CBDCs, Digital IDs, Social Credit Scores
The DOD wants to refurbish ICBM silos that give it the ability to end civilization. But these missiles are useless as weapons, and their other main purpose—attracting an enemy’s nuclear strikes—serves no end.IF YOU’RE ONE of the millions of Americans who live within range of its 450 intercontinental ballistic missile silos, the Pentagon has written you off as an acceptable casualty. The silos are scattered across North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska in a zone of sacrifice—what lawmakers and military planners have long called the “nuclear sponge.”
Despite real concerns over cost overruns, human lives, and the general uselessness of ICBMs, the Pentagon is barreling forward with a plan to modernize those silos and their missiles. Right now the Department of Defense thinks it’ll cost $141 billion. Independent research puts the number at closer to $315 billion.
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Read MoreEphraim Rinsky, 37, recently moved in with his girlfriend. He packed up a suitcase with paintings that his mother made, a few Hawaiian shirts, his passport, and “some gold.” Over the phone, I asked him how much.
“The first rule of gold is never to tell anyone how much gold you have,” says Rinsky. “The second rule is never tell anyone where your gold is.”
Rinsky fell down the “precious metals rabbit hole” during the pandemic—“audiobooks and cooking didn’t really catch”—but adds that the market hadn’t started “really popping” until recently. The price of an ounce of gold is at $2,408, having increased more than 22 percent since this time la
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Read MoreA constitutional legal group dedicated to freedoms has criticized a Canadian court’s recent decision to drop charges against four individuals who rejected compliance with a COVID border surveillance initiative, arguing it allowed the federal government to dodge accountability for its targeting of individuals who refused to use a vaccine passport.
Chris Fleury, a lawyer with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), expressed mixed feelings about the outcome in a press release. “While it is a personal victory for the clients, they are disappointed at losing the chance to challenge the constitutionality of these unscientific and irrational quarantine mandates,” he stated.
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Read MoreThere are “going to be some issues” with a federal IT project to digitize border collections of Customs duties, says a federal memo. Cost of the program under development since 2016 is more than $556 million.
“As a new IT system that will process over a million requests a year we are going to test and there are no doubt going to be some issues,” said a June 13 briefing note by the Department of Public Safety. “That is the point of testing.”
The note did not elaborate. The system originally scheduled to launch May 13 has been delayed until October 21.
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Read MoreThe federal Phoenix Pay System failure has now cost taxpayers $3.7 billion and counting, the highest figure disclosed to date. The latest damages are cited in a Department of Public Works briefing note.
“We have put in place a significant number of system enhancements and fixes which have helped bring increased stability to the pay system and overall pay administration environment,” said the April 15 note Update On Pay Stabilization. “To date $3.65 billion has been invested in Phoenix.”
“The Government of Canada is committed to supporting employees and continues to take action on all fronts to resolve public service pay issues,” said the note. “The launch of Phoenix we have implemented a series of measures and made consistent progress.”
The Phoenix Pay System was launched in 2016 on a promise it would save taxpayers $70 million by centralizing 46 separate federal payroll departments into a single office in Miramichi,
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Read MorePutin wants widespread use of CBDCs, there is no doubt that Russia is following the UN’s global plan
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the “efficiency and functionality” of the Bank of Russia’s central bank digital currency (“CBDC”) and instructed his government to prepare for the widespread introduction of the digital ruble.
On Friday, Edward Slavsquat published an article about Russia’s insatiable appetite for “sustainable development.” In it, he described how the environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) agenda has become an “integral part” of Russia’s business environment, that Moscow is actively involved in promoting the ESG agenda and achieving the United Nations (“UN”) Agenda 2030’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”), and that the UN maintains partnerships with sanctioned Russian companies to pursue the SDGs.
He also noted that in May, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development introduced a new standard for reporting on sustainable development that factors in how companies’ “ESG indicators” help to achieve the UN’s SDGs. To add to the sinister nature of the agenda, the new reporting also factors in “social capital.”
“To top it all off,” Slavsquat wrote, “a recent article in Vedomosti explained how Russian businesses were eager to comply with EU ESG regulations. Yes, the same European bloc that is currently pouring weapons into Ukraine.”
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Read MoreA hasty email breached privacy rights of more than 1,000 Canada Student Loan borrowers, says Northwest Territories Privacy Commissioner Andrew Fox. The Commissioner yesterday detailed his investigation into a hurried email that mistakenly disclosed two years’ worth of financial records on borrowers. “Fundamentally the employee sending the email did not check the contents of the email attachments before sending the email,” wrote Fox. It was “not clear precisely how or why the mistake happened but the natural inference is it was born of inattention.” “A moment’s inattention led to a privacy breach that affected 1,159 people,” wrote Fox. “Any time the employee saved by not double-checking the email attachments was far outweighed by the time and effort the department spent investigating the circumstanc
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Read MoreYou have the right to opt out of facial recognition tech. Here’s how.
Here’s something I’m embarrassed to admit: Even though I’ve been reporting on the problems with facial recognition for half a dozen years, I have allowed my face to be scanned at airports. Not once. Not twice. Many times.
There are lots of reasons for that. For one thing, traveling is stressful. I feel time pressure to make it to my gate quickly and social pressure not to hold up long lines. (This alone makes it feel like I’m not truly consenting to the face scans so much as being coerced into them.) Plus, I’m always getting “randomly selected” for additional screenings, maybe because of my Middle Eastern background. So I get nervous about doing anything that might lead to extra delays or interrogations.
But the main reason I haven’t declined airport face scans is actually very simple: I had no idea I could opt out.
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Read MoreThe Grocery Sector Code of Conduct Interim Board of Directors is pleased to inform the FPT Agriculture and Agri-food Ministers that we have the commitment of all the major grocers to support the Grocery Code of Conduct. This includes all the national grocers and the many regional and local independent grocers from coast to coast. In addition, we have the commitment of all key suppliers, large and small, in the country’s food supply chain.
While there is still much work to be done, including the development of the processes required to ensure an efficient and effective implementation, the establishment of an operating office, the hiring of an adjudicator, industry education, and much more, we are delighted to report that all stakeholders have expressed their desire and their commitment to assist and support the implementation of a voluntary industry-led Code in Canada. The commitment of the major grocers underscores the importance of a fully inclusive, voluntary Code developed and managed by stakeholders across the entire grocery supply chain.
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Read MoreA WEF report, co-authored by the U.N. and World Bank, states that digital public infrastructure ‘is transforming lives in Pakistan,’ ushering in a need for digital ID such that adults in Pakistan cannot lead normal lives without it.
Now, “Pakistan is set to launch several ambitious DPI initiatives, including expanding the RAAST payment system, implementing a nationwide digital health records system, and launching a blockchain-based land registry,” according to the WEF Agenda.
From the State Bank of Pakistan, RAAST is the country’s first instant payment system that enables end-to-end digital payments among individuals, businesses, and government entities instantaneously.
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