Tag: corpocracy

The USG attack on sovereignty

 Zerohedge reports that due to USG pressure, France, Portugal, Italy, and Spain are all interfering with the flight path of Bolivian president’s plane, forcing it to land in Vienna:

Moments ago a rather surreal episode of international diplomacy, or
rather lack thereof, took place when the airplane of Bolivian President
Evo Morales was forced to land in Austria over suspicions that NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board, a claim Bolivian authorities
denied. The reason: France and Portugal reportedly refused to allow the
flight to cross their airspace due to concerns that Snowden may have
been aboard the plane. It is what international law allows countries to
deny their airspace to presidents of sovereign countries, when the only
transgression is unproven speculation of harboring a whistleblower.

Of
course, with both insolvent countries bent over and in dire need of some
all too precious Uncle Sam liquidity, we can see how they would do
anything and everything to gain some favor with Obama.

Update: Italy and Spain have also been confirmed as states
that refused passage above their airspace to Bolivia’s Morales on
suspicions of harboring a patriot.

It would appear that all the NSA spying on European leaders has produced a useful quantity of dirt on them.  And also that the hunt for Snowden is a little more critical than the administration would have the public believe.

UPDATE: “Morales’ plane was stranded at Vienna airport
for several hours after Portugal and France abruptly canceled air
permits for it to fly through their airspace, but eventually resumed its
flight home form an energy meeting in Moscow. Austria found no sign of Snowden on board.” 

UPDATE II: “Bolivia’s ambassador to the United Nations, speaking in Geneva
Wednesday, continued to insist that several European countries had
refused permission for the plane to fly in their airspace. Sacha Llorenti said it was an “act of aggression” and that France, Portugal, Spain and Italy violated international law. Llorenti
said “the orders came from the United States” but other nations
violated the immunity of the president and his plane, putting his life
at risk.”

National Stasi of America

The Germans, in particular, are very, very unhappy to learn that the NSA is doing on a global scale what the Stasi did for decades in East Germany.  And Angela Merkel, the former East German, is desperately hoping that ignoring the scandal will make it go away prior to the upcoming elections:

Martin Schulz, the president of the European parliament, likened the NSA to the Soviet-era KGB and indirectly suggested a delay in the talks. Greens in the European parliament, as well as in France and Germany, called for the conference to be postponed pending an investigation of the allegations. They also called for the freezing of other data-sharing deals between the EU and the US, on air transport passengers and banking transactions, for example, and called for the NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, to be granted political asylum in Europe. French Greens asked Hollande to grant Snowden asylum in France.

Schulz said: “I feel treated as a European and a representative of a European institution like the representative of the enemy. Is this the basis for a constructive relationship on the basis of mutual trust? I think no.”

“It is shocking that the United States take measures against their most important and nearest allies, comparable to measures taken in the past by the KGB, by the secret service of the Soviet Union.”

While the anger is broad and growing across Europe, it is particularly intense in Germany which, according to Snowden’s revelations, is by far the main target within the EU of the NSA’s Prism programme sweeping up metadata en masse, capturing and storing it.

Given the high sensitivity of data-privacy issues in Germany, the scandal could test Merkel and force her on to the offensive against the Americans as she seeks to win a third term in general elections 11 weeks away.

Those who are attempting to claim that the NSA spying is simply more of the same are failing to recognize that the US government has committed what it itself describes as “acts of war” against every nation in Europe as well as the American people.  This is likely to have considerable ramifications that go well beyond the diplomatic, as it’s not impossible that the fallout will eventually result in China-like restrictions on the operations of American companies around the world.

Keep in mind that most Europeans are barely aware of the scandal yet, as they are paying closer attention to the economic turmoil in their countries and the upheaval in Egypt than to the Snowden affair.  But absolutely none of those who are aware of the NSA spying think that it is no big deal.

Edward Snowden’s statement

One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom
and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued
liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and
others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them
with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I
will always be thankful.

On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would
not permit any diplomatic “wheeling and dealing” over my case. Yet now
it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President
ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which
I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions.

This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and
neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools
of political aggression.

Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but
those who would come after me.

For decades the United States of America has been one of the
strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this
right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current
government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the
strategy of using citizenship as a weapon.

Although I am convicted of
nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless
person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to
stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The
right to seek asylum.

In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers
like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned,
or powerless.

No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is
afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional
government it was promised — and it should be.

I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many.

Edward Joseph Snowden
Monday 1st July 2013

Those aren’t the words of a traitor to his country. Those are the words of a hero and patriot who has exposed the misdeeds of a government that exceeds its bounds and views the people as its enemy.

At what point does complicity begin?

AV has a question about how responsible he is for his organization’s official position contra Christianity and traditional morality.

I have a dilemma. I work at a huge [REDACTED] company that is based in [REDACTED]. The company is publicly pro-GLBT.

This week the HR dept published an internal article describing a company-sponsored pro-gay club. There was a fairly civil discussion taking place in the comments section. (Which illustrates the obliviousness of the publisher that comments would be enabled at all). Later in the day I noticed that the Christian comments were removed and others were not).

Not huge deal, the company can do whatever they want. As a libertarian, I think its fine if they only hire GLBTs and the market can determine if that’s viable.

But it got me thinking, am I participating in evil or facilitating ungodly activities? Would Paul work there?

Clearly, if my manager asked me to sign a scroll in blood denouncing Christ, I would terminate my relationship with them. Things usually aren’t that obvious. I am sure Hitler’s secretary didn’t think anything was wrong at first either.

At what point does the negative effects from associating with worldly organization outweigh the necessity to make a living? Or as good of a living; a longer commute isn’t exactly like being thrown to the lions.

I don’t think an employee is responsible for his employer’s actions.  He is only responsible for his own. And so long as one is not lying or dissembling about one’s faith and about one’s principles, as Abraham did when asked about the nature of his relationship to his wife, then I think one can continue to work in that situation.  After all, one is expected to be in the world, merely not of it.

On the other hand, the writing is clearly already on the wall.  The fact that one can, in good conscience, continue to work there now does not mean that one is wise to do so.  It is bad enough that the corporation has embraced evil and is now openly pro-GLBT, but the fact that the Christian comments were selectively deleted indicates that it will soon be entering the next stage of actively suppressing all internal dissent.

The corporation hasn’t begun the witch hunts yet, but it will almost surely begin doing so in the relatively near future.  And that is when the ritual submissions will be required, which is when AV will no longer be able to remain there in good conscience.  Given that the clock is already ticking, I would recommend that AV begin actively looking for another job while he still has his current one.

More haircuts on the way

I’m a little surprised at Mr. Evans-Pritchard’s dismay.  What else did he expect?

Another shameful day for Europe as EMU creditor states betray South.
So much for the denials. The Cyprus “template” for banking crises is to be eurozone policy for other countries after all.

Don’t be complacent if you’re on the other side of the Atlantic.  The same “bail-ins” are coming to the USA too.  In fact, two have already taken place there, compared to the one in Cyprus.  It’s already been determined by the courts that “your” money in the bank is not yours, it is merely an unsecured loan you have made to the bank… for what is effectively a negative interest rate.

Gambling is going on in here?

Fox contributor Tobin Smith apparently failed to realize that he was supposed to make his profit on the pump from price movements, not directly:

Most investors can’t tell the difference between “sponsored investment research” and independent analysis, and that’s exactly what the “sponsors” — typically small companies paying for a marketing campaign that will inflate their stock activity and value — are counting on.

The difference gets even tougher to figure out when the sponsor hires someone who is known for giving independent commentary colored only by their own feelings and research. Think of it like a big honking commercial, with a celebrity endorser.

Last week, that bought-and-paid for stock endorsement was a 20-page mailer about Petrosonic Energy, supported by an e-mail campaign, featuring Tobin Smith, a money manager who has been a fixture on the television news shows for 15 years, and who is a regular on the Fox networks, describing himself on Twitter as a “guest anchor.” According to Fox, he is “a contributing market analyst for FOX News Channel and a regular panelist on ‘Bulls & Bears.’” (Fox, like MarketWatch, is owned by News Corp.)

While investors might have ordinarily treated the “special edition” of the new Next Big Thing Investor newsletter — Smith’s latest, just-started investment newsletter — like junk mail or spam, Smith’s name and his smiling, personable countenance had some investors doing a double-take, at least judging from the e-mails I received on the subject.

The people who contacted me considered buying the stock entirely based on Smith’s say-so, and the credibility he exudes in his Fox appearances. They didn’t appear to read the disclaimers of the campaign; had they bothered, they would have quickly found it was paid advertising for which Smith’s company pocketed $50,000.

The thing is, there is absolutely no difference between what Smith did and what Kudlow, Cramer, Bartiromo, and all the other financial news analysts do.  They’re all paid to try to sucker people into the stock market and they all benefit from seeing prices rise as the suckers create churn. I’ve never seen a study on this, and it has been a LONG time since I bothered watching what purports to pass for the financial stuff, but I would assume that there are probably 10 “buy” recommendations for every “sell” recommendation.

It’s not analysis, it’s cheerleading, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with economic realities or what the purported purpose of a stock market is.  The whole thing is a Fed-inflated casino, which is why “investors” are all breathlessly waiting today to see if Helicopter Ben is going to keep the party going another quarter.

NSA whistleblowers back Snowden

More importantly, they note that his approach was more successful than theirs:

USA Today has published an extraordinary interview with three
former NSA employees who praise Edward Snowden’s leaks, corroborate some
of his claims, and warn about unlawful government acts….

In other words, they blew the whistle in the way Snowden’s critics suggest he should have done. Their
method didn’t get through to the members of Congress who are saying, in
the wake of the Snowden leak, that they had no idea what was going on.
But they are nonetheless owed thanks.
And among them, they’ve now said all of the following:

  • His disclosures did not cause grave damage to national security.
  • What Snowden discovered is “material evidence of an institutional crime.”
  • As
    a system administrator, Snowden “could go on the network or go into any
    file or any system and
    change it or add to it or whatever, just to make sure — because he
    would
    be responsible to get it back up and running if, in fact, it failed. So
    that meant he had access to go in and put anything. That’s why he
    said, I think, ‘I can even target the president or a judge.’ If he knew
    their phone numbers or attributes, he could insert them into the target
    list which would be distributed worldwide. And then it would be
    collected, yeah, that’s right. As a super-user, he could do that.”
  • “The idea that we have robust checks and balances on this is a myth.”
  • Congressional overseers “have no real way of seeing into what these agencies are doing. They are
    totally dependent on the agencies briefing them on programs, telling
    them what they are doing.”
  • Lawmakers “don’t really don’t understand what the NSA does and how it
    operates. Even when they get briefings, they still don’t understand.”
  • Asked
    what Edward Snowden should expect to happen to him, one of the men,
    William Binney, answered, “first tortured, then maybe even rendered and
    tortured and then incarcerated and then tried and incarcerated or even
    executed.” Interesting that this is what a whistleblower thinks the U.S.
    government will do to a citizen. The abuse of Bradley Manning worked.
  • “There is no path for intelligence-community whistle-blowers who know
    wrong is being done. There is none. It’s a toss of the coin, and the
    odds are you are going to be hammered.”

What a tremendous surprise to learn that the government isn’t telling the truth about Snowdon and his revelations!

Those dratted hackers

I exchanged a pair of friendly emails with the intrepid book reviewer “Icefog” this morning after my good friends at the NSA provided me with his contact information last night.  “Icefog” explained that his Amazon account had been hacked and he was quite happy to remove the fake reviews that had been posted on Amazon using it.  I’m entirely content to take his explanation at face value, and I would appreciate it if Mr. Kulkis would please remove his four reviews that were posted in response to the now-deleted fake ones.

Edward Snowdon’s liveblog Q&A

If there is any doubt that Snowdon is a hero, the fact that he is openly taking questions from the public and addressing them should settle that one.

1) Why did you choose Hong Kong to go to and then tell them about US hacking on their research facilities and universities?
2)
How many sets of the documents you disclosed did you make, and how many
different people have them? If anything happens to you, do they still
exist?


1) First, the US Government, just as they did with other
whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of
a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that
the disclosure of secret, criminal, and even unconstitutional acts is an
unforgivable crime. That’s not justice, and it would be foolish to
volunteer yourself to it if you can do more good outside of prison than
in it.

Second, let’s be clear: I did not reveal any US operations against
legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked
civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private
businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal
acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a
technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems
crash. Congress hasn’t declared war on the countries – the majority of
them are our allies – but without asking for public permission, NSA is
running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent
people.

And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a
country we’re not even fighting? So we can potentially reveal a
potential terrorist with the potential to kill fewer Americans than our
own Police? No, the public needs to know the kinds of things a
government does in its name, or the “consent of the governed” is
meaningless.

2) All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be
able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and
it cannot be stopped.

Two great quotes:

“The consent of the governed is not consent if it is not informed.” 

“Citizens with a conscience are not going to ignore wrong-doing simply
because they’ll be destroyed for it: the conscience forbids it.”

Those are the words of a free man and a hero of human liberty.

The extent of Facebook spying

Or, at least, this is what they’re willing to admit to for the present:

For the six months ending December 31, 2012, the total number of
user-data requests Facebook received from any and all government
entities in the U.S. (including local, state, and federal, and including
criminal and national security-related requests) – was between 9,000
and 10,000. These requests run the gamut – from things like a local
sheriff trying to find a missing child, to a federal marshal tracking a
fugitive, to a police department investigating an assault, to a national
security official investigating a terrorist threat. The total number of
Facebook user accounts for which data was requested pursuant to the
entirety of those 9-10 thousand requests was between 18,000 and 19,000
accounts.

And, of course, the fact that they’re handing over about 40,000 accounts per year doesn’t eliminate the NSA’s widely rumored backdoor access.