Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr
David Seaman on Jul 31, 2013
David explains XKeyscore, the completely terrifying “new” NSA Internet spying program that was revealed to the public by additional Edward Snowden documents earlier today.
video no longer available
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Countering Surveillance Against All Odds | Think Tank
breakingtheset on Jul 31, 2013
Abby Martin talks to David Seaman, journalist and host of the David Seaman Hour, about the latest NSA spying updates and the ongoing efforts underway to counter the growing surveillance state in America.
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Greenwald slams CNN’s Jeff Toobin – ‘The US is filled with Toobins who want to put leakers in jail’
LSUDVM on Aug 1, 2013
July 31, 2013 CNN
Glenn Greenwald slammed CNN’s Jeff Toobin last night who repeated his same view that Snowden is a criminal.
Toobin got Greenwald to clarify that the XKeyscore program revealed on Wednesday primarily targets international e-mails, though Greenwald insisted there’s still plenty of leeway for abuse. Risen added that it’s hard to “separate domestic from international that cleanly.”
Which brings us to logical fallacy number one: Toobin believes that Edward Snowden is a criminal who “should not have done what he did,” but thought that the public discussion is good, and said, “My hat’s off to Glenn for investigative reporting.”
Risen pointed out the blatantly obvious problem with Toobin’s logic. “We wouldn’t be having this discussion if it wasn’t for him. Why do you think–I mean, that’s the thing I don’t understand about the climate in Washington these days, is that people want to have debates on television elsewhere, but then you want to throw the people who start the debates in jail.”
Toobin repeated the his same talking points, “Boy, that freedom-loving Snowden certainly loves those freedom-hating countries, doesn’t he?” Greenwald shot back that the reason Snowden went to China and Russia instead of staying is because we have “a country full of Jeffrey Toobins” that would bring him up on charges the millisecond he steps on American soil.
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Senate Judiciary NSA Data Collection Program FULL HEARING 7/31/13
Les Grossman on Jul 31, 2013
July 31, 2013 C-SPAN
Top federal security chiefs from the NSA, FBI, Office of National Intelligence and the Justice Department go before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the FISA surveillance program. A legal panel also testifies on constitutional protections.
see
XKeyscore: NSA tool collects ‘nearly everything a user does on the internet’ by Glenn Greenwald
The End of Freedom of the Press by Graham Peebles
Why the U.S. Executive Branch Is a Clear and Present Danger to Our Democracy by Fred Branfman
Glenn Greenwald: Growing Backlash Against NSA Spying Shows Why U.S. Wants to Silence Edward Snowden
Chris Hedges VS Geoffrey Stone Debate: Is Edward Snowden a Hero?
Dandelion Salad 
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Having heard the full proceedings now, with the closing exchange between Baker, Blumenthal, Carr and Jaffer about the utility of an independent adversarial role in future FISA Court hearings as suggested by Carr & endorsed by Jaffer, the rather apt traditional attributes of the biblical satan somewhat wryly sprung to mind.
Pingback: Edward Snowden Leaves the Moscow Airport + XKeyscore: NSA Program Tracking Real-Time Internet Use Exposed | Dandelion Salad
Since NSA’s spying is now known to be world-wide, it isn’t just Americans whose Fourth Amendment is being violated – the rest of the world’s too.
Yes, indeed it is a worldwide program collecting all communications from everyone!
Just to make a small observation in the light of this fiasco with respect to its “global reach.”
Listening to the Senate Judiciary Committee proceedings (for example Dick Durbin’s remarks @ 1:22,) it grows increasingly noticeable that there is a massive inconsistency in the logic of the alleged security rationale in evidence; namely, this deficient principle of “saving lives.” Just whose lives exactly are the US actually supposed to be saving, and at what cost beyond the threat to their civil liberties alone?
Obviously, the priority concern is for the safety of Americans, both at home and abroad. Fine. Since 9/11 everyone is clear what that implies, or think they know what is meant.
What is not at all clear however ~ nor sufficiently discussed to warrant the critical forensic attention of these congressional divines ~ is the small matter of the the total body count and cumulative inventory of casualties…including the euphemistically obscene “collateral damage” to children, pregnant women, innocent civilians, animals generally & their habitats, including entire biomes and crippled ecosystems through erasure and pollution…from American wars & corporate incursions, declared and undeclared since 1945.
As this whitewash circus proceeds, the campaign against Iran through the destruction of Syria is miraculously sidelined and “disappears” from the public consciousness as we fret about “privacy.”