As Congress and the president rush to re-authorize the dangerous FISA Amendments Act — the law shamefully passed after pressure to legalize certain portions of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program — EFF has been sounding the alarm that Americans’ communications are still being unconstitutionally collected by the government without a warrant. On Friday, the Office …
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The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) established a panel of judges (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) who were empowered to issue warrants to federal government organizations, including the National Security Agency, to enable them to listen in on the conversations of American citizens or residents who were speaking to foreign nationals overseas or …
Continue reading “Four More Years of Warrantless Surveillance”
Violence tapered off dramatically today, but at least 13 Iraqis were reported killed and 25 more wounded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim Sunday of absolutely reliable intelligence linking Hezbollah to the bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria, last week was apparently aimed at supporting his government’s determination to get the EU to declare Hezbollah a terrorist state. The Netanyahu claim in interviews on Fox News Sunday and CBS’s Face the Nation of “rock …
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Ignoring trillion-dollar annual budget deficits and a nearly $16 trillion national debt, the American Empire is still growing. The latest imperial foray is expanding the ineffectual U.S. drug war into Africa to combat such smuggling into Europe. Yes, Europe. Not only does the United States spend tens of billions of dollars a year subsidizing the …
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At least 17 Iraqis were killed and 60 more were wounded in a third day of elevated violence. The holy month of Ramadan, which began late last week, was preceded by a short period of relative quiet.
If you didn’t know that Mitt Romney is taking his campaign overseas this week to share his Mittastic worldview with the great people of England, Poland, Germany and Israel, don’t worry, not many do. Or care. Announced early this month, Gov. Romney’s upcoming deployment to these places will serve, presumably, to help boost his foreign …
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Recent remarks by Sir John Sawers, who heads Britain’s MI6 (the secret intelligence service that is Britain’s CIA counterpart), leave us wondering if Sawers is preparing to “fix” intelligence on Iran, as his immediate predecessor, Sir John Scarlett, did on Iraq. Scarlett’s pre–Iraq War role in creating “dodgy dossiers” hyping the threat of nonexistent “weapons …
Continue reading “Will Downing Street Memo Recur on Iran?”
Kabul – For the Afghan Peace Volunteers, living in a working class area of Kabul’s “Karte Seh” district, daily problem-solving requires a triage process. Last week, upon arrival, I looked at the sagging ceilings over the kitchen, living room, and entryway and felt certain that shifting to new living quarters should be the top priority. …
Continue reading “The Sky as It Falls”
A second day of intensified attacks left at least 145 Iraqis Killed and 379 more wounded. The attacks, mostly bombings, seemed to focus on security personnel in Sunni-dominated areas.
