Greenwald on ‘coming’ leak: NSA can obtain one billion cell phone calls a day, store them and listenThe NSA has a “brand new” technology that enables one billion cell phone calls to be redirected into its data hoards, according to the Guardian’s Glen Greenwald, who told a Chicago conference that a new leak of Snowden’s documents was ‘coming soon.’
New Bank of America whistle-blower emerges: More customer abuse secretsLast week, I detailed bombshell revelations from Bank of America whistle-blowers, in which former employees of the bank detailed systematic fraud and deceptive practices inside their loan modification department – including bonuses and Target gift cards for staff who racked up foreclosures.
Spy games: Inventor of World Wide Web accuses West of hypocrisySir Tim Berners-Lee has lashed out at Western governments, calling them hypocritical for spying on the internet while reproaching other oppressive nations for doing the same; adding that the revelations may change the way people use computers.
NSA collected US email records in bulk for more than two years under ObamaThe Obama administration for more than two years permitted the National Security Agency to continue collecting vast amounts of records detailing the email and internet usage of Americans, according to secret documents obtained by the Guardian.
EU agrees on bank-failure rules to avoid bailoutsBRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union has struck a deal on rules establishing who will pay for bank bailouts in the future without taxpayers having to foot the bill. The agreement reached by the EU’s 27 finance ministers after seven hours of negotiations early Thursday is an important step toward establishing Europe’s so-called banking union with the goal of restoring financial and economic stability to the recession-hit bloc.
“While other forms of activism can feel like begging for crumbs, bringing an issue before a judge can make things happen. It can change the world.” – Jay Fenello
“You know the NSA has gone too far when Germany, the country that brought us the Gestapo, is complaining about their tactics.” – Jeff Justice
California man faces 13 years in jail for scribbling anti-bank messages in chalkJeff Olson, the 40-year-old man who is being prosecuted for scrawling anti-megabank messages on sidewalks in water-soluble chalk last year now faces a 13-year jail sentence. A judge has barred his attorney from mentioning freedom of speech during trial.
USA must not hunt down whistleblower Edward Snowden | Amnesty InternationalThe US authorities must not prosecute anyone for disclosing information about the government’s human rights violations, Amnesty International said after Edward Snowden was charged under the Espionage Act.
International confidence in US economy ‘crumbling’ after Snowden leaksRT: Surely not even you can make any kind of link between the Snowden saga and the US economy? Max Keiser: The American economy runs on the confidence, confidence that the world accepts the US dollar as world reserve currency, confidence that the US bond market will remain the standard.
The Tipping Point for MindfulnessMindfulness practices like meditation have been in existence for thousands of years, but only now are they reaching the tipping point in the Western world. Today’s pace and stress are so great that people are searching for new practices to find resilience in the midst of chaos, and mindfulness programs are helping them find better ways to live.
Basic income versus the robotsAn economic all-stars match-up. Two weeks ago, I wrote about the idea of a citizen’s income: the state replacing the vast majority of the benefit system with one cash payment made to everyone, regardless of employment or income. The advantages of such a change are legion.
Bank of America shareholder wants probe of mortgage-aid decisionsAn institutional investor is calling on Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and the bank’s board to investigate allegations from former employees that they were encouraged to deny homeowners seeking mortgage modifications under a federal program.
How Bank of America Corp (BAC) Defrauded AmericaDid Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC ) enrich itself by defrauding potentially millions of homeowners who requested loan modifications under the 2009 Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP? Yes, or at least that’s what six of its former employees are claiming in a class action lawsuit being waged in a Massachusetts federal court.
Pelosi booed for defending NSA wiretappingHouse Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was booed and interrupted by a group of liberal activists after defending the NSA’s electronic surveillance program at a conference in Silicon Valley on Saturday. Pelosi condemned National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden for exposing the agency’s controversial data-gathering practices, noting that what he did was illegal.
The Last Mystery of the Financial CrisisWhat about the ratings agencies? That’s what “they” always say about the financial crisis and the teeming rat’s nest of corruption it left behind. Everybody else got plenty of blame: the greed-fattened banks, the sleeping regulators, the unscrupulous mortgage hucksters like spray-tanned Countrywide ex-CEO Angelo Mozilo. But what about the ratings agencies?
