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Why are so many Americans okay with corporations bowing to Chinese censorship? – The Week Magazine

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

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If the American people actually believed that censorship was bad, they would throw away their iPhones, stop buying shampoo on Amazon, and quit going to the movies.

Why is it not a cause for concern that the world's wealthiest corporations are cooperating with the Chinese government, employing their considerable technological resources to prevent Chinese citizens from circumventing firewalls or accessing private networks designed to restrict access to information and opinions of which the authorities disapprove? Why do only nerd parodists on YouTube complain about the absurd lengths to which film producers go to appease Chinese censors doing everything from removing same-sex kissing scenes and other sequences considered vulgar or too violent to inserting brand-new characters to appease nationalist sentiment? Why is the pursuit of obscene levels of profit and record-breaking box office numbers a sufficient justification for these pathetic and, in cinematic terms, banal concessions?

The answer is simple: We don't really think censorship is wrong. Or rather, we vaguely think censorship is wrong except when it gets in the way of profits.

Anyone who went to high school in this country is familiar with what I think of as the standard textbook history of the United States. It is an impoverished, mostly uninteresting narrative that begins with some kind of bridge in Alaska and ends with the Cold War, a thing that we won. It has many gaps not much seems to happen between the War of 1812 and the Lincoln-Douglas debates or between the Civil War and the Depression. Huge lumbering abstractions abound: the Gilded Age, Tariff Reform.

One of the most dreadful of these looming specters is censorship, a bad thing that involved a senator named McCarthy who was somehow also a member of a committee in the House of Representatives. At some point or another, between the time when people said "I Like Ike" and Vietnam, censorship mostly went away. But before it did there was something evil called a blacklist that was maintained by Hollywood. People on the blacklist were good because they stood up for free speech in defiance of censorship. Being okay with the blacklist was so bad that if you appeared before the evil House committee that ran it from Washington it was a very good thing decades later for people to protest your receiving an award and for people in the audience to be rude to you and not applaud.

In other words, the fact that a handful of mediocre screenwriters did not get to make lots of money working in the movie business is obviously much more important and interesting than the intricacies of the very real decades-long struggle for world dominance between the United States and her liberal democratic allies and the Soviet Union.

I mention all this because this valorization of a few insignificant characters is one of the only salient facts that millions of Americans know about the conduct of the Cold War at its height. The badness of censorship is an unquestioned article of faith. The idea that obscenity should not be permitted on our screens is as ludicrous as, well, the idea that there is even such a thing as obscenity. Bold pro-freedom of expression warriors renew their commitments every year with annual cost-free exercises in moral preening like Banned Books Week. The notion that somewhere some parent might take issue with one of her children reading a book with sexual themes is a crisis, a kind of secular blasphemy that demands excommunication. There is no room for prudential judgement here: Thinking that some things might be bad is the only thing that it is not okay to think.

Meanwhile, tech CEOs explain away their acquiescence with blanket censorship in countries where they depend upon cheap labor in order to make world-historic profits. Hollywood pretends that absolute creative freedom is a quasi-sacred right except when it isn't and it's totally worth interfering with an artist's vision in order to placate censors with absurd fears like movies with ghosts in them and get more cash at the box office.

And we let them. Why? Because most Americans think censorship is bad as long as we don't need it to make money.

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Why are so many Americans okay with corporations bowing to Chinese censorship? - The Week Magazine

Apple Caved to China, Just Like Almost Every Other Tech Giant – WIRED

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Customers come to the newly opened Apple store in Shanghai, China.

VCG/Getty Images

Apple recently removed some of the virtual private networks from the App Store in China, making it harder for users there to get around internet censorship. Amazon has capitulated to China's censors as well; The New York Times reported this week that the company's China cloud service instructed local customers to stop using software to circumvent that country's censorship apparatus. While caving to China's demands prompts a vocal backlash, for anyone who follows US tech companies in China it was anything but surprising. Apple and Amazon have simply joined the ranks of companies that abandon so-called Western values in order to access the huge Chinese market.

Doing business in China requires playing by Chinese rules, and American tech companies have a long history of complying with Chinese censorship. Every time a new compromise comes to light, indignation briefly flares up in the press and on social media. Then, its back to business as usual. This isnt even the first time Apple has complied with Chinese censors. Earlier this year, the company removed New York Times apps from its Chinese store, following a request from Chinese authorities. "We would obviously rather not remove apps, but like we do in other countries we follow the law wherever do we business," Apple CEO Tim Cook said during Tuesday's earnings call, in response to the vanished VPN apps.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of American companies that have aided Chinese censorship. In 2005, Yahoo provided information that helped Chinese authorities convict a journalist, Shi Tao. Shi had sent an anonymous post to a US-based website. The post contained state secrets, according to authorities, and Shi was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Also in 2005, Microsoft shut down the blog of a Chinese freedom-of-speech advocate. A year later, Google agreed to censor its search results in China. Internal documents show that Cisco apparently saw China's "Great Firewall" as a choice opportunity to sell routers at around the same time. In 2006, Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, and Cisco faced a congressional hearing about their Chinese collaboration. I do not understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night," representative Tom Lantos said at the time.

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It turns out that some corporate leaders will sacrifice a good nights sleep to reach hundreds of millions of internet usersand potential customers. In 2014, LinkedIn launched a Chinese version of its service with the understanding that doing so would curtail freedom of expression. Users who posted politically sensitive content would get a message saying that their content would not be seen by LinkedIn members in China.

In a 2014 interview with The Wall Street Journal , LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner was upfront about the Chinese bargain. Were expecting there will be requests to filter content, Weiner said. We are strongly in support of freedom of expression and we are opposed to censorship, but thats going to be necessary for us to achieve the kind of scale that wed like to be able to deliver to our membership.

Perhaps LinkedIn figured that, as a business networking site, it could dodge political controversy. But when it comes to China, its never that simple. LinkedIns community, after all, includes China-based journalists. It wasnt long before users complained about receiving notices from LinkedIn that their posts were not available in China. Just this month, journalist Ian Johnson posted one of those notices on Twitter. Twitter is blocked in China, but some people there access it with circumvention technology. In the past, China-based activists have used Twitter to get their message to the outside world. Twitter is a rare American platform that offers relative freedom of expression to the Chinese who are willing to use it.

Bending to China's will doesn't guarantee success. China remains a tough market, even for those willing to censor. Derek Shen, formerly president of LinkedIn China, recently stepped down after the company had less-than-impressive results in China. Problems apparently included missed sales targets and failure to attract new users. In 2010 Google declared wholesale defeat in mainland China, citing problems with censorship and cybersecurity.

Censorship isn't the only challenge: US companies now have to contend with fierce Chinese rivals. Apple has struggled against domestic Chinese competition, including smartphone powerhouses Huawei and Oppo. Uber flailed against incumbent ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing before eventually selling its China operations to its local rival. When it comes to the internet, Chinese users arent necessarily longing to jump over the Great Firewall to gain access to overseas sites. Many are content with domestic products, particularly WeChat, a wildly popular messaging app.

Still, US companies will always try to break through in China. Facebook has eyed the mainland for a while. A Facebook entry may appear unlikely, especially as China temporarily blocked its WhatsApp messaging service. But CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears willing to go the distance; Facebook has reportedly worked on a censorship tool for the purposes of getting China's approval. Conventional wisdom once held that Facebook would not risk the public outcry following a decision to self-censor in China. But is that really true? All those other companies got away with it, and Facebook probably would too.

So will Apple. The company might take a beating in China, but it wont be because of its moral choices. That doesnt mean that the Chinese internet outlook is bleak. Despite pervasive censorship, information manages to get through. Some circumvention tools will vanish, and others will appear. For every sensitive term that gets blocked, people will find a different word to replace it.

The spread of the internet will continue to expand the space for expression in Chinajust not necessarily thanks to the American companies willing to do whatever it takes to gain a foothold there.

Emily Parker has covered China for The Wall Street Journal and has been an adviser in the US State Department. She is the author of Now I Know Who My Comrades Are , a book about the power of social media in China, Cuba, and Russia.

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Apple Caved to China, Just Like Almost Every Other Tech Giant - WIRED

Apple playing China’s censorship game should make tech companies really nervous – Mashable

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Washington Post

Apple playing China's censorship game should make tech companies really nervous
Mashable
Based on the events of the last few days, we now know that even the biggest tech company on the planet can't put a significant crack in that impenetrable wall of internet censorship that gives the Chinese government ultimate power over all things ...
Apple, Amazon help China curb the use of anti-censorship toolsWashington Post
Joining Apple, Amazon's China Cloud Service Bows to CensorsNew York Times
How Apple and Amazon Are Aiding Chinese CensorsSlate Magazine (blog)
Amnesty International -Engadget -Salon -Amnesty International
all 244 news articles »

See the article here:

Apple playing China's censorship game should make tech companies really nervous - Mashable

Egyptian band beats censorship via YouTube – Al-Monitor

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

A still from the band Cairokee's music video "Al-Kayf." Uploaded on July 10, 2017. (photo byYouTube/CairokeeOfficial)

Author:David Awad Posted August 2, 2017

CAIRO Egyptian rock band Cairokee did not give up when the General Authority for Censorship of Works of Art on July 2 banned the sale of their new album A Drop of White. Why would they, when there is an alternative outlet in the form of YouTube? The YouTube launch of their 11-song album on July 11 was a resounding success. One song, Al-Kayf, ("Fix") has been viewed over 6 million times since its internet launch.

TranslatorPaul Raymond

"Al-Kayf" was the most popular song in Egypt in July, even after Egyptian pop superstar Amr Diab released Meaddy El Nas ("Passing People"), which has still failed to match the YouTube hits of "Al-Kayf" since the release of Diabs album July 20.

"Al-Kayf" was not the only successful song on the album. Wrong Way Blues has been watched over 4.5 million times, the title song A Drop of White 2.7 million times, while Cease-Fire and I Thought There Was Still Time each have received well over 1 million hits. So far, songs on the album have been viewed on YouTube over 24 million times.

But why did the censorship authority ban the album?

Cairokee broke news of the ban in a July 2 Facebook post, saying, The General Authority for Censorship of Works of Art rejected some of the songs on Cairokees forthcoming album 'A Drop of White.' The bad news is that for the first time, our album will not go on sale in shops and most likely will not be on radio or TV (not important). But the good news is that we are carrying on and our songs will be freely available on the internet and in digital stores, out on July 11.

The post did not specify why the authority had banned the album, a question that occupied the media even several weeks after the albums release and YouTube success. On July 26, Al-Tahrir newspaper published an interview with Cairokees lead singer, Amir Eid, in which he said, We dont know why the censor banned the album, the reasons are unclear. [But] the censor took issue with 'Cease-Fire,' 'Wrong Way Blues,' 'The Last Song' and 'Dinosaur' all of which had political overtones.

The words of the four songs are filled with passion. Cease-Fire refers to a Blind society that cant see its collapse and adds, Everybody participated in the crime and pressed the trigger, everybody chose silence and buried his head in the sand/ They are imprisoned between herds surrounded by dogs" in reference to the state's pursuit of opposition political activists after June 30, 2013. "Dinosaur," the most controversial song, says, "Moving between TV channels to kill the time and boredom, the same hypocrisy, stupidity and awfulness/ After they had sold our lands, they accused us of being the disloyal youth a reference to the maritime demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, under which sovereignty over Tiran and Sanafir Islands will be transferred from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.

Al-Monitor sought further clarification from Ahmad Medhat, the bands spokesman, who said, I believe the censor rejected those songs as it thought they were political, although they are not; they had no fundamental political motive.

Medhat said that the songs were not political but social in nature. "They express the feelings of the young people and their disappointment with how the January 25 Revolution and their revolution against the Muslim Brotherhood ended leading to the present situation, in which activists from the January 25 Revolution are being pursued and oppressed. This is what the youth talk about in the streets and cafes. Our songs had no political goal, their only purpose was to express the feelings of the youth, because we are the youth. The censor fears any honest expression, Medhat added.

Khaled Abdulgalil, the head of the General Authority for Censorship of Works of Art, has not responded to Al-Monitors repeated attempts to seek clarification on why the album was banned.

Mehdat said, The political overtones in the songs were not the only reason they were banned; the band has faced restrictions for years. Its songs have been banned by radio and TV, its concerts have been canceled for security reasons. Our friendship with certain activists, media figures and people who oppose the current regime, as well as our support for the January 25 Revolution, may have been reasons for these restrictions.

The band was launched in 2003 with five members: lead vocalist Amir Eid, lead guitarist Sherif Hawary, drummer Tamer Hashem, keyboarder Sherif Mostafa and bass guitarist Adam el-Alfy. But it was not until the January 25 Revolution that it shot to fame. A day before former President Hosni Mubarak resigned, the group played Sout al-Horeya ("Sound of Freedom"). After Mubaraks ouster, they recorded revolutionary songs such as Ya el-Medan ("O Square") with singer Aida el-Ayoubi. In the run-up to the 2012 presidential elections, they released Wanted: A Leader. When their friend, prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, was arrested in November 2013, they released Yama fi Habas Mazalim ("In the Prison of the Oppressors").

The group performs a mixture of its own rock style and more conventional Egyptian pop. They recorded a song with pop groups Sharmoofers and El-Madfaagya, as well as performed A Stranger in a Strange Country with folk singer Abdelbasit Hammoudeh. After that songs success, they featured folk singer Tareq El Sheikh on Al-Kayf.

Banning songs is pointless in the era of YouTube, music critic Mohammad Shamees told Al-Monitor. I dont agree with the censor on these measures, because the controversy created by banning just makes them more popular. Cairokees songs have benefitted from political events in a way I dont agree with, because they have made political criticisms that were unjustifiably harsh, using any means to win an audience with the youth who are disgruntled about certain topics. The mixing of rock and pop means the songs have lost any unique nature, and the group repeats itself a lot. 'Wrong Way Blues' was the name of their 2014 album, which is a sort of artistic bankruptcy. Eids singing with Sheikh and Hammoudeh exposed the weakness of his own voice.

Cairokees experience with their new album confirms that there is no longer any room for banning and blocking songs, except from the ears of the state censors employees. Even the material losses the group may suffer due to the banning of album sales have been offset: Cairokees album was the most-sold record in Egypt on iTunes in mid-July.

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Egyptian band beats censorship via YouTube - Al-Monitor

YouTube Working with ADL to Shut Down Free Speech – LifeZette

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Video-sharing website YouTube seems to be systematically purging conservatives and others who challenge politically correct orthodoxy from its platform.

Free speech activists across the internet were shocked on Tuesday after YouTube appeared to suspend the account of noted psychology professor Jordan B. Peterson. I cannot post new YouTube videos, including last weeks Biblical lecture. No access. At least for now the videos are still up, Peterson tweeted on Tuesday morning.

A backlash quickly ensued, and before the end of the day, and indeed shortly after The Daily Caller published a story on the shock suspension, Petersons account was reinstated. But Peterson is not the first to fall victim to YouTubes efforts to censor politically incorrect free speech, nor will he be the last.

The Google subsidiary announced in a blog post published Tuesday that it is taking new steps to combat what it referred to as terrorism content and hate speech steps critics assert are little more than efforts to censor conservative thought.

Greatly reinforcing this perception is YouTube's own admission that it is partnering with far-left organizations to decide what exactly constitutes hateful or "terrorist" content. "Over the past weeks, we have begun working with more than 15 additional expert [non-governmental organizations] and institutions through our Trusted Flagger program, including the Anti-Defamation League, the No Hate Speech Movement, and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue," YouTube said in the blog post.

"This is terrifying in an Orwellian way," said Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture at the Media Research Center. "Organizations that don't support free speech, like the ADL, are being used to monitor it. The ADL has clearly lost its way and become just another left-wing pressure group in recent years," Gainor told LifeZette.

Indeed only two weeks ago the ADL found itself embroiled in minor controversy after wrongly listing a number of relatively mainstream right-wing activists and politicians as racist hate figures, including Rebel Media's Gavin McInnes (who is married to an Asian woman), former Virginia gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart, and Milo Yianoppolous, who is a half-Jewish homosexual.

YouTube's reliance on partisan organizations to police "hateful" content is troubling enough, but "YouTube's insistence on telling us how to live our lives and what words we can use is even more distressing," said Gainor.

"The plan to have a 'playlist of curated YouTube videos that directly confront and debunk violent extremist messages' sounds positively like 1984. YouTube apparently doesn't believe its customers are smart enough to know what they want to see," Gainor continued. "Unfortunately, billions of people have turned over their free speech rights to companies that increasingly don't believe in free speech."

In addition to promising to promote progressive propaganda videos, the video-sharing website also admitted that it is effectively implementing new ways to censor politically incorrect content that doesn't actually violate its hate speech policies. "We'll soon be applying tougher treatment to videos that aren't illegal but have been flagged by users as potential violations of our policies on hate speech and violent extremism," YouTube wrote.

"If we find that these videos don't violate our policies but contain controversial religious or supremacist content, they will be placed in a limited state. The videos will remain on YouTube behind an interstitial, won't be recommended, won't be monetized, and won't have key features including comments, suggested videos, and likes," they wrote.

"We'll begin to roll this new treatment out to videos on desktop versions of YouTube in the coming weeks, and will bring it to mobile experiences soon thereafter. These new approaches entail significant new internal tools and processes, and will take time to fully implement."

But YouTube has already begun to implement some of these new approaches and has been doing so for some time. Numerous right-wing accounts on YouTube have been demonetized over the past year, including those of leading right-wing millennials such asJames Allsup, an independent journalist and former director of Students for Trump, Infowars' Paul Joseph Watson, and former Rebel Media reporter-turned-activist Lauren Southern.

Nor is YouTube the first online platform to banish right-wing voices. Last week, Patreon deleted Southern's account solely because she reported on the efforts of "Defend Europe" activists to turn back boats owned by radical left-wing NGOs thatEuropean authorities claim have been operating as taxi services for migrants. Last Thursday, fundraising website GoFundMe removed Allsup's account without reason.

"What we have seen in the last decade, across western media, politics and business and through our education sector is a chilling rise in censorship and curtailment of free speech," said Ben Harris-Quinney, chairman of The Bow Group, the oldest conservative think tank in the United Kingdom and an expert on progressive attempts to stifle free expression.

"Online outlets like YouTube became insurgent largely because of this, but as they join the liberal establishment many are culling off the free speech element that was crucial to their success," Harris-Quinney told LifeZette.

"As Bill Clinton said of the last election 'We thought we had changed their minds, but we'd just silenced their voices,'" Harris-Qunney continued. "Brexit in the U.K. and Trump's election in the U.S. prove that establishment media in no way represents the reality of public sentiment, and all censorship does is leave large sectors of society ignorant to reality."

Ultimately, however, efforts to censor "offensive" speech could backfire on the internet media companies that embrace them.

"As a private company I believe YouTube should be free to do as it pleases," said Harris-Qunniey. "However, what we have seen in recent years is a stark decline in the reach and profitability of establishment media, and I suspect the more YouTube curtails, the greater their loss will be."

Read more from the original source:

YouTube Working with ADL to Shut Down Free Speech - LifeZette

Anti-Trump Protesters Target Benson, Coulter at Politicon Free … – Fox News Insider

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Guy Benson said anti-Trump protesters proved their critics' point this past weekend when they interrupted a panel discussion on free speech.

Benson, author of the new book "End of Discussion," explained on "Fox & Friends" what happened at Politicon, where he and Ann Coulter were speaking about the attempts to curb conservative voices on college campuses.

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A few protesters wore Nazi garb as they tried to shout down the speakers, while another group interrupted with a large red banner and chanted "Trump and Pence must go!"

"It was like: you're proving our point," said Benson about the panel discussion, which was about denouncing censorship in favor of the free flow of ideas.

Benson said he reminded the protesters that there is an election in 2020, where they're free to make their choice for president and vice president. He said their actions "were not constructive at all" as the hecklers yelled at Coulter rather than listen to her statements and offer opposing arguments.

Despite the incidents, Benson urged young conservatives to still go to college campuses so that students are exposed to differing viewpoints.

Benson recalled that he spoke with his co-author at Princeton last year and the school needed extra security because some students found them too controversial.

"What's alarming is some on the hard left have conflated speech with violence. They say your hate speech is violence and we can shut you down using any means necessary. It's very Orwellian," said Benson.

Last week, Ben Shapiro spoke before a House hearing on attempts to silence conservatives on campuses.

Watch the interview above.

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Anti-Trump Protesters Target Benson, Coulter at Politicon Free ... - Fox News Insider

Senryu pries open ‘The Jaws of Life’ to explore death on latest release – Maryville Daily Times

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

It took six years and approximating death for Wil Wright to make another full-length Senryu record.

The band, which celebrates the release of The Jaws of Life Saturday night at The Pilot Light, has been a part of the East Tennessee music scene for nearly 17 years more than half of Wrights life, ever since he started it in 2000 with percussionist Steven Rodgers, the only remaining original member of the bands lineup. In that period, Wright and Rodgers have grown up, fallen in and out and back in love, entered into marriage (Rodgers earlier this year, Wright later this month) and cobbled together a band thats been solid for nearly seven years now: brothers Andres (a multi-instrumentalist) and guitarist Dan McCormack, and bassist Zac Fallon.

I dont remember a time before Senryu, Wright told The Daily Times recently over brunch at Petes Coffee Shop in downtown Knoxville. I ring at rock n roll records. For me, its just about keeping my brain hungry, about feeding it to help make records I can stand behind and be proud of. And weve made so many Senryu records that doing it a song at a time doesnt really work. The only reason to keep making records is to explore concepts that are interesting to me.

Which brings us to death. Hes spent the past several years thinking about it, ruminations brought on by the natural rate of attrition to the circle of family and friends of a man whos racing toward the apex of life expectancys bell curve. At the outset, Wright said, he felt certain he had it figured out, which in the beginning dictated a different sort of concept. The album was going to be called Perfect Nothing, he added.

I thought I was going to make a real upbeat record about how nothing happens after you die, because thats so much more uplifting, he said. But then I started reading about pantheism and the science behind seeing the tunnel, and what I found was that writing a record about death and finding inspiration is tough. If youre here to talk about it, then you didnt die, so its difficult to do the research. So I started digging into preexisting theories, and I started to imagine a record about the last moments before you die, and the first moments after.

His research eventually led him to a sensory depravation experience in Asheville, N.C., where he was enclosed in a vault containing roughly 1,500 pounds of salt in, at most, 2 feet of water. Completely dark and soundproof, is was the closest to approaching death and the absence of the body as he could find.

Thats as close to nothing as you can get, because once you get settled in, your body vanishes, he said. Your eyes stop working, and everything physical goes. You stop feeling, you stop being aware of your breathing, your eyes stop working, your ears go. Its quiet for a minute, and then it gets really, really loud, because you just become your mind. Reducing it to the ghost in the machine, to the spark to me, thats what I believe death is.

And it left me completely baffled and more clueless than ever. What I figured out is that I dont know s---, but its so much better to admit you dont know and to just be alive.

And so the context of the record began to change. Its meditative and contemplative, which is most certainly the bands wheelhouse; with the McCormacks, Rodgers and Fallon, Wright is given a canvas on which to explore grand ideas through intricate, delicate instrumentation, and if lovely is an acceptable descriptor for Senryu, then it applies to Night of the Twisters, the albums lead-off track. But the band sheds whatever emo tendencies it may occasionally flirt with on songs like Heaven Can Wait, Dream of Nothing and the howling maelstrom that is Summer Death March, a too-painful-to-look-away tale of madness and breakdown. Wright has never flinched away from documenting his emotional turmoil through song, and while his other projects LiL iFFy and Skeleton Coast, to name a few have been personal ones, none have allowed him to document the journey of his own existence like Senryu.

This was a three-year album making process, and when the title changed, the record stopped being about the stopping and became more about the continuation, he said. The body is the wrecked car, and the end pulls whatevers left out and keeps it going. Over the course of this record, I experienced a personality death six or seven times; I was getting my perspective rocked about the death of self and rebirth, and the constant through it all was, Im making this record.

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Senryu pries open 'The Jaws of Life' to explore death on latest release - Maryville Daily Times

Taking The Bible Seriously Pushed Me Towards Atheism – Patheos (blog)

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

I frequently hear from and read articles by Christians getting frustrated with people who take the Bible seriously whether those people are fundamentalists who view the Bible as a historical chronicle or skeptics whose journey to skepticism began with them reading the Bible. The behavior of frustrated Christians typically includes comparing atheists to fundamentalists and using the word fundamentalist as an insult. I am annoyed by this and want to address as best as I can but let me start by pointing out the obvious: if youre a member of a religion and have a problem with your religions fundamentalists maybe your religion has some problems that need to be worked out before you start antagonizing people who left your religion because of whats in your holy books.

In this discussion of the Bible have a picture of one.

When I read the Bible I took its claims seriously. The seriousness with which I took those claims compelled me to research the claims and the further I researched the claims of the Bible the more I realized that the claims the Bible made were lacking in evidence and were often doubted by historians, particularly the claims in the Old Testament. From the Exodus, to the Flood, to the supposed slaughter of the Canaanites, the historicity of the claims of the Old Testament are gradually fading away. I examined these claims throughoutmy life, believing them to be true for many years and gradually realizing that this wasnt the case and this impacted my world view substantially. I did this because even as a child I valued and value truth. I took the Bible seriously and didnt think itsclaims should be unproven but rather ought to be examined objectively by historians and either confirmed or rejected as having actually taken place.

I take the Bible seriously. I am annoyed by how much this annoys modern Christians. Supposed followers of Christ often get on my case for refusing to believe a book that has made claims that have been repeatedly seriously studied and found to be at best lacking in evidence. Theres nothing special about Christianity or its Bible, even if Christians refuse to admit this themselves. Its easy and it might be fun to claim that theres something bad about taking the Bible seriously, even among Christians nowadays but this is a weird thing to say. It reminds me of the Christians who claim to hate religion and love God, because they understand that religion is a bad word, but God isnt. This is a similar trend where being a Christian and twisting Christianity to fit a modern fold is popular but taking it seriously and refusing to conform isnt, and while this its a good thing for modern society that Christians have shown a willingness to mold themselves, at least to an extent, its frustrating that they have used this willingness to antagonize both atheists who once seriously examined the claims of the Bible and other Christians who arent as willing to leave behind their values and modernize their understandings of the Bible and their perspectives on the world at large.

I dislike that not everyone will seriously examine the Bible. I dislike that some people prefer to maintain their current worldview without an honest desire to find the truth and that that laziness can instill in them a hostility towards others who do seriously care about the truth and understand that a genuine desire to know truth means that one lives their lives perpetually seeking out new information and continuously being aware of ones own opinions and being willing to change those opinions upon gaining new information.

I am an honest seeker of truth and that that annoys some Christians is both sad and very revealing about the current state of Christianity and the dilemmas facing Christian leaders as they discuss theology and how to keep people both believing in Christianity and attending church. Once I realized that some Christians had clung to their beliefs through hallow justifications like its the morality that matters here or the lessons of Jesus were superior to the lessons of other religious figures or even when you die youll know! I realized more and more that at least some Christians didnt care about whether or not their beliefs were backed by historians, scientists, and those who study the world itself. That bothered me because I wanted Christianity to be true more than I wanted to feel like I was right, or to feel like I was safe from the threat of Hell. As an honest person I wasnt originally happy realizing I no longer had a rational reason to believe in God but I readily accepted that I had become an atheist almost by accident. That being said: as a lover of truth I needed to accept my own truth before I could begin to search for other, external, truths. And so I did. I hope that you readily accept your truth as well. And that in doing so you examine it and take it seriously, not just because its convenient.

If you care about truth, even if the conclusion you arrived at is different than the one I did I salute you because you are a rare breed. I hope that this post made you think and that we can have a neat discussion down below in the comments section!

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Taking The Bible Seriously Pushed Me Towards Atheism - Patheos (blog)

KABAKA PYRAMID + One-A-Chord & DJ Spleece – SantaCruz.com

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Keron "Kabaka Pyramid" Salmon is a multi-talented artist and producer hailing from the streets of Kingston, Jamaica with a unique musical style blending the power, energy and melody of Reggae with the lyricism of Hip hop. He is based out of the Bebble Rock Music camp and through his liquid and hypnotizing delivery spreads the positive messages of spirituality and conscious evolution that forces you to listen.

The name "Kabaka" is Ugandan for "King" and the long lasting survival of the Pyramids of ancient Africa represent his desire for longevity in the music and deep connection to Kemetic roots; leaving messages for generations to come.

He is an ever-evolving artist that has numerous ways of expressing his creativity. The ability to watch and learn from others around him has made him into somewhat of a Jack-of-all-trades, writing lyrics, producing tracks, engineering/recording himself or other artists, mixing songs, editing video/photos and even playing the guitar!

His passion for music began at an early age when he would change the lyrics to popular songs and record his own version on his mother's tape recorder. What began as a humorous venture was actually a stepping-stone for the artist we know today. Reggae music has always been a strong influence on the Kingstonian lyricist with Sizzla Kalongi and Peter Tosh providing a great source of spiritual inspiration in his life. During high school Hip Hop music also captivated him; reciting his favorite Canibus lines constantly with Nas and Common serving as great examples of the success of conscious music. The influence of both genres can be easily detected as he seeks to find the perfect fusion of the two cultural expressions.

Kabaka spent his early years as a rapper to underground success. He was awarded a place on internationally renowned; Dj Green Lantern's "Myspace Invasion" Mixtape as well as released two Mixtapes for himself The Transition Vol 1 and 2 and a collaboration album Bebble Business as part of the Bebble Team group dedicated to his fallen brother in music Rap Brown (Taiwo McKenzie). With these projects he cemented himself as an artist with deep spiritual messages and proven lyrical ability and was instrumental in raising the bar on the standard of Hip Hop in Jamaica.

Pyramid also released a few reggae and dancehall tracks including Carry on and Never be the same and achieved chart success in Bermuda with the track "Love is all I see" featuring Ashanti. Also as a producer he saw chart success in the Bahamas for Dead Man Walking.

In July 2011 Kabaka Pyramid released his Rebel Music EP free to the public at http://www.kabakapyramid.bandcamp.com. This project is a fusion of roots rock, reggae, dancehall and hip-hop and made waves in the global landscape, particularly Europe and North America. It has received an overwhelming worldwide response gaining homepage features on websites and magazines such as Reggaeville and United Reggae and gaining over 14,000 downloads with the 10-track CD regarded as a classic in its own right.

Kabaka has since achieved top spot, placing #1 on the BILLBOARD Next Big Sound Charts Worldwide and also been featured by the popular music conglomerate MTV Iggy. A solid global fan-base has developed that connects with the messages in his music.

He has been awarded breakthrough artist of the year 2013 by the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association and was also nominated for Song of the year 2013. The lyricist has also been nominated for best reggae recording 2013 by Canadas highly respected Juno Awards. This follows up a successful 2012 where he was nominated by the Jamaica Star for Break-through artist of the year and named by Popular New York Publication Largeup.com as in the top 10 Caribbean artists to watch . He had also been tipped by the Jamaica Gleaner as one of the top 4 (four) artists to watch in that year.

Releasing singles such as Free from Chains, No Capitalist, Mi Alright, and King Kabaka as well as music videos for the popular Free from Chains, King Kabaka, High and Windy, Warrior featuring Protoje and World Wide Love; he has achieved regular rotation on local and international airwaves. Kabaka is being touted by many as strong part of a new wave of powerful artists coming out of Jamaica.

In 2013 Kabaka embarked on his 9 country 20 show Rebel Music Tour performing on major reggae festivals spanning from the US West Coast to Europe. He has brought his message and power to stages such as Reggae on the River, Rototom Sunsplash and the Chiemsee Reggae Festival. He has certainly developed a solid global fan-base that connects with his music.

He has also performed in Toronto, Canada at the Manifesto Arts Festival and travelled to Costa Rica for the Rebel Musik Fest series of shows to great response from the people. 2012 was his first visit to Europe completing his 6-week, 13 show "Ready fi di Road " tour where he headlined sold-out club shows in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Netherlands and Switzerland.

Locally; Pyramid has graced the stage of major local concerts such as Rebel Salute, Trench Town Rock and the Dennis Brown Tribute Concert as well as live national TV performances to rave reviews. He has made a significant impact on the Live Music scene performing at many shows in and around Kingston including the Manifesto Jamaica Festival, JARIA Reggae Month and Live from Kingston shows as well as venues such as Tracks and Records, South Beach Caf, Emancipation Park, Wickie Wackie and Pulse.

His new EP Lead the Way released in November 2013 has been making waves in the reggae industry debuting at #9 on the Billboard charts. He also featured in the Top ten iTunes reggae charts all over the globe building on his success earlier in the year where he achieved top spot, placing #1 on the BILLBOARD Next Big Sound Charts.

With a mission to steer future generations towards harmony and unity Kabaka is primed and focused on bringing a righteous and conscious way of thinking to the masses through Reggae and Hip Hop Music.

With a solid list of skills not only in the booth but on the mixing board, and an array of lyrics that preach a message of love, self-awareness and African pride, Kabaka Pyramid is well on his way to a career that should not only lead to greatness but also lead a lot of fans to righteousness Aesthetics Now Mag.

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KABAKA PYRAMID + One-A-Chord & DJ Spleece - SantaCruz.com

Hubble Telescope Detects Stratosphere on Huge Alien Planet – Space.com

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

This artist's illustration shows the "hot Jupiter" exoplanet WASP-121b, which presents the best evidence yet of a stratosphere on an exoplanet.

A huge, superhot alien planet has a stratrosphere, like Earth does, a new study suggests.

"This result is exciting because it shows that a common trait of most of the atmospheres in our solar system a warm stratosphere also can be found in exoplanet atmospheres," study co-author Mark Marley, of NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, said in a statement.

"We can now compare processes in exoplanet atmospheres with the same processes that happen under different sets of conditions in our own solar system," Marley added. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]

The research team, led by Thomas Evans of the University of Exeter in England, detected spectral signatures of water molecules in the atmosphere of WASP-121b, a gas giant that lies about 880 light-years from Earth. These signatures indicate that the temperature of the upper layer of the planet's atmosphere increases with the distance from the planet's surface. In the bottom layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, the temperature decreases with altitude, study team members said.

WASP-121b lies incredibly close to its host star, completing one orbit every 1.3 days. The planet is a "hot Jupiter"; temperatures at the top of its atmosphere reach a sizzling 4,500 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 degrees Celsius), researchers said.

"The question [of] whether stratospheres do or do not form inhot Jupitershas been one of the major outstanding questions in exoplanet research since at least the early 2000s," Evans told Space.com. "Currently, our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres is pretty basic and limited. Every new piece of information that we are able to get represents a significant step forward."

The top of WASP-121b's atmosphere is heated to a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 Celsius), hot enough to boil some metals.

The discovery is also significant because it shows that atmospheres of distant exoplanets can be analyzed in detail, said Kevin Heng of the University of Bern in Switzerland, who is not a member of the study team.

"This is an important technical milestone on the road to a final goal that we all agree on, and the goal is that, in the future, we can apply the very same techniques to study atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets," Heng told Space.com. "We would like to measure transits of Earth-like planets. We would like to figure out what type of molecules are in the atmospheres, and after we do that, we would like to take the final very big step, which is to see whether these molecular signatures could indicate the presence of life."

Available technology does not yet allow such work with small, rocky exoplanets, researchers said.

"We are focusing on these big gas giants that are heated to very high temperatures due to the close proximity of their stars simply because they are the easiest to study with the current technology," Evans said. "We are just trying to understand as much about their fundamental properties as possible and refine our knowledge, and, hopefully in the decades to come, we can start pushing towards smaller and cooler planets."

WASP-121b is nearly twice the size of Jupiter. The exoplanet transits, or crosses the face of, its host star from Earth's perspective. Evans and his team were able to observe those transits using an infrared spectrograph aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

"By looking at the difference in the brightness of the system for when the planet was not behind the star and when it was behind the star, we were able to work out the brightness and the spectrum of the planet itself," Evans said. "We measured the spectrum of the planet using this method at a wavelength range which is very sensitive to the spectral signature of water molecules."

The team observed signatures of glowing water molecules, which indicated that WASP-121b's atmospheric temperatures increase with altitude, Evans said. If the temperature decreased with altitude, infrared radiation would at some point pass through a region of cooler water-gas, which would absorb the part of the spectrum responsible for the glowing effect, he explained.

There have been hints of stratospheres detected on other hot Jupiters, but the new results are the most convincing such evidence to date, Evans said.

"It's the first time that it has been done clearly for an exoplanet atmosphere, and that's why it's the strongest evidence to date for an exoplanet stratosphere," he said.

He added that researchers might be able to move closer to studying more Earth-like planets with the arrival of next-generation observatories such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and big ground-based observatories such as the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). JWST is scheduled to launch late next year, and GMT, E-ELT and TMT are expected to come online in the early to mid-2020s.

The new study was published online Wednesday (Aug. 2) in the journal Nature.

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Hubble Telescope Detects Stratosphere on Huge Alien Planet - Space.com

Kepler Space Telescope may have spotted the first exomoon – Blasting News

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

NASA scientists have been able to detect the presence of exoplanets, the ones which are present outside the #Solar System, using specialized equipment, such as the #Kepler Space Telescope. However, even with thousands of these planets being discovered, researchers have been unable to find trace of any moons orbiting around them. Now, new studies have yielded what researchers believe to be the evidence of these exomoons.

A group of astronomers studying the existence of these moons from the University of Colombia claimed that they may have unearthed data that these moons really do exist. They said that they were able to pinpoint one of these exomoons almost 4,000 light years away from the Earth.

The researchers went over old data collected by the Kepler telescope and found something which they think indicates the presence of the moon.

When the moon passes in front of a planet in a far away system, the telescope can detect a slight difference in the light emitted from these bodies. This light has been extensively studied and could be showing the presence of a moon orbiting the planet. However, to confirm their theories, the team will study the same planet using the Hubble telescope, which is even more powerful than the Kepler one used previously. The findings were established in a system formed around the Kepler-1625 star.

Previous studies have also claimed to have found evidence of #Exomoon activity, but in most cases these assertions were later found to be false.

Researchers explained what really makes spotting a moon on in a system 4,000 light years away so difficult. Most moons are much smaller than the planet it orbits and thus its passing in front of the planet does not really affect the light that the telescope picks up. However, in this case, the moon is believed to be the size of Neptune, which is quite large, and may be big enough to cause the difference in light.

Many people may believe that finding moons outside the solar system may be a pointless pursuit. However, researchers have pointed out that this difficult endeavor is just as essential as discovering new planets. Some moons can support the conditions needed for life to flourish. In the solar system itself, the presence of such moons as Enceladus and Europa have proved that water may be present in moons as well. The team will now get on the Hubble telescope and verify whether the exomoon they claim to have discovered really does exist.

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Kepler Space Telescope may have spotted the first exomoon - Blasting News

Afghanistan: Two US soldiers killed in NATO convoy attack …

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

"Two US service members were killed in action in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when their convoy came under attack" on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman US Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said in a statement.

Earlier Wednesday, the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission, which trains and advises Afghanistan's military and police, confirmed that the attack had resulted in casualties.

"Resolute Support can confirm a NATO convoy was attacked this afternoon in Kandahar. The attack did cause casualties," the statement said.

The high-profile attack targeting the coalition comes as President Donald Trump's administration is attempting to determine its commitment to and strategy for Afghanistan and the wider region and could be seen as an attempt to shape that debate.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis told Congress that the strategy would be decided upon by mid-July but has since said that the administration is continuing to work on it.

In the absence of an administration policy on Afghanistan Sen. John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Monday he would work to produce a strategy for winning the conflict in September.

"Eight years of a 'don't lose' strategy has cost us lives and treasure in Afghanistan. Our troops deserve better," McCain said in a statement.

US and coalition casualties in Afghanistan have become rarer in recent years, falling dramatically since the Afghan government assumed responsibility for combat operations in 2014. But there has been an uptick in recent months as US forces have become more directly involved in the fight against the local ISIS affiliate.

Wednesday's bombing is the latest attack to rock southern Kandahar province, which borders Pakistan, in recent months.

At least 26 Afghan soldiers were killed and 13 more wounded last week in a Taliban attack on an army camp in the province's Khakrez district, the Afghan Ministry of Defense said.

Violence also continues elsewhere in the country.

CNN's Ehsan Popalzai contributed to this report.

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Afghanistan: Two US soldiers killed in NATO convoy attack ...

Ambush Hits NATO Convoy In Afghanistan, Killing 2 US Service Members – NPR

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

An American helicopter hovers over a NATO convoy struck by a suicide bomb Wednesday. The Pentagon says the attack, which unfolded near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killed two U.S. service members. STR/AP hide caption

Two U.S. service members were killed Wednesday when a NATO convoy came under attack outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, according to the Pentagon. It was not immediately clear how many people were wounded in the violence, which unfolded near an American base.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying a militant carried out a suicide attack with a truck packed with explosives.

NATO's Resolute Support mission in the country confirmed an assault on its convoy but did not offer further details. "We are working to gather additional information as quickly as possible," the coalition said in a statement.

As NPR's Tom Bowman notes, the Taliban rose to prominence first in Kandahar Province in the 1990s, but in recent years, U.S. and Afghan forces have largely pushed the militant group from the area.

"The last American combat deaths in Kandahar were in 2014," Tom says, "but during the past year, the Taliban have made inroads once again in Kandahar."

The Pentagon is considering sending nearly 4,000 more troops to the country to train their Afghan counterparts, joining a U.S. contingent that currently numbers roughly 8,500.

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Ambush Hits NATO Convoy In Afghanistan, Killing 2 US Service Members - NPR

NATO readiness strategy: ‘Out-exercise them, out-train them’ – DefenseNews.com

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

WASHINGTON With exercise Saber Guardian coming to a close in Eastern Europe and more than 30 exercises stillto take place during the remainder of 2017, NATO is continuing to build its readiness. Gen. Tod Wolters, commander of NATOs Allied Air Command,highlighted for Defense News the importance of these exercises from the air perspective of the multi-domain effort.

What you want to do is out-work them, out-exercise them, out-train them, he said on how to best NATOsadversaries, such as Russia.

Wolters likened NATO to an athlete, perched in theater in a three-point stance, ready to move forward on the drop of a dimein response to nefarious events.

To maximize get readiness, Wolters emphasized training, training and training as the best way to integrate both layered capabilities and layered domains for this level of maximum readiness. And to get the best juice for your squeeze, he said, the alliance should train with the resources available.

As an example, he said NATO has seven nations that are on the brink of bringing fifth-generation F-35 aircraft into theater. But a crew of mixed fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft makes for an operational challenge.

As the aircraft train in an integrated group, he said, the crews learn how the other types of aircraft react to different situations. They become familiar with communication systems and work out the kinks, allowing for a cohesive crew, he added, in turn increasing deterrence capabilities.

This idea also extends to the interoperability of domains. Each NATO exercise, he said, is designed to incorporate several domains and ensure that allies operate smoothly, side by side and add to a greater effect.

Each one of these exercises they improve your speed, they improve your understanding of the environment, he said. You gain a greater intellectual grasp of what the problem could be, and you certainly gain a greater degree of confidence.

For Wolters, communication is also key to readiness and efficiency. This is especially true in relation to the air domain, as pilots must be cognizant of their environment through which they fly as well as coordinate with operations in other domains.

Wolters said he sees a great willingness from NATO countries both to train and provide understanding in their air domains. And he sees investments being made in ensuring the linkage between domains is open and flowing, allowing an awareness of what other groups are accomplishing.

This greater motivation to participate in exercises and cooperate across borders comes from the recent acceleration of readiness and NATOs shift from assurance to deterrence. Wolters said this shift has driven counties to secure their airspace and not only allow but participate in NATO activities.

The Turkish Air Force maintains airspace security not only for its own aircraft, but also for the aircraft taking off from Turkish soil to participate in Operation Inherent Resolve, the multinational joint task force battling the Islamic State group.

You have to be on your toes 24/7, 365 to make sure you understand exactly what is taking place, he said. Its not easy. You have to embrace it intellectually.

But training, training, training in maintaining a razor-sharp edge is critically important, he added. And weve had great success up to this point there.

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NATO readiness strategy: 'Out-exercise them, out-train them' - DefenseNews.com

NATO’s role in fighting post-caliphate ISIS looms large – The Hill (blog)

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

With the Islamic State defeated in Mosul and on the ropes in Raqqa, NATO is trying to assess what its role could or should be in the post-caliphate phase of the counterterrorism fight to come. The alliance has an important role to play, but it should stick close to its traditional mission and skillset. At its core, NATO is a military alliance, not a counterterrorism (CT) agency.

The spike in international terror incidents in the West and the unrelenting instability rocking the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, provided a stark backdrop for the blunt comments of President Trump about NATOs need to do more on counterterrorism. NATO, then presidential-candidate Trumpsaidin May 2016, was obsolete.

NATO is not new to the CT mission, having invoked Article 5 for the first time after 9/11 and soon launching the largest combat operation in its history in Afghanistan in response to the terror attacks against the United States. NATO has developed particular expertise at training local security forces in Afghanistan to take on the Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS and stabilize the country.

Similar NATO training missions have focused on CT capabilities in in the MENA region as well, including in Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. NATO surveillance planes support the anti-ISIS coalition, and at the NATO summit in May, the alliance announced it would become a full member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

But given the nature of the terrorist threats today, it should not surprise anyone that bothformerandcurrentNATO secretaries general recently concluded there is more NATO can and should do on CT. Despite the near-term battlefield defeat of the so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq, the terrorism forecast is grim.

As ISIS loses territory, the terrorist threat it poses in the region through itsprovincesand terrorist cells and in the West may increase (at least in the short term) as it devolves from governance to insurgency and terrorism. Returning foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) present one threat, compounded by the social-media-driven phenomenon ofhomegrown violent extremism(HVE), which in turn can include a spectrum of terrorist threats from foreign-inspired, enabled or directed plots.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel with respect to the Syrian tragedy, a jihadist enterprise that has givenal-Qaedaa new lease on life, a group that is also resurgent in the Arabian Peninsula and in Africa. To Europes south,Libyapresents a variety of security threats that show no signs of abating and threaten stability across North Africa and into the Sahel, and, as the Manchester attack suggests, up into Europe as well.

Europols 2017TESAT reporthighlights the threats posed to Europe by regional instability outside the EU, including the Western Balkans, Caucasus, Africa, Middle East and in NATO-member Turkey.

The latest Global Trendsreportpublished by the U.S. National Intelligence Council focuses on two key trends that will significantly impact the future direction of theterroristthreat:

First, the resolution or continuation of the many intra- and inter-state conflicts currently underway most importantly, the Syrian civil war, but also conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and the Sahel, Somalia, Yemen, and elsewhere will determine the intensity and geography of future violence.

The key factor this will impact is the spread of ungoverned space, which to date has created an environment conducive to extremism and encouraged the enlistment of thousands of volunteers eager to fight.

The second factor is how we deal today with the foreign fighter and migrant phenomena. If not properly managed, these will become the recruiting pools for tomorrows terrorist groups.

What more could NATO do in the counterterrorism arena?As the latest State Departmentreporton counterterrorism notes, NATOs added-value in the CT space comes in the three cones of its current strategy: improving threat awareness, developing CT capabilities and enhancing partner engagement.

The creation of a newNATO Strategic Direction-South (NSD-S) Hubin Naples is a welcome development and should help NATO improve situational awareness along NATOs southern flank and provide long-range, horizon-scanning analysis and policy recommendations for NATO HQ, SHAPE and the North Atlantic Council.

This effort should leverage resources to address both existing and future regional security challenges. NATO should play a greater role countering FTFs and the migrant crisis, as an example of current challenges. The EU counterterrorism coordinator hascalledfor increased connectivity between NATO soldiers and Europol for the timely sharing of biometric and other tactical intelligence collected in the field.

NATO could also do more on maritime security related to the EUs migrant crisis, he added. But the NSD-S Hub will have the biggest potential impact getting ahead of future problems by partnering NATO officers and analysts with academics and subject-matter experts to focus international engagement (primarily training) in areas that would benefit from being preemptively inoculated from projected instability.

For example, NATO could focus efforts to prevent the spread of violent extremist organizations in relatively stable but fragile states, such as Tunisia. This must be made a strategic priority over a 10-20-year horizon.

At the end of the day, the NSD-S Hub cannot be just a response to President Trump, in which case it will be focused more on being seen to be doing something rather than actually generating effects. To get ahead of the trajectory of the tomorrows terrorist threat, we must collectively address the two key factors laid out by the NIC: contending with the foreign terrorist fighters coming out of Syria and Iraq and addressing the festering conflicts that createlooming disequilibriaand the ungoverned spaces in which tomorrows threats can fester.

Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler fellow and director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that seeks to advance a realistic understanding of American interests in theMiddle Eastand to promote thepoliciesthat secure them.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.

NATO's role in fighting post-caliphate ISIS looms large - The Hill (blog)

It Looks Like HR McMaster Is Cleaning House at the NSA – New York Magazine

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Ad will collapse in seconds CLOSE August 2, 2017 08/02/2017 9:54 pm By Jen Kirby Share McMaster. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

H.R. McMaster, national security adviser and so-called adult in the room, is apparently gaining some ground over the nationalistic forces inside the Trump administration.

On Wednesday, the White House confirmed that the NSCs senior director of intelligence, 30-year-old Ezra Cohen-Watnick has left the NSC. McMaster had allegedly tried to get rid of Cohen-Watnick who was brought on by Flynn, and also worked on the Trump transition soon after taking the NSA job. McMaster reportedly expressed doubts about Cohen-Watnicks qualifications, but advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon intervened on his behalf, and got Trump to step in and overrule McMaster.

Cohen-Watnicks ouster appears to be the latest sign that McMaster isnt done cleaning house of both Bannon and Flynn loyalists at the NSC. (And maybe its also a sign of a new order under chief-of-state John Kelly.) In addition to Cohen-Watnick, Derek Harvey, another Flynn ally and Iran hawk, was removed from his post as NSC Middle East adviser last week.

These personnel changes come amid an Atlantic report that an NSC staffer was fired last month after a troubling memo he wrote arguing that globalists, Islamists, and the deep state are working to undermine President Trumps agenda, and threatening the country.

The NSC-staffer in question is Rich Higgins, formerly director of strategic planning. Through the campaign, candidate Trump tapped into a deep vein of concern among many citizens that America is at risk and slipping away, he wrote in the memo, a portion of which The Atlantic obtained. Globalists and Islamists recognize that for their visions to succeed, America, both as an ideal and as a national and political identity, must be destroyed.

The conspiracy-laced memo reportedly also insinuates that the Russia probe is made-up to hurt Trump and accuses the left of being aligned with Islamist organizations at the local, national and international levels, and:

recognition should be given to the fact that they seamlessly interoperate through coordinated synchronized interactive narratives These attacks narratives are pervasive, full spectrum and institutionalized at all levels. They operate in social media, television, the 24-hour news cycle in all media and are entrenched at the upper levels of the bureaucracies

Higgins apparently wrote the memo in May, though warning about the Maoist insurgency being co-opted by Islamists was shockingly outside his job description. Its not clear how the memo came to the attention of NSC higher-ups or why it took so long but sources told the Atlantic that the memo had been circulating around the White House and may have landed on the presidents desk. Finally, on July 21, McMasters deputy NSA Ricky Waddell (who himself replaced Trump appointee K.T. McFarland when McMaster took the job after Michael Flynns firing) relieved Higgins from his duties.

In July, former Breitbart writer Tera Dahl also left the NSC, rounding out a string of dismissals for the Bannonesque populists. However, its unclear if some of ex-NSCers will leave the Trump orbit for good, or be reshuffled to new posts within the administration. Which means McMaster may have an edge now, but the battle against the fever swamp is far from over.

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After repeatedly pushing off major undertakings like tax reform and raising the debt ceiling, theyre in for a truly hellish fall.

He suggested replacing the top general, but experts say the issue is he hasnt approved a new strategy.

A few high-profile firings of Flynn and Bannon allies including one who wrote a bizarre memo warning against globalists are out in recent weeks.

Despite Governor Cuomos assurances that wouldnt happen, the Board of Elections complied though it wont turn over Social Security numbers.

The GOPs plans to use the budget process for health care and tax legislation are already half-ruined. The worst could be yet to come.

The Statue of Liberty doesnt mean what you think it does, Miller says.

Sanders, Biden, or Warren may run in 2020 and clear the field of pretenders. If not, Democrats could have the kind of field the GOP sported in 2016.

Yous guys should give him some credit.

Trump said an executive from the organization called him to say his speech was the greatest. Turns out, no such call was ever placed.

After defeat, wild, pointless anger.

Well have to wait for Scaramuccis inevitable book deal to get the real tea.

If the prospects of vulnerable 2018 GOP candidates get much worse, and the chaos in D.C. doesnt improve, an anti-Trump rebellion is a possibility.

The retired general may have had early success in ousting Scaramucci and instilling some order. But this is Trumps White House were talking about.

In a signing statement, Trump says that provisions limiting his power to alter the sanctions are unconstitutional.

This complex in the Rockaways was rebuilt and is clean, well-maintained, and safe.

Two senators, alongside Trump, will propose halving the rate over the next ten years.

After Kellys first 48 hours on the job, even Trump is on his best behavior for his new chief of staff.

She only reports real (a.k.a. positive) stories about the White House.

The civil-rights division is preparing to tackle discrimination against white people.

The Trump administration and Ed Butowsky, the conservative commentator at the center of a new lawsuit, cant seem to agree.

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It Looks Like HR McMaster Is Cleaning House at the NSA - New York Magazine

In Abusing NSA Intelligence, Did Obama White House Commit A Crime? – Investor’s Business Daily

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Then-Deputy Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, shown talking to the White House press corps in December 2016, joins a growing list of former Obama officials under subpoena from the House Intelligence Committee. (Cheriss May/Zuma Press/Newscom)

'Unmasking' Scandal: Day by day, the scandal of the Obama administration's abuse of domestic intelligence gathered by the National Security Agency grows. Forget the phony Russia-Trump collusion charges the Obama White House looks increasingly to have committed a crime by using U.S. intelligence for political purposes.

The NSA's insatiable gathering of data and conversations on Americans make it a potentially highly dangerous enemy of Americans' freedoms. Who would want to have a federal government spy shop that knows almost everything you do in public, on the phone, by email, or by computer?

That's why the super-secret NSA, which is much bigger than the better-known CIA, has always operated under strict guidelines for how its intel could be used. In its reports, Americans who are surveilled without a warrant while speaking to a foreign citizen are routinely "masked" that is, their identity is kept secret unless there's an overwhelming national security interest in that person being "unmasked."

Unfortunately, like a child with a dangerous new toy, the Obama administration apparently seems to have believed that the NSA could be used for narrow, political purposes.

As a result, a number of administration officials and Obama supporters, including former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power and former CIA chief John Brennan, have been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee to answer some questions.

On Wednesday, the panel announced another subpoena had been issued for a former Obama official, this for former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. Our guess is it won't be the last.

This mega-scandal, by the way, has been building for months, though you would hardly know by the near-silence it's been treated with in the media.

But there are exceptions. Back on May 24, the online journal Circa reported that the scandal was far more serious than it first appeared.

"The National Security Agency under former President Barack Obama routinely violated American privacy protections while scouring through overseas intercepts and failed to disclose the extent of the problems until the final days before Donald Trump was elected president last fall, according to once top-secret documents that chronicle some of the most serious constitutional abuses to date by the U.S. intelligence community," wrote Circa investigative reporter Sara A. Carter.

Now, this week, Carter reports that the scandal is much bigger than suspected. A review of government documents found that "government officials conducted 30,355 searches in 2016 seeking information about Americans in NSA intercept meta-data, which include telephone numbers and email addresses," Carter wrote.

She notes that the election-year searches by Obama's political aides and other government officials jumped 27.5% from 2015, tripling the "9,500 such searches" in 2013."In 2016 the administration also scoured the actual contents of NSA intercepted calls and emails for 5,288 Americans, an increase of 13% over the prior year and a massive spike from the 198 names searched in 2013."

Before the Obama administration, under rules propagated by former President George H.W. Bush, "unmasking" incidental intelligence targets was strictly limited and frowned upon. Even after 9/11, despite increased surveillance of people with potential terrorist ties, the rules stayed in place. The potential for abuse, they knew, was too great.

But that ended in 2011 as Obama, using the pretense of fighting a War on Terror that he never even believed in, loosened the rules. As the Washington Examiner reported earlier this week, in 2013 National Intelligence Director James Clapper formally loosened the rules on "unmasking" the names of congressional staffers, elected officials and others.

That major violations occurred under this program seems clear. Last week, House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes in a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats noted that "the total requests for Americans' names by Obama political aides numbered in the hundreds during Obama's last year in office and often lacked a specific intelligence community justification," according to The Hill.

In particular, Nunes pointed out that "one official, whose position had no apparent intelligence related function, made hundreds of unmasking requests" in 2016. Speculation is that the official was U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power.

Is this a crime? We do know that the FISA Court, in a closed-door hearing last October, already censured White House officials for their violations of Americans' email privacy, citing an "institutional lack of candor" that had become a "very serious Fourth Amendment issue."

As a reminder, the Fourth Amendment states flatly that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated ..." Spying on, and then unmasking, hundreds if not thousands of Americans would seem to us to be a brazen violation of the Constitution.

Remember how the media ridiculed and shamed Donald Trump for tweeting out that he had been "wiretapped" by Obama? It's starting to look like that, or something like it, was very much the case.

If it turns out, as some suspect, that the "unmasking" was used for domestic spying on political foes such as Trump, it would constitute a serious crime and would require a special counsel to investigate it.

The immense size of the spying operation and the clear attempt to use the U.S.' intelligence apparatus for questionable personal purposes seems to be at minimum a violation of the law. If it further turns out that there was a coordinated effort by Obama and his aides to use the information in the 2016 presidential campaign, it will be a crime and scandal larger than even Watergate.

Yes, people will go to prison.

Is that what we have here, the political crime of the still-young 21st century? It would be nice if the mainstream media seemed at all interested in answering that question.

Did Obama Spy On Trump? It Sure Looks That Way

Real Scandals The Trump-Obsessed Media Are Ignoring

Is Susan Rice The Missing Piece In Obama Spy Scandal?

Reality Winner Is A Loser, And So Is U.S. Security

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In Abusing NSA Intelligence, Did Obama White House Commit A Crime? - Investor's Business Daily

Should NSA and CyberCom split? A watchdog weighs in — FCW – FCW.com

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Defense

As the status of the dual-hat leadership structure of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command remains under review, the Government Accountability Office teamed up with Pentagon officials to identify the advantages and disadvantages of such a change in a new report.

The benefits of the current arrangement, as identified by officials from the Department of Defense, involve collaboration, faster decision making and resource efficiency.

But the big downside is that wider access to NSA's toolkit of exploits increases the risk that destructive bugs will get loose as has been seen recently.

GAO was directed to conduct the review in the report language of a recent defense bill.

Auditors found that because one officer calls the shots for two organizations, senior leaders from each organization have visibility into the procedures of the other, allowing for natural coordination on capability development, testing and business processes.

"In the absence of the dual-hat, [NSA] and CyberCom would need to formalize these internal processes in order to maintain them," auditors write.

Another advantage is that the single leader for both organizations allows for faster decision-making because it doesn't require building consensus across commands.

Officials from several DOD components, including NSA and CyberCom, told GAO that the structure allows the two organizations to make efficient use of their resources by sharing digital and physical infrastructure and by combining employee training sessions.

DOD officials also detailed the disadvantages of the dual-hat approach.

Officials reported concerns about preferential prioritization of one organization's requests for support over the other's, concerns that may only be exacerbated as CyberCom is set to receive the authorities of a unified combatant command.

And, as previously noted, CyberCom's use of NSA's tools and infrastructure increases the risk those tools being leaked or exposed.

Because of the wide range of responsibilities of the two organizations, and as CyberCom is elevated to become a full combatant command, DOD officials expressed concerns that the duties may be too broad for a single officer to realistically handle.

Although they both operate in cyberspace, the missions of CyberCom and NSA also have an inherent tension. CyberCom focuses primarily on conducting military operations, while NSA's mission is primarily intelligence-based.

DOD officials also told auditors that while the sharing of resources is efficient, the resource allocation between the two entities is sometimes unclear. They stated that DOD does not have an official position on the advantages and disadvantages of the dual-hat structure.

The report also includes actions that could limit potential risks of splitting the leadership.

While there is broad support from current and former officials, including former President Barack Obama, for elevating Cyber Command to the level of an independent combatant command, the idea of splitting the agencies has received some pushback.

Legislatively, 2017 National Defense Authorization Act stated that the dual-hat role, which dates back to CyberCom's creation in 2009, will remain in place until an assessment is conducted about the potential security risks of splitting the current structure.

The 2018 bill submitted by the House Armed Services Committee includes a $647 million boost to support the elevation of U.S. Cyber Command to a full combatant command level, but omits new language about an eventual split of the NSA and CyberCom.

About the Author

Chase Gunter is a staff writer covering civilian agencies, workforce issues, health IT, open data and innovation.

Prior to joining FCW, Gunter reported for the C-Ville Weekly in Charlottesville, Va., and served as a college sports beat writer for the South Boston (Va.) News and Record. He started at FCW as an editorial fellow before joining the team full-time as a reporter.

Gunter is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where his emphases were English, history and media studies.

Click here for previous articles by Gunter, or connect with him on Twitter: @WChaseGunter

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Should NSA and CyberCom split? A watchdog weighs in -- FCW - FCW.com

Report: NSA Illegally Spied on Kim Dotcom in New Zealand – Breitbart News

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Documents reveal that the NSA and New Zealands Government Communications Security Bureau surveilled Dotcom in a joint operation officially until 2012. The NSA then reportedly continued to use New Zealand technology to spy on Dotcom after 2012.

GCSB claimed that it turned off all surveillance systems targeting Dotcom and others butfound out more than a year later that surveillance continued without its knowledge, reportedthe New Zealand Herald. The details in the documents have led Dotcom to state that there is now evidence the United States National Security Agency was carrying out surveillance on him.

Dotcom, who should have been protected from GCSB surveillance as a New Zealand resident, said the GCSB did not know because its equipment was being used by the NSA, which was directly involved, the report claims.

In a series of tweets, Dotcomcalled GCSB consistent liars and claimed they were aware of the continued surveillance of him by the NSA.

The tech entrepreneur also called the incident a sellout of NZ sovereignty, before referencing the Five Eyes surveillance alliance between New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

Im not a terrorist or a national security threat. Im not even a criminal, declared Dotcom on Twitter. Im an innovator, a nerd, I play video games. Fuck you NSA!

Charlie Nash is a reporterforBreitbart Tech. You can follow himon Twitter@MrNashingtonorlike his page at Facebook.

P.S. DO YOU WANT MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR INBOX?SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY BREITBART NEWSLETTER.

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Report: NSA Illegally Spied on Kim Dotcom in New Zealand - Breitbart News

Independence Pass defendant denies multiple allegations – Aspen Daily News

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

The Colorado Springs man who police say held three men at gunpoint last summer on Independence Pass has denied the allegations in response to a lawsuit.

In addition to the denials, Brolin McConnell, 31, also maintains his Fifth Amendment rights, which guard against self-incrimination.

McConnell faces criminal charges of attempted murder, first-degree kidnapping and menacing, among other counts. He has been in jail ever since his arrest on July 27, 2016, following what the alleged victims said was a terrifying and frightening ordeal on Lincoln Creek Road.

Its unclear why McConnell, a Front Range real estate agent, allegedly held the men hostage and made bizarre statements and demands, including one for $100 million. Law enforcement initially suspected he was on methamphetamine, but a drug screen showed only a trace of marijuana in his blood.

He shot twice near one hostage, including a bullet that whizzed by the mans ear, causing hearing damage, according to the lawsuit and police reports. That man and two others were able to escape, and McConnell surrendered after being rushed by sheriffs deputies and an Aspen police officer at gunpoint. He has been held in jail on a $500,000 bond ever since.

In June, the three men sued him in Pitkin County District Court, claiming assault, battery, false imprisonment, extreme and outrageous conduct and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

The criminal case has halted after the district attorneys office appealed a judges dismissal or reduction, in February, of three felony counts, including attempted murder after deliberation, though a charge of attempted murder with extreme indifference was upheld. The disputed charges are now in the hands of the Colorado Court of Appeals.

McConnell has yet to speak in court or enter a plea; his first attorney waived advisement of the charges. At a preliminary hearing in January, in which a judge upheld some of the charges and dismissed or reduced others leading to the appeal Sarah Oszczakiewicz said the current bond was appropriate to protect the public. She cited jail recordings of conversations McConnell had with family members that show him instructing relatives to sell all his possessions to pay for legal representation. That includes multiple firearms, including AR-15 and AK-47 rifles, she said, adding that McConnell told his family he wanted to go live in the woods and forgo society.

On July 24, McConnells attorney, Scott Mikulecky of Colorado Springs, answered the lawsuit with a filing in which all of the allegations are denied.

The plaintiffs claims are barred or reduced by failure to mitigate their damages, the answer says, employing standard, boiler-plate legalese. Defendant expressly reserves all Fifth Amendment rights and privileges.

On Tuesday, Mikulecky moved to stay the lawsuit.

Defendant contends that in order to avoid undue prejudice against him, and to allow him and his counsel to prepare for the criminal trial, this court should stay these civil proceedings until the criminal trial has been completed, says the motion to stay the civil proceeding.

It says that McConnell, during the criminal proceeding, will be advised by his attorneys to invoke the Fifth Amendment in relation to the lawsuit.

And not until the criminal trial is concluded, and any appeals exhausted, will defendant be instructed by counsel that he will no longer have the ability to invoke these Fifth Amendment rights, Mikulecky wrote.

The motion, which the plaintiffs attorney, Ryan Kalamaya of Aspen, did not oppose, was approved by a judge on Wednesday.

chad@aspendailynews.com

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Independence Pass defendant denies multiple allegations - Aspen Daily News

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Should NSA and CyberCom split? A watchdog weighs in — FCW – FCW.com

Report: NSA Illegally Spied on Kim Dotcom in New Zealand – Breitbart News

Independence Pass defendant denies multiple allegations – Aspen Daily News