"Greenwald goes after Brzezenski, who is the daughter of former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and accuses her of using White House talking points. Here are the key clips." Continue reading →
"Demand for U.S. gold and silver bullion coins is still at 'unprecedented' high levels almost two months after an historic sell-off in gold released years of pent-up demand from retail investors, the head of the U.S. Mint said on Wednesday. His comments are likely to allay concerns among some traders that frenzied buying by mom-and-pop investors since mid-April after prices plunged to two-year lows had started to fade. Their interest has helped prices recover to above $1,400 an ounce, providing key support to prices after institutional investors fled the futures market and exchange-traded funds." Continue reading →
"U.S. military officials who engaged in ordering or carrying out the torture of individuals in custody can now rely upon an across-the-board legal defense that protects them from being sued for committing what amounts to an international crime, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling on Monday. The court affirmed an earlier ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which held in 2012 that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld could not be sued for personally approving torture techniques used against prisoners held during the Bush administration’s terror war." Continue reading →
"The people tasked with hunting down Edward Snowden work for the Associate Directorate for Security and Counterintelligence, reports The Daily Beast. The directorate is sometimes known as 'the Q Group.' The security and counterintelligence directorate serves as the NSA’s internal police force. It has the authority to interview an NSA contractor or employee’s known associates, and even to activate a digital dragnet capable of finding out where a target travels, what the target has purchased, and the target’s online activity, reports DB. Bottom line: The data collection that Snowden leaked about is now being used to track him." Continue reading →
"The document orders various government agencies to prepare for offensive cyberwarfare operations and says the government will 'identify targets of national importance.' The article quotes an intelligence source with knowledge of NSA programs as saying the directive makes US complaints about China's state-sponsored hacking 'hypocritical,' because the US has 'participated in offensive cyber operations and widespread hacking.' Some of the talking points in the directive were declassified in January, but the emphasis on offensive hacking wasn't made public, nor was the order to create a specific target list." Continue reading →
"An honest report would explain how what is obviously one of the biggest stories of the modern era has gone unreported by Reuters and by the mainstream media in general. An honest report would address the aggregate courage of the alternative media in covering the rise of the surveillance state while being marginalized by the formal media and disparaged as being agents of 'conspiracy theories.' But instead, we get articles like this one, reporting that is good and serious as far as it goes ... but it surely doesn't go very far. What's needed is investigate reporting. Instead, we are presented with a kind of catalogue." Continue reading →
"While I have now recouped my investment in mining hardware, you may not be so lucky. Even among ASIC-based mining hardware there is a ranking, a hierarchy based on purchase cost and energy efficiency. Tis folly to think that you’ll be able to run 130 nm ASICminer ASICs in California indefinitely. At some point, you will be outgunned by people running yet-to-be-sold 28 nm ASICs in some rural county of Washington state, where a kWh costs a mere 2.33 cents. Bitcoin mining is not for the faint of heart, nor for the mathematically challenged. Invest only what you can afford to lose. Or better yet, enjoy this crazy sideshow from the bleachers." Continue reading →
"Ron Paul talking about computer surveillance in 1984." Continue reading →
"Some of us were arguing back in 2001 with the introduction of the so-called PATRIOT Act that it would pave the way for massive U.S. government surveillance — not targeting terrorists but rather aimed against American citizens. We were told we must accept this temporary measure to provide government the tools to catch those responsible for 9/11. That was nearly 12 years and at least four wars ago. We should know by now that when it comes to government power-grabs, we never go back to the status quo even when the 'crisis' has passed. That part of our freedom and civil liberties once lost is never regained." Continue reading →
"Although the Defense Department reported making over $1.1 billion in overpayments in fiscal year 2011 to military personnel and retirees, civilian defense workers, contractors, and others, investigators from the Government Accountability Office said that figure is not credible due to missing invoices and other flawed paperwork, as well as errors in arithmetic. GAO found defense finance officials didn't have procedures in place to collect and maintain the data they need to come up with a credible estimate. Even when the department could find and document mistaken payments, it frequently did not take cost-effective steps to recover the money, the GAO said." Continue reading →