Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
NSA Admits Listening to U.S. Phone Calls Without Warrants
June 16th, 2013Via: cnet: The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed this week that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call […]
IRAN SENDING 4000 TROOPS TO SYRIA TO AID AL-ASSAD REGIME
June 16th, 2013Tick tock. Via: Independent: Washington’s decision to arm Syria’s Sunni Muslim rebels has plunged America into the great Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic Middle East, entering a struggle that now dwarfs the Arab revolutions which overthrew dictatorships across the region. For the first time, all of America’s ‘friends’ in the region are Sunni Muslims and […]
Philadelphia Closes 23 Schools, New $400 Million Prison Being Built
June 15th, 2013Via: Opposing Views: Philadelphia officials are closing almost two dozen schools and decimating the budgets of the remaining schools under a so-called “doomsday” education plan. However, amid all these cuts for education, the state of Pennsylvania is building a new $400 million prison for Philadelphia.
IRS’s Big Data Tracking
June 15th, 2013Via: MSN: The Internal Revenue Service is collecting a lot more than taxes this year — it’s also acquiring a huge volume of personal information on taxpayers’ digital activities, from eBay auctions to Facebook posts and, for the first time ever, credit card and e-payment transaction records, as it expands its search for tax cheats […]
Naomi Wolf: My Creeping Concern That The NSA Leaker Is Not Who He Purports To Be
June 15th, 2013Update: Even AP Admits that Prism Is Chicken Feed Compared to What We Learned Years Ago About Mass Intercepts Via: AP: With Prism, the government gets a user’s entire email inbox. Every email, including contacts with American citizens, becomes government property. Once the NSA has an inbox, it can search its huge archives for information […]
U.S. Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of Firms
June 14th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said. These programs, whose participants are known as trusted partners, extend far beyond what was revealed by Edward […]
U.S. Says It Will Give Military Aid to Syria Rebels
June 14th, 2013For the first time, no less. Via: BBC: The US is to supply direct military aid to the Syrian opposition for the first time, the White House has announced. President Obama made the decision after his administration concluded Syrian forces under Bashar al-Assad were using chemical weapons, a spokesman said. Ben Rhodes did not give […]
Syria Death Toll at Least 93,000, Says UN
June 13th, 2013Via: BBC: At least 93,000 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the conflict, according to latest United Nations figures. This represents a rise of more than 30,000 since the UN last issued figures covering the period to November 2012. At least 5,000 people have been dying in Syria every month since […]
The Cyberwar Industrial Complex
June 13th, 2013Via: Wired: In short, despite the sequestration, layoffs, and furloughs in the federal government, it’s a boom time for Alexander. In April, as part of its 2014 budget request, the Pentagon asked Congress for $4.7 billion for increased “cyberspace operations,” nearly $1 billion more than the 2013 allocation. At the same time, budgets for the […]
‘Digital Blackwater’: Meet the Contractors Analyzing Your Private Data
June 12th, 2013Via: Salon: From Narus, the Israeli-born Boeing subsidiary that makes NSA’s high-speed interception software, to CSC, the “systems integrator” that runs NSA’s internal IT system, defense and intelligence, contractors are making millions of dollars selling technology and services that help the world’s largest surveillance system spy on you. If the 70 percent figure is applied […]
