Senate and C.I.A. Spar Over Secret Report on Interrogation ProgramWASHINGTON – The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says she is planning a push to declassify hundreds of pages of a secret committee report that accuses the Central Intelligence Agency of misleading Congress and the White House about the agency’s detention and interrogation program, which is now defunct.
Judge Challenges White House Claims on Authority in Drone KillingsWASHINGTON – A federal judge on Friday sharply and repeatedly challenged the Obama administration’s claim that courts have no power over targeted drone killings of American citizens overseas. Judge Rosemary M.
Court rules journalists can’t keep their sources secretA federal appeals court ruled Friday that New York Times journalist James Risen must testify in the trial of a former Central Intelligence Agency officer accused of leaking classified national defense information to the media.
FAA warns Colorado town that shooting down drones could lead to prosecutionOn the heels of a Colorado town’s announcement that it was floating the idea of legalized drone hunting, the Federal Aviation Administration has warned that the practice could result in prosecution and fines.
NSA Phone Snooping Cannot Be Challenged in Court, Feds SayThe Obama administration for the first time responded to a Spygate lawsuit, telling a federal judge the wholesale vacuuming up of all phone-call metadata in the United States is in the “public interest,” does not breach the constitutional rights of Americans and cannot be challenged in a court of law.
Genome-wide expression changes in a higher state of consciousnessHigher states of consciousness in which the human mind can transcend the boundaries of logic and reason are envisioned as natural to the experience and potential growth of every human being. So far they have been mostly monitored by electrophysiological methods. In this study we were particularly interested in discovering the molecular transcriptional basis of higher states of consciousness.
The Unspoken Truth: Coup d’etat in AmericaThe Unspoken Truth: Coup d’etat in America The American people have suffered a coup d’etat, but they are hesitant to acknowledge it. The regime ruling in Washington today lacks constitutional and legal legitimacy. Americans are ruled by usurpers who claim that the executive branch is above the law and that the US Constitution is a mere “scrap of paper.”
Chris Hedges Responds to NDAA Defeat, Says It’s a ‘Black Day’ for LibertyChris Hedges Responds to NDAA Defeat, Says It’s a ‘Black Day’ for Liberty AP/Jacquelyn Martin The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has dealt a terrible blow to Chris Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky and the other activists and journalists suing to prevent the indefinite military detention of American citizens.
Glenn Greenwald: Growing Backlash Against NSA Spying Shows Why U.S. Wants to Silence Edward SnowdenAs Congress holds its second major public hearing on the National Security Agency’s bulk spying, we speak with Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who first published whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations. The NSA admitted their analysis of phone records and online behavior far exceeded what it had previously disclosed.
NSA-Affäre: Ex-Präsident Carter verdammt US-Schnüffelei – SPIEGEL ONLINEDer ehemalige US-Präsident Jimmy Carter hat im Nachgang des NSA-Spähskandals das amerikanische politische System heftig kritisiert. “Amerika hat derzeit keine funktionierende Demokratie”, sagte Carter am Dienstag bei einer Veranstaltung der “Atlantik-Brücke” in Atlanta. Bereits zuvor hatte sich der Demokrat sehr kritisch über die Praktiken der US-Geheimdienste geäußert.
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.
A huge coalition of tech companies unites to petition the US government for more NSA transparencySilicon Valley tech giants have united against a common cause: seeking greater transparency from the US’s National Security Agency and openness when it comes to surveillance activities. According to AllThingsD, an alliance has formed to ask President Obama’s administration and Congress to lift legal restrictions that prevent Internet, telephone, and wireless providers from providing more information about their involvement with the NSA.
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.
Obama wins back the right to indefinitely detain under NDAAThe Obama administration has won the latest battle in their fight to indefinitely detain US citizens and foreigners suspected of being affiliated with terrorists under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.
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.
Court Orders Declassification of Decision on SurveillanceA secret court overseeing government surveillance programs has sided with Yahoo and ordered the Obama administration to declassify and publish a 2008 court decision justifying Prism, the data collection program revealed last month by the former security contractor Edward J. Snowden. Judge Reggie Walton issued the ruling on Monday, and the government is expected to decide by Aug.
Obama administration drowning in lawsuits filed over NSA surveillanceAttorneys for the Electronic Frontier Foundation have sued the Obama administration and are demanding the White House stop the dragnet surveillance programs operated by the National Security Agency. Both the White House and Congress have weighed in on the case of Edward Snowden and the revelations he’s made by leaking National Security Agency documents.
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.
Detroit police arrest news photographer, lock her up with suspectPolice in Detroit, Michigan have launched an internal investigation after a Detroit Free Press photographer was detained for filming a group of officers as they arrested a suspect on a public street on Thursday, July 11. Mandi Wright was traveling to an assignment with a newspaper reporter when the pair came upon eight officers making an arrest.
Church, Rights Groups Sue NSA Over SpyingAP reports: “Rights activists, church leaders and drug and gun rights advocates found common ground and filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the federal government to halt a vast National Security Agency electronic surveillance program.