hmmm.
In NSA-intercepted data, those not targeted far outnumber the foreigners who are – The Washington Post
If Snowden’s sample is representative, the population under scrutiny in the PRISM and Upstream programs is far larger than the government has suggested. In a June 26 “transparency report,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence disclosed that 89,138 people were targets of last year’s collection under FISA Section 702. At the 9-to-1 ratio of incidental collection in Snowden’s sample, the office’s figure would correspond to nearly 900,000 accounts, targeted or not, under surveillance.
“Even if one could conceivably justify the initial, inadvertent interception of baby pictures and love letters of innocent bystanders,” [Snowden] added, “their continued storage in government databases is both troubling and dangerous. Who knows how that information will be used in the future?”
Sigh………
Clashes in east Jerusalem after teen’s burial revive intifada fears for Middle East – The Washington Post
The Israeli government created this tension and now the burden is on its people to reap the poison the government has sown.
BBC News – California police pummelling of woman is investigated
BBC News – California police pummelling of woman is investigated .
This monster should stripped of his badge and pension immediately.
Investigate afterwards, remove the clear and present danger to the public first.
Palestinian teen burned alive, autopsy shows – CNN.com
Palestinian teen burned alive, autopsy shows – CNN.com.
More coverage of the human impact of atrocities committed by extremists on the Israeli side, I want more!
Tell both sides or don’t bother, you useless hacks.
July 4th Note to Tea Partiers: Your Politics on Religion Would Baffle the Founding Fathers | Blog | BillMoyers.com
“They approached religion more or less the same way they approached everything else that interested them: Franklin invented his own, Washington proved diplomatic, Adams grumbled about it (he hated Christianity, he once said, but he couldn’t think of anything better, and he also regarded it as necessary), Jefferson could not stop tinkering with it, and Madison defended, as a natural right, the free exercise of it. That they wanted to preserve religious liberty by separating church and state does not mean they were irreligious. They wanted to protect religion from the state, as much as the other way around.
If the founders had followed their forefathers, they would have written a Constitution establishing Christianity as the national religion. Nearly every British North American colony was settled with an established religion… …Following the faith of their fathers is exactly what the framers did not do. At a time when all but two states required religious tests for office, the Constitution prohibited them. At a time when all but three states still had an official religion, the Bill of Rights forbade the federal government from establishing one.”
Colonialism, Not Reform: New Orleans Schools Since Katrina • An Interview with Karran Harper Royal
Colonialism, Not Reform: New Orleans Schools Since Katrina • An Interview with Karran Harper Royal.
“…in 18 cities that have been fighting school closures throughout the country. The Listening Project has been holding meetings where we ask people in the communities how they have been personally affected by school closures, turnarounds, phase-outs and co-locations.
…We’re looking at the disparate impact of these education policies on communities of color—the disinvestment that has occurred in these communities when schools close, and the negative impact on children with disabilities when they have to switch schools or travel miles and miles, waking up early in the morning to go to a school across town because their neighborhood school has closed.
We’ve put together a document called the “Sustainable School Success Model,” which outlines a more sustainable way to transform schools and communities. Under the Race to the Top grants, schools have to use one of four models, mostly based on closing schools or firing staff. We want the U.S. Department of Education to look at our Sustainable School Success Model as a fifth option so that school districts don’t have to slash and burn.”
Not to harp on a subject I wrote about in the first post on this page or anything but….
Broaden the context by substituting the words, “vulnerable communities” for “communities of color” and what she describes is exactly the way it should be done.
Israel kidnappings, collective punishment: Israel is too quick to punish innocent Palestinians for monstrous crimes committed by other Palestinians.
“If only Israel had practiced that kind of self-restraint after the June 12 kidnappings. If only it had held fast to the ethic of individual responsibility all these years, instead of sinking into a culture of collective retaliation. Would restraint have saved the lives of these four young men? Maybe not. But it might save Israel.”
A-men.
4 reasons the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories is so dangerous – The Washington Post
1.) Israel is governed by murderous, racist, psychos with little regard for human life outside Israeli Jews.
2.) Palestinians have nothing to lose.
3.) Neither side has the grace and practical political foresight to admit the other side’s legitimate right to exist.
4.) People on either side have every reason to fear and demonize people on the other.
= Boom!
