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Glenn Greenwald: As Obama Makes "False" Surveillance Claims, Snowden Risks Life to Spark NSA Debate

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jun. 18 (News Report) - Obama distinguished his surveillance efforts from those of the Bush administration and reaffirmed his insistence that no Americans’ phone calls or emails are being directly monitored without court orders. Greenwald calls Obama’s statements "outright false" for omitting the warrantless spying on phone calls between Americans and callers outside the United States. "It is true that the NSA can’t deliberately target U.S. citizens for [warrantless] surveillance, but it is also the case they are frequently engaged in surveillance of exactly that kind of invasive technique involving U.S. persons,"

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Edward Snowden Q and A: "The US Government Destroyed Any Possibility of a Fair Trial at Home"

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Glenn Greenwald - Jun. 17 (News Report) - The 29-year-old former NSA contractor and source of the Guardian's NSA files coverage will – with the help of Glenn Greenwald – take your questions today on why he revealed the NSA's top-secret surveillance of US citizens, the international storm that has ensued, and the uncertain future he now faces.

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Does the Government Understand the 4th Amendment?

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By David Sirota - Jun. 17 (News Analysis) - Let's for a moment set aside all those questions about the strong probability of criminal lawbreaking that were so powerfully raised first by the Guardian's NSA series, then by the Washington Post, by Bloomberg News and then by the Associated Press. Let's instead get to the heart of the huge constitutional principle at hand - the matter of probable cause.

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As World Awaits U.S. Reaction to NSA Leaks, Movement Emerges to Support Edward Snowden in Hong Kong

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jun. 17 (News Report) - As Edward Snowden is believed to remain in Hong Kong while facing an ongoing U.S. investigation, hundreds of protesters there braved heavy rain Saturday in a show of support. We're joined by Charles Mok, a legislative councilor representing the Information Technology Functional Constituency of Hong Kong, and Tom Grundy, an activist and blogger who organized Saturday's rally in defense of Edward Snowden. "We want to make sure that we can protect and live up to our core values to treat [Snowden] according to all the rights that he should be getting under Hong Kong law," Mok says. Grundy says he helped organize Saturday's rally for Snowden mindful of another U.S. whistleblower: "We don't want Snowden to end up like Bradley Manning."

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Major Push to End Sexual Assault Epidemic in Military Turned Back in Senate

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Adele M. Stan - Jun. 16 (News Report) - Levin made the decision Tuesday, replacing the provisions of Gillibrand’s Military Justice Improvement Act with a measure that simply requires that any command decision not to prosecute a sexual assault case be reviewed by a high-ranking officer. But as demonstrated in at least one recent case—the overturning of the sexual assault conviction of Air Force Lt. Col. James Wilkerson by Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin—the top brass often exhibit the same deference to defendants as commanders lower in rank. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has condemned Levin’s decision.

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Secret Trade Agreements Threaten to Undo Our Last Shreds of Food Safety

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Katherine Paul, Ronnie Cummins - Jun. 15 (Special Report) - Under two new trade agreements, currently in negotiation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could be powerless to shut down imports of unsafe food or food ingredients. And if it tries, multinational corporations will be able to sue the U.S. government for the loss of anticipated future profits. More frightening? Negotiations for both agreements are taking place behind closed doors

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The Latest Outrageous Waste of Money for the Pentagon's Playthings

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Medea Benjamin, James Marc Leas - Jun. 15 (News Report) - Is the Vermont Air National Guard being used for corrupt purposes having nothing to do with its military mission? The answer is yes. Big time. And for big money. In the article, “Those who 'Fudged' Should not be Allowed to Judge” we described how military brass fudged their own scoring process to get Senator Leahy’s home state of Vermont on the list as the “preferred alternative” for basing the F-35.

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Bank of America Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures, Former Employees Say

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By Paul Kiel - Jun. 14 (Investigative Report) - In a statement, a Bank of America spokesman said that each of the former employees’ statements is “rife with factual inaccuracies” and that the bank will respond more fully in court next month. He said that Bank of America had modified more loans than an

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When Interns Should be Paid: A #ProjectIntern Explainer

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By Blair Hickman, Christie Thompson - Jun. 14 (Investigative Report) - This week, a federal judge ruled that Fox Searchlight violated minimum wage laws for not paying two production interns. So what are those laws? Are unpaid internships ever OK?

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The Shocking Amount of Wealth and Power Held by 0.001% of the World Population

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Andrew Gavin Marshall - Jun. 13 (Special Report) - The global elite are of course not defined by their wealth alone, but through the institutional, ideological and individual connections and networks in which they wield their influence. The most obvious example of these types of institutions are the multinational banks and corporations which dominate the global economy. In the first scientific study of its kind, Swiss researchers analyzed the relationship between 43,000 transnational corporations and “identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.”

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Saving Nadrah

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Times of Israel - By Lazar Berman - Jun. 13 (Special Report) - The Times of Israel accompanies the first Syrian heart patient in Israel — a four-year-old girl whose family put her life in the hands of the enemy — on the final stage of an unprecedented journey.

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10 Dumbest Pundit Reactions to NSA Revelations

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Evan McMurry - Jun. 13 (News Analysis) - whistleblowing is grating the ears of the politicians and pundits who built the intelligence-gathering apparatus Snowden unveiled. These folks haven’t spent the past dozen years expanding the parameters of government surveillance just to have some ingrate let us all in on it, and their responses have ranged from calling Snowden a dimwit to calling for his head. From Fox News to the Wall Street Journal, here are the most cringe-inducing reactions.

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Outside Attacks in Massachusetts

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Robert Farley - Jun. 13 (News) - New ads from outside Democratic groups attacking Massachusetts Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez distort his positions on Social Security and taxes. An ad from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee claims Gomez “supports protecting special tax breaks for corporations and multimillionaires – like himself.” But Gomez has supported the elimination of special … More >>

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Silicon Valley intensifies lobbying on immigration bill

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

finance.yahoo.com - By Rachelle Younglai, Caren Bohan - Jun. 12 (News Report) - The bill also boosts the number of visas available for highly skilled foreigners, which will benefit those with expertise in the so-called STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. The tech industry says such a step is badly needed. "Even through the depth of the great recession, we struggled to fill jobs," said Ardine Williams, Intel's vice president for human resources, before making her case for the bill to lawmakers on Wednesday.

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The Meta Question

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Jaron Lanier - Jun. 12 (News Analysis) - Ever since we learned about PRISM, the NSA’s secret project to collect metadata on everyone by tapping into commercial online services, we’ve been confounded by a tangle of intangible clashing values. We are asked to balance “preventing tterrorism” against “protecting privacy.” It is hard to demonstrate what terrorism would have occurred without preventative measures, and privacy is as much a feeling as a circumstance.

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Digital Blackwater: How the NSA Gives Private Contractors Control of the Surveillance State

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jun. 11 (Special Report) - Over the past decade, the U.S. intelligence community has relied increasingly on the technical expertise of private firms such as Booz Allen, SAIC, the Boeing subsidiary Narus and Northrop Grumman. About 70 percent of the national intelligence budget is now spent on the private sector.

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Obama Nominates America’s Biggest Walmart Cheerleader as His Chief Economic Adviser

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lynn Stuart Parramore - Jun. 11 (News Report) - President Obama announced his intention to nominate Jason Furman to become the next chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. This is a big-time, highly influential post. So what kind of economist is Furman? One who thinks Walmart is the best thing since sliced bread.

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America's Most Anti-Democratic Institution: How the Imperial Presidency Threatens U.S. National Security

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Fred Branfman - Jun. 11 (Special Report) - The U.S. Executive justifies its mass murder, incarceration of the innocent, authoritarianism, secrecy, deceit, lawlessness, spying, and prosecution of whistleblowers, the press and activists on the claim that it is protecting U.S. "National Security."

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How Right-Wing Ideology Has Suckered Millions of Americans into Hating Their Own Government

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lawrence Davidson - Jun. 11 (Special Report) - Boortz’s view of the regulatory powers of the federal government is dangerously naive. He seems unaware that in the United States the ability to create and protect the civil liberties he supports comes from the legislative action of a strong federal government that then oversees the implementation of those laws against historically prejudiced, racist state and local governments.

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"On a Slippery Slope to a Totalitarian State": NSA Whistleblower Rejects Gov't Defense of Spying

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jun. 10 (News Analysis) - As Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warns the recent leaks could “render great damage to our intelligence capabilities,” we speak to William Binney, a former top official at the National Security Agency, and Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who has broken the NSA spying stories. Binney spent almost 40 years at the agency but resigned after Sept. 11 over concerns about growing domestic surveillance. He spent time as director of the NSA's World Geopolitical and Military Analysis Reporting Group and was a senior NSA crypto-mathematician largely responsible for automating the agency’s worldwide eavesdropping network. "The government is not trying to protect [secrets about NSA surveillance] from the terrorists," Binney says. "It's trying to protect knowledge of that program from the citizens of the United States."

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Glenn Greenwald on How NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Helped Expose a "Massive Surveillance Apparatus"

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Glenn Greenwald, Amy Goodman - Jun. 10 (News Analysis) - "There is this massive surveillance apparatus being gradually constructed in the United States that already has extremely invasive capabilities to monitor and store the communications and other forms of behavior not just of tens of millions of Americans, but of hundreds of millions, probably billions of people, around the globe," Greenwald says. "It’s one thing to say that we want the U.S. government to have these capabilities. It’s another thing to allow this to be assembled without any public knowledge, without any public debate, and with no real accountability. What ultimately drove [Snowden] forward — and what ultimately is driving our reporting — is the need for a light to be shined on what this incredibly consequential [surveillance] world is all about and the impact it’s having both on our country and our planet."

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MAP: These States Rejected Federal Money to Fix Their Terrible Mental Health Systems

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Erika Eichelberger - Jun. 10 (News Analysis) - Less than half of Americans living with mental illness receive the treatment they need—a failure that lands large numbers of mentally ill people in jails, emergency rooms, and on the streets. One provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, a.k.a Obamacare, would help fix the problem. Under the law, states will get hundreds of billions in federal money over the next ten years to provide health care to 2.7 million poor mentally ill people who are currently uninsured . But 17 states—including some states with among the worst mental health programs in the country—are rejecting these funds.

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“Digital Blackwater”: Meet the Contractors Who Analyze Your Personal Data

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Tim Shorrock - Jun. 10 (News Report) - Amid the torrent of stories about the shocking new revelations about the National Security Agency, few have bothered to ask a central question. Who’s actually doing the work of analyzing all the data, meta-data and personal information pouring into the agency from Verizon and nine key Internet Service Providers for its ever-expanding surveillance of American citizens?

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America's Worst Charities, a Tampa Bay Times, CIR and CNN Investigation | Tampa Bay Times

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

tampabay.com - By KRIS HUNDLEY, Kendall Taggart - Jun. 09 (Investigative Report) - Across the nation, hundreds of charities take your donations in the name of cancer patients, dying children and homeless veterans. But the real beneficiaries are the charity founders themselves and the for-profit companies they pay to run boiler rooms that dial for dollars.

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Ronald Reagan's Secret, Genocidal Wars

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Noam Chomsky: - Jun. 09 (Special Report) - Most of the border crossers are from Central America. Many say they would rather be home, if the possibility of decent survival hadn’t been destroyed. Mayans such as this young mother are still fleeing from the wreckage of the genocidal assault on the indigenous population of the Guatemalan highlands 30 years ago.

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