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US: How the government reads your emails without a warrant


Russia Today
Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:18 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Nicholas Kamm
Worried that the US government might be able to read your emails? Don't be - they already can! The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the feds to come clean on why - and what - they do with the personal correspondence of its citizens.

The ACLU has filed request under the US Freedom of Information Act in hopes of learning more about the powers the government has granted itself to snoop through the emails, texts and instant messages of Americans. Being able to browse through correspondence without a warrant is a power that the government has had for ages, but with the Internet making sending mail as easy as a click of a button, the ACLU says it is about time the feds fix their current policies.

The organization writes in a recent press release that they are going after the FBI, US Justice Department, IRS and US Attorneys Offices around the country with the intent of figuring out why the government is so interested in sticking its nose in the inboxes of millions of Americans. They have sent FOIA requests to all of those agencies in which they ask "about the government's policies, procedures and practices for accessing the content of private electronic communications."

In the long run, the ACLU hopes for a law change.
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Pistol

Lawyer blames Swiss police at French cult trial


Reuters
Wed, 18 Apr 2001 06:18 UTC
Image
© Parrot-Ruet/Sygma/Corbis
16 people including 3 children are shot dead, then burned with a flame thrower on December 23, 1995, on the Vercors Plateau, near Saint-Pierre-de-Cherennes in France
Grenoble, France - A French court trying a Swiss conductor for conspiracy to murder heard allegations on Wednesday that Swiss police bungled a 1994 probe into the deaths of 48 members of the Order of the Solar Temple cult, failing to prevent further mass suicide pacts.

Michel Tabachnik went on trial on Tuesday, on charges stemming from his involvement in the doomsday sect, thought to be responsible for 74 deaths.

The court in Grenoble, in the French Alps, is examining the death of 16 cult members, including three children, whose charred bodies were found, laid out in a star pattern, in December 1995 in a forest in the remote Vercors region.

"If the Swiss investigation had been properly conducted, we would not be here today," lawyer Jacques Barillon told the Swiss police officer who led the 1994 probe and who is appearing as a witness in the French trial.

Comment: See also: France puts itself on suicide watch: MIVILUDES vilifying 'cults' to justify its own existence

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House

US Foreclosure Fraud: 85% of Mortgage Transfers Were No Good

Cynthia Kouril
FiredogLake
Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:26 UTC
#FAIL truck
© beatefirlinger, flickr
That's a pretty startling headline, isn't it? Yet, that was the conclusion reached by study of 400 foreclosure files commissioned by San Francisco County assessor-recorder Phil Ting. You can read the data in a report authored by the auditors called "Foreclosure in California- A Crisis in Compliance." It's only 21 pages long and written in plain language. You should read it, if only for common sense language like this:
Given these well-documented and widespread origination and servicing issues, it is not implausible that there are homeowners who are alleged to have defaulted on loans to which they never fully agreed to and, further, are being foreclosed upon by lenders that might not even own such loans. The fact that these homeowners borrowed something, on some terms, from someone should not be enough to rob them of their due process right.
Gretchen Morgenstern at the New York Times is all over this story. She writes:
In a significant number of cases - 85 percent - documents recording the transfer of a defaulted property to a new trustee were not filed properly or on time, the report found. And in 45 percent of the foreclosures, properties were sold at auction to entities improperly claiming to be the beneficiary of the deeds of trust. In other words, the report said, "a 'stranger' to the deed of trust," gained ownership of the property; as a result, the sale may be invalid, it said.
Wow, let that sink in for a minute, "a stranger to the deed of trust gained ownership of the property." Maybe I should have used that for the headline.
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Eagle

U.S. slaps more sanctions on Iran

Olivier Knox & Laura Rozen
The Envoy
Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:40 UTC
Image
© Associated Press
An undated aerial photo of the Brussels-based SWIFT global financial network.
Even as Iran has signaled its readiness to return to international nuclear talks in a letter this week, the United States announced new sanctions on Iran Thursday.

The Treasury Department announced Thursday it is sanctioning Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security [MOIS], accusing it of sponsoring human rights abuses in both Iran and Syria, as well as being a sponsor of terrorism.

"Today we have designated the MOIS for abusing the basic human rights of Iranian citizens and exporting its vicious practices to support the Syrian regime's abhorrent crackdown on its own population," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said in a Treasury Department press release Thursday. "The action came as key Washington lawmakers pressed for additional measures to further cut the Islamic republic off from the global financial network.

Comment: The basic human rights of American Citizens aren't represented here in the United States. We have Free Speech Zones (yahoo search) and the right to gather and protest is defunct at best. Apparently the Log in our eye (The United States) is somehow far less obstructive than the toothpick in Iran's. Thus we (USA), a nation of so-called-Democracy, can Dictate how Iran functions financially. The US is able to achieve this by the support of our Satellite nations err.. Colonies err.. fellow, Independent, Democratic friends.

Readers of the Signs of the Times have a good idea of what's "really" going on inside Syria.

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Bad Guys

The .0000063% Election: How the Politics of the Super Rich Became American Politics

Ari Berman
Tom Dispatch
Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:45 UTC
fat cat bankers
At a time when it's become a cliché to say that Occupy Wall Street has changed the nation's political conversation -- drawing long overdue attention to the struggles of the 99% -- electoral politics and the 2012 presidential election have become almost exclusively defined by the 1%. Or, to be more precise, the .0000063%. Those are the 196 individual donors who have provided nearly 80% of the money raised by super PACs in 2011 by giving $100,000 or more each.

These political action committees, spawned by the Supreme Court's 5-4 Citizens United decision in January 2010, can raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals, corporations, or unions for the purpose of supporting or opposing a political candidate. In theory, super PACs are legally prohibited from coordinating directly with a candidate, though in practice they're just a murkier extension of political campaigns, performing all the functions of a traditional campaign without any of the corresponding accountability.
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Pirates

Thailand: Iranians planned to attack Israelis

Jocelyn Gecker & Thanyarat Doksone
Associated Press
Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:15 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Iran and Pakistan: Terrorism States or Victims of Terrorism?
Bangkok - Three Iranians detained after accidentally setting off explosives in Bangkok were planning to attack Israeli diplomats, Thailand's top policeman said Thursday in the first confirmation by local officials that the group was plotting attacks in Thailand.

The allegation came after days of strong accusations by Israel that Iran was behind the botched plot as well as two others in India and the former Soviet republic of Georgia this week. Iran has denied the charges.

Citing the similarity of bombs used in New Delhi and Tbilisi, national police chief Gen. Prewpan Dhamapong said that Thai authorities now "know for certain that (the target) was Israeli diplomats."

"This issue was about individuals and the targets were specific," he said. "This was something personal."

Israel has accused Iran of waging a covert campaign of state terror and has threatened military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran has blamed the Jewish state for the recent killings of Iranian atomic scientists and has denied responsibility for all three bomb plots, including an explosion Monday in New Delhi that tore through an Israeli diplomatic vehicle, wounding the driver and a diplomat's wife, and a foiled attempt the same day in Georgia.

Comment: Iran and the United States came out recently with evidence that Israel most likely murdered Iranian Nuclear Scientists.

Just because bombs appear to be the same doesn't mean Iran is behind recent terror attacks. It's simple false flag operations, likely conducted by the Mossad to make attacking Iran that much more likely.

Since the recent NBC article 'Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran's nuclear scientists' Israel and the Western media have been speeding up rhetoric and sabre rattling against Iran instead of further investigating that facts about Israeli ties to terror groups and and terror activities. Those "Sticky" bombs, were they similar to the ones used to kill Iranian Scientists?

When you think about Democracy at gun point, or the burden Palestinians shoulder, one HAS TO WONDER, who's actually terrorizing who?!

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War Whore

NATO Expresses Regret for Airstrike That Killed 8 Young Afghan Civilians


The Washington Post
Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:12 UTC
Image
© Ahmad Jamshid / The Associated Press
Mike Wigston, right, director of air operations of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) joint command speaks, as U.S. Brig. Gen. Lewis Boone, director of public affairs for coalition forces listens during a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Feb. 15,
The U.S.-led military coalition said Wednesday that it regrets the killing of eight civilians in a NATO airstrike this month in eastern Afghanistan.

Civilian casualties have long been a source of friction between the U.S.-led international force and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who condemned the bombing and sent a delegation to the scene to investigate.

The coalition called in the airstrike on Feb. 8 in the Najrab district in Kapisa province, after movements by eight people on the ground were assessed as a threat to Afghan police and NATO forces in the area, said Army Brig. Gen. Lewis Boone, director of public affairs for the coalition.

"The aircraft dropped two bombs on the group that we believed to be an imminent threat to our people," Boone told reporters in Kabul. "Despite all tactical directives being followed precisely, we now know the unfortunate result of this engagement. In the end, eight young Afghans lost their lives in this very sad event."

Coalition and Afghan security forces were searching the area for weapons and ammunition, he said. Using binoculars and other equipment, ground forces identified several groups of Afghan males leaving a village at different times and going in different directions, he said. One group of eight headed for nearby mountains.
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Vader

Netanyahu: Iran's Terror Acts Undermine the World's Stability

Barak Ravid
Haaretz
Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Netanyahu
© unknown
Five arrested on suspicion of involvement in New Delhi attack against Israeli embassy; Thai police investigating Tuesday's botched bombing, one suspect reportedly fled to Malaysia.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Iran is destabilizing the world and urged the international community to condemn its terror acts against Israeli targets.

The prime minister's comments come a day after a botched terror attack in Thailand, which Israeli officials believe was meant to target Israel's ambassador in Bangkok. The bombing followed an attack on Israel's embassy in New Delhi and an attempted attack on Israeli diplomats in Tbilisi.

"Iran's terror operations are now exposed for all to see," Netanyahu said during a Knesset plenum on Wednesday. "Iran is undermining the world's stability and harms innocent diplomats. World countries must condemn Iran's terror acts and draw a red line."
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Gear

Thailand Finds Iran Link Between Bangkok and Delhi Attacks


The Telegraph, UK
Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:38 UTC
Thai investigators believe they have found a link between this week's bomb blasts in Bangkok and New Delhi, a senior security official said on Wednesday, two of three botched attacks Israel has blamed on Iran.
Image
© Reuters
The three men suspected of being involved in three blasts in Bangkok

Iran, whose leaders had threatened to retaliate for Israel's alleged car-bomb assassination of several of its nuclear scientists, denied involvement in the attacks on Monday and Tuesday, including a bomb that failed to explode in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

Asked whether the explosives used in India and Thailand were the same, a senior Thai security official said they both had the same "magnetic sheets".

"The individual was in possession of the same magnets and we are currently examining the source of the magnet," National Security Council Secretary Wichian Podphosri said.
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Laptop

Anti-Piracy Agreement ACTA is Falling Apart in Europe

Alex Fitzpatrick
Mashable
Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
ACTA
© unknown
Bulgaria won't be ratifying the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) any time soon.

On Tuesday, Bulgaria followed some of its European neighbors, including Germany and Poland, in halting approval of the controversial intellectual property treaty.

Bulgaria will "practically stop its participation" until it sees a clear and unified European stance on the treaty, according to Traicho Traikov, the Bulgarian economy and energy minister.

"I'm a pessimist when it comes to regulating an industry, which hasn't adapted to the digital age, through sanctions rather than market means," Traikov told the press, according to Bloomberg.
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