ActivistPost – Hanni Fakhoury – Landmark Decision Important Beyond NSA Phone Records Collection – 24 December 2013

Electronic Frontier Foundation

The historic decision handed down by D.C. federal judge Richard Leon last week that found the NSA’s bulk collection of phone records likely violated the Fourth Amendment is a crucial first step towards protecting digital privacy from suspicionless government searches. But the importance of the decision extends beyond the NSA’s surveillance programs. Judge Leon made two important findings on how the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches should apply at a time when technology can make invasive surveillance — once considered the stuff of science fiction — a part of every day life.

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Laura Bruno – Poetic Justice – End Of Privacy And The Dropping Of The Veils – 24 December 2013

What the NSA and Shadow Government goons fail to realize is that they are bringing into being a world in which nothing remains hidden. In their attempts to know every last detail of every correspondence, thought and emotion, they’ve injected into the holographic Universe the very thing they most fear: transparency. The more they push to end privacy, the greater humanity’s abilities grow to pierce the veil. Since the effectiveness of Shadow Government and unbridled corporate fascism depend upon secrecy, I say, “Bring it.”

Mish/ Mike Shedlock – China Interest Rate Crisis Continues: 7-Day Interest Rate Doubles to 10% in One Week; China Bans Words “Cash Crunch” – 24 December 2013

A “cash crunch” is on in China. But don’t call it that, because China banned use of the term last week.

The New York Times reports China Rates Approach Crisis Levels Despite Central Bank Measures.

An exceptional bid by China’s central bank to curb soaring interest rates and relieve pressure on the financial system appeared to have come up short on Monday, as Chinese money market rates shrugged off the measure and continued to approach the crisis levels seen in June.

Gloria Wendroff – The Heavenletters – On Your Way To God – 24 December 2013

God said:

Your heart may be in a quandary. Your heart receives mixed messages from you. You want so much that sometimes you are all over the place. You may strongly desire two opposing outcomes. You want independence, and yet you foster dependence. You want closeness with another human being, and you relish time alone. You are an adventurer, and you are a homebody. You go left and then you go right and back again. What it comes down to is that you may well not know what it is you really want.

CommonDreams – Millions In Dark Money Funding Climate Change Denial: Report – 24 December 2013

“It is not just a couple of rogue individuals doing this. This is a large-scale political effort.”

– Lauren McCauley, staff writer

The expansive misinformation campaign behind climate change denial is increasingly being funded in the dark, reveals a new report published Friday in the journal Climatic Change

CommonDreams – Pipelines Are Awesome! – 24 December 2013

By Abby Zimet

In the name of getting ’em young, Ohio’s oil and gas industry has created its own “education” program to teach kids the energy industry is groovy – aka “Promotion of a positive public awareness of the local oil and gas industry, and its vital energy and economic benefits to Ohio” – partnering with Radio Disney to travel to schools, museums, county fairs and the annual Oilfield Expo with a fun show featuring games, prizes, races and pipeline-building competitions to see “how we get oil and gas to your home.” Get the ping pong balls through the plastic tube! “Cheer these guys on like crazy!” urges the MC at events, and never mind the vast, still-surfacing fracking-related environmental damage and the 167 drilling-related earthquakes that have hit Ohio in the last year. The outreach Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (“OOGEEP”) is called, straight-faced, “Rocking In Ohio.” It never mentions the word “fracking.”

“We want kids to get excited about science. We would love to see young scientists pursing careers in the energy industry.” – OOGEEP spokesperson

Read the whole article at: www.commondreams.org / link to original article

How TheWeek.com Got Swindled Into Pushing Big Pharma’s Anti-Nutrition Propaganda – 24 December 2013

(NaturalNews) A recent hack-job “study” declaring all multivitamins to be completely useless has been exposed as nothing more than drug industry propaganda following the revelation that not only were the vitamins used in the study synthetic, but the study itself was backed and funded by Big Pharma. And one of the vocal proponents of this so-called study, TheWeek.com, obviously fell hard for the swindle, failing to identify the role that vaccine quack and drug profiteer Paul Offit played in spearheading the media blitz of this latest edition of pure junk science.

Californians Outraged After Police Acquire Military Armored Vehicle To Patrol City – 24 December 2013

Police in Salinas, California are under fire after the department acquired a heavily armored military vehicle for SWAT team operations.

The $650,000 vehicle was gifted to the Salinas Police Department from the government through the 1033 program, which redistributes used equipment to other agencies. According to KSBW, the truck was used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to numerous outlets, police stated their SWAT team was in desperate need of a new vehicle. KSBW added that the new truck, built to withstand rifle fire and minefield explosions, has already aided officers looking to arrest a dangerous suspect. The individual was apparently spotted via the vehicle’s high observation deck.

While Police Chief Kelly McMillin believes the vehicle “provides a high capability of protection for our officers and the community,” other members of the community have been outspoken in their disagreement.

Read the whole article at: www.rt.com / link to original article

UN Chief Wants To Nearly Double Peacekeeping Force In South Sudan – 24 December 2013

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon advised the Security Council that 5,500 additional soldiers and over 400 more police should be sent to South Sudan to reinforce the current UN mission there amid increasing violence in the fledgling nation.

Additional security forces would add to the nearly 7,000 soldiers that currently make up the UN mission in South Sudan. The reinforcements would come from other UN missions in Africa, according to a letter from Ban to the Security Council, AFP reported.

The Secretary-General said earlier Monday from UN headquarters in New York that allegations of rights violations in South Sudan will be investigated.

“[The UN Mission in South Sudan] is protecting civilians at its bases, supporting humanitarian deliveries, monitoring the human rights situation and investigating reports of abuses,” he said. “We have lost two peacekeepers in the past week and one was wounded. I commend our brave peacekeepers, as well as the mission’s staff and leaders.”

Read the whole article at: www.rt.com / link to original article