Civil Society – Page 136 – Public Intelligence Blog

ROBERT STEELE: I have elected to answer this personally. It may well be the most fundamental question this web site has received in that any corruption in the answer to this question assures the failure of any strategy, policy, acquisition, or operation that is spawned from an inherently corrupt — a deliberately corrupt — refusal to take the question seriously.

There are several ways to address this. The first is the most obvious, which is to say that the traditional threat is state on state conventional forces, and the non-traditional threats are everything else. Here in one chart is what General Al Gray, USMC, then Commandant of the Marine Corps, with my assistance as his ghost-writer, put in “Global Intelligence Challenges in the 1990's” (American Intelligence Journal, Winter 1989-1990).

The whole point of that article was to suggest that both the US Intelligence Community and the US Department of Defense needed to radically alter how they trained, equipped, and organized. I now realize that it was corruption, not stupidity, that buried this message. As SOCOM and Navy Irregular Warfare said in defending their decision not to go after the Somali pirates from 2005-2008 and later, “it's not an expensive enough problem.”

Continue reading “2013 Robert Steele Reflections on [Search:] non+traditional+threat 1.2”

2013/07/062013/07/06

Mini-Me: Three Pre-Snowden NSA Whistle-Blowers “WE TOLD YOU SO”

Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government

Huh?

In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

George Orwell

3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so

In a roundtable discussion, a trio of former National Security Agency whistle-blowers tell USA TODAY that Edward Snowden succeeded where they failed.

When a National Security Agency contractor revealed top-secret details this month on the government's collection of Americans' phone and Internet records, one select group of intelligence veterans breathed a sigh of relief.

Thomas Drake, William Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe belong to a select fraternity: the NSA officials who paved the way.

VIDEOS AT SOURCE — all text below the line.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: Three Pre-Snowden NSA Whistle-Blowers “WE TOLD YOU SO””

2013/07/04

4th Media: Has the USA Foresaken the Rule of Law?

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, Civil Society, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement

The Breakdown of The Rule of Law: America’s Descent Into Authoritarianism

From early in one’s life, an American is taught the law and American institutions of justice are great equalizers within our society, ensuring that everyone is treated the same, no matter one’s class, race, or ethnicity. Yet, what has been happening quite recently, especially within the past decade or so, is that we have been seeing an increasing breakdown in the rule of law and the use of the justice system to enforce injustices.

President Obama rode in on a high horse in the 2008 presidential elections, specifically on his slogan of hope and change. He rightly criticized the Bush administration on a number of issues, from the economy to the wars abroad, as well as the use of drones.[1]

Yet, Obama subsequently went and not only increased the use of drones, but used them to kill Anwar Al-Awlaki, a member of Al Qaeda who was still legally an American citizen at the time of his death.[2]

However, the story gets even more shocking as not only does such as act create a legal precedent where the President can kill any US citizen that he deems a terrorist[3], but the Obama administration’s attorney general argued that such assassinations of American citizens on US soil “would be legal and justified in an extraordinary circumstance.’”[4]

Full article and all notes with links below the line.

Continue reading “4th Media: Has the USA Foresaken the Rule of Law?”

2013/06/30

Robin Good: Curation with Noowit

Civil Society, Crowd-Sourcing, Innovation, Media

Noowit is a new curation and publishing platform that allows you to do on the web something very similar to what Flipboard allows you to do with your smartphone or tablet. You can curate a beautiful-looking web magazine, by selecting content from its internal news discovery engine or by clipping any content you find on the web with the dedicated NOOWIT bookmarklet.

On the backend you can select individual topics, authors and specific sources you want to subscribe to, to keep yourself informed. You can provide specific RSS feeds or import your collection of RSS subscriptions. You can create multiple content sections inside a magazine and when you add new content you can easily decide in which section it is going to end up. A swift navigation scheme provides almost seamless integration between the excerpted content that appears in the magazine and the full, original resource that you can navigate to without losing touch with the rest of the magazine. NOOWIT magazines can be set to be public or private and they can be viewed across devices and screen of all sizes. Like on Flipboard it is now possible to edit, modify or add to content that you pick and select to be added to your magazines.

My comment: NOOWIT easily creates great-looking digital magazines of your selected articles and resources. It is a great tool for anyone wanting to create easily a “splashy” curated digital magazine that looks great across devices with the minimum effort possible.

Private beta: http://www.noowit.com/

Preview: http://www.noowit.com/pbeta

Example I created: http://www.noowit.com/RobinGood

2013/06/262013/06/26

Mini-Me: Smart Young People See Government as Corrupt and Ineffective — World On the Edge of a Sweeping Revolution

Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Peace Intelligence

Huh?

Global protest grows as citizens lose faith in politics and the state

The myriad protests from Istanbul to São Paulo have one thing in common – growing dissent among the young, educated and better-off protesting against the very system that once enriched them. And therein lies the danger for governments

Peter Beaumont

The Observer, Saturday 22 June 2013

EXTRACTS:

If the “new protest” can be summed up, it is not in specifics of the complaints but in a wider idea about organisation encapsulated on a banner spotted in Brazil last week: “We are the social network.”

. . . . . . .

What does ring true, however, is his assertion that a driving force from Tahrir Square to Occupy is a redefinition of notions of both what “freedom” means and its relationship to governments that seem ever more distant. It is significant, too, that many recent protests have taken place in the large cities that have been most transformed by neoliberal policies.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: Smart Young People See Government as Corrupt and Ineffective — World On the Edge of a Sweeping Revolution”

2013/06/21

NIGHTWATCH: Middle Class Youth Turn Violent — Government Remains Corrupt and Ignorant

01 Brazil, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government

Brazil: The demonstrations are starting to turn violent. The day after the government revoked the transportation fare increases the demonstrations swelled again and engaged in more aggressive clashes with police.

President Dilma Rousseff decided to call off a visit to Japan that was planned for next week. The forthcoming visit by Pope Francis might also have to be rescheduled if the demonstrations continue.

In Rio de Janeiro riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at groups of masked young men trying to approach the City Hall late on Thursday. At least 29 people were reported to be injured in the clashes.

Some reports suggest about 300,000 people were taking part in an anti-government rally in the city. One news service reported more than 800,000 people participated in demonstrations in the major Brazilian cities

Comment: The polling agency, Datafolha, published its findings from a poll of the demonstrators in Sao Paulo yesterday. More than half of the demonstrators are under 25. Seventy-seven percent have higher education. Eighty-four percent back no political party, suggesting they do not vote.

The dominant issue for more than half was the fare increase which has been withdrawn. Corruption, a better transportation system, against all politicians and against violence and repression were distant other issues.

What the poll and anecdotal reports indicate is that the beneficiaries of Brazilian prosperity are protesting. The poll found no poor or disadvantaged people and few unemployed among the protestors. Brazil has low unemployment even for workers under age 25. The protestors have no organization or leadership. They gather by cell-phone notification. Expect the demonstrations to expand this weekend and become more violent.

Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: Middle Class Youth Turn Violent — Government Remains Corrupt and Ignorant”

2013/06/20

SchwartzReport: Bank of America Deep Crimes, Treason & Trade, Spanking for Jesus — the Criminally Insane Rule

Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, Idiocy

The Bank of America should by all that is fair and reasonable be penalized by being broken up, and a number of senior officials being indicted and prosecuted in court. I doubt very much that any of that will happen. We have a Justice Department that clearly takes the position that big banks are above the law — they wouldn't say that, of course, but that is effectively their position. No major figure has been prosecuted at the Federal level for 2008,! so what do you think will happen in 2013?

Checks, Lies and Bankster Red Tape
THOM HARTMANN – Truthout

The trend of a few Non-geographical corporate states, and their vassal governments, helping them to take over control of food and water worldwide is gathering momentum.

Secret Trade Agreements Threaten Food Safety, Subvert Democracy
KATHERINE PAUL and RONNIE CUMMINS – Reader Supported News

I follow the Theocratic Right closely, because I consider fundamentalism, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or anything else as one of the most pernicious socially toxic forces in society — any society. One of the universals of fundamentalism is a strong sexual dysfunctionality, with an emphasis on male dominance. Just how weird this movement is becoming in the U.S.! is seen in this story. I want to point out that Theocratic Right women are fully complicit in this.

‘Spanking for Jesus’ Movement Combines Christian Fundamentalism and Sadomasochism
ERIC W. DOLAN – The Raw Story