From the Trenches World Report

Reuters by Noah Barkin

German outrage over a U.S. Internet spying program has broken out ahead of a visit by Barack Obama, with ministers demanding the president provide a full explanation when he lands in Berlin next week and one official likening the tactics to those of the East German Stasi.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman has said she will raise the issue with Obama in talks next Wednesday, potentially casting a cloud over a visit that was designed to celebrate U.S.-German ties on the 50th anniversary John F. Kennedy’s famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech.   Continue reading “Germans accuse U.S. of Stasi tactics before Obama visit”

Zen Gardner

A well written piece today again from Activist Post tells the real story of what’s going on in our beyond Orwellian world. While the glaring truth of an almost infinitely instrusive government hits the headline, the tables are once again turning on the informer versus the truth that’s being told.

No better analogy or contrapostion could be had to our falteringly credible reality, yet a media adoring public buys this disinformational misdirecting rubric with glee.  Continue reading “Who’s The Real Traitor?”

Hawaii Reporter – VOA News

Three big Internet companies want the Obama administration to let them reveal details of federal court orders to turn over information about their users to U.S. spy agencies.

Google, Facebook and Microsoft say they want everything transparent and out in the open. Google’s chief legal official said Tuesday his company has “nothing to hide.”   Continue reading “Internet Companies Want Permission to Reveal Details of NSA Spy Program”

Examiner- by CHRISTIAN SAVOY

IBM layoffs: After a less than stellar first quarter earnings report, IBM revealed that there would be more layoffs coming in the second quarter, Newsday reported on June 12. According to the report, hundreds of IBM employees have already received pink slips and the layoffs were just the start of more to come.   Continue reading “IBM layoffs: IBM lays off hundreds of employees and more cuts are on the way”

The DC Caller – by Caroline May

Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are looking into allegations that the Internal Revenue Service seized 60 million medical records from a California health care provider.

“(T)he Committee on Energy and Commerce is investigating allegations that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in the course of executing a search warrant at a California health care provider’s corporate headquarters in March 2011, improperly seized the personal medical records of millions of American citizens in possible violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” members of the committee wrote in a letter Tuesday to Acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel.   Continue reading “House committee looks into IRS seizure of 60 million medical records”

Huffington Post – by Rebecca Shapiro

The South China Morning Post published another article early Thursday morning local time about its exclusive interview with Edward Snowden, the person responsible for leaking top-secret information about the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance programs. The Post reported that Snowden said that the U.S. government “had been hacking into computers in Hong Kong and [in China] for years.”   Continue reading “Edward Snowden Tells South China Morning Post: U.S. Has Been Hacking Hong Kong And China Since 2009”

About.com – by Rod Powers

“Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”   Continue reading “Punitive Articles of the UCMJ Article 88—Contempt toward officials”

Radio Fox News – by Todd Starnes

HGTV viewers are expressing outrage after the network suggested they use American flags as table cloths for Fourth of July celebrations. Many viewers called it offensive, un-American and an insult to the American military.

“Using an American flag as a table cloth dishonors all Americans who love Old Glory – especially those who gave their lives defending it,” one viewer wrote. “No one dies for a table cloth.”   Continue reading “HGTV: Use American Flag as Table Cloth”

Army – by Cheryl Rodewig

FORT BENNING, Ga. (Feb. 9, 2012) — Soldiers who use social media must abide by the terms outlined in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“Commenting, posting or linking to material that violates the UCMJ or basic rules of Soldier conduct is prohibited,” said Staff Sgt. Dale Sweetnam of the Online and Social Media Division, Office of the Chief of Public Affairs. “Talking negatively about supervisors or releasing sensitive information is punishable under the UCMJ. It’s never appropriate to be disrespectful of superior officers or NCOs (noncommissioned officers), no matter if you’re in the company area or posting to Facebook at your desk at home.”   Continue reading “Social media misuse punishable under UCMJ”

Dvorak Uncensored – by Eideard

In researching the stunning pervasiveness of spying by the government (it’s much more wide spread than you’ve heard even now), we ran across the fact that the FBI wants software programmers to install a backdoor in all software…Digging a little further, we found a 1999 article by leading European computer publication Heise which noted that the NSA had already built a backdoor into all Windows software:   Continue reading “Our government has been building spy-access into the Windows Operating System since the late 1990′s”

CNS News – by Terence P. Jeffrey

In his prepared text for a speech he is delivering today at the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky.) said to illegal aliens who want to live and work in the United States: “[W]e will find a place for you.”

Paul also said he envisions today’s illegal aliens becoming additional “taxpayers.”   Continue reading “Rand Paul to Illegals: ‘We Will Find a Place for You;’ Envisions 12 Million ‘New Taxpayers’”

A Closer Look at the Stars and Stripes

American war correspondents in France had greater freedom to observe the military actions of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) than was permitted the journalists of the other Allied armies. In the area under General Pershing’s command, correspondents could go to the front lines without military escorts, they could follow fighting troops as they advanced, and they could roam the rear areas, sheltering where they chose. This was not the case for correspondents with the British, French, and German forces in the early years of the war.   Continue reading “The Stars and Stripes, 1918 – 1919: Military Censorship”

CenturyLink

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has found that a Providence vocational school ran what amounted to a sweatshop involving developmentally disabled students.

WPRI-TV reports (http://bit.ly/16cvk10 ) the department’s Civil Rights Division sent a letter to Rhode Island’s capital outlining violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act at the Harold H. Birch Vocational School.   Continue reading “School for disabled accused of running sweatshop”

RT News

South Carolina may give authorities direct access to anyone’s vehicle license plate as it considers switching to new electronic plates called e-tags. New technology allows the DMV to post messages across the license plates anywhere, anytime.

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will have complete access to all e-tags to flag vehicles with expired insurance or suspended license plates and write messages such as “Suspended”, “Uninsured”,“Amber Alert”, or “Stolen” across license plates.   Continue reading “Shameplates: E-tags on license plates let DMV show your ‘suspended’ or ‘uninsured’ status”