1984 Has Come and Gone . . . .

or has it ? ? ? ?

Chris Hedges Speaks . . . .

and he speaks very well, I might add:





Now if only the people will listen . . . .

ES: In His Own Words . . . .

The Most Wanted Man in the World: Edward Snowden in his own words from WIRED on Vimeo.

Commercial Drones Approved . . . .

If one needed any more proof that the almighty $$$ is king and dictates policy in government, check out what the perpetrator of the US' largest ever environmental disaster just received:

(From NPR yesterday)

The Federal Aviation Administration says it has issued the first permit in its history for an unmanned aircraft to fly over U.S. soil. Oil company BP will use a drone from the company AeroVironment to conduct surveys in Alaska.

The first drone flights under the recently issued waiver have already taken place, the FAA says.

From the agency's news release:

"The FAA issued a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization to survey BP pipelines, roads and equipment at Prudhoe Bay, AK, the largest oilfield in the United States. AeroVironment performed the first flight for BP on June 8.

The visual depiction, (H/T Tiana) follows . . . .

"War Criminals . . . .

shouldn't be honoured at our university."


   
"Your career is one thing, and the way you act as a person and another human being is another." 


Well said, Carmelo. Very well said . . . .

"Don't Touch Me!" . . . .

"Your border touched me ! ! ! !"

condescending is a "Distraction" . . . .

From Reuters today: 

(Reuters) - Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pulled out of delivering the commencement speech at Rutgers University in New Jersey on Saturday, following a months-long protest by students and faculty over her role in the Iraq war. 

Rice was the face of foreign policy under President George W. Bush, a Republican, serving as national security advisor from 2001 to 2005, and later as secretary of state. She was a leading hawk in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war. 

 In her statement, Rice said her role in the festivities had become a "distraction."

  

It's all about the Karma, condescending.

What goes around eventually comes around . . . .

Ed @ TED . . . .

The "29-year-old hacker" (as barry referred to Edward Snowden last summer) made a virtual appearance at the TED Conference currently underway here in Vancouver:




After watching the full video (at the end of which he receives a standing ovation, BTW) no doubt you will agree the young man is a true hero and patriot, unlike some of the government elected "representatives" who have been disparaging his actions.


 No doubt the world would be a much better place with Edward in a government position of power rather than the assorted clowns who have had that honour in recent years . . . .



H/T to "drf" for discovering the TED talk before I did . . . .

Today We Fight Back . . . .

Since June, ongoing revelations about the NSA's activities have shown us the expanding scope of government surveillance. Today is the day people around the world are demanding an end to mass spying.
A broad coalition of organizations, companies, and individuals are loudly voicing their stance against unwarranted mass spying—over 6,000 websites have joined together today to demand reform. EFF stands by millions of users—represented by groups like Demand Progress, ACLU, PEN, and Access as well as companies like Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and reddit—to reform governmental collection of innocent users' information.

In the US? Call Congress today.

Dial 202-552-0505 or click here to enter your phone number and have our call tool connect you
Privacy Info: This telephone calling service is operated by Twilio and will connect you to your representatives. Information about your call, including your phone number and the time and length of your call, will be collected by Twilio and subject to Twilio's privacy policy.
Calling Congress takes just five minutes and is the most effective action you can take right now to let your elected officials know that mass surveillance must end.
Here's what you should say:

I'd like Senator/Representative __ to support and co-sponsor H.R. 3361/S. 1599, the USA Freedom Act. I would also like you to oppose S. 1631, the so-called FISA Improvements Act. Moreover, I'd like you to work to prevent the NSA from undermining encryption standards and to protect the privacy rights of non-Americans.

I called the number listed above and it was a VERY simple process.

Give 5 minutes to the cause.

It's only your privacy and your internet at risk . . . .