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, Middle East, Drones; Police State, Bad Cops; Snowden, Surveillance and Privacy, Press Freedom and Transparency

War on Terror

• Federal judge rules that TSA, FBI can detain and arrest you for carrying Arabic flashcards
• Case against League of Legends player who reportedly made 'terrorist' threat to move forward
• Obama calls on Congress to do more on Guantanamo Bay

Middle East

• Why Are We in Afghanistan?
• Three NATO personnel killed in Kabul suicide car bomb
• Lebanon bombing kills 5, including ex-minister
• Yasser Arafat died of natural causes - Russian report
• American abducted by al-Qaeda makes video plea
• Turkish corruption scandal: prosecutor accuses police of obstructing case—"Prosecutor Muammer Akkas said he has been removed from case and suspect allowed to flee and tamper with evidence."
• Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood declared 'terrorist group'

Drones

• U.N. experts urge U.S., Yemen to explain erroneous drone strikes
• US drone strike kills three in northwest Pakistan—On Christmas eve.
• President Obama's new normal: the drone strikes continue—Heading towards Iraq.

Police State

• The End of Freedom in America?
• The Criminalization of Everyday Life
• Salinas police chief defends armored vehicle replacement
• Video surveillance of downtown Houston to expand—"Officials say data is not kept to determine if the cameras are driving down crime."
• Federal court strikes down LA hotel search law—"A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down a city law it said wrongly allows police to inspect hotel and motel guest records without a warrant."

Bad Cops

• The worst police misconduct of 2013
• Police misconduct hidden from public by secrecy law, weak oversight
• 18 Los Angeles sheriff's officials indicted, accused of abuse, obstruction
• Joe Arpaio Loses: New Times Co-Founders Win $3.75 Million Settlement for 2007 False Arrests
• Man with no arms wants apology from cop

Snowden

• Internet founder hails Snowden—"Edward Snowden did the world a favour by revealing the scale of surveillance by governments, according to" Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
• Bletchley Park accused of airbrushing Edward Snowden from history—"NSA whistleblower omitted from new exhibition on cyber security as museum says it does not want to be seen to back his actions."
• Glenn Greenwald: I Defend Snowden Like MSNBC Defends Obama '24 Hours A Day'

Surveillance and Privacy

• Internet privacy as important as human rights, says UN's Navi Pillay—"Navi Pillay compares uproar over mass surveillance to response that helped defeat apartheid during Today programme."
• Stanford Researcher Proves NSA Can Probably Identify Individuals From Phone Records
• Obama's NSA Phone Spying Reforms Might Make Things Worse
• Nine Gifts the NSA Will Hate
• NSA Intercepted Children’s Letters To Santa—Naughty.

Press Freedom and Transparency

• Thomas Peele: On issue of press freedom, President Barack Obama is the worst president
• Editorial: Obama's broken promises on press
• Judge smacks Obama secrecy in unique FOIA case—"In a Freedom of Information Act victory, a federal judge has slapped the Obama administration for its secretive ways and ordered officials to turn over a bland-sounding foreign policy document."

UK not OK, Benghazi, Israel and Palestine, Venezuela, Police State, War on Terror, Your Rights Online, Surveillance and Privacy; Obamacare; Typhoon Haiyan

UK not OK

• Theresa May plans new powers to make British terror suspects stateless—"Home secretary working on legislation allowing removal of UK passport from suspects even if they have no other citizenship."
• Councils to be given powers to ban peaceful protests that might disturb local residents—Squelching free speech.
• Torture inquiry 'finds UK intelligence officers knew of mistreatment'—"Gibson report, published next week, reportedly calls for further investigation of how far British ministers were responsible."
• Sleepwalking further into Police State Britain as law offers new powers of repression
• Conservative party deletes archive of speeches from internet—"Decade's worth of records is erased, including PM's speech praising internet for making more information available."
• MI6 spy found dead in bag probably locked himself inside, Met says—"Three-year investigation by Scotland Yard concludes Gareth Williams probably died as a result of a tragic accident." Wink, wink.
• Police tried to spy on Cambridge students, secret footage shows—"Officer is filmed attempting to persuade activist in his 20s to become informant targeting 'student-union type stuff.'"

Benghazi

• Questions about '60 Minutes' Benghazi story go beyond Dylan Davies interview; CBS conducting 'journalistic review'
• The 60 Minutes Benghazi Source Just Sort of Lies About Everything
• Frank Rich on the National Circus: CBS's Benghazi Report Was a Hoax, Not a Mistake
• Report: CBS' Benghazi Source Has "Disappeared" After Receiving "Threat"
• Why Lara Logan Won't Lose Her Job—"She's a rising star, and CBS doesn't fear liberals the way it fears conservatives."

Israel and Palestine

• Palestinian Boy Stabs Israeli Solider On Bus—"The 16-year-old reportedly tells police he killed the soldier in northern Israel in revenge for the jailing of his uncles."
• Five Palestinian children injured after Israeli settlers set fire to their home
• Efforts for Israeli-Palestinian talks complicated by tensions

Venezuela

• USAID, Uribe and Venezuelan Opposition Plotting Violence, Sabotage and Scarcity; According to Leaked Document
• Venezuelan military seizes major retail chain
• Venezuela releases 'Miami Herald' reporter—"Andean bureau chief Jim Wyss released after being detained while reporting in San Cristobal, near Colombian border."

Police State

• The Big Question the National Security State isn't Asking: What's More Important: Security or Freedom?—"The ruling elite wants an all-seeing NSA to keep the public in check, and to enable it to spot, and then to crush, any outbreak of rebellion, as was done so effectively to the Occupy Movement in the autumn of 2011."
• Who's to Blame for Battlefield America? Is It Militarized Police or the Militarized Culture?
• When the Police Enter a Home—"Warrantless searches of 'the center of the private lives of our people' should be strictly limited by the Supreme Court." NYT
• Federal Case Could Make It Easier For Victims To Defend Themselves Against Civil Forfeiture
• Homeland Security must disclose 'Internet Kill Switch,' court rules

War on Terror

• US blocks publication of Chilcot's report on how Britain went to war with Iraq—"Washington is playing the lead role in delaying the publication of the long-awaited report into how Britain went to war with Iraq, The Independent has learnt."
• Reality Sets In—"As the American military's presence abroad shrinks, so too must the Pentagon's budget. The question is whether we can be smart about it." NYT
• Afghan Companies With Insurgent Ties Still Receive U.S. Contracts—"Despite the advent of blacklists and other rules during the Afghanistan war, American investigators have uncovered a case casting doubt on the military's ability to weed out suspicious contractors." NYT
• TSA's got 94 signs to ID terrorists, but they're unproven by science—"Government auditor slams $900M spent on unproven program."
• Al-Qaeda-linked rebels apologise after cutting off head of wrong person—"Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham militants say sorry for decapitating a fellow extremist rather than enemy."

Your Rights Online

• In fight over gag orders, US tech industry files complaint over FBI legal tactics
• Google: We're bombarded by gov't requests on user data—"Requests from governments worldwide for user information have more than doubled since three years ago. Worse still, says Google, is what the US won't let us tell you."
• Facebook Flooded With Data Requests From European Governments—"Social network says it got more than 8,000 inquiries in the first six months of this year."

Surveillance and Privacy

• "We still don't encrypt server-to-server data," admits Microsoft—"This is why we are currently reviewing our security system."
• NSA chief says Snowden leaked up to 200,000 secret documents
• Keep Spying on Foreigners, NSA—"They have no right to privacy from U.S. surveillance—and they shouldn't." Guess he shouldn't complain when other countries spy on Americans then.
• Immune to Accountability: When Lawless Superpower USA Irks its European Allies
• C.I.A. Collecting Data on International Money Transfers, Officials Say—"The agency is secretly collecting bulk records of international money transfers, under the same law that the National Security Agency uses for its phone record database, according to government officials." NYT

Obamacare

• Obama announces health care fix
• Why California Is The Key To The Obamacare 'Fix'
• The backlash to the Obamacare fix has already started WaPo
• Darrell Issa's Obamacare kangaroo court—"No human makes leaps quite like Darrell Issa. He leaps to conclusions. He makes huge leaps of logic. He leaps before he looks." WaPo
• Issa's credibility collapses—"House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) keeps pushing bogus stories to reporters -- and he keeps getting caught engaging in the same scam."
• Companies Use Obamacare Confusion To Sell 'Junk Insurance'
• California shuts down 10 "fraudulent" health care websites—"Sacramento: these sites divert consumers from real 'Covered California' site."
• Florida Conservative Group Helping Muck Up Obamacare In Alaska

Typhoon Haiyan

• Political dsyfunction in the Philippines is hurting Haiyan's victims—"Patronage and profiteering are par for the course." WaPo
• Shocking claims emerge that Philippines officials are prioritising areas that voted for them as they distribute aid to typhoon survivors, with other regions left to fend for themselves
• BIR won't impose tax on relief goods if coursed through gov't agencies—So they can get their dirty hands on them? Fuck that. Filipinos should bypass their corrupt government.
• Why typhoon response taking so long
• China's aid to Philippines dwarfed by Ikea

Veterans' Day, Collateral Damaged; War on Terror, Police State; Benghazi, Iran, Israel and Palestine; NSA Spying and Surveillance, In the Service

Veterans' Day

• Man Runs 58,282 Miles for Fallen Vietnam Veterans
• Flight turns unforgettable when passengers learn of fallen soldier
• WW2 Vet Dies Alone With No One To Attend His Funeral...Until This Happened
• His fib thrust 14-year-old into line of fire in Pacific
• America's oldest veteran, age 107, doesn't take medicine, smokes cigars, and takes whiskey in his morning coffee.

Collateral Damaged

• Help Veterans by Taking Them Off the Pedestal—"A former infantryman in Iraq reflects on how the culture of military service has changed since World War II. Unhelpful attitudes from civilians and veterans alike, he says, are making it difficult for today's servicemen to transition back to post-deployment life."
• Marine's Family Decides To Talk Openly About His Suicide
• Veterans Day and PTSD: One soldier faces his mental health issues after returning from Iraq
• Nurse accused of abusing soldier with quadriplegia
• Court stops lawsuit over death of soldier's son—"A federal appeals court 'regretfully' upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that claims the Army caused the death of a newborn by ordering his pregnant mother to do physical training against doctors' instructions."

War on Terror

• Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo—"PM promised to be 'solidly behind' US invasion with or without UN backing."
• Aiding the Enemy—"Snowden, Manning, and Miranda leaked government secrets. Does that make them traitors and terrorists?"
• CIA made doctors torture suspected terrorists after 9/11, taskforce finds—"Doctors were asked to torture detainees for intelligence gathering, and unethical practices continue, review concludes."
• In Afghanistan, interpreters who helped U.S. in war denied visas; U.S. says they face no threat—Left high and dry. WaPo
• Guantánamo's Sham Trials, Now Unraveling
• Mich. man says he tipped FBI to bin Laden's location
• Paradise Lost: Paranoia Has Undermined US Democracy—"While far from a dictatorship, the United States has employed a number of paranoid tactics that delegitimize its democracy. This phenomenon is on display in the fictional TV series 'Homeland,' which depicts hysterical CIA agents in a hysterical country."
• Richard Dawkins outraged after airport security confiscates jar of honey, says "Bin Laden has won" Salon
• TSA union calls for armed guards at every checkpoint—Something strange with the death of LAX shooter Paul Ciancia, but the incident doesn't warrant arming TSA agents.
• Stephen Colbert On Marvel's New Muslim Superhero – "For Pete's Sake, They're On The No Fly List"

Police State

• Armies and Police Are Being Privatized Around the World and Business Is Booming
• Wisconsin and Minnesota To Get "Top Secret" $19 Million DHS Domestic Security Force
• The FBI's Last Question: Isaac Asimov's science fiction prompted look into whether he was communist informant
• FBI monitored anti-war website in error for six years, documents show—"Monitoring began after antiwar.com editor passed along to the bureau a threat he received against his own website."
• San Diego Gets in Your Face With New Mobile Identification System
• Arizona's 'Sheriff Joe' Arpaio Threatens To Punish Unpatriotic Inmates With No Food—"Any inmate ripping or defacing American flag stickers is looking at what the Sheriff calls a bread and water diet."
• Journalist Being Investigated For A Felony For Publishing Public Information

Benghazi

• Accounts Differ to F.B.I. and CBS on Benghazi—"Conflicting statements given by a security officer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to CBS call into question a '60 Minutes' report." NYT
• '60 Minutes' investigates Benghazi source—"CBS announced Thursday evening they are looking into new information unearthed about the man who was their source for a special '60 Minutes' piece about the events in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012." A 90-second apology just doesn't cut it. Politico
• Former '60 Minutes' Producer: Discredited Benghazi Story Was Done To Appeal To Conservatives
• Lindsey Graham Responds To 60 Minutes Benghazi Retraction—And the hype lives on [Politico].
• Publisher withdraws CBS source's Benghazi book—Might still make money in the fiction section, where it belongs.

Iran

• Kerry Says Iran Rejected Nuclear Deal
• 'Israel will attack Iran if you sign the deal, French MP told Fabius'—"Paris legislator Meyer Habib, a friend of Netanyahu, called his FM in Geneva to warn of likely response should accord be signed, Israeli TV reports."
• An Iranian Deputy Minister Is Assassinated in Tehran—"An unidentified attacker shot and killed a deputy minister of industry on Sunday, in the first reported assassination of a senior national official in Iran in years." NYT

Israel and Palestine

• Iran talks complicate U.S. push on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations Politico
• Kerry Scolds Israel For West Bank Occupation
• Swiss study says polonium found in Arafat's bones—Israel's the top suspect.
• U.S., Israel lose UNESCO voting right in dispute—"Loss follows U.S., Israeli failure to pay dues in protest over world governments' decision to make Palestine a UNESCO member in 2011."
• Catholic church slams Israel razing of its property

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• Poll’s lesson for NSA: Show that surveillance programs actually combat terrorism WaPo
• NSA surveillance is 'terrorism-lite'
• John McCain says NSA chief Keith Alexander 'should resign or be fired'—"Senator gives interview to Der Spiegel, saying general should 'be held accountable' for Edward Snowden leaks." But not for illegally spying on millions of Americans?
• The Basis for the NSA's Call-Tracking Program Has Disappeared, If It Ever Existed
• EFF: Stop the NSA "Fake Fix" Bill—"The FISA Improvements Act of 2013 seeks to extend NSA surveillance."

In the Service

• Boy Sends Question About Ninjas To Head Of US Joint Special Ops, Gets A Response
• Marines shoot down Internet story on Obama's alleged push for 'girly hats'
• New Documentary Says This US Soldier Is Alive In Vietnam 44 Years After Being Left Behind

Shutdown aftermath, Grand Ol' Tea Party, Immigration, Obamacare; War on Terror; Surveillance and Privacy; Military Money; Gitmo; Drones; Oh, Canada; Security Theater

Shutdown aftermath

• Barack Obama was the "winner": The showdown between the president and Republicans was a game with winners and losers
• 2013 shutdown politics: How Obama will make the debt fight a weapon against Republicans
• The irrational fear of President Obama—"They don't like him. They don't trust him. And they think he's destroying America." WaPo
• Shutdown to Cost U.S. Billions, Analysts Say, While Eroding Confidence—"It might take months to come up with a thorough accounting of the direct cost to the taxpayers of putting much of the government out of business." NYT
• Group demands GOP arrests for 'conspiracy against US'
• Call Them Out: The 7 Democrats Who Helped House Republicans Rig the Shutdown
• CNN's Blame-Both-Sides Shutdown Coverage Flopped
• The Right's Closed Information Loop May Set Up the Next Shut Down

Grand Ol' Tea Party

• Republican defeat: the Tea Party should be over—"As a result of the US shutdown battle, Obama and the Democrats in Congress are much steelier characters." Time to repair the party [Salon].
• Republicans' hollow defeat—"President Obama won a total victory, but there's no sign that the far-right zealots have learned anything." WaPo
• Conservatives Misunderstand What Went Wrong Under Bush—"You'd swear from today's rhetoric that the problem was too much compromise. Nope."
• Conservative groups target U.S. Republicans who voted to end shutdown
• Mitch McConnell Is Now Tea Party Enemy No. 1
• Republican Civil War Erupts: Business Groups v. Tea Party—Will they really abandon them?
• The tea party's tantrum—"It is no coincidence that these same people deny the science behind climate change. When hard reality collides with their ideology, they ignore the reality."
• The Tea Party, by the Numbers
• GOP lawmaker voted against debt deal because he thought it funded Joseph Kony Salon
• Documents Taken from Meth House Implicate Tea Party Dark Money Group in MT, CO
• Ted Cruz knows exactly what he's doing—"James Moore says the anarchy that runs through the politics of Sen. Ted Cruz [NYT] should frighten Americans, whose government can now be taken hostage."
• The Ted Cruz Armageddon Is Coming—"A new Pew poll shows Tea Partiers' devotion to the otherwise divisive senator. Can the Republican establishment stop him before it's 2016?"

Immigration

• Democrats Aim to Restore Immigration to Agenda—"The possibilities for progress on the issue will be determined in the House of Representatives, where many conservative Republicans are frustrated over their meager gains from the two-week shutdown." NYT
• Obama's Immigration Pivot Hits A Bruised GOP's Weak Spot
• Obama's devious plot to destroy the Republican Party by increasing its vote share among Hispanics WaPo
• Republicans Vow To Block Immigration Reform After Shutdown Fight
• U.S. used nonexistent Mexican law to deny citizenship

Obamacare

• Obamacare wins? See you in 2014
• 5 things that have happened since Obamacare launched
• Inside the Fox News lie machine: I fact-checked Sean Hannity on Obamacare Salon
• Healthcare.gov is sending insurers wrong data, turning an automated process into a manual one
• The Borowitz Report: Cruz Plans to Read Affordable Care Act—"Now that the government shutdown is over, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) plans to read the Affordable Care Act, he told reporters today."

War on Terror

• With little fanfare, Afghanistan War drags into 13th year
• Chemical Weapons Watchdog Wins Nobel Peace Prize NYT
• To Ousted Boss, Arms Watchdog Was Seen as an Obstacle in Iraq NYT
• Muhammed Tanvir, New York Man, Put On No-Fly List After Refusing To Spy For FBI, Lawsuit Says
• Why Many Americans Are Averse to Unironic Expressions of Patriotism—"Cynical leaders use flag-waving as a way to manipulate."
• Rand Paul's Muslim-Bashing Speech—"The Tea Party senator's attack on Muslims was nothing short of 'hate speech,' says Dean Obeidallah, who compares Rand Paul’s words to the bad arguments and vitriol used by al Qaeda recruiters."
• Pentagon faked arrival ceremonies honoring fallen soldiers
• Air Force general in charge of nuclear weapons removed for lack of trust: defense officials
• New charges in Blackwater shootings—"The Justice Department on Thursday brought fresh charges against four former Blackwater Worldwide security contractors, resurrecting an internationally charged case over a deadly 2007 shooting on the streets of Baghdad."
• ACLU sues feds for hiding NSA spying from terror defendants—"Administration has never divulged to a single defendant that they were targeted."

Surveillance and Privacy

• Edward Snowden: US would have buried NSA warnings forever—"Whistleblower says he shared information with media because he could not trust internal reporting mechanisms."
• British Government Increases Attacks On The Guardian—Cameron's fascist tendencies are showing.
• These GCHQ revelations show we need a parliamentary inquiry into mass surveillance—"The laws we have now were written before something like Tempora was possible. It's not the Guardian that needs investigating, but our system of oversight."
• How the NSA and FBI foil weak oversight—"Unless Congress imposes new limits on state surveillance, it's inevitable agencies will go on abusing our liberties and privacy."
• Dianne Feinstein's Bragging About NSA Surveillance Program May Finally Result In It Being Declared Unconstitutional
• US Isn't Collecting Only Electronic Data On You — Huge Biometric Database Under Construction, Too
• Decisions Driven by Undisclosed "Big Data" May Escape Civil Rights Scrutiny, Researchers Warn

Military Money

• Media analysts in Syria debate have ties to defense contractors—Why transparency is important. WaPo
• The War Profiteers—"New study shows pro-war commentators have material interest in perpetual conflict."
• Pentagon's $5.5 Billion Dollar Shutdown Spending Spree
• Giant Pentagon Budget Is Unauditable Year After Year
• In Big Win for Defense Industry, Obama Rolls Back Limits on Arms Exports—In other news, US will sell $10.8 bln in missiles, bombs to Saudis, UAE.
• Military Waste and Fraud Are the Main Cause of Our Problems
• Boeing caught selling used parts as new to Pentagon
• The Army's $5 billion New Uniform Already Being Replaced—"Eight years after spending $5 billion on a heavily-criticized universal camouflage pattern, the Army is back at the drawing board looking for a new design that's estimated to cost another $4 billion."
• Will the F-35, the U.S. Military's Flaw-Filled, Years-Overdue Joint Strike Fighter, Ever Actually Fly?
• Joe Rogan on the American War Machine
  

Gitmo

• Guantánamo Bay: The Hunger Strikes—"Using testimony from five detainees, this animated film reveals the daily brutality of life inside Guantánamo."
• Letters detail punitive tactics used on Guantánamo hunger strikers—"Newly declassified papers say hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay was 'broken' by a deliberate campaign to crush detainees' spirits."
• Obese Guantanamo prisoner 'should be released on health grounds—"A prisoner being held in Guantanamo Bay has put on so much weight his lawyers say he should be released."
• US won't fight release of ill Guantanamo prisoner
• Afghan war's approaching end throws legal status of Guantanamo detainees into doubt WaPo

Drones

• US has killed far more civilians with drones than it admits, says UN
• Documents show NSA involvement in drone program
• Drones! Learn how you too can be shut down by the federal government
• DOJ calls for drone privacy policy 7 years after FBI's first drone launched—"New Dept. of Justice report: We spent $5M on drones over almost 10 years."
• US to send drones to Japan; Tokyo agrees to pay $3.1B to move Marines from Okinawa
• Soon, Drones May Be Able to Make Lethal Decisions on Their Own
• Malala Yousafzai meets with the Obamas in the Oval Office—Yousafzai said she was honored to meet Obama and that she raised concerns with him about the administration's use of drones, saying they are 'fueling terrorism.'" WaPo

Police State

• The Psychotic Militarization of Law Enforcement
• America's police are looking more and more like the military—"A Defense Department program transfers military-grade weapons and vehicles to local law enforcement. It's the last thing we need."
• US police obtaining military vehicles to aid hunt for criminals
• Undercover Police, Just About Everywhere—"In response to the attacks on Sept. 11, New York City now has a sturdy legion of undercover officers who have taken up residence in many surprising regions of civic life." NYT
• Border Patrol Accused of Ongoing Abuses in Arizona—"The ACLU has filed an administrative complaint with the Department of Homeland Security expressing 'serious concerns' about abuses committed by Border Patrol agents during what are known as 'roving patrol' stops in southern Arizona."

Oh, Canada

• Canada: Farmer loses land battle, though military grants him one last harvest—"Fighting to save his beloved farm from Canada's elite soldiers, Frank Meyers is finally forced to surrender."
• Canada Sends Armed Paramilitaries to Clear Fracking Protest
• Audrey Tobias found not guilty in trial for census refusal over weapons-maker link

Security Theater

• 9-year-old sneaks onto plane at MSP Int'l Airport
• Phoenix TSA makes breast cancer survivors remove their prostheses
• Internal TSA Documents: Body Scanners, Pat Downs Not For Terrorists

Covering Tsarnaev; Malala; War on Terror, Security Theater, Torture and Rendition, Drones, Collateral Damage, Military Money, Israeli Settlements; Surveillance and Privacy

Covering Tsarnaev

• Rolling Stone Portrays Alleged Boston Bomber As Dreamy Teen Heartthrob
• Rolling Stone cover with Boston Bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev, aka Jahar, is good journalism
• Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Rolling Stone Cover and Cultural Self-Censorship
• Rolling Stone defends Boston bomb suspect cover
• Rolling Stone's Dzhokhar Tsarnaev cover gets parodied—Colbert weighs in. Salon
• Photos of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev released after Rolling Stone complaints
• Mass killers have always been heartthrobs—"Long before #freejahar, women swooned over the Haymarket bomber and Franz Ferdinand's assassin." Salon

Malala

• Pakistani girl shot by Taliban claims triumph over terrorists
• A Taliban Commander Writes to Malala Yousafzai
• Dear Taliban leader, thank you for your letter to Malala Yousafzai—"You were big enough to admit that your comrades tried to kill a young girl, but I would advise against picking a fight with women."

War on Terror

• Mission Creep: When Everything Is Terrorism—"NSA apologists say spying is only used for menaces like 'weapons of mass destruction' and 'terror.' But those terms have been radically redefined."
• Obama wins back the right to indefinitely detain under NDAA
• Obama's secret kill list – the disposition matrix—"The disposition matrix is a complex grid of suspected terrorists to be traced then targeted in drone strikes or captured and interrogated. And the British government appears to be colluding in it."
• The Case for Abolishing the DHS
• FBI blocks release of autopsy on Boston suspects' pal
• Police guard London mosque where thousands of Muslims gathered to condemn murder of soldier Lee Rigby—The voices of moderate Muslims denouncing extremists should grow stronger.
• Political Violence and Privilege—"Violent right-wing extremism doesn't scare Americans."

Security Theater

• TSA searches valet parked car—How dare this cow complain? If she had nothing to hide she had nothing to worry about. Giving up liberty for a false sense of security is sooo worth it.
• TSA Educating Fliers About Ramadan - Another Swing and a Miss
• TSA Expanding Expedited Screening Program at John Wayne Airport—Those who are not registered frequent flyers in one of the 5 airlines "must apply for acceptance through the Global Entry Trusted Traveler program and pay a $100 fee." So, just needs a little elbow grease.
• Get ready for 'random' screening by TSA—"An electronic device will randomly direct fliers to different screening lines to help cut down accusations of passenger-profiling by TSA staff."
• Opposed to 'security theater,' U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett seeks to limit TSA's random search authority

Torture and Rendition

• Ex-CIA Milan chief held in Panama over cleric abduction—"The cleric, known as Abu Omar, was allegedly flown to Egypt and tortured."
• Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 9/11 mastermind, allowed to build vacuum in CIA prison—"CIA handlers allowed him to tinker in the hopes he wouldn't go nuts while in a secret prison in Romania."
• The American Way of Torture: The Rule of Law Went and Never Returned
• UK provided more support for CIA rendition flights than thought – study—"The Rendition Project suggests aircraft associated with secret detention operations landed at British airports 1,622 times."
• Second 'Prisoner X' held in top secret in Israel

Drones

• The Drone that Killed my Grandson—"The government has killed a 16-year-old American boy. Shouldn't it at least have to explain why?" NYT
• It Is Now Common Knowledge That US Drones Bomb Civilian Rescuers
• U.S. Border Agency Has Considered Weaponizing Domestic Drones to "Immobilize" People—Dead people are "immobile" too, right?
• Colorado town ponders bounty for shooting down drones—"Residents would have to salvage the nose or tail to qualify for $100 reward under quixotic proposal."
• Air Force drone crash closes remote Florida highway—Feeling safer yet?

Collateral Damage

• Wounded Soldier Writes Letter About Pain And Being Forced To Commit War Crimes In Iraq . . . Then Commits Suicide
• Release the Cleared Guantanamo Detainees to End the Hunger Strike
• MIA work 'acutely dysfunctional'—"The Pentagon's effort to account for tens of thousands of Americans missing in action from foreign wars is so inept, mismanaged and wasteful that it risks descending from 'dysfunction to total failure,' according to an internal study suppressed by military officials."

Military Money

• Hagel orders 20 percent cut in Pentagon top brass, senior civilians
• Chart of the Day: "Current Military Spending Is Lapping at Historic Highs, Not Lows."
• This Is Why People Hate the Federal Government—"Sequestration is threatening our safety and security, or so Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Congress (again)...."
• The Drone That Wouldn't Die: How a Defense Contractor Bested the Pentagon—"The Air Force was ready to drop the RQ-4B Block 30, but a Northrup Grumman lobbying campaign convinced Congress to resuscitate it."
• US Government Accountability Office: Improved controls, processes, and systems are needed for accurate and reliable financial information for the Department of Defense

Israeli Settlements

• Israel plans on approving over 900 new settlement homes in West Bank
• EU takes tougher stance on Israeli settlements—"'Earthquake' directive will prohibit EU states from signing deals with Israel unless settlement exclusion clause is include."
• EU officially publishes settlement guidelines despite Israeli objections

Surveillance and Privacy

• Homeland Security Threatens Legal Action Against Employees Who Read News About Leaks
• Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter call for transparency on NSA spying
• Google tests encryption to protect users' Drive files against government demands
• Privacy group warns against California plan for digital license plates
• New Jersey Supreme Court Restricts Police Searches of Phone Data NYT

Restore the Fourth; Force of July, Politics; War on Terror, Gitmo, Collateral Damage; Surveillance and Privacy, NSA, Skyjacking, Snowden

Restore the Fourth

• Hundreds join New York City march to 'Restore the Fourth'—"Hundreds marched through New York City on Independence Day to protest the National Security Agency's mass surveillance program."
• Protesters march on NSA's Utah Data Center
• 40 Best Signs From The "Restore The Fourth" Rallies

Force of July

• Poll: Founders wouldn't be pleased
• Krugman: E Pluribus Unum—"America’s ever-changing and enduring identity is worthy of a special holiday salute." NYT
• 7 myths about the 4th of July—"Did you know American independence was actually declared two days before Independence Day? Neither did we." Salon

Politics

• Flag-Waving to Death
• Patriotism not thoughtless nationalism
• One Nation, Incentivized and Disincentivized
• We're Not a Christian Nation—"Despite what many on the Christian right claim, America was not founded as a Christian nation. Author Fred Rich on why we should be afraid of their agenda on our Independence Day."
• Is the South Dragging the Rest of the Nation Down?—"Why poor white Southerners keep voting for policies that screw them and how this hurts the rest of the nation."

War on Terror

• The War on Terror is a Fraud: How the West has Fostered Radical Islam and Actively Keeps it Alive.
• Army Spying Campaign Leads to Anti-War Activists Being Labeled 'Domestic Terrorists'
• What the TSA has in common with the NSA: unreasonable searches—"The NSA's surveillance and the TSA's hands on your junk: it's all a violation of citizens' privacy and our constitutional rights."

Gitmo

• Guantanamo criticised over inmate death—"Report obtained by Al Jazeera indicates failings by guards at Guantanamo Bay contributed to inmate's suicide."
• Gitmo Detainees to Be Force-Fed at Night Out of Respect for Ramadan—The hunger strike is on day 150 and counting.
• A Letter From Guantanamo

Collateral Damage

• U.S. Has Nothing to Say About 10-Year-Old Killed in Drone Strike
• New Report Documents the Human Cost of U.S. Drone Strikes in Yemen—"Human rights activists interview witnesses to the strikes' civilian casualties."
• Emails From a Dead Man—"What happens when an Iraqi man named Omar begins corresponding with refugee processing bureaucracies, overseen by the State Department."

Surveillance and Privacy

• Glenn Greenwald: Top Officials Are Lying to Our Faces About Government Spying
• Tech companies are cooperating with US intelligence agencies more than you think
• 'French PRISM' revealed: All communications tracked, metadata collected

NSA

• We can handle the truth on NSA spying
• NSA recruitment drive goes horribly wrong
• Want to See Your NSA or FBI File? Here's How...

Skyjacking

• Bolivia rejects 'strange, illegal' US extradition request for Snowden
• Spain Claims It Was 'Told' Snowden Was On Morales' Flight
• South American leaders demand apology in plane row

Snowden

• CIA whistleblower to Snowden: 'Do not cooperate with the FBI'
• These charts show how the Edward Snowden story is overwhelming the NSA story
• Snowden is more distraction than traitor—"NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is being used to distract Americans from the truth behind spying allegations."

War on Terror, Boston Bombing, Gitmo, Security Theater, Follow the Money; Snowden, Surveillance and Privacy, Patriot Act, Your Rights Online

War on Terror

• Why Taliban would talk as U.S. withdrawal looms
• New York police sued over surveillance of Muslims
• Michael Hastings, 'Rolling Stone' Contributor, Dead at 33—'Michael Hastings, the fearless journalist whose reporting brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal, has died in a car accident in Los Angeles, Rolling Stone has learned. He was 33." The LA Times reports that, "the body was burned beyond recognition."

Boston Bombing

• Mass. pair sues New York Post over Marathon bombing portrayal
• Police response training planned, but bombs hit first
• One Fund for Boston Marathon bombing victims receives over 200 applications, has $50 million

Gitmo

• House votes to block Obama plan to close Guantanamo
• US reveals Guantanamo 'indefinite detainees'—"The US has listed 46 inmates held at its military prison in Guantanamo Bay who it says it does not have the evidence to try but are too dangerous to release."
• The quagmire of Guantanamo—"As President Obama appoints an official to edge the closing of the facility, we ask if any real progress is being made."

Security Theater

• NFL implements new bag policy: Leave the purses at home—'Here's a list of items from the NFL that you will not be allowed to bring into stadiums: purses larger than a clutch bag, coolers, briefcases, backpacks, fanny packs, cinch bags, seat cushions, luggage of any kind, computer bags and camera bags or any bag larger than the permissible size."
• Off With Your Shoes: A Brief History of Airport Security
• Chewbacca Actor Battles TSA Over Light Saber Cane—"Peter Mayhew had a dust-up with TSA agents in Denver over his light saber-shaped cane."

Follow the Money

• The Military-Industrial Complex Is Real, and It’s Bigger Than Ever—"President Eisenhower was ridiculed as a conspiracy theorist for his famous remark about the 'military-industry complex.' But Edward Snowden’s leaks have reminded us it's real, it's bigger and more wasteful than ever, and its bloat can even threaten our national security."
• Homeland security office creates 'intelligence spam,' insiders claim—"Booz Allen Hamilton, a multibillion-dollar consulting firm in Virginia, was hired to boost the operation. The company, which has hundreds of former CIA, FBI and high-ranking federal officials on its payroll, received a $2 million contract without competition in 2003. With almost no oversight by the Department of Homeland Security or Congress, the contract quickly ballooned to $73 million in spending – even while homeland security lawyers declared the arrangement contractually illegal, according to a Washington Post account at the time."
• Obama signs bill on lying about military medals—Predatory tactics like this to swindle money are despicable.

Snowden

• Edward Snowden Q&A: Dick Cheney traitor charge is 'the highest honor—"The whistleblower behind the biggest intelligence leak in NSA history answered your questions about the NSA surveillance revelations."
• Why Cheney is the Traitor, and Why we Can't Believe Obama on Safeguards.
• Whistleblowers are not traitors

Surveillance and Privacy

• CNN Poll: Obama approval falls amid controversies—He doesn't need to be reelected anymore.
• Despite What the President Said, There's Nothing "Transparent" About a Secret Court Issuing Secret Rulings
• President Obama: If you are a US citizen the NSA can't listen to your calls, or target your emails—It depends on what the meaning of the words "can't" is.
• Does the government actually understand the 4th Amendment?—"NSA argues that it has 'probable cause' to surveil us at all times -- meaning we're all terrorist suspects. What?" Salon
• The Left's Phony Defense of Freedom—"The NSA scandal didn't just reveal PRISM. It also exposed serious hypocrisy in the Democratic Party."
• State photo-ID databases become troves for police
• Persuading David Simon—"I read with interest David Simon's recent blog post in which he responds to revelations that the NSA has been collecting the call records of all American mobile phone users."

Patriot Act

• Patriot Act critics never had a clue—"True story: Outrage over the 2001 legislation centered around government access to library records." Salon
• The Representatives who voted against the Patriot Act, then got booted out of office
• Blast from the Past: Transparent Citizens, Invisible Government

Your Rights Online

• Universal, Self-Evident: I'm Not American but I Have Privacy Rights too, NSA
• Evidence that the NSA Is Storing Voice Content, Not Just Metadata
• He Told You So: Julian Assange, the NSA, and Edward Snowden—"In their book Cypherpunks, Julian Assange and three other Internet activists predicted much of what Edward Snowden revealed about the NSA."
• Google challenges U.S. gag order, citing First Amendment
• Spygate Leaks Imperil State-Secrets Defense
• NSA Boss Asks Congress For Blanket Immunity For Companies That Help NSA Spy On Everyone
• It's Beyond Ridiculous That Email (But Not Mail) Has Been Left Out of Privacy Laws