By Timothy Birdnow —— Bio and Archives June 10, 2013
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The offering tanked as a result of outside forces, computer glitches, and mishandling of the situation by NASDAQ and the Security Exchange commission (SEC). Here is what happened: "What happened with Facebook's IPO was that there were so many cancels and resubmitted orders that the normal cycle of a few milliseconds, cycling regularly to get to the cross, turned into a "loop." "You'd think NASDAQ would have planned for this eventuality better. They tried. They actually tested their live systems with a test security they labeled ZWZZT and had members send in orders. The problem was, they limited the number of test orders to 40,000. Why? Who knows, "It's a helicopter."
"I want to respond personally to the outrageous press reports about PRISM: Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers. We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of PRISM before yesterday. When governments ask Facebook for data, we review each request carefully to make sure they always follow the correct processes and all applicable laws, and then only provide the information if is required by law. We will continue fighting aggressively to keep your information safe and secure. We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe. It's the only way to protect everyone's civil liberties and create the safe and free society we all want over the long term."Please note the similarity to the Google denial. Also, note the weasel words "direct access", "part of any program", "a blanket request or court order", "in bulk". Note the "follow the correct process" and "all applicable laws", "required by law". As Allahpundit points out;
"If Google's being cute in using weasel words to hide its complicity, it'll look even worse when the truth of their compliance comes out. So maybe they're not being cute. Maybe they're really not participating in this voluntarily."Or they are lying, or something is wrong with the reporting in some fundamental way. One wonders if both the U.K. Guardian and the Washington Post would so endanger their credibility. It makes one wonder; are the disastrous Facebook IPO and the NSA's PRISM scandal somehow linked? Facebook was intimately involved in the Arab Spring, after all; Google VP Wael Ghonim used Facebook to organize the Egyptian rebels against Hosni Mubarak (see here and here ) and in fact the rebel leaders were trained on the use of social media at the White House. There were definite ties between the Administration and Facebook. (And to George Soros, someone who could have interests in manipulating the Facebook IPO.) BUT Facebook donated more money to the GOPthan to Democrats early in 2012. Zuckerberg is notoriously independent, and the political machine that put Barack Obama in office is notoriously cutthroat. Was it perhaps necessary to bring Zuckerberg and Facebook in line? George Soros, billionaire donor to Barack Obama, could well have an interest in tanking the IPO. He certainly has done such things in the past. There are other supporters of the Regime who would do likewise. A big part of the problem with the IPO was a series of purchases and cancellations - as though someone, someone who knew what they were doing, consciously tried to cause a crash. Soros broke the Bank of England by shorting the Pound and did likewise to Russia. Could he or others like him have taken this action against Facebook? Soros cleaned up on Facebook stock AFTER the initial disaster. Considering that Soros has done this sort of thing repeatedly, Is it possible that Facebook got the message and has to play ball with the government? The power that the U.S. government can exercise over business is truly staggering. Companies can prosper or face annihilation based on regulations or new laws that government can impose on a whim. Zuckerberg is no fool; he would have gotten the hint from the disastrous public offering. Someone made a mess of it, and that someone was not Facebook. And now Facebook stands accused in the NSA data mining scandal. This is all speculation at this point, but it is speculation that must be considered given the facts that are public. I suspect Facebook was the victim of a good old-fashioned Chicago protection game, and they were compelled to play ball with the NSA. How many others? The NSA apparently did something similar to this to Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio, who is now in jail.
Timothy Birdnow is a conservative writer and blogger and lives in St. Louis Missouri. His work has appeared in many popular conservative publications including but not limited to The American Thinker, Pajamas Media, Intellectual Conservative and Orthodoxy Today. Tim is a featured contributor to American Daily Reviewand has appeared as a Guest Host on the Heading Right Radio Network. Tim’s website is tbirdnow.mee.nu.