Bullet In The Head

New political blog

2011-08-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

I have a new political blog here. Why? Read this.

Today's protest regarding the killing of Charles Hill by Bart police

2011-07-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

"NO JUSTICE / NO PEACE / FUCK THE BART POLICE"

The following recounts my limited experience with today's Bart Protest. I knew something unusual was going on when I headed into the Montgomery BART Station upon leaving work, but I had no idea what was specifically happening. On the platform there were huge crowds in both directions waiting for the trains. When my train (inward-bound) came after a few minutes, the announcer said that there would be no stopping at Civic Center station because of a "civil disturbance." We went to Powell station, the station before CC, and a bunch of activists were screaming and yelling (see above) and getting in the way of the doors so the trains wouldn't leave. Some people were handing out fliers. The people on the train generally seemed to disapprove of the action: "This is the wrong way to get your point across" ... "Why do you have to make me late?" ... Etc. Anyways, sure enough we sped though CC station but we could see dozens of riot police through the windows as we went past. Apparently the protest moved from place to place as protesters rode the trains and walked from station to station. I read a flyer that I borrowed from another rider on the way home, so it was only then that I found out what the protest was about.

***

I have to say, I'm quite disappointed in some people's reaction to this event. The vapid and shallow posts on Twitter made by Bart commuters express outrage at being delayed for a matter of minutes by the action, and some even wish violence on the protesters (how quickly the liberal Bay Area residents turn on social justice when the struggle comes to their subway!). As someone who tries to get people to care about others needlessly, unjustly and inhumanely suffering and dying, I know how difficult it is to bring these issues to public attention in an effective manner. It is when these demonstrations happen that those who would denigrate the tactics should ask themselves: which is more important -- five minutes of my time stuck on Bart, or taking a step towards ending the systematic brutalization of members of our community by the Bart police?

(Update: I can not but help at this point think of the famous and false slogan of apologia for Mussolini: he "made the trains run on time." But suppose the mantra to be true; might the present-day Bay Area commuter be facing a similar -- though surely different in scale in the extreme -- trade off between individual rights and unperturbed operation of the status quo?)

In my eyes, the protest was an absolute success -- I had not even heard of the alleged murder of Charles Hill before today, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Shutting down the city's transportation, even for a brief moment, definitely got the message across.

***

When reading mainstream press coverage of this event, keep in mind that:

Certain positions (such as the claim of Bart police that Hill was attacking with a knife) are taken by reporters as unquestioned fact, despite eyewitness reports that contradict their claims
The protesters' position gets very little, if any, mention (despite it being the entire reason for the event happening) compared to statements of the government and police
Various multicultural buttons of the liberal readership are pushed to cast the protesters in a bad light
There have been several similar shootings by Bart police in the past
Bart has been known to try and cover up misconduct by its employees... and the footage that they have of this incident has still not been released

***

What follows is the statement and demands from the activists, from the protest Facebook page, which I entirely agree with:

Last Sunday night, BART Police attacked and essentially executed a 45 year old man named Charles Hill. Someone called the BART Police, and reported that Charles was drunk and 'wobbling' around the platform with an open container of alcohol. 2 Officers responded and within 60 seconds of getting out of the train and onto the platform, these cops managed to shoot him 3 times in the chest.

The BART police chief is claiming he is 'comfortable' with this behavior. There is video that they are refusing to release. There are witnesses that contradict the police story (the lies they are using to try to cover this up). History does repeat itself, until we get angry enough to do something about it.

Join us to THIS MONDAY. ON THE CIVIC CENTER PLATFORM (yes, in the BART!). We will participate in a collective act of civil disobedience to demand:

1. The BART police department should be closed down, and the responsibilities of the BART police transferred elsewhere

2. Release the video of the shooting: The witnesses who have come forward all dispute the BART police version of events. BART and SFPD have a video which shows the interaction. We want this released NOW.

3. We demand an independent, PUBLIC investigation of this killing. If eye-witness accounts of the shooting are found to be true, both officers should be fired and charged to the fullest extent of the law.

North Africa (Maghreb) is blowing up

2011-01-17T10:52:00.000-08:00

Tunisia

Algeria

Libya

Early reports of unrest in Libya

Mauritania

Mauritanian man sets himself on fire

Egypt

Yemen

Elsewhere

Obama doesn't actually favor net neutrality

2010-12-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

Yet another broken promise and giveaway to business lobbies.

Wikileaks Diplomatic Cables

2010-12-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

Good resources

The Guardian's daily summary of headlines
wlcentral
Cablegate site (and mirrors)
Wikipedia page on the United States diplomatic cables leak (gives a good breakdown of leaks by region)
Democracy Now's coverage

Interesting points

All of the documents that have been published on Wikileaks so far have also been published by the NYT, etc. with the same redactions. There are around 250,000 cables total but less than 1% has been released.
The documents were offered to the WSJ and CNN, but both refused them. The NYT got them from the Guardian, not Wikileaks.
Julian Assange's personal philosophy is very pro-capitalist.
Allegedly, a fake Lady Gaga recording was involved in the disclosure.
The NYT, as expected, took the most jingoistic angle possible
Other Wikileaks-like sites are planned for launch
Assange's old blog is here
The smear campaign directed at Assange is farcical
A previous, similar leak in 1982 from the Tehran embassy has been all but forgotten
Good discussion here on the legality of Wikileaks (synopsis: there is no clear illegality on the part of Wikileaks)
Casualties: sacking of German minister's aide, former Croatian PM flees the country
Companies refusing to do business with Wikileaks: Amazon, Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, Bank of America, PostFinance, Apple
The government of Tunisia was overthrown partially because of Wikileaks

Significant revelations

Obama and GOP worked together to kill torture probe
US is using U2 spy planes flying from Cyprus to spy on Hezbollah
The CIA directed a biometric-information gathering program conducted by US diplomats
Pharmaceutical firm Pfizer conducted fatal experimental drug tests on children in Nigera without parental consent, and then tried to dig up dirt on the Nigerian attorney general in order to pressure him to drop a lawsuit against Pfizer
Private security contractor DynCorp "Helped Pimp Little Boys to Stoned Afghan Cops"
The ICRC told US diplomats of widespread torture by the Indian police in Kashmir

They're getting nervous

"WikiLeaks could be transformed from a handful of volunteers to a global movement of politicised geeks clamouring for revenge. Today’s WikiLeaks talks the language of transparency, but it could quickly develop a new code of explicit anti-Americanism, anti-imperialism and anti-globalisation.[...] An aggressive attempt to go after WikiLeaks – by blocking its web access, for instance, or by harassing its members – could install Mr Assange (or whoever succeeds him) at the helm of a powerful new global movement able to paralyse the work of governments and corporations around the world."

BP oil spill -- links and info

2010-05-29T18:29:00.000-07:00

BP's oil spill is the largest oil spill in US history. A disaster was bound to happen given the exemptions the government gave BP from an environmental review and the fact that the MMS allowed BP to fill out its own inspection forms. About a year ago, internal documents show that BP was concerned about the safety of the rig. And so on.

BP's response has been (as expected) to put profits ahead of all other considerations. BP has prevented conscripted cleanup crews from wearing respirators since that would open the company to liability suits; some workers have summarily been hospitalized. BP attempted to have Louisiana fishermen sign promises not to sue the company immediately after the disaster. BP has been rather successful in suppressing information about the spill and they have underreported the amount of oil that is likely leaking. Additionally, the Coast Guard appears to have been tapped in service of the company. But nothing can beat the sheer novelty of BP busing in workers for Obama's visit to make the cleanup effort appear more substantial (and then busing the workers out after Obama and the press left).

As far as personal stories go, this is just heartbreaking. Rolling Stone also has a comprehensive article about the government's reaction to the spill. Apparently there is a Twitter feed mocking BP that some find funny.

Greenwald has some more coverage here.

Obama doesn't mind engorging the military industrial complex

2010-05-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

The next way that the US defense industry is going to pillage public funds is via a Israeli missile-defense shield. I wonder how far the proposed $205 million would actually go in the region if it were used for actually helpful items like schools, hospitals, food (for the Palestinians, that is, who need them)...

Obama doesn't actually like Miranda rights

2010-05-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

Following the failed Times Square Bombing, Obama's administration didn't delay in considering to withdraw yet another civil liberty protection: Miranda rights.

Obama doesn't much mind oil spills

2010-05-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

From Jonathan Turley's blog about Obama's involvement in the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

Yet, the criticism of Obama in the aftermath of this tragedy has been quite modest. One can only imagine the outcry if President Bush opened up the East Coast to drilling, said that rigs do not cause spills (here), disregarded warnings about such spills from his own agency (here), and waived an environmental impact study based on the industry’s assurance. On top of that, Obama has been the largest recipient of BP campaign money (here). No one expects the President to follow waivers of impact studies — that is Salazar’s job. However, once again, the muted criticism from liberals is striking.

Which way, Obama?

2010-03-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

Obama has me confused about which way it is important to look:

Obama was asked in this interview: "Is your administration satisfied with the resolution of the past human rights abuses in Indonesia?" He replied:

We have to acknowledge that those past human rights abuses existed. We can't go forward without looking backwards . . . .

When asked last year about whether the United States should use similar tribunals to investigate its own human rights abuses, as well his view of other countries' efforts (such as Spain) to investigate those abuses, Obama said:

I'm a strong believer that it's important to look forward and not backwards, and to remind ourselves that we do have very real security threats out there.

Obama actually doesn't support women's rights

2010-03-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

From Jonathan Turley:

After holding a large public ceremony for the signing of the health care bill, President Barack Obama is barring cameras when he signs the executive order needed to secure the votes for the narrow passage: a ban on federal funding of abortion.
Rep. Bart Stupak and his colleagues will attend the signing but no cameras are going to be allowed by the White House. The thirteen members are all pro-life Democrats and the White House has decided that the public should not witness the event.

By the way, Stupak was suddenly given an over $720,000 grant for airports in this district shortly before his vote, here. This has led some to question whether the pro-life order was the only condition of his support.

For the full story, click here.

Obama actually doesn't like FoIA Requests

2010-03-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

From Slashdot:

"Agencies under the Obama administration cite security provisions to withhold information more often than they did under the Bush administration. For example, the 'deliberative process' exemption of the Freedom of Information Act was used 70,779 times in 2009, up from the 47,395 of 2008. Amusingly, the Associated Press has been waiting three months for the government to deliver records on its own Open Government Directive."

Warren Buffett on Class Warfare

2010-03-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Quoted in the New York Times:

Even though I agreed with him, I warned that whenever someone tried to raise the issue, he or she was accused of fomenting class warfare.
“There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

Obama likes tort reform now, too

2010-03-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

"Tort reform," a policy commonly offered by some as a panacea to the US health care crisis, is now being embraced by the Obama administration. But tort reform will do nothing to boost health care -- in fact, it will kill thousands of people every year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. What tort reform truly is, according to Jonathan Turley, is a way for doctors to have the government subsidize them by capping malpractice lawsuit damages.

These doctors are demanding huge subsidies and legal protections in exchange for resumption of health care. It is a game of chicken being played by doctors across the nation, with their patients’ health in the balance — and it is working.

Obama renews Patriot Act for Another Year

2010-02-28T19:38:00.001-08:00

Thanks, Barry!

Obama doesn't want you to have privacy using a cellphone

2010-02-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

The Obama administration is arguing in court that there is no expectation of privacy while using a cell phone. That is, the administration wants to track you without probable cause or a warrant. As usual, the EFF and the ACLU seem to be the only people that care...

Robot surveillance/law enforcement coming soon to the UK

2010-02-11T10:08:00.000-08:00

According to Wired, the UK is planning to deploy a fleet of unmanned aircraft for surveillance. But the article also ominously notes that "Military drones quickly moved from reconnaissance to strike." Great.

Student detained at airport because of Arabic flash cards

2010-02-11T10:05:00.000-08:00

A college student was detained by the TSA for hours at an airport because he was carrying Arabic flash cards. Thankfully, the ACLU has taken up his case and is suing the TSA and the FBI, amongst others.

The truth about torture is out in the UK... and Obama is angry

2010-02-11T06:57:00.000-08:00

It seems that the disclosure will "complicate" intelligence sharing between the US and the UK. At least one of these countries sometimes places human rights over expediency.

New York Times Magazine terrorist fearmongering

2010-02-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

Here is the cover of the 1/31/2010 issue of the New York Times Magazine... I don't think any comment is required.

Obama actually doesn't like nuclear nonproliferation

2010-02-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

So much for Obama's dreams of a nuclear-free world. In his proposed budget, Obama proposed $5 billion over the next five years for nuclear-related activities. Furthermore, shipping weaponse to Taiwan has also caused China to pull out of non-proliferation talks. Way to go, Barry.

Obama administration claims right to kill Americans suspected of terrorism

2010-02-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

Due process? What's that? Read the post of the same title by Jonathan Turley here. What is surprising is how little controversy this is generating.

FBI violates your privacy... again

2010-01-19T18:30:00.000-08:00

From Slashdot which links to the Washington Post:

An anonymous reader writes to tell us of a report from the Washington Post which alleges that the FBI "illegally collected more than 2,000 US telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records."

US attempting to strongarm Costa Rica into compliance with IP laws

2010-01-19T18:26:00.000-08:00

Under the auspices of "free trade." The Bahamas are also discussed in the article.

Just a Thought

2009-12-16T14:50:00.000-08:00

If Obama ran a very successful advertising campaign, can he be sued for false advertising when he fails to deliver on his campaign promises?

Just a thought.

Sprint served 8 million customer GPS coordinate requests to law enforcement in one year

2009-12-01T14:23:00.000-08:00

Sprint Nextel provided law enforcement agencies with its customers' (GPS) location information over 8 million times between September 2008 and October 2009. This massive disclosure of sensitive customer information was made possible due to the roll-out by Sprint of a new, special web portal for law enforcement officers.

If you build it, they will come... and infringe on your privacy.

Obama escalates war in Afghanistan giving strikingly similar reasons as Bush's escalation in Iraq

2009-12-01T06:38:00.001-08:00

It is almost as if Obama and his advisors are guilty of plagiarism, or at the very least unoriginality. They're contributing nothing to the intellectual reasons for advocating war. See Glenn Greenwald's take on the subject.

Obama says Tibet is part of China

2009-11-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

Now I have never been a huge Free Tibet advocate, but many progressive Obama supporters are, and this comes as the latest in a long string of middle fingers from Obama to his liberal base. Turley notes that Obama, in a break from past presidents, has affirmed Tibet as being part of China. Never let anyone tell you that Obama hasn't worked for change... for the worse.

Obama supports limiting of free speech to bar criticism of religion

2009-10-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

Alright, the continuation of Bush-era surveillance and rendition policies was rather expected, but this is straight out of left field. Obama has joined with other UN members pushing a resolution to restrict free speech in the case of blasphemy. Obama is looking more like a hard-core right-wing fundamentalist by the day.

Obama releases white house logs, kind of

2009-09-04T17:33:00.001-07:00

Obama will release logs of white house visitors from here on out. He will not release logs from anytime before now (which, of course, were the logs that everyone wanted to see who was influencing his policies in his first days in office). He also has provisions for not releasing the logs in the case in which it will harm national security, etc. Let's hope he doesn't abuse those provisions, but frankly I'm not too hopeful.

Obama tries, fails to keep recipients of stimulus money secret

2009-08-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

Yet another strange interpretation of "transparency."

Tom Ridge raised terror level for political purposes

2009-08-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a shocker. Former Homeland Security Head Tom Ridge has said he was pressured to raise the terror alert during certain times when unfavorable news was coming out about the Bush administration. Olbermann has a good video correlating the bad news for Bush and the terror alert notices.

Two questions: 1) why is it that this kind of news often comes out when the leaker has a book to sell? 2) why is it that the terror level lowering never makes the news?

Blackwater collaborated with CIA in assassination operation

2009-08-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Scahill provies some coverage in the Nation. Blackwater has a much closer relationship with certain parts of the government than many, including myself, would find appropriate. Also see Bill Moyer's interview with Scahill on his book about Blackwater.

Iraqi security forces collaborate in systematic torture, execution and kidnapping of Iraqi gays

2009-08-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

Sad, but true.

Flickr and Obama's strange relationship

2009-08-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

Flickr has been doing a lot of political censorship lately, the most recent taking down a mocking picture of Obama depicting him as the Joker. This is in addition to other pro-Obama censorship, including deleting the photos of a user that left critical comments on the official White House photo page. Now, this wouldn't have anything to do with Flickr signing an agreement with the Obama White House to carry their propaganda, would it?

Update: More on copyright, Flickr and the White House

Afghanistan censors its election coverage -- sort of

2009-08-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

The Afghan government said that it expected media outlets to avoid “broadcasting any incidence of violence” between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. on election day “to ensure the wide participation of the Afghan people.” The Afghan government wouldn't have done this, of course, if there had been no election violence. Way to bring unbridled democracy to a country -- marred elections AND quasi-censorship of the press.

Obama continues rendition and torture

2009-08-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

Obama has selected a strange candidate for his first rendition-and-torture target. Not a "terrorist," not an enemy combatant but... some mid-level employee that allegedly committed contract fraud? Just because it's unusual doesn't make this treatment any more acceptable. Especially appalling is how Obama renounced these tactics in his election campaign. Wait... this sounds familiar...

China's "HOWTO abuse people" document revealed

2009-07-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

The tactics of the “urban management officers” are now in print, as a Chinese newspaper has published a government document about how to rough up dissenters. Something tells me a few editors are going to get a little visit from the government soon, but let's hope not.

China shuts down leading Chinese civil rights organization

2009-07-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

No one mistakes the Chinese government as a friend of human rights, so it is unfortunate, though not entirely surprising, that it has shut down the Open Constitution Initiative.

Ireland Criminalizes Blasphemy

2009-07-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

It almost sounds too stupid to be true, but we're talking about politicians here. But it is true -- by repealing the 1961 Defamation Act, Ireland has criminalized blasphemy. Prepare to be raided if you are publishing any "blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter."

Did Bush administration cover up a massacre?

2009-07-12T08:33:00.001-07:00

It seems quite likely. How much longer can we pretend that we're the 'good guys' in Afghanistan?

Bush officials repeatedly discouraged efforts by the F.B.I., the State Department, the Red Cross and human rights groups to investigate the massacre and said that it would undermine our war effort.

The report appears to show how readily Bush officials not only committed war crimes in the commission of torture but embraced war criminals as allies.

Bush administration implemented additional surveillance programs

2009-07-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

It has come to light that George W. Bush authorized surveillance that went beyond what the NSA has been known to be doing for a few years now. Furthermore, there is an even more secret program that the CIA refuses to tell us (or apparently, even congress) about. Not surprisingly, it was Dick Cheney himself who ordered this program's concealment from our representatives. Darth Vader strikes again.

Obama administration doesn't actually want to release you if you are deemed innocent by a court of law

2009-07-12T08:23:00.000-07:00

Obama's administration has asserted his right to "presidential post-acquittal detention power." What might that mean, you ask? That only means that Obama gets to dictate whether a person deemed innocent in a court of law is released or not. That is, Obama can detain people indefinitely contrary to the orders of a court. Just when you think it can't get any worse...

Obama administration doesn't actually support gay rights

2009-07-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Obama DOJ has been defending the awful DOMA piece of legislation, a law that blocks same-sex couples from a variety of equalities such as filing joint taxes and securing Social Security spousal benefits. Personally, I'm getting really tired of the "we can't overturn this law, because it would be too much work to overturn all the other injustice going on in the world" defense.

Obama blocks release of White House visitor logs

2009-07-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

Contrary to his promises to make his administration an administration of transparency, Obama has blocked the release of the White House visitor logs. Apparently he doesn't think it is the public's business what lobbyists are visiting him to insidiously sway policy in their favor. Perhaps Obama needs a reminder that he is accountable to the people of America, not the other way around.

Blimps to monitor sports crowds using military technology

2009-06-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

Apparently Raytheon is adapting military-style technology to use in blimps at sporting events to monitor the crowd. Not sure what they're trying to prevent here, other than passing up an opportunity to profit off the unending corruption of fearmongering politicians.

Yahoo censors Obama critic

2009-06-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

Apparently Yahoo feels compelled to retaliate against those who dare to criticize politicians on its services by deleting all of their data. Rather unfortunate. I'm certainly not creating a flickr account anytime soon.

UK children taught to spot terrorists

2009-06-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

"If you ask amateurs to act as front-line security personnel, you shouldn't be surprised when you get amateur security." via Schneier

Graham-Lieberman secrecy law (with Obama support)

2009-06-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

Transparency is so inconvenient for today's powerful politicians who profess to be 'protecting America' that they will go to almost any end to circumvent it. Case in point: the new bill by Lieberman (with, notably, the support of Barack "Hope" Obama) that allows the white house to suppress any torture photographs taken after September 11th.

Homeland Security to Start Collecting Fingerprints at Airports

2009-05-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

Under the guise of combating illegal immigration, the government is planning to implement yet another privacy-infringing policy and expand the surveillance state by scanning the fingerprints of non-US citizens as they exit the country. The pilot program begins in Atlanta soon.

Looks like Obama didn't end torture after all...

2009-05-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

So says Jeremy Scahil. Apparently, a group called the Immediate Reaction Force still roams the halls of Guantanamo Bay, brutally torturing and punishing prisoners for the most trivial of reasons. Nice.

While we're on the subject, here's a nice, succinct list of the 13 people who made torture possible. Thanks, guys!

In Wisconsin, you can be GPS tracked without a warrant

2009-05-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

A court has ruled that police do not have to require a warrant before fixing a GPS tracking device to one's car. Yet another thing the police can do to you that you have no recourse against (but only in Wisconsin). Thankfully, contrary (and therefore sensible) decisions are being made in other states.

Via Schneier

No More Obama Posts... For Now

2009-05-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

Keeping track of all of Obama's ridiculous policies, campaign policy betrayals and Bush-like decisions is just getting too much to handle.

Just in the past week:
- Obama plans to bring back military commissions system
- Obama plans infinite detention for prisoners on US soil without trial
- Obama does a 180, refuses to release more torture photots
- Obama makes absurd claims about healthcare that even healthcare executives refute

For the time being, I will defer to the following blogs about this subject:
http://dissentingjustice.blogspot.com/
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
http://jonathanturley.org/

US Flight Policies Make No Sense

2009-04-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

In an effort to seemingly terrorize the populace by evoking memories of 9/11 (that have been kept so persistently in the forefront of our collective consciousness by those in power) the White House approved a low flyover of a 747 over Manhattan. The official explanation is that it was a 'photo-op.'

In other flight-related news, a flight to the US was diverted because it contained someone on the no-fly list, an author that had been critical of US foreign policy in Latin America. Way to treat guests nicely.

Pentagon's 'Privilege Review Team' Off Its Rocker

2009-04-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

This post by Glenn Greenwald has to be read to be believed. A defense attorney for Binyam Mohamed, a man tortured by the US, has written a letter to president Obama about the torture that his client has received at the hands of the US. In response, the Prentagon's 'Privilege Review Team' has initiated a summons against him to explain himself in court. All this for complying with policies that the Pentagon itself set up. Amazing.

Obama administration expands secrecy claims beyond Bush levels

2009-04-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

When we signed up for 'change,' we thought it would be a change back to pre-Bush policies, not exacerbating Bush's insane agenda! Unfortunately, we were wrong. The Obama Department of Justice is now making new and novel arguments to expand the secrecy and immunity of the government. They even coined a new, Orwellian phrase: "sovereign immunity." Keep up the good work, guys!

Update: Turley on video from Countdown

Obama administration doesn't actually think bailout fund accountability is a good idea

2009-04-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

Obama and co. are engineering bailouts to the banks such that they can circumvent the limits that Congress puts on executive pay viz. these actions. From Dissenting Justice:

Perhaps Obama believes that "if" doling out trillions to the banks gets the economy (artificially) working again that people will forget that he is doing something that goes against his promises concerning transparency, accountability, and, ahem, change.

Obama administration tries to block release of torture memos

2009-04-05T13:08:00.001-07:00

In another bout of political CYA, current senior national security aide John Brennan, who played a prominent role in the past administration's intelligence efforts, is trying to block publication of torture memos that will likely implicate many in the current and former administrations. As Turley notes, the only person that can break this blockade is Obama, who will now have to personally order the documents to be released.

Time to show what you're made of, Barack. The right thing to do is release these memos, even if (and especially if) it will trigger a war crimes investigation that brings nearly the whole government under scrutiny.

Update: More on Greenwald

UK has list of potential terrorist schoolchildren, as reported by teachers

2009-03-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

The first commenter on this article on boingboing says it best: WTF?

Obama doesn't actually think listening to citizens' suggestions is a good idea

2009-03-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

So much for new thinking and new ideas. From Politico:

In this moment of national economic crisis, the top four questions under the heading of “Financial security” concerned marijuana; on the budget, people voted up questions about marijuana to positions 1-4; marijuana was in the first and third positions under “jobs”; people boosted a plug for legalizing marijuana to No. 2 under “health care reform.” And questions about decriminalizing pot occupied spots 1 and 2 under “green jobs and energy.”

After taking questions lower on the list, Obama addressed the pot issue head-on, noting the huge number of questions about marijuana legalization and remarking with a chuckle, “I don't know what that says about the online audience."

"The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy," he said, as the audience in the room applauded and joined him in a laugh.

I guess we're not going to see any drug / prison policy changes until 2016 (or later).

Obama administration doesn't actually want to take away AIG bonuses

2009-03-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

Only now, after the anger over the AIG bonuses has reached a boil, has Obama indicated that the bailout money allocated to AIG executives' bonuses should be retracted. Funny, since it was his administration that, as Glenn Greenwald expertly points out, moved to include those bonus-saving provisions in the bailout legislation in the first place! To add insult to injury, the administration, with the help of others, is trying to pin blame on Sen. Chris Dodd, who initially OPPOSED those same provisions in the law. Score another 'say one thing and do another' point for Obama.

Obama administration doesn't actually think using state secrets privilege to hide torture practices is a bad idea

2009-03-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

Pop quiz: if a president's justice department were to invoke the state secrets privilege from letting evidence be admitted into a case about torturing of potential terrorist suspects that the US government detained (and shipped off to other countries to be tortured, etc. etc.), which president would you associate that with?

a) Bush
b) Obama
c) All of the above

The correct answer is C
Looks like all that talk of transparency was all for naught. Will the American people ever really find out what horrors the government has been perpetrating for the past decade? Not while Obama is in office, it seems.

Obama administration doesn't actually believe infinite detention of enemy combatants is a bad idea

2009-03-14T10:11:00.001-07:00

In a great post with a great title, Change = Same, Darren Lenard Hutchinson expertly shows that the change in detention policies viz. terrorism between the Bush and Obama administrations is a distinction without a difference. Sad, really, to see that a president that positioned himself as the anti-Bush to reveal himself as the second coming of Bush.

Obama administration doesn't actually think the omnipresent, everlasting war on terror is a bad idea

2009-03-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

In fact, they quite support it. For the sad truth, one only needs to read Turley's post Top Obama Aides Embrace Bush's War on Terror Rhetoric and Enemy Combatant Policy. Harvard Law Dean Elena Kagan, Obama’s Solicitor General nominee, believes that we are both 1) at war and 2) the whole world is part of our 'battlefield.' Disgusting (and, as we might note, quite antithetical to any kind of 'change').

Obama administration doesn't actually like restraints on presidential power

2009-03-14T09:53:00.001-07:00

From Turley:

Literally days after proclaiming that change had come to “signing statements” with a new policy, President Obama has issued a very Bush-like signing statement with his signing of the appropriations bill. The signing statement reserves the right to treat literally dozens of provisions as presumptively unconstitutional.
...
That particular provision is troubling to me as a constitutional matter. The Framers expressly gave Congress the power of the purse as a check and balance on executive authority. The use of appropriations to restrict “foreign entanglements” and “adventures” was well-accepted. This has a true Bush-like quality as a signing statement.

Looks like not much has changed from the past administration to this one...

Obama administration doesn't actually like transparency

2009-03-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

In a 180 from his professed love of transparency (as embodied in his executive order), Obama is now claiming 'national security' reasons for rejecting a FOIA request to release details about a new secret, international copyright treaty. Looks like this administration's love of secrecy is not so different from the past's. And reading the list of people who are allowed to view this treaty reads like a who's who of Big Media and their lobbyists.

Any and All Disruptive In-Flight Behavior Now "Terrorism"

2009-02-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

America is now reaping what the Patriot Act hath sown: much behavior that flight attendants consider disruptive, whether it be a loud argument, throwing food, or spanking a child, is now considered 'terrorism' under the law. This is what happens when you let power-hungry neocons paint the law with overly broad strokes: some guy gets thrown in with all the other Al-Qaeda suspects because he had one too many martinis on a plane.

LA Times
Bruce Schneier

FBI Looking for Terrorists contributes to pervasive Financial Fraud

2009-01-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Turns out that all of these Ponzi schemes and otherwise financial fraud might not be as prevalent if the FBI allocated as many resources as in the past to stopping these crimes. Unfortunately, the Bush administration's emphasis on terrorism put more FBI officers chasing bad guys that may or may not exist and less on things that are now putting people on the streets. Another endearing chapter in the Bush administration legacy.

File a FIOA request, get some of DHS's profile of you

2009-01-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

A Newsweek reporter filed a FOIA request to obtain what the government, DHS specifically, was tracking about him (as any citizen is entitled to do). Here is the report and discussion on Slashdot. Nothing really surprising, but it is worth noting.

US Using Viagra in Afghanistan to win over Warlords

2009-01-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

The CIA and US military are using Viagra as a bribe to win over Afghani warlords. This is sick for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that taxpayer money is being used to perpetuate traditional Afghani cultures of polygamy, forced marriage and child rape. Awesome. Also see another Turley post on the subject of the plight of Afghani women.

Man About to Reveal All about Bush Administration Dies

2008-12-21T14:34:00.000-08:00

'Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George Bush's 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night when his single engine plane crashed three miles short of the Akron airport.'

from here

Well, what an unbelievable coincidence! Someone who was being threatened by Karl Rove, et al gets killed right before he divulges any incriminating information on them. Something here stinks of elephant. Kind of reminds me of Bruce Ivens.

Rumsfeld linked to Torture by Senate Armed Services Committee

2008-12-16T12:06:00.000-08:00

And, not surprisingly, the mainstream media did not care and no meaningful action to ensure discontinuation of these practices and policies is going to be taken. A microcosm of the last eight years, indeed.

Coverage:
Greenwald
Reuters

Another NSA Data-Mining Site Being Built

2008-12-08T13:30:00.000-08:00

Seems that the Virgina site was just getting way too crowded with all of our phone and email records, so the NSA is building a new data-mining operation in Texas. As luck would have it, this facility is right next to Microsoft's immense data center there, and the NSA wanted assurance that Microsoft's data would be in the area before choosing to move in next door. As if crappy products weren't enough of a reason to not use Microsoft stuff.

Trials Of Henry Kissinger Video

2008-12-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

A video version of the great book by Christopher Hitchens:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2815881561030958784

Government can Track your Location Without Telco Help

2008-11-26T11:27:00.001-08:00

Law enforcement agencies have been installing "Triggerfish" cell phone tower simulators which force cell phones to reveal unique identifiers. In other words, they now have the ability to track your location if you are carrying a cell phone. This requires a court order, but we all know how that story goes -- nowadays those are viewed as completely optional by those in power (not that they are all that hard to obtain anyways).

This wouldn't be all that significant (compared to other things we know about government surveillance) except that this monitoring technology is unique in that the government does not require the cooperation of any telco company to use it.

Coverage:
Daily Kos
Schneier

New Apple Computers have DRM

2008-11-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

Seems like Apple wasn't content to only enforce DRM in its software; Apple has now put DRM in its hardware as well. New Apple laptops ship with HDCP, which disallows playing of video on all but approved devices (that is, devices that make certain types of copying more difficult). See the Ars Technica report on the subject.

French 3-strikes Copyright Law

2008-11-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

A new, terrible law is making its way through the French senate right now. It requires ISPs to disconnect a user after three alleged copyrighted content downloads. This is an insanely terrible law for many reasons, including:

Virtually everything on the internet is copyrighted in some form, and any "visit" to a web page requires a download of HTML, so this effectively outlaws the entire web.
The bill, of course, is intended to apply mainly to video and audio bits. Since everyone effectively becomes a criminal under this law, selective enforcement will be the name of the game. Media companies, who are behind the whole initiative in the first place, will move to enforce the law's provisions against those who they feel are most threatening to their profits. That is, users of peer-to-peer networks.
There is no due process mentioned in the article, (not to mention that a constant due process procedure for every internet user is way too costly for the bureaucracy) so we can only presume that these 'strikes' will be tallied at the whim of the ISPs and media companies.
Internet access is becoming more and more of a necessity as more functionality moves on to it (communication with friends and family, banking, shopping, employment, etc.)

A commenter on Slashdot points out that this law is supported by a corresponding business interest for basically every layer of the network stack:

This law was mainly pushed by Vivendi but there are powerful backers from all across the spectrum:
* Telecoms firms that want a mandate to filter all Internet traffic so that they can block all P2P, and then VoIP, and then video streaming and then anything which competes with their monopoly products.
* Large ISPs, because these are now all owned by the telecoms firms.
* Vendors like Cisco because they want to sell loads and loads of expensive filtering equipment.
* The music industry, because it still thinks it's going to sue its way back onto the right side of history. Stupid kloten, when will they learn?
* The movie industry, because they've drunk the music industry koolaid.
* The TV industry, because they want to sell more DVDs and because their distributors in the digital age are, of course, the ISPs.
* And finally, certain software firms, because the only way to implement this law, finally, is to use a fully locked down operating system that only runs authorized software, so no Linux.
The French tried so hard to get this same law pushed through the European Parliament, but that seems to be saner.
There are similar legislative pushes all around Europe, at the national level, and for the same reasons.
The Internet is, really, under attack from concerted and powerful forces that hate what those free packets represent.

A New Vanguard in Internet Censorship: Austrailia

2008-10-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

Australia's Labor party has plans to censor the entire Internet based on a new "cyber-safety" initiative. Additionally, if you want your Internet even more watered down than that, you can opt in to an additional blacklist that will block content "inappropriate for children." Who elects these bozos?

Chinese surveillance one-ups itself

2008-10-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

Chinese citizens must now must have their picture taken and id card scanned when entering an Internet cafe. This in addition to, you know, being constantly monitored by their government while on the internet, being monitored by big mamas and the whole blocking access to any kind of information that interferes with the regime's dogma thing. Oh, and these details are entered into a city-wide database. Just when you thought Chinese surveillance couldn't get any more intrusive...

eBay linked to Chinese text-message surveillance

2008-10-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

Man, if one Silicon Valley giant after another isn't caught red-handed aiding Chinese government evildoers. This time it is eBay, who in a joint venture with a Chinese company owns the company that operates the Tom-Skype text messaging system. Apparently the Tom-Skype system was logging user-identifiable messages that contained certain topics that might be critical of the Chinese government. Luckily, the New York Times article that mentions it at least has the decency to mention the NSA is doing the same thing over here, avoiding the rank hypocrisy that permeates much American coverage of Chinese government policy.

Coverage:
Seth Finkelstein
New York Times

Military assigned to Domestic Post

2008-09-24T15:56:00.001-07:00

Prepare for martial law. A portion of the military has just been assigned to the homeland for no apparent reason, and totally in violation of some of the most fundamental tenets of our democracy. I wonder how long it will be before this unit feels compelled to use deadly force on citizens.

Man Foils DHS Dragnet via Name Change

2008-09-12T13:46:00.001-07:00

A Canadian recently circumvented the crack teams at DHS by changing his name to avoid being flagged at airports because his name was (previously) on the no-fly list. It's a good thing that the barrier to not being flagged as a terrorist is so high... no terrorist would ever have the resources to change their name. As we've seen in the past, this kind of incompetence at DHS only prevents stupid terrorists from flying, and if these terrorists are so dumb, what's the worry?

What is the real reason lists like these exist?

GOP on Quest to Disenfranchise Voters... Again

2008-09-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

Apparently Republicans are attempting to exclude people that have had their houses foreclosed from voting. Perhaps it is not just coincidence that these are the very people that would be the most likely to vote against the ruling regime in an important election swing state?

FBI, Police Detaining GOP Convention Protest Group Members

2008-08-31T17:48:00.001-07:00

Glenn Greenwald is covering the FBI and Minnesota Police's raids of protesters houses ahead of the Republican convention. This is without any probable cause and mostly without warrants. Hopefully someone in the political establishment will object to this unlawful and un-American treatment of citizens, but who am I kidding? What's the chance of politicians sticking up for democratic freedoms? Slim.

FBI involvement:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/31/raids/index.html

Police raids:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/30/police_raids/index.html

At Least Some Good News this Week...

2008-08-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

The woman with the baby dancing to Prince on YouTube is cleared of wrongdoing, the court ordering that fair use must be considered in the sending of a DMCA takedown notice.

People on the No-Fly list can sue to have their names be taken off the list, a court rules.

FBI Pushing for Warantless Investigations

2008-08-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

Oh gawd, is this really happening? (Link to NY times version)

Nike tries to out anonymous Chinese blogger

2008-08-22T19:26:00.001-07:00

This is quite an interesting interplay indeed going on between China an US Corporations. Some, such as Yahoo, are taking fire for outing formerly anonymous Internet commentators and do so only when they have to. Others, such as Nike, jump at the chance to subvert freedom of speech. Nike is trying to co-opt the Chinese government to out an anonymous blogger who said some not-so-nice things about their brand. It's sad to see American corporations to stoop to the level of an oppressive authoritarian state, but I guess I should have seen it coming. Something tells me China won't have much a problem complying with Nike's request, given all the other ways in which they mistreat their citizens.

"We want to act to protect our brand reputation in the same way as any corporation would want to if people were posting or writing false accusations," [the Nike spokesperson] said. "This isn't about a debate on freedom of speech. It's simply helping us to identify the person who posted it."

Sure this isn't about freedom of speech... if you're brain dead.

No such thing as 'Typical Terrorist'

2008-08-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Bruce Schneier says that the Guardian says:

MI5 has concluded that there is no easy way to identify those who become involved in terrorism in Britain, according to a classified internal research document on radicalisation seen by the Guardian.

Don't inform your local Republican... you might cause him significant embarrassment. As if we needed any more proof that profiling/data mining/whatever techniques would never yield any promising results. Turns out profiling is just another excuse to invade your privacy and infringe on your civil liberties... as if the 'war on terror' were anything else.

Update: The NRC says the same thing.

Anthrax and ABC and unsolved mysteries

2008-08-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Anyone who cares about how journalistic ethics have deteriorated and/or the disquieting cooperation of government and press in this country needs to read Glenn Greenwald's two articles on the unsolved 2001 anthrax case. The big questions are: 1) Who sent the anthrax and why? 2) Why did ABC news report it had sources that claim the anthrax was from Iraq and why are they trying to retreat from that now? 3) Who are those sources and why were they misleading the public?

Posts:
Vital unresolved anthrax questions and ABC News
Journalists, their lying sources, and the anthrax investigation

Your laptop will be detained at the border, without reason, forever

2008-08-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post does a nice job of translating DHS policy

The policies state that officers may "detain" laptops "for a reasonable period
of time" to "review and analyze information." This may take place "absent
individualized suspicion."

into plain English:

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an
off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of
wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland
Security recently disclosed.
Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's
contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data
decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued
by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement.

Nevermind that any of this data can be transferred just as easily over the internet (which I highly advise for all travellers, btw), this is a scary and stupid policy. DHS is one-upping other sectors of government in the 'arbitrary and indefinite detention' genre by not even requiring suspicion to detain items. Michael Chertoff is the most dangerous man in America and needs to be stopped. Thank goodness there are a select few people in government (Sen. Russell Feingold, mentioned in the article) that still care about the Bill of Rights. See also Schneier's post.

Next battleground in the copyfight: textbooks

2008-07-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

Great site: textbooktorrents.com

How long until publishing houses come along and engage in that time-honored tradition of copyright holding organizations: suing already penniless students?

Found via this ars technica article

FBI amassing eye scan database

2008-06-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

And the new personal information that the government is vacuuming up this week is... eye scans! It appears that the FBI is adding information about people's eyes to the already existing biometric databases of the populace. Great.

NY Attorney General Pressures US ISPs to filter content

2008-06-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

And this is how it all begins... under the guise of "protecting the children" and other such claims, the New York Attorney General has pressured several major US ISPs into filtering traffic. At least one ISP, Time Warner, has blacklisted all of USENET.

There can be no justification for this kind of behavior. What will happen we have seen a million times when a clueless administrator tries to close down an open network:

1) The people that this law is supposed to stop will use other channels (proxies, other USENET servers, encryption, etc.)
2) Everyone else will suffer the brunt of censorship and surveillance, until they decide to make like a child pornographer and circumvent the restrictions themselves.
3) The ad-hoc, secretive blacklist expands without notice or warning or opportunity for review by anyone, an increasing number of non-kiddie-porn sites get caught up in the filter, including sites that may be politically inconvenient for the Government (Wikileaks, Pirate Bay, etc.).
4) Government realizes it can get away with this kind of behavior, starts pressing for more elimination of "bad" things from the Internet.
5) Free speech plummets.

News coverage:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9964895-38.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/nyregion/10internet.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/10/1819200&from=rss

There was an interesting comment on Slashdot, revealing that one can tell when Google has received a takedown notice for child porn relating to a search. Check out this search for an example (look at the bottom of the page): http://www.google.com/search?q=4chan

More airport madness

2008-06-04T22:31:00.000-07:00

It appears now that you can be prevented from boarding an aircraft simply for wearing a designer T-Shirt -- this shirt (hilarious comments in the Boing Boing thread, btw) got someone banned from a flight because it depicts a transformer brandishing what looks like a cartoonish gun.

In other news, the EU is testing a flight system installed in every passenger seat that monitors your facial expressions for hints of terrorist inclinations. False positives, anyone?

Genetic Nondiscrimination

2008-05-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

Don't let anyone tell you that the Bush administration was all bad. It actually did do something incredibly far-sighted and significant recently: the President signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) into law. This means that when everyone has their genes sequenced, the insurance companies don't own your soul.

Government has plans for martial law

2008-05-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

Radar is reporting that the government has (not so?) contingency plans to round up suspicious individuals in the event of declared martial law... 8 million suspicious individuals, that is.

The database can identify and locate perceived 'enemies of the state' almost instantaneously." He and other sources tell Radar that the database is sometimes referred to by the code name Main Core. One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.

Michael Chertoff wants your fingerprints

2008-04-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

Michael Chertoff, head of DHS, wants to build a "server in the sky" of all fingerprints from all citizens of a variety of countries. When questioned about the potential for privacy invasions, he answered, "A fingerprint is hardly personal data because you leave it on glasses and silverware and articles all over the world, they’re like footprints. They’re not particularly private." Nevermind that fingerprints can be used as unique identifiers for a person, nor that government-managed databases have huge potential for misuse, theft, misidentification, leaks, etc. Great, this idiot is in charge of keeping us "safe?"

Via thinkprogress, Schneier

Military news correspondants far from impartial

2008-04-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

The New York Times reports that many former military officers that appear as commentators on news networks are not held to the same impartiality standards as other pundits. These analysts regularly had conflicts of interest, including lucrative government contracts for businesses that they were involved in. Furthermore, not towing the Pentagon's line would result in that commentator getting cut off from insider information in the future. As a result, these analysts opinions were almost always in line with the Pentagon's story, misleading the American people about the true nature of the news.

Government to collect DNA samples from arrested persons

2008-04-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

More great news! It now seems that the DHS wants to to build a gigantic DNA database of everyone even arrested (not CONVICTED) relating to a crime, regardless of the person's innocence.

This has huge implications for privacy and presumption of guilt. As the Council for Responsible Genetics puts it:

DNA databanks are not required in order to use DNA testing to establish evidence of guilt or innocence when there is a known group of suspects for a crime: a DNA sample can be taken from each individual and compared directly with a crime scene profile. Few people have problems with this use of DNA.

The permanent retention of DNA in a database for use in future investigations, however, is another matter. An individual captured in a police database becomes an automatic suspect for all future criminal investigations where database searches are performed. This undermines the presumption of innocence that is central to criminal justice systems in the US, UK and most democracies around the world.

Setting aside this fundamental problem, benefits of the use and expansion of these databases must be weighed against their societal costs. While the temptation on the part of law enforcement to put more and more people into the database seems logical (i.e. one would assume the more inclusive the database, the more likely a positive identification can be made), in practice, the benefits of expansion may be limited. In the UK, despite the large number of people in the database, DNA profiles are obtained from the examination of less than 1% of crime scenes, so that in 2002/3 only 1.6% of all crime detections were attributed to DNA database matches (including only 0.3% of all detections for violent and sexual offenses). Such a small contribution to crime detection may not warrant the onerous financial costs of large DNA databases, not to mention the dilatory effect backlogs have on crime solving.

At the same time, there are many reasons to be concerned about the use and expansion of police databases.[11] These include: impacts on people's privacy, potential for misuse by governments, discrimination, and the possibility of error and wrongful conviction.

Joe Biden is an Internet Idiot

2008-04-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

Senator Joe Biden (D-Del) thinks that you can 1) monitor all P2P traffic easily 2) pick out files that are illegal or infringe copyright by looking at their file names. Idiot.