News Roundup - Jan 24th

News Roundup - Jan 24th


Ron Paul: Edward Snowden Is A Hero

January 23, 2014
Fox/LibertyCrier

Ron Paul speaks with FOX host Kenned  about Edward Snowden, the NSA and Obama’s NSA “reforms”.


http://libertycrier.com/ron-paul-edward-snowden-is-a-hero/

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Snowden reveals why he can’t go home

January 24 2014
By Will Dunham
IOL news

Washington - Former US spy agency contractor
Edward Snowden on Thursday said he cannot come back from Russia because
“there's no chance to have a fair trial” and urged the United States to
strengthen its protections for whistle-blowers.
During an online question-and-answer session,
Snowden also denied that he stole the passwords of National Security
Agency co-workers, condemned threats to his life made by unnamed US
intelligence officials in the news media and decried  “indiscriminate
mass surveillance” by governments.
Snowden, living in temporary asylum in Russia
after stealing and disclosing US government secrets on surveillance
operations and other activities, faces criminal charges in the United
States after fleeing last year first to Hong Kong and then Russia, where he was granted at least a year's asylum.
His comments, made on a “Free Snowden” website, came as Attorney General Eric Holder said in Virginia that the US
government would not consider clemency for him.
“If Mr Snowden wanted to come back to the
United States, enter a plea, we would engage with his lawyers. We'd do
that with any defendant who wanted to enter a plea of guilty,” Holder
said.
In his online session, Snowden was asked to explain the conditions he needed to return to the United States.
“Returning to the US, I think, is the best
resolution for the government, the public, and myself, but it's
unfortunately not possible in the face of current whistle-blower
protection laws, which through a failure in law did not cover national
security contractors like myself,” Snowden wrote.
He
said the law under which he was charged “was never intended to be used
against people working in the public interest and forbids a public
interest defence”. He added that “there's no
chance to have a fair trial, and no way I can come home and make my case to a jury”......

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/snowden-reveals-why-he-can-t-go-home-1.1636074#.UuJsWbROnIV

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Guardian journalists could face criminal charges over Edward Snowden leaks
Journalists
at The Guardian newspaper are being investigated by (British)
anti-terror  police over their roles in the Edward Snowden leaks, a
senior policewoman  confirms

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent
The Telegraph
Friday 24 January 2014

Employees
of The Guardian newspaper could face criminal charges over  their role
in publishing secrets leaked by Edward Snowden, Britain’s most  senior
counter-terrorism officer has signalled.
Cressida
Dick, an assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, confirmed for
the  first time that detectives were examining whether staff at the
newspaper had  committed an offence.
She
also told MPs that her officers are looking at potential breaches of
a  specific anti-terrorism law which makes it unlawful to
communicate  information about British intelligence agents. The offence
carries up to 10  years’ imprisonment.
Mr
Snowden, who worked as a contractor for the US National Security
Agency,  stole 58,000  documents containing names and other personal
details about British  intellience operatives, as well as information
about this country’s spying  techniques and capabilities.
Security
service chiefs have expressed concern that lives would be put at
risk  if the information fell into the wrong hands, and warned that
terrorists and  criminals are learning how to avoid detection thanks to
articles which The  Guardian has published based on Mr Snowden’s
disclosures.......

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10492749/Guardian-journalists-could-face-criminal-charges-over-Edward-Snowden-leaks.html


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A Step Back Toward Peace Keeping

by eric
January 22, 2014
Lew Rockwell .com

I grew up in an America with cops in the background. Most people – being
not
criminals – had almost no interaction with them and when they did it
was generally civil and far more important, almost always on equal
terms – with the cop respectful of the citizen.
It goes without saying that’s all gone now. Cops are a menacing
omnipresence – and when they deal with us, it is usually order barking
Command Voice style. You do not discuss, much less dispute. You Submit
and Obey. Or else.The least recalcitrance – merely to question anything – is often sufficient to bring down a Fallujah-style
escalation. People are routinely dragged out of their cars, roughly
thrown to the ground, pummeled, kicked – and much worse than that.
Often, over trivial things. Police even in small towns have become
indistinguishable from soldiers.
It is out of hand – obviously so – and if left unchecked will grow
much worse, much sooner as the vortex picks up speed. What was
inconceivable 20 years ago is routine today. What will be routine 20
years fromtoday?
We face a choice: Either we accept being treated as “indigs” by an
army of occupation that accepts no limits to its authority and which
regards us as disposable as themselves as untouchable. Or we step back
from the abyss before it’s too late. We recover our senses. We no longer accept the unacceptable.
Here’s how, in a few simple steps:

http://ericpetersautos.com/2014/01/22/step-back-toward-peace-keeping/


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This Is How Governments Abuse Privacy To Squash Dissent
Maybe the Most Orwellian Text Message a Government's Ever Sent


By Brian MerchantJan 24,2014

Ukraine's protests, now under cellphone surveillance. Image: Wikimedia
“Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
That's a text message that thousands of Ukrainian protesters
spontaneously received on their cell phones today, as a new law
prohibiting public demonstrations went into effect. It was the regime's
police
force, sending protesters the perfectly dystopian text message to
accompany the newly minted, perfectly dystopian legislation. In fact,
it's downright Orwellian (and I hate that adjective, and only use it
when absolutely necessary, I swear).
But
that's what this is: it's technology employed to detect noncompliance,
to hone in on dissent. The NY Times reports that the "Ukrainian
government used telephone technology to pinpoint
the locations of cell phones in use near clashes between riot police
officers and protesters early on Tuesday." Near. Using a cell phone near a clash lands you on the regime's hit list. 
See, Kiev is tearing itself to shreds right now, but since we're kind of burned out on protests, riots, and revolutions
at the moment, it's being treated as below-the-fold news. Somehow, the
fact that over a million people are marching, camping out, and battling with Ukraine's increasingly
authoritarian government is barely making a ripple behind such
blockbuster news bits as bridge closures and polar vortexes. Yes, even
though protesters are literally building catapaults and wearing medieval armor and manning flaming dump trucks......

http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/blog/maybe-the-most-orwellian-text-message-ever-sent

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Is Life So Dear?

by Jacob G. Hornberger
January 23, 2014
FFF.org

There really isn’t anything shameful about being a serf. What is
shameful is the willingness to accept one’s serfdom for the sake of
being kept safe and secure.
That’s
the trade that unfortunately all too many Americans have made, with
respect to both the warfare state and the welfare state.
On the warfare state side of things, people are willing to let the
government wield totalitarian powers, which, needless to say, infringe
on freedom. They’re willing to let the government have the power to spy
on
them, keep track of their telephone calls, listen to and record their
telephone conversations, read and copy their emails, sneak and peek
into their homes, delve into theikr personal financial affairs,
incarcerate them in military installations, torture them, assassinate
them, and do many of the other things that totalitarian regimes do.
Why are they willing to sacrifice their freedom for democratic totalitarianism?
“I just want to be kept safe, Jacob. That’s what matters to me. If
the government can keep the terrorists, communists, drug dealers,
illegal aliens, and other scary people from coming to get me, I don’t
care what they do. For all I care, they can install video cameras in my
home if it makes me more safe and secure.”
It’s no different with respect to the welfare state. All too many
people are willing to let the government wield the omnipotent power to
seize their income and wealth in order to give it to the poor, the
needy, the destitute, Wall Street firms, middle class farmers, giant
corporations, brutal dictators, large campaign donors, and anyone who
has political clout.
They’re also willing to let the government punish them, through a
felony conviction, incarceration, and fine, for ingesting drugs that the government doesn’t approve of.
They’re willing to let the government punish them, both civilly and
criminally, for engaging in economic trade with Cubans, North Koreans,
Iranians, and others on the federal black list.
They’re willing to let the government control the most minute aspects of their economic and monetary affairs.
And
why are they willing to let the government wield these omnipotent
powers, which, needless to say, infringe on economic freedom?.....

http://fff.org/2014/01/23/is-life-so-dear/



 
 
"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great
moral crises maintain their neutrality" -Dante Alighieri


They who watch while our elected officials are ravaging our country
should consider that...Vin


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