Human Rights
The Guardian yesterday released another revelation from the trove of top secret documents leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden. Not to be outdone by Google and other tech titans’ participation in the illegal NSA wiretapping program codenamed PRISM, Microsoft was revealed to have actually built software to be more compliant with NSA and FBI eavesdropping.
According to new revelations, Microsoft took numerous steps to assist the CIA, FBI and NSA in gathering information on its customers in what the NSA document refers to as a “team sport.” Microsoft engineered its popular webmail service Outlook and it's prior incarnation Hotmail to provide the NSA with pre-encryption access.
According to new revelations, Microsoft took numerous steps to assist the CIA, FBI and NSA in gathering information on its customers in what the NSA document refers to as a “team sport.” Microsoft engineered its popular webmail service Outlook and it's prior incarnation Hotmail to provide the NSA with pre-encryption access.
Last week while hunting for whistle-blower Edward Snowden, the United States government managed to get five European nations to assist in reminding the nations of the global South of their lesser status as peoples. The U.S. inspired violations by France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Austria of international law while checking the President of Bolivia's aircraft for a wanted man like it was the trunk of a car pulled over on a highway in rural South Carolina.
The Electronic Communication Privacy Center (EPIC) yesterday filed and extraordinary suit against the NSA for the scale and scope of it's domestic wiretapping program. The suit, filed as a Writ of Mandamus, seeks to overturn an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court instructing Verizon to hand over metadata on all of it's domestic customers. The order was first revealed in the Guardian newspaper last month by whistle-blower Edward Snowden. The suit seeks to challenge the interpretation of the FISA law by the court which is seen as over broad and based on secret court decisions that have not been permitted to be read by previous challengers to various NSA wiretapping programs.
Somewhere in northwest Pakistan Tuesday a sound was heard. Hellfire missiles streaked towards a residential compound. Eighteen people, possibly including civilians, were incinerated and another sound was heard in Washington: the sound of change dropping into Dianne Feinstein's purse.
Since the beginning of the recent revelations of a vast system of American and British government spying on nearly every person on Earth, Senator Feinstein has been quick to be at the forefront of defending these programs and denouncing leaker Edward Snowden as a "traitor." Does she mean that Snowden has betrayed America, or betrayed her own profits from illegal surveillance, indefinite detention and extrajudicial murder?
Since the beginning of the recent revelations of a vast system of American and British government spying on nearly every person on Earth, Senator Feinstein has been quick to be at the forefront of defending these programs and denouncing leaker Edward Snowden as a "traitor." Does she mean that Snowden has betrayed America, or betrayed her own profits from illegal surveillance, indefinite detention and extrajudicial murder?
A miracle of Western diplomatic cooperation was achieved today as the US State Department coordinated its allies Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal in a successful effort to deny Bolivian President Evo Morales a clear path and refueling rights on his way out of Europe. The presidential plane was forced to land in Austria, where it was held for 13 hours while Austrian police attempted to search the aircraft for fugitive American whistleblower Edward Snowden, who may be seeking political asylum without a valid passport. The Austrian President later came to the airport and the standoff was defused when Austrian police were allowed to walk through but not thoroughly search the aircraft.
The search was a clear violation of international law as there is no international arrest warrant for Snowden. All attempts by the United States to acquire Snowden have so far relied on bilateral extradition treaties. It is not known why Austria took the historically unprecedented step of invading Bolivian territory in an attempt to arrest a man not wanted for any crime in Austria.
The search was a clear violation of international law as there is no international arrest warrant for Snowden. All attempts by the United States to acquire Snowden have so far relied on bilateral extradition treaties. It is not known why Austria took the historically unprecedented step of invading Bolivian territory in an attempt to arrest a man not wanted for any crime in Austria.
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's fate may be in the hands of Russian and Venezuelan ministers, who met on Monday to discuss the oil and gas industry's future in the face of vital EU-USA trade talks due to take place. The former Booz Allen worker, who has supplied a string of highly damaging American surveillance leaks to Glenn Greenwald and the Guardian, has been warned by Vladimir Putin to “stop his work aimed at harming our American partners, as strange as that sounds coming from my lips.” With only a week to go before trade talks are due to begin in Washington DC, Snowden released new information over the weekend showing that American intelligence operations have been spying in secret on the European Union and its most powerful member states. Economically vital Russian energy interests may be harmed by Snowden's revelations if Europe finds America's behavior unpalatable for business.
Ecuador is not considering Edward Snowden’s asylum request and never intended to facilitate his flight from Hong Kong, president Rafael Correa said as the whistleblower made a personal plea to Quito for his case to be heard.
Snowden was Russia’s responsibility and would have to reach Ecuadorean territory before the country would consider any asylum request, the president said in an interview with the Guardian on Monday.
“Are we responsible for getting him to Ecuador? It’s not logical. The country that has to give him a safe conduct document is Russia.”
I wonder what deal Correa made to abandon the initial offer. It looked like he was preparing to grant asylum having dropped out of a trade pact with the United States in anticipation of problems while he considered asylum or if he granted it..
Correa Caves
Four days ago, Ecuador’s president was singing another tune. He cancelled a trade pact with the U.S. to avoid blackmail for “considering and asylum request.” This didn’t sound like the “unintentional mistake Correa referenced about
Snowden was Russia’s responsibility and would have to reach Ecuadorean territory before the country would consider any asylum request, the president said in an interview with the Guardian on Monday.
“Are we responsible for getting him to Ecuador? It’s not logical. The country that has to give him a safe conduct document is Russia.”
I wonder what deal Correa made to abandon the initial offer. It looked like he was preparing to grant asylum having dropped out of a trade pact with the United States in anticipation of problems while he considered asylum or if he granted it..
Correa Caves
Four days ago, Ecuador’s president was singing another tune. He cancelled a trade pact with the U.S. to avoid blackmail for “considering and asylum request.” This didn’t sound like the “unintentional mistake Correa referenced about
Organized labor has weighed in on the side of LGBT rights in central Ohio, starting with the strong support given to discharged teacher Carla Hale. Hale had taught for 19 years at Columbus Watterson High School in Columbus, Ohio, before being fired by the Catholic Diocese after returning to work from her mother’s funeral. Her mother’s obituary mentioned that she was “survived by her daughter Carla & her partner.”
For the first time, the AFL-CIO & Pride@Work, organized labor’s LGBT constituency group, were officially represented at the huge Pride Festival & Pride Parade in Columbus with a booth at the festival and a float in the parade. It was estimated that over 300,000 people participated in the activities this year.
For the first time, the AFL-CIO & Pride@Work, organized labor’s LGBT constituency group, were officially represented at the huge Pride Festival & Pride Parade in Columbus with a booth at the festival and a float in the parade. It was estimated that over 300,000 people participated in the activities this year.
Throughout the past weeks of revelations regarding the NSA and other agencies spying on millions of Americans, a bipartisan clique of hawks in both the Obama administration and Congress have repeatedly stated that the secret survellance practices are legal. The NSA director, General Keith Alexander, has already lied to Congress once that can be proven, without even a threat of sanction. The UK Guardian has released new documents today that show the legal justification for these survellance was so secret the former NSA director may have never actually read them.
The Guardian released the NSA Inspector General's report on the legalities of certain ongoing wiretap programs. It reveals without a doubt that as time progressed, intelligence gathering on people around the world increased, restrictions relaxed, and successive secret legal opinions normalized and regularized what was originally a secret temporary emergency measure. Federal judges and the vast majority congressional Democrats enthusiastically approved the measures without ever actually examining the legal underpinnings due to the reported success of the programs.
The Guardian released the NSA Inspector General's report on the legalities of certain ongoing wiretap programs. It reveals without a doubt that as time progressed, intelligence gathering on people around the world increased, restrictions relaxed, and successive secret legal opinions normalized and regularized what was originally a secret temporary emergency measure. Federal judges and the vast majority congressional Democrats enthusiastically approved the measures without ever actually examining the legal underpinnings due to the reported success of the programs.
With the Defense of Marriage Act’s evaporation, the U.S. Supreme Court has removed a titanic obstacle in the gay rights movement. For those of us who are dedicated to the causes of equality, tolerance, and fairness under the law, this decision has cleared the path for federal legislation to legalize same-sex marriage. A minority denied access to marriage for prejudicial reasons dealing with their very nature, homosexuals in particular and the gay rights movement at large still has much to accomplish. Meanwhile, since the century’s turn, several countries around the world have already taken action to cement equality into law.**
Netherlands (2000)
In December 2000, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. The Dutch parliament arguably passed the most progressive legislation in the world at the time, and primarily faced opposition from the Christian Democratic Party. More than 2,000 same-sex couples married within a mere nine months of the law’s passage. However, between 2001 and 2011, only 20% of the 55,000 same-sex couples in the Netherlands have actually married.
Belgium (2003)
Netherlands (2000)
In December 2000, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. The Dutch parliament arguably passed the most progressive legislation in the world at the time, and primarily faced opposition from the Christian Democratic Party. More than 2,000 same-sex couples married within a mere nine months of the law’s passage. However, between 2001 and 2011, only 20% of the 55,000 same-sex couples in the Netherlands have actually married.
Belgium (2003)