Tucker: This is an intimidation campaign against 'Libs of TikTok'

 

[VIDEO] On his program recently Tucker Carlson spoke with the creator of the Twitter account Libs of Tik Tok. She was recently doxxed by a Washington Post reporter and of course a very troubling experience as she tweeted about recently

Apparently threatening to assassinate someone doesn’t violate Twitter’s policies. But conservatives get suspended for stating biological facts. @TwitterSafety pic.twitter.com/2xMz9x9ii5

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 21, 2022

Dave Ramsey: Biden wants to do THIS w/ your bank account

 

[VIDEO] "Let's go Brandon!"

You may have heard about this recently, the Biden/Harris administration wants to  monitors transactions over $600 into bank accounts. USA Today fact checked this.

While the claim is based in reality, it gets many of the facts wrong. The claim’s assertion is a proposal by the Biden administration, not a decision set in stone. The Treasury cannot “declare” any changes to law, as that is a legislative power that belongs to Congress. And even if the proposal is adopted banks would not provide access to individual transactions, just the total amount flowing in and out of an account annually.
...
A May document from the Department of the Treasury outlines a number of the Biden administration’s revenue proposals for the 2022 fiscal year. The proposal referred to in the claim suggests introducing more comprehensive financial account reporting to “improve tax compliance.”

The latest IRS estimates show a tax gap of $166 billion per year between the tax owed by businesses (not counting large corporations) and the tax actually paid. The document says requiring comprehensive reporting on money flowing in and out of accounts "will enhance the effectiveness of IRS enforcement measures and encourage voluntary compliance."

To achieve that, the Treasury proposed requiring financial institutions to annually report the total amount of money that went in and out of bank, loan and investment accounts if those accounts hold a value of at least $600, or if the total is at least $600 in a year.

That means that if the total debits (funds flowing out of the account) and credits (funds flowing into the account) equal at least $600 — including deposited paychecks or money transferred from finance apps like Cash App or PayPal — banks would have to report those figures to the IRS.

However, the banks would not report details on individual transactions, like how the money was spent, only the total amount of money flowing in and out of the applicable accounts.

With this said, I'll let you read of this what you will. It's clear Ramsey has an issue with this, however, just bear in mind it's a proposal being floated as he and his co-host Ken Coleman seem to indicate.

Ramsey is a good source for advice on personal finance - among others - I'll just leave it here and let you all decide what to make of this info. 

Having that information will help the IRS flag under-reported income and target enforcement activities on tax evaders, the Treasury said.

CBS Chicago: Are Users Fleeing Facebook? #DeleteFacebook

[VIDEO] I'm using hashtag or pound sign (#) to illustrate that there are some who don't like Facebook. If it's not any form of political bias, it's also distrust over handling of any personal information. Of course to delete fb there are some implications that could affect your career as employers may be looking for you online.

My advice, be aware of the information you choose to share on social media. Stay away from those quizzes that may ask you to take information from your fb profile. There are of course ways to minimize to the extent possible any concerns of any potential data breaches.

My review of #TheCircle

[VIDEO] Lately when I go to the movies most of them are just forgettable entertainment. You go in and be entertained, however, later you simply forget about it. There's nothing really groundbreaking about the movie itself or laugh, feel the adrenaline, etc. and then you leave.

That wasn't the case with The Circle. Now with that said I've seen the reception on its Wiki page and saw that so far there aren't many that like the movie so far. I never pay attention to Rotten Tomatoes and see that this film isn't rated highly.

Why does The Circle touch a nerve with me? It shows the scary effects of social media. Our hero Mae starts to work at this tech company which appears to be a cross between Apple and fb. It offers these small cameras that can be placed anywhere and unseen to the eye. And then there appears to be a social network attached to it.

Mae herself becomes a major show on this social network and likely billions log on to see how she's doing. Unfortunately some sad consequences come of it. Her friend Mercer comes to an unfortunate end as the latest online sensation. It seems the friend - Annie -who brought her to that company doesn't want anything to do with her although they seem to have an uneasy relationship as Mae's star begins to rise.

Mercer's strikes an unfortunate nerve. As Mae begins broadcast her life for her company her fans find out about Mercer's past and refer to him as a deer killer although he defends himself by saying he doesn't kill deer. It becomes a point where he as Mae's friend had to cut ties with her because of her new celebrity.

Unfortunately, later the crowd clamors for Mae to find Mercer - after she herself used the Circle to find a wanted fugitive. They do so and of course a comment about him being a deer killer. After keeping a low-profile and he flees. Without giving away much this is the point in the movie where I take off my ballcap. I was truly disgusted with the movie at that point.

To start we see a form of online shaming in this film. Let's say you find one piece of information about someone - whether that person posted themselves or not - and then it goes viral. Then it literally becomes a form of bullying and outright nastiness. Perhaps it's truthful or perhaps not, however, either way someone believes it and spreads it and for a moment it's like wildflower. Scary thing is, it might be a while before you find out about it.

I like how Mae turned the tables on her bosses at the Circle - Eamon & Tom - who egged on the many activities that led to what happened with Mercer. She got connected with one of the founders of the circle - he has a low profile because we doesn't like what's going on at this company - who helped her turn the tables. And we go back to one thing that they never wanted to give up for themselves - privacy.

They didn't truly want to be transparent, but everyone else should be. Mae's life was saved because she took a kayak got thrown about in high waves and almost drowned. Perhaps there is no right to privacy in a public place but how transparent does one need to be in the world. Beside we all should be embarrassed by something.

It lets me know, now that we live in a world with cell phone video cameras and we can broadcast those images live on Periscope, fb, ig, etc. we have to be more careful. Perhaps we might behave better if we're being watched - and yes that's not always true. At the same time at what point have we gone too far with this activity?

BTW, I never realized that this film was based on a book and see a vastly different story here. I got to find that book now and give it a read. Perhaps it'll tell me more about the story and the issues in real life that are shown.

WBEZ: Gov Quinn signs making 'revenge porn' a felony

I had to figure out wtf is revenge porn. Quinn who will be our Governor until January 12, 2015 signed a measure into law banning the distribution of private materials without a person's consent. So this is something of a anti-cyberbullying measure.

Nothing important to say, just found this to be very interesting. :)

Facebook set to reveal all about you, like it or not

This can only give some the excuse to never ever join Facebook. The ones who refuse to join in the first place definitely won't if they get wind of this story:

Within days, all of Facebook's 800 million users' profile pages will change. And with it, every photo, status update, wall posting, since your Facebook birth will be much more easily visible.

Facebook claims Timeline will make profiles more comprehensive.

Consumer advocacy groups say it violates users privacy.

"We want people to decide if they want to post the old stuff on the wall, says Marc Rotenberg, of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "We want people to decide whether the stuff Facebook wants to post, is the stuff they want. It really should be up to the user, not Facebook."

But for now it'll be up to Facebook to decide, and users to try to hide the stuff they'd like to keep private.

I found this story via Instapundit who noted:

FACEBOOK IS DOOMED BECAUSE OF TIMELINE. Not due to privacy concerns, but because the new Timelined pages look like nothing so much as old MySpace pages.

There is a reason why I and many other never use MySpace anymore. I've always liked FB better, but if MySpace could just become a place for bands to promote themselves then who knows what FB will be. That being said FB could be just another dead social network. There are many online too, for example I used to be on BlackPlanet and sadly I haven't thought about that place in years.

BTW, so that I don't contribute over any hyperventilation FB is doing what it can to inform people about the new timelines. There are some things I would like to keep private although I don't plan to go back and delete every single item that I never want to see the light of day again. Just have to cross the bridge when that time comes.

The public's business is the public's business...

Lisa Madigan, Illinois' Attorney General, issued an opinion on whether or not information from a private cell phone or PC should be disclosed as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request:

An opinion issued by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office on Nov. 15 changes that. The opinion stemmed from the city of Champaign’s denial of a reporter’s request for documents pertaining to public business, even if those documents were in private cell phone, Twitter or email accounts.

The city partially denied the request by saying the documents were not in its possession.
That explanation violated the intent of the Freedom of Information Act, the attorney general’s office said.

“Whether information is a ‘public record’ is not determined by where, how, or on what device that record was created; rather, the question is whether that record was prepared by or used by one or more members of a public body in conducting the affairs of government,” wrote Michael Luke, counsel to Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

In other words, the public’s business is the public’s business, no matter which phone, computer or other communication device is used to conduct it.

If you ask me, this sounds like trouble. It reeks of over reach because where does privacy end. Perhaps this needs to force public officials to keep official business on official channels and keep private business off of official channels.

What do you think of this development? They were already talking about this over at the Capitol Fax where I got wind of this!