Four US Soldiers Killed in Attack on Bagram Air Base

Military officials say that four US soldiers were killed today in an attack against Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The four died of “indirect fire” in an apparent mortar hit against the site.

Details are scarce on the latest killings, which come as NATO is emphasizing that they have “transitioned” into the Afghan military taking the lead in all operations.

Continue reading at: http://news.antiwar.com/2013/06/18/four-us-soldiers-killed-in-attack-on-afghan-base/

The NSA's Lockbox Has No Lock

One of the key points that officials have been making in defense of the NSA surveillance is this idea that even if they’re collecting all this data on your communications, they can’t actually do anything with it, because they keep it safely locked up in a lockbox, and only check it if they have some bit of data they want to find out about later… However, as William Saletan is pointing out at Slate, the lockbox is a lie. There is no lockbox.

Continue reading at: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130618/00483923515/nsas-lockbox-has-no-lock.shtml

Bono Can't Help Africans by Stealing Their Voice

The [New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition] is pushing African countries into agreements that allow foreign companies to grab their land, patent their seeds and monopolise their food markets. Ignoring the voices of their own people, six African governments have struck deals with companies such as Monsanto, Cargill, Dupont, Syngenta, Nestlé and Unilever, in return for promises of aid by the UK and other G8 nations.

Continue reading at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/17/bono-africans-stealing-voice-poor

Going Through the 'Proper Channels' to Blow the Whistle on Secret Surveillance Programs

[William] Binney, [Thomas] Drake, [Ed] Loomis and [Kirk] Wiebe all tried to call attention to what they wanted to expose internally. They made complaints to the Department of Defense inspector general (IG) and the IG turned around and “gave up the names of all four whistleblowers to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.”

… The Department of Defense eventually substantiated Drake’s claims, but they immediately classified the report so no one knew why exactly he was blowing the whistle. …

It is… really disingenuous for anyone arguing on behalf of the government to argue someone should have used “proper” internal channels. All possible channels are intentionally closed off.

Continue reading at: http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/06/16/going-through-the-proper-channels-to-blow-the-whistle-on-secret-surveillance-programs/

"Intelligence," Corporatism, and the Dance of Death

You probably thought foreign policy was about dealing with threats to “national security,” spreading democracy, ensuring peace, and whatever other lying slogans they throw around like a moldy, decaying, putrid corpse. The State’s foreign policy efforts are unquestionably devoted to maintaining the U.S.’s advantages — but the advantages they are most concerned about are access to markets and, that’s right, making huge amounts of money. Despite the unending propaganda to the contrary, they aren’t terribly concerned with dire threats to our national well-being, for the simple reason that there aren’t any…

Continue reading at: http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2013/06/intelligence-corporatism-and-dance-of.html

House Select Committee On Intelligence Propaganda

Issuing such propaganda even in the title of the hearing is certainly not “oversight”. It is pandering to the executive agency in question. It is therefore no wonder that the Senate Intelligence Committee even prohibits a former staffer to explain the oversight process to the media. The way we do, or don’t do, our job is secret. Trust us and give us your money (and data).

Continue reading at: http://www.moonofalabama.org/2013/06/house-select-committee-on-intelligence-propaganda.html

"Just Shut Up or Die"

Manning, Assange, and Snowden have challenged each of us: will we, as the hacks and their owners continue to insist, do as we have been trained to do, namely, mind our own business and do as we are told by those in authority? Or shall we, like these courageous men — and the White Rose members before them — have the individualized “arrogance” to believe that the fate of mankind is our business, and that we have a responsibility to act, with focused and peaceful energy, to help extricate ourselves from the collective arrogance of power that is destroying us?

Continue reading at: http://lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer272.html

Why "I Have Nothing to Hide" Is the Wrong Way to Think About Surveillance

Police already abuse the immense power they have, but if everyone’s every action were being monitored, and everyone technically violates some obscure law at some time, then punishment becomes purely selective. Those in power will essentially have what they need to punish anyone they’d like, whenever they choose, as if there were no rules at all.

Continue reading at: http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/06/why-i-have-nothing-to-hide-is-the-wrong-way-to-think-about-surveillance/