for life and liberty

The Case for Restraint in Yemen

"Historical trends exhibit the danger that newly poised al Qaeda affiliates are posing to American safety, rivaling or even eclipsing the original sects in place before U.S interventions. These militant groups have primarily local interests, and are best left alone if the United States wants to avoid making new enemies or to attenuate existing plotting against U.S. targets. Yet instead, the U.S continues to form 'partnerships' with often questionable factions to fight terrorism, many times resulting in the exchange of one extremist government for another. This policy can incite blowback." Continue reading →

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TSA-Type Drama at U.S. Open

"The USTA has implemented new safety procedures for this year’s tournament. All fans will have to go through metal detectors for the first time. As WCBS 880′s Peter Haskell reported, the additional security checks had some fans lined up waiting to enter the grounds for up to two hours earlier Monday. The Associated Press reported that the lines snaked for a quarter mile or more — from the exit point of the No. 7 train to the east entrance of the Billie Jean King Tennis Center. 'This is terrible, this is horrible. I’ve been going to the US Open for the last 10 years, I’ve never seen it like this,' one fan told Haskell." Continue reading →

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Ohio Announces Drivers License Database Facial Recognition

"Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Monday that the state has for several months been using facial recognition technology in a database that allows law enforcement agents to match a face with a name, address and record at will. The system was activated on June 6 and has already been used 2667 times so far. DeWine back then thought the program was a natural extension of existing law enforcement capabilities and was not worth announcing. That changed when former intelligence community contractor Edward Snowden kicked off a firestorm of controversy by revealing the extent of NSA collection of domestic emails and telephone records." Continue reading →

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United Nations to question U.S. over spying allegations

"The United Nations will approach the US government over a report by a German magazine that US intelligence spied on video conferences by top UN officials, a spokesman said Monday. 'We are aware of the reports, and we intend to be in touch with the relevant authorities on this,' a UN spokesman, Farhan Haq, told reporters, adding that this meant the US administration. Haq told reporters the 1961 Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations has become 'well established international law, therefore member states are expected to act accordingly to protect the inviolability of diplomatic missions.'" Continue reading →

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U.S. tech sector feels pain from NSA PRISM revelations

"An industry group, the Cloud Security Alliance said last month that 10 percent of its non-US members have cancelled a contract with a US-based cloud provider, and 56 percent said they were less likely to use an American company. A separate report this month by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, or ITIF, a Washington think tank, said US cloud providers stand to lose $22 billion to $35 billion over the next three years due to revelations about the so-called PRISM program. Daniel Castro, author of the report, says a loss of trust in US tech firms could lead to 'protectionist' measures that hurt the fast-growing cloud sector." Continue reading →

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Passing Over Eisenhower

"Almost all of the major Internet industry giants are based in the United States. The tradition of strong entrepreneurship practiced in the US since their inception, mixed with their purchasing power and history of acquiring any sufficiently profitable venture or fascinating technology from abroad, has put the US into a prime position to be the global leader in provision of Internet services. That may just have ended. While US dominance over the roughly $11 trillion/year global Internet services market is still unchallenged, the damage that the revelations made about NSA’s vast global surveillance scheme may stymie their growth and perhaps even turn them into a localized recession." Continue reading →

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Hubris Isn’t the Half of It

"When Diane Sawyer asked Bush why he had claimed with such certainty that there were so many weapons in Iraq, he replied: 'What’s the difference? The possibility that [Saddam] could acquire weapons, If he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger.' What's the difference? In a society based on the rule of law, the difference would be a criminal prosecution. MSNBC and Hubris steer us away from any ideas of accountability. And no connection is drawn to current war lies about Iran or other nations. But the production of programs like this one that prolong Americans' awareness of the lies that destroyed Iraq are the best hope Iran has right now." Continue reading →

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Syrian Christians fear rise of jihadist rebels

"Around 50,000 Christians now live in Wadi al-Nassara, where they have formed 'popular defence committees' with the blessing of the authorities. Christians account for only five percent of the population in Syria, and many back the Assad regime because they fear the growing strength of jihadists whose aim is to set up an Islamic state in Syria. The majority of rebel fighters — like the population — are Sunni Muslims, while Assad belongs to the Alawite community which is an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Though it started in mid-March 2011 with peaceful protests calling for the fall of Assad’s regime, Syria’s war has grown increasingly sectarian and jihadists have flooded the battlefields." Continue reading →

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