Idiocy – Page 103 – Public Intelligence Blog

Recovery? No. Continued looting by the 1%? Yes.

American Households On Foodstamps Climb To New Record

Yesterday, briefly, we were confused by the eruption in the stock market following a not too bad sub-200K nonfarm payrolls number. Because we know that in the New Normal bad is always good, no matter what the well-coifed TV pundit du jour tells you. Then we remembered that yesterday is when the USDA releases its monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program data, i.e. Americans on Foodstamps.

It was here that the ramp was perfectly explained, because while the bad (for stocks of course) data was that individual foodstamps recipients rose by 170K in March – if just a whisker below all time highs – it was the number of American households on foodstamps, which rose to a new all time high of 23,116,441 (each collecting an average of $274.30 per month) that perfectly explained the Dow Jones' 200 point surge higher: the transfer of wealth from the poor and middle-classes to the 1% continues without a hiccup.

Continue reading “Josh Kilbourn: US Households on Foodstamps Hit 22 Million”

2013/06/082013/06/08

Rickard Falkvinge: NSA as Poster Child for Government & Corporate Corruption, Collusion, & Treason

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Military

Told You So: If You Have Been Using A Centralized Comms Service, You Were Wiretapped

Privacy: This night, news broke that the USA’s security agencies have been wiretapping essentially every major centralized social service for private data. Photos, video conferences, text chats, and voice calls – everything. We have been saying this for years and been declared tinfoil hat and conspiracy nuts; it’s good to finally see the documents in black on white.

This night, European time, the news broke that the USA’s National Security Agency (NSA) has had direct access to pretty much every social network for the past several years, dating back to 2007, under a program named PRISM. Under the program, a number of social services voluntarily feed people’s private data to the NSA. In short, if you have been using/uploading

e-mail
video or voice chat
videos
photos
stored data
VoIP calls
file transfers
video conferencing
(and more)

…from any of…

Microsoft (incl. Hotmail et al), since Sep 11, 2007
Google, since Jan 14, 2009
Yahoo, since Mar 12, 2008
Facebook, since June 3, 2009
PalTalk, since Dec 7, 2009
YouTube, since Sep 24, 2010
Skype, since Feb 6, 2011
AOL, since Mar 31, 2011
Apple, since Oct 2012

…then you have been wiretapped, and still are.

Continue reading “Rickard Falkvinge: NSA as Poster Child for Government & Corporate Corruption, Collusion, & Treason”

2013/06/072013/06/07

Eagle: Pentagon destroys replica of underground nuclear facility — Israel assured budget cuts will not stop attack on Iran

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Iran, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, Corruption, DoD, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call

300 Million Talons... — 300 Million Talons…

US experiment: Pentagon destroys replica of underground nuclear facility

Pentagon uses advanced bunker buster bombs to destroy replica of underground facility as part of experiment whose results were relayed to friendly nations

The Pentagon has recently completed a series of field exercises on US soil as part of which a replica of an underground nuclear facility was destroyed, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday. The tests were declared a resounding success having exceeded all expectations.

The results of the experiment were relayed to friendly nations with the aim of reassuring them as to the US's ability to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities in a single strike. It was also meant to convey that the US is serious in its intentions to attack Iran should circumstances allow it.

Continue reading “Eagle: Pentagon destroys replica of underground nuclear facility — Israel assured budget cuts will not stop attack on Iran”

2013/06/072013/06/07

Mini-Me: Obama Goes to Cyber-War, Not Realizing The Depth and Breadth of the Lies He Hears and Reads — Professional Interrogation of General Alexander and Others Recommended

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, Corruption, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Military

Huh?

White House: Obama adjusting use of cyber offense in response to threats

EXTRACT:

Gen. Keith Alexander, the top officer at U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, testified March 12 before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the potential for an attack against the nation’s electric grid and other essential systems is real and that the federal government needed to take more aggressive steps.

At the time, Alexander said 13 cyber teams were being formed to guard the nation against destructive attacks in cyberspace, stressing that their role would be offensive. He also said the teams would work outside the United States, but he did not say where.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: Obama Goes to Cyber-War, Not Realizing The Depth and Breadth of the Lies He Hears and Reads — Professional Interrogation of General Alexander and Others Recommended”

2013/06/072013/06/07

Winslow Wheeler: F-35 Corruption, Costs, & Consequences (All Five Parts)

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military

This series reveals a political and military system that is sick in its core. This toxic stew of the F-35's high cost, abetted by concurrent production, lagging performance and continuing design problems, has put U.S. and allied air power into a dive. The dive will steepen so long as F-35 production at the currently-projected rates continues. I recommend starting with Part 5, the summary by Mark Thompson of TIME Battleland Blog.

Part 1: The new era of F-35 good feelings

Part 2: Alphabet Soup: PAUCs, APUCs, URFs, Cost Variances and Other Pricing Dodges

Part 3: The deadly empirical data

Part 4: Different planes, common problems

Part 5: On final approach to fighter fiscal sanity

Continue reading “Winslow Wheeler: F-35 Corruption, Costs, & Consequences (All Five Parts)”

2013/06/062013/06/06

Berto Jongman: US Attacking Iran and China — While Living in a Glass House

02 China, 05 Iran, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency

Silent War

On the hidden battlefields of history’s first known cyber-war, the casualties are piling up. In the U.S., many banks have been hit, and the telecommunications industry seriously damaged, likely in retaliation for several major attacks on Iran. Washington and Tehran are ramping up their cyber-arsenals, built on a black-market digital arms bazaar, enmeshing such high-tech giants as Microsoft, Google, and Apple. With the help of highly placed government and private-sector sources, Michael Joseph Gross describes the outbreak of the conflict, its escalation, and its startling paradox: that America’s bid to stop nuclear proliferation may have unleashed a greater threat.

Read full article (5 screens).

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: US Attacking Iran and China — While Living in a Glass House”

2013/06/062013/06/06