"Wikipedia Is… Broken," Controlled By Special Interests & Bad Actors Says Co-Founder

I’ve done quite a bit of reporting about how Wikipedia is definitely not “the encyclopedia anyone can edit.” It’s become a vehicle for special interests to control information. Agenda editors are able to prevent or revert edits and sourcing on selected issues and people in order to control the narrative. My own battle with Wikipedia included being unable to correct provably false facts such as incorrect job history, incorrect birth place and incorrect birth date. What’s worse is that agenda editors related to pharmaceutical interests and the partisan blog Media Matters control my Wikipedia biographical page, making sure that slanted or false information stays on it. For example, they falsely refer to my reporting as “anti-vaccine,” and imply my reporting on the topic has been discredited. In fact, my vaccine and medical reporting has been recognized by top national journalism awards organizations, and has even been cited as a source in a peer reviewed scientific publication. However, anyone who tries to edit this factual context and footnotes onto my page finds it is quickly removed. What persists on my page, however, are sources that are supposedly disallowed by Wikipedia’s policies. They include citations by Media Matters, with no disclosure that it’s a partisan blog.

Another entity quoted on my Wikipedia biographical page to disparage my work is the vaccine industry’s Dr. Paul Offit. But there’s no mention of the lawsuits filed against Offit for libel (one prompted him to apologize and correct his book), or the fact that he provided false information about his work and my reporting to the Orange County Register, which later corrected its article. Obviously, these facts would normally make Offit an unreliable source, but for Wikipedia, he’s presented as if an unconflicted expert. In fact, Wikipedia doesn’t even mention that’s Offit is a vaccine industry insider who’s made millions of dollars off of vaccines. Meantime, turn to Dr. Offit’s own Wikipedia biography and– at last look– it also omitted all mention of his countless controversies. Instead, it’s written like a promotional resume– in violation of Wikipedia’s supposed politics on neutrality.

These biographies are just two examples of ones that blatantly violate Wikipedia’s strict rules, yet they are set in stone. The powerful interests that “watch” and control the pages make sure Offit’s background is whitewashed and that mine is subtly tarnished. They will revert or change any edits that attempt to correct the record. This, in a nutshell, exemplifies Wikipedia’s problems across the platform as described by its cofounder Larry Sanger.

Sanger recently spoke to 150Sec. The following is an excerpt: Reading a Wikipedia entry about Wikipedia itself seems strange. But where else on the web would an average internet user go for digestible, encyclopedia-style content? With its entries almost always topping Google search results, Wikipedia receives around 33 billion page views per month, according to studies carried out by thinktank Pew Research in 2016. In line with statistics from the website itself, it also changes at a rate of 1.8 edits per second and the number of new articles per day averages 578.

The multilingual free online encyclopedia was established in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, originally under the name of Nupedia. It is now the fifth most popular website in the world. 150Sec spoke to one of Wikipedia’s original co-founders, Sanger who — despite leaving the project in 2002 — shared his thoughts on online knowledge platforms on today’s internet, ahead of this month’s Pioneers conference in Austria.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-26/wikipedia-broken-controlled-special-interests-bad-actors-says-co-founder

Huawei Removed From Standards-Setting Bodies in Another Setback After US Ban

Huawei has been removed from three key standards-setting organizations, in the latest blow to the company flowing from the U.S. export ban. The SD Association, the trade group that sets standards for SD and micro SD cards, removed Huawei from its member list. According to technology news website Android Authority, this means that world’s second-largest smartphone maker will not be able to use SD or microSD cards’ slots in its future designs. Meanwhile, the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, a body which sets standards for semiconductors, told Asian Nikkei Review that Huawei voluntarily withdrew its membership. Wi-Fi Alliance, the organization that sets standards for wireless technology, also told Nikkei it “temporarily restricted” Huawei’s participation. Following the U.S. ban, which effectively barred Huawei from doing business with U.S. suppliers, several American companies, including Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Intel, suspended their business with the company. Foreign companies have followed suit, including UK-based chip designer ARM, German chipmaker Infineon Technologies, Japanese parts’ supplier Toshiba.

SD Association SD Association, in a statement to Android Authority on May 24, confirmed that it removed Huawei from its member list in compliance with the U.S. ban. Going forward, the company will be barred from using the storage solution in any of its devices. Most Huawei phones use microSD cards, but the recent high-end P30 and Mate20 series use its own proprietary Nano Memory (NM) cards, which cost four times the price of microSD cards. An analysis by Chinese media cnBeta on May 24 said Huawei’s NM cards are unlikely to become the main storage solution in the market due to its high price-tag and limited track-record. Other cell phone makers are also unlikely to use this technology, the outlet said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/huawei-removed-from-standards-setting-bodies-in-another-setback-after-us-ban_2935963.html

Trump presses Japan over trade gap, expects 'good things' from North Korea

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump pressed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday to even out a trade imbalance with the United States and expressed confidence, despite Japanese wariness, that “good things” would come from North Korea. Trump is on a four-day state visit to Japan meant to showcase the alliance between the two nations, but which has also been shadowed by trade tensions. Trump explicitly linked trade and security, a connection that disturbs Tokyo, whose alliance with Washington stands at the core of its defense policies.

“It’s all a balance sheet thing,” he said. “When I talk about a security threat, I talk about a balance sheet. “In order to have $716 billion dollars a year in military expenditures, you have to have a lot of money coming in,” he said, adding that Japan had bought “tremendous amounts” of U.S. military gear. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that he expected big moves on trade would wait until after Japan’s upper house election in July.

“Trade-wise, I think we’ll be announcing some things, probably in August, that will be very good for both countries,” Trump said on Monday. “We’ll get the balance of trade, I think, straightened out rapidly.” Abe, who has developed close personal ties with Trump since the U.S. leader came to office, stressed the closeness of ties. “I am determined to demonstrate at home and abroad the very strong bond” he said of the alliance in Japan’s new Reiwa era, which began on May 1 when Emperor Naruhito inherited the throne.

Earlier, Trump was greeted by Naruhito and his Harvard-educated wife at the imperial palace in Tokyo in a formal welcome ceremony broadcast live on national television. He became the first foreign dignitary to be received by the monarch since the latter inherited the throne after his father, Akihito, stepped down in the first abdication by a Japanese emperor in two centuries. Trump gave a slight bow and he and First Lady Melania Trump shook hands with the imperial pair before entering the palace, to be met by Abe and his wife, Akie, among others. The president and emperor and their wives returned outside to walk a red carpet and stand under a hot sun while a military band played the national anthems of both countries.

RED CARPET, POLICY DIFFERENCES Trump then walked the red carpet again, waving at assembled school children and inspecting Japanese troops before a military band played a formal salute as he stood solemnly on a raised platform. Trump has made clear he was pleased to have the honor of the first reception with the emperor, who is hosting a lavish state dinner for the U.S. leader and his wife on Monday. The two leaders have put on a show of friendship but have policy disagreements over trade and North Korea. Trump has threatened to target Japanese automakers with high tariffs in his effort to cut the U.S. trade surplus and get a two-way trade pact with Tokyo.

Trump has also spearheaded an expensive trade dispute with China. That trade war between the world’s two largest economies has hurt markets worldwide and confounded U.S. allies, including Japan and the European Union. Such allies share U.S. concerns about Chinese practices but object to Trump’s hardball tactics. Abe and Trump are also set to discuss North Korea and Iran. “I personally think that lots of good things will come with North Korea. I feel that. I may be right, I may be wrong, but I feel that,” Trump said on Monday.

On Sunday, Trump had said he was not worried about a recent missile launch by North Korea. That put him at odds with his own national security adviser, John Bolton, who said on Saturday Pyongyang’s recent short-range missile tests violated United Nations Security Council resolutions. Japan shares Bolton’s view. Abe is considering a trip to Iran next month, domestic media said, to try to soothe rising tension between Tehran and Washington. Trump said Abe had spoken to him on the subject. “We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “But I know for a fact that the prime minister is very close with the leadership of Iran, and we’ll see what happens.” Also on Monday, Trump will meet families of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang decades ago.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-usa/trump-presses-japan-over-trade-gap-expects-good-things-from-north-korea-idUSKCN1SX01E

Trump & Abe Presser Live

https://www.reuters.tv/l/P9fv

Trump says will work with Japan's Abe to bring abductees home from North Korea

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would work with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to bring home Japanese citizens who were kidnapped by North Korean agents decades ago. Trump, on a four-day state visit to Japan, was speaking at a meeting with some of the relatives of people abducted. They were abducted to train North Korean spies, North Korean defectors have said. Among the relatives Trump spoke to were the mother and brother of Megumi Yokota, who was 13 when she was snatched off a lonely beach on her way home from school and taken to North Korea. Trump has mentioned Megumi in past speeches, including at the United Nations, and said on Monday the stories of the abductees were very sad. Megumi’s mother, Sakie Yokota, 83, expressed gratitude to Trump for spending time with them. He met them in late 2017 on a previous trip to Japan.

Since then, Trump has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un twice, most recently in Vietnam in February. “We have started to see some tangible progress in things,” Yokota said.

Koichiro Iizuka, who was a toddler abandoned in a creche when his mother was abducted, also offered his thanks but said the families also wanted results. “We’d like to have our family members come back as soon as possible,” he said.

In 2002, North Korea admitted its agents had kidnapped 13 Japanese decades before. Japan says 17 of its citizens were abducted, five of whom were repatriated. North Korea has said eight are dead and that another four never entered the country. Abe has vowed not to rest until all the abductees come home and sought Trump’s help on the issue. Abe recently said he was ready to meet Kim without conditions, a shift from his long-held position of insisting on progress on the abductions before a summit could take place. No date for a meeting between Abe and Kim has been set.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-usa-northkorea-abductees/trump-says-will-work-with-japans-abe-to-bring-abductees-home-from-north-korea-idUSKCN1SX0D1?il=0

>>6599648

I tried to do a dig on her, in her younger years, virtually nothing out there in terms of pics..which has always made me suspect that she was the one with "hairless face" as Q put it

China’s Largest Chipmaker to Delist From NYSE Amid Heightened US-China Trade Tensions

China’s biggest chipmaker announced it would delist from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), amid intensifying tensions between the United States and China following recent U.S. sanctions against Huawei. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), in a statement on its website on May 24, said it notified the NYSE of its intention to delist its American depositary receipts on June 3, meaning the last day of trading will fall on or about June 13. The move would mark the end of a 15-year run as a public company in the United States. The company will continue to be traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

In the announcement, SMIC said “a number of considerations” led to its decision, including “limited trading volume of its ADSs [American depositary shares] relative to the worldwide trading volume.” Another reason was the “significant administrative burden and costs” of being able to list on the NYSE. Following the delisting, SMIC said trading of its ADSs will move to the over-the-counter market.

On May 24, SMIC’s ADSs tumbled to more than 6 percent to about $5.15 a share before closing at $5.24. In Hong Kong, the SMIC’s shares dipped more than 4 percent and closed at HK$8.42 ($1.07). The timing of the SMIC’s decision has since drawn much speculation about whether it was made in response to escalating trade tensions between the United States and China, which recently spilled into the technology sector.

On May 15, U.S. administration effectively blacklisted Chinese telecom giant Huawei on national security grounds, barring the company from acquiring components and technology from U.S. firms without government approval. Since then, a number of key Huawei suppliers, including UK-based chip designer ARM and Google, have suspended business with the company. SMIC denied that its decision is related to the U.S. action against Huawei. An unidentified spokesperson from SMIC told CNBC: “SMIC has been considering this migration for a long time and it has nothing to do with the trade war and the Huawei incident.” However, Qin Peng, Chinese political and economic analyst, said SMIC’s decision was an act of self-protection. In a Twitter post on May 24, Qin said SMIC’s delisting is to insulate itself from the effects of possible U.S. sanctions against the company, thus ensuring it remains a viable chipmaker for the Chinese regime.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinas-largest-chipmaker-to-delist-from-nyse-amid-heightened-us-china-trade-tensions_2937530.html

Polish nationalists win EU vote, set stage for national ballot

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) surged to a clear victory in Sunday’s European Parliament vote, a stamp of approval for the party’s nationalist, eurosceptic platform before a national election later in the year. The results calculated by the state electoral commission on the basis of 99.3% of polling stations showed PiS heading for its best result ever in a general or European Union election with 45.6% of votes. It won 31.8% in the EU ballot five years ago and 37.6% in the 2015 parliamentary election. The opposition European Coalition, comprising the Civic Platform formerly led by European Council President Donald Tusk and a group of leftist and rural politicians, was second, with 38.3%. In 2014, the parties which went on to form the coalition achieved a combined result of 48.2%.

The strong showing by PiS will bolster a growing chorus of populists in Europe who share the broad goal of returning power to EU member states and strict limits on immigration. Voter turnout stood at 45.6%, a record for a European election in Poland, following an acrimonious campaign dominated by issues such as gay rights, the legacy of the Holocaust and the role of the Catholic Church in public life.

PiS had framed the European ballot as a battle against Western liberal ideals, which it says threaten the traditional way of life in Poland, a staunchly Catholic country.

Another term in office for PiS following the national vote in October or November could increase Poland’s isolation in the European Union amid criticism that the party is tilting towards authoritarian rule. “We have to remember the decisive battle for the future of our homeland will take place in the autumn,” PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski told party supporters after the exit poll results.

Kaczynski said ahead of the European election that in casting their votes Poles would be deciding on the “preservation of family values, … the future of Polish tradition and the Church in our country,” according to an interview with the ultra-conservative Gazeta Polska weekly. “We didn’t win this match, but this is only the end of the first half,” leader of the opposition Grzegorz Schetyna told private broadcaster TVN24. “There’s a need to correct the course, there’s a need to mobilize more voters and consolidate votes,” he added suggesting extending his already broad coalition.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-election-poland/polish-nationalists-win-eu-vote-set-stage-for-national-ballot-idUSKCN1SW0TI?il=0