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Watergate Was For Amateurs: Justice Department Spied For Months On Associated Press Reporters
And so the final curtain falls on the myth of what was supposed to be, in its own words, the "most transparent administration" in history.
As it turns out, the big Friday story of Bloomberg journalists snooping on clients was just amateur hour compared to what the AP was about to serve. In fact, the Watergate affair may soon appear like a walk in the park compared to the First Amendment shitstorm that is about to be unleashed following the just reported news that the US Department of Justice had "secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news."
First amendment? Freedom of speech and press? Surely not when it comes to the Nobel-peace prize winning President and those who dare to expose his secret ways.
And what's worst, is that the AP breach has all the makings of a spiteful hack driven by personal vengeance against one of America's premier news outlets.
We can't wait to see the rest of the not so conservative media stands up in arms and defend one of their peers against an administration whose utter disdain for all checks and balances puts Stalinist Russia to shame. Or perhaps it will be merely a case of "first they came for AP's reporters, and we said nothing..."
And while it has long been known that the NSA actively intercepts and records every single form of electronic communication, the unspoken truth is that the government can do anything it wants as long as it doesn't get caught. It just did, and not only in Benghazi, or the IRS fiasco, but in making a complete mockery of the First Amendment.
As the NSA whistleblower told Wired Magazine over a year ago, “we are this far from a turnkey totalitarian state", all we can add is "we are now in a full-blown totalitarian state."
And nobody cares.
The AP story which must be read to be believed:
The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.
The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP.
In all, the government seized those records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown but more than 100 journalists work in the offices whose phone records were targeted on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.
In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government sought and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation. He demanded the return of the phone records and destruction of all copies.
"There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know," Pruitt said.
The government would not say why it sought the records. U.S. officials have previously said in public testimony that the U.S. attorney in Washington is conducting a criminal investigation into who may have leaked information contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot. The story disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaida plot in the spring of 2012 to detonate a bomb on an airplane bound for the United States.
In testimony in February, CIA Director John Brennan noted that the FBI had questioned him about whether he was AP's source, which he denied. He called the release of the information to the media about the terror plot an "unauthorized and dangerous disclosure of classified information."
Prosecutors have sought phone records from reporters before, but the seizure of records from such a wide array of AP offices, including general AP switchboards numbers and an office-wide shared fax line, is unusual and largely unprecedented.
In the letter notifying the AP received Friday, the Justice Department offered no explanation for the seizure, according to Pruitt's letter and attorneys for the AP. The records were presumably obtained from phone companies earlier this year although the government letter did not explain that. None of the information provided by the government to the AP suggested the actual phone conversations were monitored.
Among those whose phone numbers were obtained were five reporters and an editor who were involved in the May 7, 2012 story.
The Obama administration has aggressively investigated disclosures of classified information to the media and has brought six cases against people suspected of leaking classified information, more than under all previous presidents combined.
Justice Department published rules require that subpoenas of records from news organizations must be personally approved by the attorney general but it was not known if that happened in this case. The letter notifying AP that its phone records had been obtained though subpoenas was sent Friday by Ronald Machen, the U.S. attorney in Washington.
Spokesmen in Machen's office and at the Justice Department had no immediate comment on Monday.
The Justice Department lays out strict rules for efforts to get phone records from news organizations. A subpoena can only be considered after "all reasonable attempts" have been made to get the same information from other sources, the rules say. It was unclear what other steps, in total, the Justice Department has taken to get information in the case.
A subpoena to the media must be "as narrowly drawn as possible" and "should be directed at relevant information regarding a limited subject matter and should cover a reasonably limited time period," according to the rules.
The reason for these constraints, the department says, is to avoid actions that "might impair the news gathering function" because the government recognizes that "freedom of the press can be no broader than the freedom of reporters to investigate and report the news."
News organizations normally are notified in advance that the government wants phone records and enter into negotiations over the desired information. In this case, however, the government, in its letter to the AP, cited an exemption to those rules that holds that prior notification can be waived if such notice, in the exemption's wording, might "pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation."
It is unknown whether a judge or a grand jury signed off on the subpoenas.
The May 7, 2012, AP story that disclosed details of the CIA operation in Yemen to stop an airliner bomb plot occurred around the one-year anniversary of the May 2, 2011, killing of Osama bin Laden.
The plot was significant because the White House had told the public it had "no credible information that terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida, are plotting attacks in the U.S. to coincide with the (May 2) anniversary of bin Laden's death."
The AP delayed reporting the story at the request of government officials who said it would jeopardize national security. Once government officials said those concerns were allayed, the AP disclosed the plot because officials said it no longer endangered national security. The Obama administration, however, continued to request that the story be held until the administration could make an official announcement.
The May 7 story was written by reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman with contributions from reporters Kimberly Dozier, Eileen Sullivan and Alan Fram. They and their editor, Ted Bridis, were among the journalists whose April-May 2012 phone records were seized by the government.
Brennan talked about the AP story and leaks investigation in written testimony to the Senate. "The irresponsible and damaging leak of classified information was made ... when someone informed the Associated Press that the U.S. Government had intercepted an IED (improvised explosive device) that was supposed to be used in an attack and that the U.S. Government currently had that IED in its possession and was analyzing it," he said.
He also defended the White House's plan to discuss the plot immediately afterward. "Once someone leaked information about interdiction of the IED and that the IED was actually in our possession, it was imperative to inform the American people consistent with Government policy that there was never any danger to the American people associated with this al-Qa'ida plot," Brennan told senators.
Ah... the illusion of "freedom"
And below is a stock photo of a very busy Eric Holder. Well, at least busy when he is spying on the 4th estate. Not so busy when he is avoiding investigating and prosecuting Too Big To Prosecutve bankers for being instrumental in some $15 trillion in global asset transfers from the middle to the upper classes (and counting at a pace of $160 billion per month).
* * *
Finally, in parallel news, following a FOIA request by the ACLU to learn more about the government’s practice of reading people’s email, text messages, social networking feeds and other private electronic communications without a warrant, here is one of "informative" responses the ACLU received back from the "most transparent" Department of Justice.
Update:
RT @markknoller: WH/Jay Carney declines comment on Justice obtainining phone records of some AP reporters. Refers press to DOJ for comment
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 13, 2013
Updates via Politico:
Pruitt's full letter to Attorney General Holder:
There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.
We regard this action by the Department of Justice as a serious interference with AP’s constitutional rights to gather and report the news.
The Dept. of Justice has released the following statement:
We take seriously our obligations to follow all applicable laws, federal regulations, and Department of Justice policies when issuing subpoenas for phone records of media organizations. Those regulations require us to make every reasonable effort to obtain information through alternative means before even considering a subpoena for the phone records of a member of the media. We must notify the media organization in advance unless doing so would pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation. Because we value the freedom of the press, we are always careful and deliberative in seeking to strike the right balance between the public interest in the free flow of information and the public interest in the fair and effective administration of our criminal laws.
House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa has released the following statement:
This is obviously disturbing. Coming within a week of revelations that the White House lied to the American people about the Benghazi attacks and the IRS targeted conservative Americans for their political beliefs, Americans should take notice that top Obama Administration officials increasingly see themselves as above the law and emboldened by the belief that they don’t have to answer to anyone. I will work with my fellow House Chairmen on an appropriate response to Obama Administration officials.
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This Wed is Chinese lamb and plastic rice. I will save you a seat.
Right, 'lamb'. Even here the euphemisms never cease.
All these treasonous scandals and NOBODY IS GOING TO FUCKING JAIL....
America is truly fucked.
Skip the jail part if it's treason ...
http://www.litcorner.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15...
be afraid.......be very afraid!!!!
--------interesting video....will have to re-listen to my coasttocoast podcasts now..........
Obama: "There is no there there."
Clinton (Bill); "It depends on what is is"
Clinton (Hill): "what difference does it make at this point?"
Nixon: " I am not a crook "
Nixon looks to be a piker in this crowd.
Watergate was a 2nd rate robbery. Nixon could learn a thing or two with this crowd.
I still can't believe she actually said that, as if killing those in bengahzi was so last week, why focus on it anymore.
They are already dead, lets not cry over spilt milk and move FORWARD dammit.
You expected more from the evil, rotten, filthy, crooked bitch?
Chelsea Clinton should be appointed the next US Ambassador to Libya. After all, what difference does it make?
“He also defended the White House's plan to discuss the plot immediately afterward. "Once someone leaked information about interdiction of the IED and that the IED was actually in our possession, it was imperative to inform the American people consistent with Government policy that there was never any danger to the American people associated with this al-Qa'ida plot," Brennan told senators.”
So the government can keep on claiming there is danger when the danger had passed. This was supposed to be a threat to national security when it was nothing of the sort.
Why would anyone write a letter to Holder unless they wanted assassinated? That is my question to Prutt.
Obama and Holder just assumed that as the AP had their nose firmly planted in Obama's ass that they wouldn't mind a little peeky poo under the covers a bit. I mean afterall, its just between friends, right?
AP has been little more than an extension of certain government agencies for years and years. This is just another smokescreen for the dirty little story that Benghazi-gate threatens to uncover. So many nasty day to day operations of our present government being thrown into the light of day to create a "fuss" and keep the heat off. That would indicate that there are many players from several arenas involved and are willing to go to any length to keep a lid on it. And I suspect that what happened in Benghazi is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what is really going on.
Obama and Holder must be REALLY paranoid to be bugging their own evil clueless f**k AP stooges.
and if it's the AP it's everyone else and if it's for 2 months it's for 2 years at least..next comes the question which whistle blowers to the press over the course of the last so many years has gotten magically disappeared from these illegal gov. intercepts ?
The same AP that now categorises "Illegal Aliens" as "Undocumented Immigrants"?
AP bans use of the term 'illegal immigrant'; some newspapers ... - BakersfieldCalifornian.com
I hope all the shill 'Liberal' news outlets eat each other!
Great, let's soft soap butchery of humans to 'normalize' it and make it "lawful" at times.
"Thou shalt not Murder"
becomes;
"Thou shalt not unlawfully cease the life of another"
yup, much better
In the end, an employer has every right to know who the employees are contacting when using employer resources such as phones and computers. Amiright or what??
I think your comment was too subtle for a couple of folks.
perhaps. oh well, we're all doomed anyway.
Tyler this article is clearly raysuss and therefore must be purged under the new anti-raysuss policy.
Tomorrow morning, White House press briefing room. The White House press corps is assembled. An undercurrent of anger, rage, murmuring, whispers of the kind of questions they're going to hurl and the answers they're going to demand. An assault on Freedom of Speech and the Press will not be tolerated!
Suddenly, the door bursts open and the White House Media Director comes through! He's... smilling! And what - just WHAT are those boxes he's carrying?
Why, they're DONUTS! Donuts for us all! Everyone to the donuts! It's a great day! I'll have a chocoloate sprinkles, please! And can my friend here from CNN have that headlight? Yum! Mmmm!!
...
...
Scandal? What scandal?
Maybe THIS will be enough to get this piece of shit and all his accomplices and sychophants in government and entertainment out of fucking power.
He finally fucked his own..Please, jail won't be enough for these fucks.
The army should arrest them all and declare new elections.
+1000
I would prefer civilians gather and force such actions. I don't want the military taking over.
Don't want Admiral (ret.) John Poindexter as our appointed leader?
So the gov makes sure the news media says what they are told to say on the front lines, and spies on them in the back end
just in case they start getting any ideas of revolting against the pre-described scripts given to them. Gotta keep them news
sources in line whatever it takes. God forbid there would be a renegade newscaster that no one saw coming.
Truth is anti-semitic.
<=== Goyim
<=== GCP
Slow day -- there's only 2 ADL board-topic monitors.
"there was never any danger to the American people associated with this al-Qa'ida plot."
Sure sounds like they run Al-caeda to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIWoWzkH1Rs
'First They Came...'
Nazis and Bolsheviks monitor their own machinery most closely for any dissent in the ranks. The Rothschilds et al are masters of internal party control.
In the first four years comedians were afraid to make a joke about Mr. O. I am betting that in the next two years they will find something to investigate. But, first they will have to vote and set up a committee to hold hearings.
You guys better keep a HUGE plastic bucket next to your computers because you're going to need it when you see the Obamabots come out in droves to defend this bullshit.
I find a bit of beauty in all this. If memory serves there's a bit of paranoia going on @ hi-levels. Considering political leanings, generals, admirals given the sack & an absolute complicit press, it appears that the laws (retro-immunity telco's) these parasites have passed really won't save them either.
What honor these thieves had is rapidly dissipating.
So when are these swine put on a spit, roasted & devoured by their own kind?
It's a collapse of the psychopathic gene pool. Almost as "funny" as fourth generation mafioso.
Perhaps they needed the records of the phone calls being made so that DoJ could give them to NSA to look up. So while AT&T, verizon, t-mobile, or whatever didn't wiretap these people. They did give them when and to whom which allowed another department to cross reference the list. If you don't think that reasonable, you're not paying attention. The subpoena is to prevent this one particular department from interfering with news reporting. That doesn't mean the government looks at a list and say "interesting phone log, I wonder what was being discussed."
On another note, the "if you've got nothing to hide" crowd, which has been apologizing and evangelizing for his for decades, doesn't understand is that people in Washington work with a power for power sake philosophy. Why would you hide potential incriminating things from a fucking dirtbag? So that dirtbag doesn't use it against you. Not because you're hiding a crime.
When someone says this one phrase or I ask a question and get this answer it instantly tells me is someone is a sheep or awake
"if you've got nothing to hide"
It tells me they are a coward.
Someone awake before you may have said the same thing about you
Don't be so harsh. Show some compassion. The psychopaths temporarily running this planet don't have that ability.
There are many reasons people still aren't awake. It takes some far longer to wake up than others. Still others may never wake up.
And others could but just aren't able to mentally handle it so they subconsciously just block out waking up so they don't end up in an asylum.
I'm sure you understand that not everyong can handle the reality that everything they've known and have been taught is a grand illusion or lie
or that the air, food, and water around them is being poisoned, in most cases purposely, in order to slow kill them
That's some sick evil sh*t to mentally process and plenty of good people can't fathom that kind of sickness when confronted with it
The house and senate won't do anything about it. They are too much a bunch of cowards. Boehner and Reid are total traitors.
If at least Boehner would be replaced, a good house leader could bring Obama down easily with a good backing in the house...
Put a good speaker in there... Don't pass any bill, including funding bill, till Obama and administration RESIGNS and is prosecuted for their crimes.
UP arrow
"they are too much a bunch of cowards."
AND, they are guilty, too.
the doj sucks goldman cock
As long as students are not taught the history with an emphasis on psychopaths, patriots and martyrs, we will forever be subjected to the repetition of the same mistakes and the same tyrants.
SHOCKED!!! Shocked the government would dare snoop on us!
- AP
Bwaaaahaaaaahaaaaahaaaa
Suckers
Who's surprised?
I told you this guy was evil and everyone. Nearly everyone on this site defended Obama as if he were no different than Romney. Blue state vs Red state. BS. Six months later and now how in the hell can you defend your vote? So now we have three and a half more years of this man.
Sorry if you are offended but this stuff was out there if you were wanting to be informed.
Everybodys All...
I convinced my 90 year aunt to vote for Mitt. But, being that I am in CT, it doesn't make any difference.
Mitt would be just as bad. Democrat and Republican parties have a 90+% overlap. Obamacare is the same as Romneycare. Wake the fuck up!!!
You are a fool but we already knew that based the fact that you are now defending a serial liar.
There was exactly zero daylight between Romney and Obama on policy. They were the same guy. The race was over when competing GOP candidates failed to get enough delegates to throw the convention open and produce a different nominee.
When people or organizations act like they're paranoid they are either paranoid or hiding things. One of life's little lessons. BTW I really don't think an organization can be parnoid.
I'm sure this will change everything seeing as how the media is bought by Obama and the Left. If only Romney had won...
IRS, Benghazi, now this. You think it's a coincidence all this bad stuff is coming out now?? I smell a rat. They want Obama's head, because he isn't doing what they say on Syria.
any critics to BB (big brother) will not be TOLERATED! Democracy made in USA where everyone is a potential terrorist until proven the opposite ahahahah
There is no fucking piss break on these ramparts.
Collapse: it's falling out of the ugly tree and hitting every branch on the way down...
It's only Mossad checking into American AP to see if anyone is talking about Israel dropping a nuke bomb on Syria.on May 5th.
Breaking news:
2013-13-05 07:00 hours.
General Petraeus to testify on Benghazi this week. Washington Times.
Here's where it all ends badly for all culpable parties.
It is not that no one cares, it's just that no one knows what to do ... Individually or collectively ...
And why is anyone surprised, Really? Anyone not convinced that their own government has evil designs for their future needs a swift kick in the nards.
You must be at least surprised that this story has seen the light of day.
Distraction is coming up very quickly. Everyone will forget about this very quickly. After all, he really did not mean to do it.
"The AP delayed reporting the story at the request of government officials who said it would jeopardize national security. Once government officials said those concerns were allayed, the AP disclosed the plot because officials said it no longer endangered national security. The Obama administration, however, continued to request that the story be held until the administration could make an official announcement."
Release this now, because Benghazi is the story we must keep them from reporting on.
Revolution ....after you ditch the super-sized donuts and sugary sodas...
But...I eat donuts as an act of revolt.
I'm so confused!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29BoqCMRBFk
Next Distraction Event, in 5 4 3 2 1...
So much for Democracy and the "Land of the Free".
Too bad. Need to take your contry back for the people.
Are those the black boxes they couldn't find from 9/11?
They came after the second amendment first, and the first amendment second.
OT: antithetical statements of Robert E Lee/U.S. Grant
Hd. Qrs: Valley Mt:
29 Aug 1861
Rabbi M.J. Michelbacher,
Preacher Hebrew Congregation,
"House of Love" Richmond, Va:
Revd Sir
I have just received your letter of the 23d inst: requesting that a furlough from the 2nd to the 15th Sept. be granted to the soldiers of the Jewish persuasion in the C.S. Army, that they may participate in the approaching holy services of the Synagogue.
It would give me great pleasure to comply with a request to earnestly urged by you,& which I know would be so highly appreciated by that class of our soldiers. But the necessities of war admit of no relaxation of the efforts requisite for its success, nor can it be known on what day the presence of every man may be required. I feel assured that neither you or any member of the Jewish congregation would wish to jeopardize a cause you have so much at heart by the withdrawal even for a season of a portion of its defenders. I cannot therefore grant the general furlough you desire, but must leave to individuals to make their own applications to their Several Commanders, in the hope that many will be able to enjoy the privilege you seek for them. Should any be deprived of the opportunity of offering up their prayers according to the rites of their Church that their penitence may nevertheless be accepted by the Most High, & their petitions answered.
That your prayers for the success & welfare of our Cause may be granted by the Great Ruler of the universe is my ardent wish.
I have the honor to be, with high esteem,
Your obt' Servt.
http://www.jewish-history.com/civilwar/lee.htm
R.E. LEE,
Gen'l Commd.
General Orders #11GENERAL ORDERS No. 11.
HDQRS. 13TH A. C., DEPT. OF THE TENN.,
Holly Springs, December 17, 1862.
The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order.
Post commanders will see that all of this class of people be furnished passes and required to leave, and any one returning after such notification will be arrested and held in confinement until an opportunity occurs of sending them out as prisoners, unless furnished with permit from headquarters.
No passes will be given these people to visit headquarters for the purpose of making personal application for trade permits.
By order of Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant:
JNO. A. RAWLINS,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. 17, Part II, p. 424.
Lee = a Mason
Grant = one of Putin's earlier lives
Well, well, well...that may explain the disrepair of Grant's tomb in New York:
These locations - so much of what we would logically consider to be part of the site known as Grant's Tomb - are actually owned by the City of New York, which has for years entirely neglected its responsibilities to maintain the site.
http://www.grantstomb.org/whatrem.html
Like I said, all this shit is gonna morph from "Save Hillary" to "Save the Party".
How did this cum breath of a sorry ass president get a Nobel??? We are so screwed it's not even funny. What they mean by transparent is they can see EVERYTHING you are doing but you don't have a fucking clue what they're doing.
You act like the Nobel prize actually means anything beyond a cheep Chinese trinket that you can pull out of a crane machine.
I'll give you a hint. .... It's the exact opposite of Martin Luther King's " I have a dream that one day my four children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin , but by the content of their character".
This man has no character at all.
Guess the Obama-Media honeymoon is over.
Brake out the tarps and Wesson oil baby.
"The Obama administration has aggressively investigated disclosures of classified information to the media and has brought six cases against people suspected of leaking classified information, more than under all previous presidents combined."
Fascists.
Meh. Its probably legal under the Patriot Act.
You stand by and meekly watch your rights get eroded, you deserve what you get.
Again, you might want to get out while you can.
Or perhaps that might be better advice for the ones that think they are in command at this moment.
but I guess no one will care as long as they don't interrupt "The Voice" tonight ...
after the re-election, Mark Faber predicted this administration would be caught up in major scandal...
I've never used this word before, but its time to get that Nigger out of the White House. Impeach him, quickly.
You should have kept the string going.
"I think we should impeach the nigger.."
signed Dave Chappelle
Insider trading 9/11 … the facts laid bare
There can be no dispute that speculative trade in put options – where a party bets that a stock will drop abruptly in value – spiked in the days around September 11, 2001 – even if the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the 9/11 Commission will not say so. More than a few people must have had advance warning of the terror attacks, and they cashed in to the tune of millions of dollars.
http://homment.com/insidertrading-911
yeah...and they've done a bang-up job stiffling that one for....what? 12 years? gets a little burp or hiccup on the tin-hat sites every several years, that's about it. Hold yer breath for an "investigation". Gonna go puke now
But... But... They said there's no smoking gun?
I can't say I can find the 10,000 leaked Bloomberg terminal messages, which is unusual for this type of thing (although I've not dug too deeply, given the players involved) - the FT has exclusive access which means it was likely an internal leak, not a hack.[1]
Meta-Comment: FT article (not a signed in version) is written by Daniel Schäfer and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson. Edgecliffe-Johnson recently linked to a piece in Quartz (itself a flashy new title with interesting money behind it) in which they did an extended piece on Bloomberg:
The company’s New York City skyscraper unfurls around its courtyard like a panopticon. Inside, the decor is punctuated at every turn with fish tanks. No one has an office to hide in, and the meeting rooms are enclosed in clear glass.
Visit any of Bloomberg’s 192 offices, and you are forever stored in the system; come back years later, on the other side of the world, and the same photograph will grace your name tag. Employees carry two IDs. The first gets them into the building, logging their locations for anyone on staff to look up. The other—which some Bloomberg customers use, as well—is called a B-Unit, for biometric: It reads their fingerprints to permit home access to their terminals...
What’s going on at the largest American oil reserve, which holds the crude sold on the New York Mercantile Exchange? Bloomberg commissions a satellite to fly over the site in Cushing, Oklahoma, twice a week and take a picture. Any terminal customer can access the photographs along with estimates of the amount of oil held in the tanks based on the length of the shadows cast across their roofs.[source]
This is the first real sign of UK - US aggression to be so openly paraded, and very interesting. (Or rather of other forces, but that's on QT regarding the FT).
[1] Although we note, last week ago:
This week's attacks-that-weren't have the feel of a giant sleight of hand. Maybe the whole thing fizzled because banks' security is getting better, as Herberger suggested. Or maybe Anonymous was trolling the media, which it has been known to do. Another explanation, though, is that maybe the threat of a major attack was just a test to see how officials would react, and possibly a misdirection to pull security resources away from more serious types of fraud.[Bloomberg 5th May]
Random links:
DOJ statement on AP hack.
And lest we be found biased, Reuters is adding to the mix:
(Reuters) - Even as the U.S. government confronts rival powers over widespread Internet espionage, it has become the biggest buyer in a burgeoning gray market where hackers and security firms sell tools for breaking into computers.
The strategy is spurring concern in the technology industry and intelligence community that Washington is in effect encouraging hacking and failing to disclose to software companies and customers the vulnerabilities exploited by the purchased hacks.
That's because U.S. intelligence and military agencies aren't buying the tools primarily to fend off attacks. Rather, they are using the tools to infiltrate computer networks overseas, leaving behind spy programs and cyber-weapons that can disrupt data or damage systems.[Reuters 10th May]
But that's probably in retaliation for this little gem, on the 4th May:
Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI) fired Matthew Keys as a social-media editor, a month after he was accused by federal prosecutors of conspiring with the hacker group Anonymous to break into a Tribune Co.-owned website.
Keys announced the move in a Twitter posting, saying, “Reuters has fired me, effective today. Our union will be filing a grievance.” David Girardin, a spokesman for Thomson Reuters, confirmed that Keys is no longer with the company.[Bloomberg 4th May]
This is all very exciting. I say, Ding-Dong.
Ahh, found them.
"The documents from one particular day in 2009 and also from 2010 contain messages sent in by clients so Bloomberg could extract price data for their use on bonds, credit default swaps and other financial products from traders' messages. ...
This work was done with client consent, where e-mails were explicitly forwarded to us to a dedicated e-mail account and released by the person responsible for the e-mail so that we could conduct internal testing to improve our technology for the client," [CNBC blatantly poaching FT scoop]
Through a Google search. Bleh, so not exciting, everyone has their stories prepared. GS was likely the client who leaked them if the FT only found them on Monday, usual hardball stuff.
Then again, I did note that the US gov is going to spend $136m on Operation Earnest Voice.
And come on, junking the "I say Team", that's just harsh.
I love the term Panopticon, “a mill for grinding rogues honest”.
In the rice cooker bombing thread I referenced the underwear bomber before this thread was up.
While the AP doesn’t say it in their report that DOJ got two months of unnamed reporters’ call records, but this effectively means they’ve gone nuclear on Goldman and Apuzzo for breaking a story the White House was going to break the following day anyway...
As a reminder, here’s a history of the White House’s attempts to dubiously claim they weren’t planning on releasing the information themselves, as they had the last time a Saudi infiltrator tipped us to a plot.[emptywheel]
Security theatre, ZZzzz. The pretense that there's an independent media that they're pissed off @ for ruining their PR stunts is cute though; this is just a turf war over who got to get the splash and the glamour, with the DOJ spanking naughty AP hacks.
p.s. mentioning bombing AND sourcing US gov astroturfing funding? So on a list \o/
Wow um...
So bengazhi gate... IRS Gate... AP Gate
What else to bake the cake?
Bullet gate?
Oh, come on. The DoJ is allowed to do absolutely whatever it wants, to whomever it wants, if it can claim it's all in the interest of "National Security," and especially if it involves tracking down leakers of classified information regarding secret assasination campaigns against foreigners who dress funny and may be Muslim.
I thought that had already been established in so many ways. What makes AP reporters so speciial? What makes them think they ever aren't under continual surveiillance like the rest of us?
Remind me the last time you commissioned your own satellite to do surveillance on US soil.
Sorry-I assumed no /sarc tag would be necessary. I stand corrected.
I was just making a joke, although I was hoping I'd get a "Well, actually..." response.
Since AP "reporters" are all RPG toting terrorists anyway - I am strangely torn on how to feel about this what would have been the end of an administration in a more rational time.
Please select the appropriate crisis response for Team O-bomb:
9. What difference does it make?
I want the T shirt!
I'd opt for the memory wipe.
Obama's already resorted to blaming Limbaugh today, while he parties with the Uber-Rich at Harvey Weinstein's mega-mansion.
Huge mistake calling Limbaugh out. Limbaugh will have a field day with him now the way he did with Clinton when Clinton walked into that trap.
10. Yes we can!
Si su puedo!
The true believers are always the 1st to go the gulags.
O'bama is related to Richard Nixon !!!!
So now we know....Who's your daddy!
LOL
I thought his Mom was Caucasoidal....
Nobody will be raising their right hand in this fiasco!!!
Love her or hate her, Ann Coulter called Obama on his modus operandi - unsealing private records.
http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2012-08-01.html
Ya,she's the jackal that comes in after the lion
The federal government stopped governing a long time ago. There's just infinite treasury debt. No consequences, and thereby no governing.
So a press conference will be held and some words will be said and some patsy will take the fall and then the next day we'll be deeper in debt and nobody will care.
No consequences, that's the American way. We can do whatever we want, whenever we want, we are all powerful and immortal. Bernanke has our back, he'll print our way out.
Even whores - media type included - have self respect. The msm has been asked to perform in a border town Chicago style donkey show and the are declining - at least for now.
Meet the IRS team in charge of exempt organization reviews!
http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2013/05/13/meet-the-irs-team-in-charg...
Lerner ...... Figures
We are all very good at figures. The % of the Tribe is so far out , that it must be fraudulent.
OH FIE! on all you anti-government types!!! Did not our Dear Leader himself teach us but a few days ago:
"You've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems. You should reject these voices. Because what these suggest is that somehow our brave, creative, unique experiment in self-rule is just a sham with which we can't be trusted."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/05/obama-ohio-state-commencement_n...
All Hail Dear Leader!!!
Squeeky Fromm, Girl Rabble-rouser
Squeaky Fromme. 'Nuff said.
Now the Jewish MSM is angry when the tables are turned?
We might beat you , but we, certainly, will not join you.......not that we were ever invited!
They are just listening in on Mossad! What's wrong w/ that?
Eric Schmidt said it best "If you have something to hide then don't write (talk) about it"
I am getting ready to wacth Fox now and I'll bet all the joohs are using the n word by now.
The Fuckers gonna do another false flag to cover their asses (again).
Eric the Place holder is just the head of the Freeloading Just-Us department. Another public welfare department.
I was always a believer in the "Power of the Few." When Holder is ousted or arrested for treason everything will be in the perfect position for the sequence of events to re-install the Constitution of the United States lock up the criminal financial sector, dismantle the DHS, put an end to the 74 globalist wars that use American enlisted as mercinaries and so on and so forth.
Power of the Few - highly recommended by q99x2
i liked that movie...
And the report too?
http://www.hsaj.org/?fullarticle=7.1.18
Nyet, Tovarich.
- Ned
This marks the 4,997th "sign" that the Empire Is OVER
I reckon we have 3 more to go before the Mushroom Cloud
So three major scandals in a row where the administration looks to be on the defensive for a while: Benghazi, IRS and now wire taping the AP.
Either we have a very unusual set of coincidences or someone is looking to cut the knees out from under the Bamster.
Also in the last few weeks the Bamster met in private with big oil execs and Wall Street money guys. Wonder what they talked about?
If one was a conspiracy guy they may wonder if there is a connection? And why?
Personally I do not believe in coincidences ... but that does not necessarily lead one to conspiracies however.
sschu
There are NO conspiracies, only artfully crafted 'coincidences' masking as happenstance...!!
What if happenstance came down in the form of a large unannounced comet?
Could it be possible that this is what is being secretly discussed?
Mis-fire.
These are the necessary distractions while they quietly pass more gun control, more taxes, repeal the Contsitution, etc....
I hear Obama is gonna pardon OJ Simpson so that daytime TV shows willl have a relevant subject to discuss with the masses.
It is difficult to play the high stakes game of politics in Washington DC without getting on the wrong side of someone or something powerful.
The Bamster has not been especially humble in his approach, there are several entrenched groups/people who he has managed to alienate, seriously so. Hillary, Petraeus, Pentagon, NRA, Congress, the banksters, large natural resource companies, CIA not to mention those international groups like the Russia or Israelis who are not that fond of him.
His style, incompetence and arrogance may finally catch up to him. Time will tell.
sschu
The press tacitly approved the patriot Act.
Now they sit there with the consequences
They get spied on like the rest of us
My heart bleeds.
AP now stands for Asspenetrated Press.
We, The Asspenetrated People
In a Vinn diagram Eric Houlder and the US bill of rights have no overlaping cirlce area.
Emperor Obama has the same attitude toward freedom of the press as that of Joe Stalin or Adolph Hitler. As long as the presstitutes print lies about Emperor Obama's infallibility, all is well. Obama's wife wants to give out the Oscar for best picture, no criticism. Joseph Nacchio, the Qwest CEO who refused to give the NSA the right to hoover up all of Qwest's communications in the USA, is now serving a six year prison sentence for insider trading. Don't get the Emperor angry or he will sic AG Holder on you. Look at what happened to Aaron Schwarz, another believer in free speech.
"The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand...?” GO 1984
This is SOS (Stasi on Steroids) AND this shit has to stop!
Let the lawsuits begin.
Fuck you Holder.
is it still illegal? There must be a law allowing them to do whatever they want... or at least a back-dated super double secret executive order.
Who the fuck told these assholes that Rupert Murdoch was the fucking role model here???
Cabinet firings and career-ending indictments, or it's Game Over for this whole enterprise. Which would be just as well.
Now we know why Oblahblah was teary at the presser earlier today - not accustomed to being called to account on anything. Poor fellow.
I predict that the press will soon 'discover' the true identity of Oblahblah's biological father, perhaps even the identity and ruminations of Oblahblah's one-time coke dealer, etc etc
All your news, is made up by them !
Isn't this the same exact shit that destroyed News of the World?
ZH out in front as always.
Repeat for fellow speed readers: “we are this far from a turnkey totalitarian state" all we can add is "we are now in a full-blown totalitarian state." LULZ
Eric the Place Holder just shows up on occasion. Just hanging around to collect his checks.
Useless Eric. It would be way too much work to prosecute any of the big boy financial criminals.
Eric the Place Holder has turned the Just-Us department into an agency of freeloaders.
Paging Eric Holder....Paging the A. G. Holder...The subpoena bus has a delivery for you, where are you hiding Eric....?
Another Chicago ghost payroller. Shows up on occasion. Otherwise he's the head Just-Us boondoggler.
Renew Congress Respect Constitution:
http://usnvrepcan.blogspot.com/2013/05/0-first-amendment-time-for-all-good.html