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Bitcoin Slips in Latest Crypto Ranking by Chinese Government-Backed Center | News – Bitcoin News

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Chinas Center for Information and Industry Development has revised its rankings of 37 crypto projects. Bitcoin has fallen from the previous ranking.

As the Chinese government focuses on launching its central bank digital currency, the Center for Information and Industry Development (CCID), under Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, continues to evaluate and rank crypto projects.

The center released its 19th ranking update on Wednesday. The ranking and evaluation work is carried out every two months. A total of 37 crypto projects were evaluated and ranked overall as well as in three separate categories: basic technology, applicability, and creativity.

There have been some changes in the top positions of the overall ranking. While EOS remains the centers favorite, Tron dropped from the second spot to the fourth spot. Tron has been occupying the second spot for the past three updates in June, April, and February. The current ranking places Ethereum second, followed by IOST, and then Tron. Bitcoin dropped two places from the 12th position to the 14th while Bitcoin Cash rose from the 34th position to the 30th.

The center explained that the evaluation model has remained unchanged from the previous evaluation. The basic technology subindex accounts for 65% of the total score, the applicability or innovation subindex 20%, and the creativity subindex 15%.

The crypto project rankings are compiled by the CCID (Qingdao) Blockchain Research Institute, an entity established by the CCID. Several organizations help with the evaluation work, including the CCID think tank and the China Software Evaluation Center. The result of this assessment will allow the CCID group to provide better technical consulting services for government agencies, business enterprises, research institutes, and technology developers, the center previously explained.

As for Chinas digital currency backed by the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC), the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced last week that its pilot run will be expanded to include Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and Yangtze River Delta region. Furthermore, the digital yuan will also be tested during the 2022 Winter Olympics games in Beijing and expanded to other regions as appropriate. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency data analytics firm Chainalysis reported that about $50 billion in cryptocurrency was moved out of China in the past 12 months as the Chinese economy suffered from trade wars and yuan devaluation.

What do you think about this crypto project ranking? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, CCID

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers August 30th, 2020 – Yahoo Finance

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin, BTC to USD, fell by 0.46% on Saturday. Partially reversing a 1.78% gain from Friday, Bitcoin ended the day at $11,492.0.

It was a mixed start to the day. Bitcoin fell to an early morning low $11,483.0 before rising to a late morning intraday high $11,606.3.

Falling short of the first major resistance level at $11,640, Bitcoin slid to a late morning intraday low $11,450.0.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $11,376, Bitcoin moved back through to $11,500 levels.

A bearish end to the day, however, saw Bitcoin slip back to sub-$11,500 levels and into the red.

The near-term bullish trend remained intact, supported by the latest move through to $12,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $6,400 to form a near-term bearish trend.

Across the rest of the majors, it was a mixed day for the majors on Saturday.

Binance Coin (-0.61%), Bitcoin Cash ABC (-0.47%), Bitcoin Cash SV (-0.78%), Litecoin (-0.71%), and Moneros XMR (-2.06%) joined Bitcoin in the red.

It was a bullish day for the rest of the majors, however.

Cardanos ADA rallied by 6.34% to lead the way.

EOS (+0.27%), Ethereum (+0.82%), Ripples XRP (+0.80%), Stellars Lumen (+0.59%), Tezos (+2.65%), and Trons TRX (+4.22%) also made gains on the day.

In the current week, the crypto total market rose to a Monday high $360.52bn before falling to a Tuesday low $329.92bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $351.97bn.

Bitcoins dominance rose to a Tuesday high 62.13% before falling to a Saturday low 60.69%. At the time of writing, Bitcoins dominance stood at 61.01%.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 1.36% to $11,648.0. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin rise from an early morning low $11,480.0 to a high $11,668.4.

Bitcoin broke through the first major resistance level at $11,582 early on.

Elsewhere, it was also a bullish start to the day.

At the time of writing, Trons TRX was up by 5.15% to lead the way.

Story continues

Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall back through to sub-$11,600 levels to support a run at the second major resistance level at $11,672.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break out from the morning high $11,668.4.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the second major resistance level would likely cap any upside.

In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin could test resistance at $11,700 before any pullback. The third major resistance level sits at $11,829.

A fall back through to sub-$11,600 levels and the $11,516 pivot would bring the first major support level at $11,426 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should avoid sub-$11,400 levels on the day. The second major support level sits at $11,360.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers August 30th, 2020 - Yahoo Finance

Canaan Cuts Losses for Second Successive Quarter, Down To $2.4M in Q2; Demand Remains Weak – Bitcoin News

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Canaan Creative, the Chinese maker of bitcoin mining hardware, reported a net loss of $2.4 million during the second quarter of 2020, down from $5.6 million in the previous quarter. It is the second consecutive quarter of narrowing losses for the firm, hit hard by falling demand amid the Covid-19-induced global recession.

For the three months to June 30, revenue soared 160% to $25.2 million from $9.6 million the quarter before, driven by a near 200% increase in total computing power sold.

According to Canaans earnings release of August 31, the Beijing-based company sold 2.6 million terahash per second (TH/s) of Bitcoin hashpower, up from 0.9 million TH/s during the first quarter. Year-over-year, total computing power sold declined 18% from 3.2 million TH/s.

Shares of Canaan fell 0.72% to $2.08 on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, at the time of writing. The stock has tumbled more than 80% since listing on the exchange last November. Then, it traded at a high of $13.

Canaan chief executive officer Nangeng Zhang commented: During the second quarter of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic continued to impact the lives of people around the world and the Bitcoin halving event also caused significant volatility in bitcoin prices. Zhang added:

We are confident that ourpipeline of next-generation products will continue to sustain our growth momentum in the future.

In the review quarter, research and development expenses declined to $3.7 million from $5.9 million previously, said the firm, which manufactures the Avalon range of ASIC bitcoin mining chips.

Canaan reported cash and cash equivalents of $22.2 million for the June quarter, down from $37.3 million in Q1. The company said the decline is a result of higher short-term investments, which amounted to a total of $49.2 million by the end of June.

For the second quarter running, Canaan did not issue guidance for the next three trading months, citing continued uncertainty from the rapidly changing global environment related to the Covid-19 pandemic and corresponding economic downturn.

What do you think about Canaans continuing losses? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Canaan Cuts Losses for Second Successive Quarter, Down To $2.4M in Q2; Demand Remains Weak - Bitcoin News

The Fahadh Faasil interview: ‘Cinema shouldn’t take away respect from women’ – The New Indian Express

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

By PTI

Malayalam cinema star Fahadh Faasil, one of the most versatile actors of his generation with critically acclaimed films like "Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum"and "Kumbalangi Nights"to his credit, says it is important for him to have the freedom to choose his characters and they need not be the lead roles.

The National Award winner said his constant effort has been to ensure the liberty where he is not stuck in a particular image.

"What excites me is the film as a whole. I don't want to be good in one scene or be good in a bad movie. The film as a whole needs to be communicated well,"Faasil told PTI in a Zoom interview.

Citing the example of "Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum", the film for which he won the National Award, the actor said he was initially offered a different role but decided to opt for the character of chain-swallowing thief later.

"When I function like that, I have the freedom to choose my characters and they need not be the lead role. The constant effort is to not repeat myself as I don't want to get bored of my work,"he added.

The actor was launched in the industry by his filmmaker father, Fazil, at the age of 19 with romantic film "Kaiyethum Doorath"in 2002 but left for the US when the movie flopped. Seven years later, he made a comeback with a role in "Kerala Cafe"and Faasil has since worked hard to build an enviable filmography in Malayalam cinema.

The 38-year-old actor has been praised for his performance in, "Trance", "Maheshinte Prathikaaram"and Tamil film "Super Deluxe"among several more.

Asked whether there was an attempt to build a legacy of great roles, Faasil said he is not someone who plans future.

"I am not a future guy. I just owe it to my audience here. I never want them to wonder why this guy did this role. Even for my bad films, I want them to think that he was trying at least.

"I feel I am answerable to them. Also, I don't want to do anything that takes away the freedom I have to do what I want to do, the way I want to,"he said.

After "Kumbalangi Nights", he has now produced "C U Soon".

The actor, who also features in the movie, is excited about the thriller where most of the story unfolds through screens, which has become a way of life during the coronavirus pandemic.

Most of the film was shot during the lockdown and created on the edit table, he said.

"'C U Soon' is a very emotional story. It's about suffering. People are now on FaceTime and Google. The experience that we want to give for this film is that you might feel that the characters are on the other end of the phone. It could be that personal.

"The attempt is for the movie to go to the audience and experience it with all the emotional backing the script or the narrator deserves. People are very familiar to WhatsApp and other apps, but a film on that ground is going to be fresh,"the actor said.

Directed by Mahesh Narayanan, "C U Soon" is about a software engineer from Kerala (Fahadh) who has been assigned by his family to help his Dubai-based cousin (Roshan Mathew) find his missing fiancee (Darshana Rajendran), after she leaves behind a video-based suicide note.

Fahadh, who has worked with Narayanan on the 2017 hit "Take Off"and the yet-to-be-released "Malik", said he had tremendous trust in the director.

With "Vishwaroopam" films, "Uyare", and "Ennu Ninte Moideen" as credits, Narayanan is primarily a brilliant editor.

"I was very sure about what Mahesh can do with something like this. He was the one who gave me the idea of redesigning the film on the editing table. Let's focus on design on the lenses when we shoot it, let's shoot it in one single frame and redesign it. It's because of him that the film happened."

Also starring "Choked"star Mathew and Rajendran of "Virus"fame, the film begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video from September 1.

Fahadhsaid there has been a constant effort from his side to achieveharmony in his films though he has failed sometimes.

"Cinema shouldn't take away respect from women. Films should eventually result in people respecting each other or human beings being in love with each other more than anything. It's an art form and it has to be executed for better harmony. It's not that people get influenced and change their life, but if you can have some goodness that people can take home, then some good (will be done).

"I have failed drastically in a few films. But even if one person gets the message, we have to ensure that they get it rightly,"he added.

Streamers have helped his films to be discovered beyond his ardent followers in Malayalam cinema and the actor believes it has opened the possibilities for many more stories to be told.

Asked about whether there was a chance for him to make a Hindi film debut like Mathew and Dulquer Salmaan, Faasil said he should first get a script that excites him.

Hindi cinema debut may or may not be a possibility for Faasil but one actor that left a mark on him was Irrfan Khan.

Faasil shared an emotional letter with his fans following Irrfan's death in April from a rare form of cancer.

In the letter, the actor shared how he discovered Irrfan while he was studying in the US and how the actor left an indelible mark on him.

Asked what prompted him to write the letter, Fahadh said he had never spoken or met Irrfan but his passing felt a deep sense of loss.

"I knew I would terribly miss him. He felt like someone I knew and the fact that I would miss him was a little unbearable. That's why I sat down and wrote that night.

"I am going to miss the actor he is. It's not just me, think about the filmmakers who would never find the right guy to do a million characters. I have heard a lot of beautiful stories about him from Mr (Vishal) Bhardwaj,"he said.

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The Fahadh Faasil interview: 'Cinema shouldn't take away respect from women' - The New Indian Express

Paz Padilla reappears this Saturday on television after the death of her husband – Explica

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Last July marked a turning point in the life of the Paz Padilla. The Telecinco presenter gave the last goodbye to her husband, Antonio Juan Vidal, and he did so just five months after losing his mother. A trance, without a doubt, very complicated for the woman from Cdiz, who from then on decided to take refuge in her own and not be seen in public.

But the time has come to try to look to the future and move forward. The actress of La que se avecina will meet again with the television sets, but she will not do it as a presenter, but as invited and interviewed.

Thus, Paz Padilla will break her silence after all this time away from television and se will sit in Saturday Deluxe to talk, for the first time, about his personal life.

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Paz Padilla reappears this Saturday on television after the death of her husband - Explica

Soar above the storm – The Hartselle Enquirer – Hartselle Enquirer

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

ByPhillip Hines

Isaiah 40:31 is a passage we have read and heard many times. Songs have been written about this verse. Isaiah said, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength;they shall mount up with wings like eagles,they shall run and not be weary,they shall walk and not faint.

These words have given us comfort,hope,and strength in difficult times.

To really appreciate thisverse,one must understand the context of the passage.

Isaiah knew the Israelites were about to face the most difficult, tryingand faithtesting time in their entire existence.At that time, there was no one who was more discouraged and disappointed than Isaiah.God had said to the prophet inIsaiah 39:6, Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left.

The city of Jerusalem would be destroyed. The Jewsweregoing into exile. The temple was about to face doombythe hands of the Babylonians.The PromisedLand would become desolate.

Why?Israel had turned its back on God and had become disobedient to the will of God.

It is out of this darkness that God shines a ray of light for Isaiah.God wanted the old prophet to know what to do when life wasunbearableand the stormsgot toostrong.

He said,Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

The wordwaitdoes not meantosit in a hypnotic trance in the corner of the room until God moves.Thiswordhastwo meanings.

One is thatwespend timealone with God and do not panic.The secondis that,whileweare waiting on the Lord,wekeep obeying and serving Him.

It means that we are going to do whatever we can for the Lord,while we wait until the Lord does something for us.

What is the result of waiting on the Lord?

We willmount up with wings like eagles.

You might wonder why Godusedthe example ofan eagle in this text.

Eagles are amazing birds.Theyare able toflyatan altitude ofup to10,000feet!Eagles flyanaverage of50miles an hour;however,theysometimesnotchspeedsas fast as100 milesan hour.They can see seven times better than we can.Amazingly,theywill often flydirectlyinto a storm and not away from it.They know that the updrafts in a storm can help them soar higherand have a better view.

The storm is no threat to the eagle because he flies above the storm!

God wants us to let Him be in the middle of our storm.He wants us to fly with Him.

When we do, we will see the storm from Gods perspective.We will see that the storms do not control God, but God controls the storms.

It is then that we can soar above the storm, and we no longerneedto fear!

Sitting in a 2021 Acura TLX only Whets our Appetite to Drive One – Autoweek

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

At the end of May of this year, Acura revealed its newest flagship sedan: the 2021 Acura TLX. It rides on a new platform that helps improve front to rear weight distribution and uses a new body that is longer, lower, and wider. Its also more attractive, trading in a somewhat milquetoast shape for a fastback profile and chiseled features. This all adds up to more legitimacy in the premium sedan market.

And while a premium sedans shape is important, what really differentiates premium from mainstream is how the car makes you feel. Of course, how a car drives is paramount, but several other features prove important for a holistically good experience. Things like space, seat comfort, minimal noise vibration and harshness, and quality of the sounds system.

And while still not quite ready for a test drive, Acura wanted to show off its latest creation and parked a 2021 TLX in my driveway for an hour to sit in, poke around and listen to its new audio system. Called the ELS Studio 3D, its the highest level of three sound systems offered and uses 16 channels, 17 speakers and 710 watts of power to work. For reference, the base system uses 10 speakers and 350 watts, midgrade ups that to 13 speakers and 550 watts.

Dan Howell

With two subwoofers, four slim speakers mounted around the perimeter of the ceiling, and a smattering of dome tweeters and mid-range speakers, the ELS Studio 3D system has a lot of tools to churn out a wide range of frequencies of sound. And it does so well. If youre a audiophile, youll appreciate the fullness of the music.

Acura

The 3D system delivered crisp sound, good dynamics and depth. Its easy to hear the subtleties of the different instruments and to get a sense of the music's tone and tenor. There's plenty of low end, too you can clearly hear bass guitar or straight-up bass. That said, depending on your musical tastes, there are limitations. Some of the harder hitting bass in hip-hop tracks is a little messy, you want to feel it more than hear it. And the highest string notes in classical can get a touch shrieky, but you have to have the volume way up for that to happen.

My hour passed by quite quickly sitting in comfortable seats and a well-isolated cabin, listening to a variety of tunes. I rocked out to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and A Day in the Life by The Beatles. Johann Pachelbel Canon in D Major put me in a meditative trance for a few minutes. And none other than ToTo brought me back to childhood with Africa.

Acura looks to have performed well in the TLX's non-driving aspects. It looks and feels premium, as does the quick glance back as you walk away from it. But its biggest challenge is still ahead with how it feels while moving. It starts off with a demerit for retaining a front-wheel-drive based platform. But, based on the specs at least, it looks like the new TLX is an improvement across the board. Well share as soon as we get a chance to drive it.

Robin Warner

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Sitting in a 2021 Acura TLX only Whets our Appetite to Drive One - Autoweek

LETTER: Right wing militias big threat in US – yoursun.com

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Editor:

"Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it" - George Santayana

In 1921, Adolf Hitler, leader of the nascent Nazi Party, organized the SA (Sturmabteilung, or Storm Detachment, otherwise known as the Brownshirts) as the party's private militia. Its function was to fight Nazi opponents in the street, terrorize Jews and other "undesirables," and intimidate voters in German elections. It had its ups and downs, but hit its stride in 1931 when Ernst Rohm took command.

Under Rohm's leadership its membership grew to more than 400,000, considerably larger than the German Army at the time. The SA was instrumental in helping Hitler consolidate his power in the early 1930s.

In this country, today, the FBI tells us that right wing militias are the greatest terrorist threat we face. The Proud Boys and their ilk, across the country, are fighting liberal demonstrators, terrorizing Blacks and other "undesireables," and threatening to show up at polling places to intimidate voters. The Trump administration does nothing to rein them in and seems to implicitly encourage them. They could well be instrumental in helping Trump consolidate his power by winning reelection in November.

I doubt the leaders of these right wing militias are students of history. But they might want to understand what happened to the SA and its leadership after Hitler consolidated his power in 1934. You can look it up. Hint: google "Night of the Long Knives."

Barry Kean

Rotonda West

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LETTER: Right wing militias big threat in US - yoursun.com

Pro-Trump paintball shooter in Portland is reportedly from Midland – Midland Reporter-Telegram

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

For Sale For Lease

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Pro-Trump paintball shooter in Portland is reportedly from Midland - Midland Reporter-Telegram

WHAT’S GOING ON HERE? Controversial Proud Boys flyer shows up near park in New Hamburg – The New Hamburg Independent

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

A controversial flyer representing the Proud Boys group was spotted in New Hamburg for a second time.

The flyer, which was put up by "Proud Boys" reads the following:

"Venerating the housewife, glorifying the entrepreneur, closed borders, pro-family, pro-gun rights, western values, Canadian nationalism, maximum freedom, and Canada First."

Proud Boys Canada appears to be a chapter of Proud Boys U.S., which describes itself as a "Western Chauvinistic" group meant for all men.

"'The basic tenet of the group is that we are Western chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world,'" a profile on their website reads. "Like Archie Bunker, we long for the days when girls were girls and men were men. This wasnt controversial even twenty years ago, but being proud of Western culture today is like being a crippled, black, lesbian communist in 1953. The group started in the fall after congregating on Compound Media and laughing at the politically correct culture they insist we take seriously."

The flyer was found on a light post near Theodore Schuler Park, while nearby residents tell the Independent the police were contacted.

The Independent reached out via email specified on the flyer, but it bounced back.

Tacoma teacher put on administrative leave | Northwest – Lewiston Morning Tribune

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

TACOMA A teacher whose alleged connections to a white supremacy group were investigated at a previous job and is now working at Tacoma Public Schools has been placed on administrative leave.

Tacoma Public Schools is aware of community concern that one of our newly hired teachers is a member of a hate group, the district posted on Twitter Thursday morning. The District performs background and reference checks before hiring staff & this was the first the District heard about this teachers alleged affiliation. Tacoma Public Schools takes these matters very seriously. We have started an investigation, and the employee has been placed on administrative leave during the investigation.

Xane Fisher, a former English teacher at Graham-Kapowsin High School, was investigated by the Bethel School District in September 2019 after a citizen complaint alleged he participated in the Proud Boys, according to documents obtained by the (Tacoma) News Tribune.

The Proud Boys are described as an alt-right hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

At the time, Bethel concluded there were no overtly racial or otherwise inappropriate statements that warranted further action by the district, according to a Sept. 5 letter from the human resources department. The district did review its nondiscrimination policy with Fisher, records show.

In an Oct. 8, 2019 response letter following the Bethel investigation, Fisher called the allegations false and claimed ANTIFA, an antifascist group, was responsible for spreading them.

Someone in that organization has stolen personal data from before I was a Bethel employee, fabricated a narrative, and manipulated the public sectors due process to harass myself and my family over false accusations they created, Fisher wrote.

Im not involved with any organization that espouses ideologies about supremacy of any kind, promotes hateful activity, or practices any form of intolerance, he continued.

The News Tribune has been unsuccessful in reaching Fisher as of Thursday morning.

The complaint originally submitted to Bethel shared various social media images and videos of Fisher. In one Facebook picture, Fisher made an OK symbol with his hand, a gesture thats been used to signify white power.

Fisher also allegedly appeared in a Twitter thread by a user claiming to leak induction videos from a banned Proud Boys Facebook group.

The video appeared to show Fisher saying his name and that he was a proud western chauvinist who refuses to apologize for creating the modern world, a declaration shared by members of the Proud Boys.

The video resurfaced on social media this week.

Fisher drew social media attention on Tuesday after Salish Sea Black Flag, an antifascist anarchist collective from the PNW, according to its profile, tweeted that Fisher had been hired by Bethel School District.

The Bethel School Districts official Twitter profile responded to the post Wednesday, stating Xane Fisher no longer works for the Bethel School District.

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Tacoma teacher put on administrative leave | Northwest - Lewiston Morning Tribune

Joe Rogans Spotify Debut Sparks Speculation Over Missing Episodes – Forbes

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Comedian Joe Rogan performs during his appearance at The Ice House Comedy Club on May 10, 2017 in ... [+] Pasadena, California. (Photo by Michael Schwartz/WireImage)

Joe Rogans Spotify debut has sparked intense speculation from fans, as several episodes appear to be missing from Spotifys new Joe Rogan Experience channel.

Scanning through the list of absent episodes, a pattern seems to emerge; Gavin McInnes, Alex Jones, Stefan Molyneux, and many other figures associated with the alt-right are currently missing. Most of the absent episodes (but not all), feature highly controversial media personalities, whose appearances on the podcast were heavily criticized.

McInnes founded a violent, neo-fascist organization known as the Proud Boys, Jones regularly regurgitates outlandish conspiracy theories, while Molyneux is a passionate believer in race science, also known as scientific racism, or simply, racism.

But not all of the missing episodes feature guests obsessed with skull shapes, IQ scores, and interdimensional illuminati - documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux, pot activist Tommy Chong and comedian Nick Kroll are also missing from Spotify.

Longtime Rogan fans, already fearing the corporatization of the podcast due to the Spotify exclusivity deal, began to speculate wildly, many suspecting that the podcast might be shifting direction, away from the controversies of the past.

Mikhaila Peterson, famous for being Jordan Petersons daughter (and promoter of a quack diet that literally consists of beef, salt and water), was initially missing from Rogans Spotify channel, but her episode was uploaded a few hours later.

Peterson took to Twitter to call out Spotify for perceived censorship, but was quickly placated by the reappearance of her episode.

Strangely enough, Alex Jones spoke up to calm the fanbase with an uncharacteristically level-headed analysis that didnt involve time-travelling child molesters, or even human-animal hybrids. Jones claims that the missing episodes are Rogans favorite one hundred episodes, and will stay on YouTube, before eventually migrating to Spotify.

That explanation doesnt make a great deal of sense - for example, it seems unlikely that a dull conversation with disgraced comedian Chris D'Elia is one of Rogans favorite episodes. While the missing episodes might find their way to Spotify at some point, its still unclear why they are being excluded in the first place.

Perhaps Rogan really is moving away from the baggage of his past, despite being a consistent, vocal critic of cancel culture and deplatforming. Rogans previous description of the Spotify deal implied that his show would remain unchanged, platforming a diverse range of voices, from the interesting, to downright unhinged:

They want me to just continue doing it the way Im doing it right now, Rogan stated. Its just a licensing deal, so Spotify wont have any creative control over the show. It will be the exact same show."

One major appeal of the podcast was Rogans willingness to listen to a broad range of opinions. However, that attitude wasnt always consistent, or admirable. Was there ever any need to broadcast a conversation with Stefan Molyneux? Pseudoscience and bigotry arent exactly in short supply, and amplifying destructive voices isnt the same as platforming quirky outsiders.

But the Joe Rogan Experience has already changed quite a bit since its inception, having attracted enough attention to turn the podcast into a valuable marketing platform.

Whether it will lean heavily into that direction, remains to be seen.

The rest is here:

Joe Rogans Spotify Debut Sparks Speculation Over Missing Episodes - Forbes

House GOP leaders and Trump allies clashed in primaries here’s how they fared – Center for Responsive Politics

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, left, and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) are rising stars in President Donald Trumps Republican party as two of his most reliable and vocal defenders. Both have flexed their muscles this cycle, collectively funding nine candidates in congressional primaries facing opponents backed by GOP leaders House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.).

Only three of nine candidates funded by Gaetz, Jordan or the House Freedom Fund PAC run by the House Freedom Caucus Jordan chairs, managed to beat those backed by the two GOP leaders. But the groups successes are drawing headlines and not always in a good way.

Freedom Fund-backed House candidates Marjorie Greene in Georgias 14th District, and Anna Paulina Luna in Floridas 13th District have drawn scrutiny from both Democrats and GOP leaders.

Politico uncovered past statements by Greene that were widely criticized as racist and Islamaphobic. They included comparing the Black Lives Matter campaign to the Ku Klux Klan and calling the 2018 elections of Muslim Democratic Representatives like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) part of an Islamic invasion of our government.

Luna has ties to the nonprofit We Build the Wall, a group whose leadership is under indictment for alleged personal use of the tax-exempt funds. She also compared Hillary Clinton to herpes on Fox News, which prompted the network to make a rare apology for one of its guests comments.

Both will be on the ballot in November after winning competitive primaries.

GOP Leadership has strongly denounced Greene, a stance that has yet to change since her decisive primary victory. In the deep-red Georgia district, Greene is all but assured to take the seat of Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.), who announced his resignation ahead of the election.

Still, Jordan, Gaetz and the House Freedom Fund collectively backed 59 candidates that McCarthy and Scalise also supported via campaign donations, including Jordan and Gaetz themselves, signaling that the two sides often agree.

While Jordan and Freedom Fund-backed candidates have had mixed success against those funded by GOP leadership, Gaetz endorsement has preceded several anti-establishment victories, especially in his home state. In Florida, Gaetz-backed candidates won in two primaries. In the 21st District, Gaetz endorsed and campaigned for controversial pro-Trump candidate Laura Loomer, whose campaign manager was also a senior adviser to Trumps 2016 campaign.

Loomer has drawn the ire of some GOP members because of her history of Islamaphobic remarks and support for baseless conspiracy theories. Her election night party was attended by disreputable far-right figures including Roger Stone, Breitbart contributor Milo Yiannopolous and founder of the self-described Western chauvinist group the Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes. Loomer has been banned from major social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for hate speech.

House GOP leaders have stayed largely silent on Loomer, not denouncing or supporting her. However, Trump has tweeted his support. Loomer faces four-term incumbent Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) in November in a seat considered safely Democratic.

In Floridas 15th District, Gaetz broke a long-held precedent against sitting representatives endorsing opponents to incumbents in their party, endorsing Lakeland City Commissioner Scott Franklin who ousted freshman Rep. Ross Spano (R-Fla.).

The split came after House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) endorsed an unsuccessful primary challenge to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). He pushed for a roll call vote on the CARES Act in late March, forcing members of Congress to return from home to the Capitol. Gaetz has since called on Cheney to step down from her leadership role amid attacks on Cheney from other members of the House Freedom Caucus, including Jordan.

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House GOP leaders and Trump allies clashed in primaries here's how they fared - Center for Responsive Politics

The Thin Blue Line Between Violent, Pro-Trump Militias and Police – The Intercept

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

The videos that preceded Anthony Hubers killing on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, are jarring. Among the most chilling is one from the parking lot of an auto repair shop. Several shots ring out. In the distance, you see the gunman in jeans and a green T-shirt. A man rushes up behind him. The gunman turns. More shots ring out and the man collapses to the ground. The gunman circles a parked car, then comes back to the man laid out on the pavement. He looks down at him and pulls out his cellphone. I just killed somebody, the shooter says, before jogging off. The man on the ground twitches and stares up at the sky, gasping deeply as bystanders work desperately to put pressure on his wound. Some cry, others yell for someone to call the police.

In a second video, the gunman can be seen jogging down the center of a two-way street as bystanders yell that he just shot someone. He falls to the ground. A handful of men run toward him; Huber is one of them. The 26-year-old swings his skateboard at the shooter and reaches for his rifle. The shooter pulls the trigger. Huber staggers back, then collapses in the street. A second man, appearing to hold a handgun, takes a bullet in the arm. The gunman rises to his feet and jogs, then walks, toward a column of approaching emergency vehicles. Again, bystanders yell that he just shot people. The gunman, with his hands in the air, is seemingly ordered out of the way and the police move on. In a third video, shot before the killings took place, the same young gunman is seen interacting with law enforcement in an armored vehicle, accepting a bottle of water as thanks for the efforts he and others in a group of armed vigilantes were putting in. An officer in the vehicle says over a loudspeaker: We appreciate you guys. We really do.

Hours after the videos were taken, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, the suspected shooter, was arrested on charges of first-degree intentional homicide. By that point, he was miles away, in Antioch, Illinois, despite the fact that he had approached police and several bystanders identified him as the gunman whose shots law enforcement were ostensibly responding to. Rittenhouse is accused of killing Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum, a 36-year-old father who leaves behind a fiance and young daughter, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, a volunteer street medic. The killings came on the third night of protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man who was left paralyzed after being shot in the back in front of his children. Like other moments around the country, the response to the police violence has featured large-scale peaceful demonstrations, vandalism, and property damage. Blake remains hospitalized and, according to his father, has been shackled to his bed despite being unable to move.

Heidi Beirich, the chief strategy officer at the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said she was unsurprised when she woke up to the news of violence in Kenosha Wednesday morning. The summer of 2020 has already seen the targeting of Black Lives Matter protesters with a bomb plot in Nevada, the targeted killing of a federal court security officer and the murder of a sheriffs deputy by a suspected right-wing extremist in California, and a Ku Klux Klan leader driving his car into a crowd of police brutality protesters in Virginia.

As were approaching the election and Trump is hyping fear over the protests and ginning these people on with all this of law order stuff, its going to get worse, Beirich told The Intercept. I dont expect this, unfortunately, to be the end of it.

At a press conference Wednesday, Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth offered no explanation as to why Rittenhouse was permitted to leave the scene of the shootings; in addition to being identified as a shooter out after curfew, the 17-year-old was not old enough to legally carry the weapon he did. I dont have a clue, the sheriff told reporters, later adding, I dont even know the mans name. When asked why law enforcement gave armed vigilantes bottles of water, the sheriff said it was common practice. Our deputies would toss a water to anybody.

Hours before the shootings took place, the Kenosha Guard, a local militia group, issued a call to arms on Facebook, amplified by the conspiracy theory website InfoWars, urging armed citizens to come out in defense of private property. At Wednesdays press conference, Beth indicated that the group had sought to be deputized by his office a request that the sheriff claims he rejected.

The events in Kenosha are the latest in a long line of cases in which self-styled vigilantes have gathered under the banner of the thin blue line a flag and movement devoted to the defense of law enforcement and the president and engaged in violence with counterprotesters while police stood back.

Days before the killings in a Wisconsin, a so-called Back the Bluerally in Gilbert, Arizona, saw armed pro-police demonstrators beating counterprotesters while law enforcement looked on. In the run up to the confrontation, which are now a weekly event, supporters of the rally posted violent fantasies online and death threats against their critics. Days later, police in Portland stood by as gun-toting men waving thin blue line flags brawled with leftist protesters in the citys streets. The clash came just weeks after Portland authorities acknowledged that a former Navy SEAL who had boasted about infiltrating ANTIFA was under investigation in connection with the detonation of an explosive device near protesters.Pro-police protests New York have also devolved into violence.

Mike German, a former FBI agent who went undercover in far-right groups in the 1990s and who is now at the Brennan Center for Justice, noted that law enforcements tendency to back off in the face armed right-wing protests was evident in altercations during Trumps 2016 run for office, and has continued throughout his administration. To see the police continuing to treat these far-right militants as friendlies is troubling, he said. During the 1990s, German explained, law enforcement understood that the most violent members of right-wing groups, those with criminal records that exposed them to risk of arrest, did not show up at public protests. Thats no longer the case.

There are people who have been engaged in protests in Portland for years now, German said. Theyre well identified. I know them and I dont live in Portland. Several of them are under court orders not to attend another protest because of the violence theyve already perpetrated. And yet, they can engage with the police as if theyre auxiliaries. Its really astonishing people can point guns at people in broad daylight and not be arrested.

Data collected by the Center for Analysis of the Radical Right and shared with HuffPost Friday charted nearly 500 instances of right-wing extremists gathering in response to Black Lives Matter protests since the police killing of George Floyd in late May, leading to 64 cases of simple assault, 38 vehicle assaults, and nine cases of shots fired at demonstrators resulting in three deaths.

Among the myriad factors contributing to the political violence and unrest the country is now witnessing is an inversion of the relationship between some elements of the armed right and the federal government,Beirich argued. The anti-government movement is no longer anti-government in the sense that the federal government is no longer its enemy, she said. Trump has changed that calculation the militias, the larger anti-government world, is essentially a pro-Trump political formation. German, who published a report this week on extremist infiltration of law enforcement agencies, described the increasingly public alignment of the far right, police on the ground, and the White House as a widening of the umbrella for extremist groups.

The president has identified the Black Lives Matter protests and so-called antifa as the enemy and that sends a message to the police as to who to go after but also to these groups, he said. So these groups and the police seem to have aligned on a common enemy, but law enforcement is making a very big mistake if they think that because they are enemies of your enemies, they are your friends. They are not your friends, as they have demonstrated and as they will continue demonstrating as law enforcement tries to regulate their violence.

Alan Swinney, a member of the right-wing extremist groupProud Boys, fires sting-ball grenades as far-right demonstrators, many armed, clash violently with Black Lives Matter counterprotesters, in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 22, 2020.

Photo: John Rudoff/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The election of Barack Obama was followed by a surge in right-wing extremist activity that then exploded under President Donald Trump, Beirich explained. Theres been this slow drumbeat of one white supremacist attack or militia anti-government attack, and then another, and then another, she said. It just kept accelerating into the explosion that weve seen lately.

In Obamas second term, the surge in right-wing activity became intermingled with a visible pro-police movement that took hold in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Rittenhouse came of age during this critical moment.On Wednesday, BuzzFeed News reported that the teenager had a front-row seat at a rally Trump held in January, and was part of a cadet program at a local police department that provided ride-alongs and firearms training. Speaking to Vice News on Thursday, former classmates described Rittenhouse as a ride or die Trump supporter who loved triggering the libs.

If the notice to appeardrawn up by the Antioch Police Department is accurate, Rittenhouse was born on January 3, 2003, late in the 18-month window between the September 11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq. He came into the world just a few weeks before the Department of Homeland Security, and he was likely still in elementary school when the thin blue line flag that he included in the background of his Facebook profile became the symbol of a movement forged in reaction toObama-era police brutality protests.

Posts Rittenhouse made on social media indicate thathisworldview was drenched in a militarized culture that has animated large swaths of the country after nearly two decades of war and the emergence of law enforcement as a powerful cultural and political constituency. Embedded in that worldview is a tactical community with its own symbols and language, built around the idea of constant threat, good guys versus bad guys, and the sacred role of guns in maintaining social order. In a video taken before Tuesdays killings, the teenaged Rittenhouse can be heard articulating his role at the protest in terms that echo the language of modern American police, which consistently strives to center police officers willingness to run toward danger.

People are getting injured and our job is to protect this business, and a part of my job is to also help people, Rittenhouse told a reporter from the right-wing website Daily Caller. If theres somebody hurt, Im running into harms way. Thats why I have my rifle because I need to protect myself, obviously, but I also have my med kit.

IfRittenhouse forged his political identity online in the past half decade, and it appears he did, he would have encountered a largely uncheckeduniverseof blended pro-police and right-wing ideas, memes, and imagery,Beirich noted. Just remember that none of the social media companies in this kids lifetime had really dealt with the issue of militias on their system, she said.He would have been exposed to every militant idea the need for war, arming yourself all that stuff would have been widespread where kids like this guy lived.

Online support forRittenhouse has explodedsince his arrest, with fundraisers and Free Kyle memes spreading widely against the backdrop of a profoundly fraught political moment.

Enrique Tarrio, chair of the Proud Boys, speaks with a police officer during the End Domestic Terrorism rally at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on Aug. 17, 2019, in Portland, Ore.

Photo: Karen Ducey/Getty Images

From the beginning, Trump courted the hard-right edge of American law enforcement, gathering endorsements in his 2016 run for office from unions representing Border Patrol agents, ICE officers, and the Fraternal Order of Police. That courtship has continued into 2020, with the NYPDs Police Benevolent Association, which represents 24,000 officers, throwing its support behind the president. In Philadelphia earlier this summer, a meeting between Vice President Mike Pence and the local police union also featured members of the Proud Boys, a right-wing street-fighting gang that often shows up at pro-police protests to brawl with leftists.

The killings in Kenosha came one day after a couple from St. Louis, Missouri, who used guns to threaten a Black Lives Matter protest outside their mansion, appeared as speakers at the Republican National Convention. The couples message, and the message of the Republicans and the Trump administration as the president seeks reelection, is that the protests that have roiled the country are a threat and that Americans, when threatened, are entitled to defend themselves. How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would? Fox News host Tucker Carlson told his millions of viewers Wednesday night. Referring to Rittenhouse on Twitter, Ann Coulter, the far-right commentator whose political views Donald Trump is known to consider as bellwether for his base, added: I want him as my president.

Thats the message thats going to be pounded every day until November 3, Beirich said and it should be deeply troubling. When political figures and public figures take advantage of fraught situations in this way it always ends in violence. Beirich added, I cant think of anything more irresponsible than what the RNC and Trump are doing. Its unbelievable.

The bullet that took Anthony Hubers lifepierced his heart,tearing through his aorta, his pulmonary artery, and his right lung. On Wednesday night, Hubers partner, Hannah Gittings, put out a call to friends to meet at the local skatepark in Kenosha; a GoFundMe launched in his name soon raised thousands of dollars for the family he left behind. In addition to being a talented and known figure in the local skate scene, Hubers friends rememberedhim as a peaceful person and a defender who put his life on the line for others. Gittings told a local CBS affiliate that he was the smartest, kindest, and most loving man she ever knew.

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The Thin Blue Line Between Violent, Pro-Trump Militias and Police - The Intercept

The real threat to law and order is President Trump himself – Alpena News

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

To be re-elected, Donald Trump knows he has to distract the nation from the pandemic that he has flagrantly failed to control leaving more than 180,000 Americans already dead, tens of millions jobless and at least 30 million reportedly hungry.

So hes counting on the reliable Republican dog whistle. Your vote, Trump said in his speech closing the Republican convention last Thursday night, will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans, or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens.

We will have law and order on the streets of this country, Vice President Pence declared the previous evening, warning you wont be safe in Joe Bidens America.

Neither Trump nor Pence mentioned the real threats to law and order in America today, such as gun-toting agitators like Kyle Rittenhouse, a white 17-year-old who traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, last week during protests over the police killing of a Black man, and then shot and killed two people and wounded a third.

Rittenhouse, perhaps not coincidentally, occupied a front-row seat at a Trump rally in Des Moines, Iowa, last January.

On Saturday night, a pro-Trump caravan that included members of the neo-fascist Proud Boys drove into Portland, Oregon, shooting protesters with pepper spray and driving into crowds. Someone wearing the hat of a far-right group called Patriot Prayer was shot dead.

Trumps reaction? Rather than condemn the violence, he tweeted GREAT PATRIOTS! in support of the pro-Trump agitators, and, The big backlash going on in Portland cannot be unexpected. The people of Portland wont put up with no safety any longer. Trump also retweeted a claim that this coup attempt is led by a well funded network of anarchists trying to take down the President.

For the first time in history, a United States president is openly justifying violence by some Americans against other Americans.

The threat to the nations law and order also comes from conspiracy theorists such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, the recently nominated Republican candidate for Georgias 14th congressional district and promoter of QAnon, whose adherents believe Trump is battling a cabal of deep state saboteurs who worship Satan and traffic children for sex. Trump has praised Greene as a future Republican star, and claimed that QAnon followers love our country.

The threat also comes from people such as Mary Ann Mendoza, a member of Trumps campaign advisory board, who was scheduled to speak at the Republican convention until she retweeted an antisemitic rant about a Jewish plan to enslave the worlds peoples and steal their land.

Clearly the threat also comes from hotheaded, often racist police officers who fire bullets into the backs of Black men and women or kneel on their necks so they cant breathe. Needless to say, there was little mention at the Republican convention of Jacob Blake, and none of George Floyd or Breonna Taylor.

And the threat comes from Trumps own lackeys, who have brazenly broken laws to help him attain and keep power. Since Trump first promised to hire only the best people, 14 Trump aides, donors and advisers have been indicted or imprisoned.

Trumps personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani who ranted at the Republican convention about rioting and looting in cities with Democratic mayors has repeatedly met with pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach, whom American intelligence has determined is spreading claims about corruption to undermine former Vice President Bidens candidacy and the Democratic Party.

In addition, federal prosecutors are investigating Giulianis business dealings in Ukraine, with two men arrested in an alleged campaign finance scheme.

Trumps Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, who had been a major Trump campaign donor before taking over the Postal Service, is being sued by six states and the District of Columbia for allegedly seeking to undermine the postal service as millions of Americans plan to vote by mail during the pandemic.

Not to forget Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who spoke to the Republican convention while on an official trip to the Middle East in apparent violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits officials of the executive branch other than the president and vice president from engaging in partisan politics.

In short, the real threat to American law and order is found in Donald Trumps above-the-law, race-baiting, me-first presidency. This nation is in serious need of protection from him, and from the bottom-dwellers whose behavior he incites and justifies.

Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It.

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The real threat to law and order is President Trump himself - Alpena News

The Shooting Deaths in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Were Predictable and Avoidable – Southern Poverty Law Center

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Authorities state that they have identified Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, of Antioch, Illinois, as the shooter in a video widely circulated on social media. In the video, a lone man carrying a rifle is seen jogging away from a crowd. Members of the crowd appear to be in pursuit and are shouting that he just shot somebody. The lone individual falls, is surrounded by members of the crowd, and begins firing at individuals in his immediate vicinity as he staggers to his feet.

Kenosha police said a 26-year-old Silver Lake resident and a 36-year-old Kenosha resident were killed and a 26-year-old West Allis resident is injured, according to ABC7 Chicago.

Men carry rifles as people protest outside the Kenosha County Courthouse after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot several times Aug. 25 by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Photo via Reuters/Stephen Maturen)

Rittenhouse was just one of many armed civilians who came out to the protests in Kenosha with an expressed intent of protecting the city. Many were answering a call to action by a newly formed militia group called Kenosha Guard, which issued an open invitation for people to come with their guns on Aug. 25. The event listing, posted to Facebook and later shared by Infowars, said, Law enforcement is outnumbered and our Mayor has failed, take up arms and lets defend our CITY!"

Last weekend, protracted tensions in Portland, Oregon a city that has seen more than its fair share of violence at protests in recent months and years resulted in another death.

We saw it coming. In May, when the president tweeted a baleful endorsement of extrajudicial violence, the SPLC noted that militia groups would see his wordsas a call to action. Militia groups have been responding for months. Kenosha simply represents the first incident in which someone was killed.

Barring decisive action to curtail the co-opting of public protests by far-right actors who see themselves as de-facto law enforcement, and a de-escalation of law enforcement tactics nationwide, similar risks to those present in Kenosha will continue as we move into an increasingly contested election cycle.

Rittenhouse was charged Aug. 27 with first-degree intentional homicide. Rittenhouses extradition hearing to determine whether he will await trial in Wisconsin has been delayed until Sept. 25.

The incident occurred during ongoing protests over the shooting of an unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, who was paralyzed after he was shot in the back seven times by Kenosha police.

Both Blakes shooting and the armed response by far-right militia groups reflect the broader continuity of events that have occurred across the summer of 2020 amid a renewed national focus on the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition group formed in 2015 to address systemic extrajudicial violence against Black Americans by law enforcement.

The death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by police in Minneapolis, and similar incidents in Atlanta, Georgia, Louisville, Kentucky, and Tallahassee, Florida, have sparked sustained protests critical of police violence against communities of color nationwide.

Far-right patriot groups and armed militias, who spent the early weeks of the U.S. governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic protesting public health lockdown measures, quickly shifted their focus with the news cycle. While some groups have expressed measured sympathy with victimsof police violence, the overwhelming majority have expressed ambivalence or open hostilityto the Movement for Black Lives, often conflating peaceful protests with concurrent incidents of rioting, lootingand other property destruction.

As one man in front of a Minneapolis tobacco shop with an AR-15 told a reporter with the Minnesota Reformer, Bottom line, Justice for Floyd and I hope they stop looting at some point. If there were more of us we could go stop them from looting.

The basic assumption underlying narratives around looting, particularly as they are applied to a movement prominently and predominately led by Black people, presupposes a latent criminality on the part of Black Americans. This pernicious liehas historically been used to justify slavery, lynching, Jim Crow segregation, and other white supremacist systems as a defensive response. More recently, a cottage industry has developed around twisting statistical data to reify those existing narratives of Black criminality. These flawed data models have been used to justify practices intended to keep black families in poverty,such as red-lining and discriminatory bank loans.

The truth behind why rioting occurs at some protests is much more complicated.

Tough on crime policies, systemic povertyin Black and Brown communities, mass incarceration and the militarization of American police are not monolithic phenomena. They are of a piece, and build on institutions geared toward the maintenance of white political and cultural hegemony.

Coupled with the rising unemployment and economic precarity communities across America have suffered during the COVID-19 crisis, these forces increase the likelihood of isolated acts of property destruction concurrently.

Common assumptions about the origins of a riot disregard these streams of human misery and baselessly conflate random destruction, opportunistic theft and righteous anger at police violence with groups that participate in protests over police killings but are separate and distinct from the Movement for Black Lives.

Within the current moment, the deeply ingrained cultural prejudices producing the myth of latent black criminality are helping animate leaders of antigovernment militias who call for armed patriots to show up with rifles and military kits to challenge protesters. This ill-defined threat is at times described simply as rioters, at others as Black Lives Matters itself, or increasingly, antifa. Antifa is a shorthand for antifascist, and in this context refers to a far-right preoccupation with what is often known as black bloc, a tactic used by antifascist protesters who eschew nonviolence in favor of physical altercations with those they perceive as racist opponents. While the threat of antifa has been a favorite stalking horse of white nationalist groups for years,the term and the specter it represents are relatively new in antigovernment spaces. The threat of antifa became front-page news when President Trump tweeted in Junethat The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization!

Increasingly, antigovernment groups have begun to rely on the term as an umbrella to smear protests against police brutality.

In response, scores of heavily armed groups have begun attending protests against police violence across the country, loitering on the fringes of peaceful marches and claiming they are there to keep the peace.

The militias rationale relies on the idiom an armed society is a polite society. In their view, the threat of civilian gun violence, free of the legal restraints imposed on law enforcement, poses a sufficient deterrent to have a chilling effect on property destruction. While holistic data on gun violence in the U.S. is notoriously scarce, available statistics indicate that the militias argument that more guns means less crime is flawed.

Militia groups and their members often justify their participation in paramilitary activity by assuming a posture of authority, framing their actions through militaristic jargon to lend a veneer of credibility and agency that they are not granted through federal, state or local laws.

In a Facebook post identified by Hatewatch, Ryan Balch a 31-year-old Wisconsin man who was photographed on armed patrol with Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha discussed his participation in that event using a lexicon intended for a combat zone.

Balchs post begins by describing his trip to the city as infiltrating in Kenosha and claims he inserted [himself] into a tactical advisement role to guide the militias actions on the ground.

Balchs role in militia activity is especially alarming given his history of sharing racist, antisemitic material on social media. A Hatewatch investigationrevealed Balchs history of sharing Nazi propaganda, harassing victims of gun violence and amplifying white nationalist leaders.

In a response to a comment from another user asking, Where were your limits on [lethal force] and ROE if needed? Balch responds that Lethal force was only authorized as a response to lethal force or grievous injury potential.

ROE, or rules of engagement, is a term used in combat settings to describe a militarys policies around the application of force. Whatever Balch and his compatriots may think, the rules of engagement in the U.S are defined by laws not by their self-perception as vigilante muscle.

Nevertheless, far-right groups have flooded the streets to pose as an armed intimidating force on the periphery of peaceful protests. On June 1, the New Mexico Civil Guard stood near the perimeter of a Black Lives Matter protest in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Like the Kenosha Guard in Wisconsin, prior to the protest, the group put out a call to action online for people to come and protect the city.

Members of the group went out again on June 15. They showed up armed and in uniform with the stated goal of deterring protesters at an Albuquerque protest against the La Jornada statue. Their presence at these protests led the Bernalillo County District Attorney to sue them, writing in his complaint, There is no place in an ordered civil society for private armed groups that seek to impose their collective will on the people in place of the police or the military.

Across the country, many unauthorized militias continue to assign themselves security tasks that are typically under the purview of private security or law enforcement.

In a 2018 report that was updated this July, the Georgetown University School of Laws Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) outlines a catalog of relevant state constitutional and statutory provisions that bar the presence of private armies at public rallies.

The report was written following the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, when a white nationalist protester killed one counterprotester and wounded over a dozen others in a vehicular attack. All morning prior to that incident, white nationalists repeatedly instigated violence against counterprotesters while law enforcement looked on. Local enforcement and the Governor of Virginia cited fears of armed militia groupslurking on the fringes to keep the peace as the reason law enforcement failed to intervene in the violence.

Among the findings in ICAPs report is the fact that each state has at least one constitutional or statutory provision that applies to the type of paramilitary and private militia activity that may arise at future rallies similar to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

In an email to officials in the City of Kenosha and Kenosha County following last weeks shooting, ICAP legal director Mary McCord cited state laws barring the presence of private militias in Wisconsin:

Several provisions of Wisconsin law prohibit private paramilitary and unauthorized law enforcement activity. In particular, the Wisconsin Constitutions Subordination Clause forbids private military units from operating outside state authority, providing that [t]he military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power. Wis. Const. art. I, 20. In addition, Wisconsin law makes it a felony to [a]ssume to act in an official capacity or to perform an official function, knowing that he or she is not the public officer . . . that he or she assumes to be. Wis. Stat. 946.69(2)(a).

Other armed groups have sought official sanction for their actions. Sheriff David Beth of Kenosha County indicated that at least one group on the ground in recent days reached out to his office requesting he deputize them as a peacekeeping force.

In other cases, militias let law enforcement know theyll be on the ground, wanted or not. Prior to an armed response to a hoaxer who claimed that antifa was going to attack a 4th of July celebration at Gettysburg National Cemetery, militia members informed law enforcement of their plans to police the event. Local militiaman Skip Shaffer told Kim Strong of York Daily Record: We called law enforcement before we went: Wed like you to know, if the shit hits the fan, we'll have your backs, he said.

On Aug. 26, Sheriff David Beth of Kenosha County, Wisconsin, held a press conference to respond to the shooting deaths that occurred in the countys seat the night before. Beth was critical of armed attendants, stating, Showing up with firearms doesnt help.

Beth said he responded, Oh Hell no! to the prospect of deputizing one armed group.

Beyond this, the bulk of Beths remarks offered little hope that his office is prepared to address the root causes ofviolence in the city.

While Beths recognition that guns tend to escalate tensions more than they de-escalate is heartening, other comments made during the press conference betrayed a misunderstanding of the motives that lead militias to patrol Black Lives Matter protests.

Kenosha Police Chief Dan Miskinis further encouraged the participation of armed groups who have congregated on the fringes of protests by regurgitating the talking pointsmilitia groups use to undergird actions that resulted in Tuesdays shooting.

Across this nation there have been armed civilians who have come out to exercise their constitutional right and to potentially protect property, Slate quoted Miskinis as saying.

Miskiniss comments typify a troubling nationwide trend where law enforcement agencies have been shown to have behaved much more favorably to far-right groups than to antiracist protesters.

In June, a Salem, Oregon, police officer was recorded while the officer was speaking with a group affiliated with the hate groupProud Boys during protests over police violence. In the video the officer appears to instruct the armed group on avoiding arrest for curfew violations.

Were going to really enforce the citywide curfew shutdown so we can arrest anybody walking around, the unidentified officer tells the men. My command wanted me to come talk to you guys and request that you guys secrete [sic] people inside the businesses or in your vehicles somewhere where its not a violation ... so we dont look like were playing favorites.

In Kenosha, police driving an armored personnel carrier were filmed distributing water bottles to the group Rittenhouse marched with the evening of the shooting. One officertold the group: We appreciate you guys. We really do.

These incidents occur amid a history of law enforcement infiltration by members of hate groups and woeful responses by departments when their employees are found to have extremist ties, as detailed in a new reportby former FBI special agent Michael German writing for the Brennan Center for Justice. Beth has previously made alarming comments centered around his proposed solution to the problem of violent crime in America.

I think society has to come to a threshold where theres some people that arent worth saving, Beth said in a 2018 press conference. We need to build warehouses to put these people into it, and lock them away for the rest of their lives.

Mass incarceration has been repeatedly shown to be an ineffective, if not counterproductive deterrent to crime, and one that disproportionately affects communities of color, caused in large part by prejudice. Beths proposed solution, namely to double down, would only result in more of the same in the long term, and have little effect on armed groups descending on protests in the short term.

During the Aug. 26 press conference, while discussing the arrayed weaponry of law enforcement including body armor, armored vehicles, and assault rifles Beth spoke glowingly, and praised other departments who brought their own arsenals to Kenosha: We had sheriffs departments coming from all over the state of Wisconsin. They brought technology. They brought equipment, too.

As Cassie Miller wrote for Hatewatch, Whats happening night after night is a truly American phenomenon a product of the countrys hyper-militarized culture that has, for decades, outfitted police with surplus military equipment and charged members of law enforcement with forcefully controlling social unrest.

Miller notes that such responses not only disproportionately expos[e] communities of color to police violence the heavy-handed deployment of militarized federal troops has another, very disturbing byproduct: It inflames the paranoia of the far right.

Rather than allaying far-right concerns about antifa violence landing on their doorstep, draconian police responses reify the far rights belief that violence is the only remedy for their political grievances, while also inflaming their own fears of persecution from the state, which they view with hostility and suspicion.

Unfortunately the mistaken notions informing Sheriff Beths views on policing are not contained to Kenosha County. These have been routinely aired by law enforcement nationwide and increasingly amplified by pundits such as Fox News Tucker Carlson, who defended the alleged actions of accused shooter Rittenhouse.

In a televised segment interspersed with clips depicting chaos on the streets of Kenosha Carlson asked viewers: So are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder? How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?

In Kenosha and elsewhere, if authorities wish to maintain order, more guns, whether in the hands of law enforcement or militias, will only make matters worse.

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The Shooting Deaths in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Were Predictable and Avoidable - Southern Poverty Law Center

Blue Comets to play Circle in first football game of year – Chanute Tribune

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Its been more than a year since the season opener gridiron game for the Chanute Blue Comets, but today is finally the day Chanute High School plays their first football game of the 2020 season.

Scheduled for 7 pm today at the Chanute Community Sports Complex, CHS will play Circle High School in the season opener for the third year in a row. Chanute has a two-game win streak the last two seasons against Circle, with the Blue Comets dominating 31-8 two years ago, and shutting out the Thunderbirds 24-0 last year.

Second-year CHS head football coach Clete Frazell said its important to get off to a good start, especially since last seasons good start when former kick returner and running back Briley Peavy returned a kick for a touchdown early on to get things started. The season eventually led to a 9-2 record and a trip in November to a state sectional matchup versus Paola.

...Its going to be really important again just to get off to a good start, and the kids will realize its a fresh year, with some different faces on each team and the score is 0-0 going in, and nobody is favored to win this game, Frazell said.

Since June 1, the Blue Comets have been pumping iron and readying themselves for the start of the 2020 season, including conditioning, position-specific drills, and practicing plays on offense and defense. Through the process, Frazell said there has been ups and downs, but overall the team is where it needs to be for the start of the year.

The challenge, he said, will be to get his players to relax come the first game, as it is perfectly normal to get out of character and get a little too hyped about the situation. Frazell, however, noted that his players know exactly what they are doing, and they need to take a deep breath before assignments and the next play.

Every CHS player will be focused, and running backs fans can expect to see senior Ryker Donovan, junior Jackson Coombs and sophomore Ty Leedy. Donovan is the power back with athletic ability, while Coombs and Leedy will have a change-of-pace style when it comes to running the football.

Blocking and creating holes for the running backs will be the offensive line. At the center position is junior Tuker Davis, who started last year in the same spot. At either of the guard positions will be junior Nathan Cunningham, who has added some weight bolster that Blue Comet rushing attack that was so potent a year ago. Sophomore Bryan Jackett will likely be at the other guard position, as last year he played well versus Paola in the state sectional game as a freshman.

All-State senior All-SEK offensive tackle Brayden Dillow will lead and galvanize the offensive line attack. Also at the tackle position will be senior Elijah Keever, who missed all of last season because of a shoulder injury.

Catching passes on the outside will be senior All-SEK tight end Garrett Almond, junior Kam Koester, senior Blake Atwood and sophomore Dagen Dean. Both Almond and Atwood will use versatility, while Koester and Dean will use their height and versatility to put pressure on the defense. Senior Curtis Harris, sophomore Rawley Chard and Leedy will also use their all-around skillset to make plays on the outside.

Quarterbacking the team will be sophomore Eric Erbe, who has looked good in practice and camp. Erbe has the ability to throw darts on the outside, and he can roll out and throw on the run. The new starting quarterback will replace All-State and All-SEK quarterback Ty Bowman, who is now playing tight end at Kansas State University.

Hes done a great job. Hes put in a ton of time in the off-season to perfect his craft, hes done a terrific job in facilitating our offense, and calling plays and taking charge, so thats good to see when you have a sophomore quarterback, Frazell said.

On the line defensively will be a mix of the student-athletes on the offensive line. At the linebacker position will be Donovan, Leedy and junior Kedric Emling.

In the secondary will be senior All-SEK defensive back Harris, who does an exceptional job flying around the ball and hitting his opponent hard. Koester, Coombs and Atwood will use their skills in the secondary as well.

The guys are a veteran group and they are ready to have a big season on the back end of our defense, Frazell said. They are strong kids, theyll come up in run support. Theyre also good cover guys.

The team will be without several All-SEK players due to graduation: wide receiver Peavy, offensive lineman Jacob McDonald, linebacker Tyler Davis, kicker Jacob Adams, linebacker Hunter Zubieta, wide receiver Jaden Costin, offensive lineman Collin Hutson, offensive lineman Nolan Werner, and defensive back Colten Fritch.

Senior Tyson Lucas will replace Adams as kicker. His showings at national camps makes him one of the more talented kickers in the area.

Chanute will need their new leaders to step up versus Circle today. The Thunderbirds last season went 1-8 and lost in the first round of the playoffs against Andover Central a school that went all the way to the 4A state finals to play Bishop Miege.

Circle lost several all-league players to graduation, but making their return will be junior All-League Honorable Mention wide receiver Jake Shaults and junior Luke McGinnis. McGinnis last season played receiver, but will start this year at quarterback.

Fourth-year Circle head football coach Logan Clothier said his group has been paying attention to detail and rallying around the football throughout camp the past few weeks.

Im just very excited, I know were very blessed to have a season with everything going on, I know our kids are excited, especially those seniors, Clothier said. Im just extremely excited for our seniors and just our coaches. Weve been putting in a lot of work in various Zoom calls just to keep the kids engaged when we werent able to meet in person. Im just excited to kick the season off and take it one day at a time and keep getting to play.

COVID-19 There is at least one player on the Blue Comets who is quarantining due to a potential exposure to COVID-19. Circle doesnt have any players impacted.

TICKETS Every student-athlete will be given four vouchers to buy tickets.

STREAMING CHS will stream as many games and matches as possible on YouTube. To stream these games, search for CHS Blue Comets on YouTube or look for the link on USD 413 social media.

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Blue Comets to play Circle in first football game of year - Chanute Tribune

What’s Up in September: Beginning of autumn brings action in the skies – Press Herald

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

The month of September always marks the beginning of autumn for us in the northern hemisphere and will happen on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 9:31 a.m. There are only two days each year that the sun will rise due east and set due west and this is one. The other is the vernal equinox half a year later.

Within a couple of days of the equinox the days and nights are exactly 12 hours long for everyone on Earth except for the poles. That is because we travel around the sun in a slightly elliptical orbit and we are tilted at 23.5 degrees now. However, that tilt is constantly and slowly changing over a 41,000-year time period. The maximum obliquity we reach is 24.5 degrees and the minimum is 22.1 degrees. It is currently diminishing toward the 22.1 degrees, which we will reach again in about 20,000 years. Without that tilt there would be no seasons and life on earth would probably never have evolved much past hunter-gatherer tribes because our climate would become stratified. If we did not have a moon no higher life forms may have evolved on earth at all since the gravitational forces between the earth and moon stabilize all those cycles along with creating stronger tides and good circulation in our oceans to make them suitable for life without getting too extreme.

The other two continually and slow-changing cycles that contribute to the formation and dissolution of ice ages are the changing eccentricity of our orbit around the sun over 100,000 years, and the 26,000-year precession of the equinoxes. Those three together are called the Milankovitch cycles, named after the Serbian engineer who discovered them in the 1930s. Right now our north star is Polaris but it will be Vega, the brightest star in the summer triangle, in 13,000 years.

We will soon get cooler and crisper nights that will make for great viewing of the night sky this month. There are many good highlights this month that include the four brightest planets all near their best for the year, Mars doubling in brightness to outshine Jupiter, a very close conjunction of the moon and Mars, and another comet close to comet Neowise.

Jupiter and Saturn are already up before sunset and then Mars rises by 9:30 as the month begins and by 8:30 at the end of the month. Then Venus still rises about 3 am in Gemini in the winter hexagon each morning this month as it is getting farther ahead of us in our respective orbits. Mercury is the only one that can only manage a poor appearance toward the end of the month in the evening sky. Look for our first planet to pass within just one degree of Spica in Virgo, near where comet Neowise was a couple of weeks ago.

Both Jupiter and Saturn end their retrograde motions this month and go back to their normal eastward treks across our skies. That will happen on Sept. 12 for Jupiter and Sept. 29 for Saturn. After that notice that Jupiter will be slowly closing the 8 degree gap currently between them. That will continue for the entire season of autumn and on the winter solstice they will reach their closest conjunction in about 400 years at less than one tenth of a degree apart, easily visible in the same field of view in a telescope. Usually each planet is quite a treat and learning experience by itself, but just one season from now, they will look like a great double planet.

I recently showed these two showcase planets, along with several other celestial favorites, to a small group of people through my telescope. The moon was a slender crescent with earthshine and we saw about 10 Kappa Cygnid meteors over the course of a couple of hours. This is a minor shower and I did not expect to see any of them, so that was a nice surprise. We also saw several satellites, which was expected because they are now launching 120 new satellites every month, 60 at a time. Then we watched the Cygnus arm leading us right into the center of our Milky Way galaxy below Sagittarius and Scorpius slowly become more defined as the night got darker and remained crystal clear after the moon set soon after sunset.

Jupiter is about half as far away as Saturn and is 15 times brighter than the ringed planet. Jupiter is about half a billion miles away, or 42 minutes at the speed of light. They are both getting slightly fainter and farther away now, but they are still brighter and closer than usual since they are not too far past their oppositions.

Mars is a different story. The red planet will double in brightness this month to outshine Jupiter as it gets considerably closer and brighter as we rapidly catch up with it in our orbits. That will happen on Oct. 6 of next month when Mars will reach a close opposition and rise right at sunset. You can already see some detail on the Martian surface in an average telescope and that will improve dramatically throughout this month and next as long as no planet-wide dust storms obscure its surface from view as often happens near its opposition because it is also getting closer to the sun. You can expect to see some dark markings on its surface, one or both of its polar icecaps, and even some of its thin atmosphere.

Watch carefully on the night of Sept. 5 around 11 p.m. as the waning gibbous moon will pass just half a degree below Mars. It will even occult the planet in Central America and parts of South America. The other nice lunar conjunctions this month are Venus and the moon on the morning of the 14th, Jupiter and the moon on the evening of Sept. 24, and Saturn and the moon the next evening.

There is another comet now that will be visible in our evening sky in Libra and Scorpius this month and next. It will not be as bright as NEOWISE was, but it should reach 9th magnitude by the 26th, when it will be at perihelion or closest to the sun for this orbit. It is called 88P/Howell and was discovered back in August of 1981 by Ellen Howell. It orbits the sun every 5.5 years, so it is nothing like NEOWISE which will not return again for nearly 7,000 years

Comet Howell was the target of a proposed NASA mission in 2017, but it did not make the cut. That was called CORSAIR, which stands for comet rendezvous, sample acquisition, investigation and return. We did successfully land a spacecraft named Philae, part of the Rosetta Mission, on Comet Churymov-Gerasimenko in November of 2014. Then we also smashed a probe named Deep Impact into Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005. It created a crater 150 meters in diameter on this comet and released a large dust cloud that was carefully analyzed to learn more about the nature of comets. It is ironic that comets have been hitting the earth for billions of years, but this is the first time that humans could actually hit a comet.

SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHTS

Sept 2: Full moon is at 1:23 a.m. This would normally be the famous Harvest moon if it occurred within two weeks of the equinox, but this one is too early and is therefore simply called the corn moon, similar to last months moon, which was green corn or grain.

Sept. 3: On this day in 1976 Viking 2 landed on Mars. It was preceded by Viking 1 in July of that year. We had landed some earlier missions on Mars in the early 1970s, but they both failed. Only about half of the Mars missions were successful.

Sept. 5: The moon and Mars will be less than half a degree apart in Pisces this evening by 11 p.m. They will rise together and then get even closer. Mars will be occulted by the moon in some parts of the world.

Sept. 9: Mars starts its retrograde, or westward motion.

Sept. 10: Last quarter moon is at 5:27 a.m.

Sept. 11: Neptune will reach opposition in Aquarius at 7.8 magnitude. It will be four hours away at the speed of light, which is nearly 3 billion miles.

Sept. 14: The moon and Venus will be 5 degrees apart in the morning sky.

Sept. 17: New moon is at 7:01 a.m.

Sept. 23: First quarter moon is at 9:56 p.m. On this day in 1846 J. Galle discovered Neptune. It has only completed one orbit since then because it takes 165 years for Neptune to orbit the sun.

Bernie Reim of Wells is co-director of the Astronomical Society of Northern New England.

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What's Up in September: Beginning of autumn brings action in the skies - Press Herald

The Launching Ceremony for XnMatrix Wrapped Up, the Next Generation of Cloud Computing Eco-System Sets Sail – AiThority

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

OnAug. 27, the Launching Ceremony for XnMatrix the Next Cloud Computing Platform and IPFS distributed Storage Eco-System, by the guidance of Hainan Provincial Industry and Information Technology Department, organized by Hainan Anmai Cloud Network Technology Co. Ltd. and co-organized by Hainan Free Trade Port Blockchain Pilot Area, was held inHaikou.

The ceremony was opened up byMi Jia, COO of organizer Hainan Anmai Network Technology Co. Ltd., who gavethe keynote speech onComputing Civilization and Society Motivation.

The speech delivered byWu Wenjie, Chairman of XnMatrix, was the highlight of the conference which unveiled the next generation of cloud computing platform XnMatrix, the digital civilization strategy and product launch.

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Computing is the energy, storage the soil. Algorithm is the laws of life to the digital society which, based on math, blockchain, smart contract, will become the rule of the society and create a digital civilized time that is more effective and orderly, Wenjie said. The digital civilization strategy of XnMatrix is based on the blockchain system with privacy computing and automatic contract and verificationas its essentialsso as to build a world-leading decentralized cloud computing platform whose mission is to create the underlying infrastructure of the digital civilization world that can help people to embrace the data privacy and human-machine interaction secure challenge caused in the time of smart machine. XnMatrix, via the four underlying frameworks which include decentralized network, contract, infrastructure service and application service, has carried out four standardized products in use, including cloud pay, cloud GPU, cloud storage as well as IPFS cloud host. Besides, industry solutions like IPFS technology, computing power store, digital asset bank has also been put in use.

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The three tech sources of XnMatrixGlacier Lab, X Lab, and Oxford Digital Asset Research Institute all showed up. The tech achievements of the three labs step up the improvement on the XnMatrix platform at a high speed.

Ma Siyuan, Board Secretary of XnMatrix, delivered a speech on the gem of the thoughts of this conference, agreeing with the value of the four propositions for the decentralized cloud computing industry. These four propositions are the consensus reached by all the experts, elites in all the industries, tech talents and eco-system representatives presented at the conference. They will, from the perspective of politics, industry, academics, research, and application, examine the industry system on the basis of the four propositions. The conference presented the value of the next generation of the cloud computing platform by multi-dimension, co-witnessing a comprehensive definition of the next generation of the cloud computing value standard and lending support to the digital eco-system to make sure it goes a long way at a steady pace.

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The Launching Ceremony for XnMatrix Wrapped Up, the Next Generation of Cloud Computing Eco-System Sets Sail - AiThority

Why Harmless Harvest takes an ecosystem-based approach to business – New Hope Network

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

When it comes to mission-driven businesses, a few things are necessary. The willingness to track one's progress, adherence to certain external standards and a commitment to long-term outcomes. Harmless Harvest is a shining example in the natural products industry of a brand that is making serious efforts along every step of its supply chain to treat workers fairly and keep its products as earth-friendly as possible. Read on to learn all about the company's impressive progress in these areas.

How does being Fair for Life certified affect Harmless Harvests mission?

At Harmless Harvest, our mission is To farm, craft and share remarkable coconut products that create a natural demand for sustainable farming, better business practicesand community impact. Fair for Life is just one way we pursue that mission.

We werethe first coconut water to be Fair for Life certifiedand are committed to rigorous and independent standards for fair trade and social progress within our supply chain. We operate on an ecosystem-based approach, considering our impact from seed to shelf and the communities we operate in and serve are an important part of that.Fair for Life helps provide standards, transparencyand accountability to our efforts.

What are some highlights of Harmless Harvests sustainability efforts?

We are constantly making advancements in our sustainability efforts, with a number of exciting milestones reached this year. Recently, we achieved zero coconut waste at our manufacturing facility in Thailand, meaning we no longer send any coconuts to landfill.

Weve found value-add ways to upcycle the whole coconut, whether its using the delicious meat in our plant-based dairy offerings like our cup yogurt, or converting the husks to plant-based consumables or biofuels. This is an exciting step in our journey to do less harm, more good. Additionally, we recently have begun bottling our coconut water using a minimum of 30% rPET. We are committed to getting to 100% rPET as soon as we are able, and this is a significant step toward that goal.

Can you elaborate on the importance of ethical ingredient sourcing for the business?

Ethically sourced and organically farmed coconuts are incredibly important to us at Harmless Harvest. We wouldnt be able to make our perfect coconut water or delicious plant-based yogurts without starting with the best possible ingredients. That includes not only how these coconuts are grown, but also how they are harvested.

Our Fair for Life commitment and certification ensures that we are treating everyone in our supply chain fairly. Whats more, since a portion of our sales support the Fair for Life fund, we are also actively involved in giving back in the communities in which we operate, whether thats by providing PPE to our farmers during the pandemic, or bringing mobile health clinics and dental checks to these communities, to name just a few things.

How have consumers responded to Harmless Harvests social and environmental initiatives?

Weve really only begun in sharing all the great work we are doing in pursuit of our mission. While we share pieces of our progress in places like our packaging and our website, we are working to more comprehensively share our progress on social media and in our marketing.

This past earth week, we shared exciting details about our rPET, zero waste and regenerative agriculture journeys on our Instagram stories and saw really positive responses from consumers.

We know the Harmless Harvest consumer really cares about their environmental impact, and we look forward to bringing them deeper into our efforts through marketing and engaging social conversations in the coming months.

Mission is more important than ever to consumershow does your brand spark change?

We recognize that living into our mission isnt just about talk or short term action. Its a long term commitment and journey. If we are successful in the long run, we will deliver on our vision of a world where the climate impact from coconut farming is net positive. Thats why in addition to our rPET and zero waste commitments, among many other sustainability initiatives, we announced this year the commencement of the Regenerative Coconut Agriculture Project (ReCAP).

In partnership with the Danone Ecosystem Fund, the Fair for Life fund and Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, ReCAP is a 3-year project to develop and deploy a model for regenerative coconut agriculture by partnering with farmers. This is a big commitment with ambitious goals to train 350 farmers in central Thailand and begin the conversion of the coconut farming practices to be sustainable regenerative organic ones. Theres lots of work to do, and were excited to spark change in the way our industry operates by leading here.

Connect withand learn more about Harmless Harvest in the Spark Change Product Discovery Zone here.

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Why Harmless Harvest takes an ecosystem-based approach to business - New Hope Network

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