Apiarius: The Bee Keeper: fisa

Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan says he spied for Israel—"A Hollywood producer behind hit films such as Pretty Woman and Fight Club has said he spied for Israel in support of its nuclear programme."
Gaza becoming uninhabitable as blockade tightens, says UN—"Destruction of smuggling tunnels and renewed ban on import of construction materials have exacerbated humanitarian crisis."
Israeli government split over joining prestigious EU science programme—"Officials seek compromise on clause requiring settlement boycott but hardliners say Israel should not give in."

Protests

Egypt bans gatherings of more than 10 people with government approval
Ukraine alarm at becoming EU-Russia 'battlefield'—Protestors don't want their country to be Russia's bitch.
Thailand protesters back on the streets—What's behind the protests?

Civil Liberties

NSA Spying

Report: NSA Director Offered To Resign In Wake Of Snowden Leaks—Obama declined, didn't want to give Snowden a win [WSJ].
Senators Wyden, Udall & Heinrich: End the N.S.A. Dragnet, Now NYT
FISA court, which approves FBI, NSA surveillance, faces reform challenge from Oregon senators
Why Care About the N.S.A.?—"A short film explores whether ordinary Americans should be concerned about online surveillance." NYT
N.S.A. May Have Hit Internet Companies at a Weak Spot—"Security experts said they believe that government spies bypassed Google and Yahoo and targeted the fiber-optic cables that connect their data centers." NYT
NSA surveillance: Europe threatens to freeze US data-sharing arrangements—"After Edward Snowden revelations, EU executive underlines US compliance with European law and 'how things have gone badly.'"
Spies worry over "doomsday" cache stashed by ex-NSA contractor Snowden
Top-Secret Document Reveals NSA Spied On Porn Habits As Part Of Plan To Discredit 'Radicalizers'
Microsoft, suspecting NSA spying, to ramp up efforts to encrypt its Internet traffic
Busting Eight Common Excuses for NSA Mass Surveillance

Surveillance and Privacy

Whistleblowers

Edward Snowden a 'hero' for NSA disclosures, Wikipedia founder says—Vote for Snowden for this year's Person of the Year. (Ironically, you need to log into either Facebook or Twitter.)
'Say NO to surveillance state!' Buses thanking Snowden cruise Washington
Guardian wins Liberty award for articles about GCHQ and NSA spying—"Newspaper named Independent Voice of the Year in recognition of 'ethical journalism essential to the rule of law.'"
What Chelsea Manning is thankful for this Thanksgiving
Julian Assange unlikely to be charged in US

Online Crackdowns

Typhoon Haiyan

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

World News, Sochi 2014, Typhoon Haiyan, Corruption, Vote Machinations; China; Israel; NSA Spying and Surveillance

World News

€600K fines for Spain's illegal protests: draft bill—"Unauthorized protesters outside the Spanish Parliament could soon be hit with fines of up to €600,000 ($810,000) while those selling drugs or offering sexual services in front of minors could face a penalty of up to €30,000."
Qatar 2022 World Cup workers 'treated like cattle', Amnesty report finds
Over 2K trucks block French highways in protest—"Between 2,000 and 4,000 freight trucks closed off major French highways and slowed traffic to a crawl on nine roadways to protest a proposed environmental tax on heavy loads."

Sochi 2014

Will Sochi's Extreme Security Protocol Impinge On Rights?
Journalists banned from tweeting at 2014 Sochi Olympics: report
Russian lab's unreliability puts Olympic testing at risk—"The anti-doping lab that was to conduct drug testing at the Sochi Olympics could lose its accreditation, leaving the upcoming Games without a competent facility in the same country."

Typhoon Haiyan

Why It Took a Superstorm to Expose the Seedy Underbelly of Philippine Politics—"[W]hat dry goods have been dispersed by the national government are being frequently diverted by local politicians who waste valuable hours or even days repackaging relief items to bear their names, campaign slogans, or party colors."
Government corruption concerns acute as Philippines recovers from typhoon
US Army told to keep aid away from Philippines govt because of corruption

Corruption

Romania's anti-corruption agency keeps taking down politicians – but the people keep bringing them back
Canada: Where the heck's that $3.1-billion? Where's the fury?—"If the Harper government's fiscal oversight is so inept it can't account for figures with nine zeroes in them, that's scandalous. And so is the lack of public outcry."
Philippines: PDAF, Malampaya fund use unconstitutional—Pork barrell

Vote Machinations

China

China to ease one-child policy, abolish labor camps, report says
Bloomberg boots 'China leak' scribe—"Bloomberg L.P. has put a reporter suspected of leaking news [NYT] about a controversial China story on unpaid leave, The Post has learned."
White House To Address 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' Segment After Protest Petition Logs 100,000 Signatures

Israel

Netanyahu: Bad Iran Deal Could Leave Military Action As Only Option—Warmonger.
Frenemies: the US-Israel relationship gets rocky over Iran and peace talks—"Israeli PM Netanyahu is actively calling on American Jews to challenge the US government. It's a bold – and bad – move."
The Israeli settler movement is not welcome in New York City

NSA Spying and Surveillance

Declassified Documents: NSA Wanted To Collect Geolocation Data—"The White House had to declassify NSA documents once again this week. The papers show that the NSA also wanted to collect and save mobile phone location information domestically and may already be doing so."
US senators say there's "no evidence" bulk metadata surveillance is useful—"Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) and others join as amici to lawsuit filed against NSA."
Fisa court documents reveal extent of NSA disregard for privacy restrictions—"Incensed Fisa court judges questioned NSA's truthfulness after repeated breaches of rules meant to protect Americans' privacy."
The NSA overreach poses a serious threat to our economy—"Genuine NSA reform is a Constitutional and economic necessity. Transparency and privacy are critical for citizens and tech firms."
PVP Online: Fly on the Wall

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Self-Driving Cars; Obamacare, Single-Payer; Surveillance and Privacy

Planes

How the F.A.A., Finally, Caught Up to an Always-On Society—It's official in the US, but there's still confusion and sometimes outright deception. NYT
Europe approves use of in-flight electronics during take-off and landing—"European regulator approval could see the use of electronic devices during all phases of flight before Christmas."
This is the successor to the SR-71 Blackbird, and it is gorgeous WaPo

Trains

Automobiles

Air-power car, the next big thing in clean energy
From NY to Calif. in 29 hours, and no speeding tickets
Smart traffic lights use game theory to ease traffic congestion
Renault Introduces DRM For Cars—"When you buy a Renault Zoe, the battery isn't included. Instead, you sign a rental contract for the battery with the car maker."
Fiery Tesla Model S Owner Says He'd Totally Get Another One, Again

Self-Driving Cars

Obamacare

The Shame of American Health Care—"People in the United States pay more and get less than citizens in other advanced countries." NYT
Reich: Having the Backbone to Set Minimum Standards for Health Insurance—"Democrats are showing once again they have the backbones of banana slugs."
Health-care Web site's lead contractor employs executives from troubled IT company—"Many CGI employees came from a company that mishandled at least 20 government IT projects." WaPo
HealthCare.gov targeted by more than a dozen hacking attempts—"Officials also tracked denial-of-service software that targeted Obamacare site." Could Republicans and/or the Kochs and their ilk be behind this? Just saying...
Without Massive Republican Opposition, Obamacare Would Be in Better Shape
The myths of Obamacare's 'failure'—"Attacks on the Affordable Care Act have stepped up over the last week or so. You'd think that the healthcare reform known as Obamacare is leading to the wholesale loss of affordable insurance by huge sectors of the American public, many of whom will be impoverished by being forced into low-quality health plans at exorbitant prices."
Obamacare is having one huge success nobody knows about—"Obamacare is making other health-care programs better." WaPo
No huge drop in Obamacare support despite rocky rollout: Reuters/Ipsos poll
Reports: Obamacare Enrollment On The Rise
Stewart Rips Media, Bush Officials For Comparing Obamacare To Katrina

Single-Payer

Single-payer is a whole lot more popular than America's absurd health-care system
Single-payer better than Corbett's Medicaid expansion
Please, Just Give Us a Single-Payer System Already WSJ
Obamacare a single-payer ploy, says ex-GOP Senator
As health-insurance problems keep arising, Vermont offers a ray of hope—"Vermont has become the first state in the union to pass a single-payer universal health care law for its residents. It has a snappy slogan: Everybody in, nobody out."

Surveillance and Privacy

Supreme Court Rejects Case Challenging NSA Phone Spying
Fisa court order that allowed NSA surveillance is revealed for first time—"Fisa court judge who authorised massive tapping of metadata was hesitant but felt she could not stand in the way."
Judge: "NSA exceeded the scope of authorized acquisition continuously"—"New declassifed documents show legal arguments over bulk metadata collection."
Private firms selling mass surveillance systems around world, documents show—"One Dubai-based firm offers DIY system similar to GCHQ's Tempora programme, which taps fibre-optic cables."
NSA logged 33m calls in Nato ally Norway
Schneier tells Washington NSA broke Internet's security for everyone—"And techies can only fix it if government stays out of the way."
Yahoo will encrypt between data centers, use SSL for all sites—"CEO Marissa Mayer promises Yahoo will be locked down by March 2014."

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Shutdown Shut Down, Debt Default Delayed, GOP, Tea Party, Media, Obamacare, Repercussions, Politics, Economy, 'Murica!, Race and Racism; Surveillance and Privacy

Shutdown Shut Down

Obama signs bill to end partial shutdown, stave off debt ceiling crisis
Barack Obama defeats the Republican Party: The president's aggressive strategy on the government shutdown and debt limit crushed the GOP—Bipartisanship only works if both sides are sane.
US debt ceiling crisis – Barack Obama has won the shutdown. His prize is a lame duck presidency
McConnell-Reid Deal Includes $3 Billion Earmark for Kentucky Project
Winners and losers of the government shutdown WaPo
That's how you treat a bully!: Democrats win — and learn a huge lesson—"GOP is finally surrendering. But it will try more extortion soon -- and Democrats will have to stand just as strong." Salon
The defunding debacle—"The Republican push to defund Obamacare defied the strategic wisdom of the ages."

Debt Default Delayed

GOP

Tea Party

GOP's huge Tea Party mess has only just begun—"John Boehner thought the last few weeks were rough? The coming months could present him with even more headaches." Salon
Insani-Tea Reigns: Koch Brothers Fail To Control The Monster They Created
Tea Party's Popularity Reaches New Low, Poll Finds
Ted Cruz Was Never Going to Filibuster the Debt Deal—He wanted the spotlight on him as the GOP's leading presidential candidate for 2016.
Sorry, Houston Chronicle, but Ted Cruz won—"To the dismay of the newspaper that endorsed him, Ted Cruz emerges from the shutdown mess a right-wing hero." Salon
Ted Cruz Blames Senate GOP For 'Bombing Our Own Troops' In The House—One sore loser [WaPo].
Reign Of Morons: The Apotheosis, Starring Ted Yoho
"The Surrender Caucus Is the Whiner Caucus"—"House GOP members try to see the upside of defeat.
The Tea Party As A Religion
A tea party purge among the GOP—Starting with those who voted for the debt deal. WaPo
Tea Party Vows Future Fights as Republicans Assess Damage—They gunnin' for more.
Tea party activists call bipartisan deal a capitulation, say they are unbowed

Media

'Lying To The American People': House Conservatives Blame Press For Shutdown Surrender
'Balanced' coverage ignores nine reasons why the shutdown is a GOP Idea—"Ignoring, denying or minimising such evidence in the pursuit of false balance dangerously mis-represents the news."
Right-Wing Media: We Didn't Lose The Shutdown Fight, We Were Betrayed

Obamacare

Repercussions

Democrats vs. Republicans vs. Tea Partiers
Furloughed Federal Employees Return To Work Thursday
S&P: Shutdown Cost U.S. $24 Billion, 0.6% GDP In Projected Growth
Even as shutdown deal nears, 'a Kafka-esque moment' at parks hearing—"House Republicans accused the National Park Service of barricading open-air monuments such as the World War II memorial in Washington to make the shutdown ' as painful and visible as possible.'" Then they shouldn't have shut down the government in the first place.
Rep. Noem faces natural and political disaster after South Dakota blizzard—She voted for the shutdown which she her state wants to be exempted from.

Politics

Redefining Rock Bottom: Another Scary Poll For Congress
Mandatory Voting Will End Extremism and Government Dysfunction
'She's Got Really Hot Breasts, Man!' Lonegan Aide Bashes Booker With X-Rated Rant—Mudslinging didn't work.
Wisconsin: Three more state workers got raises after phantom job transfers
NC governor spending $230,000 on mansion bathrooms—No money for teachers; lots of it for shit.
The Joe Rogan Experience with Stefan Molyneux
Blast from the Past: Dr. Paul: Not board-certified, but self-certified—"Asked by a Louisville reporter when he would explain his dubious certification, Rand Paul said: "Uh ... never.'" Face of libertardianism. Salon

Economy

'Murica!

Americans need to discover how the world sees them—"There's little awareness of how the budget crisis has eroded US credibility. It's time for a reverse Christopher Columbus."
The Ungratitude of the Normally Apathetic
Why I will never return to the USA

Race and Racism

Surveillance and Privacy

Reports: NSA Director To Step Down In 2014—Fallout from the Snowden leaks.
Secret Surveillance Court Insists It's Not a Rubber Stamp
U.S.-Style Personal Data Gathering Is Spreading Worldwide
DOJ Argues No One Has Standing To Challenge Metadata Collection Even As It Says Govt Can Legally Collect Everyone's
Unbreakable encryption comes to the U.S.—"The first quantum key distribution network in the United States promises un-hackable data security."
How to Design — And Defend Against — The Perfect Security Backdoor
Blast from the Past: Inside Account of U.S. Eavesdropping on Americans—"Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as part of the U.S. terrorist surveillance program, according to two former military intercept operators who say they listened to private phone calls, even phone sex, of US soldiers in Iraq calling home."

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Government Shutdown Day 16, Debt Default, GOP, Tea Party, Obamacare, Repercussions; Climate Change, Denialists; Fracking, Environmental Damages; Ecology; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Government Shutdown Day 16

House GOP's 11th Hour Debt Limit Plan Immediately Crashes—At one point, they actually considered taking the ball home.
Boehner Puts Off Vote as G.O.P. Balks—"As House Republicans postponed a vote on a proposal to reopen the government and raise the debt limit, chances increased that Congress would not reach a resolution before the Treasury exhausted its borrowing authority." NYT
GOP's absurd final whimper: It's all over but the crying—"In the midst of this huge crisis, House Republicans waste everyone's time -- and see their plan Z go up in flames." Salon
Senate leaders finalizing deal—Can they do it? Things are (finally) optimistic. Politico
Signs Indicate That Obama’s Debt Ceiling Gamble May Be Paying Off—"The issue still has risk, but House Republicans have been beating a steady retreat on the debt ceiling issue." NYT
Obama, Biden To Meet With Jack Lew Wednesday
What Barack Obama, Republicans get with a deal Politico

Debt Default

Is This the Debt Limit's Darkest Hour?—"Maybe. But as bad as it seems, Congress will still probably strike a deal."
The Debt Ceiling Explained in 10 Short Sentences
I Went Deep Into The Land Of The Debt Ceiling Deniers — Here's What I Found

GOP

Boehner's Last Stand—"House Republicans don't care what they win in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, as long as they win something." NYT
Boehner sees his control of House Republicans slip away WaPo
With G.O.P. Badly Divided, Boehner Is Left 'Herding Cats' NYT
Democratic Rep Says He's Unsure If Boehner Or Heritage Is Calling The Shots In The GOP
McCain: 'Republicans Have To Understand We Have Lost This Battle'
Wall Street Journal To GOP: 'It's Time To Wrap Up This Comedy Of Political Errors'
Peter King On GOP: 'This Party Is Going Nuts'
Senate GOP staffers post shutdown top 10
Republicans are delusional about US spending and deficits—"The story of out-of-control debts and deficits is just plain wrong. US deficits have fallen in the past four years."
How the shutdown derailed the Republican rebranding campaign

Tea Party

For Many Hard-Liners, Debt Default Is the Goal—"Far from seeing it as potentially catastrophic, many on the right consider a default on the federal debt inevitable and salutary as a step toward smaller government, and have been saying so for years, an economist writes." NYT
Poll: Huge Majority Of Tea Partiers Think Debt Limit Is No Big Deal—Crazy, stupid and dangerous. Calling them Tea-tards is an insult to the mentally challenged.
Ghosts of the Confederacy Out in Force as Fringe Rules GOP—"Republicans have let their Tea Party minority take over, and now they're suffering the consequences—ugly racism and confederate flag-waving that may damage the party further after the shutdown and debt debacle is over, says Eleanor Clift."
Pre-Christmas Shutdown Over Contraception?
The Borowitz Report: Rand Paul Proposes Reopening Just Enough of Government to Hold New Hearings on Benghazi

Repercussions

Republican Debt Crises Have Killed 900,000 Jobs: Study
North Carolina is first state to cut welfare amid federal shutdown
Veterans rally against shutdown, detail hardships if benefits are late
Paul Rolly: Chaffetz gets schooled in viral video; Veterans scold Lee
Park ranger: Stop blaming us for the government's mess!—"Closing national parks is against our nature." Salon

Obamacare

Koch Brothers Puppet Group "Bribing" College Kids Not To Enroll In #Obamacare
House insists on the dumbest Obamacare reform possible—"Our view: Denying employer subsidized insurance to Congress and the White House [Politico] would only prove that the GOP's attack on the Affordable Care Act was about politics, not policy."
MSNBC's Thomas Roberts To GOP Rep.: ‘Do You Hate Obamacare More Than You Love Your Country?

Climate Change

College Student Sues Alaska Over Climate Change
Alaska sinks as climate change thaws permafrost—"You can see and hear the ice melting."
Climate change to drive annual temps to new highs within a generation, study says

Denialists

Climate change is real and denial is not about the science
Al Gore's solution to climate change: impose a carbon tax and publicly shame deniers
Climate deniers meet Joe Camel—"Don't listen to the climate change smoke machine."
Prince William FOIA case on global warming headed for Virginia Supreme Court WaPo
What the Scopes Trial Teaches Us About Climate-Change Denial—"The Tennessee courtroom battle showed what can happen when big business joins forces with religious faith."
The L.A. Times won't publish climate deniers Politico
Ex-congressman Lincoln Davis says climate change is threat to farms—"I think it's really occurring. It took me a long time to reach that level. For a long time I denied it."

Fracking

'Fracking By The Numbers' Report Urges U.S. To Ban 'Environmental Nightmare'
Radioactive Wastewater From Fracking Is Found in a Pennsylvania Stream
California's Big Fracking Mess—"The Golden State is an environmental leader, but when it comes to this controversial drilling technology, it's just getting started."
Under Pressure From Persistent Activists, Council Passes Permanent Ban on Fracking in New Brunswick
France cements fracking ban—"A law prohibiting fracking for shale gas has been upheld by France's constitutional court, citing environmental protection."

Environmental Damages

ND Pipeline Breaks, Spews 20,600 Barrels of Oil—Why did it take North Dakota 11 days to fess up?
BP oil spill: Ex-Halliburton manager pleads guilty to destroying evidence—"Anthony Badalamenti faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine after his guilty plea in US district court."
Chevron goes to trial in New York over $18 billion Ecuador award
Supreme Court will review EPA's authority to regulate power-plant and factory emissions WaPo
Plummeting morale at Fukushima Daiichi as nuclear cleanup takes its toll—"Staff on the frontline of operation plagued by health problems and fearful about the future, insiders say."

Ecology

Tanzania: Harsher Penalty Awaits Poachers—"Poachers must be harshly punished because they are merciless people who wantonly kill our wildlife and sometimes game wardens."
Ocean warming and acidification deliver double blow to coral reefs—Its health is "declining fast."
Sudden disappearance of sardines has serious economic and ecological effects on the B.C. coast
625 wolves left in Montana, over 6000 permits to hunt them issued
Moose Die-Off Alarms Scientists—"Populations across the continent are experiencing a sharp decline, and the exact cause is a mystery. But there is a common thread among possible factors: climate change." NYT

NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Patrick Leahy At NSA Hearing: 'We Get More In The Newspapers Than In Classified Briefings'
FISA Court: We Approve 99 Percent Of Wiretap Applications
Snapchat admits to handing unopened 'snaps' to US law enforcement—"The director of operations says the company has complied with search warrants under the ECPA about a dozen times since May."
Aaron Swartz's unfinished whistleblowing platform finally launches—"SecureDrop was heavily audited by Bruce Schneier, Jacob Appelbaum, and others."
A World Without Privacy—"Will Dave Eggers's new novel 'The Circle' end up being prophetic? The book is a warning about how we are well on our way to losing the last shred of privacy we have." NYT
Lavabit gets new crypto key, gives users 72 hours to recover e-mails—Until 19 October.
Lavabit's Legal Fight: Should The Feds Have The Right To Break The Internet's Security System?
Glenn Greenwald leaving the Guardian to start a new venture—"The reporter who broke the NSA story is going to start a general news site." Salon
Think That Pat-Down At The Airport Was Random? You May Have Googled One Of These Arbitrary 6 Words.
Eric Schmidt's Face Shows Up All Over Google+ In Protest Of New Ads

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Obamacare, GOP, Tea-publicans, Vote Machinations, Civil Liberties, NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Obamacare

Rand admits: We probably can't defeat ObamaCare
Ted Cruz Leaves Senate GOP With No Easy Way Out—With his so-called filibuster, does he really know what he's doing?
The Public Is Massively Opposed to Shutting Down the Government Over Obamacare
Republicans Like The Affordable Care Act More Than Obamacare
Warren Buffett on Obamacare —The Weekly Standard gets called out for taking a 3-year-old remark out of context.
Broward defies governor, invites Obamacare navigators into public clinics
Final Word On Obamacare Coverage: Cheaper Than Expected

GOP

Tea-publicans

Friendman: The Way We Were—"While productivity on Capitol Hill grinds to a halt, research and innovation in the country suffers." NYT
'You're a Pathetic F*cking Douchebag': Sons of Anarchy Creator Goes Off on Conservative Activist
David Koch Provided Seed Money for Americans for Prosperity—"Tax documents obtained exclusively by National Journal confirm that conservative billionaire David Koch, along with a handful of major corporations, provided the seed money a decade ago to start the foundation behind Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that played a key role in helping to organize the tea-party movement into a potent political force."
Family Research Council: 'Nothing more Christian' than food stamp cuts—A full of hate group.
Michelle Obama Says Drinking Water is a Good Thing — Americans Get Outraged

Vote Machinations

Supreme Court may strike new blow to campaign funding laws—The Supreme Court, in a new campaign funding case, may lift a lid on the total the wealthy can give to all candidates and parties.
ACLU: Why Have 1.5 Million Floridians Been Banned from Voting?
Obamacare Could Help People Register to Vote—Unless the Administration Caves to the GOP—"Federal law says that Obamacare's health exchanges have to offer voter registration services. Republicans have thrown a fit over that, and now the administration is considering backing down."

Civil Liberties

In secret, Fisa court contradicted US supreme court on constitutional rights—"Declassified Fisa rulings reveal a permissive approach to fourth amendment violations disturbingly at odds with supreme justices'."
Chilling legal memo from Obama DOJ justifies assassination of US citizens—"The president's partisan lawyers purport to vest him with the most extreme power a political leader can seize."
ACLU: The DEA Thinks You Have "No Constitutionally Protected Privacy Interest" in Your Confidential Prescription Records

NSA Spying

Senator Leahy Slams NSA Surveillance, Aims For Changes To FISA Court And NSA's Powers
Alan Rusbridger: NSA surveillance goes beyond Orwell's imagination—"Guardian editor says depth of NSA surveillance programs greatly exceed anything the 1984 author could have imagined."
Booting Up: New NSA Data Farm Takes Root In Utah
NSA Apologist Says The NSA's Actions Are Fine Because 'Privacy Is Dead'—Apologist is too light a term.
EU threatens to suspend deal with US on tracking terrorists' funding—"EU commissioner dealing with fallout from NSA and GCHQ snooping scandal says US needs to provide more information."
Brazilian president: US surveillance a 'breach of international law'—"Dilma Rousseff's scathing speech to UN general assembly the most serious diplomatic fallout over revelations of US spying."
NSA planted bugs at Indian missions in D.C., U.N.

Surveillance and Privacy

Data Broker Giants Hacked by ID Theft Service—"An identity theft service that sells Social Security numbers, birth records, credit and background reports on millions of Americans has infiltrated computers at some of America’s largest consumer and business data aggregators, according to a seven-month investigation by KrebsOnSecurity."
Dropbox joins the call for transparency, asks government to let it publish surveillance requests
Google to Encrypt ALL Keyword Searches: Say Goodbye to Keyword Data
Californian law gives teens right to delete web posts—"California has passed a law that will enable under-18s to make websites delete their personal information."
UK: Highways Agency tracks millions of motorists' handsets in 'smart' trials

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Workers and Wage Slaves, Banks and Wall Street, Mortgages and Foreclosures; Debt Default, Obamacare, GOP, Corruption; NSA Spying and Surveillance, Police State

Workers and Wage Slaves

California Legislature approves raising minimum wage to $10—"The bill would boost the state's minimum wage of $8 an hour to $10 by 2016. Gov. Jerry Brown said he would sign it."
Report Suggests Nearly Half of U.S. Jobs Are Vulnerable to Computerization—"Oxford researchers say that 45 percent of America's occupations will be automated within the next 20 years."
Workplace morale heads down: 70% of Americans negative about their jobs, Gallup study shows—"'Bosses from hell' are giving U.S. workers the Monday blues. Gallup's 2013 State of the American Workplace report had grim findings, including that 70% of those surveyed either hate work or are completely disengaged, and perks don't help."
SEC moves toward mandate on CEO-worker pay gap—"Public companies would have to show the difference in pay between their CEOs and ordinary employees under a proposal advanced by federal regulators."
The typical American family makes less than it did in 1989

Banks and Wall Street

Poll: Americans say Washington, Wall Street haven't done enough to thwart financial crises
Elizabeth Warren: Scaling back 'too big'—"The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act would reduce the risk of another crash."
Druckenmiller: Fed robbing poor to pay rich
Larry Summers pulls out of US Federal Reserve race
JPMorgan Chase Is Said to Admit Fault in Settlement of Trade Loss—"Global authorities are preparing to levy more than $700 million in fines against JPMorgan Chase over the bank's huge trading loss in London last year." NYT
Awkward: CNBC host speechless after Barney Frank asks about high salaries for 'poor' bankers
Trading bots create extreme events faster than humans can react—"Our algorithms now show collective behavior that we do not control."

Mortgages and Foreclosures

Homeowners vs. Big Bad Banks—"Those defrauded by Bank of America aren't allowed to file a collective complaint, thanks to a 2011 Supreme Court ruling."
NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on lenders: 'Never take your eyes off of them'
Orange Co. man sentenced for $100M mortgage fraud

Debt Default

Obama targets GOP divisions on budget—"I cannot remember a time when one faction of one party promises economic chaos when it doesn't get everything it wants."
Gridlock Might Destroy the US Economy, But It's Still Good for Business
If we get a debt ceiling crisis, it's because Republican voters want one

Obamacare

GOP

GOP madness on display—"They want deeper cuts, all from domestic programs like education and clean water. They want more, not less money for the military. They oppose any increase in taxes, even objecting to closing down the tax dodges that reward companies for stashing money and reporting profits abroad. They want to repeal Obamacare without replacing it. They even are moving a bill to cut billions out of food stamps, a program that protects families in trouble from going hungry. And they are so divided among themselves that they have rejected their own leadership's proposals to keep government open."
White House vows to veto Republican bill to cut food stamps—GOP Rep's bible-quote: 'If Anyone Is Not Willing To Work, Let Him Not Eat'. Republican Jesus would be proud.
Safety Net for Crops Means $14 Billion Tab for Taxpayers
Rep. Gingrey: 'I'm stuck here making $172,000'—"During the meeting, Republicans discussed a proposal to exempt lawmakers and their staff from a new law requiring them to participate in federal health-care exchanges."
Kansas GOP group says party 'hijacked' by extremists—Ain't just in Kansas anymore.
Colorado House Republicans Unanimously Support Flood Relief, Unanimously Opposed Sandy Aid
John Boehner's Congress is a train wreck—"He's the guy in charge of the worst-performing part of one of the worst-performing Congresses in history."

Corruption

What is the cause of Detroit's Power Outage?—"City of Detroit Chief Compliance Officer, Gary Brown smiled as he talked to Wiley about the 'intentional outages' on camera: We did start calling our customers prior to taking them down and asking them to turn off air conditioners, but they weren't responding as fast as we would like them to so we had to send them a strong message by turning the power off."
Political donations from vets scammer downplayed—"The Ohio attorney general's multi-state case against a man accused of fraud after collecting as much as $100 million in the name of Navy veterans doesn't address the man's donations to a who's who of mostly Republican politicians, including the attorney general himself."
DeLay thanks God after aquittal for money laundering

NSA Spying and Surveillance

Justice Dept. watchdog never probed judges' NSA concerns—"In response to a FOIA request from USA TODAY, the Justice Department said its ethics office never looked into complaints from two federal judges that they had been misled about NSA surveillance." The watchdogs need watching, apparently.
NSA chiefs defend agency's conduct in letter to families of employees—"General Keith Alexander and deputy director John Inglis sign letter 'in light of unauthorised disclosure of classified information."
Belgacom Attack: Britain's GCHQ Hacked Belgian Telecoms Firm—"A cyber attack on Belgacom raised considerable attention last week. Documents leaked by Edward Snowden and seen by SPIEGEL indicate that Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency was responsible for the attack."
ACLU: The Government is Spying on You: ACLU Releases New Evidence of Overly Broad Surveillance of Everyday Activities
Cracked.com: 4 Reasons to Stop Freaking Out About the NSA

Police State

Licensed to Kill: The Growing Phenomenon of Police Shooting Unarmed Citizens
FBI calls half of populace with 9/11 doubts potential terrorists—"The FBI is instructing local police departments and "communities against terrorism" to consider anyone who harbors 'conspiracy theories' about 9/11 to be a potential terrorist, in a circular released to local police departments."
California college bars student from handing out copies of Constitution

Apiarius: The Bee Keeper

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

World News, Ukraine; Environment, China Air Pollution, West Virginia Spill, Fracking, Ecology; Obama, NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Sunday, January 5, 2014

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, Pope Francis; Marriage Equality, LGBT; Girl Power, Sexism; Abortion and Birth Control, Rape, Bad Cops; Obamacare; NSA Spying, Fourth Amendment

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

US Politics, Filibusted, Iran, Benghazi, Israel and Palestine; Protests; Civil Liberties; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy; Whistleblowers; Online Crackdowns; Typhoon Haiyan

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

World News, Sochi 2014, Typhoon Haiyan, Corruption, Vote Machinations; China; Israel; NSA Spying and Surveillance

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Self-Driving Cars; Obamacare, Single-Payer; Surveillance and Privacy

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Shutdown Shut Down, Debt Default Delayed, GOP, Tea Party, Media, Obamacare, Repercussions, Politics, Economy, 'Murica!, Race and Racism; Surveillance and Privacy

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Government Shutdown Day 16, Debt Default, GOP, Tea Party, Obamacare, Repercussions; Climate Change, Denialists; Fracking, Environmental Damages; Ecology; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Obamacare, GOP, Tea-publicans, Vote Machinations, Civil Liberties, NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Workers and Wage Slaves, Banks and Wall Street, Mortgages and Foreclosures; Debt Default, Obamacare, GOP, Corruption; NSA Spying and Surveillance, Police State

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