US Government Wants to Ban Encryption in the Name of Protecting Children

Social media companies may soon be forced to allow backdoor government access to encrypted information.

In the name of protecting the children, U.S. lawmakers and the Department of Justice want to ban end-to-end encryption, opening Internet users to a host of attacks on their privacy by not only the government but also malicious hackers.

Attorney General William Barr is claiming he wants to protect the children but his former law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, protected Jeffrey Epstein—one of the most serial child sex traffickers. And it turns out Barr’s own father, Donald Barr, was the headmaster of an elite New York City school that hired college dropout Epstein to teach math and physics.

Last week, Barr expressed at the White House Summit on Human Trafficking that encryption was aiding human traffickers. He said:

“We live in a digital age, and like everyone else, human traffickers are relying increasingly on digital communication and the Internet … and more and more, the evidence we rely on to detect and to deal with these predators is digital evidence,” Barr said. “However, increasingly, this evidence is being encrypted.

We all recognize that encryption is important in the commercial world to protect consumers like us from cybercriminals, but now, we’re seeing military-grade encryption being marketed on consumer products like cellphones and social media platforms and messaging services, and that means that we cannot get access to this data.

We just can’t have chatrooms and websites that are involved in grooming children victims or selling trafficked women — sites that are impenetrable to law enforcement—and we have to do something about this.”

Barr has previously said that technology companies using end-to-end advanced encryption and other security measures are effectively turning devices into “law-free zones.”

“As we use encryption to improve cybersecurity, we must ensure that we retain society’s ability to gain lawful access to data and communications when needed to respond to criminal activity,” Barr said in his keynote address at the International Conference on Cybersecurity at Fordham University Law School in Manhattan.

https://themindunleashed.com/2020/02/us-government-ban-encryption-protecting-children.html

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Israel has played a key role in US aggression towards Iran

https://youtu.be/Kg5D6sqvfpA

9 of those 12 people who saw Anthony Weiner’s laptop are now dead

There were a total of 12 individuals who saw Anthony Weiner’s laptop computer, which contained incriminating information on Hillary Clinton and other powerful individuals in the United States.

9 of those 12 people, including the NYPD officers, are dead now.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/9-of-those-12-people-who-saw-anthony-weiners-laptop-are-now-dead/

Cigarettes Produce Invisible Chemical Emissions Even After They’ve Been Extinguished

Cigarettes aren’t just toxic when they’re being smoked. Even when the butts are scrunched up and cold, new research has found they continue to emit harmful compounds in the air.

In the first 24 hours alone, scientists say a used cigarette butt will produce 14 percent of the nicotine that an actively burning cigarette would. And the airborne emissions don’t stop there.

While most of these chemicals are released within a day of being extinguished, an analysis for the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found concentrations of nicotine and triacetin – a plasticiser in cigarette filters – had fallen by just half a whopping five days later.

“I was absolutely surprised,” says environmental engineer Dustin Poppendieck from the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

“The numbers are significant and could have important impacts when butts are disposed of indoors or in cars.”

While much attention has been paid to the health impacts of first-hand, second-hand and now third-hand smoking – where chemical residues linger on walls and furniture – the actual butt of the matter has been paid little attention.

To measure airborne emissions from this forgotten remnant, Poppendieck and his team placed 2,100 recently extinguished cigarettes inside a walk-in chamber made of stainless steel.

Of course, they didn’t smoke all these themselves. Instead, the team built a machine to take six puffs per cigarette, mimicking the behaviour of actual humans in robotic-like movements.

https://governmentslaves.news/2020/02/04/cigarettes-produce-invisible-chemical-emissions-even-after-theyve-been-extinguished/

Macy's To Cut 2,000 Jobs And Shutter 125 Stores Amid "Significant Structural Change"

Macy's announced Tuesday that it had adopted a three-year plan designed to stabilize profits and continue company growth. The new plan calls for a radical $1.5 billion cost-cutting program that will axe upwards of 2,000 jobs and shutter 125 stores across the US.

The retailer, which operates 680 stores under the Macy's and Bloomingdale's brands, said the closure represents an 18% reduction in its brick and mortar footprint. The layoffs of about 2,000 corporate jobs will account for 9% of its workforce. There's also a plan to close several offices.

Macy's said the cost savings would generate about $600 million in 2020 and $1.5 billion annually by 2022.

"We are taking the organization through significant structural change to lower costs, bring teams closer together, and reduce duplicative work. This will be a tough week for our team as we say goodbye to great colleagues and good friends. The changes we are making are deep and impact every area of the business, but they are necessary. I know we will come out of this transition stronger, more agile, and better fit to compete in today's retail environment," Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette said in a statement.

Gennette said the company's "least productive" stores would be cut first. There are already 30 stores in the process of closing, he added.

Under the consolidation program, Macy's NYC will become the company's sole corporate headquarters. Offices in San Francisco, Cincinnati, and Lorain, Ohio, will be closed within the next three years.

"We will focus our resources on the healthy parts of our business, directly address the unhealthy parts of the business and explore new revenue streams," Gennette said. "Over the past three years, we have shown we can grow the top-line; however, we have significant work to do to improve the bottom-line. We are confident the strategy we are announcing today will allow us to stabilize the margin in 2020 and set the foundation for sustainable, profitable growth."

The retailer will be testing smaller storefronts called Market by Macy's and concentrate more on e-commerce.

Amazon's blowout Q4 earnings highlights how it has forever changed the retail industry, as legacy retailing giants have been reduced to nothing more than a fraction of their size in a decade.

Over 9,000 retail department stores closed their doors last year. With 2020 underway, Macy’s latest cost-saving ploy suggests the retail apocalypse will drag on.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/macys-cut-2000-jobs-and-shutter-125-stores-amid-significant-structural-change