#project 2025 is very much linked to trump and you should be reading up on it

[chaosartisan]

While Hurricane Milton is sweeping through Florida, I just want to remind you that part of project 2025 is crippling the National Weather Service's ability to forecast the weather.

[tardistimeladyyeah]

I will try to make this my last post about politics but no promises (I'm anxious and a political science student).

(P.S. If you don't read this whole long post, read the last chunk).

This will make sense at the end of this post, but it deserves to go up here: We can't help people overseas if we're burning, and we're holding a match over a vat of gasoline. The voters are holding the match, the reelection of Trump is the match, and the United States is the gasoline. The ensuing flame is the Civil War they want so badly. We will have nobody to blame but ourselves if we drop that match.

Is there a genocide in Palestine? Yes. Does the United States need to separate themselves from Israel until they stop and align ourselves with stopping it? Yes. Is it worth destroying our lives at home over just because you couldn't vote for Biden? No (LET ME EXPLAIN BEFORE YOU LOSE YOUR MIND).

People protesting against the genocide will not be heard if Trump is reelected. Have you heard of Project 2025? Essentially, it is the plan to dismantle the current system that we have in the United States. This is not a good thing because it was created by the Hertiage Foundation, a far-right group that supports Donald Trump and his ambition to become a dictator (he is connected to 2025. He is lying when he says he's not connected).

What would a second Trump presidency mean? It will take away rights that most Americans have enjoyed for decades (and centuries if you're a white man). You would not be able protest against the genocide because the insurrection act may be invoked, which would deploy the military to quash protests. Trump may force social media companies to promote far-right views (meaning no more talking about Palestine and helping people by providing information) (Source: ACLU link below). A second Trump presidency would bring a lot of other things listed on both Project 2025 AND Agenda 47 (basically diet Project 2025). It would make abortion difficult to access NATIONWIDE (ban mifepristone and Plan B (the morning after pill) via the Comstock Act, it would ban birth control, it would disband federal agencies such as NOAA (and the NWS by proxy) and the Department of Education (and severely restrict other agencies), put loyalists into integral positions, fire 150,000 federal employees (and probably more), and so much more involving the LGBTQ+ community and immigrants, among other things.

Yes, you should be upset about Palestine. Yes, you should be advocating against the genocide. HOWEVER, THAT DOES NOT MAKE CALLING THE ELECTION A DISTRACTION OR MINIMIZING IT OKAY.

This election has the capability of determining the next steps forward for this country. Yes, both options aren't very appealing, but it's worth noting that, as much as you might not want to admit it, Biden has done good things. Those don't overpower helping fund a genocide, but it's also worth noting that Congress has the power of the purse (power to spend money) and the president doesn't. Do they approve the proposal? Yes. Did Biden threaten to stop funding if Israel continued? Yes. I believe he hasn't because he's worried about losing support (this election has serious consequences and I think he knows that) from people who are only voting for him because he's not Trump (a wannabe Hitler) and he doesn't have that kind of power. Executive orders can only go so far and can be thrown out by a judge in minutes.

So, what am I trying to say here? This election has consequences. Project 2025 is real and the Supreme Court gave Trump the okay to start implementing the more egregious parts of it under the guise of "official acts." We may not even know what those "official acts" will be. They likely involve nukes everywhere, including Palestine. Remember when Nikki Haley wrote something to the effect of "kill them all" on a missile being sent to Israel (or something)? Trump will do that. He will blow that entire continent up and say he stopped the tension in the middle east when really all he did was kill a bunch of people. Sure, you can say the same about Biden because of weapons and resources sent to Israel on his approval. But, he won't use America's nukes to do that. In fact, he wants to negotiate the end of the war.

If your single issue is Palestine, you shouldn't vote for a third party. You shouldn't vote for Trump. You should vote for Biden because he'll preserve your right to free speech and non violent protest. Trump won't.

Call him Genocide Joe or whatever all you want. Just know that Trump is worse and you're letting him win if you're in a swing state and vote third party. That's how he won in 2016. Enough people voted for Jill Stein in swing states to give Trump an electoral college victory. Look at the numbers (all of which came from Ballotpedia, a great resource).

Michigan gave their electoral college votes to Trump, but only by 0.2%. Who got more votes that, if they voted for Clinton, would've flipped the state for her? The other votes (including Jill Stein). Those votes were 5.2%, which may have flipped the state blue (Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_battleground_states,_2016) .

Wisconsin gave their votes to Trump in 2016, with 47.2% of voters voting for him, 46.5% voting for Clinton. How many people voted for third parties? 6.3%. Once again, enough votes to flip the state for Clinton if voters decided to go with her instead. (Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_battleground_states,_2016)

Pennsylvania gave their votes to Trump in 2016, with 48.6% voting for him and 47.9% voting for Clinton. How many people voted third party? 3.6%. It was close, but it wouldn't have been if people didn't vote third party. (Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_battleground_states,_2016)

I'm not against third parties, HOWEVER, our government is structured as a two party system and now is not the time to test a three party system out when we're on the brink of fascism. Don't not vote either. Not voting is just as bad in this situation. In fact, not voting (unless you literally can't) is not good. I don't care if you don't think your vote won't matter. It does. Look back at the 2016 swing state numbers. It makes a massive difference.

This is not a time to tell people not to vote or to vote third party. This is a time to say that there will never be a perfect candidate and that you have to make sacrifices on policy to preserve or create new policy that is beneficial. This is a time to defeat fascism by coming together and voting for the lesser of two evils. Everyone in the United States will lose rights, some more than others. But, Project 2025 will impact everybody, especially those fighting for Palestine. Don't believe Republicans when they say they're stepping away from it. They're not. If they're voted in, they will do it. Remember, they said the same thing about Roe and look at what they did! Heck, I'm writing this from a state where abortion is illegal, surrounded by other states where abortion is illegal. It's already a crisis and it will continue to be one until we fix things at the federal level because it will stay illegal until a state question goes through (I often say that good things only happen where I live because of state questions and that is unfortunately true).

We can't help people overseas if we're burning, and we're holding a match over a vat of gasoline. The reelection of Trump is the match and the United States is the gasoline. The ensuing flame is the Civil War they want. We will have nobody to blame but ourselves.

All I can do is hope that this got to some people and made you change your mind. But know that they'll keep rebranding 2025 if they lose. You have to vote consistently against Republican presidential administration until they abandon the idea or until it blows up in their faces. Call me a Biden apologist all you want, I don't care. I'm on your side, but you don't realize how bad another Trump presidency would be. You wouldn't be able to advocate for causes like Palestine anymore. You may have to join the military. You may have to detransition. You may have to stop doing a lot of things that you took for granted if Trump wins again. Sure, some of us survived the first one, but a lot of us didn't and significantly more of us won't the second time around (oh, also, he wants to be President forever. They're going to throw out term limits if they try hard enough. They're going to fudge voting results to make elections look like something out of Russia). Nobody wants this (save for the people who advocate for it and support it) and I don't think you do, either.

Look at the breakdowns of Project 2025. If you don't want that, don't be complacent. Don't feel defeated (even though it's hard sometimes. Trust me, my state would vote for Trump even if he was a bag of rocks and it's hard to not feel an impending sense of doom until my passport gets here). Register to vote at vote.org and check your registration status if you think you're registered.

Don't vote against your own interests this election cycle. You might not get to vote for your interests ever again if the wrong person wins.

Some more important links:

https://www.vote.org/

https://www.vox.com/politics/360318/project-2025-trump-policies-abortion-divorce

https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/c977njnvq2do.amp?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17212721431126&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Farticles%2Fc977njnvq2do

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/07/noaa-project-2025-weather/678987/

Some of these articles may mention Republicans stepping back from these views. DON'T. BELIEVE. THEM. Take it from me, a person who lives in a Republican trifecta (A.K.A. one of Dante's circles of hell. I haven't decided which one, yet). Republicans lie. They lie and lie and lie so much I'm shocked their noses haven't suffocated most of the state.

[coopdigitalnewsletter]

25 Jan 2021: How much carbon is in your shopping basket?

Hello, this is the Co-op Digital newsletter.

[Image: ABC 10 News/Carolyn Kaster/AP]

Biden and Harris: a new era, and with it hope that America and politics will become less divisive and chaotic, and more constructive. His inauguration speech.

How much carbon is in your shopping basket?

How are the UK supermarkets doing with their climate change plans? Comparing them can be a bit difficult because the terms used and benchmarks chosen vary - carbon neutral, net zero, carbon negative, legacy carbon, absolute reductions, carbon free/zero carbon, 100% renewable, which year’s used as a baseline for comparison, emissions scope, etc. The newsletter will dig into what these terms mean in future.

But for now, here are the climate/carbon plans of the larger supermarket businesses in the UK, mostly through the lens of carbon emissions and when they see themselves getting to “carbon net zero”. Net zero means: the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere by your organisation is balanced by the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere by your organisation’s carbon offsets and carbon reduction programmes.

Tesco - 35% absolute carbon reduction from operations by 2020 (60% reduction by 2025, and 100% by 2050.

Sainsbury’s - net zero by 2040 and wider climate plans.

Asda - net zero by 2040 and more detail. Wider plans. 

Morrisons - net zero by 2040 and announcement.

Aldi - carbon neutral since 2019 and wider picture.

Co-op - 75% reduction (vs 2006) by 2025, and net zero by 2050 and broader sustainability reporting.

Lidl - “reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2020” but no news on how that went - the latest sustainability report is dated 2018 (pdf).

Waitrose - net zero by 2050 but in 2020 brought forward the John Lewis group’s net zero target to 2035.

Iceland - reduced its operational carbon footprint by nearly three quarters (74%) since 2011, and now aims to be carbon neutral by 2042. 

M&S - carbon neutral since 2012, and plenty of detail in their climate plan.

Ocado - net zero by 2040.

M&S and Aldi are probably leading, though a net zero emissions date is just one aspect of a sustainability/climate plan. Every supermarket is taking action, and they can all do more. Reading their reports, you can see that net zero (or carbon neutrality) is achieved with both emissions reduction and carbon offsetting (funding projects that plant trees etc). After that, the big step is to keep reducing emissions and get an organisation to “zero carbon”.

Wider context: most of these supermarkets are working with British Retail Consortium’s climate action roadmap toward net zero by 2040. And the government’s net zero carbon target for the UK as a whole is 2050, Scotland’s is 2045.

Everyone is a key worker

Watching the news gives you new appreciation for the work of everyone in the NHS and in social care. And homeschooling gives you new appreciation for the work of teachers. Critical work. But look around and you see key work everywhere. The warehousing and delivery staff that make convenient online shopping work. People in call centres doing contact tracing. Supermarket staff. Funeral directors. People working in utilities, and those keeping the broadband going. The list is long. They have hard work, and often have difficult working or employment conditions (zero hours), and usually go somewhat unnoticed and unsung.

The UK Gov’s list of key workers is here, and reading it you go “oh yes, those too” but maybe also “I wonder if there are other people also doing key work”. Partly this is because we have a highly interconnected economy, and many are indirectly doing key work, creating the conditions for the key work to happen. So perhaps everyone’s a key worker, though that’d be stretching it for newsletter writers. Salute to the key workers.

Elsewhere the UK government has released a new TV advert which shows tired doctors, nurses and patients all PPE-ed up. It asks “Can you look them in the eyes?” and is targets those being casual about or ignoring lockdown rules.

Policing Covid measures

“In line with the latest government guidance, we are enforcing the following measures to help keep you safe in-store. See http://tes.co/HelpInStoreFAQ for more details.”

Tesco will enforce Covid safety measures. All supermarkets are, to some extent. But the expectation that store workers should enforce rules on face masks sometimes leads to unintended side effects: social distancing rage triggers surge of attacks on supermarket staff.

Related: physical retail risks being at another disadvantage to online if it has to perform covid security.

Elsewhere in retail

Editorial note: long time reader Ben T pointed out that every newsletter has something about Amazon in it, which can get a bit, you know, samey. Feedback makes the newsletter better. For you Ben, this newsletter is guaranteed Amazon-free. 

Hudson is an airport retailer that plans to automate its checkouts, which might mean a Covid-safer shopping environment and reduced checkout staff costs. It’ll license the technology from some big online bookshop. But Hudson hasn’t yet said how many of its 1,000 stores will get it. Empty airports is probably a good time to do experiments.

Morrisons to be first UK supermarket to pay minimum £10 an hour - from April.

Retail sales in 2020 'worst for 25 years' - a slump in demand for fashion and homeware during lockdown left many retailers struggling.

Two tough reads

The American Abyss - quite a fierce read on the Capitol invasion earlier this month. 

“Post-truth is pre-fascism, and Trump has been our post-truth president. When we give up on truth, we concede power to those with the wealth and charisma to create spectacle in its place. Without agreement about some basic facts, citizens cannot form the civil society that would allow them to defend themselves.”

This is what an 'overwhelmed NHS' looks like. We must not look away.

“The final stage, which London is now approaching, is where patient care is not just compromised but cannot be delivered. This won’t be dramatic and public - you won’t see patients refused entry to hospital or bodies on the street. It will take the form of doctors being forced to make impossible decisions about which patient can best benefit from a single spare ICU bed when many need one, or how long to wait for a very sick patient to improve before having the conversation with the family about withdrawing care. This is called rationing.”

(Loosely linking the two, Coronapolitics from the Reichstag to the Capitol is a long read tracing the links between 'lockdown scepticism' and what happened at the Capitol.)

Is Bitcoin a battery?

Sometimes there is too much energy being generated. On a windy night, when demand is lower because everyone is tucked up in their beds, the turbines spin away making electricity that we don’t need. The electricity grid has to do “demand management” to avoid shoving too many electrons into the electricity pipes, and it temporarily switches off wind farms and gas plants etc.

There’s an idea that cryptocurrencies can help with electricity demand management: Bitcoin is a battery. You’d use excess energy generation capacity to mine Bitcoin. But this seems more like a cunning excuse for Bitcoin’s proof of work being massively energy intensive than it is a clever way of “storing energy”. Surely Bitcoin cannot be an actual battery because you can’t turn BTC back into energy? Maybe it’s a metaphorical battery: you can use it as money to buy electricity. Wouldn’t it be better to turn the excess electrical energy into a useful alternate energy form like hydrogen, or even (a few years down the line) “store” it in an actual battery? The newsletter would welcome corrections and opinions from clever readers.

(The newsletter will return to the topic of cryptos soon, because their prices and interest in them have increased rapidly recently. Again, opinions welcome.)

Co-op Digital news

Dave Cunningham wrote about the accessibility awareness training he's led on. It’s fondly known as “the leaky flour bag training” internally.

Nate Langley wrote about how we’re making sure teams’ objectives align with the Co-op vision. He talks about the importance of being able to zoom in and out and see the links between each building block.

Thank you for reading

Thank you friends, readers and contributors. Please continue to send ideas, questions, corrections, improvements, etc to @rod on Twitter. If you have enjoyed reading, please tell a friend! If you want to find out more about Co-op Digital, follow us @CoopDigital on Twitter and read the Co-op Digital Blog. Previous newsletters.

[warninggraphiccontent]

21 August 2020

Exam fail

Perhaps one week there'll be a story about data dominating the news that isn't about a spectacular shambles negatively affecting people's lives.

This week is not that week.

Here's my take on the algorithmic A Level debacle - and I'll also be on the IfG podcast later. Lots of other interesting links on the subject below - I'd particularly recommend this by Jeni on how the algorithm operated.

Finally, invitations to the next Data Bites will be going out shortly - put 6pm on Wednesday 9 September in your diaries, and catch up on the previous events here.

Have a good weekend

Gavin

Today's links:

Graphic content

Viral content

Coronavirus in the UK: How many confirmed cases are there in your area? (BBC News)

UK quarantine measures: where are the Covid hotspots?* (FT)

What if all Covid‑19 deaths in Brazil happened in your neighborhood? (Lupa)

Why Trump shouldn’t compare America’s Covid-19 outbreak to New Zealand’s, in one chart (Vox)

These are the top coronavirus vaccines to watch (Washington Post)

Most Coronavirus Vaccine Projects Are Taking Unorthodox Routes* (Bloomberg)

A vaccine, or a spike in deaths: How America can build herd immunity to the coronavirus* (Washington Post)

The True Coronavirus Toll in the U.S. Has Already Surpassed 200,000 (New York Times)

Coronavirus and depression in adults, Great Britain: June 2020 (ONS)

‘The volume has been turned up on everything’: Pandemic places alarming pressure on transgender mental health* (Washington Post)

What Happens to Viral Particles on the Subway (New York Times)

The economy, stupid

U.S. Worse Off Than Russia, Mexico in 2020 Economic Misery Ranking* (Bloomberg)

Oil industry reels from historic crash* (FT)

A nation of shopkeepers shaken by the shift online* (FT)

How rigid is the middle class in the US, really? (The Pudding)

74 more days

Biden is favored to win the election (FiveThirtyEight, via Alex)

Joe Biden’s vice-presidential pick is unlikely to sway very many voters* (The Economist)

Where Americans Can Vote by Mail in the 2020 Elections* (New York Times)

Can the Post Office Handle Election Mail? Why the Recession Could Actually Help* (The Upshot)

2020 Presidential Election Calendar* (New York Times)

Campaign Colors (The Pudding)

Exam shambles

Analysis (FFT Education Datalab)

How does Ofqual’s grading algorithm work? (Jeni Tennison)

Who won and who lost: when A-levels meet the algorithm (The Guardian)

Everything else

A rift in democratic attitudes is opening up around the world* (The Economist)

MP data: Parliamentary activities (House of Commons Library)

The crazy quilt of carbon taxes (Sonja Kuijpers)

Apple Reaches $2 Trillion, Punctuating Big Tech’s Grip* (New York Times)

How powerful was the Beirut blast? (Reuters)

POLITICAL TRUST AND THE COVID-19 CRISIS: PUSHING POPULISM TO THE BACKBURNER? (Democracy 2025, TrustGov, Ipsos MORI)

How We Analyzed Google’s Search Results (The Markup - story here)

Meta data

Algorithm and blues

Four things government must learn from the A-level algorithm fiasco (me for IfG)

Why did the A-level algorithm say no? (BBC News)

Ofqual exam results algorithm was unlawful, says Labour (The Guardian)

Stats regulator to review Ofqual algorithm used to award A-Level grades (Civil Service World)

Can algorithms ever make the grade? (Ada Lovelace Institute)

This A levels and GCSEs exams crisis exposes government’s technology problem (Daniel Korski for the Evening Standard)

Why we need an algorithm to help set A Level grades in 2021 (Chris Giles)

The UK exam debacle reminds us that algorithms can’t fix broken systems* (MIT Technology Review)

Statement in response to exam results (ICO)

Predictions, Mocks Or Models? Learning From Cancelled Predictive Analytics In Public Services (Carnegie Trust)

Blame the politicians, not the technology, for A-level fiasco* (FT)

The lessons we all must learn from the A-levels algorithm debacle (Wired)

A-Level algorithm row: Ofqual snubbed offer of help from experts unwilling to sign NDA (Civil Service World); A-levels: Exam regulator ignored expert help after statisticians wouldn't sign non-disclosure agreements (Sky News)

Grading Algorithm: Judicial Review (Foxglove)

The algorithms that make big decisions about your life (BBC News)

Machine learning ethics: 3 key considerations for government* (Apolitical)

How it worked

Awarding GCSE, AS, A level, advanced extension awards and extended project qualifications in summer 2020: interim report (Ofqual)

How does Ofqual’s grading algorithm work? (Jeni Tennison)

A-levels and GCSEs: How did the exam algorithm work? (BBC News)

On A Levels, Ofqual and Algorithms (Sophie Bennett)

What went wrong with the A-level algorithm?* (FT)

CAGs rule OK (HEPI)

Contact details

Coronavirus: England's contact-tracing app gets green light for trial (BBC News)

There's another contact tracing app - and this time it has LOTS of features (Rowland Manthorpe)

'Under the deal, McKinsey is authorised to process personal data...' (Civil Service World)

Coronavirus: Government defends use of consultancy to lead roll-out of UK's new contact-tracing app (Sky News)

England's contact-tracing saga is at the heart of the government's failures (The Guardian)

Confidence in a crisis? Building public trust in a contact tracing app (Ada Lovelace Institute)

Viral content

New UK-wide methodology agreed to record COVID-19 deaths (DHSC)

Government quietly drops 1.3m Covid tests from England tally (The Guardian)

Councils in England to be offered near real-time data on Covid cases (The Guardian)

Why COVID-19 made weather forecasts less reliable (Nature)

Covid-19 crisis accelerates UK military’s push into virtual war gaming* (FT)

UK government data and digital

Recruitment of chief digital and information officer ‘still ongoing’, Cabinet Office claims (Civil Service World)

One graph to rule them all (Inside GOV.UK)

Metadata standards for sharing and publishing data (Data Standards Authority)

Harnessing the power of PowerApps (Defra Digital)

How DIT have built a service as an open data set (Data in government)

Gov.uk Verify continues to pose ‘notable risk’ to Cabinet Office (Computer Weekly)

Using Analytics to improve a new digital service (DWP Digital)

Can GOV.UK Notify help the public sector write better emails, text messages and letters? (Government Digital Service)

We’ve updated the GOV.UK proposition (Inside GOV.UK)

Liz Truss meetings with hard-Brexit group deleted from public register (The Guardian)

How we took a user-centred approach to understanding inclusion and exclusion in the GDS design team (Design in government)

Defra’s consultation on farm payments data: why it matters and how to submit a response (Centre for Public Data)

Tech

Facebook and other tech giants 'too big to fail' (The Guardian)

How To Fund Tech

ICE just signed a contract with facial recognition company Clearview AI (The Verge)

OUR VICTORY HAS TURNED THE TIDE AGAINST FACIAL RECOGNITION - ED BRIDGES (voice.wales)

What Can America Learn from Europe About Regulating Big Tech?* (The New Yorker)

Long reads and opinion

Scream if you want to go faster! Why government technology needs (much) better governance (Rachel Coldicutt)

Culture eats technology for breakfast (Dave Rogers)

It’s Not Too Late to Save the Internet (Slate)

The new progressive agenda: Turbulent times require a radical policy response (Institute for Global Change)

Why British ARPA is destined to fail (CapX, via Alex)

Running fast just to stand still (FOIMan, Freedom of Information Journal)

Any answers?

Digital gov folk: does anyone know of any work to quantify economic benefits of better digital govt? (Olivia Neal)

Best examples of government services being *deliberately* designed to be hard to use? (Tom Loosemore)

Has anyone tried to #FoI an algorithm in government, or know someone who has? (me)

Everything else

Centering Racial Equity in Data Use (Urban Institute)

Private Members' Bills in the UK House of Commons, 1964-2017 (Thomas Fleming, via Dave)

UK Law Enforcement Data Service (LEDS): the new police mega-database (Privacy International)

Data Readiness, Response, Recovery and Reform (Open Data Charter)

There’s a big fight brewing over the Premier League’s player data (Wired)

Carl Bergstrom: 'People are using data to bullshit' (The Guardian)

Redesigning Data Privacy: Reimagining Notice & Consent for human technology interaction (World Economic Forum)

India Releases Draft Non-Personal Data Governance Framework (National Law Review)

AI @ Work: overcoming structural challenges to ensure successful implementation of AI in the workplace (Oxford Internet Institute)

Opportunities

JOB: Chief data scientist (ONS)

JOB: Director of Research (NatCen)

JOBS: Data for Black Lives

JOB: Head of Data and AI Policy (Health Research Authority, NHS)

JOBS: Data Investigations Team (Global Witness)

JOB: Data Standards Manager (Ordnance Survey)

JOB: Procedure Data Librarian (House of Commons)

FELLOWSHIP: Community Tech Fellowship (Luminate/Coop)

TRUSTEES: 360Giving

CONSULTATION: Transparency in digital campaigning: technical consultation on digital imprints (Cabinet Office)

And finally...

Words

Can a former model predict your future? A million Turkish users say yes (Rest of World)

America Has Two Feet. It’s About to Lose One of Them.* (New York Times)

Statistics journalism (Federica Cocco)

Pictures

Adding superfluous junk to charts can confuse the reader and the designer should heed the warning signs. This China icon for example is a red flag (Alex Selby-Boothroyd)

Painting by numbers: The choropleth canvas (Datawrapper)

A reddit turning stock charts into art (r/Stoxart)

Police please. I'd like to report a chart crime. (Federica Cocco)

MOG CHANGE KLAXON (me for IfG)

Skyscraper... (@liamosaur)

[cuadra-stuff-blog]

July 20th, 2018Which do you think is meant to be an insult? 1. Apparently following Queen Elizabeth's direction, President Trump begins to walk the reviewing line with her. She decides to step behind him to move to his left so she can walk between the President and the troops. He pauses and waits for her to catch up, then resumes walking beside her to review the troops. 2. Thousands of anti-Trump protesters gather in Parliament Square where they float a huge balloon depicting President Trump as an angry, diapered baby holding a cellphone. To you and me, it's obvious which is the action intended as an insult. But it's apparently not so obvious in the Late Great Britain. Monarchists and the tabloids were in full hue and cry blasting President Trump for "insulting" the Queen and the British monarchy by walking in front of her -- no matter how briefly. I don't recall them being so apoplectic when Michelle Obama put her arm around the Queen -- which, incidentally, is a much greater breach of protocol. Especially since she was not even a head of state. To which the Queen is reported to have later remarked that she "never want(ed) to meet that woman again!" The diapered baby balloon? Oh, that's just freedom of speech. What's more, if you believe the media, it appears that President Trump may have forever ruptured the bonds of friendship between America and the United Kingdom. He had the audacity to actually sit in an easy chair in which Winston Churchill once sat. The headline of the London newspaper The Mirror breathlessly screamed, "How Dare You?" The paper quoted a Member of Parliament, Ruth Smeeth, declaring that President Trump "doesn't even deserve to look at a statue of Churchill let alone sit in his seat." Apparently Trump Derangement Syndrome is epidemic on both sides of the pond! As "politically correct" and hypocritically sanctimonious as many Brits appear to be, it is a little surprising that they are expressing so much respect for their late Prime Minister Churchill. Were he alive today, I think he would be as much of an outcast as he was in the years leading up to World War II when he was sounding the politically-incorrect warnings about Hitler and Germany. You see, Winston Churchill was a plain-spoken critic of Islam and just as outspoken a proponent of "Christian civilization" as any major politician in history. He would be roasted alive by the PC establishment of today. In 2014, a politician was arrested for merely reading aloud the words of Churchill regarding Islam. And with so many British cities now boasting Muslim mayors, I doubt it's going to get any better. Britain once had a great tradition of debating both religion and politics. One of the ironies is that the same people who see Islam as above discussion have no problem with attacking Christianity and the Bible on a regular basis. Maybe they feel more free to speak their minds because they know the Knights of Columbus aren't likely to behead them. Wow! Finally a NATO Summit with fireworks! Usually, they're yawners. But not with President Trump at the table! I think the attending heads of state should be starting to catch on by now. President Trump says it like it is. Or at least like he sees it. I doubt that most of the other leaders have ever heard so much truth or faced so much reality in their entire political careers. Besides chastising most of the other NATO members for failing year after year to meet their defense commitments, the President zeroed in on Germany because of its natural gas deal with Russia. NATO is an alliance of nations created to stand against Russia and its allies. At the time of its formation after World War II, NATO's enemy counterpart was the Warsaw Pact. That was a defense alliance between the Soviet Union and seven of its satellite states. Today, some of those former Soviet Socialist Republics are members of NATO. Including Poland! Nonetheless, though the Soviet Union no longer exists, Russia has assumed its mantle in the world. That means, in essence, that NATO's "enemy" is Russia and the NATO treaty pledges its members to protect each other from their enemies, i.e., Russia, etc. Which makes Germany's natural gas deal with Russia all the more appalling and galling. Here's the short version: Most of the European nations depend heavily on natural gas from Russia, for which they pay exorbitant prices. Currently, most of that gas transits through Ukraine and Poland. Ukraine and Poland are both former Soviet Socialist Republics that have moved their loyalties to the West. Which makes Russia feel very threatened and angry. Occasionally, Russia tries to punish Ukraine and Poland, and subvert them to its wishes, by cutting off their critical natural gas supplies during the dead of the brutal central European winters. But in doing so, that means the natural gas supplies of the other European nations get cut off, too. And that makes them angry with Russia. So incredibly rich, powerful, and domineering Germany decided to cut a sweetheart deal with Russia. They signed a deal to build two 800-mile gas pipelines that run beneath the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. It was originally called Nord Stream, now Nord Stream 2. That means Russia can pump gas to Germany and Germany can then turn around and dole it out to the other European nations. In essence, that puts Russia in control of Germany's critical gas supplies and Germany in control of the other European nations' critical gas supplies.. And it leaves Russia free to punish Ukraine and Poland at will without irritating the EU or other NATO nations. Win-win for Russia! Enter President Donald Trump. President Trump looked at that deal and immediately cried, "Foul!" What's more, he cried, "Foul!" loudly! And that shocked Germany, Russia, the Democrat Party, the mainstream media, and the rest of the globalists. At a breakfast meeting, the President told Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary-General: "...Germany, as far as I'm concerned, is captive to Russia because it's getting so much of its energy from Russia. So we're supposed to protect Germany (from Russia), but they're getting their energy from Russia. Explain that!" I doubt he can. Germany is the richest country in Europe. It bullies the other nations in the European Union. It has a $69 billion trade surplus with the United States alone. The US has 35,000 troops stationed in Germany. Yet of the 29 member states in NATO, Germany ranks next to last in the amount of its GDP that it spends on its own defense. And now it is placing its citizens and industry at the mercy of the Russians. All the while letting the United States foot the majority of the bills for the NATO alliance that is supposed to protect it from Russia. In what universe does that make sense? But there is an interesting -- and prophetic -- twist to all of this. After 2020, Russia will have a viable stranglehold on Europe. But that stranglehold may be broken in 2025. That's when a new pipeline from Israel's incredible natural gas reserves, built with the cooperation of Cyprus, Greece, and Italy, will be complete. That pipeline will be capable of supplying enough natural gas to Europe to mitigate Russia's grip. Could it be that the preservation of Russia's natural gas monopoly will be the "hooks in the jaws" of Gog that God will one day use to pull it from the north to do battle with Israel? Oh yeah, one more thing. Gerhard Schroeder was the former German Chancellor who authorized the original Nord Stream deal. Then he left office and Vladimir Putin helped him become chairman of the same project he authorized as Chancellor. In 2017, Putin arranged for Schroeder (the German) to become chairman of Rosneft, the state-owed Russian oil giant. The Swamp bubbles on both sides of the pond! Speaking of the Swamp. Did you see the Congressional hearing with FBI Agent Peter Strzok as the featured guest? If this were a Hollywood movie, most of us would say that the actors were hams and the writer was stoned when he wrote the script. You can't make this stuff up! But the scary part is, this is reality! I don't know which was creepier or more bizarre, Agent Strzok's Norman Batesesque facial expressions and sleazy demeanor or the Democrats' frantic attempts to interrupt the proceedings and stop him from having to answer the questions. It seems to me that even more damning than Agent Strzok's undeniable bias expressed in tens of thousands of texts (when did he have time to actually investigate anything?), is the simple fact that the FBI has uniformly ignored mountains of evidence of Hillary Clinton crimes that have been uncovered and presented by other FBI agents, other law enforcement agencies, and other intelligence services. The institution's bias is more evident in what it hasn't done than in what it has. But then, that is not so unusual in history. In fact, some of the crises engulfing the world today are the result of the devious undermining of legitimate government authorities by their underlings. "Underlings" are the glue that holds things together or the weak links that cause them to fall apart. They are necessary to the administration of any government or organization. In the United States government, we call them the "Deep State." The trouble starts when a group of subordinates take it on themselves to undo the policy of legitimate officials. In this way, underlings have sometimes changed the course of history. For instance, last week I discussed the "other" Middle East refugees: the Jews displaced from Arab nations. In that story, I described how the League of Nations had instructed Britain to provide for a national homeland for the Jewish people. The League's "Mandate" dedicated a large tract of land from the Mediterranean Sea to what is now Iraq. But the British officials kept backing out of promises they had made to the Jews. Eventually, 75% of the land in the "British Mandate" was given to the Arabs as a homeland for the Palestinian Arabs. It is now called Jordan. The remaining 25%, from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean was given to Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel). Even earlier, when British General Edmund Allenby, leading his army of liberation, dismounted his horse and walked reverently into Jerusalem on December 9, 1917, he was prepared to institute a military government as per his instructions. But the staff of Governor Ronald Storrs was riddled with army officers who did not believe in the principles set forth in the Balfour Declaration. They represented the "Deep State" of the day. Incrementally, and without authorization, they sabotaged the official policy of their government. That subterfuge eventually led to the rise of the leader of the Jerusalem Muslims, Haj Amin al-Husseini. In later years, al-Husseini led the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939. He escaped to Nazi Germany where he remained as a guest and collaborator with Adolf Hitler. He even helped recruit Bosnian Muslims for Germany's Waffen-SS. So don't make the mistake of believing the Left's and the mainstream media's derision of the idea of a "Deep State." It does exist and it is powerful.. And too often, it has the last word. Fortunately for us, though, it will be God who has the real "last word." And even though we know that days of persecution are coming before Jesus returns for His followers, we can take comfort in the promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) But let's not stop fighting. There is still time to speak truth to power and expose the forces of darkness that are engulfing the world. Pray for those in leadership who are doing just that. Maybe they are buying time for even more to turn to Christ and accept the free gift of pardon that He died on Calvary to purchase for "everyone who believes." (Romans 1:16)