DD News: The week’s – and the year’s – top stories

http://noliesradio.org/archives/74264

Edward Snowden has declared “mission accomplished”, which is clearly well deserved.  Snowden had created world-wide awareness of the NSA’s massive surveillance program, which was initially implemented in February 2001, but where other critics did not have the documentation to back up their allegations.  A federal judge has now issued a preliminary injunction against the program, which “almost certainly” violates the 4th Amendment. Not to be outdone for an excess of zeal or sheer incompetence, the CIA has come in for a lambasting for its failure to maintain an appropriate level of human intelligence (HUMINT), where technology and drones have lately replaced spies in the field who can gain understanding of current events.

The UK is now filtering the internet in a stunning display of paternalism, where unless David Cameron approves of it, you can’t see it.  Ruling out “hate speech” can be abused to curtain criticism of the actions of Israel, which is not anti-Semitic but is often treated as it it were.  Kevin and Jim diverge, where Jim favors a open approach but Kevin is more qualified. A group of northern California sheriffs are banding together to oppose the encroachment of the federal government by placing their obligation to uphold the Constitution over US efforts to dominate their counties, which is a sign that perhaps something can be done to slow down the conversion of America into a fascist state.

The privatization of prisons has converted the homeless and poor into a potential bonanza for companies, where when incarcerated, they can be worth $40-50,000 apiece and be fed food not fit for a dog.  It invites a vision of the future in which half the population is in prison and the other half is guarding them. Paul Craig Roberts believes that the US is already a totalitarian state, which receives confirmation from multiple sources. The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, has compared the NSA spy program to the East German Stasi, widely regarded as the most efficient police state apparatus the world has known until now.

The Fukushima catastrophe appears to be extending its reach across the Pacific to beaches in northern California, where radioactivity readings are some 13 times greater than background.  Combined with an outbreak of thyroid cancers among the young in Japan, it is clear that
the effects of the nuclear disaster there are going to endure beyond the foreseeable future and possibly forever.  Also on the international scene, the UN has now passed a resolution condemning Iran for human rights violations, when Iran is overwhelmingly more respectful of human rights than Israel, which continued to abuse and kill the Palestinian people in the greatest human rights issue of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

In a study that will be no surprise to most, the privatization of functions previously conducted by the government costs at least twice as much.  Indeed, earlier research has shown there is a 10% increase in cost for administering programs like Social Security, for the obvious reason that private companies are operating for profit.  And the privatization of the military has led to the formation of mercenary armies at vastly inflated cost to the American taxpayers to avoid having to reintroduce a draft. A Russia billionaire to made his fortune looting the former Soviet Union has declared his intention to assist political prisoners, but this appears to be for his own self-aggrandizement–not from a sincere desire to help. And the designer of the most reliable automatic weapon in the world, the AK-47, which will perform in spite of sand, dirt and water, has died.

Several stories suggest that the 9/11 Truth movement is not going away any time soon, where members of Congress are calling upon Obama to declassify 9/11 documents related to Saudi Arabia, which would shed new light on those atrocities. An A&E911 campaign is drawing favorable coverage, even where it is not expected.  And a march on Washington, D.C., rallied for 9/11 Truth.  The latest polls show that only 23% believe the “official account” of what happened to WTC-7.  Chomsky continues to confirm his role as a left-wing gatekeeper by demeaning 9/11 Truth.  Judge Hellerstein has finally cut off Larry Silverstein from making more money off of 9/11, which is as welcome as it is unexpected.

The Boston bombing Tsarnaev brothers have been portrayed as 9/11 Truthers, but no one has taken it seriously.  And a new study shows that conspiracy theorists are less hostile and more open-minded than those who unreflectingly accept what the government tells them. The Sandy Hook hoax has been blown apart by Sofia Smallstorm in her “Unraveling Sandy Hook”.  Jim has published “Sandy Hook + American gullibility = coming Gulag USA” on Veterans Today, which reinforces the scam.  And the latest research on the death of JFK now includes “The JFK War: The Challenging Case of Robert Groden”, “JFK at 50: The Who, the How and the Why” and the Santa Barbara 50th conference videos, which are available at jfk50santabarbara.com.