The no. of Twitter-bots supporting climate-change denial must be teenily larger. Of course, this hasn't been researched.
On an average day during the period studied, 25% of all tweets about the climate crisis came from bots. This proportion was higher in certain topics â bots were responsible for 38% of tweets about âfake scienceâ and 28% of all tweets about the petroleum giant Exxon.
Conversely, tweets that could be categorized as online activism to support action on the climate crisis featured very few bots, at about 5% prevalence. The findings âsuggest that bots are not just prevalent, but disproportionately so in topics that were supportive of Trumpâs announcement or skeptical of climate science and actionâ, the analysis states.
Apparently, banks are among the most corrupt and criminal bodies, like concisely demonstrated in the book "Dark Towers" by David Enrich, an examplified study of "Deutsche Bank's" history and activities today. Here's a sad and enlightening recension of the book. ~ Some quotes from the article:
This important book puts in perspective the history of Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB), one of the most mismanaged and politically tainted global banks in modern history. âDark Towersâ also tells the story of how Deutsche Bank provided $2 billion in financing to President Donald Trump, cash that enabled the former real estate developer to continue in business despite his many poor business decisions and credit defaults. As the book makes clear, the only reason that Donald Trump was able to win the American presidency was due to the financial support of Deutsche Bank over more than two decades.
Reading âDark Towers,â one is left with the impression that Deutsche Bank is less a financial institution and more an ongoing criminal enterprise.
Deutsche Bank cut a swath of destruction âand is about the consequencesâdead people, doomed companies, broken economies,â Enrich writes, âand the 45th president of the United Statesâthat Deutsche Bank wrought on the world.â
The fact that Deutsche Bank laundered billions in dirty money for the likes of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and others via Deutsche Bank Trust Company in New York raises basic question about the efficacy of the bank supervision functions of the Federal Reserve, the State of New York and other agencies around the globe. The fact that Deutsche Bank's US subsidiary was home to both the Trump loans and the money-laundering Russian mirror trades makes the culpability of American regulators even more alarming.
While the Fed emerges badly tainted from the narrative so skillfully presented in âDark Towers,â the incompetence and indifference of European regulators and political leaders also is laid bare. The role played by former Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackerman, in particular, is painted by Enrich as being extremely damaging to the bank and the global financial system.
Starting from the acquisition of Morgan Grenfell in 1990 and then Bankers Trust a decade later, Deutsche Bank officials oversaw a sharp increase in the bankâs risk-taking activities that was neither prudent nor well-supervised. By the time Ackerman left Deutsche Bank in 2012, the bank was the largest in the word but was also in serious trouble, difficulties that would bring it to the brink of financial failure.
The deliberate indifference to risk and the overt willingness of Deutsche Bank officials to engage in money laundering, fraud and other wanton acts of criminality raises basic questions about the ability of governments in the EU to regulate financial institutions. Officials up to the board level of Deutsche Bank, for example, apparently were aware of illegal activities such as providing billions in cash to the Revolutionary Guards in Iran, yet did nothing to stop the activity.
Enrich reports that âBy 2006, Deutsche had zapped nearly $11 billion into Iran, Burma, Syria, Libya, and Sudan, providing desperately needed hard currency to the worldâs outlaw regimes and singlehandedly eroding the effectiveness of peaceful efforts to defuse international crises.â The book seemingly confirms a 2018 lawsuit which alleges that Deutsche played an âintegral role in helping Iran finance, orchestrate, and support terrorist attacks on U.S. peacekeeping forces in Iraq from 2004 to 2011.â
The selected measurements are from coastal locations spanning from Maine to Alaska. About 40% of the US population lives in or near coastal areas. (...)
Generally speaking, the sea level is rising faster on the US east and Gulf coasts compared with the US west coast, partially because land on the eastern seaboard is gradually sinking.
The âup nextâ feature dictates what users watch for 70% of the time they spend on YouTube. The exact make-up of the YouTube algorithm that drives recommendations, designed to keep users on the platform for as long as possible, is a closely guarded secret. Experts say the algorithm appears to have learned that radical or outrageous content is more likely to engage viewers. (...)
In January 2019, responding to criticism over the platformâs tendency to drive people towards more radical political and social viewpoints, YouTube announced that in the U.S. it would begin reducing recommendations of âborderlineâ content that pushed the limits of Community Guidelines on areas like hate speech, as well as âcontent that could misinform users in harmful waysâsuch as videos promoting a phony miracle cure for a serious illness, claiming the earth is flat, or making blatantly false claims about historic events like 9/11â. In December, YouTube said that policy had been successful, driving down the average time spent by U.S. users watching recommended âborderlineâ content or harmful misinformation by 70%.
The âup nextâ feature dictates what users watch for 70% of the time they spend on YouTube. The exact make-up of the YouTube algorithm that drives recommendations, designed to keep users on the platform for as long as possible, is a closely guarded secret. Experts say the algorithm appears to have learned that radical or outrageous content is more likely to engage viewers. (...)
In January 2019, responding to criticism over the platformâs tendency to drive people towards more radical political and social viewpoints, YouTube announced that in the U.S. it would begin reducing recommendations of âborderlineâ content that pushed the limits of Community Guidelines on areas like hate speech, as well as âcontent that could misinform users in harmful waysâsuch as videos promoting a phony miracle cure for a serious illness, claiming the earth is flat, or making blatantly false claims about historic events like 9/11â. In December, YouTube said that policy had been successful, driving down the average time spent by U.S. users watching recommended âborderlineâ content or harmful misinformation by 70%.
