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Happy Bastille Day!
Mammals Can ‘Choose’ Sex of Offspring, Study Finds Science Daily
Not Guilty Miami Herald
Zimmerman Not Guilty in Killing of Trayvon Martin Times
Schweitzer Deals Senate Dems A Blow National Journal
A vote for Eliot Spitzer is a bid for the moral high ground FT
Markets feast on ‘good news is bad news’ FT
Consumer Sentiment in U.S. Unexpectedly Declined in July Bloomberg
Two Sentences that Explain the Crisis and How Easy it Was to Avoid William R. Black, New Economic Perspectives
David Stockman: Financial Engineering As The ATM Of The Prosperous Classes Testosterone Pit
Draghi Impotent as Fed Trumps ECB on Yield Curve Bloomberg
More On the German Gold Situation: Some Light from Deutschland and Canada Jesse’s Café Américain. “I find the refusal of the Federal Reserve to release the national gold of Germany for repatriation for seven years to be one of the most remarkable of recent developments in the world of money.” And it’s a crowded field.
Big Brother is Watching Watch
Snowden documents could be ‘worst nightmare’ for U.S.: journalist Reuters
About the Reuters article Glenn Greenwald, Guardian
Edward Snowden statement: ‘It was the right thing to do and I have no regrets’ Guardian
Edward Snowden, come on home Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC. “Dear Ed, It’s me, Melissa” (takedown).
Senator Ron Wyden: White House considering scaling back data collection Guardian. Lucy and the football.
The Doubters Are Wrong: Edward Snowden Is a Game-Changer Mother Jones
Whatever Happened to MoveOn.Org? Progressives and NSA Spying Counterpunch. Nothing at all. Why?
Barrett Brown, political prisoner of the information revolution Guardian
Wikileaks Party prepare for election campaign as Julian Assange remains stranded in London ABC Australia (SW)
Gangs Ruled Prison as For-Profit Model Put Blood on Floor Reuters
Insight: Apple controversy lays bare complex Irish tax web Reuters
There’s Growing Evidence Of A Vast Conspiracy To Undermine Former Egypt President Morsi Business Insider
Critics denounce Al Jazeera exclusive Al Jazeera
Why China and the US (Probably) Won’t Go to War The Diplomat. Nukes, the Pacific.
Thaksin Isan love affair in full bloom Bangkok Post
Why is the rich US in such poor health? New Scientist
Where are the missing 90-year-olds? BBC
Spill settlement papers leave BP in a bind FT. “Revenue” and “expenses” not defined.
State withholds more than 60% of Fukushima cleanup budget Asahi Shimbun
Link between quantum physics and game theory found phys.org
Game Theory is Useful, Except When it is Not Symposium
The creepy mindset of online credit scoring mathbabe
F2P Monetization Tricks Schneier on Security (citing).
In a few minutes you do not learn much Bill Mitchell – billy blog. Shovel, Dr. Thoma?
Into the Silent Darkness? Power of Narrative
Antidote du jour (via Fat Cats):
71 comments
Comments are closed.
The Thaksin Isan link to the Bangkok Post is broken.
Try this one:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/359752/thaksin-isan-love-affair-in-full-bloom
Fixed, thanks.
re antidote:
The day I’ll prefer a cat in that picture is the day I should be committed!
We’re all totally committed, Beard.
Good point! If I’m not on a list by now, I’ve been remiss in my duty!
Insurance Company Gets F#@ked Over by Another Cancer Patient ~The Onion
Two thumbs up !! I LOVE The Onion.
Love that Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now http://www.democracynow.org/2013/7/11/jailed_journalist_barrett_brown_faces_105 and others are reporting on this. Look at her last sentence:
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’ll certainly follow this case, Peter Ludlow, professor of philosophy at Northwestern University. He’s written extensively on hacktivist actions against private intelligence firms and the surveillance state. His most recent piece is in The Nation; it’s called “The Strange Case of Barrett Brown.” We will link to it at democracynow.org.
http://www.thenation.com/article/174851/strange-case-barrett-brown#axzz2Z29RmkGD
The Strange Case of Barrett Brown
Amid the outrage over the NSA’s spying program, the jailing of journalist Barrett Brown points to a deeper and very troubling problem.
Read more: The Strange Case of Barrett Brown | The Nation http://www.thenation.com/article/174851/strange-case-barrett-brown#ixzz2Z29Znk2R
……………
Other real journalists are reporting. I find it powerful that a Republican whistle-blower (on the GOP political imprisonment of Democratic Gov. Don Siegleman) has teamed up with an Election Integrity whistle-blower from BBV (Bev Harris’ http://www.blackboxvoting.org/ ) and found a link to Brown and what he was reporting on:
from:
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2013/07/was-fiery-death-of-journalist-michael.html
July 1, 2013
Was The Fiery Death Of Journalist Michael Hastings Connected To Atlanta Security Firm Called Endgame?
At the time of his death in a fiery car crash on June 18, journalist Michael Hastings was working on a story about alleged Anonymous leader Barrett Brown. Currently under federal indictment on charges related to computer hacking, Brown is the journalist who first reported on a shadowy private security firm in Atlanta called Endgame.
The Web site freebarrettbrown.org reports that Hastings was planning to interview Brown in late June and had announced to his followers, “Get ready for your mind to be blown.”
A Hastings/Brown interview almost certainly would have included questions about Brown’s research on “black hat” private security firms that work with the official U.S. intelligence community. Some of these outfits also have powerful ties to corporate America via the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Primary among such firms is Endgame, which is based on the seventh floor of the former Biltmore Hotel building in Atlanta.
Before the interview could take place, Hastings was killed when his car exploded, with the engine blown some sixty feet from the wreckage on a Los Angeles street. Were individuals connected to Endgame and the U.S.Chamber–fearing possible exposure in government-sponsored wrongdoing–involved in Michael Hastings’ death?
We don’t have a solid answer to that question? But a report last week from Alabama attorney Jill Simpson and election-integrity specialist Jim March presents perhaps the most disturbing revelations yet about Endgame and similar private security firms. The report, dated June 24, 2013, is titled “Black Hat Versus White Hat: The Other Side of the Snowden/Hastings/Barrett Brown Cases.”
Here is how March summarizes the report in a piece at OpEd News:
This is a look into the world of the private contractors that work in alliance with the official US intelligence community and appear to be state-sanctioned to commit crimes. We focus on one of these shady contractors, Endgame–an Atlanta GA corporation that both Barrett Brown and Michael Hastings were looking at. We show who they are, what they do, what their founders did before, who funds them and who they are connected to. We even filmed and photographed their building and lobby.
Simpson is best known as a former Republican operative who became a whistleblower in the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. March is on the board of directors of blackboxvoting.org and is a former board member for the Southern Arizona chapter of the ACLU.
They note the ominous meanings behind the term “Endgame” and provide background on the firm’s early days.
snip
The final moves in a chess game are called the “endgame.” It has come to the attention of American whistleblowers and election integrity specialists that the CIA, NSA and White House have designed the ultimate final “endgame” for the free world as we know it–with a group of computer “security specialists.”
snip
In November 2010, Hunton and Williams organized a number of private intelligence, technology development and security contractors—HBGary, plus Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies and, according to Brown, a secretive corporation with the ominous name Endgame Systems—to form “Team Themis”—‘themis’ being a Greek word meaning “divine law.” Its main objective was to discredit critics of the Chamber of Commerce, like Chamber Watch, using such tactics as creating a “false document, perhaps highlighting periodical financial information,” giving it to a progressive group opposing the Chamber, and then subsequently exposing the document as a fake to “prove that US Chamber Watch cannot be trusted with information and/or tell the truth.”
The bottom line? Barrett Brown helped expose Endgame’s role in a disinformation campaign that was designed to protect the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Michael Hastings was set to interview Brown, and that almost certainly would have yielded damaging information about both Endgame and the U.S. Chamber.
Before that interview took place, Michael Hastings’ car exploded.
……………….
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/nsa-whistleblower-nsa-spying-on-and-blackmailing-high-level-government-officials-and-military-officers.html
NSA Whistleblower: NSA Spying On – and Blackmailing – Top Government Officials and Military Officers
WashingtonsBlog
Whistleblower Says Spy Agency Targeting Top American Leaders
NSA whistleblower Russel Tice – a key source in the 2005 New York Times report that blew the lid off the Bush administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping – told Peter B. Collins on Boiling Frogs Post (the website of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds):
Tice: Okay. They went after–and I know this because I had my hands literally on the paperwork for these sort of things–they went after high-ranking military officers; they went after members of Congress, both Senate and the House, especially on the intelligence committees and on the armed services committees and some of the–and judicial. But they went after other ones, too. They went after lawyers and law firms. All kinds of–heaps of lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the Supreme Court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. Two are former FISA court judges. They went after State Department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House–their own people. They went after antiwar groups. They went after U.S. international–U.S. companies that that do international business, you know, business around the world. They went after U.S. banking firms and financial firms that do international business. They went after NGOs that–like the Red Cross, people like that that go overseas and do humanitarian work. They went after a few antiwar civil rights groups. So, you know, don’t tell me that there’s no abuse, because I’ve had this stuff in my hand and looked at it. And in some cases, I literally was involved in the technology that was going after this stuff.
……………
So, I think the entire political, economic spectrum can get behind the following bill:
http://firedoglake.com/2013/07/06/come-saturday-morning-reclaiming-our-libert-e/
Come Saturday Morning: Reclaiming Our LIBERT-E
Democratic United States Representative John Conyers and his Republican colleague Justin Amash don’t agree on a lot of things. But they are, like most of us, united in being aghast at all the government snooping being done to us, for us, against us, and on everyone else in the world. Unlike most of us, they’re in a position to do something about it — or at the very least shame those Beltway officials who would perpetuate this snooping.
To that end, they’ve introduced H.R. 2399, the “Limiting Internet and Blanket Electronic Review of Telecommunications and Email Act,” or the LIBERT-E Act for short.
maybe this accounts for no progress:
http://my.firedoglake.com/mspbwatch/2013/06/19/breaking-nsa-whistleblower-russ-tice-alleges-nsa-wiretapped-then-senator-barack-obama/
BREAKING: NSA Whistleblower Russ Tice Alleges NSA Wiretapped Then-Sen. Candidate Barack Obama
From the Boiling Frogs Show Podcast, with FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and Radio Host Peter B. Collins:
In this bombshell episode of the Boiling Frogs Post Podcast Show NSA whistleblower Russ Tice joins us to go on record for the first time with new revelations and the names of official culprits involved in the NSA’s illegal practices. Mr. Tice explains in detail how the National Security Agency targets, sucks-in, stores and analyzes illegally obtained content from the masses in the United States. He contradicts officials and the mainstream media on the status of the NSA’s Utah facility, which is already operating and “On-Line.” He reveals the NSA as a Deep State that targets and wiretaps US political candidates for its own purposes. We discuss the latest controversies involving the NSA, PRISM, Edward Snowden, and the spins and lies that are being floated by the US mainstream and pseudo-alternative media.
Source: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2013/06/19/podcast-show-112-nsa-whistleblower-goes-on-record-reveals-new-information-names-culprits/
Update: Tice says that NSA wiretapped Senate candidate Barack Obama (contra my original title that said “Then-Senator”)
Add’l Source: PBC News & Comment: Bombshell NSA Revelations from Russell Tice (The Peter B. Collins Show website)
Full BFP Podcast available here (.mp3)
Follow-up Interview on The Corbett Report.
via: http://my.firedoglake.com/mspbwatch/2013/06/19/breaking-nsa-whistleblower-russ-tice-alleges-nsa-wiretapped-then-senator-barack-obama/
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2013/06/21/msnbc-censors-nsa-whistleblower-russ-tice-minutes-before-interview/
MSNBC Censors NSA Whistleblower Russ Tice Minutes Before Interview
Friday, 21. June 2013
“We Don’t Want a Word on Your Allegations Pertaining to NSA Wiretapping of Obama, Judges & Activists”-MSNBC
On Wednesday, June 19, Boiling Frogs Post broke the news on the NSA’s targeting of political candidates, elected officials, federal judges, law firms and activists, including candidate Barack Obama, revealed by veteran NSA officer and whistleblower Russ Tice.
In this bombshell episode of the Boiling Frogs Post Podcast Show NSA whistleblower Tice went on record for the first time with new revelations and names of official culprits involved in the NSA’s illegal practices, and explained in detail how the National Security Agency targets, sucks-in, stores and analyzes illegally obtained content from the masses in the United States. He revealed for the first time the NSA Deep State involved in the targeting and wiretapping of US elected officials, political candidates, federal judges and activists for its own purposes.
Prior to his exclusive interview with Boiling Frogs Post, Mr. Tice tried to expose these government illegalities through US mainstream and larger pseudo alternative media outlets. Both mainstream and quasi alternative media outlets refused to publish or air Mr. Tice’s revelations; while some cited legal concerns others refrained from providing any justification whatsoever.
Today MSNBC aired an interview with Mr. Tice disclosing “some” of his revelations, thanks to the vigilant activists who tirelessly shared and disseminated Mr. Tice’s revelations and interview audio. Interestingly, at the last minute, MSNBC told Mr. Tice that they would NOT include his revelations on NSA’s targeting of Obama, elected officials, attorneys, judges and activists. Basically, they censored his entire testimony on these stunning allegations!
In a correspondence with Boiling Frogs Post immediately following his censored interview with MSNBC Mr. Tice stated:
“When they were placing the ear-phone in my ear with less than ten minutes left till my air time, the producer in New York said that their lawyers were discussing the material, and at this time, they did not want me to mention anything about the NSA wiretaps against all the people and organizations that I mentioned. That is how it went down. I did say on the air that I know it is much worse and would like to talk about that some time.”
…
The pathetic sorry state of the United States Media! But, that’s the negative part.There are some positives:
This is another instant of proving the idea of People-Power. This is another case where a truly independent alternative outlet dares to expose government illegality and cover-up. This is one more example illustrating the power that rests with the people-no matter the size and its irate minority status.
We can do it. We must do it. We have to continue and expand. We need to escalate our pressure and raise our stand as the opposition to our expanding police state oppression. It starts with us-and it ends with us. Kudos to us-the people-power.
Here is the MSNBC segment with NSA Whistleblower Russ Tice:
– See more at: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2013/06/21/msnbc-censors-nsa-whistleblower-russ-tice-minutes-before-interview/#sthash.uc6XJwpK.dpuf
Quasi alternative media refused, hmmmm. Democracy Now? NPR, which would be no surprise, as a matter of fact, I shouldn’t include them in the category of alternative anything.
Demand Up or Down Vote to identify politicians who are for Spying on All Americans versus politicians who are against Spying on All Americans.
Thanks Salon for such a wonderful article.
via: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/07/links-72413.html
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/22/gop_civil_war_leaders_target_rising_star/
Jul 22, 2013
GOP insurrection heats up over surveillance
Rep. Justin Amash wants to deprive the NSA of funds for spying. Now, his angry House leadership is fighting back
In an attempt to prevent Washington lawmakers from having to publicly declare their position on the National Security Administration’s mass surveillance, will congressional leaders formally snuff out one of the last embers of democracy in the U.S. House? This is one of the big questions this week in Washington, as the Republicans who control the House are resorting to brass knuckled tactics in an effort to thwart one of their own.
Before getting to that stunning story, it’s worth reviewing how the Congress actually operates.
As I learned from four-plus years working in the Capitol’s lower chamber during President Bush’s first term, the U.S. House of Representatives runs like a politburo did in a typical Soviet satellite state. Decisions about what even gets voted on — much less passed — usually happen behind closed doors, with a handful of party leaders handing down orders to the rest of the body’s loyal apparatchiks. That means most legislative drama can’t be seen by voters, and it means congresspeople rarely have to cast public votes on anything the House Speaker doesn’t want them to vote on. By design, this system (which differs from the Senate, where all members can force votes on almost anything) deliberately protects majority party House members from having to cast embarrassing campaign-ad-worthy public votes against the minority party’s proposals.
Repressive as the House is, tradition provides lawmakers with a few ways to hack the system — that is, if they happen to know what they are doing (which most lawmakers and staff, alas, don’t). The best of these hacks is what’s known as the appropriations “rider” — or what can alternately be called the Amendment Hack.
snip
This brings us to Amash, the simmering fight over mass surveillance in America — and just how committed transpartisan Permanent Washington is to preserving that surveillance.
According to The Hill, Amash is openly defying his party’s leadership by championing a simple amendment to the annual Defense Appropriations Bill based on the larger bill he’s co-sponsoring with Democratic Rep. John Conyers. As National Journal suggests, Amash’s amendment would ostensibly get his legislation ruled in order for an up-or-down vote by simply barring funds in the bill from going to the NSA for the purpose of “collecting telephone and other records from anyone who is not the subject of an investigation.”
It’s a brilliant example of the Amendment Hack, raising precisely the questions that Washington doesn’t even want to talk about. Do lawmakers support an NSA that inherently presumes all Americans are guilty and worthy of surveillance? Or do they want surveillance resources aimed only at those who truly warrant probable cause? Amash’s amendment would tell us exactly where each member of the House stands on those critical queries — which is why, of course, Permanent Washington is in a tizzy and why the House leadership is now hustling to figure out some way to stop the amendment from even being voted on.
more
Why is the rich US in such poor health? New Scientist
“And, as it turns out, the US spends plenty on social welfare. It may tax less and spend less on social programmes than most rich democracies, but when you add in tax-based subsidies and private social spending, it ranks as the fifth highest in the world, just after Sweden. What distinguishes the US is how that money is spent. More goes on healthcare – while still leaving many without health insurance or access to care – and less on children, families and the disadvantaged”
Well, ALL of our social programs from crop insurance, tax incentives for buying a house, SHADOW bank welfare, to ACA benefit the wealthy far more than anyone else. The analogy used to justify these programs was that they would help people who were far behind the startling line get a little closer to the starting line – but as it has turned out, it is more correct to say that 99% gets ahead one step while the 0.001% get ahead 99 yards in a 100 yard dash, where 1st prize is a trillion dollars, second price is a set of steak knives (made in China), and third prize is your fired and beaten by the police…
Than we get nothing but propaganda about this being a meritocracy and nothing about how every law is skewed by corruption.
Will The Federal Reserve Provide Us With The Next Abuse Of Power Scandal?
After internal leaks and disclosures two of the most powerful agencies of the U.S. government, the Internal Revenue Service and the National Security Agency, are under increased scrutiny. Will the same happen to the more independent but still secretive Federal Reserve System? A new thriller, “Hidden Order,” which focuses on the Fed and is written by best-selling author Brad Thor, will fuel speculation about misdeeds at the powerful monetary authority. Going after the Fed, however, is not easy. Incentives to protect the status quo are even stronger than at the IRS or the NSA.
We are approaching the first anniversary of the passage of H.R. 459, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, which called for audits of the discount policies, the funding facilities, the open market operations, and the Fed agreements with foreign bankers. The bill was passed 327 to 98. Ninety-seven of the votes to protect the Fed came from Democrats. The bill remains stuck in the Senate.
Transparency in monetary affairs is an issue of justice and morality, not only economics. Several of the first books devoted to economics focused on the perils of government monetary manipulation and were written by moralists of the late middle-ages. Oresme in Italy, Copernicus in Poland, and Juan de Mariana in Spain were prime examples.
If we can’t count yet on price increases to mobilize public opinion to battle the current statist monetary system and scrutinize the Fed, is it possible to rely on arguments describing the immorality of the manipulation of money and credit? Making a credible case against credit manipulation is more difficult than making a case against price inflation. It requires a more elaborate analysis and getting into specifics: which banks and credit institutions were benefited, which suffered? Within banks, which executives lobbied for privileges and received big bonuses? It is not enough to blame “corporate welfare,” “crony capitalism” or the “banksters.” Sound money advocates should describe and have access to data from the Federal Reserve to study how they distributed their favors.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alejandrochafuen/2013/07/10/will-the-federal-reserve-provide-us-with-the-next-abuse-of-power-scandal/
amazing how some groups always come out on top while others remain at bottom?
This is a meritocracy—The most crooked get all the money and power.
We tend to forget that the value of a “meritocracy” depends on how we define “merit”.
Extract: A Journey Through Oligarch Valley Yasha Levine, NSFWCorp
That’s a great article. Kudos to NSFW.
Wow, what a great article. I worked for the Resnick’s when I lived in LA; Levine doesn’t mention that they also owned Teleflora, the flowers-by-wire service – at least they did in the early-mid 80’s. The corporate HQ was in the South Bay.
I knew they were greedy bastards, but I had no idea about the security firm operation. Whoa! I was aware of the Franklin Mint (Levine doesn’t mention it, but their suit against the Diana, Princess of Wales Foundation destroyed it; it had to be wound down last year.) and POM, but the pistachios, no.
Another reason to buy organic.
About the Reuters article Glenn Greenwald, Guardian
“This “threat” fiction is just today’s concoction to focus on anything but the revelations about US government lying to Congress and constitutionally and legally dubious NSA spying. Yesterday, it was something else, and tomorrow it will be something else again. As I said in an interview with Falguni Sheth published today by Salon, this only happens in the US: everywhere else, the media attention and political focus is on NSA surveillance, while US media figures are singularly obsessed with focusing on everything but that.”
Excuse my 2 comments in one day, but this just confirms my view that substantively, not only do we have only one big business/security state government philosophy, but that the vast majority of the US “media” is WORSE than Pravda – at least Soviet propaganda didn’t have the tremendous power of financial incentives, stock options, to buy out or censure any “journalist” who doesn’t toe the party line…
The US constitution, the 4th amendment, ….what quant ideas we used to have.
“quant ideas” — Typo, except not, eh?
It’s striking, reading American BLT comments on the Snowden revelations, how succesful the political republican vs democrat kibbuki has been, and how politcally polarised the US has become.
Reps blame Obama, and dems point to Bush, and it’s done with a great passionate intensity. Add the “it’s no big deal, everyone does it” argument, and and you can ACTUALLY SEE the consent being manufactured, and the problem being spun away.
Barking Lizards Technologies?
Love that Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now http://www.democracynow.org/2013/7/11/jailed_journalist_barrett_brown_faces_105
and others are reporting on this. Look at her last sentence:
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’ll certainly follow this case, Peter Ludlow, professor of philosophy at Northwestern University. He’s written extensively on hacktivist actions against private intelligence firms and the surveillance state. His most recent piece is in The Nation; it’s called “The Strange Case of Barrett Brown.” We will link to it at democracynow.org.
http://www.thenation.com/article/174851/strange-case-barrett-brown#axzz2Z29RmkGD
The Strange Case of Barrett Brown
Amid the outrage over the NSA’s spying program, the jailing of journalist Barrett Brown points to a deeper and very troubling problem.
..
from:
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2013/07/was-fiery-death-of-journalist-michael.html
July 1, 2013
Was The Fiery Death Of Journalist Michael Hastings Connected To Atlanta Security Firm Called Endgame?
At the time of his death in a fiery car crash on June 18, journalist Michael Hastings was working on a story about alleged Anonymous leader Barrett Brown. Currently under federal indictment on charges related to computer hacking, Brown is the journalist who first reported on a shadowy private security firm in Atlanta called Endgame.
The Web site freebarrettbrown.org reports that Hastings was planning to interview Brown in late June and had announced to his followers, “Get ready for your mind to be blown.”
NSA whistleblower Russel Tice who further adds via:
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/nsa-whistleblower-nsa-spying-on-and-blackmailing-high-level-government-officials-and-military-officers.html
NSA Whistleblower: NSA Spying On – and Blackmailing – Top Government Officials and Military Officers
WashingtonsBlog
Whistleblower Says Spy Agency Targeting Top American Leaders
NSA whistleblower Russel Tice – a key source in the 2005 New York Times report that blew the lid off the Bush administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping – told Peter B. Collins on Boiling Frogs Post (the website of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds):
Tice: Okay. They went after–and I know this because I had my hands literally on the paperwork for these sort of things–they went after high-ranking military officers; they went after members of Congress, both Senate and the House, especially on the intelligence committees and on the armed services committees and some of the–and judicial. But they went after other ones, too. They went after lawyers and law firms. All kinds of–heaps of lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the Supreme Court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. Two are former FISA court judges. They went after State Department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House–their own people. They went after antiwar groups. They went after U.S. international–U.S. companies that that do international business, you know, business around the world. They went after U.S. banking firms and financial firms that do international business. They went after NGOs that–like the Red Cross, people like that that go overseas and do humanitarian work. They went after a few antiwar civil rights groups. So, you know, don’t tell me that there’s no abuse, because I’ve had this stuff in my hand and looked at it. And in some cases, I literally was involved in the technology that was going after this stuff.
…………
So, I think the entire political, economic spectrum can get behind the following bipartisan bill which attempts to control all this spying: Rep. John Conyers and Rep. Justin Amash bill H.R. 2399, the “Limiting Internet and Blanket Electronic Review of Telecommunications and Email Act,” or the LIBERT-E Act for short.
http://firedoglake.com/2013/07/06/come-saturday-morning-reclaiming-our-libert-e/
Come Saturday Morning: Reclaiming Our LIBERT-E
By: Phoenix Woman Saturday July 6, 2013
Democratic United States Representative John Conyers and his Republican colleague Justin Amash don’t agree on a lot of things. But they are, like most of us, united in being aghast at all the government snooping being done to us, for us, against us, and on everyone else in the world. Unlike most of us, they’re in a position to do something about it — or at the very least shame those Beltway officials who would perpetuate this snooping.
To that end, they’ve introduced H.R. 2399, the “Limiting Internet and Blanket Electronic Review of Telecommunications and Email Act,” or the LIBERT-E Act for short.
….
And, in comments at
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/nsa-whistleblower-nsa-spying-on-and-blackmailing-high-level-government-officials-and-military-officers.html
coleenrowley
This was always the real danger of the massive dragnet “total information awareness” type surveillance. If there are no filters or distinctions made between spying on ordinary Americans “who have nothing to hide” and congresspersons, judges, NGO officials, military officials, agency heads, etc. (those with some power and who often do have much to hide) this tips the balance of power built into the Constitution in favor of the group and the branch who’s collecting the information because information is power. J. Edgar Hoover was just one of many historical figures who gained power over government officials through his spying and collection of information (and selectively handing it over to HUAC).
Snowden however, has indicated in one of his responses that some kind of filter may have been put on the NSA surveillance to shield Congress members — that may have happened, I’m guessing, in the 2007-2008 period when the Bush Admin was pressuring Congress to approve its warrantless surveillance program and give immunity to the telecoms. It seems inconceivable to me that none of the smarter congresspersons would not have realized this danger, that they would themselves be targeted, and consequently demanded that some kind of mechanism be put in to shield themselves from surveillance. (I actually warned our MN Sen Amy Klobuchar about this when she voted for the first “emergency” extension of Bush’s warrantless monitoring in August 2007 when they all caved the first time. It was like a midnight vote before recess and they were pressured that a terrorist act could occur unless they gave Bush the authority to continue his illegal monitoring so Klobuchar and most of the others caved.)
Filters can be removed even more easily than applied. If Congress thinks they’re safe because of some agreement, they’re more nuts than we even thought.
Lord have mercy — if ANY sovereign nation is proved to be bankrupt of gold that was fraudulently accounted for, the global economy will derail, IMO. PM ETFs will, more than likely, also be exposed and bankrupted.
I’m not a “gold bug”, but I do own some PMs (and even with the declining price, as of late, as still far ahead of any asset I could have invested in, save having jumped two feet into the markets at their crash lows). I would expect than any Central Bank shortfall will result in a radical price change or radical policy changes regarding PMs.
Gold might be a “barbarous relic”, but the truth is, Central Banks and exchanges are, and have always been, technically, dependent on it. If not, they would simply liquidate them at deeply discounted prices, and be done with them.
Me neither, but what could possibly be the issue here? Did the architects for the Fed’s vaults underspecify the elevators? Like, they can let the gold down, but not hoist it up? Shipping contracts for a North Atlantic crossing take seven years to sign? The gold mysteriously transmigrates to a different vault through a cosmic wormhole whenever Ben’s back is turned? “I know it’s here somewhere….”
Gold is for suckers anyway I discovered when I modeled an ethical fractional reserve bank on a spreadsheet. The higher the gold redemptions, the more profitable the bank! That’s because gold is a non-performing asset and the bank was well rid of it in exchange for its own money.
However, the bank eventually would run out of gold (and thus have to break its pledge to redeem) so that’s when I abandoned fractional reserves and moved to Equity as money, in order to be 100% ethical.
Yep. The value of gold heavily depends on government privilege or the expectation thereof. So gold is not only a “barbarous relic”; it is a fascist relic.
Are you proud of having propped up its value?
Better to prop up the price of gold than to encourage the blatant and rank creation of Fiat FedRes Notes, or even worse, stocks falsely inflated by OMOs (or whatever vehicle), so that I could allow some exec to fly his jet around.
Inexpensive fiat is the ONLY ethical money form for government debts otherwise the taxation authority and power of government is misused to profit private interests such as gold owners, usurers, etc.
That said, the Fed should be abolished since only the monetary sovereign should be allowed to create fiat and ONLY for the general welfare, not to back-up the banks.
Any gold “standard” *is* fiat.
The problem with our credit/money system isn’t the base (paper or electronic dollar) but in the myriad of ways organizations lie — often with implicit official sanction — about their accounting in order to claim they possess much more than they do.
Gold can be manipulated like any other “base” currency. Indeed, I believe Jesse’s theories and therefore believe gold is manipulated widely. Therefore, I doubt a gold “standard” would help us. TPTB would play the same games as they do now.
What am I missing?
A quick check of other articles, from reporters less invested in tinfoil, indicates that the FED will give Germany the gold anytime they want it. When you are attempting to transport 300 tons by air under strict security provisions and with maintenance of risk via insurance it becomes slightly more complicated than putting in the 4 digit pin for an ATM machine.
The total value of the gold Germany plans to move is around the 36 Billion mark. Considering that the total liabilities of the US Fed and the ECB and the Bundesbank are accounted in the Trillions, 36 Billion in gold is nothing.
Ever since the days of kings people have gotten worked up over the word gold. Does anyone care to comment on greater values in copper, iron, steel, platinum, or any other mineral of value you can name moves across world daily?
Regarding the Zimmerman verdict, I think that this post from a few days ago at emptywheel about the state of the evidence in the case is worth a look:
http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/07/11/uncomfortable-truth-the-state-of-evidence-in-the-george-zimmerman-prosecution/
Also, Jeralyn Merritt’s posts at TalkLeft:
http://www.talkleft.com/tag/George%20Zimmerman
I do not know what the facts of the matter are, but I do know that many of the notions that so many people I know have embraced are factually ungrounded, and in many instances plainly false.
I haven’t followed the story since I read that the dispatcher told Zimmerman not to get involved, and he went ahead anyhow.
That said, if I were a malevolent Power That Is*, I’d enjoy setting up a system that put a bunch of poor schlubs at each other’s throats — “crabs in a bucket.” A poor Florida gated community would be one instantiation of such a system.
Set it up, sit back, wait for the explosion, feed the ka-boom into the Strategic Hate Management program. Life is good!
NOTE * Like this but not funny:
“Zimmerman was NOT on the phone with anybody operating under any color of law whatsoever; instead he spoke with a common non-emergency operator (effectively the desk receptionist at the station). It was about as far from ‘dispatch’ as is possible.
“Secondly, the conversation was simply to the effect, and this is a direct quote ‘we don’t need you to do that (follow Martin)’. At that point, Zimmerman, by both his own statements, and consistent timing of observations of other percipient witnesses and physical evidence of where the confrontation really did start, including even the statements of Rachel Jeantel, appear to have immediately complied with that statement and headed back toward where he came from. He did not disobey anything, much less any official order.
“From the testimony of Jeantel, Martin had been literally at the entrance to the house he was staying at. Yet he did not stay there or go in it, he went away from the house, toward Zimmerman, and confronted Zimmerman. It is crystal clear Martin initiated at a minimum the verbal confrontation, again, well away from the safety of the house he had been at.
“The above is all corroborated by the trial record, from the state’s own witnesses, not just Zimmerman, including even by Jeantel’s testimony on the record. The evidence admitted and extant on the trial record further reflects that only one person suffered injuries from assault prior to the gunshot and, from a direct eyewitness, John Good, it was Martin on the top of Zimmerman hitting him. By the end of the trial, the state effectively conceded Martin was on top of Zimmerman.
“That is what the evidence in the trial record reflects.”
http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/07/11/uncomfortable-truth-the-state-of-evidence-in-the-george-zimmerman-prosecution/#comment-572567
I myself have not followed the trial and I do not know how sound or accurate this comment by bmaz might be.
It’s pretty accurate. The state’s own evidence demonstrated that Martin was on top of Zimmerman pummeling him immediately prior to the shooting. That Zimmerman initiated the tragic chain of events by following a young Martin, who was minding his own business in a place he had every right to be, is not legally relevant under Florida criminal law to Zimmerman’s claim that he acted in self defense.
Absolutely the logical outcome of Florida’s concealed-weapon together with “stand your ground” laws: when unwitnessed, one can provoke a retaliatory response, then shoot to kill in “self-defense”…dead men tell no tales. Too bad if one’s target is unarmed, but, that’s the whole idea, isn’t it? Legalised murder under defined conditions. Sort of like state-sponsored assassinations in the name of “national security”.
Read the bmaz post; the defense theory of the case was straight “self defense,” not “stand your ground.” (I agree that “stand your ground” is idiotic, along with the open carry hoopla.)
Lambert, “stand-your-ground” presumes “self-defense”…the whole point of SYG is to promote/codify “lethal response” if the conditions “warrant” it…i.e., in the mind of the shooter there is “unlawful threat” or the like, and one’s “life is at risk”, and there is no opportunity NOR obligation to flee from the “threat”. SYG laws don’t actually need to be invoked by a defense attorney: they in themselves establish a more lenient climate and application of “self-defense”, ESPECIALLY in the absence of witnesses. It’s not even a case of “he said – he said”, as when the other “he” is – conveniently enough – eliminated.
“[T]he state’s own evidence…” If I were foily, I’d think of that as a prosecution “own goal” that threw the match.
The thought occurred to me.
Thanks. I defer to bmaz!
No, that is not accurate.
The defense was far better at shaping the narrative, and everyone thinking these are facts is just a sign of it.
First Zimmerman wasn’t that injured. A few punches may have been thrown, and Zimmerman was knocked down and hit the back of his head on something once. The repeated punches and slamming Zimmerman’s head on the sidewalk like he claimed never happened. That is a fact reflected in the state of Zimmerman’s injuries.
Trayvon may have been on top, that does not mean he was pummeling Zimmerman.
The fact that Zimmerman lied to law enforcement (reflected in his version of the fight that isn’t reflected in his injuries.) is also a troubling factor in his self defense claim.
All that said Zimmerman was going to get off anyway. Florida has a very stupid self defense law where the state has to prove it wasn’t self defense. This is near impossible to prove if only two people saw the whole thing and one of them is now dead.
A black journalist for the MiamiHerald, Joy-Ann Reid, said that she was not surprised at the verdict; Sanford is very conservative, pro-gun, pro stand your ground. I would also add, given who was shot and under what circumstances….RACIST. A verdict that was more than a mere sober adherence to statutes on the part of the jury, but one that was very much culturally and politically informed as far as I’m concerned.
I don’t find bmaz’s account all that accurate. First, there were two witnesses, not at the exact same time. One saw Zimmerman on top. One saw Martin on top. Conveniently bmaz only mentioned one of them. Second, there is no evidence that Z was returning to his car. Jeantel did not testify to that. Z said he went looking for a street sign to give police address. There are only 3 streets in subdivision. Z has lived there for years and is watch commander but doesn’t know street names? Speculation was made that Martin didn’t want to go into his home until Z was gone, due to 12 year old being there alone. Martin was fleeing from Z per Jeantel. But that isn’t close to the half of it. For example, Martin’s body was found 25-30 ft from the sidewalk. Now how did he get there in 45 seconds of struggle with Z pinned on his back, having his head slammed into sidewalk, 20 or more times per Z’s original statement? Non-stop screams abruptly ended at same instant as gunshot (not mentioned in trial, left to jury to notice?), having continued while Z was struggling to pull gun from inside pants behind his back on rt side while laying on his back. Martin allegedly had reached for gun, grabbing either gun or holster with his right hand, all while laying straddled over Z, knees on either side of Z’s chest where Z had slid down. Grab a partner and try it sometime, see if your arm can reach. There were several other major issues that were either “overlooked” or glossed over by the state, and the crime scene was processed like junior high students had been in charge. No luminol to look for blood in area, Martin’s hands were not bagged, his sweatshirt not properly bagged, coroner was an idiot, e.g. said Martin could have been stoned with trace THC of 0.15, 100-200 is considered intoxicated, acted like he’d never testified before, …………
The first hint of what was to come was when they did a toxicology screen on the murder victim but not on Zimmerman.
The verdict was reasonable given the case presented. Can’t fault the jury. The prosecution royally f—ed up. At the presser afterwards, Corey acted like they’d won. O’Mara (defense attorney) said that if Z had been black, he’d never have been charged. Yeah, sure.
Forgot to mention the bushes that Trayvon jumped out from behind and attacked George from. The bushes that had mysteriously vanished when George was later asked to retrace his steps. Yep, those bushes.
One heard about the verdict while listening to kpfa. It good source of info kpfa.org. The verdict is both expected & shocking. The murderer is honorary cracker being Latino. If the victim was Anglo-Saxon, then verdict would have been: not guilty. It shows that racism is very alive & well. Should be paying attention to Black Agenda Report. For a UK far left (actually democratic socialist) perspective read: http://socialistunity.com/trayvon-martins-killer-acquitted/. One understand there are rallies in NYC & Oakland.
Greetings,
zero
“Yeah, dude, the guy was “Hispanic”, for God’s sake!” Therefore, not a race-based killing. Oh, OK, NOW I get it. Yet another
red“brown” herring dragged in to exculpate criminal conduct using…wait for it…RACE-BASED language.People, this IS America, and deliberate murders – OK, murders in “self-defense”, will always be a feature, not a bug, of American society; It’s who you are, right? And, as these types of crimes are committed both by public agencies – the police – and now, by private citizens, why not just invest them with some sort of legislative protection, and let people just get on with it, hmmm? After all, ol’ George called it, didn’t he…”fucking punks…and assholes…always get away with it!”
What could surpass the current nightmare that the US is yet to awake from? Point the arrow in any direction – 100s of young black men have been killed in American cities since the start of the Zimmerman trial, Wall Street goes unpunished, the fraudclosure crisis is not over, 40+k homeless people in one American city alone, more people in prison and employed to build furniture than professional level jobs for those that need them – it doesn’t matter what the American people think, turn on your TV or particpiate in the online show, the script is already written. What possibly could Snowden reveal- American leadership is filled with war criminals and finance predators whose work is to prevent Democracy anywhere in the world? Will we see real videos of American bombers, say, killing hundreds of civilians in Southern Iraq months before the financial crisis? We torture, yet very few stand up.
“What could surpass the current nightmare that the US is yet to awake from?
Why, the next decade, of course. And nearly every instance of this ongoing coup and naked corruption will have someone publicly justifying it the whole way.
The US population will accept it all. We now rely on the rest of the world to upend this global massacre in process.
Israeli Subs Destroy Russian Missiles In Syria; Russia Holds Largest Post-Soviet Military Drill
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-14/israeli-german-made-subs-destroy-russian-missiles-syria-russia-holds-largest-post-so
Here’s the Times link, missing from the above post. This from USA Today seems to be the same story.
Russian state media says Netanyahu won’t confirm or deny; Syria denies.
Kayfabe? If so, whose? Everybody’s? Or “some damn thing in the Balkans” territory?
“Fast forward one week when we learn that in a perfectly unrelated event, a massive military drill involving naval forces, strategic bomber aircraft, missile-defense teams, tactical and strategic missiles, infantry, and armored vehicles took place in Russia’s far east: a perfectly unrelated exercise that just happens to have 160,000 soliders, 1,000 tanks, 130 aircraft and 70 naval vessels that has been classified as the largest of its kind in the post-Soviet period. ”
Yes, unrelated. Perfectly so. You don’t decide to hold your countries’ biggest military exercise in 2 decades with only a weeks notice.
Well urged.
The Russians got a little sand kicked their way and they decided to muscle flex a bit. Nothing much further to be expected outside of further military assistance.
A comment from that link:
“Israelis may be responding to Russian helping Syria to recently both sink an Israeli submarine and shoot down an Israeli plane – not in mainstream news
On 4 May 2013 the Syrian navy apparently sunk one of these very same Israeli submarines, a German-built Dolphin.
This past Monday, 8 July 2013, the Israelis lost an F-16 fighter plane in the Mediterranean … what is unsaid is that it was probably one of the Russian missiles in Syria that shot it down.
Much more is going on here than we can be sure of …”
No links offered to support these claims. Interesting no-the-less.
Russian-made missiles. Whether they were the property of Russia or Syria at the time is not specified, and would seem to be an important distinction. In the former case I can see Russia being annoyed. If Syria had paid already, well then, repeat business!
Report: ‘Pay-to-delay’ agreements for 20 drugs cost consumers $98B
Brand name drug companies made an estimated $98 billion in total sales of 20 drugs while the generic versions of those same drugs were delayed under what’s become know as “pay-to-delay” settlements, according to a report by MassPirg and Community Catalyst.
The two nonprofit public interest and consumer advocacy groups released a report Thursday, which says consumers have paid 10 times more on average for certain drugs because courts for years have allowed brand name drug companies to pay generic drug makers to keep low-cost versions off the market. The agreements are usually part of a settlement when a generic company tries to invalidate a patent held by branded drug company in order to put out a generic version sooner.
Two current bills in the U.S. Senate address the issue. The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act (S.214) stipulates that pay-for-delay deals should be presumed illegal and authorizes the FTC to sue companies that participate in such deals; and the FAIR Generics Act (S.504) would let a other generic drug companies enter the market if the first one takes a pay-for-delay deal.
The report highlights 20 drugs which have been the subject of such settlements. For example, Lipitor, which costs as much as $205 for a 30-day supply, is now available as a generic for $18. But in the last year alone – during which time the generic was delayed under a pay-to-delay agreement – Pfizer made $7.4 billion in sales of Lipitor.
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/bioflash/2013/07/report-pay-for-delay-agreements-for.html?page=all
In the case of Provigil, 5 different generic manufacturers, all those who expressed interest in making the drug, were paid off to delay coming on market for 5 years. Sales of provigil were $1 billion annually. Sum total payoffs $200,000 (upfront). Does S.504 provide anything new?
Bill Black: The Banks Have Blood on Their Hands
We invited Bill Black to return to explain whether the level of systemic risk due to fraud in our financial markets has improved or worsened since the dire situation he painted for us in early 2012. Sadly, it looks like abuse by the big players has only flourished since then.
In the US, our regulators have publicly embraced a “too big to prosecute” doctrine. We are restraining, underfunding and dismantling regulatory oversight in the interests of short-term stability for the status quo. Which as a criminologist, Black knows with certainty creates an environment where bad actors will act in their self-interest with assumed (and likely real, at this point) impugnity.
http://youtu.be/B4xEYSUQsZg
Summarizing David Stockman: Five years of unprecedented “Fed” [sic] QE is pure supply-side voodoo that enriches the superrich at the expense of the rest of the world (as coauthor of Reaganomics he should know.) Quelle revelation!
Steve Keen says we’re in “a bubble so big we can’t even see it”. Several analysts agree and go further, that Dr. BS Bernanke, preeminent scholar of the Great Depression, is doing exactly what the “Fed” [sic] did in the Roaring Twenties, fueling rampant leveraged speculation and create the Great Depression, ended only by activist, demand-side government. We may now be on our way to the Greatest Depression.
John Hussman:
Doug Noland:
Brandon Smith:
Dear “ambrit”:
;0( …
(sorry if a duplicate, but the first time I hit “post comment” (in the same manner as I just repeated), a window ‘opened’ displaying: “The website cannot display the page.”)
Dear diane;
I fully empathize. Systems foibles can run a person ragged. Hope to see your comment soon.
ambrit
Cute column, and the image is very NC.
Free to Advertise, Hedge Funds Search for Mascot
(by Suzanne Woolley)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-12/free-to-advertise-hedge-funds-search-for-mascot.html
I find myself increasingly stunned by the “gotcha bubbles” that pop up in otherwise useful blogging. I started using that term with respect to emptywheeling postings a few years back, but this Thoma/MMT runaway cascade looks like a textbook example. It’s just nuts.
Having finally looked at a related posting – Mitchell, linked above – I read the quote, and it appears clear to me that the writer of the NYT article – whatever its merits – is, in acceptable if somewhat amateurish prose, is effectively trying to say:
“Thoma delved into a recap of MMT for several minutes, which went over my head, and then summarized it with “nuts”. I cannot summarize or paraphrase what I do not understand and don’t give two shits about, so I’ll just quote his summary.”
Now I give two shits about Mitchell and Thoma, but is appears beyond ludicrous to describe Thoma’s grasp – or lack thereof – by misreading the pedestrian prose of a hack journalist whose article has already been dismissed by those same critics of Thoma. It looks even more inane to me to assume Thoma “delved” into MMT – papers, wikipedia, what? – on the occasion of the interview, for the first time in his career, and at the same time try to bolster the case by citing earlier dismissals of MMT by Thoma.
I completely agree that “mainstream economics” has failed to provide useful insights at many important turns of (especially recent) history, and that these failures might well be by design. I also agree that MMT, just like other alternate approaches, should be evaluated in an attempt to work towards an economics that does more than facilitate policy idiocies. But if this kind of BS is the crooked nail on which the case of MMT is to be hung, I find myself unsurprised that the Geithners and Bernankes of the world continue to be able to peddle their higher market value bullshit.
The blogosphere would gain a lot if the bulk of the commentary would make a good faith attempt to avoid inflating “worst possible” interpretations of irrelevant ornamental – or plain bad – writing to some kind of epic “reveal” or “gotcha”. Speaking of Thoma, why the hell would anyone care what he thinks of MMT? The NYT couldn’t get Krugman to diss it proper? Either way, last time I looked the Fed paid about as much attention to Krugman as they pay to Thoma, or DeLong, or Mosler. These guys aren’t even retainers. Tempest, meet teapot?
Ah well. We do it for the raisins.
From Edward Snowden, come on home, comment by klemartin
Bravo, LucyLulu! Great parody.
Melissa Harris-Perry’s best line: “I understand that you don’t want to come back. To do so would mean giving up your freedom, definitely before the trial, and likely for several months or years thereafter…”
Several MONTHS, Melissa? I have to start watching your show. You’re funny.
It is with humor like this that we will take back our society from the inherited plutocrats.
Thanks!