sed yesterday highlights that FiReControl has wasted at least £482 million of
taxpayers’ money and still racked by problems. Margaret Hodge MP, the committee’s chair,
has described it as - “one of the worst cases of project failure we have seen.”
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most powerful nation in Europe, with wide economic hegemony, is Germany.
And another lesson resonates today as in 1918: of ‘war, and the pity of war’, and
the tragic fallibility of politicians who play God with the lives of brave men.
Simon Heffer
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ve developed a bad reputation in recent times for military reasons, but the unmanned aircraft
have so much potential to shape the world we live in for the better. Thankfully, there are some
awesome new applications for drones already in use today and some even cooler plans in
development. Here is a list of the top ways drones can make a difference.
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ies and dictatorships, the right to choose who or which political party represents you. It supposedly keeps the politicians on their toes and is a means of keeping checks and balances.
This is all well and good in a sovereign nation with little or no threat from transnational corporate behemoths, criminal central bankers or treasonous trade deals that ‘cannot be refused’. Without such intrusions, elected politicians could focus on what they believe is best for the nation and her people, the vote could possibly mean something and for many years, to some degree, it did.
However, times have changed, oh and how they have changed.
http://wakeup-world.com/2015/09/25/true-direct-democracy-the-nemesis-of-the-global-cabal/…
e non-sequential writing — but clickable links are only the start of his expansive vision for digital technology. His ideas have influenced projects ranging from Objective-C to the original WWW to entire political philosophies about the role computing tools should play in our lives.
I love this one where Ted Nelson talks about his early days of hearing about the MEMEX
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. “I cannot,” I replied, “for the people on Twitter are mean jerks, and Eckhart Tolle was just on the Rubin Report, and Bob Dylan made a Christmas album, and everything is phony and stupid and the bad guys always win.” “Let it all go,” said the huntsman. Caitlin Johnstone OH WHAT a SPIDER'S WEB WE WEAVE
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2743909892303911&id=100000547827652
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y giants that are the latest recruits to be drafted in by the top brass.
It's an awkward pairing for an industry known for its largely liberal political stance. “Battles and wars have been won or lost based upon either bad, no or late information,” Brigadier General David Krumm declared at industry conference on the US military’s cloud computing infrastructure held in Virginia earlier this year.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is believed to be the favourite
to win the JEDI contract, is unapologetic about his involvement.
“One of the jobs of a senior leadership team is to make the right
decision even when it is unpopular,” he told an audience in San
Francisco earlier this month. “This is a great country – it needs to
be defended.”
Google isn't as firm in its resolve. The company pulled out of the running for JEDI just ahead of the deadline, citing ethical concerns following pressure from staff. It also attempted to appease concerns by releasing principles for use of its artificial intelligence tools. That's not to say, however, that similar military deals are now off the table for Google. CEO Sundar Pichai last week made it clear that employee politics did not impact its decisions. “Throughout Google’s history we have given our employees a lot of voice and say but we don’t run the company by holding referendums [sic],” he said when quizzed at Wired magazine’s 25th birthday party in San Francisco.
Pichai added that Google hoped to “work with the military many times” because ultimately Google cherishes its values “but we can enjoy that because of the way our country is defended”. Pichai’s patriotism may have had something to do with Bezos’ comments hours earlier. When asked to defend his stance on JEDI, he aimed shots at Google stating: “If big tech companies turn their back on the Department of Defense then this country is in trouble”.
Cynics accuse those turning their backs of sour grapes. Many of the big names eyeing up the JEDI contract are suspicious that the Department of Defense has just one contender in mind: Amazon. The application information is strict on certain certifications that only Amazon could currently fulfill, rivals claim.
Within days of Google pulling out for “ethical reasons”, IBM and Oracle both launched public protests over the tendering process accusing the military of moving the goalposts, stifling competition and, the strongest allegation of all, putting people’s lives at risk.
Sam Gordy, IBM’s military contract chief wrote in a blog post: “No business in the world would build a cloud the way JEDI would and then lock in to it for a decade. JEDI turns its back on the preferences of Congress and the administration, is a bad use of taxpayer dollars and was written with just one company in mind. America’s warfighters deserve better”.
Microsoft has submitted a bid despite an open letter anonymously signed by people claiming to be employees. But what is strange about JEDI is the objections to the deal were made to it without anyone knowing exactly the contract would entail. So what does the government intend to do with it?
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Added by Michael Grove at 12:57 on November 28, 2018