Justice Department Fights Release of Secret Court Opinion Finding Unconstitutional Surveillance

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Justice Department Fights Release of Secret Court Opinion Finding Unconstitutional SurveillanceIn the midst of revelations that the government has conducted extensive top-secret surveillance operations to collect domestic phone records and internet communications, the Justice Department was due to file a court motion Friday in its effort to keep secret an 86-page court opinion that determined that the government had violated the spirit of federal surveillance laws and engaged in unconstitutional spying.

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via Motherjones

Borrowers can sue Wells Fargo over mortgage modifications

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Borrowers can sue Wells Fargo over mortgage modificationsCredit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton A Wells Fargo sign is seen outside a banking branch in New York July 13, 2012. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wells Fargo was required under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program to offer loan modifications to borrowers who demonstrated their eligibility during a trial period.

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via Reuters

Snowden’s Asylum: ‘It’s the law, stupid’

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Snowden’s Asylum: ‘It’s the law, stupid’The most influential media in the United States has lived up to its pro-government bias in the Snowden Affair in three major ways: firstly, by consistently referring to Snowden by the demeaning designation of ‘leaker’ rather than as ‘whistleblower’ or ‘surveillance dissident,’ both more respectful and accurate.

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via Aljazeera

Veteran civil rights leader: Snowden acted in tradition of civil disobedience

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Veteran civil rights leader: Snowden acted in tradition of civil disobedienceJohn Lewis, one of America’s most revered civil rights leaders, says the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was continuing the tradition of civil disobedience by revealing details of classified US surveillance programs. Lewis, a 73-year-old congressman and one of the last surviving lieutenants of Martin Luther King, said Snowden could claim he was appealing to “a higher law” when he disclosed top secret documents showing the extent of NSA surveillance of both Americans and foreigners.

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via Theguardian

IRS manual detailed DEA’s use of hidden intel evidence

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Exclusive: IRS manual detailed DEA’s use of hidden intel evidenceCredit: Reuters/John Shiffman A slide from a presentation about a secretive information-sharing program run by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Operations Division (SOD) is seen in this undated photo. The practice of recreating the investigative trail, highly criticized by former prosecutors and defense lawyers after Reuters reported it this week, is now under review by the Justice Department.

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via Reuters

Bitcoin Clampdown Continues As Federal Judge Says It’s A Currency

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Bitcoin Clampdown Continues As Federal Judge Says It’s A CurrencyWikipedia calls Bitcoin a cryptocurrency (a currency that relies on cryptography), but now it’s official. A federal judge in Texas has declared that Bitcoin is a currency and should therefore be regulated just like U.S. dollars or gold. The ruling represents yet another attempt to regulate Bitcoin transactions, threatening the original purpose of the currency.

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via TechCrunch

Occupy protester sues Portland police for notorious pepper-spray incident

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Occupy protester sues Portland police for notorious pepper-spray incidentThe Occupy Portland protester who was photographed as police doused her with pepper spray is now in court seeking $155,000 for damages caused by alleged police brutality. The photograph became one of the most galvanizing images of the movement. Elizabeth Evon Nichols was just one of thousands demonstrators who gathered in Portland, Oregon to protest widespread housing foreclosures by major banks.

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via Rt

Speed Camera Firms Move To Hide Evidence

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DC, Maryland: Speed Camera Firms Move To Hide EvidenceRelated News Cop Sues Over DC Speed Camera Program Southern California Cities Further Reject Red Light Cameras View Main Topics: Maryland: Motorist Rights Group Sues Over Camera Data Third Maryland Jurisdiction Forced To Refund Illegal Tickets Back To Front Page Australia: Safety Official Seeks Refund Of 987 Speed Camera Tickets Subscribe via RSS or E-Mail DC, Maryland: Speed Camera Firms Move To Hide Evidence Afraid of refunds, Washington, DC and Salisbury, Maryland conceal evidence that could reveal camera inaccuracy.

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via Thenewspaper

Justice Department Sues Bank of America Over Mortgages

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Justice Department Sues Bank of America Over MortgagesBank of America Corp. was sued by the U.S. for allegedly hiding risks from investors in a 2008 deal for $850 million of bonds backed by residential mortgages. Government lawsuits filed today in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina, lay out a pattern of intentional acts by bank officials to disguise the mortgages’ risks in disclosures to the U.S.

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via Bloomberg

Anti-Social Tendencies of Entrepreneurs Demonstrated

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Anti-social tendencies of entrepreneurs demonstratedMedia reports about alleged anti-social and delinquent behavior of entrepreneurs are no rarity. Such reports direct the attention towards possibly ‘hidden’ anti-social tendencies in entrepreneurial types. Is it true then, that entrepreneurs are a particularly self-serving species with their own moral ideas and ethical principles?

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via Sciencedaily

No recording at protest? Police may block mobile devices via Apple

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No shooting at protest? Police may block mobile devices via AppleApple has patented a piece of technology which would allow government and police to block transmission of information, including video and photographs, from any public gathering or venue they deem “sensitive”, and “protected from externalities.” ­In other words, these powers will have control over what can and cannot be documented on wireless devices during any public event.

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via Rt

U.S. allowed Italian kidnap prosecution to shield higher-ups, ex-CIA officer says

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U.S. allowed Italian kidnap prosecution to shield higher-ups, ex-CIA officer saysA former CIA officer has broken the U.S. silence around the 2003 abduction of a radical Islamist cleric in Italy, charging that the agency inflated the threat the preacher posed and that the United States then allowed Italy to prosecute her and other Americans to shield President George W.

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via Miamiherald

Minority Rules: Scientists Discover Tipping Point for the Spread of Ideas

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Minority rules: Scientists discover tipping point for the spread of ideasScientists have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. The scientists used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion.

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via Sciencedaily