Group items tagged

Finally, acknowledgement that the growth of the cloud computing industry will likely be affected greatly by disclosures of widespread US and UK storage and surveillance of digital data. But will this be enough to turn cloud computing companies into staunch advocates of reining in the NSA and GCHQ? Note that the emerging E.U. position creates an economic advantage for cloud computing companies with their server farms located in the E.U. (likely excluding the UK). 

"Doug Casey on American Socialism"  .  Awesome interview, especially the discussion on Liberalism and how the socialist Norman Thomas decided to co-opt the term as an effective replacement for the disreputable socialism.  Links to the Thomas 1932 socialist platform that Casey points out has pretty much been put into place.   Good discussion.  Focus on an article published by socialist apologist and idiot, Allan Colmes.

I agree that Colmes is far from the sharpest knife in the drawer. In my opinion, he was largely a Fox News invention to give Shawn Hannity a far weaker opponent to argue against that Hannity's idiocy could still overcome. There are in reality liberals that Hannity could never have gone toe-to-toe with. (That's not an endorsement of liberalism; it's commentary on the quality of Hannity's arguments.) The show was mostly a variant of the straw man logical fallacy; the fact that Colmes lacked the ability to think critically or communicate effectively made Hannity "win" the pseudo-debate in the eyes of those unable to think critically themselves. I have some criticism of Casey's remarks that apply more generally to my experience of strict Libertarians and perhaps even farther to strict adherents to any "ism." My criticism boils down to a couple of examples of hard issues usually avoided by strict Libertarians. -- The Disabled: When discussing Social Security disability benefits, Casey changes the subject from the genuinely disabled to a short rant about those whose disability claims are bogus and the "ambulance chasing" lawyers who pursue their claims. But if pressed to the wall and forced to answer, I strongly suspect that Casey would admit that there are people, likely the majority of Social Security disability benefits, whose claims are genuine. The net effect of his relevant argument: an impression that he has a Darwinian view that he would leave the disabled dying in the streets without sustenance or medical care. That kind of society is unacceptable to me. Perhaps it is to Casey too, but if so I think it was incumbent on him to offer a solution for the genuinely disabled. (In fairness, I'll note that at one point Casey hinted but did not forthrightly say that he would favor financial assistance for single mothers in Harlem.) -- Medical Care: I agree that our health care system is badly broken. But again Casey is long on criticism but short on realistic idea

Lengthy but truly amazing resolution now goes to Parliament for a vote. A lot of very tough love for the U.S. in there. Highly recommended reading if you have the time for a lengthy document. It's an action plan for what Parliament intends to do about privacy violations by the NSA, GCHQ, Norway, Sweden, and Germany. If this passes, the U.S. and U.K. will be forced to give major ground. Gist of the document: civil liberties including privacy rights in correspondence trump national security and anti-terrorism. The E.U. would bow out of an Orwellian future.

This case is related to EFF's earlier pending case, Jewel v. NSA and has been assigned to Judge Whyte, the same judge who ruled earlier in Jewel that the State Secrets Privilege does not apply to NSA's call metadata "haystack." The plaintiffs are 22 different groups who would make strange bedfellows indeed, except in opposition to government surveillance and repression. 

Former NSA officials publish an open memorandum to Obama, seeking a meeting with him to explain how the NSA is drowning in data that it cannot effectively process, how more than $1 billion was wasted on a never-completed system to process it, and how a $3 million system that could and did process it effectively was shot down by former NSA Director Michael Hayden so he could award the contract for the much more expensive version to his buddies. And much, much more

Ron Paul encapsulates the failure of the neocons' war against Iraq and what it has produced, then points out that it is also the neocons who are pushing for the U.S. to go to war against Syria and Iran.

Head of the House Intelligence Committee Mike Rogers makes some pretty strange accusations against Edward Snowden and gets ratification from Diane Feinstein, head of the corresponding Senate Committee. Nicely done page combining portions of articles and the video of the Rogers-Feinstein interview. Also an added note from Glenn Greenwald. It bears remembering that Snowden was on layover in Moscow waiting for a flight to South America when the U.S. pulled his passport; i.e., the reason he is in Russia is because of U.S. government action.  

The model legislation, in forms both for states and for counties/cities, can be found here. http://offnow.org/legislation/ It's well drafted and at first blush would withstand federal constitutional review. 

That's more like it! Notice that the call is for a "special committee to investigate," etc., not the House Intelligence Committee chaired by Mike Rogers.  Note also the call for heads to roll.

Something messed up in the quoting of the resolution. Please go to the linked web site for the resolution's full text.