Category: Domestic Affairs,

Jenita Graham: What Sen. Hassan didn’t see at U.S.-Mexico border

On By peanutgallerynhIn Granite State,Leave a comment

Since 1968, the United States has been part of the U.N. Refugee Convention, which requires us to deeply consider claims of asylum. When a person comes to our border to ask for safety, and they face a legitimate fear of violence in their homeland, we must offer asylum.

The Trump administration once again defies international law by creating conditions that try to deter families from seeking asylum: They now intend to separate parents from their children, keeping all in detention facilities.

On May 7, you were at the border and you talked about security, not about our common humanity.

You gave into Trump’s thinking that the people who cross our border are criminals.

Jenita Graham: What Sen. Hassan didn’t see at U.S.-Mexico border

Hassan is an embarrassment.

Hassan Says Mexico, U.S. Need More Police to Fight Drug Trafficking

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Drugs & Drink,, Granite State,, Race,Leave a comment

Hassan Says Mexico, U.S. Need More Police to Fight Drug Trafficking | New Hampshire Public Radio

More police? Because that helped so much in the eighties and nineties? Should we trot of a hologram of Nancy Reagan and imprison small users for longer than heads of cartels too, Becky?

…Because redoing the mistakes of the past is what this misguided moron is all about.

Senate hears from Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie –

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Privacy,Leave a comment

Wylie says that slogans like “drain the swamp”, used frequently over the course of the Trump campaign, was among those tested by Cambridge Analytica in 2014 — well before the Trump campaign was even in existence.

“The company learned that were segments of the population that responded to messages like ‘drain the swamp’ or images of walls or indeed paranoia about the deep state that weren’t necessarily reflected in mainstream polling or mainstream political discourse that Steve Bannon was interested in to help build his movement,” Wylie told lawmakers.

Wylie said in his testimony that Bannon “is a follower of the Breitbart Doctrine, which posits that politics flows downstream from culture. Therefore, Mr. Bannon sees cultural warfare as the means to create enduring change in American politics.”

…Wylie said that under Bannon’s leadership at Cambridge Anlaytica, U.S. clients could request testing voter suppression efforts in their contracts.

Senate hears from Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie — live updates – CBS News

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How Facebook Tracks You, Even When Not on Facebook

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Privacy,Leave a comment

As you travel through the web, you’re likely to encounter Facebook Like or Share buttons, which the company calls Social Plugins, on all sorts of pages, from news outlets to shopping sites. Click on a Like button and you can see the number on the page’s counter increase by one; click on a Share button and a box opens up to let you post a link to your Facebook account.

But that’s just what’s happening on the surface.

“If those buttons are on the page, regardless of whether you touch them or not, Facebook is collecting data,” Oppenheim says.

Behind the scenes, every web page contains little bits of code that request the pictures, videos, and text that browsers need to display each item on the page. These requests typically go out to a wide swath of corporate servers—including Facebook—in addition to the website’s owner. And such requests can transmit data about the site you’re on, the browser you are using, and more. Useful data gets sent to Facebook whether you click on one of its buttons or not. If you click, Facebook finds out about that, too. And it learns a bit more about your interests.

In addition to the buttons, many websites also incorporate a Facebook Pixel, a tiny, transparent image file the size of just one of the millions of pixels on a typical computer screen. The web page makes a request for a Facebook Pixel, just as it would request a Like button. No user will ever notice the picture, but the request to get it is packaged with information.

…Facebook explains what data can be collected using a Pixel, such as products you’ve clicked on or added to a shopping cart, in its documentation for advertisers. Web developers can control what data is collected and when it is transmitted.

…“If you’re logged into Facebook with the same browser you use to surf the web, the company knows exactly who you are and the vast majority of the websites you visit,” Oppenheim says.

Even if you’re not logged in, the company can still associate the data with your IP address and all the websites you’ve been to that contain Facebook code.

…In materials written for its advertisers, Facebook explains that it sorts consumers into a wide variety of buckets based on factors such as age, gender, language, and geographic location. Facebook also sorts its users based on their online activities—from buying dog food, to reading recipes, to tagging images of kitchen remodeling projects, to using particular mobile devices.

The company explains that it can even analyze its database to build “look-alike” audiences that are similar to, say, Lil-Kick’s best customers.

How Facebook Tracks You, Even When Not on Facebook – Consumer Reports

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John Kerry quietly seeking to salvage Iran deal he helped craft – The Boston Globe

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Europe,, Middle East,Leave a comment

[Kerry] sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It was the second time in about two months that the two had met to strategize over salvaging a deal they spent years negotiating during the Obama administration, according to a person briefed on the meetings.

…Kerry also met last month with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and he’s been on the phone with top European Union official Federica Mogherini, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal the private meetings. Kerry has also met with French President Emmanuel Macron in both Paris and New York, conversing over the details of sanctions and regional nuclear threats in both French and English.

…Kerry is coordinating his push with a group of officials who were his top advisers at the State Department, and who helped craft and negotiate the Iran deal in the first place. The group, called Diplomacy Works, has an advisory council that includes lead Iran-deal negotiator Wendy Sherman, former State Department chief of staff Jon Finer, and former spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

…Kerry supporters see in this campaign some of his trademark traits, especially his unflagging energy even in the face of potential failure. Critics see something else, a former office holder working with foreign officials to potentially undermine the policy aims of a current administration.

…The Logan Act prohibits US citizens from having private correspondence with a foreign government “with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government . . . in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States.”

Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas, said the law is a red herring — since it’s never been used to prosecute anyone — and almost certainly would not apply to anything Kerry is doing.

“The act only applies to conduct that is designed to ‘defeat the measures of the United States’ or influence the conduct of foreign governments,” Vladeck said. “If all Kerry is doing is working to keep in place something that’s still technically a ‘measure of the United States,’ I don’t see how the statute would apply even if someone was crazy enough to try it.”

John Kerry quietly seeking to salvage Iran deal he helped craft – The Boston Globe

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In The Same Day Oklahoma Governor First Angers LGBTQ And Guns Rights Activists

On By peanutgallerynhIn Local Interest,, Media and Culture,, Modern Parenting,, Religion,Leave a comment

In a rare blow to the National Rifle Association, Fallin vetoed a bill that would have loosened gun laws in the conservative state. Had it passed, SB 1212 would have allowed gun owners to carry a firearm — either open or concealed, loaded or unloaded — without a state license or permit. About a dozen states have passed similar so-called “constitutional carry” laws.

In a second move late Friday night, she signed into law the so-called adoption bill that allows private child-placement agencies to deny the placement of a child in foster care or adoption if that placement would “violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.”

In A One-Two Punch, Oklahoma Governor Angers LGBTQ and Guns Rights Activists : The Two-Way : NPR

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Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crash was deliberate, aviation experts suggest

On By peanutgallerynhIn Infrastructure and Transportation,Leave a comment

Boeing 777 pilot and instructor Simon Hardy reconstructed the flight plan based on military radar, and says Captain Shah flew along the border of Malaysia and Thailand, crossing in and out of each country’s airspace to avoid detection.

“It did the job,” Hardy said, “because we know, as a fact, that the military did not come and intercept the aircraft.”

Hardy also made a strange discovery: Captain Shah likely dipped the plane’s wing over Penang, his hometown.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crash was deliberate, aviation experts suggest – CBS News

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The Citadel Fought the Admission of Women. Now a Female Cadet Will Lead the Corps.

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Military,, Schools,Leave a comment

When Sarah Zorn applied for admission to the Citadel four years ago, she had not heard the story of Shannon Faulkner, the first woman to gain full admission to the famed Southern military college.

Ms. Zorn did not know about the two-and-a-half-year legal battle that had forced the college to accept her, or the death threats, or the sexist epithets spray-painted on her parents’ house, or the federal marshals who escorted Ms. Faulkner to campus on her first day as a cadet in 1995, or that she had dropped out a week later.

She knows now. But the 21-year-old college junior believes that the 175-year-old South Carolina institution that once fought admitting women as if they were an invading army has made its peace with the idea.

…On Friday afternoon, Ms. Zorn, in a dress uniform and a black shako, officially took over the post during the Citadel’s pomp-laden graduation parade, known as the Long Gray Line. As the college’s 2,400 undergraduates stood at attention, she received, with great formality, a gilt-handled sword from her predecessor, Dillon Graham.

The Citadel Fought the Admission of Women. Now a Female Cadet Will Lead the Corps. – The New York Times

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Colorado State investigates why Native American students on admissions tour were reported to police

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

That two young Native American men could be pulled from a tour for police questioning on the basis of a call from one woman who didn’t report that they had done anything remotely illegal.

…Students join admissions tours late all the time. Some students are chatty with others on the tour and others aren’t. But these behaviors are all pretty standard for teenagers and not seen as cause for calling the police.

….The student tour guide posted a letter to the Native American students’ mother in which she said that their behavior was not the least bit threatening or out of the ordinary. “I cannot believe someone on my tour interpreted what your sons ‘did’ (nothing) as suspicious. When they joined my tour, minutes after I left, I was just pleased that they were able to find us. When they didn’t introduce themselves, I responded in the way that I have to countless other teenagers who don’t feel comfortable speaking in front of a group of 20 strangers — with a self-deprecating joke,” wrote the tour guide.

“I can’t explain fully the actions of the other mother. I have no idea what she was feeling because she didn’t tell me. But I know racism lives and breathes on my campus and in our country. I know that I am so saddened by how your sons were treated because I want everyone on my tour to feel like they’ve stepped into their new home. I am angry that they had to feel unwelcome because of actions I knew nothing about.”

Colorado State investigates why Native American students on admissions tour were reported to police

Blatant and gross misuse of police resources. The woman should face charges. If CSU hasn’t banned her from campus they should face charges for encouraging terrorism, intimidation, and hate crimes.

CSU’s offer of paying expenses incurred and a VIP tour is a joke. If they actually cared and wanted to make up for this hateful behavior they themselves facilitated they would offer free tuition for both boys, for four years. Anything short of free tuition and banning the offending ‘mother’ is tacit support of her calling 911 in the first place.

Before you say, isn’t banning the woman from campus and wanting her to face criminal charges is harsh, realize that her actions did not give the boys the benefit of the doubt and it was her intention to have them removed from campus and face charges. Since the parameters were already set by her actions, there is no valid reason for her not to be judged and treated by those exact parameters. She should be required to experience the same consequences she selected for others.

If the mother faces no consequences then it is tacit sanctioning of her thinking and her actions. Consequences that involve police action, criminal prosecution, and permanent banning from CSU’s campus is required. anything less is a spit in the face of both justice and law and order.

Colorado State University: 911 audio released after parent called cops on Native American brothers because they made her ‘nervous’

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

Colorado State University: 911 audio released after parent called cops on Native American brothers because they made her ‘nervous’ – CNN

The mother who called the police should be banned from the college campus. she should also face charges for wasting police resources on her racism. If the school takes no action against her they are sanctioning this injustice.

If I were the parent of the two boys involved I’d sue Colorado State University and the responding police force all the way to the stone ages for enabling this backwards woman to use tax=payer funded resources to terrorize two innocent children.

Without severe consequences for actions like this there is no motivation for small minded individuals to stop being such outrageous and entitled assholes.