by JON BOWNE | INFOWARS.COM | JUNE 10, 2015
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
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ISSUES SUBPOENAS TO REASON TO IDENTIFY ANGRY ANONYMOUS COMMENTERS
DOJ has issued a grand jury subpoena to Reason seeking to identify the people behind a bunch of angry, hyperbolic comments
Image Credits: ter-burg, Flickr.
by MIKE MASNICK | TECH DIRT | JUNE 9, 2015
Back in 2011, as some of you may recall, we received a note from the US Marshals service, telling us that they were “investigating” a comment that had been placed on an article about a ruling by Judge Beryl Howell, who had received some criticism, given that she had previously been an RIAA lobbyist, and was now issuing rulings friendly to the legacy copyright industry. The comment in question was:
Is it time to start murdering the corrupt yet?
The guy from the US Marshals told us that he was investigating this comment and asked us to remove it (but did not ask for any information about the anonymous commenter). We found it somewhat disturbing that the US government would be asking us to delete comments, even if they, somewhat obliquely, questioned whether or not it might make sense to murder a judge (though the comment in question did notadvocate such a move). We had our lawyer reach out the US Marshals, and after we told them that we would not be removing the comment, they told us that they understood our decision, and that was the last we ever heard about it.
It appears that things have gone much, much further with a similar situation with the website Reason, who we link to on a semi-regular basis. As Popehat is reporting, the DOJ has issued a grand jury subpoena to Reason seeking to identify the people behind a bunch of angry, hyperbolic comments on this post about Ross Ulbricht. As was the case with our post, some of the comments talk about killing judges, though in fairly typical internet fashion:
AgammamonI5.31.15 @ lO:47AMltt
Its judges like these that should be taken out back and shot.AlanI5.31.15 @ 12:09PMltt
It’s judges like these that will be taken out back and shot.
FTFY.croakerI6.1.15 @ 11:06AMltt
Why waste ammunition? Wood chippers get the message across clearly. Especially if you
feed them in feet first.Cloudbusterl6.l.15 @ 2:40PMIIt
Why do it out back? Shoot them out front, on the steps of the courthouse.Rhywunl5.3l.15 @ 11:35AMIIt
I hope there is a special place in hell reserved for that horrible woman.AlanI5.31.15 @ 12:11PMIIt
There is.Product PlacementI5.31.15 @ 1:22PMIIt
I’d prefer a hellish place on Earth be reserved for her as well.croakerl6.l.15 @ 11:09AMIIt
Fuck that. I don’t want to oay for that cunt’s food, housing, and medical. Send her through
the wood chipper.
The subpoena says that it’s investigating possible violations of 18 USC 875, which outlaws interstate threats. Popehat, of course, does an excellent job explaining why it is fundamentally and legally ridiculous to argue that any of these comments are “true threats” under the law.
True threat analysis always examines context. Here, the context strongly weighs in favor of hyperbole. The comments are on the Internet, a wretched hive of scum, villainy, and gaseous smack talk. The are on a political blog, about a judicial-political story; such stories are widely known to draw such bluster. They are specifically at Reason.com, a site with excellent content but cursed with a group of commenters who think such trash talk is amusing.
The “threats” do not specify who is going to use violence, or when. They do not offer a plan, other than juvenile mouth-breathing about “wood chippers” and revolutionary firing squads. They do not contain any indication that any of the mouthy commenters has the ability to carry out a threat. Nobody in the threadreacts to them as if they are serious. They are not directed to the judge by email or on a forum she is known to frequent.
Therefore, even the one that is closest to a threat — “It’s judges like these that will be taken out back and shot” isn’t a true threat. It lacks any of the factors that have led other courts to find that ill-wishes can be threats.
There’s much more detail in the article.
Unfortunately, he also notes that the US Attorneys’ office can probably get away with this kind of bogus fishing expedition. Despite the fact that it’s extraordinarily unlikely that anyone engaged in these comments actually broke the law, the DOJ likely just needs to show that it has a “compelling interest” in investigating the mere possibility of a threat, and Reason can be forced to hand over the information. Following that, if the DOJ is feeling particularly nasty, it can make life horrible for those commenters in question. This seems like it should raise all sorts of First Amendment alarm bells about the chilling effects it can create for anonymous speech (especially political speech), but according to Popehat’s analysis, the courts (so far) aren’t buying it.
Equally as troubling is the fact that, when Ken “Popehat” White reached out to the US Attorney’s Office with questions about this, Niketh Velamoor, the Assistant US Attorney who signed the subpoena, pretended that there might be a gag order on the subpoena, even though he likely should have known that there was no such gag order:
Mr. Velamoor was suspicious and defensive. At one point he told me that he “believed” that there was a gag order prohibiting this subpoena from being released by its recipients, and that whoever gave it to me must have violated that order, and that he would be “looking into it” and how I got it.
Such gag orders do exist. However, I note that two days earlier on June 2, 2015, Mr. Velamoor signed the cover letter on the subpoena, which contained the Department of Justice’s standard language about secrecy:
The Government hereby requests that you voluntarily refrain from disclosing the existence of the subpoena to any third party. While you are under no obligation to comply with our request, we are requesting you not to make any disclosure in order to preserve the confidentiality of the investigation and because disclosure of the existence of this investigation might interfere with and impede the investigation.
In other words, two days before he told me that he believed there was a gag order on the subpoena, Mr. Velamoor told Reason.com that it was not required to keep the subpoena secret.
Perhaps Mr. Velamoor misspoke. Perhaps Mr. Velamoor misremembered. Perhaps Mr. Velamoor didn’t secure the gag order until after he issued the subpoena.
Or perhaps Mr. Velamoor, bless his heart, was lying in an attempt to intimidate me.
It’s much easier to try to intimidate anonymous internet commenters if you can do so without having to publicly disclose your own disdain for the First Amendment in the process….
Either way, shouldn’t we take a step back and ask a simple question: is this kind of thing reallywhat the US Attorneys should be working on? Especially in the Southern District of NY where so many high profile cases are going on all the time? At best, this is just a typical “cover your ass” situation. If the judge in Ross Ulbricht’s case actually did come to some harm, eventually it would get out that people were saying mean stuff on the internet, and the DOJ would like to be able to show that it did, in fact, investigate things, rather than ignore them. That means, most likely, nothing would ever come of this anyway in the long run. None of those commenters are likely to get charged with anything because they almost certainly didn’t do anything illegal.
But still… it’s frightening. The chilling effects are real. The Popehat article goes into these in much more detail, but in short, the US government can still cause tremendous problems for these commenters, even if everything they said is clearly protected speech. As White notes, you may think you’re just blowing off steam in making an angry comment, but that won’t stop you from being summoned to testify before a grand jury or to hire lawyers to defend yourself. Nor will it much matter should the FBI suddenly show up at your workplace, telling people there that they need to talk to you “just to clear some things up.”
Should the DOJ be investigating threats? Sure. But, at some point, someone has to have a little perspective and to understand what’s a threat and what’s just some commenters saying idiotic things online.
DOES THE AUSTRIAN STATE CONSIDER INFOWARS REPORTERS TO BE TERRORISTS?
Trained terrorist killers may be unleashed on journalists
Image Credits: Einsatzkommando Cobra member handling a Steyr AUG rifle, photo by the Austrian Police.
by INFOWARS.COM | JUNE 9, 2015
In a report filed earlier today by Paul Joseph Watson, it was suggested that the authorities looking for Rob Dew and other Infowars reporters may be from Cobra, Austria’s elite anti-terror unit that is providing security for Bilderberg 2015.
If true, this would mean the Austrian state considers Infowars and other investigative reporters from the alternative media to be terrorists.
EKO Cobra (Einsatzkommando Cobra) is Austria’s premier anti-terror special operations tactical unit. It is not part of the Austrian Federal Police but is directly under the control of the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior.
Members have trained with some of the most elite special forces units in the world. Selected recruits attend 6 months of specialized training, including marksmanship, tactical training, sports, driver courses, abseiling/rappelling, hand-to-hand combat, language classes, and other training, according to a 2006Spiegel TV Special.
EKO Cobra officers wear the uniform of the Austrian Federal Police with modification — they wear maroon berets to signify their elite status and EKO Cobra insignia.
Rob Dew said he was told the police may visit the Infowars team in the middle of the night. If EKO Cobra officers are involved in this operation, they will likely wear grey or black coveralls and carry tactical gear. Weaponry routinely used by EKO Cobra units include Steyr AUG assault rifles, the Steyr SSG 69 sniper rifle, and Glock 17 and Glock 19 sidearms.
If EKO Cobra is in fact looking for Infowars reporters, the message is abundantly clear: the Austrian state, through the Federal Ministry of the Interior, is acting at the behest of the global elite that will attend the Bilderberg meeting to be held at the luxury Interalpen-Hotel Tyrol.
The Bilderberg elite are eager to send a message that any sort of investigative reportage of the cabal is not only strictly forbidden, but amounts to terrorist activity.
EXCLUSIVE — BUSTED: FRESHMAN GOP REP ADMITS SHE HASN’T READ OBAMATRADE, BACKS MSNBC’S DEFENSE OF DEAL SECRECY
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
by MATTHEW BOYLE8 Jun 2015Washington, DC3218 Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
Freshman GOP congresswoman Rep. Mimi Walters (R-CA), has been on television pushing Obamatrade—appearing Monday on Morning Joe on MSNBC to do so—but her office admits publicly she hasn’t read the bill she wants to fast-track through Congress.
Walters, whom Mika Brzezinski noted is the official “liaison” between House GOP freshmen and Speaker
Rep. John Boehner’s (R-OH) leadership team, appeared onMorning Joe to push Obamatrade. Walters said:
Currently, what we are working on is Trade Promotion Authority. That issue we expect to take up by the end of the month. And what Trade Promotion Authority, known as TPA, is it’s really the framework of giving the president the opportunity to negotiate trade agreements with other countries. It’s very, very important that we pass this piece of legislation. It’s bipartisan. One in five jobs in America are created because of free trade, 95 percent of consumers are outside of the United States and if America doesn’t take the lead on trade then China is going to. I want America to take the lead and set the standards on trade.
But when Breitbart News asked Walters’ spokeswoman Christine Hardman later on Monday—after she blasted out video of the congresswoman’s appearance on Morning Joe,highlighting her support for Obamatrade—if Walters has been to the secret room inside the Capitol to read the text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) that TPA would fast track, collectively known as Obamatrade, Hardman confirmed Walters has not been there to read it.
EXCLUSIVE — BUSTED: FRESHMAN GOP REP ADMITS SHE HASN’T READ OBAMATRADE, BACKS MSNBC’S DEFENSE OF DEAL SECRECY
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
by MATTHEW BOYLE8 Jun 2015Washington, DC3218 Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
Freshman GOP congresswoman Rep. Mimi Walters (R-CA), has been on television pushing Obamatrade—appearing Monday on Morning Joe on MSNBC to do so—but her office admits publicly she hasn’t read the bill she wants to fast-track through Congress.
Walters, whom Mika Brzezinski noted is the official “liaison” between House GOP freshmen and Speaker
Rep. John Boehner’s (R-OH) leadership team, appeared onMorning Joe to push Obamatrade. Walters said:
Currently, what we are working on is Trade Promotion Authority. That issue we expect to take up by the end of the month. And what Trade Promotion Authority, known as TPA, is it’s really the framework of giving the president the opportunity to negotiate trade agreements with other countries. It’s very, very important that we pass this piece of legislation. It’s bipartisan. One in five jobs in America are created because of free trade, 95 percent of consumers are outside of the United States and if America doesn’t take the lead on trade then China is going to. I want America to take the lead and set the standards on trade.
But when Breitbart News asked Walters’ spokeswoman Christine Hardman later on Monday—after she blasted out video of the congresswoman’s appearance on Morning Joe,highlighting her support for Obamatrade—if Walters has been to the secret room inside the Capitol to read the text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) that TPA would fast track, collectively known as Obamatrade, Hardman confirmed Walters has not been there to read it.
Guess How Many Nations In The World Do Not Have A Central Bank?
Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse
June 9, 2015
Central banking has truly taken over the entire planet.
At this point, the only major nation on the globe that does not have a central bank is North Korea.
Yes, there are some small island countries such as the Federated States of Micronesia that do not have a central bank, but even if you count them, more than 99.9% of the population of the world still lives in a country that has a central bank. So how has this happened? How have we gotten the entire planet to agree that central banking is the best system? Did the people of the world willingly choose this? Of course not. To my knowledge, there has never been a single vote where the people of a nation have willingly chosen to establish a central bank. Instead, what has happened is that central banks have been imposed on all of us. All over the world, people have been told that monetary issues are “too important” to be subject to politics, and that the only solution is to have a group of unelected, unaccountable bankers control those things for us.
So precisely what does a central bank do?
You would be surprised at how few people can actually answer that question accurately. The following is how Wikipedia describes what a central bank does…
A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages a state’s currency, money supply, and interest rates. Central banks also usually oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the monetary base in the state, and usually also prints the national currency, which usually serves as the state’s legal tender. Examples include the European Central Bank (ECB), the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve of the United States and the People’s Bank of China.
In the United States, we are told that we have a free market system. But in a true free market system, market forces would determine what interest rates are. We wouldn’t need anyone to “set interest rates” for us.
And why have we given a private banking cartel (the Federal Reserve) the authority to create and manage our money supply? The U.S. Constitution specifically delegates that authority to Congress.
It is not as if we actually need the Federal Reserve. In fact, the greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history happened during the decades before the Federal Reserve was created.
Unfortunately, a little over 100 years ago our leaders decided that it would be best to turn over our financial future to a newly created private banking cartel that was designed by very powerful Wall Street interests. Since that time, the value of our currency has diminished by more than 96 percent and our national debt has gottenmore than 5000 times larger.
But despite all of the problems, the vast majority of Democrats and the vast majority of Republicans are not even willing to consider slightly curtailing the immense power of the Federal Reserve. And the idea of getting rid of the Fed altogether is tantamount to blasphemy to most of our politicians.
Of course the same thing is true all over the planet. Central banks are truly “the untouchables” of the modern world. Even though everybody can see what they are doing, there has not been a single successful political movement anywhere on the globe (that I know about) to shut a central bank down.
Instead, in recent years we have just seen the reach of central banking just continue to expand.
For example, just look at what has happened to some of the countries that were not considered to be “integrated” into the “global community”…
-In 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan. In 2003, Da Afghanistan Bank (who picked that name?) was established by presidential decree. You can find the official website of the bank right here. Now Afghanistan has a modern central bank just like the rest of us.
-In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq. In early 2004, the Central Bank of Iraq was established to manage the Iraqi currency and integrate Iraq into the global financial system. The following comes from the official website of the Central Bank of Iraq…
Following the deposition of Saddam Hussein in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi Governing Council and the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance began printing more Saddam dinar notes as a stopgap measure to maintain the money supply until new currency could be introduced.
The Banking Law was issued September 19, 2003. The law brings Iraq’s legal framework for banking in line with international standards, and seeks to promote confidence in the banking system by establishing a safe, sound, competitive and accessible banking system.
Between October 15, 2003 and January 15, 2004, the Coalition Provisional Authority issued new Iraqi dinar coins and notes, with the notes printed using modern anti-forgery techniques, to “create a single unified currency that is used throughout all of Iraq and will also make money more convenient to use in people’s everyday lives. Old banknotes were exchanged for new at a one-to-one rate, except for the Swiss dinars, which were exchanged at a rate of 150 new dinars for one Swiss dinar.
The Central Bank of Iraq (Arabic: البنك المركزي العراقي) was established as Iraq’s independent central bank by the Central Bank of Iraq Law of March 6, 2004
-In 2011, the United States bombed the living daylights out of Libya. Before Muammar Gaddafi was even overthrown, the U.S. helped the rebels establish a new Central Bank of Libya and form a new national oil company.
Central banks are specifically designed to trap nations in debt spirals from which they can never possibly escape. Today, the debt to GDP ratio for the entire planet is up to an all-time high record of 286 percent. Humanity is being enslaved by a perpetual debt machine, but most people are not even aware that it is happening.
It is time for an awakening. We need to educate as many people as possible about why we need to get rid of the central banks. For those living in the United States, my previous article entitled “On The 100th Anniversary Of The Federal Reserve Here Are 100 Reasons To Shut It Down Forever” is a good place to start. In other countries, we need people to write similar articles about their own central banks in their own languages.
The global elite dominate us because we allow them to dominate us. Their debt-based system greatly enriches them while it enslaves the remainder of the planet. We need to expose their evil system and the dark agenda behind it while we still have time.
This article was posted: Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 5:17 am
Bankers and Big Business Bosses to Dominate Secretive Bilderberg Talks
Bankers, politicians and leaders of huge global businesses are set to meet in the annual Bilderberg conference in Austria this week, during which the rich and the powerful discuss global issues in secretive talks that influence global politics.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is set to rub shoulders with ex-CIA Director David H. Petraeus, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, former French Prime Minister Alan Juppé and Thomas Ahrenkiel, Director of the Danish Intelligence Service (DDIS) at the 63 Bilderberg conference, set to take place from 11-14 June in Telfs-Buchen, Austria.
The conference — surrounded by tight security — is notoriously secretive in its discussions and regularly attracts demonstrations against what critics describe as a global meeting of western capitalists, politicians and academics who wield great power behind the scenes. It is billed as "an annual meeting designed to foster dialogue between Europe and North America."
Bildeberg conferences are described as "private" and no minutes are taken, no report is written, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are made, and no policy statements are issued.
Daniel Estulin, author of 'The True Story of the Bilderberg Group' describes the meetings as "a shadow world government…threaten(ing) to take away our right to direct our own destinies (by creating) a disturbing reality.
"Imagine a private club where presidents, prime ministers, international bankers and generals rub shoulders, where gracious royal chaperones ensure everyone gets along, and where the people running the wars, markets, and Europe (and America) say what they never dare say in public."
No-Fly Zone
Guests this year also include Google chairman Eric Schmidt; Paul M. Achleitner, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank; the Tyrolean property investor Rene Benko; Shell CEO Ben van Beurden; Thomas Enders, CEO, Airbus Group; Henri de Castries, the Chairman of the Euro Group; Austrian President Heinz Fischer; Siemens Austria CEO Wolfgang Hesoun; the CEO of Austrian oil and gas giant OMV, Gerhard Roiss; and Ryanair chairman Michael O'Leary.
Under discussion in Austria will be artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, chemical weapons threats, Greece, NATO and terrorism. Nobody representing Russia is on the guest list.
An elite anti-terrorism squad will be deployed under the command of Austria's Interior Ministry and around 2,100 police officers will be on duty throughout the conference. The main road from Telfs to the Interalpen Hotel will be closed and the area around the hotel will be a no-fly zone.
A large protest march is expected on the afternoon of June 13, starting in Telfs square and making its way through the town.
Related: American Government Cannot Be Trusted to Tell the Truth
Tags:
terrorism, agenda, chemical weapons, artificial intelligence, cyber security, business, bank, corporations, dialogue, conference, Ryanair, OMV, Siemens, Airbus, Royal Dutch Shell, Deutsche Bank AG, Google, NATO, Eric Schmidt, Heinz Fischer, Charles Michel, Mark Rutte, David Petraeus, Henry Kissinger, North America, Europe, Austria
Global warming: so totally over that not even Bilderberg will touch it
JAMES DELINGPOLE
Breitbart
June 9, 2015
Even if you don’t happen to believe that Bilderberg is the sinister organisation that really rules the world, what cannot be denied is that its secretive quinquennial meetings do to tend to attract some pretty high-level insect overlords.
Here’s the participants list for their latest get together in Telfs-Buchen, Austria later this week. It includes everyone from the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell and the President of the Royal Bank of Canada to the German Minister of Defence to British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to retired General David Petraeus to none other than the Prime Minister of Belgium. Far more interesting than who’s in on the conspiracy, though, is what’s on the agenda. Or rather what’s not on the agenda.
Have a look at this list of urgent crises facing the world. And see if you can tell what’s missing:
The key topics for discussion this year include:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Cybersecurity
- Chemical Weapons Threats
- Current Economic Issues
- European Strategy
- Globalisation
- Greece
- Iran
- Middle East
- NATO
- Russia
- Terrorism
- United Kingdom
- USA
- US Elections
Well, what’s not there, for some bizarre reason, is the threat that President Obama and his Secretary of State and most of the rest of his administration have repeatedly been assuring us represents the single greatest problem in the world today.
Indeed, just a month ago, the President reiterated this vital and urgent message in his address to the Coast Guard Academy.
Climate change, and especially rising seas, is a threat to our homeland security, our economic infrastructure, the safety and health of the American people. Already, today, in Miami and Charleston, streets now flood at high tide. Along our coasts, thousands of miles of highways and roads, railways, energy facilities are all vulnerable. It’s estimated that a further increase in sea level of just one foot by the end of this century could cost our nation $200 billion.
Stupid, sinister, pesky Bilderberg. Didn’t anyone get the memo?
This article was posted: Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 10:29 am
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