Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 1207 – Public Intelligence Blog

Building an innovation nation will require an “all hands on deck approach,” calling all levels of government, private sector companies, philanthropists, non-profits and the larger tech community, to make it happen. That’s according to U.S. CTO Megan Smith and Office of Science and Technology Policy Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation Tom Kalil, who spoke at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Kalil and Smith discussed five key initiatives that are driving innovation in cities across America: the Maker Movement, smart cities, TechHire, workforce diversity and the “tour of duty” hiring model that’s helping bring top tech talent to government.

2016/01/132016/01/12

Robert Parry: What Hillary Knew about Libya

Corruption, Government

What Hillary Knew about Libya

Blumenthal added: “Senior European security officials caution that AQIM is watching developments in Libya, and elements of that organization have been in touch with tribes in the southeastern part of the country. These [European] officials are concerned that in a post-Qaddafi Libya, France and other western European countries must move quickly to ensure that the new government does not allow AQIM and others to set up small, semi-autonomous local entities — or ‘Caliphates’ — in the oil and gas producing regions of southeastern Libya.”

2016/01/132016/01/12

Mongoose: EPA Finally Admits that Pesticides Kill Bees

01 Agriculture, 03 Economy, 07 Health, 11 Society

The EPA Finally Admitted That the World’s Most Popular Pesticide Kills Bees—20 Years Too Late

Bees are dying in record numbers—and now the government admits that an extremely common pesticide is at least partially to blame. For more than a decade, the Environmental Protection Agency has been under pressure from environmentalists and beekeepers to reconsider its approval of a class of insecticides called neonicotinoids, based on a mounting body of research suggesting they harm bees and other pollinators at tiny doses. In a report released Wednesday, the EPA basically conceded the case.

2016/01/132016/01/12

Ty Simplson: Big Pharma Sweating Bullets at 80% of Cannabis Users Give up Prescription Pills

03 Economy, 07 Health

I expect that the field of Psychiatry (not Psychotherapy) will be shutting down in a few years as well.

Big Pharma Sweating Bullets As 80% of Cannabis Users Give Up Prescriptions Pills for Pot

The survey of 473 adult therapeutic cannabis users found that 87% of respondents gave up prescription medications, alcohol, or other drugs in favor of cannabis. Adults under 40 were likely to give up all three of these for medical cannabis.

2016/01/122016/01/11

Antechinus: Saudi Oil is Shi’ite Oil…

Commercial Intelligence, Peace Intelligence

As Izady’s map so strikingly demonstrates, essentially all of the Saudi oil wealth is located in a small sliver of its territory whose occupants are predominantly Shiite. (Nimr, for instance, lived in Awamiyya, in the heart of the Saudi oil region just northwest of Bahrain.) If this section of eastern Saudi Arabia were to break away, the Saudi royals would just be some broke 80-year-olds with nothing left but a lot of beard dye and Viagra prescriptions. Nimr’s execution can be partly explained by the Saudis’ desperation to stamp out any sign of independent thinking among the country’s Shiites.

Source

2016/01/122016/01/11

Graphic: The ISIS Map of the Caliphate

Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence

The ISIS map of the world: Militants outline chilling five-year plan for global domination as they declare formation of caliphate – and change their name to the Islamic State

Sunni militants have announced formation of Islamic state in Middle East
They demand Muslims around the world swear allegiance to the caliphate
Claim leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi now has authority over all Muslims
Group has also now changed its name from ISIS to just the Islamic State
Announcement described as ‘most significant development in international jihadism since 9/11'.

Source

2016/01/122016/01/11