Accused bank robber wants NSA phone records for his defenseDefense lawyers for Terrance Brown, a south Florida man facing bank robbery charges, have asked for NSA mobile phone surveillance records to be supplied in order to support his claim that he was not in the vicinity of the bank at the time it was robbed.
Secret Court Ruling Put Tech Companies in Data BindSAN FRANCISCO – In a secret court in Washington, Yahoo ‘s top lawyers made their case. The government had sought help in spying on certain foreign users, without a warrant, and Yahoo had refused, saying the broad requests were unconstitutional. The judges disagreed. That left Yahoo two choices: Hand over the data or break the law.
Mindfulness Can Turn You On“Ultimately, I see mindfulness as a love affair — with life, with reality and imagination, with the beauty of your own being, with your heart and body and mind, and with the world.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn Being “turned on” no longer has to happen only in the bedroom.
Take Action: Repeal the Monsanto Protection ActIt’s one of the most outrageous special interest provisions in years. Written anonymously, the Monsanto Protection Act allows corporations to sell genetically-modified seeds even when federal courts have blocked them from doing so. Think about that: We have a process for making sure that genetically-modified seeds aren’t sold, planted and grown until we know that they don’t pose a threat to other crops or to humans.
Merkley waves Verizon phone, demands NSA chief share grounds for seizing dataIn a dramatic exchange Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) demanded National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander explain why the agency was legally authorized to obtain his personal cellphone data. Waving his Verizon phone from his seat, Merkley asked Alexander to explain “what authorized investigation gave you the grounds” to seize information on his calls and those of millions of other Americans.
Only One Big Telecom CEO Refused To Cave To The NSA … And He’s Been In Jail For 4 YearsREUTERS/Rick Wilking Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio is currently serving a six-year sentence after being convicted of insider trading in April 2007 for selling $52 million of stock in the spring of 2001 as the telecommunications carrier appeared to be deteriorating.
Why you should worry about the NSAPAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images None of us want another terrorist attack in the United States. Equally, most of us have nothing to hide from the federal government, which already has so many ways of knowing about us.
Lawsuits over government surveillance languishSAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Before there was Edward Snowden and the leak of explosive documents showing widespread government surveillance, there was Mark Klein – a telecommunications technician who alleged that AT&T was allowing U.S. spies to siphon vast amounts of customer data without warrants.
Lawyers rail at police response to Turkey protestsANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Thousands of black-robed Turkish lawyers stormed out of their courthouses Wednesday, shouting about the rough treatment police dished out to their colleagues amid Turkey’s biggest anti-government protests in years. The rallies by clapping, chanting jurists added a new twist to the nearly two weeks of protests that started in Istanbul and spread to dozens of other Turkish cities.
Here’s what’s happening to employment …
John Poindexter’s Plan for “Total Information Awareness” in Effect by Another NameCOLEEN ROWLEY, rowleyclan at earthlink.net Rowley is a former FBI special agent and division counsel whose May 2002 memo described some of the FBI’s pre-9/11 failures and was named one of Time magazine’s “Persons of the Year” in 2002.
Wealth of most Americans down 55% since recession(MoneyWatch) Increasing housing prices and the stock market”s posting all-time highs haven’t helped the plight most Americans. The average U.S. household has recovered only 45 percent of the wealth they lost during the recession, according to a report released yesterday from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Graham: FBI hindered Congress’s 9/11 inquiry, withheld reports about Sarasota SaudisFormer U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has accused the FBI in court papers of having impeded Congress’s Joint Inquiry into 9/11 by withholding information about a Florida connection to the al-Qaeda attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
This abuse of the Patriot Act must endWe’ve gotten used to what “Big Government” looks like – Washington’s unchecked deficit spending, the Obama administration’s policing of the press and the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. But the problem is bigger than we thought. “Big Brother” is watching.
Florida AG: Bank of America has ‘Systemic Problems’ with Mortgage Settlement RulesFlorida’s Attorney General said complaints against Bank of America are revealing patterns of “systematic” rule violations under the National Mortgage Settlement, including lengthy delays in providing loan modifications and sending state officials “litigation letters.” Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi also indicated that the state would consider a lawsuit if corrective actions are not taken by Bank of America through the settlement’s established procedures.
Police crush barricades in Istanbul squareISTANBUL (AP) – Hundreds of riot police overran improvised barricades at Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Tuesday, firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons in running battles with protesters who have been occupying the area for more than a week.
Same games being played in England:
Hague under fire over GCHQ-PRISM intel sharing, slams leaksThe accusations that the US spying program PRISM was shared with the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) are “baseless,” Foreign Secretary William Hague told MPs. He deplored classified data leaks, saying they create a “misleading picture.”
This happens with bank lawsuits as well:
Fracking Companies Silence Water Complaints With Sealed SettlementsChris and Stephanie Hallowich were sure drilling for natural gas near their Pennsylvania home was to blame for the headaches, burning eyes and sore throats they suffered after the work began. The companies insisted hydraulic fracturing – the technique they used to free underground gas – wasn’t the cause.
Delaware State Legislature Calls on the First State’s Congressional Delegation to Overturn Citizens UnitedBipartisan Letter Signed by House and Senate Majorities DOVER, DE- A majority of members in both of Delaware’s state legislative chambers have signed on to a letter seeking support and action by Delaware’s Congressional delegation for Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment reversing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v.
DHS insider: It’s about to get Very Ugly“Everyone needs to reflect on the United States having become obsessed with national security, even to the extent of gutting our Bill of Rights and turning the country into a “surveillance society”.
