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How Our Democracy was Hijacked

The following article was shared with BU by Peter Lawrence Thompson. The BU household as a rule does not reproduce articles from other news sources, however, we will make an exception in this case. It is a very long article but recommended reading. Many of us go about our daily business oblivious to the obscure…

,
A shadowy global operation involving big data, billionaire friends of Trump and the disparate forces of the Leave campaign influenced the result of the EU referendum. As Britain heads to the polls again, is our electoral process still fit for purpose? – The Observer

The following article was shared with BU by Peter Lawrence Thompson. The BU household as a rule does not reproduce articles from other news sources, however, we will make an exception in this case. It is a very long article but recommended reading. Many of us go about our daily business oblivious to the obscure workings of the powerful few who control the world. The story is made all the more interesting because it touches Trinidad. To repeat, or those who love to read.

Here is the link to The Observer article:- The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked

44 responses to “How Our Democracy was Hijacked”

  1. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Don’t get sucked into a conspiracy theory whirlpool reading this. It’s interesting to me mainly because one of the links in the chain is in BC where I lived for decades, and two other links are in the Caribbean.
    SCL/Cambridge Analytica has apparently done “micro-targeting in Antigua and Trinidad.” Does anyone on BU know enough about politics in either place to find out who hired therm and for which elections?

  2. David Avatar
    David

    It is scary the extent these people with access to persona datasets can attempt to influence behaviour by winning the hearts and minds to use the lingo in the article.

  3. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    http://bit.ly/2pKEtNn

    Governments and politicians obviously go out of their way to seek out these scum companies to use to deceive the electorate into electing them….karna is real as we are seeing with the trump blowback.

    “SLC’s involvement in the political world has been primarily in the developing world where it has been used by the military and politicians to study and manipulate public opinion and political will. It uses what have been called “psy ops” to provide insight into the thinking of the target audience.[4] SCL claims to have been successful to help foment coups.[5] According to its website, SCL has influenced elections in Italy, Latvia, Ukraine, Albania, Romania, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Colombia, Antigua, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Kitts & Nevis, Trinidad & Tobago.[2] While the company initially got involved in elections in the United Kingdom, it ceased to do so after 1997 because staff members did not exhibit the same “aloof sensibility” as with projects abroad.[4]

    [snip][end]

    Used in “psy ops” … to “foment coups” … note that SCL claims these openly as virtues of their ‘product’.

    — Tis an ill wind that blows no minds.
    Malaclypse the Younger”

  4. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    Well Well wasnt that you on the grassy knoll Lol maybe you are being played now.
    It couldnt be that the silent majority finally got sick and tired of its values and way of life being eroded, being told there racist they havent done enough or they must except what actors say as gospel. When ever one of these fu*&ed up countries go rogue its always the same people that everyone expects to straighten it out . Lay down their blood sacrifice there children. Maybe the silent majority is fed up with people that try to turn their country into the shit hole they came from once they get on safe soil. You think you have been played by these companies well hate to break it to you but the liberal media is far worse.

  5. GreenMonkey Avatar
    GreenMonkey

    Somewhat ironic that this article explains how outside interests from the USA were able to play a significant role in manipulating a small majority of the British electorate into voting to leave the EU, while it is still widely unacknowledged that the British and European populace were also manipulated in the decades after WWII by US government agencies and business interests, using perhaps less sophisticated means, into agreeing to form an EU in the first place.

    As the TruePublica article linked below explains, declassified documents show that post WWII the US wanted a union of Western European states as a bulwark against the USSR and as a trading partner which the US felt it could dominate. The US therefore covertly funded and advised a prominent European lobby groups and associated public figures pushing for the first step in the process towards formation of an European Union. As a result, a series of European free trade agreement were signed leading to the formation of the European Economic Community.

    However, the free trade treaty forming the EEC was only the first step in the longer term plan to form an European Union “by stealth”. The plan was to first of all induce Europeans to establish a European free trade area while not acknowledging that this was only the first step in a longer term goal of forming a full political and financial union among European states.

    With a free trade agreement and free trade among European states established, then the plan was to incrementally introduce by graduated steps further political and economic integration until the end goal of an European Union was in place. It was believed by its proponents that if this end goal was made clear to skeptical Europeans and Brits at the start the project, it would have been rejected out of hand.

    From TruePublica(dot)org(dot)uk:

    Historical Origins of US Covert Operations to “Assimilate Europe” Into A Federal State
    By Graham Vanbergen

    In 2000, declassified American government administration documents show that the US intelligence service started to run a large scale campaign in the Fifties and Sixties to build momentum for a united Europe. It also funded and fully directed the European federalist movement, something which many EU members states resisted with many eventually capitulating – “you’re either with us or against us”.

    The documents show that the American Committee for a United Europe (ACUE) financed the operations of the European Movement, the most important federalist organisation in the post-war years. In 1958, it provided more than half of the movement’s funds.

    These operations were managed by the CIA but as documents show it took its orders from the US State Department. Operations included funding political groups allied to American values and/or policy, undermining trade unions and influencing cultural and intellectual trends in Europe. It went further with operations deliberately provoking dissonance in non compliant states and created ‘stay-behind’ or GLADIO networks designed to train special forces, spy networks and disruption teams to stem any potential for Soviet incursion or even business activity into western Europe.

    The leaders of the European Movement – Jozef Retinger, Robert Schuman and the former Belgian prime minister Paul-Henri Spaak – were all treated as hired hands by their American sponsors. ACUE’s covert funding came from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations as well as business groups with close ties to the US government and the CIA.

    snip

    A memo from the US State Department dated June 11, 1965, advised the vice-president of the European Economic Community, Robert Marjolin, to pursue monetary union by stealth. It recommended suppressing debate until the point at which “adoption of such proposals would become virtually inescapable”.

    http://truepublica.org.uk/eu/origins-eu-usa-covert-operations-assimilate-europe-federal-state/

  6. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @PLT at 11:22 PM # On the serious side I am a surprised – amused even – by your characterization that one should not ” … get sucked into a conspiracy theory whirlpool reading this.”

    What is conspiratorial about it!

    This is a natural outgrowth of the use and deployment of analytics from the cloyingly annoying use of smart devices on the internet. It is scary, problematic and truly pervasive.

    You surely recall that terms like ‘one-to-one marketing’ or the ‘internet-of-things’ are all quite old now…having being coined over 20 years ago and becoming a part of the daily lingo outside the tech community in more recent years.

    Moreover, the folks behind the systems discussed here are not people who deal in BS talk or conspiracies; they are the real BS squashers who act out their intentions.

    I read a previous extensive piece on CA et al and my take away then: this is some serious sh***te!

    Suffice to say that Robert Mercer is a supremely successful investor who one magazine rudely said has ‘More money than God’. The firm he now leads has always specialized in QUANTATIVE investing , i.e using powerful computers and sophisticated mathematical model to guide their strategies.

    He is now further super-sizing that on the world-wide political scene with these partnerships. This is as real as death and taxes!

    We dismiss the intrusive and invasive interference and the intent to micro target our political choices at our peril!

    And on the lighter side… I was definitely amused by the SCL acronym…I imagined that Dr Basil Springer had gone big time with his Systems Caribbean Ltd….but then again he probably sold that years ago!

  7. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    http://www.revolutions2040.com/george-soros-god-created-everything-control-america/

  8. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    http://www.revolutions2040.com/jacob-rothschild-says-putin-traitor-new-world-order/

  9. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Big deal!!

    Look people, EVERY invention that has been created by mankind to improve our lives, have gone on to be used to our detriment. What would we expect to be different with the internet?
    This has been a ‘devil-send’ for the forces of this world that seek to control us – and it has been so easy that it is almost funny….

    What they have done is to provide ‘FREE’ resources such as FaceBook, WhatsApp, twitter, FaceTime, Skype etc … which are ALL basic platforms to collect personal (and other) data on the gullible – especially idiots like Carl Moore who thinks it ‘chick’ to use their slave-names.
    Of course, we can never resist a great FREE bargain….

    The power that this information gives to global manipulators is REALLY impressive….. It creates hoards of brass bowl victims who have NO IDEA of the extent to which they are being screwed….

    Even in Barbados, for YEARS now, Bushie warned about the fact that our election process is designed to allow individuals in government to create a database of EXACTLY who voted in elections, and for whom they voted….
    This is achieved SIMPLY by writing your NID number on the ballot paper tear-off piece- which carries the same reference number as the ballot.

    Any idiot (even angela skeete) can simple create a list of the ballots after elections, and merge that list with NID information – using the common reference numbers. Those in possession of the merged table then can see who voted for them – and hence who should share the fatted calf …. or who took their iPad …and voted against them….
    No wonder we have all square pegs in wrong holes…

    The thing about brass bowls is that being pissed-on seems not to bother them unduly, so we should expect even greater schemes and ploys – as the evil manipulators have a field day with their greed…

    What we should REALLY worry about, is the much more dangerous, demonic conspiracy to rob us of the glorious gift offered to us by BBE, and which good news (gospel) was shared by no less a personage than his first adopted son….

  10. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    This man wants almost 140 pro-remain MPs ousted and replaced with Tories in an attempt to ensure there is “no backsliding on Brexit” after the election.
    Millionaire Brexit donor targets 140 remain MPs in general election
    Financier Jeremy Hosking takes aim at Labour heartlands and says he wants no backsliding on Europe
    theguardian.com
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/13/millionaire-brexit-donor-targets-remain-mps?CMP=fb_gu

  11. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    PLT;

    Thanks for sharing this Observer article once again. It was shared about 2 weeks ago by another fairly frequent poster but there was hardly any discussion by the BU family.

    I think it is a seminal article that is actually far from conspiracy theorising and that should demand some in depth analysis by the BU family.

    To my mind, the most important aspects about the article, besides the microtargeting of specific interest groups in sophisticated next generation super computer assisted polling, is the identification of the human driving forces involved, especially the persons heavily involved in the Trump campaign and its current aftermath. Seemingly national US actors are being identified in a truly amazing global scheme to turn the world upside down and start the New World Order led by billionaires and their cypernautic surrogates. They are not mad scientists but apparently rational down-to-earth people who are leading the changes.

    This is perhaps the most important expose of the 21st century so far. Mis-analyzing and trivializing it will do us no good.

    Trump, through his support by a venal, unthinking, republican dictatorship, is likely to change politics forever in America back to a state where the less than powerful will forever have to live in a situation akin to that of the world of over 50 years ago. He will make the US and the world feudal communities again.

    Perhaps this is just a harbinger of how the End of the World will arrive without a bang or even a whimper.

  12. David Avatar
    David

    @Are-we-there-yet

    Do you recall who shared the link? The problem as we have explained many times to posters is to post a link without a summary of the contents often means that commenters will avoid clicking the link. Hint to Vincent.

    Actually the biggest issue here is the fact this use of big data to influence minds has reached us in the Caribbean. What it means is that those with money now have the wherewithal to hijack our democracy. The yardfowls should take note about who is in control.

  13. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    PLT

    We have not read this article and may never, time!

    However, if you are to caution us about ‘conspiracy’ investigations

    You also have to address the times that those inquiries were proven valid

    You should know that this attempt by officialdom, to stop ordinary people from coming to sensible determinations about their wickedness, was only injected into the culture in the 1960’s. Informing recent understandings.

    At that time the CIA wanted to confuse the American population about circumstances surrounding the death of JFK.

    So what you referred to as ‘conspiracy theory’ was merely a CIA propaganda project.

    In any inquire there are basically three questions. One, there is no difference between A and B. Two, that there is a relationship. Three, or there is a relationship.

    These questions are asked billions of times every hour.

    Then what could be wrong with using this proven methods to question official acts or omissions.

    With all we currently known. Snowden et al. Why would you presume these people are do any less today.

  14. David Avatar
    David

    @Peter

    To your request BU reached out to two active citizen advocates in Trinidad via Facebook and here is what one of them had to share.

    David King published an article on WordPress.

    11 hrs ·

    WordPress
    ·

    The following article was shared with BU by Peter Thompson. The BU household as a rule does not reproduce articles from other news sources, however, we will make an exception in this case. It is a very long article but recommended reading. Many of us go about our daily business oblivious to the obscure workings of the powerful few who control the world. [ 39 more words ]

    https://barbadosunderground.wordpress.com/…/how-our-democr…/

    How Our Democracy was Hijacked

    The following article was shared with BU by Peter Lawrence Thompson. The BU household as a rule does not reproduce articles from other news sources, however, we will make an exception in this case.…

    WordPress

    LikeShow More Reactions

    CommentShare

    Comments

    David King

    David King cc: Rhoda Bharath Afra Raymond Trinidad is mentioned in this article.

    ”SCL/Cambridge Analytica has apparently done “micro-targeting in Antigua and Trinidad.” Does anyone on BU know enough about politics in either place to find out who hired therm and for which elections?”

    Like

    · Reply · 9 hrs

    Rhoda Bharath

    Rhoda Bharath Thanks David. Been following this and a Bloomberg story since last week.

    Like

    · Reply · 2 hrs

    Rhoda Bharath

    Rhoda Bharath The UNC hired them. Used them in 2010. Also may have used them during by-elections in 2013. Then hired ppl from the UK election for 2015.

    Like

    · Reply ·

    11
    · 2 hrs

    David King

    David King In this part of the world those of us in the know AND media houses have not played up the importance of how a small group have resorted to using big data to win the minds of an electorate oblivious to what is happening.

  15. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    no relationship

  16. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    @David
    The rumoured ties to SCL and Barbados 2013 are there. Was posted just after the election results.

    https://barbadosunderground.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/2013-general-election-media-campaign/comment-page-1/

    Check-It-Out made the post then.

    The concerns in the article were also raised by comrade Gonsalves as far back as 2010.

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/30613/gonsalves-warpath

    The power of data and media have taken their place at the center of almost everything.

    The call of “Drain the Swamp” didn’t appear out of nowhere with two weeks to go before November 8,

    2018 elections are going to be epic with epic results and even more epic consequences.

    “The yardfowls should take note about who is in control.”

    ——- As long as there is light there will be shadows.

    Just observing

  17. David Avatar
    David

    @Observing

    Thanks for your intervention. Earlier comments were often viewed as those coming from the crack heads and conspiracy theorist. Now we see the same views being promoted by mainstream media. Unfortunately they are those who are only able to open their minds to world events when promoted by traditional media. Of course Roy Morris gave lie to this position last week when he delivered a tell tale on Facebook.

  18. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    David

    Taken.

  19. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    This is called real investigative journalism….mobsters will do anything to win an election.

    Ah cant wait for them to lock up Guiliani et al…lol

    “Donald Trump’s business partners have included Russian oligarchs and convicted mobsters, which could make the president guilty of criminal racketeering charges.

    That’s one of the eyebrow-raising takeaways from a 45-minute Dutch documentary that aired last week, titled The Dubious Friends of Donald Trump, Part 1: The Russians. The first installment of the investigative reporting series, produced by Zembla, does what no American TV network has yet dared to do—take a deep look at the organized crime links and corrupt international business strategies used by Trump and his partners in his properties.

    It starts with Trump’s luxury tower in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of Soho, where his partner in building that highrise was Bayrock LLC, whose primary investor was a Russian mining oligarch and another major investor was a convicted Russian mobster named Felix Sater.

    “Why did 60 Minutes pass on the Bayrock story in 2016? Why did ABC News’ Brian Ross pass on the Trump Soho [Tower] story in 2015? Why has no major network done any kind of documentary on what the Dutch just did?” asks James Henry, a corporate lawyer-turned-financial investigative reporter who writes for DCReport.org. Henry is one of several investigative reporters whose work on Trump’s shady business empire is profiled in the film.

    The documentary shows how Trump not only helped hide the identity of his mobster business partner, prompting an ongoing lawsuit accusing Trump of criminal racketeering, but also how Trump used that internal company crisis to demand more money. It goes on to show how Russian oligarchs saw Trump’s properties as a way to get their money out of Russia, and describes the international financial networks that are akin to a pyramid scheme for money laundering. It also notes how the law firm of Trump’s political adviser, former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani, helped set up a money-laundering account in the Netherlands used by Bayrock.

    The exposed financial trail raises questions about whether Trump fired FBI director James Comey because the FBI investigation of his campaign’s collusion with Russia was encroaching into Trump’s world of dark money and dubious business partners.

    “Although still in its early days, Donald Trump’s presidency is coming under fire. The Russians are alleged to be in possession of sensitive information about Trump. And that exposes Trump to blackmail. Fake news, tweets Trump: ‘I have nothing to do with Russia—no deals, no loans, no nothing!’ Trump swears he has no ties with the Russians. But is that actually the case?” the filmmakers describe the first installment of the series.

    They go on to show that while Trump denies his ties with Russia, many Russians have deep financial ties to him.”

  20. Bernard Codrington. Avatar
    Bernard Codrington.

    A very thought provoking article. Which side are the data Manipulators on in the Brexit exercise? Brexit is about restoring British sovereignty from a Germany dominated EU. Trump recently put an end to a Trans Pacific Trade and Investment arrangement. Do they generally hire themselves to the highest bidders? Or is this a power game ?
    Despite ELT”S disclaimer, it reads very much like a chapter/book of the conspiracy theory genre with enough snippets of truth to make it gullible.
    But scary, which I think was the overriding intention.

  21. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Lawson….the Native Canadians will soon send you back to Ireland or Scotland, then you will know who has been played, it may happen in the twinkling of an eye, then ya can always become a fisherman.

    Thueves always try to justify their thefts…but it has come apart at the seams.

  22. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Vincemt….the Rothschilds are no different to putin, they are covetous, greedy, malicious and have created most of the strife on this earth for centuries….so that every one of their generation after generation can retain financial control of the 7 billion people on earth.

  23. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @are-we-there-yet May at 8:59 AM, … I suggest to you, that the most important expose is that we are completely, mindlessly and willingly colluding to give up the minutiae on our habits and preferences, thus allowing this end game scenario.

    There is some hyperbole therefore to your statement that “This is perhaps the most important expose of the 21st century so far. Mis-analyzing and trivializing it will do us no good” !

    As the Pacha noted folks like the CIA, KGB et al have been using data mining to affect political contest and social habits long before it became the toy-de-jour as used by IBM’s Watson, Google, Facebook or Cambridge Analytics.

    I also agree that ” Trump, through his support by a venal, unthinking, republican dictatorship, is likely to change politics forever in America”!

    Seems to me, however, that more citizens will now treat politicians with disdain. It will become entrenched that political power means absolute freedom to act unfettered by rules, comity or traditional customs.

    So YES, in US and around the world the political standard of ‘spinning a narrative’ become full blown unapologetic prevarication and conflicts of interest.

    Just as the Speaker of the nation’s highest legislative body can simply lie and flaunt the laws, and yet still preside effortlessly over the legislative body; and a President can basically say I am firing my top legal officer because I do not like his investigation into my administration.

    How do voters assimilate these realities and then find a way back to trusting any politician to do the right things for them!

    And again YES “…this is just a harbinger of how the End of the World will arrive without a bang or even a whimper” BECAUSE we invite the destruction on ourselves.

    How many people are geotagged right now so that everyone must know where they are and tagged last night what they were eating and which movie they watched or rave they attended…!

    The CA’s of this world are merely sweeping up the debris we are leaving all over the freaking place!

    But oft hand let’s see what happens when those CIAs cyber tools are used to crash systems in 2018…whether in BIM or US or maybe in five weeks in France.

    Just the pain of causing long lines can lead to complete distrust in the results…how far away is anarchy nicely primed after that. Last week was a sweet test !

    Oh btw, one day we will figure out why a military organization of trained military personnel once called Blackwater which were the US’s private army in Iraq now call themselves the innocuous Academi….

    Almost reads as benign as ‘Analytics’ doesn’t it. And oh…the millionaire who employed those mercenaries also hobnobs with the ‘truth-teller’ in the WH!

  24. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    dPD

    Nice veiled comments!

  25. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    dPD

    Aha! The Mercers. They do get around. Do’nt they?

  26. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    What is also evident is that these politicos and advisers are very ugly people.Look at Bannon.Real ugly.Look at Trump,equally ugly.Lord don’t talk about Sessions.What an ugly sinful sick beady eyed man from de South.Look at Farage,boss ugly himself.Look at Stuart.Look at Lowe.Look at Sinckler.Look at the Quisling,look at Kellman.Look at Lashley M.This is the time for ugliness to rise and stick it to the unsuspecting.

  27. Ali Baba Avatar
    Ali Baba

    MY GRAD MOTHER/MOTHER ALWAYS USE TO SAY, DON’T WATCH AH PERSON WHO IS FLYING HIGH, FOR U DON’T KNOW WHOS’ WINGS THEY ARE FLYING ON…..WHAT WONDERFUL FOOD FOR THOUGHT

  28. Ali Baba Avatar
    Ali Baba

    @ GABIEL, AH LUV YA BAD HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA SO TRUE HAHAHAHAHAHA…….THAT IS THE EVILNESS

  29. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Gabriel May 14, 2017 at 6:44 PM
    Very perceptive…. Perhaps you should have a quick read of Isaiah 3.
    it is not very long, but most relevant.

    It speaks of a time leading up to great chaos …or as the ‘BBE book’ (BiBlE) puts it, God was (is) about to strip his people of every shiite …. food, water, competent people, pride …everything !!!
    …leaving frivolous children to rule over them (check out our politicians) …while they focus on who owned basic materialistic shiite items… as they search out leaders…

    WHY?
    …see verse 8
    …because they have been doing brass bowlery!! ..playing that they are albino-centric ‘maguffies’, …and dissing the righteousness and community-centric ways of BBE

    Verse 9 sweet doh..
    Their (ugly, contorted) faces bear witness against them (as you so well noted)
    Woe unto them, they brought it upon themselves…

    BUT you can tell the righteous – that all will be well with them…
    They shall reap the fruit of their actions…

    As for the wicked and their contorted faces.
    – their donkey is grass

  30. GreenMonkey Avatar
    GreenMonkey

    Hijacking democracy ain’t too hard if you’ve got enough influence. You can even get away with murder at times.

    In the video below the King family’s lawyer, Dr. William Pepper, explains to RT’s Redacted Tonight host Lee Camp the circumstances surrounding the civil case he won in 1999 in a Memphis courtroom. The King family and Pepper had become convinced that James Earl Ray was not the assassin of Martin Luther King and in order to publicize their concerns that a miscarriage of justice had occurred in pinning the blame on James Earl Ray (who had initially confessed but then recanted) they brought a civil suit asking for nominal damages of $100 against one prime suspect in the conspiracy to assassinate MLK – a Memphis cafe owner named Loyd Jowers, and along with Jowers other un-named co-conspirators.

    Dr Pepper was acting for the plaintiff, the King family, in the case, and at the conclusion of the trial the jurors returned a verdict in favour of the King family finding that Lloyd Jowers and agents of the federal, state and local governments were involved in a conspiracy to kill King.

    Dr Pepper has written 3 books on the topic of the King assassination and the 1998 trial.

    An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King
    Orders to Kill: The Truth Behind the Murder of Martin Luther King
    (and most recently) The Plot to Kill King: The Truth Behind the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

  31. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    36 mins ·
    10 Signs The Global Elite Are Losing Control – Anonymous
    By: anon67 Karma is coming for the elite in a big way. As the Powers That Be head toward a devastating defeat in their war plans for Syria, signs are emerging that…
    anonews.co|By Anonymous
    http://www.anonews.co/ten-signs-elite/

  32. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    It was bound to happen, even evil is cyclical.

  33. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-classified-information-russia-intel-white-house-minister-ambassador-lavrov-kislyak-isis-a7737706.html

    The wannabe Russian.lol

    “Donald Trump reportedly revealed highly classified information about Isis to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week.

    The information revealed by the president while in the Oval Office, was said to have been provided to the US by an American ally through a sensitive intelligence sharing arrangement.

    In a scoop that threatened still further to weaken the president’s credibility and sent shock waves through the political universe, The Washington Post said the partner had not given permission for the information to be shared with Russia. After the meeting, White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and National Security Agency. It has not been reported which third country was involved. The British Embassy in Washington declined to comment when contacted by The Independent.”

  34. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Progress…..

    It’s time for students to see Africa differently. Shutterstock
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    It’s not often that you get to create a new university from scratch: space, staff – and curriculum. But that’s exactly what we’re doing in Mauritius, at one of Africa’s newest higher education institutions. And decoloniality is central to our work.

    I am a member of the Social Science Faculty at the African Leadership University. Part of our task is to build a canon, knowledge, and a way of knowing. This is happening against the backdrop of a movement by South African students to decolonise their universities; Black Lives Matter protests in the United States; and in the context of a much deeper history of national reimagination across Africa and the world.

    With this history in mind our faculty is working towards what we consider a decolonial social science curriculum. We’ve adopted seven commitments to help us meet this goal, and which we hope will shift educational discourse in a more equitable and representative direction.

    Seven commitments

    #1: By 2019, everything we assign our students will be open source

    Like most institutions of higher education in Africa (and across much of the world) ALU’s library is limited. Students often deal with this by flouting copyright and piracy laws and illegally downloading material. We don’t want to train our students to become habitual law breakers. Nor do we want them to accept second-tier access to commodified knowledge.

    Our aspiration is that by 2019 everything we assign in our programme will be open source. This will be achieved by building relationships with publishers, writers and industry leaders, and negotiating partnerships for equitable access to knowledge. This will ensure that a new generation of thinkers is equipped with the analytic tools they need.

    It will also move towards undoing centuries of knowledge extraction from Africa to the world that has too often taken place with little benefit to the continent itself.

    #2: Language beyond English

    Students who read, write and think in English often forget that knowledge is produced, consumed, and tested in other tongues.

    We commit to assigning students at least one non-English text per week. This will be summarised and discussed in class, even when students are unable to read it themselves. Our current class comprises of students from 16 countries who between them speak 29 languages. English is the only language they all share. Exposing students to scholarly, policy, and real-world work that’s not in English means they are constantly reminded how much they don’t know.

    As we grow, students will also be expected to learn languages from the continent: both those that originated in colonialism (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese), and those that are indigenous such as isiZulu, Wolof, or Amharic.

    #3: 1:1 Student exchange ratio

    Having cross-cultural experiences, particularly as an undergraduate, has become an important part of demonstrating work readiness and social competency in a “globalised” world. But scholars have shown that globalisation is often uneven. Strong currencies enable such experiences, so those who benefit usually come from Europe and North America.

    This has had huge implications for higher education, where “student exchange” usually takes place at a ratio of 10:1 – ten Americans or Norwegians, for instance, exploring South African townships, for one Ghanaian who might make it to the Eiffel Tower.

    In Social Sciences the body is the research tool and the mind the laboratory in which experiments are undertaken. We support as much exchange as possible across the broader institution. But our commitment when it comes to student exchange is strictly 1:1 – one ALU student goes abroad for every one exchange student we welcome into our classroom.

    #4: Text is not enough

    Africa’s long intellectual history has only recently begun to be recorded and stored through text. If students are exposed only to written sources, their knowledge is largely constrained to the eras of colonisation and post-coloniality.

    To instil a much deeper knowledge and more sensitive awareness to context and content, we are committed to assigning non-textual sources of history, culture, and belief: studying artefacts, music, advertising, architecture, food, and more. Each week students engage with at least one such source to attend to the world around them in a more careful way.

    #5: We cannot work alone

    Social scientists often assign themselves the role of deconstructor: unpacking power, race, capitalism and consumption with glorious self-righteous abandon. My colleagues and I recognise that we cannot work alone, and require our students to play a central role in contributing to the university’s outputs.

    We design our curricula in such a way that students are compelled to create, iterate, work with feedback, apply that feedback, and critically appraise it. We want them to collaborate with as wide a range of other people as possible, stretching them to use language and the tools of analysis that they acquire in their training with real world implication. For example, students recently worked with our legal, policy, and learning teams to write the university’s statement on diversity.

    #6: Producers, not only consumers

    The students who choose to come to the university bring with them tremendous insight and experience. These are often developed and augmented by spending time in the quintessential multi-cultural environment of the campus and dormitories. That allows certain fusions, tensions and commonalities to emerge much more clearly than they might in other places.

    Working and living within this environment, it’s essential that students start contributing to discourses surrounding Africa as early as possible. It might take years to know how to write a publishable scholarly article – but an op-ed, podcast or YouTube video is not quite so demanding. This allows students to get accustomed to their voices contributing to and shaping public dialogue in and about Africa.

    #7: Ethics above all

    Social Sciences both reflect and shape the world. Our programme, then, is committed to the principle of “do no harm”, and also to be an impetus for good.

    Students will learn to think and act to the highest ethical standards, and to feel confident in asking the same of others working with them. This is essential in bringing into being a world in which Africa’s place is both central – as it has arguably always been to global capitalism – and also respected.

    Collaboration

    It’s early days at ALU. There’s a lot we still need to do, and it will take time for us to build the institution into what we collectively envision. These seven commitments are an important foundation for the Social Sciences.

    We’re inviting responses and collaborations through our blog, through email or through collaborations with our students.”

  35. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Africa scholars have finally realized that their weak leaders centuries ago are largely responsible for the colonization and destruction, thefts and brutality by colonizers….. and today these brillant scholars are making a way forward to decolonize and free the minds of the people, starting with the destructive brainwash education.

    Caribbean people should take note.

    Decolonize, get rid of the brainwash education that is keeping poverty alive and well.

  36. David Avatar
    David

    Interesting to note that with the circus show in Washington there appears to be a move to attack the media for publishing stories based on leaks. In other words the first amendment will be challenged IF he survives.

  37. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Obstruction of Justice is not exactly survivable, not with the accusations coming from the former head of FBI with memos and a reputation for being honest and by the book.

  38. David Avatar
    David

    One has to admire the work of the media and other forces in the UK rebelling against wickedness.

  39. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/robert-mueller-donald-trump-special-prosecutor-frying-pan-fire-russia-investigation-former-fbi-a7742071.html

    Lol, lol, haha ha.

    The media in the Caribbean will learn what real journalism is all about….and that it’s not pimping for governments and politicians.

    “Special prosecutor Robert Mueller ‘will take Donald Trump from frying pan to fire’ over Russia investigation

    Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is known as ‘utterly incorruptible’

    Caroline Mortimer @cjmortimer 4 hours ago5 comments

    Click to follow
    The Independent US

    Robert Mueller addressing leaking in 2013. The former FBI director has been described as ‘incorruptible’
    Robert Mueller as the special prosecutor responsible for investigating the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia.

    The appointment, following fresh controversy over the firing of FBI director James Comey, was hailed by politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well as members of the security community.

    It is the latest twist in a saga which has embroiled Donald Trump since the election in November.”

  40. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    It would be difficult for agents to analyse Barbados Underground for meaning although there are some posters who seem to support white alt-right racist bullshit and would feed them ideas for stupid arguments

  41. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    There is breaking news tonight that Donald Trump is under formal FBI investigation. Looks like the game is now truly on.

    David / dpD, what says you?

  42. David Avatar
    David

    @AWTY

    At this stage it is about sitting on the soda with you bag of popcorn.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40283036

  43. David Avatar
    David

    The tragic incident that occurred in the USA yesterday where politicians were targeted by a gunmen exposes how naked political rhetoric can be very dangerous. We have people who operate on the fringe of civility. Our politicians need to understand the ramifications of stoking the base. We live in serious times. People do not resort to rock stones these days when upset.

  44. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    Mr Blogmaster …well stated at 12:32 AM and 6:13 AM. I no longer drink soda however (nor my favorite mauby) LOL… otherwise, glued to this ultimate reality show!

    @AWTY…yes sir, the game is on. Yet, on the one hand I am truly perplexed by Trump’s actions even as I am amazed by his brazen attempts to use the SAME playbook he has used throughout his career and which got him to the WH.

    Democratic House leader Pelosi said it perfectly: he will ‘self-impeach’.

    The bold lying, hyperbole and blustery that one uses in selling real estate, online educational classes or a TV show CANNOT be used repeatedly in the WH.

    That is as simple as 1+1=2 yet this man acts as if his equation is asking for the square-root of the hypotenuse of the triangle between commonsense, truth and justice. He would have no freaking clue of the latter….Wharton grad even!

    Game was on from the moment Pres Motor Mouth told the world in so many words: I fired the nut-job because I was thinking of this witch-hunt Russian investigation and wanted to relieve pressure from my administration!

    The man has gotten away with so much in the last 12-16 months that he really believes he can say and do whatever he wants in the WH without deleterious consequences.

    We Bajans say ‘pride before a fall’ or simply put in this lingo ‘self-impeach’.

    And of course the real sweet part of this popcorn and Doritos movie is that ‘da playa’ got played so completely that it is embarrassing.

    I thought Jim Comey was awesome before (despite his bad missteps with Clinton email probe) but now I would re-name my children and add ‘Jimeister’ to their names! LOLL.

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