Communities of Practice – Page 752 – Public Intelligence Blog

When I read this interview I was stunned. I have never thought much of Scalia. Like Clarence Thomas I have always thought of him as first and foremost an ideologue, and as with Thomas there are also growing ethical issues involving him. But I really had no idea how very inappropriate it is for this man to be an Associate Supreme Court Justice. This is like having your crazy un! cle oversee your rearing of your children. Read this interview and ask yourself: Would I even like to have this man as a neighbor?

This is why it matters who wins the Presidency, and why voting is important.

‘No. No. Not That I Know Of.”
DAHLIA LITHWICK – Slate

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Is Justice Scalia Insane? Or Merely Possessed by the Devil?”

2013/10/082013/10/08

Steve Aftergood: CIA Halts Public Access to Open Source Service

Government

CIA HALTS PUBLIC ACCESS TO OPEN SOURCE SERVICE

For more than half a century, the public has been able to access a wealth of information collected by U.S. intelligence from unclassified, open sources around the world. At the end of this year, the Central Intelligence Agency will terminate that access.

The U.S. intelligence community's Open Source Center (OSC), which is managed by the CIA, will cease to provide its information feed to the publicly accessible World News Connection as of December 31, 2013, according to an announcement from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), which operates the World News Connection (WNC).

The WNC “is an online news service, only accessible via the World Wide Web, that offers an extensive array of translated and English-language news and information,” an NTIS brochure explains. “Particularly effective in its coverage of local media sources, WNC provides you with the power to identify what really is happening in a specific country or region. Compiled from thousands of non-U.S. media sources, the information in WNC covers significant socioeconomic, political, scientific, technical, and environmental issues and events.”

Continue reading “Steve Aftergood: CIA Halts Public Access to Open Source Service”

2013/10/08

Denmark: Justice for Sale — The Hunt for ACQUITTED Pirate Bay Co-Founder Henrik Alexandersson

Corruption, Law Enforcement

European Principles Of Due Process Shoved Aside To Hunt Down Pirate Bay Founder

Corruption – Henrik Alexandersson: In the upcoming extradition request against Gottfrid Svartholm-Warg, co-founder of The Pirate Bay, Danish judicial authorities are disregarding an important acquittal in Swedish courts. This is remarkable, as European courts are bound to respect each others’ verdicts. It’s not hard to get the gut feeling that the establishment unites against the troublemakers and pushes all its safeguards aside, letting rights only apply to the Goliaths and not the Davids.

Judge's gavel, marked "For Sale"

Read full post.

2013/10/072013/10/08

Berto Jongman: NSA Utah Suffers Ten Meltdowns — Cost Plus Gov Spec + NSA Meta-RECAP

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Military

NSA data center suffers ‘meltdowns,' is delayed by a year, report says

The giant Utah facility has been dogged by electrical problems, a report says

By James Niccolai, IDG News Service

October 07, 2013 09:35 PM ET

Read full article.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: NSA Utah Suffers Ten Meltdowns — Cost Plus Gov Spec + NSA Meta-RECAP”

2013/10/072013/10/07

Stephen Lendman: Police in the USA – License to Kill [with Impunity]

06 Family, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Corruption, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement

Police in America: Licensed to Kill

by Stephen Lendman

Miriam Carey is the latest victim. She deserved to live, not die. More on her below.

Incidents occur daily across America. Blacks and Latinos are most vulnerable. Police shoot innocent suspects for any reason or none all.

Rarely are officers or their superiors held accountable. On average, US police kill one or two people daily. Most often, incidents go unnoticed.

Violence in America is systemic. Previous articles discussed it. America glorifies wars. It does so in the name of peace.

It has by far the highest homicide rate among all developed nations. It’s obsessed with owning guns.

Violent films are some of the most popular. So are similar video games. Peace, stability and security are convenient illusions. Imperial wars and domestic violence crowd them out.

Communities, neighborhoods, schools, work places, commercial areas and city streets are affected. Driving while black is dangerous.

A 1999 ACLU report discussed it. Titled “Driving While Black: Racial Profiling On Our Nation’s Highways,” it said:

It’s longstanding practice in America. In 1967, dozens of witnesses told Kerner Commission members that “stopping of Negroes on foot or in cars without obvious basis” was a key reason for riots the previous summer in cities across America.

The Fourth Amendment assures “(t)he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

The Eight Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments.”

What’s crueler than state-sponsored cold-blooded murder.

The Fifth Amendment prohibits “depriv(ing) (anyone) of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

The 14th Amendment forbids states from “depriv(ing) any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” It affirms “equal protection of the laws.”

Police across America spurn constitutional and US statute laws. They do so with impunity. According to ACLU:

Continue reading “Stephen Lendman: Police in the USA – License to Kill [with Impunity]”

2013/10/07

Jon Rappoport: SHOCK – Deaths from Medical Drugs and Vitamins Far Exceed Deaths from Wars

07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government

Shock: Comparing deaths from medical drugs, vitamins, and all US wars

People want to believe medical science gives us, at any given moment, the best of all possible worlds.

And of course, the best of all possible worlds must have its enemies: the quacks who sell unproven snake oil.

So let’s look at some facts.

As I’ve been documenting in my last several articles, the medical cartel has been engaged in massive criminal fraud, presenting their drugs as safe and effective across the board—when, in fact, these drugs have been killing and maiming huge numbers of people, like clockwork.

I’ve cited the review, “Is US Health Really the Best in the World?”, by Dr. Barbara Starfied (Journal of the American Medical Association, July 26, 2000), in which Starfield reveals the American medical system kills 225,000 people per year—106,000 as a direct result of pharmaceutical drugs.

Continue reading “Jon Rappoport: SHOCK – Deaths from Medical Drugs and Vitamins Far Exceed Deaths from Wars”

2013/10/06

NATO Watch: NATO and Russia to Cooperate on Syria?

08 Proliferation, Ethics, Government, Military

NATO and Russia to Cooperate on Syrian Chemical Weapon Disarmament?

By Ian Davis, NATO Watch

5 October 2013

www.natowatch.org Promoting a more transparent and accountable NATO

It is not often that we get to blow our own trumpet. But breaking news reported in the Journal of Turkish Weekly suggests that NATO and Russia have agreed to cooperate to facilitate Syria chemical disarmament. This is exactly what NATO Watch Director Ian Davis and Andreas Persbo Executive Director of VERTIC called for in an opinion piece published on 13 September. As far we can ascertain, no one else was calling for such a strategic alignment and our efforts to place the op ed in both The Guardian and New York Times fell on deaf ears. However, a senior NATO official did read it and responded favourably in a private email on 17 September.

And now it is being reported that Russia and NATO have agreed to fund and provide technical assistance to the chemical weapon disarmament process in Syria being conducted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Emerging from an Ambassador-level session of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels on Friday, Russian Ambassador Alexander Grushko said “the sides have agreed to pull off the task in strict keeping with Resolution 2118 of the UN Security Council and the subsequent resolution of the OPCW”. They had also agreed that the Syrian crisis can only be settled politically, through an all-embracing second Geneva conference on Syria, which should bring the Syrian government together with all rebel groups.

Disarmament personnel are expected to begin travelling to chemical-weapon facilities to disable equipment next week, according to an OPCW press release. The exact timing largely depends on developments within three OPCW subgroups charged with confirming chemical-arms declarations by Damascus, protecting auditors in the field and making ‘practical arrangements’ to inventory and dismantle the Syrian government's full chemical-warfare stockpile by the middle of next year. It is not yet clear what specific role the NATO-Russian cooperation will play in this process. The OPCW group faces an initial Nov. 1 deadline to eliminate the Assad regime's chemical-weapon production capacity.

As we said in our earlier op ed, this cooperation could be a potential game changer. Not only does this agreement offer a tentative route map out of the mess in Syria but also a broader strategic, normative and political rapprochement between NATO and Russia, as well as a re-invigorated United Nations. We await further details of the NATO-Russia agreement with interest.