Berto Jongman: 38 Men Raped in US Military Each Day

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, DoD
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

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.”

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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
Steven Aftergood
Steven Aftergood

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

Owl: Religion is Not to Blame for “Terrorism”

01 Poverty, 02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime
Who?  Who?
Who? Who?

Atheists have It Wrong on Religious Causes of Terrorism and Suicide Bombing

This article dispels all illusions based on the belief that terrorism done by Muslim extremists is to be blamed on their religion, a view much favored by well-known atheist critics of religion such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris.

One of the implied back stories to this insightful article is that big-time atheist writers such as Harris and Christopher Hitchens (who is not mentioned), in blaming religion on terrorism perpetuated by Muslims and others, also happen to favor policies that perpetuate mass killing by larger western governments of large number of civilians in countries where Muslims live. That observation alone is worthy of an article all by itself.

Continue reading “Owl: Religion is Not to Blame for “Terrorism””

Marcus Aurelius: General Robert Scales on Defeating ISIS – Comment by Robert Steele

01 Poverty, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

MG(R) Scales, a former Commandant of the Army War College, is nothing if not a controversial character.  I don't necessarily disagree with his assertion, but I have a couple of practical questions:

  • Where are we going to get adequate numbers of personnel of the quality required to implement the McChrystal method on the scale proposed by MG(R) Scales?
  • If the McChrystal-method units suck up the quality people they will need, what will be left to execute other special operations requirement?

The only way to defeat the Islamic State – The Washington Post

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: General Robert Scales on Defeating ISIS – Comment by Robert Steele”

SchwartzReport: BP Gulf Spill “Gross Negligence” – $18 Billion Fine? Does Corporate Accountability Begin Now?

03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 05 Energy, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 12 Water, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Law Enforcement
Stephan A. Schwartz
Stephan A. Schwartz

Here is some excellent news about the Gulf oil spill. A major court decision has seriously placed the blame and responsibility where it belongs. And the court also made it clear what it thinks about BP, Transocean, and Halliburton ethics and behavior.

‘Worst Case' BP Ruling on Gulf Spill Means Billions More in Penalties
MARGARET CRONIN FISK, LAUREL BRUBAKER CALKINS and JEF FEELEY – Bloomberg

BP Plc acted with gross negligence in setting off the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, a federal judge ruled, handing down a long-awaited decision that may force the energy company to pay billions of dollars more for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: BP Gulf Spill “Gross Negligence” – $18 Billion Fine? Does Corporate Accountability Begin Now?”

Yoda: Ukraine = China Wins, Central Asia Arms

02 China, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards
Got Crowd? BE the Force!
Got Crowd? BE the Force!

Interesting.

China May Be Biggest Winner From Ukraine Crisis

By

By Mike Eckel

Thousands of miles away from the Ukrainian battlefields of Donetsk and Novoazovsk sits the country that may end up being the largest beneficiary of the turmoil along Russia’s southwest border: China.

With Russian President Vladimir Putin rewriting the playbook on security in post-Cold War Europe, Beijing has watched warily 3,700 miles to the east, though without protest or interference.

Its abstention from a U.N. Security Council resolution vote in March that condemned Russia’s annexation of Crimea was unusual, given Beijing’s traditional stance on such votes, but it comes as bilateral ties have been on the upswing for years now.

Two generations ago, ties between Leonid Brezhnev’s Russia and Mao Zedong’s China were fraught. The two fought small-scale skirmishes in 1969 along the Ussuri River border (the Wusuli in Chinese) that almost resulted in war.

That’s a distant memory now.

“China may win out” from the Ukraine crisis? asked Martha Brill Olcott, a longtime scholar of Russia and Central Asian politics. “I think the word is ‘will.’ China ‘will’ absolutely benefit.”

Continue reading “Yoda: Ukraine = China Wins, Central Asia Arms”

SchwartzReport: Feds Lie, Marijuana Good… Could Marijuana Plus 9/11 Plus Unemployment Plus Wanton Wars Lead to Electoral Reform?

07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement
Stephan A. Schwartz
Stephan A. Schwartz

I think this essay is stating the truth. I have read stuff coming out from the government on the subject of marijuana so flagrantly wrong that it has to be deliberate. Nobody speaking truthfully about the present state of research could possible make those statements.

The Feds Are Incapable of Telling Truth About Pot
PAUL ARMENTANO – AlterNet (U.S.)

In her latest blog post [3], US National Institute on Drug Abuse director Nora Volkow claims that ‘science should guide marijuana policy.” But if the nation’s top anti-drug doc truly believes that facts, not ideological rhetoric, ought to shape America’s drug policies, why does she feel the need to keep distorting the truth about pot?

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Feds Lie, Marijuana Good… Could Marijuana Plus 9/11 Plus Unemployment Plus Wanton Wars Lead to Electoral Reform?”

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