There is news then there is worthless news…..staying true to my weekend tradition I bring you ‘worthless’ news……

This first offering is not worthless….especially if you hate war…..

Pay Pal closes down antiwar journalism….

Over the past week, the online payments company PayPal has launched a censorship campaign against independent and left-wing publishers who have been critical of the official narrative about the US and NATO war against Russia in Ukraine by arbitrarily shutting down their accounts.

On Sunday, Consortium News (CN) reported that PayPal had canceled its account without warning or explanation. Editor-in-Chief Joe Lauria reported that CN’s PayPal account was “permanently limited” just as the publication was launching its Spring Fund Drive.

Lauria wrote that CN had lost one of the “most important ways for its viewers and readers to show their support through donations.” Meanwhile, PayPal told Lauria that the CN balance the payments company was holding might never be returned to the publication.

Upon the shutdown of the account, PayPal sent CN an email that stated, “You can’t use PayPal anymore. … We noticed activity in your account that’s inconsistent with our User Agreement and we no longer offer you PayPal services. … Because of potential risk exposure, we’ve permanently limited your account. You’ll no longer be able to use the account for any transactions.”

In a phone conversation with a PayPal customer service agent, CN was told that there was no reason recorded in their system as why the account had been shut down. The agent said that the account was under “investigation and review” and that CN’s “history found some potential risk associated with this account.”

Regarding the remaining balance in CN’s Pay Pal account, the agent said the money would be held for 180 days while an investigation was completed before a decision would be made about whether or not the funds would be returned. The agent said, “If there was a violation,” it is possible that the money would be kept by PayPal for “damages.”

(wsws.org)

CN reported that, among the violations listed under Restricted Activities of the User Agreement are “false, inaccurate or misleading information” to PayPal, other PayPal customers “or third parties.”

Just in case the American people come to their damn sense and oppose this stupidity with Ukraine…the powers that be want to stop all contrary journalism….kinda like the same thing Zelensky did for Ukraine….silence opposition voices.

Is Google part of this attempt?

MY small part I will not use any service that requires Pay Pal…..if you are interested in cancelling your Pay Pal credit card….

1. Call (844) 373-4961.
2. When prompted, press “1” to continue with your call.
3. You can then enter the phone number associated with your account or your Social Security Number.
4. When asked by the automated system what do you need help with, say “More Options” and then say “Close Account”.
5. Wait to be connected to a customer service representative.

Keep in mind that canceling the card might hurt your credit score for a short period of time. Since it doesn’t have an annual fee, it’s best to just keep it open without a balance. But if you do decide to cancel your PayPal Credit Card, you can check the effect it will have on your score by using WalletHub’s free credit score simulator.

***After I wrote this draft news has come up that Pay Pal is backing down on their action….if true what will be the next attempt to silence antiwar supporters?)***

***Update– “Access to your account will remain limited until you perform the steps required to lift the limitation.” The steps needed to be taken were never specified. Now PayPal says that information was sent in error and there is nothing Consortium News can do to restore its account. CN is unlikely to want to restore the account after its experience with PayPal. But an attempt to take the steps to reopen it would have yielded the reasons why Consortium News was banned in the first place. PayPal has never given any reasons for its actions.   ***

I guess dissenting voices are no longer tolerated in the ‘land of the free’.

Now to worthless…..

We worry about food shortages…..water depletion…..lack of good paying jobs…..but do you worry about the loss of sand?

No?

Well you should!

Humans’ reckless use of sand could soon be reaching a crisis point, warns a new report from the United Nations. 

Sand is the world’s most-exploited resource after water, playing a vital role in both construction and the natural environment. Unlike water, however, sand isn’t recognized as a strategic resource

The new report argues that our relationship with sand needs to change urgently or else humanity and the natural world could face some real difficulties. 

“Our sand resources are not infinite, and we need to use them wisely,” said Pascal Peduzzi, Director of GRID-Geneva at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and report programme coordinator. “To achieve sustainable development, we need to drastically change the way we produce, build and consume products, infrastructures and service.”

Sand is the key ingredient in the concrete, asphalt, and glass that make up our infrastructure. As per the report, around 50 billion tonnes of sand and gravel are used each year, enough to build a 27 meter (88 foot) wide and 27 meter (88 foot) high wall around planet Earth. This heavy use significantly outpaces the rate it is naturally replenished in some regions, meaning the supply of sand could soon be facing trouble. 

With the next few decades set to see more population growth and further urbanization, these problems are likely to become even more strained.

https://www.iflscience.com/environment/could-we-run-out-of-sand-we-might-be-headed-for-a-crisis-un-report-warns/

AS if we do not have enough to worry about…..they give us this.

If one reads much then one will come across those scientific papers that stir up some sort of controversy….ever think that it is time to stop this archaic practice?

Once upon a time, scientific papers were physical things. Today, almost everything can be read online, writes Stuart Ritchie in the Guardian. But while that aspect has changed, the publishing process has not: “We still have scientific papers; we still send them off to peer reviewers; we still have editors who give the ultimate thumbs up or down as to whether a paper is published in their journal.” Ritchie runs through a litany of related problems—publication bias, or the pressure to publish positive results; the tendency for researchers to dumb down their science to “tell a better story” within the confines of a paper, etc.—and he suggests it’s time for things to change. He writes that it makes sense to further embrace the internet and turn papers into “mini websites,” sometimes called “notebooks.”

Under such a model, all related data could be attached and reviewed by anyone. Corrections could be easily made and logged, a far cry from the laborious process now required. “Sure, throwing sunlight on the whole process might reveal ambiguities or hard-to-explain contradictions in the results—but that’s how science really is,” writes Ritchie. Science keeps progressing, and it’s time for the publication process to do the same. “Some fields of science are already moving in the direction I’ve described here, using online notebooks instead of journals—living documents instead of living fossils,” he writes. “It’s time for the rest of science to follow suit.”

(Read the full essay.)

Personally I think it is as worthless as the archaic practice of defending ones position in doctoral pursuits to a board of old farts that just want to make the candidate feel small and stupid.

Let me end with a factoid:  By now we all have heard about Elon Musk and Twitter…..here is a fact that should give one thoughts…..

***

Elon Musk’s bid for Twitter: $44 billion
Biden’s Climate budget: $44.9 billion.

Of course, it’s even worse than that, because Musk will probably actually pay the $44 billion. Biden won’t get the entire $44.9 billion and he’ll probably spend much of what he gets on projects like biomass that actually exacerbate the climate crisis.***

Have a great weekend…..enjoy the approaching Summer…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”