Dialectical Maneuvers

How has this not led to outright revolution yet?

"These days, you could put ‘safety and security’ in front of just about anything and get people to readily comply. After all, who is against ‘safety and security’? Only criminal terrorists, apparently. This is now the easiest way for governments to exact their agendas… whether it’s invading new countries, monitoring all Internet activity worldwide, or bailing out the big banks at taxpayer expense. Apparently the citizenry has become so scared that we collectively lay down and let governments walk all over us. This NSA debacle, which is only getting worse and worse, shows beyond all doubt how brazen and unabashed their tactics will be. And not a single utterance of remorse or reform." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow has this not led to outright revolution yet?

The feds pay for 60 percent of Tor’s development. Can users trust it?

"The NSA’s sustained attempt to get around encryption calls into question many of the technologies people have come to rely on to avoid surveillance. One indispensable tool is Tor, the anonymizing service that takes a user’s Internet traffic and spits it out from some other place on the Web so that its origin is obscured. So far there’s no hard evidence that the government has compromised the anonymity of Tor traffic. But some on a Tor-related e-mail list recently pointed out that a substantial chunk of the Tor Project’s 2012 operating budget came from the Department of Defense, which houses the NSA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe feds pay for 60 percent of Tor’s development. Can users trust it?

Jeffrey Tucker: How to Fake a Fast Food Strike

"There’s every indication that people outside the restaurants protesting didn’t actually work for the place they were protesting. It was a classic 'rent-a-mob' situation, and the rent was being paid by political activists whose agenda has nothing to do with helping the average burger flipper. These were mostly media stunts cooked up by the Service Employees International Union, which bused in these so-called workers as a fulfillment of a little charade and subsequent media blitz. The SEIU coordinates these protests with various professional worker groups and in conjunction with the press to make the biggest possible splash." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJeffrey Tucker: How to Fake a Fast Food Strike

Why I think the NSA is lying

"It’s IMPOSSIBLE for the NSA to have cracked everything. And my assessment is that this is an intimidation campaign. The NSA wants people to think that they have this capability. And if everyone thinks that the NSA is Big Brother’s Big Brother, all-seeing and all-knowing, then not only will everyone be terrified, but everyone will simply stop using encryption. After all, why bother going through the hassle of encrypting/decrypting if the NSA can still read the contents of your email? It’s in the NSA’s interest for people to think that the agency is almighty. I don’t buy it. These people are seriously vile. But they don’t have superpowers." Continue reading →

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Obama tells Russian LGBT activists he is proud of their work

"President Barack Obama on Friday told Russian rights activists that he is 'proud of their work,' saying Russia must remember to let civil society function freely. Meeting with nine activists, including two representing LGBT groups, Obama said 'it’s important to remember that in every country, here in Russia, in the United States, around the globe, that part of good government is making sure that we’re creating space for civil society to function.' This included ensuring 'freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and making sure that people can join together and make common cause around the issues that we care deeply about,' he added." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama tells Russian LGBT activists he is proud of their work

Filling the FATCA void

"The overwhelming consensus back in the early days of the last century, was, ‘Why would an American want to leave their country?’ Yet out of today’s seven million US expats who are abroad, over one thousand this year alone have also chucked away their national identity. They have done so due to the impending FATCA rules which threaten their own financial planning continuity, cutting off access to channels of advice and financial management. The reporting restrictions to the American taxman - the IRS - that FATCA places on all non-US companies dealing with US clients are now deemed far too complex and costly for large institutions to comply with." Continue reading →

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UN seeks Syria peace talks amid military strike threat

""The United Nations is making a desperate new push for a Syria peace conference even as the United States prepares a possible military strike, according to diplomats. UN Under Secretary General Jeffrey Feltman discussed a possible conference during a landmark visit last week to Iran, a key backer of President Bashar al-Assad, UN officials and diplomats said. The prospect of a military strike and Syria’s divided opposition, which has demanded that Assad be kept out of any transitional government, bears heavily on the prospects for talks however. Some western leaders believe there can be no conference until Assad has been punished for his alleged use of chemical weapons." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUN seeks Syria peace talks amid military strike threat

British government says big change needed before new Syria vote

"The careful wording of the government’s statements left room for supporters of military action against Syria to keep pressing for a new vote once US lawmakers have decided. Former international development minister Andrew Mitchell, a member of Cameron’s Conservative party, said nothing should be ruled out. 'It may be, after lengthy and careful consideration, (that) Congress affirms its support for the president’s plans and, in the light of that, our parliament may want to consider this matter further,' he told BBC radio. Cameron suffered the most humiliating defeat of his three years in power when Conservative rebels joined Labour in voting against military action by 285 to 272." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBritish government says big change needed before new Syria vote

How to Start a War by the Bootstrap Method

"The U.S. need never again be at peace, because it has so many ways to get war going. There is now a new way to create a war. Obama has invented it. At this point in its history, the empire no longer needs to be attacked, by an actual or fabricated attack. It no longer needs to manufacture a pretext. It no longer needs to say that there is a threat of a threat. It no longer needs to suspect weapons of mass destruction. It no longer needs to point to an humanitarian concern. It no longer needs to mention national security. Obama’s method is simple. Make a threat by drawing a red line. There need be no relation of that line to any U.S. interest or to national defense or an attack on America." Continue reading →

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Deadly Cyberattacks Highlight the Need for a Cybersecurity Upgrade

"The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro-dam disaster was a cyberattack. You can characterize it as an accident in the nature of 'friendly fire.' But overall, this cascading wave of destruction was triggered by a bad computer command. Sayano-Shushenskaya demonstrates the immense scope of destruction that can come from cyberattacks. Indeed, per Gen. Alexander, only nuclear bombs and other weapons of mass destruction can cause more damage, faster, over wider areas. [..] In a speech at the National Press Club, Napolitano stated that the U.S. 'will, at some point, face a major cyber event that will have a serious effect on our lives, our economy and the everyday functioning of our society.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDeadly Cyberattacks Highlight the Need for a Cybersecurity Upgrade