It Appears Only the Good Journalists Die Young.

33-year old journalist, Michael Hastings, winner of a Polk Award,  author of the article "The Runaway General" in Rolling Stone Magazine, as well as the book, "The Operators ", and who will most likely be remembered for taking down the career of General Stanley McChrystal, died yesterday in a fiery car crash.




One witness to the crash said it "sounded like a bomb went off. " Hollywood producer, Gary Grossman, described the scene by saying, "I couldn't have written a scene like this for a movie where the engine flies from the car which was about 60 yards up right down here to this telephone pole." While single car accidents are certainly not uncommon, a car exploding and throwing the engine almost the length of a football field certainly is uncommon. Especially a brand new Mercedes.



Hastings was about to start work on an article about Barrett Brown, the investigative journalist (Salon, Vanity Fair amongst others), author and alleged mastermind behind Anonymous who is currently awaiting trial in prison for allegedly sharing data hacked from Stratfor. Hastings also had harsh words for President Obama's drone speech.

“Besides Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, most Democrats abandoned their civil liberty positions during the age of Obama. With a new leak investigation looming, the Democrat leadership are now being forced to confront all the secrets they’ve tried to hide." -- Michael Hastings

A few other relatively young journalists who died before their time:

Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 – December 10, 2004) was a Pulitzer prize-winning American investigative journalist. Webb was best known for his 1996 "Dark Alliance" series of articles written for the San Jose Mercury News and later published as a book. In the three-part series, Webb investigated Nicaraguans linked to the CIA-backed Contras who had allegedly smuggled coc aine into the U.S. Their smuggled coc aine was distributed as crack coc aine in Los Angeles, with the profits funneled back to the Contras. Webb also alleged that this influx of Nicaraguan-supplied coc aine sparked, and significantly fueled, the widespread crack coc aine epidemic that swept through many U.S. cities during the 1980s. According to Webb, the CIA was aware of the coc aine transactions and the large shipments of drugs into the U.S. by Contra personnel.

On December 10, 2004, Gary Webb was found dead from two gunshot wounds to the head.[25] Sacramento County coroner Robert Lyons ruled that it was suicide, noting that a suicide note was found at the scene.

Read more...

New DHS Headquarters: Largest Federal Project Since Construction of the Pentagon.

US Dept of Homeland Security Headquarters, Washington DC, Phase 1

Since the creation of the Office of Homeland Security 11 days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Department Homeland Security (DHS) has more than 230,000 employees. The problem is they do not have an official home.

So, in an effort to consolidate the Department of Homeland Security's workforce, now scattered across 55 campuses, into a central headquarters, a huge construction project is underway, the largest one in the country.  Pictured above is phase 1 of the new DHS headquarters on the campus of  what used to be St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital, the nation's first major federally run psychiatric institution founded in 1852. It is located in southeast section of Washington, DC.  This project is the largest federal project since the Pentagon.

Thankfully, this huge project has been pushed back 5-years:

Originally, the DHS headquarters plan carried a price tag of $3.45 billion and aimed to relocate 14,000 workers from more than 180 offices to the campus of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast Washington by fiscal 2016. But, according to December projections, the project will cost at least $3.96 billion and won't be complete until the end of fiscal 2021, delaying the relocation of more than 10,000 workers by up to five years. Only the Coast Guard headquarters is expected to be completed on schedule in spring 2013.

Thankfully, because this is the same agency that has an $11 million contract with General Dynamics to monitor Web activity, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and  news sites. The only reason we even know about this is that the Electronic Privacy Information Center obtained 300 documents through a Freedom of Information Act request which detailed how DHS had hired an outside contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, to monitor social media outlets along with a list of websites, on a “24/7/365 basis,” in order to uncover “any media reports that reflect adversely on the U.S. Government and the Department of Homeland Security.” DHS has been surveying public online posts since as early as 2006.

The monitoring involves looking at “publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards, and disseminate information to "federal, state, local, and foreign government and private sector partners." - EPIC

Can you imagine the power DHS will have consolidated in an area that has the potential to house 60,000 employees?

Read more...

1033 Program: Putting Battlefield-Grade Weaponry in the Hands of Cops

If you have any doubt as to whether "our" government views its citizenry as its greatest enemy, or that the U.S. is/will become a “combat zone”, consider - in addition to all the recently created legislation and executive orders designed to target American citizens - the 1033 program. What is that? Well, it  "permits the Secretary of Defense to transfer, without charge, excess U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) personal property (supplies and equipment) to state and local law enforcement agencies (LEAs)." In 2011 alone, the Pentagon gave over $500 million of military gear to LEAs.

Thanks to it, cops in Cobb County, Ga. - one of the wealthiest and most educated counties in the U.S. - now have an amphibious tank. The sheriff of Richland County, S.C., proudly acquired a machine-gun-equipped armored personnel carrier that he nicknamed "The Peacemaker."

This comes on top of grants from the Department of Homeland Security that enable police departments to buy vehicles such as "BearCats" - 16,000-pound bulletproof trucks equipped with battering rams, gun ports, tear-gas dispensers and radiation detectors. To date, more than 500 of these tanklike vehicles have been sold by Lenco, its Massachusetts-based manufacturer, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel.

So, it's not enough that we have the liberty-crushing Patriot Act, the grandma-and-child-molesting TSA, the gestapo DHS, and bill after bill that practically encourages military action within the borders of our own nation; we also have the Pentagon transforming our "protect and serve" police into intimidating Rambo-like soldiers.

Read more...

Hollywood Makes Nazi Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl Efforts Look like Child's Play

To be sure, the multi-billion dollar Hollywood movie machine makes Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl efforts look like child's play in comparison. The Department of Defense, the CIA, and just about every branch of the military has an entertainment industry liaison.

Let's face it. Most people form their beliefs about, not only, war - because, after all, most of us have not experienced the horrors of battle first hand - from Hollywood's heroic visions, but, in addition, America's beliefs about the invincibility and elevated moral status of the United States, itself. Therefore, Hollywood became, and continues to be the Pentagon's greatest recruiting tool, ensuring that the drama played out between American "war heroes" and the fill-in-the-blank "villains" on a larger than life screen always painted a pro-war, pro-militarist picture. Children, of course, were and are their biggest target.

Where's the proof? Well, there are tens of thousands of documents: letters/correspondence between the Pentagon and movie producers, internal memos written by the military.

"Perhaps the worst thing about the collaboration between Hollywood and the military is not the censorship, but the self censorship. When you know that you are going to need Hollywood's assistance (film footage), and you know they will be looking at your script, you write it to make them happy right from the beginning." - Dave Robb, Investigative Journalist

Read more...

Read more...

Federal Reserve Releases 29,000 Pages of Bailout Loans that Includes Libya.

Late last week, the court ordered the Federal Reserve to release (see download zip archive link)  29,000  pages of documents that contain the complete contents of the Federal Reserve Discount Window data on loans, from August 8, 2007 to March 1 2010.  Many of these loans bail out foreign banks during the height of the financial crisis in 2008. Moreover, some of those banks are even controlled by "repressive dictators" such as Qaddafi (Arab Banking Corp, 59% owned by the Libyan central bank at the time, received 46 different loans).  That's right, the 100% Libyan owned central bank that those "ragtag bunch of rebels"  shut down so easily  in order to  immediately establish a brand new national central bank (not to mention, the brand new national oil company) received lots of  bailout money!  

Only one man, Sen. Bernie Sanders,  dared to question why billions of American taxpayer dollars bailed out a Libyan-owned bank.

Here is the emergency order that was issued by the Federal Reserve on Feb. 25, 2011, exempting the Arab Bank Corporation from the previous freeze order.

All transactions involving banks that are owned or controlled by the Govemment of Libya and organized under the laws of a country other than Libya are authorized...

So, let me get this straight. In our nation, poverty is escalating, our infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating, the middle-class is withering away to nothing, we're involved in three wars, yet, the only concern in Washington is balancing the budget on the backs of working families. Federal programs that provide suffering people basic needs and/or try to level the playing field, such as: early education, job training, post-secondary education, nutrition assistance for women and children, home heating programs for low-income people, planned parenthood, community health centers, e-gov, transportation, etc, will be slashed to the bone.

In the meantime, taxpayer subsidized banksters and corporate giants who are earning record breaking profits, continue to live off the dole. The pentagon continues to waste billions, not to mention, outright loses trillions of dollars ($2.3 trillion that Rumsfeld announced, went missing, 9/10/11).  Two-thirds of all US corporations pay no federal income tax, and almost all of the corporations continue to sit on trillions and trillions of dollars, refusing to hire, or invest any of that money back into the American economy. Despite this, slashing the corporate tax rate is top priority.

Links:

Download zip archive (129 MB)

Foreign Banks Tapped Fed’s Secret Lifeline Most at Crisis Peak

The biggest borrowers from the 97-year-old discount window as the program reached its crisis-era peak were foreign banks, accounting for at least 70 percent of the $110.7 billion borrowed during the week in October 2008 when use of the program surged to a record. The disclosures may stoke a reexamination of the risks posed to U.S. taxpayers by the central bank’s role in global financial markets.

Fed Releases Discount-Window Loan Records During Crisis Under Court Order

The Federal Reserve released thousands of pages of secret loan documents under court order, almost three years after Bloomberg LP first requested details of the central bank’s unprecedented support to banks during the financial crisis.

The records reveal for the first time the names of financial institutions that borrowed directly from the central bank through the so-called discount window. The Fed provided the documents after the U.S. Supreme Court this month rejected a banking industry group’s attempt to shield them from public view.

Read more...

1,700 Pentagon Employees From Pentagon Child Porn Investigation Not Investigated.

Let me get this straight. TSA has the resources/funds to scan and molest American citizens, under the guise of "protection" from potential terrorists, yet the DCIS doesn't have enough resources to investigate 1,700 of 5,200 Pentagon employees and contractors - including top staffers from the DOD and contractors at the NSA - listed as purchasing child pornography online...four years ago? Even better, of the 302 confirmed DOD employee/contractors, only 70 were checked out! Criminal "investigators", supposedly on the case, couldn't even answer as to whether the supervisors of these employees were notified.

Senator Charles Grassley, who investigated this issue, said if not for the few journalists exposing this story, the Pentagon would have continued to stonewall him.

Several individuals identified under Project Flicker used their DoD/govemment e-mail address, Fleet Post Office (FPO) military address, or Army Post Office (APO) military address to register for the child pornography websites. AUSA Smagala requested that DCIS assist in the identification of individuals affiliated with the DoD. Initiation of a joint project into this matter was initiated to provide short term assistance to EDVA and ICE. As DoD subjects were identified, information was provided to the DCIS office within the appropriate area of responsibility for action deemed appropriate. Coordination was made throughout the project with the appropriate Military Criminal Investigative Organizations.
[...]
Due to the short term nature of this project and the need to focus more resources on other DCIS investigative priorities, this project is closed as "finished."

Why isn't this bigger news?

Read more...

Was 9/11 a False Flag "Black" Operation?

I dismissed the 9/11 truther's contention that a lack of plane parts and a lack of damage to the Pentagon building and surrounding area proved that a 757 never struck the Pentagon.

However, after watching National Security Alert (video above), which incorporates evidence that Craig Ranke and Aldo Marquis -  part of the 2006 Citizen Investigation Team - gathered together that clearly establishes that the plane that was seen flying low over Arlington on 9/11 did not hit the Pentagon and discredits the directional approach and path of the aircraft claimed by the official report, along with lots of other evidence, I've reconsidered.

The physics of flight mathematically prove the official story impossible as most of the damage was at ground level indicating the massive 757 slid into the bottom floor on its belly  with its RB211 engines (see left for scale) digging into the concrete and yet there is no damage/charring to the foundation in all of the aftermath photos taken 9/21/2001 by FEMA.

Using the reported speed and other values from the released 2006 NTSB alleged black box data,  Pilots for 9/11 Truth calculated the g-force required for the pilot to descend to the levels of the light poles and then pull up instantaneously to enter the building low and level enough as required by the physical damage would indicate. They found it aeronautically impossible for this aircraft to have pulled out of that dive instantaneously and be level with the lawn. It gets even worse when factoring in the NTSB reported altitude of 699 feet above sea level.

In addition, 13 eye-witnesses, many of whom were aviation professionals and police officers, independently and unanimously confirmed a north-side approach of the plane, when all official documents reported a south-side approach. And even though a few of these witnesses saw the plane start to pull up, none of these witnesses actually saw the plane fly away.  Why?  Aside from the fact that they were running, diving or ducking for cover, the explosion was timed exactly at the moment the plane started to pull up totally obscuring their view of the plane flying away.

Nevertheless, a few people saw the plane fly away who did not see it approach. One man ran out as soon as he heard the explosion and that's when he saw the plane fly away. Other witnesses were recorded by the Center for Military History soon after 9/11/2001 as saying that a bomb went off and that a jet kept on going.  And then there is Lloyde (above) the taxi -driver...well, you just have to watch.

Links:
Pilots for 9/11 Truth is an organization of aviation professionals and pilots throughout the globe who have gathered together for one purpose. We are committed to seeking the truth surrounding the events of the 11th of September 2001. Our main focus concentrates on the four flights, maneuvers performed and the reported pilots. We do not offer theory or point blame at this point in time. However, we are focused on determining the truth of that fateful day based on solid data and facts -- since 9/11/2001 is the catalyst for many of the events shaping our world today -- and the United States Government doesn't seem to be very forthcoming with answers or facts.

Witness list broken down

The Pentagon Building Performance Report

Supplemental Presentations

Read more...

Wikileaks Julian Assange: Hero, Egomaniac or a Little of Both?

Daniel Ellsberg, the prime player in the release of the Pentagon Papers  in 1971, who was a true hero, not only because he exposed the truth of the Vietnam war, but because he did so with the knowledge he could face the rest of his life in prison is a fan of Wikileaks.

John Nichols of Capital Times interviewed Daniel Ellsburg last month.  He said that "Ellsburg is a fan of WikiLeaks, in particular, and whistle-blowers, in general. He argues that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange “is serving our democracy and serving our rule of law precisely by challenging the secrecy regulations, which are not laws in most cases, in this country.”

“I felt that as an American citizen, as a responsible citizen, I could no longer cooperate in concealing this information from the American public.” -- Daniel Ellsberg as he surrendered to authorities in 1971

Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, like Ellsburg, exposed 92,000 documents that may call into question America’s policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan. Assange also believes he and/or Wikileaks may be in danger, as Wikileak's servers are located in different countries, and there is no headquarters. As for Assange, he never stays in one place, depending on the goodwill of people around the world to lend him a sofa to sleep.



Is Wikileaks, as it claims,  "a multi-jurisdictional organization to protect internal dissidents, whistleblowers, journalists and bloggers who face legal or other threats related to publishing" whose  primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East... assistance to people of all nations who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations?

Or as others claim, is Wikileaks  part of a U.S. cyber-warfare and computer espionage operations?  Or a CIA front?  A stalking horse for George Soros? Next to secrecy, authoritativeness is the most dangerous to an open society, and Wikileaks "sells" both.

In January 2007, John Young, who runs cryptome.org, a site that publishes a wealth of sensitive and classified information, left Wikileaks, claiming the operation was a CIA front. Young also published some 150 email messages sent by Wikileaks activists on cryptome. They include a disparaging comment about this editor by Wikileaks Dr. Julian Assange. Assange lists as one of his professions "hacker." His German co-founder of Wikileaks uses a pseudonym, "Daniel Schmitt."

"Those who get the truth to the American people show better judgment in putting it out than the people who keep it secret from the American people.” - Daniel Ellburg

Read more...

The Fear of Appearing Soft on Defense is What's Soft.

The pentagon’s budget this year, adjusted for inflation, is the highest it's been in 60 years. By the end of this year, the US will have spent ¾ of a trillion dollars on defense.

Despite huge military inefficiency, no one has ever lost an election by promising to "strengthen" our defense by spending more. On the other hand, if a political candidate tells the truth, and claims he can make keep our defense strong, possibly making it stronger by spending less on the defense budget, he appears "soft" on defense. Living with the constant fear of appearing soft on defense is what is soft, especially when that taxpayer money literally does nothing but waste time and money, building up the military industrial complex.

Let’s say one of the Bush twins bought $5,000 of Lockheed Martin stock - biggest defense contractor in America - on September 10, 2001; her initial investment would be worth over $20,000 today. Lockheed Martin, along with other defense contractors, bank on the US government spending most of its federal budget on military projects, some of which have turned out to be totally useless, and the amount spent could have easily funded universal health care a few times over.

Take the F22 Fighter jet program, the most expensive jet in history, with a $330 million price tag, originally designed to fight the Soviets. According to Government Accountability Office (GAO), the original plan scheduled the first aircraft to be operationally deployed in 1996. After 25 years of expensive development, this jet has finally reached what the US defense department calls “full operational capability", meaning it’s ready to go to war.

Well, it's a little late as we have not used the F-22 fighter jet and have no plans to do so further down the road. The best part of all is that F-22 Fighter Jet Program is still very much alive and kicking.

Why is the F-22 program, which has already cost taxpayers $65 billion dollars, still kicking? The answer, as is the answer to many programs we needlessly spend money on, is political clout.

"Lockheed Martin represents tens of thousands of employees in 45 out of 50 states. When you have political clout like that behind you, it’s pretty simple to convince members of congress that continuing a program like that is important to their constituencies. – Christopher Helman, an analyst at the Center for Arms Control

Winslow Wheeler, forced to step down as a staffer on the Senate budget committee after he published an article on bloated defense spending in 2002, reported the GAO recommended no further funding for the F-22 Program until the Department of Defense can provide relevant justification which it could not do.

Many budget analysts estimate big ticket items will drive and make up more than half of the pentagon's budget. However most of these big-ticket programs (missle defense, naval destroyer, submarines,) provide no real value for counter terrorism operations, so these big ticket security projects become priority when they don’t enhance our security.

I don't think anyone would refer to President Eisenhower as soft on defense, yet a few days after he was inaugurated, he promoted deep cuts to defense spending,

“To amass military power without regard to our economic capacity would be to defend ourselves against one kind of disaster by inviting another.“ – President Eisenhower in 1953

So, why is it that "we the people" equate military strength with dollars spent without demanding accountability for how that money is spent, and more importantly if all that money we hand over does make our military stronger?

Currently, with reports of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan lacking proper armor, equipment shortages, not to mention, shortage of troops overall; it's very obvious that higher defense dollars, does not equal a stronger defense.

Miriam Pemberton, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and Peace and Security Editor for Foreign Policy In Focus, after crunching the numbers, found that the Pentagon could easily fund troops, equipment, maintenance, modernization and even add money for diplomacy, humanitarian aid, and other measures of preventative security and cut the defense budget by 10%.

Read more...

Bush Sells Iraq Ammo Hoping For Peace

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration told Congress on Friday of plans to sell Iraq about 400 million rounds of small arms ammunition, 170,000 grenades, demolition explosives and other military gear and services valued at up to $508 million.

The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the Iraqi government had asked for up to 100 million rounds of both M855 5.56mm and 7.62mm ammunition for small arms, as well as about 200 million other bullets.

"This proposed sale directly supports the Iraqi government and serves the interests of the Iraqi people and the U.S., as well as offering hope for a more stable and peaceful Middle East," said the agency that handles government-to-government arms sales.

The package would help Iraqi forces "sustain themselves in their efforts to bring stability to the country and prevent overflow of unrest into neighboring countries," a statement said.

In a previous proposed sale to Iraq, the Pentagon said on December 7 it would supply trucks, trailers and related equipment valued at up to $463 million. It said that would support a plan by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to train and equip an extra 30,000 Iraqi troops. The strengthened Iraqi force is aimed at speeding up the departure of U.S. troops who ousted President Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Read more...