The New York Times published a rather one-sided article about the growing anti-Islam movement in Myanmar. Muslims are a minority there and the country’s Buddhists monks are voicing a growing concern about the Muslim residents. ‘You can be full of kindness and love, but
Chicago police are gearing up for a spike in violent crime, as summer officially arrives. “Police Supt. Garry McCarthy acknowledged, in summer months, both shootings and murders usually spike.” At least six people were shot since yesterday afternoon, two were
Obama is holding his first meeting with the obscure privacy and civil liberties board (PCLOB) today in order to keep his pledge to look into the government surveillance operations recently revealed. The PCLOB, was created in 2004 after the 9/11 Commission
The WSJ is reporting that the FAA is close to easing certain restrictions on in-flight use of electronics during take-off (10,000 feet) “A 28-member industry and government panel’s draft report strongly recommended relaxing blanket rules against electronics that have been
Over at The Guardian, Glen Greenwald and James Ball have released two documents (here and here) that detail “procedures the NSA is required to follow to target ‘non-US persons’ under its foreign intelligence powers and what the agency does to
In response to The Snark Challenge: Something more useful was suggested (elsewhere) by Mandy (Liberty Chick) about teaching people on SNAP how to cook and shop. It’s not too difficult to feed yourself on around $30 a week, if you
Former President Jimmy Carter is trying to convince the US government to ease up the sanctions on terrorists groups so peace groups are able to work with them. Carter and other do-gooders have petitioned Secretary of State John Kerry to
The Hill is reporting that Democrats in DC are “shifting” from Obama over to Hillary Clinton as 2016 approaches. “Hillary Clinton has already racked up a couple of endorsements for the 2016 presidential race — and she hasn’t even announced she’s
During a Senate Oversight Hearing on the FBI today, Director Mueller was asked by Senator Grassley if domestic drones were used on American soil. He responded that yes, they were used. But, “in a very very minimal way. Very seldom.”
Threat Level at Wired.com presents a compelling case that NSA surveillance did not stop the NYSE bomb plots, as stated yesterday by Deputy Director Sean Joyce in hearing before the House Intelligence Committee. “[Khalid] Ouazzani had been providing information and support
Despite a directive from the Obama administration, the Internal Revenue Service will pay out $70M in bonuses, according to Senator Chuck Grassley. “Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says his office has learned that the IRS is executing an agreement with
Rand Paul (R-KY) will offer several amendments to the hotly contested immigration bill. “Paul’s most ambitious proposal would eliminate the pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants and lift the caps on guest workers.” One of Paul’s proposals will
In the Live Q & A with Edward Snowden hosted by the Guardian, Snowden doubled down on his claim that he had the authority to wiretap anyone. Responding to this question: Asked by MonaHol, 17 June 2013 4:37pm Ed Snowden, I
Less than half (47) of US Senators attended a classified briefing on Thursday afternoon, instead choosing to head home for the weekend. The briefing was with “with James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, Keith Alexander, the head of the
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Board, a low-profile panel about which we rarely hear, will meet next week to discuss the NSA’s PRISM program. I wrote about the PCLOB a few months ago, when the Senate was going to confirm
Heads of the House Intelligence Commitee said yesterday that Edward Snowden is lying about his access to and the nature of the domestic secret surveillance program he revealed last week. Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) and senior Democrat Rep Dutch Ruppersberger
An Investor’s Business Daily opinion piece makes the claim that mosques are excluded from the massive dragnet surveillance operation of the US Government. “That’s right, the government’s sweeping surveillance of our most private communications excludes the jihad factories where homegrown
Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Edward Snowden has revealed the NSA has been hacking computers since 2009, including computers in China. “Snowden said that according to unverified documents seen by the Post, the NSA had been hacking computers
In an interview yesterday with NPR, Former NSA Director Michael Hayden denied the NSA is data mining their massive collection of “business records” that were secretly collected. “Business records” is a less offensive way of describing all the data they
In an exclusive interview with South China Morning Post, Edward Snowden said he will fight extradition efforts and wants “the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate. I have been given no reason to doubt your system.”
CBS has released a new poll concerning the recent revelations on the government’s domestic surveillance efforts. The questions are better (from a quantitative perspective, not a propaganda perspective) than the WaPo/Pew poll which showed a relaxed attitude on civil liberties
At a fundraising dinner for the Democrats’ candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, Ed Markey, in Washington last night, Vice President Joe Biden voiced his concern about freshman Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) (emphasis added): “Have you
The Washington Post in conjunction the Pew Center, have released a new poll about government surveillance that is making the rounds today. The results are alarming from a civil liberties perspective: 62% say the government should investigate terrorist threats regardless
This morning, Speaker of the House John Boehner called NSA whistleblower/leaker a “traitor” and described his actions as a “giant violation of the law.” On Good Morning America, Boehner explained, “The president outlined last week that these are important national security
According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, the Russians are considering granting political asylum to Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower/traitor. Snowden, a government contractor, revealed the existence of a massive National Security Agency surveillance operation last week. Kommersant daily quoted President Vladimir Putin’s
CBS News is reporting that government officials are “in the process” of filing charges against Edward Snowden. Snowden admitted to leaking secret documents, revealing the large-scale data-mining and surveillance program of the U.S. government. The FBI will oversee the
Edward Snowden, whistleblower or leaker of state secrets–you decide, is the internet’s new sex symbol. The some of the internet is gushing over the hero/traitor, ‘I know I should get past the “Edward Snowden looks totally hot” thing and focus
Michael Mukasey, former US Attorney General, has written an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today, defending the government’s nationwide surveillance operation. Mukasey describes concern over the surveillance as “misdirected” and throws in a reference to Orwell’s 1984 for good
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) called for the NSA surveillance leaker to be prosecuted aggressively. “If Edward Snowden did in fact leak the NSA data as he claims, the United States government must prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law
Former CIA officer Bob Baer said on CNN Sunday evening officials are speculating that Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing could be “potential Chinese espionage.” Snowden came forward yesterday and identified himself as the leaker of the NSA’s massive surveillance operation. Snowden revealed
The NSA has requested a criminal probe into who was the whistle blower leaked information about their massive surveillance operation known as PRISM. A “crimes report has been filed,” said Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of
The WSJ is reporting that in addition to monitoring cell phone records, emails and web activity, the National Security Agency is monitoring credit card transactions. “NSA has established similar relationships with credit-card companies, three former officials said.” The arrangement gave
Two IRS staffers in the Cincinnati office told investigators in Congress that Washington DC “helped direct the probe of tea-party groups that began in 2010.” The WSJ reviewed transcripts of the interviews. Elizabeth Hofacre said her office in Cincinnati sought
A Brooklyn couple who were the hosts of the WBAI radio show “The Pursuit of Happiness” committed suicide by putting plastic bags over their head and breathing in helium. Lynne Rosen and John Littig were found dead in Park Slope
Sarah Murnaghan is a 10 year old girl who has end stage cystic fibrosis. She needs a lung transplant to live but she is one year too young to get an adult lung. Children’s lungs are much harder to come
A Willow County fire captain teamed up with a local rapper to shoot a rap video on county property. The video was filmed with Fire Captain “Marcus” while he was “on duty, using the district’s equipment and building without county
Yesterday, Gallup unveiled a report detailing the reasons why their polling efforts failed to predict an Obama victory in 2012. The report offered four main reasons why their survey efforts did not predict Obama’s victory. The final poll released by
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told his mother that people are sending him money. In a recording of their first call placed from prison, Tsarnaev informed his mother someone opened an account for him and deposited money. He received “at least” a thousand
GOP members on the House Appropriations Committee stated they would use ‘purse strings’ to get to the truth about IRS’ ideological profiling of tea party and conservative organizations. Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) said “his panel may impose conditions on IRS funding,
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) today received a letter from Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik in response to a recent letter they sent to