Year: 2016

Sports Authority to Sell 25 Million Customer Email Addresses

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I’m sure you’ve always wondered why pretty much every retailer unnecessarily asks you for your email address at checkout. For years, I’ve always declined and will definitely continue to do so, particularly after reading the following.

From GeekWire:

Another day, another reminder that companies don’t really have to abide by promises to not share your personal information. They have a big “but” in their contracts.

Last week, it was WhatsApp and Facebook. We’ll get to that in a moment.

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Obama’s Former Doctor Says Hillary Should Have a Neurological Exam

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I don’t possess any more insight than you do regarding the medical condition of Hillary Clinton. However, what I do know is that given her age and health history asking questions is definitely not conspiracy theory. While hordes of pundits with no medical training claim otherwise, an increasing number of high profile doctors seem to agree with my obvious conclusion. As I highlighted in last week’s post, Questioning Hillary’s Health is Not Conspiracy Theory:

Lately many in the media have become outraged that Clinton’s health is being broached at all. And what are the primary two words associated when Donald Trump, a Trump surrogate or conservative media bring up Clinton’s medical condition?

“Conspiracy theories.” 

But are they all just engaging in wacky speculation in an effort to take down Clinton, where she has a relatively comfortable 5.5-point lead in the RealClearPolitics average of polls?

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Facebook Just Got a Whole Lot Creepier

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I’ve been creeped out by Facebook for a long time now. The following story takes it to another level.

From Fusion:

While some of these incredibly accurate friend suggestions are amusing, others are alarming, such as this story from Lisa*, a psychiatrist who is an infrequent Facebook user, mostly signing in to RSVP for events. Last summer, she noticed that the social network had started recommending her patients as friends—and she had no idea why.

“I haven’t shared my email or phone contacts with Facebook,” she told me over the phone. 

The next week, things got weirder.

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The FDA is Partly to Blame for Mylan’s EpiPen Price Gouging

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The new head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) selected by President Barack Obama has very close ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Robert Califf, an FDA deputy commissioner and cardiologist at Duke University, has had considerable dealings, including financial ones, with drug manufacturers, whose products must be approved by the agency he’s been tabbed to lead.

“No one who knows him thinks he wants to weaken the regulatory agency he has been chosen to lead,” The New York Times reported. “But he has deeper ties to the pharmaceutical industry than any FDA commissioner in recent memory, and some public health advocates question whether his background could tilt him in the direction of an industry he would be in charge of supervising.”

Daniel Carpenter, a Harvard political science professor, told the Times: “In a sense, he’s the ultimate industry insider.”

– From last year’s post: Obama’s Nominee to Head the FDA Has Very Deep Ties to the Pharmaceutical Industry

In the past 24 hours, I’ve read two very interesting articles detailing how the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is partly to blame when it comes to not just EpiPen price gouging, but drug price gouging in general.

The first piece is by someone whose work I’ve highlighted multiple times in the past, David Dayen. Let’s take a look at some of his observations in a recent piece titled, Here’s How to Stop Price Gouging by Drugmakers Like Mylan:

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How the Chinese Government Muzzles Freedom of Expression in Canada

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At least part of the message is beyond dispute: the cash flowing out of China into assets around the world has hit tsunami proportions, driven by fears of a slowing economy and a declining currency. Estimates peg the amount Chinese investors and companies moved out of the country last year at nearly $1 trillion, up more than sevenfold from 2014. Much of that money is being spent by Chinese companies looking to snap up Western assets, such as ChemChina’s US$43-billion bid to take over Swiss seed company Syngenta, or to pay down U.S. dollar-denominated debts. But a sizable portion was directed into overseas real estate.

The frenzy has taken a visible toll on one of the world’s “most livable cities,” resulting in hollowed-out neighborhoods, absentee investors, and vacant, decrepit homes as huge numbers of investment properties simply sit unoccupied. What statisticians have been slow to chart has been ruefully documented in popular blogs like Vancouver Vanishes and Beautiful Empty Homes of Vancouver, which tracks empty, multi-million-dollar character and heritage houses.

– From May’s post: “China is Buying Canada” – Notes From a Gigantic Real Estate Bubble

If I were a Canadian citizen, I’d be up in arms about the following story. Ironically, it’s Chinese-Canadians who are bearing the brunt of the intimidation and censorship (for now).

Excerpts from the New York Times:

ORONTO — Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is due in China on Tuesday for a much anticipated visit, hoping to reset what had been an up-and-down relationship under the previous government. Closer ties, Mr. Trudeau says, would release untapped prosperity at home and promote Canadian values like good governance and the rule of law in China.

But many Chinese-Canadians say the opposite is happening. They say the growing economic clout wielded in Canada by China, Canada’s largest trading partner after the United States, is leading to an erosion of their own freedom — specifically their freedom to speak openly about China’s authoritarian state. Journalists who write for the many Chinese-language publications in Canada, along with activists and others, say they are under increasing pressure to promote the interests of the Chinese government.

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Hillary Clinton Enters the Media Wars

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Earlier this week, I published a post titled Questioning Hillary’s Health is Not Conspiracy Theory, in which I wrote:

As I look at the landscape in 2016 to-date, I observe emergent signs that alternative media is finally beginning to take over from the legacy mainstream media when it comes to impact and influence. The mainstream media (unlike with John McCain in 2008), had decided that Hillary Clinton’s health was not an issue and chose not to pursue it. Many in the alternative media world took a different position, and due to mainstream media’s failure to inform the American public for decades, the alternative media drove that issue to the top of the news cycle. That’s power.

This is an incredibly big deal, and the mainstream media intuitively knows what it means. It means a total loss of legitimately, prestige and power. All of which is well deserved of course.

So here’s the bottom line. 2016 represents the true beginning of what I would call the Media Wars. Alternative media is now capable of driving the news cycle. Mainstream media now has no choice but to fight back, and fight back it will. It will fight back dirty. This is going to get very ugly, but by the time the dust has settled, I think much of the mainstream media will be left as a shell of its former self.

When I wrote the above, I had no idea that two days later Hillary Clinton would deliver a speech in Nevada specifically targeting a nebulous movement referred to as the “alt-right,” as well as several of the prominent websites associated with it. Never in a million years did I think Hillary herself would so publicly enter the Media Wars.

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Iraq War Surveillance Technology Being Used in Baltimore Without Public Debate

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The relationship between those who are constantly watched and tracked, and those who watch and track them, is the relationship between masters and slaves.

– Chris Hedges, from the post Video of the Day – Chris Hedges on Overthrowing the Corporate Fascist State

Yesterday, Bloomberg published a lengthy expose on a company called Persistent Surveillance Systems, which has been secretly surveilling the people of Baltimore on behalf of the police since January.

The article is titled, Secret Cameras Record Baltimore’s Every Move From Above, and here are some choice excerpts:

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Yesterday, CNN Analyst Claimed Hillary Health Concerns ‘Sexist.’ Today, CNN Doctor Questions Trump’s Health

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So which is it CNN? Is it legitimate, or is it sexist?

Yesterday, The Hill reported the following:

New CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers says questioning Hillary Clinton‘s health has “an element of sexism to it.”

Powers, a former Democratic strategist who just came to CNN following a long stint as a Fox News contributor, told “New Day” co-host Alisyn Camerota that there’s nothing to indicate the Democratic presidential nominee is not in good health. 

“Honestly, I think there’s an element of sexism to this,” Powers said. “The way that they’ve talked about her, you know, the way you watch Drudge [Report] posting things about granny and grandma. 

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German Government Instructs Citizens to Stockpile Food, Water and Prepare for Possible Conscription

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I’m sure it’s nothing.

From Reuters:

Germany has told its citizens to stock up on water and food in the event of a terrorist attack or national catastrophe and be ready to support the military in the country’s first overhaul of civil defenses for two decades.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet approved the 70-page plan at a time when Germans are particularly on edge after two Islamist militant attacks in July and several much larger-scale, deadly assaults in France and Belgium this year.

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Increasing Number of Americans Are ‘Microdosing’ on Psychedelics to Enhance Mental Performance

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Whenever an irrational and inhumane law remains on the books far longer than any thinking person would consider appropriate, there’s usually one reason behind it: money.

Unsurprisingly, the continued federal prohibition on marijuana and its absurd classification as a Schedule 1 drug is no exception. Thankfully, a recent study published in the journal Health Affairs shows us exactly why pharmaceutical companies are one of the leading voices against medical marijuana. It has nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with corporate greed.

– From last month’s article: The Real Reason Pharma Companies Hate Medical Marijuana (It Works)

This isn’t my typical kind of article. Normally, I’d include something like this in my links post, but as I continued reading this piece it became apparent this is one of the most fascinating things I’ve read all year.

What follows are excepts from the Wired article, Would You Take LSD to Give You a Boost at Work? WIRED Takes a Trip Inside the World of Microdosing. I strongly suggest reading the entire thing.

It’s 7am on a sunny Friday in a shared house in the sleepy San Francisco neighbourhood of Richmond. Flatmates buzz in and out of the kitchen as Lily (not her real name), a publicist for several startups, sits down with cup of tea and a credit-card-sized bag of dried magic mushrooms.

The 28-year-old breaks up the caps and stems and places them into a herb grinder. She then scoops the pulverised mixture into empty gel pill capsules, weighing each one on a tiny scale. Once finished, she pops one of the capsules into her mouth and washes its down with PG Tips. She’s now ready to start her working day.

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