SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

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National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily
August 23, 2013


http://www.policemisconduct.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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see link for full story
https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Bloggers' Rights


One of EFF's goals is to give you a basic roadmap to the legal issues you may confront as a blogger to let you know you have rights and to encourage you to blog freely with the knowledge that your legitimate speech is protected. To that end we have created the Legal Guide for Bloggers a collection of blogger-specific FAQs addressing everything from fair use to defamation law to workplace whistle-blowing.

In addition EFF continues to battle for bloggers' rights in the courtroom:

Bloggers can be journalists (and journalists can be bloggers).
We're battling for legal and institutional recognition that if you engage in journalism you're a journalist with all of the attendant rights privileges and protections. (See Apple v. Does.)

Bloggers are entitled to free speech.
We're working to shield you from frivolous or abusive threats and lawsuits. Internet bullies shouldn't use copyright libel or other claims to chill your legitimate speech. (See OPG v. Diebold.)

Bloggers have the right to political speech.
We're working with a number of other public-interest organizations to ensure that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) doesn't gag bloggers' election-related speech. We argue that the FEC should adopt a presumption against the regulation of election-related speech by individuals on the Internet and interpret the existing media exemption to apply to online media outlets that provide news reporting and commentary regarding an election -- including blogs. (See our joint comments to the FEC [PDF 332K].)

Bloggers have the right to stay anonymous.
We're continuing our battle to protect and preserve your constitutional right to anonymous speech online including providing a guide to help you with strategies for keeping your identity private when you blog. (See How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else).)

Bloggers have freedom from liability for hosting speech the same way other web hosts do.
We're working to strengthen Section 230 liability protections under the Communications Decency Act (CDA) while spreading the word that bloggers are entitled to them. (See Barrett v. Rosenthal.)

If you'd like to spread the word about our work consider adding an EFF Bloggers' Rights Badge to your blog or website.


July 23, 2013
Congress and the Justice Dept's Dangerous Attempts to Define “Journalist” Threaten to Exclude Bloggers

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WATCH: Video Suggests Hurricanes Be Named After Politicians Who Deny Climate Change

By Ryan Koronowski on August 26, 2013


http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/0 ... e-deniers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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https://www.eff.org/awards/pioneer/2013" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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see link for full story
http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_239 ... ken-tilsen" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ken Tilsen, St. Paul civil rights activist and lawyer, dies at 85
09/02/2013

Ken Tilsen, a prominent St. Paul lawyer who agitated for years on behalf of civil rights activists, peaceful protesters and American Indian causes, died Sunday after a long illness. He was 85.

"He was one of the great ones, a real civil rights leader of the 1960s and 1970s," said his friend, Bill Tilton of St. Paul, who hired Tilsen to defend him when he resisted the Vietnam War draft. "When it came to the rights of the little guy, he was the main one."

Tilsen, a longtime resident of St. Paul's Selby-Dale neighborhood, opened his own law firm in 1966 and practiced until 1993, when he joined the Hamline University School of Law as an adjunct professor.

A child of immigrant parents, Tilsen watched his father build housing for low-income families. His family valued "equality, working hard and using your intelligence," according to his son, David Tilsen. His parents' example led Ken Tilsen to take up controversial issues that many others avoided.

Tilsen contributed to the defense of the 200 or so American Indian Movement followers who took over the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to protest the federal government's treatment of American Indians in 1973.

For 25 years, he advocated for Rene Hurtado, a former member of El Salvador's military police who sought political asylum in Minnesota after speaking out against human rights abuses in the Central American nation. He also did extensive work with the Southern Minnesota Landowners' Alliance, a group composed mainly of farmers opposed to the construction of a power line through their properties.

Because of his role as the president of the University of Minnesota's Marxist-Socialist Club from 1948 to 1950, Tilsen was summoned before the House Committee on un-American Activities in 1964. He refused to answer any questions about the group's activities before 1950. This helped cement his reputation as an undaunted defender of his beliefs.

"He wasn't afraid of somebody who disagreed with him," Tilton said. "He was kind and always polite -- but he'd get in front of a lot of federal judges, and when a judge wouldn't do something, he wasn't afraid to issue a writ of mandamus (a request to a higher authority to compel a lower court to do something.)"

Tilsen also represented weapons protesters who claimed they were harassed by the FBI for demonstrating in front of Honeywell sites in the Twin Cities.

"He really believed that lawyers had a choice to do the right thing and not just defend anybody or prosecute anybody," his daughter Judith Tilsen, a Ramsey County district judge, said of the clients her father took on. "He cared deeply about fairness and justice ... it wasn't just his work, it was his
Key Hudson casino opponents sent by the Concerned Citizens of Hudson after their meeting with Gov. Tommy Thompson in July 2000. Ken Tilsen is positioned in the front row, to the far left. (Courtesy photo)
passion.

Tilsen met Rachel Le Sueur, the daughter of prominent feminist and activist Meridel Le Sueur, at a protest against the St. Paul Prom Ballroom's no-blacks policy; the two were married in 1947 and went on to have five children, adopt a sixth and care for many foster children.

[msfreeh]

At the Escuelita Zapatista, Students Learn Community Organizing and Civil Resistance as a Way of Life
The Class Was Stopped Twice: The First Time to Emphasize the Importance of Discipline in Their Organization

By Alex Mensing
Special to The Narco News Bulletin

August 29, 2013

http://www.narconews.com/Issue67/article4711.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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LIBERAL CAMPAIGN TO IMPEACH OBAMA
http://www.kzyx.org/index.php/entry/syr ... cific-time" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SYRIA, WAR, OBAMA, CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS, AND IMPEACHMENT, ON KZYX, FRIDAY, SEPT 6 @ 9 AM, PACIFIC TIME (UPDATE, WITH VIDEO )
All About the Money on Thursday, 05 September 2013


Next News Network's YouTube video of law professor, Francis Boyle, this morning's guest on KZYX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS-nlv2YyrQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also: http://www.impeachobamacampaign.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What is it about the U.S. and the "business of war"?

Let's take a look.

SYRIA, WAR, OBAMA, CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS, AND IMPEACHMENT, ON KZYX, FRIDAY, SEPT 6, AT 9 AM, PACIFIC TIME

"All About Money" returns to KZYX on Friday, September 6, at 9 AM, Pacific Time, with a special edition show on the impending U.S. attack on Syria and the "business of war".

Guests are John Quigley, professor emeritus of international law at Ohio State University and author of The Ruses for War: American Interventionism Since World War II, and Francis Boyle, professor at the University of Illinois College of Law and author of Tackling America's Toughest Questions.

Our broadcasts are heard at 88.1, 90.7, and 91.5 FM in the Counties of Mendocino., Lake Humboldt, and Sonoma in northern California. We also stream live from the web at http://www.kzyx.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MP3 links to shows may be found on the show's blog at the KZYX website. Shows are also archived at KZYX.


JOHN QUIGLEY

Professor emeritus of international law at Ohio State University, Quigley recently wrote a piece scrutinizing the legal justifications for an attack on Syria: "John Quigley on Intervention."

He is author of the book The Ruses for War: American Interventionism Since World War II. In addition to the false claims being used to drive the U.S. to war in Iraq, he cites numerous other examples of the U.S. government making such claims:

* In 1998, the U.S. government told the UN Security Council that it had launched missiles against Khartoum, Sudan, because VX nerve gas was being produced at a factory there. In fact, no nerve gas was being produced there, as later acknowledged by administration officials.

* In 1993, after it launched missiles at the headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service in Baghdad, the U.S. government told the Council that the circuitry found in a Renault (vehicle) at the Iraq-Kuwait border was of a type that linked it to the Iraqi intelligence service, and that the Renault was part of a plot to assassinate George Bush, who was then visiting Kuwait. As later analysis showed, the circuitry was not of a type that showed a connection to the Iraqi intelligence service.

* In 1964, it told the Council that U.S. vessels had been attacked by Vietnamese vessels in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. This information was based on reports from U.S. vessels that the vessels’ commander soon said were in error. Nonetheless, the State Department used the information before the Council and relied on it as a major rationale for a military buildup in Vietnam.

* In 1954, when the elected government of Guatemala was overthrown militarily by Guatemalan military officers, the U.S. was charged before the Council with organizing the coup. It denied to the Council any involvement. In fact it organized the coup.

* On three occasions, it told the Council it was invading other states because U.S. nationals were in danger there: Dominican Republic 1965, Grenada 1983, Panama 1989. In none of these instances were U.S. nationals in danger.


FRANCIS BOYLE

Boyle is a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law and author of Tackling America’s Toughest Questions. He said today: "The test the Dossier [PDF] uses is 'high confidence' -- but the appropriate standard by the International Court of Justice (in the Corfu Channel case) is 'beyond a reasonable doubt.' The Dossier notes that it does not 'confirm' the allegations against Syria. So the U.S. intelligence community refuses to 'confirm' that the Syrian government did it.

"Kerry claimed in his remarks: 'We assess that the opposition has not used chemical weapons.' But Carla del Ponte of the UN commission said they did. See: BBC: 'UN's Del Ponte says evidence Syria rebels "used sarin"' Similarly, Kerry claimed 'We intercepted communications involving a senior official...' But the Wall Street Journal already reported that came from Israeli

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see link for full story
http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... 29311.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Hundreds of Minneapolis anti-war protesters condemn U.S. action in Syria

September 7, 2013

With cars whizzing by honking in support, more than 200 war protesters lined a busy Minneapolis street Saturday to condemn U.S. military action against Syria just days before President Obama addresses the nation.

The protest, one of several in the Twin Cities in the past 10 days, was similar to others nationally that urged Congress to reject a war resolution.

“This is absurd,” said Frieda Gardner, 71, of Minneapolis. “There is a real fatigue in the country with war.”

Coleen Rowley, the former FBI special agent who testified about the FBI’s pre-9/11 failures, read aloud to the crowd from a letter she’s circulating to community and political leaders, hoping to show that opposition to military action in Syria “transcends partisanship.”

“There is public momentum,” she said, holding a huge protest sign. “This could lead to a wider war.”

The dozens of protesters along the intersection of Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue ranged from young adults to longtime activists such as Gardner.

“It starts like this,” Gardner said of the modest crowd. “The crowds will grow as people’s sons and daughters are at risk.”

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The Proell Effect: A Macroscopic Maxwell's Demon
June 10, 2010

http://www.scientificexploration.org/ta ... demon.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org ... fundraiser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

blogging is not truth, behaviour is truth

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The PBS show Frontline produced The Secret Files of J Edgar Hoover program which has a scene overlooked in lieu of the bigger sound bite everyone remembers. I am talking about the interview with Susan Rosensteil who attended a sex party with her husband , Roy Cohn and FBI Director J Edgar Hoover.
Susan details the scene where Hoover is dressed as a woman and calls himself Mary.The part of her interview that the media conveniently overlooks is when she says " Hoover went into the bedroom to have sex with young boys". Roy Cohn is a confirmed pedophile. Google roy cohn pedophile

But what does this have to do with the Lockerbie bombing?
Well if you had your ear tuned to the whisper stream in 1994
you would have known who created the Lockerbie bombing because you would have watched the banned movie THE MALTESE DOUBLE CROSS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B5hv6scbBo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The filmaker Allan Frankovich had a convenient heart attack
at the age of 56 see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Francovich" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Backstory: In 1988 Boston Globe reporter and Pulitzer winner Ross Gelbspan covered our 1st annual conference investigating crimes committed by the FBI held at Boston University , for the Boston Globe. The next year he would start writing his book BREAK INS DEATH THREATS AND THE FBI published by South End Press. In the book narrative there is a section where Ross describes a trip he made to New York City to interview an El Salvadoran refugee named Yanirra Correa. In the middle of the interview the Boston Globe photographer who had accompanied Ross for the story leaves the room to use the bathroom. When he return he finds a piece of paper slid under the door. It is a part of a torn poster for Yanirra Correa speaking at a college. In the upper right hand corner is a crudely drawn picture of a decapitated baby with writing above the drawing saying in spanish" do you know where your baby is?" Yaniira had a two year old baby boy.

The FBI Assistant Director Oliver Revell coordinated the attack upon Yannira and the American group called CISPES . Ross Gelbspan was in New York interviewing Correa about her kidnapping in Los Angeles where she was thrown into a van, stripped naked, raped with a stick, burnt with cigarettes and had the El Salvadoran death squad initials carved into her hand with a knife.
After driving around for 6 hours she was thrown onto the Los Angeles freeway naked. Ross would also interview FBI informant Frank Varelli
for his book. Varelli's father was commandant of the El Salvador National Guard responsible for the disappearances of teachers and union organizers who were later found naked and decapitated at the local smoldering garbage dump. Varelli blew the whistle on the FBI . Gelbspan had to buy a bulletproof vest for Varelli and very, very special # 2 guy
at the FBI Oliver Revell was transferred back to running the Dallas FBI office by FBI Director Sessions. What does this have to do with the Lockerbie bombing? Investigators say Oliver Revell pulled his son, also a FBI agent, off the Lockerbie plane. see http://www.constitution.org/ocbpt/ocbpt_08.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; See more here http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2012/05/l ... 0-may.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


So now you know a little more of what I and the FBI already know.
Remember blogging is not truth. Behaviour is truth.

[msfreeh]

The FBI Sensitive Informant Program is a taxpayer funded FBI program where FBI agents and FBI informants
are assigned to work for members of Congress and the US Senate; for members of the US Supreme Court; in radio television and print media; to spy on and control these organizations and individuals.




SEE LINK FOR VIDEO AND FULL STORY


http://bobmccarty.com/2013/12/05/everyt ... t-program/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Redacted in 4-Page Document About the FBI’s ‘Sensitive Informant Program’
December 5, 2013

Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue has received three heavily-redacted batches of recently-declassified documents from the FBI in recent days as partial responses to his ongoing quest for materials related to the Bureau’s “Sensitive Informant Program.” The most recent document, however, could qualify as the most-heavily-redacted document ever offered in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Everything — four pages in all — is redacted! See pics below.

OKC FBI TRANSP 1 OKC FBI TRANSP 2

OKC FBI TRANSP 3OKC FBI TRANSP 4

In an email message Thursday morning, Trentadue describes this latest set of documents as “certainly in line with the Administration’s position on FOIA and the need for ‘transparency.’”

Trentadue has sought details about the “Sensitive Informant Program” in an effort to learn more about the brutal death of his brother, Kenneth Trentadue, under suspicious circumstances while in custody at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City in 1995 and about the connection he believes exists between his brother’s death and the investigation of the Oklahoma City Bombing.

As I reported in a Nov. 21 update to this post, federal Judge Clark Waddoups has set May 5, 2014, as the date on which a new Oklahoma City Bombing trial will begin in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Central Division. The trial will begin at 8:30 a.m. local time, is expected to last three days and could produce some bombshells.

To learn more about Trentatude’s long-running legal battle with the FBI, watch the chilling one-hour video below:

[msfreeh]

to see portrait

http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org ... e-altvater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Portrait Unveilings at Maine State Capitol Building with Maine-Wabanaki Reach

PRESS RELEASE:

Maine Wabanaki Reach

“Americans Who Tell the Truth” Unveils Portraits of Passamaquoddy Women Denise Altvater and Esther Attean
Maine artist Robert Shetterly has added the portraits of Denise Altvater and Esther Attean, Passamaquoddy Citizens and members of Maine Wabanaki REACH, to the “Americans Who Tell the Truth” project (AWTT), which promotes “Models of Courageous Citizenship” in schools and communities around the country.

The portraits will be unveiled at the Hall of Flags in the State Capital Building in Augusta on Wednesday, December 4th from 11:30-1:30.
Shetterly will speak as will TRC Commissioner and Secretary of State Matt Dunlap and portrait subjects Denise Altvater and Esther Attean.
The event is open to the public.

Most Maine citizens are not aware of the official policies of the U.S. Government to forcibly assimilate native people with the intent to “kill the Indian to save the man”. In the 1800s, native children were removed from their communities, brought to boarding schools and stripped of their culture, language and spirituality. The child welfare practices of the 1950s and 1960s carried forth the mentality that native children were better off being raised in white homes. Into the 1970s, Maine removed native children from their homes at a rate higher than most other states.

To shed light on this important history, Maine-Wabanaki REACH established a truth and reconciliation process, and now advises the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission,(TRC) to ensure that truth-seeking activities around these issues are directed by Wabanaki people. The TRC was officially mandated by the five Wabanaki Chiefs and the Maine Governor in June 2012 and has until November 2015 to investigate and document what happened to Wabanaki people involved in the state child welfare system and make recommendations for best child welfare practice while promoting healing for those impacted and support for native communities.

After learning about the ground breaking Commission, the first of its kind in the entire country, Shetterly decided to paint the portraits of two of the truth tellers involved in the project, Denise Altvater and Esther Attean. These portraits will join more than two hundred otherson the AWTT website and as a traveling exhibit that presents people throughout American history who have worked for social, economic and environmental justice. The portraits are used as teaching tools
in classrooms at all educational levels.

“Denise and Esther embody the courage and determination of Wabanaki people who speak hard truths in an effort to bring healing for their people, deeper understanding between Maine and Wabanaki people and a better future for us all. People just like Denise and Esther will come before the Commission to speak out for truth, healing and change,” said TRC Commissioner Carol Wishcamper.

The portraits will be unveiled at the Hall of Flags in the State Capital Building in Augusta on Wednesday, December 4th from 11:30-1:30.
Shetterly will speak as will TRC Commissioner and Secretary of State Matt Dunlap and portrait subjects Denise Altvater and Esther Attean.
The event is open to the public.

A reception with light refreshments and conversation will follow.


Location: HALL OF FLAGS, STATE CAPITAL BUILDING AUGUSTA, MAINE
Date: December 4, 2013

[msfreeh]

see link for full story
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc ... le/282287/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ex-CIA, NSA, FBI, and GCHQ Employees Urge Former Colleagues to Blow the Whistle
Daniel Ellsberg and other former leakers plead for current staffers to follow Edward Snowden's example.
Dec 12 2013


An open letter published in The Guardian features seven signatories—including Daniel Ellsberg, who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers, as well as ex-employees of the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and GCHQ—urging their former colleagues to follow Edward Snowden's example and blow the whistle on ongoing crimes and misconduct within the national-security state.

One portion of the letter says:

Hidden away in offices of various government departments, intelligence agencies, police forces and armed forces are dozens and dozens of people who are very much upset by what our societies are turning into: at the very least, turnkey tyrannies.

One of them is you.

You're thinking:

Undermining democracy and eroding civil liberties isn't put explicitly in your job contract.
You grew up in a democratic society and want to keep it that way
You were taught to respect ordinary people's right to live a life in privacy
You don't really want a system of institutionalized strategic surveillance that would make the dreaded Stasi green with envy—do you?

Still, why bother? What can one person do? Well, Edward Snowden just showed you what one person can do. He stands out as a whistleblower both because of the severity of the crimes and misconduct that he is divulging to the public—and the sheer amount of evidence he has presented us with so far—more is coming. But Snowden shouldn't have to stand alone, and his revelations shouldn't be the only ones.

You can be part of the solution; provide trustworthy journalists—either from old media (like this newspaper) or from new media (such as WikiLeaks) with documents that prove what illegal, immoral, wasteful activites are going on where you work.

There IS strength in numbers. You won't be the first—nor the last—to follow your conscience and let us know what's being done in our names. Truth is coming—it can't be stopped. Crooked politicians will be held accountable. It's in your hands to be on the right side of history and accelerate the process.

Courage is contagious.

[msfreeh]

http://redwoodcurtaincopwatch.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Redwood Curtain CopWatch, based in the north coast of California, is part of a larger movement of self organized CopWatch groups throughout the US. Our local efforts seek to intervene in the drastic rise of the presence, militarization, and violence of the police, and build support networks based on self-determination, caring, and concrete needs.

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Whistleblower Center founder Steve Kohn spoke at our 1st conference investigating crimes committed by FBI agents

National Whistleblowers Center
P.O. Box 25074
Washington, D.C. 20027
http://www.whistleblowers.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Mary Jane Wilmoth
(202) 342-1902
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Whistleblower Fears UBS Banker Raoul Weil
Will Get Sweetheart Deal

UBS Tax Fraud Kingpin Extradited to
United States Faces Hearing Today

Fort Lauderdale, Florida. December 16, 2013. Raoul Weil, the former head of UBS’s Global Wealth Management business is scheduled to appear for a hearing in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale today. He was extradited to the United States from Italy where he was arrested on an international warrant after being indicted for his role in conspiring to violate U.S. tax laws. Weil was the top boss for UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld, and controlled the international illegal banking schemes worldwide.

As head of Global Wealth Management while Birkenfeld worked at the bank, Weil had responsibility for five international regions for which UBS actively solicited wealthy clients to establish secret and illegal accounts and other fraudulent enterprises that permitted hundreds of billions of dollars to be hidden from local taxing authorities, including the United States. His regions were: Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe and Americas). Martin Liechti, who was directly responsible for the illegal banking activities that Birkenfeld exposed, was the head of the America’s program, and reported to Weil.

In 2007, UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld provided the IRS, SEC, U.S. Senate and Department of Justice with unprecedented access to thousands of pages of documents and other information revealing for the first time the international fraud schemes managed by Weil. Birkenfeld’s historic disclosures led directly to Weil’s indictment in 2008 and his eventual arrest by Italian authorities.
In a statement issued today by Stephen M. Kohn, the Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center and one of Mr. Birkenfeld’s attorneys, Kohn warned that the Justice Department “may give Weil a sweetheart deal that could cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars and set back international efforts to curb corruption.”

Kohn pointed to a highly improper “deal” cut with Martin Liechti, who formally ran the America’s program under Weil’s leadership at UBS. “Liechti was caught red-handed in the United States, but was permitted to plead the ‘Fifth Amendment’ in testimony before Congress, and soon after permitted to leave the United States without having to face justice for his illegal actions in hiding billions of dollars from the IRS,” Kohn said.

According to Kohn, Weil would have extensive knowledge of UBS’s PEP program:

“UBS had an ultra secret special program for which the bank would accept millions and billions of dollars from ‘Politically Exposed People.’ The program, known as PEP, required bankers to identify PEPs when seeking to open secret accounts. PEPs would be highly placed government officials and very wealthy individuals from around the world who were seeking to hide dirty money, illicitly obtained from bribes, kick-backs and other illegal activities."

“PEPs would include American public officials who held illegal accounts,” Kohn said.

“We fear that political pressure from high ranking officials and extremely wealthy individuals, both from the United States and those in power in foreign countries, will result in a cover-up of the PEP scandal. Weil is one of the very few people in the world who would have information about the PEPs, and any attempt to resolve this case without full accountability for the PEP program, and full exposure of any person enrolled in that program, no matter how high-up the scandal reaches, should be aggressively opposed," Kohn said.

“Moreover, we fear that Weil may use his knowledge of high placed PEPs to leverage a sweetheart deal. Any attempt to give Weil leniency in exchange for protecting millionaires, billionaires and corrupt politicians who illegally stole money and tax revenue from their people would undermine the rule of law and further obstruct justice,” Kohn added.

"It is paramount that American taxpayers obtain justice and those responsible for stealing billions of dollars from our government be held fully accountable," Kohn concluded.

A copy of the UBS bank account opening forms, that Birkenfeld provided to the IRS, SEC, U.S. Senate and DOJ in 2007 are linked here. These forms explicitly reference the PEP program.

[msfreeh]

https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/securedrop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Freedom of the Press Foundation takes over Aaron Swartz's whistleblower project
Published time: October 15, 2013 19:35
Edited time: October 16, 2013 12:07
Image

Whistleblowers, rejoice! The Freedom of the Press Foundation is taking the helm of a secure document-submission service co-created by late computer prodigy Aaron Swartz, and wants to make it more accessible than ever.

The foundation — launched less than a year ago “to crowd-source funding for cutting-edge, independent journalism and publishing outlets” lacking mainstream support — announced early Tuesday that it has taken charge of the DeadDrop project, an endeavor announced earlier this year after the death of Swartz, a transparency advocate who co-created the system with Wired journalist Kevin Poulsen.

DeadDrop was unveiled this past May and touted at the time as being a secure-way of submitting sensitive documents to a single publication: The New Yorker. But only five months after its debut, the Freedom of the Press Foundation said it has now inherited the project from Poulsen and will try to bring it to more media outlets needed to communicate securely with sources.

In a blog post authored by the foundation's Trevor Timm and Rainey Reitman on Tuesday, they wrote that the project has been re-named SecureDrop, and within a matter of weeks it will be available to a number of journalistic outlets who've already expressed interest in getting involved.

The foundation has published the open-source instructions for SecureDrop on its website and claims “Any organization can install SecureDrop for free and can make modifications” now - not just the New Yorker.

When operating accordingly, the SecureDrop system works when an anonymous source accesses a website anonymously and provides documents to the news outlet that are encrypted and only available to select employees. Journalists and sources communicate using code words, and documents are deciphered using an air-gap computer that is never connected to the Internet.

Image
Aaron Swartz (Photo by Phillip Stearns / flickr.com)

That isn't to say it's easy to someone without a deep computer and security knowledge to get the system and up and running, however, and that's what the foundation is offering to find help for organizations who want to use SecureDrop but might need assistance.

“Freedom of the Press Foundation will also help organizations install SecureDrop and train its journalists in security best practices to ensure the best protection for sources,” the group announced on their website.

A group of independent experts, including Jacob Appelbaum of the Tor Project and security guru Bruce Schneier, audited SecureDrop in August and have since released their findings. Their initial report revealed a number of flaws that caused concern, though, and the foundation has reportedly since begun correcting those errors.

Even before revamping the system to fix those issues, though, the security experts said the system was still “technically decent” for allowing anonymous communication between sources and journalists. Since then, the foundation says it “has made a number of updates to SecureDrop based on these findings and will be making a significant investment in continually improving the system.”

“We’ve reached a time in America when the only way the press can assure the anonymity and safety of their sources is not to know who they are,” foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow said in a statement released this week. “SecureDrop is where real news can be slipped quietly under the door.”

Timm, the group's executive director, added in a statement that “A truly free press hinges on the ability of investigative journalists to build trust with their sources.”

When the foundation was unveiled last year, it initially began processing donations and contributions to whistleblower-related groups including WikiLeaks and the Center for Public Inquiry. When the military court-martial of WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning was conducted in de-facto secrecy, the foundation raised over $100,000 to hire stenographers so that the press could have transcriptions of proceedings that otherwise would not necessarily be made public.

http://rt.com/usa/swartz-press-securedrop-project-236/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[msfreeh]

Free online courses at MIT and Harvard with certificate upon completion

https://www.edx.org/course-list" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[msfreeh]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/26/ ... bout-2013/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



December 26, 2013
A Year of Extraordinary Activism
10 Good Things About 2013
by MEDEA BENJAMIN

It would be easy to make a list of 10 bad things—wars, government shut-down, drone attacks, lack of progress on immigrant rights, lousy health-care reform. But it’s also been a year of extraordinary activism: whistleblowers, DREAMers, Walmart workers, peacemakers, gay rights advocates, garment workers. As the year ends, let’s pay tribute to the good things their efforts have wrought.

1. A spontaneous uprising by the American people kept President Obama from invading Syria. This Fall’s “peaceful insurrection” was by far my favorite moment of 2013. It was one of those all-too-rare occasions when folks came together across ideological divisions, flooding their congressional reps with calls. Yes, after 12 years, Americans have become “war-wise”, understanding that US intervention is no solution. So instead, chemical weapons are being destroyed thanks to successful negotiations. But the war in Syria rages on, with casualties mounting daily. Peace talks are scheduled for January 22 in Switzerland, and women’s groups—including CODEPINK—are mobilizing to surround the meetings with a desperate plea to all the guys with guns: Ceasefire NOW!

2. Talks with Iran are progressing, despite Israel and AIPAC’s objections. The P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany has made great headway in finding a solution to diffuse the crisis around Iran’s nuclear program. Negotiators are anxious to take advantage of the opening represented by the election of a moderate Iranian leader, President Hassan Rouhani. Sadly, a group of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, along with the AIPAC lobby, threaten to derail the talks by pushing for greater sanctions against Iran. If we can move ahead with talks, 2014 could be the year we finally ditch the Bush-era “axis of evil” treatment and build friendly relations with Iran.

3. Edward Snowden has rocked the world of NSA spying. When Edward Snowden first blew the whistle on the NSA’s sweeping surveillance, he said his greatest fear was not what the government would do to him, but that nothing would change. A mere six months later, the cascading effects have, according to the Washington Post, made themselves felt in Congress, the courts, popular culture, Silicon Valley and world capitals.” There is now a vibrant global dialogue about privacy rights. In December, a federal court judge declared the secret collection of domestic phone records unconstitutional and President Obama’s own review panel called a major overhaul of NSA’s activities. President Obama claims he will consider the review board’s suggestions, indicating that reforms are necessary to restore public confidence. While Snowden is under indictment for criminal acts here in the US, thanks to this whistleblower, the days of the NSA doing whatever it wants—in secret and free from public criticism—are coming to an end. Thanks, Edward, for your service!

4. Killer drones are taking a beating. The international community is finally standing up to the use of killer drones and the proliferation of this technology around the globe. With reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, investigations by the United Nation’s Special Rapporteurs, and two briefings in Congress with testimony by drone strike survivors, the dialogue and the outrage around the drone program has increased. This year saw a ban on drone strikes by both the Pakistani National Assembly and the Yemeni Parliament (if only the US would listen!), more protests inside the US and the creation of a global anti-drones network.

5. Yes, the Pope, who beat Snowden for Time’s Person of the Year, is astonishing. I must admit that even as a secular Jew, this pope fills me with awe. He sneaks out at night to feed the homeless; invites homeless people to celebrate his birthday in the Vatican; washes the feet of young prisoners; says he is not one to judge gay people; calls on the church to get beyond its fixation on reproduction and sexual morality; debunks trickle-down economics and questions the morality of capitalism; lives simply and loves to take public transportation. What a cool guy! Unfortunately he doesn’t support abortion rights or the ordination of women, but he is certainly injecting new spirit into the moribund, scandal-ridden Catholic church.

6. Low-wage workers rise up, saying “Low Pay Is Not OK!” Around the county, fast food and other low-wage workers from McDonalds to Walmart rose up in to demand a living wage. Today, 34 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, as well as dozens of cities, have introduced or passed legislation on minimum wage issues, including increasing the state minimum wage, automatic cost-of-living increases and addressing base wages for tipped employees. (And overseas in Bangladesh, after a huge factory blaze in April left 1,100 people dead, massive strikes led to a 77% pay increase for Bangladeshi garment workers!) Pressure is now on Congress to increase the federal minimum wage, which has remained at a shameful $7.25 per hour for the past three years.

7. Immigrant advocates did spectacular organizing, and are poised to reap the benefits. They held prayer vigils, press conferences, marches. They chained themselves to the White House fence and the gates of detention centers. They encircled ICE facilities to shut down deportations. Hundreds were arrested, including 8 members of Congress, calling for immigration reform. They fasted on the national mall in Washington DC, getting a visit from the President and his wife. This organized, mobilized community with significant voting power stands ready to see major changes in U.S. immigration policy next year.

8. Gay marriage is becoming like apple pie. The Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act and Illinois became the 15th state to legalize same-sex marriage. This year alone saw not only Illinois, but Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, California, Hawaii and New Mexico added to the list of marriage equality states. This number is certain to keep rising, now that a majority of Americans are supportive. Also, the Senate voted in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to ban discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill is being blocked in the House but a growing number of Republicans are starting to embrace LGBT rights. Who knows? 2014 might not only see more gay marriages in our nation’s homes, but basic LGBT rights in the workplace as well.

9. The death penalty at home and abroad is dying, slowing but steadily. This year Maryland became the first state south of the Mason-Dixon line to abolish the death penalty and the 18th state to do so. Signing the bill, Maryland’s Governor O’Malley said the death penalty does not deter crime, cannot be administered without racial bias, costs three times as much as life without parole, and a mistake cannot be reversed if an innocent person is put to death. The number of people executed in the US declined to 39—near its lowest level since capital punishment was reinstated in the US in the 1970s. The trend is true abroad. In 1981, when France abolished the death penalty, over 150 countries put their citizens to death. Today, only 21 nations do so. In the past five years, Uzbekistan, Argentina, Burundi, Togo, Gabon and Latvia have all abolished capital punishment.

10. One nation has come to its senses about smoking weed: Uruguay. In 2013, the nation of Uruguay became the first country to fully legalize marijuana. Back home in the US, Washington and Colorado passed full legalization laws (yes, that means recreational use without big brother stepping in) and the Federal government has stated it will not mount a challenge. Also this year, Illinois and New Hampshire joined the 18 other states that have legalized medical marijuana use. Even the stuffy Canadian federal government made medical marijuana legal. You’ll soon be able to get a deal on your dope from GroupOn and pay in Bitcoins. The times they are achangin’.

We begin the new year with renewed awareness of the effectiveness of nonviolent action and nonviolent movements. The possibilities for a more peaceful and just 2014 are boundless.

Medea Benjamin is the cofounder of the human rights group Global Exchange and the peace group CODEPINK. She is the author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control

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Nature Bats Last



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DECEMBER 15, 2014

Nuking Negotiations
US Defies Conference on Nuclear Weapons Effects & Abolition
by JOHN LAFORGE
VIENNA, Austria

A pair of conferences here Dec. 6-9 have tried to raise public and government awareness of nuclear weapons.

The first, a Civil Society Forum put on by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN, brought together NGOs, parliamentarians, and activists of all stripes to try and boost morale and renew enthusiasm in efforts to ban the bomb.

About 700 participants spent two days delving into the ghastly health and environmental effects of nuclear war, the hair-raising frequency of H-bomb accidents and near detonations, the horrifying impacts of bomb testing—and other human radiation experiments conducted without informed consent upon our own unwitting civilians and soldiers.

This is ground that’s been plowed for decades, but it’s nevertheless staggering to the uninitiated and is never repeated too often—especially in view of the destabilization and skyrocketing death toll of what the Pope has called today’s “World War Three.”

ICAN’s infusion of youthful encouragement and high-energy mobilization is a welcome relief for the doddering anti-nuclear movement that’s seen a generation of activists lost to campaigns against corporate globalization and the perpetrators of climate collapse. Mary Olson, of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, who presented expert testimony on the misogynistic gender bias in radiation effects, said she had gotten a “surprisingly big jolt of hope from the youngness of the gathering.”

A second conference¾the “Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons” (HINW)¾brought together government representatives and hundreds of others, and was the third in a series. Austria, which has neither nuclear weapons nor nuclear reactors, sponsored the gathering.

After decades of negotiations over the strategic and numerical size of nuclear arsenals, the HINW meetings have faced the harsh ugliness and catastrophic health and environmental effects of nuclear testing and warfare.

Expert witnesses spoke directly to 180 government representatives about the ethical, legal, medical and ecological consequences of H-bomb detonations which are—in the language of diplomatic nicety—“foreseeable.” Then, scores of nation-state delegates called on nuclear-armed states to pursue abolition. Dozens of speakers noted that landmines, cluster munitions, gas, chemical and biological weapons have all been banned, but the worst of all¾thermonuclear WMD—have not.

But the emperor can’t see his own nakedness

It turns out that a gathering of elites like the HINW is like a prison population: there is a strict, arcane etiquette; a rigorous separation of classes; and a blatant violation of all the rules by privileged, rich and pampered chieftains.

The most blatant violation came at the start of the first question-&-answer session, and it was my own government—which skipped previous HINW meetings in Norway and Mexico—that put a radioactive foot in its bomb-cratered mouth. Immediately following harrowing personal testimonies from downwind bomb test victims, and a review by Ms. Olson of the science showing women and children to be far more vulnerable to radiation than men, the U.S. interrupted. Everyone noticed.

Although facilitators twice directed participants to ask questions only the U.S. delegate, Adam Scheinman, was first at the mic, and he declared flatly, “I will not ask a question but make a statement.” The bully then ignored the panel’s hour-long discussion of the brutal, gruesome, and long-term effects of nuclear weapons testing. Instead, in ringing non sequitur, Scheinman’s prepared statement declared U.S. opposition to a nuclear weapons ban and noted support for negotiations for a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Mr. Scheinman also lauded the U.S. embrace of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty¾code language for decades of winking at open US violations of the treaty’s requirements.

(Principle among U.S. NPT violations are Pres. Obama’s planned $1 trillion, 30-year budget for new nuclear weapons; “nuclear sharing” agreements that keep 180 U.S. H-bombs at US bases in Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Turkey; and sales of Trident nuclear missiles to the British submarine fleet.)

Mr. Scheinman’s rude defiance of conference protocol was a microcosm of the country’s global militarism: oblivious, contemptuous, imperious, and defiant of law. Conducted at 1:20 in the afternoon, the scene-stealing disruption was well-timed to be the lead headline on nightly TV news. U.S. refusal to support and dismissal of the movement for a nuclear weapons ban/treaty should be the story of the conference, but corporate media can be counted on to note only Obama’s public agenda and his finger-pointing at non-nuclear Iran.

The desired result of Scheinman’s outburst is that the U.S. momentarily diverted attention from the indiscriminate, uncontrollable, widespread, persistent, radiological and genetically destabilizing, scofflaw impact of its nuclear weapons—and got television to pat it on the back merely for showing up and “listening.”

Indeed, after its usurpation of center-stage here—and after having temporarily recast the subject of the conference—the U.S. may now get back to its real agenda, the massively expensive “upgrade” of machinery for producing 80 new H-bombs a year by 2020.

John LaForge works for Nukewatch, a nuclear watchdog group in Wisconsin, edits its Quarterly newsletter.

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Lawyers lie down in the rain to protest killings by police
Joseph Serna
More than 100 lawyers, law students and others stage a 'die-in' outside a downtown Los Angeles courthouse, arguing that the legal system in which they operate is broken.

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St. Paul's School
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Artist Brings “Truthful” Portraits to SPS

11/18/2014
For the second time since 2011, artist Robert Shetterly has brought a series of 36" x 30" acrylic portraits to SPS. The paintings – collectively called “Americans Who Tell the Truth” – are inspired by Shetterly’s view of his role as an artist, which changed after the events of September 11, 2001. He realized at that time the need to “engage the moment much more directly, be much more of a citizen – the world demanded of all of us that we be better citizens.”

In contemplating how to accomplish that, Shetterly, who visited the School on November 11, realized he could use his talents to highlight Americans whom he admires. The fruit of that labor is a series of portraits, each incorporating a quote from the subject, whose images appear against a black background. Twenty-six of Shetterly’s works will hang from November 4 to November 24 in an exhibit along the wood-paneled walls of the SPS Chapel.

Those pictured include Phillip Berrigan, Father Roy Bourgeois, Smedley Butler, William Sloane Coffin, Ossie Davis, Marian Wright Edelman, Dwight Eisenhower, Dolores Volk, Bunny Greenhouse, Kim Hawkins, Pat Humphries, Helen Keler, Clyde Kennard, Robert F. Kennedy, John Kiriakou, Winona LaDuke, Aldo Leopold, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther Kin Jr., Bruce “Utah” Phillips, Ai-Jen Poo, Paul Robeson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Hugh Thompson Jr., Harriet Tubman, and Alice Walker.

Shetterly’s original goal was to paint 50 portraits of truthful historic figures, but he has now produced more than 200. He has painted as many living subjects as posthumous ones and considers many of his modern subjects to be friends and mentors.

During his most recent visit to SPS, Shetterly also had a chance to visit with a number of students. The artist asked them to think about courageous role models and stressed to them the importance of narrative activism.

“It’s about giving people the stories they need to empower their lives,” explained Shetterly.

The portraits of “Americans Who Tell the Truth” have made the rounds, traveling from Maine to Wisconsin, from Kentucky to California, for display in galleries and at schools and colleges. On Shetterly’s previous visit to St. Paul’s, he shared 24 portraits.

Reverend Michael Spencer, dean of Chapel, said Shetterly’s exhibit in the Chapel is helping to build on the medieval cathedral model and to coincide with fall evensong.

Dean Spencer also hopes the exhibit will have an impact on daily life at the School, as one portrait is highlighted at each morning Chapel service through biographies and quotes of those depicted.

“Thinking about these individuals educates and inspires the community,” said Dean Spencer. “We can learn about the truly courageous stories of individuals throughout American history.”

For more on the work of Robert Shetterly, visit http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or view this information on the current exhibit at SPS.


OPEN SITE NAV|A-Z INDEX|DIRECTIONS|CONTACT US|PRIVACY POLICY|TERMS OF USE|COPYRIGHT INFORMATIONST. PAUL’S SCHOOL | 325 PLEASANT STREET, CONCORD, NH 03301-2591 | TEL: 603-229-4600

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Alex Salmond calls for ‘peasants’ revolt’ vote to abolish House of Lords
Former Scottish first minister says English referendum needed to ‘clean out the stables’ and provoke a ‘constitutional revolution’



Alex Salmond said English voters needed an opportunity to define their identity, but not in the form of a referendum on EU membership.


Saturday 20 December 2014 06.41 EST

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Hindu activists organize mass 'reconversion camps' in India
New Delhi protest
Protesters voice their disapproval of ceremonies across India to convert Christians and Muslims to Hinduism.



'A thousand years ago, all the Muslims and Christians in India were Hindu. They were converted by the sword.'
The conversion issue pits those who believe India is a Hindu nation against the values in the constitution
By his count, Vyankatesh Abdeo has helped convert 700,000 Indian Christians and Muslims to Hinduism over the last two decades, but he would describe it differently.