Free Republic

As at Charlotteville.

Original article here:

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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07170-0

27 March 2024
A global timekeeping problem postponed by global warming
Duncan Carr Agnew
Nature volume 628, pages333–336 (2024)

Abstract
The historical association of time with the rotation of Earth has meant that Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) closely follows this rotation1. Because the rotation rate is not constant, UTC contains discontinuities (leap seconds), which complicates its use in computer networks2. Since 1972, all UTC discontinuities have required that a leap second be added3. Here we show that increased melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica, measured by satellite gravity4,5, has decreased the angular velocity of Earth more rapidly than before. Removing this effect from the observed angular velocity shows that since 1972, the angular velocity of the liquid core of Earth has been decreasing at a constant rate that has steadily increased the angular velocity of the rest of the Earth. Extrapolating the trends for the core and other relevant phenomena to predict future Earth orientation shows that UTC as now defined will require a negative discontinuity by 2029. This will pose an unprecedented problem for computer network timing and may require changes in UTC to be made earlier than is planned. If polar ice melting had not recently accelerated, this problem would occur 3 years earlier: global warming is already affecting global timekeeping.

Another organizer, Omar Flores of the the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR), was involved in organizing the Kenosha riots that led to the Kyle Rittenhouse incident:

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/teen-vigilante-kyle-rittenhouse-killed-unarmed-kenosha-protester-who-threw-plastic-bag-at-him-court-docs-say

Outside the county jail, Omar Flores, a Kenosha native who lives in Milwaukee, was among a group of organizers waiting for friends to be released. Flores said his friend was locked up for a curfew violation at around 9:00 p.m. the previous night.

He, too, was concerned that three organizers were “snatched and grabbed” by agents in “black unmarked trucks without license plates” and locked up for almost 24 hours.

“It’s been impossible and frustrating to get any information about their arrests,” he said.

Joe Iosbaker of FRSO is another name in the article:

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https://keywiki.org/Joe_Iosbaker

“Support Bill Ayers”
In October 2008, several thousand college professors, students and academic staff signed a statement Support Bill Ayers in solidarity with former Weather Underground Organization terrorist Bill Ayers.

In the run up to the U.S. presidential elections, Ayers had come under considerable media scrutiny, sparked by his relationship to presidential candidate Barack Obama.

We write to support our colleague Professor William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who is currently under determined and sustained political attack...
We, the undersigned, stand on the side of education as an enterprise devoted to human inquiry, enlightenment, and liberation. We oppose the demonization of Professor William Ayers.
Joe Iosbaker of the University of Illinois – Chicago signed the statement.[12]. . .

December 2014 - “As US/NATO aggression towards Russia increases”, five leaders from the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) attended an antiwar conference in Moscow, Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and Building a Multipolar World. We were invited by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia. The five UNAC members who attended the conference were Margaret Kimberley of Black Agenda Report and the UNAC Administrative Committee; Joe Iosbaker of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the Rasmea Odeh defense campaign and the UNAC Administrative Committee; Bill Dores of the International Action Center: women’s rights activist, Mo Hannah; and UNAC Co-Coordinator, Joe Lombardo.[22]

Delegation.jpg
On December 16, the delegation of U.S. anti-war activists met with the Embassy of the State of Palestine Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Dr. Faed Mustafa. Ambassador Mustafa agreed to the meeting after a request was made by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, the hosts of the international conference of anti-war forces.

The delegation that met with the ambassador included Joe Lombardo, co-chair of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), Bill Dores of the International Action Center and UNAC and Mo Hannah, also a member of UNAC and Joe Iosbaker.[23]

Second Moscow conference
Iosbaker.PNG
Tom Michalak went to Moscow, February 2015, as part of a small delegation of peace activists from the United States. Our goal was to demonstrate that among working people of all countries, cooperation is possible and in our best interests. The other delegates were Oscar Hernandez Santoyo of Milwaukee, an immigrant rights activist with “Youth Empowered in the Struggle” and Joe Iosbaker, of the Rasmea Defense Committee and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

The host during our stay in Moscow was Alexander Ionov, president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia. This is not a homogenous organization representing one ideological current. Some of its members subscribe to Korean socialism and some are “Putinists,” that is, champions of the Russian president, among other tendencies. The underlying current among the membership is staunch opposition to Western imperialism and the belief that all nations have the right to self-determination.

On the wall in the group’s office are framed photographs of Hafez and Bashar Al-Assad of Syria, Kim Il Sung of socialist Korea, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara of Cuba, Moammar Gadhafi of Libya and Omar Torrijos of Panama — all political leaders that U.S. imperialism has demonized.

The Anti-Globalization Movement held weekly demonstrations in solidarity with the Cuban 5 political prisoners as well as a demonstration in solidarity with the “Black Lives Matter” movement outside the U.S. Embassy.[24]

The trip was paid for by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia. . .

Shabbir Rizvi, mentioned in the original article in connection with the Chicago chapter of the Minneapolis-based Anti-War Committee (outgrowth of CISPES and IPAC), has some interesting connections:

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https://keywiki.org/Sarah_Bils

Sarah Bils
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Sarah Bils

DD Geopolitics X page (screenshot)
Sarah Bils is a former US Navy officer who “left after being demoted”. She is a known Russia propagandist.

Sarah Bils is associated with MAGA Communism.

DOJ Investigation into Leaked Documents
Sarah Bils, who currently uses DD Geopolitics on social media, used her platform to distribute “stolen, classified documents about U.S. arms deliveries to Ukraine” prompting an investigation by the Department of Justice. The documents were allegedly first leaked by Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman.[1]

Aleksandr Dugin and friends

Iara Modarelli, Sarah Bils, Aleksandr Dugin
Sarah Bils has interviewed[2] Iara Modarelli, Aleksandr Dugin, Scott Ritter, Carl Zha, Pepe Escobar, Elijah J. Magnier, Iman Ali from Syria, Faina Savenkova from Ukraine, Mira Terada, Mark Sleboda, Ray McGovern, Shabbir Rizvi, Brian Berletic, Marwa Osman, Larry Johnson, Haz Al-Din, Andrei Martyano, Chay Bowes and others.

References
EXCLUSIVE: US Navy vet Sarah Bils relaunched pro-Putin propaganda accounts on X and YouTube months after being investigated by DOJ (accessed March 9, 2024)
DD Geopolitics YouTube Channel (accessed March 9, 2024)

Ping.

https://www.lisatinygraygarcia.com/biography

tiny (lisa) gray-garcia aka “PovertySkola” is a formerly unhoused, incarcerated, revolutionary journalist, lecturer, poet, visionary, teacher and single mama of Tiburcio, daughter of a houseless, disabled mama Dee, and the co-founder of POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE/PoorNewsNetwork. With her Mama Dee- she co-founded Escuela de la gente/PeopleSkool- a poor and indigenous people-led skool, as well as several cultural and theatre projects such as the Po Poets Project/Poetas POBREs Proyecto (co-founded with Leroy Moore), welfareQUEENs, the Theatre of the POOR/Teatro de los pobres, and Hotel Voices. In 2011 she co-launched The Homefulness Project - a landless peoples, self-determined land liberation movement in the Ohlone/Lisjan/Huchuin territory known as Deep East Oakland, the Bank of ComeUnity Reparations and co-founded a liberation school for children, Deecolonize Academy and is the creator of a PoemCast from a poverty skola- a podcast series and as well is the co-host of Po Peoples Radio News Hour on PNNKEXU 96.1fm and bi-weekly on KPFA.

Tiny has taught Poverty Scholarship, the criminalization of poverty and poor people led liberation, poetry and media at universities and encampments across Mama Earth including Columbia and UC Berkeley. She has authored several essays for The SF Bay View Newspaper, 48 Hills and POOR Magazine as well as books including Criminal of Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America, co-editor of A Decolonizers Guide to A Humble Revolution, Born & Raised in Frisco and co-author of Poverty ScholarShip - Poor People Theory, Arts, words and Tears Across Mama Earth, How to Not Call PoLice Ever, Po Peoples Survival Guide Through Covid 19 and the Virus of Poverty and the Homefulness Handbook- How to Build a Homeless, Landless peoples solution to homelessness. She also authored two bi-lingual childrens books: The Hardworker/El Trabajador Fuerte and When Mama and Me Lived Outside - one families journey thru homelessness (which has become an award winning animated short movie of the same name) and The Sidewalk Motel - poems and Poshunary from a poverty skola which was released in 2022.

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/case-dismissed-against-chauvin-trial-witness-over-domestic-assault-allegations/

Donald Williams, 35, pleaded not guilty to domestic assault after being accused of strangling and striking his ex-girlfriend during an incident outside the Minnesota State Fair in 2022.

Court records show prosecuting attorneys dropped the charges in late August this year after an agreement that saw Williams plead guilty to a domestic abuse no-contact order violation involving the same victim. . .

Ping.

Thanks for finding those. Definitely need to tread cautiously without corroboration.

I’m no fan of Apple’s politics, but I wonder which of Apple’s rivals benefit from this lawsuit? Next biggest players globally would be Samsung and Xiaomi. Of the two, I’m most curious about Xiaomi, but both have a stake.

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https://thehill.com/lobbying/4270548-bottom-line-samsung-lobbies-up-on-semiconductor-tax-issues/

Bottom Line: Samsung lobbies up on semiconductor, tax issues
BY TAYLOR GIORNO - 10/24/23 6:00 AM ET

Samsung Semiconductor Inc. hired Covington & Burling LLP to lobby on issues including the advanced manufacturing investment credit, which incentivizes domestic semiconductor production. The firm will also focus on the United States-Taiwan Expedited Double-Tax Relief Act, which the Senate Finance Committee unanimously advanced in mid-September, less than a week before the effective lobbying registration date. Ed McClellan, former tax counsel on the Senate Finance Committee, will work on the account. . .

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https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/07/15/business/tech/us-chipmakers-visit-washington-us-regulations/

Chip companies are at the center of what has been an escalating row between Beijing and Washington. The U.S., where the majority of the technology originates, believes that restricting China’s access to it will bolster national security and hold back the Asian nation’s efforts to advance its military capabilities. The companies have argued that being cut off from their largest market will harm their ability to spend on advancing their technology and ultimately undermine U.S. leadership.

Representatives for the three companies declined to comment.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon gets more than 60% of his company’s revenue from the China region by supplying components to smartphone makers such as Xiaomi Corp. Intel’s Pat Gelsinger, who visited Beijing earlier this month to show off his company’s latest artificial intelligence chips, counts the nation as his biggest sales region. The country provides about a quarter of Intel’s sales. And for Nvidia, run by co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, China provides about a fifth of revenue.

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https://www.voanews.com/a/us-lobbyists-drop-chinese-clients-amid-tightened-scrutiny-/7513459.html

The effort to tighten scrutiny of China’s lobbying activities follows the U.S. Department of Defense’s release in late January of a list of “Chinese military companies” operating directly or indirectly in the United States known as the 1260H list.

Lawmakers subsequently said they were considering a measure prohibiting lobbyists who represent companies on the list from meeting with members of Congress, even to discuss matters on behalf of their American clients.

Following the release of the 1260H list, a chart began circulating on Capitol Hill that named various Chinese companies, including some military firms, as well as the names of their lobbying firms and whether they appear on the 1260H list.

Responding to the chart, at least five U.S. lobbying firms dropped Chinese clients as of late February. Steptoe LLP has terminated its contract with Shenzhen biotech company BGI. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld filed cease-and-desist documents to stop lobbying for Chinese LiDAR maker Hesai Group and terminated its cooperation with Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company not on the 1260H list. The Vogel Group has also dropped lobbying services for Chinese drone company DJI and Complete Genomics, a subsidiary of genetic technology company BGI.

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https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/lobbyists?cycle=2023&id=D000102748

$460,000
Total Lobbying Expenditures, 2023
5
Number of Lobbyists
5 (100.00%)
Number of Revolvers ?more info

Lobbyists representing Xiaomi Inc, 2023
imore info

Filter by Revolving Door Profiles:
All
Filter by Former Members of Congress:
All
Lobbying Firm Hired Total Amount* Client Lobbyist
BGR Group $360,000 Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Lester Munson
BGR Group $360,000 Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Walker Roberts
BGR Group $360,000 Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Edward M Jr Rogers
BGR Group $360,000 Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Maya Seiden
BGR Group $360,000 Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Hunter Strupp

Lamont Robinson, born in Humboldt Park, February 21, 1982. . .Any relation to Michelle Robinson Obama of South Shore and/or Jesse Jackson’s half-brother Noah Robinson, Jr.?

Related:

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article207911324.html

Chinese crime syndicate’s alleged pot grows lead to seizure of 100 homes in Sacramento area BY SAM STANTON AND DALE KASLER UPDATED APRIL 05, 2018 9:51 AM

https://www.propublica.org/article/chinese-organized-crime-us-marijuana-market

Gangsters, Money and Murder: How Chinese Organized Crime Is Dominating America’s Illegal Marijuana Market
A quadruple murder in Oklahoma shows how the Chinese underworld has come to dominate the booming illicit trade, fortifying its rise as a global powerhouse with alleged ties to China’s authoritarian regime.
by Sebastian Rotella and Kirsten Berg, ProPublica, and Garrett Yalch and Clifton Adcock, The Frontier
March 14, 5 a.m. EDT

https://freebeacon.com/media/nyt-writer-urged-activists-to-escalate-protests-targeting-kavanaugh/

Lindsay Crouse, who earned notoriety after disclosing that her ex-boyfriend is dating Lady Gaga in a 2020 op-ed, said in a May 8 tweet that protesters should target the Chevy Chase Club because that way, she said, their cries “will reach not just Kavanaugh but also Justice Roberts—both are members.” She deleted the tweet, but only after it elicited praise from activists who shared the address of the club across the platform.

Shannon Maguire boasts how USAID under the leadership of Samantha Power has promoted propaganda and censorship under the guise of promoting freedom of the press:

When authoritarian and other repressive actors seek to silence expression, they do so to divide citizens, undermine their faith and trust in institutions, and make them question whether democracy can deliver for them.

Whether traditional techniques — attacking journalists, jailing editors, or putting censorship statutes on the books — or new takes like poisoning the information space or shutting down the internet, the intent is to silence dissent, or even just create uncertainty or cynicism.

As worst practices are shared, we see corruption weaponized, truthful narratives purposely distorted, and technologies put to work against reporters in Sudan, Myanmar, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and so many other places. Accelerating this trend was the COVID-19 pandemic, when uncertainty and global economic disruption opened the path for increased democratic erosion and closing civic space, putting even more pressure on independent media.

Supporting independent media has been part of USAID’s democracy and governance assistance efforts since the 1980s. The U.S. government is now the largest public donor to independent media development globally. . .

New Initiatives to Advance Free and Independent Media
Amajor demonstration of this approach comes through USAID’s Summit for Democracy commitments, a series of initiatives to address these threats and advance free and independent media.

The first one is the Media Viability Accelerator (MVA), which was announced at the first Summit for Democracy in December 2021. The goal of the MVA is to preserve fact-based news and information media by providing access to the data they need to build strategies to survive, thrive, adapt, and grow as businesses. Through a public-private partnership with USAID, Microsoft, and Internews, MVA is a unique data platform using artificial intelligence and other digital tools to enable media outlets to better understand markets, audiences, and strategies that will maximize their odds of profitability.

Second, USAID’s $20 million contribution to the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) is helping to boost global support through grants to develop and sustain a wide range of independent news organizations. To date, IFPIM has committed nearly $9 million through 32 grants across 16 countries to media outlets in urgent need of financial assistance and to strengthen their long-term sustainability. USAID’s initial seed funding has leveraged an additional $30 million from 15 governments, philanthropies, and corporate entities.

This solicitation says: Reporters Shield: FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE ATTACKS ON FREE PRESS; NOW OPEN FOR MEMBERSHIP; APPLY AT reporters-shield.org; #WorldPressFreedomDay.
The third initiative is Reporters Shield, an innovative program that helps protect investigative media outlets and civil society organizations from strategic litigation against public participation lawsuits, or other legal threats meant to silence their reporting. Prior to the launch of Reporters Shield, such help was inconsistent, ad hoc, reactive, and, often, expensive.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power launched the next phase of USAID’s Reporters Shield, at the United Nations Headquarters last World Press Freedom Day on May 3. Reporters Shield is now providing legal support services and capacity development for 12 media outlets and civil society organizations doing investigative reporting, with more than 100 applications still under review during the launch phase alone. Additional phases will be opening in spring and summer.

AEnsuring Trustworthy Information
Although these three innovations directly benefit journalists and media organizations, they are ultimately meant to ensure that all of us have sources of trustworthy information.

They also complement other USAID programs that equip journalists and their allies to protect themselves from attacks online and offline, strengthen investigative journalism networks, advance freedom of expression, and amplify citizen voices and government response. . .

. . .

About the Author
Shannon Maguire is the Senior Media Advisor in USAID’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia’s Technical Support Office in the Democracy and Governance Division.

“The primer was “conceived and developed by Joshua Machleder and Shannon Maguire at USAID, together with” the University of Chicago organization formerly known as the National Opinion Research Center, the introduction says.”

Machleder has a background with the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), the same Cold War Communist Party front group Jamie Raskin’s father helped run. He wrote a paper on Russian NGOs in Moscow as an Alfa Fellow with INDEM Foundation in 2006. Recently he’s worked at the National Endowment for Democracy (CIA front linked to USAID and Soros operations in Obama-era Ukraine) and been involved in teaching English to Ukranian refugees.

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https://ips-dc.org/ips-authors/josh-machleder/

Josh Machleder

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on NGOs
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Ordo Templi Orientis: an occult group that originated in Germany and Austria, known for ritualized sexual practices (”sex magick”), represented in the English-speaking world by Aleister Crowley, networked with various occult groups in England, France, and America around the turn of the 20th century. Steiner in his student days became associated with future OTO cofounder Franz Hartmann, a leading German Theosophist he met in Vienna in the 1880s among progressive circles centered around one Friedrich Eckstein. Eckstein, Hartmann, Steiner and others in their circle came under the influence of the aforementioned Alois Mailander, who taught meditation techniques adapted from Johann Baptist Krebs aka J.B. Kerning. Mailander was a hidden guru for Steiner and other leading German Theosophists interested in Yoga and yogic sexual practices (Theosophy was the leading source of information on Yoga in the German-speaking world at this time). Steiner regarded Mailander as a reincarnation of the Apostle John and Lazarus (whom he considered the same person) and used his teachings as a key to reinterpreting Christianity from a Theosophical viewpoint (for instance, he borrowed Mailander’s idea that Christ’s Second Coming would not be physical, but “etheric”). Mailander’s techniques were integrated with other occult sexual practices by Hartmann’s German Theosophical associate Carl Kellner, the “spiritual father of the OTO”. Steiner was recruited to represent what became the OTO by Kellner and Hartmann’s associate Theodore Reuss in the late 1890s, and Reuss issued Steiner a charter to start a lodge using the OTO’s rite in 1906. Meanwhile, Steiner became the head of the German section of the Theosophical Society in 1902, at the invitation of leading German Theosophist Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleiden. After a split emerged in German Theosophy, Steiner and his followers broke off and joined the Anthroposophical Society, launched as a rival to Theosophy in 1912, while Hartmann’s following went with a faction led by Theosophical publisher Hugo Vollrath. After Steiner died in 1925, his posthumous autobiography went to lengths to minimize his associations with earlier mentors and organizations.

Many references discussing these figures are available online. For in-depth research, start with the work of James Webb (The Occult Establishment), Karl Beier (Yoga within Viennese Occultism: Carl Kellner and Co.), and Peter Staudenmaier (Between Occultism and Nazism: Anthroposophy and the Politics of Race in the Fascist Era).

There’s the educational side of Waldorf education and the occult and political sides. Another post has already addressed the educational side. On the occult side, Rudolf Steiner interacted closely with the founders of German and Austrian Theosophy and Ariosophy (i.e. Aryan Theosophy, an influence on Nazism), including the leaders of the German cult Aleister Crowley infamously joined, the OTO, which Steiner also represented for a time. Steiner became a front man for Alois Mailander, a Rosicrucian who practiced a form of the occult “sex magick” similar to Crowley’s. As far as Anthroposophy’s political orientation, as you’ve gathered, they tend to lean socialist, an orientation which goes back to a Swiss radical colony named Monte Verita where Steiner and the OTO rubbed shoulders with the likes of Bakunin and Lenin and other leaders of the revolutionary underground in the Bolshevik era. Monte Verita was kind of an early 20th century prototype for the hippie movement.

Another Utah J6 connection, like John Earle Sullivan.