War on Terror, Boston Bombing; Military Industrial Complex; Ukraine; MH370; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy; Media and Transparency; Obamacare, Hobby Lobby

War on Terror

• Obama Defends Iraq Invasion: At Least America 'Sought' To Get UN Backing—Using Powell's cooked-up WMD presentation? Weak sauce, Barry.
• The CIA Doesn't Want You to Know How Badly It Botched Torture
• Pentagon Says GOP's Benghazi Probes Have Cost Millions
• New York Times report: Pakistani officials knew about bin Laden's whereabouts
• New York Times Story on Pakistan Censored by Local Printer—"A New York Times story saying Pakistan’s government protected Taliban forces [NYT] was censored by the publisher’s printing partner in that country, resulting in a blank hole on the front page of its international edition."
• Sardar Ahmad, charming and versatile AFP journalist
• CNN journalists arrested trying to sneak into World Trade Center
• Jimmy Carter: Drones Create More Terrorists

Boston Bombing

• Florida declines to charge FBI agent over Ibragim Todashev shooting death—"Unnamed agent also cleared by bureau in death of Boston Marathon suspect's friend, killed during interrogation in Florida."
• FBI Missed Boston Marathon Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev Because of Spelling Error—More security theater from no-fly lists.
• Boston Marathon bombing: Tsarnaev's defence team want charges thrown out

Military Industrial Complex

• More Allies Are Cutting Orders for the Pentagon's Costly New Fighter Jet
• The Pentagon Spent $2.7 Billion on an Intelligence System That Doesn't Work
• Boeing U.S. tanker program seen $1 billion over budget

Ukraine

• The GOP Just Screwed Ukraine Out of Billions to Hurt Obama
• Poland FM says Ukraine has paid 'very high price' to join EU
• IMF agrees $14-18 billion bailout for Ukraine

MH370

• Malaysia says there's sealed evidence on MH370 that cannot be made public
• Family Member Files Lawsuit Over Missing Jet as Frustrating Search Continues
• Thai satellite 'shows 300 floating objects'

NSA Spying

• NSA reform proposals fail to fully protect privacy—It leaves out email, text and social media.
• Mr. Obama's Limits on Phone Records—"If President Obama really wants to end the bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records, he doesn’t need to ask the permission of Congress, as he said on Tuesday he would do. He can just end it himself, immediately." NYT
• Turning Off the Vacuum Cleaner—"Why Congress supports Obama's proposal to end the NSA's bulk metadata collection program."
• We may have witnessed a NSA "Shotgiant" TAO-like action
• Snowden intel in Russian hands: US lawmakers—Desparately pathetic hatchet job.
• Jimmy Carter says he would consider pardoning Edward Snowden WaPo
• 'Guardian' threatened with closure over Snowden leaks, conference told—"Deputy editor details extent to which intelligence agencies tried to stop newspaper's disclosures."

Surveillance and Privacy

• Don't Listen to Google and Facebook: The Public-Private Surveillance Partnership Is Still Going Strong
• Judge denies gov't request to search suspect's iPhone in ricin case—"Georgetown U student told FBI he learned to make the poison via his iPhone."
• Brazil passes groundbreaking Internet governance Bill—"Key provisions around net neutrality, right to privacy and freedom of expression online are part of the country's first 'Internet Constitution.'"

Media and Transparency

• Risen: Obama administration is this generation’s 'greatest enemy of press freedom'
• Former Obama official: Free speech ruling threatens 'public civility' and 'democratic self-government'—Fascist statements.
• Feinstein's Bill to Kill Free Speech of Independent Journalists 'Has Votes' to Pass Senate
• NSA Invokes 'National Defense' and the Espionage Act to Stonewall MIT Student’s FOIA Request on Nelson Mandela
• Spy chief wins anti-transparency award—Congratulations to James Clapper for lying to Congress.

Obamacare

• Obama Should Have Personally Announced the Latest Obamacare Deadline Extension
• Ongoing health exchange tech problems force enrollment deadline extension—"HHS loosens rules to accommodate those still stuck in enrollment-site hell."
• The Conventional Wisdom Is Wrong. Obamacare Isn't Dooming Democrats in November
• Republican Louisiana Senate Candidate: The Uninsured Are 'Less Sophisticated… Less Educated'
• The battle over Obamacare is really a battle over Obama WaPo

Hobby Lobby

• John Roberts Offers Conservatives A Way Out Of Birth Control Dilemma
• The Stakes On Hobby Lobby Cases Are Much Bigger Than Birth Control
• Slippery slopes before the court WaPo

Veterans; Surveillance State; No-Fly List, Guantánamo, Afghanistan; Israel, Boycott; Military Industrial Complex, USA-China; Drones

Veterans

• Medals of Honor Go to 24 Army Veterans Who Had Been Denied—"They received the recognition after a review determined that some service members had been passed over for the Medal of Honor because of their race, religion or ethnicity." NYT
• Congress lacks veterans, empathy, critics say—"[T]he defeat of the veterans bill in the Senate was mostly a party-line vote, with all Republicans who are veterans opposing the measure."
• Disabled vet kicked out of Houston restaurant over service dog—"He claims the officer who responded made him feel even worse. 'I told him what my disabilities were. That's when he said, you're not blind,' recalled Ohayon. '[He said] I don't see why you need the dog.'" Who's the blind one again?
• Collateral damage: The mental health issues facing children of veterans
• Marijuana study in veterans wins federal backing

Surveillance State

• A 10-Point Plan to Keep the NSA Out of Our Data—"Snowden talks at TED and says that the biggest revelations are yet to come."
• US Intel Program Targets Email Addresses, Not Keywords—"The US government's clandestine PRISM Internet program exposed by Edward Snowden targets suspect email addresses and phone numbers but does not search for keywords like terrorism, officials said Wednesday."
• NSA surveillance program reaches 'into the past' to retrieve, replay phone calls—"The surveillance system is capable of recording '100 percent' of calls in at least one foreign country." WaPo
• Church Committee staff: NSA 'dwarfs' past spying scandals
• Feds confirm Bush-era e-mail surveillance Politico
• Ad Industry Feeds White House Its Fallacious "Internet Depends on Spying" Logic
• Nancy Pelosi Admits That Congress Is Scared Of The CIA
• After Senate revelations, the CIA should be looking over its shoulder WaPo

No-Fly List

• US terror 'watchlist' risks stigmatizing hundreds of thousands, says ACLU
• Judge Questions Secrecy Shrouding 'No Fly' List—"Federal court skeptical of claims that sharing classified evidence With targets undermines national security." WSJ
• Plaintiffs: No-Fly List Deprives Due Process Right
• Veterans among Americans suing over fed's no-fly list
• Grounded: Life On The No-Fly List

Guantánamo

• Guantánamo hunger-strikers endure 'water cure' torture, federal court hears—"Lawyers say inmate Emad Hassan has been force-fed 5,000 times as practice gets first legal challenge at US federal level."
• A letter from Guantanamo: 'Nobody can truly understand how we suffer'—"Al-Alwi describes the humiliating and brutal treatment he suffers at Guantanamo."
• Algerian freed from Guantanamo after 12 years—"Ahmed Belbacha turned over to Algerian government after being held in US prison for more than a decade without charge."

Afghanistan

• Is Afghanistan really impossible to conquer?
• Afghanistan's powerful vice-president Fahim dies in Kabul—"Afghanistan's powerful vice president, Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, died of natural causes on Sunday, only weeks before the country is due to elect a new leader. He was 57." Natural?
• Swedish radio reporter shot dead in Kabul
• Involved since 2001, Canada wraps up its mission in Afghanistan
• Karzai says US troops can leave Afghanistan—"In final address to parliament, outgoing president says Afghan forces are capable of defending country on their own."

Israel

• Israel's defense chief says U.S. projecting weakness
• Israeli troops shoot dead a Palestinian-Jordanian judge at border crossing—"Palestinian Authority and Amman demand investigation over incident at crossing between West Bank and Jordan." Netanyahu expresses regret.
• West Bank settlement starts double in 2013

Boycott

• American Jewish groups oppose Maryland anti-boycott law—"The AJC and the ADL say that though they don't support the ASA's call for a boycott of Israel, which occasioned this bill, they also do not support any attempt to stifle academic freedom."
• Editorial: A chilling effect—"Our view: Lawmakers should reject a bill that would punish state colleges and universities for associating with groups that advocate boycotts, divestment or sanctions against Israel.
• Israeli Prime Minister: Boycotters Are "Classical Anti-Semites in Modern Garb"

Military Industrial Complex

• Companies Profiting the Most From War
• How the Government Pays Defense Contractors Tens of Billions for Nothing—"By starting expensive technology programs but ending them before they bear fruit, the military has spent a taxpayer fortune without getting anything in return."
• Tomgram: Mattea Kramer, Is the Pentagon Doomed -- To Be Flush Forever
• Senators: DOD ordered $754 million in unnecessary parts last year
• A-10's prowess touted as pressure grows to retire jet

USA-China

• Top Gun takeover: Stolen F-35 secrets showing up in China's stealth fighter
• Chinese raw materials also found on U.S. B-1 bomber, F-16 jets
• American flags made in China now banned in U.S. military

Drones

• Commercial Drones Are Completely Legal, a Federal Judge Ruled
• FAA Fine Against Drone Photographer Dismissed
• Facebook Looking Into Buying Drone Maker Titan Aerospace—They want to provide internet to remote places. [WaPo]
• The Military's Budget for New Drones Is Bigger in 2015
• Intern shot with 80,000-volt, drone-mounted stun gun

Harold Ramis (1944-2014); War on Terror, Military, Police State, NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy; Tech Tracking, Big Data; Ukraine, Protests, Journalism; Your Rights Online

Harold Ramis (1944–2014)

• Bobbie Wygant interviews Harold Ramis for Ghostbusters
• CIF 2010 Awards: Lifetime Achievement - Harold Ramis
• American Storytellers—"4 American Storytellers (John McNaughton, Harold Ramis, John Sayles, Forest Whitaker) talking about LIFE and MOVIES with Kevin Mukherji."
• Moving Image Source: Harold Ramis
• Second City Relics—"This tape captures a Second City performance from 1972 featuring John Belushi, Harold Ramis, Joe Flaherty, Jim Staahl, Jim Fisher, Judy Morgan, and Eugenie Ross-Leming."

War on Terror

• Judge Tosses Muslim Spying Suit Against NYPD, Says Any Damage Was Caused by Reporters Who Exposed It—Kafkaesque.
• Follow the blood money: Exposing the secret US banking operations that help fund suicide bombers
• Deadly drone strike in Yemen failed to comply with Obama's rules to protect civilians—How to manufacture more terrorists. WaPo
• Eric Cantor's Foreign-Policy Ideas Would Consign Us to Perpetual War—"The House majority leader believes U.S. forces left Iraq and Afghanistan too early and that America should be more involved almost everywhere else."
• Iraq signs deal to buy arms, ammunition from Iran - documents

Military

• DOD aims to scrap A-10 to keep F-35 alive in new budget—"One of the most effective combat aircraft gets pushed aside for one yet to serve."
• Sen. Cornyn's biggest donor keeps getting massively wasteful defense contracts – thanks to Sen. Cornyn
• Pentagon's Chuck Hagel plans to downsize US—Or is there something else to this?

Police State

• Break-in Reported at Project on Government Oversight—"It’s probably nothing, but the office of a major Washington, DC national security whistleblowers organization was broken into last week."
• How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations
• New documents prove U.S. Army actively targeted leftist protesters, group says
• Dzhokhar Tsarnaev again seeks easing of prison restrictions—"Lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the accused Boston Marathon bomber, have again asked a federal judge to lift special prison restrictions that have been placed on him, saying the restrictions have allowed the FBI to monitor their defense strategy." Boston Globe
• Tricky Dick vs. the New York Times: How Nixon declared war on journalism—"A former Times journalist recounts the Nixon administration's feverish attempts to shut down the paper's reporting." Salon
• FCC Throws In the Towel on Explosive Content Study—"Intrusive media survey idea had people riled, but it was doomed from the start."

NSA Spying

• U.S. now bugging German ministers in place of Merkel: report
• On the Timing of iOS's SSL Vulnerability and Apple's 'Addition' to the NSA's PRISM Program
• Sen. Dianne Feinstein defends NSA and need for intelligence gathering
• Why AT&T's Surveillance Report Omits 80 Million NSA Targets
• Visited WikiLeaks? NSA and GCHQ know about it

Surveillance and Privacy

• U.S. Air Force reveals 'neighborhood watch' spy satellite program
• Army's new Watchkeeper drone to patrol Wiltshire skies
• Chelsea Manning: US secrecy breeds unilateralism that defies constitution
• The Persecution of U.S. Political Prisoner & Whistleblower John Kiriakou
• EFF To UN Member States: Protect Individuals Right to Privacy

Tech Tracking

• If You Think You're Anonymous Online, Think Again
• American Sues Ethiopian Government for Spyware Infection
• Facebook will no longer change your privacy settings when you die—They say that they "are respecting the choices a person made in life...."

Big Data

• The Deep State Hiding in Plain Sight—"Former GOP congressional analyst Mike Lofgren talks to Bill about America's 'Deep State,' in which elected and unelected figures collude to serve powerful vested interests."
• Telecom firms mine for gold in big data despite privacy concerns
• Welcome to Algorithmic Prison—"The use of Big Data to to profile citizens is subtly, silently constraining freedom."

Ukraine

• US to Putin: Don't send troops into Ukraine
• Leaked files suggest Yanukovych had plan for harsh clampdown
• There are two competing stories about what's happening in Ukraine. They're both right. WaPo
• Ukraine crisis: Turchynov warns of 'separatism' risk
• Ukraine protester falls for policeman at barricades—"It is true that I fell in love with the policeman that I met, but I'm going to tell you another story. I did use my bare hands when I met them, but it was not to fight them, it was so I could drag the bodies of those killed the day before and the day before that off the streets. It is about how two of my best friends killed peacefully protesting."

Protests

• Bosnia and Herzegovina: Investigate Police Violence Against Protesters
• Russia police detain hundreds protesting against jailing of activists
• Thailand army chief says military will not step into political crisis
• Erdogan Resignation Demanded by Turkish Opposition Over Tape
• Egypt's govt resigns, sparking controversy

Journalism

• Venezuela: how photos get manipulated
• Fears for Canadian filmmaker missing in Cambodia—He was making a documentary on the Khmer Rouge.
• Thousands protest for press freedoms in Hong Kong—"As China takes a more active role in the city, which has special status, journalists say they are being silenced."

Your Rights Online

• Woman convicted for terror-supporting tweets—"A Spanish woman, with no known political or terroristic ties, gets a one-year sentence for calling for the assassination of Spain's prime minister, among other tweets."
• Police and protesters clash over new Turkish internet law—"Riot police in Turkey have used tear gas to disperse thousands of people in Istanbul who were protesting against a new law tightening control of the internet."
• Philippine senator calls citizens to rally against the Cybercrime Law's online libel

War on Terror, Protests, Censorship, Israel, Drones, Military; Surveillance and Privacy, Journalism; Police State, Lies, NYPD, Anti-corruption

War on Terror

• US Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq to Cost $6 trillion
• FBI Checks Wrong Box, Places Student on No-Fly List—"The government contested a former Stanford University student's assertion that she was wrongly placed on a no-fly list for seven years in court despite knowing an FBI official put her on the list by mistake because he checked the 'wrong boxes' on a form, a federal judge said today." It's a War on Error.
• GOP Report Acknowledges That The U.S. Military Couldn't Have Changed Benghazi Outcome
• In Security Cases, Feds No Longer Get Benefit Of The Doubt
• Shaker Aamar: A Bitter Valentine's Day—The last British Guantánamo prisoner writes: "I live in the dark, knowing nothing. Here I am, cleared for release for seven years, more than half my time here. What, why, when, how, where? These questions have no answers, only total darkness." Emphasis mine.
• Suicide Bomber Instructor Blows Up Suicide Bombers-In-Training

Protests

• Pro and anti-Maduro marches gather thousands in Venezuela
• Thailand poll talks amid fresh anti-government protests
• Ukraine protesters vacate city hall after 3 months of occupation

Censorship

• UK Government Official Gets Twitter Parody Account Closed Down For Mocking Politicians And Heads Of Large Companies—Twitter has reinstate the account.
• Saudi Arabia to shut down offending websites—"No attack on faith, community values to be tolerated."
• Turkey: journalists protest about media censorship

Israel

• Business boycott: Israelis feeling the pinch—"With the threat of EU economic boycotts hanging over Israel, business owners there say they are already starting to feel the pinch and are having to look for other, less lucrative export markets."
• Israel Prepares Media War Against Boycott Movement
• BDS a hate crime? In France, legal vigilance punishes anti-Israel activists—"Some 20 pro-BDS activists have been convicted under the so-called Lellouche law, which has put France at the forefront of efforts to counter the movement through legal means."

Drones

• EU 'spent £320 million on surveillance drone development'—"MPs furious as report reveals "out of control" EU is developing surveillance drones without 'any kind of democratic accountability.'"
• UK 'borrowed' US drones to carry out unreported strikes in Afghanistan
• Pakistan drone victim set to testify in Europe disappear
• The risk of reporting US drone strikes—"Yemen researcher says he received a death threat after investigating deadly wedding-convoy attack."
• Yemeni 'global terrorist' says he has counterterrorism advice for Washington—"The United States is doing more to stoke terrorism, here in the heartland of al-Qaeda's most active franchise, than to defeat it, he says. What the United States ought to do, he argues, is strengthen Yemen's state institutions — rather than create enemies by carrying out drone strikes."
• Australian Government To Buy Giant Drones Worth $3 Billion To Protect The Country
• How a Rogue Developer Got Apple to Approve a Drone Strike App

Military

• The Navy's New $35 Billion Submarine Hunter Doesn't Even Work
• Why Would America Sell Saudi Arabia 15,699 Dangerous Missiles? Now We Know.
• Revolving Door Syndrome in the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Complex: The Best Government Money Can Buy
• Swiss fury over Saab 'meddling' in Gripen vote
• Fury as Army chiefs land jobs with UK defence companies

Surveillance and Privacy

• Spying by N.S.A. Ally Entangled U.S. Law Firm—"A top-secret document, obtained by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, shows that an American law firm was monitored while representing a foreign government in trade disputes with the United States." NYT
• Debate: Was Snowden Justified? Former NSA Counsel Stewart Baker vs. Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg
• 'Why Have You Gone to Russia Three Times in Two Months?'—Heathrow Customs Agent Interrogates Snowden Lawyer
• The NSA's Shadow Database
• Merkel, Hollande to discuss European communication network avoiding U.S.
• CSEC exoneration a 'mockery of public accountability'—"Watchdog rules CSEC not involved in tracking of Canadians."
• Indonesian minister says reports of Australia spying are 'mind-boggling'—"Marty Natalegawa says it's hard to believe Australia could let its spies help US officials locked in trade disputes with Jakarta." Abbott says it's was the "'the benefit of our friends."

Journalism

• NSA Spying Poses "Direct Threat to Journalism," Watchdog Group Warns
• Journalists who broke NSA story in Guardian receive George Polk Awards
• Der Spiegel journalists on walking the fine line between informing the public and compromising NSA intelligence

Police State

• Congress must protect Americans from 'policing for profit'—"Motel owner lives through 'civil forfeiture' horror story."
• Good Samaritan Backfire or How I Ended Up in Solitary After Calling 911 for Help
• This Method is So Constitutional, the DEA Won't Even Release Its Name
• NYPD denies FOIA request for department FOIA guide
• Student journalist sues Otterbein for police records—"Student journalists at the liberal-arts college have battled Otterbein over its refusal to release records since the campus security force became a full-fledged police department of state-certified officers in 2011."

Lies

• Campaigner's lawyers challenge secrecy over police spy accused of lying in court—"John Jordan seeks explanation of why his conviction will be quashed after claims undercover officer gave false evidence."
• UK Cop Caught Framing Citizen Journalist On Camera—"A citizen journalist was assaulted and set up by a UK police officer late last week while covering a fracking protest in Barton Moss, England."
• Cops jailed for false baby-beating claim—'Two police officers in Barcelona have been sent to prison for two years for making a knowingly false accusation that a woman had beaten her baby, resulting in an eight-month legal separation between mother and daughter."

NYPD

• In Brooklyn, a Longtime Critic of Police Policies Basks in a de Blasio Moment NYT
• Judge tosses gun charge in stop-and-frisk case—"A federal judge has tossed gun-possession charges against a Brooklyn man who claimed he was illegally searched...."
• New NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton Ditches Embattled Veteran Head of Internal Affairs
• NYPD's most-sued cop also among top overtime earners for past two years
• Assemblyman Boyland spills payola schemes to undercover cops

Anti-corruption

• Bloomfield acting police chief placed on paid leave after speaking out at council meeting—He "claimed that a councilman asked him to trade favors to ensure Behre's appointment as permanent chief." Watch his testimony: "No one owns the chief's position. It's not for sale."
• Fla. trooper who stopped cop sues after harassment
• Taxicab Authority investigator accused of illegally recording phone call—"Attempted whistleblower charged with recording telephone call without consent."

Obama and the NSA, Surveillance and Privacy, Your Rights Online; Police State, War on Terror, Pakistan, Military, Scams; Net Neutrality

Obama and the NSA

• Obama's NSA speech: 53 years after Ike's warning
• The 4 numbers you need to know for President Obama's NSA speech WaPo
• Obama wants to end NSA holding of metadata

Surveillance and Privacy

• NSA collects millions of text messages daily in 'untargeted' global sweep
• Report: Usefulness of NSA Mass Surveillance 'Overblown'
• A Free Society Cannot Escape All Terrorism—"An NSA official illustrates the totalitarian temptation in bureaucracies charged with stopping 100 percent of attacks."
• The NSA Can't Tell Bernie Sanders If It's Spying On Him, Because That Would Violate His Privacy
• NSA spying? 'We've seen this movie before'—"Legislators seeking to reform the NSA may not have the votes they need. But their opponents are running out of reasons to justify the agency's activities."
• Secret surveillance court judges oppose reform ideas—"Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court jurists are all against a presidential task force's ideas for increasing transparency and oversight."
• I Spent Two Hours Talking With the NSA's Bigwigs. Here's What Has Them Mad
• Snowden hailed as hero at University of Guelph discussion about online privacy issues
• The more I listen to American intelligence officials, the more I edge toward Snowden Foreign Policy
• Must-see morning clip: Stephen Colbert wants to fix the NSA surveillance program with (surprise) more spying! Salon

Your Rights Online

• UN: Online Privacy Now Considered a Human Right
• Online privacy: 'Big data' is watching, and building your digital profile'
• Online Privacy: We Are The Authors Of Our Own Demise
• Sync Your Files without Trusting the Cloud
• How to disappear online

Press Freedom and Transparency

• Snowden to Join Board of the Freedom of the Press Foundation—"The foundation set up by Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers leaker and a supporter of Edward J. Snowden, encourages publishing government secrets in the public interest." NYT
• Navy Mistakenly Sends Reporter Strategy To Dodge FOIA Request
• How to contact The Globe Mail securely

Police State

• Voluntary government checkpoints spark backlash—"Checkpoints, which the government insists are voluntary, are creating a backlash because of the presence of uniformed police officers. Some police departments won't participate anymore."
• Insane Clown Posse Defends Fans, With F.B.I. Lawsuit—"The rap group Insane Clown Posse filed suit against the government, charging that it unlawfully classified fans of the band as criminal gang members." NYT
• Student arrested after buying bottled water mistaken for beer files lawsuit against state
• NYPD Seized an Innocent's Man Cash, Used It to Pad Their Pension
• The absurdly dangerous militarization of America's police Salon
• Police Becoming More Militarized As Wars Wind Down
• Supreme Court Lets Stand Ruling Bolstering Gadget Privacy at U.S. Border

War on Terror

• After 12 years, £390bn, and countless dead, we leave poverty, fraud – and the Taliban in Afghanistan
• Devastating dossier on 'abuse' by UK forces in Iraq goes to International Criminal Court
• U.S. ambivalence runs deep as Iraq violence revives
• Falluja's Fall Stuns Marines Who Fought There NYT
• I helped destroy Falluja in 2004. I won't be complicit again—"The media accepts the overly simple narrative that al-Qaida took over. The reality is Maliki is crushing dissent with US-made arms."
• Close Guantánamo prison, says first US commander on 12th anniversary
• Senate Report Debunks Key Benghazi Conspiracy Claims, Says Attack Preventable
• 9 Huge Government Conspiracies That Actually Happened
• Scholar Wins Court Battle to Purge Name From U.S. No-Fly List
• Manufacturing Terrorists—A look inside "The Terror Factory."

Pakistan

• Aitzaz Hasan: Tributes to Pakistan teenager killed when he stopped a bomber—"My son made his mother cry, but saved hundreds of mothers from crying for their children." May his sacrifice be always remembered as a call for peace.
• 'One in four US drone deaths in Pakistan are civilian'
• Drone strikes are illegal according to a prominent Pakistani lawyer
• US fighting 'wrong war' against 'wrong people'
• Utah gun maker turns down $15M deal with Pakistan—"... citing concerns they could eventually be used against U.S. troops."

Military

• Cost to US of Iraq and Afghan wars could hit $6 trillion—"The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could reach as high as $6 trillion dollars – or $75,000 for every household in America – a new study from Harvard University has found."
• The Startling Size of US Special Forces—"A TomDispatch investigation reveals America's secret military operates in over half the nations on the planet."
• Big money behind war: the military-industrial complex
• An Unholy Alliance Is Forcing Veterans To Pay For 12 Years Of War
• Feds in Ajo for Border Patrol home cost audit—"Feds in Ajo for Border Patrol home cost audit,Following an uproar by residents and some members of Congress, the Department of Homeland Security has opened an investigation into whether $15 million in tax dollars to build housing for Border Patrol agents here was improperly spent."

Scams

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren working with Sen. Marco Rubio on amendment to protect veterans from scams
• The Charity Swindle—Brian Thompsan sentenced to 28 years, "including solitary confinement on every Veterans Day during that span." NYT
• Wounded Warriors Project A Legal Scam

Net Neutrality

• Government regulators who killed net neutrality became top cable industry lobbyists— "The LA Times points out something worth repeating: net neutrality was really killed back in 2002, when the FCC Chairman Michael Powell reclassified cable modem services as 'information services' rather than 'telecommunications services.'"
• Why you should care about Net neutrality
• Winning and Losing in the Net Neutrality Decision
• FCC will find new way to prevent ISP abuse after net neutrality loss—With today's Congress, common carrier reclassifcation is a pipe dream.
• The Feds Lost Net Neutrality, But Won Control of the Internet

War on Terror; Surveillance and Privacy; Military Money; Google, Patents, Copyright, Law and Disorder; Trouble with Telcos, Broadband; Haxx0red, I Can Tell By the Pixels; Gaming

War on Terror

• A Deadly Mix in Benghazi—"The reality behind the deadly attack on American outposts is murkier and more complex than initially believed." Despite what Issa keeps yammering about. NYT
• Private talks between Tony Blair and George Bush on Iraq war to be published—I smell censorship in the air.
• CNN Poll: Afghanistan war arguably most unpopular in U.S. history
• The US Has Bombed at Least Eight Wedding Parties Since 2001
• I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on—"Few of the politicians who so brazenly proclaim the benefits of drones have a real clue how it actually works (and doesn't)."
• Amazing details from the drunken Moscow bender that got an Air Force general fired—"Maj. Gen. Michael Carey drank heavily and often on his official trip to Russia." WaPo

Surveillance and Privacy

• 2013 in Review: The Year the NSA Finally Admitted Its "Collect It All" Strategy
• The most Kafkaesque paragraph from today's NSA ruling—"[Judge] Pauley is essentially saying that the targets of the order have no recourse to challenge the collection of their personal data because Congress never intended for targets to ever know that they were subject to this sort of spying." Judiciary failing its check-and-balance role. WaPo
• Glenn Greenwald: 'A Lot' More NSA Documents to Come
• Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit—"The NSA's TAO hacking unit is considered to be the intelligence agency's top secret weapon. It maintains its own covert network, infiltrates computers around the world and even intercepts shipping deliveries to plant back doors in electronics ordered by those it is targeting."
• Shopping for Spy Gear: Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox—"After years of speculation that electronics can be accessed by intelligence agencies through a back door, an internal NSA catalog reveals that such methods already exist for numerous end-user devices."
• IT firms lose billions after NSA scandal exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden
• Phone companies say 'no way' to storing phone data for NSA—"Phone companies are against an NSA advisory panel recommendation that would have them -- instead of the NSA -- store phone metadata for an extended time, reports The Washington Post."
• Senator Wants Cybersecurity Answers from Automakers
• Interview with NSA Whistleblower Bill Binney: Afraid We're Spreading Secret Government Around World
• Snowden lawyer: Supreme Court must weigh in on NSA

Military Money

• Why the Pentagon's many campaigns to clean up its accounts are failing
• Forgotten by Most Americans, Iraq is Still a Source of Profits for U.S. Weapons Makers
• Sen. Sanders on Pentagon bloat
• No Austerity for Military Budget in 2014—"The bill is a massive spending program on the war economy with no justification in a time of austerity and limited security threats."

Google

• Google Punishes Rap Genius for SEO Tactics
• Google announces ban on 'multi-purpose' Chrome extensions
• The Day Google Had to 'Start Over' on Android—"Google was building a secret mobile product to fend off chief rival Microsoft. Then Apple announced the iPhone, and everything changed."

Patents

• 'Twas(n't) the Software Patent Before Christmas—All about iA Writer Pro's disingenuous "patent".
• Patent troll bill taken up by Senate, but some say "slow down"—"Senators want to rein in the trolls, but not rile the universities."
• Newegg "back on track" after beating patent troll at ITC

Copyfight

• Opinion: DRM has always been a horrible idea
• Reuters Misuses DMCA "Copyright" To Cover Up Its Attacks on Press at UN
• Netflix Schedules Massive Purge for Jan. 1—Better start binge-watching.
• New Beyonce Album Won't Be Available at Target—"Retailers fears early digital rush will harm physical sales."
• YouTube's Content ID System Will Take Away Your Money If You Dare Sing "Silent Night" war
• Using copyright to keep repair manuals secret undermines circular economy—"Electronics manufacturers are denying consumers access to repair manuals, and it's working against the environment."
• 50 Years of Chinese Aviation Knockoffs—"These Chinese aircraft look familiar, but they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Law and Disorder

• Sherlock Holmes Is in the Public Domain, American Judge Rules NYT
• German Court Pulls Orders Granted To Copyright Troll U+C; Grants Injunction Against Future Demand Letters
• Lawyers for Metro East man win big against porn 'trolls'

Trouble with Telcos

• US carriers agree to unlock customers' phones after pressure from FCC—"You'll get a remote unlock after paying off your contract."
• Shameless Carriers
• Flipside: T-Mobile honcho teases fourth 'Uncarrier' phase is on the way

Broadband

• Cable Industry Finally Admits That Data Caps Have Nothing To Do With Congestion—"For years, the key rationale given by broadband providers for implementing data caps was that it was the only way they could deal with 'congestion.' [...] The reality, of course, is that data caps are all about increasing revenue for broadband providers -- in a market that is already quite profitable."
• Editorial: Americans pay more, get less for broadband
• U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace in Delivering Broadband Service Salon
• AT&T sends mixed messages with 1Gbps FTTH service
• How US Internet service might get better—and worse—in 2014—"Fiber buildouts and threats to net neutrality make next year worth watching."

Haxx0red

• Target Confirms PIN Data Also Stolen In Credit/Debit Card Hack
• French agency caught minting SSL certificates impersonating Google—"Unauthorized credentials for Google sites were accepted by many browsers."
• BBC server taken over by Russian hacker at Christmas—"Attacker tried to sell access to server used by corporation for uploading files before being spotted by cybersecurity firm."

I Can Tell By the Pixels

• Software that exposes faked photos NYT
• 100% of the image restored using a version containing between 1 and 10% of the information
• Zoom, enhance. Corneal reflections can reveal bystanders

Gaming

• The real console war begins in March 2014
• A Rant on Microsoft and Xbox One
• 4chan's fake Xbox One instructions convince users to brick their systems
• Xbox One's 24 Hour Check-In DRM Returns During Killer Instinct Tournament
• Forget Xbox One: 2014 could be Nintendo's year

War on Terror, Gitmo, Classified, Military Money, NSA Spying, Police State, Bad Cops, Innocence, False Arrests, Recording, Fake Rape, Bitches Behaving Badly

War on Terror

• The 6,000-Page Report on CIA Torture Has Now Been Suppressed for 1 Year—"It cost $40 million to produce, documents serious wrongdoing, and doesn't threaten national security. Team Obama won't release it."
• Senators clash with Justice Department lawyer over CIA intelligence memos—"CIA nominee Caroline Krass angers intelligence committee by claiming legal opinions on torture are beyond its scope."
• 9/11 COVER UP: The 28 pages of al-Qaeda report that Bush kept SECRET from the world
• We Broke Iraq And We're Still Paying For The Damage
• Air strike kills 15 civilians in Yemen by mistake: officials
• The FBI Goes To Disturbing Lengths To Set Up Potential Terrorists
• The fall of the house of Tsarnaev—"A five-month Globe investigation offers new details and insights into the two young men accused in the greatest act of terrorism in Boston history and the deeply dysfunctional family that produced them."
• TSA 'Security Fee' Expected To Double Next Year, Current Level Of Ineptness To Remain Unchanged

Gitmo

• First Guantanamo commander calls for prison to be closed
• Guantánamo prisoner ejected from pretrial hearing for being 'disruptive'—"Ramzi bin al-Shibh, charged with aiding 9/11 attack, repeated allegations that guards were deliberately depriving him of sleep."
• US close to bipartisan deal to allow release of some Guantánamo detainees—"Deal, part of broad compromise defense bill, would lift most rigid restrictions Congress imposed on detainee transfers overseas."
• Guantanamo detainees transferred to Sudan
• Guantanamo Prisoner Shaker Aamer Addresses Why Certain Books Are Banned at the Facility

Classified

• Launch code for US nukes was 00000000 for 20 years
• Lawsuit seeks to unlock CIA's secret history of Bay of Pigs invasion
• Mapping the Blind Spots: Developer Unearths Secret U.S. Military Bases
• Missing American in Iran was on unapproved mission
• In Bizarre No-Fly List Trial, Even the Verdict Might Be Top Secret

Military Money

• Here's How the Military Wasted Your Money in 2013—"Billions of dollars worth of unneeded tanks, faulty ships and redundant rifles."
• Fired Army Whistleblower Receives $970K for Exposing Halliburton No-Bid Contract in Iraq
• Saab wins Brazil jet deal after NSA spying sours Boeing bid—US's loss is Sweden's gain.

NSA Spying

• NSA review panel recommends dozens of new restrictions on surveillance
• History Will Be Harsh to Judges Who Sign Off on Mass Surveillance—"The Supreme Court's job is to check the executive and legislative branches when they threaten liberty. In the War on Terror, it has sometimes failed."
• Glenn Greenwald: 'Definitely More' Reports Based on Edward Snowden's Documents Coming
• Finally, a Ruling That Recognizes Snowden as a Whistleblower
• Edward Snowden is a Patriot

Police State

• The End of Childhood in the Era of the Emerging American Police State
• Former Top NSA Official: "We Are Now In A Police State"
• Boston PD's new assault rifles raise concern over militarization of police
• Police Militarization is Not Inevitable: 58 Percent Think It’s Already Going Too Far
• The Real Purpose of Oakland's Surveillance Center—"City leaders have argued that Oakland needs a massive surveillance system to combat violent crime, but internal documents reveal that city staffers are also focused on tracking political protesters."
• In Texas, Search Warrants Can Now Be Based on a "Prediction of a Future Crime"
• Motorist checkpoint in Reading draws questions—'A private firm with a federal contract - and backed up by city police - forced motorists off Laurel Street and into a private parking lot Friday to question them about their driving habits and ask for a swab of their mouth."

Bad Cops

• This Year in Bad Cops
• FBI arrest Los Angeles sheriff's deputies in misconduct probe
• Hate crime killing triggers federal oversight of town's police
• Under Stop-And-Frisk Reform, Cop Who Jailed Man For 'Sarcasm' And A Cigar Will Be Prosecuted
• N.C. Officer Won't Face Charges for Forcing K-9 Onto Suspect
• Wall of silence surrounds killings by border agents
• Texas college student shot dead by campus police officer—"Robert Cameron Redus, 23, died early Friday morning after a struggle with a cop during a traffic stop near the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio." And through pure coincidence, the dashboard cam "had fallen off the evening before the incident" and that "investigating authorities have cleaned up the scene and even searched his apartment" before his family arrived in San Antonio.

Innocence

• Sara Reedy, the rape victim accused of lying and jailed by US police, wins $1.5m payout—"Pittsburgh woman raped at gunpoint and charged with fabricating her story has won a settlement after a marathon legal battle, changing federal law along the way."
• Witness' sister helps free man convicted in 1979 killing—"Kash Delano Register will be released after being convicted of the killing, mainly on the testimony of a witness that has now been discredited."
• Innocent man: How inmate Michael Morton lost 25 years of his life
• Texas prosecutor to serve 10 days for innocent man's 25-year imprisonment—"Ken Anderson, former prosecutor and state judge, won the 1987 conviction of Michael Morton for murder despite evidence." Prosecutorial misconduct punished.
• Another Man Freed in Chicago Police Torture Saga—"During his more than 30 years behind bars, Stanley Wrice insisted he was innocent, that Chicago police had beat him until he confessed to a rape he didn't commit. On Wednesday, he walked out of an Illinois prison a free man, thanks to a judge's order that served as a reminder that one of the darkest chapters in the city's history is far from over."

False Arrests

• Wrongful arrests, St. Louis Post-Dipatch: It is way too easy to get wrongfully arrested in St. Louis.
• College Student Spends 4 Days In Jail After Being Mistakenly Arrested
• Court: Man mistakenly detained 11 times cannot sue Metro Police
• Brooklyn jury awards $560K to ex-con after false arrest for illegal gun possession
• Man Is Granted $2.4 Million for False Arrest and Beating by Police—"A federal jury awarded Noel J. Guzman the money after he testified that in 2009 officers kicked, stomped and arrested him after they responded to a fight in which he had not been involved in Manhattan." NYT

Recording

• Shocking video shows Gong Ling Tang left to die outside police station
• Cop Recorded Beating, Kicking Daughter Because She Ate Carrots
• Skokie Officer Charged After Shoving Woman Into Jail Cell
• Watched Cops Are Polite Cops—"Requiring law enforcement to wear video cameras will protect your constitutional rights and improve policing."
• Houston police gain powerful new weapon to help settle disputes

Fake Rape

• Posthumous pardon in 1931 Alabama rape case—"The Scottsboro Boys receive official pardons more than 80 years after being wrongly convicted by all-white juries."
• The War of Rape: What happened to Jamie Leigh Jones in Iraq?—The KBR contractor lied about getting raped.
• Woman who cried wolf about rape may have to face her victim in court
• Young mother jailed for making two false rape claims within hours after getting drunk and sleeping with friend's partner
• Jury finds girls, parents liable for calling teacher 'perv'—"Two years after San Jose schoolgirls branded a teacher as a 'perv' and 'creeper' who inappropriately touched kids and peeked into their restroom, a civil jury Friday found the children and their parents financially liable for defamation in a case that pitted the rights of the accused against the aim of reporting perceived abuse."
• Jury Quickly Convicts Woman in False Rape Trial
• 'Men's Rights' groups report 400 fake cases of sexual violence to LA college

Bitches Behaving Badly

• Former model and radio announcer busted in sextortion plot
• Highlands resident charged in Craig's List impersonation case
• Alleged Killer Kayla Mendoza Tweets "2 Drunk 2 Care" Before Causing Horrific Accident—Family claims her account got hacked.
• NJ waitress in anti-gay tip flap loses job—Looks like she lied about donating to Wounded Warriors the money she received from those who were fooled by her "note".
• Protester accused of sexual violence after world hails iconic photo of her kissing Italian riot officer

Nelson Mandela: 1918–2013; Law and Disorder; Unneighborly; Racism; War on Women; Prison Profiteering; Cases; New York; Bad Cops; Police State; Surveillance and Privacy, Whistleblowers and Journalism

Nelson Mandela: 1918–2013

• Farewell, Madiba—"Nelson Mandela's human flaws, desires, and compromises—as much as his idealism and ability to forgive—helped to make him great."
• Fight the right-washing of Nelson Mandela's legacy—"Much of the American right supported apartheid, almost to the bitter end. Why we must remember that." Salon
• The Day Mandela Was Arrested, With A Little Help From the CIA

Law and Disorder

• Police arrest teen behind anti-snitching Twitter account
• Ex-Elmo performer known for his anti-Semitic Times Square rant tries to extort $2 million from Girl Scouts: prosecutors
• Mugger apologises to victim 30 years on after finding him on Facebook
• Italian mob boss eaten alive by pigs
• 13-year-old son of deputy investigated for so-called 'kill list'

Unneighborly

• Man Moves Into Home While Family Is Away And Claims He Now Owns It
• Man arrested after he repeatedly aimed, fired unloaded Civil War-era cannon at New York neighbor's home
• This Bullying Social Experiment Is Incredibly Eye-Opening

Racism

• Houston cops cuff 13-year-old white girl, 2 black men visiting city for dance video shoot
• Man, 20, arrested in 26-year-old's shooting death—Black man kills white man for having a black girlfriend.
• Officers Are Told Race Can Be a Factor in Street Stops, but Not the Only One—"With a new law in effect that expands the types of suits that can be filed over profiling, the New York Police Department gave officers guidelines for stop and frisk." NYT

War on Women

• On-duty officer sexually assaults 19-year-old during traffic stop, police say
• NM woman comes forward with illegal probing claims
• Cops Spray Woman's Vagina With Mace To "Punish" Her After Drug Arrest—A lawsuit ensues.

Prison Profiteering

• Meet the Prison Profiteers. They're Worse than You Think.
• Arizona's privatized prison health care under fire after deaths
• "Lockup quotas" guarantee profits for the U.S. private prison industry

Cases

• Does the Attorney General Mean What He Says About Sentencing Reform?—"Eric Holder has spent a great deal of time and energy lately advocating for reforms to mandatory minimum sentences. So why is the federal government trying to stiff Clarvee Gomez in court?"
• Sotomayor's Dissent Highlights Concerns Over Elected Judges—Since "the early 1980s, judges have overridden the jury's decision and imposed the death penalty in 95 cases, while decreasing the sentence to life imprisonment without parole in just nine cases."
• Prison for a State Chemist Who Faked Drug Evidence—"Prosecutors say Ms. Dookhan declared drug samples positive that she had not bothered to test, tampered with evidence, forged signatures and lied about her credentials to enhance her standing in court as an expert witness. In all, her actions may have tainted more than 40,000 drug samples involving thousands of defendants." NYT
• Coroner slams handling of Kendrick Johnson case—"Authorities say Kendrick Johnson fell into the mat and suffocated while trying to retrieve a sneaker. His family suspects the 17-year-old was murdered and that someone has tried to cover up evidence in the case."
• Unarmed Man Is Charged With Wounding Bystanders Shot by Police Near Times Square—"The Manhattan district attorney's office says the man was responsible for the wounds two women suffered when the police shot at him." Absolving cops who actually did the shooting of responsibility? NYT

New York

• We Knew New York Was Corrupt, But We Didn't Know It Was This Bad—"In a sweeping indictment of New York politics, a commission empaneled by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to investigate official corruption in the state released its preliminary report, detailing abuses of power and endorsing major changes to campaign finance and anti-corruption laws."
• Bloomberg giving NYPD bodyguards jobs to 'keep their mouths shut'
• Judges Decline to Reverse Stop-and-Frisk Ruling, All but Ending Mayor's Fight NYT

Bad Cops

• "Unreasonable Force" In Chicago Evidently Does Not Mean A Probably Drunk Cop Killing An Unarmed Guy Lying On the Ground By Shooting Him 16 Times
• Yale professor found dead in jail after being aggressive with cops
• TPD officer who shot dog files lawsuit seeking $10,000 from
• Man says police officer threatened to kill his dogs
• Family says it misses deathbed goodbye due to dispute with RWJ hospital security

Police State

• Spoils of war: Police getting leftover Iraq trucks
• How "Zero Tolerance" Policing Helped Bad Cops in Florida Create a Civil Rights Nightmare—And of course they're deflecting criticism.
• Ft. Worth Police Department Offers *Real* Apology For Its Assistance In The NHTSA's Blood/Saliva Sampling 'Survey'

Surveillance and Privacy

• NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show WaPo
• Sweden spied on Russia for NSA: report
• Switzerland: Probe launched into foreign spying
• ABC brass nixed Barbara Walters' pick of Edward Snowden as year's most fascinating person—Nope, he's a baaad man.
• Obama says he will propose NSA reforms—He'll "be proposing some self-restraint on the NSA and to initiate some reforms that can give people more confidence."
• The IRS And SEC Want To Snoop Through Your Email Without A Warrant; Don't Let Them
• Tower Dumps in SC Could Give Your Cell Data to Police

Whistleblowers and Journalism

• "There is a War on Journalism": Jeremy Scahill on NSA Leaks & New Investigative Reporting Venture—Donate to the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
• Jailed whistle-blowers to Edward Snowden: Don't come home
• Obama and leakers: Who are the eight charged under the Espionage Act?