Usa Thread

[cavanami]

Hong Kong is still not the same as mainland China, even though it "belongs" to China. Huge differences, from not

requiring a visa to enter Hong Kong, to doing business there.

 

Snowden Says He Isn’t Leaving Hong Kong

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324188604578541280646016770.html?mod=WSJ_US_LatestHeadlines

 

The 29-year-old former government contractor behind one of the biggest national-security leaks in U.S. history and currently believed hiding in Hong Kong has told a local newspaper he has no plans to leave the city and intends to challenge the U.S. government in Hong Kong courts.

“People who think I made a mistake in picking Hong Kong as a location misunderstand my intentions. I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality,†said Edward Snowden in an interview published Wednesday by the South China Morning Post, the city’s most prominent English-language daily...

 

Snowden Is Just The Straw Man Obama Needed

 

http://www.infowars.com/snowden-is-just-the-straw-man-obama-needed/

 

...If you truly believe that Edward Snowden revealed some deep, dark State secret when he told the world that the NSA was spying on our phone and Internet communications then you’re not paying attention. Law enforcement officials have been tapping phone lines since telephones were first invented....

 

...

But in 2008, Congress amended FISA and four key provisions that were added opened the doors to unlimited abuses of power:

– Prohibits the individual states from investigating, sanctioning of, or requiring disclosure by complicit telecoms or other persons.

– Permits the government not to keep records of searches, and destroy existing records.

– Protects telecommunications companies from lawsuits for “‘past or future cooperation’ with federal law enforcement authorities.

– Allows eavesdropping in emergencies without court approval.

None of these laws or amendments are “Top Secret Information†known only to a handful of high-ranking officials. They’re all common knowledge, available to anyone interested enough to conduct a search. And FYI – then-Senator Barack Obama voted for this bill...

 

...So Edward Snowden didn’t really reveal any “Top Secret†information that’s going to put our country at risk. Every single bit of information in this article so far is pulled from an online resource available to the public. You just need to be able to connect the dots...

 

...Edward Snowden is not a traitor, he simply revealed information that’s already out there...

[Coss]

My upgraded internet security:

 

 

[Flashermac]

A Letter to Verizon Customers

 

 

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)

 

—Today, President Obama issued the following letter to all Verizon customers:

 

 

Dear Verizon Customers,

 

Yesterday it came to light that the National Security Agency has been collecting millions of phone records from you each and every day. Since that news was released, many of you have called the White House with questions and concerns about this new program. To save my time and yours, here are answers to three of the F.A.Q.s (Frequently Asked Questions) we’ve been hearing from you:

 

1. Will I be charged extra for this service?

 

I’m happy to say that the answer is no. While the harvesting and surveillance of your domestic phone calls were not a part of your original Verizon service contract, the National Security Agency is providing this service entirely free of charge.

 

2. If I add a phone to my account, will those calls also be monitored?

 

Once again, the answer is good news. If you want to add a child or any other family member to your Verizon account, their phone calls—whom they called, when, and the duration of the call—will all be monitored by the United States government, at no additional cost.

 

3. Can the National Security Agency help me understand my Verizon bill?

 

Unfortunately, no. The National Security Agency has tried, but failed, to understand Verizon’s bills. Please call Verizon customer service and follow the series of electronic prompts.

 

I hope I’ve helped clear up some of the confusion about this exciting new program. But if you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to call the White House. Joe Biden is standing by.

 

God bless America,

 

President Obama

 

 

http://www.newyorker...-customers.html

[Flashermac]

Ralph Nader: 'Has There Been a Bigger Con Man in the White House Than Barack Obama?'

 

 

Ralph Nader last week had some harsh words for the current President of the United States.

 

Appearing on Democracy Now!, Nader asked host Amy Goodman, "Has there been a bigger con man in the White House than Barack Obama?"

 

AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go to President Obama in February in his State of the Union address calling on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $9.00 an hour from $7.25 and to automatically adjust it with inflation.

 

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Tonight, let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour. We should be able to get that done. This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families. It could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank, rent or eviction, scraping by or finally getting ahead. For businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets. And a whole lot of folks out there would probably need less help from government. In fact, working folks shouldn’t have to wait year after year for the minimum wage to go up, while CEO pay has never been higher. So here’s an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on last year: Let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on.

 

AMY GOODMAN: So that’s President Obama in February in his State of the Union address.

 

RALPH NADER: Yeah.

 

AMY GOODMAN: Isn’t that what you’re calling for?

 

RALPH NADER: Yeah, has there—has there been a bigger con man in the White House than Barack Obama? He hasn’t lifted a finger since he made those statements. And when he made the statements in the 2008 campaign, he said nothing for four years on raising the minimum wage. He made no pressure on Congress. He hasn’t even unleashed people in his own White House on this issue.

 

As Andrew Kirell observed Thursday, this wasn't the first time Nader referred to Obama as a con man. He did so in 2010.

 

Readers are advised that Nader made these recent comments on June 4 prior to Edward Snowden's revelations concerning the National Security Agency reviewing everyone's phone records.

 

Imagine what Nader might say about Obama now.

 

 

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/06/13/ralph-nader-has-there-been-bigger-con-man-white-house-barack-obama#ixzz2W6rkEJFy

[Flashermac]

Hong Kong, a Strange Place to Seek Freedom

 

By LAW YUK-KAI,

New York Times

 

 

HONG KONG — Edward J. Snowden, the 29-year-old government contractor who blew the whistle on the American government’s vast data-collection efforts, was last seen checking out of a boutique hotel here on Monday. The previous day, he released a video defending his decision to leak sensitive secrets and explaining that he’d sought refuge in Hong Kong because it “has a strong tradition of free speech†and “a long tradition of protesting in the streets.â€

 

This news stunned many local residents, especially those of us who advocate for human rights. Since 1997, when the British government returned Hong Kong to China after getting assurances that this former colony’s traditions of rule of law and individual freedom would be respected, the political, legal and human rights landscape here has become ever less conducive to the protection of civil liberties. Mr. Snowden — if he is still in town — has stepped into an unknown future in which the concept of “one nation, two systems,†promised us by Beijing, has become a fading memory.

 

Whether it was youthful naïveté or just ignorance, Mr. Snowden’s positive view of Hong Kong no longer matches the reality. Shortly before his arrival, the international organization Freedom House ranked Hong Kong 71st in the world in protection of political rights and civil liberties. Reporters Without Borders has dropped Hong Kong on its ranking of press freedom to No. 58, from No. 18 in 2002.

 

Mr. Snowden’s initial choice of Hong Kong as a place of refuge may not have been entirely illogical. Here, he met with two journalists from The Guardian and a documentary filmmaker. Hong Kong remains a hub of the global media, not least because of its proximity to the economic boom in southern China and the ease of access to many other Asian cities. The publicity could complicate efforts by the United States to charge Mr. Snowden and have him deported.

 

But the local coverage of Mr. Snowden’s case, which has largely ranged from bemused to unsympathetic, helps underscore the erosion of press freedom since 1997. A poll conducted last month by the Public Opinion Program of the University of Hong Kong found that nearly half (48 percent) of respondents believed that the local news media practiced self-censorship. These readers are on to something. More than one-third (36 percent) of media employees responding to a survey by the Hong Kong Journalists Association in April and May 2012 said that they or their supervisors had practiced self-censorship in the past 12 months.

 

This should be no surprise, since many local media owners have business interests in mainland China that they need to protect. Many of them have even accepted various honorary political titles in the People’s Republic of China, even though doing so poses an obvious conflict of interest, in perception if not reality.

 

If Mr. Snowden is still here, he needs to know that he is now on a special piece of “autonomous†Chinese soil — a legal limbo where police officers had not long ago restrained and detained a journalist who posed questions to visiting Chinese leaders related to the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989, effectively blocking him from covering his story. The government has denied journalists access to important events and increased the flow of state-sanctioned news reports to media entities staffed by “official reporters.â€

 

In 1984, when Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping negotiated the gradual, peaceful transfer of Hong Kong from Britain to China, the Beijing government promised a high degree of political autonomy and maintenance of the rule of law — one of the best legacies of 155 years of colonial rule. The gradual erosion of that legacy, and the uphill battle that civil liberties advocates have had to fight each year, has been one of the most dispiriting developments since the transfer and means that Mr. Snowden’s position, if he is still here, is tenuous.

 

Hong Kong has autonomy in its immigration policy, but foreign affairs and national defense are the responsibilities of the central government in Beijing.

 

Although China is a party to the Refugee Convention of 1951, its protections were never extended to Hong Kong, and so there is no legal right, per se, for foreign nationals seeking asylum here. The United States and Hong Kong have a bilateral extradition treaty, and American federal prosecutors are reported to be preparing charges against Mr. Snowden.

 

However, foreigners may still approach the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees here and seek asylum and resettlement elsewhere. (Mr. Snowden mentioned Iceland as one possible destination.) Mr. Snowden, if he faced imminent arrest, could also apply to the Hong Kong government against any orders to remove him to a place where he might face cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. (Given the treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the WikiLeaks whistle-blower, Mr. Snowden would have at least a plausible case.)

 

Contrary to media reports, these protections offer a possibility, however slender, that the local judiciary — whose members were largely trained under the British system and have shown admirable independence — might protect him. It’s not clear if any crimes Mr. Snowden might have committed would have been crimes under Hong Kong law — a prerequisite for extradition. The United States might also have to promise not to impose capital punishment on Mr. Snowden — which could be a major sticking point. Finally, our judges would have to make sure that any removal proceedings would be consistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which our judges (unlike their American counterparts) take seriously.

 

All that said, Beijing holds the cards. In 2004, a Libyan dissident, Sami al-Saadi, and his family were reportedly detained by the Hong Kong authorities and forced back to Libya, without due process of law. Mr. Saadi complained that American and British intelligence officers took part in his forcible repatriation. He was subsequently subjected to torture and inhumane treatment. He has sued both the British and Hong Kong governments.

 

Our judiciary, however vital, has its limits. The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal is our highest court. But if a court case is understood to involve the Basic Law — the quasi-constitution of Hong Kong — the court can request from the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, a political organ in Beijing, a reinterpretation of the Basic Law. China may also initiate its own request for interpretation — bypassing the judiciary entirely, though such pre-emptive action, in this case, could be bad for Beijing’s image, as it could be seen as caving in to American demands, especially so soon after last week’s summit meeting between President Obama and China’s president, Xi Jinping.

 

These legal distinctions may seem confusing — and they confuse even Hong Kongers. They also explain why the United Nations Human Rights Committee has expressed concerns that such a “mechanism of binding constitutional interpretation by a nonjudicial body may weaken and undermine the rule of law and the independence of judiciary†in Hong Kong.

 

Mr. Snowden may have left Hong Kong, or be on his way out. Nevertheless, because he has shared, even briefly, in the legal uncertainties Hong Kongers have experienced since 1997, his case might at least draw greater international attention to the precarious state of individual freedoms here.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/opinion/hong-kong-a-strange-place-to-seek-freedom.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=global-home

[unit731]

For God's sake view the entire Frontline 1 hour TV program.

 

None of this is new.

 

George Bush. Homeland Security.

George Bush. The Patriot Act.

 

http://youtu.be/sTSjg6IGR8I

[gobbledonk]

Yup - politician = habitual liar : I get it. Of greater concern is the fact that Obama is now cautiously committing resources to the Syrian conflict - the US will provide arms to the rebels while Russia continues to support government forces, and countries like Jordan are forced to house the flood of refugees. One pundit made the point this morning on Oz TV that the billions pumped into the US war machine might just be better spent rebuilding infrastructure (50 year old bridges would be a good start ..), but I dont know how well that would sit with certain people in Washington. Apparently several million jobs depend - either directly or indirectly - on the defense industry : like Detroit, it's 'too big to fail'

[Flashermac]

Bush started it, but Obama is continuing it. It is in his hands now.

[Flashermac]

<< "Questions were raised Friday about security procedures at the ultra-secret National Security Agency, after it emerged that Edward Snowden, the contract employee who leaked details of the agency’s broad-scale data gathering on Americans, exceeded his authorized access to computer systems and smuggled out Top Secret documents on a USB drive — a thumb-sized data storage device banned from use on secret military networks.

 

“He should not have been able to do either of those things†without setting off alarm bells, said one private sector IT security specialist who has worked on U.S. government classified networks. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivities of his current employer."

 

NSA officials “were laying down on their job if they didn’t disable the USB port,†the specialist said, referring to the small socket on the side of a computer where thumb drives are plugged in. >>

 

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/14/nsa-leaker-ed-snowden-used-banned-thumb-drive-exce/

[Flashermac]

Yup - politician = habitual liar : I get it. Of greater concern is the fact that Obama is now cautiously committing resources to the Syrian conflict - the US will provide arms to the rebels while Russia continues to support government forces, and countries like Jordan are forced to house the flood of refugees. One pundit made the point this morning on Oz TV that the billions pumped into the US war machine might just be better spent rebuilding infrastructure (50 year old bridges would be a good start ..), but I dont know how well that would sit with certain people in Washington. Apparently several million jobs depend - either directly or indirectly - on the defense industry : like Detroit, it's 'too big to fail'

 

 

US troops on Syria border as Obama arms rebels

 

 

Three hundred US Marines have been deployed to northern Jordan to pave the way for the West to arm Syrian rebels.

 

A Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, designed to protect Jordanian territory from attack by Assad missiles, has also been moved into the area.

 

The deployment, seen by The Times north of Al-Mafraq, has been put in place under cover of a military training exercise being held this week, but it will remain there for months.

 

...

 

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3791863.ece