Having demanded "American blood," the news that a suspected American militant who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group in chilling Twitter rants is being held without bail after his arrest at New York's Kennedy Airport is somewhat concerning. Donald Ray Morgan, 44, who has a previous conviction for firing a gun, had allegedly been brokering deals for military-grade weapons and ammo in his home state of North Carolina and was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to The Daily News. The presiding judge noted, his actions "clearly implied to me that he is trying to go to Syria or Iraq as the next step and trying to be actively engaged."

America Used COMMUNIST Torture Techniques SPECIALLY DESIGNED to Produce F·A·L·S·E Confessions

Senior U.S. Intelligence Officers: Obama Should Release Ukraine Evidence

The Obama Administration’s Orwellian government employee snitch network, dubbed the “Insider Threat Program,” first made headlines about a year ago. Fast forward a year, and it appears that several members of Congress are also becoming increasingly concerned. Some are starting to ask questions, but as usual, the “most transparent administration in history” is entirely nontransparent. What is clear since the Edward Snowden revelations is that the government has zero interest in reining in these programs. It merely wants to make sure the public can never learn about government criminality in the future. Hence the aggressive “war on whistleblowers.”

...  Alcoholism, Food Poisoning, a Financial Crash, Obesity, Dog Bites, Doctor Mistakes or “Autoerotic Asphyxiation” than by Terrorists (Getting Hit By ASTEROID = Even Odds)

The Untold Story In the NSA Spying Scandal: Blackmail

“What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It’s not good at much else.” —Author Tom Clancy Call it what you will—taxes, penalties, fees, fines, regulations, tariffs, tickets, permits, surcharges, tolls, asset forfeitures, foreclosures, etc.—but the only word that truly describes the constant bilking of the American taxpayer by the government and its corporate partners is theft. What Americans don’t seem to comprehend is that if the government can arbitrarily take away your property, without your having much say about it, you have no true rights. You’re nothing more than a serf or a slave.

The White House issued a full statement at 2238ET with regard the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 crash following President Obama's earlier brief comments: "The United States is shocked by the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, and we offer our deep condolences to all those who lost loved ones on board... It is critical that there be a full, credible, and unimpeded international investigation as quickly as possible... While we do not yet have all the facts, we do know that this incident occurred in the context of a crisis in Ukraine that is fueled by Russian support for the separatists, including through arms, materiel, and training."

Forget Generalities ... Let's Talk Specifics

• BRICS set up bank to counter Western hold on global finances (Reuters)
• Fed's Yellen Hedges Her View on Rates (Hilsenrath)
• China GDP Grows 7.5% in Second Quarter (WSJ)
• Get More Acquainted With Your Knees as Boeing Reworks 737 (BBG)
• Israel Warns Gazans of New Attack After Hamas Rejects Truce (WSJ)
• Israel poised for Gaza incursions after truce collapses (Reuters)
• China Housing Sales Fall in First Half of 2014 (WSJ)
• IBM to offer iPads and iPhones for business users (Reuters)
• Fed's George says strengthening economy warrants quick rate rise (Reuters)

Spying On – and Blackmailing – Politicians, Generals, Judges, Lawyers and Citizens

Having explained how well the economy is going - best in the world, apparently - President Obama is moving on to the immigration scandal. In an unexpected address from his fund-raising trip to Texas (Dallas actually - 100s of miles from the border), and on the heels of his 'executive action' demands on immigration reform, Obama will explain how it's none of his fault and unless 'the other side' give him carte blanche, it's a humanitarian crisis... think of the children (and the taxpayer funding)...

If We Don't Learn Our History, We're Doomed to  ... "KaBoom!"

Meet XKeyscore - "a computer network exploitation system", as described in an NSA presentation, devoted to gathering "nearly everything a user does on the internet." The German site Das Erste has exposed the shocking truth about the rules used by the NSA to decide who is a "target" for surveillance. While the NSA claims to only "target" a small fraction of internet users, the perhaps unsurprising truth is very different. As Boing Boing concludes, one expert suggested that the NSA's intention here was to separate the sheep from the goats -- to split the entire population of the Internet into "people who have the technical know-how to be private" and "people who don't" and then capture all the communications from the first group.

Hot on the heels of Eric Holder's domestic terrorism task force creation, Lindsay Graham's recent diatribe of the "inevitability" of another terror attack (on the US) by Syria or Iraq, adding that "according to our own Director of National Intelligence, FBI Director, the next 9/11 is coming from here," it seems the ultimate scaremonger has decided it is his turn to stir the pot. Appearing on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, Dick Cheney explained that he "doubted" whether the US would "get through this decade" without another "massive attack on the homeland." But it's what he said after that makes Obama's NYC nukes concerns pale in comparison...