Post Crisis Scorecard – Global Debt Up $57 Trillion, 60% of American Jobs Created Are Low Level, Record Youth Living with Parents

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This morning, my Twitter stream was filled with some of the most outlandish bullish economic victory laps from pundits I’ve ever seen. The source was the monthly employment report, which showed a larger than expected increase in employment as well as higher wages. In addition, there was a huge upward revision to employment data in November. Interestingly enough, on the same day this report was released, several important articles came across my screen that make me as concerned as ever about the true state of the economy and where we are headed.

First, CNN Money just yesterday published an article titled: Obama Jobs: More Caregivers, Servers and Temps. Here are a few excerpts:

Got a job while Obama was president? Then there’s a good chance you are working in healthcare or food service or as a temp.

Those sectors were responsible more than 60% of the jobs created since Obama took office in January 2009.

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A Very Disturbing and Powerful Post – “Get Your Loved Ones Off Facebook”

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Screen Shot 2014-07-01 at 2.41.34 PM“Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask you why you’re getting off Facebook,” is the guilty and reluctant question I’m hearing a lot these days. Like we kinda know Facebook is bad, but don’t really want to know.

I’ve been a big Facebook supporter – one of the first users in my social group who championed what a great way it was to stay in touch, way back in 2006. I got my mum and brothers on it, and around 20 other people. I’ve even taught Facebook marketing in one of the UK’s biggest tech education projects, Digital Business Academy. I’m a techie and a marketer — so I can see the implications — and until now, they hadn’t worried me. I’ve been pretty dismissive towards people who hesitate with privacy concerns.

With this latest privacy change on January 30th, I’m scared.

– From Salim Varani’s blogpost: Get Your Loved Ones Off Facebook

I never heard of Salim Varani before today, but when I came across his blogpost “Get Your Loved Ones Off Facebook,” it immediately piqued my interest given my less than positive feelings toward the company. It took on an even greater degree of importance in my mind considering that I had just finished reading what appeared to be a Facebook puff piece at Fusion.net about how the company, guided by “privacy sherpa” Yul Kwon, was suddenly making user privacy a core focus. It read like a PR release. Here are a few excerpts:

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NBC’s Brian Williams is Forced to Admit His Tale of Being on a Downed Helicopter in Iraq Was Pure Fantasy

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Screen Shot 2015-02-04 at 3.45.27 PMNBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that has been repeated by the network for years.

The admission came after crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment’s Chinook that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire told Stars and Stripes that the NBC anchor was nowhere near that aircraft or two other Chinooks flying in the formation that took fire. Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing, the crew members said.

– From Stars and Stripes article: NBC’s Brian Williams Recants Iraq Story After Soldiers Protest

Just in case you still harbor any doubt that mainstream media is nothing but a pathetic amalgamation of useless liars and propagandists…

Enter NBC’s star reporter Brian Williams. A man apparently so vain and attention starved that he actually invented a war story from 2003 to make himself look tougher. Then he continued to tell the false narrative until U.S. soldiers called him out on it.

What an complete and total embarrassment.

From Stars and Stripes:

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Bankers for Hire – Former Bank of Baltimore CEO Admits He Worked for the CIA

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Screen Shot 2015-02-04 at 12.27.13 PMHis friends, former employees and even his own daughters were shocked to learn in his recently published biography that he had ample reason to do so: The former chief executive and chairman of Bank of Baltimore says he worked covertly for the Central Intelligence Agency for almost a decade in the 1990s and early 2000s.

During that time, he said, he spoke regularly with a CIA handler and allowed the agency to create a fake company under his corporate umbrella, which included shipping and trucking companies he ran at the same time he led the bank. Operatives in the field used the fictitious firm as cover when traveling the world, complete with business cards and hats. Mr. Hale said he worked under “nonofficial cover,” in which his identity was unassociated with the U.S. government.

– From the Wall Street Journal Article: Former Maryland Banker Reveals He Used to Work for CIA

The term “non-official” cover was covered previously at Liberty Blitzkrieg last year in the extremely popular post, “Non-Official Cover” – Respected German Journalist Blows Whistle on How the CIA Controls the Media. In it, I wrote:

Whether you want to admit it or not, CIA control of the media in the U.S. and abroad is not conspiracy theory, it is conspiracy fact.

“Non-official cover” occurs when a journalist is essentially working for the CIA, but it’s not in an official capacity. This allows both parties to reap the rewards of the partnership, while at the same time giving both sides plausible deniability. The CIA will find young journalists and mentor them. Suddenly doors will open up, rewards will be given, and before you know it, you owe your entire career to them. That’s essentially how it works. 

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Shameless – Meet 7 Congressmen Who Joined Lobbying Firms Less Than a Month After Leaving Office

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Screen Shot 2015-02-04 at 11.11.22 AMLess than a month after leaving office, at least five former House members and one U.S. senator are already on the payroll at firms that make millions lobbying their congressional colleagues. The findings, provided to Vocativ by the Center for Responsive Politics, a government watchdog group, also show that a second senator who left office at the beginning of January, Alaska’s Mark Begich, took the extra step of starting his own public affairs consulting firm, which has already secured clients in health care and aviation.

– From Vocativ’s article: These Are The Ex-Lawmakers Who Could Barely Wait To Sell Out

If there was a walk of shame for so-called Congressional “representatives,” this list would serve as an excellent starting point. Their actions serve as definitive proof that the vast majority of politicians are only in it for money and power. They couldn’t care less about “public service” or being statesmen. If that was truly their calling in life, they wouldn’t immediately turn around and join lobbying firms the moment they leave office.

Yet all they do is cash in. That’s all they ever do.

The most amazing part about this article is that “by law, ex-House members are required to wait one year before they can officially lobby lawmakers on the Hill.” Naturally, professional liars and thieves won’t let something as pedestrian as ethics or rules get in the way. If there’s one thing politicians are good at, it’s finding loopholes.

From Vocativ:

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Little Oligarch Gone Wild – Paris Hilton’s Brother Yells: “I Will F*cking Own Anyone on This Flight; They Are F*cking Peasants”

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Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 4.44.07 PM“If you wanna square up to me bro, then bring it and I will f*cking fight you,” he allegedly said as well as, “I am going to  f*cking kill you. I will f*cking rip through you,” and “I will f*cking own anyone on this flight; they are f*cking peasants.”

“I could get you all fired in 5 minutes,” he reportedly said while grabbing a flight attendant’s shirt at one point during the incident. “I know your boss! My father will pay this out. He has done it before. Dad paid $300k last time.”

– Conrad Hilton on an international flight

The reason I often use the terms “serfs” and “plebs” when referring to the American masses is not to insult the less fortunate; rather, it is to hammer in the fact that the oligarchs running American society see the unwashed masses as useless peasants. Naturally, they will never admit this publicly, but every now and again one of them slips up and what they really think becomes abundantly clear. Enter Conrad Hilton, Paris Hilton’s brother, and serf-master in training.

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The Dissident Dad – What One Son of Liberty Can Do, So Can Another

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Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 2.22.33 PM“Every heart beats true ‘neath the Red, White and Blue, where there’s never a boast or brag. But should old acquaintance be forgot, keep your eye on the grand old flag.”

I remember proudly singing this as a child at school, pounding my heart with a closed right fist as we sang that verse. I remember learning about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and about the Sons of Liberty. British colonists who were mad as hell about a distant central government taxing their income between 1% and 2%, plus additional taxes on sugar trade and tea.

These Americans wanted liberty. They wanted self-governance.

Not without their flaws, like all of us. They still had slavery, but certainly, during a period of history where everyone was merely a subject to the king, these guys were taking a giant step in the right direction. Unfortunately, that America, the one we are sold on and sing to as school children, is dead.

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An American Sniper Responds to Hollywood’s “American Sniper”

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Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 11.17.52 AMNo single service member has the monopoly on the war narrative. It will change depending on where you serve, when you were there, what your role was, and a few thousand other random elements.

For the past 10 days, “American Sniper” has rallied crowds and broken box office records, but if you want to understand the war, the film is like peering into a sniper scope — it offers a very limited view.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking the hit movie captures the truth of the Iraq conflict. I should know. I lived it.

– Garett Reppenhagen, Cavalry Scout Sniper with the 1st Infantry Division in the US Army

I haven’t seen the Hollywood blockbuster, “American Sniper,” so I can’t really critique the movie itself. Nevertheless, from what I’ve read, I think its immense popularity reflects extremely poorly on our culture as well as our ability to face hard facts about the war in Iraq.

Rather than face the truth that our government lied us into a devastating war that forced countless naive kids to go halfway across the world and murder people that did absolutely nothing to them, we happily celebrate the story of the most lethal military member in history, who achieved this feat during what was one of the most illegitimate and pointless wars in American history. We are in effect collectively celebrating what should be seen as a tragedy, and the fact that this is lost on so many people is downright terrifying to me.

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Meet the 77th Battalion – The British Army is Mobilizing 1,500 “Facebook Warriors” to Spread Disinformation

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Screen Shot 2015-02-02 at 3.38.47 PMThe British Army will revive one of the most contentious special forces units of the second world war, the Chindits, as a new generation of “Facebook” warriors who will wage complex and covert information and subversion campaigns.

– From the recent FT article: Army Revives Chindits as ‘Facebook Warriors’ for Smart Battle

Get ready, social media is about to get far more treacherous than it already is. Be extra careful jumping to conclusions, always think for yourself and use your best judgement. Government psy ops are about to go into overdrive.

Gizmodo reported the following:

A new group of soldiers, referred to as “Facebook Warriors” will ” wage complex and covert information and subversion campaigns,” according to the Financial Times. This unit will be named the 77th battalion, whose number also has a historical significance. FT says:

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The Golden Age of Black Ops – In Fiscal 2015 U.S. Special Forces Have Already Deployed to 105 Nations

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Screen Shot 2015-02-02 at 1.38.59 PMDuring the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2014, U.S. Special Operations forces (SOF) deployed to 133 countries — roughly 70% of the nations on the planet — according to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bockholt, a public affairs officer with U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM).  This capped a three-year span in which the country’s most elite forces were active in more than 150 different countries around the world, conducting missions ranging from kill/capture night raids to training exercises.  And this year could be a record-breaker.  Only a day before the failed raid that ended Luke Somers life — just 66 days into fiscal 2015 — America’s most elite troops had already set foot in 105 nations, approximately 80% of 2014’s total.

Despite its massive scale and scope, this secret global war across much of the planet is unknown to most Americans…”We want to be everywhere,” said Votel at Geolnt. 

– From Nick Turse’s article in the Huffington Post: The Golden Age of Black Ops

The following article is one I’ve wanted to highlight for over a week, but the news has been so overwhelming I simply haven’t had a chance. Until now.

As someone who spends much of his time trying to understand the world around him, I’m always astounded to be floored by something I read. While regular readers of this site are well aware of how aggressively and irresponsibly the U.S. empire deploys military assets abroad, I think some of the following information will still shock you.

From the Huffington Post:

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