As laid out in the previous article, Anonymous, Karl Rove and the 2012 Election Fix?, it’s possible that Karl Rove used SmartTECH’s servers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to flip the vote totals in Ohio in 2004 and thus steal the election that year for George W. Bush – and just as possible that he tried to do the same thing this year on Romney’s behalf but was thwarted by the hacktivist group Anonymous.
Many people have responded to these claims with a variation on: “That’s impossible. A presidential candidate committing treason? That would never happen, and, if it did, it would be front-page news. Everybody would know about it, right?”
Phi Beta Iota: NIGHTWATCH is the gold standard for political-military analytics. We doubt anyone now serving at CIA or DIA could have drafted this in one sitting without references. Here is the key finding brought forward:
This eight-day war is, thus, a turning point because Hamas, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, has proven it can strike at the heart of Israel and still live to tell the tale. This is a breakthrough tactical development. From now on, Israel is on the defensive and the threat will get worse unless a secular revolution occurs in Iran.
Israel-Gaza Strip: The exchanges of attacks have stopped during this Watch. Hamas posted the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
-Israel will cease all its activities against the Gaza Strip in the sea, land and air, including the incursions and assassinations.
-The Palestinian organizations will cease their activity from Gaza against Israel, including the rocket fire and border attacks.
-The border crossings to Gaza will be opened, facilitating the movement of people and transfer of goods. This move will take effect after a 24-hour cooling-off period.
-Additional issues will be negotiated if necessary.
Comment: This is not the durable peace that US officials say is the objective. It also probably is not enforceable by Hamas authorities because they do not control smaller splinter groups that probably will not consider themselves bound. The ceasefire will last becasue the principal parties say so, but Readers should expect violations. Both sides will use the respite to rest and rearm. There will be more fighting, but not for a few weeks.
Special Comment: So what just happened? After eight days of rocket and air attacks, both sides can declare victory of a sort. That is not a good outcome for Israel. The situation is much more complicated and ominous than in many decades.
Three complementary threads — citizen participation, harnessing distributed citizen intelligence, and connecting all citizens with all information in all languages all the time.
As the White House and other agencies monitored intelligence in real-time, they faced a dilemma. They knew that the nation/state sponsored attack teams were lying in wait for U.S. rescue forces to arrive, which is the reason the fight did not conclusively end sooner. They did not know exactly where all of the attack teams were, but knew they were present based on signal communication intercepts. Could they risk such exposure by deploying a rescue team to Benghazi, only to end up with another Black Hawk down type scenario? In addition to that scenario, the entire operation now becomes exposed for what it is. Take another look at Panetta’s statement in that context. Does it now make more sense? Bad PR in an election year, no?
The atomized and empty consumerist Status Quo is the “monster Id” behind the American diet.
I know it may appear unduly harsh to discuss America's self-destructive dietary “monster Id” right before the Thanksgiving day feasting, but when is it more appropriate?
There are a great many disconnects between reality and what Americans believe out of convenience (“no snowflake feels responsible for the avalanche”) or propaganda, but perhaps none is more visible than the disconnect between what we're collectively doing to our health with the food we consume.
The Chinese have an apt saying” “Disease comes through the mouth,” meaning disease comes from what we eat.