Category: 11 Society

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4th Media: Years Later, Millions of Dollars Later, Obama Administration Admits They [and James Clapper Specificially] Lied to the Courts and Claimed “Terrorism” To Cover Up a Simple Mistake

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement

4th media croppedHow Obama Officials Cried ‘Terrorism’ to Cover Up a Paperwork Error

David Kravets | Sunday, February 23, 2014

After seven years of litigation, two trips to a federal appeals court and $3.8 million worth of lawyer time, the public has finally learned why a wheelchair-bound Stanford University scholar was cuffed, detained and denied a flight from San Francisco to Hawaii: FBI human error.

FBI agent Kevin Kelley was investigating Muslims in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004 when he checked the wrong box on a terrorism form, erroneously placing Rahinah Ibrahim on the no-fly list.

What happened next was the real shame. Instead of admitting to the error, high-ranking President Barack Obama administration officials spent years covering it up. Attorney General Eric Holder, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and a litany of other government officials claimed repeatedly that disclosing the reason Ibrahim was detained, or even acknowledging that she’d been placed on a watch list, would cause serious damage to the U.S. national security.

Again and again they asserted the so-called “state secrets privilege” to block the 48-year-old woman’s lawsuit, which sought only to clear her name.

Continue reading “4th Media: Years Later, Millions of Dollars Later, Obama Administration Admits They [and James Clapper Specificially] Lied to the Courts and Claimed “Terrorism” To Cover Up a Simple Mistake”

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SchwartzReport: Mississippi “Adult” Idiocy Increases Sexual Activity & Preganancies Among Youth

04 Education, 06 Family, 07 Health, 11 Society
Stephan A. Schwartz
Stephan A. Schwartz

Here is more data for several trends, the Red value Blue value schism, and a demonstration of the wrongness of the sexual politics of the Theocratic Right. Click through to see the charts which make the reality very clear.

The Failures Of Abstinence-Only Education Illustrated In 2 Charts
TARA CULP-RESSLER – Think Progress

Even though teens have been shielded from what might be deemed ‘inappropriate” sex ed content, SIECUS found that kids in the Magnolia State are actually having sex earlier and more frequently than the national average. Predictably, they’re also much less likely to know how to avoid unintended pregnancies:

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Berto Jongman: 214 Human Brain Poisons Identified

03 Economy, 07 Health, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence

Growing number of chemicals linked with brain disorders in children

Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

214 human neurotoxicants now identified — many widely used and disseminated extensively in the global environment

Toxic chemicals may be triggering the recent increases in neurodevelopmental disabilities among children — such as autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and dyslexia — according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The researchers say a new global prevention strategy to control the use of these substances is urgently needed.

The report was published online February 15, 2014 in Lancet Neurology.

“The greatest concern is the large numbers of children who are affected by toxic damage to brain development in the absence of a formal diagnosis. They suffer reduced attention span, delayed development, and poor school performance. Industrial chemicals are now emerging as likely causes,” said Philippe Grandjean, adjunct professor of environmental health at HSPH.

The report follows up on a similar review conducted by the authors in 2006 that identified five industrial chemicals as “developmental neurotoxicants,” or chemicals that can cause brain deficits.

Read full article.

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Berto Jongman: Secrecy As Culture of Waste

03 Economy, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military, Peace Intelligence
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

Secrecy = culture of waste.

Balancing Transparency and National Security

Is keeping military funding secret truly necessary for national security? Not according to Pieter and Siemon Wezeman. Greater transparency not only makes governments more accountable, it also helps reduce the causes of insecurity and conflict.

By Pieter Wezeman and Siemon Wezeman for SIPRI

EXTRACT

The secrecy of military matters is an illusion

Many governments justify secrecy in military budgets on the basis that such information should not be allowed to fall into the hands of potentially hostile forces. However, maintaining secrecy about military spending and key military procurement projects is practically impossible. For example, SIPRI has had 45 years of experience in collecting information about military budgets and international arms transfers. Open sources, official or non-official, provide SIPRI with a wealth of information about the procurement of major arms. If organizations like SIPRI, with minimal resources and working only with open sources, can calculate military spending and map global arms transfers with a high degree of comprehensiveness and accuracy, then national intelligence agencies in potentially hostile countries are obviously able to achieve a lot more.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Secrecy As Culture of Waste”

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John Robb: Global Civil War Coming — 99% Against the 1% Kleptocracy [Switzerland May Be Safe, But Absentee Ownership and Rents Are Toast]

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Officers Call
John Robb
John Robb

The Dream vs. the Kleptocracy

Here's a strong motive for open source warfare — the model of warfare that has become the hallmark of 21st century conlfict, from potest movements to fullscale insurgencies.

It's the driver of the recent conflict in Ukraine.

A conflict we're going to see much more of.  A struggle between the people that want the opportunity to earn some prosperity, and those that want to take all of it.

In other words, a growing number of people around the world now want to make the American Dream their own.

Click on Image to Enlarge
Click on Image to Enlarge

Unfortunately, they face a kleptocracy of government, business, and finance that wants to prevent that.

Here's one story from that fight.  One that you should know.

It's the story of a young man that pursued the Dream, only to have it stolen away from him.

Basboosa vs. the Kleptocracy

Continue reading “John Robb: Global Civil War Coming — 99% Against the 1% Kleptocracy [Switzerland May Be Safe, But Absentee Ownership and Rents Are Toast]”

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SchwartzReport: US Food Prices to Soar Soon?

01 Agriculture, 01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 07 Health, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Earth Intelligence
Stephan A. Schwartz
Stephan A. Schwartz

I think this is a pretty good assessment concerning what is coming in food prices.

15 Reasons Why Your Food Prices Are About To Start Soaring
MICHAEL SNYDER – ZeroHedge

Did you know that the U.S. state that produces the most vegetables is going through the worst drought it has ever experienced and that the size of the total U.S. cattle herd is now the smallest that it has been since 1951? Just the other day, a CBS News article boldly declared that “food prices soar as incomes stand still”, but the truth is that this is only just the beginning.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: US Food Prices to Soar Soon?”

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