LibertyVoter.Org

By Marshall Auerback, AlterNet

We recently learned that “Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 313,000 in February” in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—which, when combined with the ostensibly big fiscal policy stimulus introduced in February, would seem to justify the Federal Reserve’s increasingly hawkish outlook on interest rate rises.

The Fed, newly led by Jerome Powell, looks set to hike rates as early as this Wednesday. Yet there is a lingering sense that the current strength in the U.S. economy is more apparent than real. The employment data is not as strong as it looks on the surface, nor is fiscal policy as stimulatory as has been commonly assumed. Hence, the country’s monetary authorities might well be on the way to making a serious policy error that could abort the economy’s momentum, just as some of the non-1% are finally beginning to experience tangible gains from the recovery.

Let’s break these points down in a bit more detail. First, last month’s “blow-out” employment number: On the face of it, the employment situation report is anomalous. We saw a huge jump in goods producing (100K), mostly construction (+61K). But in the service jobs sector, 124K of the 187K of jobs created were in low-wage/low-hours sectors (retail, admin/waste, leisure, and health care). That would largely help to explain why, in spite of such an ostensibly large gain in the nonfarm payrolls, wage gains remained virtually unchanged, with hourly earnings actually coming in below expectations (in other words, a surprisingly tepid number relative to the overall growth in jobs in February). And even as we are adding higher-wage construction and manufacturing jobs, the overall constellation of the data implies a continuation of change …read more

Source: ALTERNET

By Mehreen Kasana, AlterNet

Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm based in the United Kingdom, has been a topic of heated debate in data science for a while. Now the consulting firm has gained a fresh wave of heightened notoriety after one of its previous employees accused the data company of meddling with and manipulating millions of Facebook users’ personal data in the United States—allegedly for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Christopher Wylie, who once worked for the company, told The Guardian in an explosive interview that he inadvertently created former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon's “psychological warfare mindf*** tool” while working at the firm.

Both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have denied Wylie’s allegations of deliberate misconduct but the contentious subject of social media for political messaging continues. In that vein, it would be an egregious mistake to overlook Cambridge Analytica’s partner company, known as SCL, or Strategic Communication Laboratories. A brief glimpse into the group’s recent history and client portfolio may reveal a significant deal about its ideology and objectives.

In spite of boasting global operations in “over 60 countries” on its website, the SCL group keeps its media presence bare and minimal. Its homepage declares that it uses data, analytics, communication, and behavioral assessment to send commercial and political messages in different countries in order to secure its clients’ goals, whatever they may be. The group’s targeted countries range from Colombia, Thailand, India, Kenya, Ukraine, Italy, Trinidad and Tobago to Albania, Romania, Taiwan, Indonesia, Pakistan, and beyond. On top of that, the group is unquestionably proud of its portfolio and says that it uses “techniques from data mining, statics and artificial intelligence” to “accurately forecast how people will behave.”

SCL's ties with the United States become clear by way of communication between some of the country’s powerful and conservative PACs and its partner, Cambridge Analytica. One of the top conservative PACs known as Make America Number 1 receives mosts of its financing from right-wing billionaire Robert Mercer, …read more

Source: ALTERNET

By Mehreen Kasana, AlterNet

The practice of governments and security firms conducting wide-scale exploitation of major disasters, natural and otherwise, is nothing new. Last week, the Intercept reported on TigerSwan, a mercenary security firm that follows a similar disaster-capitalist model and has attacked the No Dakota Access Pipeline (NoDAPL) movement since 2016, at least. But that’s not all: TigerSwan has also been preying on relief needs in hurricane-hit areas like Houston and Puerto Rico since 2017.

So far, the mercenary firm keeps its media presence at a minimum level, attracting little attention from the press. This makes sense considering the depth and scale of its massive military-style operations, including suppressing anti-pipeline activists by infiltrating activist groups with informants, surveilling the movement and calling on law enforcement agencies to suppress activist organizing.

In spite of how shadowy the firm may sound, TigerSwan has the approval of the United States government. TigerSwan contracts with the U.S. military and the state department to offer its services to Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline. In May 2017, the Intercept published leaked internal documents from the firm in which TigerSwan officials likened NoDAPL activists to “jihadists” and called the movement an “ideologically driven insurgency with a strong religious component.” Calling for a combined strategy of increased surveillance and security, the TigerSwan documents concluded that in order to suppress NoDAPL, the firm would need “aggressive intelligence preparation of the battlefield and active coordination between intelligence and security elements.”

Tara Houska, who directs campaigns for Honor the Earth, told Democracy Now! in May 2017 that TigerSwan's deliberate mischaracterization of the NoDAPL movement carries dangerous implications for activists. “The movement was 'Water is life,'” Houska said. By drawing false …read more

Source: ALTERNET

By Heather Digby Parton, Salon

Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe over the weekend, and President Trump couldn't have been more thrilled. In a characteristic display of puerile mendacity, he tweeted out his glee for the world to see:

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. As many are now finding out, however, there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State. #DrainTheSwamp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife’s campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018

These tweets were so full of lies that they required a full fact check by The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler. The short version? The investigation started well before there was a Steele dossier, after one of Trump's national security advisers got drunk and spilled to an Australian diplomat that the Russians claimed to have dirt on Hillary Clinton. There's no reason …read more

Source: ALTERNET