By Madison Rouppert: Glenn Greenwald, the journalist responsible for publishing the information leaked by Edward Snowden,
slammed Congress’s “robust oversight” today, adding that “they are
forced to learn about what the NSA is doing from what they’re reading in
our reporting.”
Some are now claiming that Greenwald isn’t even a journalist while others have insinuated that he could be charged with crimes for working with Snowden, who was granted temporary asylum in Russia.
In his comments made on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” today,
Greenwald made reference to the fact that the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA) court has determined that the government’s surveillance has breached the Fourth Amendment at least once.
The Obama administration has gone above and beyond to make sure that opinion does not get released. Meanwhile, others are fighting to pass legislation that would bring more transparency to the FISA court, which currently enjoys an impenetrable veil of secrecy. Senators have been pushing for more transparency in the FISA court for quite some time now.
“That’s extraordinary, to have a court opinion ruling that our
government violated the constitution and the law, and not only can’t we
read it, but neither can our representatives in Congress,” Greenwald
said.
Submitted by Tyler Durden: While Europe, and especially Germany has been
understandably "displeased" with having to provide billions in bailout
upon bailout funding to Greece every year starting in 2010, all the more
so following recent news that Greece has already spent some 75% of its bank bailout cash with
no discernible improvement in its economy to show for it, Europes'
taxpayers will unlikely be any more pleased to learn that as of
the end of June, a whopping €60 billion in past due taxes (an all time
record) was owed by Greek businesses and individuals to the state. This
is an amount that is 20% greater than the entire external cash handed
over by the Troika to keep Greek banks afloat, and represents nearly 30%
of imploding Greek GDP.
Perhaps instead of spending money on trips by its premier and/or
think-tanks on how to mutually assure itself another few billion in
Troika cash to plug this budget hole or that, Greece should invest a few
grand to buy the ink it needs to print tax forms, streamlining its tax collection department (on those days it is isn't on strike of course) and generate some real IRR.
Kathimerini has the full story:
drmenorps: Julian Assange launches WikiLeaks political party via Skype, From London, For a Senate Seat in Victoria, Australia.
Torrent Freak: With Russia’s new anti-piracy law just a few days old, further
opposition will be voiced today in a particularly unconventional manner.
Following Russia’s first Kopimi-inspired wedding yesterday, in which
the happy couple exchanged vows and silicon chips, pirates in several
areas of the country will today apply to form their own church. Official
complaints will then be filed against the new law on the basis that it
insults the beliefs that underpin the Kopimist religion.
Last
week Russia introduced its brand new anti-piracy law that will see
sites blocked at the ISP level if they fail to respond swiftly to
copyright complaints.
The law, which critics say is overbroad and likely to cause
collateral damage, is opposed by big companies such as Google, local
search engine Yandex, Internet resources such as Wikipedia and thousands
of website operators and users.
But just as protests including last week’s blackout by 1,700 sites subside, a more unconventional front is opening up.
Later today pirate activists in five regions – Moscow, St.
Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Khabarovsk – will submit
documents to begin the process of having their church officially
recognized by the authorities.
If that all goes to plan in a few years time Russia will have its own
Church Kopimizma, but for the faithful there are important issues to be
dealt with right now.
rambone5: After stopping a car "because we have a lot of problems with fraud
rental cars here," a female officer threatened to illegally pull a man
out of his car and illegally search it, when the citizen asked a simple
question: "I being detained or I'm free to go?"
Europe's southern eurozone faces the double whammy of political
turmoil in Italy and Spain where both governments are at risk of being
toppled by corruption scandals.
UPI: EU officials were reported in urgent consultations with Italian and
Spanish counterparts after a tax fraud verdict against former Italian
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi put the ruling coalition on the precipice.
Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
was in fighting mode after facing charges he accepted illegal payments.
Opposition leader Alfredo Rubalcaba said Rajoy "cannot rule the country
unless he explains his involvement" in a corruption case linking him to
a ruling party slush fund case.
Moves for a vote of no confidence in Rajoy were afoot in the Spanish Parliament.
Of the two rolling scandals, Italy's crisis was closer to claiming
the ruling coalition as its biggest casualty as speculation lingered on
whether Berlusconi, 76, would go to prison. His advanced age and strong
political connections suggest Berlusconi could emerge largely unscathed
from the latest twist in his political career.
Submitted by Tyler Durden: Quantitative easing is nothing but "competitive devaluation,"
Kyle Bass begins this brief but wide-ranging interview; and while no
central bank can explicitly expose the 'beggar thy neighbor' policy,
they are well aware (and 'banking on') the fact that secondary or
tertiary effects will lead to devaluing their currency. The bottom line,
Bass warns, is "when the globe is at 360% credit market debt-to-GDP, there is no real way out."
Furthermore, the winds of austerity have already blown (simply put no
nation engaged in austerity prospectively - for the nation's betterment -
they were forced by the bond markets) and with central bankers now
dominant - the Krugman-esque mentality of "let's just keep going," is very much in the driver's seat since politicians now see "no consequence for fiscal profligacy."
The average investor, Bass adds, "is at the mercy of the central bank
puppeteers," as the Fed's policies are forcing mom-and-pop to "put their
money in the wrong place at the wrong time." There will be consequences
for that... there is only one way this will end... "and investors should be really careful doing what the central bankers want them to do."
