Puppet Masters
"I agree with what he says, I nod along," Maher said. "And then he says something totally batsh*t."
Maher then quoted from Snowden's "open letter to the people of Brazil" last month, in which Snowden said programs like the NSA's surveillance efforts "were never about terrorism" but were instead about "social control, and diplomatic manipulation."
"That's crazy," Maher told Greenwald. "They were about stopping terrorism. They may have gone too far. But everybody in the government isn't out to get you."
After reading Snowden's allegation that the government can "go back in time" to chart a person's online history, Maher asked Greenwald, "This is nuts, right?"
"No, Bill, what's nuts is the fact that you think that's nuts," said Greenwald, who published several articles based on knowledge seized by Snowden. "A lot of the stories we reported had nothing to do with terrorism. They're spying on economic summits in Latin America, oil companies in Brazil, democratically-elected leaders of our closest allies who have nothing to do with terrorism."
Greenwald further argued that the reporting enabled by Snowden's information showed that the NSA had the ability to "slow down the internet" by storing data long enough to search through a person's search history and correspondence.

KMS Wristband phones for young children and older people. The phone can also send an alert if the wearer has left a prescribed area.
As they ride on the bus Foster's phone and a sensor on a wristband alert the school and his parents of a deviation from his normal route. The school has been notified that he is heading to Aiden's house so the police are not called.
As they enter the house, the integrated home network recognises Aiden and pings an advisory to his parents, both out at work, who receive the messages on phones and tablets.
The system also sends Foster's data - physical description, address, relatives, health indicators, social media profile - to Aiden's parents, who note he has a laptop. Might the boys visit unsuitable sites? No, because Foster's parental rating access, according to his profile, is limited to PG13, as is Aiden's.
Foster spots a cookie jar and reaches in. Beep beep! His wristband vibrates to warn him the cookies contain gluten, and he is allergic.
Aiden's mother notes this and consults a menu of her fridge and pantry, all connected to the network, for non-gluten ingredients. There aren't enough so she orders a gluten-free pizza.
The boys turn on the TV. Rather, it turns itself on as Aiden approaches and it lists his favourite channels. The TV notes the boys have a basketball, which has a sensor, and so suggests an NBA game. As they watch, tailored advertising invites Aiden to put a Miami Heat shirt on a personal wishlist connected to a chain store. He does so and a ping is sent to his mother, who simultaneously receives a reminder of the date of his birthday.
With scooter helmets in hand, a man called Yohan and six buddies stroll around Paris' 20th arrondissement. The seven look much like a typical group of French students - until they locate a group of Arab men they suspect of perpetrating an anti-Semitic attack the previous day.
Using their helmets as bludgeons, members of France's Jewish Defense League, or LDJ, set upon the Arabs and beat them. Several of the Arabs attempt to escape in a blue sedan, but the LDJ members pursue the vehicle, causing it to crash into a stone wall.
The attack last August, filmed by a television crew shooting a documentary on LDJ, was one of at least 115 violent incidents that critics attribute to the group since its registration in France in 2001 - a year after the eruption of the second intifada in Israel and the sevenfold increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the 12 years that followed.
"Now they know the price of Jewish blood," said Yohan, the nom de guerre of Joseph Ayache, one of LDJ's young bosses.
An offshoot of the American Jewish Defense League, which was founded in New York by the ultra-nationalist Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1968 and which the FBI considers a domestic terrorist group, LDJ stages violent reprisals to anti-Semitic attacks.
Dame Janet Smith, a former court of appeal judge, who previously led the inquiry into the murders by Dr Harold Shipman, will say in her report that the true number of victims of Savile's sexual proclivities may never be known but that his behaviour had been recognised by BBC executives who took no action.
Smith's investigations, which followed the Pollard inquiry into why the BBC shelved a Newsnight programme about Savile, will send shockwaves through the corporation.
A source close to the inquiry told the Observer: "The numbers are shocking. Many hundreds and potentially up to 1,000 people were victims of Savile when he was representing the corporation. The report will overshadow Pollard. It will go right to the heart of how Savile was able to get away with the most heinous of crimes under the very noses of BBC staff for more than 40 years."
Comment: Then there are all the hospitals, schools, orphanages, and sports facilities Savile was granted free access to around the UK...
The final toll could run into many thousands.

In preparation for President Obama's speech on surveillance policy today, here are some of the misleading statements he has made about the NSA
Since the first disclosures based on documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, Obama has offered his own defenses of the programs. But not all of the president's claims have stood up to scrutiny. Here are some of the misleading assertions he has made.
1. There have been no abuses.
And I think it's important to note that in all the reviews of this program [Section 215] that have been done, in fact, there have not been actual instances where it's been alleged that the NSA in some ways acted inappropriately in the use of this data ... There had not been evidence and there continues not to be evidence that the particular program had been abused in how it was used. -- Dec. 20, 2013At press conferences in June, August and December, Obama made assurances that two types of bulk surveillance had not been misused. In fact, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has reprimanded the NSA for abuses both in warrantless surveillance targeting people abroad, and in bulk domestic phone records collection.
In 2011, the FISA Court found that for three years, the NSA had been collecting tens of thousands of domestic emails and other communications in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The court ordered the NSA to do more to filter out those communications. In a footnote, Judge John D. Bates also chastised the NSA for repeatedly misleading the court about the extent of its surveillance. In 2009 - weeks after Obama took office - the court concluded the procedures designed to protect the privacy of American phone records had been "so frequently and systemically violated that it can fairly be said that this critical element of the overall ... regime has never functioned effectively."

The execution chamber at the Utah State Prison is seen after Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by a firing squad in Draper June 18, 2010.
European manufacturers that have traditionally supplied the drugs used to painlessly execute prisoners have stonewalled, boycotting sales of the drug on a moral basis. Officials in the states where capital punishment is employed have turned to pharmacies to concoct untested mixes of existing drugs in an attempt to make a cocktail that will end a convict's life.
The method of using a sedative and painkiller combination is now coming under scrutiny, however, after it caused a convicted rapist and murderer in Ohio to gasp for air and convulse violently during his final moments. It was the first time in the a two-drug method has been used in the US and it instantly became a rallying cry for death penalty opponents who say the inmate suffered from cruel and unusual punishment.
Proposed legislation in Missouri seeks to correct this problem by carrying out the death penalty with a firing squad.
A team of security and arms experts, meeting this week in Washington to discuss the matter, has concluded that the range of the rocket that delivered sarin in the largest attack that night was too short for the device to have been fired from the Syrian government positions where the Obama administration insists they originated.
Separately, international weapons experts are puzzling over why the rocket in question - an improvised 330mm to 350mm rocket equipped with a large receptacle on its nose to hold chemicals - reportedly did not appear in the Syrian government's declaration of its arsenal to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and apparently was not uncovered by OPCW inspectors who believe they've destroyed Syria's ability to deliver a chemical attack.
Comment: So the war hawks just blame Assad for the fact that the type of rocket used in the attack was not on the list of items in Syrian government possession. The most likely answer is that he doesn't have that type of rocket and that is was fired by rebels from rebel held areas, as the evidence appears to point to. This is also what the Russians said all along.
We have an opportunity to stand up and say we're not going to support legislation that will only move us towards war," said Greg Broseus, Chicago-based member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, in an interview with Common Dreams. "The goal now is to stop another war before it even starts."
On Capitol Hill on Thursday, CNSNews.com asked Blumenauer: "The omnibus bill yesterday, it was 1,582 pages, did you have a chance to read all the pages before voting on it?"
Blumenauer laughed and said: "Nobody did!"
"Nobody did?" said the CNSNews.com reporter.
Comment: Of the Omnibus Bill - did Rep. Connolly read 1,582-Pg. $1.1T Bill 'I'm Not Going to Dignify That Question With an Answer'. Similar question put to Rep. Mark Meadows: Didn't 'Personally' Read All 1,582 Pg. Spending Bill -- Voted No.
"Nope," said Blumenauer.
A new study on the fiscal condition of the 50 states ranks New Jersey dead last, citing revenue shortfalls, budget practices and high levels of debt .
The healthiest states, on the other hand, are those benefiting from the domestic energy boom, including Alaska and the Dakotas.
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University released the study earlier this week. The center counts among its key backers the Koch family, and conservative financier Charles Koch sits on the center's board.












Comment: To date the only English-language articles about this criminal organization are from Israel...