Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 1460 – Public Intelligence Blog

This is why the U.S. has second rate internet. Third rate compared to countries like Korea. This is a classic monopolist move to block competition and keep prices high and service poor. Only citizen action is going to stop this. You need to get involved. It's just that simple, we all need to get involved. Only 57,1% of Americans voted in the last Presidential and that was one of the largest percentages in ! years. That means in our best years over 42% of those eligible don't vote.

How Big Telecom Smothers City-run Broadband
ALLAN HOLMES – The Center for Public Integrity

Janice Bowling, a 67-year-old grandmother and Republican state senator from rural Tennessee, thought it only made sense that the city of Tullahoma be able to offer its local high-speed Internet service to areas beyond the city limits.

. . . . . . .

She viewed the network, which offers speeds about 80 times faster than AT&T and 10 times faster than Charter in Tullahoma according to advertised services, as a utility, like electricity, that all Tennesseans need.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Municipalities versus Telecomms on Internet Speed”

2014/09/122014/09/12

Berto Jongman: Tony Shaffer on Benghazi and 9/11

08 Wild Cards, DoD, Government, Military, Officers Call

Retired Lt. Col. Reveals Secrets Of The 28-Page 9/11 Report

CIA-trained intelligence officer confirms Infowars analysis

In this incredibly powerful interview with Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer, a wealth of info is mined regarding the real parties involved in the Benghazi stand down and the truth behind the to be released 9/11 report of which 28 pages have not been released to the public for obvious reasons.

See Especially:

Graphic: Benghazi Fiasco Master Post with Links to All Posts, Map of DoD Assets Ordered to “Stand Down,” + RECAP Updated 11 May 13

Mini-Me: 9/11 Convergence + NEW Information + Comment by Robert Steele + List of Advance Warnings from Over 13 Countries

See Also:

9/11 @ Phi Beta Iota

Benghazi @ Phi Beta Iota

2014/09/12

SchwartzReport: Solar Trumps Fossil — And Cost Drops 30% Each Time Installed Solar Doubles in Any Given Area…

05 Energy

This is lovely good news about the transition out of our carbon energy addiction. The report presents what I think is an accurate assessment of the Non-carbon Energy Trend.

In spite of constant government coddling, endless subsidies, and the huge sums available to buy influence, along with ads to protect its dominance, carbon energy is quickly becoming uncompetitive. One can only wonder where we would be now if the attempt Jimmy Carter made to shift away from carbon had not been blocked by Ronald Reagan, whom I believe history will identify with the beginning of the decline of America. In any case, in spite of everything non-carbon will prevail because it is cheaper, and easier, and doesn't cause climate change. There will also be a little discussed effect: an increase in wellness as the diseases caused by carbon decline.

The real monster in the closet is nuclear waste. Nothing proposed actually deals with the problem, and solar and wind will help only marginally. We haven't a clue what to do with waste, and the timebomb is ticking. Tanks leak. Pools degrade. An how does one really calculate the costs? How does one project expenses for something that is deadly for 10s of thousands of years? Finding a solution to nuclear waste within the next 15 years is going to become an urgent issue.

Happily, by then we will have dealt with a large percentage of carbon usage, as the report describes.

Solar Continues Trumping Fossil Fuel Pricing, With More Innovations To Come
CHIP REGISTER, Contributor – Forbes

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Solar Trumps Fossil — And Cost Drops 30% Each Time Installed Solar Doubles in Any Given Area…”

2014/09/112014/09/11

Jan Oberg: Obama Hits a Moral and Intellectual Low — War on Terror a Predictable Fiasco Lacking in Intelligence or Integrity

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism

September 11:
The War on Terror is a – predictable – fiasco

By Jan Oberg, TFF co-founder

Lund, Sweden September 11, 2014.

President Obama's speech last night

This speech is a record low in terms of moral and intellectual analysis: What it boils down to is war – i.e. killing every single ISIS person anywhere, people who he compares to cancer cells. The war on terror has always been about killing terrorists but you can not kill an ism – terrorism. To do something about the causes that compel people to become terrorists would be much more efficient. The President has said repeatedly that a lasting solution is political, not military. The speech, however, is exclusively military – not a word of political, psychological or other insights: No, we kill people because we think it is wrong to kill people…

The speech can be seen as a proof of how utterly misguided the U.S. response to 9/11 was – had it been more intelligence and less revenge-oriented, there would neither have been a devastating Iraq war nor an ISIS.

Continue reading “Jan Oberg: Obama Hits a Moral and Intellectual Low — War on Terror a Predictable Fiasco Lacking in Intelligence or Integrity”

2014/09/11

Berto Jongman: 38 Men Raped in US Military Each Day

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, DoD

38 Men Raped in U.S. Military Each Day

Sexual assault is alarmingly common in the U.S. military, and more than half of the victims are men. According to the Pentagon, thirty-eight military men are sexually assaulted every single day. These are the stories you never hear—because the culprits almost always go free, the survivors rarely speak, and no one in the military or Congress has done enough to stop it

While most of the fire from the public and Congress directed at the military addresses women who are sexually assaulted, more than half of victims are male. According to the Pentagon, 38 military men are sexually assaulted every single day, and because of the stigma, culprits nearly always go free because the survivors don’t want to speak. As one Veterans Affairs psychologist notes, “One of the myths is that the perpetrators identify as gay, which is by and large not the case. It's not about the sex. It's about power and control.”

Read full article.

2014/09/11

Jean Lievens: Gerry Mooney on Open Scotland — Hybrid Grassroots Activism Empowered by Social Media

03 Economy, 11 Society, Crowd-Sourcing, Governance, Politics

Social media and grassroots activism have taken Scotland to the brink of independence

Gerry Mooney

The Conversation, 8 September 2014

EXTRACTS

If you wanted an explanation for the momentum that has carried the Yes campaign to the brink of victory in the Scottish referendum, you have to look at what’s happening on the ground. The extent to which the independence referendum has engaged and mobilised people during the campaign is palpable.

. . . . . . .

Yet as tends to be forgotten, the pro-independence movement also includes The Scottish Green Party; The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; The Scottish Socialist Party; the socialist party Solidarity; Women For Independence; the artists and creatives group National Collective and the socialist Radical Independence Campaign. Yes Scotland is a loose amalgam and umbrella of different pro-independence groups and individuals. A significant number of front-line activists campaigning under the Yes Scotland banner represent ordinary people with no party political membership. Some have never been involved in political activism before.

. . . . . . .

The demarcation between professional politicians and this grassroots mobilisation of ordinary people appears to be blurred in this contemporary Scottish political landscape. It is evident that a hybrid movement has emerged within the campaign, which according to Tommy Sheridan “dwarfs the anti-poll tax campaign” that he led in the late 1980s.

. . . . . . .

The opportunity to build a new Scotland free from nuclear weapons, austerity and welfare cuts has widespread appeal. It is this concern with social justice and welfare that has galvanised support for Yes.

Read full article.

2014/09/112014/09/11

Steven Aftergood: US Intelligence Budget Data — PBI: Understated but on the Record

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Military, Office of Management and Budget, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

Intelligence Budget Data

On March 4, 2014, the Administration submitted its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, including a base funding request of $45.6 billion for the National Intelligence Program (NIP), and a base funding request of $13.3 billion for the Military Intelligence Program (MIP). On June 30, the DNI submitted an updated FY2015 budget request of $49.4 billion for the NIP including funding for overseas contingency operations. An updated budget request figure for the MIP has not yet been disclosed.

Phi Beta Iota: We consider these figures to be severely deceptive and roughly 70% of the actual combined total budget for green and black intelligence capabilities that are secret, toxic, and a mix of benignly worthless (standing armies of ignorant analysts, collection that is not processed) and pathologically dangerous (drones, renditions, covert operations, subsidies to foreign intelligence services). Our best guess of the actual total US secret intelligence budget remains US$100 billion per year, inclusive of thousands of private sector “intelligence” capabilities (many of them “open source” and extremely mediocre) that are embedded within acquisition and other contracts, all out of control and of dubious value.

IC Budget Table Cropped — Click on Table to Enlarge

Click to access Office of the Director of National Intelligence Budget Justifications