Senate Insider Speaks Out: Ex-Wyden Staffer on Secret Laws, Domestic Spying and Obama’s NSA Reforms

As President Obama proposed a series of changes to reform the government’s surveillance policies and programs, we speak to Jennifer Hoelzer, the former deputy chief of staff for Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, a longtime critic of the Obama administration for using a secret interpretation of the USA PATRIOT Act to allow the NSA to conduct domestic surveillance. "Unfortunately Edward Snowden was the only means by which we have been able to have this debate," Hoelzer says. "We, working for Senator Wyden, did everything to try to encourage the administration to bring these facts to light. We’re not talking about sources and methods, we’re not talking about sensitive materials, we’re talking about what they believed the law allows them to do." Meanwhile, The Guardian newspaper has revealed the National Security Agency has a secret backdoor into its vast databases to search for email and phone calls of U.S. citizens without a warrant. According to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, NSA operatives can hunt for individual Americans’ communications using their name or other identifying information.

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Source: democracynow.org
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U.S. Drone Strike In Yemen Kills 2 Al Qaeda Militants, Officials Say

SANAA, Yemen — A suspected U.S. drone strike killed two alleged al-Qaida militants in southern Yemen on Saturday, military officials said, making it the ninth such strike in just two weeks.

The strike in Lahj province wounded two other militants, one of them seriously, the officials said. The four had been traveling in a car in the area of el-Askariya. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said it was the first time a U.S. drone fired on this area of Lahj.

The N.S.A.’s Dirty Dishes: Obama’s Press Conference

What has Edward Snowden done for Barack Obama? According to the President, who spoke at a press conference on Friday, all Snowden did was rush him; he was already going to look and see if “some bolts needed to be tightened up” on the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs before Snowden gave any documents to the Guardian or the Washington Post. Obama just would have done it quietly, getting a few things straight. Instead, here he was, coming out with a list of proposed reforms that somehow directly touched on programs and previous lies exposed by the leaks, and being asked by Chuck Todd if he considered Snowden a patriot.

Harper vows to stick to wireless plan

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his government is sticking with controversial wireless industry policies despite the growing outcry from Canadian cellphone companies over what they call an unfair advantage for foreign competitors.

“Our government has pursued extremely consistently and extremely clearly a policy of fostering greater competition in this industry for the benefit of consumers,” Harper told reporters in Miramichi, N.B., in response to questions about the Canadian industry’s stance.

Ottawa plans to go ahead with plan that could let in U.S. telecom giants: Harper

MIRAMICHI, N.B. - The Conservative government won't budge on rules that Canada's biggest telecoms say will give foreign wireless firms an unfair advantage, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday.

Harper said he understands companies like BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) have to stand up for their shareholders and employees against allowing giant foreign firms like Verizon Communications Inc. to move into the Canadian market.

But he said Canadians want to see more competition in the industry and lower cellphone rates.

Same Old ALEC

Chicago—The American Legislative Exchange Council wraps up its fortieth annual conference in Chicago today, after facing what organizers estimate to be the largest protest in the organization’s history on Thursday.
 
Despite the recent exodus of dozens of corporations and a public attempt to tamp down some pieces of its more explicitly far-right agenda, this year’s ALEC conference made clear that the group still wants to operate in secret, away from potential criticism—and with a group of corporations and interest groups that are as committed as ever to anti-worker, anti-environment, pro-gun legislation.

Obama: Larry Summers Isn't Front-Runner For Fed Chair, Would Make Excellent Fed Chair

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Friday pushed back against rumors that his former economic adviser Larry Summers has "the inside track" among potential nominees to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

When asked by Major Garrett, a reporter for National Journal and CBS News' Chief White House Correspondent, whether Summers indeed had "the inside track," Obama said that both Summers and another top choice, Janet Yellen, were excellent candidates who would make superb leaders at the Fed. Yellen, who is currently vice chairman of the Fed, has been endorsed by several Senate Democrats and a majority of House Democratic women.

Black, Gay and a Pacifist: Bayard Rustin Remembered For Role in March on Washington, Mentoring MLK

The White House has announced it will posthumously award the highest civilian award in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to the trailblazing civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Obama will honor Rustin and 15 others, including President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and baseball great Ernie Banks, at the White House later this year. Rustin was a key adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. and introduced him to Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings on nonviolence. Rustin helped King start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Six years later, he was the chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, rallying hundreds of thousands of people for economic justice, full employment, voting rights and equal opportunity. "Rustin was one of the most important social justice activists in the U.S. in the 20th century," says John D’Emilio, author of "Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin." "Rustin pioneered the use of Gandhian nonviolence as a way of calling attention to segregation and other forms of racism in the United States." We also speak to former NAACP chair Julian Bond and Rustin’s partner, Walter Naegle.

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Source: democracynow.org
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Obama Proposes FISA Reforms Amid Growing Concerns Over NSA Surveillance

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama announced new measures Friday to increase transparency and reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court amid growing concerns over the National Security Agency's widespread surveillance programs.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Obama proposed the first of several steps "to help restore public confidence" following revelations in June that the federal government was secretly mining millions of Americans' phone and electronic communications.

The N.S.A. and Its Targets: Lavabit Shuts Down

Not every suspension-of-service notice for an e-mail company comes with a link to a legal-defense fund. Ladar Levison, the owner and operator of Lavabit, whose clients, reportedly, have included Edward Snowden, made it sound today as though he could use the help. “I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit,” Levison wrote in a note posted on his site.

    I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going on—the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.