Land Of The Flea

Government consumer credit card data-mining program challenged

"Consumer Financial Protection Bureau officials are seeking to monitor four out of every five U.S. consumer credit card transactions this year — up to 42 billion transactions – through a controversial data-mining program, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner. In addition, CFPB officials hope to monitor up to 95 percent of all mortgage transactions, according to the planning document. CFPB Director Richard Cordray defended the data-mining practice and said his agency is monitoring credit card usage at 110 banks, including Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Capital One, Discover and American Express." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment consumer credit card data-mining program challenged

Secret terrorism court orders declassification of its own rulings

"Court cases before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court — the court that reviews requests by the NSA to wiretap suspected terrorists’ communications — are generally classified. But Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordered the government to review the court’s opinions on the meaning, scope, and constitutionality of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which authorizes the government to obtain 'any tangible things' relevant to foreign-intelligence or terrorism investigations. Section 215 is the legal basis the NSA claims legitimizes its mass phone records collection program." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSecret terrorism court orders declassification of its own rulings

ICANN: How top-down ‘implementation’ replaced bottom-up policymaking

"To understand the significance of this, suppose that the U.S. Congress or British Parliament had just passed a law, but one lobbying group didn’t like it. Suppose that the President or the British Prime Minister convened a closed meeting with a small group of invited 'stakeholders' and agreed on a 'strawman proposal' to amend the legislation. The new legislation makes the first group happy but most other stakeholders unhappy. But nevertheless, the chief executives went on to order its executive branch to implement the revised legislation without any review and approval by the Congress/Parliament. That is exactly what ICANN did." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingICANN: How top-down ‘implementation’ replaced bottom-up policymaking

Glenn Greenwald: Inside the mind of NSA chief Gen Keith Alexander

"Now, on the website of DBI Architects, Inc. of Washington and Reston, Virginia, there are what purports to be photographs of the actual Star-Trek-like headquarters commissioned by Gen. Alexander that so impressed his Congressional overseers. It's a 10,740 square foot labyrinth in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The brochure touts how 'the prominently positioned chair provides the commanding officer an uninterrupted field of vision to a 22'-0' wide projection screen'. Its "primary function is to enable 24-hour worldwide visualization, planning, and execution of coordinated information operations for the US Army and other federal agencies.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Inside the mind of NSA chief Gen Keith Alexander

Why Do They Need FATCA When They Have SWIFT?

"Given the growing ease with which people conduct transactions that don’t involve physical cash, or even leaving your house, one should wonder just how much financial data Uncle Sam’s spy network has, and why it feels entitled to it. What does this all mean? Hard to say. These days the American government is fairly cagey about its reasons for anything, but on the surface it appears as though the United States government will happily steal whatever information on the finances of ordinary people and financial institutions of other countries that it can’t coerce out of them through extra territorial law making schemes like FATCA. Whatever is going on, it’s not about taxes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy Do They Need FATCA When They Have SWIFT?

With “Follow The Money”, NSA Knows All About Your Spending Habits

"While collecting credit card data was to be expected, what is even worse is that the NSA has also secretly planted itself in the nexus of the entire global USD-intermediated financial transactions system courtesy of SWIFT. In other words, America's unsupervised uber spies, when not checking in on their former significant others, spend the bulk of their time tracking who is buying what, where, and with whose money. They also know how much anyone in the world has spent on credit card-based purchases, what the source of that money is, and what the purchase was. In other words: absolute monetary and financial surveillance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWith “Follow The Money”, NSA Knows All About Your Spending Habits

Gunman dead after killing 4 at heavily secured Washington Naval Yard

"A heavily armed gunman opened fire at the Navy Yard in southeast Washington, D.C., Monday morning killing four people and shooting as many as 12, a senior Naval official told NBC News. Washington police swat teams cornered at least one of the shooters, who they said was carrying an AR-15, double barrel shotgun, and a handgun in the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters building. At least one officer had been shot in both legs at the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters, NBC News reported. The building has heavy security and requires a government I.D. to enter." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGunman dead after killing 4 at heavily secured Washington Naval Yard

The Proof Is In the Putin

"The punditocracy is shouting almost in unison that Russia and Syria have pulled one over us. The US, they say, has been weakened because someone halted the momentum of the American war juggernaut. You see, the pundits and the pols cannot perceive of greatness outside the state because they are part of the state apparatus; and depend on it for status and income. Think about it. Who benefits when America goes to war? Not you. Not ordinary Americans. Those who benefit “function within the nimbus of great power” in D.C. and around it—the media-military-congressional-industrial complex." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Proof Is In the Putin

The People Say No To War

"What happened? The people happened. Public-opinion polls showed at once that most of us do not want Obama to commit an act of war against Syria. Furthermore, the people inundated Congress with calls and emails. Because of this (and in some cases personal conviction), most members of Congress also do not want war with Syria. Obama got the message: he was heading for sure defeat in the House of Representatives and perhaps in the Senate. He couldn’t bear the prospect of rebuff. Russian president Vladimir Putin gave him a graceful way out. Because the people didn’t want war, when a possible diplomatic solution arose, Obama had to go for it. The people gave him no choice." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe People Say No To War

A Rogue State and Failed Social Visions

"We are always getting New Freedoms, New Frontiers, Fair Deals, New Deals, Square Deals, Wars on Drugs, Wars to End All Wars, Wars to Make the World Safe for Democracy, Global Wars on Terror, and Wars on Poverty. We are always getting social visions enacted with names like Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Defense of Marriage Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Iraq Liberation Act. There’s no getting around it. The U.S. is a rogue state domestically as well as in its international affairs. These are two sides of the same belief system." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Rogue State and Failed Social Visions