From the Trenches World Report

The Guardian – by Glenn Greenwald

I’m still working at trying to get the next set of NSA stories published. That, combined with a rapidly approaching book deadline, will make non-NSA-article postings difficult for the next couple of weeks. Until then, here are a few items to note regarding a point I have often tried to make: namely, one of the most overlooked aspects of the NSA reporting in the US has been just how global of a story this has become:

(1) Last week it was revealed that Belgium’s largest telecom, Belgacom, was the victim of a massive hacking attack which systematically compromised its system for as long as two years. Media outlets suspected that the NSA was behind it, and the country’s Prime Minister condemned the attack as a “violation of a public company’s integrity.”   Continue reading “Various items: NSA stories around the world”

Yahoo News – by FOSTER KLUG

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean scientists are able to build crucial equipment for uranium-based nuclear bombs on their own, cutting the need for imports that had been one of the few ways outsiders could monitor the country’s secretive atomic work, according to evidence gathered by two American experts.

The experts say material published in North Korean scientific publications and news media shows that Pyongyang is mastering domestic production of essential components for the gas centrifuges needed to make such bombs. The development further complicates long-stalled efforts to stop a nuclear bomb program that Pyongyang has vowed to expand, despite international condemnation.   Continue reading “US experts: NKorea can likely build key nuke parts”

Yahoo News – by Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Tuesday rejected Boeing Co.’s bid to supply 60 fighter jets in the country’s largest-ever weapons purchase even though it was the sole remaining bidder, and said it would reopen the tender.

Boeing had offered its F-15 Silent Eagle, but South Korean critics have said the warplane lacks state-of-the-art stealth capabilities and cannot effectively cope with North Korea’s increasing nuclear threats.   Continue reading “SKorea rejects Boeing, says F-15 not good enough”

Hang the Bankers

‘Bono’s positioning of the west as the saviour of Africa while failing to ­discuss the harm the G8 nations are doing has undermined campaigns for justice and accountability.’

It was bad enough in 2005. Then, at the G8 summit in Scotland, Bono and Bob Geldof heaped praise on Tony Blair and George Bush, who were still mired in the butchery they had initiated in Iraq. At one point Geldof appeared, literally and figuratively, to be sitting in Tony Blair’s lap. African activists accused them of drowning out a campaign for global justice with a campaign for charity.   Continue reading “Bono exposed as a complete fraud”

ABC News – by JASON KEYSER Associated Press

Two suspected gunmen and two others have been charged in a shooting that injured 13 people including a 3-year-old boy in a crowded Chicago park, police said Tuesday.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said all four are charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery in Thursday’s attack in Cornell Square Park on the southwest side.

Investigators believe Tabari Young, 22, was the principal gunman and he was charged Tuesday, McCarthy said. Bryon Champ, 21, who was charged a day earlier, was also a shooter, the police superintendent said.   Continue reading “4 Men Charged in Chicago Shooting That Injured 13”

The New American – by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.

On behalf of your children, President Obama plans to take the guns you own and make it harder for you to buy them.

During a speech September 21 at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards dinner, the president promised he was turning his attention back to his gun control agenda.   Continue reading “Pres. Obama “Fired Up” and Ready to Repeal Second Amendment”

Offspectrum with James Farganne

Jim Stone is an extraordinary man. A prodigy from childhood getting shifted from foster home to dysfunctional foster home, at one point confined to a small attic for over a year in which he was not allowed to move for fear of making the boards creak, he nevertheless emerged an educated and well-adjusted adult whose intellectual acumen was sufficient to get him drafted into higher levels of clearance in the National Security Agency (NSA).   Continue reading “A Plea To Help Jim Stone”

MassPrivateI

http://cryptome.org/2013/09/fbi-ngi-2013.pdf

FBI “Next Generation Identification” (NGI) 2012
http://cryptome.org/2013/09/fbi-ngi-2012.pdf

Federal practices for spying on social media:
http://cryptome.org/2013/09/fed-spy-social-media.pdf  

600 law enforcement agencies use some form of social media:   Continue reading “The FBI’s “Next Generation Identification” (NGI) 2013″

The DC Caller – by Josh Peterson

Nearly 2 million of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Twitter followers are not real.

According to the Twitter analytics application Status People, 37 percent of Michelle Obama’s 5,290, 506 Twitter followers — or approximately 1,957,487 followers — are considered fake. Thirty-five percent of her followers are inactive, and 28 percent are considered “good,” or real.   Continue reading “Michelle Obama has nearly 2 million fake Twitter followers”

Tech Crunch – by Alex Wilhelm

[Sunday] the AP reported that President Barack Obama’s promised NSA review panel is channeling the entity that it is supposed to inspect, hiding behind layers of government bureaucracy and obfuscating its work.

The AP states that the review panel is lodged in offices provided by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Even more, the DNI is running its media strategy, vetting requests through its own press office. Any whiff of independence that the group might have hoped to engender is now certainly gone.   Continue reading “The NSA Review Panel Is An Even Bigger Joke Than We Previously Thought”

StoryLeak – by Daniel G. J.

State and local governments have signed contracts that obligate them to keep a certain number of people in jail (with numbers around 96% occupancy) to bolster the profits of privately run prisons, a survey indicates.

Many governments have signed contracts with corporations that contain “prison-bed occupancy guarantee” clauses, a group called In the Public Interest reported. These lockup clauses obligate the governments to keep between 80% and 100% of prison beds full even if the crime rate is falling. Once again, we see a complete disregard of constitutional rights.   Continue reading “Slave Dollars: State Guarantee Private Prisons 96% Occupancy”

Electronic Frontier Foundation – by HANNI FAKHOURY

As the highest court in Massachusetts considers whether cell-site data is private in the context of the Fourth Amendment, we filed an amicus brief arguing that when the police want to be able to recreate your every step—figuring out your patterns of movement, where you’ve been and with whom—they must obtain a search warrant.   Continue reading “New Amicus Brief Urges Massachusetts to Require Warrants for Cell Tracking”

Reason – by J.D. Tuccille

Last month came word that Ohio’s sneaky Attorney General Mike DeWine had quietly integrated facial recognition software into the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway, a state database that includes driver’s license photos. Caught, the AG promised to create a commission to develop protocols for using the technology, tacitly admitting that no safeguards were in place on a system that turned every Ohio driver into a participant in a police line-up—if the system were used as intended—and a potential stalking target by any whack job with a badge. Now comes news that the ranks of potential whack jobs with access to the database are larg, indeed—larger than in any other state, at least.   Continue reading “30,000 Cops Can Access Ohio’s Facial Recognition Database Without Oversight, Says Report”