Surveillance in America: Dark arts, black hats

For those of us who have nothing to hide today, the idea that tomorrow’s leaders may be peeping at everything we do that we presume to be private is downright creepy!  Indeed, the so called leak scandal in DC today is giving more and more people some pause.

Imagine that we continue to allow the government to peek in on our lives with impunity.  Tomorrow, a government program that is partly privatized lands your most personal and private information in the hands of a leaker.  But that leaker does not leak to the general public, he or she sells or uses your information for personal gain.   The possibilities are no longer hypothetical.  It  all seems to be unraveling before our very eyes…

“‘WE WANT you to help us do this better,” asserted General Keith Alexander (pictured), the director of America’s National Security Agency (NSA), to hundreds of computer hackers at Black Hat, an annual information-security conference in Las Vegas on July 31st. General Alexander claimed that his agency’s mass-surveillance programmes had stopped 54 potential terrorist plots. He reassured the audience that their privacy was being protected. Still, there were a few heckles.

America’s spies have had a tough time since Edward Snowden, a former intelligence contractor, began leaking information that revealed the massive scale of NSA snooping. Indeed, just as General Alexander tried to charm the geeks, Britain’s Guardian newspaper published another leak by Mr Snowden. This one revealed a system called XKeyscore that lets the NSA glean emails, chats and browsing histories without specific authorisation. The intelligence agency confirmed the programme, but said it was lawful and essential.”

More via Surveillance in America: Dark arts, black hats | The Economist.

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Modest Public Interest in Close of Zimmerman Trial | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

Are we our brother’s keeper?  America seems to be increasingly divided in its opinions in what happens, and even in simply taking notice.

The verdict in Florida regarding the shooting of an unarmed teen should raise concern and key questions about guns, court systems, legal justice, race relations, and many other issues of import for the state of our Nation’s social fabric and for the future of an increasingly diverse if separate America.  This separation seems to include what we notice and what we care about.

Be sure to visit the Policy ThinkShop for commentary on the importance of what happened in Florida for how after the legal system addressed the death of Trayvon Martin millions of people might now see America and how America sees millions of people through the eyes of our local police departments and justice systems.

https://policyabcs.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/15175/

The Pew Foundation has released a troubling survey about apathy and neglect for matters that should matter to all of us…

“The final days of the trial of George Zimmerman, which concluded July 13 with a verdict of not guilty, attracted relatively modest public interest overall. In a weekend survey, 26% say they were following news about the trial very closely.

This is lower than interest in the initial controversy over Trayvon Martin’s shooting when it erupted last year. In March 2012, 35% said they followed news about Martin’s shooting very closely.

However, the story has consistently attracted far more interest among blacks than whites – and that remained the case in the trial’s final days. Blacks are more than twice as likely as whites to say they tracked news about the Zimmerman trial very closely (56% vs. 20%).

Moreover, fully 67% of blacks say they watched at least some live coverage of the Zimmerman trial, compared with 38% of whites. About one-in-five blacks (21%) say they watched “almost all’’ of the trial coverage; just 5% of whites reported watching almost all of it.

The Pew Research Center survey was conducted July 11-14 among 1,002 adults. In 237 interviews conducted July 14, the day after the Zimmerman verdict, 29% say they were following news about the trial very closely.

The Zimmerman trial and Trayvon Martin shooting have drawn less interest than some other racially charged incidents in recent years, including the riots that followed the Rodney King verdict in 1992 (70% very closely) and O.J. Simpson’s arrest in 1994 (48%).”

More via Modest Public Interest in Close of Zimmerman Trial | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

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Mountain of Petroleum Coke From Oil Sands Rises in Detroit – NYTimes.com

There may be no more important singular idea than the notion that corporations are persons.  Indeed, they are.

The Koch brothers continue to be the target of media attention and this time they are not strategizing or paying for it.  They are getting a freebee.  It appears that an environmental secretion from their pursuit of wealth function has piled up higher and deeper in the  eye of the media and in the middle of the “pristine” great lakes region.  Oil… of course.  Texas gold, or US black mud… or whatever earth exploiters and investors call it these days.  Environmentalists and world builders are colliding once again as they accuse one another about tree hugging the world on the one hand and exploiting it for  greed on the other.  In the meantime the real lesson at hand here goes unnoticed.

The key and central problem we see on the horizon today is not piles of environmental waste but the proverbial “free rider problem” which is as old as cave metaphors and necessary untruths.   It is big corporate money (to be sure corporate profits in the hands of ideologues) applied to our political discourse.  The NYTs points it out… but what are we to do?

“Assumption Park gives residents of this city lovely views of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit skyline. Lately they’ve been treated to another sight: a three-story pile of petroleum coke covering an entire city block on the other side of the …”

via Mountain of Petroleum Coke From Oil Sands Rises in Detroit – NYTimes.com.

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There is a reason why we have a war on drugs and why we cannot win it… « HealthThinkShop

So the issue is twofold:

First, there is the problem of a powerful drug being re-marketed as Oxycontin and promoted in ways that lead to abuse.

Secondly, there is the demand for this drug that is created that in turn creates a tremendous market that seduces the greedy and the stupid (the marketers and the profiteers because thinking you can sale this stuff and not get caught is not brilliant) and the users who are often victims who innocently become dependent and spend the rest of their lives needing more of the drug to prevent from “getting sick” when they violently experience withdrawal from this highly addictive and dangerous drug–people get so sedated under this drug that they stop breathing and die…).

This is not most importantly a debate about weed or about politics, or even about criminality… It is a calculated business move by investors to promote a substance that is now running wild in our society and killing innocent people…

via There is a reason why we have a war on drugs and why we cannot win it… « HealthThinkShop.

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Report Faults India Government Over Child Sex Abuse – NYTimes.com

India’s troubles continue beyond its economic slump into its social fabric.  The immense country is home to a huge portion of the world children and it’s laws do not seem up to the task of nurturing and protecting them.  India is a society of hierarchy and class leaving many poor children at the mercy of those with privilege and power…

“Sexual abuse of children is “disturbingly common” in India, and the government’s response to it has fallen short, both in protecting children and in treating victims, Human Rights Watch said in a report released…”

via Report Faults India Government Over Child Sex Abuse – NYTimes.com.

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Venezuela’s presidential election: The autocrat and the ballot box | The Economist

ON SEPTEMBER 12th a queue of stationary vehicles kilometres long blocked the coastal highway that leads out of Puerto Cabello. “Politics,” said a resident, wearily, by way of explanation.

The politics in question were taking place beside the entrance to the port city’s weed-infested airstrip. A small group of supporters was waiting to escort …

More via Venezuela’s presidential election: The autocrat and the ballot box | The Economist.

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U.S. Tracking Killers in Attack on Libya Mission – NYTimes.com

The United States is laying the groundwork for operations to kill or capture militants implicated in the deadly attack on a diplomatic mission in …

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News Corporation: Have I got news for you | The Economist

THE most humble day of my life,” is how Rupert Murdoch, the boss of News Corporation, described his experience being excoriated by British parliamentarians in July 2011. Accusations of phone hacking, police bribery and negligence involving Mr Murdoch’s News …

More via News Corporation: Have I got news for you | The Economist.

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Video – Miscues Before Assault on U.S. Embassy in Libya – WSJ.com

The deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya on Sept. 11 was preceded by a succession of security lapses and misjudgments, compounded by fog-of-battle decisions, that raise questions about whether the scope of the tragedy could have been …

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Eight Charged With Phone-Hacking Offenses in U.K. – WSJ.com

British prosecutors accused a group of former top journalists at News Corp.’s NWSA -0.32% now-closed News of the World tabloid—including former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson—of conspiring to hack the voice mail of more than 600 celebrities, sports stars, politicians and …

MORE via Eight Charged With Phone-Hacking Offenses in U.K. – WSJ.com.

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Bloodshed in Syria: Houla’s horror | The Economist

COULD the massacre on Friday of over 100 people in Houla, an area of several villages close to Syria’s third city of Homs, mark a turning point in Syria’s bloody uprising? Politicians around the world expressed outrage after the UN confirmed that 49 children, many under the age of …

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Cory Booker and the End of the New Black Politician : The New Yorker

Reëlections are like second marriages—a portion of the pageantry, a fraction of the idealism. The controversy now swirling around Newark Mayor Cory Booker is a reminder of that. In urging the President (and Mitt Romney) to renounce negative campaigning, Booker inadvertently offered a barometer of the difference between the Barack Obama of 2008, who strode into …

MORE via Cory Booker and the End of the New Black Politician : The New Yorker.

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