In recent years, a new form of activism has cropped up on the Internet. With their numerous 'leaks' and 'ops', groups like WikiLeaks and its 'hacktivism' off-shoot known as 'Anonymous', have achieved major mainstream media exposure. With V for Vendetta's character 'V' as inspiration, youths the world over are rallying behind the idea that "something is terribly wrong with this country" and are letting everyone know via anonymous protests, online hacktivism against groups and organizations they see as part of the problem, or the support of the revolutions taking place in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere.

The rise of Internet hacktivism comes with a price however. From 'home-grown terrorists', we now have the potential for 'home-grown terrorist hackers' and major Western governments and media corporations have wasted no time in touting this new angle in the 'war on terror'. The Economist, for example, described cyberwarfare as now "the fifth domain of warfare," and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, William J. Lynn, stated in 2010 that "as a doctrinal matter, the Pentagon has formally recognized cyberspace as a new domain in warfare . . . [which] has become just as critical to military operations as land, sea, air, and space."

The real potential problem with the rise of 'hacktivism' however is the potential for such groups to be infiltrated by government operatives and their righteous agendas diverted to serve the agendas of the US government and military. While nominally directed against hostile foreign powers, cyberwarfare is very much COINTELPRO's baby brother. Just as the so-called 'terrorist' threat has crept closer and closer to home, with the propagandistic association between social dissidence and the threat of 'homegrown terrorism' being increasingly stressed, cyberwarfare has increasingly targeted those citizens who take a critical stance against the crimes of current corporate, economic, military and political powers. After all, the only way to stifle dissent against crimes and corruption that are so systemic and obvious is through information warfare: propaganda. Cyberwarfare and 'hacktivism' are therefore likely to play a central role in 21st century COINTELPRO.

It is not surprising therefore that cyberwarfare has spawned an entire industry of private and military-based firms and organizations specializing in this new form of 'counter intelligence.'

Truth is the pillar of civilization. The word 'truth' occurs 224 times in the King James Version of the Holy Bible; witnesses testifying in American courts and before the United States Congress must swear to tell the truth; and, laws and civil codes require truth in advertising and in business practices, to list just a few examples.

The purpose of science is to discover the true nature of Earth and Universe and to convey that knowledge truthfully to people everywhere. Science gives birth to technology that makes our lives easier and better. Science improves our health and enables us to see our world in ways never before envisioned. It uplifts spirits and engenders optimism. And, science provides a truth-standard, securely anchored in the properties of matter, a means to expose and debunk the charlatans and science-barbarians who would lie, cheat, steal, and tyrannize under the guise of science.

Have you ever stepped into a revolving door and had it unceremoniously slam into your behind? Or tried to cut a slice of cheese with a double-edged knife and ended up with a slice of thumb, instead? (I know, the cheese should've been the first clue it was a bad idea.) Or decided it would be a fun idea to see how far you can throw a three-meter-long tree branch only to have the far end spin up and clip you on your chin after its first arc? Well, maybe I was just an accident-prone kid, or a slow learner, but all these things have happened to me. Luckily, they taught me a lesson, the essence of which being described by G.I. Gurdjieff when he said: "every stick has two ends." If you don't have a good idea of the material you're handling, the 'other end' can wind up smacking you with unanticipated results. I've got the bruises and scars to remind me.

Just like the knives, sticks and revolving doors of my youth, there are many other things that have the ability to 'cut both ways': actions, ideas, even the mind itself is a double-edged sword. In this article I'll be discussing some of the ways this principle has cropped up in our collective history of ideas. Specifically, I want to write about the so-called conflict between science and religion and how it has affected the way we see and interact with the world - the attitude we take towards nature, the cosmos, and ourselves. I think it's an important idea to ponder. Like a government censor at a national newspaper, a worldview determines what we value and therefore what we see; and what we see influences how we respond to the data we take in. It's the grand focuser of attention, like Tolkien's Eye of Sauron, directing its gaze on the world around us (only not quite as nasty, in most cases). But like every self-defeating fantasy-novel baddie, science and religion have both ended up shooting themselves in the foot, losing sight of their original aim and purpose.

Throughout human history, individuals who are 'not quite conspecific' with the majority of normal human beings have wreaked havoc at local, national and global levels of human society, depending on the extent of their 'ambition'. Look around you today and you will see clear evidence of a deviant psychological worldview - a veritable Bizarro World - that originated within the clinically psychopathic mind. This worldview has psychologically 'infected' millions - even billions - of otherwise normal human beings and now pervades almost all areas of human life. From family and interpersonal relationship values, to science and religion, to economics, medicine, the food we eat, to the very idea of what constitutes 'civilized society'; all are underpinned by the pathologically destructive ideology and 'morality' of the psychopathic mind.

As regular Sott.net readers will know, much of our work over the past 10 years has been dedicated to exposing this decidedly dangerous and depressing state of affairs which we consider to be the root of all other problems facing humanity. However, for the most part, we have always stopped short of offering any solutions, mainly because any possible solution to this problem would first require a critical mass of awareness about the problem itself. And we're still a long way from that critical mass. But time is running short, and perhaps it is time to depart, if only momentarily, from our usual approach and consider any possible solutions to this over-arching dilemma. Indeed, we may very well have to face this issue at some point in our collective future.

The following is 'solution' to the problem of psychopaths among us, proffered by a Sott.net reader. Admittedly, the solution is shocking and, to the normal human mind, morally reprehensible. Certainly, in a world without psychopaths, normal human values would work. But psychopaths use the best things about human beings against them, including the idea that human life is somehow more valuable than other forms of life on our planet. We've all been brought up with the idea that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god", and the corollary, that all human-looking beings have souls that can be redeemed. What if that is not true? What if that has been programmed into us for the very purpose of protecting psychopaths from the reckoning of the majority of normal human beings?

We present the following short story purely in the spirit to which we, as an organisation, have always adhered: the facilitation of open discussion on life's most pressing and complex issues... and this is the big one.

The corruption of science is one of the biggest problems our world has ever faced; it may, indeed, bring about the extinction of the human race. That prospect scares me and it should scare you. But more than being scared, my heart has been broken by the realization that the best hope of the human race - Truth, beautiful Truth - has been savaged and spoiled by the very guardians of the temple: scientists themselves under the influence of a ramified network of mutual pathological conspiracies that are divorced entirely from the body of normal humanity.

I was pretty young when I first learned that science could make mistakes; I grew up next door to a child whose mother took Thalidomide during pregnancy. When I was 14, our family doctor prescribed "diet pills" for me: methamphetamines. They nearly destroyed my health forever. In later years, I learned from the news-magazine show, 20/20, that the recommended treatment my grandfather had received for high blood pressure, provided by the Veteran's Administration, was actually what killed him. These are just a few highlights of a lifetime of experiences with doctors and other medical professionals who actually got things wrong about 75% of the time, and the remaining 25% that they got right was non-critical. In all critical situations, had I listened to my doctor's advice for myself or my children, there would have been serious negative consequences.

When state 'security' forces murder a citizen in cold blood in broad daylight, and members of his community vent their anger in the only way they know how, who's to blame for the fallout? The British government and the mainstream media would like us to believe that it's the victim and members of his community. But then, we all know better than to believe the words of government officials and media whores. Or at least we should. In fact, how many times do we need to have cold, hard evidence of government and media lies dropped in our laps before we get the message once and for all?

Oh well, once more with feeling...

© unknownFather of four, Mark Duggan, was assassinated by London police

IPCC: No Evidence Mark Duggan Shot At PCs

An IPCC ballistics report said there was "no evidence" that a handgun found near where Mark Duggan was shot by armed officers had been used.

The 29-year-old died after a gunshot to the chest on Thursday. The death sparked the first night of rioting in London in Tottenham.

Mr Duggan had been a passenger in a silver Toyota Estima minicab in Ferry Lane, close to Tottenham Hale Tube station, which was believed to have been stopped by police.

His death came after two shots were fired by a Scotland Yard CO19 firearms officer, investigations show.

The initial results confirmed reports that a bullet found lodged in a police radio at the scene was police issue.

I don't want to say I told you so, but I did. Ok, so maybe I didn't tell YOU, but I've said often enough over the years that one of the benefits to the British state of the occupation of the six counties of Ulster was the opportunities for training their foot soldiers in 'Urban warfare' - training that could later be applied to the 'mainland'.

As part of this training during the last 30 years of the 20th century, British soldiers and the sectarian Northern Ireland police force (the RUC) fired thousands of 'rubber bullets' or 'baton rounds' (as they were later called) at unsuspecting members of the Irish community. At least 18 people were killed by these 'non-lethal' rounds, including 8 children, and hundreds more were left paralyzed, brain damaged and blind.

The first 'baton rounds' were made of teak wood and used in the crown colony of Hong Kong during periods of intense labor strikes and anti-British protests in the 1960′s. These wooden rounds were deemed "too dangerous" for use in Northern Ireland, so hard rubber was used instead, with no less lethality however. A case in point: Emma Groves, an Irish Catholic, was sitting in her home one evening when British soldiers were conducting raids in the area. Emma was apparently playing the song 'Four Green Fields' loudly on her record player when a British soldier fired a rubber bullet through the window from about 10 feet away striking Emma in the face. She was blinded.

Although official regulations stated that rubber bullets should be fired from no less than 20 meters and at the ground in front of the target in order to minimise damage and target the lower body, in practice they were often fired at close range at the upper body, including the head. Between 1970 and 1974, 55,000 of these were fired on the streets of Northern Ireland, virtually all of them at members of the Irish community and with little or no cause. The first fatality was an 11-year-old boy, shot from 5-6 metres. In what would become common practice among soldiers and police, a witness said a large 'D'-style battery had been used instead of the rubber bullet to increase its weight and impact.

As the stock markets around the globe plummet due to the downgrading of US credit rating, president Obama steps up to the podium today in a special address to the nation. I thought I'd listen in...

The president begins with an explanation that even though the US credit rating was downgraded from AAA, it is not so much that the agency doubts our ability to pay our debt, but, rather, they doubt our political system's ability to act. The markets think our credit rating is AAA. Warren Buffet, a man who knows something about the market, would give the US a AAAA rating if possible, or so the president says.

In other words, pay no attention to the reality of our current credit rating - pay attention to the IDEA of our credit rating. As an insider in the Bush White House said not so many years ago, "we're an empire now, so we create our own reality" and the reality the president wants you to believe in is that our credit rating is not what it actually is. He repeats that we are a AAA country.

In this new Sott Perspectives podcast, Laura, Anna, Juliana, and Gaby discuss cults, cult accusations, and interview two former membernIf you are the victim of a cult or any other form of psychological abuse, you can learn more about the Éiriú Eolas Stress Control, Healing & Rejuvenation Program at eiriu-eolas.org

Running Time: 01:14:25

Download: MP3

Norway is understandably in deep shock following the horrific shooting spree and bomb attack in Oslo last Friday 22 July. The worst terrorist atrocity in Europe since the 2004 Madrid train bombings has left the country reeling. An enormous bomb exploded somewhere within a complex of government buildings at 3.30 in the afternoon. The offices of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg appear to have been the main target, although the Oil Ministry's building across the road was also destroyed. The blast was so powerful that windows were blown out along several blocks. Seven people were killed and many more injured by flying glass and debris. The perpetrator(s) chose a public holiday to carry out the deed, so most government employees were not working that day. But the open layout of government buildings in Norway, reflecting of the relatively open nature of Norwegian society, meant that security is very low compared to anything most countries' citizens are used to in this totalitarian age.

In response to the media's leading questions about this being 'Norway's 9/11', the Associated Press quoted a Norwegian police official as saying that the terror attack was more like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing than the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. It's a curious comparison to make because, as Stephen Lendman explained in an interview he gave to Press TV, the Oklahoma bombing was blamed on a right-wing extremist and his huge car bomb, but the explosives evidence later pointed to something else entirely:


There have been numerous mass shootings in recent years, but the massacre on Utoya island is the worst yet. The camp on this tiny island, which lies just 700 meters from the shore, was organised by the AUF, the youth wing of the ruling Labour Party. In fact, the island was owned by this organisation; it has held regular summer camps there for decades and is well known to Norwegians. Most of the attendees were 14 to 19 year olds with an interest in politics attending seminars, partying, taking part in debates, playing music and listening to speeches on everything from local issues to international politics. In attacking the government's headquarters in downtown Oslo and then the gathering place of the country's political future, those responsible have managed to pierce the beating heart of Norwegian society.