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How Nineteen Eighty-Four Warned Us About Brexit.

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Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#1New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 07:22:08
Article By Chris Deerwin

Brexit has been a textbook example of Big Brother techniques being employed to steer Britain towards the Orwellian nightmare argues the author of the article.

Snip

“We didn’t ought to have trusted the buggers” is uttered by a tearful, gin-soaked pensioner seeking safety in the bowels of a tube station from the bombs dropping above. “Perhaps it was the time when the atomic bomb had fallen on Colchester… which buggers they didn’t ought to have trusted Winston could not now remember.” Such is politics: one untrustworthy bugger after another, fading back beyond the horizon of memory. The scale and scenarios may differ – a nuclear stand-off, a trade war, a constitutional implosion, a leadership contest – but the types and the tricks and the tics are always familiar; the will to power, the self-justifying marshalling of fact and argument, the manipulation of the herd, always tragically visible.

And yes.... it has been tragically visible all along. From the very first moment that the Brexit campaign began.

Some of us saw what was happening and rejected it. Others embraced it.

Perhaps they too saw what was happening but rather than feel horror, they saw something they liked. Power. Control. Authority. And a means by which they could obtain and exercise all of these.

In the end, Brexit is about making us believe that two and two really do make five.
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#2New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 07:24:00
As a question to you guys across the pond. How does any of that resonate with the Trump regime..?

This is an open ended thread. Not restricted to UK only.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#3New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 09:41:46
@Jennifer1984 Said

This is an open ended thread. Not restricted to UK only.


That's very generous of you.
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#4New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 11:45:28
@shadowen Said

That's very generous of you.



Generosity is my middle name. I'm nice like that. To people who treat me likewise.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#5New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 11:57:20
@Jennifer1984 Said

Generosity is my middle name. I'm nice like that. To people who treat me likewise.




Yes you are 'generous' to those who agree with you.
mrmhead On March 27, 2024




NE, Ohio
#6New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 12:31:44
@Jennifer1984 Said

As a question to you guys across the pond. How does any of that resonate with the Trump regime..?

This is an open ended thread. Not restricted to UK only.



Trust was never an issue with Trump.

During the campaign it was a matter of Hope he wouldn't get elected.
Once elected, we Hoped he wouldn't be as big of an a*****e as he was on the campaign trail.
Then we Hoped he would be reigned in by the rest of the spineless GOPers.

It's possible he's breaking down so many walls that if the next president is smart and cunning, especially if he has the blind lemmings of the GOPers behind him, the country could turn into a dictatorship - if not by name, by practice and executive order.

I just hope we don't get to that point.

But I don't trust that anyone in DC would be able to stop it.
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#7New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 12:33:19
@shadowen Said



Yes you are 'generous' to those who agree with you.



I'll discuss anything with anybody who makes a sane and rational contribution to the discussion. I wish that included you too, but you seem determined to be, well, what you are.

No amount of "generosity" will make you happy or help you to become a better human being. It would be wasted on you.

And as usual, all you can do is personalise the thread for the simple reason you can't challenge the proposition. You have nothing to offer so you attempt to disrupt and destroy.

It's all you've got. You have no argument and you know it. You know that all you'd be able to do is parrot the usual right-wing diatribes that have probably been spoon fed to you by whatever Nazi or white supremacist organisation you subscribe to, or get your usual arguments from, to peddle on here.

In the end, all you ever do is revert to type. Typical.

You're a joke.
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#8New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 12:38:34
deleted on better thought.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#9New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 12:44:48
@Jennifer1984 Said

all you'd be able to do is parrot the usual right-wing diatribes that have probably been spoon fed to you by whatever Nazi or white supremacist organisation you subscribe to


Lazy, lazy, lazy. I feel ripped off. Only being called a Nazi or white supremacist. I at least want some 'phobics' thrown out there, and at least a few words ending with 'ist'!!!
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#10New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 12:47:05
@mrmhead Said

Trust was never an issue with Trump.

During the campaign it was a matter of Hope he wouldn't get elected.
Once elected, we Hoped he wouldn't be as big of an a*****e as he was on the campaign trail.
Then we Hoped he would be reigned in by the rest of the spineless GOPers.

It's possible he's breaking down so many walls that if the next president is smart and cunning, especially if he has the blind lemmings of the GOPers behind him, the country could turn into a dictatorship - if not by name, by practice and executive order.

I just hope we don't get to that point.

But I don't trust that anyone in DC would be able to stop it.



I've been reading the weekly missives written by Bonnie Greer in The New European. her columns seem quite illuminating and from where I sit it seems the US is heading for another Trump presidency.

Q1. Do you see any parallels between the Trump Presidency and how the Johnson Premiership is developing..?

Johnson doesn't use Twitter... which is probably because he's too lazy to do anything of much at all. He goes AWOL sometimes for weeks at a time, leaving his Ministers to do his job for him. He can't even get to Parliament in time for PMQ's. He was just getting to the chamber as Mr Speaker made the announcement and as soon as Starmer asked his first question it was clear that Johnson was completely unprepared.

Q2 Is there a "Dominic Cummings" equivalent figure in the White House, effectively pulling all the strings...?

Please take a moment to read the article linked to below. This is the sort of article we're reading over here. It seems reasonable comment to me, but what do I know of American electioneering..?

Q3: Is Ms Greer on the ball or are is she wide of the mark..?

The Problem With Bernie Sanders
mrmhead On March 27, 2024




NE, Ohio
#11New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 12:51:16
@Jennifer1984 Said

I've been reading the weekly missives written by Bonnie Greer in The New European every week. her columns were very illuminating and from where I sit it seems the US is heading for another Trump presidency.

Q1. Do you see any parallels between the Trump Presidency and how the Johnson Premiership is developing..?

Johnson doesn't use Twitter... which is probably because he's too lazy to do anything of much at all. He goes AWOL sometimes for weeks at a time, leaving his Ministers to do his job for him. He can't even get to Parliament in time for PMQ's. He was just getting to the chamber as Mr Speaker made the announcement and as soon as Starmer asked his first question it was clear that Johnson was completely unprepared.

Q2 Is there a "Dominic Cummings" equivalent figure in the White House, effectively pulling all the strings...?


I'm not all that up on what and how Johnson is doing it, but most of the time I see Trump as just bumbling, fumbling his way through in his bull-in-a-china-shop manner.

If anyone is trying to pull Trumps strings, there are a lot of broken threads on the oval office floor.

Now, things may be happening behind the scenes that don't get our attention in this Age of ... SQUIRREL!

... like the occasional roll-back of regulations,
opening up federal lands for exploitation, and such
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#12New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 13:18:03
@mrmhead Said

I'm not all that up on what and how Johnson is doing it, but most of the time I see Trump as just bumbling, fumbling his way through in his bull-in-a-china-shop manner.

If anyone is trying to pull Trumps strings, there are a lot of broken threads on the oval office floor.

Now, things may be happening behind the scenes that don't get our attention in this Age of ... SQUIRREL!

... like the occasional roll-back of regulations,
opening up federal lands for exploitation, and such



Yep... things happening behind the scenes. That's Johnson / Cummings all over.

It's fair to say that Johnson has had to deal with Covid-19 after only a couple of months in office but that doesn't mean the minions aren't getting busy with other things out of the spotlight.

Dominic Cummings Billion Dollar Brainchild

This has been quietly ticking along almost unnoticed since Cummings came into office
.
Dominic Cummings has set up his own AI project that -it is suspected, and is not being officially denied - is intended to replace impartial institutions that have been advising government for more than 150 years.

Snip:

In 2018, he wrote a 47-page document concluding that a British ARPA would cover research into “machine learning, robotics, energy, neuroscience, genetics, cognitive technologies… and, crucially, funding what now seem ‘crazy’ ideas just as the internet and quantum computers seemed ‘crazy’ before they became mainstream”.

Cummings added: “There should be a systematic improvement in the ecosphere of school curricula, universities, venture capital, high skilled immigration policy, planning policy, tax policy, the structure (and incentives) of public companies, intellectual property law (which in important ways supports rent-seekers and undermines innovation and is particularly badly understood by politicians/officials)… We could play an extremely valuable role as an experimental testbed for scientific regulation outside all three major blocks (USA, EU, China) without having to obey awful EU rules like GDPR.”

The Prime Minister’s chief advisor also wants to change the culture for MPs and Whitehall decision-makers as part of the project – ending a system which has stayed impartial for a century-and-a-half. Cummings famously said that he aimed to replace them by “hiring data scientists, project managers, policy experts, assorted weirdos… who have a one in 10,000 or higher level of skill and temperament”.


(My embolden)

This is not a project aimed at improving any services for the benefit of the public. This is a project aimed at taking control of all aspects of government and replacing institutions such as the Civil Service with AI systems which can be set and programmed to design policy in accordance with its creators doctrines.

This is the first really organised part of the systematic take over of government by a Big Brother state.
mrmhead On March 27, 2024




NE, Ohio
#13New Post! Jun 11, 2020 @ 13:50:24
@Jennifer1984 Said

Yep... things happening behind the scenes. That's Johnson / Cummings all over.

It's fair to say that Johnson has had to deal with Covid-19 after only a couple of months in office but that doesn't mean the minions aren't getting busy with other things out of the spotlight.

Dominic Cummings Billion Dollar Brainchild

This has been quietly ticking along almost unnoticed since Cummings came into office
.
Dominic Cummings has set up his own AI project that -it is suspected, and is not being officially denied - is intended to replace impartial institutions that have been advising government for more than 150 years.

Snip:

In 2018, he wrote a 47-page document concluding that a British ARPA would cover research into “machine learning, robotics, energy, neuroscience, genetics, cognitive technologies… and, crucially, funding what now seem ‘crazy’ ideas just as the internet and quantum computers seemed ‘crazy’ before they became mainstream”.

Cummings added: “There should be a systematic improvement in the ecosphere of school curricula, universities, venture capital, high skilled immigration policy, planning policy, tax policy, the structure (and incentives) of public companies, intellectual property law (which in important ways supports rent-seekers and undermines innovation and is particularly badly understood by politicians/officials)… We could play an extremely valuable role as an experimental testbed for scientific regulation outside all three major blocks (USA, EU, China) without having to obey awful EU rules like GDPR.”

The Prime Minister’s chief advisor also wants to change the culture for MPs and Whitehall decision-makers as part of the project – ending a system which has stayed impartial for a century-and-a-half. Cummings famously said that he aimed to replace them by “hiring data scientists, project managers, policy experts, assorted weirdos… who have a one in 10,000 or higher level of skill and temperament”.


(My embolden)

This is not a project aimed at improving any services for the benefit of the public. This is a project aimed at taking control of all aspects of government and replacing institutions such as the Civil Service with AI systems which can be set and programmed to design policy in accordance with its creators doctrines.

This is the first really organised part of the systematic take over of government by a Big Brother state.


IBM and Amazon recently announced they are stepping back from Facial Recognition programs.
IBM is stopping research and development, Amazon is taking "a moratorium" from using or selling to police forces - except for cases of human trafficking.


A link
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#14New Post! Jun 12, 2020 @ 05:50:09
@mrmhead Said

IBM and Amazon recently announced they are stepping back from Facial Recognition programs.
IBM is stopping research and development, Amazon is taking "a moratorium" from using or selling to police forces - except for cases of human trafficking.


A link



Very interesting and this is consistent with concerns that were being raised about facial recognition technology going way back.

Facial recognition was actually a module on my course at university. You may be surprised to know that it goes back to the 1960s, by a system pioneered by a chap named Woodrow Wilson Bledsoe whose device used horizontal and vertical co-ordinates on a grid using a stylus that emitted electromagnetic pulses. The system could be used to manually record the coordinate locations of various facial features including the eyes, nose, hairline and mouth.

During the 1970s the accuracy of this system was increased to be able to specify 21 facial markers. In the 80s and 90s the "Eigenface" technique showed that using feature analysis alone it was possible to create a facial image from scratch..!!

In the 2000s, the FERET Programme created a database of more than 2000 images that would be used for test purposes as the technology progressed. At the 2002 Superbowl, fans were unknowingly scanned using this database in the hope it would "Prove the system." It failed. I remember attending a lecture on this very experiment in 2004. The Prof who gave the lecture was quite scathing about it.

Of course, none of these things has stopped research and development of FR technology. And if it is used for benign purposes it can be very useful. However, it is mostly law enforcement organisations that are most interested, eg, at airports and in detecting criminals. Fair enough as long as it is used properly and doesn't infringe human rights or civil liberties.

And that's where it starts to go belly-up. Such systems are wide open to malpractice and abuse.

And that, my friend, is the whole point of this discussion.
gakINGKONG On October 18, 2022




, Florida
#15New Post! Jun 17, 2020 @ 02:40:31
@Jennifer1984 Said

As a question to you guys across the pond. How does any of that resonate with the Trump regime..?

This is an open ended thread. Not restricted to UK only.



I suspect Mr Trump will throw in to protect the Union of States. He's asking the local governments of Seattle to regain order or he will step in.

Not a bad start.
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