Every American corporation, from the largest conglomerate to the smallest firm, should ask itself right now: Will we do business with the Trump administration to further its most extreme, draconian goals? Or will we resist?
This question is perhaps most important for the country’s tech companies, which are particularly valuable partners for a budding authoritarian. The Intercept contacted nine of the most prominent such firms, from Facebook to Booz Allen Hamilton, to ask if they would sell their services to help create a national Muslim registry, an idea recently resurfaced by Donald Trump’s transition team. Only Twitter said no.
Shortly after the election, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty wrote a personal letter to President-elect Trump in which she offered her congratulations, and more importantly, the services of her company. The six different areas she identified as potential business opportunities between a Trump White House and IBM were all inoffensive and more or less mundane, but showed a disturbing willingness to sell technology to a man with open interest in the ways in which technology can be abused: Mosque surveillance, a “virtual wall” with Mexico, shutting down portions of the internet on command, and so forth. Trump’s anti-civil liberty agenda, half-baked and vague as it is, would largely be an engineering project, one that would almost certainly rely on some help from the private sector. It may be asking too much to demand that companies that have long contracted with the federal government stop doing so altogether; indeed, this would probably cause as much harm and disruption to good public projects as it would help stop the sinister ones.
But the proposed “Muslim registry,” whether it be a computerized list of people from two dozen predominately Muslim nations who enter the country (as revealed in Kris Kobach’s fatuously exposed Homeland Security agenda) or a list of all Muslims in the U.S., is both morally appalling and effectively pointless. In November 2015, asked by a reporter if the country should create “a database or system that tracks Muslims in this country,” Trump replied, “There should be a lot of systems … beyond databases. I mean, we should have a lot of systems.” The New York Times reported that Trump added he “would certainly implement that — absolutely.” At a rally later that week, he told the crowd, “So the database — I said yeah, that’s all right, fine.” The next day, George Stephanopoulos asked Trump, “Are you unequivocally now ruling out a database on all Muslims?” Trump replied, “No, not at all.” Although Trump attempted to walk back these comments during the campaign, a registry of some form is now back on the table, at least as far as Kobach is concerned.
Even on a purely hypothetical basis, such a project would provide American technology companies an easy line to draw in the sand — pushing back against any effort to track individuals purely (or essentially) on the basis of their religious beliefs doesn’t take much in the way of courage or conviction, even by the thin standards of corporate America. We’d also be remiss in assuming no company would ever tie itself to such a nakedly evil undertaking: IBM famously helped Nazi Germany computerize the Holocaust. (IBM has downplayed its logistical role in the Holocaust, claiming in a 2001 statement that “most [relevant] documents were destroyed or lost during the war.”)
With all this in mind, we contacted nine different American firms in the business of technology, broadly defined, with the following question: “Would [name of company], if solicited by the Trump administration, sell any goods, services, information, or consulting of any kind to help facilitate the creation of a national Muslim registry, a project which has been floated tentatively by the president-elect’s transition team?”
After two weeks of calls and emails, only three companies provided an answer, and only one said it would not participate in such a project. A complete tally is below.
Facebook: No answer.
Twitter: “No,” and a link to this blog post, which states as company policy a prohibition against the use, by outside developers, of “Twitter data for surveillance purposes. Period.”
Microsoft: “We’re not going to talk about hypotheticals at this point,” and a link to a company blog post that states that “we’re committed to promoting not just diversity among all the men and women who work here, but … inclusive culture” and that “it will remain important for those in government and the tech sector to continue to work together to strike a balance that protects privacy and public safety in what remains a dangerous time.”
Google: No answer.
Apple: No answer.
IBM: No answer.
Booz Allen Hamilton: Declined to comment.
SRA International: No answer.
CGI: No answer.
This isn’t to say that the companies that didn’t reply to a request for comment or declined that request are tacitly endorsing the Trump agenda in general or a Muslim registry in particular. Still, it’s asking very little of today’s tech companies to prompt them to go on record as unwilling to help create a federal list of Muslims — or so one would very much hope.
“Any technology company should resist a government request for assistance that targets a customer on the basis of race, religion, or national origin,” said ACLU attorney Ben Wizner when asked about the social and ethical obligation of these companies to fight, in some capacity, a project like the Muslim registry.
Should any of the above companies wish to expand their answer (or non-answer), this post will be updated accordingly.
Updated: December 19, 2016
Since publication, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Google have all stated on the record that they would not help the Trump administration build a national Muslim registry.
Religion is already tracked by the U.S. Census …
What kind of an idiot really believes that the government would need twitter or facebook to build a Muslim registry when they already have the NSA, FBI, CIA, INTERPOL and other databases?
Maybe that’s how Obama vets Syrian refugees, but if so, that’s insane.
Our Fascist Tech Companies
LOL, I look forward to at least 4 years of hard-hitting dribble like this, impotently flailing against authoritarian repression, after an election season where Mr. Biddle repeatedly dismissed the notion that there was a world of difference between a candidate who didn’t dish out enough head-pats to earnest activist-journalists like himself, and the candidate who established himself as a racist years before he even announced his candidacy. Don’t worry, your overwhelmingly white and male cohort can still get daps through the barbed wire of muslim concentration camps for your brave allyship when it really mattered.
The Microsoft response too!! The most enigmatic response i have ever seen!!
Very ambiguous. Immediately I scrolled down to type this message, I don’t even remember what they said.
What is wrong with MS? Yes or No? and look what they’re saying?
I feel sorry for them.
The article itself can be interpreted any way you like.
‘Only one company said that they won’t cooperate’ or ‘none of them said they would help in creating such a register’.
But the comments…. Oh boy… they are absolutely delicious…
So none said they WOULD help Trump create this list. Most declined to even entertain your outlandish hypothetical question.
Miss-leading title. BS conclusions and little to no actual information.
Sam, I read this article hoping you would redeem yourself just a little.
But again this article is not worth the tiny magnetic bits it is stored on.
Would the EDITOR please replace this worthless writer.
Talk about creating a story as you write along…! Sam Biddle needs to really take a break and get his tookus out to the Yellowstone Caldera and ask himself why he can’t power his home and car with that energy source instead of the fossil oil from the North Dakota Access Pipeline being “planned”..!? Maybe he can start a registry to collect all the power consumers across our nation that would BUY that energy instead of the hot air about a Muslim Registry that has been collated by the NSA since Malcolm X…..!!!!
Is the Intercept a modern Twilight Zone or what…?
Clickbait nonsense. First, American corporations all serve the US government which serves multinational banks with private mercenary forces which are beholden to no one. So fascist collusion is nothing new. But secondly, the headline implied that these other companies agreed to support a Muslim registry database, and they clearly have not agreed to do that based on this information. So duly noted, ignore all links to theintercept.com in the future. Thanks for the info. And fwiw, I’m a proud Social Justice Warrior, so if you were tempted to write me off as a neo-Con-man or an Alt-Reich Trumpite, you’ll have to find a new way to write me off.
IBM…..business as usual….as with the Nazis…….more of the same SHAME!
lets not forget that IBM helped the NAZI’S track jews in europe…
ibm is evil
Twitter rocks! Send me your handle if you want a follow
Dear Americans
YOU ARE SPYING ON THE ENTIRE WORLD’S DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS, waging two endless wars, ddrone murdering people and committing war crimes by invading sovereign nations and executing their leaders.
You already have a database on EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANET.
And these tech companies have grown super powerful by being there with your government and military every step of the way. This is nothing new.
Trump is just the next prick in line to have his fun with the insanity that is America. We fear him no more or less than the last bunch of arseholes sitting in the White House and the Pentagon. I would go as far as to say I prefer him because other Americans find him so obnoxious they may even be stirred to question what is going on.
Go write about some real grown up issues that properly challenge the evil cunts that run your shithole nation.
This article is so typical of the lousy liberalism which pretends
to be progressive in the faking U$A.
The idea of any unconstitutional registry becoming a reality is
not disgustingly possible because of Trump, but it is a possible
reality because democrats and republicans – working together –
have already shown how they are both/all so willing to shred
the constitution of the faking U$A based on whichever
terror-ified panic-du-jour they can use as their excuse.
Just as stupid liberals have joined stupid conservatives
again and again
to promote an ever-increasing number of wars and promote more
and more corporate toxicity and then turn around and blame
their stupidity on the stupid conservatives,
like calling the war in Iraq “Bush’s war” when, in fact,
it was not possible without the help of smarmy predators
like Hillary Clinton
(the liberal-ly preferred corporate agent of destruction for profit)
and Kerry, Biden, Pelosi, and numerous other faking predators
who are defended by
stupid liberals.
Trump is a gift to the lousy democrat liberal hypocrites because
now they can spout all kinds of lies and gibberish about how
they are opposed to the kinds of corruption
which they actually help make happen
for their beloved predatory corporate owned pretense of a nation.
Spot on.
It appears to me that the only way we can defeat this nonsense is by means of sabotage. Although I am an atheist, if a law comes into being requiring Muslims, or Jews, or Christians, or whatever, to register, I will do so. If millions of people do that, their registry will become useless. But those who stand by and do nothing will find that the day comes when they too hear the knock on their door announcing the arrival of the agents of death.
Allahu Akbar!
As an anti-theist, I have also been thinking that registering
as a muslim may be my future necessary hypocrisy, but I also
very much doubt that such a registry will be open to any
willing registry. Allowing individuals to have the power to
manipulate the perverse machinery of the faking U$A is not
something the corporate owners are likely to tolerate. THEY
will probably make their own registry and, as is their habit,
tell the rest of us to be thankful for the latest infection they
have injected into the body politic.
You are probably right. As Mumford said, “Not the least mark of Pentagonal authority is its imperviousness to information coming from outside sources and expressing human desires and purposes that have no status in the power complex. This in itself helps explain, perhaps, the increasingly desperate human reactions the system is now provoking throughout the world.” Though written in 1964, it is even more true now than then.
The #MuslimRegistry is a “Passive Control” against Murders, Rapes & Tortures. Its significance lies in penetration of a more conservative market. Constitution of these market can be measured in World Income Potential. WIP is now fluctuating & its minimum base is 43% down.Also one can get a rule book. One can also get a bargain synthetic model. Eg: Facebook can see 28% more trade on Internet Space.
I see how Facebook might help out creating such a hatefully bigoted religious registry – as that’s a place where someone might self-identify as Muslim. But some of the companies mentioned like Twitter would have far greater difficulty “helping,” and could really only base registry suggestions on guesswork – after analyzing names/usernames, friend/follow associations and an individual’s writing or comments.
And the idea’s actually not all that new. The federal government and defense contractors began warning employees shortly after 9/11 that online friends and associations could cost people their clearances and jobs. Judging by the criteria for bombing countries we’re not at war with ever since – what god one prays to has always been what they meant. I’m inclined to believe an “insiders” Muslim registry, and activities tracker, has been around a long time.
Headline absolutely accurate to article findings.
Plenty of obfuscatory complaints in comments anyway.
Want to get rid of Trump? Want to set Snowden free? Consider retweeting the below.
@benwizner @ggreenwald @CIA @Snowden “Bernie”, “Have Trump” were Air Force programs too :) Jose. RT #PardonSnowden http://nyti.ms/2h1Bvze
Despite what many commenters have written, it is noteworthy that 8 out of 9 companies refuse to say whether they will construct a Muslim database.
The normal reaction of a company’s PR department when asked this question would be to respond the company does not and would never attempt to determine the religious affiliation of its customers. This in no way precludes the company from obtaining a lucrative government contract to construct such a database at some future time. But it is simply good public relations to deny its intention to do so.
The wild card is that when a company receives a national security letter ordering them to construct a database, they are legally constrained from talking about it. Hence the refusal to comment becomes understandable.
In other words, it appears that 8 of these companies have already been ordered to begin work on a Muslim database.
thanks for pointing out corporat protocol
usually you are cryptically satrical but this is a twist
you are likely literally spot on
Sometimes I try to one up reality and find it impossible to do so. In those cases, it’s better to simply tell it like it is.
umm, your joking right?
+1
So you mean our great champion Obama has started it off? Surely, he should have waited to be evicted first.
Dear Duce : what you say might be correct, but it actually doesn’t make much sense. I would expect the american gestapo to send a ‘security letter’ to their accomplices instructing them to LIE about what they are doing, and say “no, we are not working on such thing”. Why would the govt make them give an ambiguous answer that might tip people off?
The intercept is better than this. If you’re going to lower yourself to this kind of lazy journalism, at least don’t engage in clickbait: The headline should be edited to say “Only Twitter bothered to give us a straight answer.”
TI gives us a jump-off point.
that’s good.
add on.
no fuck off with that spin, Jack
the new mark of the beast?
person registration, the mark, jews branded by nazis, the mark, now Haim Saban Blasts DNC Chair Hopeful Keith Ellison as an ‘Anti-Semite’
Haim Saban’s backed wallstreet whore lost and now Haim whose country (hellary being the whore of israel) genocides Palestinians and in their Paranoia as Hitler would have been at the end, has declared Keith Ellison to be UnAmerican – why? Is it because his US herd of people to be plucked by wallstreet thieves is being offered freedom from their overseas support of genocide?
israel, 6
star of david, 6
mossad, 6
Now, the US Congress has approved the extension of Iran Sanctions Act for 10 more years, despite approvals by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran has kept its part of the deal. At the same time, there were others who believed that getting into an agreement, in which the US is a party to, can never work because Washington is not trustworthy.
This guy is just a sucker. He is twisting the headline for sensation and it makes no sense. He is worse than Donald Trump and even those ISIS guys for he is twisting the truth knowingly.
Most of these companies and the Federal government are very secretive, especially about intelligence and security matters. They don’t like to cooperate with journalists about such matters, unless those journalists are working covertly for them. You would have to hack into their files and download them to discover the truth, or recruit spies to enter their organizations in order to leak things out. I’m sure Putin/Russia has done both of these things and will continue to do them.
What’s the problem with a muslim registry if all the American muslims are legal citizens and if they have nothing to hide? :P
Even countries like Saudi maintains a registry of non-muslims residing in theor country!
Yes the article is weak and misleading, but need I remind everyone:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
-Rev. Martin Niemoller
Deciding not to link to the MS post that you very selectively quoted from is pretty poor. It’s actually way more specific than the Twitter one.
Given the reality that identity records and criminal histories are virtually impossible for Syrian and many other refugees to secure, isn’t it prudent and logical for us to seek some way to keep tabs on them for a limited period after they enter? Our current immigration system mails requests to appear for court hearings, but has virtually no recourse should anyone decide to move with no forwarding address and simply ignore court hearings. How do you think we ended up with ten million undocumented residents in the first place? Why is it considered racist to address legitimate security concerns?
We are witnessing Americans willing to sell out Muslims to the Empire just like the Germans were willing to sell out the Jews to the Nazis.
Actually it’s nothing like that, Islam is an aggressive expansionist geo-political movement that has been provoking violence since it’s foundation in the seventh century AD. Due to the unfortunate exploits of Muhammad later in his life after moving to Medina (his war campaigns, poor treatment of women, chopping off heads, marrying a six year old,) these behaviors as described in the hadiths are often imitated and religiously justified. The hadiths include the calls for and explanation of Jihad, and are respected by both Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims. About 80% of Muslims are Sunnis. The rest consist of Shi’ites and a scattering of fringe groups/sects. Some are peaceful like the Sufis or the Yazidis, but these groups are considered heretics (to Sunni/Shi’ite) and are persecuted against (like the Nazis to the Jews…) On top of it, the Sunnis and Shi’ites hate and want to kill each other, a schism that effectively divides nations in the middle east. Externally, Islam promotes expansionism, radicalism, and intolerance of a world that is not entirely Islam. If you think I’m making it up, all of these things are laid out in the Hadiths. An argument might be made that despite the violent sections of Islam, a secularized version could exist. This is essentially what Sufism or the Yazidi religion represent, but as I said, they are persecuted and rejected. In the west, secular Christians are the majority and fundamentalists are the minority. In Islam it’s the opposite.
When it comes to money, just like the Germans who sold out the Jews to the Nazis, we are witnessing Americans willing to sell out Muslims to the Empire…
“asked by a reporter if the country should create “a database or system that tracks Muslims in this country…”
__
Sam, get a clue will ya?
The draconian NSA has shitloads of data on e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g & e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y. All that is needed is a few database queries to put that list in order. Besides, what makes you think there isn’t one already? Hello?!
I wish Google’s primary motto was still “Don’t be evil”.
Most likely there is already a “list”….a “cover list” that includes those of the Islamic faith in America…..it’s not a far leap to believe such a list already exists being that there are reportedly hundreds of varying lists and each one of us could be categorized into probably more than one of the hundreds. William Binney spoke of “cover lists” in the CITIZENFOUR documentary.
One of those companies doesn’t exist anymore. SRA International was purchased by CSC Public Sector when it was spun off from CSC last year. A new company, CSRA, run by former CSC Public Sector leadership was formed.
I called and left a message for both Mary and Sue, asking for a date tonight. Only Mary returned my call and said,”hell no”. So I must go and start getting ready for my date with Sue.
LOL :)
The title of this article should’ve been “Of 3 Tech Companies Who Answered Our Inquiry, Only Twitter gave a Definitive No”. As it stands right now, the title strongly implies 7 out of 8 companies gave (at least tacit) consent to creating a Muslim registry, when in reality one can’t tell one way or the other.
Seems like our Sam here had a great idea for a piece, but the tech companies he contacted were less cooperative than desired, so he decided to go ahead and publish it regardless.
This isn’t a difficult proposition and the government already has the data (and the technology) necessary…they don’t need to ask twitter…that’s not even what Twitter does…LOL
Nor Apple…
Google likely already has much of the data, as does Facebook (at least with respect to those Muslims on Facebook)
But the government can easily track those who are Muslim in this country and those who are likely to be Muslim coming from a variety of countries…
Between machine learning algorithms and pattern matching, they could likely get 98% of the ones who have a form of government ID and who have either a cell phone or an ATM/check card…
Give them time, keep asking, and keep watching. And yes, your headline is distortively sensational. It’s hard and takes time for complex companies to develop points of view on this kind of thing. Or anything really, unless it’s an extreme PR crisis moment. For example, Twitter is a very simple company compared to IBM. There are fewer entities to wrangle and align to an opinion. Twitter is less complex than even one of IBM’s 10 business units. It would make sense for you to ask each of IBM’s 10 units to speak on behalf of the unit, as much as IBM as a whole. To get an IBM as a whole, you would pretty much need to hit the CEO to speak on behalf. The challenge is, not every enterprise of that complexity can be spoken for by a single central entity. Likely a CEO would not make such a statement without lengthy discussions with other business unit heads and their stakeholders. And the stakeholders would need to be consulted could be in the dozens or even hundreds to be definitive. Certainly, public pressure can and will drive them to come out with ethical stances, and the media has a vital role to play here. But while you do; a) make sure you are talking to the right people in their respective areas of the organization in complex organizations, b) do not treat these companies apples to apples in your process with regard to how you navigate getting their perspective, c) give them time to develop points of view, d) be transparent about the roles you are asking. Are they corporate senior execs, business execs, corporate ethics heads? Division managers? Product portfolio owners? Who? e) stop with the sensational headlines that impute to a general readership that the other companies are more inclined to have a point of view, as your headlines clearly does. I get that teeeeeeeeeechnicalllllllly you’re are saying only Twitter says it would refuse. However, you’d be feigning naivete to say that the effect for readers of the headline, won’t be a misleading imputation.
IBM of course, can rely on it’s history of practice and success in similar ventures with the Nazis.
It must feel good to tread comfortable well-worn ground again.
Yeah, except that twitter considers hatred of Israeli and Jewish people as free speech while deleting any and every comment that they deem “hateful” towards Muslims! Not to mention the comments in this article that keep imploring Jews and Israelis to condemn Israel!
Nice try, that question. It caught the companies at the intersection of two lines of fire: fear that they might be prejudicing future business of any kind with the Federal Government, i.e. fear of revenue loss, and fear that sometime down the line, any reluctance to kow-tow now might be … consequential, and not just in monetary terms. ‘The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord.’ Proverbs, 9:10 Biblical advice, yet!
Good for Twitter, tho! Microsoft’s response was as lumbering and irrelevant as its operating system. At what time, then, Unca Bill, will you be prepared to ‘talk about hypotheticals’? Like the hypothetical that your software could be released in a less insecure form? Or that your customers won’t be sold down the river to some US government?
Unca Bill hasn’t worked at Microsoft since Feb. 2014, so he doesn’t even need to discuss hypotheticals, nor is it even his software anymore. The person you should refer your questions to, is Satya Nadella, who is the current CEO of a company that makes an “irrelavant (sic) … operating system”, just so you know.
Misleading headline makes it seem that 7 companies would indeed “help build a Muslim registry for Trump”.
The only actual fact this post reports on is that 7 out of 8 couldn’t be bothered to return Sam Biddle’s calls & emails.
It is extremely telling that 7 companies couldn’t e bothered to reassure the public that they wouldn’t want to work with a proto-fascist to oppress an already abused minority.
When did you stop beating your wife?
Good on the Twits for saying they’ll refuse, but they’ve been Trump’s primary hate-incitement vehicle for far too long.
Going out of business* (which, as an added bonus, would end the godawful and annoying #hashtag fad) would be better.
*From all but the minimum to preserve their trademark, as letting Trump or some (other) white supremacist buy it would be far worse.
@game kid –
You do pose a conundrum there. I had thought about how that nutjob uses twitter to spew all kinds of filth. Truthfully, I wouldn’t be upset if they shut him out, but I also wonder about what that might mean in general (if they ban him, who or what else could they ban?). Such issues are not easy, and defending free speech means you have to defend noxious speech, too. Sigh – does it seem to anyone else that the hate speech is just getting amplified?
Anyway, I DO hope that allowing a tweeting platform would still mean they would refrain from cooperating from such nefarious schemes as a registry.
control freak personalities gravitate toward positions of power, liars gravitate towards positions of authority, thieves gravitate towards both and liars steal the truth. Conundrum? Try this on for size – WHO WORKS FOR WHO? That is the question. You solve that in a way that works equally and goodly for all and i will marry you, or not, your choice.
@barabbas –
“control freak personalities gravitate toward positions of power, liars gravitate towards positions of authority, thieves gravitate towards both and liars steal the truth.” Now that’s saying something. Not at all comforting, but I think there’s lots of truth there, unfortunately.
As far as your conundrum… “who works for who?” Well, I think you’re mixing up asking for an answer to the question and asking for a solution to the problem it points out. Sadly, I think too many of us work “for the elites” on some level. Some are blatantly them or are in their service; others because the system is so rigged against them that they can’t get ahead.
Solution? My, now THAT’S the question. Nothing will ever be perfect in our lifetimes, but we need to address: better tax structure, shoring up workers’ rights, access to free college (that was my Mother’s dream), making the justice system fairer. We need to get big money and all OUT of politics, and turn things so that officials are looking out for “WE, the PEOPLE.” But also we need (and this is long term but has to be done) to: a) get people to think critically and NOT vote against their own interests (and I can tell you they do, as I witnessed it in the last faculty contract I voted on), b) we need to get away from excessive greed, and c)we need to absolutely turn folks away from hatred, bigotry and misogyny. We all have to be in this together, including caring for our PLANET. And hateful rhetoric won’t help. The kind of rhetoric and all coming from a certain nutjob and many of his supporters make it very hard to even think one could “work with them.” So I have to be skeptical of any attempt to “normalize” this incoming nightmare admin.
So those are my thoughts, about as well as I can form them being so stressed out since the election.
excellent. i appreciate your reply and admire your concerns to be solved.
You can solve this in your lifetime.
All our working and living relationships are governed by our operating environment. “The world is a stage…..” is true.
Perfection is a fantasy, an illusion, a pleading against pain. There is always pain and you have to choose your pain.
You can do this in your lifetime.
i guarantee it.
@Barabbas –
Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll solve everything in our lifetimes. Really, I thought we’d be further along than we are now. There’s still a lot of hate and bigotry, still lots of misogyny, still plenty of corruption (and I don’t see that ending soon). I do hope we make some progress, though. We have to really push for it. Can get tiresome :-)
Your next to the last sentence reminded me of this quote from Bob Marley which I just happened to run across in some searches a while ago:
“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.”
So I guess keep praying (as the Standing Rock Sioux do), keep pressure on (as folks are doing on the banks and the Army Corps of Engineers); we need to do those type of things and keep up the fight on many fronts.
yes you will.
and you can be a solution.
who works for who?
let me give you a start –
build use enjoy vs build use destroy
we live in an operating system
Since he usese Twitter a lot, I imagine they believe in keeping their friends close and their enemies closer. Good for them for not mincing words!
Hisory does not repeat, but it does rhyme. I’m just watching the wheels go ’round.
What a misleading and poorly written article – part of the problem, not the solution.
Agreed. Total click bait article. It is truly amazing how terrible liberals are at losing gracefully. True colors have been glaring the last month, and the true message shines through: “everyone is allowed to have an opinion, just as long it is the same as ours”.
Pathetic…
**Awaits replies of salty losers**
Read Apple’s credo and you will know that their answer is a resounding “No!”
Of the tech companies I emailed, only 1 responded. The rest; anti-Muslim and fascist? Surely.
Fantastic work here Sam.
Sigh! Are you one of those put forth a conclusion before even reading the matter? Clearly, you missed out on this part of the article:
“This isn’t to say that the companies that didn’t reply to a request for comment or declined that request are tacitly endorsing the Trump agenda in general or a Muslim registry in particular”
This article is fucking cancerous. I’m a liberal who voted for Hillary but jesus christ Sam Biddle don’t just make shit up and call it an article. “IBM will work with trump, they must be anti-Muslim and currently working on a Muslim registry!”
People like you are why we lost, delete this garbage shit and find a new career
Suspicious that you utter lines that the alt-right tend to spout about why the election was lost. IBM has made it clear that they will work with Trump, and that should be worrying given what an utterly reprehensible excuse of a human being Trump is. Hillary lost because she is a vile, corrupt, destroyer of the middle class who dismissed the legitimacy of the anger of the disenfranchised workers. Then again, Hillary Clinton was a vile Islamophobe herself with her mass murders of Muslim children in the ME. Either way, your concern trolling is not welcome here.
I am completely unsurprised by IBM’s action considering their cooperation with Hitler.
To elaborate just a little on David’s point below, IBM helped generate the tattoo numbers on concentration camp prisoners for Nazi Germany. Talk about a registry!
See this link for the story:
http://disinfo.com/2010/02/the-tattoo-used-in-auschwitz-was-originally-an-ibm-code-number/
Jack Dorsey is responsible for the growth of ISIS and he washelped by the Obama Admin to do so. Remember when he met with Barry? Twitter took off, but it’s still worthless and the best method for ISIS to recruit.
Of course, IBM was instrumental in German tracking of European Jews in many countries. They should be more careful offering their assistance to Trump, but old habits die hard.
If there is a Muslim registry, we will hopefully have a line of volunteers (Muslims and others) to be included in the registry.
This is a poorly thought out and uninformed article
Sam – isn’t the title a bit misleading? Leaves a potential reader to assume other companies would help build a list when in reality they just didn’t respond. I get it that I would hope all of them would answer with an emphatic no or a compliant yes, and silence = consent, but respectfully – its click bait.
As if there isn’t one already.
The Muslim registry is a LIVE document. Muslim type people and the like unfortunately read from right to left, so it is their own fault they make EVIL out of this rather harmless document.
Silicon Valley et al…full of plastic people.
Twitter is owned by a Muslim, and we all know the muslim stick with the muslims and the rest of us and just pass away! I dont use twitter and do eat cohbani yogurt, and dont eat halal anything, and I dont eat at flavors in ny because they all have one thing is common, you guessed it owned by muslims. muslims harm Americans and will never sell or buy from them, they can all stick together and get lost.
And this resentment has nothing to do with Trump, its people fed up of the muslims tricks, lies and harm to this great country.
Wow. I guess there is room for stupid people in this country.
And you are 1
You are welcome to boycott any and all vendors in America. Your opinions about muslims reminds me of the newspapers and tracts I read from the library about what Hitler’s group said about the Jews, as well as the gypsies/eastern Europeans.
Are you angry because muslim owned businesses are so successful?
And yet in this so called age of anti racism, Jewish and Israeli people are still being discriminated against in college campuses in America! So don’t claim that Jews have only suffered under Hitler! Because they are still being discriminated against!
‘Muslim stick with Muslims and the rest of us’- so, Red, you mean that Muslim people have an incredible sense of solidarity with all of humanity, from Muslims to non-Muslims. That’s a lovely message, though what confuses me is the rest of your incoherent rant about how you don’t eat ‘cohbani yogurt’ (it turns out, very few people eat nonexistent yogurts, so you are not alone) and ‘Halal anything’ (does that mean that you don’t eat grape, peaches, apples, or bread, seeing as they don’t violate any principle of Islamic dietary law, and therefore, is ‘halal’). Not only that, but you manage to contradict this initial statement of Muslim folk’s penchant for solidarity with a bald statement that ‘muslims (sic) harm Americans and will never sell or buy from them…’, which seems to contradiction your previous post about goods produced by Muslims (this nonexistent cohbani, halal products, Twitter, and Flavors) that you state are available, but which you studiously avoid because of their Muslim connection.
It seems like this resentment of yours has nothing to do with reality, like, at all. Beside, if your theory is true, why doesn’t Google come out in opposition to this Muslim list, seeing as Mr Omid Kordestani, the evil Mooslem Twitter owner, was the Chief Business Officer of Google from 2014-2015, and prior to that, and was Vice president of Google from 1999-2009- or did you avoid Google during those years as well.
It should be noted that when the Trump administration mandates a govt backdoor into all smartphones (& computer OS’s ?), it won’t be announced (because the govt wouldn’t want it, but also because the smartphone vendors etc. wouldn’t want it announced as their sales would die) – it’ll be secret and have a nondisclosure clause on it. Good to note that OS updates for Windows 10 cannot be turned off by the user – just what the doctor ordered.
The companies will be happy to oblige because that is the profitable route. Just as it was in Germany in the 30’s – I believe that only started with a registry. This is a dangerous time in the U.S..
“…OS updates…can not be turned off by the user”. Maybe more like OSS updates?
I am not surprised at IBM’s willingness to help Trump acheive some of his more repressive goals having just finished a book which details “Big Blue’s lucrative contracts with Hitler’s Nazi Govt to provide tecnology to track and identify Jews and their assets for confiscation and deportation to death camps. The author concludes the holocaust would not have been possible on the scale at which it ocurred without the help of IBM.
Proof that BT Barnum could sell a Yugo as a Cadillac to the average American voter.
We know that many tech companies like Jacobs Engineering, Fluor Corporation, Bechtel Corp, KBR, etc., are enjoying the profits of government contracts here, but at the same time they are sending all their to cheap Pakis for their own added profit, and thus choking all our brilliant engineers and scientists. This is going to stop. We are soon going to rescind all their government work to teach them a lesson.
quote”We are soon going to rescind all their government work to teach them a lesson.”unquote
“We”? Freudian Slip notwithstanding, I’ve always thought you were a government suckass troll. And a goofball one at that.
We the people. We the forgotten people. Includes you, my friend. Now is our time to claim back our rights. You stop being surly and indecent, and join us.
GH: “We are soon going to rescind all their government work to teach them a lesson.”
There’s no chance of that happening under Trump.
It will happen and very soon. All H1B visas will be canceled. You will soon hear Afro-American voices when you call 1-800 numbers, instead of the Paki accent, and all BLM folks are going to love it.
I am now going to help build that wall. Maybe you guys can join me.
Let them bring on the Muslim registry. When they start implementing it, this American is converting to Muslim. I was taught to love one another, not make myself better than others.
I will stand with other nations in CONDEMNING the USA if Trump even begins to implement this. How can this man be a leader when he is a RACIST? Not my POS!
It is not so easy to convert to a Muslim, unless you are Chinese or German. There is a little operation that needs to be done, with which you should get familiar. The dress code is also a bit cumbersome, and you would risk getting lashed if you violate it.
After conversion life will become so hellish that very soon you will develop an extreme urge to suicide-bomb and thus end the torture. When you ultimately do, please choose an open spot to minimize collateral damage.
Meanwhile, enjoy while life is still worth living, although I can’t wait for this nice Hussein guy to vacate the White House.
General Hercules, it is actually extremely easy to convert to Islam- all you need to do is profess :
?? ??? ??? ???? ???? ???? ????
(There is no God but God and Muhammad is his Prophet)
in front of witnesses (they need not be Muslims).
Additionally, while Circumcision amongst male is encouraged, it is not necessary for those above the age of puberty.
http://islamqa.org/hanafi/daruliftaa/8506
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/204/how-to-convert-to-islam-and-become-muslim/
Maybe Mr Heracles ought to do do research rather than basing everything on Muslim stereotypes.
RACIST, when we see this term referring to muslims it indicates a uninformed person is speaking. Read this very slowly; islam is not a race, never was never will be.
And if you in your ignorance want to become a Muslim you better think hard about it, because if you decide to leave in their wonderful eyes of love and beauty they think its rational to kill you for doing so. How wonderful is that? And you want to join that pit? You must have some learning issues. Like I said you are uninformed yet fault those who are trying to protect your uninformed tail end.
@Red – Islam may very well not mean a race, but we know who you have in mind when you refer to Muslims; Brown people. You despise non-Whites, Arabs especially, Islam them becomes the vehicle for your irrational fear of them.
You are a fool
There is not enough information in this article to justify its publication. There is information from no response, or a trivial one , but it takes a many of such to justify any conclusion.
Says one stuck on page one of “We will update…For Dummies”
I think the moral depravity of these organisations, as well as those who come out to defend them, is placed in full view when the very real idea of placing an oppressed minority on a list to be subject to harassment and abuse, elicits silence. It costs nothing to repudiate Trump’s Muslim registry, failure come out in opposition to it speaks volumes.
Here we go again with a misleading, hyperbolic headline. No response is not a “yes,” and you know it. Try being a real journalist for a change. I’m sick to death of reporters twisting the truth. I’m no fan of Trump, and I would never do anything to help him do anything immoral, unethical, illegal, or that went against my values. But he’s gonna have plenty of rope with which to sink himself without people stirring the pot with conjecture. Just stop the f**g madness, would ya? When YOU twist the truth, it makes it okay for him to hate the media and twist the truth himself.
Stop with your feigned outrage against independent media, will you? A simple response from a company concerning the well-being of an oppressed minority in country promising to put them on a list; a repudiation of the barbarism of placing them on a registry; a blatant refusal to brutalise an abused minority, is not too much to ask for. If it is, then it speaks volumes.
I can’t stand this kind of thinking. These companies are not in business to spend all their time reassuring you on every hypothetical issue under the sun. Who knows who the author even e-mailed. He probably should have been straight-up with them and said “hey guys, if you don’t come out with a statement about this as-yet imaginary scenario, I’m gonna imply that you are all Islamophobic fascists who fellate Trump for government dollars.”
The commenters recognizing this as pure clickbait are absolutely correct. I expected better of The Intercept.
There are 17 different US intelligence agencies. The NSA already its own database, so that leaves contracts available for 16 different companies. Twitter appears to already have a contract, but that still leaves a lot of work for the rest of them. There’s room for everyone onboard the military-industrial gravy train.
I’m making a list of who’s naughty and nice … but I’m not going to sell to Trump, though, so you can relax, benitoe. *rumor is, Trump has stiffed, one way or another, every contractor who’s ever worked for him.
note. I have no idea why US intelligence agencies would send a letter to, e.g., FB or Twitter requesting information about a person? All you have to do is look them up… it’s all there for free.
And, at least with FB, it’s all there, like, omg, forever… at least, I can’t get rid of them.
I also have a naughty and nice list, but in my case, I’m willing to sell it to anyone, even the US government, at the right price. Thanks for the tip about asking Mr. Trump for my money up front though.
Actually, there are about 50 to 60 intelligence organizations in the Federal government. Some of these organizations undoubtedly have contracts with dozens of different companies in the military-industrial complex. It’s a much larger system than most people realize.
Ask a stupid question, get no answer, is my motto
Wait a second! The headline of this article should read “8 out of 9 companies decline answering a moron reporters hypothetical question – One says No!” Mr. Biddle did you actually get paid to write this article? If so then here’s my pitch to the editors of this rag: 40 Past Presidents Won’t Respond to Racist Allegations
CHECK PLEASE!!
Not surprised twitter did. They were hard core shills for Bill’s wife
your headline screams mediocre propagandist website. Like a b-grade movie you try to force-feed your views by not just including it in the story but with a leading and conclusive headline as if its settled fact.
Tradition– IBM enabled Nazi regime to track jews.
Eric Trump told Muslim Comedian Mohammed Amer that there will Not be a Muslim Registry. Claims his Father was just playing the Media and Evidently his Supporters. See No Problem
It’s horrifying that we’ve to honestly discuss this prospect. I never thought there was a realistic potential that another day would come in our lives that people of the Western world would once again live in terror of their governments. The US and UK have always remained the bulwarks of liberal democracy when fascism, totalitarianism, and authoritarianism raised its ugly head in the western world. If we continue down this road, who will remain to save us this time?
“In a democracy, people get the government they deserve”. That’s all well and good in principle when it’s only one nation at stake of imploding. Given the level of totalitarian control enabled by modern technology, and the potential for automation to free the industrialists from dependence on the working class, there may never again be any redos if liberal democracy fails in our nations. There may not be any redos for humanity if there is nuclear war. And there may not be any redos for our biosphere if we fail at intelligent EPA for another generation.
And the Beat Goes On !
Next thing up —– RECOUNT !!
You ain’t nobody till somebody loves you —-
That ‘s just a rule of life !
Surprise !,,,Surprise !!
Gimme the facts !
I have to wonder how many of these companies already provide a similar service for the Apartheid regime, and figure that getting paid twice for the same program (just scaled up) would do wonders for their bottom line.
I can see the IBM has learned nothing from what it did in Nazi Germany. Those 80-column Hollerith cards from the older 36-column cards in order to track people, charge, imprison and slaughter them. (That also gave us the 80-column text screen derived from it). They did such a bang up job for Germany that Hilter gave IBM’s Thomas J. Watson a special medal. There are pictures of them cozying up for dinner together in Germany. During the war IBM in Germany simply put the proceeds into an account. When the war was over IBM went back to Germany and picked up where they left off.
If you don’t know the story of the Nazis and IBM you really need to Google and get up to speed. This is very, very ugly. Do not take this as harmless. It wasn’t harmless before and it won’t be this time.
Here is a link to an article by the author of the best book on this, which I have:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edwin-black/ibm-holocaust_b_1301691.html
and another:
https://mic.com/articles/142991/edwin-black-ibm-nazi-holocaust-history#.vnchSCa04
Here is a lift from another article: “IBM put the blitz in blitzkrieg. The whole war effort was organized on Hollerith machines from 1933 to 1945. This is when information technology comes to warfare. At the same time, IBM was supporting the entire German war machine directly from New York until the fall of 1941 ….”
If this president doesn’t terrify you, you might be too stupid to understand what’s going on.
I’m a Democrat but I completely disagree with your assessment. I think we have to get past name calling and bigotry if we want this country to succeed. It’s time to stop the fighting and unite. Anything less is ignorance.
John: “It’s time to stop the fighting and unite.”
Yes, it’s time to stop fighting among ourselves and unite against Trump and the oligarchs who are destroying our country.
Make no mistake, the government pays generously for such cooperation and there’s no innovation or R&D expenses involved. It’s virtually pure profit…and you can bet the cash windfall goes straight to executive bonuses.
Bravo!
I just finished a short film about the “Muslim Registry”.
It’s 2:45min and definitely worth the watch. It’s a message of hope.
If you like it, don’t be shy to share it ;)
#SpreadTheLove #IamMuslim
Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/Fouadhajji/posts/10155578459758345
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUSg2o7n_Vc&feature=youtu.be
I’m guessing it’s because they know the lists already exist and they have participated/are participating in their creation and/or maintenance.
And that the “list” actually does more than track an individual.
When attempting to obtain airline tickets to a small southern California airport, I was blocked from booking any air travel to that airport.
My computer screen turned back and a red one inch banner ran the width of my screen.
It had two unforgettable words in white block text denying me access. It said,
GOVERNTMENT RESTRICTED
It only happened once. Presumably, it was a bug and I wasn’t intended to see it. I feel that tracking lists are the least of our concerns.
Thats funny, cause Twitter got trump elected.
When Hitler came to power in Germany they needed a Jewish registry to keep track of those individuals being sent to concentration camps, IBM handled the project for them. That was the reason for the number tattoos on the prisoner’s arms, the tattoos matched data cards in the IBM system.
The Germans have always been rather obsessive-compulsive about keeping track of things. Here in the US, our rulers are less detail-oriented and more prone to making stupid mistakes.
When Hitler was elected, he was quickly “normalized” using his slim victory (enabled by the Catholic Party) to consolidate power across the different branches of government.
Businesses quickly lined up to help and were richly rewarded.
Wow! Can you say, “Disingenuous?”
Not one of these companies answered, “Yes.” What a pathetic excuse for an article. The question asked didn’t even deserve an answer. When did you stop beating your wife?
Fire this flunky.
“The question asked didn’t even deserve an answer. ”
That’s your (silly) opinion. Decent people very much DO think it deserves an answer.
You don’t seem to understand the fallacy you refer to. The question put to these companies wasn’t “when did you stop beating your wife” which is indeed loaded; it was “will you aid the President-elect if he proposes the government beats wives, which he has hinted at as one of his goals?” Such a question should get a simple “no” response (there’s even an example here for you–Twitter’s response!), and is not loaded or tricky.
You might consider adding Peter Thiel’s Palantir Technologies to that list, although I suspect you won’t get an answer from them. They have their own issues, although I’d guess the new administration might change this: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/us-government-sues-palantir-discrimination
I really like this site but this is a terrible article. I don’t support any kind of government registry of anyone but it’s just poorly written and thought out. I know there is an unrelenting desire for “content” because I have it myself but enough stinkers like this will drag the whole site down.
as mentioned elsewhere, IBM worked with the third reich. siemens may have helped develop stuxnet since it’s functionality depended on deep understanding of their hardware and step7 software. cisco has shown a creepy authoritarian bent in the past:
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/384019/cisco_accused_orchestrating_engineer_arrest/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/03/cisco_charged_with_duplicity/
and microsoft would hate to lose all that sweet defense contract money to…no idea. hardened linux maybe? booz allen is a no brainer since they’re basically an arm of the “deep state”. apple was shady about helping the FBI with their iphone cracking hijinks.
a vague article for now but the issues raised are worth keeping track of whether it’s a “muslim” database or not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKeDcF1v_Y4
Add this one to your collection, Mudbone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouoQ1DIVi2Q
Merci, Mon Ami .
I love banjos .!! and back porches .
Pretty weak article. Even the title is wrong: you say in the second paragraph that you called 9 tech companies, not eight as indicate in the title. But ultimately Six of the companies didn’t respond, 1 declined, and 1 didn’t want to speak on hypothetical conditions.
Why not just title it: “Twitter Says It Would Refuse to Help Build Muslim Registry for Trump”
Oh right, less click-worthy.
The headline is the editor’s work.
If they do establish a Muslim registry, this atheist will be among the first to sign up and I would encourage everyone to sign up. How the hell will they determine whether or not I’m Muslim? Let’s game the system as much as we can.
Racism is going to be big business in the tech world. Just look up “social credit” — anything about social credit. The story is always the same: it allows people to be stigmatized based on who they know, and thereby converts a protected class (a race) into a set of individual associations that can be tuned to better define the race than you could be eye.
In the case of Islam, of course, the distinction is that all these plans for “vetting” and “extreme vetting” based on who you know what you read where you go are already mature. I suppose there are fewer opportunities for an entrepreneur there.
Now those who have argued with me know that I’m not altogether averse to an anti-Islamic policy in immigration. But it would be done more sensibly based on positive rather than negative value. We look at the countries where apostasy or conversion is illegal, and say they don’t have our values, so we don’t want their people. Then we exempt a few who can make a case that they belong to persecuted religious or sexual minorities. And once you’re an American – then you should be free to believe what you want, without the government persecuting you for it. Yeah, a lot can go wrong with that – which is why we might be careful who we let come in in the first place, because it’s the only legitimate time to mount a defense against a bad religion as a matter of public policy.
What do you mean by a bad religion? If you define a bad religion by attributing the action of a few to the whole, then by that definition, is there any religion that is NOT bad? Hitler was not a muslim and neither is McVeigh, yet they still commit horrific acts against others. The question we need to ask is: is it really the religion? Or is it the people themselves that are horrific?
Well, Islam is known for two basic variants: a) prohibiting people from doing anything against it in an intrusive way, i.e. oppressive theologies, and b) absolute submission to secular power so as not to make waves, i.e. oppressive military dictatorships. It isn’t so much that its teachings are wrong (though they are), because people often interpret Christianity and many other religions to command very wrong things too. It’s that it doesn’t inspire people to things that are right, because it isn’t a real religion, it’s just a vague and repetitive plagiarized rehash of some stuff from the Old Testament, written by a pirate who knew nothing of holy things or even reasonable philosophy.
To get a feel for how IBM worked with the Nazis, I suggest you read “IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation” by Erwin Black. It is a thorough and well documented look at how IBM provided standard business services to the Nazi regime throughout the war with the sole purpose of making money.
Henry Ford helped the Nazis régime in the 20’s and early 30’s. Henry Ford was a well documented anti Semite
“In 1938, (Henry)Ford received an award from the Nazi regime called the “Grand Cross of the German Eagle”
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/interview/henryford-antisemitism/
So did Ford and Coca-Cola, to name a few.
Agree.
Please see my comment above re: IBM’s cooperation with Nazi Germany.
sistance that targets a customer on the basis of race, religion, or national origin,” said ACLU attorney Ben Wizner when asked about the social and ethical obligation of th
They were the only company willing to build a white, straight male registry for Hillary though.
Not that I don’t appreciate a good thread count, Sam, but in the sentence just after the 8 companies’ responses there’s a typo calling it a “Muslin registry.”
do “no answer” (Google, Apple, IBM, etc.) and “declined to comment” (Booz) indicate different interactions?
this story is pretty excited over one clear response to a vague question.
how and by what companies was the erstwhile NSEERS system developed & administered?
It’s bad enough that Muslims will be in such a registry, but also consider that these types of things are imperfect. What if it blacklists non-Muslims? Perhaps you have Muslim acquaintances, or you discuss foreign policy online too much. Like any Orwellian technology, it will surely change personal behavior. It’s a means of social control more than anything.
Another non-story. “We asked and almost no one answered so we will put up an inflammatory title to get your attention”. This is on par with fake news. Why on earth did Huff Post have a link to this?
Stories that you do not think are interesting are not “on par with fake news.” Don’t confuse your inability to grasp the importance of an issue with that issues actual importance.
A non-story, I think not! They are hedging their bets, waiting to see which way the wind blows, not a good sign.
I think you know nothing about government contracting. There are lots of small IT contractors who would be willing to create this kind of database. And, most likely, it will be either a large or small government contractor who will do this work…not Google or Apple. You guys have no idea how this works, do you?
Exactly. I came to leave this exact comment but you beat me to it. Clearly they don’t know how it works, it being either a registry of that type or contracting for IT work.
do you have an idea how this works?
a registration database is useless without data…
well there are others you need to ask –
ORACLE: ?
SIEMENS: ?
ADP: ?
AT&T: ?
EXPERION: ?
TRANSUNION: ?
Ma & Pa Kettle: NO.
Absolutely not!
@Barabbas –
Yes, I was also thinking the list of companies asked was quite incomplete.
I might add:
Verizon, LinkedIn, Samsung, Intel, AMD, Comcast.
Sam, you have a follow up article to get to work on :-)
comcast! wouldna thawta that’n. NICE.
We can disinform the government through them. I’m going to be the first beer-swillin, bacon-munchin’, anti-theist Muslim on their lists. Gum up the works! And boycott. Praise Cassius Clay! “Admiral Akbar!”
lest i be mistaken for a draftable christian warrior, i will invoke my conscientious objector status with a non-sex change and become asian. If Steven Segal can do it, so can i.
“It’s a trap!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6fAO4idaI
Reporting on any statement from Trump is a useless exercise. He lies and flips nonsensical statements on a daily basis. No one can predict what will be next other than it will favor the upper classes and punish those whose assets are less than a couple of million.
i’m thinking aloud here…. 7 billion ppl on the planet a few years back now 7.4 billion which means the planet just gained another land mass the size of the US, blew past overshoot day august 30, death of half the planet is only a break-even point but with nowhere to put 3.7 billion bodies without warming the planet another 10 degrees not to mention the polution etc, robotics are about ready for prime time, AND THE WEALTHY WOULD RATHER NOT HAVE TO PAY US.
One of the most misleading articles/headlines I’ve seen in a long time, and I say this as someone who hates Trump.
A readers assumption about the other responses is what misleads them, not the headline.
To me it means everyone except Twitter is hedging their bets and that is a bad omen.
12:02 . . . waiting. . . . waiting. . . .
Here is an article that looks at two American intel/tech companies that hatched a plan to destroy WikiLeaks:
http://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2016/11/how-to-destroy-wikileaks.html
This gives us an inside look at what lengths American companies will go to to curry favour with Washington.
thufferin thuckatash…. dethpicable!