By Michael Krieger: If you thought that CCTV cameras tracking your every move in public
was bad enough, you’re going to just love AISight (pronounced “eyesight”
of course). The invention of a Houston, Texas based company called BRS
Labs (which stands for Behavioral Recognition Systems) is headed by
former secret service special agent John Frazzini, and this
Orwellian surveillance platform brings artificial intelligence to all of
those creepy cameras that have been installed everywhere around you.
Apparently, this system is currently being installed in Boston, and
has already been implemented in Chicago and Washington. In the event you
live in these cities, I bet you’ve never heard of AISight, and more
importantly, I bet there’s been little to no public debate.
The most disturbing part about this platform is that this artificial
intelligence defines what is “normal” behavior and anything that falls
outside of that narrow band can be flagged for “pre crime” potential.
Ultimately, if these things are allowed to proliferate, it will
condition humans to behave like zombie automatons fearful that anything
interesting or creative might be viewed as criminal.
The NYPD recently engaged in such behavior when it arrested a street
artist unlawfully. Now imagine if a computer could do the work the work
without human involvement.
Submitted by Tyler Durden: There have been 13 senior 'financial services executives' deaths around the world this year, but the most notable thing about the sad suicide of the 14th, a 52-year-old bankster at France's Bred-Banque-Populaire, is she is the first female. As Le Parisien reports, Lydia (no surname given) jumped from the bank's Paris headquarter's 14th floor shortly before 10am. FranceTV added that sources said "she questioned her superiors before jumping out the window," but the banksters deny it saying that she had been in therapy for several years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the Internet a project controlled by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), saying Russia needs to fight “for its interests” online.
Orwellian UK BANNED Press TV: The Russian president made the remarks on Thursday, stressing that the Internet was a special project by the CIA and "is still developing as such."
Putin also warned the Russian people against making Google searches, emphasizing that every entry made into Google goes through servers in the United States.
Putin's remarks come on the backdrop of revelations made public by US surveillance whistleblower, Edward Snowden.
The former CIA employee leaked two top secret US government spying programs under which the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are eavesdropping on millions of American and European phone records and the Internet data from major Internet companies such as Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Apple, and Microsoft.
The NSA scandal took even broader dimensions when Snowden revealed information about its espionage activities targeting friendly countries.
Submitted by Tyler Durden: Andrew Haldane, who is well known among readers as being one of the most outspoken and truthy central bankers in the world, will become Bank of England's Chief Economist in June. That fact is what makes his comments - however factually honest - extremely uncomfortable for the Keynesian status quo DSGE modelers alive and well in every central bank in the world. To summarize his thoughts in the following letter - the models are useless and it's time to rethink everything...
Via Andrew Haldane,
In the light of the financial crisis, those [macro and micro model] foundations no longer look so secure. Unbridled competition, in the financial sector and elsewhere, was shown not to have served wider society well. Greed, taken to excess, was found to have been bad. The Invisible Hand could, if pushed too far, prove malign and malevolent, contributing to the biggest loss of global incomes and output since the 1930s. The pursuit of self-interest, by individual firms and by individuals within these firms, has left society poorer.
Stefan Molyneux: Stephan and Jeffrey Tucker talk about what has made war possible, who profits from war, the role public education plays in modern war, unintended consequences and feeling the pain from the drug of debt.
By Peter Schwartz: All forms of collectivism rest on a certain metaphysics. The collectivist tenets—in economics, that production is primarily a social effort; in politics, that the group, not the individual, has rights; in ethics, that the individual must sacrifice his interests to the needs of society; in epistemology, that the judgment of an individual mind is subordinate to the collective consensus—all stem from a deeper premise: that the individual is impotent to cope with reality. The individual, on this premise, cannot sustain his life on his own, and must depend upon the group for survival. This viewpoint, as applied to women, is what feminism essentially promulgates.
Of all the supposedly demeaning views of women for which feminists condemn our “patriarchal” society, none is remotely as denigrating as that held by feminism itself. It is, today, uniquely feminists who depict women as congenitally helpless, endlessly “victimized” creatures.
By Michael Snyder: The similarities between 2007 and 2014 continue to pile up. As you are about to see, U.S. home sales fell dramatically throughout 2007 even as the mainstream media, our politicians and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke promised us that everything was going to be just fine and that we definitely were not going to experience a recession. Of course we remember precisely what followed. It was the worst economic crisis since the days of the Great Depression. And you know what they say - if we do not learn from history we are doomed to repeat it. Just like seven years ago, the stock market has soared to all-time high after all-time high. Just like seven years ago, the authorities are telling us that there is nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, just like seven years ago, a housing bubble is imploding and another great economic crisis is rapidly approaching.
Britain has spent £34 billion ($57 billion) on overseas military operations since the end of the Cold War in 1990, a new study shows.
Orwellian UK BANNED Press TV: According to the research, published by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the bulk of the money, 84 percent of it, has been spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The study, entitled “Wars in Peace,” also found that a further £30 billion ($50 billion) may have to be allocated to long-term care for injured British veterans.
The research challenged the spending on the UK’s military interventions, adding that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were later judged to be “strategic failures.”
Moreover, the RUSI report concluded that, “Far from reducing international terrorism… the 2003 invasion [of Iraq] had the effect of promoting it.”
By JB McMunn, M.D., a board-certified pain specialist who trained at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Entering his 7th decade on Earth, he has spent over half his life practicing medicine. He writes under a pseudonym because he still works in his medical community and there be peeps who don't like what he says fo' shizzle.
Over the past decade, US Medicare fees have risen about 10% while the cost of running a medical practice has risen about 30%. It has become increasingly difficult to stay in business as a private practitioner. At the lower range of compensation – pediatricians, family doctors, internists – it has become almost impossible.
Many practices have stopped accepting Medicare or Medicaid, and some have opted out of third party payment altogether, electing to go to a concierge practice (flat fee for all services the doctor provides, usually paid monthly or annually) or just a straight cash-based fee-for-service model.
Another option is to work as an employee of a hospital. There are several advantages for the physician: a more secure and predictable level of income, none of the hassles that face a small business, such as personnel management, billing and collections, rent, equipment expenditures, maintenance, and so on. They have fixed hours, guaranteed vacation, a 401(k), health insurance, malpractice coverage, etc, and ... higher income.
Higher income? Yup, but there’s a catch.
By Michael Krieger: Kevin Gosztola over at Firedoglake
does some excellent work, and his latest story about the recent
activities of perjuring Director of National Intelligence for the U.S.,
James Clapper, is no exception. To provide a little context, the
Washington Post recently reported that:
Freitag skimmed the extracurriculars, read the first essay, rated it good. GW also asks students to list a role model and two words to describe themselves. As for herself, Freitag said, she would list “Martha Stewart/Tina Fey” and “sassy/classy.”This year, she’s seeing a lot of Edward Snowden citations.
RT: As the standoff in the eastern Ukraine deteriorates into violence it’s up to world powers to step in and calm things down. Despite tough talk from Washington, the US, EU, Russia and Ukraine have managed to reach a framework to peace in Geneva. But will it be enough to avert a civil war? Sophie asks the Russian Foreign minister himself – Sergey Lavrov is on Sophie&Co today.
Sophie Shevardnadze: Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign minister, it’s great to have you on our show today.
Sergey Lavrov: Thank you for the invitation.
SS: So, just the other day Joe Biden on his visit to Kiev said that time is short for Russia to make progress on its commitments made in Geneva. What is expected of Russia?
SL: Well, it’s difficult to say because I discuss this almost daily with John Kerry. And frankly the American colleagues chose to put all the blame on Russia, including the origin of the conflict and including the steps which must be taken.
