16 Aug 2015

Iris Scanners Are Coming To College Campuses

By Michael Krieger: Last week, I highlighted a couple of articles to hammer home just how fast technology seems to be invading our every day lives, whether we like it or not. In case you missed them, I suggest taking a read now:
Turning Humans Into Algos – The Trend of Employees Wearing “Biosensing Wearable Devices” at Work
Minority Report-esque Big Brother Billboards are Coming to England
Today’s article related to iris scanners and their increased popularity on college campuses. Virginia Commonwealth University is the latest school to roll out these entirely unnecessary and creepy devices, following the lead of George Mason University and University of New Hampshire.
The Huffington Post covered the story recent, here are some excerpts:

Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond is the latest institution to jump aboard the biometrics bandwagon. On Wednesday, the school announced it had added two iris cameras to the campus dining hall so that students can use their eyes instead of their ID for access.  Students won’t need their ID to enter the dining center anymore,” Stephen Barr, VCU director of campus services, said in a statement Thursday. With iris identification, it’s as simple as a camera taking a picture of their eyes and two seconds later they walk through.”

Slate: Straight Women Are Terrorizing Gay Men In NYC

By According to an article in the online magazine Slate, gay bars in New York City are under siege from hordes of desperate straight women who are so starved for male attention that they are seeking it from men who, being gay, have no sexual interest in women at all. Gay men are noticing and a backlash is starting. From the opening paragraph of the Slate piece by a self-described drag queen:

What’s the purpose of a gay bar? For starters, they offer gay men… a hunting ground where they can chase people with similar desires. But perhaps more important [sic], gay bars also provide a haven from the heterosexual gaze. In small towns and big cities alike, these spaces allow queers to talk, flirt, and unwind without drawing sneers, slurs, curious stares, or even unwanted support—My son is gay, too! Gay bars are the one space that an LGBTQ person can enter without scanning the crowd for potential trouble. At least, that’s the way it was until a sudden influx of straight partiers changed the terrain.
Now, I’m a supporter of gay men and gay marriage but even I can note the irony of this opening paragraph – it seems to echo the style of those traditionalist groups who oppose gay marriage:

Misandric UK Rule Gives Half Of Peerages To Poorer Quality Women To Save Reputation Of The Lords After Sewel Scandal

  • Lords insiders say theevery other new Tory peer must be femalediktat is a response to the Lord Sewel prostitutes-and-cocaine scandal 
  • Sources say the Prime Minister believes that announcing 40 new Tory peers, with up to 30 of them male, would provoke a feminist backlash 
  • Michelle Mone, Debbie Wosskow and Kate Fall all tipped for peerage

By Simon Walters: David Cameron faces a revolt from male Tory ex MPs after ruling that half of up to 40 new Conservative peers must be female.

They criticised him after claims that several retired Tory politicians are to miss out on Lords seats to be announced this month, to make way for up to 20 women peers.

Lords insiders say the ‘every other new Tory peer must be female’ diktat is a response to the Lord Sewel prostitutes-and-cocaine scandal.

The US Is The Leading State Of Terrorism In The World

At 27:51"Who's responsible for the fall of oil prices in the world, not the Saudis and Americans? So who is really attacking and bringing the Cold War against countries such as Iran and Russia?" Says the commentator in the studio. The US/Israel shill commentator suddenly loses his tongue.
By Ken O'Keefe. Given the recent tactics of the Empire to instigate the escalation of violence in Syria and move closer to the goal of full scale World War III, this expose remains completely relevant. The audio feed is frustrating at times, but again the content is worthwhile.

The Crisis Is Spreading: China, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Sweden...

Tyler Durden's picture Earlier today, we posted an excerpt from IceCap Asset Management's latest letter to investors focusing on the farce that is the Greek bailout #3, which can be summarised simply by the following table...
... and Keith Dicker's assessment which was that "for Greece, it’s mathematically impossible to repay its debt" and that the Greek "economy continues to plummet to deeper depths and is now -33% less than where it was in 2008."
But the truth is that for all the endless drama, Dicker continues, "the Greek debt crisis isn’t THE crisis. Rather it is simply a symptom of a much larger global debt crisis."
The problem is that the "larger global debt crisis" is finally metastasising and spreading to more places, all of which are large enough that they can not be simply swept under the rug, like Greece.
* * *
IceCap's Keith Dicker continues:
We’ve written before that governments all around the world have borrowed too much money and the weight of these debts are choking economic growth.
And to make matters worse – these very same governments and their central banks have implemented various plans that have only made matters worse.
Our view has not changed – the global debt crisis has escalated to a point where the government bond bubble has inflated itself to become the mother of all bubbles. It’s going to burst, and when it does it wont be pretty.

Astonishingly Sexist Sally Peck, Please Explain This

6oodfella. "I'm showing graphic images because Sally Peck basically said women can't behave like this, how is it possible? ...I'd like Sally Peck to explain to me, how is it possible for these women to behave like this? Is it going to be that they were raised as boys, because obviously only boys are violent? Were they injected with toxic masculinity? Were they being encouraged to behave like this by men? And if you're choosing that one that means women should not be allowed to vote because if men can force people to do things against their will. ...It's disrespectful to say that women can't be violent. ...That's what she said, "we have to change the way we raise boys so that they're not violent."

Teaching Children To Save In A 0% World

The Dissident Dad: At the age of 5, I clearly remember walking into my local Bank of America to open up my first savings account. It was almost a thrill, receiving my small, beige deposit book, where my father noted the first entry: $260.
I had found a wallet on the floor of a hotel about 6 months prior to that. After no one claimed it, the hotel mailed me a check. Perhaps it’s because I’ve always had an interest in finance, but opening up that first savings account is one of my earliest memories. It ended up helping me to become a disciplined saver from an early age.
Moving along, in the late 1990s, I remember opening up a 1-year CD at 6% when I was barely an adult. Looking back, depositing money at a bank made sense at the time. Fast forward to today, and I don’t think teaching my children to store their money in a bank is prudent, or even a smart thing to do.

Will they eventually need a checking account for daily purposes? Sure. Nevertheless, I want to teach them the real reasons why saving money in a bank makes sense in a normal world, namely a combination of capital preservation and compound interest. The American status quo has killed the innocence and logic of simply walking into a bank and depositing money by offering a near-zero-percent interest rate return for depositors.
Meanwhile we have seen the precedent for bail-ins set in Cyprus, and even just last month, Greek banks simply shut down, denying access and limiting withdrawals.

Reset + Rosie The Server Geek + Central Planning - WB7

Netanyahu Killed Two-State Solution For Palestine: Carter

Former US president and peace activist Jimmy Carter says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 'The Butcher of Gaza' Netanyahu has killed a two-state solution for Israelis and the people of Palestine.
Press TV: These are the worst prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians for years. At this moment, there is zero chance of the two-state solution,” Carter said in an interview on Thursday, a day after he revealed that he has liver cancer.
Carter told Prospect Magazine that Netanyahu has adopted a “one-state solution,” adding that the United States had sadly “withdrawn” from making efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
The 90-year-old statesman, who travels around the world to support humanitarian causes, said Netanyahu has no intention of pursuing peace, adding, “[Palestinians] will never get equal rights [to Israeli Jews, in a one-state solution].”
Netanyahu does not now and has never sincerely believed in a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine,” Carter added.