SchwartzReport: Secret Money Buying State Judges

Corruption, Government, Law Enforcement
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schwartz reportYet another chapter in the corruption of all our governmental institutions. The same process by which the U.S. Congress was suborned, and neutered, is now playing out at the State level, particularly in the Red value states.

Notice the prominence in this report of North Carolina, which I see as a laboratory state for Red Values. This is the state whose legislature passed a bill demanding no consideration of climate change, in spite of the state's vulnerability. All the Theocratic Rights' fantasies are playing out in North Carolina, as well as Mississippi, Louisiana — the usual list.

One effect of the corruption of state judiciaries is that it will further the Great Schism Trend, even as it degrades one of the pillars of our democracy — the judiciary. Read this remembering the piece I did in Friday's edition on the bias for donors that arises in judicial decisions, and correlates with donations. It almost goes without saying that this is largely financed by the Koch brothers and their ilk, and is being carried out through the auspices of the Republican Party.

You need to be on the lookout for this happening in your state, and organize against it. Otherwise our judicial system will be forever compromised. We are in parlous times. Choices are being made now that will shape the trajectories of the states and the country as a whole, for generations.

Secret Money Is Now Swaying State Judicial Elections
ALAN SUDERMAN and BEN WIEDER – Mother Jones

NIGHTWATCH: Syria Update, Negative Ripple Effects for USA

05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards
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Syria: Update: According to several news services, the battle to retake Aleppo began today, 14 June. Syrian and Hizballah forces. News sources reported the fighting began east of central Aleppo in a neighborhood called Sakhour which rebel groups hold. Few other details are available other than statements from rebels and outside observers that the fight has begun.

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Mini-Me: Jordanian King Manipulates Obama & Light-Weight National Security Team — French & British Lie on Chemical Weapons — Susan Rice Ignored

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, Military
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Who?  Mini-Me?
Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

Behind Obama's About-Face on Syria

Jolted by Hezbollah's Entry Into Civil War and Chemical Weapons, Administration Chose to Arm Rebels

Adam Entous

Wall Street Journal, 14 June 2013

EXTRACT:

In one sobering moment in late April, Jordan's King Abdullah II presented President Barack Obama and aides with a bleak scenario for Syria—showing them a map of how the country could split into warring, sectarian fiefdoms, with a tract of desert dominated by al Qaeda and its allies, U.S. officials said.

. . . .

In meetings with officials from the White House and other departments, King Abdullah told policy makers that Syria would become similar to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, or FATA, where al Qaeda has long been based.

“Syria is going to become the new FATA, the breeding ground from where they launch attacks,” the king said, according to a person in the meetings.

Read full article.

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Mini-Me: America’s 50 Most Dishonest Charities

Corruption, Non-Governmental
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Who?  Mini-Me?
Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

Above the law: America's worst charities

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • A year-long investigation identified America's 50 worst charities
  • At the top of the list is Kids Wish Network, which gave nearly $110m to corporate solicitors
  • This charity, like many others on the list, mimic well-known charity names that fool donors
  • The data show the worst charities devote less than 4% of donations to direct cash aid

The 50 worst, ranked by money blown on soliciting costs

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Jean Lievens: Chris Larsen on The Future of Money and BitCoin

Money
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Jean Lievens
Jean Lievens

From citizentekk.com – June 13, 3:16 PM

Commodity money was first—gold, precious metals, things considered inherently valuable. Next came political money—fiat currency, banknotes, things that had value because they were backed by governments and legal systems. Now there’s math-based money—money controlled only by protocols and algorithms. Harnessing and maximizing the power and potential of these new math-based systems is going to be the big story in finance for decades to come.

The Future of Money and Bitcoin by Chris Larsen, CEO of OpenCoin – citizentekk –

EXTRACT:

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Robin Good: Curation Tools as Learning Tools

04 Education
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Robin Good
Robin Good

From the original article by Justin Reich and Beth Holland on MindShift: “What would a math class look like where students learn to compute, prove, derive, and intuit, as well as to discern and appreciate mathematical beauty?

What about a history class where students maintained a portfolio of beautiful artifacts and ideas from multiple periods?

How might efforts to curate benefit from the portability and ubiquity of mobile devices?

What would a ā€œrelevance portfolioā€ look like, where students catalog their daily encounters with ideas or experiences? What other kinds of portfolios could students create over the course of their academic career?

If you are curious to get a glimpse at how tablets and their apps can be utilized to leverage curation for your classroom learning objectives, then this is definitely a good read.

You get a good introduction with some interesting historical facts about curation and about what it could be done with it in the real of education, and then you are provided with a good number of examples and tools that you can start to use right away.

Informative. Resourceful. 8/10

To Get the Most Out of Tablets, Use Smart Curation

EXTRACT:

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Robert Steele: Saving Obama, the USG, & the Republic — Proposal for the Electoral Reform Act of 2013 – and Ron Paul to the Supreme Court!

Offbeat Fun, Officers Call
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Robert David STEELE Vivas
Robert David STEELE Vivas

I have watched with a mixture of awe and sadness as the Chinese have so successfully kicked our President in the balls over cyber-war, and started an astonishingly active national conversation over whether or not the active measures taken by the US Government against its own citizens are lawful, necessary, or even affordable.

I have taken several oaths over the past 36 years of service — all to defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, domestic and foreign — and I have to confess that it was not until I spent 20 years wandering in the wilderness — the longest “walk-about” ever taken by any serving intelligence officer in US history that I know of — that I have really appreciated how few in government service reflect on or honor their oath on a day to day basis, and how few of our citizens are intelligently engaged with the non-transferable responsibility of being citizens.

The Constitution is “root.”Ā  Anyone that forgets that — or worse yet, demeans it as Henry Kissinger, Michael Bloomberg, Colin Powell, Mike Hayden, Jim Clapper, and Keith Alexander have all been so quick to demean it — is part of the problem.Ā  I balance my sense that we need a ruthless counterintelligence service with a recognition that at this juncture, “truth and reconciliation” is the only path that might allow us to move past the old paradigm of money as the controlling authority, never mind that it is illicit money rooted in crimes against the public legalized by a corrupt Congress.

Henry Kissinger: ā€œThe illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.ā€

Barack Obama is our President.Ā  Get over it, those of you that have so many reasons for questioning everything about his presidency.Ā  It is what it is.Ā  The question we have to ask ourselves is this: what now?Ā  What can we do to save Obama, save the US Government, and save the Republic from three more years of domestic poverty and foreign war?

Continue reading “Robert Steele: Saving Obama, the USG, & the Republic — Proposal for the Electoral Reform Act of 2013 – and Ron Paul to the Supreme Court!”