GUINEA: Rio Tinto’s friends talk Conde around
GUINEA: How Soros is backing new leader
IVORY COAST: Sponsors give generously
NIGERIA: Soros to the Rescue?
CONGO-K: Soros Targets Katanga Operators
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE: Conflict of Interest for Soros?
AFRICA/UNITED STATES: Soros Ups Investment
SOUTH AFRICA: Soros initiative in South Africa
Phi Beta Iota: The German approach differs substantially from that of the US in that it avoids offensive capabilities and the expense of vaporware and sock puppets; it recognizes the importance of cyber-security across all normal elements of government, not just the “national security” zone; it places a very high priority on educated personnel (instead of shutting down USB ports); and it recognizes that cyber-security is impossible to achieve in the absence of trusted hardware and software (at the code level, which is a foreign language to the US cyber-mandarins).
Hacker Group Anonymous Brings Peaceful Revolution To America: Will Engage In Civil Disobedience Until Bernanke Steps Down
The world's most (in)famous hacker group – Anonymous – known for effectively shutting down their hacking nemesis security firm (with clients such as Morgan Stanley and, unfortunately for them, Bank of America)- HBGary, advocating the cause of Wikileaks, and the threat made by one of its members that evidence of fraud by Bank of America will be released on Monday, has just launched communication #1 in its Operation “Empire State Rebellion.” The goal – engage in “a relentless campaign of non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience” until Ben Bernanke steps down and the “Primary Dealers within the Federal Reserve banking system be broken up and held accountable for rigging markets and destroying the global economy effective immediately.”
Phi Beta Iota: Bernanke, like Obama, is a front. As long as Goldman Sachs occupies the Secretary of the Treasury and the National Security Advisor positions, as long as no one goes to jail starting with Rubin, Summers, and Gaither, one can salute their intentions, but question their intelligence (as in decision support). They can start by reading Matt Taibbi's Griftopia–Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America.
On the evening on March 24, 2011, EFF staff activists will discuss the state of government surveillance and privacy in the United States at “Government Surveillance in a Digital World,” an event hosted by San Francisco Intersection for the Arts, with a live video stream by BAMM.tv.
One of the many topics to be discussed is the PATRIOT Act. For nearly ten years, EFF has fought to reform or repeal the overbroad authority granted to law enforcement through the PATRIOT Act, and this year, we have a chance to introduce significant reforms. Thanks to bipartisan opposition and the efforts of grassroots activists, Congress rejected a rubber-stamp reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act and instead vowed to spend three months debating reforms to this law. This gives us an incredible opportunity to speak out against the PATRIOT Act and tell Congress that we don’t want any laws that trample on our civil liberties.
Join the EFF activism team in person or online for a a wide-ranging discussion on privacy in the digital world, online free expression, and how we can work together to stop Congress from reauthorizing a PATRIOT Act that enables excessive government surveillance.
WASHINGTON — For eight years, government officials turned to Dennis Montgomery, a California computer programmer, for eye-popping technology that he said could catch terrorists. Now, federal officials want nothing to do with him and are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure that his dealings with Washington stay secret.
Phi Beta Iota: Read the entire sorry tale….not only are all elements of the US Government stupid about contracting, but they do not talk to each other such that truly fraudulent very expensive propositions can make the rounds. Sadly, this applies to the bulk of DARPA, Irregular Warfare, and “advanced” Science & Technology “research,” and of course education, health, and what passes for justice–the prison slave farms. News flash for the White House: demand intelligence–and integrity–save $1 trillion a year. Duh.
This is a follow up to that 13 February Spinney piece on predicting the future, DARPA as Poster Child for Out of Control Budget. It belongs to the category of “we don't make this stuff up.” Speaking of this category, I think this latest incident in Pakistan (CIA contractor shoots two Pakistanis in broad daylight, CIA SUV going to his aid runs down a Pakistani motorcyclist) ought to be a signal to disestablish CIA.
Phi Beta Iota: FATAL FARCE just keeps on growing.
Algorithm: in computer terms, a finite set of coded instructions directing a computer to solve a specific problem or execute a specific process.
The term ‘algorithm’ is a prosaic word that has taken on an almost occult meaning to hosts of middle and senior managers in the intelligence and military sectors of the U.S. National Security Establishment.
It appears that anyone claiming to have developed an ‘algorithm’ to solve any of the many issues facing those sectors will find a receptive audience and usually a wad of cash to pursue development of that program.
Phi Beta Iota: With a tip of the hat to Rolling Stone and author Matt Taibbi, reproducing the entire article was the only way to show the emphasis added by Brother Chuck. Updated to add photo and observe that this particular article is rocketing around the Internet. See also our review of GRIFTOPIA.
UPDATE: Three comments from Facebook:
Robert Smith Socrates became disheartened. Machiavelli was on to something – power corrupts. I suspect that a true and totally transparent democracy of ideas and information are requisite groundwork for an enduring democracy.
Lynn Wheeler In the late 90s, got asked by NSCC (before they merged with DTC) to look at improving integrity of trading transactions (in part because had recently done something similar for payment transactions) … after putting some amount of work int…it was suspended. The comment was that a side-effect of improving the integrity would have also greatly increased transparency and visibility (which apparently is antithetical to trading culture … some x-over with recent RS article focusing on secrecy as a fraud-enabler).
Financial crooks brought down the world's economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them
Matt Taibbi. Rolling Stone, 16 February 2011
Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer.
“Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail,” he said. “That's your whole story right there. Hell, you don't even have to write the rest of it. Just write that.”
I put down my notebook. “Just that?”
“That's right,” he said, signaling to the waitress for the check. “Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail. You can end the piece right there.”
Nobody goes to jail. This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world's wealth — and nobody went to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a flamboyant and pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other rich and famous people.
This article appears in the March 3, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone. The issue is available now on newsstands and will appear in the online archive February 18.
Entire Piece with Emphasis from Chuck Spinney Below the Line
