PushBack Politics
NSA Secrecy Prompts a Pushback
The secrecy shrouding the National Security Agency’s collection of electronic data is coming under attack, with major Silicon Valley companies seeking to make public more information about the programs and the American Civil Liberties Union filing a lawsuit aimed at halting some of the efforts. Getty Images Attorney General Eric Holder Bloomberg News Google’s David Drummond, shown, has asked Attorney General Eric Holder if the company can publish data about secret federal court requests. Google Inc. said Tuesday it had asked the U.S. government for permission to publicly report on the volume and scope of secret federal court orders that require it to hand over information about its users to federal authorities. Google’s request, made in a public letter from its chief legal officer, David Drummond, came after the government acknowledged Saturday that Internet-content companies had received secret requests under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act relating to the activities of some users. Source: WSJ Read more
This Recovery is NOT Real But Would You Like To Buy My House?
Americans—except Republicans of course– would really like to believe that the recovery is finally here. I mean, after five years of high unemployment, the GOP obsession with government deficits and a disappearing middle class, a bona fide recovery would make millions of Americans, as well as a faltering global economy, feel more at ease. That’s why some cautiously optimistic economic data this week give the impression to some as having messianic importance, in the ever-optimistic belief that higher consumer confidence and rising home prices will deliver us from economic evil. But evil’s power is the power of illusion. That’s why the GOP is so good at it. That’s why FOX News is the embodiment of innuendo and scare tactics. And, in this case, that is also the power of the positive economic data. Consumer Confidence is Not Always Realistic Take the consumer confidence numbers, which are measured every month by the Conference Board and act as one of the more foolish hinges on which to hang our hopes. Consumer confidence in May jumped to 76.2, on a scale of 100. In the accepted analysis, that indicates that consumers believe the economy is improving. It’s also a grand lesson in the [...]
The Last Word – John F. Kennedy’s ‘finest moment’
Americans—except Republicans of course– would really like to believe that the recovery is finally here. I mean, after five years of high unemployment, the GOP obsession with government deficits and a disappearing middle class, a bona fide recovery would make millions of Americans, as well as a faltering global economy, feel more at ease. That’s why some cautiously optimistic economic data this week give the impression to some as having messianic importance, in the ever-optimistic belief that higher consumer confidence and rising home prices will deliver us from economic evil. But evil’s power is the power of illusion. That’s why the GOP is so good at it. That’s why FOX News is the embodiment of innuendo and scare tactics. And, in this case, that is also the power of the positive economic data. Consumer Confidence is Not Always Realistic Take the consumer confidence numbers, which are measured every month by the Conference Board and act as one of the more foolish hinges on which to hang our hopes. Consumer confidence in May jumped to 76.2, on a scale of 100. In the accepted analysis, that indicates that consumers believe the economy is improving. It’s also a grand lesson in the [...]
NSA surveillance: anger mounts in Congress at ‘spying on Americans’
Anger was mounting in Congress on Tuesday night as politicians, briefed for the first time after revelations about the government’s surveillance dragnet, vowed to rein in a system that one said amounted to “spying on Americans”. Intelligence chiefs and FBI officials had hoped that the closed-door briefing with a full meeting of the House of Representatives would help reassure members about the widespread collection of US phone records revealed by the Guardian. But senior figures from both parties emerged from the meeting alarmed at the extent of a surveillance program that many claimed never to have heard of until whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked a series of top-secret documents. The congressional fury came at the end of a day of fast-moving developments. Source: Guardian Read more
VIDEO – NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: ‘I don’t want to live in a society that does this to its own people”
VIDEO – NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: ‘I don’t want to live in a society that does this to its own people” Watch the Video of VIDEO NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, now at large after revealing the NSA data collection system details.
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