THE ‘MADFOX’, U.K. ROYAL NAVY NEW 'ROBO STEALTH BOAT' IS READY || 2021

Data Revisions + GeoPolitics Leave Taiwan Unsure Where Outbreaks and Fabs Are Heading

Why is Taiwan's Tech Titan betting on the Desert here in Arizona?

Off-Shoring to Inland Ports (or Safe Havens?)

 

Surprise Discoveries in Atmosphere/Space, Observers' Event | SUSPICIOUS OBSERVERS News June 3,2021

Putting Carbon Dioxide In Perspective: Volcanoes and Humanity (The Greatest Eruption on Earth)

Let's get right to it > In pre-industrial times, the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 280 parts per million; the level has since reached 417 parts per million, the highest in 3 million years.>

". . .When you see a volcano, fire coming from the ground, you feel a connection to forces beyond your normal experience—the planet, the origin of life, the creation of everything, the recycling of materials and continents, the elements that make the planet what it is. You remember that we are standing on just a thin crust of life, a sweet spot between burning magma and a burning sun. You think of all the ancestors who feared these forces and all the folklore and religion that the eruptions inspired. You think of Prometheus and his gift of fire.

. . .Earth’s volcanoes—both on land and underwater—are estimated to release, on average, about 200 million tons of carbon dioxide a year; humanity releases almost 37 billion.

 

The fire we burn is almost 200 times greater than that produced by all the volcanic activity on Earth.

> Yet we go through our day without actually seeing fire or smoke.

> We see and perceive volcanoes, their ferociousness and their thundering din, but we don’t see that we are Earth’s largest volcano

The Gods Were Right

They punished Prometheus for stealing their fire. Now look what humans have done with it.

Andri Snær MagnasonWriter and documentary film director

The Atlantic | June 2, 2021

"In Iceland, where I live, we have an eruption now. For the first time in my memory, we here in Reykjavík can see the glow of a volcano from our windows, like a sunrise just across the bay. We are witness to Earth’s most powerful forces at work: the birth of a mountain. But to observe a volcanic eruption is not to see something far greater than ourselves. To visit a volcano is to look in a mirror and consider the force humans have become—the greatest eruption on Earth.

More It is all so well designed, so invisible.

===========================================================================

If the cars on our highways displayed their fires on the outside, the conflagration we kindle in order to get to work would be evident.

> If fire were to rise from the bodies of cars, we could see the mighty lava flow that this frenzy of traffic constitutes.

> We can see forest fires and burning high-rises.

> On the news, we see tankers burst into flames or oil reserves that have caught fire after an accident.

> We forget: That oil was meant to burn anyway, just not all in one place, all at one time.

We do not perceive our everyday life as a disaster. But the eruption is us—our lives, our daily existence.

 

“Watch The Problem and Fix It Before It Gets Near You” | Ridley Scott

POLICING: Seizing Civil Assets Funds "Off-The-Books" Funds Drone Surveillance in Communities Nation-Wide

How to avoid public oversight and scrutiny when you can't ...do it "off-the-books" until you get caught. Stuff the PD never wanted the public to know is now in the public's hands >

Leaked Emails Show Chicago PD Bought, Deployed Drones Using Off-The-Books Forfeiture Funds

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the forced-transparency-still-more-effective-than-voluntary-transparency dept

Wed, Jun 2nd 2021 1:36pm — Tim Cushing

 

 

"Thanks to the efforts of transparency activists Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS), residents of Chicago are learning more about the activities of their sworn protectors, the Chicago Police Department. Stuff the PD never wanted the public to see is now in the public's hands. The Chicago Sun Times has started digging into the stash provided by DDoS and has revealed the PD's secret drone program, paid for with off-the-books funds.

Details of the police department’s drone program were included in an email sent last summer by Karen Conway, director of police research and development. In the email, Conway told other high-ranking police officials that the department’s counter-terrorism bureau “utilized 1505 funds for a pilot Drone program that operates within the parameters of current laws.”

1505 funds are funds the city doesn't control or track. The funds belong solely to the Police Department -- something that happens shortly after the PD takes the funds from the people they used to belong to.

The department’s “1505” fund is made up of forfeiture proceeds — money and other assets seized in connection to criminal investigations. The money isn’t included in the department’s official budget and has reportedly been used in the past to purchase other controversial technology, like Stingrays, which mimic cell towers and send out signals to trick phones into transmitting their locations and other information. 

Asset forfeiture is a great way to get cops the things they want without having to worry about oversight from either the city or its residents. Purchases are almost always "controversial" when they're made with funds that are all but invisible to outsiders.

And there's quite a bit of cash to be spent . . .

____________________________________________________________________________

CPD launched secret drone program with off-the-books cash

In an email last summer, a police official reported that its counter-terrorism bureau started a pilot drone program using forfeiture proceeds — money and other assets seized in connection to criminal investigations.

By Tom Schuba and Frank Main | Staff Reporter Updated May 12, 2021, 11:02am CDT

The Chicago Police Department started a secretive drone program using off-budget cash to pay for the new technology, the Sun-Times has learned. . .

EXTRACTED NOTE; The department’s “1505” fund is made up of forfeiture proceeds — money and other assets seized in connection to criminal investigations. The money isn’t included in the department’s official budget and has reportedly been used in the past to purchase other controversial technology, like Stingrays, which mimic cell towers and send out signals to trick phones into transmitting their locations and other information.

Over the past two years, the department reported taking in seized or awarded assets valued at an estimated $25.9 million. That haul stems from investigations into alleged drug crimes and money laundering, but the reports don’t give the full scope of the department’s take because details about seized vehicles were redacted.

The reports state that roughly $7.7 million was spent over that period on operating expenses, witness protection, informant fees and controlled drug buys, as well as travel, meals, conferences, training and continuing education. The spending isn’t itemized, but the reports state that operating expenses can cover vehicles, guns and equipment, such as drones.

Inside China's Accelerating Bid for Chip Supremacy