Homeland Stupidity

School District Ends Policy Of Forcing Students To Kneel Down For Dismissal

"School district officials in San Bernardino County say they will discontinue a policy that required elementary school students to kneel down before being dismissed to class. Principal Dana Carter at Calimesa Elementary School had reportedly instituted the policy, which called for students at various times of the school day to kneel down on one knee and wait for the principal or another administrator to dismiss them, as a safety measure. Yucaipa Calimesa Unified School District Superintendent Cali Binks told KCAL9 the policy – which was described as 'positive behavior intervention' – will no longer be enforced at Calimesa Elementary after several parents spoke out against the practice." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSchool District Ends Policy Of Forcing Students To Kneel Down For Dismissal

Investors Nervous: Erdogan’s Witch Hunt Endangers Economy

"'Umut Keles,' a Turkish analyst with an American investment bank, removes the battery from his mobile phone, afraid of being wiretapped by the Turkish government. The investment banker believes that the government would take action against him if it knew his identity. 'There's a witch hunt underway here at the moment,' he says. Levent is Turkey's financial center, home to the offices of banks like HSBC and Deutsche Bank. They helped finance the Turkish economic boom in recent years, but now the government suspects them of supporting putschists and terrorists. 'We're all afraid,' says Keles. Some of his colleagues are thinking about leaving the country for good." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInvestors Nervous: Erdogan’s Witch Hunt Endangers Economy

Homeland Studies

"Salt Lake Community College in Utah joins numerous other institutions of higher spending now offering an 'associate of applied science [sic for ‘baloney’] (A.A.S.) degree in “Homeland Security and Emergency Management.' Yes. Seems there is a correct way to grope a victim while stealing his iPad, and by gum, the instructors are gonna learn rookies to do it right. You won’t be surprised at this propaganda’s sponsors: 'the Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, various medical institutions and other regional agencies and employers.'" Continue reading →

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Court: Britain can look at Greenwald partner’s seized electronic documents

"British authorities can sift through electronic documents seized from journalist Glenn Greenwald’s Brazilian partner, in the interests of 'national security', a court ruled on Thursday. The 'highly sensitive' material could risk lives, said UK police. Two judges gave authorities until Aug. 30 to analyze 'thousands' of documents, according to a police lawyer. 'he home office and police now have seven days to prove that there is a genuine threat to national security, rather than make mere assertions as they have done today,' stated lawyer Gwendolen Morgan after the ruling was passed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCourt: Britain can look at Greenwald partner’s seized electronic documents

Lavabit: The Latest Dead Canary in the Privacy Coal Mine

"Private data stored with a company which is US-based and/or has servers based in the US does not have strong legal or privacy protection. The US government can force that company to turn over its customer data while also preventing it from talking about it. Are you still entrusting your private data to a US-based company or a company with servers based in the US? If you are but you value your privacy, you need to move your data elsewhere. Otherwise, that company might be compelled to violate your privacy and give up your data to the US government. And they may never be able to tell you about it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLavabit: The Latest Dead Canary in the Privacy Coal Mine

Bitcoin’s Washington problem

"On paper, the popular virtual currency Bitcoin is the type of entity that traditionally would hire a powerful K Street lobbying firm to protect its interests in Washington, especially in the cutthroat world of financial regulations. But Bitcoin doesn’t exist on paper. With no public founder or organization behind it, Bitcoin isn’t in a strong position to defend itself from government scrutiny or lobby Congress on critical issues including privacy. As a fully decentralized network, the closest thing Bitcoin has to formal representatives are exchanges that facilitate the buying and selling of Bitcoins against other currency, and trade associations that represent them." Continue reading →

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Paul Craig Roberts: Gangster State US/UK

"If the Obama and Cameron governments were in the dock at Nuremberg, the entirety of both governments would be convicted. Are there sufficient brainwashed people in both countries to sustain the US/UK myth that 'freedom and democracy' are attained via war crimes? There is no shortage of brainwashed Americans who love to be told that they are 'indispensable' and ' exceptional,' and therefore entitled to work their will on the world. It is difficult to discern in these clueless Americans much hope for the revival of liberty. But there is some indication that the British, who did not inherit liberty but had to fight for it for five centuries, might be more determined." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: Gangster State US/UK

Homeland Security retains black race warrior

"Ayo Kimathi is a black supremist, who says in order for blacks to survive, they must kill large numbers of whites. Ayo Kimathi, who writes under the pen name of the 'Irritated Genie', works for the DHS. (Department of Homeland Security) Even more troubling is his job at the DHS, which is to buy guns and ammunition. During the evenings and on the weekends, he prepares for the coming race war and spewing diatribes about gays. He says he believes the white man is encouraging black men to turn gay. His site is named 'War is on the Horizon.'" Continue reading →

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Memory’s Half-Life: A Social History of Wiretaps

"American attitudes towards wiretapping significantly shifted during the 1940s, as the war and changes in the class distribution of telephones helped shift judicial acceptance of wiretaps. President Roosevelt issued a secret executive order authorizing widespread Justice Department wire-taps of 'subversives' and suspected spies. Hoover used these vague new powers to investigate not just Nazis but anyone he thought subversive. The social history of wiretaps is a history of mission creep, where FBI agents initially hunting for wartime Nazi spies soon monitored progressive activists fighting racial segregation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMemory’s Half-Life: A Social History of Wiretaps

White House Picks Creepy Panel to Review NSA Programs

"A group of veteran security experts and former White House officials has been selected to conduct a full review of U.S. surveillance programs and other secret government efforts disclosed over recent months, ABC News has learned. The recent acting head of the CIA, Michael Morell, will be among what President Obama called a 'high-level group of outside experts' scrutinizing the controversial programs. Joining Morell on the panel will be former White House officials Richard Clarke, Cass Sunstein and Peter Swire. An announcement is expected Thursday, a source with knowledge of the matter told ABC News’ Jon Karl." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhite House Picks Creepy Panel to Review NSA Programs