June 12, 2014: The Guardian • Pentagon preparing for mass civil breakdown. Social science is being militarised to develop 'operational tools' to target peaceful activists and protest movements Source Here

February 20, 2020: History Network • Here’s Why These Six Ancient Civilizations Mysteriously Collapsed. From the Maya to Greenland’s Vikings, check out six civilizations that seemingly disappeared without a trace. Source Here

March 15, 2012 • More and more personal and household devices are connecting to the internet, from your television to your car navigation systems to your light switches. CIA Director David Petraeus cannot wait to spy on you through them. Earlier this month, Petraeus mused about the emergence of an "Internet of Things" -- that is, wired devices -- at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture capital firm. "'Transformational' is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies," Petraeus enthused, "particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft." All those new online devices are a treasure trove of data if you're a "person of interest" to the spy community. Once upon a time, spies had to place a bug in your chandelier to hear your conversation. With the rise of the "smart home," you'd be sending tagged, geolocated data that a spy agency can intercept in real time when you use the lighting app on your phone to adjust your living room's ambiance. "Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters -- all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing," Petraeus said, "the latter now going to cloud computing, in many areas greater and greater supercomputing, and, ultimately, heading to quantum computing." Petraeus allowed that these household spy devices "change our notions of secrecy" and prompt a rethink of "our notions of identity and secrecy." All of which is true -- if convenient for a CIA director. The CIA has a lot of legal restrictions against spying on American citizens. But collecting ambient geolocation data from devices is a grayer area, especially after the 2008 carve-outs to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Hardware manufacturers, it turns out, store a trove of geolocation data; and some legislators have grown alarmed at how easy it is for the government to track you through your phone or PlayStation. That's not the only data exploit intriguing Petraeus. He's interested in creating new online identities for his undercover spies -- and sweeping away the "digital footprints" of agents who suddenly need to vanish. "Proud parents document the arrival and growth of their future CIA officer in all forms of social media that the world can access for decades to come," Petraeus observed. "Moreover, we have to figure out how to create the digital footprint for new identities for some officers." Source Here
December 19, 2019: New York Times • THE DATA REVIEWED BY TIMES OPINION didn’t come from a telecom or giant tech company, nor did it come from a governmental surveillance operation. It originated from a location data company, one of dozens quietly collecting precise movements using software slipped onto mobile phone apps. You’ve probably never heard of most of the companies — and yet to anyone who has access to this data, your life is an open book. They can see the places you go every moment of the day, whom you meet with or spend the night with, where you pray, whether you visit a methadone clinic, a psychiatrist’s office or a massage parlor. The Times and other news organizations have reported on smartphone tracking in the past. But never with a data set so large. Even still, this file represents just a small slice of what’s collected and sold every day by the location tracking industry — surveillance so omnipresent in our digital lives that it now seems impossible for anyone to avoid. It doesn’t take much imagination to conjure the powers such always-on surveillance can provide an authoritarian regime like China’s. Within America’s own representative democracy, citizens would surely rise up in outrage if the government attempted to mandate that every person above the age of 12 carry a tracking device that revealed their location 24 hours a day. Yet, in the decade since Apple’s App Store was created, Americans have, app by app, consented to just such a system run by private companies. Now, as the decade ends, tens of millions of Americans, including many children, find themselves carrying spies in their pockets during the day and leaving them beside their beds at night — even though the corporations that control their data are far less accountable than the government would be. Source Here

April 5, 2018: Global News • (Project Maven) Over 3,000 Google employees have a signed a petition in protest against the company’s involvement with a U.S. Department of Defense artificial intelligence (AI) project that studies imagery and could eventually be used to improve drone strikes in the battlefield. Source Here

December 12, 2019 • Palantir took over Project Maven defense contract after Google backed out. Source Here

December 29, 2020: Input • Palantir exec says its work is on par with the Manhattan Project. Comparing AI to most lethal weapon in human history isn’t comforting. SourceHere

August 14, 2020: Venture: • Google researchers use quantum computing to help improve image classification. Source Here

October 2, 2013: Vice News • The hacktivist group Anonymous released a video statement with an accompanying Pastebin document claiming that there are definitive links between AuthenTec, the company that developed the iPhone 5S’s fingerprint scanner, and the US government. Source Here

Controversial debates arose as the Protect America Act was published. Constitutional lawyers and civil liberties experts expressed concerns that this Act authorized massive, wide-ranging information gathering with no oversight. Whereas it placed much focus on communications, the Act allowed for information gathering of all shapes and forms. The ACLU called it the "Police America Act" – "authorized a massive surveillance dragnet", calling the blank-check oversight provisions "meaningless," and calling them a "phony court review of secret procedures."

The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 created a single new district corporation governing the entire federal territory, called the District of Columbia, thus dissolving the three major political subdivisions of the District (Port of Georgetown, the City of Washington, and Washington County) and their governments. Source Here)

The first big leap in corporate personhood from holding mere property and contract rights to possessing more expansive rights was a claim that the Equal Protection Clause applied to corporations. One of the strangest twists in American constitutional law was the moment that corporations gained personhood under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It occurred in a case called Santa Clara County, and what was odd was that the Supreme Court did not really even decide the matter in the actual opinion. It only appeared in a footnote to the case. What we are likely to have at the conclusion of the Supreme Court term is corporations that are empowered to spend in American elections because of Bellotti and Citizens United; corporations that can make religious objections thanks to Hobby Lobby; and if Jesner turns out as badly as I predict, corporations will be able to aid and abet human rights violations abroad with impunity. Source Here

"Having a corporation would allow people to put property into a collective ownership that could be held with perpetual existence," she says. "So it wouldn't be tied to any one person's lifespan, or subject necessarily to laws regarding inheriting property." Later on, in the United States and elsewhere, the advantages of incorporation were essential to efficient and secure economic development. Unlike partnerships, the corporation continued to exist even if a partner died; there was no unanimity required to do something; shareholders could not be sued individually, only the corporation as a whole, so investors only risked as much as they put into buying shares. Source Here

The way that the Arab Bank may get away with this alleged morally troubling behavior, even though it has a New York branch, is by reasserting the basic argument that was made in Nestle USA and Kiobel II: that the federal Alien Tort Statute was not intended to apply to corporations full stop. Given other cases in this area like Mohamad v. PLO, which held the word “individual” in the Torture Victim Protection Act means a natural person and does not impose any liability against organizations, the Arab Bank’s procorporate argument may well prevail. There are multiple federal Circuit Courts which have shot down the argument that corporations are immune from suit under the Alien Tort Statute. The lone outlier is the Second Circuit, which decided in 2010 that corporations are excused from suit in Kiobel I. This is the case that was appealed to the Supreme Court and became Kiobel II. Jesner v. Arab Bank was litigated in the Second Circuit. One question in Jesner was what exactly did Kiobel II do to Kiobel I. So far in the litigation, Jesner concluded that Kiobel I and its conclusion that corporations can’t be sued in federal court using the Alien Tort Statute remained the controlling law of the Second Circuit.

July 14, 2020: The Intercept • Microsoft’s police surveillance services are often opaque because the company sells little in the way of its own policing products. It instead offers an array of “general purpose” Azure cloud services, such as machine learning and predictive analytics tools like Power BI (business intelligence) and Cognitive Services, which can be used by law enforcement agencies and surveillance vendors to build their own software or solutions. A rich array of Microsoft’s cloud-based offerings is on full display with a concept called “The Connected Officer.” Microsoft situates this concept as part of the Internet of Things, or IoT, in which gadgets are connected to online servers and thus made more useful. “The Connected Officer,” Microsoft has written, will “bring IoT to policing.” With the Internet of Things, physical objects are assigned unique identifiers and transfer data over networks in an automated fashion. If a police officer draws a gun from its holster, for example, a notification can be sent over the network to alert other officers there may be danger. Real Time Crime Centers could then locate the officer on a map and monitor the situation from a command and control center. Source Here

June 18, 2020: The Guardian • How Target, Google, Bank of America and Microsoft quietly fund police through private donations. More than 25 large corporations in the past three years have contributed funding to private police foundations, new report says. Source Here

August 19, 2019: Big Think • Though the term "Orwellian" easily applies to such a technology, Michel's illuminating reporting touches something deeper. Numerous American cities have already been surveilled using these god-like cameras, including Gorgon Stare, a camera-enabled drone that can track individuals over a 50-square kilometer radius from 20,000 feet. Here's the real rub: the feature that allows users to pinch and zoom on Instagram is similar to what WAMI allows. Anything within those 50-square kilometers is now under the microscope. If this sounds like some futuristic tech, think again: Derivations of this camera system have been tested in numerous American cities. Say there is a big public protest. With this camera you can follow thousands of protesters back to their homes. Now you have a list of the home addresses of all the people involved in a political movement. If on their way home you witness them committing some crime—breaking a traffic regulation or frequenting a location that is known to be involved in the drug trade—you can use that surveillance data against them to essentially shut them up. That's why we have laws that prevent the use of surveillance technologies because it is human instinct to abuse them. That's why we need controls. Source Here

MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) is a directed-energy non-lethal weapon designed by WaveBand Corporation in 2003-2004 for temporary personnel incapacitation. The weapon is based on the microwave auditory effect resulting in a strong sound sensation in the human head when it is subject to certain kinds of pulsed/modulated microwave radiation. The developers claimed that through the combination of pulse parameters and pulse power, it is possible to raise the auditory sensation to a “discomfort” level, deterring personnel from entering a protected perimeter or, if necessary, temporarily incapacitating particular individuals. In 2005, Sierra Nevada Corporation acquired WaveBand Corporation.

July 6, 2008: Gizmodo • The Sierra Nevada Corporation claimed this week that it is ready to begin production on the MEDUSA, a damned scary ray gun that uses the "microwave audio effect" to implant sounds and perhaps even specific messages inside people's heads. Short for Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio, MEDUSA creates the audio effect with short microwave pulses. The pulses create a shockwave inside the skull that's detected by the ears, and basically makes you think you're going balls-to-the-wall batshit insane. Source Here

July 26, 2008: Gizmodo • The MEDUSA crowd control ray gun we reported on earlier this month sounded like some pretty amazing-and downright scary-technology. Using the microwave auditory effect, the beam, in theory, would have put sounds and voice-like noises in your head, thereby driving you away from the area. Crowd control via voices in your head. Sounds cool. However, it turns out that the beam would actually kill you before any of that happy stuff started taking place, most likely by frying or cooking your brain inside your skull. Can you imagine if this thing made it out into the field? Awkward! Source Here

From the earliest Chinese dynasties to the present, the jade deposits most used were not only those of Khotan in the Western Chinese province of Xinjiang but other parts of China as well, such as Lantian, Shaanxi.

July 7, 2017: The Warzone • There only appears to be one official news story on this exercise at all and it's available on the website of Air Mobility Command’s Eighteenth Air Force, situated at Joint Base Charleston. At the time of writing, a google shows that there were more than a half dozen more copies on other Air Force pages, as well as number of photographs. For some reason, someone appears to have taken these offline or otherwise broken all the links. Using Google to search the Defense Video Imagery Distribution System, which is the main U.S. military's public affairs hub, brings up more broken links. Oh, and unless there's been some sort of mistake, JADE HELM actually stands for the amazingly obtuse Joint Assistance for Deployment Execution Homeland Eradication of Local Militants. A separate web search for this phrase does not turn up any other results. Source Here

October 17, 2018: The Carolinan • In 2016, 75 percent of American forces were private contractors. In 2017, Erik Prince, former head of Blackwater, and Stephen Feinberg, head of Dyncorp, discussed plans for contractors completely taking over U.S. operations in Afghanistan. Although ultimately unsuccessful, it remains to be seen if the current administration will change its mind. Contractors are involved in almost every military task, such as intelligence analysis, logistics and training allied soldiers. Contractors are even involved in U.S. special ops missions. This is because contractors are essentially untraceable and unaccountable. Most are born in other countries; only 33 percent are registered U.S. citizens. Private military firms don’t have to report their actions to Congress, unlike the military or intelligence agencies. They also aren’t subject to the Freedom of Information Act, so private citizens and journalists aren’t allowed to access their internal documents. There are also no international laws to regulate private military firms. It’s been proven that many contractors are involved in illegal activities. The larger multinational companies sometimes hire local subcontractors. These contractors sometimes aren’t background-checked. A 2010 investigation by the Senate found that many subcontractors were linked to murders, kidnappings, bribery and anti-coalition activities. Some subcontractors even formed their own unlicensed mercenary groups after coalition forces leave. A 2010 House investigation showed evidence that the Department of Defense had hired local warlords for security services. In 2007, Blackwater contractors massacred 17 civilians. This eventually led Blackwater to being restructured and renamed as Academi. Source Here

1. Shoe of the month:

2. Unions:

• Friday 17/04 6:00 PM (18:00) CEST (Europe)
• Friday 17/04 12:00 PM (12:00) EDT (USA)
• Friday, 17/04 4:00 PM (16:00) GMT

• It is basically a waiting list. You sign up and wait (to an extent). Some of you were afraid that 1000 pairs aren't enough. However, don't forget that I can make more. If I see that the demand is 2000, but I only have 1000 pairs, I will make another 1000.
• I have fixed the swoosh, stitching, wing logo, piping (the yellow/orange thing) and basically everything. CLICK HERE for pictures. I have sent them to many people who also told me that they're perfect :D
• Can you guess which is the Rep? Those are "old" samples by the way. I fixed a thing or two ;)

1. Once I allow new orders, just order normally on my website. I suggest that you create an account and login beforehand (just a couple of minutes) to be quick ;) Everyone will get pairs, but the faster you order, the higher up on the waiting list you are.
2. Once you order, contact me on WhatsApp or WeChat and ONLY give me your ORDER NUMBER. You do NOT have to be fast for this, take your time and do it correctly so I can actually give you a pair. Just text me "My order number is XXXXX" without the "#" or anything else. This way, once your pair is ready, I can search your order number on WhatsApp or WeChat and I will directly find it. I know many people will say "we don't have WeChat or WhatsApp can I do it here or on Instagram" and the answer is sure, but I highly recommend doing it on WhatsApp or WeChat. WhatsApp is free and easy to download. In summary, after ordering on WhatsApp text me "my Order number is XXXXX" where XXXX = your order number, but don't add # or anything. No need to be quick for this step, since I will follow the website order.
3. There is NO need to pay directly. I will only ask for a payment 72 hours before I am sure that I can get your shoes. However, if you don't mind paying, send me a second message saying "I do not mind paying yet". Again, NO need to pay directly. However, it's better for me since I still have to pay my staff and factory workers etc. Paying doesn't mean you will manage to skip the waiting list or anything. Paying more doesn't mean that you can skip the waiting list either. I had people offer me up to 75$ more to reserve them a pair. While I think that's cool, and thank you for that, but I cannot accept taking more money I just don't like it. No need to pay more than others you know. It's unfair.
4. So ya as I mentioned in step 3, after you text me "My order number is XXXX" you must wait until it's your turn. Once I know that I will be able to get your pair within 72 to 96 hours, I will text you saying "You have 24 hours to pay or your order will be canceled." I am sorry for this, but I must be fair. The message is self explanatory, you have 24 hours to pay for your orders or it will be canceled. This might sound harsh, but don't forget the people waiting as well. I must stay fair.
5. Ordering and not paying will also probably result in you not being able to take part in such waiting lists anymore, since I plan on doing this waiting list for my next shoes as well. Again, this sounds harsh I know, but imagine someone ordering, which means that I will make a pair just for them, but they they don't buy it. Therefore, only order if you are sure that you want to buy.
6. Anyways, after sending you the 'pay in 24 hours' message, considering that you have paid, you will wait a few days (up to 3 or 4) until you get QC. It's normal from here. You get QC, GL (or RL) and I ship. If you RL I will not put you to the back of the list as some people might have said, but it might take a couple of days since I might not have any stock in your size for the next couple of days.
7. Regarding paying via PayPal, you can only pay using Friends and Family. Moreover, only put your order number in the notes section. so for example the notes section should say "1001234" not "Order number is 1001234" or anything. just 1001234

3. Travis Scott Dunks:

4. What to produce next

5. Prices

1. This job is actually stressful. I sleep 3-4 hours on average. I've got some hideous bags under my eyes due to the lack of sleep. I'm always working, always active,.. Time is money guys don't forget that. Opportunity cost.. Instead of working about 20 hours per day on reps, I could do anything else and with 20 hours a day, even if you work for 5$/hour, that's already 100$ per day, and I don't have a holiday every Saturday and Sunday, don't forget that. I'm not complaining, I'm just explaining my point of view.
2. Most of the money goes to the factory. So if the shoes are not my batch, I'm not the one making most of the money, it's the factory.
3. Making a .75:1 batch is wayyyy easier than a 1:1. It's not linear.
4. Prices are not as cheap as you think. You think a pair of shoes costs me 20$. I'm not nike.. I actually care about my workers conditions and pay them well..
5. Some say prices shouldn't be like retail prices. Well firstly, sure if you get retail on those shoes congrats I'm very happy for you. However, most people are buying shoes which resell for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Moreover, Nike's costs are less, so if Nike charges 180$ for a pair of Jordan 1's, it should be more than fair to charge something around that price because my costs are surely higher than Nike's. Some people might say "but your products are reps and are not of the same quality." I can assure you that my Union AJ1's have the same, if not better, MATERIALS (leather etc..) than the real Unions. I have 4 pairs of real Unions haha. Same goes for my Jordan 1's and many other shoes, specially those supervised by me.
6. Making the shoe is easier than replicating it. A designer made the shoes and just did whatever he wanted without following any guides, whereas I have to make shoe that are 1:1 like how the designer made them. For example, when they made the Union 1's, they didn't have to make the Wingslogo Xxcm long and YYcm wide or anything. Whereas I have to do that

6. Misconceptions:

1. Shoes made and supervised by me such as The Unions, Dunks, Jordan 1 Obsidian,...
2. Shoes that are made in my factory but I didn't directly supervise them, but gave them to someone responsible to make them, but I didn't sit with him all the time and worked on it with him like in "1."
3. Best batch if I don't have the shoes from my factory of if I think that another factory has a better batch.

7. "added services"

8. How to order & Contact info:

Edit: This is how I will drop the Unions again once my website goes live