EU Is Steadily Moving Towards Creation Of 1984-style Ministry Of Truth

The European Parliament passed a recommendation calling Russia “the main source of disinformation in Europe” and appealing for increased funding for the EU’s East StratCom Task Force, which already got 1.1 million euros in 2018.

HINT: The East StratCom Task Force is a EU body focused on so-called proactive communication of EU policies and activities in the Eastern neighbourhood (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) and beyond (Russia and further).

The passed document says that East StratCom Task Force as well as its two task-force subdivisions dealing with the southern neighborhood and Western Balkans, should get “adequate financial and personnel resources which are still required, aimed at the significant increase of their potential, effectiveness, professionalism, institutional continuity and quality of work, as well as safeguarding them against political meddling by officials and countries that back Russian disinformation.”

Furthermore, it called on EU member states “to ensure that electoral laws take into account possible threats stemming from disinformation campaigns” and urged them to “adapt their electoral rules on online campaigning and to monitor and evaluate the transparency features in relation to political advertising introduced by the online platforms.”

The suggestions also include support for “independent and diverse Russian-language media in the countries of the Eastern Partnership and beyond” and “to focus on the EU accession countries and partners in the EU neighborhood by assisting them in their efforts to counteract hostile propaganda and disinformation activities.”

The formal justification of the moves suggested in the document is based on the mainstream media narrative that Russia every day carries out disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks, aimed at increasing tensions within the EU and its member states.

The proposal passed by the European Parliament is another indication that the EU bureaucracy is steadily pushing the bloc towards media and political totalitarism. The principle of freedom of speech is becoming abandoned. Most critical positions and reports are labeled Russian propaganda and disinformation while grassroots initiatives not loyal to the European establishment or non-mainstream media outlets are described as Russian agents.

An important factor behind the decision to adapt ‘electoral laws and rules’ and exploit the Russian threat is the upcoming election in the European Parliament as well as concers of the European bureaucracy and financial circles ahead of them.

It should be noted that most of EU, US and NATO documents and declarations don’t bother themselves with providing examples of disinformation. Likely, the reason is that most of these ‘examples’ are reports revealing data hiding by the Western mainstream media or providing Russian or Chinese or Iranian arguments on some topics.

https://southfront.org/eu-is-steadily-moving-towards-creation-of-1984-style-ministry-of-truth/

This trend will likely continue to get momentum further until it reaches its expected result predetermined by the logic of social process.

UNBELIEVABLE HATE ON ISRAELI SOCIAL MEDIA

Every 66 seconds there is a hate post on Israeli social media against a Palestinian.

This is reflective of a society that is becoming increasingly extremist in its views and promotes hate, racism, and dehumanization.

https://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2019/03/14/unbelievable-hate-on-israeli-social-media/

Google Play apps with 150 million installs contain aggressive adware

Google removes 210 apps after outside researchers report them as abusive.

Researchers have identified a massive adware campaign that invaded the official Google Play market with more than 200 highly aggressive apps that were collectively downloaded almost 150 million times.

The 210 apps discovered by researchers from security firm Checkpoint Software bombarded users with ads, even when an app wasn’t open, according to a blog post published by the company on Wednesday. The apps also had the ability to carry out spearphishing attacks by causing a browser to open an attacker-chosen URL and open the apps for Google Play and third-party market 9Apps with a specific keyword search or a specific application’s page. The apps reported to a command-and-control server to receive instructions on which commands to carry out.

Once installed, the apps installed code that allowed them to perform actions as soon as the device finished booting or while the user was using the device. The apps also could remove their icon from the device launcher to make it harder for users to uninstall the nuisance apps. The apps all used a software development kit called RXDrioder, which Checkpoint researchers believe concealed its abusive capabilities from app developers. The researchers dubbed the campaign SimBad, because many of the participating apps are simulator games.

“With the capabilities of showing out-of-scope ads, exposing the user to other applications, and opening a URL in a browser, SimBad acts now as an Adware, but already has the infrastructure to evolve into a much larger threat,” Checkpoint researchers wrote.

The top 14 apps were collectively downloaded a whopping 75 million times, with the No. 1 app receiving 10 million installs and the next 13 getting 5 million downloads each. The next 53 each received 1 million downloads. They are:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/03/google-play-apps-with-150-million-installs-contains-aggressive-adware/

Facebook FINALLY back online after its biggest ever blackout as firm says a 'server configuration change' was to blame for locking users out of the social network, Instagram and WhatsApp out for more than 14 hours

Facebook has confirmed that all of its servers are back online after outages

Reports began at 4pm GMT yesterday that Facebook's 'family' of apps were hit

Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp apps were affected by the downtime

Users in parts of US, Europe, South America and Japan were worst affected

Facebook denies it was targeted by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack

Experts disagree and say they can find no evidence of an attack on Facebook

Facebook has confirmed that all of its services are finally back online, bringing an end to the social media giant's worst-ever blackout.

In a tweet, Facebook said that the outage, which affected every one of the company's most popular apps, stemmed from 'a server configuration change.'

It added that Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger have returned to service, but that its systems are still 'recovering.'

'We’ve now resolved the issues and our systems are recovering,' the firm said. 'We’re very sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate everyone’s patience.'

Reports began surfacing Wednesday around 5pm GMT (1pm ET) that the Facebook 'family' of apps, including Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, were down.

The firm quickly denied that an external attack was to blame for its network of servers suffering an outage.

However, speculation grew online that the outage was the result of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, although the firm says this was not the case.

The current problems at Facebook certainly fit this pattern - with the social network, Instagram and WhatsApp also served by the same computer systems.

Experts weren't convinced, however, saying that their internet monitoring systems have not detected any hack attack and that the issue appears to have come from inside the world's largest social network.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6808105/Facebook-denies-hacked-14-hour-Instagram-WhatsApp-outage.html

BS

Former Planned Parenthood director reveals the moment that led her to flee her clinic and help nearly 500 workers leave the abortion industry

Abby Johnson's story of redemption and transformation is truly inspiring. Johnson was once the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic, before a shocking event on Sept. 26, 2009, left her fleeing the organization, changing her views on abortion, and becoming one of the nation's most well-known pro-life speakers. Now, her story will be told in the new feature film, “Unplanned."

"I … did it to show off God's story," Johnson recently told "The Pure Flix Podcast" of her decision to take her personal journey to the big screen.

After all, it's quite the story. After working at Planned Parenthood for eight years, Johnson not only became a famous pro-life activist, but she also formed a ministry called And Then There Were None — a group that has helped nearly 500 workers leave the abortion industry.

"As of now, we have helped 487 workers leave the clinics and … those workers have closed 21 abortion facilities, because they've worked with state officials," she explained. "They have worked with health departments to go in and close those facilities because of bad practices, medical negligence, whatever it may be."

Johnson told Pure Flix about how she came to work for Planned Parenthood despite being brought up in a pro-life household. Her introduction to the organization came when she met a representative on her college campus and was immediately drawn to all the hot pink colors on the booth's signage.

"I really didn't know anything about the organization, so I think I was just really naive and really ignorant to what they were truly selling," she said. "I wasn't working from a well-thought out position."

Johnson said the woman began discussing healthcare and female empowerment and that it sounded reasonable at the time — like something that most people would want to get behind.

Despite knowing that Planned Parenthood was "going against" what she was raised to believe, Johnson proceeded to join the organization and worked her way up the ranks over the years to become one of the youngest clinic directors.

Eventually, though, Johnson said she came to discover more about Planned Parenthood — and that one particularly traumatic event pushed her over the edge.

Johnson's relationship with Planned Parenthood was irreparably harmed on Sept. 26, 2009, when she was asked to assist during an abortion. What she saw changed everything.

Watch the trailer for "Unplanned":

http://www.domigood.com/2019/03/former-planned-parenthood-director.html

FLASHBACK: Ya’alon admits Israel lied about Hezbollah’s tunnels

Former Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya’alon admitted on Thursday that the Israeli officials had for years lied about the existence of alleged Hezbollah tunnels beneath the Lebanon-Israel border.

Speaking to Israel’s Army Radio, Ya’alon said that the Israeli officials lied about the tunnels for years before they decided to carry out an operation to destroy them earlier this week.

“We did it to mislead the other side,” Ya’alon told the Army Radio. “There is an exaggeration in the way it [the operation] was presented, and I hope that does not hurt us,” he added.

Regarding previous remarks he delivered in 2016 that there was “no single tunnel” in the north, Ya’alon said: “My comments two years ago that there are no tunnels in the north was a lie in order to preserve the security of the state.”

However, he believes that there is an exaggeration regarding the ongoing operation.

Ya’alon’s remarks were widely reported by the Israeli media, but he insisted that “none of the tunnels reach any of the communities where people said they had heard digging, nor to any home.”

Israel launched its operation in the early hours of Tuesday morning, declaring the town of Metulla – located on the Israeli-Lebanese border not far from the occupied Golan Heights – a closed military zone. It is thought that the operation could last for several weeks, with Israel claiming the Metulla tunnel is one of many similar underground passages.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181206-yaalon-admits-israel-lied-about-hezbollahs-tunnels/

Senate rejects border declaration in major rebuke of Trump

The Senate voted on Thursday to nix President Trump’s national emergency declaration to construct the U.S.-Mexico border wall, setting up the first veto battle with his White House.

Senators voted 59-41 to pass the resolution of disapproval blocking Trump’s declaration. Underscoring the broad base of concern over Trump’s actions within the Republican caucus, 12 GOP senators broke rank and voted with all the Democrats.

The measure passed the House last month, 245-182.

The resolution now heads to Trump’s desk, where he is expected to use the first veto of his presidency to defeat it. Neither chamber has the vote override the president.

Trump made an 11th hour plea to Republican senators, reiterating his pledge to veto the resolution and signaling he could be open to future changes to his emergency powers and even accusing Democrats who voted yes of standing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“Prominent legal scholars agree that our actions to address the National Emergency at the Southern Border and to protect the American people are both CONSTITUTIONAL and EXPRESSLY authorized by Congress….” Trump said in a string of tweets.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/434086-senate-rejects-border-declaration-teeing-up-trumps-first-veto

Israeli Firm Dumps Alleged Satellite IMAGES of 'Iranian Missile Plant' in Syria

Earlier, Israeli media claimed that Iran, the Syrian government and Hezbollah were building a secret "precision missile factory" in western Syria.

Israeli satellite intelligence firm ImageSat International has released satellite images of what it says are "probably" indications of a missile production facility outside Safita, a Syrian town in southeast Tartous about 100 km from the Lebanese border.

According to the company, an analysis of "the construction patterns, the compound location and the activity" at the site signal "the probability that this is a missiles manufacturing site."

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201903141073234575-israeli-satellite-firm-missile-plant-claims/

More proof-less Israelipropaganda

Alex Jones: Trump’s Betrayal Of Americans’ Rights Heartbreaking!

India and Pakistan Authorities Meet to Agree on De-escalation Steps

Officials of India and Pakistan have held a major meeting today with the aim of de-escalating tensions, the first meeting since the sharp deterioration of relations between the two countries around the disputed region of Kashmir. The meeting of representatives of the two South Asian countries, both being nuclear powers, became more proof that bilateral tensions are slightly easing.

Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India, Rawish Kumar, said that the talks began today, March 14th, the Pakistani delegation arrived on Indian territory in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Faisal leads the Pakistani delegation.

As a confidence-building measure, against the background of escalations and with a desire to decrease the possibility of further confrontation, they are discussing the issue of opening a visa-free border checkpoint so that pilgrims can visit the Sikh shrine near the border between India and Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities last week detained two close relatives of the leader of a Sunni extremist group, Jaish-e-Muhammad (Army of the Prophet Muhammad), whose militants committed a major terrorist attack on February 14th in the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir.

It was this terrorist activity of this group that became the starting point for the resumption of the armed conflict between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan had promised to act swiftly against JeM, but did not do so along a time-line that was sufficient for India. As a result, India launched a series of air raids upon targets which they claimed were Jem installations.

Relations between India and Pakistan sharply worsened after the terrorist attack on February 14 in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, among the victims were 44 military personnel and police officers of India. In response, the Indian Air Force attacked targets in Pakistan, which New Delhi claimed were JeM installations. According to New Delhi, a camp of the Jaish-e-Muhammad group was hit. To intercept planes were scrambled by the Pakistan Air Force. On February 27th, the situation around the disputed Kashmir region escalated even more, two Indian and one Pakistani plane were shot down. Islamabad has denied the loss of its combat aircraft.

https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/03/major-india-and-pakistan-authorities-meet-to-agree-on-de-escalation-steps/

Scientists shove smartphone into a BLENDER to analyse its contents - and reveal it contains tungsten and cobalt from African war zones and even GOLD

Scientists have blended a mobile phone to conduct a chemical analysis of what materials lie within it.

Smartphones are complex and intricate mechanisms which almost everyone in the world uses on a daily basis.

But a team of scientists wanted to show that there are high quantities of rare or 'conflict' elements in each phone, to encourage people to recycle devices.

They found that these elements need to be mined by extracting high value ores, which is putting a 'significant strain on the planet'.

Rare substances including neodymium and praseodymium, gold, silver and tin are used, but also tungsten and cobalt which are mined from conflict-affected zones.

This type of mining and illegal trade are often controlled by armed groups, which helps to feed a vicious circle of conflicts and child labour.

After blending the phone, researchers mixed it with sodium peroxide - a powerful oxidizer - at almost 500C (932F).

Results showed the device contained 33g of iron, 13g of silicon and 7g of chromium, as well as smaller quantities of other abundant substances.

Researchers said the phone also featured a number of 'critical elements' including 900mg of tungsten and 70mg of cobalt and molybdenum, as well as 160mg of neodymium and 30mg of praseodymium.

They also found that each phone also contained 90mg of silver and 36mg of gold.

Scientists say this means that to create one phone, workers would need to mine 10-15kg of ore, including 7kg of high-grade gold ore, 1kg of typical copper ore, 750g of typical tungsten ore and 200g of typical nickel ore.

Every year, 1.4 billion mobile phones are produced around the world, the scientists, from the University of Plymouth, said.

Dr Arjan Dijkstra, lecturer in igneous petrology, said: 'We rely increasingly on our mobile phones but how many of us actually think what is behind the screen?

'When you look, the answer is often tungsten and cobalt from conflict zones in Africa.

'There are also rare elements such as neodymium, praseodymium, gadolinium and dysprosium, not to mention quantities of gold, silver and other high value elements.

'All of these need to be mined by extracting high value ores, which is putting a significant strain on the planet.'

http://www.stationgossip.com/2019/03/scientists-shove-smartphone-into.html