Rogue State

Internet Giants Got Millions From Taxpayers to Cover PRISM Spying Costs

"Internet giants like Google and Yahoo received millions of dollars from the NSA to cover their surveillance under the PRISM program. These payments occurred after a federal court ruled that surveillance requests the companies handled under the PRISM program were unconstitutional. The document also shows the NSA was anxious to get certifications from the FISA Court to authorize surveillance beyond the possible expiration of the law that authorized that surveillance. The law was set to expire on December 31, 2012, but the NSA received authorizations under that law to continue its surveillance until September 23, 2013." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInternet Giants Got Millions From Taxpayers to Cover PRISM Spying Costs

Obama DOJ Asks Court to Grant Immunity to George W. Bush For Iraq War

"In court papers filed today (PDF), the United States Department of Justice requested that George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz be granted procedural immunity in a case alleging that they planned and waged the Iraq War in violation of international law. Plaintiff Sundus Shaker Saleh, an Iraqi single mother and refugee now living in Jordan, filed a complaint in March 2013 in San Francisco federal court alleging that the planning and waging of the war constituted a 'crime of aggression' against Iraq, a legal theory that was used by the Nuremberg Tribunal to convict Nazi war criminals after World War II." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama DOJ Asks Court to Grant Immunity to George W. Bush For Iraq War

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

Ron Paul supports Snowden and Manning in Larry King interview

"With Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role in releasing sensitive military information to WikiLeaks and the US government's hunt for Edward Snowden for revealing the NSA's spying program, being a whistleblower isn't an easy task. As some people see the two individuals as traitors, some people believe that these leaks are essential to gaining full government transparency. In an interview with Larry King, former Congressman Ron Paul expresses his appreciation for the leaked information." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul supports Snowden and Manning in Larry King interview

NSA spied on Americans until a judge ruled it illegal in 2011

"The National Security Agency spied on electronic communications between Americans in a program that was later scrapped after a judge ruled it illegal in 2011, US officials said Wednesday. The court’s opinions are usually top secret but the move to release the documents came amid a firestorm over revelations of sweeping surveillance operations, following bombshell disclosures from a former US intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden. Officials said the court rulings had been declassified to better inform the public about how the eavesdropping programs are carried out, and that a mistake had occurred due to a technical problem." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA spied on Americans until a judge ruled it illegal in 2011

Secret Court Opinion Finding NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional Released

"In response to EFF's FOIA lawsuit, the government has released the 2011 FISA court opinion ruling some NSA surveillance unconstitutional. For over a year, EFF has been fighting the government in federal court to force the public release of an 86-page opinion of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Issued in October 2011, the secret court's opinion found that surveillance conducted by the NSA under the FISA Amendments Act was unconstitutional and violated 'the spirit of' federal law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSecret Court Opinion Finding NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional Released

Julian Assange: ‘Bradley Manning’s Apology Was Extracted By Force’

"The United States government should be apologizing to Pfc. Bradley Manning, rather than the other way around, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement Wednesday. Assange said Manning's apology had been coerced by abuse. 'Mr. Manning's apology is a statement extorted from him under the overbearing weight of the United States military justice system. It took three years and millions of dollars to extract two minutes of tactical remorse from this brave soldier,' he said. 'As over 100,000 signatories of his Nobel Peace Prize nomination attest, Bradley Manning has changed the world for the better.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJulian Assange: ‘Bradley Manning’s Apology Was Extracted By Force’

Paul Craig Roberts: Humanity Is Drowning In Washington’s Criminality

"Americans will soon be locked into an unaccountable police state unless US Representatives and Senators find the courage to ask questions and to sanction the executive branch officials who break the law, violate the Constitution, withhold information from Congress, and give false information about their crimes against law, the Constitution, the American people and those in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Guantanamo, and elsewhere. The US faces no threat that justifies the lawlessness and abuse of police powers that characterize the executive branch in the 21st century." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: Humanity Is Drowning In Washington’s Criminality

John Grisham: After Guantánamo, Another Injustice

"Nabil has not been the only 'mistake' in our war on terror. Hundreds of other Arabs have been sent to Gitmo, chewed up by the system there, never charged and eventually transferred back to their home countries. There have been no apologies, no official statements of regret, no compensation, nothing of the sort. The United States was dead wrong, but no one can admit it. In Nabil’s case, the United States military and intelligence agents relied on corrupt informants who were raking in American cash, or even worse, jailhouse snitches who swapped false stories for candy bars, porn and sometimes just a break from their own beatings." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJohn Grisham: After Guantánamo, Another Injustice

Is Government Just Spying Like a Giant Peeping Tom … Or Is It Actively USING that Information?

"Top NSA whistleblower William Binney – the former head of the National Security Agency’s global digital data gathering program, and a 32-year veteran of that agency who was a 'legend' among NSA workers – says that the NSA database is used to harass and even frame anyone the government doesn’t like. Another high-level NSA whistleblower (Russell Tice, who worked on satellite spying for the agency for two decades) says that the NSA is spying on – and blackmailing – top government officials and military officers (and see this; and this PBS interview)." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs Government Just Spying Like a Giant Peeping Tom … Or Is It Actively USING that Information?