Friday, May 25, 2018

MARK ZUCKERBERG FACES EURO PARLIAMENT ON FAKEBOOK'S ASSAULT TO FREE SPEECH

ZUCKERBERG, LIKE ALL BILLIONAIRES, IS A GLOBALIST FOR OPEN BORDERS TO KEEP WAGES DEPRESSED.

HE IS ALSO A MAJOR DONOR TO THE MEXICAN FASCIST PARTY OF LA RAZA "The Race" NOW CALLING ITSELF UNDIOus.


Mark Zuckerberg testifies in Brussels as European Union and Facebook intensify internet censorship

By Johannes Stern
25 May 2018
Tuesday’s appearance by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg before European Parliament deputies revealed the close collaboration between European governments and intelligence agencies, and the American internet giant in censoring and monitoring the internet.
In his introductory statement, Zuckerberg noted, “We are working with governments and other technology companies to share information about threats in real time so for example in Germany before the 2017 elections we worked directly with the German Federal Office for information security. We are also using new technology including AI to remove fake accounts that are responsible for much of the false news, misinformation and bad ads that people can see on Facebook.”
Facebook’s intervention in the French presidential election of 2017 was likewise as vast. In the lead-up to the election “our systems found and took down more than 30,000 fake accounts,” Zuckerberg said.
“In the next 18 months, there are important elections globally including many here in Europe as well as for the European parliament, the United States, Brazil, India and Indonesia,” added Zuckerberg. “In 2016, we were too slow to identify Russian interference on Facebook in the US in the US presidential election… We were not prepared enough for the kind of coordinated misinformation operations that we are now aware of.” Zuckerberg continued, “since then we’ve made significant operation investments to protect the integrity of elections by making these kind of attacks much harder to do on Facebook.”
Under the guise of combatting alleged “fake news” and the entirely concocted claim of Russian interference in elections, Facebook is conducting a vast censorship operation.
“We took down in the first quarter of this year around 580 million fake accounts, the vast majority within minutes of being registered as our systems are able to identify that,” added Zuckerberg. “I think the question here is not whether or not there should be regulation,” he said, but “what the right regulation is.”
In the future, Facebook will work with “tens of thousands of independent fact checkers in every country and every language” to filter out “problematic content” and “false information” as it is posted, he stated. “Our goal over the coming years is going to get developing the AI systems and hiring the staff necessary to be able to proactively review more of the content as it’s coming into the system,” added Zuckerberg. It is an “arms race,” but “significant progress” is being made.
Facebook is currently expanding centres in Europe responsible for deleting users’ comments. In the centre in Essen, Germany, 1,000 workers will be employed by the end of the year instead of the current 750. This was announced at a press briefing by Facebook managers and representatives from the operator, Competence Call Centre, on Tuesday. A further staff increase is already in the works. The 10,000 square metre rented building could accommodate many more than 1,000 workers.
In their statements and questions to Zuckerberg, the representatives of all groups in the European Parliament made clear that, notwithstanding their criticism of the US company, they are in fundamental agreement with Facebook’s undemocratic machinations.
Udo Bullman, the spokesman for the Progressive Alliance of Social Democrats, said, “You mentioned experiences in France and in Germany which came into existence under the pressure of the respective governments. How can you and will you guarantee that no foreign and hostile interference into the democratic process will take place on your platform ahead of the forthcoming vote. Are you ready to guarantee that for the whole European Union?”
The leader of the United European Left, Gabi Zimmer, outdid everyone else with her call for censorship. “I can only echo what my colleagues have already said,” she said. There is “a growing amount of information based on ‘fake news’,” and this can “be deadly.” For her, the question of whether the online platform should be shut down entirely is posed: “Is it time to pull the plug on Facebook?”
Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party, began by thanking Zuckerberg not only for respecting the European Union’s new data protection law, but also for using it as its “global standard.”
He then made clear that the EU’s criticism of Facebook’s use of data is related to the desire of the EU states to play a greater role in censoring the internet. He urged Zuckerberg to “make those algorithms public. Because if you have so much power in social media about who is visible and who is not visible that cannot be any longer a decision of a company, that is I think a decision for our societies.”
Representatives of the far-right criticised the targeting of right-wing content by Facebook’s censorship measures. Nigel Farage, leader of Europe for Freedom and Direct Democracy, stated, “You’ve changed your algorithms and it has led very directly to a very substantial drop in views and engagements for those that have got right-of-center political opinions.”
Nicolas Bay from France’s fascist National Front struck a similar tone. Facebook “decided to close a number of false accounts,” but this also included the French group “Génération Identitaire.” This is “very concerning” and has “totalitarian implications,” he said.
The far-right’s attempt to pose as fighters against totalitarianism and for democratic rights is absurd. Their methods are well known. While the right-wing extremists spread their inhumane propaganda in the name of freedom of expression, they cooperate closely with the established parties and the state when it comes to shutting down left-wing and progressive viewpoints. In Germany, the parliamentary justice committee–which has responsibility for the notorious Network Enforcement Law for internet censorship–is now led by a member of the extreme-right AfD.
In his defence, Zuckerberg claimed Facebook is “a platform for all ideas, that means we want to make it so that people can come to our service and share any idea across the political spectrum. It‘s very important to me that we are a service that allows for a wide variety of political discourse, we view that as a big part of our political responsibility and I can commit to you here today that we have never and will not make a decision about what content is allowed or how we do ranking on the basis of a political orientation.”
This is a blatant lie. Only recently, Facebook banned the group “Arizona Educators Rank and File Committee.” It was founded by the WSWS Teacher Newsletter and aimed to provide a forum for teachers in the state and across the country to exchange views and to fight on the basis of a socialist programme against the trade unions' betrayals. In its justification for the censorship, Facebook declared that “the content of Arizona Educators Rank and File Committee violates our community standards on false information and spam.”
In reality, across the internet as a whole, claims about the need to combat “fake news,” “hate speech” and “spam” are being used above all to censor left-wing and socialist groups. Google has been censoring the World Socialist Web Site on a large scale for over a year. Under the Network Enforcement Law, which has been in full force in Germany since 1 January, left-wing content, including Twitter comments and YouTube videos against the AfD, have been censored.
The meeting of Zuckerberg with EU parliamentary deputies is a warning. It underscores the tremendous significance of the struggle by the WSWS for the defence of freedom of expression on the internet. An alliance between the entire political establishment and multi-billion-dollar corporations cannot be permitted to eliminate freedom of speech on the internet and establish a modern-day police state. We urge all workers and young people seeking to fight this sweeping attack on democratic rights to contact us and get involved in the struggle against censorship.



It Pays to be Illegal in California

 By JENNIFER G. HICKEY  May 10, 2018 
It certainly is a good time to be an illegal alien in California. Democratic State Sen. Ricardo Lara last week pitched a bill to permit illegal immigrants to serve on all state and local boards and commissions. This week, lawmakers unveiled a $1 billion health care plan that would include spending $250 million to extend health care coverage to all illegal alien adults.
“Currently, undocumented adults are explicitly and unjustly locked out of healthcare due to their immigration status. In a matter of weeks, California legislators will have a decisive opportunity to reverse that cruel and counterproductive fact,” Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula said in Monday’s Sacramento Bee.
His legislation, Assembly Bill 2965, would give as many as 114,000 uninsured illegal aliens access to Medi-Cal programs. A companion bill has been sponsored by State Sen. Richard Lara.
But that could just be a drop in the bucket. The Democrats’ plan covers more than 100,000 illegal aliens with annual incomes bless than $25,000, however an estimated 1.3 million might be eligible based on their earnings.
In addition, it is estimated that 20 percent of those living in California illegally are uninsured – the $250 million covers just 11 percent.
So, will politicians soon be asking California taxpayers once again to dip into their pockets to pay for the remaining 9 percent?
Before they ask for more, Democrats have to win the approval of Gov. Jerry Brown, who cautioned against spending away the state’s surplus when he introduced his $190 billion budget proposal in January.
Given Brown’s openness to expanding Medi-Cal expansions in recent years, not to mention his proclivity for blindly supporting any measure benefitting lawbreaking immigrants, the latest fiscal irresponsibility may win approval.
And if he takes a pass, the two Democrats most likely to succeed Brown – Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – favor excessive social spending and are actively courting illegal immigrant support.

 

Adios, Sanctuary La Raza Welfare State of California  
A fifth-generation Californian laments his state’s ongoing economic collapse.
By Steve Baldwin
American Spectator, October 19, 2017
What’s clear is that the producers are leaving the state and the takers are coming in. Many of the takers are illegal aliens, now estimated to number over 2.6 million. 
The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates that California spends $22 billion on government services for illegal aliens, including welfare, education, Medicaid, and criminal justice system costs. 
                                                                                                                
BLOG: MANY DISPUTE CALIFORNIA’S EXPENDITURES FOR THE LA RAZA WELFARE STATE IN MEXIFORNIA JUST AS THEY DISPUTE THE NUMBER OF ILLEGALS. APPROXIMATELY HALF THE POPULATION OF CA IS NOW MEXICAN AND BREEDING ANCHOR BABIES FOR WELFARE LIKE BUNNIES. THE $22 BILLION IS STATE EXPENDITURE ONLY. COUNTIES PAY OUT MORE WITH LOS ANGELES COUNTY LEADING AT OVER A BILLION DOLLARS PAID OUT YEARLY TO MEXICO’S ANCHOR BABY BREEDERS. NOW MULTIPLY THAT BY THE NUMBER OF COUNTIES IN CA AND YOU START TO GET AN IDEA OF THE STAGGERING WELFARE STATE MEXICO AND THE DEMOCRAT PARTY HAVE ERECTED SANS ANY LEGALS VOTES. ADD TO THIS THE FREE ENTERPRISE HOSPITAL AND CLINIC COST FOR LA RAZA’S “FREE” MEDICAL WHICH IS ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT $1.5 BILLION PER YEAR.

Liberals claim they more than make that up with taxes paid, but that’s simply not true. It’s not even close. FAIR estimates illegal aliens in California contribute only $1.21 billion in tax revenue, which means they cost California $20.6 billion, or at least $1,800 per household.

Nonetheless, open border advocates, such as Facebook Chairman Mark Zuckerberg, claim illegal aliens are a net benefit to California with little evidence to support such an assertion. As the Center for Immigration Studies has documented, the vast majority of illegals are poor, uneducated, and with few skills. How does accepting millions of illegal aliens and then granting them access to dozens of welfare programs benefit California’s economy? If illegal aliens were contributing to the economy in any meaningful way, California, with its 2.6 million illegal aliens, would be booming.
Furthermore, the complexion of illegal aliens has changed with far more on welfare and committing crimes than those who entered the country in the 1980s. 
Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeles’s largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens. Granted, those statistics are old, but if you talk to any California law enforcement officer, they will tell you it’s much worse today. The problem is that the Brown administration will not release any statewide data on illegal alien crimes. That would be insensitive. And now that California has declared itself a “sanctuary state,” there is little doubt this sends a message south of the border that will further escalate illegal immigration into the state.
"If the racist "Sensenbrenner Legislation" passes the US Senate, there is no doubt that a massive civil disobedience movement will emerge. Eventually labor union power can merge with the immigrant civil rights and "Immigrant Sanctuary" movements to enable us to either form a new political party or to do heavy duty reforming of the existing Democratic Party. The next and final steps would follow and that is to elect our own governors of all the states within Aztlan." 
Indeed, California goes out of its way to attract illegal aliens. The state has even created government programs that cater exclusively to illegal aliens. For example, the State Department of Motor Vehicles has offices that only process driver licenses for illegal aliens. With over a million illegal aliens now driving in California, the state felt compelled to help them avoid the long lines the rest of us must endure at the DMV. 
And just recently, the state-funded University of California system announced it will spend $27 million on financial aid for illegal aliens. They’ve even taken out radio spots on stations all along the border, just to make sure other potential illegal border crossers hear about this program. I can’t afford college education for all my four sons, but my taxes will pay for illegals to get a college education.



If Immigration Creates Wealth, Why Is California America's Poverty Capital?




California used to be home to America's largest and most affluent middle class.  Today, it is America's poverty capital.  What went wrong?  In a word: immigration.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Official Poverty Measure, California's poverty rate hovers around 15 percent.  But this figure is misleading: the Census Bureau measures poverty relative to a uniform national standard, which doesn't account for differences in living costs between states – the cost of taxes, housing, and health care are higher in California than in Oklahoma, for example.  Accounting for these differences reveals that California's real poverty rate is 20.6 percent – the highest in America, and nearly twice the national average of 12.7 percent.

Likewise, income inequality in California is the second-highest in America, behind only New York.  In fact, if California were an independent country, it would be the 17th most unequal country on Earth, nestled comfortably between Honduras and Guatemala.  Mexico is slightly more egalitarian.  California is far more unequal than the "social democracies" it emulates: Canada is the 111th most unequal nation, while Norway is far down the list at number 153 (out of 176 countries).  In terms of income inequality, California has more in common with banana republics than other "social democracies."

More Government, More Poverty
High taxes, excessive regulations, and a lavish welfare state – these are the standard explanations for California's poverty epidemic.  They have some merit.  For example, California has both the highest personal income tax rate and the highest sales tax in America, according to Politifact.

Not only are California's taxes high, but successive "progressive" governments have swamped the state in a sea of red tape.  Onerous regulations cripple small businesses and retard economic growth.  Kerry Jackson, a fellow with the Pacific Research Institute, gives a few specific examples of how excessive government regulation hurts California's poor.  He writes in a recent op-ed for the Los Angeles Times:
Extensive environmental regulations aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions make energy more expensive, also hurting the poor.  By some estimates, California energy costs are as much as 50% higher than the national average.  Jonathan A. Lesser of Continental Economics ... found that "in 2012, nearly 1 million California households faced ... energy expenditures exceeding 10% of household income."
Some government regulation is necessary and desirable, but most of California's is not.  There is virtue in governing with a "light touch."
Finally, California's welfare state is, perhaps paradoxically, a source of poverty in the state.  The Orange Country Register reports that California's social safety net is comparable in scale to those found in Europe:
In California a mother with two children under the age of 5 who participates in these major welfare programs – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), housing assistance, home energy assistance, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children – would receive a benefits package worth $30,828 per year.
... [Similar] benefits in Europe ranged from $38,588 per year in Denmark to just $1,112 in Romania.  The California benefits package is higher than in well-known welfare states as France ($17,324), Germany ($23,257) and even Sweden ($22,111).
Although welfare states ideally help the poor, reality is messy.  There are three main problems with the welfare state.  First, it incentivizes poverty by rewardingthe poor with government handouts that are often far more valuable than a job.  This can be ameliorated to some degree by imposing work requirements on welfare recipients, but in practice, such requirements are rarely imposed.  Second, welfare states are expensive.  This means higher taxes and therefore slower economic growth and fewer job opportunities for everyone – including the poor.
Finally, welfare states are magnets for the poor.  Whether through domestic migration or foreign immigration, poor people flock to places with generous welfare states.  This is logical from the immigrant's perspective, but it makes little sense from the taxpayer's.  This fact is why socialism and open borders arefundamentally incompatible.

Why Big Government?
Since 1960, California's population exploded from 15.9 to 39 million people.  The growth was almost entirely due to immigration – many people came from other states, but the majority came from abroad.  The Public Policy Institute of California estimates that 10 million immigrants currently reside in California.  This works out to 26 percent of the state's population.

BLOG: COME TO MEXIFORNIA! HALF OF LOS ANGELES 15 MILLION ARE ILLEGALS!
This figure includes 2.4 million illegal aliens, although a recent study from Yale University suggests that the true number of aliens is at least double that.  Modifying the initial figure implies that nearly one in three Californians is an immigrant.  This is not to disparage California's immigrant population, but it is madness to deny that such a large influx of people has changed California's society and economy.

Importantly, immigrants vote Democrat by a ratio higher than 2:1, according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies.  In California, immigration has increased the pool of likely Democrat voters by nearly 5 million people, compared to just 2.4 million additional likely Republican voters.  Not only does this almost guarantee Democratic victories, but it also shifts California's political midpoint to the left.  This means that to remain competitive in elections, the Republicans must abandon or soften many conservative positions so as to cater to the center.
California became a Democratic stronghold not because Californians became socialists, but because millions of socialists moved there.  Immigration turned California blue, and immigration is ultimately to blame for California's high poverty level.

Farage to FB's Zuckerberg: Conservatives 'Are Being Willfully Discriminated Against' by Facebook

Michael W. Chapman
 By Michael W. Chapman | May 25, 2018 | 11:03 AM EDT

Conservative MEP
Nigel Farage. (YouTube)
While questioning Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the European Parliament on May 22, UKIP founder and MEP Nigel Farage said that Facebook was instrumental in helping Brexit pass and Donald Trump get elected, but now had changed its algorithms to restrict conservative content.
Contrary to Zuckerberg's repeated claims, Facebook today is not a "platform for all ideas," said Farage, and "mainstream" conservatives "are being willfully discriminated against." He added that it may be time to establish a "social media bill of rights to basically protect free speech."
During his questioning, Farage, a Member of the European Parliament, said to Zuckerberg, "The one slight problem I have – I’m watching very carefully the testimony you gave on Capitol Hill. Time and again, people asked you, is this genuinely a neutral, political platform? And you come up with the same line again and again -- it’s well-crafted -- you say that Facebook is a platform for all ideas."
“Now historically, of course, it’s true, that through Facebook and other forms of social media there is no way that Brexit or Trump or the Italian elections could ever possibly have happened," said Farage, the founder of the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP).  It was social media that allowed people to get round the back of mainstream media."
(Source: Twitter/Nigel Farage)
“Now, perhaps you’re horrified by this creation of yours and what it’s led to, I don’t know," said Farage. "But what is absolutely true is that since January of this year, you’ve changed your modus operandi, you’ve changed your algorithms, and it has led directly to a very substantial drop in views and engagements for those that have got right-of-center political opinions."
He continued, “The facts are very clear. Just look at President Trump’s numbers, which are at a much smaller scale. Look at mine. Look at thousands of other conservative commentators. On average, we’re down about 25% over the course of this year. And, you know, that’s happening on a 'platform for all ideas.'"
“I’m not talking here, Mr. Zuckerberg about extremism," said Farage.  "I’m not talking about encouraging violence. I’m not talking about hatred of anybody. I’m talking about people who have majority, mainstream opinions."
"Frankly, I feel they are being willfully discriminated against," he said. 
“What interests me is who decides what is acceptable?" said Farage.  "Who are these people you referred to earlier, these third-party fact-checkers? Who are these people? Why is there no transparency in this process at all?"
(MRC.org)
"I’m not generally someone that calls for legislation on the international stage," he said, "but I’m beginning to wonder whether we need a social media bill of rights to basically protect free speech. … Would you accept that today Facebook is not a platform for all ideas that is operated impartially?"
 
 
On Twitter, May 22, Farage stated, "Stop telling us Facebook is a 'platform for all ideas.' The evidence shows your algorithms censor conservative opinions."
A new report by the Media Research Center, Censored! How Online Media Companies Are Suppressing Conservative Speech, details numerous instances of deliberate censorship of conservative content on the major social media platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Google. 
Facebook and Twitter combined reach 1.8 billion people, and 68% of Americans use Facebook. The left-leaning Facebook and other social media platforms are dialing down and restricting, burying conservative information. 
"War is being declared on the conservative movement in this space and conservatives are losing -- badly," states the MRC report. "If the right is silenced, billions of people will be cut off from conservative ideas and conservative media. It's the new battleground of media bias. It's a war against ideas. It's a clear effort to censor the conservative worldview from the public conversation." 
Disclosure: The MRC is the parent organization of CNSNews.com. 

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