turbinetree
turbinetree's JournalFacebook needs independent ethical oversight: UK lawmakers
Source: Reuters
WORLD NEWS FEBRUARY 17, 2019 / 7:10 PM / UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO
LONDON (Reuters) - Facebook and other big tech companies should be subject to a compulsory code of ethics to tackle the spread of fake news, the abuse of users’ data and the bullying of smaller firms, British lawmakers said on Monday.
In a damning report that singled out Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg for what it said was a failure of leadership and personal responsibility, the UK parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee said the companies had proved ineffective in stopping harmful content and disinformation on their platforms.
“The guiding principle of the ‘move fast and break things’ culture often seems to be that it is better to apologize than ask permission,” committee chairman Damian Collins said.
“We need a radical shift in the balance of power between the platforms and the people.”
Collins said the age of inadequate self-regulation must come to an end.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-privacy-britain/facebook-needs-independent-ethical-oversight-uk-lawmakers-idUSKCN1Q7005
Mother Jones current issue has a article about Facebook....................and says the same thing about that platform and others........................"self regulation must come to an end"......................
Airbus warns of no-deal Brexit, says has spent tens of millions preparing
BREXIT FEBRUARY 17, 2019 / 12:22 PM / UPDATED 11 HOURS AGO
LONDON (Reuters) - Airbus said on Sunday it would have to make “difficult decisions” about future investment if Britain crashes out of the European Union without a deal, adding it had already spent tens of millions of euros in preparations.
“There is no such thing as a managed ‘no deal’, it’s absolutely catastrophic for us,” senior vice president Katherine Bennett told the BBC’s Andrew Marr.
“Some difficult decisions will have to made if there’s no-deal (...) we will have to look at future investments.”
She said Airbus had already spent “tens of million of euros” on preparing for Brexit, for example on stockpiling parts and securing IT systems.
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-airbus/airbus-warns-of-no-deal-brexit-says-has-spent-tens-of-millions-preparing-idUSKCN1Q60AX
Hey May, how do you spell clusterfuck .........................Tories ........................that's how..................
Study blames YouTube for rise in number of Flat Earthers
Conspiracy theories shown on video-sharing site persuade people to doubt Earth is round
Researchers believe they have identified the prime driver for a startling rise in the number of people who think the Earth is flat: Google’s video-sharing site, YouTube.
Their suspicion was raised when they attended the world’s largest gatherings of Flat Earthers at the movement’s annual conference in Rayleigh, North Carolina, in 2017, and then in Denver, Colorado, last year.
Interviews with 30 attendees revealed a pattern in the stories people told about how they came to be convinced that the Earth was not a large round rock spinning through space but a large flat disc doing much the same thing.
Of the 30, all but one said they had not considered the Earth to be flat two years ago but changed their minds after watching videos promoting conspiracy theories on YouTube. “The only person who didn’t say this was there with his daughter and his son-in-law and they had seen it on YouTube and told him about it,” said Asheley Landrum, who led the research at Texas Tech University.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/feb/17/study-blames-youtube-for-rise-in-number-of-flat-earthers
Reminds me of what I just read in my current edition of Mother Jones, talking about Facebook...................they are just as dangerous as the You Tube......................they are asked to cleaned up there shit, and they go into Congress and baffle everyone with there right wing BS, that they will clean up there act..................I got a bridge I will sell you if you believe that crap, they will not clean up there act, because of the advertising dollars they will lose, from lets say nefarious foreign actors .........................
Remainers plan mass march and key vote in last days before Brexit
Cross-party alliance aims to build pressure on MPs in the run-up to 29 March
Campaigners against Theresa May’s “my deal or no deal” Brexit strategy are planning to mobilise the public and politicians for a showdown over the UK’s future in Europe in the final six days before Britain is due to leave the EU, the Observer can reveal.
The plans will involve a huge march in London on Saturday, 23 March, aimed at demonstrating the scale of public anxiety about the two Brexit options May is offering, which will conclude with speeches outside the Palace of Westminster. Hundreds of thousands are expected to attend. Then on 25 and 26 March, MPs of all parties say they will be ready to rally behind a “lethal” amendment that will allow May’s deal to be passed, but only on condition that it is first ratified and approved by the British people in a referendum. Such a referendum would require article 50 to be delayed.
If the British people reject May’s deal in that second public vote, the UK would in all probability stay in the EU on its current terms.
MPs who backed Remain in the 2016 referendum – and who are appalled by May’s attempts to “run down the clock” in the hope of forcing parliament to vote for her hugely unpopular deal – believe that the two-pronged approach of involving the public and politicians has a good chance of averting a disastrous Brexit outcome, albeit at the 11th hour.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/16/huge-march-last-week-before-brexit
Brexit: May risks fresh confrontation with ERG over backstop
Source: The Guardian
Eurosceptics react angrily to culture secretary’s suggestion backstop may not be removed
Theresa May is facing a fresh showdown with Eurosceptic Conservative MPs after a cabinet minister suggested she may put her Brexit deal to parliament again without having secured a change to the withdrawal text.
Before talks between May and EU leaders, the culture secretary, Jeremy Wright, said the prime minister’s aim was to solve the Northern Ireland backstop issue but the “mechanism” of the change did not matter.
His words caused alarm among some Eurosceptic Tory MPs, who have repeatedly made clear they would not vote for a deal that did not remove an indefinite Northern Ireland backstop – a clause that could bind the UK into a permanent customs union with the EU.
May has written to every Tory MP reassuring them that she would attempt to eliminate any risk that the backstop is applied indefinitely and urging them to “move beyond what divides us and sacrifice personal preferences for the national interest”. This week, she will speak to every EU leader and meet Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, in an attempt to break the stalemate over the agreement, which Brussels does not want to reopen.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/17/brexit-may-risks-fresh-confrontation-erg-backstop
How do spell "clusterfuck".......................Tories/Breixt
Seven rare right whale calves spotted off Florida coast but 'still isn't enough'
Encouraging sign for the critically endangered species
Only about 450 North Atlantic right whales remain
Seven rare right whale calves have been spotted so far this winter off Florida’s Atlantic coast, an encouraging sign for the critically endangered species but one which one expert said “still isn’t enough”.
No newborns were spotted during the last calving season and just five calves were counted during the previous year.
Jim Hain, senior scientist and project coordinator for the Marineland Right Whale Project, told local newspaper the Daytona Beach News-Journal: “Every calf that gets us closer to 10 or a dozen is very encouraging.”
But Katie Jackson of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said seven calves “still isn’t enough”.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/17/seven-rare-right-whale-calves-spotted-florida-atlantic-coast
This really is said.....................450 of the whales left....................
'Abuse of corporate power': Bill de Blasio slams Amazon for cancelling HQ2 deal
New York mayor, mulling a presidential bid, sought to burnish his progressive credentials by attacking Amazon
New York mayor Bill de Blasio, mulling a presidential run, sought on Sunday to burnish his progressive credentials by accusing Amazon of caring only about “corporate image” when it abruptly decided to pull out of building its second headquarters, or HQ2, in Long Island City.
The tech giant’s decision, de Blasio said, was “arbitrary and unfair to working people”.
Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, the mayor said Amazon walked away from a “good, fair deal” and committed an “abuse of corporate power” when it announced on Thursday it would cancel the project without further negotiation, informing city and state leaders in a post on its website.
Opponents of the deal argued that HQ2 would not benefit existing residents, instead contributing to housing becoming unaffordable for those on low incomes.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/17/bill-de-blasio-new-york-mayor-slams-amazon
What is really galling, is that you have fucking oligarchs in this country pitting cities against each other and shoving the costs right back on the tax payers to get fucking incentives, which eventually raises taxes in the fucking shell game being played here.
And then to top it all off they make billions of profit and don't pay one fucking dime in taxes......................again
And then when this non-paying entity moves to another town, the media will come back and say:See what you missed out New York, with some happy horse shit article.....................maybe they should look at what is happening in Vancouver, LA, San Francisco, New York.................... 
Southwest declares 'operational emergency' with high number of planes out of service
BY KALEY JOHNSON
FEBRUARY 15, 2019 07:39 PM,
UPDATED FEBRUARY 15, 2019 07:39 PM
Southwest Airlines Co. issued an “operational emergency” Friday as an unusually high number of aircraft were taken out of service throughout the week.
The airline’s maintenance workers were ordered to report to work for the “all hands on deck” situation, Southwest said in a press release. In a memo sent to workers, management said those who refuse to show up for emergency repairs could face firing, Bloomberg reported.
On average, about 20 planes are unexpectedly out of service for maintenance items, Southwest said. However, each day this week, the number of planes out of service has doubled.
There is no common theme among the reported problems, Southwest said.
“To take care of our Customers, we are requiring all hands on deck to address maintenance items so that we may promptly return aircraft to service,” Southwest said int he press release. “At the same time, our operational planners have been working in the background to minimize the impact to our Customers.”
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/article226367470.html
I guess Southwest management is whining about safety, and if I was mechanic for the airline it is always about safety, threatening someone who is doing there job description may mean that the management doesn't get it, its all about profit, and then they come out with their platform of customer "stuff" service.
Just like when the orange asshole that shut down the government didn't get it, when ATC and the other flight safety people in the business said enough is enough, maybe Southwest should go back to the drawing board and negotiate in good faith.....................
Even Republicans say Trump national emergency is a 'dangerous' mistake
By Dan Desai Martin - February 15, 2019
Even Trump's most obedient lackeys are saying a national emergency declaration to build a wall is going too far.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) will gleefully vote to put a belligerent alleged attempted rapist on the Supreme Court, but even she can’t stomach the idea of Trump declaring a national emergency to build a border wall.
Collins said it would be a mistake to declare a national emergency in this case, would undermine the role of Congress, and would be “of dubious constitutionality.”
The statement came just before Trump’s Friday morning declaration of a national emergency as a way to pilfer billions of dollars to build a wall. Trump made the announcement after signing a funding bill that contained far less money than he demanded.
But before Trump officially declared a national emergency, criticism for the plan came from all corners of Congress.
https://shareblue.com/trump-national-emergency-wall-republicans-dangerous-mistake/
Hey Rubio and Collins, if you saw what your "leader" was ranting about and showing his absolute clusterfuck of thinking in real time to the country and the world , was and is a malignant narcissistic psychopathic insanity traitor.
My question is, are you going to still put his nominees on the courts that will back this asshole.......................because you can whine all you want but the courts that you are packing with these Federalist Society assholes, support this man in a lot of instances........................that is a fact...............
Trump delivers belligerent 25-minute rant on fake 'national emergency'
By Emily Singer - February 15, 2019
What did we just watch?
If you could decipher even half of what Trump said in his national emergency declaration speech Friday morning, well, congrats!
Trump’s national emergency declaration was a roughly 25-minute-long unhinged rant, in which he interspersed dark and often false stories about crime at the border with braggadocios chatter about how the economy, stock market and relationships with other nations are doing so well under his watch.
Within his chaotic “remarks,” Trump attempted to talk about how the wall will pay for itself, but he never actually explained how the wall will pay for itself —because he totally veered off course into defending Customs officers.
“We would be able to make up the cost of the wall just in the cost of the fact that I would be able to have fewer people, we wouldn’t need all of this incredible talent some of whom are sitting in the first row,” Trump said. “We would get thousands of law enforcement people including border patrol you put them in different areas doing different things.”
https://shareblue.com/trump-national-emergency-belligerent-rant-border-wall/
Hey Right wing majority US Supreme Court if you were listening and watching this clusterfuck in real time, like I did, until I changed the channel, I couldn't bear it anymore, because I am sane.
Maybe just maybe you should use this tape of malignant narcissistic psychopath as evidence that anything, and I mean anything that he does should not be taken seriously and that you should recommend that he seek help with a padded walls......................after he he is convicted for treason........................because this news whatever you want to call it, it was a show in absolute insanity...................in real time...........................
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