Wednesday, April 1, 2020

COVID-19 Big Brother Mass Surveillance Is Only Just Beginning

News ImageBY TYLER DURDEN/ACTIVIST POST APRIL 01, 2020
Share this article:
facebook sharing button Share
twitter sharing button Tweet
email sharing button Email
sms sharing button Share
print sharing button Print
This week a technology startup called Unacast launched a new app called "Social Distancing Scoreboard," which tracks the GPS location of smartphones and grades geographical regions, such as a town, county, and or even a state, on how well residents in those areas are abiding by the government-enforced social distancing rules. 

The app creates an index, ranked from A to F, for whether people are staying home or not.

Comparing the nation's mass movements between February 28 to March 23 - virus cases started to rise and local governments across the country began to implement "shelter in place" public health orders, which by mid-month, changes in the average mobility for Americans started to slope downwards. 

As of March 23, the app ranked the US with a "C," detailing how many people in the US are ignoring calls by the federal and state governments to stay home amid community spreading.

As of March 23, the top five states where citizens were practicing the best social distancing were District of Columbia, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, and Alaska. The bottom five states were Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

On a state and county level, Maryland earned a "B" with much of its counties surrounding Washington, DC, and central counties receiving good marks on Monday as many stayed home. However, in Western Maryland, it was life as usual as many seemingly did not care about the virus crisis.

Unacast is just another example of how technology is being deployed as mass surveillance tools to combat the virus.

Several other examples of companies and governments extracting data from citizens for surveillance purposes to support quarantines have been though monitoring social media posts and facial recognition databases.
Ghost Data, a big data analysis firm, collected half a million Instagram posts in March, mainly from hard-hit virus regions in Italy that are in lockdown. The company was able to run facial recognition software on all images to identify people who were violating the country's quarantine orders.

Another technology company that has joined the effort to support big governments in their quest to enforce full lockdowns with high-tech tools is telecommunications firm Vodafone. The company is giving European governments heat maps of location data, to track mass gatherings.

The World Health Organization has widely supported the actions by governments to tap technology companies to unleash mass surveillance programs to fight the virus. 

However, monitoring the populace through invasive technology tools will erode whatever freedoms people of the West have left and risk ushering in a more permanent dystopian surveillance system like China's.

Originally published at Activist Post - reposted with permission.

 

Back to home page

at
Image
Breaking News Updates - April 01, 2020
check
COVID-19 Checkpoints Coming? States Begin Monitoring Their Borders For Outsiders

People all over the country are becoming afraid of people from outside their area and several states have now begun to intercept travelers from others states and force them into quarantine.
Read More
 
 
unacast
COVID-19 Big Brother Mass Surveillance Is Only Just Beginning

This week a technology startup called Unacast launched a new app called "Social Distancing Scoreboard," which tracks the GPS location of smartphones and grades geographical regions, such as a town, county, and or even a state, on how well residents in those areas are abiding by the government-enforced social distancing rules.
Read More
eu
Coronavirus: The European Union Unravels

As the pandemic takes hold in Europe, the decades-old union is showing its weaknesses. While the EU managed to survive Brexit and the euro crisis, the corona crisis may yet prove to be an insurmountable challenge.
Read More

turkey
Turning Churches Into Mosques: Turkey Rebuilds The Ottoman Empire

A small event with huge spiritual implications took place last week: two men performed the muezzn (the Muslim call to prayer) inside the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul for the first time since the Ottoman Empire ruled.
Read More
wrath
#1 Christian Movie In America - Before The Wrath

While scholars debate the timing of the Rapture, the world has lost why this event is prophesied to occur in the first place; knowledge that was once understood by those in the first century.

Today, researchers in the Middle-East have rediscovered ancient anthropological evidence from the time of Christ that reveals exactly how and why the Rapture must occur; unveiling new biblical insight that will reignite hope for believers in these trying times and prepare the world for what's coming.

This docu-drama includes Bible Prophecy experts: Amir Tsarfati, Jack Hibbs, JD Farag, Jan Markell & narration by Kevin Sorbo.  From the producers of The Coming Convergence.
Watch The DVD Trailer Here


at

What is Passover?

by 
924
SHARES
What is Passover?
An overview of the history and laws of the holiday of Passover (Pesach).
Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) is known as the "holiday of freedom," commemorating the Jewish Exodus from Egypt following 210 years of slavery. Passover is regarded as the "birth" of the Jewish nation, and its lessons of struggle and identity continue to form the basis of Jewish consciousness 3,300 years after the event.
Passover is an 8 day holiday (in Israel, seven days). Passover is celebrated from the 15th through the 22nd of the month of Nisan (sundown April 8 - April 16, 2020). The name derives from the fact that during the final plague – the slaying of the first born – God “passed over" the Jewish homes.
SEDER NIGHT – The holiday is marked by the celebration of an elaborate Seder on the first two nights (in Israel, on the first night only). The Seder is designed to give each Jew the experience of "going from slavery unto freedom." As recorded in the Haggadah, we tell the Exodus story and recount the Ten Plagues. We eat symbols of slavery and freedom, and the festive meal includes many delicious recipesfor foods that people look forward to all year (think matzah balls!). We recite the Hallel prayer of praise, and end the Seder with the hope of “Next year in Jerusalem!”
The Seder is a special tie of family bonding and children are a particular focus of the night. They enjoy a variety of Passover songs like the Four Questions (Ma Nishatana), tell of the Four Sons, sing the “Dayenu” song, try to "steal" the Afikoman, and open the door for Elijah the Prophet.
MATZAH – At the Seder, it is a special mitzvah to eat matzah, the Seder’s main symbol. Everyone should try to eat 2/3 of a square matzah (or 1/2 of a round matzah) within 4 minutes, while leaning to the left. The most common reason for eating matzah is that on the morning of the Exodus, the Jews were so rushed in getting out of Egypt that the bread didn’t have time to rise. At the end of the festive meal, the special “dessert” is another piece of matzah, called the Afikoman.
FOUR CUPS – At the Seder, we drink four cups of wine – corresponding to the four expressions of freedom mentioned in the Torah (Exodus 6:6-7). Everyone should have their own cup, which holds minimally 98cc (3.3 oz). Try to drink the entire cup for each of the Four Cups (or at least drink a majority) within 4 minutes. And as an expression of freedom, we lean to the left and back while drinking the Four Cups.
KARPAS – Toward the beginning of the Seder, we eat karpas – a vegetable (e.g. celery, parsley, potato) dipped in saltwater, to commemorate the tears of hard labor.
BITTER HERBS – Later in the Seder, we eat Marror, the bitter herbs. Though many have the custom of using horseradish, Romaine lettuce is also used. (“Red horseradish” in jars bought from the stores should not be used, since it’s a mixture of mostly beets with some horseradish.) The Marror is dipped into Charoset, a bricks-and-mortar mixture of dates, wine, nuts and apples.
SEDER CHECKLIST – Seder means "order" because there are so many details to remember. Your Seder table should include:
  • a Seder plate with:
    • Celery, parsley or potato (Karpas)
    • Lettuce (Marror)
    • Horseradish (Chazeret)
    • Charoset
    • Roasted chicken wing (Zero'ah)
    • Hard-boiled egg (Beitzah)
  • matzah cover with 3 matzot (and extra matzah)
  • wine and grape juice
  • Haggadahs
  • cup for Elijah
  • saltwater
  • Kiddush cups
  • pillows for reclining
  • Afikomen prizes    
CHAMETZ-FREE ZONE – During the week of Passover, Jews are forbidden to eat or possess any chametz (leavened grain). For this reason, we dispose of (or sell) all bread, cookies, pasta, beer, etc. – and purchase only products labeled "Kosher for Passover." (Ashkenazi Jews also refrain from eating kitniyot – rice, beans, etc.) To avoid any problems of residual chametz, we also have special sets of dishes and pots for Passover. As a practical consideration, many people begin cleaning for Passoverweeks before the holiday begins.
SEARCH-AND-BURN – On the evening before Passover, we conduct a careful search of the home for chametz. It is done by candlelight and is a memorable experience for the whole family. Any remaining chametz is either burned the next morning (in a ceremony called Sray'fat Chametz), or is sold to a non-Jew for the week of Passover. The sale must be serious and legally binding; it should be done only through the assistance of a qualified rabbi. Any food that is sold must be put in a cabinet and taped shut.
924
SHARES
at

A Truly Historic Lawsuit

A Truly Historic Lawsuit

Aug 30, 2003  |  by 
39
SHARES
A Truly Historic Lawsuit
A lawsuit is being filed against the Jewish people for recovery of property stolen during their exodus from Egypt. The Talmud tells of precisely such a claim lodged over 2000 years ago.
The loud chortling sound you may have heard last week was the collective mirth of countless Talmud-conversant Jews as they read about a lawsuit being prepared by a group of Egyptian expatriates in Switzerland.
The news came in the form of an interview, published in the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, with Dr. Nabil Hilmi, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Al-Zaqaziq. The article was translated and made available by the invaluable Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Dr. Hilmi's lawsuit is ostensibly being filed against "all the Jews of the world" for recovery of property allegedly stolen during the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt approximately 3300 years ago.
Citing the Torah, Dr. Hilmi is demanding, presumably on Egypt's behalf, the return of "gold, jewelry, cooking utensils, silver ornaments, clothing and more," not to mention interest thereon, taken by the ancestors of today's Jews "in the middle of the night" -- a "clear theft of a host country's resources and treasure, something that fits the morals and character of the Jews."
According to Dr. Hilmi's mathematical computations, which include an annual doubling in value of the material in question, 1,125 trillion tons of gold are owed by the Jews for each of the 300 tons he estimates was taken. And that doesn't include interest, which he claims, without explanation, should be calculated for 5758 years.
The merriment that greeted the report was born of the fact that the Talmud tells of precisely such a claim lodged over 2000 years ago in a world court of sorts presided over by none other than Alexander the Great.
The story is recounted in Sanhedrin 91a, where it is recorded that one Geviha ben Pesisa responded on the Jews' behalf. A paraphrase of the excerpt follows:
"What is your source?" Geviha asked the Egyptian representatives.
"The Torah," they replied.
"I too will invoke the Torah, which says that the Jews spent 430 years laboring in Egypt. Please compensate us for 600,000 men's work for that period of time."
"Very well," said Geviha, "I too will invoke the Torah, which says that the Jews spent 430 years laboring in Egypt. Please compensate us for 600,000 men's work for that period of time."
The Egyptians, the Talmud continues, then asked Alexander for three days during which to formulate a response. The recess was granted but the representatives, finding no counter-argument, never returned.
One supposes that Dr. Hilmi was unfamiliar with that page of Talmud, and perhaps with the underlying Biblical narrative on which it is based.
His gift to us, though, is more than a good laugh. For by sending us to Sanhedrin 91a, he provides us great consolation and hope in these trying times. For the very next account on that page concerns yet another historic lawsuit -- ancient and yet as timely as tomorrow's headlines.
This suit was filed by "the children of Ishmael and Keturah [Abraham's second wife, identified by the Midrash as Hagar]." Ishmael, of course, is claimed by many Arabs as their ancestor.
The plaintiffs in this suit claimed that Canaan, or the Land of Israel, was really theirs, as the Torah identifies their antecedents, no less than Isaac, to be progeny of Abraham.
Once again, Geviha responded on behalf of the Jews. "Your source?" he asked.
"The Torah," they responded.
"If so," he continued, "I too will invoke the Torah, which says that Abraham gave 'all that was his to Isaac; and to the children of his concubines [other wives], he gave [only] gifts, and he sent them away from Isaac his son... eastward'" [Genesis, 25:5,6].
Intriguingly, the Talmud mentions no Ishmaelite or Keturite reaction in Alexander's court -- not even a request for time to formulate a response. It's almost as if those plaintiffs simply refused to acknowledge the unarguable case that had been presented, as if they were utterly unable to countenance the idea that the Holy Land was in fact bequeathed in its entirety by Abraham to Isaac, who in turn bequeathed it to Jacob; and he, to his children after him, the Jewish people.
According to the Jewish religious tradition, though, the entire world, including Ishmael's descendants, will one day come not only to countenance the idea but to fully embrace it. That day has not yet arrived, to be sure, and it will not be military or political actions in the end that will bring it, but rather our merits as a people.
It will arrive, though. As the prophet Jeremiah tells our Rachel, one of the mothers of the Jewish people: "Restrain your voice from crying and tears from your eyes... for there is hope for you in the end ... the children will return to their borders."

39
SHARES
at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *