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For your everyday tweeting, Uber Eating, back-to-back meeting tech bro, the idea that rapid technological change could have its downsides is an inconvenient truth.

Thats why weve rounded up 18 books puncturing Silicon Valley utopianism. From the rise of Big Data to the fall of Theranos, these authors delve into the tech fairy tales weve been sold and uncover the underlying truth.

Arm yourself with the tools to take on Big Tech from this bestselling list of tech experts.

Mike Isaac, the award-winning New York Times technology reporter, digs deep into the history of Uber, the worlds best known -and most controversial -ride-hailing firm.

Praised for laying out the companys many woes without making a caricature of the companys eccentric ex-CEO Travis Kalanick, Isaac offers the essential guide to understanding how Uber became what it is today.

As the company continues to face down controversy around the world, this book puts the pedal to the metal in a way nothing else has before.

Find it here

Richard Seymours dark polemic on the digital age might be the most sobering on this list.

Hardly a day goes by without the President of the United States firing vitriol at his enemies via social media, as Seymour observes in what he assures his readers is a horror story come to life.

Seymour dedicates his book to the Luddites those that smashed machinery apart during the industrial revolution with his tongue firmly in his cheek.

Reading it might just make you want to do the same.

Find it here

Automating Inequality is an unsettling insight into the world of robotic decision-making, exploring how algorithms are already being used to make decisions about who should be paid, who should be surveilled and in some cases who should be born.

Eubanks, a professor of womens studies at the University of Albany, paints a compelling picture of inequality at large, intensified by the distancing of human beings from human affairs.

The unfiltered impact of new technology on issues like race, class and gender exemplifies how machines have yet to learn how to make decisions the way humans do.

Find it here

In Emily Changs shocking foray into the exploits of some of the worlds most unsavoury tech bros, drug-fuelled sex parties are the norm in the suburbs of Silicon Valley.

Rejected as salacious nonsense by Elon Musk who is himself alleged to have attended one such party Changs work exposes the Valleys notoriously male-dominated and sexist culture.

In the final chapter, Chang reveals: Writing this book has been like going on a trek through a minefield, with fresh mines being laid as I walked.

Dont miss it.

Find it here

Read the inside story of the startup that continues to make headlines around the world.

After founding Theranos, a healthtech company which claimed to have revolutionary blood-testing capabilities, Elizabeth Holmes set a series of calamitous events in motion.

John Carreyrou received universal acclaim for his forensic analysis, seeking sources from top to bottom within Theranos, the sham company that drew massive investments from the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Carlos Slim.

While it remains to be seen what will become of Holmes, Carreyrous hard-hitting investigation is now set for a Hollywood adaptation, directed by The Big Shorts Adam McKay and starring Jennifer Lawrence.

Find it here

Invisible Women exposes what author Criado Perez dubs the one-size-fits-men bias in design and technology, highlighting the endless number of mismatches in everyday life, from fitness monitors to items of clothing to car safety.

The winner of the Financial Times Best Business Book of 2019, Invisible Women is a compelling insight into the dangers of treating male bodies as the default in policymaking.

Find it here

Financial Times journalist Rana Foroohars deep-dive critique of the internets pioneers takes a forensic look at the biggest companies dominating our lives, including: Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Uber.

In examining each case study, Foroohar unpicks how the tech giants slowly but surely started to betray their founding principles, from Googles old mantra Dont be evil to Mark Zuckerbergs vision of creating communities around the world.

Like with so many on our list, Dont Be Evil might leave you feeling a little more nervous about the world we live in, but a lot more informed.

Find it here

Jamie Susskind confronts some of the most important questions of our time, effortlessly mapping his knowledge of political theory onto the latest developments from Silicon Valley, revealing a host of ethical quandaries and impracticalities.

Susskind doesnt hone in on any particular companies, instead abstracting their capabilities and what they might mean for all of us in our everyday lives or, as he calls it, the digital lifeworld.

For all its grand implications, Future Politics is an accessible read, peppered with self-deprecating humour and pop cultural references throughout, and will make you only more curious about the road ahead.

Find it here

Shoshana Zuboff, a professor of social psychology at Harvard Business School, has been using the term surveillance capitalism to describe the economic model of Big Tech since at least 2014, around five years before publishing this weighty tome.

She offers the reader a shocking insight into the business model that underpins the digital world, detailing in razor-sharp detail how the likes of Facebook and Google are using our data to advance their interests.

Zuboff effortlessly infuses what we already know with her trademark academic analysis, allowing us to grasp the big picture. The landmark book is a follow-up of sorts to her previous work, 1988s The Age of the Smart Machine, which was likewise considered definitive in its field.

Find it here

Jamie Bartletts manifesto for technological resistance, longlisted for the Orwell Prize, offers a comprehensive overview of the threats posed by the Internet to our very way of life.

Most recently heard hunting down the Missing Cryptoqueen for the BBC, Bartlett offers a sobering guide to the ways in which both individuals and institutions can stop Big Tech from taking over our culture, elections, economy and more.

Bartlett works at think-tank Demos, and previously presented a two-part BBC documentary series called The Secrets of Silicon Valley.

Find it here

While technically more a series of sociological experiments than tech expos, Bloodworths book dramatically reveals the everyday reality of those working in the UKs tech-driven gig economy.

Whether stacking shelves in an Amazon warehouse or seeking passengers as an Uber driver, Bloodworth steps into the lives of those doing Big Techs heavy lifting without seeing much of the reward.

Selected as The Times current affairs book of 2018 and longlisted for the Orwell Prize, Hired is an in-depth study of the conditions imposed on those benefiting least from the technological revolution.

Find it here

Christopher Wiley, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, lifts the lid on his time at the now-infamous political consultancy.

Revelations abound about the companys working culture, including the behaviour of former CEO Alexander Nix, while Wiley reveals bit by bit the kind of power he wielded while rifling through individuals personal data.

While the true impact of Cambridge Analyticas work in the US, UK and elsewhere around the world continues to be argued, Wileys insight gives you the best chance yet of making that assessment for yourself.

Find it here

Algorithms are everywhere, organising the unfathomably large quantities of data produced by each of us every day.

In We Are Data, John Cheney-Lippold spells out what the implications might be for our algorithmic identities in the digital age, and how they underpin everything from architecture to accountancy.

A professor of digital studies at the University of Michigan, Cheney-Lippold implores his readers to try to fully grasp the problems that lie ahead, so that we might have the best chance of reaching a solution.

Find it here

Stuart Russell already has one of the best-known books on artificial intelligence to his name, having authored Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach in 1995 with co-writer Peter Norvig.

Now, Russell returns to the question and doesnt hold anything back.

The University of California professor outlines the darker consequences of pushing the frontiers in artificial intelligence or, as he calls it, the most important question facing humanity.

Find it here

Writing with the pace of a thriller novel, Andy Greenberg tells the story of Russias infamous hacking group of the title.

Sandworm is the must-read guide to state-sponsored hacking, described by the LA Times as a comprehensive look at the technical, military and political stories of this new hidden war.

Find it here

With his 2018 book, journalist Corey Pein set out to learn how such an overhyped industry as tech could sustain itself as long as it has.

He slowly works the crowds at conferences, pitches his wacky ideas to investors and interviews a cast of ridiculous characters: cyborgs, tech bros, hackers and obedient employees all feature.

LWWWD is an incisive portrait of a self-obsessed industry hellbent on succeeding by whatever means necessary.

Find it here

Martin Moore has some big questions for Big Tech, breaking his book into three overarching themes: hackers, systems failure, and alternative futures.

From the rise of alt-right media outlets like Breitbart, through to the rise of what he dubs surveillance democracies, Moore maps a path from old Soviet disinformation campaigns through to those alleged to have played a part in the 2016 US Election.

A seriously engaging work that should be read by anyone curious about the impact of new technology on national security.

Find it here

One of the most unsettling and illuminating books about the internet ever written, so says the New York Times, New Dark Age reveals the dark clouds gathering over our dreams of a digital utopia.

Looking at the ways machines have already began besting their human competitors, such as the AI that defeated chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, Bridle suggests a new path forward: centaur chess, a kind of team-up between humans partnered with computers.

The implications for a post- or transhuman world are to say the least mind-blowing.

Find it here

See more here:
Misinformation, hacking, and imploding startups: 18 books to read in 2020 that puncture Silicon Valley utopianism - Business Insider

Ten years ago Dutch band De Staat shared a communal house in Nijmegen, the left-wing Dutch town affectionally known as "Havana-On-The-Waal", with each band member receiving a monthly stipend of 200 from the government to encourage their music.

They were weird, producing angular, jerky blues rock that didn't so much reflect the sum of their influences as much as make them sound like a band who didn't listen to other bands at all.

A decade on, things have changed. They're still getting money from the government (in 2016 the band were awarded a 236,000 four-year subsidy from the country's Performing Arts Fund), but the music has moved on.

Traces of the blues have all but vanished, and while the angularity remains, a typical De Staat song truly sounds like music reinvented. Much of it is almost childlike, with nagging four-to-the-floor rhythms confounded by a bass that accents the upbeats, giving everything a lollopping momentum, as if the music is powered by marching Oompa Loompas, soundtracking a demented circus parade.

They're a serious draw in The Netherlands. Back in March this writer and 6000 fans have crammed into AFAS Live in Amsterdam for a performance that felt like a victory parade with a coronation attached. Holding it all together was frontman Torre Florim, with a staccato, stream of consciousness delivery that took in everything from teeth-whitening and Photoshop to alt-right meme Pepe the Frog across a brilliant, bewildering couple of hours.

From the techno screeches that announced the arrival of set opener Me Time to the closing KITTY KITTY later voted rock video of the year which flipped from a gabber-influenced backdrop to a transcendent middle section that sounded like Topographic Oceans-era Yes (then back again) the set was a cartwheeling, discombobulating adventure.

There were three guitars on stage, but they didn't sound like guitars. Phoenix started with violent blasts of Hans Zimmer-style orchestration, Florim atop a platform, multiple spotlights gilding his skull, before the beams softened and the song took a tender turn. The maddening Pikachu was delivered almost as a rap battle. Fake It Till You Make It featured bhangra rhythms and wildly over-clocked auto-tune.

It was bedlam with a seizure-inducing lightshow, and all the songs we've mentioned were purloined from this year's Bubble Gum album, the consolidation of a dozen year's worth of experimenting. They've refined their craft to the point where a De Staat song sounds like no one else, with those jerking, toddler-friendly rhythms backboning songs as likely to sweep in influences from hip hop and dance music as they are from prog rock.

If you're looking for tradition you won't find it, but if you're willing to open your ears to something that's simultaneously simpler and more left field than you're used to, Bubble Gum might be for you. There's something peculiarly primal about it.

Late in the year, De Staat played at The Garage in London, a venue less than a 10th of the size of their Amsterdam show. Up close it's a different experience, and the slick, machine-drilled choreography is more apparent. But with the dazzling light show still in place and a crowd going nuts delighted to be able to witness the band at such close quarters it was another evening of vivid, kaleidoscopic delirium, with Bubble Gum at its heart.

Bubble Gum is available now via Caroline International.

See the original post:
The albums we loved this year: De Staat - Bubble Gum - Louder

As the year comes to a close, here are a dozen of the top stories the media majorly messed up:

The media ripped apart a 16-year-old student seen in a video smirking at a Native American activist on the National Mall during a school trip with Covington Catholic High School to Washington D.C. for the March for Life.

The release of added context however, reveals that Nick Sandmann, a junior at the school who is depicted in the viral image was being harassed along with his peers by members of the Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI).

That didnt stop the media however, from vilifying Sandmann who has since launched legal challenges to media outlets who falsely reported the story.

Television star of the popular series Empire was offered a plethora of sympathetic media coverage throughout February after suffering from an alleged racist and homophobic Jan. 29 attack.

It was later revealed however that Smollett faked the crime and faced 16 charges for lying to police. The Chicago Cook County prosecutors office however, dropped the charges while maintaining it did exonerate him.

As Jonathan Tobin points out for The Federalist, the episode illustrates the societal double-standard that its okay to lie if its in the name of left-wing social justice.

In perhaps one of the medias most magnificent mistakes this year, special counsel Robert Mueller unveiled his findings from a two-year unlimited resource investigation completely exonerating President Donald Trump of being a Russian agent after years of the medias peddling of the Russia hoax.

Mueller found not one person from the Trump campaign, let alone Trump himself, colluded with the Russian government in 2016 to defeat Hillary Clinton. Muellers report also acquitted Trump of any obstruction of justice charges for firing one of the most corrupt directors of the FBI, James Comey.

He has no idea that hes going down, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough declared on Morning Joe as a result of the report.

The White House Correspondents Dinner in April this year opted to forgo a comedian this year to instead just attack Trump openly, complaining that the president might start rounding up journalists and putting them in jail.

Read The Federalists single editorial position on Washingtons NerdProm here.

While the #MeToo era has brought down powerful men for alleged inappropriate conduct in recent years, the media exposed its double-standard when it comes to men they want to protect.

Former Vice President Joe Biden sparked criticism this year for his interactions with young girls earning the Democratic frontrunner the nickname Creepy Uncle Joe.

While the media will eviscerate any man the progressive movement attempts to bring down with allegations of sexual harassment, most notably Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, the media when to bat to defend Biden who has been leading the Democratic primary field ever since.

Antifa, a left-wing movement to counter the fascist alt-right by conducting acts of domestic terrorism has been defended by the media as principled individuals united in their common valor to resist the anti-Trump forces threatening to destroy the country.

Exactly how Antifa is pursuing their mission? By destroying the country. Throughout the year the left-wing militant group has interrupted events and viciously attacked journalists covering their hate resulting in one reporter suffering a brain injury.

It says it right in the name. Antifa, which means anti-fascism, which is what they were there fighting. Listen, no organization is perfect, there is some violence, CNNs Don Lemon said.

They have taken a principled stand to stand against white supremacists and white nationalists wherever they may show up, said a guest on MSNBC.

While America celebrated one of human civilizations greatest accomplishments of world history by landing a man on the moon in 1969, the media condemned the event as a mostly white male dominated event Ok.

In a viral moment caught on a phone camera, a man began berating CNNs Chris Cuomo and called the primetime anchor Fredo.

Dont f***ing insult me like that Its like I call you punk b***h, you like that? Cuomo scolded.

While Cuomo took great offense to the word as an Italian slur, the word is actually a reference to a character in The Godfather.

Cuomo even once referred to himself as Fredo in a radio interview.

Its a true tragedy, really. A 16-year-old climate activist on the autism spectrum kicked off a campaign to save the world from climate change, sailing across the Atlantic and lecturing the world at the United Nations of its imminent threat to humanity.

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, Thunberg declared to world leaders.

Whats sad is the lefts puppeteering of Thunberg as their principle activist to prop up their efforts to enact radical climate legislation, using Thunberg as their flag-bearer to avoid criticism of their proposals labeling anyone who might dare question her demands as bigoted and cruel.

Time Magazine even picked Thunberg as their person of the year. The Federalist has chosen the Hong Kong protestor instead.

While Grabien lists media coverage condemning a violent meme video shown at a Trump resort as Octobers most mortifying moment, media reaction to the video wasnt entirely unjustified given the nature of the video depicting Trump of murdering his opponents and members of the press. Instead, the medias coverage of the presidents successful war on ISIS is far more worthy of condemnation.

After Trump announced the successful execution of the worlds most dangerous terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Washington Post published an astonishing obituary for the ISIS leader, branding the dead anti-American warmonger as an austere religious scholar in the headline.

Further, the Post spent the first half of the article chronicling al-Baghdadis rise in academia, waiting until the 40th paragraph to mention al-Baghdadi was also a serial rapist.

While the Post ultimately reframed story on the same day, the Posts glaring mistake is illustrative of the wider media coverage on Trumps battle with ISIS.

A leaked recording obtained by Project Veritas shows ABC anchor Amy Robach complaining that the network refused to run with her story on Jeffrey Epstein before the revelations surfaced of the hedge fund managers vast sex trafficking network.

Ive had the story for three yearsWe would not put it on the air. Um, first of all, I was told, whos Jeffrey Epstein? No one knows who that is. This is a stupid story, Robach said. It was unbelievable what we had, Clinton, we had everything. Now its all coming out and its like these new revelations and I freaking had it.

ABC has since declared war on the whistleblower who leaked the recording instead of coming down on the executives who buried the story.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department inspector general released a long-anticipated report on the FBIs FISA abuses of four warrants used to conduct surveillance on the Trump campaign.

One of the major revelations to emerge from the report was the confirmation that the sources from the discredited Steele Dossier were relied upon to re-issue the warrants from the FISA courts to continue its deep-state operations. FBI officials knew as early as January of 2017 that the sources were providing junk intelligence and did not include that information in their warrant applications.

The media however, spent years defending the credibility of the Steele Dossier in peddling the Russia hoax.

More:
12 Stories The Media Got Horribly Wrong In 2019 - The Federalist

Donald J. Trump has become the third President in the history of our nation to be impeached by the House of Representatives for high crimes and misdemeanors against the people of the United States. This moment comes as a surprise to absolutely no one. Democrats have been keeping a tally of the immoral and illegal dealings of this President since his first day in office, vowing to defend the constitution the very moment the President had crossed the line from immoral to unconstitutional. Republicans have known since the Democrats won the House of Representatives that impeachment was likely- they too have watched the President act in unethical ways time and time again and knew that as soon as he crossed a line, the Democrats would proceed forward with an impeachment investigation.

Yesterday, as I watched the eight hours of debates on the House floor over the articles of impeachment being presented, I began to be reminded of a truth that we all know, but so easily forget: our country is irreconcilably divided. We literally live in (at least) two fundamentally different realities. As each Republican stepped up and claimed that this impeachment was nothing more than a witch-hunt and was based on made up charges, I wondered how anyone could interpret the facts this way. As Democrats testified time and time again, the President has admitted wrongdoing. He had, in fact, used his power to attempt to coerce a foreign government into helping him win the 2020 election. Yet the two sides seemed unable to convince each other of their perspective. They didnt seem interested in trying.

Then I logged on to Twitter. I saw my feed filled with my liberal friends rejoicing over the impeachment vote- and I joined them. But my curiosity led me to head over to President Trumps feed and follow some of his fans- and they were tweeting with palpable fury that this entire hearing was a sham, proclaiming that there was no evidence of wrongdoing, and this was nothing more than the Democrats trying to remove Trump out of fear that he was going to win the 2020 election. They posted news stories and opinion pieces from sources I have honestly never heard of and claimed that the mainstream media that I was reading that offered evidence of Trumps wrongdoing was fake news and political propaganda. Nothing I could say would convince any of these Trump supporters, because all of the evidence I could provide was written off as fake. Nothing they could say could convince me, because the evidence and arguments they put forward seemed to me to bewellfake.

This is where we are at as a country. We are literally living in two realities. We cant even determine the basis for what reality even is. This isnt exaggeration. When we cannot agree on what is real, when be believe that the other side is producing fake information to deceive us, and that the motives of the other are truly nefarious and evil, how can we possibly move forward? How can we possibly have a generative future together? I dont mean to sound alarmist, but historically circumstances like these usually lead to war- literally fighting to determine who is the most powerful, and therefore, gets to determine what is right and true. And the fury that I saw last night, in the red face of President Trump at his rally and between both Democrats and Republicans on Twitter make it seem that we really, truly, are at war. Not over political positions, not over who should occupy the White House. Were at war to determine what is fundamentally real.

From where I sit, it seems to me that there is only one potential path to bring us back from the brink of actual war with each other: all of us must put the common good and public service before party allegiance. Those of us on both sides who have not bought into conspiracy theories and complete caricatures of our political others must come to the table together and hash out what is actually, factually true. This would require the sacrifice of party allegiance for all of us, and the ability to truly see things as they are. I have to believe that most Republicans know that Democrats never had a secret plot to seek to remove the President just because they didnt think they could win an election. I have to believe that most Democrats know that many Republicans are deeply disturbed by the Presidents behavior and somewhere deep down would like to hold him accountable (and have said as much). If both sides would truly put public service first, instead of maintaining power, then perhaps we can walk the country back from the edge of yet another civil war.

And I should make another fact clear: While I do think both Democrats and Republicans hold some degree of culpability in creating this divisive moment, it is clear that the bulk of the confusion going around in this moment has stemmed from Republican leaders legitimizing alt-right conspiracy theories. When the President of the United States regularly retweets stories that he knows are false but paint a favorable narrative of him, when Senators give interviews to conspiracy theory sites like Breitbart or One American News, they are legitimizing the disregard for truth and reality. Sure, doing so is politically expedient for them. It absolutely helps them win elections. But it also is eroding millions of Americans ability to distinguish what is real and what is true- and this is not something that can easily be undone.

I am naturally an optimistic person, and I want to end this reflection with hope- but the truth is, I am not hopeful. I believe that the love of power and influence is going to outweigh the desire to do what is right. I really do believe that millions of conservative Americans are going to buy into truly outlandish, fake news and become filled with uncontainable rage that is going to manifest somehow in the future. I really do believe that millions of progressive Americans are going to continue to grow to believe that most conservatives lack a moral foundation and should not be given a hearing or consideration. And if we continue to grow in these two polar opposite directions, the only result will be the fundamental erosion of our democracy. No election will solve this problem- whoever the next President will be will face threats of impeachment and a complete partisan stalemate that will make it nearly impossible to govern.

Nothing short of a miracle can change the direction our country is heading. Nothing short of a true political revolution, that called our leaders away from party and back to a posture of service. Nothing short of a return to honesty in the public square, rather than whatever theories garner support for our party will save us from this era of division.I truly hope that this will some day become our reality. But as for today, I am not very hopeful. I believe we may truly be witnessing the end of the American experiment. And until we awaken to the truth of this harrowing reality, I have little faith that anything will change in our country.

Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.

What is truth? retorted Pilate.

John 18:37-38

More here:
What Is Truth?: Witnessing The End of the American Experiment - Patheos

When we arrived at the museum on the northern edge of Tehrans Shahr Park on a drizzly late October morning, we were greeted by the museums director, Mohammad Reza Taghipoor Moghadam who, I couldnt help but notice, had no legs. As he wheeled himself into the museum, my companions and I followed closely behind.

After entering the compact round building, we gathered in a small room where Moghadam introduced us to his colleagues, Mr. Mohammadi, who was wearing dark sunglasses even on the dreary morning, and Mr. Roostapour who wore no glasses but, like Mr. Mohammadi, suffered from damage to his eyes and lungs resulting from chemical warfare.

As veterans of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), all three men bore grave injuries more than 30 years after the war had ended. Today they welcome visitors to the Tehran Peace Museum where they discuss the history of the brutal war, describing how Iraq, under Saddam Hussein who was aided with intelligence and arms provided by the United States, used chemical weapons against Iranians and Kurds.

Three veterans of the Iran-Iraq war talk about the effects of war on soldiers and civilians at the Tehran Peace Museum with a group of visiting Americans.

Jon Letman

One museum display states that some 65,000 Iranian civilians and military veterans still suffer chronic health problems from those attacks. Standing before exhibits detailing how civilians were victims of the war, the three veterans spoke about the suffering caused by nuclear weapons, poison gas, nerve agents, incendiary munitions, cluster bombs, conventional rockets, missiles, mortars and artillery used in wars waged from the air, in the sea, and on the ground by militaries around the world.

As the veterans recounted the human and environmental damage caused by chemical warfare, I thought about Hawaiis own role in testing and training for war.

I recalled how in 1967 the Army conducted Operation Green Mist in which it tested the deadly nerve agent sarin in the Waiakea Forest Reserve on Hawaii Island.

That reminded me of a 2012 Civil Beat report about how some 16,000 bombs filled with mustard agent were dumped by the military in waters off Oahu during World War II.

When Moghadam spoke of the harm from depleted uranium and the environmental damage it causes, Hawaii popped into my head again, specifically the DU previously used at Schofield Barracks and Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii Island.

Although the Iran-Iraq war ended more than 30 years ago, murals depicting soldiers killed in battle are found throughout Iran today.

Jon Letman

As the three men spoke, I thought of the decades of Navy bombing carried out on Kahoolawe which, in turn, made me think of RIMPAC, the international war games Hawaii hosts every two years. I thought of the ships used as target practice in sinking exercises off Kauai, the artillery fired between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, the amphibious assaults rehearsed and the urban warfare training drills carried out across Hawaii.

When Moghadam talked about the death, destruction and squandered resources resulting from nuclear weapons, I thought of the Sandia National Laboratorys Kauai Test Site where technology is tested for use in Americas next generation of nuclear weapons, part of a $1.5 trillion modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

This comes as Iran continues to suffer under punishing U.S. sanctions, a policy of maximum pressure, and the threat of war despite Irans compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (i.e., Iran nuclear deal).

Moghadam explained how Iranian civilians, not Irans government, are the primary victims of sanctions that have greatly expanded into a complex spider web-like network that isolates ordinary Iranian citizens from global commercial and financial systems. Intensified U.S. sanctions restrict almost everything coming into Iran including life-saving medicines and medical equipment things like respirators, air purifiers, and wheelchairs that these veterans rely on.

Civilian people who are not politicians do not deserve to be affected by sanctions, Moghadam said, adding war is a great business for countries.

Indeed, war is good business. In Hawaiis case, the business of war often called defense is central to Hawaiis economy. Military, weapons and war are Hawaiis second largest sector of its economy with Hawaii ranking second in the nation for its defense spending as a percentage of state GDP, and third highest for defense spending per resident. In 2017, more than 81,000 military personnel and civilians were employed by the defense sector, reported to generate over $14 billion for Hawaiis economy.

From our congressional delegation who proudly announce securing military contracts, to our local leaders who are almost universally on board with military projects, to our families who have become dependent on military-related jobs, to our schools which cooperate with the military and are eager to expand STEM programs that will train Hawaiis youth to pursue careers in the military, intelligence, or security, Hawaii is steeped in war.

We remain complicit in the suffering of the victims of war.

We all know what war is and what it does. As former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee so crudely said in a 2016 GOP presidential debate, the purpose of the military is kill people and break things.

All too often in Hawaii, we not only support but also celebrate our own role in wars fought in someone elses country. As long as we accept or encourage Hawaii to be a place that facilitates the business of war, we will remain complicit in the suffering of the victims of war.

Even when we talk about living aloha and the cost of war, unless we are sincere in our opposition to supporting Hawaiis war industry, we are the ones who dont have legs to stand on.

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Trip To Iran Triggers Thoughts Of Hawaii's Role In War - Honolulu Civil Beat