SchwartzReport: Localism Accelerating — Virtual Secession

Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government
Stephan A. Schwartz
Stephan A. Schwartz

Here is some excellent news about the Localism Trend. I am beginning to see in many trends a meta-trend emerging. The shift of power to the local level. It is, I think, a response to the perceived corruption of all branches of the Federal government to the service of the uber-rich. Power then began moving to the states but, even there this same corruption is at work, and so it ! steps down to the local level.

Beyond the CSA: Four Ways Communities Support Everything From Books to Beer
DANA DRUGMAND – Yes!

Since the first community supported agriculture program was established in western Massachusetts in the 1980s, the concept of buying food directly from local farms has taken off. There are now thousands of CSAs across the country. It’s a simple enough model-consumers purchase a share of the season’s harvest upfront, and they get a box or bag of fresh, locally grown produce each week from the farm.

And this model is not restricted to farming. In recent years, people have applied the CSA idea to other types of goods and services such as dining out, microbrews, and even fish. It’s a system that works for both producers and consumers. Here are some of our favorite examples.

Read full article.

See Also:

Secession @ Phi Beta Iota

Anthony Judge: Reimagining Tesla’s Creativity through Technomimicry – Psychosocial empowerment by imagining charged conditions otherwise

Cultural Intelligence
Anthony Judge
Anthony Judge

Reimagining Tesla's Creativity through Technomimicry

Psychosocial empowerment by imagining charged conditions otherwise

Introduction
Fulsome appreciation of the problem-filled life of an eccentric genius
Creative insight into handling duality
Progressive engagement of the gifted with reality
Visual thinking as indicated by Tesla and by consideration thereof
Psychosocial relevance of Tesla's creative process
Imagining a method for adapting Tesla's insights to a psychosocial context
Detecting a meta-pattern of connectivity amongst Tesla's insights
Patterns of patterns: towards dynamic integrative mapping of inventions
Potential implications of alternation and rotation in psychosocial fields
Psychosocial insights from the electrical War of Currents — AC versus DC
Tesla as an extraordinarily instructive experimental failure
Encycling positive and negative for future sustainability
References

See Also:

Anthony Judge @ Phi Beta Iota

Berto Jongman: Ebola Speculation – Martyrs in Venezuela, US Role in African Outbreak?

07 Health, Government, Ineptitude
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

“Ebola Martyrs” Have Now Reached South America, US Warned Is Next

The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) is warning today that a “strong contingent” of Islamic State (IS) “Ebola Martyrs” they had previously described in their 15 August report, and who are preparing to target the United States, have now reached the South American nation of Venezuela where at least 10 people have died showing symptoms of this feared disease during the past week.

. . . . . . .

If this Ebola virus is not airborne then, SVR intelligence analysts in this report state, the only way to describe its unprecedented spread is by “manipulated human means”…meaning “someone” is deliberately spreading this disease.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Ebola Speculation – Martyrs in Venezuela, US Role in African Outbreak?”

Berto Jongman: Clint Watts on Seven Flaws in US Strategy to Counter ISIS

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Iran, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, Government, Ineptitude, Military, Strategy
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

Seven Flaws In the U.S. Strategy to Counter ISIS

(Editor's Note: This blog post is derived from Clint Watts' Ginsburg Lecture delivered at the National Liberty Museum on September 16, 2014.)

The past week’s debate on how to counter ISIS has proven just how effective terrorism is as a tactic for extremist groups.  Two videos showing the beheading of American hostages have provoked the largest U.S. response since the attacks of 9/11, compelling President Obama to hastily gather up a strategy to counter ISIS. Aside from the general confusion over what to call the group, there is even greater disagreement over what to do.  Overall, I don’t disagree with most of the actions the U.S. is taking to counter ISIS, but I am baffled why ISIS, America’s third or fourth most pressing national security concern right now, requires such a reaction.  The lesson for other extremist groups scattered from Morocco to Malaysia is clear – fly a black flag, film an atrocity and post it on the Internet and you too can capture the American media cycle and provoke a U.S. response.

LIST ONLY

1. Syrian Civil War
2. Turkish Border
3. Double-Edged Sword of Saudi Arabia
4. Arab Partner Nations
5. Iran is a bigger adversary to the US than ISIS
6. Sunni partners in Iraq
7. Shi'a dominated Iraqi Government

Read full article.

See Also:

ISIS @ Phi Beta Iota

Berto Jongman: US in 5-134 Wars (Right Now)

Government, Idiocy, Military, Peace Intelligence
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

The US is now involved in 134 wars or none, depending on your definition of ‘war'

The White House spent much of last week trying to figure out if the word “war” was the right one to describe its military actions against the Islamic State.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was at first reluctant:

“We're engaged in a major counterterrorism operation,” he told CBS News on Sept. 11. “I think war is the wrong terminology and analogy but the fact is that we are engaged in a very significant global effort to curb terrorist activity… I don't think people need to get into war fever on this. I think they have to view it as a heightened level of counter terrorist activity.”

Kerry said similarly hedgy things during interviews on CNN and ABC.

By the next day, the Obama administration appeared more comfortable with the word war, yet hardly offered any more clarity. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters, “The United States is at war with ISIL in the same way we are at war with Al Qaeda and its affiliates.”

The problem is that our traditional definition of “war” is outdated, and so is our imagination of what war means.

Read full article.

Chuck Spinney: Uri Avnery on the Obsolescence of the Nation-State

Cultural Intelligence, Government, Peace Intelligence
Chuck Spinney
Chuck Spinney

Scotland on the Euphrates

The Obsolescence of the Nation-State

by URI AVNERY

Counterpunch, WEEKEND EDITION SEPTEMBER 19-21, 2014

[This essay originally appeared at http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html ]

TWO COUNTRIES competed this week for first place in news programs all over the world: Scotland and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

There could not be a greater difference than between these two countries. Scotland is damp and cold, Iraq is hot and dry. Scotland is called after its whisky (or the other way round), while for ISIS fighters, drinking alcohol is the mark of unbelievers, who should lose their head (literally).

However, there is one common denominator of both crises: they mark the approaching demise of the nation-state.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Uri Avnery on the Obsolescence of the Nation-State”

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Human Rights Require a Secure Internet

Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society

effHuman Rights Require a Secure Internet

Between 15th-19th of September, in the week leading up the first year anniversary of the 13 Necessary and Proportionate Principles, EFF and the coalition behind the Principles will be conducting a Week of Action explaining some of the key guiding principles for surveillance law reform. Every day, we'll take on a different part of the principles, exploring what’s at stake and what we need to do to bring intelligence agencies and the police back under the rule of law. You can read the complete set of posts online. The Principles were first launched at the 24th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on 20 September 2013. Let's send a message to Member States at the United Nations and wherever else folks are tackling surveillance law reform: surveillance law can no longer ignore our human rights. Follow our discussion on twitter with the hashtag: #privacyisaright

Human Rights Require a Secure Internet

The ease by which mass surveillance can be conducted is not a feature of digital networks; it's a bug in our current infrastructure caused by a lack of pervasive encryption. It's a bug we have to fix. Having the data of our lives sent across the world in such a way that distant strangers can (inexpensively and undetectably) collect, inspect and interfere with it, undermines the trust any of us can have in any of our communications. It breaks our faith not only with the organizations that carry that data for us, but the trust we have with each other. On a spied-upon network, we hold back from speaking, reading, trading and organizing together. The more we learn about the level of surveillance institutions like the NSA impose on the Net, the more we lose trust in the technology, protocols, institutions and opportunities of the Net.

Read full article.

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