Category: Government

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Gordon Duff: Are the Mormons in Charge of America’s Drug Empire? Is NSA Part of Their Power Base?

03 Economy, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Officers Call
Gordon Duff
Gordon Duff

America’s Drug Empire

Narcotics: Business of Western wars

“Heroin trafficking is the lubrication that keeps the wheels of Western politics moving as intended.”

 

It was only a week ago that the US government released Eric Harroun, a former soldier who had been fighting with foreign backed al-Qaeda terrorists and the CIA against the Assad government in Syria.

This week, former Army sergeant Joseph Hunter and a group of other veterans, one from Germany’s armed forces, were arrested for much the same thing, offering “security services” for Colombian drug cartels.

Were worldwide press censorship to ease, the public would learn that America’s drone program is used more for maintaining control of drug production and distribution than terrorism. In fact, according to Russian officials, heroin from Afghanistan, all produced and exported under unspoken but very public approval of US officials, killed over one million people last year.

Continue reading “Gordon Duff: Are the Mormons in Charge of America's Drug Empire? Is NSA Part of Their Power Base?”

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Marcus Aurelius: Shots Fired at Capital (Secret Service versus Capitol Police, Unarmed Woman in Car Killed)

07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Officers Call
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

The end of the beginning, the beginning of the end for these corrupt treasonous individuals in Congress and at the White House?

Shots fired at Capitol

A car chase that began when a driver tried to breach a White House security barrier ended near the U.S. Capitol, with a confrontation that included shots fired and one Capitol Police officer injured.

See our latest photos here.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Shots Fired at Capital (Secret Service versus Capitol Police, Unarmed Woman in Car Killed)”

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Mini-Me: 2 Million, Not 800,000, Involuntarily Furloughed

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude
Who? Mini-Me?
Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

800,000 is the number of federal employees involuntarily furloughted.

The total number is much, much worse.

Over 800,000 contractors, perhaps as many as 1.2 million, were subjected to various forms of involuntary leave, furlough, and outright firing.  The best companies are offering some work-arounds, such as posting hours to the last authorized pay period to be paid now and worked off later in overtime, but most companies are simply folding.

Meanwhile, money continues via various channels for a number of programs and systems that are questionable, at best, in comparison to what is being done to our human capital.

Department Employees % Out Furloughed Stay Home Must Work
NASA 18,134 0.97 17,590 NASA TV Space Station
EPA 16,205 0.94 15,233 Pesticide  Superfund
Commerce 46,420 0.87 40,385 Census Weather
Labor 16,304 0.82 13,369 Statisticians Inspectors
Interior 72,562 0.81 58,775 Park Visit Ctrs Fish Hatcheries
Treasury 112,461 0.8 89,969 Wine Permits Money printers
Energy 13,814 0.69 9,532 Researchers Nuclear
HHS 78,198 0.52 40,663 Inspectors Lab Animals
Defense 800,000 0.5 400,000 Environment Recruiters
Transportation 55,468 0.33 18,304 Auto Recalls Air Traffic
Social Security 62,343 0.29 18,079 Actuaries Claims
Justine 114,486 0.15 17,173 Pardons DEA
DHS 231,117 0.14 32,356 Trainers Secret Service
VA 332,025 0.04 13,281 PAOs Nurses
1,969,537 784,710

Continue reading “Mini-Me: 2 Million, Not 800,000, Involuntarily Furloughed”

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Seena Sharp: Fishing for New Customers [Not Something the Traditional Intelligence Communities Have Ever Considered]

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Impotency, Military
Seena Sharp
Seena Sharp

Fishing For New Customers

Nearly every product or service has the potential to sell to multiple target audiences, but most companies focus only on their core customers. Isn't it time to play the field a little?

Back in the 1980s, Plano plastic tackle boxes were a must for fishing enthusiasts. When game show hostess Vanna White was photographed with her tackle box full of cosmetics, Plano began making Caboodles, colorful versions of the boxes. Within five years the new customers were buying more than the fishing crowd ever did. Does this count as “out of the box” thinking?

The Caboodles story is no anomaly; here are more: 

  • Guns and Doses: The pellets for paintball sports use the same gelcap casings featured in prescription and over-the-counter medications – and the pellets are made by the same manufacturers. 
  • Puccini, Pygmalion, and popcorn: The New York Metropolitan Opera House and the U.K.’s National Theatre Live film their world-class productions for screening at movie theaters globally. The arts organizations get much-needed funds and the theaters get new patrons. 
  • Leveraging 101: Most community colleges have the facilities, equipment, and staff for workforce training and retraining, so some companies are partnering with their local campus to offer a specialized curriculum just for their employees. 
  • A classic case: Pelican Products‘ watertight, bomb-proof cases are perfect for transporting weapons, electronics, and engines.  Thanks to new temperature control features, the cases are now also in demand for transporting blood, vaccines and other sensitive substances. 
  • Boardroom service: Ritz-Carlton Hotels, known around the world for extraordinary customer service, launched The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center in 2000 to teach its philosophy and techniques to organizations in every sector.  Notable clients include Apple and the U.S. Navy. 

How can you look at your products, services, technologies, skills, and facilities with fresh eyes to find ways to grow your company and create value for new customers? Get help! Sharp Market Intelligence identifies unknown “other” markets and customers who are already buying your offerings but don’t fit your customer profile.

SharpInsights are byte-size bits of food for thought for executives. You are welcome to forward this message to colleagues, tweet or reprint it, as long as you credit us and link to the source: http://www.sharpmarket.com   Want more SharpInsights? Visit the archives.

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Marcus Aurelius: The Beginning of the End for Washington

Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

Following from Defense One, a relatively new newsletter.  I'm not a political scientist, but much of what's said below seems reasonable to me.  I would tell you that the current situation clearly tells us that our Constitutional republic has failed, probably irrevocably so and that we need a lawful  Constitutional convention in order to rebuild the country and our Constitution from the ground up, line by line, issue by issue.

The Beginning of the End for Washington

By Ron Fournier

October 1, 2013

Step back. Try for a moment to extrapolate what a government shutdown and discredited U.S. currency could do to the economy and the public's faith in government. Think beyond next year's congressional elections or even the 2016 presidential race. Factor in existing demographic and social trends. I did, and this is what I concluded:

1. The Republican Party is marginalizing itself to the brink of extinction.

2. President Obama can't capitulate to GOP demands to unwind the fairly legislated and litigated Affordable Care Act. To do so would be political malpractice and a poor precedent for future presidents.

3. Despite the prior two points, Obama and his party won't escape voters' wrath. Democrats are less at fault but not blameless.

4. This may be the beginning of the end of Washington as we know it. A rising generation of pragmatic, non-ideological voters is appalled by the dysfunctional leadership of their parents and grandparents. History may consider October 2013 their breaking point. There will come a time when Millennials aren't just mad as hell; they won't take it anymore.

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Jean Lievens: NSA + TSA = Questionable Due Process – a German Victim of Rule by Secrecy, or a Bulgarian Clandestine Asset Properly Barred?

Ethics, Government
Jean Lievens
Jean Lievens

Ilija Trojanow, German Writer, Banned From US For Criticizing NSA

According to Der Spiegel, German-Bulgarian writer and activist Ilija Trojanow was barred from entering the United States on Monday. Trojanow was to speak at a literary conference. HuffPost Live’s Ahmed Shihab-Eldin took a closer look at the story, which has yet to be covered by most major news sources in the U.S.

While U.S. authorities did not provide Trojanow with a formal explanation, he believes he has been banned from the US because of his outspoken criticism of the NSA’s surveillance programs.

In an article published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Trojanow voiced his frustration with the incident. “It is more than ironic if an author who raises his voice against the dangers of surveillance and the secret state within a state for years, will be denied entry into the ‘land of the brave and the free,'” he said.

Ilija TROJANOW,
Ilija TROJANOW,

Trojanow has written an open letter denouncing the NSA in addition to signing a petition that asks German Chancellor Angela Merkel to forcefully oppose NSA surveillance. He is a professor at The European Graduate School and co-author of a book that examines the surveillance state, with fellow German novelist Juli Zeh.

Zeh also expressed outrage following Trojanow’s detainment in an airport in Brazil. A Facebook post by Zeh, loosely translated, reads, “ This is a farce. Pure paranoia. People who stand up for civil rights are treated as enemies of the state.”

News of Trojanow’s denied entry into the U.S. coincided with the announcement that the U.S. government had been shut down by Congress.

Correction: An earlier version of this story indicated that Trojanow had been invited to the United States by Congress. He was not invited by Congress, but by a literary conference in Denver.

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Berto Jongman: Bridget Rose Nolan’s Dissertation on Information Sharing and Collaboration in the US IC: An Ethnogrpahic Study of the National Counterterrorism Center

Cultural Intelligence, Government, Ineptitude, IO Impotency
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

INFORMATION SHARING AND COLLABORATION IN THE UNITED STATES INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE
NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER

Bridget Rose Nolan

A DISSERTATION in Sociology Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

On balance, then, the combination of structural and cultural issues discussed in this dissertation—the role of status, the flow of information, and the tension between secrecy and openness—suggests that NCTC has not achieved the information sharing and collaboration envisioned by the 9/11 Commission.

Source

noble gold