1, Poland will not go quietly into that tard night.
2. Academics ‘funded by Google’ tend not to mention it in their work
(Remember that Google’s corporate motto is “Don’t be evil” which is now just a big laugh by the senior execs around the 24/7 private bar and brothel)
Two-thirds of the time support is not disclosed, say campaigners
A network of academics on Google’s payroll just so happens to churn out “independent research” friendly to their sugar daddy’s corporate goals. But two-thirds of the time you wouldn’t know it, according to the Campaign for Accountability.
An ongoing campaign by the non-profit, called the Google Transparency Project (GTP), inspected public data on research directly or indirectly funded by the Chocolate Factory, focusing on privacy, net neutrality, patents and copyright.
Instead of providing a dispassionate critique of Silicon Valley, academics viewed it as a chance to expand their domains. The early noughties saw a proliferation of “cyberlaw” departments and “internet institutes” only too keen to take corporate funding from technology companies. This was a shrewd investment – it has helped now-dominant internet platforms set the agenda.
3. Green Infidel, our man in Poland, informs us that shortly after Midnight ET on Polish TV the following statement was read by Polish State TV:
“The Polish government does not agree to take in refugees, or Islamic migrants”.
For details see item 1.
4. CNN reveals its own ROE on who can and cannot get information from foreign powers on political candidates. Article here.
5. Christians jailed for 10 years and face public flogging for drinking communion wine in Iran
Officials in Tehran charged four men with “acting against national security” and drinking alcohol after they took part in communion.
Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, Mohammadreza Omidi, Yasser Mossayebzadeh and Saheb Fadaie have been sentenced to ten years in prison each.
In a further blow Nadarkhani and Omidi were given additional sentences of two years in exile in southern Iran.
6. A link to the banned pictures of Nice on the one year anniversary of the attack.
Thank you Charles, M., Wrath of Khan, ML., EB., and all who sent in materials. Please remember to check the comments under the Reader’s links post for much of importance that may not be in this or other posts today.
In the past year or so, it has become interesting to revisit classic dystopian future fiction as it pretty much reflects large chunks of dystopian present.
Last night I watched Animal Farm, the version below, and while we can think of so many things it represents in the current politics of the world, it is so close to Erdogan’s Turkey, where Fethullah Gulen is Snowball, and Erdogan is Napoleon, that it makes one wonder if he didn’t actually get the idea from Orwell directly.
Christopher Hitchens once said (more or less) in a speech, that he hated using Orwell comparisons as they are overused and cliche, but it is impossible to go to North Korea as he had, (the only journalist to have done so) and its hard not to think that the Kim dynasty, (now run by Dum Phat Gai, as he is known in China) did not read 1984 and think, “What a great idea! Let’s do that!. After watching Animal Farm, one could easily say the same of Turkey’s more equal pig, Erdogan.
The FIRE Rises: Western Capitulation / Eastern Europe on the Brink
How many times has Eeyore or one of the regulars compared modern governments or governmental actions to Orwell or Huxley? and Bradbury has been added to the list with the recent book bannings?
The west is in massive trouble but unlike Black Pigeon I refuse to accept the idea that the West is finished. There are enough people in all Western nations resisting the Islamic Conquest that all nations can be saved. The US and Canada should be able to successfully resist the Conquest and hopefully we will be able to (with Eastern European help) liberate the nations that were conquered. This will be a long war with massive numbers of refugees from Western Europe forming governments in exile (there may be competing governments in exile) and Free Armies from all Western nations to help in the liberation. Never give up and say some nations is finished to do this is to admit defeat and makes the resistance harder.
We’ve got to know when to fold up-
don’t wait too long for kindertransport-