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canopic jug writes:

The Rolling Stone has run a web version of its 1973 interview with Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg is the former US military analyst who blew the whistle on the Nixon administration's misdeeds regarding the Vietnam War. Specfically he photocopied an extensive, secret study and gave it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and later to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and nearly a score of other newspapers. These documents he released became known as the Pentagon Papers eventually published as excerpts and commentaries by The New York Times. Both The New York Times and The Rolling Stone have since drifted from that kind of coverage and the article provides an interesting contrast to how those publications are now.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

State Dept. posts Clinton aide's documents found on Weiner's laptop

The State Department on Friday released portions of 2,800 emails and other documents belonging to former Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin that were recovered by the FBI last year on Abedin's estranged husband Anthony Weiner's computer last year.

While the newly released emails have been seized on by conservative activists who have long been critical of Clinton's treatment of classified emails as secretary of State, the FBI already said in 2016 that a review of the emails didn't change the bureau's opinion that Clinton shouldn't face charges over email handling.

The Friday release came after a 2015 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the conservative group Judicial Watch against the State Department seeking the release of emails containing "official State Department business" sent or received from Abedin from January 2009 to February 2013 using a non-State Department email address.

Also at Judicial Watch and CNN.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Iranian cities hit by anti-government protests

Anti-government demonstrations that began in Iran on Thursday have now spread to several major cities. Large numbers reportedly turned out in Rasht, in the north, and Kermanshah, in the west, with smaller protests in Isfahan, Hamadan and elsewhere. The protests began against rising prices but have spiralled into a general outcry against clerical rule and government policies.

A small number of people have been arrested in Tehran, the capital. They were among a group of 50 people who gathered in a city square, Tehran's deputy governor-general for security affairs told the Iranian Labour News Agency.

The US State Department condemned the arrests and urged "all nations to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption".

Also at Bloomberg and Reuters.

Update: Street protests hit Iran for third straight day as pro-government rallies held
Iran Confronts 3rd Day of Protests, With Calls for Khamenei to Quit

Update 2: Iran blocks Instagram, Telegram apps as government protesters will 'pay the price' for unrest (archive)
CEO says Iran blocking (Telegram) messaging app after issuing warning to protesters
Iran protests: 'Iron fist' threatened if unrest continues

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Trump targets Amazon in call for postal service to hike prices

U.S. President Donald Trump targeted Amazon on Friday in a call for the country's postal service to raise prices of shipments in order to recoup costs, picking another fight with the online retail giant he has criticized in the past. "Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

The U.S. Postal Service, which runs at a big loss, is an independent agency within the federal government and does not receive tax dollars for operating expenses, according to its website. The organization makes up a significant portion of the $1.4 trillion U.S. delivery industry. Other players include United Parcel Service Inc and Fedex Corp.

[...] Amazon has shown interest in the past in shifting into its own delivery service. In 2015, the company spent $11.5 billion on shipping, 46 percent of its total operating expenses that year. In October, Bloomberg reported that Amazon was testing its own delivery service to move products more quickly out of its overcrowded warehouses and make more of them available for free two-day delivery. However, Amazon said at the time that it was using the same carrier partners to offer the program as it has used for years, including the U.S. Postal Service, UPS and FedEx.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

This is the first of a three-part series based on never-before-published training manuals for the KGB, the Soviet intelligence organization that Vladimir Putin served as an operative, and that shaped his view of the world. Its veterans still make up an important part of now-Russian President Vladimir Putin's power base. All were trained in the same dark arts, and these primers in tradecraft are essential to an understanding of the way they think and the way they operate.

Source : Revealed: The Secret KGB Manual for Recruiting Spies

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42473607

A suspicious package that turned out to contain horse manure sparked a bomb scare near the Los Angeles home of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, reports say.

The gift-wrapped manure was found at 19:40 (03:40 GMT) at the home next to Mr Mnuchin's in Bel-Air, police said.

Police cleared the package an hour later and the Secret Service is investigating, CBS said.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/12/23/horse-manure-addressed-to-steve-mnuchin/

There were a lot of frustrated neighbors. Including Zsa Zsa Gabor's widower.

"We have $50 million homes and we can't move, we can't get out," Prince Frederick von Anhalt, who was trapped for two hours, said. "That's bad, they have to find another way."

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Several of the programs Snowden revealed are authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act. The 2008 law was scheduled to sunset on December 31, but in a last-ditch effort Thursday, Congress extend its authority through January 19.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, believes that the authorization doesn't really expire until April, leaving lawmakers several months to either reform or strengthen the provision. Hanging in the balance is the legal framework the government largely relies on to conduct mass surveillance of foreigners, and Americans who communicate with them. Which makes it all the more concerning that the fight over Section 702's future has taken place largely in the dark.

Source : Congress Is Debating Warrantless Surveillance in the Dark

Original Submission

aristarchus writes:

So it seems that the Chief of Police in Charlottesville is going to resign.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Alfred Thomas, the police chief in Charlottesville, Virginia, has announced his retirement on Monday after 27 years of law enforcement service. The decision comes just weeks after the release of a critical review of his department's reaction to a violent white nationalist rally over the summer.

[...] Earlier this month, former U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy released findings from a monthslong investigation into law enforcement's response to the violent rally in August. The report criticized Thomas' "slow-footed response" and found that police failed on multiple fronts, leading to "deep distrust of government" in the local community. It also found a lack of preparation and coordination between state and city police and a passive response by officers to the chaos.

State police and Charlottesville police were unable to communicate by radio the day of the rally because they were on different channels, the report said, and commanders "instructed their officers not to intervene in all but the most serious physical confrontations."

All I can say, is that it was a good thing the antifa were there to do the job of the police, defending people from violent attack.

Original Submission

aristarchus informs us of a link:

As reported by The Huffington Post:

New rules implemented on Twitter Monday have led to the suspensions of accounts belonging to prominent neo-Nazis, white nationalists and other far-right extremists.

[...] "You may not make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people," states Twitter's rule for "violent extremist groups," which went into effect Monday.

"This includes, but is not limited to, threatening or promoting terrorism," the rule continues. "You also may not affiliate with organizations that – whether by their own statements or activity both on and off the platform – use or promote violence against civilians to further their causes."

[...] The "alt-right ― a loose association of neo-Nazis, white nationalists, assorted racists, fascists, and other far-right elements that has used Twitter for years to organize and recruit ― anticipated today's "purge," with many preparing to make the jump to Gab, a largely rules-free micro-blogging platform used primarily by white nationalists.

Related: Twitter: Our Blue Check Marks Aren't Just About "Verification"

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

The story of net neutrality as an Obama-led takeover of the Internet has been a key Republican talking point for months, a talking point which has been refuted by internal FCC documents obtained by Motherboard using a Freedom of Information Act request. These findings were made by the independent, nonpartisan FCC Office of Inspector General an Inspector General. However, the findings were not made public prior to Thursday’s vote.

[...] First, some background: The FCC is an independent regulatory agency that is supposed to remain “free from undue influence” by the executive branch—it is not beholden to the White House, only the laws that Congress makes and tells it to regulate. This means the president cannot direct it to implement policies. In November 2014, President Obama released a statement saying that he believed the FCC should create rules protecting net neutrality, but noted that “ultimately this decision is theirs alone.”

[...] Since 2014, Republicans have pointed to net neutrality as an idea primarily promoted by President Obama, and have made it another in a long line of regulations and laws that they have sought to repeal now that Donald Trump is president. Prior to this false narrative, though, net neutrality was a bipartisan issue; the first net neutrality rules were put in place under President George W. Bush, and many Republicans worked on the 2015 rules that were just dismantled.

What happened, then, is that Republicans sold the public a narrative that wasn’t true, then used that narrative to repeal the regulations that protect the internet.

Internal FCC Report Shows Republican Anti-Net Neutrality Narrative Is False

Original Submission