War on Terror, Iraq'd, Militants, Israel and Palestine; Drones, VA, PTSD, Soldiers; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy, Police State, Wifi

War on Terror

• Media seeks Guantanamo force-feeding videos—"[T]he Defense Department has classified the videos as 'secret' national security information." Politico
• U.S. Court Rules Constitutional Rights Don't Apply for Americans Overseas
• Federal judge rules U.S. no-fly list violates Constitution—Blatantly anti-liberty.
• Al-Jazeera journalists jailed for seven years in Egypt—"Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed of Al-Jazeera English sentenced on terrorism-related charges."
• Pair wrapped bacon around door handles of Edinburgh mosque
• Hannity Goes After Muslim Student Who Asked Question At Benghazi Panel
• Blackwater trial defence raises possibility of witness coaching—"Lawyers for ex-Blackwater guards accused of killing 14 in Baghdad in 2007 say prosecution witnesses 'orchestrated' stories."
• TSA Agent Arrested For Dealing Cocaine

Iraq'd

• Reporter Who Was Wrong About Iraq: Stop Criticizing Those Who Were Wrong About Iraq—Never forget the cunt-astic coverage of war whoring Judith Miller.
• Megyn Kelly Takes On Another Iraq War Architect
• NYT Journalist Stands Behind Her John Bolton Reporting Amid GOP Outrage
• Thank God For Dick Cheney (Really)—"The more the former vice president talks, the better Obama seems."
• Cheney doesn't want to talk about 'what happened 11 or 12 years ago'
• Iraq dredges up painful memories for GOP—"Amid the renewed chaos in the country, key figures from George W. Bush's administration have reemerged in the public spotlight, bringing fresh attention to past mistakes the GOP would rather forget."
• This Leading GOP Congressional Candidate Insists We Found Saddam's WMD Program—"Former Army officer Steve Russell claims his friend discovered Iraq's nuclear weapons program—but says the war had nothing to do with WMDs anyway."
• US fired depleted uranium at civilian areas in 2003 Iraq war, report finds—"Dutch peace group Pax says findings show US was in breach of official advice meant to prevent suffering in conflicts."

Militants

• Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman who ordered Saddam Hussein's death in 2006 reportedly killed by jihadists
• MI6 Fears 300 Islamist Fighters Back In UK—"An ex-intelligence chief tells Sky News that security services face a "nightmare" tracking militants who return to Britain."
• Jihad in Syria lures Somalis from Minnesota
• Obama Warns Threat From Iraq Militants Could Grow
• Why the Iraqi army can't defeat ISIS
• Hezbollah: Gulf states will regret funding ISIS

Israel and Palestine

• The Christian family refusing to give up its Bethlehem hill farm—And doing it peacefully.
• Presbyterians Vote to Divest Holdings to Pressure Israel—"The church voted at its general convention to divest from three companies that it says supply Israel with equipment used in the occupation of Palestinian territory." NYT
• Palestinian boy, 7, dies of injuries from Israeli air strike: medics
• Israel continues crackdown in Palestine in search for settlers—"Israeli troops arrested 30 more Palestinians in the West Bank Wednesday night as they ramped up a massive search for three young settlers believed to have been kidnapped."
• Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Teenager Protesting Arrests in the West Bank NYT
• Attack from Syria kills Israeli teen; Israeli military kills two Palestinians
• HRW: Israel orders removal of security camera that showed Nakba killings
• Palestinian village wins UNESCO listing against Israel barrier plan—"A Palestinian village joined UNESCO's world heritage sites list on Friday after an emergency nomination meant to try to block Israel from building a barrier across its ancient farmland."

Drones

• Court releases DOJ memo justifying drone strike on US citizen
• "Civilian casualties" authorized under secret US drone-strike memo—"US justifies killings as acts of war despite civilian deaths, global precedent."
• When drones fall from the sky—"More than 400 large U.S. military drones have crashed in major accidents around the world since 2001, showing the potential dangers of throwing open U.S. skies to drone traffic, according to a year-long Washington Post investigation." WaPo
• US officials move to ban drones from national parks
• African firm is selling pepper-spray bullet firing drones

VA

• VA deaths covered up to make statistics look better, whistle-blower says
• Every Senior V.A. Executive Was Rated 'Fully Successful' or Better Over 4 Years NYT
• GOP Sen. Ron Johnson: It costs too much to fund the VA—Support the troops, and then don't.
• VA looks into the fatal shooting by police of KC veteran Issac Sims
• Marine vet says VA classified him as dead

PTSD

• Government's PTSD treatment for veterans lacking, report finds LA Times
• Arizona judge rules pot can be used for PTSD
• British Army turns to Oculus Rift to take the sting out of battlefield trauma

Soldiers

• Airman on his way to report for duty gets stranded in Price, community comes to his rescue
• Marine who took grenade blast for comrade receives Medal of Honor
• Baxter's back! Family agrees to return deployed soldier's beloved dog after girlfriend sold him on Craigslist... even though their children were attached to him—The parents did the right thing.
• Vet says he was asked to leave Walgreens because of service dog
• Baton Rouge Hotel Reprimanded for Refusing Service Dog—"The front desk worker told the family she was aware of laws protecting access for service dogs, but the owner insists."
• Local sailor ordered to be in court, despite being out to sea—"Hindes' Navy commanders point to the 'Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.' [...] But circuit court judge Margaret Noe in Michigan denied that protection for Hindes." Grounds for mistrial?

NSA Spying

• Reps. Goodlatte And Ruppersberger Admit That NSA Is Warrantlessly Spying On Americans' Communications
• The NSA's mass surveillance program for phone call metadata is still going
• New leaks show Germany's collusion with NSA—"Several new Snowden-leaked documents show how closely Germany's intelligence agencies work with the NSA. But did the German government deliberately soften laws protecting privacy to make life easier for them?"
• Looks like someone's profiting from Snowden—European defense firms—"Chill is just beginning for US cloud companies as governments seek local help."
• Microsoft: NSA security fallout 'getting worse' ... 'not blowing over'
• 'That is total bullsh*t!': Glenn Greenwald and Iraq War vet square off on Snowden leaks

Surveillance and Privacy

• Ralph Fiennes hits out at internet surveillance and loss of press freedom—"Actor says lack of web privacy is 'frightening' and Russian media has had its 'spine snapped' over reporting on anti-gay measures."
• Seizing data for 2.5 years amounts to "general warrant," court says—"Decision limits government powers to search seized computer data carte blanche."
• Poorly anonymized logs reveal NYC cab drivers' detailed whereabouts—"Botched attempt to scrub data reveals driver details for 173 million taxi trips."
• Delaware Attorney General Throws Subpoeana At Reddit Over Comment On Photo Of Two People Having Sex Behind A Dumpster—Over consensual sex.
• New sensors will scoop up 'big data' on Chicago

Police State

• The Surveillance/Police State: Assisting the Dismantling of Inalienable Rights
• US police departments are increasingly militarised, finds report
• Illinois buys cell-tracking gear complete with NDAs, no-bid process—"Homeland Security grant funded secret buy of stingrays for state police."
• Google, Microsoft Commit to 'Kill Switch' Phone Tech—Worked well for Apple, but the question remains, will this 'feature' be turned against us?
• Researchers Find and Decode the Spy Tools Governments Use to Hijack Phones—Whoops, too late.

Wifi

• Appeals Court Says Using Open WiFi May Be A Crime
• "Free" Wi-Fi from Xfinity and AT&T also frees you to be hacked
• The EFF wants to improve your privacy by making your Wi-Fi public

Fat Tuesday; War on Terror; Veterans; Gitmo; Military Industrial Complex, Drones; Afghanistan, Benghazi; DHS, FBI; USA "Freedom" Act, Snowden, Greenwald, NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Fat Tuesday

• Retired military leaders fret kids will be 'too fat to fight'
• Army's new training shooter makes out of shape soldiers look fat—"Virtual Battlespace 3 applies real-world fitness scores to avatars' performance."
• Heavy duty: Army creates fat camps

War on Terror

• A Memorial Inscription's Grim Origins—"Questions have arisen about whether a quotation from a translation of Virgil's 'Aeneid' about two warriors' deaths is appropriate for the National September 11 Memorial Museum." It's taken out of context. NYT
• CIA: No more vaccination campaigns in spy operations WaPo
• Al Qaeda's American Fighters Are Coming Home—And U.S. Intelligence Can't Find Them
• Lawsuit over 'INF1DL' and 'WAR SUX' license plates headed to trial
• The case for abolishing the TSA

Veterans

• Veterans Fire Back at Letter by Senator—"Senator Richard M. Burr's letter that said leaders of veterans groups were defending the status quo at the V.A. drew fierce responses." Says he clearly represents the worst in politics. NYT
• Thank You for Being Expendable—"The scandal over the care of veterans is really an old story." NYT
• Flashback: Republicans Block VA Benefits

Gitmo

• US forced to acknowledge secret tapes of Guantánamo force-feedings
• Guantánamo inmate vomited blood after force-feeding, documents show
• Judge allows forced feeding to resume on Guantanamo detainee
• Mos Def (Yasiin Bey) Unable To Re-Enter America Due To "Immigration Issues"—Retaliation for his force-feeding "simulations"? Update: This rumor has been debunked [Salon].
• Why Guantanamo remains open

Military Industrial Complex

• 'Over My Dead Body': Spies Fight Obama Push to Downsize Terror War
• House Poised to Reject Pentagon's Cost-Cutting Plans—"The House of Representative on Wednesday edged toward passage of an annual defense policy bill that rejects Pentagon plans to retire older weapons systems and slow the rise in military pay as it implements long-term spending cuts ordered by Congress." NYT
• Congress Blocks Navy's Plan to Lay Up 11 Cruisers—"The Navy's plan to lay up 11 cruisers and three amphibious ships as part of a cost-saving, long-term modernization plan has been met with skepticism, concern and caution from members of Congress."
• White House threatens veto of defense bill—"The White House is threatening a veto of the House version of a $601 billion defense bill over election-year moves to spare weapons systems and popular programs in the face of limited budgets."
• US House approves $600 million military aid package for Israel—And "authorizes provisions for Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow 3."

Drones

• Secret laws are a threat to American democracy—"Releasing the drone-assassination memo is only the first step."
• Iran Knows the Secrets of America's Stealth Drone—"Tehran tracked, captured, studied, copied RQ-170."
• The Catholic Church Proved the US Government Is Making Up Drone Rules On the Fly
• New Zealand PM John Key Confirms 'Legal' Data-Sharing with U.S.; Justifies U.S. Drone Strikes

Afghanistan

• Obama signals US to keep limited Afghanistan role—"President Barack Obama slipped into Afghanistan for a surprise visit Sunday and made clear that the U.S. will likely maintain a limited role here even after its combat mission ends this year and America's longest war comes to a close."
• Karzai refused to meet Obama at Bagram Air Base, says US official
• White House mistakenly identifies CIA chief in Afghanistan—Oops. WaPo
• Afghanistan Hits Out at U.S. Spying Allegations

Benghazi

• This Is How the Right Milks Benghazi for Cash—"And more proof it's all about Hillary Clinton."
• Allen West Says Rep. Tammy Duckworth, Decorated Veteran, Not 'Loyal' To America
• Issa's latest Benghazi stunt backfires
• John Kerry Trolls The House—Adroit political manuevering.

DHS

• We need to know why DHS is an NSA intelligence "customer", and what that means
• Planned Homeland Security headquarters, long delayed and over budget, now in doubt Salon
• Did GoDaddy and Homeland Security shut down a Mexican protest site?

FBI

• FBI chief: 'Be suspicious' of government power
• Microsoft wins case to block FBI request for customer data—Didn't "win" as much as the FBI withdrew their case, preventing legal precedence over NSLs.
• Pension for FBI shooter of Todashev draws scrutiny in Oakland

USA "Freedom" Act

• The White House Is Trying to Weaken the NSA Reform Bill: Report
• As Feared: House Guts USA Freedom Act, Every Civil Liberties Organization Pulls Their Support
• Changes to Surveillance Bill Stoke Anger—"At the Obama administration's request, House leaders revised a bill that limits the government's bulk collection of phone records, spurring several civil liberties groups to withdraw support for the bill."
• The NSA Reform Bill the House Passed Today Is a Watered-Down Piece of Nonsense
• The NSA Bill That Just Passed Is So Weak, Original Backers Voted Against It

Snowden

• Snowden's First Move Against the NSA Was a Party in Hawaii
• NBC News Trumps ABC's Hillary Clinton Exclusive With Edward Snowden's First American Interview Since NSA Info Dump
• Edward Snowden Seeking Return to US: Der Spiegel
• Snowden: "I Was Trained as a Spy."

Greenwald

• NYT Book Reviewer Wonders If Glenn Greenwald Should Be Locked Up—Greenwald responds to Kinsley and his hacktastic review.
• 'Journalist' Argues In NY Times That Publishing Decisions Should Ultimately Be Made By Government
• The Government Isn't Very Good at Deciding What to Keep Secret—"So why do so many Americans insist that the state, not the press, should call the shots?"
• NYT Public Editor Slams 'Sneering' Review Of Glenn Greenwald's Book
• Sony Acquires Film Rights For Glenn Greenwald's Snowden Book—The first part read like a thiller novel.
• Glenn Greenwald to publish list of U.S. citizens that NSA spied on

NSA Spying

• Privacy under attack: the NSA files revealed new threats to democracy—"Thanks to Edward Snowden, we know the apparatus of repression has been covertly attached to the democratic state. However, our struggle to retain privacy is far from hopeless."
• Pentagon report: scope of intelligence compromised by Snowden 'staggering'—Yeah, about that report.
• California lawmakers make modest attempt to halt NSA data collection—"There's nothing that says states have to cooperate with a federal agency."
• Fine Line Seen in U.S. Spying on Companies—"United States officials say the N.S.A. is free to spy on trade negotiators to help American trade officials, and by extension, American industries and workers they are trying to bolster." NYT
• Marc Andreessen: Tech companies are still fuming over the NSA WaPo
• China Said to Study IBM Servers for Bank Security Risks—"Government agencies, including the People's Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance, are asking banks to remove the IBM servers and replace them with a local brand as part of a trial program...."
• House Committee Puts NSA on Notice Over Encryption Standards—"Amendment would remove requirement that the National Institute of Standards and Technology consult with the NSA on encryption standards."
• Man who lost all those NSA secrets to teach cybersecurity at Harvard
• PBS: United States of Secrets

Surveillance and Privacy

• Secrets, lies and Snowden's email: why I was forced to shut down Lavabit—"For the first time, the founder of an encrypted email startup that was supposed to insure privacy for all reveals how the FBI and the US legal system made sure we don't have the right to much privacy in the first place." Update: More from Levision.
• Everything Is Broken
• Empty promises: ProtonMail—A caveat to using "secure" email services.
• Federal 'Biosurveillance' Plan Seeking Direct Access to Americans' Private Medical Records
• ID theft protector LifeLock deletes user data over concerns that app isn't safe
• LG Will Take The 'Smart' Out Of Your Smart TV If You Don't Agree To Share Your Viewing And Search Data With Third Parties
• Internet 'Do Not Track' system is in shatters
• For Do Not Call violations, Sprint will pay FCC $7.5M in largest ever settlement—FCC: "Protecting consumer privacy is a top enforcement priority."

War on Terror, Benghazi, Drones; Police State, No Place to Hide, NSA and GCHQ Spying, Tech Sector, Encryption, Privacy; Your Rights Online; Net Neutrality; Free Speech and Transparency

War on Terror

• ICC to examine claims that British troops carried out war crimes in Iraq—"Court to conduct preliminary examination of around 60 alleged cases of unlawful killing and claims of mistreatment."
• Judge Orders U.S. to Stop Force-Feeding Syrian Held at Guantánamo NYT
• Released Pakistani Prisoner Named Taliban Military Commander

Benghazi

• Cohen: The GOP's Benghazi hangup is baffling—"What do Republicans think another congressional hearing will prove?" WaPo
• How Much Money Can Republicans Raise Off Benghazi? Ask Darrell Issa
• Republicans Are Already Ignoring The Benghazi Special Committee They've Been Begging For

Drones

• Show Us the Drone Memos—"We must see the legal case for executing a United States citizen without a trial." NYT
• The ultra-lethal drones of the future
• Pakistan Wants Drones, and It Doesn't Need America's Permission to Get Them
• "The Stuff I Saw Really Began to Disturb Me": How the U.S. Drone War Pushed Snowden to Leak NSA Docs

Police State

• License plate readers spark privacy, public safety debate
• Erie County Sheriff to legislature: My surveillance powers are none of your business
• Six Reasons to Be Afraid of the Private Sector/Government Security State

No Place to Hide

• The Man Who Knows Too Much—"Glenn Greenwald is the gatekeeper of Edward Snowden's NSA secrets. And he's about to drop the biggest bomb yet."
• NSA may be putting Israeli security interests above U.S., new document reveals—"Journalist Glenn Greenwald's new book, 'No Place to Hide,' includes materials on intelligence relations with Israel."
• NSA Gave Canada Money For Surveillance Program
• Glenn Greenwald reveals 7 new NSA crimes against graphic design

NSA and GCHQ Spying

• Data Pirates of the Caribbean: The NSA Is Recording Every Cell Phone Call in the Bahamas
• New York Times under fire for spiking NSA leaks story in 2004—"White House told paper's editors it would be 'dangerous' to run the story."
• Greenwald: NYT's new editor 'subservient to national security state'
• U.S. revealed secret legal basis for NSA program to Sprint, documents show—"New documents, interviews indicate intelligence community shared details to ward off court challenge." WaPo
• DOJ Still Trying To Hide The Fact It Flat Out Lied To The Supreme Court About Domestic Surveillance
• Everyone should know just how much the government lied to defend the NSA—"A web of deception has finally been untangled: the Justice Department got the US supreme court to dismiss a case that could have curtailed the NSA's dragnet. Why?"
• Nosey Smurf, Gumfish and Foggybottom: The snooping tools that may have got GCHQ in hot water
• British Spies Face Legal Action Over Secret Hacking Programs
• Washington spends £200m creating intelligence hub in Britain
• The official US position on the NSA is still unlimited eavesdropping power—"One year after Snowden, the government is defending – in not-so-plain sight – the 'paramount' power to spy on every call and email between you and your friends abroad."

Tech Sector

• Obama's NSA spying reforms fail to satisfy cyber experts
• Photos of an NSA "upgrade" factory show Cisco router getting implant—"Servers, routers get 'beacons' implanted at secret locations by NSA's TAO team." That's gonna sting.
• 80 Tech Companies Cooperating with NSA, Claims Wikileaks
• Top tech titans get thumbs-up in EFF transparency report—"The advocacy group says Apple, Facebook, Google, and others have done a lot to protect users' privacy."
• Snowden Forced Silicon Valley to Value Privacy and Transparency
• Internet Engineering Task Force Considers Making Surveillance Mitigation A Standard Part Of Its Specifications

Encryption

• Edward Snowden's Other Motive for Leaking—"He wasn't just trying to spark democratic debate on surveillance. He also hoped his revelations would prompt programmers to build better encryption."
• Encrypted or not, Skype communications prove "vital" to NSA surveillance—"Newly published memo leaked by Edward Snowden details the value of Skype data."
• Microsoft: NSA and GCHQ are capable of monitoring 'secure' browsing using Tor
• Startup pitches snoop-proof (even NSA-proof) email
• More People Are Encrypting Their Web Traffic In The Wake Of NSA Spying Revelations

Privacy

• EU court backs 'right to be forgotten': Google must amend results on request—Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales is astonished by the decision that has far-reaching implications.
• Anti-cyberbullying bill could harm privacy rights, Amanda Todd's mother warns—"Parents shouldn't have to 'sacrifice'their children's privacy rights to make them safe from 'cyberbullying, 'sextortion' and revenge pornography.'"
• Shutterfly congratulates people without babies on their new arrivals in email.—"Shutterfly's error is just the latest reminder of how closely companies and advertisers are tracking everything about our personal lives."
• Lawsuit alleges unauthorized publication of personal genetics data—"Proposed class-action suit says Family Tree violated Alaska Genetic Privacy Act."
• Never Forgetting a Face—"Joseph Atick, a pioneer of facial-recognition systems, is now cautioning against their unfettered use. Never, he says, should they undermine anyone’s choice to remain anonymous." NYT

Your Rights Online

• Government gags Twitter and Yahoo over grand jury subpoena, court blocks companies from fighting back
• US Government Begins Rollout Of Its 'Driver's License For The Internet'
• Police ask blogger to remove tweet about Ukip—"Concerns raised about stifling of political debate after police visit man following complaint from Ukip councillor over policy tweet."
• How a Power-Mad Illinois Mayor Launched a Police Crusade Against a Parody Twitter Account—Jim Adirs' petty and likely illegal retaliation backfires as the ACLU steps in to represent Jon Daniel.
• UK Government Willing To Block EU Net Neutrality Deal—"The British government wants to keep its ability to block internet content."
• President Rouhani Stresses Iranian Citizens' Right to Freely Access Internet

Net Neutrality

• 5 Freedoms You'll Lose Without Net Neutrality
• Did Regulators Break the Internet or Did They Save It? Yes. NYT
• The FCC Thinks We're All Idiots
• Can AOL save the internet?—"Despite Google having the biggest tech lobby in Washington aside from the big internet service providers, AOL — the company best known for giving the world dial-up internet in the '90s and being one of the country's largest ISPs — has outspent Google on net neutrality issues."

Free Speech and Transparency

• Man facing charges for hanging American flag upside down, spray painting it
• IU survey: U.S. journalists say they are less satisfied and have less autonomy
• Will the UK Government Ever Release These Secret Files to the Public?

War on Terror, FBI, Drones, Military, Benghazi, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and Palestine; Nigeria; Russia, Ukraine; World News; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy, Facebook

War on Terror

• 60 words—"This hour we pull apart one sentence, written in the hours after September 11th, 2001, that has led to the longest war in U.S. history. We examine how just 60 words of legal language have blurred the line between war and peace."
• Condoleezza Rice backs out of Rutgers commencement—"Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has backed out of delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University following protests by some faculty and students over her role in the Iraq War."
• Tony Blair should be prosecuted for war crimes – not just judged by history—"Boris Johnson is right, Blair is 'eel-like' – but if the Chilcot inquiry is published soon, he might not wriggle off the hook."
• Senate to Reconsider Iraq, Afghanistan War Authorizations
• Generals Want CIA Torture Report Declassified
• Blackwater guard charged over Baghdad murder—"US court indicts ex-security guard over alleged role in death of one of a number of civilians killed in city in 2007."
• House committee earmarks $69M for new secret prison—"Some members of Congress have added $69 million for a new secret prison at Guantánamo — even though the Pentagon hasn't asked for it. Construction is not certain." Emphasis mine.
• Cops dead from 9/11 illnesses outnumber officers who died in attacks

FBI

• This American Refused to Become an FBI Informant. Then the Government Made His Family's Life Hell.
• Boston Marathon bombing suspect's lawyers say FBI violated his rights
• Man arrested in F.B.I. sting found dead in federal custody
• FBI wants easier process to hack suspects computers—"Proposed rule would allow bureau to obtain warrants to target computers concealed in unknown locations." WaPo

Drones

• Obama court nominee wrote memos authorizing drone attacks on Americans—"ACLU: Nominee formed 'legal foundation' for US drone targeted killing program."
• Japan in Depth / U.S. drone missions to monitor Chinese, N. Korean activities
• Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within Ten Years
• Our Drone Wars Are Just Beginning—"After 13 years, robot attacks are still escalating."
• Drones banned from Yosemite, other parks
• Deploying Drones for News Gathering in El Salvador
• A Drone Almost Crashed Into An U.S. Airliner In March
• Spy Plane Fries Air Traffic Control Computers, Shuts Down LAX

Military

• The Real Winner of the Afghan War Is This Shady Military Contractor—"The State Department paid out $4 billion to rebuild Afghanistan. Some $2.5 billion of that went to a single firm with a bad, bad past."
• F-35 jets fail to beat Chinese and Russian radars
• US Navy Orders 10 Virginia-class Submarines at a Record Cost of $17.6 Billion—These subs will probably be more useful than those tanks.

Benghazi

• Why There Is No Cure for the GOP's Benghazi Fever—"The latest outbreak of Benghazi-mania on the right shows the virus is only growing more resistant to reason."
• Center Ring at the Republican Circus—"House Republicans don't have time to pass a serious jobs bill or reform immigration, but they are happy to go all-out in whipping up their party's base." NYT
• GOP Hypocrisy: Outraged Over Benghazi, Silent on Iraq
• Forget about Obamacare. Benghazi is the Republican Party's new favorite 2014 buzzword. WaPo
• Warren: Benghazi Committee Chair 'Gives Oversight A Bad Name'
• Laura Ingraham Demonstrates How To Make Anything About Benghazi
• GOP's Benghazi Investigator Has 3 New Questions ... That Have Already Been Answered
• Congressman Warns New Benghazi Committee Could Cost 'Tens Of Millions'
• Former Bush Official Bashes Republicans for Obsessing over Benghazi While Ignoring Cheney's War Crimes
• CBS News Asked Nexis To Delete Transcript Of Discredited Benghazi Report
• Former CBS News Correspondent: 60 Minutes Botched Benghazi Report Demands An Independent Outside Review
• Jon Stewart's brilliant takedown of right-wing's hypocritical Benghazi "outrage"

Afghanistan

• How the US Created the Afghan War—and Then Lost It—"Driven by the idée fixe that the world was rigidly divided into terrorist and non-terrorist camps, Washington allied with Afghan warlords and strongmen."
• U.S. general: Corruption, not Taliban, the worst threat to Afghanistan
• A precarious time for Afghan women—Women in Afghanistan fear the freedoms they've gained since the toppling of the Taliban are in danger as U.S. troops leave."

Pakistan

• Lawyer for Pakistan doctor jailed over bin Laden hunt quits amid threats—"The lawyer defending a Pakistani doctor jailed after helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden is quitting the case because of death threats and alleged U.S. interference in the trial, the lawyer said Saturday."
• Lawyers: Man Jailed for Nine Years Is Innocent, Railroaded in Bush's War on Terror—"The case of Hamid Hayat was emblematic of zealous prosecutors building flimsy cases during a time of national panic."
• Pakistan frees FBI agent on bail

Israel and Palestine

• Israeli ministers approve bid to block Palestinian prisoner releases
• Calls to class far-right Jewish settlers as terrorists after Israeli soldiers attacked—"Senior ministers Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Aharonovitch condemn 'price-tag' attacks as author Amos Oz calls militants neo-Nazis."
• US officials: Even if Israel doesn't like it, Palestinians will get state

Nigeria

• Nigeria refused help to search for kidnapped girls—Now they've accepted an Israeli offer.
• Boko Haram releases new video, says schoolgirls have converted to Islam
• Girl who escaped Boko Haram abduction speaks publicly about ordeal

Russia

• Russian law bans swearing in arts and media
• Russia Declares War On Bloggers With Sweeping New Censorship Law
• Russia hangs adults-only rating on The Sims 4—"The Russian Federation has placed an 18+ rating on the upcoming release of The Sims 4, marking the game as 'prohibited for children' due to a controversial law restricting the promotion of same-sex relationships to minors."

Ukraine

• Polls close in eastern Ukraine amid allegations of fraud and double-voting
• Reports: 100,000 'yes' ballots for referendum intercepted in Sloviansk
• Ukraine crisis: rebels claim sovereignty vote victory—"Ukraine's interim president calls referendum in Donetsk and Luhansk a 'propaganda farce without any legal basis' after organisers say 89 per cent voted in favour."
• Self-rule referendums 'a farce'
• EU says won't recognise result of east Ukraine vote

World News

• How a Single Tweet Could Land a Japanese Nuclear Activist in Jail
• Neo-Nazis spark first church alarm since WWII
• Vietnam tries to stop China oil rig deployment
• South Korea says North Korea must "disappear" soon

NSA Spying

• House Committee axes NSA bulk phone metadata collection—"Measure removes phone metadata records from NSA control, leaves them with telcos."
• Glenn Greenwald: how the NSA tampers with US-made internet routers—"The NSA has been covertly implanting interception tools in US servers heading overseas – even though the US government has warned against using Chinese technology for the same reasons, says Glenn Greenwald, in an extract from his new book about the Snowden affair, No Place to Hide."
• 'We Kill People Based on Metadata'—"A bill to rein in NSA spying on Americans's metadata is an important first step, but it addresses only one part of the NSA's surveillance activities."
• Intelligence employees, current and past, barred from citing news leaks—"Order comes amid steady stream of disclosures from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden."
• EFF: The Way the NSA Uses Section 702 is Deeply Troubling. Here's Why.
• Former NSA Chief Defends Stockpiling Software Flaws for Spying
• German NSA investigative panel to allow Snowden to testify—"NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is to testify before a German panel investigating the activities of the spy agency. However, the panel has not yet determined whether he may travel to Berlin for the hearing."
• The NSA and Snowden: Securing the All-Seeing Eye—"How good security at the NSA could have stopped him."

Surveillance and Privacy

• John McCain: Americans Should Accept Big Brother
• Israeli spying on US at 'alarming level'
• Whisper CEO Crashes and Burns Over Questions About Gwyneth Paltrow
• Snapchat deceived customers, U.S. federal watchdog says—"'Some things didn't get the attention they should have' during app's development, Snapchat admits."
• Anti-surveillance mask lets you pass as someone else
• California Senate approves smartphone 'kill-switch' bill—"After failing in the state Senate two weeks ago, a bill requiring that device makers include antitheft software on phones sold in the state passes muster."

Facebook

• Is the government checking you out on Facebook?
• After Facebook Deal, Moves App Changes Privacy Policy WSJ
• Confused by Facebook privacy settings? So is the Supreme Court. WaPo
• Inside Facebook's brilliant plan to hog your data—"Facebook's 'Anonymous Login' is about neither anonymity nor logging in. It's about creating scarcity in the market for user data."
• Facebook defends new privacy policy on its activity tracker Moves—"According to the social network, 'sharing' data is not the same as 'commingling' it."
• Facebook Must Again Face User Fraud Claims Over Data
• Why There's No Such Thing As A Private Facebook Chat

War on Terror, FBI Entrapment, Domestic Terror, Israel and Palestine, NYT Fraud; Surveillance and Privacy, Whistleblowers, Tech Tracking, Your Rights Online; Net Neutrality, Comcast vs. Netflix; Haxx0red

War on Terror

• Supreme Court rejects hearing on military detention case—"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Barack Obama's administration by declining to hear a challenge to a law that allows the U.S. military to indefinitely detain people believed to have helped al Qaeda or the Taliban."
• US senators remove requirement for disclosure over drone strike victims
• Judge Dismisses Case Against Blackwater Defendant
• State Department Gives 87% of Afghan Funds to Only Five Recipients
• Nursing mom wins $75K settlement from TSA over airport incident

FBI

• Dzhokhar bombshell: FBI pressed Tamerlan to become informant
• At the Tribeca Fest: Two bold documentaries expose FBI spying and entrapment
• FBI knew of zero-day attack on websites, let hackers use it—"NY Times reports Sabu directed attacks with Plesk exploit after arrest."

Domestic Terror

• Why it's time to take domestic terrorism seriously
• Minnesota militia member facing jail despite failure to prove terror plot
• Reports Back Op-Ed Linking Vets to Hate Groups
• Concerns growing about militia members at Bundy ranch

Israel and Palestine

• Abbas denounces murder of Jews in Holocaust as 'most heinous crime in modern era'
• Israeli push for visa-free travel to US faces test—"A campaign to allow Israelis to enter the United States without a visa is gaining steam in Congress, but is still running into a brick wall with the Obama administration over the U.S. government's most elementary demand: that the Jewish state provide the same treatment at its borders to all Americans, even if they are Arab or Muslim."
• MKs pan Kerry for saying Israel could become 'apartheid'—"Anti-Defamation League also slams Washington's top diplomat, who warned of aftermath of talks' collapse." Kerry goes oooops [Politico] but gets his message across.

NYT Fraud

• 'New York Times' Admits It Agreed to 'Gag Orders' in Israel
• New York Times Admits It Pushed Fabricated Evidence about Iraq, Syria and Ukraine
• In 'A Fragile Trust,' Jayson Blair Tries to Give Answers—"Samantha Grant's documentary, 'A Fragile Trust,' comes a decade after the fraud scandal at The New York Times perpetrated by the reporter Jayson Blair." NYT

Surveillance and Privacy

• Surveillance court rejected Verizon challenge to NSA calls program—"A ruling said that another judge's criticism of the NSA's data collection had been considered and rejected." WaPo
• Telecom firm fails in first known FISA court surveillance challenge—"Unnamed company challenged metadata surveillance in court for the first time but lost, an unsealed order reveals."
• Where's the White House on Warrantless Email Snooping?
• Mathematicians at the NSA and GCHQ: Is it ethical to work for spy agencies?
• DC thinks it can silence a new Snowden, but the anti-leak hypocrisy is backfiring—"The Obama administration's latest secrecy guidelines would make Deep Throat spin in his grave. Good thing the floodgates are about to open on drones"

Whistleblowers

• Pentagon Papers Whistleblower Says Americans Have 'Lost the Republic'—"Daniel Ellsberg says that whistleblowers are the last people able to stand up to the federal government."
• The glamorous life of a whistleblower: Working a dead-end job for minimum wage—"Long before Snowden made headlines, Peter Van Buren shined light on the State Dept. Then the other shoe dropped..." Salon
• Hillary Clinton Mocks Snowden, Displays Her Ignorance When It Comes to Whistleblowers

Tech Tracking

• The White House Wants to Issue You an Online ID
• Verizon's mobile advertising will now use your desktop browsing habits
• Reddit Frontpage Ads Get Location Targeting

Your Rights Online

• Brazilian Congress passes Internet bill of rights
• Russia Internet sovereignty: Vladimir Putin is tightening his grip on the Internet
• Weibo: We can't censor our users enough to satisfy the Chinese government Salon

Net Neutrality

• If John Kerry Thinks the Internet Is a Fundamental Right, He Should Tell the FCC
• Congress screwed up net neutrality, not the FCC
• Obama Has Not Kept His Promise to Enforce Net Neutrality
• Internet service providers charging for premium access hold us all to ransom—"An ISP should give users the bits they ask for, as quickly as it can, and not deliberately slow down the data."
• Could new net neutrality rules fuel piracy?
• The Costs of Internet 'Fast Lanes'
• FCC Offers E-mail Address to Field Neutrality Complaint
• Turncoat? FCC says new Internet 'fast lane' rules won't kill net neutrality
• FCC chairman says he won't let ISPs snuff out the next Google or Amazon—"'I won't hesitate' to declare ISPs common carriers, Wheeler writes."

Comcast vs. Netflix

• Comcast Has About 76 Lobbyists Working Washington On The Time Warner Cable Merger. This is Why.
• Comcast sells 1.4 million customers to Charter ahead of Time Warner Cable merger
• Comcast accuses Netflix of lying as public feud escalates
• After Comcast, Netflix signs traffic deal with Verizon

Haxx0red

• U.S., UK advise avoiding Internet Explorer until bug fixed
• Zero-day Flash bug under active attack in Windows threatens OS X, Linux too—"Adobe issues emergency update for exploits targeting Syrian dissidents."
• After Heartbleed, NSA reveals some flaws are kept secret—"The White House explains the government's process when deciding whether to withhold knowledge of a security vulnerability -- 'There are legitimate pros and cons to the decision to disclose.'"
• Tech giants, chastened by Heartbleed, finally agree to fund OpenSSL —Thousands of sites and devices still vulnerable.
• Easter egg: DSL router patch merely hides backdoor instead of closing it—"Researcher finds secret 'knock' opens admin for some Linksys, Netgear routers."
• You've Got Hacked: AOL Confirms 'Significant Number' of Mail Users Hit

War on Terror, Torture, FBI, Police State; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy; Whistleblowers; Big Data, Tech Tracking; Your Rights Online, Free Speech

War on Terror

• House Democrat Renews Push To End Controversial 9/11 Rules Of War On Terror—"A top Democrat on the House intelligence committee is spearheading a renewed effort to end the administration's controversial, 9/11-era counterterrorism rules of war."
• Obama ordered to divulge legal basis for killing Americans with drones—"Appeals court will have the veil of secrecy lifted in targeted killing program."
• Judge slaps State Department over Blackwater—"A federal judge is calling for an investigation of the State Department over years of delays in prosecuting Blackwater security guards in the shootings of dozens of Iraqi citizens in 2007."
• New York police end Muslim surveillance program—"A special New York Police Department unit that sparked controversy by tracking the daily lives of Muslims in an effort to detect terror threats has been disbanded, police officials said Tuesday."
• US Has A 'Secret Exception' To Reasonable Suspicion For Putting People On The No Fly List
• Was the police response to the Boston bombing really appropriate?—"It's time we had a frank discussion about how the government reacted after the Boston Marathon bombing." WaPo
• Obama signs into law 'terrorist' UN envoy visa ban
• TSA Gives Full-Body Pat-Downs to 2-YO Boy, Older Sister

Torture

• On CIA abuses, denial does Americans no favors
• ACLU: Don't Let the Torturer Play Censor
• Spanish judge defies pressure to scrap Guantanamo torture case against Bush

FBI

• Guantánamo hearings halted amid accusations of FBI spying on legal team—"Allegations surfaced Monday that the FBI turned a member of a 9/11 defendant's defence team into a secret informant."
• Covert Inquiry by F.B.I. Rattles 9/11 Tribunals—"The F.B.I.'s inquiry became the focus of the pretrial hearings at Guantánamo this week, after the contractor who was visited by the F.B.I. disclosed it to the defense team." NYT
• The FBI Is Trying to Recruit Muslims As Snitches by Putting Them On No-Fly Lists
• Facing gun charges, Ayyub Abdul-Alim accuses Springfield police, FBI of planting weapon
• FBI Abruptly Walks Out On Senate Briefing After Being Asked How 'Insider Threat' Program Avoids Whistleblowers
• FBI Keeps Secret How Massive Facial Recognition Database Will Work—It will contain 52 million images by 2015.

Police State

• Eyes Over Compton: How Police Spied on a Whole City—"A sergeant in the L.A. County Sheriff's Department compared the experiment to Big Brother, even though he went ahead with it willingly. Is your city next?"
• LA Sheriff's Dept. On New Surveillance Program: We Knew The Public Wouldn't Like It, So We Kept It A Secret
• State of Surveillance: Police, Privacy and Technology
• Police Want your Home Video Surveillance Footage
• Austrlalia: Civil liberties fears at boom in police surveillance operations

NSA Spying

• Snowden reporting lands Guardian and Post Pulitzers—"The publications were recognized for revealing 'widespread secret surveillance.'"
• Greenwald: Rep. King's Condemnation A 'Badge Of Honor'
• The Most Bizarre Response To The Pulitzers Yet, From The Guy Who Authorized CIA Torture
• Journalists who broke NSA story in Guardian dedicate award to Snowden—"Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill accept George Polk award as Barton Gellman of the Washington Post is also honoured."
• Snowden revelations 'good for society'—"By two to one, British people say it was good, not bad, for society that newspapers reported the materials given to them by Edward Snowden."
• Edward Snowden installed as Glasgow University rector
• Snowden op-ed explains reasons for calling out Putin on live TV—"The whistleblower again speaks up to spark debate on state surveillance."
• Clapper bans US intelligence employees from 'unauthorised' media contact
• How the NSA shot itself in the foot by denying prior knowledge of Heartbleed vulnerability
• Snowden email service Lavabit loses contempt appeal

Surveillance and Privacy

• Banksy Is Believed To Be Behind Eavesdropping Mural Near British Spy HQ
• UK Spies Considered Using Kinect, Microsoft 'Concerned'
• Reference Note on Russian Communications Surveillance

Whistleblowers

• U.S. Army Rejects Clemency for WikiLeaks Source Manning
• Bureau of Prisons Throws CIA Torture Whistleblower John Kiriakou's Children Out of Visitors Room
• Julian Assange book to recount clash with Google chief Eric Schmidt

Big Data

• Canadians' mental-health info routinely shared with FBI, U.S. customs—"Privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian found attempted suicide calls uploaded to international database."
• HMRC to sell taxpayers' financial data—"Firms could buy 'anonymised' financial details under scheme described by senior Tory MP as 'borderline insane.'"
• Dutch Student Sells All of His Personal Data for 350 Euros

Tech Tracking

• It's Time to Encrypt the Entire Internet
• Is Your VPN / Proxy Working? Check Your Torrent IP-Address
• Protests Continue Against Dropbox After Appointment of Condoleezza Rice to Board NYT
• Google updates TOS to clarify email scanning process—"New paragraph in the Web giant's terms of service is intended to more clearly explain the manner in which software automatically scans and analyzes the content of emails."
• When the restaurant you Googled Googles you back—"It's not the thought that counts; unexpected in-person customization feels icky."
• "Brightest Flashlight" Android app disclosed location of 50 million people, but FTC imposes no fine

Your Rights Online

• China launches campaign to purge Internet of porn, rumors and, critics say, dissent WaPo
• Mexico Marches Against New Internet Censorship Laws—¿Qué está pasando en México?
• Russian social network founder says he has been fired—"The founder of Russia's most popular social network site says he has been fired and that allies of President Putin have taken over his site."
• Two anonymous Twitter accounts blocked in Turkey—"Accounts linked to the spread of government corruption allegations appeared blocked less than a week after the social network agreed to shutter some accounts." In related news, Turkey denies saying it would leave the internet.
• Secret Plan to Advance Global Internet Censorship. ISPs to Act as "Internet Police"—"To be Implemented under TPP Auspices."

Free Speech

• The Aereo Case Isn't About the Future of TV. It's About the Future of Speech.
• Andrew Coyne: Free speech withers when we abandon judgment, proportion, open-mindedness and tolerance
• xkcd: Free Speech

War on Terror, CIA Torture Report, Drones, Cuban Twitter; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy; Tech Cases, Censorship, Press; CNN and MH370

War on Terror

• Blast from the Past: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war—"Secret document details American plan to bug phones and emails of key Security Council members." And Britain too.
• Rand Paul Says Dick Cheney Pushed for the Iraq War So Halliburton Would Profit
• Judge blasts FBI over Saudi family investigation
• Anti-terror surveillance law used in Iowa grain spy probe—"Investigators used a law designed to eavesdrop on foreign spies and terrorists when they probed Chinese seed company officials suspected of stealing trademark hybrid corn from Iowa."
• Government breaches at all-time high, press blunder under-reports by millions—"This is one of those articles that spoils your faith in mankind. Not only are government security incidents fully into holy-cow territory, the press is reporting numbers three magnitudes too low because someone misread a chart and everyone else copied that report."

CIA Torture Report

• Senate votes to release parts, not whole, of torture report—"Select aspects of the lengthy Senate report on CIA torture will be made public. The whole thing should be released." Salon
• Declassify: The Importance of Releasing the CIA Torture Report—"Unless a Senate committee votes to release the 6,300-page document, the Bush Administration's illegal, ineffective interrogation policies are bound to return."
• Leak the CIA report: it's the only way to know the whole truth about torture—"Unless, of course, you think spies redacting 6,300 pages of their own sins is transparency. Look how much leaks told us this week."
• State Department Official Freaks Out That Declassifying CIA Torture Report Might Make The World Angry
• Michael Hayden Says Dianne Feinstein Too 'Emotional' To Be Objective On Intelligence Report
• U.S. senator gets so angry at Cheney's torture defense that he offers to waterboard him
• Pelosi: Former VP Dick Cheney 'set the tone' for the CIA's use of torture
• Liz Cheney, Juan Williams Clash Over CIA Torture Report
• Tony Blair 'knew all about CIA secret kidnap programme'—"Former British PM was 'fully briefed' on CIA's interrogation programme after Sept 11 attacks."
• Jon Stewart Rips Cheney, Rumsfeld For Taking America 'Back To The Torture'
• It's Time the CIA Gets Some Serious Oversight
• Using the 'Top Secret' Stamp to Hide Lies and War Crimes—"By letting the CIA vet the torture report, the White House and Congress are giving Americans a new reason to have contempt for an illegitimate classification system."

Drones

• Suit challenging drone strikes that killed Americans, 16-year-old boy is tossed—"Judge says drone killings are US military and president's prerogative."
• Artists install massive poster of child's face in Pakistan field to shame drone operators
• Triathlete injured by "hacked" camera drone—"Operator claims someone 'channel hopped'control away." Who can say with 100% certainty armed military drones can't be hacked as well?

Cuban Twitter

• US Secretly Created 'Cuban Twitter' to Stir Unrest
• #CancelCastro: Why Is U.S. Policy Toward Cuba So Absurd?
• The Fall of Internet Freedom: Meet the Company That Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter'
• Secret 'Cuban Twitter' program poses challenge for bloggers and exiles—"Finding that program funded by USAid could be damaging to groups working to increase access to technology, say analysts."
• The "Cuban Twitter" Scam Is a Drop in the Internet Propaganda Bucket

NSA Spying

• Snowden Speaks: A Vanity Fair Exclusive—"The most significant leaker in recent history spoke with Vanity Fair for an exclusive, comprehensive story about his life."
• Edward Snowden: US government spied on human rights workers—'Whistleblower tells Council of Europe NSA deliberately snooped on groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International."
• Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald address US campaigners via video—"Whistleblower and journalist warn human rights activists of dangers of NSA collection of metadata." Such as there being "no legal means currently exist to challenge such activities or to see penalties for such abuses."
• Snowden to Receive Truth-Telling Prize—"Edward J. Snowden and the journalist Laura Poitras, who helped him disclose the documents on government surveillance, will receive a Ridenhour prize." NYT
• DOJ Apologizes For Misleading FISC Concerning Evidence; Hints Strongly That It Used Opportunity To Destroy Evidence
• If President Obama wanted the NSA to quit storing phone metadata, he'd act now—"Obama's pen, not Congress, could stop NSA bulk telephone metadata collection immediately."
• Supreme Court passes on NSA bulk phone surveillance case—"Case will head to appeals court first, but will likely end up with the Supremes."
• NSA logs reveal flood of post-Snowden FOIA requests | Al Jazeera America
• Merkel ally says U.S. assurances on NSA spying 'insufficient'
• How Much Is NSA Spying Costing In Lost Productivity?

Surveillance and Privacy

• Assange: US Annexed Whole World Through Surveillance
• As gov't discusses expanding digital searches, ACLU sounds caution—"Proposed changes not 'minor'—'it is a major reorganization of judicial power.'"
• Big Brother's Facebook: UK, US intelligence 'infiltrating' social media
• Mohamed Mohamud deserves new trial due to 'unconstitutional' surveillance, lawyers argue
• EU court rules against requirement to keep data of telecom users
• Yahoo fixes Flickr invitation bug that leaked real names and email addresses—"Privacy flaw on photo sharing website initially dismissed as ‘working as designed’ and not making sensitive data available."
• FireChat's anonymous, off-grid messaging app arrives on Android
• Google Chrome bug: To Listen Without Consent – Abusing the HTML5 Speech
• Critical crypto bug in OpenSSL opens two-thirds of the Web to eavesdropping—"Exploits allow attackers to obtain private keys used to decrypt sensitive data."
• Big Data Is A Civil Rights Issue

Tech Cases

• The inside story of MIT and Aaron Swartz—"More than a year after Swartz killed himself rather than face prosecution, questions about MIT's handling of the hacking case persist." Despite all their claims of neutrality, "e-mails illustrate how MIT energetically assisted authorities in capturing him and gathering evidence — even prodding JSTOR to get answers for prosecutors more quickly — before a subpoena had been issued." In related news, one artist is printing 250,000 pages of pirated JSTOR documents, in Tribute to Aaron Swartz
• Former Yahoo employee alleges he was harassed, threatened and lost job because of online interactions—"Ross Dmochowski, a 42-year-old tech professional, was unprepared when his online chats resulted in a bomb threat under his name that brought FBI agents to his Livermore home -- and contributed to his getting fired in September from his $120,000-a-year job at Yahoo."
• Barrett Brown Signs Plea Deal in Case Involving Stratfor Hack—"Barrett Brown, whose case became a cause célèbre after he was charged with crimes related to the Stratfor hack, has agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors, according to court filings." Complete with a gag-order... sigh.

Censorship

• Australia: Border Protection forces Facebook content removal through Twitter
• Google Appeals Turkey YouTube Blackout WSJ
• Philippines: Inching Toward Censorship
• Net Censors Arrested In China For Taking Bribes To Delete Unflattering Posts As Well As The 'Harmful' Ones
• US plan to end ICANN oversight could lead to 'Net censorship, lawmakers say

Press

• NSA Uses Corporate News to Spread Propaganda and Silence Dissent
• The Blade, pair of journalists who were held file FBI complaints
• Legal Schnauzer blogger freed from jail after 5 months; had been held on contempt charge

CNN and MH370

• CNN's Missing Plane Coverage Turns Up Garbage—In more ways than one.
• CNN, what do you even do anymore?—"Jon Stewart mocks CNN for its continued non-news coverage of Flight MH370." Salon
• Larry King Calls CNN's MH370 Coverage "Abysmal" While Ripping Networks' Use Of "Breaking News"—Bread and circuses.
• CNN 'Breaking News' 31 Days After MH370 Vanished: 'Families Frustrated by Media Coverage'
• Fox News Host Defends CNN's Plane Coverage: It's Not Just For The Ratings