Et Tu, Counterpunch? Laura Poitras Mistranslated, Under Attack

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Laura Poitras was smart to stay out of the limelight so long. Her flowering emergence into the mainstream media sphere has been perfectly timed and her diligent work ultimately rewarded with “CitizenFour” earning the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 2015 Academy Awards. But as soon as one sticks their head up above the parapet they are instantly subject to organised, concerted detractors, waiting to punish them for it. It appears Poitras is no exception.

The long-standing publication Counterpunch has some amazing work under its belt — especially pertinent is its reporting surrounding information gleaned from the outcome of the Partnership for Civil Justice FBI FOIA requests in the wake of the Occupy movement. To citizen journalists in the movement, the name Counterpunch was synonymous with fearless and intrepid political journalism.

It could be counted on to provide cutting-edge counter-narrative to the political mainstream. Yet with recent attempts to debunk the work of Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden and now Laura Poitras, Counterpunch seems to have shifted its critical focus from major political figures to those whose work exposes them.

Google Life Extension: Does Google Want Us To Live Forever?

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When I first read about Google’s plans for life extension, I thought I’d write a “think piece” about it, but then on researching the thing, I saw that many had trod the path before me. As I read though page after page I saw that Google was not alone, that Silicon Valley was filled with Forbes List billionaires putting oodles of money into research hoping to live forever.

Reading on, it suddenly struck me that that I had seen this before … Then I remembered where: Aldous Huxley’s classic, “After Many a Summer Dies the Swan.”

Sergey Brin wants to become the Fifth Earl of Gonister!

Here is a quote from Wikipedia’s summary of Huxley’s masterpiece:

Mafia Tactics: Will Google Self Driving Cars Destroy The Teamsters?

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If I were looking for the best example of the social/political tone-deafness, the lacking E.I., of IT folk, it would be the “Google Self-Driving Car.”

To me it is perfectly obvious that the name “Self-Driving Car” is a red herring, because I don’t think that there is much of a market for a driverless car, simply because Americans love to drive their cars, it is one of the last places where they can enjoy the sensation of freedom and control.

What I think that industry, specifically the transport industry might be very interested in is “Self-Driving Trucks” (buses, taxis, etc.). Eliminating truck drivers means that big companies, like Wal-Mart wouldn’t have to deal with pesky unions like the Teamster’s union!

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