Tag: Monopolies

Hidden Anti-Cryptography Provisions in Internet Anti-Trust Bills

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

by Bruce Schneier

Two bills attempting to reduce the power of Internet monopolies are currently being debated in Congress: S. 2992, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act; and S. 2710, the Open App Markets Act. Reducing the power to tech monopolies would do more to “fix” the Internet than any other single action, and I am generally in favor of them both. (The Center for American Progress wrote a good summary and evaluation of them. I have written in support of the bill that would force Google and Apple to give up their monopolies on their phone app stores.)

Hidden Anti-Cryptography Provisions in Internet Anti-Trust Bills

Previously:

Google tells Congress the proposed antitrust bill would hinder its censorship efforts

THE NEW DARK AGE: GOOGLE IS CENSORING THIS SITE

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

THURSDAY, 16 JUNE 2022 — THE NEW DARK AGE

I’ve wondered for quite some time, why readership according to my WordPress stats, has plummeted over the past year, it’s because the Google ‘search’ engine is filtering out searches that include ‘williambowles.info’ in the address (and for all I know, it’s also using code to search for ‘suspect’ words).

GOOGLE IS CENSORING THIS SITE

I’ve been using Ecosia, instead of Google. It’s better and they plant trees with the profits that they make from your searches. They’ve planted around 4, 957 trees, from my searches, so far!

Domestic Crude Oil Peaked at $145 a Barrel in 2008. It Closed Yesterday at $118.50. So Why Is Gas at the Pump at All-Time Highs?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Domestic Crude Oil Peaked at $145 a Barrel in 2008. It Closed Yesterday at $118.50. So Why Is Gas at the Pump at All-Time Highs?

Part of that, as the above stories illustrate, is just plain ole price gouging. But the big picture is more complicated than that. According to the EIA, in addition to the 61 percent of the price of a gallon of gas that comes from the cost of crude oil, the other 39 percent shakes out as follows: the costs of refinement (14 percent), distribution and marketing (11 percent), and taxes (14 percent).

And refining* looks to be a particular problem right now. The EIA reports that as of January 1, 1982, the U.S. had 301 refineries in operation. That compares to just 129 in operation as of January 1, 2021.

Related:

*Chevron CEO says there may never be another oil refinery built in the U.S.

Previously:

More Oil From U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Heads To Europe

Expanded NATO will “shoot billions” to U.S. arms merchants

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Expanded NATO will “shoot billions” to U.S. arms merchants

If Finland and Sweden are accepted into NATO the countries would join their Nordic neighbors, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. The five countries currently work together under the Nordic Defense Cooperation pact. Bringing NORDEFCO inside NATO would facilitate joint planning, cut off Russian maritime access to St. Petersburg, and strengthen defense of the North Atlantic and Artic sea routes.

Related:

The Port of St. Petersburg and Its Impact on Global Trade

Russia’s second largest city, Saint Petersburg, is among the most crucial locations for shipping and logistics on the planet. It serves as the maritime capital of Russia, being the biggest industrial and transportation center in the nation.

The Port of St. Petersburg also serves as the most vital shipping location between the eastern hemisphere and the west, which is part of the reason it’s also known as the European Gateway of the nation of Russia. Given its importance to global logistics operations, there are major benefits to getting a better understanding of the Port of St. Petersburg.

The NATO to TikTok Pipeline: Why is TikTok Employing So Many National Security Agents?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

by Alan Macleod

TikTok has become an enormously influential medium that reaches over one billion people worldwide. Having control over its algorithm or content moderation means the ability to set the terms of global debate and decide what people see. And what they don’t.

The NATO to TikTok Pipeline: Why is TikTok Employing So Many National Security Agents?

Related:

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) is one of the main components of the regime change organization National Endowment for Democracy (NED); that is, NED channels its funds through four organizations, and NDI is one of them, to “promote free, fair, transparent democratic elections but in such a way that it would assure that power went to the elites and not to the people”.

National Democratic Institute

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs