“While this is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t go nearly far enough in ending bulk acquisition of data. It doesn’t stop activity under [executive order] 12333, that does acquisition right off the fibers — it’s an automatic flow to the NSA. It’s both content and meta data. … With passage of USA Freedom Act and resumption of all Americans’ call records for a six-month transition period, both domestic and international calls will once again be collected in bulk.”

Read more »

“There is much to celebrate and much to critique in this particular ‘transition’ — from the standpoint of race and class privilege, because most transgender people are not celebrated nor can afford costly surgeries to look as glamorous at Caitlyn. Jenner’s transition gives us a platform to examine all of these issues. Many transgender people, especially black transwomen, suffer violence and abuse. Transgender people are more likely to be impoverished, denied employment, suffer severe discrimination. Sometimes black trans women are criminalized simply for ‘being outdoors while trans.’ Caitlyn Jenner’s high profile transition does give us, as a nation, the chance…

Read more »

“The whole matter would be moot if the government would adopt an intelligence production process from collection through analysis that was in line with the Constitution — that the technology exists to do just that, even addressing judicial review (not FISA, but regular Article III court) within seconds, thus mooting the Haydens out there who say the regular court review process takes too long. That fact — that the problem is solvable with today’s technology — portrays the existing proponents of keeping Patriot or just modifying it slightly as in Freedom as either incompetent, or possessing hidden agendas, or just…

Read more »

“The tragedy surrounding the current discussion of the USA Freedom Act lies in the fact that the government — including the legislative and executive branches of government, aided and abetted by an unchallenged FISA Court, is working in collusion to mislead the American public about the ability of the legislation to truly do what most Americans want — a constitutional process that a) actually catches bad guys, and b) respects and enforces privacy rights under the Fourth Amendment. Both are ‘do-able’ from a technology perspective and there is no balance — we can have both.”

Read more »

On Tuesday, Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) officially launched his campaign for the 2016 Democratic Party nomination.

Read more »

“According to the newly declassified U.S. document, the Pentagon foresaw the likely rise of the ‘Islamic State’ as a direct consequence of this strategy, and warned that it could destabilize Iraq. Despite anticipating that Western, Gulf state and Turkish support for the ‘Syrian opposition’ – which included al-Qaeda in Iraq — could lead to the emergence of an ‘Islamic State’ in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the document provides no indication of any decision to reverse the policy of support to the Syrian rebels. On the contrary, the emergence of an al-Qaeda affiliated ‘Salafist Principality’ as a result is described as a…

Read more »

“In short, the USA Freedom Act does fundamentally very little in terms of significantly constraining the ability of the National Security Agency to perform bulk collection of data about anyone, U.S. citizen or otherwise. The tragedy of the matter lies in the fact that the government — including the legislative and executive branches of government, aided and abetted by an unchallenged FISA Court, is working in collusion to mislead the American public about the ability of the legislation to truly do what most Americans want — a Constitutional process that a) actually catches bad guys, and b) respects and enforces…

Read more »

“Per usual, the media would retell the narrative based entirely on Pentagon and White House action movie prose. Just as with the bin Laden raid narrative — that later turned out to be mostly false — this tale involved some unbelievably compelling details: ‘rescuing a Yazidi slave,’ ‘hand-to-hand combat,’ ‘women and children as human shields,’ ‘precise fire’ (that, of course, avoided these women and children), and a body count, ’40 extremists,’ that would make Jack Bauer blush. … This routine problem, however, is not the real journalistic crime here. The real issue is that the White House just admitted it…

Read more »

“The bravery of Plowshares activists, risking their freedom to bring public attention to the need to finally get rid of the massive U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons, is a cause to reflect on the current UN meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This 45-year-old treaty, which since 1995 reviews the progress of the nuclear weapons states every five years to ‘pursue negotiation in good faith’ for nuclear disarmament will end its four week session this Friday and the nuclear powers are continuing to object to any meaningful progress to eliminate their nuclear weapons.”

Read more »

“The White House is sending the right message to the Fergusons and Baltimores of America: our cops shouldn’t look like, feel like or act like soldiers. The Obama administration’s plan to scale back substantially on federally-funded military gear gifts to U.S. police forces is the right response to America’s increasingly militarized municipalities. Congress should set this in stone before the next administration reverses it. But while the White House prohibits tank-type ‘tracked’ weaponized vehicles, police can still get ‘wheeled’ armored or tactical vehicles. That means MRAPs can remain on American main streets, and the Ferguson military fights of the future…

Read more »