June 14, 2015

British spies 'moved after Snowden files read'

Source: BBC

The Sunday Times is reporting that Russia and China have cracked the encryption of the computer files.
The government source told the BBC the countries "have information" that led to agents being moved but added there was "no evidence" any had been harmed.

The government source said the information obtained by Russia and China meant that "knowledge of how we operate" had stopped the UK getting "vital information".

Intelligence officials have long warned of what they see as the dangers of the information leaked by Mr Snowden and its potential impact on keeping people in the UK safe - a concern Prime Minister David Cameron has said he shares.

According to the Sunday Times, Western intelligence agencies have been forced to pull agents out of "hostile countries" after "Moscow gained access to more than one million classified files" held by Mr Snowden.



Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33125068

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June 14, 2015

Tavis Smiley: LOL—Who’d Sign Up To Be Black?

When I first heard the story about the “black” NAACP head in Spokane, Washington, Rachel Dolezal, being outed as a white woman, honestly, I laughed. Out loud.

LOL.

Because I knew how this story would land in Black America, I tuned into urban radio and perused black Twitter to get a sampling of the jokes that I knew would be flying.

As expected, the jokes were plentiful, ranging from versions of “She actually signed up for this?!” to “Why would you ruin a good credit score!”

In truth, the closest that most white folk want to get to the black experience in America, is tanning at the pool to get “that look.” But that’s as far they want to go.

Okay, possibly some collagen in the lips. But that’s as far as they want to go.

Okay, perhaps an injection in the behind. But that’s as far they want to go.

Okay, maybe they’ll sport street-smart black fashion, borrow a hairstyle or two and call it a “mini bun” when it’s really a bantu knot. But that’s as far as they want to go.

In other words, “I’ll take the look, but you can keep the life.”

http://time.com/3919899/tavis-smiley-lol-whod-sign-up-to-be-black/

June 12, 2015

6 ways white supremacy takes its toll on Black people’s mental health

Officially, Kalief Browder died as a result of suicide at his family’s home in the Bronx this weekend. Yet it’s not a stretch to say the racist criminal justice system that locked him up for more than three years without a trial was likely the main culprit for the young man’s death. In 2010, the cops arrested 16-year-old Browder after another teen accused the boy of robbing him of his backpack. Browder has always denied the accusations. His family couldn’t afford the $10,000 bail, so Browder was forced to stay in Rikers for three years. While there, he was held in solitary confinement for 400 days, beaten by jail guards, abused by other inmates and attempted suicide several times.

Black people make up just 14 percent of the U.S. population, yet 38 percent of those locked up, according to a recent report; 60 percent of those in solitary confinement are black. A fact sheet from Solitary Watch reports that solitary confinement can create or exacerbate mental health issues. Browder never had a chance.

This is what white supremacy does. It disproportionately targets black people and uses its system (jails, police, unsupportive work environments, white privilege at universities and other institutions) to break them. But it is not just about jails. Even young black kids who attend pool parties are at risk. As AlterNet previously reported, Officer Eric Casebolt from the McKinney Police Department was captured on video violently putting 15-year-old Dajerria Becton on the ground and pulling his gun on other teens who came to her aid. The psychological trauma from that experience will surely follow her for some time. That is part of the quintessential state violence that black people endure on a daily basis.

Racism, in all of its forms, takes a heavy toll on black people’s mental health, according to practicing therapists and psychologists who spoke with AlterNet. “Research has shown that racism has negative psychological consequences for African Americans such as increased symptoms of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress,” says Erlanger Turner, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Houston-Downtown. He was one of three mental health professionals, along with Kira Banks, assistant professor of psychology at Saint Louis University, and Lisa Jones, a licensed clinical social worker based in New York City, who spoke to AlterNet about the ways in which racism can literally make black people ill.

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/11/6_ways_white_supremacy_takes_its_toll_on_black_peoples_mental_health_partner/

June 12, 2015

America’s war on Black girls: Why McKinney police violence isn’t about “one bad apple”

In just over two months, we will commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a natural disaster that ravaged communities along the Gulf Coast. This tragedy was made infinitely worse not only by decades of governmental neglect and far-ranging poverty, but also by the fact that so many Black people could not swim.

That nearly 60 percent of Black people cannot swim is directly attributable to decades of segregated pool facilities in this country. While that problem ostensibly went away with the desegregation efforts of the mid-20th century, de facto segregation of pool facilities persists to this day, because community pools are now largely private amenities in suburban neighborhoods that many Black youth don’t have access to.

This is the backdrop of the troubling and traumatizing incident that occurred in McKinney, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, over the weekend, when 19-year-old Tatiana Rose threw a pool party and invited several friends to use the community pool in her neighborhood. Many of those friends were Black, and many of those Black friends also live in the neighborhood. At some point, as Tatiana says in a video interview, two white adult women began yelling at her and her friends to “go back where they came from,” “back to section 8 housing,” and calling them “black fuckers.” When a 14-year-old girl responded, the women further ridiculed her, prompting Tatiana to tell the adults that the girl was 14 and their comments were inappropriate. According to Tatiana’s account, the white women then approached her; one “hit her in the face” and the other began participating in the attack.

According to reports, multiple calls came into police. At least one call came from either Tatiana, her mother (who was present) or her friends, reporting that these white women had attacked the partygoers. Other calls came in from residents who reported that many Black children who were unauthorized to be there were there and fighting. Apparently, the party got larger and some children jumped over the fence to get to the party.

When the McKinney PD showed up, Officer David Eric Casebolt arrived on the scene out of control. He yelled and cursed at teenagers, who were unarmed, many of them wearing swimming trunks and bathing suits. He approached a 14-year-old girl and wrestled her to the ground as she cried and called for her mom. Even after she was seated, crying and clearly subdued, he grabbed her braids, demanded that she get on her face, and then kneeled on top of her where he remained for several minutes. It is unclear what this child did to elicit such ire, but what she did not do was verbally threaten the officer, wave a gun at him, or present a physical threat — as she is, by the look of it, just around 100 pounds, and he is a fully grown man.

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/10/americas_war_on_black_girls_why_mckinney_police_violence_isnt_about_one_bad_apple/

June 10, 2015

Drone Is Latest Weapon Against Cheating on School Exam

The contraption flew over two testing centers in Luoyang city in central China's Henan province to scan for any unusual signals being sent to devices smuggled by students taking the annual test. No such signals were detected Sunday, the first day of the exam, a Henan province news website said.

The drone cost hundreds of thousands of yuan (tens of thousands of dollars) and is as big as a gas station pump when extended, said Lan Zhigang, from Luoyang's Radio Supervision and Regulation Bureau.

"A drone has its advantages. In an urban area full of tall buildings, various barriers limit the operating range of devices on ground, while the drone can rise up to 500 meters (1,640 feet) and detect signals over the whole city," Lan said.

Almost all Chinese high school graduates must take the test — more than 9 million students started it Sunday — and the scores are the key criterion for which tier of university they can enter.

Pressure is immense and many students spend months cramming. Parents travel to the cities where the tests are given to stay with their children during the exam, which can last two or three days. Those who fail can repeat a year or try to find a low-paying, blue-collar job.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/drone-latest-weapon-cheating-china-school-exam-31605611

June 5, 2015

Senate Minority Blocks Same-Sex Marriage Veterans Benefits

Source: RollCall.com

Updated 3:49 p.m. | A Senate minority successfully blocked an amendment aimed at ending discrimination against same-sex marriage benefits for veterans Thursday.

With the Supreme Court set to rule on gay marriage, 53 senators voted for the amendment sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., seven shy of the 60 needed under the rules. Her amendment would have deferred the definition of marriage for qualifying for veterans benefits to the state where the marriage was issued.

Eight Republicans joined Democrats: Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mark S. Kirk of Illinois, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Rob Portman of Ohio.

Ayotte, Johnson, Portman and Kirk all face competitive reelections in 2016 in states won by President Barack Obama. Ayotte said she supported a similar amendment in the Senate’s budget and that in her opinion, “this is an issue of equal treatment under the law.”

Read more: http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/senate-minority-blocks-same-sex-marriage-veterans-benefits/?dcz=

June 4, 2015

Argentina’s President Met with Edward Snowden in Moscow, Report Says

Source: Vice, via the Buenos Aires Herald

In secret, and sparked by the espionage documents against her country that he revealed, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner met with US whistleblower Edward Snowden during her visit in April to Russia, a newspaper in Buenos Aires said.

"President Fernandez de Kirchner is the first chief of state to meet with Snowden," Anthony Romero, director of the American Civil Liberties Union and one of Snowden's lawyers, told the Buenos Aires Herald in a report published Thursday.

No specific date or details were published about the meeting and Argentina's government remained mum about the report today. But what is known is that it happened just days after the Argentine news site TN revealed a British espionage program in Argentina.

The secret surveillance operation was allegedly carried out over Britain's fear of the South American country's possible recovery of the Falklands Islands, the source of simmering tension between the UK and Argentina since the end of their war over the islands in 1982.

Read more: https://news.vice.com/article/argentinas-president-met-with-edward-snowden-in-moscow-report-says

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Wow...So now he's having secret, off-the-record meetings with heads of state...It's long past due for Snowden's cronies to show some "transparency" of their own...

Also, how exactly does Kirchner even meet Snowden if he *isn't* controlled by Putin? Did she look him up in a phone book, show up at his apartment and ring the doorbell?

June 1, 2015

Glenn Greenwald promotes Kremlin propaganda through a fringe nutbar blogger

He doesn't even try to hide which side he's playing for now...

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/605158006997827584