of tune for Snap, which prioritized development on the Apple ecosystem through its stock market launch in 2017.

Snap’s revenue, which it earns from selling advertising on the app, jumped 39 percent to $320.4 million and beat Wall Street’s average estimate of $306.6 million.

Revenue growth was helped in part by new ad formats like unskippable commercials on its original shows, which are housed on the Discover page, a panel on the app that contains publisher content along with influencer content.

Snap’s focus on privacy and communication between friends has helped it avoid problems with misinformation and spread of unsavory content, which have plagued Facebook and Google’s YouTube, two of its rivals for digital ad dollars.

Average revenue per user jumped 39 percent to $1.68 during the quarter from a year earlier.

The company’s net loss narrowed to $310.4 million, or 23 cents per share, from $385.8 million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company lost 10 cents per share in the quarter.

For the second quarter, Snap said it expects revenue of $335 million to $360 million. That compares with the average analyst estimate for revenue of $348.5 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Earlier this month, Snap launched a gaming platform within its Snapchat app featuring original and third-party games such as Zynga Inc’s Tiny Royale.

(Reporting by Vibhuti Sharma in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in New York; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

Source: OANN

A woman who claims to have had an affair with former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain got her wishes after threatening to publicly depict his genitals if he didn’t withdraw his name from consideration for the Federal Reserve Board.

“I ask Herman Cain, if I never had a sexual relationship with you, how would I be in a position to describe parts of your body that are not visible?” Cain’s accuser Ginger White asked on Thursday.

“It’s time for you, Herman, to quit,” White continued. “You are a liar and you don’t deserve the public’s confidence in such an important position.”

The comments were made during a Manhattan press conference with White’s high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred, who frequently represents women accusing men of sexual misconduct.

Allred also called for Cain’s withdrawal, saying, “We call on Mr. Cain to do the right thing and spare all of us another bruising and painful confirmation hearing.”

Monday, Cain officially withdrew from Federal Reserve consideration after realizing he didn’t want to take a massive pay cut, according to a blog post he published at Western Journal.

“Without getting too specific about how big a pay cut this would be, let’s just say I’m pretty confident that if your boss told you to take a similar pay cut, you’d tell him where to go,” Cain explained.

“It was an honor to be considered,” he wrote. “Under different circumstances, I would like to have served.”

However, the timing of Cain’s withdrawal is suspicious at best as Fox News’ Tucker Carlson highlighted on his Monday night broadcast.

“To me, it looks like blackmail,” Carlson stated. “She’s saying ‘We’re going to depict your genitals if you don’t do what we want you to do, which is pull your name.’ And he clearly caved, understandably.”

Even Democrat strategist and University of Maryland professor Jason Nichols agreed that a dangerous precedent is being set by accepting a society where people can be blackmailed in this fashion.

“Do you want to live in a society where people can be blackmailed like that?” Tucker asked, to which Nichols replied, “No, and I would agree with that.”

Source: InfoWars

Left-wing Labour MP Rupa Huq, who said that ISIS bride Shamima Begum should “come back” to the UK, is now calling for President Donald Trump to be banned from entering the country on a state visit because of “racism”.

During a radio interview in February, Huq said Begum, who had her citizenship revoked, had suffered “trial by media” and should have been allowed to return to the UK from Syria.

This despite the fact that Begum literally stitched bombs into suicide vests to ensure they exploded when taken off during her time alongside ISIS jihadists in Syria.

Begum was also a member of the “hisba” enforcement group, which handed out brutal punishments to those found flouting ISIS laws on how to dress and behave. She also pointed an automatic weapon at women in Syria for “wearing brightly colored shoes”.

She also said during interviews that seeing decapitated heads in trash cans didn’t faze her because the victims were “enemies of Islam”.

While Huq is happy to see Begum return to the UK, she doesn’t want the leader of the free world and the UK’s number one ally to enter the country.

Huq is one of several Labour MPs who have put their name to a parliamentary motion that “calls on the Prime Minister and the Government to rescind the advice to offer a full state visit to President Trump.”

The reasons given include Trump not believing in man-made climate change, him being mean to London Mayor Sadiq Khan and general accusations of “racism” and “misogynism”.

Huq also said that Trump’s visit would not be “conducive to good race relations in this country” and said granting him a parliamentary address would also send out “all the wrong messages”.

Maybe if Trump had run off to Syria and joined ISIS, he’d get a fairer hearing from the left.

Some of the same people who openly advocate letting ISIS jihadists return to the UK want Trump to be banned from entering the country ‘because racism’.

Let that sink in.

Source: InfoWars

The brothers who were allegedly paid by Empire star Jussie Smollett to stage a hate crime hoax are suing the actor’s lawyers for defamation, claiming his legal team continues to drag their names through the mud despite charges being dropped against the actor.

Brothers Abimobola and Olabinjo Osundairo claim they were paid by Smollett to help perpetrate the hoax, in which they wore red hats before attacking him on the streets of Chicago. The actor then blamed the attack on supporters of Donald Trump claiming his attackers yelled, “This is MAGA country.”

After Cook County prosecutors made the unusual move of dropping 16 felony counts against the actor, the brothers – who confessed to police Smollett had paid them to carry out the hoax – claim Smollett’s attorneys have been emboldened and are doubling down on claims against them.

At a press conference Tuesday, the brother’s lawyers accused Smollett of not only destroying their reputations, but that of the City of Chicago, as well.

“These lies are destroying our character and our reputation in our personal and professional lives,” one of the brothers’ attorneys, Gloria Schmidt, read from a prepared statement. “Those who know us personally know that we don’t have hate for anyone… That is not who we are.”

“The Chicagoan brothers told the truth,” Schmidt said. “They could have remained silent. But instead they told the truth to the police, and with their right hand in the air, they told the truth to the grand jury. We’re going to make sure that the lies and malice attacking our city, our Police Department and my two clients are met with truth and healing.”

Additionally, Abimobola claims Smollett’s attorney “inferred” during a radio interview he and Smollett had “engaged, at least briefly, in homosexual acts together,” which the brother denied vehemently saying he is heterosexual and in a relationship with a woman. The statement was particularly damaging, according to the federal lawsuit, because he still has family in Nigeria where homosexual activity is illegal and not tolerated.

The brothers, who are both aspiring actors, say they’re the real victims of Smollett’s case and that they merely helped him hoping to advance their careers.

Smollett, the brothers claim, “directed every aspect of the attack, including the location and the noose.”

“In short, Mr. Smollett used his clout as a wealthy actor to influence (the Osundairo brothers), who were in a subordinate relationship to him and were aspiring to ‘make it’ in Hollywood,” the suit reads.

Watch the brothers’ attorney’s press conference below:

Read the brothers’ lawsuit:


Follow @AdanSalazarWins

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adan.salazar.735

Source: InfoWars

Activists dressed as clowns interrupted a local ‘drag queen story hour’ event in New Orleans to draw attention to the absurdity of the situation.

Drag queen story hour, which first surfaced in 2015, sees men dressed as women tour public libraries and schools across the United States and Canada reading books to children.

According to the group’s website, the aim of the project is to capture “the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and give kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models.”

Conservatives are strongly opposed to the concept, arguing that it exposes children as young as 2-years-old to sexuality.

The backlash grew last month after it was revealed that a man who was charged with sexually assaulting a child was allowed to read to kids at a library in Houston.

Activists with the American identity movement decided to protest a drag queen story hour in New Orleans by dressing up as clowns and crashing the event.

They carried a banner which read ‘Drag Queen Story Hour – Adult Entertainment For Kids! Welcome to Clown World – Honk Honk’.

Judging from the clip the group posted to Twitter, they were asked to leave in a hurry but managed to make their point.

The ‘clown world’ meme is based on the premise that identity politics has left western society so muddled and confused that the only way to respond to it is with nihilism in clown form.

Source: InfoWars

Bob Woodward, the reporter who broke open the Watergate scandal, has called for the FBI and CIA to be investigated regarding the agencies’ handling of the debunked dossier that formed the basis of the Mueller investigation of the Trump campaign.

During an interview with Fox News’s Chris Wallace, Woodward declared that the dossier authored by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele “has got a lot of garbage in it”.

“What I found out recently, which was really quite surprising, the dossier, which really has got a lot of garbage in it and Mueller found that to be the case, early in building the intelligence community assessment on Russian interference, in an early draft, they actually put the dossier on page two in kind of a breakout box.”

“I think it was the CIA pushing this. Real intelligence experts looked at this and said no, this is not intelligence, this is garbage and they took it out,” Woodward added.

“But in this process, the idea that they would include something like that in one of the great stellar intelligence assessments, as Mueller also found out, is highly questionable.” he added, saying that it “Needs to be investigated.”

Last week, President Trump slammed the FBI, stating that the intelligence agency conspired against his presidential campaign.

Trump addressed the ‘fake’ dossier, which was funded in part by Fusion GPS, a political intelligence firm working for the DNC, calling it a “total fraud on your President and the American people!”

He also took aim at “Crooked Hillary” noting that eleven payments were made to the former to British spy Steele by the FBI in 2016.

Judicial Watch is suing for communication and payment records between the FBI, Steele, and his private firm, Orbis Business Intelligence.

Source: InfoWars


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