statism

FBI’s Latest Proposal for a Wiretap-Ready Internet Should Be Trashed

"The FBI has some strange ideas about how to 'update' federal surveillance laws: They’re calling for legislation to penalize online services that provide users with too much security. The FBI’s misguided proposal would impose costly burdens on thousands of companies (and threaten to entirely kill those whose business model centers on providing highly secure encrypted communications), while making cloud solutions less attractive to businesses and users. It would aid totalitarian governments eager to spy on their citizens while distorting business decisions about software design. Perhaps worst of all, it would treat millions of law-abiding users as presumed criminals." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFBI’s Latest Proposal for a Wiretap-Ready Internet Should Be Trashed

FBI Monitors G-Mail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and Facebook Accounts

"If you store your emails for over 180 days, the FBI says it can legally monitor them without a warrant. It took a Freedom of Information Act inquiry to find this out. This defies a ruling made in 2010 by a federal appeals court. An FBI 'Operations Guide' makes exemptions for any email that stored by a service provider for more than 180 days. G-mail is a third party. Outlook isn’t. The FBI has to get a warrant to look at Outlook emails. I use Outlook. I don’t use G-mail. I never have. Why not? Because of exactly this reason. I did not want a third party to store my emails. In a statement, the FBI insisted its methods are constitutional." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFBI Monitors G-Mail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and Facebook Accounts

FBI Monitors G-Mail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and Facebook Accounts

"If you store your emails for over 180 days, the FBI says it can legally monitor them without a warrant. It took a Freedom of Information Act inquiry to find this out. This defies a ruling made in 2010 by a federal appeals court. An FBI 'Operations Guide' makes exemptions for any email that stored by a service provider for more than 180 days. G-mail is a third party. Outlook isn’t. The FBI has to get a warrant to look at Outlook emails. I use Outlook. I don’t use G-mail. I never have. Why not? Because of exactly this reason. I did not want a third party to store my emails. In a statement, the FBI insisted its methods are constitutional." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFBI Monitors G-Mail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and Facebook Accounts

911 And Witness Calls Of David Silva Beating And Murder By Eight Cops

"Kern County deputies beat an intoxicated man to death in the street Tuesday night, then detained and intimidated witnesses, confiscated video evidence, and arrested another man who spoke out. David Silva was beaten with batons, left in a pool of blood until an ambulance finally arrived after he was already dead. Witnesses, including Melissa Quair, were harassed and told that they must surrender their cell phones as 'evidence.' Their houses were even searched as a crime scene in order to confiscate the video evidence." Continue reading →

Continue Reading911 And Witness Calls Of David Silva Beating And Murder By Eight Cops

Arizona Man Winds Up Jailed, Unemployed and Homeless After Photographing Courthouse

"He snapped photos of the Arizona State Capitol and the Sandra Day O’Connor United States Courthouse, two of the city’s most picturesque buildings. He continued walking when he noticed he was being followed by a Phoenix police patrol car. Before he knew it, he was being followed by an additional two marked cars as well as an unmarked car, not to mention a cop on foot. Before he knew it, he was handcuffed and sitting in an interrogation room at the Phoenix Police Department, fielding questions from an FBI agent and a police detective named Darren Emfinger from the Joint Terrorism Task Force as to what organizations he belonged to and what types of books he reads." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArizona Man Winds Up Jailed, Unemployed and Homeless After Photographing Courthouse

Benghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions, Scrubbed Of Terror Reference; Risk Of Impeachment

"When it became clear last fall that the CIA’s now discredited Benghazi talking points were flawed, the White House said repeatedly the documents were put together almost entirely by the intelligence community, but White House documents reviewed by Congress suggest a different story. ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBenghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions, Scrubbed Of Terror Reference; Risk Of Impeachment

‘Flaky’ Syrian Chemical Weapons Evidence Does Not Deter Neo-Cons

"Case in point is today's NY Times op-ed by Bill Keller -- the same Bill Keller who cheered for the 2003 US war on Iraq, defended the lies of media-Goebbels Judith Miller, and wrote a love note to neo-con prince Paul Wolfowitz, calling him the 'Sunshine Warrior'. In today's piece, Keller tells us to ignore the fact that he helped lie us into war with Iraq, blithely calling it 'our ill-fated adventure,' as if it were some sort of Sunday drive gone wrong. Best to forget the millions whose lives have been destroyed in the war he pushed -- because he is back without shame to promote the next one." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Flaky’ Syrian Chemical Weapons Evidence Does Not Deter Neo-Cons

The top five myths about Guantánamo Bay

"Renewing his push to close the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, President Obama said what many of his critics have been saying for years – that it is inefficient, inspires new terrorists, alienates the US’s allies and, above all, 'is contrary to who we are'. Coming in response to the detainee hunger strikers, whose numbers increase every day, Obama’s comments suggest that the inmates are close to accomplishing what others opposed to the prison have not: they’re making it necessary that their cases get resolved. Let’s revisit some myths about the prison." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe top five myths about Guantánamo Bay

Dennis Rodman pleads with Kim Jong-Un to release American sentenced to 15 years

"Basketball hall-of-famer Dennis Rodman, who forged an unlikely friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on a recent trip, appealed Tuesday for the freedom of an American sentenced to 15 years. 'I’m calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea or as I call him ‘Kim’, to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose,' Rodman tweeted. Bae, whose Korean name is Pae Jun-Ho, was sentenced last week to 15 years of hard labor on charges that he tried to topple the North Korean regime. The Korean-American had organized tours into the isolated state." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDennis Rodman pleads with Kim Jong-Un to release American sentenced to 15 years

Australia: Another Toll Road Goes Bankrupt

"The same phenomenon is common in Europe. In Spain last year, ten toll concessions, including the Madrid-Toledo highway, became insolvent. The Spanish government provided more than a billion euros in bailout money to the tolling firms Abertis, Acciona, ACS, Bankia, Cintra, OHL and Sacyr Vallehermoso. Failures are equally common in the United States, beginning with the toll lanes on the 91 freeway in Orange County, California which had to be bought out by county taxpayers in 2003 for more than the original cost of construction. San Diego's South Bay Expressway went bankrupt in 2010 and was also bought out by county government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAustralia: Another Toll Road Goes Bankrupt