The Birth of Artificial Intelligence has already occurred and the infant is healthy and growing up and doing so much faster than our own children and grandchildren.
We have already arrived at a time where digital electronics can be embedded into a human body and interact with our brains.
Today we are able to collect and store data in a capacity that is virtually without limitation (aka Big Data). That data can be mined, analyzed, and computers without the aid of humans can work in capacities that can serve us. They also can (and do) manipulate us.
Take Facebook as an example. There are two billion of us that participate in this online universe with varying frequencies. Take a step back and contemplate your relationship with Facebook. You might think you are the customer. You would be dead wrong. Customers buy things. You are not a Facebook customer. You are the Facebook product!
Further, Facebook places us into various bubbles. The ads and news feeds you see are based upon the things you post, your attitudes, the attitudes and opinions of your friends. You may have noticed that ads that you see are even related to things you did outside of Facebook. Every thing you post, everything you like, every group you join is recorded, stored in perpetuity and analyzed. All of us on Facebook are subject to manipulation. Did you know that Google personalizes search result based upon who you are. The degree to which we allow ourselves to be manipulated really becomes the question. You are being manipulated by software developers like me.
Ever take the Myers Briggs, or Keirsey Temperament Sorter? I remember how pissed off I was the first time I did. I answered a handful of questions and this formulaic assessment had my number dialed right in! Now imagine how much more data Facebook has on you to make similar assessments and to understand how you are wired.
AI is already here and working to manipulate us. If we were to compare AI to life forms, todays AI is still at the zygote stage. The Facebook zygotes have the ability to place us of into the various bubbles they think we belong. Diversity be damned.
Now if this may sound like gloom and doom I am trying to preach it is not. The last time I checked most of us have the ability to make our own choices. This is the most important point for you to understand and be aware of each and every day.
AI is not going away. It will become even more powerful, and the pace at which this is going to happen will be somewhat mind blowing. AI is going to profoundly change our lives and our society. Actually it already has. We have highly intelligent people behind vehicles moving down our roads at high speeds while texting profound things like "lol see ya soon." Intelligent people who momentarily decide to act like fools and endanger the lives of their fellow humans so they can text some message that really can wait until they park the car. Yet, I digress with my texting rant.
AI, though a child, already is being used to exploit us. If you think about societies that do not function well there is always one predominant trait that stands out.
Us vs Them...
Conservative | Liberal
Urban | Rural
Mix in with this a healthy dose of fear, hatred, and stereotyping and we have a mixed a powerful elixir of manipulation.
I am having a hard time believing this is where we all want to be. This is certainly where we are headed. The choice is still your... at least for now.
Please keep in mind I am leaving out a whole lot of other pertinent facts. What is presented should suffice.
Trump appointed Michael Flynn as his National Security Advisor. President Obama advised President Trump not to appoint Flynn to anything. Acting Attorney General Sally Yates briefed the Trump Administration that National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn was compromised and they ignored this until it was reported in the press. Flynn resigned. Trump blamed the media for his resignation. Prior to the election Flynn was pictured at a Russian State dinner seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin. If you are not shocked by this set of facts you should read it over and over until it rattles your bones.
Trump's pick for Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, is the majority owner of the Bank of Cyprus which is accused of laundering money for Russian oligarchs.
Prior to the election Trump sold Russian fertilizer king, Dmitry Yevgenyevich Rybolovlev a property in Florida. Trump denied that they had ever met. On two campaign stops Rybolovlev's plane was seen at the same airport at the same time the Trumps plane was there.
Trump's pick of Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State. Trump and Tillerson had never met before his nomination. Tillerson has ties to Russian State oil and has been a guest on numerous occasions at Putin's personal residence.
Trumps first campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was doing business with pro Russian leader of the Ukraine, Victor Yanukovych. Victor Yanukovych has close ties to Vladimir Putin. Record for a 10 million dollar payment paid to Manafort was found in a secret ledger that was found in
Yanukovych's personal residence after he fled the Ukraine for Russia.
Jeff Sessions said under oath during his Senate Hearing for Attorney General:
"I had no communications with the Russians." This was a lie. He had multiple meetings during the campaign with the Russians. We are supposed to accept that he just forgot about having meeting with Russian government official shortly after we find out that the Russian government was trying to influence our election?
Jerrod Kushner tried to setup a secret back channel with the Russian government. The Republican parties response to this was that we setup back channels with foreign governments all the time. Really, we setup secret back channels with foreign governments right after we determine that they were trying to influence our election? We are supposed to think this is a plausible explanation.
We are supposed to believe that "There is no there, there"???
Russia meddled in our 2016 election. This is not speculation. This is the finding of our US Intelligence agencies. During the time they were doing this we now know that members of Trumps team were meeting with Russians. They want us to believe that this was just a coincidence?
It is a fact that Trump tried to discredit our intelligence agencies during the period when these facts were coming out in the news.
It is a fact Trump has for a long time continually tried to discredit the media as being fake news. The New York Times, The Washington Post. CNN, NBC, ABC. Fake news?
Trump has yet to condemn the Russians involvement in our election, or say anything critical of Vladimir Putin. This is likely because Trump too is compromised by Russia. Here is an exchange from an episode of the Howard Stern show back in 2000 between Trump, Benza (A gossip columnist), and Stern.
"Trump: I assume A.J.’s clean. I hope he’s clean. Benza: Meanwhile, he bangs Russian people… Stern: Russian people? Trump: Who are you talking about, Russian people, A.J.? I don’t know anything. Benza: He used to call me when I was a columnist and say, “I was just in Russia, the girls have no morals, you gotta get out there.” [Trump’s] out of his mind."
And the following is from a dossier commissioned and written by a former British MI6 intelligence agent, Christopher Steele. It should be noted that many items listed in this dossier have already been corroborated. "Former top Russian intelligence officer claims FSB has compromised TRUMP through his activities in Moscow sufficiently to be able to blackmail him. According to several knowledgeable sources, his conduct in Moscow has included perverted sexual acts which have been arranged/monitored by the FSB."
We know that Trump had a private and unprecedented dinner with FBI Director James Comey. Comey kept notes of their dinner and other encounters and shared them with other leaders in the FBI. Comey testified that Trump said to him:
"I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go"
Comey also testified that Trump asked him for an oath of allegience.
We know that Trump said the following to NBC's Lester Holt. "And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won'."
...And we are to believe that he fired the director of the FBI who was investigating him, confessed to Lester Holt that he did so over the "Russia thing" and this is not obstruction of justice how? Well it is obstruction of justice and after we establish motive the curtain had better drop!
We also know that Intelligence Director Dan Coats, NSA Director Admiral Rodgers, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused to answer questions during the Senate hearing without any legal grounds for doing so. So when did it become okay not to answer questions under oath without a legal basis?
This is just stunning. Stunning.
But, "There is no there, there" Really?
We are a nation of laws. No one in this country is above the law. No one! Our elected leaders take an "oath to defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic." New citizens are required to take a similar oath. Justice needs to be served. Return to your seats and buckle up as we are about to experience some more expected turbulence.
Pick up the phone at least once a week and call your member of Congress to let them know that you are paying attention and expect a fair investigation.
The stock market has been going up for the past 8 years. For those of you that are not that familiar with the stock market, when it is going up it is referred to as a bull market.
Eight years ago stocks and real estate were in dire straits. We were shedding jobs at an unprecedented rate. The average retirement fund was down about 30%. People that had diligently saved during their work careers woke up to find their retirement savings down 1/3! Poof gone. We had millions of Americans that lost their jobs and many of them never really recovered back to the economic state they were in before the great recession.
In the history of the stock market this is the first time that a bull market has lasted 8 years. The stock market is very cyclical and a typically long bull markets will last four years.
When we look back at history for the periods of the greatest social chaos it follows periods when society has gone through a serious economic downturns. It is during these periods that Authoritarian rulers rise to power and the mass populace tends to lose their collective sense of ethics and morality.
What is scary now is that we are already in such a period here in the US and many places abroad. Today our markets are doing well. Actually, they are doing a bit too well considering both the economic and political climates.
When the markets take a turn for the worst it is sobering to think who we have as our leader in the White House. There was a perfect storm of events that placed the gravest threat to our Democracy and civilization into the oval office. There is another perfect storm brewing with respect to the current economic bubble we are in. If it bursts and this may well be the year it does...
I want to document this as it is something we can easily lose sight of with all that is unfolding and it is a very big deal.
Today the head of the NSA, Admiral Mike Rogers (Active duty military) and the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats would not invoke executive privilege and both claimed that they had no legal basis for not answering basic questions from the Senate intelligence committee that is investigating Russia's influence into our Presidential election.
The questions they refused to answer pertained to whether or not President Trump tried to get them to intervene in the on-going investigation.
This is shocking, stunning, just hard to get my head wrapped around. A Senate hearing has the same force as court of law. These two men swore an oath to tell the and to defend the Constitution. When asked if the President tried to intervene in an on-going investigation they said they did not invoke executive privilege with the President, claim to not have any legal basis for not answering the question, but still refused to publicly answer the question.
Let us be crystal clear. All government workers and elected leaders take an oath to defend and uphold the constitution. Not answering these questions without legal basis is not upholding that duty. Their job is not defend and uphold the person in the White House. Their oath is uphold our constitution.
So let's recap.
1) Two heads our intelligence community refuse to PUBLICLY answer questions if our President tried to intervene in an on-going investigation into collusion by a foreign power in our election. 2) Neither of these individuals had a legal basis for not answering. 3) Duh, the investigation that is on-going involves our President and his Administration
If it quacks like a duck it must be a duck.
This is not okay. If we allow people not to answer questions because the just do not feel like it without any recourse we have crossed a very dangerous line. Please call the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee chair Richard Burr (202) 224-3121 asap and tell him so.
Commander John Murphy tells his cold war stories between us and the Soviet Union from the sixties and seventies. I can also tell you that much of the same continued into the 1980's during my time in the Navy. Here is an excerpt from Commander Murphy.
"Technically speaking – any Cold War naval vessel was a potential spy ship, but the Soviet ships that were of the greatest concern to the U.S. Navy were those pesky, little, decrepit looking fishing trawlers that were interfering with naval operations worldwide. We called them AGIs (Auxiliary General Intelligence). The Soviets simply called them 'trawlers' For the last 30+ years Russian trawlers known as AGI's sit in international waters at least 10 miles out to sea on our Eastern and Western shores. The have massive attenna farms and their primary mission is to collect intelligence."
I can personally attest to it's validity as I was a sailor in the submarine service during most of the Reagan Administration. It was during the final crescendo with the arms race we had with the Soviets. This race essentially bankrupted the Soviet economy and was one of the key events that led to its dissolution.
I know all about these AGI's as I was our boats primary electronic surveillance operator. I also served as the ships intelligence office as a collateral duty.
People that hang off your coast collecting information on your movements are not a friend or ally. And, in fairness, we did the exact same thing to them. We are not friends. Our efforts back in the day led to fall of the Soviet Union. We won the cold war. What was known as the iron curtain fell and the Soviet Union was officially dissolved in 1991. Russia was the leader of the Soviet Union. They controlled the iron curtain.
Fast forward 26 years. Today Russia is led by former Soviet Union KGB agent Vladimir Putin. He served as a translator (official title) in East Germany during the time when Easy Germany fell. Today the battle field has switched to cyberwar. The Soviets have some of the best black hat hackers on the planet. These people work at the pleasure of Mr Putin and they are damn good at what they do. They had no problem hacking into Democratic servers. They have hacked into numerous government and corporate servers. I suspect they have some pretty nasty shit on President Trump which is why he is so reluctant to say anything bad about them.
Mr. Putin is paying us back. His objective is to destroy our way of life as we did to the Soviet Union
back in the late eighties.To fully understand the gravity of what is happening right now and why it is such a big f'ing deal is to understand the history between our two countries over the last 65+ years. A good introductory history of the cold war can be read at.
Understanding history is important. I got to experience this history first hand in the military.
Markets and Business have been making the move from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. This trend is not going to change with President tRump taking us out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Many of you think that we may only have to suffer this man for four years. His decisions are going to impact our country for much longer than this.
America, despite our problems, has been a country that other countries look to for leadership. We are seeing the dismantling of this. 195 countries felt climate change was important enough to come together on this subject. Only Syria and Nicaragua did not sign the agreement. We now join them.
Our withdrawal removes us from the leadership role we had on the issue that is the greatest existential threat to humanity. Who will step up? Russia, China, France? We can now be certain that it will no longer be us.
There is so much crooked shit going down in the Republican led White House and Congress it is hard to keep up. Here is latest on the Republican-Trump-Russia alliance. Before reading the latest I would encourage you to read or re-read my first expose on the Republican-Trump-Russia alliance.
If we want to get rid of this clown of a President this is the subject area as nothing threatens the very foundation of our Democracy more than this. Put on your seat belts and brace for the ride. Here is the time line we now have.
1-26-2017 Yates warned White House counsel Donald McGahn that Trumps National Security Advisor Mike "lock her up" Flynn might be “compromised” by Russia. Are we to assume that McGahn did not brief the President on this matter? Of course he did. The next day...
1-26-2017 ...Trump signs a hastily written travel ban order. Was this done in an attempt to possibly incite AG Yates? The next day...
1-28-2017 ...Flynn takes part in a conference call between President Trump and his boss Vladimir Putin. Also on the call Reince Priebus, Mike Pence, Sean Spicer, and Steve Bannon. Nothing fucking unusual or coincidental here two days after the McGahn briefing by Yates. The next day...
1-28-2017 Trump signed an executive order elevating Bannon to the National Security Council and removing the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence. This is a move most found rather unusual and is unprecedented. Now, it does not seem so unusual does it? Two days later...
1-30-2017 Yates is fired as acting attorney general. Hmmmm... all these coincidences coming from the most corrupt Administration and indecent human beings we have seen in quite some time. Oh, and let us not forget Trump's constant barrage of the media as fake news. The Administration thinks they have dodged a major bullet aimed at exposing their deceit and corruption. With Yates out of the picture things are quiet for a while on this front. But do not underestimate the will of the American people and the 5th estate to get to the truth.
2-13-2017 Flynn resigns amid pressure after the Washington Post reported that Yates had warned the White House counsel about Flynn. The real question is why did it take the White House 18 days to seek Flynn's resignation. That is really not a tough question to answer.
A) The media reporting the leak forced their hand;
B) All of them knew exactly what Flynn was doing. For goodness sakes people, how many Trump people do we need connected to Russia before we conclude the obvious? The very next day...
2-14-2017 The New York Times reports that intercepted phone calls showed Trump’s campaign team and other campaign associates, including Flynn and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort had been in regular contact with senior Russian intelligence officials a year before the election. The Trump Administration continue to lie and downplay the incident.
2-15-2017 Chief of staff Reince Priebus asked FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe what the agency knew about Russian ties to the Trump campaign. McCabe had told Priebus that the previous day’s New York Times report was wrong, and the White House chief of staff asked the law enforcement officials to push back on reports linking Trump associates to Russia. Both Comey and McCabe decline to publicly comment on the matter.
Let us pause for a minute here. We now have have hindsight on our side, and hindsight is 20-20. We now know that there is an active investigation into the Trump campaigns possible collusion with the Russian government during the election. Why would McCabe, the second in command at the FBI advise Chief of Staff Priebus "to push back on reports linking Trump associates to Russia"? [Update: Comey was fired as the FBI Director on 5-9-2017 and McCabe is now in Charge]
2-20-2017 Mike Pence, who knows about Flynn's involvement with Russia lies in answering a question about Flynn.
3-1-2017 Justice Department officials revealed Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke twice
with the Russia ambassador the previous year. He was asked about this in his hearing and
lied!
3-2-2017 The Wall Street Journal reports that AG Sessions used campaign funds to travel to
the Republican National Convention where he meets with Russian ambassador Kislyak,
contradicting Trump administration lies that his conversations with the Russian ambassador were in his role as a U.S. Senator. How are we supposed to know when the Trump administration is lying? Simple... are their lips moving or tRrumps stubby little thumbs are moving.
3-1-2017 Sessions calls a ill planned news conference to announce that he has recused himself from overseeing the probe of Trump-Russia ties. He only does this amid the reporting that has come out that they cannot deny because the evidence is black and white. Wait, listen, can you hear the sound of the swamp being drained.
3-1-2017 Devin Nunes, head of the House Intelligence committee responsible for investing Russia's involvement in our election urges reporters to “be careful” about contacting Russian embassies to comment on possible contacts between Trump associates and Russia.
3-7-2017 Trump accuses his predecessor, President Barack Obama, of wiretapping Trump Tower just ahead of the election. Comey and former CIA Director James Clapper both denied the president’s allegations. Nunes was a Trump campaign staffer. More fucking swamp draining sounds. Getting hard to hear oneself think.
3-20-2017 FBI Director Comey confirms under oath before the House Intelligence Committee that the FBI has been investigating possibly coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian Government since July of 2016. This begs asking the question why Directory Comey publicly came out 11 days before the election that the FBI was looking into newly discovered emails from Clinton's server found on Anthony "the gift that keeps on giving" Weiner's estranged wifes laptop. We find out 3 days before the election that nothing new if found.
Clinton wins the popular vote by 3 million votes but loses the electoral college by losing 3 states by a total of 80,000 voters from a handful of counties that went for Obama. Comey does not tell the public about the Trump investigation. Why? We are supposed to believe that this election was fair?
In all fairness to Comey this letter was leaked hours after it was received by the Republicans that received this letter. You know the ones always bitching about leaks :-).
3-21-2017 Flynn confidants, Ellis and Ezra Cohen-Watnick, still under employee with Trump, share classified documents with Nunes that showed Trump and his associates were incidentally swept up in foreign surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies. To get these in true Inspector Clouseau fashion Nunes is busted showing up at the White House in the dead of night. Then he returns the next day to hold a press conference at the White House revealing these findings in order to help vindicate crooked President Trump. The documents turn out to be totally fabricated. But, does this really matter? Why would someone who is supposed to be in a different branch of government, leading an investigation into Russian influence in our election do this?
A. He is an idiot.
B. He is bought and sold by the crooked Trump Administration.
C. He has access to intelligence on Trump and knows the truth.
D. He has involvement in this scandal.
E. All of the above.
The most correct answer is likely E. Wait, hear that sound. Swamp draining.
3-24-2017 Nunes abruptly canceled House Intelligence Committee hearings hours after the former acting attorney general, Sally Yates, notified the White House she would testify about Flynn.
3-30-2017 Flynn offers his testimony on possible Trump campaign ties to Russia in exchange for immunity, but the FBI and congressional investigators declined. This is a thread that will likely bare more fruit as things evolve.
4-5-2017 Bannon is removed from the National Security Council, and the CIA director, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and director of national intelligence are back in.
4-6-2017 Nunes steps down from leading the House investigation into Russia influencing our election.
4-8-2017
Lying sack of shit and Melissa McCarthy impersonator, Sean Spicer, holds a press conference prior to Yates testifying and continues the total bullshit spin in the land of alternative facts. This is must see TV.
4-8-2017 In an attempt to divert the news cycle the Trump Administration releases that we may need to ramp up the War in Afghanistan.
4-8-2017 Sally Yates testifies and tells us that the Trump Administration knew Flynn was in deep with the Ruskies.
The testimony was fucking stunning. Here is a taste.
When weighing evidence to determine guilt or innocence here is the legal standard for "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" "The standard that must be met by the prosecution's evidence in a criminal prosecution: that no other logical explanation can be derived from the facts except that the defendant committed the crime, thereby overcoming the presumption that a person is innocent until proven guilty."
Still waiting for that logical explanation.
How much more evidence do we need people? Why are these people still in the White House? We need more outrage over this. Among all the big deals this really should be in the top spot.
