A subject of controversy, Snowden has been variously called a hero,[4][5][6] a whistleblower,[7][8][9][10] a dissident,[11] a traitor,[12][13] and a patriot.[14][15] According to Snowden, his "sole motive" for leaking the documents was "to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."[16] The disclosures have fueled debates over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy.[17] Seven months after the NSA revelations began, Snowden declared his mission accomplished, citing the international debate sparked by his leaks. A federal judge in December 2013 ruled that the government had "almost certainly" violated the US Constitution by collecting metadata on nearly every phone call within or to the United States. Ten days later, a different federal judge ruled the surveillance program was legal, raising the likelihood that the constitutionality of the program would ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.[18]
Snowden's passport was revoked by US officials during a layover in Moscow whilst en route to the Republic of Ecuador on June 23, 2013. He remained in a Moscow airport transit zone until the Russian government granted him a one-year temporary asylum on August 1. He is considered a fugitive by American authorities who have charged him with espionage and theft of government property.[19][20] Numerous media outlets and politicians issued calls for leniency in the form of amnesty, clemency or pardon in the beginning of 2014, while others called for him to be imprisoned or hanged.[21][22] He lives in an undisclosed location in Russia and continues to seek permanent asylum.
Turkey Announces Ceasefire Between Israel and Hamas
As dark fell on Tuesday night, reports from inside the Gaza Strip painted a grim picture, despite the fact that a ceasefire appeared to be imminent. Multiple foreign journalists have been reporting via real-time updates on Twitter that Israel dropped hundreds of leaflets throughout Gaza earlier today, warning residents to move toward the center and to Gaza City for their safety.Gaza City is in the north part of Gaza Strip.
If the Earth warms by more than 7-Fahrenheit degrees on average by the end of this century, never-seen-before floods, droughts, heat waves, and other climatic disasters will follow, with the world’s poorest countries at the most risk, said a new report commissioned by the World Bank. But it stressed that all nations on earth will suffer.
Studies On Both Sides Say To Increase The Minimum Wage
It is a red-letter day when think tanks and pundits from both sides of the debate agree on something. Today is that day, when groups as diverse as the American Conservative magazineand the progressive think tank Demos stand in agreement on one very important topic – raising the minimum wage.
I would like to talk about the current conflict that is going on between Israel and militant Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip. We need to end the mindless chanting and fights on social media and realize that neither group is a monolith, that there are innocent people who are being killed.
Death Sentence Should Not Be Based On Biblical Precepts, Says Americans United
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed today before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Americans United and other groups assert that Anthony J. Farina’s sentencing was prejudiced because prosecutor John Tanner pursued a “biblical strategy” during Farina’s penalty phase. Farina had been found guilty of murder, and Tanner argued that the Bible – specifically the Book of Romans – called for the death penalty.
Can the FBI read your email? If you are former CIA Director David Petraeus, the answer is apparently "yes." But critics are asking whether the FBI's actions in Petraeus' case were legal.
A system of disasters THE TRUE story of Sandy is as much about real estate as global warming. Since the 1960s, everyone on the Atlantic seaboard who could afford it has wanted to live in a beach town or own a second home along the shore. This endless building boom, unrestrained by serious regional or national planning, has put several trillion dollars of prime real estate in harm's way. http://socialistworker.org/2012/11/20/a-system-of-disasters
Anonymous leaks personal information of 5000 Israeli officials
Internet hacktivist group Anonymous has declared cyberwar on Israel, posting personal data of five thousand Israeli officials online.
Top Three Things You Need To Know About The New Obamacare Rules
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a slew of important new Obamacare rules and regulations today, continuing a widely expected post-election effort to successfully implement President Obama’s landmark health care reform law by 2014.
The Israeli onslaught against Gaza, now entering its second week, has killed and maimed hundreds of Palestinian civilians—men, women and children. A largely defenseless and severely deprived population has been subjected to unrelenting bombardment from air, land and sea. Much of the territory’s already dilapidated infrastructure is being reduced to rubble.
It’s Time to Overhaul the Transportation Security Administration
If there is any absolute maxim by which the federal government seems to operate, it is that the American taxpayer always gets ripped off. Indeed, one of the greatest culprits when it comes to swindling taxpayers is the Transportation Security Administration, one of the most corrupt, ineffective, and downright abusive of the government’s many agencies (which is saying a lot) and a massive waste of taxpayer money.
Report on torture must be made public to Americans After 9/11, the phrase "United We Stand" was everywhere. Bumper stickers, T-shirts and other memorabilia prominently displayed the slogan. We demonstrated our unity in acts big and small. Interfaith efforts focused on responding to attacks on Islam. Members of Congress sang together on the steps of the Capitol in a show of bipartisan unity. Local religious leaders of diverse faiths together held a prayer service in the church where I serve, First Congregational Church of Long Beach, to remember the victims of 9/11. http://www.presstelegram.com/opinions/ci_22017972/jerry-stinson-report-torture-must-be-made-public
5 Christian Right Delusions Busted by Romney and GOP Losses
Like other right-wingers in denial, many in the religious right thought the election was in the bag.
Days of intensive Israeli bombing of Gaza and the threat of an invasion by ground troops have pushed the Middle East to the brink. Toufic Haddad, a Palestinian-American writer and researcher and author of Between the Lines: Israel, the Palestinians, and the U.S. "War on Terror," answered questions from Sherry Wolf about the factors and motivations behind Israel's onslaught and the impact of the Arab Spring upheavals on this first major confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians of Gaza. http://socialistworker.org/2012/11/19/what-does-israel-want
JFK: Killed for pursuing peace
Giving the assassins a clear shot
Solving America's health care crisis
Why weren't there any witnesses?
There were ...dozens of them. Here's one they killed
Why the CIA cooperated in the killing of JFK
He was at war with them and they killed him before he could kill them
Stealing JFK's Body
Dancing Israeli students chant “Death to the Arabs” at rally backing Gaza slaughter
Anarchy in the USA
Brilliant Anti-BP Action
Israeli airstrikes against Hamas are 'actually raising Hamas' stature'
White House rhetoric 'contributing' to the crisis
The Roots of Israeli Attack on Gaza
Gaza War is Cover for Israeli Occupation
Momentum builds for historic Black Friday strike at Walmart
"No Place is Safe": After Assault’s Worst Day, Gaza Doctor Says Israel Terrorizing Civilians
This month, we are giving away a FREE copy of The End of Faith by Sam Harris. Simply go to our Facebook page, and start sharing our posts. The person or organization that shares the most DH posts by Halloween wins the book!
Court of Appeals Strikes Down Defense of Marriage Act
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday has struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, the federally imposed ban on same-sex marriage passed into law in 1996, saying the legislation grossly violates the equal protection clause found in the US Constitution's fourteenth amendment.
New Jersey Becomes Ninth State to Back Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United
The state assembly signed the resolution Thursday afternoon that "Expresses strong opposition to U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission; calls upon Congress to propose amending U.S. Constitution."
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has warnedthat the United States faces a possible “cyber-Pearl Harbor” attack by foreign computer hackers who could dismantle the nation’s power grid, transportation system, financial networks and government. But in August, Senate Republicans, siding with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce blocked legislation that would have required new standards at critical private-sector facilities, saying such rules would be too burdensome for businesses.
Biodiversity Is Key In The Road Map To Food Security With No Role For GM Crops
There has been much talk around biological diversity and biosafety in the country as India was host to the eleventh meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity (COP-11) and the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP6) in Hyderabad.
Within individual countries, murder is rightly considered to be the worst of crimes. But the institution of war tries to convince us that if a soldier murders someone from another country, whom the politicians have designated as an “enemy”, it is no longer a crime, no longer a violation of the common bonds of humanity. It is “heroic”.
Approximately 50 % Of World’s Wetlands Lost During The 20th Century
How many of us have ever bothered about the wetlands of the world? To the common man a wetland is just a waste of ‘good’ land, and we never understood what the real use of wetlands are and how important it is to protect them. Unfortunately we humans sit up and take notice of issues with our planet only if we are affected by a problem and after we have destroyed a lot of the ecosystem.
In 1966, when I was a senior at Fortuna High, military recruiters were a fixture at our school. They made regular appearances in their dress uniforms with all their pleats and flaps and brass buttons and medals. And they would give us their best speech. “You'll be heading off to Vietnam,” they told us. “You'll see plenty of action and come back heroes with a chest full of medals because you fought for the most powerful army in the world. And you'll be better for the experience.”
Has the US Banned the Autobiography of a Former Guantanamo Prisoner? People might remember the name David Hicks. He is an Australian who was held prisoner at Guantanamo Bay from 2001 until 2007. In 2010 he published an autobiography entitled Guantanamo: My Journey. Reportedly the book details the years of torture he underwent while in the custody of the US military. Sounds like a book you might want to read. But strangely, it does not seem to be for sale in the U.S. Barnes and Noble does not list it at all. Amazon, conversely,does list it for sale— at its Kindle Store —but at the very spot on the page where we’d expect to see the “Buy Now” button, we find instead a notice reading, “This title is not available for customers from: United States.” Amazon also has a used hardcovercopy for sale—only one—but it is available at the outrageous price of $105.15.
With signs of a global economic downturn mounting, US aggression across the Middle East and North Africa ratchets up. Once again, US imperialism stands poised to open the gates of Hell.
Turkey Leads US-sponsored Military Encirclement of Syria
Despite widely reported concerns of blowback in Syria due to the arming of jihadist groups, a military build-up on Syria’s borders is proceeding apace.
You can download the translation here (PDF) and it is also reproduced after the break below. I should emphasise that this is not an official translation, but it does appear to me to be a very good effort indeed.
More than 13 million atheists and agnostics and nearly 33 million claim no particular affiliation. About 20 percent of U.S. adults say they had no religious affiliation, an increase from two decades ago when about 8 percent of people were deemed so-called “nones,” according to a new study released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life. The group will be the subject of an upcoming PBS miniseries this month.
Al Jazeera to Air Opposition Presidential Debate Amidst US Black-out
When: Tuesday, October 23, 2012, 8:00pm CSTWhere: University Club of Chicago – Chicago, IllinoisDebate Organizer: Free and Equal Elections FoundationMedia Coverage: The debate will be broadcast live at www.freeandequal.org/live, and Al Jazeera.
In Conference Call, Romney Urged Businesses To Tell Their Employees How to Vote
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