Monthly Archives: July 2013

How to Be a Rogue Superpower: A Manual for the Twenty-First Century

"Highlighted in all this has been a curious fact of our twenty-first-century world. In the Cold War years, asylum was always potentially available. If you opposed one of the two superpowers or its allies, the other was usually ready to open its arms to you, as the U.S. famously did for what were once called 'Soviet dissidents' in great numbers. The Soviets did the same for Americans, Brits, and others, often secret communists, sometimes actual spies, who opposed the leading capitalist power and its global order. Today, if you are a twenty-first-century 'dissident' and need asylum/protection from the only superpower left, there is essentially none to be had." Continue reading →

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NSA Spokesman Accidentally Admits that the Government Is Spying On Virtually All Americans

"The NSA has pretended that it only spies on a small number of potential terrorists. But NSA Deputy Director John C. Inglis inadvertently admitted that the NSA could spy on just about all Americans. Inglis told Congress last week that the agency conducts “three-hop” analysis. Given that there are now approximately 875,000 people in the government’s database of suspected terrorists – including many thousands of Americans – every single American living on U.S. soil could easily be caught up in the dragnet. There are tens of thousands of Americans listed as suspected terrorists … including just about anyone who protests anything that the government or big banks do." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA Spokesman Accidentally Admits that the Government Is Spying On Virtually All Americans

Jimmy Carter’s forgotten history lesson

"President Carter attempted to clean up the CIA, firing almost 20 percent of its employees, focusing on the 'clandestine operatives' whose cloak-and-dagger exploits were then fresh news. He also dispersed the agency’s paramilitary arm, put legal restrictions on the agency’s power to spy within the United States, and passed an executive order banning assassinations. But none of Carter’s reforms would last. President Reagan signed an executive order in December 1981 authorizing the CIA to collect “foreign intelligence” inside the United States — the first of many steps his administration would take to restore the power and prestige of the agency." Continue reading →

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“What Is That Box?” — When The NSA Shows Up At Your Internet Company

"They came in and showed me papers. It was a court order from the FISC (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) for the intercept, with the agent’s name… and the court’s information. I think it was three or four pages of text. They wouldn’t let met me copy them. They let me take notes in regards to technical aspects of what they wanted to do. We had to facilitate them to set up a duplicate port to tap in to monitor that customer’s traffic. It was a 2U (two-unit) PC that we ran a mirrored ethernet port to. [What we ended up with was] a little box in our systems room that was capturing all the traffic to this customer. Everything they were sending and receiving." Continue reading →

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Man refuses to produce his papers at a Police License Checkpoint; threatened with warrant at home

"A man stood up to a 'License Checkpoint' conducted by police in his town. He refused to produce his papers when stopped at a roadblock on public streets. Draego says it was a pretty heated debate between him and the officer. He continued to refuse and then he says an officer threatened to break his window and eventually they told him to pull over. Draego said police told him they were going to serve him a warrant at his home, but he has not received it yet." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMan refuses to produce his papers at a Police License Checkpoint; threatened with warrant at home

TSA Officials Agree to Training Program for Police on Travelers’ First and Fourth Amendment Rights

"In a victory for the U.S. Constitution, officials with the Richmond International Airport (RIC) have required that all RIC law enforcement officers take part in a two-hour training course on the First and Fourth Amendment rights of passengers, guests and/or vendors. The required training, with materials for the course on travelers’ First and Fourth Amendment rights supplied by attorneys for The Rutherford Institute, was part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed on behalf of college student Aaron Tobey, who was arrested for engaging in a peaceful protest of the TSA's use of whole-body imaging scanners and enhanced pat downs at RIC." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTSA Officials Agree to Training Program for Police on Travelers’ First and Fourth Amendment Rights

Kerry vows to put the screws to Venezuela over Snowden

"US Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly promised his Venezuelan counterpart to close NATO airspace to the country’s flights and stop crucial oil product deliveries if Caracas grants asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Kerry reportedly threatened to ground any Venezuelan aircraft in America’s or any NATO country’s airspace if there is the slightest suspicion that Snowden is using the flight to get to Caracas. Kerry also reportedly promised to intensify the ongoing process of revoking US entry visas to Venezuelan officials and businessmen associated with the deceased President Hugo Chavez." Continue reading →

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NSA Phone Snooping Cannot Be Challenged in Court, Feds Say

"The Obama administration for the first time responded to a Spygate lawsuit, telling a federal judge the wholesale vacuuming up of all phone-call metadata in the United States is in the 'public interest,' does not breach the constitutional rights of Americans and cannot be challenged in a court of law. The administration’s filing sets the stage for what is to be a lengthy legal odyssey — one likely to outlive the Obama presidency — that will define the privacy rights of Americans for years to come." Continue reading →

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Judge ‘Troubled’ by DOJ Position in Drone Strike Case

"A Washington federal judge today said she was 'troubled' by the U.S. Department of Justice's position that the courts are powerless to hear a challenge of the government's ability to target and kill U.S. citizens abroad. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Hauck argued there was a difference between having a constitutional right—which he said could be protected by the executive and legislative branches—and being able to make constitutional claims in court. Collyer countered that not being able to access the courts would deprive citizens of the ability to enforce their rights." Continue reading →

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Shock report into FBI errors cast doubt on 27 death penalty convictions

"The FBI is reviewing 2,000 cases convicted on hair samples after it has emerged that there has been widespread errors in forensic testing and how the evidence was portrayed in court. As many as 27 prisoners facing the death penalty may have been wrongfully convicted along with potentially thousands of others across the country. Since the 1980s, hundreds of convictions have been overturned on improper forensic science - which includes bite marks, blood analysis and shoe prints along with hair samples. Forensic testing has never been proved 100 per cent accurate by science - but at times, was presented by experts in court as if conclusive." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingShock report into FBI errors cast doubt on 27 death penalty convictions