This is a temporary contact page for comments or tips you may wish to submit; a contact form will be added here in the near future.
In the mean time, you can reach emptywheel by email at emptywheel AT gmail.com.
Please be patient and allow reasonable response time; thanks for your readership and participation at emptywheel.
A comment/tip form is very nice and useful.
Tap, tap, tap. Is this thing on?
Congrats to you both! It’s Friday and what a news dump day it is……..Can’t wait for the next read.
I think I have gained some sense of what children go through when they are told that mommy and Daddy will not be living together anymore. So many questions and the truth seems to be denied to them.
Marcy did you read Jeffrey Rosen’s review of James Stewart’s new book “Tangeled Webs” in the NYT Book Review? He (Rosen) got almost everything wrong about the Libby trial including saying that it was Comey who decided not to charge Libby with violations of the IPA.
Mike Rogers doesn’t think that Congress should exercise oversight of whether the CIA was spying on American citizens. That is, Congress gives the CIA money, what the CIA does with it isn’t Congress’ business.
University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole said he hopes a Freedom of Information Act request will lead to a “paper trail” showing the CIA spied on him after he criticized the war in Iraq online.
http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20110717/NEWS01/107170313/Prof-Rogers-bucks-responsibility?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage
In a letter that Senators Mark Udall (D-Colorado) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) will send, the senators ask Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, “Do government agencies have the authority to collect the geolocation information of American citizens for intelligence purposes?”
Both senators are members of the panel overseeing the 16 intelligence agencies. In May, they sounded warnings that the Obama administration was secretly reinterpreting the Patriot Act to allow a broader amount of domestic surveillance than it had publicly disclosed.
They also remind Clapper that the FISA Amendments Act is set to expire at the end of the year. The letter asks Clapper to disclose if the surveillance dragnet it authorizes includes the communications of “law-abiding Americans,” the key objection from civil libertarians to the Act, and if any “significant interpretations of the FISA Amendments Act [are] currently classified.”
That’s the “secret law” fear that vexes Udall and Wyden. And if it applies to the Patriot Act and geolocation collection, it might also apply to more traditional avenues of government surveillance.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/07/senators-ask-spy-chief-are-you-tracking-us-through-our-iphones/
The Company Behind Cell Phone Tracking In America Is Selling Its Technology To Foreign Governments
TruePosition sells to cell phone carriers, but is “cagey about whether whether the US government uses its products.”
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/07/global-phone-tracking/
http://www.businessinsider.com/liberty-media-trueposition-selling-technology-abroad-2011-7
Interesting that Whistleblowers in the UK keep DYING
News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/18/news-of-the-world-sean-hoare
http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&hdlOnly=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=whistleblower+found+dead&btnmeta_news_search=Search+News&tbm=nws
and of course we all remember David Kelly and his “suicide”.
David Christopher Kelly (14 May 1944 – 17 July 2003) was a British scientist and expert on biological warfare, employed by the British Ministry of Defence, and formerly a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq. He came to public attention in July 2003 when an unauthorised discussion he had off the record with a BBC journalist, Andrew Gilligan — about the British government’s dossier on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq — was cited by the journalist and led to a major controversy. Kelly’s name became known to the media as Gilligan’s source, and he was called to appear on 15 July before the parliamentary foreign affairs select committee, which was investigating the issues Gilligan had reported. Kelly was questioned aggressively about his actions. He was found dead two days later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly_%28weapons_expert%29
remind me to NEVER blow a whistle while in the British Isles Thank You All Very Much !!!!
Glad to see with own site,I used to be active on FDL and now switching to you.
Barry
Glad to see with your own site. Will be posting more in future.
Hey Marcy!
Are we going to get the REPLY feature back or are we going to have to get used to typing “SO-AND-SO@UNNUMBERED:”?
Boxturtle (Whcih reminds me, can we get comment numbering back too?)
Congratulations. I immediately added the site to my yahoo home page.
I have a hard time reading it however because the type is so faint. I have increased the size of the type and played around with formatting. It doesn’t help much.
I wonder if you need to use a heavier font.
Thanks.
Hi
On reading some comments over at Donate I have a suggestion.
I have started using Piryx for all my non profit sites. Used to use PayPal but they do not provide for recurring payments unless one has a specific (costly) account.
Piryx is very simple to set up and VERY responsive to questions. I have no finiancial interest in the company but I can assure you that they are the tops …besides which PayPal has gone to the “the dark side”!
i want free klondikes!
-please.
Anonymous & Lulz Security Statement
Hello thar FBI and international law authorities,
We recently stumbled across the following article with amazement and a certain amount of amusement:
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/20/138555799/fbi-arrests-alleged-anonymous-hackers
The statements made by deputy assistant FBI director Steve Chabinsky in this article clearly seem to be directed at Anonymous and Lulz Security, and we are happy to provide you with a response.
You state:
“We want to send a message that chaos on the Internet is unacceptable, [even if] hackers can be believed to have social causes, it’s entirely unacceptable to break into websites and commit unlawful acts.”
Now let us be clear here, Mr. Chabinsky, while we understand that you and your colleagues may find breaking into websites unacceptable, let us tell you what WE find unacceptable:
* Governments lying to their citizens and inducing fear and terror to keep them in control by dismantling their freedom piece by piece.
* Corporations aiding and conspiring with said governments while taking advantage at the same time by collecting billions of funds for federal contracts we all know they can’t fulfil.
* Lobby conglomerates who only follow their agenda to push the profits higher, while at the same time being deeply involved in governments around the world with the only goal to infiltrate and corrupt them enough so the status quo will never change.
These governments and corporations are our enemy. And we will continue to fight them, with all methods we have at our disposal, and that certainly includes breaking into their websites and exposing their lies.
We are not scared any more. Your threats to arrest us are meaningless to us as you cannot arrest an idea. Any attempt to do so will make your citizens more angry until they will roar in one gigantic choir. It is our mission to help these people and there is nothing – absolutely nothing – you can possibly to do make us stop.
“The Internet has become so important to so many people that we have to ensure that the World Wide Web does not become the Wild Wild West.”
Let me ask you, good sir, when was the Internet not the Wild Wild West? Do you really believe you were in control of it at any point? You were not.
That does not mean that everyone behaves like an outlaw. You see, most people do not behave like bandits if they have no reason to. We become bandits on the Internet because you have forced our hand. The Anonymous bitchslap rings through your ears like hacktivism movements of the 90s. We’re back – and we’re not going anywhere. Expect us.
http://pastebin.com/RA15ix7S
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/21/7133871-hackers-to-fbi-we-are-not-scared-anymore
Today’s NYT link: John Githongo: When Wealth Breeds Rage The reference point was Africa. One of the key points was that growth and the infrastructure of basic needs creates its own democratic demands and remedying inequality becomes more important than wealth per se.
It’s rather insulting when blogs send all comments into “moderation” purgatory. I tend to ignore writers who feel the need to be that authoritarian.
Marcy,
Thank you for all you do! Your are not only a great American Treasure, you have become on the true wonders of the world. Love reading you in Europe, or wherever in the world I can log on. Keep speaking truth to power!
Maybe an edit feature…
@Steve Byers: We’re working on it; we got a whole lot to assimilate into the new place from the old one, much of which is not necessarily visible. Don’t worry, we will get there.
One thing I’m missing from FDL is the link to the next post that was at the bottom of the comments. That always let me know when a thread was stale and since I’m normally at the end of the comments looking for more it gave me easy access to the next post.
Boxturtle (I also want a pony)
for The Links 8.11.2011
Osama bin Laden was ‘protected by Pakistan in return for Saudi cash’, analyst claims
Osama bin Laden was protected by elements of Pakistan’s security apparatus in return for millions dollars of Saudi cash, according to a controversial new account of the operation to kill the world’s most wanted man.
Raelynn Hillhouse, an American security analyst, claimed that bin Laden’s whereabouts were finally revealed when a Pakistani intelligence officer came forward to claim the longstanding $25m bounty on the al-Qaeda leader’s head.
Her version, based on evidence from sources in what she calls the “intelligence community”, contradicts the official account that bin Laden was tracked down through surveillance of his trusted courier.
Pakistani officials have always denied that bin Laden was sheltered in the country, or that Islamabad had any prior knowledge of the secret mission in which he was killed.
But Dr Hillhouse, who is known for her links to private military contractors that work extensively with the CIA, said that Pakistan gave permission for a covert mission which would then be covered up by a claim that bin Laden had been killed in a drone strike.
“The [Inter-Services Intelligence] officer came forward to claim the substantial reward and to broker US citizenship for his family,” she writes on her intelligence blog, The Spy Who Billed Me.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8693547/Osama-bin-Laden-was-protected-by-Pakistan-in-return-for-Saudi-cash-analyst-claims.html
another item for The Links 8.11.2011
Questions Raised by Real Story of How US Found Bin Laden
The real story of how the US found bin Laden raises some key questions, namely:
* Why did the Saudis pay the Pakistanis to keep bin Laden?
* Why did the Pakistani’s cooperate?
* Did the ISI run the safe house itself or did it use a third party?
* How permeable was the safe house?
http://www.thespywhobilledme.com/the_spy_who_billed_me/2011/08/the-real-story-of-how-the-us-found-bin-laden-raises-some-key-questions-namely-why-did-the-saudis-pay-the-pakistanis-to-kee.html
linky linky item for 8.11.2011
An Explosive New 9/11 Charge
In a new documentary, ex-national security aide Richard Clarke suggests the CIA tried to recruit 9/11 hijackers — then covered it up.
Philip Shenon on George Tenet’s denial.
In the interview for the documentary, Clarke offers an incendiary theory that, if true, would rewrite the history of the 9/11 attacks, suggesting that the CIA intentionally withheld information from the White House and FBI in 2000 and 2001 that two Saudi-born terrorists were on U.S. soil – terrorists who went on to become suicide hijackers on 9/11.
Clarke speculates – and readily admits he cannot prove — that the CIA withheld the information because the agency had been trying to recruit the terrorists, while they were living in southern California under their own names, to work as CIA agents inside Al Qaeda. After the recruitment effort went sour, senior CIA officers continued to withhold the information from the White House for fear they would be accused of “malfeasance and misfeasance,” Clarke suggests.
Clarke’s theory addresses a central, enduring mystery about the 9/11 attacks – why the CIA failed for so long to tell the White House and senior officials at the FBI that the agency was aware that two Al Qaeda terrorists had arrived in the United States in January 2000, just days after attending a terrorist summit meeting in Malaysia that the CIA had secretly monitored.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/11/september-11th-anniversary-richard-clarke-s-explosive-cia-cover-up-charge.html
worthy of a Link for 8.11.2011
Exxon-Mobil Seeks Legal Immunity For Corporate-Sponsored Torture
Last month, a divided panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit reinstated a lawsuit alleging that that members of the Indonesian military hired by Exxon to guard one of its natural gas facilities committed numerous atrocities under Exxon’s employ:
In addition to extrajudicial killings of some of the plaintiffs-appellants’ husbands as part of a “systematic campaign of extermination of the people of Aceh by [d]efendants’ [Indonesian] security forces,” the plaintiffs-appellants were “beaten, burned, shocked with cattle prods, kicked and subjected to other forms of brutality and cruelty” amounting to torture, as well as forcibly removed and detained for lengthy periods of time.
Needless to say, Exxon is very upset that they might be forced to endure slightly lower profit margins over something as minor as widespread human rights violations, so they’ve now asked the full Court of Appeals to immunize them from this lawsuit. And, sadly, Exxon has a good chance of prevailing despite the existence of a federal law that allows private parties to be sued for many of the most atrocious violations of international law.
The D.C. Circuit is one of the most conservative courts in the nation, and it includes several of America’s most ideological judges. Judge Janice Rogers Brown once compared liberalism to “slavery” and Social Security to a “socialist revolution.” Judge Douglas Ginsburg is an avowed tenther who is most famous for suggesting that the Depression Era vision of the Constitution that struck down everything from the minimum wage to child labor laws is a “Constitution in exile” that should be revived. And Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who dissented from the panel’s decision, believes that Exxon should not be held accountable for atrocities because Exxon is a corporation, and corporations enjoy complete immunity from the international legal norms forbidding such barbaric behavior.
So if Exxon triumphs before this court, the reason will likely have nothing to do with the law and everything to do with the identities of the people trusted to apply it.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/08/11/293642/exxon-seeks-legal-immunity-for-corporate-sponsored-torture/
Afghanistan Link for 8.11.2011
DOW Identifies USA Military Personnel Killed In Shoot Down of CH-47 Chinook by Afghan Freedom Fighers
Department of War announced today the deaths of 30 military personnel who were supporting Operation In Afghan Forever. They were killed 6 August 2011 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down by Afghan Freedom Fighers.
The following sailors assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit were killed:
Lt. Cmdr. (SEAL) Jonas B. Kelsall, 32, of Shreveport, La.,
Special Warfare Operator Master Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Louis J. Langlais, 44, of Santa Barbara, Calif.,
Special Warfare Operator Senior Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Thomas A. Ratzlaff, 34, of Green Forest, Ark.,
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Senior Chief Petty Officer (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist) Kraig M. Vickers 36, of Kokomo, Hawaii,
Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Brian R. Bill, 31, of Stamford, Conn.,
Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) John W. Faas, 31, of Minneapolis, Minn.,
Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Kevin A. Houston, 35, of West Hyannisport, Mass.,
Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Matthew D. Mason, 37, of Kansas City, Mo.,
Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Stephen M. Mills, 35, of Fort Worth, Texas,
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Chief Petty Officer (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist/Diver) Nicholas H. Null, 30, of Washington, W.Va.,
Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Robert J. Reeves, 32, of Shreveport, La.,
Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Heath M. Robinson, 34, of Detroit, Mich.,
Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Darrik C. Benson, 28, of Angwin, Calif.
Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL/Parachutist) Christopher G. Campbell, 36, of Jacksonville, N.C.,
Information Systems Technician Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist) Jared W. Day, 28, of Taylorsville, Utah,
Master-at-Arms Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist) John Douangdara, 26, of South Sioux City, Neb.,
Cryptologist Technician (Collection) Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist) Michael J. Strange, 25, of Philadelphia, Pa.,
Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL/Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist) Jon T. Tumilson, 35, of Rockford, Iowa,
Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Aaron C. Vaughn, 30, of Stuart, Fla., and
Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Jason R. Workman, 32, of Blanding, Utah.
The following sailors assigned to a West Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit were killed:
Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Jesse D. Pittman, 27, of Ukiah, Calif., and
Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 2nd Class (SEAL) Nicholas P. Spehar, 24, ofSaint Paul, Minn.
The soldiers killed were:
Chief Warrant Officer David R. Carter, 47, of Centennial, Colo. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Aurora, Colo.;
Chief Warrant Officer Bryan J. Nichols, 31, of Hays, Kan. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kan.;
Sgt. Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Grand Island, Neb.;
Sgt. Alexander J. Bennett, 24, of Tacoma, Wash. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kan.; and
Spc. Spencer C. Duncan, 21, of Olathe, Kan. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kan.
The airmen killed were:
Tech. Sgt. John W. Brown, 33, of Tallahassee, Fla.;
Staff Sgt. Andrew W. Harvell, 26, of Long Beach, Calif.; and
Tech. Sgt. Daniel L. Zerbe, 28, of York, Pa.
All three airmen were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, N.C.
Link for above DOW release
http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=14728
The link itself with a description would be plenty without the whole text.
Army corporal from Michigan killed in Afghanistan
32-year-old Joseph VanDreumel was killed late Sunday or early Monday by a roadside bomb.
He is survived by his wife, Sarah, and two children, 10-year-old Angel and 8-year-old Skyler.
VanDreumel joined the Army in 2010 after being laid off from office furniture and accessories maker Herman Miller Inc.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/army-corporal-from-michigan-killed-in-afghanistan/872ecde23a9349bc8ce3f232e64eda20
List of 2011 Michigan casualties in Afghanistan
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/list-of-2011-michigan-casualties-in-afghanistan/f268d1bf9a7f44ca94679ef07aa0e0fb
Ruling Raises the Bar to Access Long-Term Cell Phone Records
Authorities must establish probable cause and secure a warrant before obtaining information from cell phone providers that can indicate the round-the-clock whereabouts of customers, a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled yesterday.
Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches apply to the so-called cell-site-location records as surely as judges of a previous generation found that they applied to people using pay phones, Eastern District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis determined yesterday. In fact, he said, cell phones have all but rendered pay phones obsolete as a means of communication and are rarely out of the reach of users.
http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202512017760&Ruling_Raises_the_Bar_to_Access_LongTerm_Cell_Phone_Records&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/23/judge-rules-warrant-required-to-obtain-cell-phone-location-data/
Mexican Police Are Now Staging Drug Raids From Inside The USA
The Obama administration has expanded its role in Mexico’s fight against organized crime by allowing the Mexican police to stage cross-border drug raids from inside the United States, according to senior administration and military officials.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/world/americas/26drugs.html?_r=3&ref=todayspaper
Whistle Blower Thomas Drake has an Op-Ed in the washington post
Why are we subverting the Constitution in the name of security?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-are-we-subverting-the-constitution-in-the-name-of-security/2011/08/25/gIQANnrheJ_story.html
found this hilarious / dead on
If we’re going to have a story about every occasion that Dick Cheney urged George Bush to bomb some country or other, the Times might as well start paying Charlie Savage overtime, because he’ll be filing every day and twice on Sundays. If we know anything about Bush’s malevolent, misbegotten, rancid bastard of a VP, it’s that calling for freedom bombs was like an uncontrollable tic for that guy.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/08/25/transmit-the-message-to-the-receiver/
Crooks and liars has Colin Powell describing a version of Armitage’s actions after the Plame leak in a response to Cheney’s memoir.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/colin-powell-compares-cheneys-book-marketing
Here it is: an infrastructure bank that will fund the dreaded public-private “partnerships” in order to help place our infrastructure into corporate hands.
http://www2.wsls.com/news/2011/sep/01/infrastructure-bank-could-be-part-of-jobs-package-ar-1278122/
I hate to link to an AP story but it was all I could find at this moment.
Mr. Heinz..uh, Senator Kerry discussed some of the details in his bill. He proposes a measly $10 billion in government funds for startup costs. The bank would be owned and run by a board of directors and would not be placed under the authority of any federal agency. Although loans could be given out to state and local government, they could also be given to pubic-private partnerships and just plain outright to corporations. The board of directors would pick which projects to fund based on costs, benefits and projected revenue such as tolls.
If there is any doubt that this is NOT a good idea, the proposal has the approval of the Chamber of Commerce.
I mentioned that I thought Robert Reich called it correctly in my comment on this post:
http://www.emptywheel.net/2011/08/11/apparently-freedom-is-the-new-euphemism-for-government-investment/
And this, I believe, is why Obama neglected to mention the role of government in creating jobs at Johnson Controls. If he admitted that government has the power to create jobs all by itself, then there would be no reason to sell off our country to corporations. With the unemployment rate so high and with new figures coming out today, a climate has now been created in which this proposal might meet with the approval of the desperately unemployed.
The website publicintelligence.net was taken down by its hosting company after unknown complaints by an unknown institution.
A mirror ( as of August 18 ) is available at publicintelligence.info.
The Public Intelligence group has published many official reports of public interest that were kept secret from the public. Among those were reports of US local Intelligence Fusion Centers, documents from NATO and the UN and information about the collaboration of law enforcement and intelligence services with companies like Facebook and Microsoft.
As John Young of Cryptome.org remarks:
Public Intelliigence is a rare gem. Support it. Shutting down such sites one by one is a strategy.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2011/08/publicintelligencenet-taken-down-over-complain.html
I didn’t know if you had seen this..there are facts, ‘Names’, figures and ‘strange timing’ of events…
p.s. you rock! .. :) xox
http://thesantosrepublic.com/2011/07/exclusive-official-documented-truth-debunking-biased-icc-on-gaddafi/
FYI from http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/ today 9-11-2011.
President Obama’s Special 9-11 Message Only for Yomiuri Shinbun
Oh isn’t it interesting.
[snip]
Yomiuri Shinbun says US President Obama has sent a special message to Yomiuri on the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of September-11.
…
Shoriki was a former high-ranking official in the pre-war Interior Ministry, and he was incarcerated in Sugamo Prison as a Class-A war criminal but later released. In the post World War II days he was an CIA operative with a code name “podam” and “pojacpot-1 “. It is said that both the US and Shoriki were interested in pushing the national television network and the nuclear power in Japan.
Yomiuri remains unabashedly pro-nuke.
Old ties die hard, and the President of the United States sends a 9-11 message only to this particular newspaper.
The National Security Archive at GWU has a document dump. Early OVP/DOD/State maneuverings about Afghanistan.
I like the snowflake from April 2002. Five months into a war, the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America asks his Undersecretary, How come Iran and Russia have plans for Afghanistan and we don’t?
Something on myth-meister Philip Zelikow:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/09/20/142478/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbak9KOINgo&feature=player_embedded
Hi, I am a fan of Marcie’s and empty wheel. I’m not very smart but I can lift heavy boxes. Strike that. I would appreciate any volunteer opportunity you might configure for me to be able to contribute on the topic of prosecuting for torture. I have some time I could dedicate. If there is anything you can think of, including tedious time consuming slogging through records or files looking for something important… that I might help facilitate… please consider me willing, able and passionate about the topic. – Scott
Project Cencored…….ROCKS
http://www.mediaroots.org/project-censored-speaks-on-media-censorship-911.php
Apologize for the typo above…..I was rocking!
Here’s something important: YouTube: “Psychologists help 9/11 truth deniers”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mEGgAk1AbA4
I don’t seem to be able to comment on the original article, but….
Charlie Savage has expanded his speech to the Harvard Law School/Brookings conference I wrote about into a $.99 self published kindle eBook:
http://amzn.to/ozErr1
This part of Michigan was once militant. From organized labor to student agitation. Now there’s nothing. Shop after shop goes under. Strip malls abandoned. Legalized loan shark parlors spread. Dollar stores hang on. Parking lots riots of weeds. Roads in serious disrepair. Those with jobs feel lucky to be employed. Everyone else is on their own. A general resignation prevails. Life limps by.
After 12 years in Michigan, I’m finally moving on. Back to the east coast. To DC. One kid’s an adult and living on her own. My son is well into high school. I’m no longer married. The only work I can get here is janitorial. Part time. And I’m done with that world. It bettered me. Humbled me. Made me understand. But it’s over. The Belly of the Beast awaits.
http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2011/09/time-never-tells.html
A document obtained by the ACLU shows for the first time how the four largest cellphone companies in the US treat data about their subscribers’ calls, text messages, Web surfing and approximate locations.
The one-page document from the Justice Department’s cybercrime division shows, for instance, that Verizon Wireless keeps, for a year, information about which cell towers subscriber phones connect to. That data that can be used to figure out where the phone has been, down to the level of a neighborhood. AT&T has kept the same data continuously since July 2008.
The sheet is a guide for law enforcement, which can request the information from the carriers through legal channels. The North Carolina section of the American Civil Liberties Union obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act request, the ACLU said. Wired.com reported earlier about the document, which is dated Aug. 2010.
The document was released by the ACLU Wednesday, but has been hiding in plain sight on the website of the Vermont public defender’s office. It can be found there through a Google search, but only if the searcher knows the exact title of the document.
http://news.google.com/news/story?gl=us&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=aclu+verizon&ncl=dC9YGCnDPqcnU2MoWfaUvdmG12XDM
The single-page Department of Justice document, “Retention Periods of Major Cellular Service Providers,” is a guide for law enforcement agencies looking to get information — like customer IP addresses, call logs, text messages and web surfing habits – out of US telecom companies, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.
The document, marked “Law Enforcement Use Only” and dated August 2010, illustrates there are some significant differences in how long carriers retain your data.
“People who are upset that Facebook is storing all their information should be really concerned that their cell phone is tracking them everywhere they’ve been,” said Catherine Crump, an ACLU staff attorney. “The government has this information because it wants to engage in surveillance.”
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2011/09/retentionpolicy.pdf
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/09/cellular-customer-data/
Entergy faces another special investigation over malfunction at Palisades Nuclear Plant
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a special investigation team to Entergy’s Palisades nuclear power plant to examine the circumstances around the plant’s latest unplanned shutdown.
Vermont officials criticize company as dishonest, unwilling to invest in safety
In Vermont, where Entergy is fighting to continue operating its highly-controversial Vermont Yankee power plant, citizens groups and public officials have criticized the company for inadequate maintenance and lying about safety matters.
Raymond Davis, CIA Contractor, Charged After Fight Over Parking Spot
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colorado — Colorado authorities say a man accused of shooting and killing two men while working as CIA contractor in Pakistan faces misdemeanor charges after a fight over a shopping center parking spot.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Lt. Glenn Peitzmeier says Raymond Davis has been charged with third degree assault and disorderly conduct.
Peitzmeier says deputies responding to a fight at the Town Center in Highlands Ranch took Davis into custody Saturday morning.
Davis was freed after posting bond.
In February, Davis shot two Pakistani men he said tried to rob him.
Pakistani authorities released him after the US agreed to pay $2.34 Million to end the dispute that had strained ties between the two countries.
http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&btnmeta_news_search=1&q=Raymond+Davis
Millions of individuals and communities beaten down by economic mismanagement are finding their soul and voice in Occupy Wall Street, and the movement is open and wise enough to stretch and grow in response. And yesterday, peacefully marching across the Brooklyn Bridge, the mobilization went from a picture of a few ragtag protesters occupying the financial sector to a portrait of humanity being occupied by the most powerful police force in the nation defending the interests of capital.
Even the New York Times coverage reflects the shift in optics.
Millions of Americans are sick and tired of an economic system manipulated by big business to suit their narrow, greedy ends.
Social movements spring from an unpredictable serendipity of leadership and timing.
The Occupy Wall Street protesters have wondrously crystallized and catalyzed the frustrations of a nation. They deserve our gratitude and praise..
Millions of individuals and communities beaten down by economic mismanagement are finding their soul and voice in Occupy Wall Street, and the movement is open and wise enough to stretch and grow in response.
And yesterday, peacefully marching across the Brooklyn Bridge, the mobilization went from a picture of a few ragtag protesters occupying the financial sector to a portrait of humanity being occupied by the most powerful police force in the nation defending the interests of capital.
Even the New York Times coverage reflects the shift in optics.
Millions of Americans are sick and tired of an economic system manipulated by big business to suit their narrow, greedy ends.
Social movements spring from an unpredictable serendipity of leadership and timing.
The Occupy Wall Street protesters have wondrously crystallized and catalyzed the frustrations of a nation. They deserve our gratitude and praise.
http://movementvision.org/rants-polemics/in-praise-of-occupywallstreet-an-apology/
This is Jesse LaGreca reporting from the frontlines of the class war here at Liberty Square where the richest 1% is still winning in a landslide, wishing you peace and love, and reminding you, they only call it class war when working class people fight back.
The corrupt fear us. The honest support us. The heroic join us.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/04/1012196/-I-did-it-again-NEW-VIDEO-of-me-crushing-wingnuts-at-OccupyWallStreet?via=blog_643492
We regret to inform you that this Wednesday’s Yes Lab event, organized by Not An Alternative, with UK climate campaign campaigners John Stewart and Dan Glass has been postponed.
A few days ago, Stewart landed in JFK Airport for a month-long US speaking tour, only to be escorted off the plane by 6 police officers, interrogated for six hrs by the FBI, Secret Service, NY police, and Immigration, and put on a plane back to the UK.
The other tour member, environmental activist Dan Glass, was also supposed to come but was stopped by the CIA on the UK side.
These guys are celebrated environmentalists, recognized by The Independent and the Guardian as the most effective and innovative green activists in the UK. They won support from direct action activists and even the Conservatives in Parliament, waging a successful campaign to reduce carbon emissions and stop the expansion of Heathrow airport.
For some reason, however, the usa government isn’t keen on them coming here.
http://notanalternative.com/blog/activists-barred-us-and-occupywallstreet
Nobel peace prize: Bradley Manning tops reader poll
Bradley Manning heads our reader poll on who should win this year’s Nobel peace prize
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2011/oct/06/bradley-manning-reader-poll-nobel-peace-prize?CMP=twt_gu
Intelligence and US Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform
Paul R. Pillar
http://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-U-S-Foreign-Policy-Misguided/dp/0231157924/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318035718&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/wiki/Paul_R._Pillar/ref=ntt_at_bio_wiki
White House issues executive order in wake of WikiLeaks reports
White House Pushes to Close Security Gaps
White House Orders New Computer Security Rules
Obama to Issue ‘Wikileaks Order’
White House order to establish new cybersecurity policies
Obama Wants No Repeat of Lady Gaga, WikiLeaks Trick
Obama to issue order on protecting secrets
After WikiLeaks, White House tackles ‘insider threat’
Obama Issues ‘WikiLeaks’ Order To Better Safeguard ‘Classified’ Information
White House Issues Cybersecurity Order To Deter Classified Leaks
http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&hdlOnly=1&cf=all&ned=us&topic=n&ncl=dViArxReqeUsThMHetKcoXIGofIVM
the latest revealing story from associated press investigative reporters Chris Hawley and Matt Apuzzo (will they win the Pultizer Prize for this series? will the rest of the establishment amerikan media complex contiue to ignore this story and these revelations?):
NYPD Infiltration Of Colleges Raises Privacy Fears
Investigators have been infiltrating Muslim student groups at schools in the city, monitoring their Internet activity and placing undercover agents in their ranks, police documents obtained by The Associated Press show. Legal experts say the operation may have broken a 19-year-old pact with the colleges and violated US privacy laws, jeopardizing millions of dollars in federal research money and student aid.
http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&btnmeta_news_search=1&q=NYPD+infiltration+of+colleges+raises+privacy+fears
Patrick Cockburn: Iran had better watch its step now Obama’s chasing votes
A fumbling Tehran-backed plot to kill the Saudi ambassador was dismissed as bizarre by the rest of the world.
But the White House is taking it very seriously
The plot in which an Iranian-American from Corpus Christi, Texas, notorious locally for his Clouseau-like dimwittedness, tries to hire a Mexican gangster to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington at the behest of the Iranian authorities has been greeted with incredulous hilarity across much of the world.
The allegations need to be taken seriously primarily because they show that the White House, by giving credence to them at the highest level, is seeking confrontation with Iran in the lead-up to next year’s presidential election.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/patrick-cockburn-iran-had-better-watch-its-step-now-obamas-chasing-votes-2371379.html
Department of Justice still wants New York Times reporter’s sources
In a move that could unleash a major First Amendment battle, the Justice Department is asking a federal appeals court to force a New York Times reporter to testify about his confidential sources at the trial of a Central Intelligence Agency officer accused of leaking top-secret information.
In a court filing Wednesday, federal prosecutors formally appealed US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema’s ruling in July that Times national security reporter James Risen did not have to identify his sources during the trial of ex-CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling. Brinkema ruled that Risen’s testimony was covered by a “reporter’s privilege,” and that the government had not made a sufficient showing that he was essential to proving the case against Sterling.
The executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Lucy Dalglish, said the appeal was troubling for First Amendment advocates, but not unexpected.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Dalglish said “The Obama administration has made it absolutely clear they detest leakers and they are going to be very aggressive against leakers.”
Since Obama took office, his administration has initiated five prosecutions of alleged leakers under the Espionage Act — a sum roughly equal to the total number of such prosecutions in all prior administrations combined.
Dalglish said she suspects the administration does not care that escalating the fight with Risen may be seen as at odds with the administration’s claims to favor transparency and to protect whistleblowers.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66424.html
John Wheeler would have been interested in duku if he were not on the same list as Bruce Ivins
Marcie, I so much enjoy your analysis and information. I hope that I can give you something that you may enjoy as much as I enjoy yours. I notice that you do not publish other writers, but you do provide links. I wrote this article 9 months ago. I believe it is very relevant and has many insights. There are quotations and facts that you may not be familiar with. It makes some predictions that did not come true because factors of the Arab Spring and the Wisconsin demonstrations had not happened yet and changed what course of events I had predicted by people who may have thought twice about their plans, but it still is very informative and a very good read. If you are interested in it, I would like to rewrite it by fixing those few errors and adding more information that has come to light about the subject.
Thank you
John Stephen Blyth
http://yearofthefalcon-firstamendment.blogspot.com/2011/01/freedom-of-speech-what-is-it-do-we.html
2011 National Gang Threat Assessment – Emerging Trends
The National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) prepared the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment (NGTA) to examine emerging gang trends and threats posed by criminal gangs to communities throughout the United States.
MICHIGAN
300 Block
Aguitas 16
Avengers MC
Bemis Wealthy Street Boys
Black Gangster Disciple
Black Pistons MC
Brave Heart Ruff Riders
BUG Gang
Campau Cream Team
Cash Ave
Crips
Dallas Neland Alexander
D-Block
Devils Brigade
Devils Disciples MC
Dynasty Gorillas
East Ave
Eastern Worden
Eastside Boys
European Latin Kings
Folks
Forbidden Wheels MC
Gangster Disciples
Good Squad/Full Time Grinders
Grandville Gangsters
Highland’s Finest
Highwaymen
Holland Zeeland
Hustle Boys
Insane Unknowns
Ionia Boys
Jefferson Street Gangsters
Jokers MC
Juggalos
Kalamazoo Boys
Kartel of the Streets
La Kilcka
La Raza
Latin Counts
Latin Kings
Leak Boy Mafia
Madison Ave
Maniac Latin Disciples
Mason Street
Mexican Gangster Soldiers
Mexican Mafia
Mexican Mob
New Age Crip
Ñetas
Newman Lane Posse
Nishnob Mob
North North
New World Order
Oakdale Eastern
Outlaws MC
Pine Street
Polo Boyz
Prospect Paper Chasers
Purple Guns
Quimby Boys
Rebels MC
Rikochet Road Knights
Nation Royal Trinity Soldiers
Sheldon Logan
Spanish Cobras
Suicide Locos
Sur-13’s
Sureños
Taliban Team
Thug Life
Tres Manos Gangsters
Wanted Thug Brotherhood Nation
Vatos Locos
Vice Lords
Wood street
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/2011-national-gang-threat-assessment
US northern border checks scaled back
The US Border Patrol has quietly stopped its controversial practice of routinely searching buses, trains and airports for illegal immigrants at transportation hubs along the northern border and in the US interior, preventing agents from using what had long been an effective tool for tracking down people here illegally.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/apnewsbreak-us-northern-border-checks-scaled-back/84d567e4f93e4f70a3cd57467d2e6c85
a horrible slanted crappy piece of “reporting” from associated propaganda, er, press
inbred dutch boy hoekstra is such a hypocritical douchebag
did we hear him squeak when cheney/bush was bombing the absolute shit out of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis of all ages and genders so the usa could steal the OIL of the Iraqis ?????
no we did not.
what a complete shitsack.
(and this is not to defend team o in any way whatsoever – just cannot stand hypocrisy in any way shape or form)
Pete Hoekstra questions President Barack Obama’s war on terrorism after 16-year-old dies in attack
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/10/pete_hoekstra_questions_presid_1.html
and of course the grand rapids stenographer, OOPS, press, is right there with tape recorder. geebus
Excellent lecture at the University of Basel on the 9/11 debate and the need for a real investigation:
10 Years after the Terror Attacks on 9/11
DRONES and US Internal Security
Drones are changing the dynamics of warfare in very scary ways.
Drones make oppression much easier (and cost-effective).
What’s Next?
It’s a pretty slippery slope from here.
How it gets applied to US internal security when the US/global economy crumps into depression, the US government goes bankrupt, and the current system loses much of its remaining legitimacy are the interesting questions.
http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2011/11/drones-and-us-internal-security.html
Paul Craig Roberts: “The minute we fell for 9/11 we signed our doom”
http://my.firedoglake.com/public/2011/11/12/paul-craig-roberts-the-minute-we-fell-for-911-we-signed-our-doom/
Marcy,
Wondering if you could make a post about the Supreme Court’s decision to review the HCR case before the next election. WHt is going on here? Is Roberts trying to hand Obama his ass with a major defeat before Nov, or is there something else going on here? I can’t see this as not having a political agenda of some kind, not sure what it is. Thanks (and I love the site.)
‘World fears US as a war-hungry drunk’ – ex-Senator
http://my.firedoglake.com/public/2011/11/23/world-fears-us-as-a-war-hungry-drunk-ex-senator-2/
The Failure to Investigate 9/11 Has Bankrupted America
http://my.firedoglake.com/public/2011/12/03/the-failure-to-investigate-911-has-bankrupted-america/#recommend-33-12686
The 26 year old Michigan man who supposedly rammed an FBI agents vehicle never even came close to even causing a fender bender. Get your facts correct before you even post this information.
@newz4all: CIA dont tell congress too much, thats why CIA works very hard to recruit senators into their ranks
@a shift in optics: old news, wall street owns this country, congress is for sale to the highess bidders
@newz4all: yes,but it only applies if the suspects were born in Mexico, or have some dual citizenship, also it gives right to the DEA to fo the same on mexican soil, a win win situation, lol
@Mark: Alternate link for The Failure to Investigate 9/11 Has Bankrupted America:
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/12/the-failure-to-investigate-911-has-bankrupted-america.html
i really like your blog thanks for all the informative posts.
An important book on education and operant conditioning by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, former Senior Policy Advisor in the U.S. Department of Education. The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/
WANTED WOMEN
Faith, Lies & the War on Terror: The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali & Aafia Siddiqui
By Deborah Scroggins
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/books/wanted-women-faith-lies-the-war-on-terror-review.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Scroggins
Chris Hedges – Why I’m Suing Barack Obama
Attorneys Carl J. Mayer and Bruce I. Afran filed a complaint Friday in the Southern US District Court in New York City on my behalf as a plaintiff against Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to challenge the legality of the Authorization for Use of Military Force as embedded in the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act, signed by the president December 31, 2011.
The act authorizes the military in Title X, Subtitle D, entitled “Counter-Terrorism,” for the first time in more than 200 years, to carry out domestic policing. With this bill, which will take effect March 3, 2012, the military can indefinitely detain without trial any US citizen deemed to be a terrorist or an accessory to terrorism. And suspects can be shipped by the military to our offshore penal colony in Guantanamo Bay and kept there until “the end of hostilities.” It is a catastrophic blow to civil liberties.
I suspect the real purpose of this bill is to thwart internal, domestic movements that threaten the corporate state.
I suspect it passed because the corporations, seeing the unrest in the streets, knowing that things are about to get much worse, worrying that the Occupy movement will expand, do not trust the police to protect them. They want to be able to call in the Army. And now they can.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/why_im_suing_barack_obama_20120116/
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_im_suing_barack_obama_20120116/
Charles Taylor and the Intelligence Community’s Game
The Boston Globe has some great work this morning by Bryan Bender on the strange history of Charles Taylor, the barbaric former president of Liberia whose war-crimes trial concluded last March at The Hague. Taylor was an authentic monster, but, to paraphrase Randy Newman, he was our monster. We created him. We sustained him. We turned a blind eye to his depredations. And the Play-Doh realpolitik of the geniuses in our intelligence community left the world another bloody mess to clean up now that Taylor’s alleged usefulness is done.
The most fascinating thing about Taylor was that he was first busted and incarcerated here in the Commonwealth (God save it!), while on the lam from an embezzlement rap back home. He got tossed into the venerable Plymouth House of Correction, current home of celebrity murderer James (Whitey) Bulger. In 1985, Taylor became the first inmate to escape from Plymouth in a century. More than a few people involved in the case think he had help. Taylor himself testified at his trial that he was pretty much allowed to walk free.
Perhaps even more striking is the fact that the USA intelligence community may have been in the business of orchestrating jailbreaks on American soil, which resulted in untold savagery far away, and nobody seems to think it remarkable in the least.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/charles-taylor-informant-6640441
Former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor had US spy agency ties
Officials confirm Charles Taylor was valued source of information in early 1980s
http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/01/17/mass-escapee-turned-liberian-dictator-had-spy-agency-ties/DGBhSfjxPVrtoo4WT95bBI/story.html
So happy you have returned home to your own site which is where I started in 2004?
We need the legalise you provide. Would the NLG sponsor you?
CIA to pull officer from NYPD after internal probe
By ADAM GOLDMAN and MATT APUZZO | Associated Press
A CIA operative’s unusual assignment inside the New York Police Department is being cut short after an internal investigation that criticized how the agency established its unprecedented collaboration with city police.
In its investigation, the CIA’s inspector general faulted the agency for sending an officer to New York with little oversight after the September 11, 2001 attacks and then leaving him there too long.
The CIA officer cited by the inspector general for operating without sufficient supervision, Lawrence Sanchez, was the architect of spying programs that helped make the NYPD one of the nation’s most aggressive domestic intelligence agencies.
Sanchez left the NYPD in 2010.
Then, last July, the CIA sent one of its most senior clandestine operatives to work out of the NYPD. That’s the officer who now is leaving.
http://news.yahoo.com/cia-pull-officer-nypd-internal-probe-170909971.html;_ylt=AuROPx5VT9j4VEO3EDuftY6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNhczFkNGcyBG1pdAMEcGtnA2QzMDU5MWE5LTFkYjYtM2FhOC04NjdkLWZlYTdiYWU5ZDlkOQRwb3MDNQRzZWMDbG5fQVBfZ2FsBHZlcgM4ZWVkOGYzMC00ODVjLTExZTEtOGRkZi1kNGQ1MGQ4MDBlNWU-;_ylv=3
Hey Marcy – I love your blog and especially the legal analysis stuff. I’m from Illinois and was wondering if you’d seen the story about Lisa Madigan (our AG) filing suit against Standard & Poor. I guess people are getting tired of waiting for the feds to do something.
Legal think tank raises red flag about privacy in cybersecurity legislation
The US Congress must include strong privacy protections in any cybersecurity legislation it adopts, a constitutional watchdog group warned in a report released Friday.
The report from DC-based think tank The Constitution Project argues that any comprehensive cybersecurity program adopted by the federal government must have clear legal safeguards to prevent unrestricted access by government officials to individuals’ private information when searching network communications for harmful material.
Otherwise, the government “runs the risk of establishing a program akin to wiretapping all network users’ communications,” the report warns.
http://www.infosecurity-us.com/view/23526/legal-think-tank-raises-red-flag-about-privacy-in-cybersecurity-legislation/
http://www.constitutionproject.org/
http://news.yahoo.com/us-cybersecurity-efforts-trigger-privacy-concerns-094548804.html;_ylt=ApnEMj.y0l_Y5uv1MRx1KTis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNhNTVzMmtuBG1pdAMEcGtnA2YyZDU4NGU1LTc0ZjktM2M0ZC1iZjMwLTllYzJkMWM5NTJmOARwb3MDNwRzZWMDbG5fQVBfZ2FsBHZlcgMwYjBhMGY4MC00OGZkLTExZTEtYWZlYS1jNWQwZWRhNzQwZGU-;_ylv=3
Enemies: A History of the FBI
Ex-President Bush Lied To FBI Director About Warrantless Surveillance
Former President George W. Bush lied to FBI Director Robert Mueller in the Oval Office to protect White House programs that secretly eavesdropped on Americans, according to an upcoming book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tim Weiner.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/bush-lied-to-fbi-director_n_1237262.html?ref=politics
http://www.amazon.com/Enemies-History-FBI-Tim-Weiner/dp/1400067480
Stellar Wind is the open secret code name for certain information collection activities performed by the United States’ National Security Agency and revealed by Thomas M. Tamm to New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau. The operation was approved by President George W. Bush shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_wind_%28code_name%29
It’s Time to Police the NYPD
In November, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg described the NYPD as “the seventh biggest army in the world.” Effective oversight of such a potent force is a necessity — not a luxury — for the country’s largest city.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/opinion/the-nypd-needs-policing.html
Jury selection begins for trial of Hutaree Militia members
Jury selection is scheduled to begin in the case of members of a Christian militia group accused of plotting attacks on Michigan police officers.
Members of the Hutaree Militia are accused of plotting to murder a police officer and then attack the officer’s funeral procession, in order to kill more law enforcement officers. The attacks were allegedly to inspire an insurrection against the government
That accusation was developed during an undercover investigation of the group.
The Hutaree Militia is a splinter Christian group, which believes the apocalypse is near. The group is also suspicious of the government and the United Nations.
http://www.michiganradio.org/post/jury-selection-begins-tuesday-trial-hutaree-militia-members
wow, I came here to make fun of yet another liberal who thinks he’s a leftist. Not sure where you stand so much left or right, but it seems obvious to me that you stand for truth. You’re blog is a good read. I wish I could make fun of you, I really love doing that, but I can’t.
Keep on keeping on :)
Potential Hutaree juror throws wrench in prosecution, questions undercover police work
Jury selection in the Hutaree militia case ended this morning on a controversial note: The last person added to the final jury pool said he is skeptical about police and paid informants going undercover to spy on people.
He said he believes spying on people is an invasion of privacy.
“You’re basically paying someone to lie and deceive people. I don’t think that’s right,” said the potential juror.
Surprisingly, out of the 74 potential jurors who were questioned this week about their views on undercover work, all but one said they were fine with it.
http://www.freep.com/article/20120210/NEWS01/120210039/Hutaree-jury-pool?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
USA Government’s time line in Hutaree case
Assistant US Attorney presented alleged time line for US Magistrate during a detention hearing for eight of the nine alleged Hutaree members. The defendants’ lawyers dismissed the allegations as “double and triple hearsay.”
http://www.freep.com/article/20100404/NEWS06/4040468/Government-s-time-line-Hutaree-case
US House Intelligence Committee chair and former FBI agent Mike Rogers (R-MI): China-based cyber attacks against US companies are getting ‘exponentially’ worse
The growing threat of cyber attacks against the federal government and United States-based companies by China is the country’s greatest national security challenge moving forward, says Congressman Mike Rogers.
“I have never seen in my lifetime a nation state that invests its intelligence and military services in the organized theft of intellectual property like the Chinese have done and are doing,” said Rogers, chair of the House Intelligence Committee.
“It is exponentially worse this year, and will be exponentially worse next year because of their growing capability.”
Rogers suggested the value of intellectual property being stolen every year by Chinese-based cyber theft as high as $1 Trillion. He said China is “actively pursuing” intellectual property on all American, European and Asian allies networks.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/02/intelligence_committee_chair_c.html
Aided by Silicon Valley, USA government ferrets out journalists’ confidential sources
Two NYTimes stories over the weekend focused on threats to journalists’ ability to keep their sources confidential. One of those threats is familiar to journalists: the government. The other is relatively new: Silicon Valley. Both hinge on reporters’ increasing reliance on electronic, third-party means of communication.
First, the Times’ Adam Liptak describes how the usa government is increasingly using technological means to ferret out leakers. He writes about the government’s case against former CIA agent John C. Kiriakou, who is accused of leaking classified information to journalists about a captured Al Qaeda operative.
The Times’ Nick Bilton follows up on a story about how the iPhone app Path uploaded users’ address book contacts without their knowledge. The incident shows that smartphones and their apps are weak links when it comes to protecting sources.
Bilton’s post won praise from Dave Winer:
Nick Bilton … was right that information in address books, in some contexts, is a matter of life and death. In some countries in some contexts people do get killed for talking to reporters.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/162853/aided-by-silicon-valley-u-s-government-ferrets-out-journalists-confidential-sources/
RAF helicopter death revelation leads to secret Iraq detention camp
Death in RAF helicopter and secret prison camp in Iraq desert raises questions about legality of British and US operations
But of greater significance was what the death certificate revealed about the location of the airfield. It showed that the 64 prisoners had not been flown to the prison camp at Umm Qasr at all. They had been taken to an airfield codenamed H1, described on the certificate as the forward operating base of a US special forces unit known as Task Force-20. H1 was an airfield built next to an oil pipeline pumping station.
It was 350 miles north-west of Umm Qasr, in the middle of Iraq’s western desert, a vast and desolate expanse of sand and scree. The nearest settlement was many miles away.
The holding facility at H1 was not inspected by the Red Cross.
Moreover, its existence was not disclosed to Lieutenant Colonel Mercer, the UK’s most senior army lawyer in Iraq at the time. Mercer says he was “extremely surprised” to learn of its existence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/07/iraq-death-secret-detention-camp
http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=10515881&fid=3172&c=iraq
marcy’s old friends at SWIFT back in the newz
Bank Telecommunications Group Moves Closer to Expulsion of Iran
A potentially crippling sanction against Iran moved a step closer on Friday when a telecommunications network vital to the global banking industry said it was prepared to expel Iranian banks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/world/middleeast/swift-network-moves-closer-to-expulsion-of-iran.html
now read this Pepe Escobar column at Asia Times about the pressure usa / europe putting on SWIFT – SCORCHER !!!!!!!!!!
US wants SWIFT war on Iran
The vultures, jackals and hyenas of regime change/war can never be appeased in their sanction lust. The US is now forcing the EU to cut off Iran from Brussels-based SWIFT – the independent telecom mechanism / clearinghouse used by every bank in the world to exchange financial data (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications). Iran’s Central Bank itself may become a victim.
In a nutshell, SWIFT is the wheel that moves global financial transactions and trade. So if this is not an extended, remixed declaration of hardcore economic war against one country – nothing else is.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NB17Ak04.html
Bookmark Pepe!!! always tells it like it is !!!!
are y’all ready able and willing for “routine aerial surveillance of American life” ?
we knew you would be. please assume the position american sheeple. we promise this will not hurt.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/technology/drones-with-an-eye-on-the-public-cleared-to-fly.html?pagewanted=all
O admin okays key section of pipeline, making ultimate Keystone decision obvious
Foes of a 1661-mile pipeline who thought their opposition had bought some time as a consequence of the White House’s temporary rejection of the project got a wake-up message today. Just five weeks after the Obama administration was hailed for saying “no” to the Keystone XL pipeline’s route through the sand hills of Nebraska, it has green-lighted a $2.3 billion section elsewhere, making clear its ultimate intent.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/27/1068805/-Obama-administration-okays-key-section-of-pipeline-making-ultimate-Keystone-decision-obvious?via=blog_1
once this pipeline is in place, it will be vigorously patrolled by ARMED drones – financed by transcanada/big oil and operated by usg/paramilitaries – all to stop usa citizens from the blowing it up on a daily basis.
as previously noted here at emptywheel, the silence is being noticed elsewhere.
New York Post, Daily News Defend NYPD’s Surveillance Of Muslims As New York Times Remains Silent
While New Jersey newspapers and others in the tri-state area have condemned the NYPD’s surveillance tactics – such as the Buffalo News, NYU’s Washington Square News, and Newsday – one major paper has noticeably stayed out of the fray: The New York Times.
Inside the Times, there’s been some puzzlement over why the paper’s Metro desk hasn’t aggressively followed up on the NYPD surveillance story since August and why its editorial page — known for taking strong stands in support of civil liberties issues and against police overreach — has been silent since the AP’s series began. Times columnist Michael Powell is one exception. He wrote Tuesday about Muslim-Americans in Newark now “in the throes of a rather un-American fear of speaking.”
It’s unclear if the Times will weigh in any time soon. When contacted, Times editorial page editor Andy Rosenthal responded that “as a matter of policy, we don’t publicly discuss editorial deliberations or topics that we may or may not be considering.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/28/nypd-muslim-ny-post-daily-news-new-york-times_n_1307455.html?ref=media
NSA whistle-blower: Obama “worse than Bush”
Thomas Drake on life inside the National Security Agency and the price of truth telling
Would you still blow the whistle if you knew what you know now?
Yes. There are a few things I would have done differently, though. I would not have spoken to the FBI. I knew that in speaking with them that something could be used against me. I was read my Miranda rights, but I waived them to cooperate, but to report crimes: misdemeanors, illegalities, management malfeasance, program fraud, waste and abuse. I would have immediately had an attorney, but that’s in hindsight.
Another regret: I would have gone public before indictment. Remember, once they indict you’re already in a severely negative place. But the last place I would have shared any information with is WikiLeaks, and yet it is a viable internationally based alternative for getting the truth out. This is partly why [Bradley] Manning is in the hot water because he’s not going through, allegedly, an American citizen; he’s going somewhere else. And it’s not the enemy, let’s get that straight right off the bat, but he’s going to an organization that’s non-US-based, non-US citizen.
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/07/nsa_whistle_blower_obama_worse_than_bush/singleton/
New York City Subpoenas Twitter For Occupy Wall Street Protester Data
US activists who thought Twitter was a secure way to communicate during demonstrations may have another thing coming. The New York District Attorney’s Office has begun sending subpoenas to Twitter seeking data on protesters arrested during the Occupy Wall Street protests last year.
Last week, activist Jeffrey Rae received one such email, which included a copy of a subpoena from the DA requesting data from his Twitter account. The letter demands that Twitter hand over a list of data, including all public tweets from Rae’s account between September 15 and October 31, 2011.
Other information sought includes his name, address, records of session times, the length of those sessions, the types of devices used by Rae to access Twitter and any IP addresses from which he connected.
Rae said he plans on challenging the subpoena in court.
This is not the first time Twitter has been asked to hand over data on Occupy Wall Street protestors. In February, activist Malcom Harris got a similar notice from Twitter’e legal department via email. Like Rae, Harris had his lawyer file a motion to challenge the subpoena.
“The biggest danger that comes from this subpoena isn’t that it’ll help convict me – I don’t think a judge will have any trouble understanding what happened on the bridge – but that it will produce a chilling effect and discourage people from using Twitter while protesting” Harris wrote. “It’s a win-win for prosecutors: Either they use Twitter archives to build cases against demonstrators, or they scare us away from using the platform.”
Like other unrest throughout the world in the last few years, the anti-Wall Street demonstrations were both documented and partially fueled by social media tools. Just as in other parts of the world, Twitter in particular played an instrumental role in helping activists stay in touch and document what happened on the ground.
Authorities realize this and are hoping to pry some more information out of companies like Twitter. Since the subpoenas in these cases are not legally sealed, Twitter is free to notify its users of the requests, which it has a policy of doing.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/new-york-subpoena-twitter-occupy-wallstreet.php
Occupy Miami Apartment Building Raided By Police; Members Reportedly Questioned About Weapons Based On A “Tip”
A photo taken by one member who was detained shows he was taken to MPD’s Special Investigations Unit, which houses the Narcotics Unit, the Intelligence and Terrorism Unit, and the Joint Interdiction Unit. Miami Police have not yet responded to requests for comment, and the FBI would not confirm one eyewitness report that FBI agents were also present.
“It is not uncommon for the FBI to assist local law enforcement,” FBI Special Agent Michael Leverock told HuffPost.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=316626155066548&set=a.217824944946670.57554.216848385044326&type=1&theater
“They had military assault rifles and tactical shotguns. Fully lethal,” reported Occupy on their Facebook site, before posting video showing residents of the “Fort Peace” building sitting or kneeling in the property’s courtyard while officers with assault rifles kept order.
http://www.facebook.com/OccupyMiami
“This is some of the scarier footage I have ever seen,” wrote author Naomi Wolf on her Facebook page. “What were they doing telling you to KNEEL and put your hands on your heads?”
http://www.facebook.com/naomi.wolf.author/posts/391386887558120
Occupy Miami’s Overtown Safehouse Raided by Dozens of Miami Police With Assault Rifles
“They were asking me questions like, ‘Are you a Muslim?’ and ‘Do you love this country?’” Mahmoud says. “I said hell no, I don’t love this country, and it’s because of shit like this.
“They are calling us terrorists, but what I saw today was demons pointing guns at us,” he adds. “They terrified us.”
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/03/occupy_miamis_overtown_safehou.php
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/occupy-miami-apartment-building-raided_n_1344483.html
The repression and revised imposition of September 11th and the attendant “war on terror” on the public mind have important implications not only for the integrity of public discourse, but also for the collective sanity of western culture and civilization. As crafted by dominant news media 9/11 has become the cracked lens through which we view and conceive of our own history, identity, and purpose. Each act of subverting or evading factual accounts of actually existing events manifests itself as a small fissure in the broader edifice of truth and rationality. So does it also contribute to furthering the designs of broader forces seeking to build a once seemingly pretend brave new world.
Article by James Tracy
See item this morning on new anti-Iranian hate crime in San Diego – Body of brutally beaten woman to be flown to Iraq
Also more Green on Blue killings in Afghanistan
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/green-on-blue-afghanistan_n_1379259.html
The anti-Muslim killing in El Cajon – or is it a ruse? A few commenters to the story seem to think the El Cajon police have been misled by a fake note.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-iraqi-woman-20120326,0,190790.story
http://www.kplctv.com/story/17248478/woman-brutally-murdered-in-possible-hate-crime
Poles discuss the secret CIA prison
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_POLAND_CIA_PRISON?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-31-13-45-27
Nolo Stated: “For the record, I personally think it would likely be a seven figure sum, if granted at all (and it presents the possibility that some pro-gun benefactor(s) — like the Koch brothers, swoop in and post his bond).
No, I expect he’ll be in custody from now until trial.”
My question: Now what do you think???
Turbo Tax Timmeh’s quote of the day:
“You can’t legislate away stupidity”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/timothy-geithner-wheels-justice-turning-now_n_1454235.html
Maverick to answer your question you asked in http://www.emptywheel.net/2012/04/16/dea-busts-tor-operated-farmers-market-drug-market-place/#comment-345824
The answer is yes, quite well.
He was a total computer illiterate that had people fooled into thinking he knew what he was doing, when in reality he was just trusting Hush Forms.
If he had listened to advice from friends and myself, he’d be a free man now.
I don’t know if this is common, and it is probably not a big enough issue for bmaz to take a bite, but it does seem to me wrong:
http://valawyersweekly.com/2012/05/10/chesterfield-hits-drunken-drivers-with-a-second-whack/
Here is the first paragraph:
“Some wayward motorists are getting hit with a double whammy after conviction in traffic court. Local governments, including Chesterfield County, are taking the offenders into civil court to demand reimbursement for the cost of an officer stopping them and writing the ticket.”
Two recent stories with big future consequences:
1. Maria Otero, U.S. undersecretary for civilian security, declares that water issues are national security issues. Think Israel and other dry or desert countries, especially many Arab countries; but also the American west and the Colorado River running dry before it gets to Mexico. This means dams are national security issues (dams on the Tigris and Euphrates, dams on any river that divides 2 countries or runs from one country to another.) See
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2012/05/11/Water-competition-challenges-US-security/UPI-32591336744080/
Quote: “Competition for water resources worldwide are becoming a threat to the national security interests of the United States, an official said.”
2. The US Navy has created a new command, the Coastal Riverine Force. See:
http://www.dvidshub.net/news/88407/necc-announces-formation-coastal-riverine-force
Quote: “CORIVFOR will provide port and harbor security, offshore protection for maritime infrastructure and Military Sealift Command ships operating in coastal waterways. When necessary elements of this force will provide offensive combat capabilities.”
A bomb threat forced the evacuation of a National Security Agency facility under construction in Utah on Monday but investigators found nothing suspicious.
The site for the spy agency is being built at Camp Williams, a military base just south of Salt Lake City.
FBI declined to say how the threat was received but said it led to an evacuation at the site.
FBI agents spent several hours at the site after the threat was received but “found nothing suspicious”.
usa officials have released few details on the purpose of the National Security Agency center.
http://news.yahoo.com/bomb-threat-forces-evacuation-utah-spy-fbi-says-232808355.html
this must have one HELL of a Bomb !!!!
wonder what the explosive used was …. and the Bombmaker(s) must be damn good / improving.
A Yemeni soldier detonated a bomb hidden in his military uniform during a rehearsal for a military parade, killing 96 fellow soldiers and wounding at least 200 on Monday in one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in years.
http://news.yahoo.com/96-yemeni-soldiers-killed-suicide-bombing-205748831.html
A suicide bomber in army uniform killed more than 90 soldiers in the heart of the Yemeni capital on Monday and an al Qaeda affiliate threatened more attacks if a usa-backed campaign against militants in the front-line state did not stop.
The bombing, which wounded more than 200 people, underscored the dangers Yemen faces as it battles Islamist Freedom Fighters entrenched in the south and threatening shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-yemen-suicide-bombing-rises-90-132018282.html
Wide Area Airborn Surveillance: Opportunities and Challenges – Gerard Medioni
Play video
Wide Area Airborn Surveillance: Opportunities and Challenges – Gerard Medioni, University of Southern California A new generation of airborne sensors allows very large images (60M‐1G pixels) to be…
00:35:27
Added on 8/15/11
Air force “INCIDENTAL” espionage argument is disingenuous, farcical at best. These systems use sensors like ARGUS and Persistics software and use automatic object recognition across 36 square miles to tack every moving object. Anywhere with a military base of any kind nearby would fall under this incidental surveillance.
You need to watch these two videos if you have not done so already. The first video is a description in detail of wide-area-surveillance-systems. This video is the most in-depth look at the technology available. Watch the entire video and you wont be disappointed. The video shows that current capabilities allow for 3d generation of landscapes, tracking of every car, and the ability to automatically discern dead-drop, brush-pass and coordinated movement of vehicles by querying the system (queries take 2 minutes to 7 hrs to process depending on size of the data set) as well as shows WASS in use over the USA. The video makes reference to the “clif data set” which appears to be the only WASS data set that has been declassified for r&d purposes. The system appears designed with the tracking of all vehicles, activity detection, speeding and traffic violations and persistent surveillance goals for the program. The video also explains multi-sensor overlay techniques as well as discusses system limitations. As DHS pushes to utilize the GORGON STARE over the USA, one wonders if this video shows that ARGUS is already here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1FEcy6RV-k&feature=share
http://www.youtube.com
The second video is a shor clip showing how argus uses automatic object recognition and tracking using “tracklets” which would be a good video for your blog.
DARPA Video and Image Retrieval and Analysis Tool (VIRAT)
http://www.youtube.com
Thank you for all your efforts from Teame Zazzu
The discussion of WASS systems needs to address the SOFTWARE capabilities rather then focus on the camera sensor package exclusively. To that end, ARGUS, GORGON STARE, KESTREL etc. all appear to synthesize into the Persistics software and “Pursuer Viewer”. DHS appears to be attempting to integrate WASS and Persistics with systems like “Tentacle” to coordinate handoff of tracked individuals from WASS (exteriors) to tracking individuals inside buildings (interiors), thereby circumventing line-of-sight limitations of UAVs in civilian domestic airspace.
Analysts working at ground stations will interact with the transmitted airborne video data. For example, Persistics has been integrated into the Air Force Research Laboratory–developed Pursuer viewer to allow analysts to pan, zoom, rewind, query, and overlay maps and other metadata. With this viewer, they can use Persistics to make requests such as, “Give me the frames that recorded this vehicle from one to two o’clock this afternoon,” or “Show me all the vehicles that stop at this location today.” Says Persistics project leader Holger Jones, “With Persistics, analysts can determine the relationships between vehicles, people, buildings, and events.”
In collaboration with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Air Force, Army, and several Department of Defense laboratories, Livermore is incorporating the Persistics pipeline into data-processing ground stations fed with video data from Constant Hawk video cameras onboard both unmanned and manned aircraft. Recent tests of Constant Hawk imagery have validated Persistics’ approach, demonstrating 1,000-times compression of raw video collections while maintaining high fidelity. In comparison, compression of still images can reduce data content tenfold, while standard video compression can achieve at best a 30-times data reduction.
Persistics, the product of several years’ effort, is an innovative data-processing “pipeline” that takes a radically different approach to addressing the video-data overload challenge. (See the box below.) The technique retains the level of detail necessary for detecting anomalies while at the same time compressing the unchanging “background” and everything in motion by about 1,000 times without losing pertinent information. As such, the approach ameliorates the dearth of communication bandwidth for transporting video without losing image fidelity. Indeed, Persistics technology can produce subpixel resolution for the background and any “movers” (people and vehicles), thereby allowing for additional analyses of suspicious activities. A single pixel can correspond to anywhere from several square meters to less than 1 square meter of real estate.
The Persistics architecture can support near real-time monitoring for tactical combat missions as well as forensic analysis of past events. Its analysis algorithms permit surveillance systems to “stare” at key people, vehicles, locations, and events for hours and even days at a time while automatically searching with unsurpassed detail for anomalies or preselected targets. The Livermore breakthrough combines optimized hardware featuring the newest generation of graphics chips (typically used for computer gaming) with innovative algorithms. Some algorithms focus on compressing data while others analyze the streaming video content to automatically extract items of interest.
I am pleased to have placed a link to The Empty Wheel in the blogs section of http://www.marainlaw.com/page.php?here=links. Thank you for the time and effort you put into your blog.
Best,
A.
The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King
When Samuel Zemurray arrived in America in 1891, he was tall, gangly, and penniless. When he died in the grandest house in New Orleans sixty-nine years later, he was among the richest, most powerful men in the world. In between, he worked as a fruit peddler, a banana hauler, a dockside hustler, and a plantation owner. He battled and conquered the United Fruit Company, becoming a symbol of the best and worst of the United States: proof that America is the land of opportunity, but also a classic example of the corporate pirate who treats foreign nations as the backdrop for his adventures. In Latin America, when people shouted “Yankee, go home!” it was men like Zemurray they had in mind.
Rich Cohen’s brilliant historical profile The Fish That Ate the Whale unveils Zemurray as a hidden kingmaker and capitalist revolutionary, driven by an indomitable will to succeed. Known as El Amigo, the Gringo, or simply Z, the Banana Man lived one of the great untold stories of the last hundred years. Starting with nothing but a cart of freckled bananas, he built a sprawling empire of banana cowboys, mercenary soldiers, Honduran peasants, CIA agents, and American statesmen. From hustling on the docks of New Orleans to overthrowing Central American governments, from feuding with Huey Long to working with the Dulles brothers, Zemurray emerges as an unforgettable figure, connected to the birth of modern American diplomacy, public relations, business, and war — a monumental life that reads like a parable of the American dream.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Fish-That-Ate-Whale/dp/0374299277/ref=la_B001HD2X0E_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338777220&sr=1-1
King of the banana republic
Samuel Zemurray smuggled weapons, fomented revolution and advised presidents. His real job: The Banana Man
http://www.salon.com/2012/06/03/king_of_the_banana_republic/singleton/
from national propaganda / pentagon radio (so consider the source)(plus one of the hosts is renee “dramatic pause” montagne)
Afghans Worry Bagram Could Turn Into Guantanamo
Three months ago in Afghanistan, US officials yielded to the demands of President Hamid Karzai and promised to turn over control of the prison at Bagram airbase to Afghan control. But as the process gets underway, neither side seems to agree on the details. There are worries the Americans may have created a Guantanamo-style administrative detention regime that is against Afghan law.
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/04/154268385/afghans-worry-bagram-could-turn-into-guantanamo?ft=1&f=1004
A CIA spook spills his secrets
Henry Crumpton’s new book, “The Art of Intelligence,” gives a rare glimpse into intelligence’s inner workings
Crumpton recently discussed President Obama’s “kill list”; what went wrong before and after 9/11 in Afghanistan; how America’s national security apparatus targets suspects; and whether it’s fair to worry that the changing definition of warfare is undermining age-old democratic ideals with David Sirota.
http://www.salon.com/2012/06/04/a_cia_spook_spills_his_secrets/singleton/
Jim, this is specially for you. Must read to very end of quote. Probably nothing directly relatable to today, but who knows. It’s from the Church Committee’s first volume, on Foreign and Military Intelligence, pg. 421:
Anarchists attack science
Armed extremists targeting nuclear and nanotechnology workers
http://www.nature.com/news/anarchists-attack-science-1.10729
Anarchists ‘shot nuclear boss Roberto Adinolfi’
Italian anarchist group has said it carried out an attack on a senior executive of nuclear engineering group Ansaldo Nucleare
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18036388
A globe-trotting group of “eco-terrorists” is relentlessly trying to kill prominent scientists all across the world
And they’re getting good at it.
http://www.businessinsider.com/eco-anarchist-terrorist-group-tries-to-assassinate-defense-researchers-2012-6
Getting Them Dead
After reading the article that appeared under the headline “Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will” in the New York Times, I couldn’t talk about much else. I found myself wanting to analyze it, as one might dissect a literary text, to better understand how it produced its effect on the reader: in my case, shock and awe, tempered by consolatory flickers of disbelief. Like literature, the story resists summarization, partly because the Times reporters, Jo Becker and Scott Shane, employ detail, word choice, diction, and tone to direct and influence the reader’s response without, on the surface, appearing to do so — and to make a familiar narrative seem new. – Francine Prose
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/jun/06/getting-them-dead/
The Next Generation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones)
http://www.businessinsider.com/check-out-these-next-generation-drones-2012-6?op=1
New York Times Washington correspondent David Sanger’s ‘Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power’: 5 Revelations in Obama’s Wars
Sanger’s meticulously reported book details the backroom meetings, whispered deals, and secret actions that have shaped American policy in the Middle East. From Stuxnet to the Arab Spring, the five most revealing moments from Obama’s wars.
1. Leading the Hackers (Cyber War)
2. Afghanistan’s Pakistan Problem
3. The Pakistani Nuclear-Bomb Scare
4. Other Plans to Get Bin Laden
5. The War on Iran’s Scientists
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/06/david-sanger-s-confront-and-conceal-5-revelations-in-obama-s-wars.html
The Defense Department has stopped issuing weapons to thousands of law enforcement agencies until it is satisfied that state officials can account for all the surplus guns, aircraft, Humvees and armored personnel carriers it has given police under a $2.6 Billion program.
The program provides police departments and other law enforcement agencies with military equipment ranging from guns and helicopters to computers and air conditioners and even toilet paper. The equipment is cheap or free for law enforcement agencies to acquire, but much of it comes with strict rules that prohibit it from being sold and dictate how it must be tracked.
While some gear, including guns, has been stolen or otherwise gone missing over the years, the reporting requirements themselves aren’t new and that the review wasn’t prompted by anything specific.
The surplus program has grown exponentially in recent years, with a record $498 million worth of property distributed in fiscal year 2011. That includes $191 million in aircraft alone and more than 15,000 weapons worth nearly $4.8 million. Military officials said the program has become more popular as law enforcement agencies sustain deep budget cuts.
news.yahoo.com/pentagon-halts-free-guns-police-orders-audit-172935835.html
EPA drones spy on farmers in Nebraska and Iowa
The Environmental Protection Agency has been accused of violating the privacy of cattle farmers in Nebraska and Iowa by using drones to spy on them.
Last week, Nebraska’s congressional delegation submitted a joint letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson expressing concerns about the surveillance and questioning its legality.
The EPA responded that the use of drones is legal and cost-effective.
So far, seven flights have taken place over Iowa, and nine over Nebraska.
news.yahoo.com/epa-drones-spy-farmers-nebraska-iowa-150411579.html
The Real Problem With Leaks: Too Many State Secrets
Congress may condemn the classified information that’s appearing in the Times, but the trouble isn’t that the ship of state is too leaky. It’s that it’s too full.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/08/the-real-problem-with-leaks-too-many-state-secrets.html
@Craig Whitlock: Craig, thank you. I have made sure MadDog is aware you left this here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18483785
Yemen southern army commander Qatan dies in suicide attack
General Salem Ali Qatan on 17 June 2012 General Salem Ali Qatan was Yemen’s southern army commander
The Yemeni army commander leading the fight against militants in the south of the country has been killed in a suicide attack, officials say.
Gen Salem Ali Qatan was killed in the port city of Aden by a man wearing an explosives belt, reports said.
0 Administration’s Drone Death Figures Don’t Add Up
Last month, a “senior administration official” said the number of civilians killed in drone strikes in Pakistan under President 0 is in the “single digits.” But last year “US officials” said drones in Pakistan killed about 30 civilians in just a yearlong stretch under 0.
Both claims can’t be true.
A centerpiece of President 0’s national security strategy, drones strikes in Pakistan are credited by the administration with crippling Al Qaeda but criticized by human rights groups and others for being conducted in secret and killing civilians. The underlying facts are often in dispute and claims about how many people died and who they were vary widely.
So ProPublica decided to narrow it down to just one issue: have the administration’s own claims been consistent?
http://www.propublica.org/article/obama-drone-death-figures-dont-add-up
There appears to be a lot of positions regarding cargo ship that was heading to Syria. Investigate plausible suggestion that its just a media push to further put Russia in bad limelight and stymie their peace process proposal?
The Story Behind the Story
A new paper by former Boston Globe reporter H.D.S. Greenway delves into the conflict surrounding the publication of a 2005 Pulitzer-winning article on warrantless surveillance
http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/politics/the-story-behind-the-story.php
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/publications/papers/discussion_papers/d73_greenway.pdf
usa To Sell Record $60 Billion of Arms In 2012
usa Criticizes Russian Arm Sales to Syria
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=news-us-ss&p=arms+sales
usa DEA agent guns down and kills alledged drug trafficker
http://news.yahoo.com/dea-agent-kills-suspected-trafficker-honduras-173148563.html
wasn’t it just last week that the amerikans were there just for training and blahblahblah and now one week later they are murdering and gunning down and soon to be firing cowardly drone missiles and raping women and children and utlizing the services of prostitutes. ugly amerikans indeed. but oh so exceptional !!!!
Pakistan’s Dr Afridi, from CIA asset to solitary cell
There can be few jail cells in Pakistan as lonely as the one occupied by Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA hunt down Osama bin Laden.
He is kept in solitary confinement to protect him from hundreds of convicted militants eager to avenge their hero’s death. He may not be safe even from the guards – only two trusted officials are allowed to see him.
Beyond the walls, Afridi is as much a prisoner of Pakistan’s growing resentment of the United States as he is a victim of his own dalliance with high-stakes espionage.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/24/us-pakistan-afridi-idUSBRE85N0OY20120624
The Biggest And Most Expensive Embassy In The World Is About To Get A Massive Upgrade
usa occupation troops have withdrawn from Iraq, but usa Tax Payer money has not
The usa State Department planning to spend up to $115 Million to upgrade usa Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, which is already usa’s biggest and most expensive in the world, according to pre-solicitation notices published this month.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/troops-have-withdrawn-from-iraq-but-us-money-hasnt/2012/06/27/gJQA4Q6l7V_story.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-embassy-baghdad-money-2012-6
Judge Orders Twitter to Release Protester’s Messages
A criminal court judge in Manhattan has ruled that Twitter must relinquish to prosecutors messages that were sent out by a Brooklyn writer during the Occupy Wall Street protests.
The writer, Malcolm Harris, was one of about 700 protesters arrested in October while walking on the roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge. He was charged with disorderly conduct, a violation. In January, the Manhattan district attorney’s office subpoenaed all messages that he posted to Twitter, from two days before the Occupy Wall Street protests began in September through the end of 2011.
Mr. Harris’s lawyer filed a motion to quash the subpoena, saying it had not been delivered properly, was overly broad and was issued for an improper purpose.
Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. dismissed the motion in April, writing that Mr. Harris lacked the standing to oppose the subpoena because under Twitter’s policies, he had granted the company the “worldwide, nonexclusive royalty-free” right to distribute his messages, which were all publicly available.
Twitter itself then sought to squash the subpoena. But on Monday, Judge Sciarrino ordered Twitter to turn over Mr. Harris’s messages. While noting that laws regarding social media are evolving, he held that public speech, regardless of the forum, does not enjoy the protections of private speech.
“The Constitution gives you the right to post, but as numerous people have learned, there are still consequences for your public posts,” Judge Sciarrino wrote. “What you give to the public belongs to the public. What you keep to yourself belongs only to you.”
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/judge-orders-twitter-to-release-protesters-messages/
gawd, just look at the amount of $$$$ the usa spends to keep its secrets secret. gawd, what a disgusting waste of money and manpower and – words just fail.
http://www.archives.gov/isoo/reports/2011-cost-report.pdf
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-government-keeps-raising-its-budget-for-keeping-secrets-2012-7
Hammond, Indiana man retrieves weapons, ammunition that had been seized by FBI, usa government during failed persecution of Hutaree Militia
Dogs Still Missing However
http://www.nwitimes.com/search/?l=25&skin=/&sd=desc&s=start_time&f=html&q=Thomas%20Piatek
FYI:
USDA (actually EPA as I understand it) might change the ethanol mandate trying to reduce the demand for corn in order to help the food producing sector but USDA has come out and said, in affect, no way are we hurting the green economy (ethanol).
Thought this would be a good sidebar possibility to your post today on the Farm Bubble.
State laws against drones are popping up! The Virginia ACLU is teaming with a GOP delegate to protect civil liberties from drones. They want to regulate state police drones to cases with a warrant.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jul/12/gop-delegate-aclu-to-push-legislation-regulating-d-ar-2052279/
As I and others predicted,
JPMorgan says $2 billion trading loss was actually $5.8 billion (AP)
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_JPMORGAN_CHASE_TRADING_LOSS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-07-13-12-11-47
“The elephant in the room was not whether Mitt was involved in investment decisions but Mitt’s retention of control of the firm and therefore his ability to extract a huge economic benefit by delaying his giving “Tup of that control,” said one former associate…Romney’s negotiating position was along these lines: “I created an incredibly valuable firm that’s making all you guys rich. You owe me.’ That’s the negotiation.”
I commented earlier in the week that Romney’s exit smelled like extortion. Seems that’s what these quotes from Bain execs who were there are politely saying.
Puts an even finer point on the tax returns. Romney’s income over the decade as payout of his share of all the deals that were in process had to be massive. That money was on top of retirement payout for Bain’s past profitability.
Opinions varied on how to project profits, and Romney’s share, over the life of the deals. With every day that passed he was collecting his owners share of revenue as it came in. That reduced the future money to argue about and made him a ton of money. The CEO salary was a thumb in the eye, because he could. What it really did was put a very fine point on his leverage.
Implied, to the effect: “Gee guys, I’m sorry you don’t see my value in the deals the same way I do. Remember buckos, this temple is mine, all mine. If you make me feel you’re ungrateful that I’ve chosen to make you rich, I will be very disappointed. That could make me just quit negotiating, take my share as it comes in, and pull the temple down around us when that’s done. All I have to do is quit signing the SEC docs. Oh, and I’m really busy doing charity work with the Olympics. Signing is a distraction from that, so you have to pay the opportunity cost. That was $100k last year, it’ll be $250k this year, and maybe a million next year if I feel like doing it at all.”
Other reports are that offshore tax havens were part of Bain from the start.Smells like a lot of money got through those worm holes.
Upshot may be that a lot of what Romney and the campaign have been saying about his operational role is narrowly not unreasonable. That argument distracts attention from the real issues. Their concerns about questions raised by numbers that would be disclosed in tax returns are absolutely true.
There is no substitute for tax returns going back to at least 1998, the last year before the retroactive retirement. Remember Deep Throat, “Follow the money”.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2012/07/20/what-happened-when-mitt-romney-left-bain-capital-romney-kept-reins-bargained-hard-severance/ZWC9cWdfp0Oh6KbatsCy0K/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18936072
Rezwan Ferdaus admits US model plane explosives plot
An American supporter of al-Qaeda has pleaded guilty to trying to blow up the Pentagon and US Capitol with explosives-laden remote-controlled model planes.
A child confronts Obama about his license to kill in the harrowing anti drone animation COLLATERAL DAMAGE at earthens.net
When reading this site on my blackberry, I some times get a popup asking if I want to send the story to a friend. I am not able to close that popup window, so I can’t use your site.
This popup has happened on other sites, and on them I am able to scroll to the right, and close the popup window. On your site I am not able to scroll to the right.
First off, if the client is a blackberry, or other small screen device, do not present that popup. At least find the setting which will allow me to scroll to the right.
Thanks.
So this is where everyone went.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-06/romney-persona-non-grata-in-italy-for-bain-s-deal-skirting-taxes.html
This deal might be the one that makes sense of several things. Apparently the Italians are still so mad about it that Mittens skipped a stop there.
Bain made about a Billion dollars from buying and reselling the state telephone directory.
Bain laundered the profits through Luxembourg to avoid taxes.
The buy was in late 1997 when Mittens was admittedly (sorry, couldn’t resist) still running things.
Bain sold in early 2000, reportedly making 28 bucks for each dollar invested.
Presuming they followed their usual MO, they bled off $10′s of millions more before selling.
The article opines Mittens made $50-$60 million. That raises questions and facilitates inferences:
(1) Exactly how much did Mittens make? (what’s $10 million between friends?)
(2) How much income did Mittens declare in the USA?
(3) How much did he pay in US taxes? (see B below for tax deferral)
(A) Valuation of this deal is big enough to drive a 3 year negotiation on terms of separation.
Mittens wants it all, Bain wants to discount the future value.
It has to sell to establish actual value so they can settle.
Mittens sits tight and preserves his standing as sole stockholder, Chair, CEO, etc.
Extracting a six figure salary for signing documents that let Bain continue making deals rubs their noses in it and adds pressure while he waits them out.
(B)This could be the mechanism for low (actual cost) valuation of assets going into his 401k.
The actual sale price, and subsequent returns, could be a material portion of the reported current value.
(C)Perhaps the “lots of taxes” Mittens says he paid were in places like Luxembourg and not in the USA.
But nevermind, Joe Libermann says we shouldn’t be paying any attention to all this. Mittens says he doesn’t want to release the returns, so that’s it. Mitt said it, I believe it, that settles it. Move along, nothing to see here.
NDAA Suit Argued In Federal Court 8.7.2012
Sensing which way the wind is blowing with Judge Forrest, the 0 administration has already filed an appeal in higher court.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/08/ndaa_suit_argue.php
The NYPD’s Domain Awareness System Is Watching You
The New York City Police Department and Microsoft have partnered up to bring the world a surveillance system straight out of a sci-fi novel. With a name both mundane and a little bit menacing, the Domain Awareness System allows the department to access around 3,000 CCTV cameras around the city and link the feeds with software to cross-check criminal and terrorist databases, take radiation levels, scan license plates, and more — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from a lower Manhattan headquarters. And when Microsoft turns around and sells the technology to other cities, New York gets a cut.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/08/nypd-domain-awareness-system-microsoft-is-watching-you.html
Virus found in Mideast can spy on finance transactions
A new cyber surveillance virus has been found in the Middle East that can spy on financial transactions, email and social networking activity, according to a leading computer security firm, Kaspersky Lab.
Dubbed Gauss, the virus may also be capable of attacking critical infrastructure and was built in the same laboratories as Stuxnet, the computer worm widely believed to have been used by the United States and Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear program, Kaspersky Lab said on Thursday.
The Moscow-based firm said it found Gauss had infected personal computers in Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian Territories. It declined to speculate on who was behind the virus but said it was related to Stuxnet and two other cyber espionage tools, Flame and Duqu.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/09/us-cybersecurity-gauss-idUSBRE8780NJ20120809
This story has been languishing for almost a month…
http://velvelonnationalaffairs.blogspot.com/2012/07/it-appears-that-madoff-scam-was-not.html
none of the securities that Madoff inducingly told victims he would buy and sell for them — were ever bought or sold. There were, the Trustee and his lawyer have told victims, the courts and the world, no transactions in these securities. Ergo, a Ponzi scheme.
But apparently there were purchases and sales of these securities — untold and currently unknown billions of dollars of these purchases and sales. On his books, however, Bernie Madoff did not, as he should have, credit the investor-victims with ownership of the billions of dollars in securities he was buying (and selling). Instead, on his books he unlawfully kept ownership for himself. There was a fraud alright, but the fraud was not the Ponzi fraud of failing to buy the very items the crook said he would buy. The fraud, rather, was in failing to credit his investors with the ownership of the securities on Madoff’s books, as should have been done, and instead keeping the securities for Madoff himself.
———————
So why are the transactions being hidden? Clawback limitations and perhaps a giant pile ‘o cash for starters. Cui Bono?
WIKILEAKS: Surveillance Cameras Around The Country Are Being Used In A Huge Spy Network
TRAPWIRE is the name of a program revealed in the latest Wikileaks bonanza
http://mirror2.wikileaks-press.org/gifiles/releasedate/2012-08-09.html
Stratfor emails reveal secret, widespread TrapWire surveillance system
http://rt.com/usa/news/stratfor-trapwire-abraxas-wikileaks-313/
http://www.businessinsider.com/trapwire-everything-you-need-to-know-2012-8
http://www.youtube.com/davidseamanonline
On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered “global intelligence” company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.
After Sinai Attack, usa and Egypt Step Up Talks on Security
The Pentagon is discussing a variety of options for sharing intelligence with Egypt’s military and police in Sinai. They include intercepts of cellphone or radio conversations of militants suspected of plotting attacks and overhead imagery provided by aircraft — both piloted and drones — or satellites.
Ansar al-Jihad, a little-known group, also claimed responsibility for two attacks on a gas pipeline that traverses the Sinai Desert to israel. It was not yet clear who carried out last Sunday’s attack, which american officials described as disturbingly sophisticated.
Egypt, though it receives $1.5 Billion a year in arms and other military assistance from the usa, is deeply averse to direct american involvement in its security and, in public at least, plays down the aid assistance it has received.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/world/middleeast/egypt-and-us-step-up-talks-on-security-assistance.html?pagewanted=all
At least 18 killed in Yemen attack on intelligence HQ
Suspected al Qaeda-linked militants killed at least 18 Yemeni soldiers and security guards on Saturday in a car bombing and grenade attack on the intelligence service headquarters in Aden. More bodies were believed buried under the rubble of the building, part of which was leveled in the attack in the southern port city.
The United States has been pouring aid into Yemen to stem the threat of attacks from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and to try to prevent any spillover of violence into neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/18/us-yemen-attack-idUSBRE87H03I20120818
well, hell, a ton of money, a bunch of “trainers” (i.e., dirty filthy mercenaries) in-country, countless drone attacks and still AQAP can blow s*** up at will.
what was Plan B ????
Occupy Wall Street protester seeks to block tweets subpoena
An Occupy Wall Street protester who took part in a mass protest in New York last year is accusing a judge of overstepping his authority by ordering Twitter to hand over the demonstrator’s tweets and account information to prosecutors.
Malcolm Harris, a Brooklyn-based writer, claims the information sought by prosecutors is akin to surveillance records, because computer logs will show his location when he connected to the site.
“In this case, anyone reviewing the information and material Twitter has been ordered to turn over will know each time – between September 15 and December 30, 2011 – Harris logged into his Twitter account, where he was when he logged in, how long he remained there and both what he did and who he communicated with while he was logged in,” Harris’ lawyers wrote in a memorandum accompanying the petition.
Harris’ filing also seeks an order requiring Sciarrino to recognize his standing to challenge the subpoena on free speech grounds and the Fourth Amendment’s protection against warrantless searches.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/21/us-usa-occupy-twitter-idUSBRE87K0V420120821
Daphne Eviatar: Definitive Questions to be Argued at 9/11 Hearings at Guantanamo Bay Concentration & Torture Camp This Week
Starting 8.21.2012, almost 11 years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, the US military commissions at Guantanamo Bay will hear the first set of arguments in preparation for the trial of the five alleged plotters.
Lawyers will argue over whether the US constitution applies at Guantanamo Bay, as it would in a regular US court; whether everything that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators say is “presumptively classified” – especially any statements about their capture and treatment by the US government in CIA custody; and whether the government can prevent defense lawyers from sharing even unclassified information with the media.
It’s no exaggeration to say that this will be a defining moment for the United States.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daphne-eviatar/definitive-questions-to-b_b_1811966.html?utm_hp_ref=world
Train derailment cuts internet to Guantánamo Bay Concentration & TOrture Camp, delays 9/11 hearing
A train derailment in Maryland cut internet service between the war court compound here and the Pentagon on Tuesday, forcing a day’s delay of pretrial hearings in the September 11 terror case.
The source of the outage was a train derailment near Baltimore that killed two teenage girls. All internet links from Guantánamo Bay move through two satellite dishes on the base that beam signals to downlink locations in Maine and Maryland. The train derailment damaged the fiber-optic line in Maryland.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/21/2961829/internet-outage-delays-911-hearing.html
why does 0 want this “Free” Trans-Pacific Partnership pact so badly??? who/what is he doing the bidding of??? usa chamber of commerce??? with clinton toward end of his 2nd term, cheney especially/bush and now with 0 i see politicians who do everything possible to HARM America and Americans – NOT Help!!!
Study sees US auto job losses if Japan joins trade pact
Job losses could be greater if yen depreciates significantly
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/21/usa-japan-autos-idUSL2E8JLDND20120821
There is a very important mortgage case decided by the Washington State Supreme Court last week that says MERS does not have the authority to foreclose on a property in Washington. http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/index.cfm?fa=opinions.showOpinion&filename=862061MAJ
According to TruthOut, this will have major implications across the country. truth-out.org/news/item/11045-real-remedies-for-the-foreclosure-crisis-exist-the-game-changing-implications-of-bain-v-mers
In addition, the court decided that if MERS does file a foreclosure, it may (decided on a case by case basis) be in violation of the Consumer Protection Act.
One funny thing, on page 25 of the decision, the court noted that MERS failed to identify any of its principals, but noted that in another case MERS had over 20,000 vice presidents signing documents…
Filmmaker Laura Poitras profiles William Binney, a 32-year veteran of the National Security Agency who helped design a top-secret program he says is broadly collecting Americans’ personal data.
It took me a few days to work up the nerve to phone William Binney. As someone already a “target” of the United States government, I found it difficult not to worry about the chain of unintended consequences I might unleash by calling Mr. Binney, a 32-year veteran of the National Security Agency turned whistle-blower. He picked up. I nervously explained I was a documentary filmmaker and wanted to speak to him. To my surprise he replied: “I’m tired of my government harassing me and violating the Constitution. Yes, I’ll talk to you.”
Mr. Binney described details about Stellar Wind, the NSA’s top-secret domestic spying program begun after 9/11, which was so controversial that it nearly caused top Justice Department officials to resign in protest, in 2004.
To those who understand state surveillance as an abstraction, I will try to describe a little about how it has affected me. The United States apparently placed me on a “watch-list” in 2006 after I completed a film about the Iraq war. I have been detained at the border more than 40 times. Once, in 2011, when I was stopped at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and asserted my First Amendment right not to answer questions about my work, the border agent replied, “If you don’t answer our questions, we’ll find our answers on your electronics.”’ As a filmmaker and journalist entrusted to protect the people who share information with me, it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to work in the United States. Although I take every effort to secure my material, I know the NSA has technical abilities that are nearly impossible to defend against if you are targeted.
Laura Poitras is a documentary filmmaker who has been nominated for an Academy Award and whose work was exhibited in the 2012 Whitney Biennial. She is working on a trilogy of films about post-9/11 America.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-national-security-agencys-domestic-spying-program.html?ref=opinion
‘They need to apologize to the Muslim community’
NYPD surveillance will only hurt anti-terrorism efforts, say Muslims
Controversial program risks alienating Muslims and hasn’t generated a single lead, but NYPD steadfastly defends it
Are the AP’s findings ‘just the tip of the iceberg’?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/23/nypd-surveillance-anti-terrorism-muslims
I suppose you’ve seen this one:
Prosecutor: Ga. murder case uncovers terror plot
Four Army soldiers based in southeast Georgia killed a former comrade and his girlfriend to protect an anarchist militia group they formed that stockpiled assault weapons and plotted a range of anti-government attacks, prosecutors told a judge Monday.
more
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SOLDIERS_CHARGED_PLOT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-27-17-35-13
Note that while the article title says terror, they were only charged with gang membership! (and murder). Also note they are described as anarchist group, not right wing or left wing terror.
Court ruling that NSA spying violated 4th Amendment remains secret
EFF sues US to uncover details of court decision on phone and e-mail spying
Last month, a letter to Congress noted that “on at least one occasion” a secretive US court ruled that National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance carried out under a 2008 act of Congress violated the Fourth Amendment’s restriction against unreasonable searches and seizures. But the actual ruling remains secret. Decisions handed down by the US’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) are classified “because of the sensitive intelligence matters they concern,” the letter from the Office of the National Intelligence Director to Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) states.
The explanation wasn’t good enough for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for details on the FISC ruling or rulings. Today, the EFF followed that up with a lawsuit against the Department of Justice in US District Court in Washington, DC, saying its July 26 FOIA request has not been processed within the 20-day deadline.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/08/court-ruling-that-nsa-spying-violated-4th-amendment-remains-secret/
NSA Surveillance Violated Constitution, Secret FISA Court Found
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/nsa-surveillance-violated-constitution-secret-fisa-court-found/
Letter acquired by Dangerroom @ wired.com
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2012/07/2012-07-20-OLA-Ltr-to-Senator-Wyden-ref-Declassification-Request.pdf
The EFF wants the information because of its current lawsuit against the NSA (i.e. Jewel vs. NSA) that alleges the US government operates an illegal mass domestic surveillance program. Three NSA whistleblowers — including William Binney — agreed to provide evidence that the NSA has been running a domestic spying program since 2001.
The kicker is that there is ample evidence that the NSA has gone above and beyond the powers granted through the 2008 FISA Amendment Act by actively spying on the electronic communications of American citizens within the US and by coercing service providers to feed it any and all information it wants.
That is what FISC found and what the government does not want to admit.
http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-spying-4th-amendment-2012-8
The Guatemala News – Exactly how many US soldiers are in Guatemala and what do they do?
We don’t want US military presence in Guatemala. We have extensively published against the illegal, ineffective and bloody war on drugs since 2008.
Guatemala’s President General Otto Pérez is not to be trusted; the new government that started on January 2012 is already deeply involved in corruption and crime. And do not forget Otto Pérez and his army friend’s history in military intelligence during the civil war in Guatemala, when they used to work hand in hand with the CIA. It can be assumed they still work together; it is a logical assumption, a marriage of convenience.
President Obama and the US military industrial complex are not to be trusted either; we haven’t seen a promise yet that they can keep. The scandals of corruption, assassination of civilians, torture, extraordinary rendition, etc. in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries with US military presence just keep on coming.
Bottom Line: It is not about the drugs, it is about the money.
See news coverage about Big International Financial Institutions benefiting from laundering money, US included.
http://www.guatemala-times.com/opinion/editorial/3248-exactly-how-many-us-soldiers-are-in-guatemala-and-what-do-they-do.html
Guatemala-USA Drug Operation Riles Rights Groups
Human Rights activists in Guatemala said Friday that a joint anti-drug operation between US Marines and the nation’s army threatens to revive memories of rights abuses during Guatemala’s 1960 – 1996 civil war.
“Rural communities in Guatemala are fearful of the military being used to combat drug traffickers because the same techniques are applied that were used in contra (counterinsurgency) warfare,” said rights advocate Helen Mack, executive director of the Myrna Mack Foundation. “The historical memory is there and Guatemalans are fearful of that.”
Kelsey Alford-Jones of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA noted that Guatemalan armed forces, which were backed by the USA during the civil war, committed more than 93 percent of the acts of violence.
more of the horrible nightmare that the usa caused in Guatemala and may well cause again at >>> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/01/guatemala-us-drug-operation_n_1848731.html
From the BBC:
Afghan police recruits’ training halted after attacks on Nato
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19454742
The US says it is suspending training for new recruits to the Afghan local police (ALP) while checks are carried out on possible ties to the Taliban
From the BBC,
Desmond Tutu calls for Blair and Bush to be tried over Iraq
Tony Blair and George W Bush should be taken to the International Criminal Court in The Hague over the Iraq war, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19454562
this is so very very cool. damn shame that the 0 admin has not been doing this type of thing country wide since Day One instead of cowardly drone attacking and killing everyone on the planet and allowing wall street to walk off with the loot scott free. god – a wasted four years on top of the wasted 8 year nightmare that cheney / bush was – how many more wasted years can this country and its citizens afford ????
EMU partners with Wireless Ypsi to provide free Internet access to 2 low-income housing developments
Two low-income Ypsilanti housing developments now have free wireless Internet access because of an initiative spearheaded by an Eastern Michigan University program and Wireless Ypsi.
EMU’s Business Side of Youth program, Digital Inclusion, partnered with Wireless Ypsi to provide Internet access for Hollow Creek and Paradise Manor housing developments.
much more of the coolness >>>>>
http://annarbor.com/news/ypsilanti/paradise-manor-hollow-creek/?cmpid=mlive-@mlive-business-a2#.UEUrKSIY6F4
Lawyer for Assange detained at Heathrow and told she was on a ‘secret watch list’
A lawyer acting for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says she was stopped at Heathrow and told that she was on a secret watch-list and required special clearance before she could board her plane.
Australian Jennifer Robinson said she was left stunned after being told by an airline crew that she was on an ‘inhibited person list’ that means she must have ‘done something controversial’.
The incident happened in April but this is the first time Ms Robinson has talked about it to a British newspaper.
Virgin Atlantic said it could not comment on the case ‘due to data protection’.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2197003/Lawyer-Assange-detained-Heathrow-told-secret-watch-list.html
didn’t the Swedes just used to make pornography???
now they have become the world’s policeman. wth?!?!?
A co-founder of popular file sharing website The Pirate Bay was arrested in Cambodia at the request of Sweden, where he faces a one-year prison term for violating copyright laws.
“He is being detained in Cambodia and we are waiting to expel him,” Kirth Chantharith said. Cambodia has no extradition treaty with Sweden but has requested details of Svartholm Warg’s crime in order to process his handover, he said, adding that Cambodia would act as quickly as possible.
http://news.yahoo.com/cambodia-arrests-pirate-bay-co-founder-034046775–finance.html
J. Bradford DeLong: Who Are We Becoming?: Torture Edition
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2012/09/who-are-we-becoming-torture-edition.html
Torture Without Accountability
Scott Lemieux: Why hasn’t the Obama administration tried to prosecute any cheney / bush – era torture crimes?
http://prospect.org/article/torture-without-accountability
Adam Serwer: Investigation of cheney / bush – era Torture Concludes With No Charges
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/08/durham-torture-cia-obama-holder
USA drone strike in Yemen killed 13 civilians, including three women, security officials in the restive Middle Eastern country said.
“This was one of the very few times when our target was completely missed. It was a mistake, but we hope it will not hurt our anti-terror efforts in the region,” a senior Yemeni Defense Ministry official said.
“You want us to stay quiet while our wives and brothers are being killed for no reason. This attack is the real terrorism,” said Mansoor al-Maweri, who was near the scene of the strike.
“I would not be surprised if a hundred tribesmen joined the lines of al Qaeda as a result of the latest drone mistake,” said Nasr Abdullah, an activist in the district of the attack. “This part of Yemen takes revenge very seriously.”
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/03/world/meast/yemen-drone-strike/?hpt=hp_t3
John Brennan and the white house make new friends!! how exciting!!
Pakistan orders Save the Children foreign workers to leave
Aid group is accused of being used as cover for USA spies while they were hunting for Osama bin Laden
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/sep/05/pakistan-voluntarysector
9-6-2012 – Additional torture – yes, more. From the AP:
Human Rights Watch said it has uncovered evidence of a wider use of waterboarding in American interrogations of detainees than has been acknowledged by the United States, in a report today that details further brutal treatment at secret CIA-run prisons under the Bush administration-era U.S. program of detention and rendition of terror suspects.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/sep/06/human-rights-group-says-has-evidence-wider-us-wate-ar-2182523/
We’re one crucial step closer to seeing Tony Blair at The Hague
Desmond Tutu has helped us see the true nature of what the former prime minister did to Iraq and increased pressure for a prosecution
When Desmond Tutu wrote that Tony Blair should be treading the path to The Hague, he de-normalised what Blair has done. Tutu broke the protocol of power – the implicit accord between those who flit from one grand meeting to another – and named his crime. I expect that Blair will never recover from it.
The offence is known by two names in international law: the crime of aggression and a crime against peace. It is defined by the Nuremberg principles as the “planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression”. This means a war fought for a purpose other than self-defence: in other words outwith articles 33 and 51 of the UN Charter.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/03/tony-blair-the-hague-iraq-war
From the AP:
US declares Haqqani network a terrorist body
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_US_HAQQANI_NETWORK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-07-11-42-18
The United States of America has refused to extradite a former president of Bolivia to the South American country to stand trial over political violence and corruption.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/07/bolivia-usa-idUSL2E8K7CYG20120907
Bolivian President Evo Morales denounces USA for refusing to extradite former leader
http://news.yahoo.com/bolivia-denounces-us-extradition-denial-175926786.html?_esi=1
USA Moves to Grant Former Mexican President Immunity in Suit
A former Mexican president who is now a scholar at Yale University should be immune from a civil lawsuit brought against him in the United States in connection with a 1997 massacre during his term, the State Department said Friday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/world/americas/us-moves-to-grant-former-mexican-president-immunity-in-suit.html
shouldn’t Pete Hoekstra be jumping up and down about this???
and yes, we are filing this under “Told You Murdering War On Drugs Bastards So”
usa Suspends Its Antidrug Radar-Sharing With Honduras
Seeking better controls for its militarized approach to combating drugs in Central America, the usa has suspended all sharing of radar intelligence with Honduras after the Honduran Air Force shot down two planes that might have been carrying drugs in July. <<< we do not recall reading / hearing about this in / from ANY usa corporate media outlet.
The attacks were not previously disclosed by american officials. The officials said that american agents had not investigated the crash sites and did not know who or what had been aboard. <<< !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no f***ing clue whatsoever and NO followup investigation ?!?!?! WTH !?!?!?! maybe the planes were carrying usa Missionaries just like before when usa proxy killers blew their plane out of the sky !!!! holy wah !!!!
Insisting that no Americans were involved, the officials said the Honduran Air Force’s actions violated a bilateral agreement, which prohibits attacks on civilian aircraft. After the downings occurred, the American ambassador “expressed grave concern” and requested a full accounting. <<< wonder if the pun was intended – "grave" as the occupants of the shot down planes were sent to their graves ….
The usa would continue to keep its radar intelligence to itself until Honduras put in place “remedial measures” that would prevent similar episodes. <<< here's a better idea – how about getting the HELL OUT OF HONDURAS AND QUIT MURDERING PEOPLE!??!?!?
It is unclear what those measures might be. Nor is it clear whether the suspension represents a larger break with a policy of more direct involvement in Honduras, where the american military has recently built a number of bases for drug interdiction. Since then, american agents and the Honduran authorities have seized several tons of cocaine but have also been involved in controversial shootings (i.e., cold blooded killings and murders). <<< a lot of MURK in this graph. and as always, the nyt can be counted on to carry bucketloads of water for whatever the usg has done or is doing. watchdog 4th estate not so much. and have there been any reports of these BASES (plural) that the usa has built in Honduras ????
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/08/world/americas/us-suspends-antidrug-radar-sharing-with-honduras-after-planes-are-downed.html
associated propaganda helpfully reminds us all of 911911911911911911OMGTERRORISTS with the following Q&A !!!
The usa is for a second time attempting to prosecute five prisoners [of war] held at the US Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for planning and aiding the September 11 attacks, charging them with war crimes in a special tribunal for wartime offenses known as a Kangaroo Court military commission.
http://news.yahoo.com/questions-answers-9-11-war-crimes-trial-162146648.html?_esi=1
Commence Operation Cover-Up & Whitewash!!!
A usa-based non-governmental organization criticized Honduras’ official investigation of a fatal shooting during a drug interdiction operation after its conclusions contradicted reports of witnesses and the group’s own investigation into what happened.
The probe’s findings said that two victims were not pregnant and that none of the four people killed were hit by gunfire from a law-enforcement helicopter involved in the May drug raid in the Mosquitia region. Local people and some rights activists have claimed the victims were shot by police, two were pregnant and all were innocent civilians traveling a river at night. Police said the people killed were in a boat that fired on the helicopter.
“The Honduran authorities’ claims simply are not credible, when confronted with forensic evidence and so much eyewitness testimony to the contrary,” Dan Beeton, spokesman for the Washington-based Center for Economic Policy and Research in Washington.
Authorities in the usa and Honduras have refused to release videos of either the May 11 shooting incident or the autopsies of the victims, video that could resolve disputes over details.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jb34qBPXpha-OCI7swT1o38o3Nyw?docId=3d106a8e927f4efbaea1031df2413fc4
Twitter Told to Produce Protestor’s Posts or Face Fine
Twitter Inc. has to turn over information about an Occupy Wall Street protester’s posts or face a fine, a judge ruled, giving the company three days to show it isn’t in contempt of court.
Twitter’s case will determine whether it faces the burden of responding to subpoenas for its users, the San Francisco – based company has said. The outcome is significant throughout the US as law enforcement becomes more aggressive in seeking information about what people do and say on the Internet, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a May 31 court filing.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-11/twitter-told-to-produce-protestor-s-posts-or-face-fine.html
knew that the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and the US Air Force had this problem but did not realize that the cancer had spread throughout the “elite” units of the usa military – ugh. bet it is just The Crusades all over again for these kind of people. bleah.
Glen Doherty, Security Officer Killed In Libya Attack, Fought Religious Proselytizing In USA Military
Doherty was an “extremely active” member of the advisory board of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), an advocacy group that fights inappropriate religious proselytizing inside the armed forces, said founder Mikey Weinstein, a retired Air Force lawyer.
“He confirmed for me how deeply entrenched fundamentalist Christianity is in the DoD Spec Ops [Department of Defense Special Operations] world of the SEALs, Green Berets, Delta Force, Army Rangers, USAF … and DoD security contractors like the former Blackwater,” Weinstein said. Doherty “helped me on many MRFF client cases behind the scenes to facilitate assistance to armed forces members abused horribly by fundamentalist Christian proselytizing.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/glen-doherty-libya-attack_n_1880566.html?utm_hp_ref=world
Many politically unstable areas of South Asia are “water-stressed,” meaning the areas are facing water scarcity due to poor infrastructure or simply lacking enough water to meet demand.
The potential impacts of climate change on water scarcity could further inflame political tensions, finds a new report, “Himalayan Glaciers: Climate Change, Water Resources, and Water Security,” released by the National Research Council (NRC). Funding was provided by the Central Intelligence Agency.
The report examines how changes to Himalayan glaciers could affect the area’s river systems, water supplies and population. The region’s glaciers cross eight countries and are the source of drinking water, irrigation and hydroelectric power for roughly 1.5 billion people.
http://www.livescience.com/23119-climate-change-himalayas-water-scarcity.html
readers of this blog have seen a rise in Lawlessness on Wall Street ever since the Clinton administration rolled back fundamental regulations (Glass Steagall) that up until the late 1990′s kept the swine on Wall Street semi in check. Unfortunately Clinton and Rubin with the influence of Phil Gramm screwed over the country and the world and now we are where are today – watching Ben Bernanke crank up the printing presses for about the sixth or seventh time (how high does he want the stock market to go???).
maybe lost in the attack and protests this past week was some interesting financial / wall street related news.
here are some reports:
NYSE fine may further erode investors’ trust in stock markets
The New York Stock Exchange agreed to pay $5 million to settle charges that it made stock quotes available to select customers before the general public.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0915-nyse-fine-20120914,0,687370.story
NYSE Data Violations Extend US Exchanges’ Reputation Woes
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-15/nyse-data-violations-extend-u-s-exchanges-reputation-woes.html
New York Stock Exchange Settles Case Over Early Data Access
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/n-y-s-e-settles-regulatory-action-on-trading-data/
US banks subject of money-laundering probe
http://news.yahoo.com/report-us-banks-subject-money-laundering-probe-184354641–finance.html?_esi=1
Money-Laundering Inquiry Is Said to Aim at US Banks
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/15/business/money-laundering-inquiry-said-to-target-us-banks.html?pagewanted=all
but the vast corporate american media complex – for the life of itself – just cannot figure out or understand what this Occupy thing is all about and what those gd smelly unwashed peace loving justice seeking hippies want gd it !!!!
Occupy movement turns 1 year old, its effect still hard to define
Since Occupy Wall Street sparked a nationwide movement, no broad tangible result has emerged.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-occupy-anniversary-20120915,0,4126620.story
Occupy Wall Street marks its first anniversary on Monday, and, in a bid to rejuvenate a movement that has failed to sustain momentum after sparking a national conversation about economic inequality last fall, activists plan once again to descend on New York’s financial district.
The group, which popularized the phrase “We are the 99 percent,” will attempt to surround the New York Stock Exchange and disrupt morning rush hour in the financial district.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/15/us-usa-occupy-idUSBRE88E07220120915
a few things that caught our eye as we marched All Along The Watchtower …
as court issues and privacy issues are regularly and rightly discussed on this blog, this item might be of interest to readers:
Twitter turns over Occupy tweets to court: Why this matters
Twitter succumbed to pressure from a New York criminal court to turn over deleted tweets of an Occupy Wall Street protester. This is why you should care.
Whether you plan to start protesting things or otherwise bring the attention of police, prosecutors, and courts into your life, Twitter’s involvement in the case against Harris should concern anyone who looks to the US Constitution as the law of the land. At stake are the rights afforded by the Fourth Amendment’s protection against “unreasonable searches and seizures,” and the First Amendment protection of free speech, both of which are being tested by this case — a case that, on its surface, only concerns a misdemeanor crime punishable by a $250 fine or 15 days in jail.
much much more at >>>>
http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/twitter-turns-over-tweets-to-court/
Matt Stoller asks a good question: No wonder Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are both praising the guy. Question is, why are we?
Bill Clinton is no liberal hero
The former president is suddenly at the center of the 2012 race.
Have we forgotten how he screwed the economy?
http://www.salon.com/2012/09/14/clintons_no_liberal_hero/
NYTimes Editorial
Death at Guantánamo Bay
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/opinion/sunday/death-at-guantanamo-bay.html
Op-Ed from Baher Azmy (legal director of Center for Constitutional Rights)
The Face of Indefinite Detention
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/opinion/life-and-death-at-guantanamo-bay.html
ALERT THE MEDIA!! STOP THE PRESSES!!
somebody looked backward and took responsibility!!!
UC to pay settlement in Davis pepper spray case
UC leaders agree to pay settlement to 21 UC Davis students and alumni who sued over campus officers’ use of pepper spray during a November 2011 protest.
The University of California will pay damages to the UC Davis students and alumni who were pepper sprayed by campus police during an otherwise peaceful protest 10 months ago.
Jonathan Stein, the UC student regent, said the settlement was warranted. “We did an injustice to our students that day at Davis, and some amount of recompense is appropriate. More importantly, it’s time for us as an institution to publicly acknowledge that’s not the way we should treat our students; we were wrong, and we are moving forward,” he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-pepper-spray-20120914,0,1752264.story?track=rss
Appeals court judges seem skeptical of CIA secrecy on drone program
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/appeals-court-judges-seem-skeptical-of-cia-secrecy-on-drone-program/2012/09/20/d30e1bd0-033c-11e2-9132-f2750cd65f97_story.html
CIA Role in US Drone Strikes Scrutinized by Appeals Court
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-20/cia-role-in-u-dot-s-dot-drone-strikes-scrutinized-by-appeals-court
Appeals court skeptical of Obama secrecy around drone killings
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/20/us-usa-legal-drones-idUSBRE88J12120120920
ACLU Demands CIA Disclose Details of Death-by-Drone Program
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/12904-aclu-demands-cia-disclose-details-of-death-by-drone-program
Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/court-today-fighting-cias-secrecy-claims-drones
As DFHs Predicted, DHS “Fusion” Centers Huge Taxpayer Boondoggle, Violate Americans’ Privacy Eight Ways to Sunday
James Risen @ nyt
One of the nation’s biggest domestic counterterrorism programs has failed to provide virtually any useful intelligence
The centers “forwarded intelligence of uneven quality — oftentimes shoddy, rarely timely, sometimes endangering citizens’ civil liberties and Privacy Act protections, occasionally taken from already published public sources, and more often than not unrelated to terrorism.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/us/inquiry-cites-flaws-in-regional-counterterrorism-offices.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
The findings are clear: Michigan Consumers are “paying the price” for the repeal of the Item Pricing Law
Followup investigation has found that not only did Shopping Reform and Modernization Act (SMRA) not lower grocery prices; Michigan prices have stayed consistently higher and grew at a faster rate than the national average.
and employees hours and wages have all been cut since law was rammed down the throats of Michigan citizens by snider / greedy ol’ parasites / the 1% / reich wing stenographers etc etc etc
http://www.michcitizenaction.org/ipl-pt-i-executive-summary.html
http://www.michcitizenaction.org/ipl-full-report-pt-ii.html
http://www.michcitizenaction.org/ipl-full-report-pt-iii.html
http://www.michcitizenaction.org/index.html
Wave Buh-Bye to the Environment of the State of Michigan!!
Consumers Power Guy appointed Michigan Great Lakes office chief
Patty Birkholz has “resigned” [i.e., told she was out] as director of Michigan’s Office of the Great Lakes, and Governor Rick Snyder appointed Jon Allan to succeed her.
Allan directs environmental policy and intergovernmental affairs for Consumers Energy Co. The governor’s office says he’ll serve in the state post as an “executive on loan” for at least a year.
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/jon_allan_appointed_michigan_g.html
Truthout – Colorado PBS Runs 9/11 Film Sponsored by 9/11 Families: Experts Reject Official Story, Present Evidence of Demolition
http://truth-out.org/news/item/11851-colorado-pbs-runs-9-11-film-sponsored-by-9-11-families-experts-reject-official-story-present-evidence-of-demolition
what country is this – East Germany? USSR? Red Communist China? any of the former Soviet Bloc countries??? holy moley the usa is turning into a fascist police state faster than you can say “Papers Please”.
USA Department of Justice to defend warrantless cell phone tracking
Prosecutors say Americans have “no privacy interest” in location records revealing minute-to-minute movements of their mobile devices, even when they’re not in use.
The Obama administration will tell federal judges in New Orleans that warrantless tracking of the location of Americans’ mobile devices is perfectly legal.
Federal prosecutors are planning to argue that they should be able to obtain stored records revealing the minute-by-minute movements of mobile users over a 60-day period without having to ask a judge to approve a warrant first.
The case highlights how valuable location data is for police, especially when it’s tied to devices that millions of people carry with them almost all the time. Records kept by wireless carriers can hint at or reveal medical treatments, political associations, religious convictions, and even whether someone is cheating on his or her spouse.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57524109-38/justice-dept-to-defend-warrantless-cell-phone-tracking/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19853903
Abu Hamza among five terror suspects extradited to USA from the UK.
5 PM EDT Friday night special event.
The Prosecution of an American President
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9jkJ0wjtHQ
Film Website: http://prosecution2012.com
The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder – Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68_3rjp0Rkw&feature=youtu.be
David Swanson Interviews Vincent Bugliosi
http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/archives/mp3/The_People_Speak_2008-06-26.mp3
Amway heir replacing dad’s Lake Michigan cottage with $3.6 million home
Amway heir David Van Andel is constructing a $3.6 million home on one of the most prominent building sites in West Michigan: a parcel overlooking Lake Michigan, the Big Red lighthouse and the Holland Channel.
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2012/10/amway_heir_replacing_dads_lake.html
But Wait!!! All is not well in Tulip Town!!!
Media request for info on Amway heir home prompts Park Township to limit access to building files
Whether you are in the development business or a potential renter, you can no longer see the files that Park Township keeps on each building in the community, a top township official said.
This is because the lakeshore township north of Holland has stopped allowing people to access information contained in its building files.
The policy came to light when an MLive reporter asked to see the file for the home that Amway heir David Van Andel is building along the Holland Channel’s south side, overlooking Lake Michigan, the Big Red lighthouse and Holland State Park.
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2012/10/mlive_request_for_info_on_amwa.html
SUBVERSIVES
The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise to Power
By Seth Rosenfeld
Reviewed by Matt Taibbi
America never got over the ’60s. The deep social divisions that emerged during that decade remain, for the most part, the divisions that define modern American politics. The battle lines are still so painfully visible that 50 years after the beginning of the Vietnam War and the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, the presidential race this year will come down to a contest between a former community organizer pilloried for supposed ties to ’60s radicals and a former Stanford student who protested against campus antiwar demonstrations.
Moreover, the current culture war being played out between watchers of Fox News and readers of The Huffington Post is really the same old ’60s argument, pitting social conservatives’ unshakable faith in American exceptionalism against the progressive insistence that there’s something dark and violent at the core of American hegemony. These two sides have painstakingly constructed competing versions of recent American history, leaving us without even a common set of historical facts to debate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/books/review/subversives-by-seth-rosenfeld.html?ref=bookreviews&_r=0&pagewanted=all
http://www.amazon.com/Subversives-Student-Radicals-Reagans-Power/dp/0374257000/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349574004&sr=1-1&keywords=Seth+Rosenfeld
Abu Hamza appeared in court, full plea hearing scheduled Tuesday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19857517
7 British troops arrested in regards to suspected murder.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19918398
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2216471/Support-grows-seven-Royal-Marines-arrested-Afghanistan-execution-Taliban-prisoner-police-video-laptop.html?openGraphAuthor=%2Fhome%2Fsearch.html%3Fs%3D%26authornamef%3DIan%2BDrury
What strikes me is that “rules of engagement” that are being used now, first in contrast to 2003 where the US was treated to video footage of “tap” shots to the head on anyone appearing “dead” or fatally wounded which was standard operating procedure and trained, and secondly how the Taliban are allegedly adapting and throwing down weapons.
The long arm of the NSA extends to a Canadian-Tunisian-Iraq network.
Extradition approved. But where do they take him? Virginia or Gitmo or Iraq?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20013580
If it’s not the Donald, it is Romney getting to the Boston Globe to bend Gloria Allred so they can’t talk about Romney’s testimony in his buddies divorce case.
http://www.tmz.com/2012/10/25/mitt-romney-divorce-testimony/
Regarding the Benghazi rescue and the ABC story November 1, 2012 entitled:
“New Detailed Account of Benghazi Attack Notes CIA’s Quick Response”
An account in the French paper Le Figaro was published September 16, 2012. It is similar except the security personnel who flew in from Tripoli were are called ” Marines.” The Figaro account was republished in English by France24. You can see for yourself that apart from some details the accounts are alike.
Le Figaro story in French
http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2012/09/16/01003-20120916ARTFIG00216-benghazile-recit-de-l-assaut-antiamericain.php
France24 story in English
http://www.france24.com/en/20120917-libya-mystery-surrounds-benghazi-attack-consulate-usa-ambassador-stevens
The ABC story is not NEW information since this has been out since September 15th. It may be new to the US media. The question is why does it take the US media so long to get the story. The French press interviewed people in Benghazi right after the attack on the consulate and got the story out 4 days later. Is the US media not welcome in Benghazi or prevented in some way by the State Dept. from going there?
This leaves the US media in the position of waiting for the government to give them the story or waiting for the Congressional investigation to bring it out.
Marilyn Welch
Your preview did not allow corrections and your “click to edit” didn’t work so I would like to edit this sentence here:
“You can see for yourself that apart from some details the accounts are alike.”
to
You can see for yourself that apart from some minor details the ABC account and the French24 account are alike.
MW
Here’s What The Paul Craig Roberts Administration Would Look Like
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/11/09/what-paul-craig-roberts-administration-would-look-like/
Re: A “Self-Appointed” Go-Between with Lebanese Officials….
Curious (?) that Natalie Khawam’s ex-hubby Grayson Wolfe was the “investment” guy at CPA in Iraq. Here’s his Linked in profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/graysonwolfe
The Israeli military tweets: Initial reports indicate that the Iron Dome has intercepted a number of (Gaza) rockets above a major Israeli city.
Possibly Beer Sheeba.
Organize tips/comments newest first, not newest last. It is preferable not to scroll.
Who’s buying electric vehicles? Rich people with a mean income of $129,000 and who want to show off their green sentiment and edgy style more than reducing harmful emissions
http://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/2012/11/whos_buying_electric_vehicles.html#incart_river
@joe smith:
That’s too Facebookish, and reverse chronology. Life is too upside down as it is.
NYPD has quietly amassed a trove of telephone logs, all obtained without a court order, that could conceivably be used for any investigative purpose.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/nyregion/new-york-city-police-amassing-a-trove-of-cellphone-logs.html?hpw&_r=0
Seattle police plan for helicopter drones hits severe turbulence
A recent push for unmanned police aircraft in several cities is being driven largely by grants from the usa Department of Homeland Security, including more than $80,000 the city of Seattle used to buy a pair of drone helicopters in 2010.
But getting aerial drones off the ground has run into stiff opposition from civil libertarians and others who say the use of stealth airborne cameras by domestic law enforcement raises questions about privacy rights and the limits of police search powers.
The aircraft would never carry weapons, but the use of drones for even mundane tasks raises ire among some because of the association of pilotless crafts with covert usa missile strikes in places such as Pakistan and Yemen.
In Seattle last month, a community meeting where police officials presented plans to deploy their two remote-controlled helicopters erupted into yelling and angry chants of "No drones!"
In Oakland, California, this month, an Alameda County sheriff's application for a federal grant to buy an aerial drone to help monitor unruly crowds and locate illegal marijuana farms drew opposition at a Board of Supervisors meeting.
"I do not want flying spy robots looking into my private property with infrared cameras," Oakland resident Mary Madden said. "It's an invasion of my privacy."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/27/us-usa-drones-seattle-idUSBRE8AQ10R20121127
DIYDRONES – Do It Yourself Drones
http://www.diydrones.com/
This is where scientists are getting their drones for animal surveillance, land-use, enviro mapping and more. For about $2000 you get planes and low-cost software to run them. Do a plot on google maps and the drone follows the course, takes the pics and returns home.
Example of usage here: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/2012/09/27/drones-help-conserve-sumatran-orangutans-wildlife/
For good or bad, it’s so easy anyone can do it.
Dear Friends,
Please post/share this Colorlines video & story of a recent verdict against Thomas Wierdsma, Sr. VP. for GEO Group, Inc., a private prison corp.
The trial issues included witness tampering, deportation, and domestic violence.
http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/12/video_prison_operator_geo_group_executive_threatens_to_deport_daughter-in-law.html
Respectfully,
John Pineau
Lawyer
…the politician who coined the term “drug czar” – Joe Biden – continues to guide the administration’s hard-line drug policy. “The vice president has a special interest in this issue,” Sabet says. “As long as he is vice president, we’re very far off from legalization being a reality.”
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/obamas-pot-problem-20121207
Black boxes in cars raise privacy concerns
Privacy complaints have gone unheeded so far. The traffic safety administration says it doesn’t have the authority to impose limits on how the information can be used and other privacy protections. About a dozen states have some law regarding data recorders, but the rest do not.
“Right now we’re in an environment where there are no rules, there are no limits, there are no consequences and there is no transparency,” said Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy advocacy group. “Most people who are operating a motor vehicle have no idea this technology is integrated into their vehicle.”
Part of the concern is that the increasing computerization of cars and the growing communications to and from vehicles like GPS navigation and General Motors’ OnStar system could lead to unintended uses of recorder data.
“Basically your car is a computer now, so it can record all kinds of information,” said Gloria Bergquist, vice president of the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers. “It’s a lot of the same issues you have about your computer or your smartphone and whether Google or someone else has access to the data.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gqlxsj66vf-ZQsAhOM8HlILMUQZA?docId=0670fc5a34034005b0727561a57e6028
US supreme court to take California Gay Marriage court ruling case. Usurpation of states’ and peoples’ rights in 1,2,3,4 …5 votes.
Agenda Prevails Over Truth
by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/12/28/agenda-prevails-over-truth/
my 2 cents :
http://www.planforworldpeace.org
This comment is for the “FBI: show your work” post:
> Virtually every seized power justified over the last decade in the name of “terrorism” has been applied to a wide range of domestic dissent
It doesn’t even have to be political dissent, and it’s amazing what appearances folks (maybe bots) can gin up by creative use of a comments section; I’ve had someone following me around, adding ones spiced with of-interest-to-feds (or for unsavory googlebombing by association?) keywords, even though my #1 interest is science. (But tied for #2 is privacy, so maybe that counts as political.) It’s hard to feel free – or even safe – as a citizen when this happens anytime you speak out.
How to Halt the Terrorist Money Train
by Robert Mazur, a former federal agent, is the author of “The Infiltrator,” a memoir of his undercover life as a money launderer.
The only way to stop the flow of dirty money is to get tough on the bankers who help mask and transfer it around the world. Banks themselves don’t launder money, after all; people do.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/opinion/how-bankers-help-drug-traffickers-and-terrorists.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0
Senate panel to examine CIA contacts with “Zero Dark Thirty” filmmakers
After the Senate Intelligence Committee’s chairwoman expressed outrage over scenes that imply “enhanced interrogations” of CIA detainees produced a breakthrough in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the panel has begun a review of contacts between the makers of the film “Zero Dark Thirty” and CIA officials.
In the latest controversy surrounding the film, Reuters has learned that the committee will examine records charting contacts between intelligence officials and the film’s director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal.
Investigators will examine whether the spy agency gave the filmmakers “inappropriate” access to secret material, said a person familiar with the matter. They will also probe whether CIA personnel are responsible for the portrayal of harsh interrogation practices, and in particular the suggestion that they were effective, the person said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/03/us-usa-ciafilm-idUSBRE90200420130103
Marcy, I would like to thank you for your efforts to bring out the truth about Brennan. The more we pair up the truth with the lies as they are made to the public, the greater the impact and possibility people will stand up in unison against what Obama is really about. You are fantastic.
Regards,
Michael McKee
Just where did you acquire the ideas to publish ““Comments and Tips | emptywheel”?
Thanks for the post ,Concetta
A large group of artists were given residency and construction access to the World Trade Center in the four years leading up to 9/11 on floors 91 and 92 of the North Tower. Here’s some thoughts on that and their artwork including all related links: http://www.markdotzler.com/Mark_Dotzler/WTC_Artists.html
Here’s a good world view article by John McMurtry (give it a moment to load): http://www.thecanadiancharger.com/page.php?id=5&a=1424 and here’s a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q-Be-3mW_Bk
John McMurtry on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mcmurtry
The sentencing disparity between JPMC and Karen Gasparian is simple to explain: one is a corporate entity (even though it is directed by individuals such as Jamie Dimon), and the other is an individual.
The chief issue here is that we continue to afford corporations the rights of individuals when it is convenient to them, and fail to assign them similar responsibilities when not. We cannot imprison a corporation; but we can impose fines that are appropriate for such a large institution, and would be inappropriate for an individual.
Similarly, many states hold the right to end the life of persons determined to have committed a crime of sufficient vileness. We cannot end the life of corporations; however, we can dissolve their charters and effectively end their ability to do business in this country.
The sooner we start treating corporations as just that – organizations useful to the public good, no more and no less – the sooner we can start mandating appropriate and just corrective action for when they fail in their duty.
I can tell you why Robert Morris got a slap on the wrist under the 86 act while Aaron had the full treatment thrown at him
I was at Carnegie Mellon at the time in question & Morris and people with his skill sets were rare. Rarer still were people in the FBI, the DOJ etc, not to mention anyone trying to legislate to deter / prevent ‘computer crime’ or punish ‘computer criminals’ who know what the hell it was they were trying to legislate much less how the Internet as it existed then worked in theory much less in actual practice and where you could potentially find & exploit weaknesses…that kind of knowledge was so very rare.
In those days universities who caught hackers would do something in the way of a slap on the wrist to punish them then quietly hire them to help find & plug holes in their systems. This happened to 2 friends of mine at CMU who figured out a novel way to grab token rings and didn’t hustle it fast enough to those running Andrew/AFS to let them know about the hole. They were threatened with expulsion & possible federal prosecution but in the end they were required to take a couple of ethics courses then quietly hired by the school for work-study positions but were finding & plugging holes. They both graduated with CS/EE degrees and one of them is now a prof at a decent university teaching future generations of geeks.
Morris’s worm took down the most robust of systems at the time and you have no idea just how expensive computer resources were back then (students in CS, comp engineering & electrical engineering were thought to be studly if they had a whole meg of storage space on the system) 6000 machines infected was too big a breach to be ignored and frankly the universities were freaked out about their potential culpability under the federal laws so Morris got a trial but a pretty light sentence (though it scared every geek at CMU shitless back then…how naive we were, how simple things were back then)
Anyway since the lifting of the National Science Foundation’s Acceptable Use Policy (i.e. no widespread commerce on the internet while it was in place until 94/95) and now that everyone and his or her pets does business online, the government simply can’t not enforce the laws (which have become harsh arbitrary & capricious since then because special interest groups throw a lot of money around at government & elected officials to get laws that favor themselves and screw everyone else etc) and get awfully difficult if prosecutions aren’t persecutions.
What’s sad is that no one who knew this convinced Aaron of this before he for whatever reasons took his own life.
Anyway I note with interest that Frontline takes it to Lanny Breuer in the Frontline that aired tonight 1/22/13 on “The Untouchables” or a documentary on why the big banksters who pushed liar loans on the world and made themselves obscenely rich and yet not a single one of these gazillionaires is being prosecuted for fraud while there are civil attorneys going after these same scammers for piles of money (the evidence they have can and should be used in criminal investigations and trials of these sociopathic assholes) Watch Breuer squirm over on pbs.org & then look at his background on Wikipedia
Guarantee you when Breuer leaves ‘public service’ so long as he toes the line on not landing all over megalomaniacal bankers while in the government he will have a sweet job with them (or their cronies) with a sweet paycheck. He’s part of the DC revolving door crowd as well as has done defense work for lovely people like the gang at Enron.
Sick, isn’t it. But that’s what has happened to our society.
Follow the money my friends.
Empty Wheel, when you write this:
http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/01/16/the-december-2010-black-hole-in-the-network-interface-closet/ (see your comment no. 62)
“Look, part of the Manning investigation pertained to who helped Manning scrape lots of data w/encryption to avoid notice. He got a software tool to help him do that in Jan-Feb 2010 in Cambridge. According to Adrian Lamo, he had already told the Feds who that was by August. In Cambridge at that time (though I have no idea if he was at the parties earlier) was someone who had ALREADY scraped massive amounts of data without being identified. So it’d be unlikely that he would totally escape their interest.”
“And presumably, one way to learn more about that would be to learn how Swartz uploaded the PACER documents to Amazon. That’s another thing he was FOIAing–what kind of info the govt got from Amazon in that investigation. And that’s something the GJ in this case was investigating too.
I’m fairly sure they used the GJ to investigate if he had ties to WikiLeaks, and that’s what his lawyer was trying to learn about in his discovery motions.”
…. it seems to me that you are basically positing a theory that Swartz helped Manning with the hack for WikiLeaks. You’re not just setting up a critique of government overreach — you’re laying the path by which a plausible case could really be made that Swartz and other MIT hackers helped Manning and WikiLeaks.
You don’t seem to want to come out and say that, nor does Saul Tannenbaum, who also makes a series of very informed and interesting comments.
But that is the net effect of what you are getting at. Either you are positing that Swartz could have been that person to provide Manning with that “scraper tool”, or someone else in the circle could have, or you are implying, due to Swartz’s previous existing connection to Amazon servers with his large downloads in the PACER caper, that he could have helped somehow there. You’re laying out a theory of the case that has the feds “overreaching” and bringing in the Secret Service and the forensic experts because *they need to confirm Manning’s story*.
You think they don’t get to do that; and maybe you think Manning should go free. But those are ideological questions separate from whether the government thinks they have a case or not — and it looks as if they do, both against Swartz for the JSTOR hack, and against *somebody* for helping Manning.
I’m going to assume that Manning will allocute and confess and be sentenced to a lesser term as a result and that time in solitary will be booked against the sentence. And that his confession may well involve explaining the connections to Assange, Jacob Appelbaum, Danny Clark, Aaron Swartz and others.
And the government may not have a case against any of those people, despite their aggressive probing, because maybe it’s just not enough, or maybe files got erased.
But you do seem to be going there. And what are we to make of the mention of Aaron Swartz’s former partner in the court documents about the grand jury’s investigation?
I’ve laid this all out on my own blog where I’ve been studying this case from a far more critical view than you, because I don’t support the copyleftist movement and don’t think these goals should be achieved through coercion and unlawfulness in this fashion, even if they are merited, which I’m not persuaded they are.
http://3dblogger.typepad.com/wired_state/2013/02/did-aaron-swartz-help-bradley-manning-hack-for-wikileaks.html
I don’t think the prosecutors should be savaged; I think if anyone is to blame, it is Lessig for leaving his protege literally to hang after he “crossed a line” that Lessig himself wouldn’t cross, but coyly incited.
Heather Brooke seems to implicate Danny Clark in her interview with Swartz cited in her book which she republished on her blog after his death.
http://heatherbrooke.org/2013/a-few-thoughts-on-the-death-of-hacktivist-aaron-swartz/
Look, I understand your concern about overreach and injustices in this and related cases even if I don’t share your leftist politics. I’m a liberal who believes in all human rights for all, and I find hackers like Assange and Manning aren’t demonstratively whistleblowing on valid human rights concerns such as to justify the damage to WikiLeaks sources and the liberal, democratically elected government of the US. They aren’t persuasive; I knew and had concern about the killing of journalists in Iraq long before “Collateral Damage”, but Appelbaum lied outright when he claimed to me that US soldiers deliberately wounded children — even on Assange’s heavily framed and distorted rendering of this video, you can tell that they didn’t know who was in the van.
I also don’t appreciate Swartz taking away *choice* online for whether to have “information wants to be free” or information wants to be in a walled garden or behind a pay wall to get costs covered and ensure people’s livelihoods. I’m quite sure you see it differently, but then you don’t seem to realize: in your intense effort to try to illustrate how the government is making all kinds of “wrongful” cases against Swartz, you’re actually laying out a theory of the case that has him and his fellow MIT hacker buddies helping Manning deliberately, out of ideology — which was wrong.
Saw you on Youtube, ‘Inside Story U.S. 2012 – Ignoring America’s Poor … G.R. in the background. Were you referring to G.R. and West Michigan on your blog as an ‘urban hellhole?’ … “Marcy, Mr. EW and their dog — McCaffrey the MilleniaLab — live in a loft in a lovely urban hellhole.. I would like to know more about what you mean and what you may be referring to. That is all.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/historic-court-hearings-the-bbc-in-the-dock-for-manipulating-evidence-and-biased-coverage-of-the-september-11-2001-attacks/5323881
Are you aware of this? Do you think it will have any traction?
9/11 – Why the Facts of 911 are Suppressed – John McMurtry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3FzeYQ5HT7k
Here’s a better version of The Moral Decoding of 9/11 (it takes a minute to load):
http://www.journalof911studies.com/resources/2013McMurtryVol35Feb.pdf
Americans – Like Nazi Germans – Don’t Notice that All of Our Rights Are Slipping Away
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/03/17461.html
9/11 Commission Deceived: An Unintentional Work of Fiction Based on Cheney’s Torture Program
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/03/911-commission-deceived-an-unintentional-work-of-fiction-based-on-cheneys-communist-torture-program.html
New York City asks: What happened to the 1,116 missing 9/11 victims?
An article dated 4/1/13:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/911-illegitimacy-of-us-government/5329396
…testing 1 2 3
The Obama Administration and a federal judge in San Francisco appear to be headed for a showdown over the controversial state secrets privilege in a case about the U.S. government’s ‘no-fly’ list for air travel.
US District Judge William Alsup is also bucking the federal government’s longstanding assertion that only the executive branch can authorize access to classified information.
The disputes arose in a lawsuit Malaysian citizen and former Stanford student Rahinah Ibrahim filed seven years ago after she was denied travel and briefly detained at the San Francisco airport in 2005, apparently due to being on the no-fly list.
In an order issued earlier this month and made public Friday, Alsup instructed lawyers for the government to “show cause” why at least nine documents it labeled as classified should not be turned over to Ibrahim’s lawyers. Alsup said he’d examined the documents and concluded that portions of some of them and the entirety of others could be shown to Ibrahim’s attorneys without implicating national security.
“After a careful review of the classified materials by the Court, this order concludes that a few documents could potentially be produced with little or no modifications to them,” Alsup wrote in an April 2 order (posted here). “This order independently determines that in addition to correspondence between the parties, the two internal training documents are eligible for production to plaintiff’s counsel without implicating national security.”
If the judge persists in his ruling, it would be highly unusual since most judges are loath to override the executive branch’s conclusions that certain information needs to be classified on national security grounds. It has happened on a few occasions, but such decisions are very rare.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/04/state-secrets-showdown-looms-162193.html
The money helping CISPA through Congress
New co-sponsors of bill have 37 times more cash from interests supporting CISPA than from interests opposing
As noted yesterday, while a cadre of privacy advocates, civil libertarians and Anonymous affiliates are pushing against the passage of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) through Congress, major tech players and lobbying money is on the side of the legislation’s supporters. I wrote on Monday that attempts to pull off a mass online blackout against CISPA fell short of a similar, successful online protest in 2012 against SOPA: “The key difference is that while tech giants including Wikipedia, Reddit and Google took part in SOPA protests, such major tech players are actually onboard with CISPA.”
And there’s more. As TechDirt highlighted Monday, a huge amount of special interest funding ($84 million, to be precise) may have helped over double the number of Democrat representatives willing to vote for CISPA this time round, having rejected this bill’s first iteration last year. Via TechDirt:
Last year’s CISPA vote only managed to secure 40 Democrat supporters. This time around, the number leapt to 92.
A new coalition of special interests, which include America’s two largest cellular service providers AT&T and Verizon Wireless – jointly owned by Verizon and Vodafone Group – as well as two of the nation’s largest software firms Microsoft and Intel, came together to create a similar data grab bill (Microsoft has since renounced its support). Security firms like Symantec Corp. also backed the bill.
Pushing the bill through was $84M USD in funding from special interest backers.$84 million is change-of-heart money, although one imagines those contributing checked and double-checked their “sponsored” representatives to make sure they were all on the same page. As DailyTech points out, nearly $86 million went into the SOPA push and most of that turned out to be wasted money.
Last Monday, two hundred IBM executives visited the White House to make a last minute push for CISPA. Whatever they said or did must have been very persuasive. By the end of the day, 36 new sponsors had signed on to the bill, up from a very lonely two previous to IBM’s visit. Unsurprisingly, financial motivation was involved, according to numbers gathered by Maplight.
New co-sponsors have received 38 times as much money ($7,626,081) from interests supporting CISPA than from interests opposing ($200,362).
Members of the House in total have received 16 times as much money ($67,665,694) from interests supporting CISPA than from interests opposing ($4,164,596).
http://www.salon.com/2013/04/23/the_money_helping_cispa_through_congress/
The Nation‘s Jeremy Scahill Gives HUGE Shout Out & Much Credit to Bradley Manning & Wikileaks:
Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman asked The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill about the “extensive footnotes” in his book where he cites documents released by WikiLeaks. She asked him to address their significance in his ability to cover America’s dirty wars, covert wars, Joint Special Operations Command, etc.
He answered:
Impossible to quantify how significant WikiLeaks has been to our understanding of overt and covert US actions. When I was preparing initially to go to Somalia, we went through and researched on the WikiLeaks cables and found various warlords identified in the cables as being on the US payroll or that the US was working with. And, then we went and tracked down and found them. You see that in our film. Two of those warlords are people we discovered through the WikiLeaks cables.
Also, on the Somalia cables that were released, there is a recognition that the US was using these warlords to hunt down people and that it had caused great problems within the State Department. You had internal debates going on where the CIA and the special operations forces were doing things that State Department diplomats didn’t want them to be doing and that were counter to what the intelligence available at the time indicated the threats were and the level of the threat.
But, just in terms of our understanding of how the covert apparatus works, WikiLeaks was indispensable and I think we’re going to look back decades from now and see, because of the release of those documents, there was a huge shift in how we understand some of the more hidden aspects of US policy.
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/04/24/bradley-manning-sent-jeremy-scahill-scoop-on-blackwaters-erik-prince-going-to-united-arab-emirates/
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/4/24/the_world_is_a_battlefield_jeremy
http://www.democracynow.org/special/jeremy_scahill_and_dirty_wars_on
Filling the Empty Battlefield
Jeremy Scahill, Blowback Reporter
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175691/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_field_of_nightmares/
The Enemy-Industrial Complex
How to Turn a World Lacking in Enemies into the Most Threatening Place in the Universe
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175687/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_the_cathedral_of_the_enemy/
Jeremy Scahill: Anwar al-Awlaki & How He Became an American the US Government Targeted & Killed
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/04/23/jeremy-scahill-anwar-al-awlaki-how-he-became-an-american-the-us-government-targeted-killed/
USA gives big, secret push to Internet surveillance
Justice Department agreed to issue “2511 letters” immunizing AT&T and other companies participating in a cybersecurity program from criminal prosecution under the Wiretap Act, according to new documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
Senior Obama administration officials have secretly authorized the interception of communications carried on portions of networks operated by AT&T and other Internet service providers, a practice that might otherwise be illegal under federal wiretapping laws.
The secret legal authorization from the Justice Department originally applied to a cybersecurity pilot project in which the military monitored defense contractors’ Internet links. Since then, however, the program has been expanded by President Obama to cover all critical infrastructure sectors including energy, healthcare, and finance starting June 12.
“The Justice Department is helping private companies evade federal wiretap laws,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), which obtained over 1,000 pages of internal government documents and provided them to CNET this week. “Alarm bells should be going off.”
Those documents show the National Security Agency and the Defense Department were deeply involved in pressing for the secret legal authorization, with NSA director Keith Alexander participating in some of the discussions personally. Despite initial reservations, including from industry participants, Justice Department attorneys eventually signed off on the project.
The Justice Department agreed to grant legal immunity to the participating network providers in the form of what participants in the confidential discussions refer to as “2511 letters,” a reference to the Wiretap Act codified at 18 USC 2511 in the federal statute books.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57581161-38/u.s-gives-big-secret-push-to-internet-surveillance/
https://epic.org/
Senate committee advances bill to prevent warrantless email searches
Bipartisan group seeks update to Electronic Communications Privacy Act over concerns of misuse by law enforcement
Democratic senator Patrick Leahy, co-sponsor of the bill, said: “I think Americans are very concerned about unwanted intrusions into our private lives in cyberspace. There’s no question if someone wants to go into your house and go through your files and draws you are going to need a search warrant. But if you have those same files in the cloud you ought to have the same sense of privacy.”
Leahy said ECPA had been “misused and abused” by law-enforcement officials. “There seems to be a feeling in this country, more and more, that because we face threats, as this nation has from the time of its founding, that we somehow give up our rights to privacy. Americans believe in their privacy,” he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/25/senate-committee-ecpa-email-search
Judge Rejects FBI Attempt to Use Spyware to Infiltrate Unknown Suspect’s Computer
On Monday, a judge denied an FBI request to install a spy Trojan on a computer in an unknown location in order to track down a suspected fraudster. The order rejecting the request revealed that the FBI wanted to use the surveillance tool to covertly infiltrate the computer and take photographs of its user through the webcam. The plan also included recording Internet activity, user location, email contents, chat messaging logs, photographs, documents, and passwords.
Houston magistrate Judge Stephen Smith said that he could not approve the “extremely intrusive” tactic because the FBI did not know the location or identity of the suspect and could not guarantee the spy software would not end up targeting innocents.
Perhaps what is most interesting is the level of detail the memorandum discloses about the surveillance technology at the FBI’s disposal. Back in 2007, the bureau was revealed to be using a spyware that could infect computers and gather IP addresses, the last visited website address, and a range of other metadata. But the spy Trojan disclosed in the Houston documents is far more advanced, capable of copying content and turning a person’s webcam effectively into a surveillance camera.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/04/25/texas_judge_denies_fbi_request_to_use_trojan_to_infiltrate_unknown_suspect.html
Did the usa Cover Up Its Role in a Deadly Honduran Counter-Narcotics Operation?
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/16014-did-the-us-cover-up-its-role-in-a-deadly-honduran-counter-narcotics-operation
recognition of a topic that both EW and Rayne have covered.
Grand River flood: ‘Couldn’t ask for a better demonstration,’ environmental advocate says
In the wake of the recent Grand River flood, West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC) staffers shared thoughts on what the historic event might mean for the future in West Michigan.
“This has been a living learning opportunity for the community, and we couldn’t ask for a better demonstration when we talk about the future we’re looking at,” said Rachel Hood, WMEAC executive director.
“It shows that weather- and climate-related events have a triple-bottom-line effect. For the 2013 flood, that’s a sad story to tell for a lot of people, a lot of businesses.”
When Grand Rapids Michigan Mayor George Heartwell last year received a climate protection award from the US Conference of Mayors, he split the $25,000 prize between WMEAC and Friends of Grand Rapids Parks. WMEAC is using the money to draft a climate resiliency plan that will address impacts of climate change on life in West Michigan.
The non-profit is interviewing experts in transportation, food systems, public utilities and other areas to get a sense of what might need to be done to prepare for a future that might bring more intense and more volatile weather patterns. The region last year experienced an unseasonably warm March, for example, and extreme heat in July, and now this spring endured flooding.
“Resiliency is planning for both of those scenarios,” said Aaron Ferguson, a consultant working on the plan. “There’s a good chance we’re going to start seeing these swings from one year to the next.”
The resiliency plan will address ways to mitigate the effects of climate change, through low-impact development practices and green infrastructure, for example, and also ways to adapt. In short, the plan will consider what can be done to prepare West Michigan for more frequent spells of volatile weather and, perhaps, for the next big flood, said Nick Occhipinti, WMEAC’s director of policy and community activism.
“What can we do to be ready for that and what can we do to make a more resilient community?” he said. “In hindsight, the data will show that this (2013 flood) will be part of the trend” of weather volatility into the future.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/04/grand_river_flood_couldnt_ask.html#incart_river
Know Your Terrorists: Ayman Al-Zawahiri
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=f-rYMjgs2nE#!
Report: U.S. Government and NATO Worked with Bin Laden and His Top Lieutenant 3 Months AFTER 9/11
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/05/report-u-s-government-worked-with-bin-laden-and-his-top-lieutenant-2-months-after-911.html
Japanese Movement Against TPP Growing
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/05/dimon-looks-to-keep-reins.html
TransPacific Partnership Will Undermine Democracy, Empower Transnational Corporations
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/15353-transpacific-partnership-will-undermine-democracy-empower-transnational-corporations
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Background and Resources
The TPP, or Trans Pacific Partnership, is a trade pact currently being negotiated by the United States and 10 other countries across the Pacitic. Because the TPP is intended as a “docking agreement,” other Pacific Rim countries can join over time. It is similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, only the scale of the TPP could make its impacts much more severe. Governments want to conclude the this trade pact by October 2013
Key elements include:
While this is called a “trade” treaty, only a few chapters actually deal with trade; most of the chapters deal with other issues (see below), which, taken together, could affect nearly every aspect of our lives.
Also, this agreement is being negotiated in almost total secrecy: While members of the public and Congress do not have access to draft texts and proposals, more than 600 corporate representatives do have access to key texts.
Finally, once complete and ratified, other nations will be able to join it. For that reason, it may be the biggest — and last — “trade” agreement ever to be negotiated.
http://nyc.sierraclub.org/tpp-resources/
The Death of Truth
Chris Hedges Interviews Julian Assange
http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/the_death_of_truth_20130505/
Henry Giroux: Did the Authorities’ Lockdown of Boston Give Us a Taste of the Police State Culture to Come?
The American public at large is immersed in fear and cruelty, and seemingly willing to surrender its rights at the first whiff of danger.
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/did-authorities-lockdown-boston-give-us-taste-police-state-culture-come?paging=off
It’s Dishonest to Talk about Benghazi Without Talking About the Syrian War
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/05/its-dishonest-to-talk-about-benghazi-without-talking-about-the-syrian-war.html
How can people just accept this, whenever law enforcement wants to capture someone dangerous, they can now lock down a small city or county. This is what a police state is, even if they are just doing it for “public safety”. Shelter-in-place is being abused, or is soon to be abused, if this trend continues.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/sheriffs-officials-rural-n-california-man-shot-wife-and-2-girls-4-and-8-is-still-on-loose/2013/05/08/58136992-b847-11e2-b568-6917f6ac6d9d_singlePage.html
Quoting from the story:
“Who knows whether or not he would retaliate against officers,” Kent said. “With the information we’re receiving, it ups the ante. It’s almost like warfare.”
The search is focused around the community of Petrolia, which is close to where Miller’s truck was found on Wednesday. Schools in the area were closed, and the roughly 300 residents were being advised to shelter in place, keep their doors locked, and if they do have to leave for an emergency, to leave a contact number tacked to their front doors.
Petrolia is about 200 miles west of the site of the slayings in Shingletown, in Shasta County and 260 miles north of San Francisco. It is in a remote, undeveloped area of redwoods and towering mountains referred to as the “Lost Coast.”
“We’re all locked down here. We’re supposed to call 911 if we see anything suspicious,” said local resident Phil Franklin.
good newz for all who secrets that they want to reveal to the world and minimize the chance that you may get caught / tortured !!!!
This morning, The New Yorker launched Strongbox, an online place where people can send documents and messages to the magazine, and we, in turn, can offer them a reasonable amount of anonymity. It was put together by Aaron Swartz, who died in January, and Kevin Poulsen. Kevin explains some of the background in his own post, including Swartz’s role and his survivors’ feelings about the project. (They approve, something that was important for us here to know.) The underlying code, given the name DeadDrop, will be open-source, and we are very glad to be the first to bring it out into the world, fully implemented.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/05/introducing-strongbox-anonymous-document-sharing-tool.html
UNDERREPORTED: South Korean FTA Has Already Resulted in 10% Decline in Exports, 37% Trade Deficit Increase
Under the 0 Administration, the usa has entered into “free” trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. As to why these agreements were necessary, 0 promised “greater usa access to the South Korean auto market, significantly increased labor rights and worker protections in Colombia, and enhanced tax transparency and labor rights in Panama.”
Now, as the 0 administration secretely orchestrates the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), an FTA with broad, harmful, and global ramifications, critics are pointing to the underreported failures of our existing FTAs as a warning sign.
A year into the South Korean FTA, usa goods exports to the Asian ally have declined by 10%, a decrease of $4.2 Billion. The agriculture and the auto industries have been hardest hit with exports dropping sharply. Wasn’t the auto market the big sell on this thing?
Overall, the usa trade deficit with South Korea has grown by 37% since the FTA was put into motion.
http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2013/05/10/underreported-korean-fta-has-already-resulted-in-10-decline-in-exports-37-trade-deficit-boost/
Why Disinformation Works — Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/05/23/why-disinformation-works-paul-craig-roberts/