Orwellian

Pepe Escobar: Vlad the Hammer vs Obama the Wimp

"Vlad the Hammer can sense a wimp of Carter-esque proportions like a polar bear hunting a seal. He quickly evaluated how the Obama administration turned its already shaky credibility to ashes on two simultaneous fronts; because of the scale of the Orwellian/Panopticon complex detailed by Snowden's leaks, and because of the way he was being mercilessly hunted. The New York Times posted an editorial justifying the cancelation of the summit, saying, 'Mr Putin is a repressive and arrogant leader who treats his people with contempt.' Right; and Snow White lives in the White House." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: Vlad the Hammer vs Obama the Wimp

‘Intelligence laundering’

"One of the things that is really telling in this story is that the DEA bizarrely didn’t seem to think that there was really anything wrong in what they were doing. I think they got blindsided by the reaction. It’s similar to the completely clueless statement by Michele Leonhart when talking about the perjury of supersnitch Andrew Chambers. They have gotten so used to considering themselves above the law, that they actually forgot that’s where they went. Lying it’s just what you do to get the job done. Re-creating an evidence trail from scratch is just part of the standard red tape that you go through to complete a drug arrest." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Intelligence laundering’

US Military Caught Manipulating Social Media, Mass Fake Accounts

"The New York Times report goes on to detail information uncovered from hacked data regarding the military operation to stage ‘grassroots’ responses and organizations in order to deceive via psyop. Professor of philosophy Peter Ludlow writes for the Times: 'The hack also revealed evidence that Team Themis was developing a 'persona management' system — a program, developed at the specific request of the United States Air Force, that allowed one user to control multiple online identities ('sock puppets'_ for commenting in social media spaces, thus giving the appearance of grass roots support.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS Military Caught Manipulating Social Media, Mass Fake Accounts

Just What I Was Afraid Of: Feinstein To Hold NSA Hearings

"If you really think that Feinstein and Obama are calling for hearings and revisions in the Patriot Act to enhance American freedoms, then you really need to get here to San Francisco, fast, I have a great fog making machine to sell you. Any revisions will carry short paragraphs of legalese that will allow the data collection to be used against Americans in many more ways. The legislation will be passed and 6 months later, after it is enacted, WaPo and NYT will come out with stories on how the legislation actually enhanced the government to use the data in new ways. Any Congressional hearings will be very dangerous." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJust What I Was Afraid Of: Feinstein To Hold NSA Hearings

U.S. Drones Kill More Than 30 in Yemen; School Targeted in One Attack

"'The drones are killing our people, killing our children, and destroying our homes,' one man said, as he sat among the sheared rebar and crumbled concrete that was once his village. Another man related that after he picked up his daughter from school to take her to a doctor’s appointment, Hellfire missiles fired from U.S. drones destroyed the clinic. He grabbed his daughter and ran back to the school to take cover. Before he got there, though, the school was obliterated by a second missile. His daughter was struck in the back of the head by debris and she bled to death in his arms. 'What did my daughter ever do to them?' he cried. 'She was eight years old.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Drones Kill More Than 30 in Yemen; School Targeted in One Attack

Obama Thinks Americans Don’t Need to Know

"The day after his first inauguration, Obama proclaimed 'a new era of openness in our country.' Yet, in office, he’s driven state secrecy to new levels of absurdity. You may think that Americans have a right to know who we’re at war with, when the government thinks it can kill them, and whether the executive branch considers the personal data of all Americans “relevant” to terrorism investigations — but this administration begs to differ. As far as it’s concerned, you can’t handle the truth." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Thinks Americans Don’t Need to Know

Lavabit chief predicts ‘long fight’ with feds (Q&A)

"Ladar Levison can't talk for legal reasons about the specifics of why he shut down Lavabit, his encrypted Web e-mail company, but he was hardly tight-lipped about the subject. Levison, a San Francisco native and an enthusiastic beach-and-sand volleyball player who moved to Texas to go to college, currently resides in Dallas. In an phone interview about the decision to shutter Lavabit, Levison spoke about the connection between Lavabit and the Patriot Act, how he thinks the laws regarding privacy ought to change, and how the American government is failing to uphold the U.S. Constitution." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLavabit chief predicts ‘long fight’ with feds (Q&A)

U.S. E-Mail Services Close and Destroy Data Rather Than Reveal Files

"The shutdown of two small e-mail providers on Thursday illustrates why it is so hard for Internet companies to challenge secret government surveillance: to protect their customers’ data from federal authorities, the two companies essentially committed suicide. In effect, both businesses destroyed their assets — in part or in full — to avoid turning over their customers’ data. Such public displays are far more difficult for large companies to make, and help explain why the most public efforts to challenge secret government orders have come from small companies and nonprofits." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. E-Mail Services Close and Destroy Data Rather Than Reveal Files