The Intercept has published Obama’s secret terrorist tracking system, by the numbers. We dig in. The CIA and the Senate are still fighting over the torture report.

Then we’ll examine the new groundwork for the new Cold War, and the ridiculous reactions Colorado’s neighbor states are having to Cannabis legalization.

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— Show Notes —

— The Slow Death of Privacy —

Barack Obama’s Secret Terrorist-Tracking System, by the Numbers

Of the 680,000 people caught up in the government’s Terrorist Screening Database—a watchlist of “known or suspected terrorists” that is shared with local law enforcement agencies, private contractors, and foreign governments—more than 40 percent are described by the government as having “no recognized terrorist group affiliation.” That category—280,000 people—dwarfs the number of watchlisted people suspected of ties to al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah combined.

The documents, obtained from a source in the intelligence community, also reveal that the Obama Administration has presided over an unprecedented expansion of the terrorist screening system. Since taking office, Obama has boosted the number of people on the no fly list more than ten-fold, to an all-time high of 47,000—surpassing the number of people barred from flying under George W. Bush.

“If everything is terrorism, then nothing is terrorism,” says David Gomez, a former senior FBI special agent. The watchlisting system, he adds, is “revving out of control.”

• The second-highest concentration of people designated as “known or suspected terrorists” by the government is in Dearborn, Mich.—a city of 96,000 that has the largest percentage of Arab-American residents in the country.

• The government adds names to its databases, or adds information on existing subjects, at a rate of 900 records each day.

• The CIA uses a previously unknown program, code-named Hydra, to secretly access databases maintained by foreign countries and extract data to add to the watchlists.

State Dept. ‘Torture Talking Points’ Reveal White House PR Machine Ahead of Senate Report

A State Department document obtained by the Associated Press reveals part of the Obama administration’s attempt to ready its public relations response to an upcoming Senate report on the CIA’s torture program.

The document details some of the administration’s prepared talking points to be used once a White House-approved version of the report is released.

Reportedly sent by accident via email to the AP, the State Department memo describes the report as a demonstration of American democracy, rather than as an indictment of the CIA’s torture practices. The document states that “no American is proud” of the CIA’s tactics, but that “the story” of illegal, indefinite torture and imprisonment is part of a larger message, one in which “America’s democratic system worked just as it was designed to work in bringing an end to actions inconsistent with our democratic values.” That story, the document proclaims, is one in which Americans can take pride.

The document contains a few subtle errors in its dates and phrasing. At one point, it claims that the “interrogation methods were debated in our free media, challenged in our independent courts, and, just two years after their introduction, restricted by an act of our Congress sponsored by Senator John McCain and overwhelmingly backed by members of both of our political parties.”

As investigative journalist Marcy Wheeler notes, that “act of Congress” likely refers to the Detainee Treatment Act — but that legislation was passed in 2005, almost four years after the launch of the CIA’s Retention, Detention, and Interrogation (RDI) program, not two. In addition, the RDI program has rarely been “challenged in independent courts,” as both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama regularly prevented the details of the program from coming to light by invoking the “state secrets privilege,” a rule which allows governments to hold back evidence in a legal case by claiming that disclosing the information might endanger national security.

Report: Israel tapped John Kerry’s phone when he was brokering peace talks

Israeli intelligence intercepted phone calls of US Secretary of State John Kerry while he was trying to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority earlier this year, German news magazine _Der Spiegel _reported on Sunday.

The report was confirmed by several sources in the intelligence community, according to Der Spiegel.

Both Israel and Russia Shared Kerry’s Intercepted Phone Calls Tikun-Olam Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם

Yesterday’s report, originating in Der Spiegel that Israel intercepted the telecommunications of Secretary of State John Kerry when he was in flight to the Middle East has just become a much bigger story. The reporter noted that there were two countries who eavesdropped on Kerry. But he didn’t say which country it was.

My highly-placed Israeli source tells me that the identity of that country is Russia.

While Kerry’s position on the Israel-Palestine peace talks was Israel’s number one priority, Russia’s number one priority was to learn the U.S. plans and position regarding the Ukrainian separatist movement and Russia’s involvement with it. My source had this to say:

…It’s a “fruitful ongoing joint venture” initiated by Lieberman thanks to his Moscow connections. Israel provides Russia with recordings of intercepted calls Kerry makes flying over the Middle East, and Russia provides Israel with recordings of calls he makes flying over Central Asia, the Far East & the Pacific Ocean.

The source notes this “joint venture” became extremely important for Moscow since last February — because of the Ukrainian crisis.

In this way, the spying collaboration has been fruitful for both sides.

New leaker disclosing US secrets, government concludes

Proof of the newest leak comes from national security documents that formed the basis of a news story published Tuesday by the Intercept, the news site launched by Glenn Greenwald, who also published Snowden’s leaks.

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— Cold War 2.0 —

Putin Urges Economic Retaliation for Sanctions Over Ukraine Conflict – NYTimes.com

Mr. Putin said that Russia should signal that it finds the economic sanctions offensive, but that it should do so without harming Russian consumers.

“The political tools of economic pressure are unacceptable and run counter to all norms and rules,” he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Unintended consequences: Sanctions on Russia hurt US dollar dominance — RT USA

The US dollar, the dominant global currency since 1944, may lose some of its luster due to the American-led sanctions against Russia over the turmoil in Ukraine. The greenback has been fading in favor since the global financial crisis in 2008.

The US-led sanctions against Russia may have backfired on the US
because it threatens to “hasten a move away from the dollar
that’s been stirring since the global financial crisis [in
2008],” Rachel Evans at Bloomberg wrote. In an unexpected turn of events, Hong Kong’s
central bank has bought more than $9.5 billion since the start of
July “to prevent its currency from rallying as the sanctions
stoked speculation of an influx of Russian cash,” she noted.

Germany Blocks the Delivery of Military Parts to Russia – NYTimes.com

A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Berlin would be open to expanding the existing European Union sanctions to include already signed deals. “The European Council decided what it decided,” the spokesman, Georg Streiter, told reporters on Monday.

The decision to halt the deal, estimated by the Economics Ministry to be worth 123 million euros, or about $165 million, will also put the German government under increased pressure from the country’s powerful industrial sector, which has warned that economic sanctions against Russia will hamper growth and increase unemployment.

Vladimir Putin signs historic $20bn oil deal with Iran to bypass Western sanctions

Vladimir Putin has agreed a $20bn (£11.8bn) trade deal with Iran that will see
Russia sidestep Western sanctions on its energy sector.

Under the terms of a five-year accord, Russia will help Iran organise oil
sales as well as “cooperate in the oil-gas industry, construction of power
plants, grids, supply of machinery, consumer goods and agriculture
products”, according to a statement by the Energy Ministry in Moscow.

The move is a win-win for both nations after they were hit with Western sanctions aimed at limiting their energy sectors.

Russia, India to ink $40 bn gas deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to announce a massive natural gas deal during their summit later this year, Indian media reports said Monday.

Russian and Indian officials are negotiating a $40 billion gas pipeline project from Russia to India, oil ministry officials told Indian daily Hindustan Times.

Russia will also supply 46 million tonnes of oil to China each year in the next 25 years, according to recent deals signed by President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Even as the US and EU try to isolate Russia on the Ukraine issue, Beijing and other BRICS capitals have been cementing their business ties with Moscow.

— Weed Wackers —

Since marijuana legalization, highway fatalities in Colorado are at near-historic lows – The Washington Post

Since the new Colorado law took effect in January, the “drugged driver” panic has only intensified.I’ve already written about one dubious example, in which the Colorado Highway Patrol and some local and national media perpetuated a story that a driver was high on pot when he slammed into a couple of police cars parked on an interstate exit ramp. While the driver did have some pot in his system, his blood-alcohol level was off the charts and was far more likely the cause of the accident.

As you can see, roadway fatalities this year are down from last year, and down from the 13-year average. Of the seven months so far this year, five months saw a lower fatality figure this year than last.

What’s notable here is that the totals so far in 2014 are closer to the safest composite year since 2002 than to the average year since 2002. I should also add here that these are total fatalities.

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The post Watchlist of Terror | Unfilter 109 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

New Snowden revelations show the extent of the GCHQ’s disruption of online services and communities, the Obama administration lets the CIA slide again, and the BRICS nations launch a major attack against the US Dollar.

Plus a good use of Drones, some post-legalization issues in Washington, your feedback, our follow up, and much much more!

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— Show Notes —

The Slow Death of Privacy

CIA vs Senate | Unfilter 89

After five years the Senate’s investigation into the Central Intelligence Agencies torture programs has bursted into the light when a massive fight between top Senate officials and the CIA went public in a big way.

Taking to the floor, traditionally an intelligence agency apologist, blasted the CIA we’ll break it all down.

Obama adm refuses to pursue criminal investigation of CIA spying on Senate staffers

On Thursday this week, a DOJ spokesperson confirmed to McClatchy
that the Justice Dept. won’t pursue any further its investigation
into whether Senate Intelligence Committee staffers took
classified documents from a secure facility, nor a related probe
concerning allegations that the CIA spied on those same
congressional workers.

“The department carefully reviewed the matters referred to us
and did not find sufficient evidence to warrant a criminal
investigation,” spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement
sent to the news agency.

Earlier this year in March, the CIA alleged that Senate staffers
working on a controversial, yet-to-be-published report concerning
the agency’s use of torture tactics after the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks had improperly removed classified documents
from a protected site and brought them illegally to their Capitol
Hill offices. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), the chair of
the Senate Intelligence Committee working on that report, in turn
fired back and said that the CIA has been secretly monitoring the
computer use of lawmakers and staff members involved.

During an unannounced speech on the floor of Congress that month,
Feinstein said she had “grave concerns that the CIA’s search
may well have violated the separation of powers principles
embodied in the US Constitution.”

There is_”no legitimate reason to allege to the Justice
Department that Senate staff may have committed a
crime,”Feinstein said, adding that she viewed the CIA’s
request for an investigation as a“potential effort to
intimidate this staff.”_

GCHQ’s “Chinese menu” of tools spreads disinformation across Internet

What appears to be an internal Wiki page detailing the cyber-weaponry used by the British spy agency GCHQ was published today by Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept. The page, taken from the documents obtained by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, lists dozens of tools used by GCHQ to target individuals and their computing devices, spread disinformation posing as others, and “shape” opinion and information available online.

The page had been maintained by GCHQ’s Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG) Covert Internet Technical Development team, but it fell out of use by the time Snowden copied it. Greenwald and NBC previously reported on JTRIG’s “dirty tricks” tactics for psychological operations and information warfare, and the new documents provide a hint at how those tactics were executed.

The effects tools fall into a few broad categories, including:

Denial of service and access:

• JTRIG CITD has developed its own equivalent of CryptoLocker—Swamp Donkey, a tool “that will silently locate all predefined types of file [sic] and encrypt them on a target’s machine.”
• Sunblock blocks a target from sending or receiving e-mail and viewing websites.
• Stealth Moose will “disrupt [the] target’s Windows machine.” And for the ultimate in harassment, there’s ANGRY PIRATE, “a tool that will permanently disable a target’s account on their computer.”

**Information harassment tools: **

• A tool appropriately called Badger allows GCHQ to overwhelm targets with spam e-mails “to support an Information Operations campaign.”
• Concrete Donkey “is the ability to scatter an audio message to a large number of telephones, or repeatedly bomb a target number with the same message.”
• Cannonball is a similar “bombing” tool for SMS messages, and Pitbull targets instant messaging accounts.
• For those who prefer old-school communications, Serpent’s Tongue is a fax-bomb, designed for fax broadcasting to multiple phone numbers.
• Imperial Barge can connect two target phones together in a call arbitrarily, for those times when GCHQ wants to force people to talk to each other.

Information disruption tools:

• BUMPERCAR is a system that uses complaints to YouTube and other sites about “offensive content” to “disrupt and deny Internet-based terror videos and other material.”
• Another tool, Silverlord, is used for “disruption of video-based websites hosting extremist content through concerted target discovery and content removal.”
• Silverblade is used specifically to report terrorist content on the video site Dailymotion.

Misinformation and spoofing tools.

• Underpass is used to “change outcome of online polls.”
• Slipstream and Gateway can be used to manipulate traffic to a website, inflating its page views and raising its search rank to alter perception of its popularity.
• Gestator can be used for “amplification of a given message, normally video, on popular multimedia websites (Youtube).”
• Clean Sweep allows GCHQ to “masquerade Facebook Wall Posts for individuals or entire countries.”
• Burlesque, an SMS robot, can send SMS messages spoofed from a particular user.
• Scrapheap Challenge does “perfect spoofing of e-mails from Blackberry targets.”
• Another tool, called Clumsy Beekeeper, may have been used in GCHQ’s targeting of Anonymous. It is an “IRC effects” tool that was still under development the last time the page was updated.
• Chinese Firecracker is intended to crack passwords to forums and other sites so that analysts can post under someone else’s name.

Emergency surveillance bill to be fast-tracked despite 49 MPs’ opposition | The Guardian

The bill requires internet and phone companies to store the communications data generated by phone calls, email, texts and internet use for 12 months and make it accessible to police and security services.

• Prime Minister insists police and spy agencies must retain snooping powers
• Telecoms firms must keep records of calls, texts and emails for 12 months
• The laws are intended to protect powers for GCHQ, MI5 and MI6
• Government insists it is not an extension of the Snoopers’ Charter
• Extraordinary cross-party deal between Cameron, Clegg and Miliband
• Critics condemn the ‘stitch-up’ which will see laws ‘railroaded through’

Wall Street Joins U.S. Intelligence Cronies To Form Fascist “Cyber War Council”

The man behind the push appears to be ex-NSA chief Keith Alexander, who as I reported on last month, is now: Pimping Advice to Wall Street Banks for $1 Million a Month. As I mentioned in that post, one of Mr. Alexander’s most high profile clients is Wall Street’s largest lobbying group the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Unsurprisingly, SIFMA is behind the latest push to formally merge Wall Street with the government intelligence apparatus. Mr. Alexander isn’t wasting any time.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) Concerned Banks Becoming Part of a War Council

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who has publicly questioned how Alexander could serve as a consultant without revealing any classified information, said Tuesday that Congress “needs to keep an eye on” the industry’s proposed working group.

“Because of the murky nature of cybersecurity, I am concerned that a council like this might propose either physical attacks or cyberattacks by the US military on the perceived source of the threats,” Grayson said in a statement. “This could in effect make the banks part of what would begin to look like a war council.”

Bloomberg reports that:

Wall Street’s biggest trade group has proposed a government-industry cyber war council to stave off terrorist attacks that could trigger financial panic by temporarily wiping out account balances, according to an internal document.

The proposal by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, known as Sifma, calls for a committee of executives and deputy-level representatives from at least eight U.S. agencies including the Treasury Department, the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, all led by a senior White House official.

More centralization. This is the exact opposite of what we want or need. The establishment is very worried about the trend toward decentralization, and making its move on many fronts.

The trade association also reveals in the document that Sifma has retained former NSA director Keith Alexander to “facilitate” the joint effort with the government. Alexander, in turn, has brought in Michael Chertoff, the former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and his firm, Chertoff Group.

• Banks Dreading Computer Hacks Call for Cyber War Council – Bloomberg

Why All the Snowden Docs Should Be Public: An Interview with Cryptome

Request to Involved Citizens for Accounting and Release of Snowden Docs: https://t.co/gAFKhiupfc

— Cryptome (@Cryptomeorg) July 15, 2014

Before Snowden and Wikileaks grabbed the headlines, there was Cryptome. Launched in 1996, the website, or “digital library,” as its owners John Young and Deborah Natsios describe it, is a tome of classified documents. Including everything from lists of MI6 agents to details on nuclear technology, the archive currently stands at over 71,600 files, spanning nearly two decades of disclosures.

Among those is all the available information on the Snowden files, and the duo behind the venture are adamant that the entirety of the leaked NSA documents should be dumped online, rather than strategically trickled out by journalists. Cryptome has even made vague hints that the Snowden documents may be released in full this month.

Brics countries create $100bn bank to ease western grip on global finances | Global development | theguardian.com

Brics leaders, from left: Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff, Chinese president Xi Jinping and South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma. Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev / Ria Novosti / Kremlin Pool/EPA

The Brics group comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The bank, aimed at funding infrastructure projects in developing nations, will be based in Shanghai, and India will preside over its operations for the first five years, followed by Brazil and then Russia

The bank will begin with a subscribed capital of $50bn divided equally between its five founders, with an initial total of $10bn in cash put in over seven years and $40bn in guarantees. It is scheduled to start lending in 2016 and be open to membership by other countries, but the capital share of the Brics cannot drop below 55%.

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Drone Update:

Washington to use drone to monitor wildfires

Washington state says the Federal Aviation Administration has given it authorization to use an unmanned drone to monitor wildfires that pose an urgent threat.

Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark said Tuesday that the additional “real-time information” will make things safer for firefighters.

• Drones get green light for wildfires | www.kirotv.com
• Washington to use drone to monitor wildfires | The Today File | Seattle Times
• Washington state mulls using drones to combat wildfires | Fox News
• Boeing drones approved to monitor Washington wildfires | KING5.com Seattle

Weed Wackers:

Cannabis really can trigger paranoia | theguardian.com

We recruited 121 volunteers, all of whom had taken cannabis at least once before, and all of whom reported having experienced paranoid thoughts in the previous month (which is typical of half the population). None had been diagnosed with a mental illness. The volunteers were randomly chosen to receive an intravenous 1.5mg dose of either THC (the equivalent of a strong joint) or a placebo (saline). To track the effects of these substances, we used the most extensive form of assessment yet deployed to test paranoia, including a virtual-reality scenario, a real-life social situation, self-administered questionnaires, and expert interviewer assessments.

The results were clear: THC caused paranoid thoughts. Half of those given THC experienced paranoia, compared with 30% of the placebo group: that is, one in five had an increase in paranoia that was directly attributable to the THC. (Interestingly, the placebo produced extraordinary effects in certain individuals. They were convinced they were stoned, and acted accordingly. Because at the time we didn’t know who had been given the drug, we assumed they were high too.)

Pot unwelcome on federal land in Washington

Larry Chambers, a US Forest Service spokesperson says the agency is legally required to enforce federal laws on public lands they manage, even though Washington voters legalized recreational marijuana in November 2012.

This map of Washington shows what’s federal or tribal land. The highlighted green areas represent National Parks and National Forests, where the Forest Service stresses pot is illegal. You can’t possess it or smoke it or else face a fine.

Seattle City Attorney Apologizes for Taking Pot to Work – NBC News.com

Holmes, who helped sponsor Initiative 502, which made Washington the second state to legalize sales of small amounts of recreational marijuana, showed up at Seattle’s only legal pot store Tuesday to be one of the first Seattleites to make a purchase. But while the marijuana law has changed, “the workplace rule has not changed,” Holmes said in a statement Friday. After discussions with the city’s personnel department, he said, “I have volunteered to donate $3,000 to the Downtown Emergency Service Center. I apologize to my employees, all city employees and to the public.”

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The post GCHQ, Spying on YOU! | Unfilter 106 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Recreational cannabis business opened their doors this week in Washington state, we’ll give you our local report and discuss some of the issues that aren’t getting much attention, and of course the ones that are.

Plus a big new batch of NSA revelations hit over the weekend, including Greenwald’s long awaited revelation. The two stories are important, but was Greenwald’s big story a bit of a bust? We round up the latest overreaches, violations, and lies that have been exposed in just the last week.

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The Slow Death of Privacy

German paper reports second German spy working for US | News | DW.DE | 09.07.2014

Citing its own information as well as sources from German public broadcasters WDR and NDR on Wednesday, the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reports that officials from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Agency (BKA) and the public prosecutor’s office are conducting a search in the apartment of a Berlin man. There is initial suspicion that the man is working as a spy.

The federal prosecutor’s office has confirmed that a search is under way.

The SZ reports that Wednesday’s investigation is being seen by observers as “more serious” than a different investigation that began last week. In that case, officials are
investigating a man who admitted to delivering documents to the CIA two years ago in exchange for 25,000 euros.

According to the paper, the two cases are independent of each other.

​US ‘kidnaps’ Russian MP’s son to ‘exchange him for Snowden’

Foreign Ministry outraged by #Russian citizen's detention by #US secret service in #Maldives – https://t.co/PnStTwIjWD

— MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) July 8, 2014

A Russian MP claims the US kidnapped his son from the Maldives on bogus cyber-fraud charges and may be preparing to offer him as bait in a swap deal for Edward Snowden.

Roman Seleznyov, 30, was arrested at Male international airport
as he was about to board a flight to Moscow. He was forced by US
secret service agents to board a private plane to Guam and was
later arrested. The Russian ministry slammed his detention as
“a de-facto kidnapping.”

Moscow considers the kidnapping “a new hostile move by
Washington,” and accused the US of ignoring proper procedure
in dealing with foreign nationals suspected of crimes.

“The same happened to Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, who were forced to go
to the US from third countries and convicted on dubious
charges.”

Snowden Asks Russia to Extend Asylum – NYTimes.com

Anatoly G. Kucherna, the attorney, said that he had requested from the Moscow branch of the Federal Migration Service that Mr. Snowden be permitted to remain in Russia after his initial one-year asylum expires on July 31.

“We have submitted documents for extending his stay in Russia,” Mr. Kucherna was quoted as saying by Interfax.

• Schneier on Security: NSA Targets the Privacy-Conscious for Surveillance

And, since Cory said it, I do not believe that this came from the Snowden documents. I also don’t believe the TAO catalog came from the Snowden documents. I think there’s a second leaker out there.

Wall Street Joins U.S. Intelligence Cronies To Form Fascist “Cyber War Council”

The man behind the push appears to be ex-NSA chief Keith Alexander, who as I reported on last month, is now Pimping Advice to Wall Street Banks for $1 Million a Month. As I mentioned in that post, one of Mr. Alexander’s most high profile clients is Wall Street’s largest lobbying group the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Unsurprisingly, SIFMA is behind the latest push to formally merge Wall Street with the government intelligence apparatus. Mr. Alexander isn’t wasting any time.

Bloomberg reports that:

Wall Street’s biggest trade group has proposed a government-industry cyber war council to stave off terrorist attacks that could trigger financial panic by temporarily wiping out account balances, according to an internal document.

The proposal by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, known as Sifma, calls for a committee of executives and deputy-level representatives from at least eight U.S. agencies including the Treasury Department, the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, all led by a senior White House official.

More centralization. This is the exact opposite of what we want or need. The establishment is very worried about the trend toward decentralization, and making its move on many fronts.

The trade association also reveals in the document that Sifma has retained former NSA director Keith Alexander to “facilitate” the joint effort with the government. Alexander, in turn, has brought in Michael Chertoff, the former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and his firm, Chertoff Group.

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Weed Wackers:

Marijuana shortages could have Washington stores, customers wondering: Where’s the weed?

Oliver is the chief scientist at Analytical 360 in Yakima, the only lab that has been certified to test the heavily taxed marijuana that will wind up on store shelves next month. So far, just two licensed growers have turned in samples for testing, with another due to turn in a small batch next week, he told The Associated Press on Saturday.

“There’s such a small stream of samples coming through,” he said. “There’s going to be some long lines and some high prices.”

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The post Cannabis Open for Business | Unfilter 105 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

We catch up on some stories that need our attention, then discuss the absolute hypocrisy of the Obama administration sending arms to “moderate” Syrian rebels only a week after Obama publicly said the fight was a lost cause.

Plus we’re one week out from Washington’s first pot stores opening their doors, an update on the situation in Iraq, and much more!

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— Show Notes —

The Slow Death of Privacy

Tomorrow at 9am ET, I'm doing a @reddit_AMA with @MazMHussain about our new NSA story to be published tonight at midnight on @the_intercept

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 30, 2014

Snarky Lawmaker Reminds Former NSA Chief That Selling State Secrets Is Illegal | Threat Level | WIRED

To capitalize on his recent departure from military intelligence—Alexander resigned in March following months of revelations by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden—the general is offering his security expertise to the banking industry for the fire sale price of $600,000 per month after first asking for $1 million. There are threats everywhere, Alexander warns, and “It would be devastating if one of our major banks was hit, because they’re so interconnected.”

That may be, but Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Florida) is suspicious that Alexander has anything useful to offer at that price—unless, that is, he’s peddling national security secrets.

cryptome.org counting total Snowden doc releases: 42 Years for Snowden Docs Release, Free All Now

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Back in Iraq

U.S. sending more troops to Iraq – CNN.com

The new troops will provide security for the U.S. Embassy, the Baghdad airport and other facilities in Iraq, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said.

The deployment includes “a detachment of helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, which will bolster airfield and travel route security,” Kirby said in a written statement.

The 300 troops are in addition to 300 U.S. advisers who will help to train Iraq’s security forces.

• Sunni militants declare Islamic state in Iraq and Syria | Fox News

In an audio statement posted online that coincided with the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a spokesman for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), announced that the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was the “caliph,” or leader, of a state whose territory extended from the city of Aleppo in northwestern Syria, to Diyala province in northeastern Iraq.

The spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, described al-Baghdadi as “the imam and khalifah (caliph) for the Muslims everywhere.” He also said that with the establishment of the caliphate, the group was changing its name to just the Islamic State, dropping the mention of Iraq and the Levant.

Weed Wackers:

Marijuana shortages could have Washington stores, customers wondering: Where’s the weed?

Oliver is the chief scientist at Analytical 360 in Yakima, the only lab that has been certified to test the heavily taxed marijuana that will wind up on store shelves next month. So far, just two licensed growers have turned in samples for testing, with another due to turn in a small batch next week, he told The Associated Press on Saturday.

“There’s such a small stream of samples coming through,” he said. “There’s going to be some long lines and some high prices.”

Feedback:

• Marijuana/Cannabis use under 21

• Bitmessage or other secure comm

• Chris Fisher (chrislas) | Keybase

• Secure Rig Public Key
• Bitmessage: BM-2cWRitZG3LdjgV4AjZL4Lk6aiA97VonpAu

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The post Giving Syria Guns | Unfilter 104 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Part two of Unfilter’s coverage of the return to Iraq, in this episode we examine how sending arms to the Syrian rebels empowered ISIS and their recent overtaking of a major Iraq oil facility.

Plus the Obama administration releases their memo authorizing them to assassinate American citizens with drones, but it’s what’s been redacted that counts, Greenwald hints new NSA revelations and much more!

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— Show Notes —

The Slow Death of Privacy

Microsoft’s Top Lawyer Calls On Congress To End The NSA’s “Unfettered Bulk Collection Of Data”

Smith called on Congress to “close the door on unfettered bulk collection of data” and argued for reform of the “role and nature and proceedings” of the FISA court and for the geographic limiting of warrants issued by the U.S.

Glenn Greenwald: ‘What I Tell People Who Say They Don’t Care About Their Privacy

Glenn Greenwald said people have told him over and over that government surveillance does not concern them.

“Those people don’t believe what they’re saying,” he told a sold-out audience last week at the Nourse Theater in San Francisco.

To illustrate this, every time someone would come up to Greenwald and say they didn’t mind people knowing what they were doing because they had nothing to hide, he would proceed with the same two steps: first, by giving them his email address and then by asking them to send him all their email and social media passwords — just so he could have a look.

Glenn Greenwald: ‘What I Tell People Who Say They Don’t Care About Their Privacy’ | Alternet

U.S. Court Releases Obama Administration’s ‘Drone Memo’ : The Two-Way

The judge admitted that al-Awlaki had a “plausible” case over violations of his due process but as part of the judiciary she could not step into decisions about warmaking, national security and foreign relations.

Can the President Strike an American Anywhere in the World?: Drone Memo Raises Troubling Questions

On September 30, cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan were killed in a drone strike in Yemen. Two weeks later, another U.S. drone killed Anwar’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, in Yemen. A month later, a U.S. citizen named Jude Kenan Mohammad was killed in Pakistan. For the past two-and-a-half years, the Obama administration has refused to release its legal rationale for killing American citizens overseas. That changed on Monday when a federal court released a heavily redacted 41-page memo. It concludes the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force gave the U.S. government the authority to target Anwar al-Awlaki, who the Obama administration claims had joined al-Qaeda.

cryptome.org counting total Snowden doc releases: 42 Years for Snowden Docs Release, Free All Now

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Back in Iraq

To contain ISIS, think Iraq — but also think Syria

The conflict in Iraq will not be settled any time soon. Although the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and its Sunni allies may not be about to march on Baghdad, they are continuing to expand their control over much of northern and western Iraq. The military and diplomatic steps that President Obama has ordered reflect the U.S. need to prevent ISIS from embedding itself in more of Iraq. Whether they will work, however, is another matter.

Not Worth It: Huge Majority Regret Iraq War, Exclusive Poll Shows

Just 22 percent now believe the 2003 war effort was worthwhile.

Weed Wackers:

• The Pueblo Chieftain | Washington prepares for marijuana retail sales

During Tuesday’s news conference, officials with the state Liquor Control Board, which has been overseeing the implementation of the state’s recreational marijuana law, said that they are poised to adopt emergency rules Wednesday to do three things concerning edible marijuana: require all marijuana-infused products to be labeled clearly as containing marijuana; require all products to be scored in such a way that a serving size is easily identified by the consumer; and requiring marijuana-infused products to be approved by the board before sale.

• FDA To Evaluate Marijuana For Potential Reclassification As Less Dangerous Drug

“FDA conducts for Health and Human Services a scientific and medical analysis of the drug under consideration, which is currently ongoing,” Ventura said. “HHS then recommends to DEA that the drug be placed in a given schedule. DEA considers HHS’ analysis, conducts its own assessment, and makes a final scheduling proposal in the form of a proposed rule.”

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The post Back in Iraq II | Unfilter 103 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

The blowback from Edward Snowden’s NBC interview is in full force, and the new director of the NSA shares his thoughts on Snowden.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s rescue has caused a major upset, but is his rescue a clever distraction from the VA scandal?

Plus our thoughts on some recent anti-cannabis news, follow up, and much more!

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— Show Notes —

Special Supporters Show

NSA is Crazy

Germany opens inquiry into claims NSA tapped Angela Merkel\’s phone

Germany\’s federal prosecutor has defied public expectations by opening an investigation into the alleged tapping of Angela Merkel\’s mobile phone by the US\’s National Security Agency (NSA).

Federal prosecutor Harald Range announced on Wednesday: \”I informed parliament\’s legal affairs committee that I have started a preliminary investigation over tapping of a mobile phone of the chancellor.\”

Most Americans Think Snowden Did the Right Thing, Poll Says

According to a survey commissioned by cloud storage service Tresorit.

The survey found that 55 percent of respondents think Snowden did the right thing in exposing PRISM, the mass data-mining program, while another 29 percent believe he was in the wrong, and 16 percent endorse neither statement. Of Snowden\’s supporters, 80 percent said he exposed constitutional violations.

cryptome.org counting total Snowden doc releases: 42 Years for Snowden Docs Release, Free All Now

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Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl

Here\’s some Recent Hostage Negotiations:

• After the North Koreans captured the U.S.S. Pueblo in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson apologized for spying as part of negotiations to secure the release of 83 American prisoners.

• In 1970, President Richard Nixon pressured Israel, Switzerland, West Germany and Britain to release Palestinian prisoners after two airlines were hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

• During the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 to 1981, President Jimmy Carter agreed to unfreeze $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets after more than a year of negotiations with the Iranian revolutionaries.

• In perhaps the most famous swap, after seven Americans were captured in Beirut, Lebanon, President Ronald Reagan agreed to send missiles to Iran in what became known as the Iran-Contra scandal.

• President Bill Clinton\’s administration sat down with Hamas in attempts to negotiate peace with Israel. His administration also worked directly with the Taliban nearly two decades ago on several occasions to see if the group would hand over Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders.

• Ronald Reagan, the president who really negotiated with terrorists

Iran-Contra, as you\’ll recall, almost laid waste to the Reagan presidency. Desperate to free U.S. hostages held by Iranian proxies in Lebanon, President Reagan provided weapons Tehran badly needed in its long war with Saddam Hussein (who, of course, was backed by the United States). In a clumsy and illegal attempt to skirt U.S. law, the proceeds of those sales were then funneled to the contras fighting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. And as the New York Times recalled, Reagan\’s fiasco started with an emissary bearing gifts from the Gipper himself

• Military Code Of Conduct: U.S. Govt. \”Will Use Any Practical Means To Contact, Support And Gain Release\” Of POWs.

Just as you have a responsibility to your country under the Code of Conduct, the United States government has an equal responsibility**** — ****to keep faith with you and stand by you as you fight for your country. If you are unfortunate enough to become a prisoner of war, you may rest assured that your government will care for your dependents and will never forget you. Furthermore, the government will use every practical means to contact, support and gain release for you and for all other prisoners of war.

Insane in the Ukraine:

Conflicting accounts in heightened eastern Ukraine fighting – CNN.com

A Ukrainian government spokesman claimed that more than 300 pro-Russia militants had been killed and at least 500 wounded during an ongoing Ukrainian military operation in the towns of Krasny Liman and Slovyansk.

The self-declared separatist mayor of Slovyansk, however, said only 10 separatist fighters had died and 12 were injured in the fighting.

CNN could not immediately confirm either report.

But a CNN investigation in Luhansk has found clear evidence that whatever detonations hit the building and the adjoining park came from the air. The tops of trees were splintered, and a series of small craters — about a dozen — had been blasted in a straight line, starting in the park and reaching the walls of the building, blowing out many of its windows and spraying the area with jagged shrapnel. That\’s what appears to have killed most of the victims and injured 20 more.

The pattern of the craters clearly indicated some sort of strafing, according to a munitions expert at the scene with CNN. Their size suggested 30-millimeter ordnance, he said, which is standard equipment on the Su-25, a ground attack fighter, and the Su-27 — both combat aircraft operated by Ukraine.

Obama vows to stand with Ukraine as he meets Poroshenko in Poland – CNN.com

U.S. President Barack Obama voiced his support for Ukraine\’s newly elected president and called for the international community to \”stand solidly behind\” him Wednesday, on a visit to Europe dominated by the crisis in Ukraine.

U.S. reaffirms: No weapons will go to Ukraine

State Department spokesman Jen Psaki reiterated this week that \”we\’ll continue to review their requests\” but that the U.S. policy hasn\’t changed regarding lethal weapons. When asked by a reporter here Tuesday whether the U.S. will provide such aid, Obama pointed out that during the Crimea crisis the U.S. provided non-lethal assistance.

Weed Wackers:

WSP: Driver smoked pot before pile-up that injured 8 | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

A violent Monday evening car crash on State Route 2 in Snohomish County injured eight people, including five children.

Washington State Patrol troopers said the causing driver had smoked marijuana earlier in the day and she has since been arrested.

Maureen Dowd on pot candy bar: \’I became convinced that I had died\’

In Maureen Dowd\’s latest column for the New York Times, she describes her scary experience eating a pot candy bar while reporting on legalized marijuana in Colorado.

She sat in a Denver hotel room experimenting with the legalized edible, \”nibbling\” on some of the chocolate-flavored bar.

\”For an hour, I felt nothing […] But then I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours,\” Dowd said.

She goes on to explain how her paranoia deepened, saying the high wore off \”distressingly slowly.\”

\”I had been convinced that I had died and no one was telling me,\” Dowd said.

• Colorado Sells $19 Million in Cannabis in March: $1.9 Million Goes to Schools and Crime Down 10% | The Mind Unleashed

Not counting medicinal weed sales, Colorado sold nearly $19 million in their recreational weed market in the month of March, and $1.9 million of that goes straight into government coffers and towards building schools.

• As Medical Marijuana Bill Heads To Senate, States Consider Legislation – Health – Boston.com

The legislation smoked through the Republican-dominated House with a 218-189 vote in favor of the bill Friday. The bill\’s suprising majority vote represents increasingly joint views about federal oversight of state medical marijuana laws between Democrats and Republicans. The vote also reflects public opinion. The ratio of Americans in favor of medical marijuana is high at 73 percent, according to a Pew Research study.

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The post War on Truth | Unfilter 100 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Edward Snowden has once again captured the attention of the media. False claims, and ridiculous rhetoric are in full force, and we’ll cut through the crap.

Plus: What we suspect is going on with TrueCrypt, Greenwald claims he’s ready to disclose names of the NSA’s targets, the big changes in Afghanistan, and why the director of FBI wants to hire pot smokers.

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— Show Notes —

NSA is Crazy

TrueCrypt Hacked?

• The binary on the website is capable only to decode encrypted data, not encode, and may contain trojan (although I didn\’t find any, but don\’t believe me). The binary is signed with the valid (usual) key. All old versions are wiped, the repository is wiped too.

Assumption #1 The website is presumed hacked, the keys are presumed compromised. Please do not download or run it. And please don\’t switch to bitlocker.

Latest working version is 7.1a. Version 7.2 is a hoax

• On the SourceForge, the keys were changed before any TrueCrypt files uploaded, but now they are deleted and the old keys got reverted back.

Why I think so: strange key change, DNS record changed, why bitlocker?

Assumption #2 Something bad happened to TrueCrypt developers (i.e. take down or death) or to TrueCrypt itself (i.e. found the worst vulnerability ever) which made them do such a thing. So this version is legit

Why I think so: all files are with valid signatures, all the releases are available (Windows; Linux x86, x86_64, console versions, Mac OS, sources), the binaries seems like was built on the usual developer PC (there are some paths like c:\\truecrypt-7.2\\driver\\obj_driver_release\\i386\\truecrypt.pdb, which were the same for 7.1a).

• SourceForge sent emails on 22 May, they said they changed password algorithms and everybody should change their passwords.

• TrueCrypt developers are unknown and currently there is no way to know who is who and who should we listen to.

• From wikileaks twitter https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/471769936038461440:

(1/4) Truecrypt has released an update saying that it is insecure and development has been terminated https://truecrypt.sf.net

(2/4) the style of the announcement is very odd; however we believe it is likely to be legitimate and not a simple defacement

(3/4) the new executable contains the same message and is cryptographically signed. We believe that there is either a power conflict..

(4/4) in the dev team or psychological issues, coersion of some form, or a hacker with access to site and keys.

• From Matthew Green (one of TrueCrypt auditor) twitter https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/471752508147519488:

@SteveBellovin @mattblaze @0xdaeda1a I think this is legit.

• That One Time I Threw A CryptoParty With Edward Snowden

After wrapping up my presentation, Snowden connected his laptop to the projector and began talking about using the TrueCrypt software for encrypting hard drives and USB sticks on Macs, Linux and Windows. He pointed out that while the only known name associated with TrueCrypt is someone in the Czech Republic, TrueCrypt is one of the best open-source solutions available.

Snowden continued with TrueCrypt\’s _\”hidden volumes\”, a feature that divides your encrypted storage into separate \”volumes\” with separate passwords. If you are coerced by authorities into revealing the password for your \”encrypted storage\” you need only reveal the password for the volume with the least incriminating content — one containing pictures of cats, maybe?_

The Lies Mike Rogers Told Congress About The USA Freedom Act

One of the most obvious ways that you knew the USA Freedom Act that passed out of the House yesterday was clearly not real NSA reform was the simple fact that the NSA #1 defender in chief, Rep. Mike Rogers, not only voted for it, but spoke strongly in favor of it on the House floor.

• NSA leaker Edward Snowden \’was trained as a spy,\’ he tells NBC

\”I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word — in that I lived and worked undercover, overseas, pretending to work in a job that I\’m not — and even being assigned a name that was not mine,\” Snowden said.

Kerry: Snowden a \”Coward\” and \”Traitor\” ](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/kerry-snowden-coward-traitor-n116366)

“Edward Snowden is a coward, he is a traitor and he has betrayed his country,” Kerry said in an interview on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” with Chuck Todd. “And if he wants to come home tomorrow to face the music, he can do so.”

\”If this man is a patriot, he should stay in the United States and make his case,\” he said. \”Patriots don\’t go to Russia, they don\’t seek asylum in Cuba, they don\’t seek asylum in Venezuela, they fight their cause here.\”

cryptome.org counting total Snowden doc releases: 42 Years for Snowden Docs Release, Free All Now

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Afghanistan Late Pullout

White House mistakenly identifies CIA chief in Afghanistan

The CIA\’s top officer in Kabul was exposed Saturday by the White House when his name was inadvertently included on a list provided to news organizations of senior U.S. officials participating in President Obama\’s surprise visit with U.S. troops.

The Post is withholding the name of the CIA officer at the request of Obama administration officials who warned that the officer and his family could be at risk if the name were published. The CIA and the White House declined to comment.

White House: U.S. will have 9,800 troops in Afghanistan after 2014

The U.S. will leave 9,800 troops in the country in 2015 with two narrow missions, according to the White House: continue supporting Afghan forces, who took the lead ins securing the country last year, and continuing to support counter terrorism operations against the remnants of al Qaeda.

Weed Wackers:

Comey: FBI ‘Grappling’ With Hiring Policy Concerning Marijuana

Congress has authorized the FBI to add 2,000 personnel to its rolls this year, and many of those new recruits will be assigned to tackle cyber crimes, a growing priority for the agency. And that\’s a problem, Mr. Comey told the White Collar Crime Institute, an annual conference held at the New York City Bar Association in Manhattan. A lot of the nation\’s top computer programmers and hacking gurus are also fond of marijuana.

\”I have to hire a great work force to compete with those cyber criminals and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview,\” Mr. Comey said.

Mr. Comey said that the agency was \”grappling with the question right now\” of how to amend the agency\’s marijuana policies, which excludes from consideration anyone who has smoked marijuana in the previous three years, according to the FBI\’s Web site. One conference goer asked Mr. Comey about a friend who had shied away from applying because of the policy. \”He should go ahead and apply,\” despite the marijuana use, Mr. Comey said.

The FBI Says It Can\’t Find Hackers to Hire Because They All Smoke Pot

After being chastised for his comments about marijuana by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), FBI director Comey told those in attendance at a senate hearing on the bureau\’s oversight that he was just kidding.

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The post Snowdens Story | Unfilter 99 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

The release of Glenn Greenwald’s new book has brought a wave of new NSA revelations. We’ll focuses in on the major ones, and discuss the broader context of these revelations.

Then all sides of the Ukraine conflict turn to dirty tactics, Colorado has a solution to their Cannabis banking problem, and much more!

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— Show Notes —

NSA is Crazy

• ‘No Place to Hide’ by Glenn Greenwald, on the NSA’s sweeping efforts to ‘Know it All’

In one remarkable slide presented at a 2011 meeting of five nations\’ intelligence agencies and revealed here for the first time, the NSA described its \”collection posture\” as \”Collect it All,\” \”Process it All,\” \”Exploit it All,\” \”Partner it All,\” \”Sniff it All\” and, ultimately, \”Know it All.\”

In a one-month period last year, for example, a single unit of the NSA, the Global Access Operations unit, collected data on more than 97 billion e-mails and 124 billion phone calls from around the world; more than 3 billion of those calls and e-mails were collected as they passed through the United States. As of 2012, the agency was processing more than 20 billion telecommunications per day. In a single month in 2011, the NSA collected 71 million calls and e-mails from Poland alone

The NSA achieves these ends by working hand in hand with private telecommunications and Internet service providers.

One NSA document describes an unnamed corporate partner as “aggressively involved in shaping traffic to run signals of interest past our monitors” and reports that in a single month, this top-secret, public-private partnership yielded more than 6 billion records of telephone calls and Internet activity.

Other documents describe X-KEYSCORE, the NSA’s most powerful tool, which, as its name implies, enables the agency to track every keystroke on a computer, permitting the agency to monitor in real time all of a user’s e-mail, social-media and Web-browsing activity. In a single month in 2012, X-KEYSCORE collected 41 billion records for one NSA unit. Greenwald contends that this is the program Snowden was referring to when he said that, with an e-mail address, he could tap into any American’s communications.

He notes that the NSA collects data not only for counterterrorism purposes but for economic and diplomatic advantage.

NSA Docs Detail Efforts To Collect Data From Microsoft’s Skype, SkyDrive, And Outlook.com

Greenwald published a set of documents, some of which were not new and some that were. Inside the set were four slides detailing the NSA\’s relationship with Microsoft, as well as the company\’s work with the FBI to provide for quicker and easier deliverance of required files and the like

PDF of New Slides from Greenwald’s new Book

Sony Pictures Buys Film Rights to Book on Snowden

Sony said on Wednesday that it had acquired rights to Mr. Greenwald\’s book, \”No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the U. S. Surveillance State,\” for the producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. Mr. Wilson and Ms. Broccoli are known for their work on James Bond films like \”Skyfall\” and \”Quantum of Solace,\” both of which were released by Sony and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Orwellian threats caused the New York Times to spike a story on NSA spying way back in 2004

Working with New York Times reporter James Risen to make the story public. But Risen\’s editors decided to run the story by the government. They wanted to get the government\’s take, before the Times revealed \”The Program.\” Kirk says top White House officials made three arguments to Times editors, in trying to convince them not to run the story.

1. It\’s completely legal.

2. It\’s a vulnerable secret. If you reveal it, hundreds of thousands of Americans may die in a future attack.

3. It\’s working. You wouldn\’t believe the threats we\’re stopping.

Former Editor Bill Keller spiked the story, outraging Risen.

Edward Snowden makes video explaining how to avoid NSA tracking emails

Mr Snowden made the video last year for Glenn Greenwald in an effort to get the then-Guardian reporter to communicate securely with him online so he could send over documents he wanted to leak.

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Ukraine

Russia says open to talks if Ukraine pays off some gas debt

Russia will restart gas talks with Ukraine if its new leaders pay off at least part of its gas debt, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday, softening Moscow\’s stance in a dispute that has raised fears of a new \”gas war\”.

Ukraine Stops Water Supply to Crimea

\”The North Crimean canal is currently operating in a mode that has been adjusted to meet the needs of the Kherson Oblast\’s water users due to the absence of constructive proposals to establish contractual relations for providing the Autonomous Republic of Crimea with water resources for domestic water supply and irrigation,\” said the statement of May 8.

Nuland has tough time justifying US involvement in Ukraine

During a two hour House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, the US
Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland shared her assessment of the US role in Ukraine\’s crisis
and the upcoming presidential election.

• Washington is offering \”financial, technical and
  non-lethal security assistance\” for the May 25 election.

\”In addition to $92 million in FY2013 State/USAID funds and
$86 million in FY2014 funds, we are providing an additional $50
million in technical assistance and the $1 billion dollar loan
guarantee under the authority passed by Congress on April
1st.\”

The US electoral assistance includes \”$11 million for
non-partisan election activities, including efforts to support
voter education and civic participation\” as well as
participation as observers in the upcoming poll.

\”In addition to the 100 OSCE observers we are sending, the
United States is supporting 255 long-term observers and over 3300
short-term observers,\” Nuland said.

Financial aid also involves \”$18 million in non-lethal
security assistance to the Ukrainian armed forces and
State Border Guard Service to enable them to fulfill their core
missions.\”

Biden son’s appointment to Ukraine gas company raises no conflict of interest, White House says

The White House on Tuesday brushed aside questions about whether the involvement of Vice President Joe Biden\’s son in a Ukrainian natural gas company raised ethical issues at a time when the administration is promoting energy diversity in the country.

Weed Wackers:

John Mica, fake joint roll into pot hearing

The subcommittee hearing came in response to the Washington D.C. Council\’s recently passed bill that would decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. The new law won\’t take effect until Congress — which ultimately has oversight over D.C.\’s laws — finishes its review.

With regular banks wary of pot, Colorado lawmakers okay special bank for marijuana trade

They approved a plan to setup a network of uninsured cooperatives that would offer basic banking services to pot businesses.

The so-called \”cannabis credit co-ops\” would function like credit unions, allowing licensed marijuana businesses to pool resources, have checking accounts and take out loans. The co-ops would be able to make investments on behalf of their members in municipal bonds and other securities.

• Bank of America Will Accept Washington State Marijuana Revenue

Bank of America declares it is willing to accommodate new marijuana related businesses, according to Jim McIntire, Treasurer for the state of Washington. \”I mean, in fact, we\’re already taking some tax revenues, I believe, for medical marijuana. So it\’s not a real issue in terms of their perception.\”

3 Months Since Legalizing Marijuana, Here\’s What Colorado Looks Like

The state\’s Department of Revenue reports that marijuana retailers sold nearly $19 million in recreational weed in March, up from $14 million in February. The first three months of legal weed have netted about $7.3 million in taxes, not including medical marijuana sales taxes and licenses, which bring the number to $12.6 million.

Retail marijuana sales taxes brought in $1.4 million in January, $1.43 million in February and now $1.898 million in March — a clear upward trajectory. And total marijuana tax transfers and distributions went from $2.927 million in January to $4.077 million in March.
the up-trending numbers indicate that initial sales weren\’t simply the result of \”new-toy\” excitement wherein everyone was buying pot just because they could.

Over the same time period, crime in Denver has slightly declined, making opponents who said it would result in more trafficking seem kind of silly. It\’s created a modest number of jobs ranging from \”budtending\” and marijuana journalism to farm labor and ownership.
Legal cannabis sales in the United States are projected to reach as high as $2.57 billion this year, split among the 21 states that allow the sale of some form of marijuana. That\’s up from $1.53 billion a year ago.

The Colorado legislature has already formed a plan to spend $33 million of the marijuana taxes on school nurses and public education on marijuana. Even Colorado cops plan to get a chunk of the new revenue, asking for 10-15% of the proceeds for DUI enforcement and fighting diversion to other states and unlicensed sales.

The bulk of sales, however, continue to be in medical marijuana, which has been legal in Colorado since 2000 and recorded $35 million in sales in March. However, since recreational weed is more heavily taxed, it could still rapidly outpace medical marijuana in total tax dollars.

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The post NSA: Collect it All! | Unfilter 97 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

On Monday a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate American’s rights. A Federal Judge ruled that the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans phone records almost certainly violates the protections of the 4th Amendment against unreasonable search.

Timed like an Amazon Cyber Monday ad, 60 Minutes attempts the boldest white wash of the facts and lies surrounding the NSA spying yet.

Plus it’s your feedback, or follow up, and much much more.

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— Show Notes —

CBS Whitewashes the NSA

• CBS Airs NSA Propaganda Informercial Masquerading As ‘Hard Hitting’ 60 Minutes Journalism By Reporter With Massive Conflict Of Interest

The reporting was conducted by John Miller, a former intelligence community official (who worked for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the NSA) in a spokesperson role and a variety of historical roles in the intelligence community. While he does “disclose” the ODNI role upfront (but not the others), he left out that he’s about to be hired in an intelligence role for the NYPD, a deal that has been described as “a 99.44 percent done deal.”

• How we know the 60 Minutes NSA BIOS Plot Attack was crap

Stripped of techie talk, this passage simply says “The NSA foiled a major plot, trust us.” But of course, there is no reason we should trust them. It’s like how the number of terrorist plots foiled by telephone eavesdropping started at 50 then was reduced to 12 then to 2 and then to 0, as the NSA was forced to justify their claims under oath instead of in front of news cameras.

• 60 Minutes Contiunes Edward Snowden Charecter Assanstation

The interview also featured an extensive attempt by NSA agents to discredit former contractor Edward Snowden. Snowden, who leaked documents this year revealing the extent of the telephone-records program and other efforts like PRISM, was described by CBS’ John Miller as a “20-something-year-old high school dropout contractor.” Discussing the NSA’s visit to Snowden’s former Hawaii home, Rick Ledgett, the agency’s head of an Edward Snowden task force, said he “couldn’t bring himself” to sit in Snowden’s chair.

Alexander went a step further, comparing Snowden to a murderer. “This is analogous to a hostage taker taking 50 people hostage, shooting 10 and then say, ‘if you give me full amnesty I’ll let the other 40 go.’”

• NSA goes on 60 Minutes: the definitive facts behind CBS’s flawed report

Our take on five things the spy agency would like the public to believe about its vast surveillance powers

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”It’s Surely Orwellian”

• Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the information had helped to head off terrorist attacks.

• As Judge Rules NSA Surveillance “Almost Orwellian,” Obama Prepares to Leave Spying Program Intact

Judge Leon was appointed to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush in 2002. Leon suspended enforcement of his injunction against the program pending an expected appeal by the government. The lawsuit was brought by conservative attorney Larry Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch, and based on information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

• Larry Klayman: the Tea Party ‘gadfly’ who took on the NSA

• Tea Party activist was plaintiff in landmark case against NSA
• Notoriously litigious, he sued Clinton administration 18 times
• Klayman is a former prosecutor for the US Justice Department
• Larry Klayman in his own words: why I challenged the NSA in court

• Klayman brought the case on behalf of Charles Strange

Klayman brought the case on behalf of Charles Strange, the father of Michael Strange, a cryptologist technician for the NSA and a support personnel member of Navy SEAL Team 6.

Michael Strange was killed in Afghanistan when his helicopter was shot down in 2011.

Charles Strange, as a subscriber of Verizon Wireless, brought the case against the NSA, Department of Justice and several U.S. officials, including President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.

• Lawyer who won ruling against NSA claims the government has been harassing him

“I think they are messing with me,” Klayman told the
court, according to Judge Leon’s memorandum from Monday.

Klayman told the court that “he and his clients had received
inexplicable text message and emails, not to mention a disk
containing a spyware program,” Leon wrote

NSA is CRAZY

• NSA review panel releases findings on US surveillance practices – live | World news | theguardian.com

"Finally, we cannot discount the risk, in light of the lessons of our own history, that at some point in the future, high-level government officials will decide that this massive database of extraordinarily sensitive private information is there for the plucking. Americans must never make the mistake of wholly “trusting” our public officials."

• NSA shouldn’t keep phone database, review board recommends

The recommendation that the NSA no longer keep the phone database — estimated by some former officials to contain more than 1 trillion records — is among a set of sweeping technical reforms aimed at restoring public confidence in the spying apparatus, said individuals briefed on its contents.

The 200-page report’s 40-plus recommendations, also include barring NSA from asking companies to build “backdoors” into their software so that the government may gain access to encrypted communications. The NSA would also be prevented from undermining global encryption standards and prohibited from stockpiling “zero day” hacking tools that can be used to penetrate computer systems, and in some cases, damage or destroy them, according to the individuals, who were not authorized to speak on the record.

“I have significant doubts about the efficacy of the metadata collection program as a means of conducting time-sensitive investigations in cases involving imminent threats of terrorism,” Leon wrote. “The government does not cite a single instance in which analysis of the NSA’s bulk metadata collection actually stopped an imminent attack, or otherwise aided the Government in achieving any objective that was time-sensitive in nature.”

• Ed Snowden Sends Open Letter To Brazil… Which The Press Blatantly Misrepresents

Reading the actual letter, that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. While he does mention that without being granted political asylum, the US government “will continue to interfere with my ability to speak,” there does not appear to be any quid pro quo setup, in which he’s asking for asylum. He’s just laying out the situation.

• ‘NSA’s goal is elimination of privacy worldwide’ – Greenwald to EU (FULL SPEECH)

The NSA’s ultimate goal is to destroy individual privacy worldwide, working with its UK sidekick GCHQ, journalist Glenn Greenwald warned an EU inquiry, adding that they were far ahead of their rivals in their “ability to destroy privacy.”

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The post CBS: The NSA Network | Unfilter 79 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Dianne Feinstein and Mike Rogers the supposed chief overseers of the the US intelligence war machine held a joint interview over the weekend that gives us new insights into the rampant paranoia and circular logic that dominates their thinking and enables them to justify the spying of the world’s connected population. We’ll bust their talking points and focus on their real motivations.

But first: The editor of The Guardian was grilled by politicians and his patriotism called into question. Meanwhile Greenwald takes to the air to defend their reporting on the Snowden leaks.

Then it’s Amazon’s drones, your feedback, our follow up, and much much more.

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— Show Notes —

Amazon’s Cyber Monday Ad

• Amazon Drones: Amazon Unveils Futuristic Delivery Plan – CBS News – CBS News

60 Minutes associate producer Nathalie Sommer says even Bezos built up the surprise during breaks in filming the 60 Minutes segment. During a tape change, Bezos told the producers, “If you can guess what it is, then…I will give you half my fortune and send you to Vegas with it.”

• Here’s why Amazon drones may never land at your door | PCWorld

The 10-mile delivery radius for the drones shown in the Amazon video seems quite literally a stretch, according to Colin Guinn CEO of DJI Innovations, a Texas based company that makes unmanned aerial cinematography systems for commercial and recreational use.

“The [Amazon] video is by far the most fleshed out proof of concept yet,” Guinn said. “But with the system they showed, a 20-mile round trip on a single charge isn’t possible with today’s technology.”

He said that the system Amazon presented would carry a five-pound payload for a maximum flight time of about 15 to 20 minutes. “That would amount to maybe about a five-mile delivery radius,” he said, adding that a 10-mile radius might be possible in about a year from now.

• Why Amazon’s appearance on 60 Minutes was more about Cyber Monday than Prime Air drones. — Gavin Donovan

As you can see, tweets for “Amazon” increased by 180% between Saturday (11/30) and Sunday (12/1). Their 60 minutes appearance was a great tool for getting people to talk about Jeff Bezos, Amazon and their drones. Of course, Amazon hopes that this increase in conversations will influence people to visit Amazon.com.

• The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon Audiobook

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BSQROSUAQASU7BEKURP73ULWOGABSQOZ6

• Zucker plans massive change at CNN

“The goal for the next six months, is that we need more shows and less newscasts.”

He wants the network to attract “viewers who are watching places like Discovery and History and Nat Geo and A&E.”

NSA is CRAZY

• NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show – The Washington Post

The NSA does not target Americans’ location data by design, but the agency acquires a substantial amount of information on the whereabouts of domestic cellphones “incidentally,” a legal term that connotes a foreseeable but not deliberate result.

One senior collection manager, speaking on condition of anonymity but with permission from the NSA, said “we are getting vast volumes” of location data from around the world by tapping into the cables that connect mobile networks globally and that serve U.S. cellphones as well as foreign ones. Additionally, data are often collected from the tens of millions of Americans who travel abroad with their cellphones every year.

• How the NSA is tracking people right now

• Guardian will not be intimidated over NSA leaks, Alan Rusbridger tells MPs | World news | theguardian.com

In one curious exchange, the committee chair, Keith Vaz, asked Rusbridger if he loved his country.

“I’m slightly surprised to be asked the question,” replied Rusbridger. "But, yes, we are patriots and one of the things we are patriotic about is the nature of democracy, the nature of a free press and the fact that one can in this country discuss and report these things.

• UK Parliament Makes A Mockery Of Itself Interrogating Guardian Editor

• Feinstein and Rogers say terrorism threat to US is increasing | World news | theguardian.com

Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representative Mike Rogers appeared together on CNN’s State of the Union, on the day that al-Qaida’s US spokesperson called for attacks on US interests around the world. Rogers said al-Qaida groups had changed their means of communication as a result of leaks about US surveillance programs, making it harder to detect potential plots in the early planning stages.

“We’re fighting amongst ourselves here in this country about the role of our intelligence community that it is having an impact on our ability to stop what is a growing number of threats,” he said. “And so we’ve got to shake ourselves out of this pretty soon and understand that our intelligence services are not the bad guys.”

Feinstein, a California Democrat, said there were more terrorist groups than ever, with more sophisticated and hard-to-detect bombs. She said: “There is huge malevolence out there.”

• Death and the NSA: Motherboard Meets Bruce Schneier

I asked him about the NSA disclosure that bothered him most. He described how, in the name of defending the country, the hackers of the NSA are committing a cardinal digital sin: weakening the Internet by targeting cryptography and other security measures that make the Internet secure for the bad guys and for everyone else too.

The Season of Weed

• The War on Marijuana in Black and White: Report | American Civil Liberties Union

OVER-POLICING

Between 2001 and 2010, there were over 8 million pot arrests in the U.S. That’s one bust every 37 seconds and hundreds of thousands ensnared in the criminal justice system.

WASTED TIME AND MONEY

Enforcing marijuana laws costs us about $3.6 billion a year, yet the War on Marijuana has failed to diminish the use or availability of marijuana.

STAGGERING RACIAL BIAS

Marijuana use is roughly equal among Blacks and whites, yet Blacks are 3.73 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.

• Mom Recounts Using Medical Marijuana To Treat Her Son’s Epilepsy (VIDEO)

Mom Recounts Using Medical Marijuana To Treat Her Son’s Epilepsy: He went 48 hours without a seizure immediately. Within three days he was pumping his legs on the swings, which is something I had tried to teach him for seven years…tomorrow he’ll be 14 months seizure-free."

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The post The NSA Justification | Unfilter 77 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

While Obama signals that surveillance reforms could be on the way, the heads of national spying apparatus took to the hill to defend their spying on world leaders, claiming it’s no big deal, everyone does it. But the strong reactions around the world and embarrassing verbal gymnastics of the Obama administration seem to be evidence it’s a huge deal.

Then a major revelations in how the NSA collections data directly from Google and Yahoo’s data centers, the big money getting into the GMO labeling fight.

Plus your feedback, our follow up, and much much more.

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— Show Notes —

PRISM Follow up

• NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say – The Washington Post

By tapping those links, the agency has positioned itself to collect at will from among hundreds of millions of user accounts, many of them belonging to Americans. The NSA does not keep everything it collects, but it keeps a lot.

According to a top secret accounting dated Jan. 9, 2013, NSA’s acquisitions directorate sends millions of records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data warehouses at the agency’s Fort Meade headquarters. In the preceding 30 days, the report said, field collectors had processed and sent back 181,280,466 new records — ranging from “metadata,” which would indicate who sent or received e-mails and when, to content such as text, audio and video.

In a statement, Google said it was “troubled by allegations of the government intercepting traffic between our data centers, and we are not aware of this activity.”

• Google Boosting Encryption Between Data Centers | September 9th, 2013

Google has accelerated an initiative to encrypt data moving between its data centers, citing growing concerns about privacy and data security amid ongoing revelations about the code-breaking capabilities of the NSA and other global security agencies.

The Post writes: “Google officials declined to provide details on the cost of its new encryption efforts, the numbers of data centers involved, or the exact technology used. Officials did say that it will be what experts call ‘end-to-end,’ meaning that both the servers in the data centers and the information on the fiber-optic lines connecting them will be encrypted using ‘very strong’ technology. The project is expected to be completed soon, months ahead of the original schedule.”

• NSA fires back at Washington Post report

Asked about the story, Gen. Keith Alexander, the agency’s leader, said earlier Wednesday he was unaware of it — adding the NSA is “not authorized” to access companies data centers and instead must “go through a court process” to obtain such content.

• As Europe erupts over US spying, NSA chief says government must stop media | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | theguardian.com

the NSA’s director, General Keith Alexander, actually demanded Thursday that the reporting being done by newspapers around the world on this secret surveillance system be halted (

• NSA Director On Cybersecurity – YouTube

Jessica L. Tozer sits down with NSA Director and CYCOM Commander General Keith Alexander to get the story straight about the National Security Agency’s most criticized foreign intelligence and cybersecurity programs.

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NSA is CRAZY

• Barack Obama ‘approved tapping Angela Merkel’s phone 3 years ago’ – Telegraph

The president allegedly allowed US intelligence to listen to calls from the German
Chancellor’s mobile phone after he was briefed on the operation by Keith
Alexander, director of the National Security Agency (NSA), in 2010.

The latest claim, reported in the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, followed
reports in Der Spiegel that the surveillance of Mrs Merkel’s phone began as
long ago as 2002, when she was still the opposition leader, three
years before being elected Chancellor. That monitoring only ended in the
weeks before Mr Obama visited Berlin in June this year, the magazine added.

• Cover Story: How NSA Spied on Merkel Cell Phone from Berlin Embassy – SPIEGEL ONLINE

According to SPIEGEL research, United States intelligence agencies have not only targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone, but they have also used the American Embassy in Berlin as a listening station. The revelations now pose a serious threat to German-American relations.

• Spain summons US ambassador over claim NSA tracked 60m calls a month | World news | theguardian.com

The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has summoned the US ambassador to explain the latest revelations to emerge from the files leaked by Edward Snowden, which suggest the National Security Agency tracked more than 60m phone calls in Spain in the space of a month.

• ‘We’re Really Screwed Now’: NSA’s Best Friend Just Shivved The Spies | The Cable

In a pointed statement issued today, Senate Intelligence
Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein said she was “totally opposed” to gathering
intelligence on foreign leaders and said it was “a big problem” if President
Obama didn’t know the NSA was monitoring the phone calls of German Chancellor
Angela Merkel.

• The USA Freedom Act – Jim Sensenbrenner’s NSA reform bill | World news | theguardian.com

The bill introduced by the Republican author of the Patriot Act aims to end bulk metadata collection, order greater transparency in intelligence gathering and close foreign loopholes

• Germans want to interrogate Snowden – The Local

“The service Edward Snowden has done for the disclosure of the NSA spying methods are undeniable. Germany should, together with other European states, seriously look into whether it is possible to take Snowden in,” Lars Klingbeil, SPD internet policy spokesman told Handelsblatt over the weekend.

Royal Phone Hacking

• Top Murdoch editors oversaw royal phone hacking, court says – World News

Two of Rupert Murdoch’s top editors, Rebekah Brooks and Andrew Coulson oversaw a system of phone hacking and illegal payments to officials when they ran the now-defunct News of the World tabloid, a London court heard Wednesday.

Oh no… GMO?

• Monsanto dumps another $540,000 into Wash. food labeling fight | KING5.com Seattle

Biotechnology giant Monsanto Co. on Monday dumped another $540,000 to fight a Washington state ballot measure requiring genetically engineered foods be labeled.

• Big Food Is Quietly Spending Millions To Prevent GMO Labeling In The U.S

Food companies including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Campbell Soup, and Hershey already sell GMO-labeled products in some of the 60-plus other countries around that world that require it, but have fought hard to avoid putting the same information on drinks and snacks in the U.S., their biggest and most lucrative market. So far, it’s worked: Deep pockets and effective lobbying through the GMA, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, have helped stall or defeat both state-by-state legislation and a nationwide FDA ruling to require labeling.

• Food giants pour millions into defeating Washington GMO label measure – Yahoo Finance

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), which
represents more than 300 food and beverage companies, has put
roughly $11 million into fighting the measure, or roughly half
of the nearly $22 million raised by opponents of labeling,
according to Washington Public Disclosure Commission figures as
of Tuesday.

That far outstrips the roughly $6.8 million raised by
supporters of the labeling initiative, according to the
Commission.

“They are making this the most expensive race and are
desperately adding last-minute money to try and buy this
election,” said Liz Larter, spokeswoman for “Yes on 522”
campaign, a reference to the ballot measure’s number.

• Monsanto and Pepsi trying to stop GMO labeling law in Washington state

Regardless of the reason, the race has certainly tightened. In
September, one poll showed support for labeling up by a
staggering 45 percent. Two recent polls tell a much different
story, though: Supporters are still leading, but by much smaller
margins. One poll showed them ahead 45 to 38 percent, while the
other indicated an even slimmer advantage of 46 to 42 percent.

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• Revealed: NSA pushed 9/11 as key ‘sound bite’ to justify surveillance

• Revealed: NSA pushed 9/11 as key ‘sound bite’ to justify surveillance

The document – obtained by Al Jazeera through a Freedom of Information Act request – contains talking points and suggested statements for NSA officials (PDF) responding to the fallout from media revelations that originated with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Invoking the events of 9/11 to justify the controversial NSA programs, which have caused major diplomatic fallout around the world, was the top item on the talking points agency officials were encouraged to use.

Under the sub-heading, “Sound Bites that Resonate,” the document suggests the statement: “I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent.”

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The post NSA vs The World | Unfilter 73 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

The United States of America is licking her wounds from another self-inflicted crisis. While lawmakers pretend to save the day with a last minute deal, we’ll discuss the big picture and ask if real long term damage has been done.

Then: 7 High Ranking Military Officers have been Fired By Obama, a first in US History. One thing they all have in common is their combat roles. We’ll dig into the conspiracy bacon exploding all over the net.

Plus our follow up, your feedback, and much much more.

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NSA is CRAZY

• WikiLeaks releases video of Snowden in Moscow – YouTube

Video of NSA leaker Edward Snowden surfaced late Friday. Snowden was last seen on video back in June, when he appears on camera for The Guardian discussing the reasons for releasing the details of the NSA’s surveillance programs. Since then, Snowden received asylum in Russia and just recently was awarded the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence award.

• NSA Collects Email Contact Lists, Instant Messaging Chat Buddy Lists From Overseas With No Oversight At All | Techdirt

The Washington Post is out with the latest revelations from the Snowden leaks and it shows that the NSA relies on foreign telcos and “allied” intelligence agencies to scoop up data on email contact lists and instant messaging buddy lists to help build its giant database of connections.

And here’s the big problem: because all of this information is collected overseas, rather than at home, it’s not subject to “oversight” (and I use that term loosely) by the FISA court or Congress. Those two only cover oversight for domestic intelligence. The fact that the NSA can scoop up all this data overseas is just a bonus.

• Even Senate Intelligence Committee Admits That NSA Oversight Is Often A Game Of 20 Questions | Techdirt

The latest revelations about the NSA’s collection of buddy lists and email address books pointed out that those issues weren’t covered by Congressional oversight, since they happened overseas. When the Washington Post questions Feinstein’s office about this, a senior staffer seemed unconcerned, mentioning that perhaps they should be asking questions about it

• Snowden leaks: David Cameron urges committee to investigate Guardian | World news | theguardian.com

David Cameron has encouraged a Commons select committee to investigate whether the Guardian has broken the law or damaged national security by publishing secrets leaked by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

• Glenn Greenwald Leaves the Guardian To Start His Own Site

“Glenn Greenwald, the thorn in the proverbial back of NSA and its colonial cousin GCHQ is leaving the Guardian to start his own news organization. Greenwald said ‘My partnership with the Guardian has been extremely fruitful and fulfilling: I have high regard for the editors and journalists with whom I worked and am incredibly proud of what we achieved. The decision to leave was not an easy one, but I was presented with a once-in-a-career dream journalistic opportunity that no journalist could possibly decline. Because this news leaked before we were prepared to announce it, I’m not yet able to provide any details of this momentous new venture, but it will be unveiled very shortly.’”

• Jeremy Scahill, Laura Poitras Teaming Up With Glenn Greenwald On New Media Venture

Journalists Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras will be working with Glenn Greenwald on a new media venture funded by billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, according to sources familiar with the matter.

• Pierre Omidyar – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm dedicated to harnessing the power of markets to create opportunity for people to improve their lives. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, the organization invests in and helps scale innovative organizations to catalyze economic, social, and political change. To date, Omidyar Network has committed more than $270 million to for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations that foster economic advancement and encourage individual participation across multiple investment areas, including property rights, government transparency, and social media.

• U.S. eavesdropping agency chief, top deputy expected to depart soon | Reuters

Army General Keith Alexander’s eight-year tenure was rocked this year by revelations contained in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about the agency’s widespread scooping up of telephone, email and social-media data.

Alexander has formalized plans to leave by next March or April, while his civilian deputy, John “Chris” Inglis, is due to retire by year’s end, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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• Report: Pundits Who Urged Strikes on Syria Failed to Disclose Ties to Military Industry | Democracy Now!

The report identifies 22 commentators with industry ties that suggest a financial interest in war. While they appeared on television or were quoted as experts 111 times, their links to military firms were disclosed only 13 of those times.

• Conflicts of interest in the Syria debate | Public Accountability Initiative

The following report documents the industry ties of Hadley, 21 other media commentators, and seven think tanks that participated in the media debate around Syria. Like Hadley, these individuals and organizations have strong ties to defense contractors and other defense- and foreign policy-focused firms with a vested interest in the Syria debate, but they were presented to their audiences with a veneer of expertise and independence, as former military officials, retired diplomats, and independent think tanks.

Shutdown Showdown

• Senate Leaders’ Agreement Extends Debt Limit to Feb. 7 but House Fate Murky – ABC News

Senate leaders have reached an agreement on a compromise that would fund the government until Jan. 15 and extend the debt limit until Feb. 7.

• Sen. Cruz: Senate budget deal provides ‘no relief’ | Fox News Video

• Pete King calls for a Republican war on Ted Cruz

“I think it’s important for people in the Republican Party around the country not to just come in at the end and say, ‘Congress was dysfunctional,’ or ‘Congress screwed up.’ That’s too easy to do,” King said. “Say who it was. Because it wasn’t Congress. It was one person who was able to steamroll Congress and unless we target him for what he is, he’s going to do it again. So I’m hoping other Republicans will join me and start going after this guy, and say we’re not going to let it happen again.”

• John McCain: This Has Been ‘One of the More Shameful Chapters’ in the Senate’s History | Mediaite

John McCain is clearly glad to have this government shutdown mess behind him, going on the Senate floor today shortly after the bipartisan deal was announced to say the past few weeks have been “one of the more shameful chapters” of the Senate’s history.

• Ted Cruz’s Hometown Newspaper Regrets Endorsement – ABC News

Sen. Ted Cruz’ hometown newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, wishes it could take back its endorsement.

The Chronicle’s editorial board, which endorsed Cruz, R-Texas, in his 2012 race, now says it misses his predecessor, former Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

“When we endorsed Ted Cruz in last November’s general election, we did so with many reservations and at least one specific recommendation – that he follow Hutchison’s example in his conduct as a senator,” The Chronicle said. "Obviously, he has not done so.

“Cruz has been part of the problem in specific situations where Hutchison would have been part of the solution,” the board added.

• ABC’s Jon Karl to Carney on Senate Deal: ‘Is There a Little Bit of Ransom Paid?’ | Mediaite

“Is there a little bit of ransom paid? I mean, there is a provision in here that requires verification for recipients of subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.”

Obama’s Curious Purge Of The Military

• Top nuclear missile commanders fired – The Lead with Jake Tapper – CNN.com Blogs

But Major General Michael Carey and Vice Admiral Tim Giardina (fired amidst rumors of misbehavior involving alcohol and gambling) are just the latest in a recent rash of firings in the military’s top ranks.

• 7 High Ranking Military Officers Fired By Obama, 1st Time In US History; Are These the Ones That Wont Cooperate With The Impending Martial Law In The US?

Are these the men standing between us and martial law? They have been fired over various things ranging from sexual harassment to lack of trust. One thing they all have in common is their combat roles. They were all commanders of combat units.

• Obama’s Military Purge Continues With Sacking Of Two Nuclear Commanders

The firing of two nuclear commanders in a week adds to a body count that suggests we have either the most corrupt and incompetent general staff in history or our military is being reshaped for other purposes.

Oh no… GMO?

• State attorney general files suit against GMA for violation of disclosure law

SEATTLE — Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Wednesday that his office is filing a suit against the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) for violation of the state’s campaign disclosure law.

Ferguson alleges the GMA skirted the rules in its $7.2 million contribution to the "No on 522″ campaign and that the association illegally collected and spent the monies while shielding the identify of its contributors.

“When Washington state voters overwhelming approved Initiative 276 in 1972, they voiced their desire for transparency and openness in elections,” Ferguson said. “Truly fair elections demand all sides follow the rules by disclosing who their donors are and how much they are spending to advocate their views.”

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Declassified documents today reveal the NSA has intentionally abused their surveillance program, and retained data on US citizens despite a court order. All this as more details emerge about how the NSA collects nearly 75% of all US Internet traffic

David Miranda Glenn Greenwald’s partner was held for nine hours under an Orwellian anti-terrorism law. They confiscated his equipment, and questioned him about the Guardian’s reporting of the Snowden Leaks.

Plus we follow the money in Egypt, your feedback, and much much more.

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— Show Notes —

Glenn Greenwald’s partner detained at Heathrow airport for nine hours

• Glenn Greenwald’s partner detained at Heathrow airport for nine hours | World news | The Guardian

The 28-year-old was held for nine hours, the maximum the law allows before officers must release or formally arrest the individual. According to official figures, most examinations under schedule 7 – over 97% – last less than an hour, and only one in 2,000 people detained are kept for more than six hours.

Miranda was released, but officials confiscated electronics equipment including his mobile phone, laptop, camera, memory sticks, DVDs and games consoles.

• David Miranda’s lawyers apply for interim injunction over seized data | World news | theguardian.com

The London law firm Bindmans will present Miranda’s case for the injunction before two high court judges, arguing that the Metropolitan police misused schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

• US doesn’t know what Snowden took, sources say – Investigations

More than two months after documents leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden first began appearing in the news media, the National Security Agency still doesn’t know the full extent of what he took, according to intelligence community sources, and is “overwhelmed” trying to assess the damage.

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NSA is CRAZY

• New Details Show Broader NSA Surveillance Reach – WSJ.com

The system has the capacity to reach roughly 75% of all U.S. Internet traffic in the hunt for foreign intelligence, including a wide array of communications by foreigners and Americans. In some cases, it retains the written content of emails sent between citizens within the U.S. and also filters domestic phone calls made with Internet technology

• New Details Show Broader NSA Surveillance Reach Infograph

• NSA gathered thousands of Americans’ e-mails before court struck down program

The 86-page opinion, which was declassified by U.S. intelligence officials Wednesday, explains why the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ruled the collection method unconstitutional. The judge, John D. Bates, found that the government had “advised the court that the volume and nature of the information it has been collecting is fundamentally different from what the court had been led to believe.”

Under the program, the NSA for three years diverted large volumes of international data passing through fiber-optic cables in the United States into a repository where the material could be stored temporarily for processing and for the selection of foreign communications, rather than domestic ones. But in practice, the NSA was unable to filter out the communications between Americans.

According to NSA estimates, the agency may have been collecting as many as 56,000 “wholly domestic” communications each year.

Bradley Manning Gets 35

• WikiLeaks trial: Bradley Manning shows no reaction to prison sentence – latimes.com

Wednesday morning and was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

Manning, who could have been sentenced to 90 years, stood at attention and showed no emotion as the military judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, delivered the sentence. As soon as Lind left the bench, Army guards quickly rushed Manning out of the courtroom.

“We’ll keep fighting for you Bradley!” shouted half a dozen Manning supporters among the 45 spectators in the courtroom. “You’re our hero!”

That short scene, lasting no more than two minutes, ended more than three years of legal jousting and a summer-long court-martial that highlighted the growing national debate about government secrecy.

• WikiLeaks soldier Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison | Reuters

“It’s more than 17 times the next longest sentence ever served” for providing secret material to the media, Goitein said. “It is in line with sentences for paid espionage for the enemy.”

Following the Money Flowing to Egypt

• Where U.S. aid to Egypt goes

The money is deposited into an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which Egypt can access to make payments on long-term contracts it signs with defense companies. The U.S. government is a co-signer on the contracts, guaranteeing the payments will be made. If aid to Egypt is suspended, the U.S. government could still be responsible for the deals Egypt has made so far, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

• Point-Counterpoint Cut off aid to Egypt – and to Israel | National Columnists | ADN.com

Since July 3, the Israeli government has lobbied U.S. officials not to cut off aid to Egypt.

• Top 10 US companies profiting from military aid to Egypt

US defense contractors profiting from military aid to Egypt

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The post 75% of the Internet | Unfilter 64 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Terror ALERT! The Obama Administration claims to have intercepted significant chatter warning them to an impending attack from terrorist. Forcing the US to shutter nearly two dozen diplomatic posts and evacuate personnel around the world.

The convenient emergency arises during major new revelations of domestic spying abuse.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is using intelligence gathered by the NSA to investigate US citizens for domestic crimes, a and then covers it up. We’ve got the details.

Plus: Snowden leaves the airport , your feedback, our follow up, and much much more…

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— Show Notes —

Where in the World is Edward Snowden?

• Obama cancels Putin meeting over Snowden asylum

“We have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a US-Russia Summit,” the White House said in a statement.

In addition to Russia’s “disappointing decision” to grant Mr Snowden temporary asylum, the White House cited a lack of progress on issues ranging from missile defence to human rights.

“We believe it would be more constructive to postpone the summit until we have more results from our shared agenda,” the White House said.

• Senator Schumer: Putin is behaving like a schoolyard bully

Charles Schumer, the U.S. Senate’s third ranking Democrat and a close Obama ally, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to antagonize the United States by granting American fugitive Edward Snowden asylum for one year.

“President Putin is behaving like a schoolyard bully,” Schumer said on the CBS television talk show “Face the Nation.” “In my experience, I’ve learned unless you stand up to that bully, they ask for more and more and more.”

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World Wide Terror Alert

• Intercepted al Qaeda message led to closing embassies, consulates – CNN.com

Officials shuttered 22 U.S. embassies and consulates for the day on Sunday amid fears of an al Qaeda attack. On Sunday afternoon, the State Department said it had extended embassy and consulate closures in 15 of the locations until Friday and added four other posts to the list.

• Reps. Peter King and Dutch Ruppersberger on ‘This Week’

The House Intelligence Committee members weigh in the latest terror threat and the NSA.

• Al-Qa‘ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) – Terrorist Groups

Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is a Sunni extremist group based in Yemen that has orchestrated numerous high-profile terrorist attacks. One of the most notable of these operations occurred when AQAP dispatched Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to detonate an explosive device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight on 25 December 2009

• Yemen – Saudi Arabia Oil conflict- Yemen Post English Newspaper Online

Egyptian newspaper, al-Masry al-Yom reported this week on what it is foreseeing will become Yemen – Saudi Arabia new Oil conflict.

Until 2012, Yemeni officials’ rhetoric revolve around the accepted belief that the poorest country of the Arabian Peninsula was running out of oil and gas.

It is important to note that experts’ discovery of large resources of petrol, most of which is said to be in basement (trap deep with earth pockets) were only made public in 2012, upon the departure from power of Yemen’s former President.

• Yemen says major al Qaeda plot thwarted as another suspected drone strike kills at least 6 militants – CBS News

“There were attempts to control key cities in Yemen like Mukala and Bawzeer,” Badi told the British broadcaster. “This would be coordinated with attacks by al Qaeda members on the gas facilities in Shebwa city and the blowing up of the gas pipe in Belhaf city.”

• The NSA Leaks Put Our ‘Methods’ At Risk, But Bragging About Monitoring Al Qaeda Emails Doesn’t?

the NY Times has already revealed details of the email intercepts by the US:

_The Obama administration’s decision last week to close nearly two dozen diplomatic missions and issue a worldwide travel alert resulted from intercepted electronic communications in which the head of Al Qaeda in Pakistan ordered the leader of its affiliate in Yemen, the terrorist organization’s most lethal branch, to carry out an attack as early as this past Sunday, according to American officials.

The intercepted conversations last week between Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the head of the global terrorist group, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, revealed one of the most serious plots against American and other Western interests since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, American intelligence officials and lawmakers have said.
_

So… revealing that we collect data on everyone somehow turns Snowden into a traitor, while having officials in the government tell the NY Times that we directly intercepted emails between Al Qaeda’s top leaders is somehow perfectly fine? How does that work?

SOD, The DEA’s Information Sharing Program

• US drug agency unit to be investigated for wiretapping, lying about evidence sources — RT USA

Reuters published a Monday report revealing that a shadowy
DEA unit known as the Special Operative Division (SOD) – made up
of officials from the FBI, CIA, NSA, IRS, and Department of
Homeland Security – funnels information gathered by the DEA to
those and other police agencies. Information from DEA wiretaps,
informants, and the database of telephone records is passed on,
often to investigations bearing no relevance to national
security.

According to documents viewed by Reuters, SOD federal agents are then trained to “recreate” the source of the investigation to cover up how they discovered a particular bit of information. That method, law experts say, violates an individual’s constitutional right to a fair trial because their defense attorney would be unable to examine details that could turn up evidence of biased witnesses or police malpractice.

A former federal agent who worked with the SOD said that police would find an excuse to stop a vehicle which they had prior information on and then have drug dogs search the car. Upon making the arrest, officers would fabricate a traffic violation that permitted the initial stop in order to hide that they were acting on an SOD tip.

NSA is Crazy

• German justice minister proposes ban for US firms that don’t abide privacy laws | Ars Technica

German High Court Justice Hans-Jürgen Papier defended the German government’s relationship with the American spy services. He said that a country has a “basic responsibility to protect its citizens from the attacks of foreign powers” but noted that a state “can only be responsible for doing things that it has the legal power, and is able, to do.”

TOP VOTED: The TSA Expands

• T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security

With little fanfare, the agency best known for airport screenings has vastly expanded its reach to sporting events, music festivals, rodeos, highway weigh stations and train terminals.

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• More than just the US?

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A diagram that literally puts the NSA’s world wide spying system on the map has been exposed in a newly released presentation giving us a better picture of the surveillance system that is said to hold a three day buffer of all Internet activity.

Plus: An update on Bradley Manning, the Obama Administration pledges not to torture Snowden, and the US continues to dance around that big problem in Egypt.

Then it’s your feedback, our follow up, and much much more…

On this week’s Unfilter.

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— Show Notes —

Violence in Egypt Over the Weekend

• Why U.S. Aid to Egypt Is Here to Stay

A coalition of human rights liberals and conservatives opposed to foreign aid is gaining strength. In mid-July, Senate Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham, two party leaders on foreign policy, called canceling military aid “right and necessary.” Though, Graham said Tuesday he’s reserving final judgment until he and McCain return next week from a trip to Egypt at President Obama’s behest.

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• ABC News Dethrones NBC in Crucial Ratings Race

In a twist that television industry gawkers immediately homed in on, the victory was shared by Ms. Sawyer and one of her regular fill-ins, David Muir. That was because Mr. Muir substituted for Ms. Sawyer three nights last week — the same three nights, it turned out, that ABC beat NBC in the all-important ratings demographic. Mr. Williams prevailed, barely, on the two nights that Ms. Sawyer was at work.

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Manning Not Aiding the Enemy – Faces Years in Prison

• Manning acquitted of aiding enemy, still may face long jail term

A military judge on Tuesday found U.S. soldier Bradley Manning not guilty of aiding the enemy, the most serious charge he faced for handing over documents to WikiLeaks, but he still likely faces a long jail term after being found guilty of 19 other counts.

• One of Manning’s most visible supporters was banned from the trial Friday

One of Manning’s most visible supporters was banned from the trial Friday after the judge said someone posted threats online. Clark Stoeckley, a college art instructor from New Jersey, confirmed he was the one booted.

Stoeckley attended the court-martial as a sketch artist, arriving each day in a white box truck with bold words painted on the sides: “WikiLeaks TOP SECRET Mobile Information Collection Unit.”

A tweet Thursday night from an account Stoeckley used said: “I don’t know how they sleep at night but I do know where.” It was removed Friday and Stoeckley told The Associated Press on Twitter he couldn’t comment.

• Sketch artist banned from Manning trial – YouTube

During Bradley Manning’s trial in Fort Meade, Maryland, many of the soldier’s supporters showed up during the trial to back the whistleblower for revealing one of the biggest data leaks in US history, but last Friday Clark Stoeckley, courtroom sketch artist, was banned for one of his tweets.

NSA is Crazy

• NSA Documents About XKeyscore Search Tool – Business Insider

From Greenwald:

XKeyscore provides the technological capability, if not the legal authority, to target even US persons for extensive electronic surveillance without a warrant provided that some identifying information, such as their email or IP address, is known to the analyst.

Furthermore, Greenwald reports that analysts can use XKeyscore and other NSA systems “to obtain ongoing ‘real-time’ interception of an individual’s internet activity.”

• XKeyscore presentation from 2008 – read in full | World news | theguardian.com

Training materials for the XKeyscore program detail how analysts can use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases and develop intelligence from the web

• XKeyscore: NSA tool collects ‘nearly everything a user does on the internet’. A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals. : news

Some highlights:

“Performs strong (e.g. email) and soft (content) selection.” pg 2

“Provides real-time target activity.” pg 2

“Show me all the VPN startups in country X, and give me the data so I can decrypt and discover the users” pg 17

“Show me all the exploitable machines in country X” pg 24

• Security Now 415 | TWiT.TV

• FISA court judge: No company has ever challenged Patriot Act sharing | Ars Technica

According to one of the 11 judges that sits on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), no corporation ever served with a “business record” court order under the Patriot Act has ever challenged one, even though the law provides them a means to do so.

• Wyden: Intel violations ‘troubling’ – POLITICO.com

Sen. Ron Wyden said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence agencies’ violations of court orders on surveillance of Americans is worse than the government is letting on.

Wyden (D-Ore.), as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is privy to classified briefings on the government’s surveillance. On Tuesday, he told Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC that all he could say is that the violations are worse than being made public.

• XKeyscore: NSA tool collects ‘nearly everything a user does on the internet’ | World news | theguardian.com

• XKeyscore gives ‘widest-reaching’ collection of online data
• NSA analysts require no prior authorization for searches
• Sweeps up emails, social media activity and browsing history
• NSA’s XKeyscore program – read one of the presentations

• Chairman Mike Rogers | The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

United States Representative Mike Rogers serves as the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The Committee is the House’s primary panel responsible for authorizing the funding for and overseeing the execution of the intelligence activities of the United States government.

General Keith Alexander Visits Black Hat

• NSA Director Heckled At Conference As He Asks For Security Community’s Understanding – Forbes

Alexander’s talk had begun with a plea for the hacker and security researcher community to reconsider the NSA’s role in the wake of a still-unfolding scandal revealed by the classified leaks of former Booz Allen contractor Edward Snowden. “Their reputation has been tarnished,” he said, speaking of his NSA staff. “But you can help us articulate the facts properly. I will answer every question to the fullest extent possible, and I promise you the truth: What I know, what we’re doing, and what I cannot tell you because we don’t want to jeopardize the future of our defense.”

After the talk, I found McCoy in the crowd and asked him about his not-so-friendly debate with the general. “His speech was pretty canned,” said McCoy. “It’s anything you can see on Fox News any day. We’re in danger, we have to get rid of your freedom to keep you safe.”

“Everyone’s thinking this, but no one’s saying it public, so everyone thinks they’re alone,” he said. “Ninety-eight percent of society has issues with this…But no one speaks up.”

• NSA headman: ‘Don’t worry, our watchful analysts TAKE EXAMS’ • The Register

He attempted to reassure a skeptical audience by saying “our people have to take courses and pass exams to use this data.” Data from the interception programs has “provided value” across some 53 “terror-related activities” detected by the NSA.

• 1984Day.com – Rally for Privacy on Sunday, 8/4

Where in the World is Snowden

• US will not seek death penalty for Edward Snowden, Holder tells Russia | World news | The Guardian

In a letter sent this week, US attorney general Eric Holder told his Russian counterpart that the charges faced by Snowden do not carry the death penalty. Holder added that the US “would not seek the death penalty even if Mr Snowden were charged with additional, death penalty-eligible crimes”.

Holder said he had sent the letter, addressed to Alexander Vladimirovich, Russia’s minister of justice, in response to reports that Snowden had applied for temporary asylum in Russia “on the grounds that if he were returned to the United States, he would be tortured and would face the death penalty”.

• Rep. Mike Rogers: Snowden’s actions defy logic

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said Sunday that Edward Snowden’s actions defy logic.

• Feinstein says Russia is buying time on Snowden – POLITICO.com

By granting NSA leaker Edward Snowden temporary asylum, Russia is giving itself time to figure out what their best move is, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday.

• Edward Snowden and the NSA files – timeline

What has happened to NSA whistleblower who leaked files to Guardian since he decided to reveal his identity to the world and began his asylum battle

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