Winning Hearts & Minds

Glenn Greenwald: The NSA’s mass and indiscriminate spying on Brazilians

"The NSA has, for years, systematically tapped into the Brazilian telecommunication network and indiscriminately intercepted, collected and stored the email and telephone records of millions of Brazilians. All of this bulk, indiscriminate surveillance aimed at populations of friendly foreign nations is part of the NSA's 'FAIRVIEW' program. Under that program, the NSA partners with a large US telecommunications company, and that US company then partners with telecoms in the foreign countries. Those partnerships allow the US company access to those countries' telecommunications systems, and that access is then exploited to direct traffic to the NSA's repositories." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: The NSA’s mass and indiscriminate spying on Brazilians

Polish PM laments opinion impasse keeping Poland out of Eurozone

"Because opposition conservatives reject the European single currency, the government lacks the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed to push through necessary constitutional changes. Central Europe’s largest economy, Poland has maintained growth each year since it shed communism two decades ago. It is the only EU member to have done so through the 2007-2009 financial meltdown and the ongoing eurozone crisis, thanks in part to the zloty easing in value against the euro. Opinion polls show most Poles are opposed to adopting the euro." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolish PM laments opinion impasse keeping Poland out of Eurozone

Obama Throwing Medical Marijuana Patients Into Federal Prison At Unprecedented Rate

"Fallout from the Obama Administration’s aggressive federal enforcement in medical marijuana states has reached a fever pitch this month with three people being sentenced, two others due to surrender to federal authorities to serve out sentences of up to five years in prison, and one federal trial in Montana currently scheduled for January 14th. Two of the three people being sentenced in the coming month face five and ten years to life, respectively. Far surpassing his predecessor George W. Bush, President Obama has conducted more than 200 SWAT-style raids on state-compliant medical marijuana businesses and has indicted more than 80 people since he took office." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Throwing Medical Marijuana Patients Into Federal Prison At Unprecedented Rate

Angry Protesters Rally Over Dog Killed By Hawthorne Police

"[Note: The man who was being arrested in this video was not obstructing an investigation, he was video taping the police and they threw a false charge at him because they didn’t like it.] Demonstrators are out in front of the Hawthorne Police Department Saturday morning, protesting the shooting of a dog by one of their officers. A handful of people stood with signs, some bringing their own dogs, to express their displeasure with the killing of a dog last Sunday. The incident was caught on video and immediately went viral, with nearly four million views on YouTube." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAngry Protesters Rally Over Dog Killed By Hawthorne Police

“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”: The new warrior cop is out of control

"Sal Culosi is dead because he bet on a football game — but it wasn’t a bookie or a loan shark who killed him. His local government killed him, ostensibly to protect him from his gambling habit. Fairfax County, Virginia, detective David Baucum overheard the thirty-eight-year-old optometrist and some friends wagering on a college football game. Baucum befriended Culosi as a cover to begin investigating him. On the night of January 24, 2006, Baucum called Culosi and arranged a time to drop by to collect his winnings. When Culosi, barefoot and clad in a T-shirt and jeans, stepped out of his house to meet the man he thought was a friend, the SWAT team began to move in." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”: The new warrior cop is out of control

The Redcoats Had NOTHING on Today’s Local Police

"Dustin Theoharis of Auburn, Washington was asleep in a basement bedroom when he was shot 16 times by officers who had come to the home looking for someone else. He was not a criminal suspect and had no access to a weapon when the officers opened fire in the darkened bedroom. The assailants who shot Theoharis were Detective Aaron Thompson of the King County Sheriff’s Office and Corrections Officer Kris Rongen. The King County Prosecutor’s office ruled that the shooting by Deputy Aaron Thompson and Correctional Officer Kristopher Rongen was legally justified." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Redcoats Had NOTHING on Today’s Local Police

Nigel Farage: There is a Gathering Electoral Storm

"With 62% youth unemployment in Greece, and with Spain not far behind, it is perhaps about time we were honest and admitted we are causing it ourselves. And yet your recipe is more bureaucracy. A youth guarantee scheme, another six billion for the Youth Employment Initiative, the setting up of the European Alliance for Apprenticeships backed up by the Quality Framework for Traineeships, and the list goes on and on and on of yet more highly paid civil servants setting up organisations that will achieve nothing. Until the euro is broken up, until you reverse the social market model you will not help youth unemployment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNigel Farage: There is a Gathering Electoral Storm

17 Dead, More than 200 Injured As Morsi Supporters Rally To Reject ‘Coup’

"It seems the turmoil in Egypt is far from over as hundreds of thousands (if not more than a million) protesters rallied on Friday to reject the military's removal and arrest of President Mohamed Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Egypt's health ministry reports that 17 people were killed and more 200 were injured in clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi protesters on Friday. You can watch live feeds from the protests here, and Business Insider has a correspondent on the ground. Some of the most intense clashes came on the October 6th bridge in Cairo, where gun shots were heard and a car has been set ablaze." Continue reading →

Continue Reading17 Dead, More than 200 Injured As Morsi Supporters Rally To Reject ‘Coup’

Egyptian nightmare for Erdogan

"True, the danger of a military coup in Turkey at the moment is close to zero, if only because Erdogan has locked up an entire army college (some 330 officers) on charges of plotting against him. But the parallels between the two countries run far beyond the superficial. For the record, so too did Egyptian still-President Mohammed Morsi try to purge the army last year, although he only removed a few top generals. The Turkish and the Egyptian governments - both democratically elected - have cracked down on the press, rolled back some civil liberties and planned to change the constitutions in ways many citizens found unacceptable." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgyptian nightmare for Erdogan

Military Plans to Maintain Power in Egypt after Coup

"Behind the scenes, the military, led by General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, plans to continue running the show. Since it took power in a coup in 1952, the military has remained the most important political player in Egypt. Neither Mubarak's fall in 2011, nor the short rule by Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, have changed this. At 58, el-Sissi is the country's youngest general. He has never fought in a war, and only knows about conflicts with Israel from the stories of others. He belongs to a generation that was invited to receive military training in the West. In 1992 he was in Britain, and in 2006, the United States." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMilitary Plans to Maintain Power in Egypt after Coup