Given the reluctance of the US government to name the actors behind this apparently quite real sim farm, Israel would be the top suspect?
https://apnews.com/article/unga-sim-farm-threat-explainer-52...
That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus
381–390 of 656 posts
Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus
#382There is so much to address in this post but I want to look at just this part: "One of the reasons we know this story is bogus is because of the New York Times story which cites anonymous officials, “speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation”. That’s not a thing, that’s not a valid reason to grant anonymity under normal journalistic principles. It’s the “Washington Game” of “official…
One of the more sober assessments in this entire thread, and closely aligned with how I experienced it. It's not nothing to stress the fact that it was pretty far away from the UN and that it's not obvious why a case of SIM cards would enable surveillance (seems more like it would anonymize an individual bad actor). But a large part of this is completely unsubstantiated speculation that people are nodding along with,…
I think it's a form of Gell-Mann Amnesia.
The NYT article is not sufficiently critical (of something) so it is government propaganda but in other times and places the NYT was not propaganda.
Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus
#383Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is true in a _well functioning democratic government_ - by design: as long as there are differences, a single actor cannot take over. Understanding that the media is owned by powerful people, and people have agendas, is a key point to media literacy that should be taught at schools. It doesn't mean media should be ignored, nor that they always aim to manipulate (with some exceptions). It's, again, healthy if you…
>a single actor cannot take over. This is a distinction without a difference. People can screech about "we're a democracy, we don't have a king" all they want but if the overwhelming amount of discretionary authority in the system is held by a fairly small group of people cut from approximately the same cloth it doesn't really matter, they're all gonna decide things the same ways and the results are gonna be just as…
You're contrasting dictatorship vs oligarchy. The key differentiator for democracies is leaders who are subject to re-election incentives.
Populist parties are surging all over the world. Perhaps there are a few modern democracies where all the political elites are "cut from approximately the same cloth", but if so, they aren't countries I am very familiar with.
Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus
#384Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's preposterous. Hitler intentionally created extermination camps, which targeted "Bolsheviks" above all. He then forced his armies on a bloody rampage into Russia, where he overextended and was defeated, after violently murdering millions. There is a dominant thread of anti-intellectualism that lumps virtually all WW2 deaths as "victims of communism". This is total nonsense, obviously, promoted by neo-Nazi and N…
Stalin likely killed more of his own people than Hitler did if you count artificial famines, which I do. This shouldn't be surprising because Stalin was in power for longer and had a greater degree of unchecked power over the Soviet Union than Hitler ever did. Of course, many of the people murdered by either regime weren't actually communists. > There is a dominant thread of anti-intellectualism that lumps virtually…
Lecturing about "good faith" in the same comment that equates (extreme) economic mismanagement with intentional mass murder. Spare us the sanctimony.
Are you consistent and therefore interpret the Great Depression as a mass murder of Americans by the government?
Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus
#385Once a Chinese grad student explained to me a difference he noted between Chinese and American citizens. He said in China no really reads or watches 24/7 major news outlets in China. They are fully aware that all of it is propaganda and just go about their life. He said Americans seem to get really emotional over content in the press and seem to really struggle with the idea of propaganda / journalism in the news. I…
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Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus
#386Was thinking about this the entire time, not sure why they’re saying it has to be govt sponsored threat actors for a bunch of SIM cards
Didn’t understand how it’d be used for espionage either, doesn’t even make sense
Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus
#387Earlier quoted context omitted.
And yet people are getting fired over making comments about Charlie Kirk on social media.
Freedom of speech, not freedom from consequences. People aren't "making comments," they're celebrating the murder of a man whose opinions they disagreed with. Many Americans are waking up to realize that a large number of people they considered friends and colleagues would revel in their death if they let their political opinions be heard. I would 100% fire someone for celebrating murder. Sorry, call me old-fashioned…
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Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus
#388Earlier quoted context omitted.
And yet people are getting fired over making comments about Charlie Kirk on social media.
Freedom of speech, not freedom from consequences. People aren't "making comments," they're celebrating the murder of a man whose opinions they disagreed with. Many Americans are waking up to realize that a large number of people they considered friends and colleagues would revel in their death if they let their political opinions be heard. I would 100% fire someone for celebrating murder. Sorry, call me old-fashioned…
As the joke goes, in soviet Russia you are also free to criticize America.
Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus
#389Earlier quoted context omitted.
The important point is to distinguish between truth and the co-ordinated release of information in the NYT, BBC etc. The latter is very much intended to send a message, but it is not to be taken as literal truth.
I cannot about the NYT, but the BBC is one of the most impartial sources available. So much so that the left and the right accuse the BBC of biasing the other in equal measures! If you want to talk about bias in the UK press then you’re better off looking towards The Sun, The Mail and anything owned by Murdoch (that guy has done so much damage to the world it’s unreal).
> but the BBC is one of the most impartial sources available.
I almost spit out my coffee in laughter reading this. Entirely ridiculous assertion. You are completely blind to the fact that the BBC is insanely partial by picking and choosing what it reports on and what it doesn't. This is just level 2 detection of bias that you aren't reaching, imagine all the other things you're missing.
Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus
#390> using radio “triangulation” (sic) Why is triangulation an error?
It's literally not, which casts the rest of the author's conclusions into doubt.
Ah. I thought they meant that 'triangulation' was a spelling mistake. Like:
> The share price of Maple Leaf Gardens, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs (sic) hockey team...