This is the 49th anniversary of Congress’s passage of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, by which the Lyndon Johnson administration lied the nation into the Vietnam War. The resolution was spurred by false assertions of multiple North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. ships. At a National Security Council meeting on the evening that the first report came […]
Author Archive | Jim
Me? Nihilist? Another NSA Slander
Former National Security Agency boss Michael Hayden denounced defenders of Edward Snowden as “nihilists, anarchists, activists, Lulzsec, Anonymous, twentysomethings who haven’t talked to the opposite sex in five or six years.” Hey, I’m no nihilist! And, though I am still a shy country boy, it’s been a long time since I was accused of being […]
Best Thumbnail Explanation of NSA Spying Scandal
The Onion has the best explanation I have yet seen on how the National Security Agency surveils average Americans. But to be honest, I’m not sure if “Step 9” is accurate. From The Onion: Step 1: NSA goes to Gmail, guesses “puppy64” as the password for all usernames, and successfully gains access to over 5 […]
Great Colbert Riff on Bradley Manning Verdict
Stephen Colbert deserves an Emmy Award for this 4 minute segment on the Bradley Manning case and trial verdict. And he beautifully ties in the NSA at the end of the riff. http://youtu.be/_TJDZax426I?t=18s
New Terrorist Suspect Definition: “Someone searching the web for suspicious stuff”
The Guardian’s scoop today on the National Security Agency’s XKeyscore included documents that showed the “standards” that NSA employees can use to target Americans and others to vacuum up their email and all their Internet-related information. Page 14 of the documents reveals one of the new definitions of terrorist suspect: “someone searching the web for […]
Bradley Manning Verdict & WikiLeaks Movie
Bradley Manning got nailed today by a military judge for exposing the truth. The folks who committed war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq have almost all walked scot-free. The folks who made the policies that led to the abuses have never faced federal charges. Dreamworks has a movie on Wikileaks that will be coming out […]
Bravo Rand Paul – the only ‘No’ vote for new FBI Chief
Sen. Rand Paul was the only senator to vote against confirming James Comey as the new FBI director. The final vote was 93 to 1 – so nobody was crowding Rand on the high ground. As the ACLU noted last month, “While Comey deserves credit for stopping an illegal spying program in dramatic fashion, he […]
R R Schoettker
The US congress ceased fulfilling its constitution