TiLTNews Network: Earth Watch - Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference, not by safety. It is easy to clamor for government security when terrible things happen; but liberty is given true meaning when we support it without exception, and we will be safer for it ~ Dr. Ron Paul
The German government has blocked Edward Snowden from giving personal evidence in front of a parliamentary inquiry into NSA surveillance, it has emerged hours before Angela Merkel travels to Washington for a meeting with Barack Obama.
Germany Blocks Edward Snowden from Testifying in Person in NSA Inquiry
Thu, 01 May 2014 05:00:00 GMT
Paul Lawrance
Activist Post
TEPCO is moving forward with its plan to build a underground wall of ice to limit toxic water contamination in the basements of the Fukushima nuclear plant reactor buildings after its severe wounding in 2011.
Testing aimed at gathering technical information to assess the risk involved in the project is underway as the level of toxic water at the plant builds to 400 tonnes a day.
The plan, which was first made public in September of last year, is to pump coolant through piping deep into the ground to create a 1.4 kilometer (0.9 mile) rectangular wall.
Dale Klein, who chairs Tokyo Electric Power Company's Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee, says there is doubt that the ice will be completely effective due to the untested assumptions about the site’s hydrology, reports Bloomberg News.
If the project is fully committed to by the mangers of the Fukushima plant it is expected to be completed by March 2015 and remain in operation through 2020, a TEPCO spokeswoman told Bloomberg.
The forwarding of the containment effort comes on the heels of a report finding that Albacore tuna caught off the Oregon coast have seen a slight elevation in levels of radioactivity since the meltdown.
Although the levels of radioactivity in the tuna were found to “match the amount of radiation the average person is annually exposed to in everyday life through cosmic rays, the air, the ground, X-rays and other sources,” it sheds light on how the disaster's side effects are not limited to Japan.
Paul Lawrance writes for Eyes Open Report, where this first appeared.
TEPCO moving forward with plan to build underground ice wall to contain toxic water at Fukushima
Activist
Thu, 01 May 2014 15:50:00 GMT
(Washington Times) Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah, concerned about the armed agents that surrounded Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s property, is mulling a measure to cut funding for any “paramilitary units” that work for the Bureau of Land Management, the Internal Revenue Service and other federal regulatory agencies.
“There are lots of people who are really concerned when the BLM shows up with its own SWAT team,” he said, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. “They’re regulatory agencies. They’re not paramilitary units, and I think that concerns a lot of us.”
Utah lawmaker moves to disarm BLM, IRS
-NO AUTHOR-
Thu, 01 May 2014 04:12:58 GMT
(OilPrice) Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to U.S. and EU sanctions by warning that further action against Russia could force him to reconsider the involvement of western oil companies in his country.
If the West issues another round of sanctions, “then of course we will have to consider who’s working and how in the Russian Federation, in the key sectors of the Russian economy, including energy,” Putin told reporters in Belarus on April 29. “We really don’t want to take these reciprocal steps.”
The not-so-veiled threat increased uncertainty for the billion dollar investments held by several major oil companies, including ExxonMobil, BP and Royal Dutch Shell.
Putin threatens retaliation against Western oil firms
-NO AUTHOR-
Thu, 01 May 2014 04:11:25 GMT
"Could Potentially Criminalize Thoughts and Expressions"
Senator Ed Markey
Mac Slavo
Activist Post
With the capability to intercept every digital communication sent over the internet or telephone it’s no surprise that Big Brother is pushing to further expand its role in the lives of Americans.
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) is proposing a new bill that would send government web bots across the Internet looking for hate speech or material allegedly determined to be advocating or encouraging “violent acts.” Once identified, the Congressman wants reports to be disseminated to Congress so that they can monitor, control and potentially criminalize thoughts and expressions deemed by an unknown panel of government bureaucrats to be hateful.
You and I both operate in the arena of words and ideas… freedom of expression and thought… that is the coin of our realm.I really think it is the duty of journalists and people in the media to look at any potential instance of the government coming in and trying to monitor or potentially criminalize thoughts and words.[…]Senator Markey wants this obscure Federal Agency to scour these online sources… TV, radio and so on… for any speech they find threatening. He wants them to do it in connection with the Department of Justice, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and then file a report with Congress on what out there is potentially hateful and could lead to hate crimes.This is clearly Big Government sticking its nose into people’s speech and their thoughts.[… ]There’s no criteria in the bill… what’s the template? When you go through and check the boxes what counts as hate speech and who makes the determinations? It’s this abstruse group that no one’s ever heard of buried within the bureaucracy of the federal government.The definitions for what constitutes hate speech are broad or non-existent, making such a bill that much more dangerous. According to the Examiner, “The bill does not specify what, exactly, constitutes “hate,” but given the source of the proposal, it’s not too difficult to figure out.”
The proposed bill has prompted concerns that individuals or groups who speak out against the government or disagree with certain politicians will be identified as inciting hate.
Many questions about how the process of finding hateful people in the United States via the Internet would work have been left unanswered.
A few weeks ago Senator Harry Reid of Nevada referred to protesters at Bundy Ranch as “domestic terrorists.” Since these people defied official directives and hate the idea of government overreach, would they now also fall under new hate speech guidelines being proposed by Senator Markey? Will they be added to yet another red list and flagged as persons of interest for simply posting their thoughts in a forum on the Internet?
Psychiatrists are now identifying those who express their frustrations with the government as a mental illness called Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) as per the official Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V). Under the new proposal from Senator Markey defiant thoughts or ideas could potentially not only leave you diagnosed as mentally ill, but also a “hater.”
Will “hate” now be deemed a terrorist activity such as making a gun gesture with your hand, purchasing ammunition, or paying cash for items at the grocery store?
As we noted previously, there are already pre-crime systems actively monitoring the Internet looking for discussions and behaviors that can be used to identify potential criminals before any crime occurs. Combined with new Web Bot hate speech tools, could the government then preempt detentions and arrests under the Patriot Act or National Defense Authorization Act, both of which allow for action to be taken against those who threaten national security, yet another broadly define term?
The bill is full of loopholes and broad assumptions, as is generally the case with government mandates. And, with the Department of Justice included within the new ‘hate speech’ mandates it should be clear that the end goal is criminalization of thoughts and expressions that go against the prevailing agenda.
All that aside, perhaps we should just pass the bill first before we find out what’s in it.
You can read more from Mac Slavo at his site SHTFplan.com, where this first appeared.
Government Web Bots To Scour Internet For Hate Speech
Activist
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 19:18:00 GMT
We Are ChangeMother Fights For Son's Right to Medicate With Cannabis
In this powerful interview WeAreChange meets Renee Petro who has been quest "free the plant" so her son Branden can medicate with Cannabis without fear of prosecution. Since becoming an advocate of medicinal marijuana Renee has become a target of Child Protective Services who threatens her family well being with an ongoing investigation. WeAreChange gets a first hand look of the struggles of a mother who only wants the best for her son suffering with a severe form epilepsy but is threatened by a government who is in bed with Big Pharma.
Visit WeAreChange.org
Support #BrandentheBrave and visit TheCannaMoms.com
Activist Post
A bipartisan bill that would create a mechanism to turn off resources to the NSA passed out of an important California state Senate committee Tuesday by a 5-0 vote.
Dubbed the Fourth Amendment Protection Act, Senate Bill 828 (SB828) would ban the state from participating in, or providing material support or resources to any federal agency engaged in the “illegal and unconstitutional collection of electronic data or metadata, without consent, of any person not based on a warrant that particularly describes the person, place, and thing to be searched or seized.”
Sponsored by Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) and Sen. Joel Anderson (R-San Diego), SB828 represents a growing opposition to NSA spying on a state and local level, and across the political spectrum.
“State-funded public resources should not be going toward aiding the NSA or any other federal agency from indiscriminate spying on its own citizens and gathering electronic or metadata that violates the Fourth Amendment,” Lieu said.
Anderson took a similar position in an op-ed at Breitbart news.
“It’s time to curb the National Security Agency’s systematic infringement of American citizens’ privacy,” he wrote. “In California, we’ve chosen to do just that.”
THREE AREAS
Practically speaking, SB828 addresses three major areas where the NSA and other federal agencies rely on local support to carry out their surveillance programs. These include resources such as water and electricity for physical facilities, university research partnerships, and sharing of warrantless data.
While the NSA does not currently operate a data or “threat operations” center in California, OffNow spokesman Shane Trejo said states around the country need to pass similar legislation to make NSA expansion more difficult.
“We know the NSA has aggressively worked to expand its physical locations because it maxed out the Baltimore area power grid in 2006. They’ve built new locations in Utah and Texas, and expanded in several other states,” he said. “Since the NSA is expanding so wildly, it’s not unlikely that they’re planning to build new data centers and ‘threat operations centers’ in other locations. California’s high-tech industry makes it a likely candidate. We can’t wait until the NSA opens up shop. This act yanks away the welcome mat and tells the NSA, ‘We don’t want you in California unless you follow the Constitution.’”
Six California state universities have partnerships with the NSA. These university partnerships provide critical research which helps the NSA expand. The California Fourth Amendment Protection Act also addresses the status of these schools as NSA “Centers of Academic Excellence.”
Continuance of such programs would be banned after passage of SB828 should NSA surveillance be determined as illegal and unconstitutional.Finally, the bill would address the use of warrantless data from the federal government in state or local criminal proceedings.
As reported by Reuters in Aug. 2013, the secretive Special Operations Division (SOD) is “funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.” Documents obtained by Reuters show that these cases “rarely involve national security issues,” and that local law enforcement is directed by SOD to “conceal how such investigations truly begin.”
Reports in the Washington Post and USA Today last fall documented how “the FBI and most other investigative bodies in the federal government” are regularly using a mobile device known as a “stingray” to intercept and collect electronic data without a warrant. Local and state police “have access through sharing agreements.”
PRACTICAL EFFECT
Passage of the bill would be the first step in a process to ban resources to the NSA. If signed into law, once an official determination is made that a federal agency is engaging in illegal and unconstitutional collection of electronic data or metadata, the state ban on resources would immediately go into effect.
Behind the scenes, representatives from ACLU of Southern California have suggested an amendment that would greatly increase the likelihood of the constitutional determination needed to trigger the resource ban. It includes language requiring the Attorney General to open an official inquiry under certain circumstances. The AG will then request “full disclosure by that federal agency of the nature and details of the policy or claimed power in question to the Attorney General or the Attorney General’s designee within 90 days.” If the information provided reveals the federal agency is in violation, or if the agency fails to provide adequate information to make a determination, the AG will certify that agency in violation of state law, triggering a prohibition of any material assistance from the state to that agency.
Trejo said that while inclusion of this amendment on the senate floor would be a welcome addition to the bill, passage into law without it will still create a solid foundation to build on.
"California could set a serious precedent with this law," he said. "Violate the Constitution and we’ll turn off the water and power. This could be the mantra for privacy-advocates across the country."
SB828 is expect to move to the Senate floor for a vote in the near future. It will need to pass by a majority vote before being passed along to the Assembly for concurrence.
The OffNow coalition is group of grassroots organizations and individuals spanning the political spectrum committed to stopping unconstitutional NSA spying through state and local activism.
Source:
The Tenth Amendment Center
California Senate Committee Passes Bill to Pull Plug on NSA Spying
Activist
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 19:31:00 GMT
