For years, the Department of Homeland Security has run a virtually unknown program gathering domestic intelligence, one of many revelations in a wide-ranging tranche of internal documents reviewed by POLITICO.
DHS has a program gathering domestic intelligence — and virtually no one knows about it
Tag: Constitution
Twitter puts free speech and transparency at risk if it fails to publish government takedown requests
For the past decade, Twitter has published biannual reports detailing takedown requests and legal demands the company received, including from governments around the world, as well as Twitter’s responses to those requests.
However, according to an update yesterday in Rolling Stone, Twitter failed to publish its most recent transparency report and has yet to respond to media requests about the oversight.
Twitter puts free speech and transparency at risk if it fails to publish government takedown requests
The Supreme Court showdown over Biden’s student debt relief program, explained
The law is very explicit that Biden’s student debt relief program is lawful. The Court’s Republican majority is unlikely to care.
The Supreme Court showdown over Biden’s student debt relief program, explained
There Are No Permanent Allies, Only Permanent Power
If we do not build left-right coalitions on issues such as militarism, health care, a living wage and union organizing, we will be impotent in the face of corporate power and the war machine.
There Are No Permanent Allies, Only Permanent Power
Seymour Hersh on US Bombing Nord Stream Pipelines — Radio War Nerd EP #366
We talk to legendary Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Seymour Hersh about his latest bombshell scoop: the United States, on President Biden’s orders, blew up the Nord Stream pipelines that were foundational to Germany’s export economy until last year.
Seymour Hersh on US Bombing Nord Stream Pipelines — Radio War Nerd EP #366 via Radio War Nerd
Previously:
US bombed Nord Stream gas pipelines, claims investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
US bombed Nord Stream gas pipelines, claims investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
The bombing of the Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea was a covert operation ordered by the White House and carried out by the CIA, a report by a veteran investigative journalist claims.
US bombed Nord Stream gas pipelines, claims investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
Full Story:
The legacy of George W. Bush and his torturers should haunt you
In the days and months following the attacks of 9/11, the government laid the blame for orchestrating the attacks on Osama bin Ladin. Then, after bin Ladin was murdered in his home in Pakistan in 2011, the government decided that the true mastermind of 9/11 was Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
The legacy of George W. Bush and his torturers should haunt you
Why Not Defund the Military?
Amidst all the talk about defunding the police, notice something important: No one talks about defunding the military. That’s because the military establishment is too powerful and has come to be accepted as a permanent feature in American life. Except for libertarians, everyone treats the military as their god.
Why Not Defund the Military?
Not sure if he’s correct about military capabilities but I can get behind defunding the military!
More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions
If it can conceivably be considered a “third party record,” the government is going to seek warrantless access to it. The Third Party Doctrine — ushered into existence by the Supreme Court in 1979 — says there’s no expectation of privacy in information shared with third parties. That case dealt with phone records. People may prefer the government stay out of their personal conversations, but the Smith v. Maryland ruling said that if people shared this info with phone companies (an involuntary “sharing” since this information was needed to connect calls and bill phone users), the government could obtain this information without a warrant.
More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions
U.S. Press Starts To Figure Out College TikTok Bans Are A Dumb Performance
U.S. Press Starts To Figure Out College TikTok Bans Are A Dumb Performance
One, the bans are generally designed to agitate a xenophobic base and give the impression the GOP is “doing something about China.” But the party that couldn’t care less about rampant corruption or privacy violations isn’t doing much of anything meaningful to thwart China. In fact, letting adtech, telecom, and app companies run rampant with little oversight runs contrary to any such goal.
Two, the bans distract the public and press from our ongoing failure on consumer privacy and security issues. Banning TikTok, but doing nothing about the accountability optional free for all that is the adtech and data-hoovering space, doesn’t actually fix anything. China can just obtain the same data from a universe of other international companies facing little real oversight on data collection.
Three, the ban is really just about money. Trump gave the game away with his proposal that TikTok be chopped up and sold to Oracle and Walmart. That cronyistic deal fell through, but it’s pretty clear that this moral panic is designed to either help TikTok’s competitors (Facebook lobbyists are very active on this front), or force the sale of the most popular app in modern history to GOP-allies. At which point they’ll engage in all the surveillance and influence efforts they pretend to be mad about.
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