Threats – Page 477 – Public Intelligence Blog

By David Swanson

Chase Madar's new book, The Passion of Bradley Manning, pulls together the essential facts that we should try to somehow deliver to television viewers and victims of our education system. The subtitle is “The Story of the Suspect Behind the Largest Security Breach in U.S. History.”

The book looks at Manning's life story, his alleged action (leaking voluminous materials to Wikileaks), the value of the material he made available to us, the status of whistleblowers in our country, the torture inflicted on Manning during his imprisonment, the similar treatment routinely inflicted on hundreds of thousands of U.S. prisoners without the same scandal resulting, and the value of running a society in accordance with written laws.

The table of contents sounds predictable, but the most valuable parts of Madar's book are the tangents, the riffs, the expansions on questions such as whether knowing the truth does or does not tend to set us free. Does learning what our government is up to help to improve our government's behavior? Has the rule of law become an empty phrase or worse? Who is standing up for Bradley Manning, and who should be?

Read full essay.

2012/04/24

Josh Kilbourn: US Leads Developed Nations In Percent of People In ‘Low Wage Work’

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government

US Leads Developed Nations In Percent of People In ‘Low Wage Work'

Research shows the US is a low wage country
By Mark Thoma
April 23, 2012

(MoneyWatch) – Recent research from John Schmitt of the Center for Economic Policy Research shows that the US leads developed countries in the share of workers earning low wages. The research also shows that increased wage polarization over the last several decades is one of the reasons for the large share of low wage-work in the US. The bars in this graph represent the share of workers in low wage work, where low wage work is defined as employees earning less than 2/3 of the median wage (approximately $10 per hour or $20,000 per year). In this category, the US leads among developed nations…

Research Shows that US is a ‘low wage' country

2012/04/242012/04/24

DefDog: Counter-IED Network Analysis – Works for Law Enforcement, Ignored by US Military

09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, Ethics, Intelligence (government), IO Sense-Making, Law Enforcement, Methods & Process, Military, Officers Call

When we worked on the Manhunting Project for SOCOM, the US Marshall's Service said that fugitive hunting was all about network analysis. The IC doesn't understand network analysis as the bean counters push for numbers….they focus on low hanging fruit and as a result there is always some guy out there ready to step up and take the foot soldier's place (not so much the upper echelons). Try to tell an IC drone that it is all about the network and you will get a deer in the headlight look….

The REAL Jack Bauer

Contributor: Louis DeAnda

Police forces have spent decades combating organised crime with well-practised techniques, but can the same tactics be the key to defeating insurgencies on the front line? Former police officer, federal marshal, and JIEDDO FOX team member Louis J. DeAnda tells Defence IQ how we need to take a holistic strategy to IED network attack…

Phi Beta Iota: Completely apart from the corruption at the top of both the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense, this is an extraordinary–a gifted–contribution to the literature. It is reproduced in full below the line to preserve it as a reference.

Continue reading “DefDog: Counter-IED Network Analysis – Works for Law Enforcement, Ignored by US Military”

2012/04/222012/04/22

James Wall: Israel to Palestine is as Britain to Slavery – “Throw Their Dirty Little Ships Out of the Water” — Tide Turning Against Israeli Atrocities

04 Inter-State Conflict, 06 Genocide, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 11 Society

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 | Posted by Veterans Today

“Throw Their Dirty, Filthy Ships Out of the Water!”

Historical parallels are never exact. But it is not unusual for us to see moments from the past resonating with moments of the present.

by James M Wall

About the author: James M. Wall is currently a Contributing Editor of The Christian Century magazine, based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1972 through 1999, he was editor and publisher of the Christian Century magazine.

He has made more than 20 trips to that region as a journalist, during which he covered such events as Anwar Sadat’s 1977 trip to Jerusalem, and the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. He has interviewed, and written about, journalists, religious leaders, political leaders and private citizens in the region. Jim served for two years on active duty in the US Air Force, and three additional years in the USAF (inactive) reserve. His website: Wall Writings.

EXTRACT:

I propose no firm historical linkage between slavery and Occupation, but I do propose a linkage between the demand for action called for by John Newton against slavery, and the passage of a divestment resolution by United Methodist General Conference delegates as a 21st century demand for the UMC to halt its financial support of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian people.

It is well past time to “throw this dirty, filthy Occupation out of United Methodist waters”.

Full article with video and illustrated inserts.

Phi Beta Iota: The continuing economic and political crisis in the USA, one that may escalate to a civil war as well as a national crime wave in 2013, has limited US public outrage against Israel. However, there are many weak signals that the tide has turned — not only are Americans outraged the role played by Goldman Sachs and the Jewish Chairmen of the Federal Reserve in the destruction of the global and the US domestic economies, but also at the role played by Jewish money and Israeli dominatrix methods in US politics. We see the day coming when Israel is treated to financial sanctions much as South Africa was. The Israeli government is to the Palestinians as the white South African government was to the people of color in South Africa. Justice will have its day in Palestine; we pray this be so.

2012/04/22

Event: 20-22 May DC Whistleblowers Unite with Occupy Washington for Civil and Human Right Conference

07 Other Atrocities, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Ethics

Whistleblowers Unite with Occupy Washington for Civil and Human Rights Conference May 20-22, 2012

(Washington, D.C.) – The USDA Coalition of Minority Employees (http://www.agcoaliation.org) and watchdog group ACORN 8 (http://www.acorn8.com) united with 40 national and international coalitions of good government, open government, civil rights and human rights groups as well as hundreds of individual Occupy Wall Street protesters from across the country, announce an assembly at the Washington DC Capitol to be held May 20-22, 2012. We are proud to announce that MSNBC Host Dylan Ratigan has agreed to moderate and the PACIFICA Radio Network has committed to broadcast the historic event this year.

Over the last six years members from the Make it Safe Coalition (MISC) have arranged an assembly of whistleblowers in Washington, DC each year for an annual conference originally known as Washington Whistleblower's Week. The USDA Coalition of Minority Employees will co-host this year's Whistleblower Summit—Civil & Human Rights Conference , in Washington, DC. The Coalition has been very active at the US Department of Agriculture since 1994, regarding their continued widespread racism, sexism, reprisal, intimidation, sexual assault, hostile work environment, and other abuses against USDA employees and minority farmers.

The week's events will include an Opening Plenary, New Media Panel Discussion, No FEAR Anniversary Reception, Civil and Human Rights Roundtable, Book Signing, Movie Night, Citizen's Tribunal, Press Conference, Peace & Justice Demonstration, Congressional Lobby Day, Solidarity Dinner and much, much, more. Featured speakers will include some of the following:

Learn more.

2012/04/212012/04/21

Josh Kilbourn: “we are this far from a turnkey totalitarian state”

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, DHS, DoD, Government, Law Enforcement

NSA Whistleblower Speaks Live: “The Government Is Lying To You”

Just a month ago we raised more than a proverbial eyebrow when we noted the creation of the NSA's Utah Data Center (codename Stellar Wind) and William Binney's formidable statement that “we are this far from a turnkey totalitarian state”. Democracy Now has the former National Security Agency technical director whistleblower's first TV interview in which he discusses the NSA's massive power to spy on Americans and why the FBI raided his home. Since retiring from the NSA in 2001, he has warned that the NSA’s data-mining program has become so vast that it could “create an Orwellian state.” Today marks the first time Binney has spoken on national TV about NSA surveillance. Starting with his pre-9-11 identification of the world-wide-web as a voluminous problem since the NSA was ‘falling behind the rate-of-change', his success in creating a system (codenamed Thin-Thread) for ‘grabbing' all the data and the critical ‘lawful' anonymization of that data (according to mandate at the time) which as soon as 9-11 occurred went out of the window as all domestic and foreign communications was now stored (starting with AT&T's forking over their data). This direct violation of the constitutional rights of everybody in the country was why Binney decided he could not stay (leaving one month after 9-11) along with the violation of almost every privacy and intelligence act as near-bottomless databases store all forms of communication collected by the agency, including private emails, cell phone calls, Google searches and other personal data.

There was a time when Americans still cared about matters such as personal privacy. Luckily, they now have iGadgets to keep them distracted as they hand over their last pieces of individuality to the Tzar of conformity.

In four parts: read on….

Phi Beta Iota: Neither NSA nor DHS are inherently evil — they are merely expensive, inept, and out of control. They are staffed by good people who mean well, led by good people who mean well, but in the aggregate they are so unAmerican and unConstitutional as to deby belief that they could actually exist and thrive.

See Also:

The Battle for the Soul of the Republic (Reality Sandwich)

2012/04/172012/04/17

Chuck Spinney: Hardware Über Alles in the Spendagon — Paneta Pumps Corporate Profits While Veterans Commit Suicide + Meta-RECAP

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, DoD, Government, Military, Officers Call

Hardware Über Alles in the Spendagon

(Note to Readers, the following essay is a revised version of one that appeared in Time Magazine's Battleland blog found at this link.)

For a good example of the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex’s (MICC’s) value system — which is hardware before ideas and people — read this New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof.

Note his opening paragraph:

Here’s a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands.

And here is Kristof’s penultimate paragraph:

We refurbish tanks after time in combat, but don’t much help men and women exorcise the demons of war. Presidents commit troops to distant battlefields, but don’t commit enough dollars to veterans’ services afterward. We enlist soldiers to protect us, but when they come home we don’t protect them.

In between, Kristof supports these statements with horrific detail.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Hardware Über Alles in the Spendagon — Paneta Pumps Corporate Profits While Veterans Commit Suicide + Meta-RECAP”

Category: Threats

David Swanson: What Bradley Manning Means to Us All…