Ray McGovern and the Sam Adams party have presented the Sam Adams award to Edward Snowden. I am delighted. This from Ray’s account of the event:
In brief remarks from his visitors, Snowden was reassured — first and foremost — that he need no longer be worried that nothing significant would happen as a result of his decision to risk his future by revealing documentary proof that the U.S. government was playing fast and loose with the Constitutional rights of Americans.
Even amid the government shutdown, Establishment Washington and the normally docile “mainstream media” have not been able to deflect attention from the intrusive eavesdropping that makes a mockery of the Fourth Amendment. Even Congress is showing signs of awaking from its torpor.
In the somnolent Senate, a few hardy souls have gone so far as to express displeasure at having been lied to by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and NSA Director Keith Alexander — Clapper having formally apologized for telling the Senate Intelligence Committee eavesdropping-related things that were, in his words, “clearly erroneous” and Alexander having told now-discredited whoppers about the effectiveness of NSA’s intrusive and unconstitutional methods in combating terrorism.
Coleen Rowley, the first winner of the Sam Adams Award (2002), cited some little-known history to remind Snowden that he is in good company as a whistleblower — and not only because of previous Sam Adams honorees. She noted that in 1773, Benjamin Franklin leaked confidential information by releasing letters written by then-Lt. Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson to Thomas Whatley, an assistant to the British Prime Minister.
The letters suggested that it was impossible for the colonists to enjoy the same rights as subjects living in England and that “an abridgement of what are called English liberties” might be necessary. The content of the letters was so damaging to the British government that Benjamin Franklin was dismissed as colonial Postmaster General and had to endure an hour-long censure from British Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn.
There has been a determined attempt by government to justify the need to intercept everybody’s communications, all the time. We have, yet again, had MI5 claim there are many thousand violent Islamic terrorists running around the UK, (yet somehow not managing to kill anybody). The cry of “paedophiles” is raised, as always. I can imagine them suggesting the entire population be shot dead, and justifying it as making sure they get the paedophiles. The tabloids would go with that.
There still had not been a single credible claim by the mainstream media that any named individual has died, despite that contingency being trotted out all the time as the reason Snowden and Manning should not have revealed state crimes and abuse of power. I am hopeful that, with the internet still largely free to the dissemination of information, out next massive whistleblower is only weeks away.
Yesterday I speculated about the spike in polio cases in Syria. Here’s another perspective………..http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/11/masters-of-disaster-bring-cholera-to-haiti-and-polio-to-syria/
It seems the UN is responsible for cholera in Haiti and the foreign fighters from Pakistan for polio in Syria.
Ben,
For another source of regular video updates on Ison, take a look at the Thornews YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/thornews
Latest video “Is Comet Ison really a comet” (part 41 of the Comet Ison series).
He does them in a jokey style but he is good at gathering in all the available data.
AA; interesting. When is a horse, a horse? Is it possible we will have a new category for heavenly bodies? It’s getting exciting. (may you live in interesting times) I just wonder if it’s a shipment of white gold powder, or a pick-up.
Jemand
3 Nov, 2013 – 2:40 pm
I gave it a try but it’s not available in the UK.
I was interested to find out how one accidentally discharged bullet made seven wounds.
News from the trough.
MPs Get Taxpayers To Pay Their Energy Bills
As Britons struggle to pay energy bills, it emerges that some MPs are getting taxpayers to cover heating costs at second homes.
http://news.sky.com/story/1163154/mps-get-taxpayers-to-pay-their-energy-bills
‘Some 340 MPs have used the parliamentary expenses system to recoup the cost of heating their second homes, according to the Sunday Mirror.
Bills costing more than £1,000 were submitted by 41 MPs, while 78 made claims for £500 in the 12 months up to March this year, its analysis found.
The claims do not break any parliamentary rules, but come at a time of heightened tensions over the spiralling cost of gas and electricity.
One MP claimed more than £5,000 to cover electricity and heating oil for his estate.’
Some names need to be named. Here is the Sunday Mirror article.
340 MPs get their energy bills paid on EXPENSES to heat second homes – with one claiming £5,822
A Sunday Mirror investigation exposed millionaire Tory who claimed a staggering £5,822 in just 12 months – more than four times the average household energy bill
3 Nov 2013
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/340-mps-energy-bills-paid-2671053
Nadhim Zahawi
Alan Duncan
David Willetts
Maria Miller
Elizabeth Truss
Andrew Robothan
Peter Hain
Hugo Swire
Tim Yeo
Margaret Beckett
Sir Edward Leigh
Miliband and Clegg Both very small claims
Dad!
Don’t you think you should do something about my little brother. He’s been bothering the Prendergasts all day with that squeeky trike of his but after he got the front wheel stuck in the drain grate he came over here to be rude to the grown-ups and tryin to pick a fight with me.
Also, can’t you see he’s moonlighting for the Spam-bot Army too!
It was this that got me suspicious,
ceiling fans with lights 11 52am
“The clarity on your put up is just cool and that i could suppose you’re a professional on this subject.”
Dad. I know you didn’t notice ‘cos first you were taking it easy ‘cos all that business last night at the library left you a bit shaken and worn-out and then ‘cos you’re blundering around like hyperactive badger tidying the house ‘cos one of those bots said something like,
“I am having a look forward to contact you.”
It’s a bot Dad!
Can’t you just accept, It won’t be coming.
I’m off back to the Great Caldera and next time Gary calls I’ll tell
him to leave you doing whatever dopey thing you dreamed up next.
ORME’s….http://www.rexresearch.com/ormes/ormes.htm
Thanks Mary – cool research…
The Anatomy of Advertising Deception Using Muslims.
A crash course in how to be anti-islamic without being antisemetic.
SlalomShalom…It isn’t a bot, it’s a human being. A very poor human being in a very poor country.
His employer bids on sites like freelancer for contracts to get web addresses into blogs and forums, he gets around four or five dollars per thousand. The employee doesn’t get anything like that.
‘Eddie’ the cadaver dog drafted in to help in the search for Madeleine knew that ‘smell of death’ when he searched the McCann’s hired Renault Scenic.
Gerry McCann knows forensics; he remembered to wear his surgical gloves when Kate asked him to load the bootspace of the Renault.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N47AUYhD4Dg&feature=youtu.be
Well done Eddie – British cadavers are 94% accurate.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-csi-death-dogs-sniffing-out-the-truth-behind-the-crimescene-canines-835047.html
@ Mark Golding,
I thought the world of K9s and their sense of smell, until a park ranger explained that your average grizzly’s sense of smell is roughly 7x better than that of a bloodhound… LINK to web not ranger.
Which leads to the omnipresent question: where does a ranger go to ‘get away from it all‘?
For any techies, I’ve written a little blog post about my bot troubles and the fail2ban utility.
https://squonk.tk/blog/2013/11/04/battling-the-bots-fail2ban-seems-to-work/
Rest at https://squonk.tk/blog/2013/11/04/battling-the-bots-fail2ban-seems-to-work/
Oops I meant to post the non-https version link http://squonk.tk/blog/2013/11/04/battling-the-bots-fail2ban-seems-to-work/
If you use the https (encryption on) variant you’ll be asked to confirm a security exception. Don’t panic. That just means that I haven’t shelled out £100 for certified certificate and just have a self-signed one. It is perfectly safe to tell your browser to accept it if you want to. Or just use the unencrypted http://squonk.tk/blog/2013/11/04/battling-the-bots-fail2ban-seems-to-work/ variant if you don’t like having security exceptions pop up.
Mary…”Miliband and Clegg Both very small claims”
Milliband’s claim was only for 3 months though. It was his quarterly bill.
On October 29, 2013, several pro-Israel Senate Amigos sent a letter to president Barack Obama with the following “red-line”.
“We urge you to make clear to Prime Minister Maliki that the extent of Iran’s malign influence in the Iraqi government is a serious problem in our bilateral relationship, especially for the Congress. Published reports demonstrate that the Iranian regime uses Iraqi airspace to transit military assistance into Syria to support Assad and his forces. Furthermore, attacks against the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq are reprehensible, especially because the Iraqi government pledged to protect these people. Prime Minister Maliki must understand that actions such as these need to stop. Not only do they make it difficult for Iraq’s friends in the United States to build public support, especially in the Congress, to enhance our strategic partnership, but they also undermine Iraq’s standing as a responsible member of the international community.”
http://rehmat1.com/2013/11/04/lobby-and-the-looted-iraqi-jewish-artifacts/
CIA made doctors torture suspected terrorists after 9/11, taskforce finds
Doctors were asked to torture detainees for intelligence gathering, and unethical practices continue, review concludes
The Guardian, Monday 4 November 2013
‘Doctors and psychologists working for the US military violated the ethical codes of their profession under instruction from the defence department and the CIA to become involved in the torture and degrading treatment of suspected terrorists, an investigation has concluded.’
One of the authors of the report, Leonard Rubenstein, from John Hopkins University, was speaking on the World Service earlier.
This is the report.
Medical, Military, and Ethics Experts Say Health Professionals Designed and Participated in Cruel, Inhumane, and Degrading Treatment and Torture of Detainees; Seek Policies To Assure Conformance With Ethical Principles
http://www.imapny.org/medicine_as_a_profession/interrogationtorture-and-dual-loyalty
It is heartening to know that these decent Americans have made a stand to uphold humane ethical standards.
A reminder that a British military doctor, a psychologist, who refused to go to Iraq was court martialled, fined and sent to prison. He knew what he would be expected to do there in the interrogation of prisoners etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Kendall-Smith
Thanks for Link Mary…souls with a conscience are so treated
Swines
Whats going on at the Guardian
ON TOPIC Lol – from the Guardian –
http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded?CMP=twt_gu#section/1
@Mark Golding
Are you suggesting that a positive response from a cadaver dog during the search of a *hire* car is evidence of the McCanns having murdered their daughter? And that the forensically smart Gerry McCann is so cunning that he dons his “surgical” (food handling) gloves for the camera to load the back of the hire car? The same type of gloves I use when refilling ink cartridges for my printer? Ok.
It’s not enough to suffer the mysterious loss of a child, is it? One must also endure a trial by ordeal.
Murdered by a witch –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Azaria_Chamberlain
Brian.6 59am
Thanks for the NSA link. I like the talking heads.
And once they have all this information they use it to melt stuff!
“The NSA is basically using so much power in its spying efforts that it is poetically killing its data centers.”
More at, http://gizmodo.com/is-the-nsas-data-center-melting-down-because-its-spyi-1442280675
As the old Wathafek saying goes, “Once you know everything, you know nothing.”
What a strange page came up on that Guardian link Brian. At first I thought it was a hacked site. How about the logo of the eagle carrying a key???
Just hearing about ‘thousands’ of job losses to be announced by the Co- Op bank. It is now 70% owned by US hedge funds. Investors (not depositors) to make losses.
http://news.sky.com/story/1163525/co-op-faces-criticism-over-1-5bn-bank-rescue
What would the Rochdale Pioneers think of it all?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochdale_Principles
~~
Thanks Joe for the info on Miliband’s and Clegg’s expenses. Why didn’t the Mirror make it clear? They only said:
‘Labour leader Ed Miliband claimed £403 on utility bills while Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg put in expenses for £254.’
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/340-mps-energy-bills-paid-2671053
The spam bots are not phishing for IP addresses as the troll above implies. They are always sent when the curtain of darkness covering the workings of the UK intelligence agencies within terrorist groups like Sinn Fein or Al Qaida are twitched a little.
The end result of all the troubles in Northern Ireland is that yes, the UK was responsible for the wrecking process and murder campaigns. Similarly with Al Qaida a small group of Muslims who are unable to gain a following through good example or good preaching, are paid by UKUSIS to provoke a violent response from a dictator like Assad. Now the population is so reduced in resources that they have to support the Muslim faction to survive.
What is the difference between the dictator being assisted by Russia in demolishing his country and remaining in power over a ruin, and a Muslim faction being assisted by UKUSIS to control a desperate, trapped citizenry? Assad would never survive a democratic election, nor would the Muslim faction. Both are only able to survive in the condition of war.
Where does the Muslim faction hide when the condition of war ends. Back to their families who live on benefits in the extremely expensive, safest place on earth, bosom of Central London, or any other refuge of state-sponsored terrorism like Ireland.
This what the bots hate, when the net curtains of UKUSIS state terrorism start to twitch in an open forum. This is way over the heads of the drivel-spawn troll-scum. A warning.
November 3, 2013 9:01 pm
Aircraft carriers’ cost to rise to £6.2bn
By James Blitz, Defence and Diplomatic Editor
Britain will this week reveal another substantial increase in the cost of building its two new aircraft carriers, declaring that total funding for the programme will rise by another £800m to £6.2bn.
Philip Hammond, defence secretary, is expected to say that a new set of demands – including the need to build a sophisticated aircraft landing system on the ships – have added to the financial burden of the Royal Navy’s flagship project.
The revised price tag for the 65,000 ton carriers – which will not operate until the end of this decade – will alarm some opposition MPs. When the last Labour government gave the green light to build the ships in 2007, it set the projected cost at £3.5bn. That figure is now close to being doubled.
/..
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/40106756-4487-11e3-8926-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2jfCGGwye
Cameron tells HS2 boss to shave £50bn costs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24800117
The above news items coincide with another quoting Shelter that 80,000 children will be homeless this Christmas, ie living in bed and breakfasts and the like.
‘More than 80,000 children’ homeless for Christmas
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24798498
Sofia
Surely the heat from the servers must be being captured and utilised to keep the human-occupied offices warm.
BTW are you any relation of Turkish coach company Cizre Nuh which operates between Istanbul and Cisre at the location of the landing place of Noah’s Ark in Eastern Turkey?
Sofia ..Cheers
Mary… Ta
Yes i had to Triple Check it was from Guardian….
Mary.
Here’s a handy new NSA logo,
http://boingboing.net/2013/06/06/new-nsa-logo.html
An Afghan brother once asked me provocatively whether the council knew they were coming and made so many houses ready for their arrival. Is the slow birth rate of indigenous UK citizens an intentional outcome of Thatcher’s feminist destruction of morality in the UK? Of course families can physically survive the brokenness of the family, but was it a deliberate policy of the government to break the family in order to pursue a political goal of immigration and international social mixing?
Or was it a total cock-up like her decision to feed sheep offal to cows?
“Once you know everything, you know nothing.”
I wonder Sofia…that we could say ” if You Think You know everything ”
but i fear that phrase
Guano.
I have no relations in the Turkish transport sector. The closest I get to that is an irritating little trike operation on Beechwood Avenue, Surbiton. Best avoided! Ask the Prendergasts.