Dialectical Maneuvers

Obama announces proposals to reform NSA surveillance

"At his first full news conference in more than three months, Obama said he intends to work with Congress on proposals that would add an adversarial voice — effectively one advocating privacy rights — to the secret proceedings before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Several Democratic senators have proposed such a measure. In addition, Obama said that he intends to work on ways to tighten one provision of the Patriot Act - known as Section 215 - that gives the government broader authority toobtain business phone data records." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama announces proposals to reform NSA surveillance

Greece becoming new Kosovo as youth jobless hits 65%

"Latest data from the Greek statistics agency showed the overall jobless rate rose to 27.6pc in May, despite a mass exodus of the best-educated young workers to the US, Australia, Britain and Germany. The figure is likely to rise further as Athens lays off 15,000 public sector workers by the end of next month to comply with European Union-International Monetary Fund (EU-IMF) Troika demands. EU economics chief Olli Rehn said Greek austerity was 'difficult but necessary', and should bear fruit in 2014. The IMF expects public debt to spiral to 176pc this year, and has warned EMU creditor states that they will have to provide substantial debt relief." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreece becoming new Kosovo as youth jobless hits 65%

Democratic anti-gun ‘guide’ urged using Trayvon Martin’s death to hit NRA, guns

"Newly uncovered Democratic anti-NRA talking points urge anti-gun advocates and politicians to hype high-profile gun incidents like the Florida slaying of Trayvon Martin to win support for new gun control laws. 'The most powerful time to communicate is when concern and emotions are running at their peak,' said the 80-page document titled 'Preventing Gun Violence Through Effective Messaging,' and produced by three Democratic firms led by the polling and research outfit Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDemocratic anti-gun ‘guide’ urged using Trayvon Martin’s death to hit NRA, guns

Get Ready for Endless Bogus Terror Alerts

"It didn’t take long for the pushback following outrage over revelations that we live in an all-encompassing high-tech Stasi police state. Edward Snowden made his revelations known exactly two months ago today . The government has responded by concocting yet another vague and unsubstantiated terror threat it describes as the most serious since the September 11 attacks. The latest terror alert is a precursor of things to come." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGet Ready for Endless Bogus Terror Alerts

Pepe Escobar: Al-Qaeda to the rescue

"Doctor Evil and the Orwellian/Panopticon complex are on the same side - and that explains why he'll be allowed to be a motor mouth fatwa machine for as long as he wants, and won't be nabbed like some patsy in the underwear bomber mould. The complex is back in offense. Reform the NSA? Interfere with our metadata? What for? We have just alerted the US government to 'pre-9/11' levels of terrorist chatter! AQAP might well decide not to participate in this worldwide 'pre-9/11' script. Real jihadis, after all, are not foolish enough to be caught by XKeystroke." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: Al-Qaeda to the rescue

U.S. Officials: Al-Qaeda Developed Liquid That Turns Clothes Into Explosives

"Two senior U.S. government sources who have been briefed on the terror threat that prompted the U.S. to close embassies across the Mideast and North Africa this week, told the network that clothes dipped in the liquid become explosive devices when dry. One of the U.S. officials described the new generation explosive as 'ingenious,' while another said it would be undetectable under current security processes. The liquid explosive is believed to be the brainchild of the Yemen-based affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the officials told ABC News." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Officials: Al-Qaeda Developed Liquid That Turns Clothes Into Explosives

Paul Craig Roberts: Washington Thinks You Are Stupid

"As soon as the American population, Congress, and Washington’s puppet allies, such as Germany, made an issue over the NSA’s clearly unconstitutional and totally illegal universal spying, the Obama regime pushed the Fear Button and hyped a new terror plot in order to shut up critics and bring Congress and Germany back in line. Washington proclaimed that a 'threat' was discovered that al Qaeda–an organization that Washington is using to overthrow the Assad government in Syria and one that is enriched by US military contracts to affiliated groups in Afghanistan–was going to blow up US embassies in the Middle East and North Africa." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: Washington Thinks You Are Stupid

Most Americans fear anti-aging technology is luxury for the rich

"Most Americans do not want to live beyond age 100, and a poll out Tuesday suggests many worry that anti-aging technologies may end up being a luxury for the rich. A majority of US adults (56 percent) said they would not 'choose to undergo medical treatments to slow the aging process and live to be 120 or more,' said the Pew report. The median, or midpoint, for ideal lifespan was 90, or about 11 years longer than the current US average. Asked whether current medical treatments are worth the costs, 54 percent agreed and 41 percent disagreed on grounds that modern medical advances 'often create as many problems as they solve.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMost Americans fear anti-aging technology is luxury for the rich

CFR Admits Drones May Be Creating Sworn Enemies of the United States

"With its so-called signature strikes, Washington often goes after people whose identity it does not know but who appear to be behaving like militants in insurgent-controlled areas. The strikes end up killing enemies of the Pakistani, Somali, and Yemeni militaries who may not threaten the United States at all. Worse, because the targets of such strikes are so loosely defined, it seems inevitable that they will kill some civilians. The drone campaign has morphed, in effect, into remote-control repression: the direct application of brute force by a state, rather than an attempt to deal a pivotal blow to a movement." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCFR Admits Drones May Be Creating Sworn Enemies of the United States

BIS blames European banks for eternal euro crisis

"Europe's creditor powers bear as much blame as debtors for the eurozone's eternal crisis and are blocking recovery by failing to play a full part in righting the ship, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The BIS said European banks played a huge role in stoking the pre-Lehman credit bubble. They rotated $1.25 trillion into US debt alone between 2003 and 2007, greater than the combined purchases of Asia and OPEC. It said banks funnelled money into southern Europe regardless of risk in 'expectations of a bail-out' if any country got into trouble." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBIS blames European banks for eternal euro crisis