Talk to AlJazeera with Viviane Reding: Data protection is a right

Watch the video, 25.00 min, published on AlJazeera, Oct 12, 2013.

(Europeans are very keen on data protection, maybe because of their history. The trust in what is done with your personal data is not very high, and that might be the reason why data protection as a must, as an obligation, is inscribed in our fundamental laws, in our treaties, in our charter of fundamental rights. So for Europeans it is a basic value and a fundamental right).

Millions of emails and phone calls have been registered, in secret, by US intelligence agencies. It seems the US government is now keeping an eye on all of us – regardless of our citizenship.  Continuer la lecture de « Talk to AlJazeera with Viviane Reding: Data protection is a right »

Google: Doing Evil with ALEC

Google Inc. is now aligned with the notorious ALEC – Published on ZNet, by Norman Solomon, October 10, 2013.

… In the process, Google has signed onto an organization that promotes such regressive measures as tax cuts for tobacco companies, school privatization to help for-profit education firms, repeal of state taxes for the wealthy and opposition to renewable energy disliked by oil companies.   Continuer la lecture de « Google: Doing Evil with ALEC »

Corporate Child Abuse: The Unseen Global Epidemic

Published on Global Research.ca, by Prof. John McMurtry, October 04, 2013.

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul”, Nelson Mandela says, “than the way in which it treats its children”. Who would disagree? Yet today children may be assaulted, diseased, or killed by pervasive corporate drugs, junk-foods and beverages, perverted by mindless violence in multiple modes, deployed as dead-end labour with no benefits, and then dumped into a corporate future of debt enslavement and meaningless work. How could this increasing systematic abuse be publicly licensed at every level? What kind of society could turn a blind eye to its dominant institutions laying waste the lives of the young and humanity’s future itself?

The abuse is built into the system. All rights of child care-givers themselves – from parent workers to social life support systems – are written out of corporate ‘trade’ treaties which override legislatures to guarantee “investor profits” as their sole ruling goal.  Children are at the bottom, and most dispossessed by the life-blind global system. Continuer la lecture de « Corporate Child Abuse: The Unseen Global Epidemic »

Links on my dashboard

All superpowers feel exceptional

… and inflate security myth for frightened population – Interview with Noam Chomsky, 19.05 min, published on Russia Today RT, Oct 10, 2013.

The United States is not the first superpower to act as if it’s exceptional and will likely not be the last, although US leaders could be squandering a fruitful opportunity for improved international relations, Noam Chomsky said in an interview with RT … //

… (transcript excerpt): ‘Exceptional in its right to use force and violence‘    Continuer la lecture de « All superpowers feel exceptional »

Artificial Intelligence

Video-Links in French / Liens pour videos en français:

Connexion Age, un website interessant: Continuer la lecture de « Artificial Intelligence »

Boehner prepares to let the US default

Published to Russia Today RT, Oct 7, 2013.

The top Republican in the House of Representatives warned President Barack Obama over the weekend that he’s ready to let the United States default — and that the White House is to blame.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that Republicans in his chamber would not immediately honor the White House’s request to raise the US debt ceiling, setting the stage for what would be the first ever federal default in the history of the country.   Continuer la lecture de « Boehner prepares to let the US default »

America needs the NEED Act

Published on Intrepid Report, by Nick Egnatz and Jamie Walton, October 7, 2013.

… The confusion the banking class has spread over the nature of money is largely responsible for the inability of our leaders to get it right.

There are basically three types of money:

  • “Money as a commodity” Gold and silver coins and paper money backed by 100% gold and silver reserves in the vault.
  • “Debt money created by banks”—This is the system we have now and is the cause of the problems we have now. Bills and coins make up only about 2 1/2% of our total money supply. The rest of our money supply is conjured up out of thin air by private banks when they make loans, with a private tax (interest) added on top.   Continuer la lecture de « America needs the NEED Act »

Ocean Acidification Due To Carbon Emissions

… is at highest for 300m years: Overfishing and pollution are part of the problem, scientists say, warning that mass extinction of species may be inevitable – Published on The Guardian, by Fiona Harvey, Oct 3, 2013.

The oceans are more acidic now than they have been for at least 300m years, due to carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, and a mass extinction of key species may already be almost inevitable as a result, leading marine scientists warned on Thursday.

An international audit of the health of the oceans has found that overfishing and pollution are also contributing to the crisis, in a deadly combination of destructive forces that are imperilling marine life, on which billions of people depend for their nutrition and livelihood.  Continuer la lecture de « Ocean Acidification Due To Carbon Emissions »

Regression and causation: a critical examination of six econometrics textbooks

Published on Real-World Economics Review RWER, issue no 65, by Bryant Chen and Judea Pearl, September 27, 2013.

Abstract:

This report surveys six influential econometric textbooks in terms of their mathematical treatment of causal concepts. It highlights conceptual and notational differences among the authors and points to areas where they deviate significantly from modern standards of causal analysis.  We find that econonometric textbooks vary from complete denial to partial acceptance of the causal content of econometric equations and, uniformly, fail to provide coherent mathematical notation that istinguishes causal from statistical concepts. This survey also provides a panoramic view of the state of causal thinking in econometric education which, to the best of our knowledge, has not been surveyed before … // Continuer la lecture de « Regression and causation: a critical examination of six econometrics textbooks »

Top 10 des sujets les plus controversés sur Wikipédia

Publié dans Presse Citron, par AXEL-CERELOZ, 18 juillet 2013:

Quels sont les sujets autour desquels les contributeurs de Wikipédia se livrent une guerre de l’édition ? Une équipe de l’université d’Oxford a décidé de se pencher sur la question, elle nous livre un top dix de ces sujets controversés … //

… les voilà:  Continuer la lecture de « Top 10 des sujets les plus controversés sur Wikipédia »

Internet freedom on decline worldwide as governments tighten grip – report

Published on Russia Today RT, Oct 4, 2013.

Improved surveillance, takedown of opposition websites for “illegal content” and paid pro-government commentators are among the increasingly sophisticated tools used by authorities to restrict internet freedom, a new report claims … //

… Many countries are also moving from technological to legal solutions in their battle against freedom of expression.   Continuer la lecture de « Internet freedom on decline worldwide as governments tighten grip – report »

The formal political process isn’t always the best way to effect social change

Published on Left Foot Forward, by YIGAL SHTAYIM, October 2, 2013.

… The group we created, ‘Marak Levinsky’ (Levinsky Soup), embedded itself more deeply into Israeli society and the mass media than the ‘Group of 400’, which has since been almost forgotten. The Marak Levinsky venture has become an emblem for social initiatives which empower citizens to stand up and do something. For more than 500 days we have managed daily shifts in the park to distribute food and clothing for hundreds of refugees who were unemployed and arrived from prison (where they were held after crossing the border into Israel) with few clothes and sometimes barefoot or only with flip-flops.  Continuer la lecture de « The formal political process isn’t always the best way to effect social change »

US: Tiny white elite dominates US political donor landscape – study

Published on Russia Today RT, Oct 1, 2013. Download the full report, 21 pdf-pages.

A tiny wealthy male elite is behind most of the biggest contributions to the 2012 election cycle in the US, a new study shows. The report comes just as the US Supreme Court considers whether it should strip a ceiling on political donations. In a case the Supreme Court will begin hearing next Thursday, Shaun McCutcheon, a wealthy donor backed by the Republican National Committee, is challenging this aggregate limit on how much an individual may donate overall to candidates, parties and political action committees (PACs) over an election cycle.  Continuer la lecture de « US: Tiny white elite dominates US political donor landscape – study »

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