News Items

In Latest Decision, Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Government Spying

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The decision in the highly anticipated Supreme Court case Clapper v. Amnesty International USA has arrived, and it’s not a good one for those of us that care about civil liberties.  Basically, the Supreme Court stated that the plaintiffs cannot challenge the warrantless wiretapping law because they cannot prove they have been victims of it.  The problem is that the program is so secretive, it is impossible to know if you are being listened to!  This is the kind of nonsense we have to deal with these days.  Meanwhile, it is very interesting that the five “conservative” justices sided with the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice, while the four “liberal” justices were opposed.  What does that tell you about Obama?

From the Huffington Post:

NEW YORK — Journalists and human rights advocates worried they are being swept up in an electronic dragnet cannot challenge the U.S. government’s secretive warrantless wiretapping program in a lawsuit, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision on Tuesday. The court’s decision, handed down in a case called Clapper v. Amnesty International USA, will complicate civil libertarians’ efforts to push back against the post-9/11 expansion of surveillance.

Jameel Jaffer, the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union and the lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement the ruling was a “disturbing decision” that “insulates the [warrantless wiretapping] statute from meaningful judicial review and leaves Americans’ privacy rights to the mercy of the political branches.”

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Rand Paul’s Third Letter to the CIA: Can You Kill with Drones in the USA?

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This letter is a few days old, but is very important for every American to be aware of. Essentially, Rand Paul is threatening to filibuster Barack Obama’s nominee for the CIA, John Brennan, due to his refusal to answer a simple question:

Do you believe that the President has the power to authorize lethal force, such as a drone strike, against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, and without trial?

This should not be a complicated question to answer, yet it seems Obama, Brennan and pretty much every other little power consumed bureaucrat is incapable of doing so.  Below is Rand Paul’s letter reprinted in full (my emphasis added).

February 20, 2013

John O. Brennan

Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20500

 

Dear Mr. Brennan,

In consideration of your nomination to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), I have repeatedly requested that you provide answers to several questions clarifying your role in the approval of lethal force against terrorism suspects, particularly those who are U.S. citizens. Your past actions in this regard, as well as your view of the limitations to which you are subject, are of critical importance in assessing your qualifications to lead the CIA. If it is not clear that you will honor the limits placed upon the Executive Branch by the Constitution, then the Senate should not confirm you to lead the CIA.

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Colorado Moves Closer to NDAA Victory: Please Email and Call Rep. Bob Gardner Now

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This morning I talked to the founder of P.A.N.D.A, Dan Johnson, and he informed me that the key obstacle to passing Colorado’s HB-1045 (the NDAA nullification bill), Rep. Bob Gardner, is changing tack.  In a press release they stated: Hundreds of calls later, our phone calls, emails, and messages worked. Rep. Bob Gardner has tentatively … Read more

Australian Government to Seize Cash from Inactive Bank Accounts

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The more desperate, bankrupt and degenerate government becomes, the more they will move to seize the assets of their citizenry.  This move by Australia is very concerning, but probably just the beginning.  Recall, I recently wrote about how the U.S. government is already looking at interfering in the management of retirement accounts.  From the Herald Sun:

HOUSEHOLDS face losing up to $109 million from their family savings as the Federal government moves to seize cash from inactive bank accounts.

After legislation was rushed through parliament, the government will from May 31 be able to transfer all money from accounts that have not been used for three years into their own revenues.

This will mean that accounts with anything from $1 upwards that have not had any deposit or withdrawals in the past three years will be transferred to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

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A Letter from Solitary Confinement

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For those unfamiliar with Jeremy Hammond, he is the 28-year-old web developer accused of hacking Stratfor and subsequently leaking the information to Wikileaks.  For this, he faces a 30-years-to-life sentence.  Jeremy is currently being held without bail at the Manhattan Correctional Center, a federal jail in lower Manhattan in solitary confinement. Incredibly, the federal judge who is hearing his case, Lorraine Preska, has refused to step aside despite the fact that her husband was a victim in the hack Hammond is accused of.  Now that’s a justice system!

Well Hammond recently penned a letter from solitary in which he discusses the rampant corruption in the criminal justice system, the very dangerous Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and the tragic death and over-prosectution of Aaron Swartz.  His character really comes through in the fact that he barely even discusses his own case, despite the awful situation he finds himself in.  So without further ado, below is his entire letter, with my favorite passages highlighted.

February 20, 2013

Jeremy Hammond on Aaron Swartz and the Criminalization of Digital Dissent

The tragic death of internet freedom fighter Aaron Swartz reveals the government’s flawed “cyber security strategy” as well as its systematic corruption involving computer crime investigations, intellectual property law, and government/corporate transparency.  In a society supposedly based on principles of democracy and due process, Aaron’s efforts to liberate the internet, including free distribution of JSTOR academic essays, access to public court records on PACER, stopping the passage of SOPA/PIPA, and developing the Creative Commons, make him a hero, not a criminal. It is not the “crimes” Aaron may have committed that made him a target of federal prosecution, but his ideas – elaborated in his “Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto” – that the government has found so dangerous. The United States Attorney’s aggressive prosecution, riddled with abuse and misconduct, is what led to the death of this hero. This sad and angering chapter should serve as a wake up call for all of us to acknowledge the danger inherent in our criminal justice system.

Aaron’s case is part of the recent aggressive, politically-motivated expansion  of computer crime law where hackers and activists are increasingly criminalized because of alleged “cyber-terrorist” threats. The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, whose office is prosecuting me and my co-defendants in the Lulzsec indictment, has used alarmist rhetoric such as the threat of  an imminent “Pearl Harbor like cyber attack” to justify  these prosecutions. At the same time the government routinely trains and deploys their own hackers to launch sophisticated cyber attacks against the infrastructure of foreign countries, such as the Stuxnet and Flame viruses, without public knowledge, oversight, declarations of war, or consent from international authorities. DARPA, US Cyber Command, the NSA, and numerous federally-contracted private corporations openly recruit  hackers to develop defensive and offensive capabilities and build Orwellian digital surveillance networks, designed not to enhance national security but to advance U.S. imperialism. They even attend and speak at hacker conferences, such as DEFCON, offer to bribe hackerspaces for their research, and created the insulting “National Civic Hacker Day” – efforts which should be boycotted or confronted every step of the way.

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How Scientists are Censored in Canada

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I came across this article earlier today in The Globe and Mail and I was shocked to learn that scientists in Canada are routinely required to receive political approval before speaking with the media about their findings.  I also discovered that Canada has plunged 10 spots on the Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index to 20th place.  Despite the drop, Canada is still doing relatively well compared to its national security state neighbor to the south, which in the 32nd position, finds itself just below Ghana and Suriname.  You can thank the joke that is U.S. mainstream media for this pathetic position, down sharply from the 17th spot we held in 2002 (the year after 9/11).  From the Globe and Mail:

This week the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Clinic and Democracy Watch asked federal Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault to investigate claims that scientists are being prohibited from speaking freely with journalists – and through them, the public.

In a report called Muzzling Civil Servants: A Threat to Democracy, the UVic researchers present some chilling findings: Scientists are either told not to speak to journalists or to spout a chewed-over party line, rubber-stamped by their PR masters; the restrictions are particularly tight when a journalist is seeking information about research relating to climate change or the tar sands; Environment Canada scientists require approval from the Privy Council Office before speaking publicly on sensitive topics “such as climate change or protection of polar bear and caribou.”

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TBTF Banks Enter Payday Loan Business with 500% Interest Rates

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If you thought the TBTF banks couldn’t stoop any lower, think again.  If this doesn’t prove without a shadow of a doubt that the more you coddle and bailout the big banks, the more brazen, criminal and out of control they become.  I guess entering the slumlord business and running the food stamp program just wasn’t good enough. In their latest scheme, we find that JP Morgan (of course), Bank of America and Wells Fargo (Uncle Warren’s pet) are at the center of what can only be called a global loan-sharking business that prays on destitute American citizens.  Basically, the way the scam works is payday lenders set up shop overseas in locations such as Granada, Belize or the Isle of Man in order to avoid various state laws against payday loans.  The key link in the chain are the TBTF crony banks who process the loans and facilitate the interest charges, which can be well over 500%.  So what’s in it for the banks?  Huge fees of course.  Absolutely disgusting, but par for the course for these guys.  From the New York Times:

Major banks have quickly become behind-the-scenes allies of Internet-based payday lenders that offer short-term loans with interest rates sometimes exceeding 500 percent.

With 15 states banning payday loans, a growing number of the lenders have set up online operations in more hospitable states or far-flung locales like Belize, Malta and the West Indies to more easily evade statewide caps on interest rates.

While the banks, which include giants like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, do not make the loans, they are a critical link for the lenders, enabling the lenders to withdraw payments automatically from borrowers’ bank accounts, even in states where the loans are banned entirely. In some cases, the banks allow lenders to tap checking accounts even after the customers have begged them to stop the withdrawals.

For the banks, it can be a lucrative partnership. At first blush, processing automatic withdrawals hardly seems like a source of profit. But many customers are already on shaky financial footing. The withdrawals often set off a cascade of fees from problems like overdrafts.

Some state and federal authorities say the banks’ role in enabling the lenders has frustrated government efforts to shield people from predatory loans — an issue that gained urgency after reckless mortgage lending helped precipitate the 2008 financial crisis.

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Help Colorado Nullify the NDAA: Support HB-1045

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The organization P.A.N.D.A. (People Against the NDAA) is one of the groups leading the charge against the extremely dangerous Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  This section essentially destroys the entire Bill of Rights of the Constitution and must be fought in any way possible.  I have highlighted the NDAA lawsuit against the Obama Administration on several occasions, but what I have not done yet is showcase the actions being taken and victories achieved by P.A.N.D.A. at the state level.  With an important vote coming up in Colorado to nullify the egregious section, this is the perfect time.

The bill to stop the NDAA in Colorado is called HB-1045 and it was introduced by former police officer, Representative Jared Wright.  It successfully made it out of committee on February 18th, and now all of us must do all we can to make sure it passes.  Below are some suggestions from the folks at P.A.N.D.A., as well as the contact information for the various representatives.  Please let them know where you stand!

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Welcome to Belle Isle: A Proposed “Commonwealth” in Michigan

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The “Commonwealth of Belle Isle” is the brainchild of Michigan real estate developer Rod Lockwood.  The concept is to raise one billion dollars in order to purchase the uninhabited 982-acre Belle Isle situated between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario and then create an independent self-sustaining community.  According to the project’s website they aim to:

Build a supercharged community with its own laws, customs, transportation systems, taxation and currency, transforming Belle Isle into the “Midwest Tiger,” rivaling Singapore and Hong Kong as an economic miracle.  Served by a monorail, Belle Isle is a walking community, with restricted hours for vehicles.  With emphasis on great planning and architecture, people from all over the world come to Belle Isle, to be part of its freedom and opportunity culture.

So I have read the FAQs on Belle Isle on the project’s website and I have two primary concerns.

First, I really dislike the idea that all of the 35,000 citizens expected to populate the island must pay $300,000 to buy-in.  While I understand the need for funding, I also think that a community of people that have already accumulated that much wealth will not be particularly dynamic or interesting.  I would personally have maybe 50% of the island populated in that manner, with the remaining spots available to those that have a particular skill, intellect or creativity to offer the community irrespective of their age or bank account.

*Correction:  A reader brought to my attention that 20% of Belle Isle is to consist of citizens with reduced or no citizen fees.  I still think 20% is low, but this alleviates some of my concerns.

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