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Black box recorder says the Hudson line train that derailed was going 82mph into a curve where the speed limit is 30mph. It's not yet known if it was human error or equipment failure.
Solidarity.
Leading U.S. news media call on U.K. Parliament to reaffirm commitment to a free press on eve of Guardian hearing
Leading U.S. news media call on U.K. Parliament to reaffirm commitment to a free press on eve of Guardian hearing
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and several leading news organizations are calling on members of Parliament to uphold Britain’s commitment to freedom of the press on the eve of a hearing of the Home Affairs Committee at which the editor of the Guardian newspaper has been ordered to testify. Editor Alan Rusbridger will be questioned about the national security implications of its publication of articles based on information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
“As news organizations, editors, and journalists who often report on government actions that officials seek to keep secret, we write to the Committee on the eve of the forthcoming appearance of Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger to express our grave concern over pointed calls by those in authority for censorship of the Guardian and criminal prosecution of its journalists in the name of national security. Such sanctions, and the chilling impact created by even the threat to impose them, undermine the independence and integrity of the press that are essential for democracy to function,” the letter stated.
Co-signing the letter with the Reporters Committee are the American Society of News Editors; The Associated Press; The E.W. Scripps Company; The McClatchy Company; The New York Times Company; The New Yorker; Newspaper Association of America; ProPublica; The Seattle Times Company; Society of Professional Journalists; The Washington Post; and World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
- See more at: http://www.rcfp.org/...
War on Terror Hawks Can't Fail, They Can Only Be Failed
Questioning the claim that Americans now are more vulnerable to terrorism, and probing its implications
Among their claims:
- We're less safe than we were two years ago.
- Islamist groups are winning the minds of the disenfranchised in the Middle East and Asia.
- There has been "a rise in fatalities from terrorist-related activities."
- The enemy has "increasingly specialized and dangerous technology," including powerful bombs.
- "Terror groups had already tried, on four separate occasions, to send these newer, more deadly explosives into the United States."
- "Al Qaeda as we knew it before is metastasizing to something different."
Got that? When it comes to terrorism, they say you're no better off than you were two years ago. As a result, these two legislators have declared recent national security policy a failure, insisted on mass firings for cause in the national security bureaucracy, and called for a new approach to counterterrorism.
Ha! Just kidding. Even though they think we're less safe now, and that the enemy is more dangerous, they favor continuing or intensifying current policy, and they aren't calling for any resignations at the CIA or the NSA or the DOD or the White House or anywhere else. The national security establishment has really figured out how to sustain itself: if the risk of terrorism decreases, it proves that they ought to be given more power to continue their demonstrably successful policies; and if the risk of terrorism increases, it proves that they need more power to fight terrorists who are more dangerous than ever. Whatever happens, what's needed is to give the the people in charge more leeway and resources to do what they're already doing. It's never the case that someone needs to be fired, or that an agency ought to lose some of its discretion, or that American policy needs to be reformed because it is inflaming hatred and making us less safe in the long run.
Really f'd up way to use your scientific knowledge and skills, assholes.
Scientist-developed malware covertly jumps air gaps using inaudible sound
Malware communicates at a distance of 65 feet using built-in mics and speakers.
Computer scientists have developed malware that uses inaudible audio signals to communicate, a capability that allows the malware to covertly transmit keystrokes and other sensitive data even when infected machines have no network connection.
The proof-of-concept software—or malicious trojans that adopt the same high-frequency communication methods—could prove especially adept in penetrating highly sensitive environments that routinely place an "air gap" between computers and the outside world. Using nothing more than the built-in microphones and speakers of standard computers, the researchers were able to transmit passwords and other small amounts of data from distances of almost 65 feet. The software can transfer data at much greater distances by employing an acoustical mesh network made up of attacker-controlled devices that repeat the audio signals.
Why the NSA has landed us all in another nice mess
Fans of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy will fondly remember Oliver's complaint to Stanley: "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" In a future remake, Hardy will be played by Barack Obama, suitably enhanced with a toothbrush moustache, while Keith Alexander, currently head of the NSA, will star as Laurel. The scene in which this particular bit of dialogue occurs is the Oval Office, which for the purposes of the scene is littered with flip charts summarising the various unintended consequences of the NSA's recent activities, as relayed by Edward Snowden. ...
The "mess" that the NSA (and our own dear GCHQ) has landed us in is a symptom of a major failure of our political systems. All democracies are impaled on the horns of the same dilemma: they need openness, because the consent of the governed requires that people know what is being done in their name; but sometimes openness undermines the efficacy of the secret (and perhaps necessary) things that are done in their name. The choice is then between sacrificing accountability or sacrificing secrecy.
What we have learned recently is the extent to which our rulers dodged that choice: they lifted the veil just a bit to give a semblance of accountability. What Snowden has shown us is that it was just a semblance. We urgently need something better and if we don't get it then we could be, as one spook put it, "a keystroke away from totalitarianism". And that would be a different kind of mess altogether.
Watching the Watch List: Landmark Case Goes to Trial over Massive U.S. Terrorism "No-Fly" Database
My understanding is that the Aussies are doing a nondenial denial on this one and I think it was their Attorney General who called Snowden a traitor. I don't know how an American can be an Australian traitor but there it is. The AG also said that the document this story is based on was a draft version. That's another nondenial denial, potentially. Okay, it was a draft. So show us the final version.
Australian spy agency offered to share data about ordinary citizens
Australia's surveillance agency offered to share information collected about ordinary Australian citizens with its major intelligence partners, according to a secret 2008 document leaked by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The document shows the partners discussing whether or not to share "medical, legal or religious information", and increases concern that the agency could be operating outside its legal mandate, according to the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC. ...
The working document, marked secret, sheds new light on the extent to which intelligence agencies at that time were considering sharing information with foreign surveillance partners, and it provides further confirmation that, to some extent at least, there is warrantless surveillance of Australians' personal metadata.
The DSD joined its four intelligence-sharing partners – the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, collectively known as 5-Eyes – to discuss what could and what could not be shared under the different jurisdictions at a meeting hosted by Britain’s GCHQ at its headquarters in Cheltenham on 22-23 April, 2008. ...
The record of the Cheltenham meeting does not indicate whether the activities under discussion in April 2008 progressed to final decisions or specific actions. It appears to be a working draft.
China, India cut back Iranian crude, duck US sanctions
China and India are among countries that have dodged US sanctions by cutting back on Iranian crude, Washington said Friday as it pledged to "aggressively" enforce such punitive measures despite a recent nuclear deal with Tehran.
President Barack Obama determined that global crude production was enough "to permit foreign countries to reduce significantly their purchases of Iranian oil" after taking note of a report on the topic, the White House said.
"In this context, it is notable that many purchasers of Iranian crude oil continue to reduce, or have ceased altogether, their purchases from Iran," it added.
This biannual evaluation is mandated by a 2012 law aimed at drying up Tehran's oil revenues by forcing third countries to stop buying Iranian crude or face sanctions.
Pentagon Approves Record Sale of Advanced Arms to Countries at War
Today’s high-tech weapons manufacturers are enjoying record sales. The State Department’s Military Assistance Report stated that it approved $44.28 billion in arms shipments to 173 nations in the last fiscal year. One of the more controversial is the Defense Department’s plans to sell Saudi Arabia $6.8 billion and the United Arab Emirates $4 billion in advanced weaponry, including air-launched cruise missiles and precision munitions. The trouble is – has anyone asked where these weapons will ultimately end up?
Boeing Co. (BA) and Raytheon Co. (RTN) sent a message of support from the Obama administration for setting up the deal with these two close allies in the Middle East.
This historic deal will be the first U.S sales of new Raytheon and Boeing weapons that can be launched at a distance from Saudi F-15 and U.A.E. F-16 fighters. But this is just part of Saudi Arabia’s military shopping list.
The Saudi Kingdom is also purchasing the Boeing Expanded-Response Standoff Land Attack Missile and Raytheon Joint Standoff Weapon, which can strike at air defense sites and radar installations from beyond the range of enemy air-defense systems. The Royal Saudi Navy is acquiring Boeing missiles, a derivative of the Harpoon anti-ship missile that can be launched more than 135 nautical miles from a target and be redirected in flight. With such a big order should the U.S question the need for this military arsenal?
Transformation of Community Policing Into Military Policing Sanctions Government Violence
Last month ... a 13-year-old boy carrying a toy replica of an AK-47 was shot and killed on the outskirts of that town by a Sonoma County deputy sheriff with a reputation for being trigger-happy. The officer had ordered the boy to drop the “gun,” then in a matter of two or three seconds opened fire, giving him no chance to comply. ...
Deputy Sheriff Erick Gelhaus, the officer who killed Andy Lopez, instantly firing seven rounds at him, was a firearms instructor for his department and an Iraq war vet. Strikingly, “the deadly encounter recalled how soldiers might confront an insurgent in a war zone,” Dennis Bernstein wrote recently at ConsortiumNews, quoting a former member of the military police who lives in the neighborhood where the shooting took place. Military training seeks to override recruits’ moral compunctions about taking human life and establish “muscle memory” that allows them to kill on command. Such a quality is alarming to contemplate in local sheriff’s deputies, putting residents of the neighborhoods they patrol at the same risk as those who live in occupied territory.
Obama spends $600 million on rail projects that benefit private companies
The railroad industry brags in its national publicity campaign that it spends billions of dollars improving its infrastructure “so taxpayers don’t have to.”
But the ads don’t tell everything. The nation’s freight rail network has been the quiet recipient of more than $600 million in federal investment during the Obama administration.
According to Federal Railroad Administration numbers, at least half that amount has gone to projects that benefit the nation’s four largest railroads, the same companies at the heart of the industry’s ubiquitous “Freight Rail Works” campaign.
That doesn’t even include tens of millions more that states have contributed for additional investment in ports and high-speed passenger trains that’s boosted the nation’s freight railroads.
Leaked paper reveals UN split over war on drugs
Latin American nations call for treatment strategy, claiming UN's prohibition stance plays into hands of paramilitary groups
Major international divisions over the global "war on drugs" have been revealed in a leaked draft of a UN document setting out the organisation's long-term strategy for combating illicit narcotics.
The draft, written in September and seen by the Observer, shows there are serious and entrenched divisions over the longstanding US-led policy promoting prohibition as an exclusive solution to the problem. ...
The divisions highlighted in the draft are potentially important. The document will form the basis of a joint "high-level" statement on drugs to be published in the spring, setting out the UN's thinking. This will then pave the way for a general assembly review, an event that occurs every 10 years, and, in 2016, will confirm the UN's position for the next decade. "The idea that there is a global consensus on drugs policy is fake," said Damon Barrett, deputy director of the charity Harm Reduction International. "The differences have been there for a long time, but you rarely get to see them. It all gets whittled down to the lowest common denominator, when all you see is agreement. But it's interesting to see now what they are arguing about." ...
Experts said the level of disagreement showed fault lines were opening up in the globally agreed position on drug control. "Heavy reliance on law enforcement for controlling drugs is yielding a poor return on investment and leading to all kinds of terrible human rights abuses," said Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, director of the Open Society Global Drug Policy Program. "The withdrawal from the most repressive parts of the drug war has begun – locally, nationally and globally."
Los Angeles to join New York and 50 other U.S. cities with ban on feeding homeless people
As the number of homeless people in Los Angeles County continues to rise, the City Council is weighing a ban on feeding homeless people in public areas.
City Council members Tom LaBonge and Mitch O'Farrell, both Democrats, introduced the resolution after complaints from Los Angeles residents. Arguing that meal lines should be moved indoors, the legislators said the proposal would benefit both the homeless and residential neighborhoods. ...
Los Angeles would join "dozens of cities in recent years" including Philadelphia, Raleigh, N.C., and Orlando, Fla. that have either enacted or at least debated legislation aimed at regulating the public feeding of the homeless. Over 50 cities have previously adopted some kind of anti-camping or anti-food-sharing laws, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.
Michael Hudson: Oligarchs Will Never Cancel Debts We Owe Them
The Saboteurs
The man who waged North America’s first significant war against hydraulic fracturing was from Alberta, an eccentric, messianic Christian preacher named Wiebo Ludwig who died last year. He, with his small Christian community in the remote north of the province, sabotaged at least one wellhead by pouring cement down its shaft and blew up others. The Canadian authorities, along with the oil and gas barons, demonize Ludwig as an ecoterrorist, an odd charge given that they are the ones responsible for systematically destroying the environment and the planet. And as the ecosystem deteriorates—and the drive by corporations to extract the last remaining natural resources from the earth, even if it kills us all, becomes more and more relentless—the resistance of Wiebo Ludwig is worth remembering. ...
Ludwig’s farm happened to be atop one of the largest oil and gas reserves in the world. In Canada when you own land you own only the top six inches of soil; the mineral rights below it belong to the state and can be sold without the knowledge or acquiescence of the landowner. Beneath Ludwig’s farm lay a fossil fuel known as sour gas, a neurotoxin that if released from within the earth can, even in small amounts, poison livestock, water tables and people. ...
The oil and gas companies soon began a massive drilling effort. At first, like many other reformers and activists, Ludwig used legal and political channels to push back against the companies, which were drilling on the edge of his 160-acre farm. He spent the first five years attending hearings with civil regulators, writing letters—he even wrote to Jane Fonda—and appealing in vain to elected officials, government agencies, the press, environmentalists and first nations groups. ... Ludwig’s first acts of sabotage were minor. He laid down nail beds on roads. He smashed solar panels. He blocked roads by downing trees. He disabled vehicles and drilling equipment. But after two leaks of hydrogen sulfide sour gas from nearby wells—which forced everyone on the farm to evacuate and saw numerous farm animals giving birth to deformed or stillborn offspring, as well as five human miscarriages or stillbirths within Ludwig’s community—and after the destruction of two of his water wells, he declared open war on the oil and gas industry. He began to blow up oil and gas facilities. He said he had to fight back to “protect his children.”
Ludwig referred to the biblical story of David and Goliath in justifying his struggle against colossal forces, saying “the war is won before it is fought.” He believed that if you fought for righteousness you always were ensured spiritual victory, even if you were defeated in the eyes of the world. “It’s not size,” he said. “It’s whether a man is right or not. The fight is won on principle.”
Pennsylvania fracking boom coincides with increase in fossil fuel industry money
New analysis by Oil Change International, in partnership with Berks Gas Truth, released today shows that, since 2006, the fossil fuel industry has provided over $4.4 million in direct campaign contributions to members of the state legislature in Pennsylvania. In that time, overall contributions have doubled, from roughly $800,000 during the 2006 cycle, to over $1.6 million in total giving during the 2012 election cycle.
The analysis is based on data compiled in the new States.DirtyEnergyMoney.com database, launched this month by Oil Change International. The new database tracks fossil fuel industry contributions to members of state legislatures in seven key fossil fuel states across the country. More details can be found here. ...
“This new analysis shows that just as the oil and gas industry has invaded our communities and backyards with their dirty fracking waste, they are simultaneously invading our democracy as well,” said Karen Feridun of Berks Gas Truth. ... “The influx of campaign cash from the fossil fuel industry in Pennsylvania paints a scary picture. It’s clear that industry interests are trying to grease the skids in the state legislature so they can continue fracking up the state,” said David Turnbull, Campaigns Director at Oil Change International. “It’s time we kicked fossil fuel money out of our politics and demand representatives in State Houses all around the country start listening to the people, not the polluters.”
Action
Stop Watching Us.
The revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance apparatus, if true, represent a stunning abuse of our basic rights. We demand the U.S. Congress reveal the full extent of the NSA's spying programs.
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