Fausta's Blog

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden headed to Hong Kong after releasing a series of sensitive documents to the Washington Post.

Hong Kong is part of China, a country that has blocked access to my blog at times. Not the most transparent place for internet communications.

Now he’s seeking asylum in Iceland, which means he’s hoping that

• the Chinese won’t deport him to the USA
• Iceland will grant him asylum
  

  Kristín Árnadóttir, Icelandic ambassador to Beijing, told the South China Morning Post that Snowden needs to be in Iceland in order to apply for asylum.

• the Chinese will grant him safe passage to Iceland.

So far, he’s checked out of his hotel.

Memeorandum is abuzz,

 Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

Code name ‘Verax’: Snowden, in exchanges with Post reporter, made clear he knew risks  —  He called me BRASSBANNER, a code name in the double-barreled style of the National Security Agency, where he worked in the signals intelligence directorate.  —  Verax was the name he chose for himself, “truth teller” in Latin.

Discussion: Firedoglake, FishbowlDC, The Fix, The Daily Caller, Daily Mail, The Heritage Foundation, Wired, Althouse, Little Green Footballs and The Huffington Post,more at Mediagazer »

 Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Greenwald Says ‘There’s A Lot More Coming,’ Argues NSA Revelations Don’t Harm Security  —  The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald on Monday defended the 29-year-old who served as the source of one of the biggest intelligence leaks in history, arguing that the revelations of the National Security …

Discussion: Hot Air, Guardian and The Daily Banter

 The Atlantic Online:

Edward Snowden in Hong Kong  —  I’m glad we have this information; I am sorry we are getting it from Hong Kong.  —  Three points:  —  1) I believe what I wrote two days ago: that the United States and the world have gained much more, in democratic accountability, than they have lost …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, News Desk,CANNONFIRE, The Dish, Pressing Issues and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

 New York Times:

Booz Allen Grew Rich on Government Contracts  —  WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden’s employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, has become one of the largest and most profitable corporations in the United States almost exclusively by serving a single client: the government of the United States.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, The Fix, First Read, Booman Tribune, The Caucus, Business Insider and Telegraph

 Daniel Ellsberg / Guardian:

Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of America  —  Snowden’s whistleblowing gives us a chance to roll back what is tantamount to an ‘executive coup’ against the US constitution  —  In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden’s release …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Daily Beast, Taylor Marsh, The Verge, U.S. News, Pressing Issues, Althouse and News Desk, more at Mediagazer »

 Jia Lynn Yang / Washington Post:
Hong Kong hotel says Edward Snowden was there, but checked out Monday10 minutes ago

Discussion: Slashdot, The Gateway Pundit, CNN,Business Insider, Outside the Beltway and China Real Time Report

 Hadas Gold / Politico:
Donald Trump: Edward Snowden ‘a bad guy’

Discussion: msnbc.com and The Hill

 Guardian:
Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations

Discussion: The Raw Story, New York Times, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake,ThinkProgress, USA Today, Washington Post, The Atlantic Online, China Real Time Report, immi.is, Power Line, Politico, Wonkblog, BBC, msnbc.com, Daily Mail, News Desk, Activist Post, Capital New York, Daily Kos, Yahoo! News, The BRAD BLOG, The Week, Business Insider, Infowars, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland,Hot Air, New Republic, Mediaite, kottke.org, Wall Street Journal, Reuters,ViralRead, The Sun, TechCrunch, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The PJ Tatler, Doug Ross, The Agonist, Good Gear Guide, The Daily Caller, Althouse, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Secrecy News, RT, Informed Comment, Telegraph,Towleroad News #gay, Prairie Weather, FP Passport, KALW, The Gateway Pundit, AMERICAblog, Gawker, americanthinker.com, Boing Boing, AMERICAN DIGEST, The Hill, Balloon Juice, First Read, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, PoliticusUSA, UrbanGrounds, Post Politics, Forbes, NO QUARTER USA NET, The Dish, The BLT, Little Green Footballs, Washington Examiner, Fox News Insider, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, Lawfare,Hit & Run, The Hinterland Gazette, Runnin’ Scared, Instapundit, Vox Popoli,Wired, American Power, CANNONFIRE, Whiskey Fire, The Verge, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Scared Monkeys, U.S. News, Washington Free Beacon,Liberal Values, AllThingsD, GigaOM, LewRockwell.com Blog, emptywheel,Engadget and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

 Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Greenwald: NSA leak doesn’t jeopardize national security

Discussion: Prairie Weather

 Julian Borger / Guardian:
Edward Snowden’s choice of Hong Kong as haven is a high-stakes gamble

Discussion: U.S. News, Politico, Daily Mail, Hot Air, Reuters, BuzzFeed,American Power, Business Insider, The Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit andTelegraph

 Booz Allen Hamilton:
Booz Allen Statement on Reports of Leaked Information

Discussion: Business Insider, Guardian, U.S. News, The Week, msnbc.com, The Hinterland Gazette, Daily Kos, New York Times, Forbes, Yahoo! News, USA Today, Firedoglake, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland, Engadget, Gawker and Hit & Run,more at Mediagazer »

 Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
DOJ launches criminal probe of NSA leaker

Discussion: Politico

 Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
What’s the Deal with Hong Kong?

Discussion: Guardian and Business Insider

 Brian Knowlton / The Caucus:
Feinstein ‘Open’ to Hearings on Surveillance Programs

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland and Lawyers, Guns & Money

 Guardian:
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: ‘I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things’ – video

Discussion: CBS News, The Huffington Post, Democracy in America, The Hill,Hullabaloo, emptywheel and Washington Free Beacon

No, not them,

Us,

NSA, FBI secretly mining data from Internet firms...
'THEY QUITE LITERALLY CAN WATCH YOUR IDEAS AS YOU TYPE'...
MICROSOFTYAHOOGOOGLEYOUTUBEFACEBOOKSKYPEAPPLE...
Top-secret PRISM program... 
Vast Data Trove...
Billions of Phone Calls...
THE INTERNET FROM HELL 

 

US intelligence chief denounces info ‘leak’…

NYT: Obama has lost all credibility…

Paper ‘quietly changes published editorial to make less damning’…

 Washington Post:

U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program  —  The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs …

+

Discussion: Firedoglake, Politico, Wake up America, Business Insider, The Plum Line,The Next Web, AEIdeas, ThinkProgress, Wired, Shakesville, The Week,americanthinker.com, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, The Fix, Yahoo! News, GigaOM, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, AMERICAblog, CANNONFIRE,Daily Mail, WJLA-TV, Gawker, The Volokh Conspiracy, The PJ Tatler, CBS Denver,ABCNEWS, Right Wing News, Weasel Zippers, CBS News, The Verge, Booman Tribune, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, ABCNEWS, The Gateway Pundit,Mashable, msnbc.com, TalkLeft, San Francisco Bay Guardian, The Spectacle Blog,Power Line, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, Balloon Juice and ProPublica, more at Mediagazer »

 New York Times:

President Obama’s Dragnet  —  Within hours of the disclosure that the federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every …

Discussion: American Prospect, Yahoo! News, Crooks and Liars, Bloomberg,Colorlines, Weasel Zippers, DownWithTyranny!, Guardian, Slate, Washington Post, National Review, CBS News, Conservative Intelligence …, Via Meadia,CBS Boston, Israel Matzav, Ed Driscoll, Right Turn, Los Angeles Times, Pressing Issues, ParaPundit, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Lawfare, Mediaite, The Next Web, Wired, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Pundit & Pundette, Firedoglake, Business Insider, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller and Law Blog, more atMediagazer »

 Guardian:

NSA taps into internet giants’ systems to mine user data, secret files reveal  —  • Top secret PRISM program claims direct access to servers of firms including Google, Facebook and Apple  —  • Companies deny any knowledge of program in operation since 2007

Discussion: Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Daniel W. Drezner, New York Times, TechCrunch, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, BuzzFeed, GigaOM, AllThingsD,Balloon Juice, Informed Comment, TIME, msnbc.com, BBC, Boing Boing, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, The Next Web, Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette,Pressing Issues, Washington Post, The Agonist, Associated Press, The Raw Story, The Atlantic Online, The Week, The Verge, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland,Yahoo! News, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Samizdata, VodkaPundit, Hit & Run,Mashable and Politico

in case you missed it,

NSA is collecting the phone records of MILLIONS of Verizon customers daily under top secret order issued in April and it lasts into July

• A copy of a secret order shows that the National Security Agency ordered Verizon to hand over millions of phone records with no specific explanation
• Order extends from April 25 until July 19
• Comes just after news of the Department of Justice spying on journalists

Because of the lack of distinction, it means that the phone records are not just being collected for suspected terrorists, but the company’s entire consumer base.

Meanwhile, Obama and Google swap staff

Ponder that disquieting thought while you read Drudge’s roundup: The governmental agency that did this will have full access to all your medical records, in addition to your financial records.

CLAIM: OBAMA CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIR ATTACKED ROMNEY WITH LEAKED DOCS…

W.H. Blames Treasury Dept for IRS Scandal…

CARNEY: Just because IRS apologized doesn’t mean it did anything wrong…

POLL: Most Want IRS Officials Fired or Jailed… Developing…

REPORT: Agency demanded list of students trained by conservative group…

FRANKLIN GRAHAM: WE WERE TARGETED…

Rev. Billy Graham Endorsed Romney…

‘Special unit’ went after pro-Israel Jewish groups…

Official speedily approved exemption for Obama’s brother’s ‘charity’…

Agency won’t say if it will comply with congressional demand…

The judicial system is compromised: borrowing a page from Chavismo, Argentine Legislature Extends President’s Control Over the Judicial System

Argentina’s Congress passed legislation giving the president and political parties greater control over the judicial system, just days after hundreds of thousands of Argentines took to the streets to protest the measures.

President Cristina Kirchner’s populist, left-wing ruling coalition approved the changes that limit injunctions against government policies and create three new appellate courts.

Within a week or two, Congress is also set to change the Magistrates Council that appoints and impeaches judges, subjecting its members to popular elections. That likely will give Mrs. Kirchner’s party control over the council, which will be able to impeach judges by a simple majority, instead of the two-thirds vote required now.

Mrs. Kirchner says the new laws will make the legal system less beholden to special-interest groups. The sweeping changes come less than a month after Mrs. Kirchner submitted the legislation to Congress.

No more separation of powers,

Legal experts say the revisions will make it hard for individuals and companies to challenge laws and presidential decrees, especially those expropriating private property. Rights groups Human Rights Watch and Transparency International have warned the legislation would give the executive branch unprecedented control over the courts.

This gives free hand to the government to act or seize assets before a case is solved.

For commentary in Spanish, please read Monólogo de una República Perdida, by Agustín Ulivarri Rodi.

“I am shocked, shocked!”
Mega-Rich Withdrew Money From Cyprus Before Looting

The real targets of the “haircut” are businesses, entrepreneurs and the middle class

News that the Cypriot President’s family moved 21 million euros to London days before the bank accounts of his people were looted as part of the bailout deal serves as another reminder that while the media portrays the victims of the Cyprus “haircut” as the mega rich and wealthy Russian oligarchs, the real victims are middle class families and small business owners.

And,

In addition, as Reuters reports, “While ordinary Cypriots queued at ATM machines to withdraw a few hundred euros as credit card transactions stopped, other depositors used an array of techniques to access their money.”

Branches and subsidiaries of Cypriot banks in London and Russia remained open while banks in Cyprus were closed, allowing Russian oligarchs and other wealthy depositors to move their money.

When asked about the amount of money that had exited Cyprus before the bailout deal, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble refused to provide figures.

Take it away, Louis!

This blog’s mission, if you want to call it that, is to highlight the intersection of American and Latin American news and events.

The expansion of the Panama Canal is a crucial event that, for the most part, has been ignored by the American news media. It’s going on right now, and expected to be completed in April 2015. It will enable super-large ships, called “Post-Panamax,” to cross, but it necessitates that ports around the world, and especially in the Gulf states are deepend to accomodate them.

Roberto Roy, Panama’s Minister for Canal Affairs and Georgia Tech graduate, met with Georgia governor Nathan Deal,

“It is a critical issue for Georgia and for Savannah,” Roy said in an interview outside the governor’s office. “The reason is that the shipping fleet is totally changing. It is not only a matter of the ships being bigger. The key is that the most important variable is the fuel costs.”
Roy said the new ships can carry more containers, which makes them more energy efficient with significantly lower fuel costs per container.
“That is the game changer,” Roy said.
…
Georgia already has received the necessary federal approvals for the project, but it will need hundreds of millions of dollars in order to complete the deepening of the port. Reed has been working with state leaders to build support within President Barack Obama’s administration and other Democratic leaders for the project.
“Georgia needs to do a hard lobbying in Washington to get approval for this dredging,” Roy said. “The message is the fleet is changing, and we are already late.”

Let’s hope the bureaucrats in Washington are listening. An infrastructure project of this magnitude should have already started in the US ports, instead of those so-called “shovel ready jobs” that wasted the stimulus money.

Tomorrow all bank deposits over €100,000 will have 10% expropriated in Cyprus, while

Goat herders, taxi drivers, et al. (what the New York Times calls“pensioners, workers and regulator depositors”) with less than €100,000 get whacked 6.75 percent.

What do they get for that? A €10 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund and European lenders.

Roger Kimball has the story.

In Ireland, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and France, the governments take over citizens’ pension money to make up government budget shortfalls.

In 2008, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard asked, Argentina seizes pension funds to pay debts. Who’s next?

My fear is that governments in the US, Britain, and Europe will display similar reflexes. Indeed, they have already done so. The forced-feeding of banks with fresh capital – whether they want it or not – and the seizure of the Fannie/Freddie mortgage giants before they were in fact in trouble (in order to prevent a Chinese buying strike of US bonds and prevent a spike in US mortgage rates), shows that private property can be co-opted – or eliminated – with little due process if that is required to serve the collective welfare. This is a slippery slope.

This is only the beginning, folks.

No, not this one,

This one:

On the chair: the original 2,700 page Obamacare legislation. Stacked against the wall: every page of Obamacare regulations published through last week. This stack is 7 feet 3 inches high.

Steven Hayward calls it THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE IN ONE PHOTO, and adds,

A similar tower of regulations is being produced right now for the other legislative monstrosity from Obamaland, Dodd-Frank.

The nominee for Secretary of Defense flunked the interview:
“It is very clear from the testimony that Sen. Hagel will not be bringing the potato salad to the next Mensa picnic.”

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) did an immense amount of danger, disclosing that Hagel would still oppose unilateral sanctions. (How then could he possibly be the defense secretary in this administration?). Moreover, in reading his own words from the Global Zero report, she forced him to squirm, insisting the words she read didn’t mean what they said.

Even more damaging was the brilliant — there is no other word for it — interrogation from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who challenged him to name one senator “intimidated” by the “Jewish lobby” and to name “one dumb thing” the United States did as a result of that intimidation. He couldn’t. Why did he say those things, then? The result of this exchange was to cast Hagel as a gadfly who speaks rashly.

And then came Ted Cruz,

with the al-Jazeera clips:

First, Cruz played excerpts from a tape of Hagel’s 2009 appearance on al Jazeera, in which a caller suggested that Israel had committed war crimes. In responding to the question, Hagel did not dispute the caller’’s statement. Cruz also pointed to statement by Hagel that Israel had engaged in “the sickening slaughter” of Hezbollah, which sounds a bit like war crimes.

Taken together, these pieces of information show that Hagel regards Israel as a criminal state, or at least is comfortable with that characterization. Hagel tried, with the same lameness he displayed most of the day, to talk away around this conclusion. He stated that both sides — Israelis and Hezbollah — had slaughtered each other. Perhaps Hagel will produce a tape in which he accused the Palestinians of engaging in a “sickening slaughter” of Israelis. Perhaps he will produce a tape (from the period before he was in the running for a cabinet job under President Obama) in which he took exception to the claim that Israel has committed war crimes. Perhaps, but don’t hold your breath.

Next, Cruz played an excerpt from the same interview in which the al Jazeera host read a reader e-mail claiming that the United States has served as the world’’s “bully.” This time Hagel not only failed to take exception and stick up for his country, he said on al Jazeera he found some merit in the claim, calling it “a good observation” (the Washington Post report linked to above fails to report this fact).

Pressed by Cruz, Hagel tried to squirm his way out of this bit of anti-Americanism by misrepresenting both the email and his response. But Cruz brought him back to the text, which makes it quite clear that Hagel endorsed the view that America is the world’s bully.

Paul Mirengoff ask, “Does ‘smart power’ require a smart Secretary of Defense?” and concludes,

Hagel’s testimony is an insult to the intelligence of the Senate and the American people. When he is confirmed, as I assume he will be (probably on a laregly party line vote), the Pentagon will be under the control of less than mediocre thinker and a less than honest man.

We’re in the best of hands.

Cross-posted at Liberty Unyielding.

UPDATE
Remember, Hagel is the guy Obama wants. So is John Kerry.