The Intercept - New Online Journal

THE//INTERCEPT

The//Intercept
Here is the new online journal from First Look Media. A collaboration between Jeremy Scahill, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Pierre Omidyar.

Welcome to The Intercept

We are very excited to welcome everyone to The Intercept, a publication of First Look Media (FLM). The Intercept, which the three of us created, is the first of what will be numerous digital magazines published by FLM. Read more

The opening article is: The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes – an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people. Read more

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Glenn Greenwald: "*** no American, no matter your political affiliation or ideology, should accept the idea that the president of the United States has the power to order American citizens killed, not on a battlefield or anywhere else that is in a war zone, but simply on the suspicion that they intend to engage in future criminal behavior. To describe that power is to describe the most extremist and out-of-control government you can get."

--Joe

The Forsaken Self, a Lie and a Fraud

Liar,
Liar,
Pants on fire.

This article is about two issues:

I. The damaged child, who is taught that cruelty and even violence are expressions of love

II. The damaged adult, who still believes in the crucial importance of "secret information"

Herein you can learn why there is very few in this country with a true "sense of self" and why that has allowed Barack Obama to get away with defrauding the American people of their God-given rights. Here is an excerpt from the terrific article by Arthur Silber:

"Secret Information": Giving Up Your Life for a Vicious Lie

You can consult the articles linked above (and follow the internal links for much more on this) to appreciate the full scope of the fraud represented by "intelligence." The crucial point is that "intelligence" as it is thought of by most people -- and as it is marketed by the State -- is a fraud from start to finish. It is a damnable, unforgivable lie. I will probably have some narrower comments about Obama's speech, but the speech in its entirety is premised on a complete fabrication, on a conception of "intelligence" that corresponds to the facts and the truth at not even a single point. In that sense, Obama's speech is nothing but a lie. 

I am painfully aware that my position represents an almost undetectable minority view. Very few people agree with me. Among other things, that is a testament to the training and conditioning to which all of us have been subjected. As children, we often had no choice but to accept our parents' and other authority figures' claims to "secret information," which was one of the supposed justifications for commanding our obedience. Most people carry this belief system into adulthood without alteration or serious challenge. An authority figure makes a serious pronouncement, and most adults are prepared to accept it; you see this dynamic with "experts" in all fields, even when what they say is obvious nonsense. The President makes a series of claims that have nothing to do with the truth, and there is no wise child -- and there are almost no adults -- who will declare: "You're a liar, and you're naked, too." 

But I'll say it: You, Barack Obama, are a goddamned, bloody liar. And put some fucking clothes on.

Click this link to read the complete article.
[Source]

--Joe

Some Truth About Barack Obama and the NSA

Another great article from FireDogLake:

Obama NSA Speech: Pretty Words, No Real Change

By: Peter Van Buren Saturday January 18, 2014

Bottom Line Up Front: The details of Obama’s most recent speech about “changes” to the NSA’s surveillance practices reveal that sadly little of substance will change. A few cosmetic touchups, some nice words, issues tossed into the pit of Congress to fade away in partisan rancor, and high hopes that the issue will slip away from the public eye as “fixed.” Not word one about how absent Edward Snowden’s historic disclosures the president would not even be offering this lip service, happy to allow the tumor of spying to continue to grow in secret as he had done for the last six years of his presidency. 

But let’s get specific.