Military Contractor Resigns in Impassioned Protest: “I Hereby Throw Down My Rifle”BRANDON TOY, bmtoy79 at gmail.com Toy has just resigned from his position as an engineering project manager at the military contractor General Dynamics. Toy told Common Dreams on Wednesday: “I felt a lot of cognitive dissonance for the last two or three years. I knew what the truth was and what the consequences of our actions were.
FBI withholds autopsy of Tsarnaev associate ‘shot in head’ during questioningThe FBI has ordered a Florida medical examiner’s office not to release the autopsy report of a Chechen man who was killed during an FBI interview in May over his ties to one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers.
The Government Uses License Plate Scanners to Track Your Every MoveAutomatic license plate readers are the most widespread location tracking technology you’ve probably never heard of. Mounted on patrol cars or stationary objects like bridges, they snap photos of every passing car, recording their plate numbers, times, and locations.
Senator to Snowden: ‘You have done the right thing’While some current members of Congress continue to rally for the prosecution of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, a long-serving United States senator has sent a letter of support to the NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower.
‘Heroic effort at great personal cost’: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel Peace PrizeA Swedish sociology professor has nominated Edward Snowden for the Nobel Peace Prize. He says the NSA whistleblower could help “save the prize from the disrepute incurred by the hasty and ill-conceived decision” to give the 2009 award to Barack Obama.
Snowden: Symptom or Disease?Lawrence Wilkerson: Never-ending culture of war breeds an ever-growing draconian government, which will pressure more whistleblowers to come forward to stop tyranny
US ends ban on ‘domestic propaganda’It’s being branded by proponents as an attempt at transparency, but critics of a new law say the United States government just got the green-light to use propaganda made for foreign audiences on the American public.
House chairman says FBI stonewalling marathon probe – The Boston GlobeMembers of a key congressional committee accused the FBI on Wednesday of stymieing their inquiry into the Boston Marathon bombings after the bureau refused their request to reveal what it knew about the lead suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, prior to the attacks.
How the Surveillance State is Becoming PermanentALFRED McCOY, awmccoy at wisc.edu McCoy is professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He wrote a piece for TomDispatch yesterday titled ” Surveillance Blowback: The Making of the U.S. Surveillance State, 1898-2020.” The piece is based on his new book Policing America’s Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State.
Is Gold the Next Subprime Mortgage Scandal?National Security Notice We are NOT calling for the overthrow of the government. In fact, we are calling for the reinstatement of our government. We are not calling for lawlessness. We are calling for an end to lawlessness and lack of accountability and a return to the rule of law.
UN human rights chief says whistleblowers need protectionIn her first reference to whistleblower Edward Snowden’s case, UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay has called on all countries to protect the rights of those who uncover abuses and stressed the need to respect the right for people to seek asylum.
Greenwald: Snowden has enough information to cause US govt ‘worst damage in history’Former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden possesses dangerous information which could potentially lead to America’s “worst nightmare” if it is revealed, according to the journalist who first published Snowden’s leaked documents.
People Living in Caves as UK Homelessness Reaches Five-Year HighPeople Living in Caves as UK Homelessness Reaches Five-Year High Homeless men and women are living in a network of disused sandstone caves near the town centre of Stockport, Greater Manchester. There have been up to four people a night sleeping rough in the cave system perched on a 20-foot precipice overhanging a river, only a short distance from public view.
Where The Hell Is The Outrage?From the first breath of life to the last, our lives are being stolen out from under us. From infant care and early education to Social Security and Medicare, the dominant economic ideology is demanding more lifelong sacrifices from the vulnerable to appease the gods of wealth. Middle-class wages are stagnant.
‘Conspiracy theorists’ vs. govt. dupesRecent studies by psychologists and social scientists in the US and UK suggest that contrary to mainstream media stereotypes, those labeled “conspiracy theorists” appear to be saner than those who accept the official versions of contested events. The most recent study was published on July 8th by psychologists Michael J.
Microsoft helped the NSA bypass encryption, new Snowden leak revealsMicrosoft worked hand-in-hand with the United States government in order to allow federal investigators to bypass encryption mechanisms meant to protect the privacy of millions of users, Edward Snowden told The Guardian.
Majority of Americans think Snowden did the right thingFifty-five percent of registered American voters consider former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to be a whistleblower, and only 34 percent call him a traitor – despite US lawmakers labeling him as such. A poll conducted by Quinnipiac University found that the majority of Americans perceive Snowden as a man who exposed the inappropriate surveillance tactics of the US government – not as a man who betrayed his duty.
Pro-gun activist Adam Kokesh arrested after posting YouTube videoSecond Amendment activist Adam Kokesh was arrested Tuesday evening following an armed raid on his home in the Washington, D.C. area.
How cryptography is a key weapon in the fight against empire statesThe original cypherpunks were mostly Californian libertarians. I was from a different tradition but we all sought to protect individual freedom from state tyranny. Cryptography was our secret weapon. It has been forgotten how subversive this was. Cryptography was then the exclusive property of states, for use in their various wars.