Bill Gates advocates for stopping end-to-end encryption (to tackle “misinformation”)

Tech billionaire Bill Gates seems more present in the media these days than he has been for a long time, but he’s not talking about what he knows best: how to make a lot of money in tech, stifle competition, and get away with it.

Gates is inserting himself in the debate around a medical crisis, the coronavirus epidemic, and if Wired’s tone is to be believed, he is to be taken as an “authoritative source” on medical issues, as a self-thought epidemiologist of sorts.

This belief may stem from the fact Gates, as the report suggests, announced an upcoming pandemic in the past, and it happened “just as he predicted” – but he’s also presented as a victim of conspiracy theories and misinformation.

On that note, Gates was asked how he explains the fact that “so many people” are receptive to what is referred to as “this anti-science” worldview. But in his response, more than anything, Gates takes a swipe at end-to-end encryption – and this is not the first time he’s done that. It appears as if his dislike of privacy and security enjoyed by users online is as strong, if not stronger, than his self-confessed crusade against “everything that anti-science is fighting. I’m involved with climate change, GMOs, and vaccines.”

But Gates quickly shifts gears from “anti-science” to calling on the government to kill off encryption in private conversations (as supposedly the reason his critics are able to communicate their thoughts and reactions to his and similar activities). And once again, Gates says this crackdown on “misinformation” is essential for the health and security of the web in the same breath as “fraud or child pornography” in an obvious attempt to vilify encryption as such.

One of the guilty apps mentioned in this context is the Facebook-owned WhatsApp, while Facebook is owned by his friend, Mark Zuckerberg.

Asked whether he has spoken “about this” (i.e., shuttering encryption on the messenger app) with Zuckerberg, Gates acknowledges that he has made the war on encryption his talking point now, and that Zuckerberg emailed him after he said pretty much the same things recently.

“He and I do disagree on the trade-offs involved there,” Gates said cryptically (probably referring to the trade-offs between security and privacy, and stomping out any (mis) information he dislikes, by any means.)

https://reclaimthenet.org/bill-gates-end-to-end-encryption/

Explosions reported as Iraqi Shiite militia targets US military convoy near Kuwait border - security forces

An explosion has rocked a convoy carrying US military gear in Iraq near the border with Kuwait, according to Iraqi security services, who say a Shiite militia group is behind the attack.

The blast targeted a convoy near the Jraischan crossing on the Iraq-Kuwait border late on Monday after a militia group smuggled an explosive device into the area, Reuters reported, citing security sources.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

https://www.rt.com/news/497642-iraqi-militias-explosion-us-base/

Cabinet never discussed West Bank annexation plan, Gantz says

Briefing MKs, defense minister indicates that it is up to Netanyahu to advance approval of move, reiterates Jordan Valley and settlements blocs will remain under Israeli control

The Israeli cabinet and high-level security cabinet never discussed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank, Defense Minister Benny Gantz revealed Monday.

“I had discussions about it with the defense establishment, but according to the coalition agreement, which we remain committed to, it is not we who should bring it up for discussion in the [security] cabinet and the government. No such discussion has taken place so far,” he told lawmakers during a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

According to the coalition agreement that Netanyahu’s Likud party signed with Gantz’s Blue and White list on April 20, the prime minister is allowed to bring the issue up for approval “to the government and/or the Knesset” by July 1.

“If the prime minister wants to present his proposal to the Knesset, he can also do so through an MK provided that the latter is from the Likud faction, so as to ensure that during the preliminary reading the legislation be adapted to the same wording as presented by the prime minister in the cabinet and government,” the agreement read.

Addressing the lawmakers on Monday, Gantz said that the US administration’s so-called Vision for Peace proposal, which forms the basis for Netanyahu’s declared intention to annex the Jordan Valley and all settlements across the West Bank, is an “excellent plan that corresponds to the requirements of reality as it is, and not as some would like to see it.”

The Jordan Valley must remain Israel’s eastern border, and the settlements blocs, including those surrounding Jerusalem, “will remain under our control,” the defense minister and alternate prime minister said.

“Under any [peace] plan, the State of Israel must remain a Jewish, democratic and secure state,” he declared.

The Trump peace plan has been rejected by the Palestinians, and most of the international community has strongly condemned talk of Israeli annexation.

On Sunday evening, Channel 12 reported that US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman had departed Jerusalem for Washington “for two weeks of marathon talks about annexation.”

But a US embassy official told The Times of Israel that Friedman is in the US “on personal leave.”

“We don’t comment on internal US government policy deliberations. We remain committed to supporting the president’s Vision for Peace as laid out in January,” the official added.

Last Wednesday, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi (Blue and White) said neither Jerusalem nor Washington are currently focused on annexation.

“Right now, it’s not on the agenda, because everyone is busy,” he told a group of ambassadors from Latin American countries hosted by the Foreign Ministry.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/cabinet-never-discussed-west-bank-annexation-plan-gantz-says/

WaPo article amazingly praises Portland protest culture, doesn't mention 'riots' or 'rioters' even once

Really?

An article published by the Washington Post over the weekend amazingly opted to praise the protest culture in Portland, Oregon, and honor the protesters who have attacked police and ravaged the city every night for over two months.

Law enforcement officers stationed in the city have been assaulted relentlessly by mortars, lasers, rocks, and bottles — some possibly left permanently blind from the assaults — yet the article barely makes mention of such violence and never, not even once, refers to the gatherings as "riots" nor the participants as "rioters."

The article, titled, "Trump sent agents to quell unrest. But protest is what Portland does best," paid tribute to several protesters by name, displaying photos of them in their regular clothing as well as in their Antifa-like "black bloc" protest gear, as if they were some sort of superheroes.

"In this waterfront city, protests are as natural as the salmon swimming in the Willamette River," the article states before celebrating several accomplishments the protests have wrought.

"The unrelenting demonstrations have yielded real results: City officials have agreed to slash the police budget. An initiative to create an oversight board to review police use of force will be put on the ballot this year. And more than 100 federal agents recruited by President Trump to fortify the [Mark O. Hatfield] federal courthouse have retreated, turning over the task to the state police."

"Still, the protests continue. Demonstrators say they're not finished. Getting the feds out was just one item on a lengthy to-do list."

Side note: The last bit is inaccurate. Rather than "retreat," last month, the White House agreed to withdraw federal agents from the city if, and only if, according to Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, the state stepped up law enforcement efforts to the department's liking.

Elsewhere in the article, Marissa J. Lang commended the protesters' "stamina and creativity" and painted them as the victims of an occupying force.

"By the time federal agents packed the [courthouse]," Lang writes, "the crowds were ready with helmets, respirators, and goggles to mitigate the worst effects of crowd-control munitions."

Shortly below she adds a quote from a middle school teacher taking part in the protests who triumphantly declared, "oh yes, I'm an anarchist."

https://www.theblaze.com/news/wapo-article-praises-portland-protests