Phi Beta Iota: Absolutely worth a full read.
Mini-Me: Posting a Hyper-Link is a Criminal Act SO Heineous As to Be Worthy of 105 Years in Prison?
Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Law Enforcement
Huh?
Barrett Brown, political prisoner of the information revolution
If the US government succeeds in criminalising Brown's posting of a hyperlink, the freedom of all internet users is in jeopardy
Kevin M. Gallaher
Guardian, 13 July 2013
When I first noticed Barrett Brown in early 2011, I never thought that two years later I'd be directing Free Barrett Brown. Intrigued by his irreverence, I became familiar with his work, admiring him for his skill as a writer. I spoke to him briefly on IRC (internet relay chat) and occasionally dropped into the same channels he frequented; later I met him in person at a conference in New York City. But it's the US government's behavior in this and other cases – see also, Manning, Hammond, Swartz, Assange, etc – that have made running his legal defense fund a labor of love for me.
The distributed research project Brown founded, Project PM, is important and necessary. Since 9/11, the intelligence and cyber-security contracting industries have exploded in size. I believe, as Barrett does, that the public/private partnership on surveillance constitutes a threat to civil transparency and the health of democratic institutions. Large and very profitable companies like Booz Allen Hamilton obtain most of their revenues from the federal government; yet, the majority of their work is performed in secrecy.
Barrett had the insight to realize early on that the troves of emails that were hacked by Anonymous out of HBGary Federal and Stratfor and subsequently made public had the potential to provide a rare window into the activities of the cyber-intelligence industry. I believe it was this journalistic work of digging into areas that powerful people would rather keep in the dark that made him a target.
Contrary to claims, Brown is not a hacker (he is unabashedly lacking in technical skills). Nor was he a spokesperson for Anonymous (the very idea is ridiculous). He is an iconoclastic writer with a penchant for satire and hyperbole. He became an activist by observing the media's failure to cover the issues or stories that he deemed important. Some of his proudest work was the assistance rendered by Anonymous to citizens in North Africa during the first months of the Arab Spring.
Complete article below the line.
Lee Camp: YouTube (9:51) Our Food is Made of What? + Short Segments
Commerce, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Offbeat Fun, YouTubePaul Craig Roberts: Is the US Government in Enemy Hands?
Corruption, Government
Paul Craig Roberts
The American people have suffered a coup d’etat, but they are hesitant to acknowledge it. The regime ruling in Washington today lacks constitutional and legal legitimacy. Americans are ruled by usurpers who claim that the executive branch is above the law and that the US Constitution is a mere “scrap of paper.”
An unconstitutional government is an illegitimate government. The oath of allegiance requires defense of the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” As the Founding Fathers made clear, the main enemy of the Constitution is the government itself. Power does not like to be bound and tied down and constantly works to free itself from constraints.
Complete post and about the author below the line.
Continue reading “Paul Craig Roberts: Is the US Government in Enemy Hands?”
SchwartzReport: Media Disinformation, FISA Court Improprieties
Corruption, Government, Media
There is something very wrong about the narrative of the Edward Snowden story. I agree with this essay. Everything is focused on Snowden and not on what his leaks have revealed. A story with profound implications for our society has devolved instead into a kind of thriller movie script.
About the Reuters Article
GLENN GREENWALD – The Guardian (U.K.)
The entire security apparat, perhaps because it is predicated on priorities other than those of the Constitution is inherently in conflict with democracy. Here is yet another aspect of what I mean.
John Roberts’ Scary Secret Powers
JOAN WALSH, Editor-at-Large – Salon
Marcus Aurelius: Hagel Sacrifices People Instead of Systems Waste
Ineptitude, Military
I attach two-day old SECDEF estimates for Congress of what will happen if sequester continues into next fiscal year. Big idea: emphasis on RIFs of military and civilian personnel in preference to furloughs of DoD civilians. SECDEF doesn't mention any specific numbers, but following would not surprise me:
*Active Army military personnel: RIF of 70K to 110K, dropping currently projected end strength of 490K to 380K to 420K..
*DoD civilians: RIF of 10 percent to 25 percent across DoD, meaning, for Army, RIF of roughly 27K to 68K Army civilians and, for DoD, RIF of 80K to 200K DoD civilians including Army.
Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Hagel Sacrifices People Instead of Systems Waste”
Chuck Spinney: Israeli Genocide & Other Atrocities Against the Bedouin — Funded by the US Taxpayer!
06 Genocide, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Military, Peace Intelligence
Written by an Israeli activist.
Published on Friday, July 12, 2013 by Al Jazeera
How Israel justifies the imminent relocation of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin by characterizing them as invaders.
by Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini
On June 24th the “Prawer Plan for the Arrangement of Bedouin-Palestinian Settlement in the Negev” passed its first reading in the Israeli parliament. If implemented, the Plan will constitute “the largest single act of forced displacement of Arab citizens of Israel since the 1950s,” expelling an estimated forty thousand Palestinian Bedouin from their current dwellings.
The Plan’s ultimate objective is to Judaize the Israeli Negev. In order to do this, however, seventy thousand (out of 200,000) Bedouin who currently live in villages classified as ‘unrecognized’ by the Israeli government must be moved.
The government already forbids them from connecting to the electricity grid or the water and sewage systems. Construction regulations are also harshly enforced, and in 2011 alone about a thousand Bedouin homes and animal pens—usually referred to by the government as mere “structures”—were demolished. There are no paved roads, and signposts from main roads to the villages are removed by government authorities. The villages are not shown on maps, since as a matter of official geography, the places inhabited by these second-class citizens of Israel do not exist.
