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Snowden's passport was revoked by US officials during a layover in Moscow whilst en route to the Republic of Ecuador on June 23, 2013.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.
NASA employee agrees to sell U.S. government secrets to Israel
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Hello friends, supporters and newcomers!
This is Steve, dustcircle.com's editor.
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In the latest video from Anonymous, they have called for the most aggressive action yet. They’re asking the American people to join them in a “call to arms” for the destruction and overthrow of the US Government.
In the statement, Anonymous says the government is calling them “terrorists” because they truly fear a people’s uprising.
“The United States Government insists on labeling us as terrorists. The question is, “who do we terrorize?” Is it probable that the United States government is truly afraid of we, the people?”
They are not calling for denial of service attacks on government websites or protests as is their normal modus operandi, but for freedom activists to join them in full-blown war to overthrow the US Government and return it to the control of the people.
“We are not calling upon the collective to deface or use a distributed denial of service attack on a United States government agency website, or affiliate. We are not calling upon the people to once again occupy a city or protest in front of a local building, This has not brought on us any legislative change or alternate law. It has only brought us bloodshed and false criticism. For the last 12 years, voting has been useless. Corporations and lobbyists are the true leaders of this country and are the ones with the power to control our lives, To rebuild our government, we must first destroy it.Our time for democracy is here, Our time for resolution is here, This is America’s time for revolution, To restore our constitutional rights, to once again, be free therefore, Anonymous along with the American people have decided to openly declare war on the United States government. This is a call to arms.”
Image from http://www.skyscanner.net/news/articles/2010/08/007777-76-have-sympathy-for-air-rage-reveals-skyscanner.html
Conservatives are so easy to anger these days. Even the most insignificant statement can set off their tempers. If you want to enrage a conservative, I suggest saying the following:
1. A Socialist wrote the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Jesus healed the sick and helped the poor, for free.
3. Joseph McCarthy was an un-American, witch hunting sissy.
4. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were traitors.
5. The South lost the Civil War, get over it.
6. The Founding Fathers were liberals.
7. Fascism is a right-wing trait.
8. Sarah Palin is an idiot.
9. The Earth is round.
10. Reagan raised taxes eleven times as President.
11. Reagan legalized abortion as Governor of California.
12. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.
13. Ronald Reagan supported gun control.
14. Global warming is real.
15. Republicans hate illegal immigrants, unless they need their lawns mowed or their houses cleaned.
16. The military is a government-run institution, so why do Republicans approve the defense budget?
17. The Cold War is over and the Soviet Union no longer exists.
18. Paying taxes is patriotic.
19. Republicans: Peddling the same failed economic policies since 1880.
20. The Republican Party began as a liberal party.
21. The Presidents’ full name is Barack Hussein Obama and he was born in the United States of America.
22. George W. Bush held hands with the King of Saudi Arabia.
23. President Obama saved the American auto industry, while Republicans wanted to destroy it.
24. Hate is not a Christian virtue.
25. Jesus was a liberal.
26. Republicans spend MORE money than Democrats.
27. Tea parties are for little girls.
28. Public schools educate all children; private schools are for indoctrinating children.
29. The Constitution is the law, NOT the Bible.
30. Sharia law doesn’t exist in America.
31. The President is NOT a Muslim.
32. Corporations are NOT people. People are people.
33. Fox News isn’t real news, it’s just a racist, sexist, hateful, right-wing propaganda machine.
34. The Federal Reserve was a Republican idea.
35. Women are equal citizens who deserve equal rights.
36. Women control their own bodies.
37. Abortion is a relevant medical procedure, just ask Rick Santorum.
38. Please use spell-check.
39. It’s “pundit”, not “pundint”.
40. Social Security is solvent through 2038.
41. Health care is a right, not a product.
42. Roe v. Wade was a bipartisan ruling made by a conservative leaning Supreme Court.
43. G.O.P also stands for Gross Old Perverts.
44. The donkey shouldn’t be the Democratic mascot because Republicans are the real jackasses.
45. Barack Obama ordered the killing of Osama Bin Laden. It took him two and half years to do what Bush couldn’t do in eight.
46. Waterboarding IS torture.
47. 9/11 happened on George W. Bush’s watch, therefore he did NOT keep America safe.
48. Republicans invaded Iraq for oil, so Iraq should be allowed to invade Texas to get it back.
49. Separation of church and state is in the Constitution, it’s called the First Amendment.
50. Muslims are protected by the Constitution, just as much as Christians.
51. Barack Obama is the first African-American President, get over it.
52. The Oval Office is NOT a “whites only” office.
53. America is a nation of immigrants, therefore we are all anchor babies.
54. The white race isn’t disappearing, it’s evolving.
55. God is a particle.
56. Evolution is real.
57. The Earth is 4.54 billion years old, not 6,000.
58. The Founding Fathers did not free the slaves.
59. The Revolution was NOT fought over slavery.
60. Paul Revere warned the Americans, NOT the British.
61. Federal law trumps state law.
62. The Civil War was about slavery, NOT state’s rights.
63. Corporations care more about profits than they do about people.
64. Getting out of a recession requires government spending.
65. Glenn Beck is a nut-job.
66. Republicans: Paranoid since 1932.
67. Republicans don’t want to pay for your birth control, but they want you to pay for their Viagra.
68. Republicans actually NEED Viagra.
69. Fox News is owned by an Australian and has a Saudi prince as an investor.
70. Republicans complain about immigrants taking American jobs, then freely give American jobs to foreigners overseas.
71. Republicans hate communism, so why do they refer to themselves as red states?
72. Labor unions built this country.
73. Republicans hold America hostage as a political strategy; the temper tantrum throwing kind of political strategy.
74. Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian.
75. When Republicans see black, they attack.
76. Inside every Republican is a Klansman or a Nazi waiting to bloom.
77. Republicans only care about children BEFORE they are born.
78. Republicans are hypocrites, they’re just too stupid to know it.
79. The Christian-Right boycotts movies that have violence, and then promotes guns and insurrection.
80. I think therefore I am NOT a Republican.
81. Republicans that oppose gay marriage are most likely in the closet themselves.
82. Churches should stay out of politics, or be taxed.
83. People are too poor to vote Republican.
84. Democrats think for themselves, Republicans form think tanks to do it for them.
85. Republicans hate education because they couldn’t hack it in school.
86. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and Republicans wallow in it.
87. A little socialism on the Left is better than a little fascism on the Right.
88. The current corporate tax rate is the lowest in 60 years, so stop whining about it being too high.
89. Republicans: Anti-Gay Marriage, Pro-Lesbian sex.
90. Republicans: Terrorizing the American people since 1981.
91. Republicans have their own terrorists, just look up Timothy McVeigh.
92. Republicans love outsourcing, just ask the Chinese Communists.
93. The Republican answer to the oil spill was to apologize to BP, a foreign oil company.
94. Democrats will be working hard to bring jobs to Americans, while the Republicans tea bag each other in the middle of the aisles.
95. Voter disenfranchisement is immoral and un-American, that’s why Republicans do it.
96. Republicans would let your house burn down unless you pay them to put it out.
97. Democrats want to take care of the sick. Republicans take their credit cards and then deny them medical attention.
98. Republicans say teachers are union thugs, then proceed to rape and mug the entire middle class on behalf of corporations.
99. Republicans think rape isn’t a crime, but miscarriages are.
100. Republicans are idiots and arguing with them is a waste of time!
Bottom line? If you want to anger a conservative, tell them the truth.
Don't forget to go to dustcircle.com and VOTE for which book we'll be giving away in December.
There's also a Donation button, if you're inclined to give toward this site.
Also, have you written a book? We'd like to read and review it.
- STEVE, Editor :)
US as World-Class Bully
The latest international incident involving the United States and Iran occurred on November 1st when fighter planes belonging to Iran shot at a US drone and missed. The Obama administration was forced to acknowledge the incident after stories in the media surfaced about the attack. On November 8th, Pentagon press secretary George Little said the attack was unprecedented and that the drone was flying in international air space while on a surveillance operation. http://www.opednews.com/articles/US-as-World-Class-Bully-by-Mary-Wentworth-121116-949.html
Targeting Civilians: Israel's Specialty
Bullies choose easy adversaries to pummel. Equal fights are shunned. It's the same in schoolyards or battlefields. America and Israel operate this way. They avoid foes able to give as much as they take. Rogue governments never say they're sorry. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Targeting-Civilians-Israe-by-Stephen-Lendman-121117-320.html
FBI's Abuse of the Surveillance State is the Real Scandal Needing Investigation
The Petraeus scandal is receiving intense media scrutiny obviously due to its salacious aspects, leaving one, as always, to fantasize about what a stellar press corps we would have if they devoted a tiny fraction of this energy to dissecting non-sex political scandals (this unintentionally amusing New York Times headline from this morning - "Concern Grows Over Top Military Officers' Ethics" - illustrates that point: with all the crimes committed by the US military over the last decade and long before, it's only adultery that causes "concern" over their "ethics"). Nonetheless, several of the emerging revelations are genuinely valuable, particularly those involving the conduct of the FBI and the reach of the US surveillance state.
The presidential election exposed the liberal class as a corpse. It fights for nothing. It stands for nothing. It is a useless appendage to the corporate state. It exists not to make possible incremental or piecemeal reform, as it originally did in a functional capitalist democracy; instead it has devolved into an instrument of personal vanity, burnishing the hollow morality of its adherents. Liberals, by voting for Barack Obama, betrayed the core values they use to define themselves—the rule of law, the safeguarding of civil liberties, the protection of unions, the preservation of social welfare programs, environmental accords, financial regulation, a defiance of unjust war and torture, and the abolition of drone wars. The liberal class clung desperately during the long nightmare of this political campaign to one or two issues, such as protecting a woman’s right to choose and gender equality, to justify its complicity in a monstrous evil. This moral fragmentation—using an isolated act of justice to define one’s self while ignoring the vast corporate assault on the nation and the ecosystem along with the pre-emptive violence of the imperial state—is moral and political capitulation. It fails to confront the evil we have become.
Don't forget to go to dustcircle.com and VOTE for which book we'll be giving away in December.
There's also a Donation button, if you're inclined to give toward this site.
Also, have you written a book? We'd like to read and review it.
- STEVE, Editor :)
A Closer Look at New Gaza Conflict
The new round of violence between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza is receiving the typical U.S. media treatment, blaming Hamas and absolving Israel. But the origins of the latest clashes are much more complex than that simplistic and one-sided version, writes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.
Gaza vs. Israel: Legitimate and Illegitimate Use of Violence in the Western Discourse
We hear news that the Israeli state has called up 75,000 reserves and is planning for a ground invasion. I continue to hear loud explosions of air raids surround our home in Saftawi, Gaza. The constant buzzing of the Israeli drone has become part of the backdrop of this weapons battle. I hear news that Hamas shot down two Israeli F-16s. I hear news that an Israeli drone was shot down late last night. I hear the rockets continue to be launched from locations around Gaza and reach the outskirts of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The shape of these two forms of violence shows how a state is able to launch a war and how a non-state movement is able to resist it. As bombs continue to rain down on Gaza and rockets continue to break the Iron Dome and make it into Israel, a review of dominant mainstream media sites in the West and Western governments reveals a very skewed understanding on the (il)-legitimate use of violence.
In honour of the latest installment of homicidal Israeli behaviour in Gaza, the Twitter account of the Israel Defence Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) has played host to a flurry of activity.
Women Peace Activists Demand an End to Attacks in Gaza and Israel
MADRE, an international women’s human rights organization, condemns the growing violence that has killed at least 18 people in the past days: 15 in Gaza and three in Israel. We assert that all attacks against civilians must end immediately.
In a symbolic show of support for Palestinians under assault by the Israeli military and with hopes of brokering a possible ceasefire, Egypt's prime minister, Hisham Kandil, arrived in Gaza on Friday following nearly a week of escalating violence in the battered enclave.
How The Tragic Death Of A Woman Denied An Abortion In Ireland Could Become The Norm In America
Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian woman living in Ireland, went to the hospital when she first began to miscarry — but thanks to Ireland’s stringent abortion ban, medical professionals denied her repeated requests to quickly terminate the pregnancy because they could still detect a fetal heartbeat.
Military attacks and other violence in the Gaza Strip and Israel have resulted at this point in over a dozen deaths, most of them Palestinians, and sparked fears of an Israeli ground invasion similar to the 2008-09 assault that claimed over 1,000 Palestinian lives.
Who started the latest round of violence in the Middle East? This pretty remarkable exchange between the host and a reporter on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight show (11/15/12) tells us that no one can really say for sure, but the U.S government will tell you what they think:
There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees
The cost of employee turnover for businesses is high, regardless of the level of wages being paid to the departing or incoming employees. Workplace policies that improve employee retention can help companies reduce their turnover costs.
Congress Should Extend Emergency Unemployment Benefits
For months politicians and economists have warned us about the fiscal cliff—the combination of tax increases and government spending cuts threatening economic chaos scheduled to occur at the end of the year. But few are talking about the fiscal cliff that faces millions of unemployed Americans who will suddenly lose unemployment benefits on January 3, 2013, if Congress fails to act.
Inciting War Crimes: Israel Minister Says: Force Gaza Population Into Egypt, Cut Off Water, Electricity
An Israeli minister has called for the army to bomb Gaza until the population flees en masse into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, and for water and electricity supplies to be cut, a clear case of incitement to war crimes. http://www.countercurrents.org/abunimah161112.htm
The Life & Debt Of Capitalism
Building on the deep community connections forged by standing alongside (among others) rent strikers, immigrant workers, and those impacted by Hurricane Sandy, one faction of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) has conjured up an innovative new outreach idea: A Rolling Debt Jubilee. http://www.countercurrents.org/mickeyz161112.htm
ACLU files class action lawsuit over mandatory immigrant detention The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] filed a class action lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release] Thursday on behalf of New Jersey immigrants challenging mandatory detention procedures. The policy in question is 8 USC § 1226(c) [text], which mandates the detention of noncitizens during deportation proceedings, and such noncitizens are not entitled to a bond hearing, even if they pose no danger or flight risk. http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/11/aclu-files-class-action-lawsuit-over-mandatory-immigrant-detention.php Continuing Devastating U.S. War Crimes During the tumultuous months of the presidential campaign, most Americans heard nothing of this report in the (Minneapolis-St. Paul) Star Tribune (that originally appeared in The Los Angeles Times): "To live under drones is to live in terror." Based on a study by Stanford University and New York University, it was written by Jennifer Gibson, who was one of the on-site researchers of this startling account of the CIA pilotless drones' killings in Pakistan under the enthusiastic authority of President Barack Obama. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33051.htm
If There Needs To Be An Investigation, It Should Be About Why The FBI Was Reading Certain Emails
While some have noted the irony of General Petreaus being taken down due to online surveillance methods that he should have been aware of, the case is bringing growing attention to an issue many of us have been discussing for a while: how easy it is for law enforcement to snoop through your email. We raised the question already, but as more info comes out, the whole thing is looking that much more questionable.
The number of people living in poverty in the United States rose last year to 49.7 million, based on a new measure that provides a fuller picture of poverty than that previously reported by U.S. Census Bureau data. The revised poverty rate of 16.1 percent is up more than a percentage point from the 15 percent figure reported by the government in September.
